Land Destroyer: US Media Sells Disorder in Eastern Syria

Land Destroyer: US Media Sells Disorder in Eastern Syria: US "progress" in eastern Syria is a prelude to protracted conflict, not peace and prosperity.  July 2, 2017 (Tony Cartalucci - ...

ICBM Missile Shield Test

https://johnyorks.tumblr.com/post/161282580058/us-says-test-shows-missile-defenses-outpacing

Politics is done in the darkness for 5/4/17

https://johnyorks.tumblr.com/post/160301280858/like-to-do-things-different-ways-sometimes-so-for

The coup against Trump

(S)election 2016 briefly

Haven't posted here in a while, and thought this was the place for a brief post about the upcoming elections. We are in big trouble. And, in spite of the overwhelming conventional wisdom that has Clinton as the lesser evil, that likely is not the case. As Assange stated, "A vote for Hillary is a vote for endless, stupid war." While Trump at least wants to get along with Russia, Clinton wants to establish a no fly zone over Syria, which will mean direct confrontation with Russia. This is very dangerous.

And Trump is a disaster in every other way..... We the people, no matter the outcome, have already lost this election.

James Corbet on R2p

This one was really good. And it is true that both Amy Goodman and Chomsky were terrible on the Libyan war....

Ellen Brown says "print the money"

This comes form information clearinghouse. Ellen Brown says she agrees with, of all people, Trump, at least when he says, "print the money." I used to be completely on the other side of that debate, but Ellen Brown and others have changed my mind a little bit.

For instance, and this a bit tangential, for too long Hamilton has been portrayed as the villain, and Jefferson the hero - but is that really so? Probably not.

Redacted Tonight: Election Fraud Special Report! (You Won't Believe This)

Articles about "Deep State" reach mainstream

Below are links to two articles that mention the "deep state" by name. The first is from Pat Buchanan, who oddly enough I agree with from time to time, especially on foreign policy from about the 90s on. The second actually appeared in the New York Times. Written by Philip Giraldi, this article seems more interested in the US connection with other countries who also have a "deep state." But it does mention "the establishment" as a stand in for our "deep state."

"The Sea Island Conspiracy"

"America's Establishment has Embraced Deep States"

Lack of Democracy

Sometimes, when I'm motivated to write in this blog, I literally don't know where to start. I've probably used this next quote in other posts. I am often reminded of it. When George Carlin was on the Keith Olbermann show several years ago, at one point he told Olbermann very plainly, "This country is finished."   I would have to agree with Carlin if he meant the country is/was finished as a democracy. In fact, there have been scholarly studies suggesting just that. 

It could be argued that this concept is not new, as we have had academics tell us similar things even decades ago. For example, C Wright Mills wrote, The Power Elite in the 1950s. And I'm sure that some variation of the idea about the powerful elite of business, finance, and military interests dominating political life - of course with the help of the more staid media - has likely been with us for eons.

However, I would argue that in the US today (possibly other countries), things have gone way beyond that basic concept. It is such a big topic, and one is likely to have the scornful label of "conspiracy theorist" placed upon the one's self for even considering that our democracy might be corrupt beyond just the corruption of ordinary manipulation of opinion, and powerful persons having too great an influence on policy.

I tend to believe that at some point, I don't know when exactly, the very mechanics of our electoral democracy became corrupted. The first investigation into this that I am aware of was a book called, VoteScam: The Stealing of America. This book was written by two brothers, who having the experience of knowing some of the more radical politically minded people of the 1960s, decided that they should try to run an election campaign, just to record their experience. It was a way of testing whether they, two rather regular guys, could find the value, or lack thereof, of doing so.

According to them, they found out quite a bit more than they originally hoped to discover - namely that our elections are hopelessly corrupt. What was supposed to be a project to possibly write a book turned into a lifelong journey for them.

As they point out in the book, they believe they discovered sort of the pilot project for American democracy. Since then, as James Collier (one of the brothers who wrote the book) points out in various interviews, it has only gotten much worse.

I can't even recall if the electronic voting machines were introduced within the period covered in the book. Yet, at some point during the 1990s, these machines began to turn up in American polling places. The first time I remember reports of them appearing in the news was the election featuring Bush vs. Gore. For example, there was the voting machine that counted backwards.   By the time of the 2004 election, a great number of people had become suspicious of these machines, and believed they were being used to deliver elections to Republican candidates. Whether that is true or not, the machines are design in away that would allow either party, or potential outsiders, to basically rig an election.

In fact, those who were concerned with election integrity around this time were almost able to force a Republican tech consultant to appear in court in order for him to tell whatever he might know about alleged tampering with the 2004 election. Notice the circumstances of his not appearing in court.

At any rate, it would seem that the election result could be anything the machine says it is. I don't believe we select the president anymore, and I'm uncertain how much say we have in the lesser offices. Put this together with the work of people like C Wright Mills, and there is very little democracy regardless of the election results. This is truly a time of universal deceit.

