misinformation

Peasants WILL Support The Wars Of Their Overlords — Or Else

/ went2thebridge / 1 Comment

There’s no point trying to write something better about so-called progressives in Congress publishing and then quickly disavowing a letter to Biden suggesting negotiations to end the bloodshed in Ukraine. In “The Brutal Comedy of the Withdrawn Letter,” Matt Taibbi has already aptly described the clownish collapse of anything resembling opposition to shoveling billions into arming Ukraine. Jayapal, AOC, Liz Warren, and even Bernie are millionaires controlled by billionaires, and the fear that they had angered the billionaires who own them was palpable.

The project of weakening Russia in order to take on China without their big ally is one underwritten by every billionaire-owned media outlet in the West. “Step out of line, the man comes and takes you away.”

Scott Ritter provided an immediate test case for the claim that “the bird is freed” i.e. Elon Musk’s Twitter would no longer see speech stifled to please the rich and powerful. 

Musk flunked. Is there anyone who really believed he’d pass? 

In “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,” Ritter details how he was suspended from Twitter back in April for the a tweet like this one:

He went on to explain:

I based this conclusion on three primary sources, which included a videotape of a Ukrainian official warning the citizens of Bucha that a “cleansing operation” was going to be conducted in Bucha, and that the citizens should remain indoors and not to panic, an article which appeared in an official Ukrainian government website, LB.ua, entitled “Special forces regiment ‘SAFARI’ began to clear Bucha of saboteurs and accomplices of Russia,” which declared that “Special forces began clearing the liberated, by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, city of Bucha of the Kiev region from saboteurs and accomplices of Russian troops,” and video which purported to show members of the Safari Regiment shooting civilians who were not wearing the blue distinguishing armbands signifying loyalty to the Ukrainian cause.

But never mind about evidence. Controlling information about the NATO’s war in Ukraine has been job from the get-go, and I’ve written about it several times already (e.g. here and here).

Truth tellers are still out here but their reach is much curtailed. 

Various pretexts have been offered for why too much truth could endanger the peasantry.

First, they said Russia was meddling in U.S. elections. And anyone questioning or denying this should be silenced. (Meanwhile, The Intercept among others news outlets silenced news of the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop until after the 2020 election.)

Source: “During COVID-19 Pandemic It Isn’t Just Fake News But Seriously Bad Misinformation That Is Spreading On Social Media”, Forbes

Then, they said so-called disinformation on the pandemic was dangerous to our health. And the restrictions put in place to suppress beliefs that eventually became mainstream e.g. lab origin, ineffectiveness of vaccines in stopping transmission, remained.

Next, they said Ukraine was a democracy and an innocent victim of Russia’s unprovoked aggression. Journalists with large followings who pointed out the Maidan coup happened all the way back in 2014 were shadow banned or suspended from social media. And an army of bots attacked anyone who expressed doubt about the righteousness of NATO’s cause.

Finally, they said any questioning of the many false flags in this war — massacred civilians in Bucha, shelling of the nuclear power plant Zaporizhzhia, sabotage of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany– was grounds for being silenced.

Silencing of dissent is dangerous as we face open confrontation between nuclear powers.

I took some comfort yesterday from war-watcher Big Serge on why neither the U.S. nor Russia is likely to use nukes in Ukraine.

I wanted to include a photo of the massive French austerity protests here, but Google only wants me to know about the CIA-sponsored uprisings in Iran — despite my using the search terms “france protests today.” Search engines are an important part of the information control matrix. 

Meanwhile, more austerity for the peasants rolls on. After Ukraine sent drones to attack ships at port in Sevastopol, Russia suspended grain shipments via ship. (That the grain was supposed to go to hungry people