My Two Cents #6

Latest "My Two Cents" political vlog style video.

Politics is done in the Darkness podcast # 6

I've decided to continue my "Politics is Done in the Darkness" podcast/ audio-cast, but as audio only, so not something with an accompanying YouTube video. I will still be making the "My Two Cents" videos, which I think of as specifically for YouTube, and also via blogs and such.

This latest covers topics such as the peace agreement in Syria, the ongoing tragedy of what the west did to Libya, and some open-ended thoughts on the level to which our votes count, or do not count.

The possibility of the predetermined presidential election

More than a year ago, because Webster Tarpley began talking about it on his show, and on other internet radio shows, I became aware of a politician called, Ben Sasse. The interesting thing about Ben Sasse is that there are those who claim, as far back as Sasse's college days, he would tend to introduce himself as the 45th President of the United States.

For a time, I didn't think too much about that story. After all, there was no sign of Ben Sasse on the radar as a candidate for president.

The days and weeks went on, and Trump became the front runner in the campaign on the Republican side. Suddenly, a low rumble began. One might just make it out coming through the media cacophony. It was the leader of the opposition to the Trump Republicans, Ben Sasse, gaining notoriety. Then came the movement to draft him into a third party, and run him as a candidate for president. As of this writing, he claims he would never do that.

Will he run for president after all? Will he become president? I don't know. I do know this video of Tarpley explaining the story about these allegations of a man who introduces himself as the 45th president long before the election campaign for that position is interesting to say the least.

Addition of podcast archive player in side links.

I've added a player that will play all of my archived podcasts. It basically will play one at a time in order, but one could skip through them as one likes, if one is inclined to take a listen. I've changed my mind slightly again, and I will continue doing the "Politics is done in the darkness" podcast, however - only in audio format. I feel inclined to focus more on this particular blog, as like many others, I feel it is important enough to document the slow decline of the American Empire. I believe this is a decline that will not be reversed, but I could be wrong about that. Either way, it is now important enough to me to do this, and have my thoughts on our decaying society documented, if only for my own benefit. (*See archive player in side links)

Election analysis from WSWS

Here is another article about the  perceived chaos within the US political establishment, and the dangers of the rise of Trump. This one is also based on an historical perspective, but from a different point of view. It is a paradox, as how can a candidate that is like a wrecking ball to the Republican Party be entirely bad.

Analysis from David Stockman

Although I am not a supporter of the Trump, this article makes a lot of sense. And it was worth it for the historical background alone. Link here.

Politics is done in the darkness audios merged into vlog

I've decided to merge my two political audio/video series together. So, from now on, the "politics is done in the darkness" audio/video will be merged into "my two cents" political vlog videos. Here is the link.

On the"refugee crisis"

In one of his essays, I seem to recall that Gore Vidal pointed out that to really solve a political problem, one has to get to the root of the problem. In fact, if memory serves, he had a really clever definition of the word "root," which went back to either the Greek or Latin, well, root. I can't remember the definition well enough right now to summarize it here.

At any rate, what is at the root of the so- called, "refugee crisis," is the fact that the US and some other countries decided that "Assad must go" and attempted to overthrow his government, using mainly the same methods they used to overthrow the government of Libya. As an aside, notice how they now have to send military aviation into Libya again to wreck the lives of those poor people even further. This suggests that perhaps they did not get the outcome in Libya that was desired from the first military operation, a military operation, by the way, which was disguised as the "Arab Spring."

So, to solve the so-called "refugee crisis" the US must decide it isn't really intent on overthrowing Assad, and then, at the very least, allow the Russians, Syrians, and Iranians to rebuild the country, which will allow refugees to return home. Very simple, except the US, for some reason, can not let go of the idea that "Assad must go." This, even after it would seem that they must not have gotten what they wanted out of their Libya project, as evidenced by the fact that they have to send military aviation into Libya again.

The real question(s) is/are: Why does Assad have to go? Why did Qaddafi have to go? And, even, why did they believe Saddam Hussein had to go? (Even I think Saddam was far worse than either of the other two.) The "refugee crisis" could not exist if the west stopped creating refugees.

more on plan "b"

This is from the WSWS. So, the question remains, why would the Russians agree to(and even be a party to the initiation of) this ceasefire agreement? On the other hand, perhaps those that say the agreement will be interpreted properly, that is in a way that permits the Russians and Syrians to continue the air campaign (and even ground campaign) against certain specified groups within Syria if those groups insist on continuing the fight, are correct. I would tend to doubt it though.

plan b in Syria

This was speculation before, but apparently, if the report is correct, John Kerry has come out and said there is a plan "b" for Syria. Plan "b" looks suspiciously like what some have considered to be the larger plan for the region all along.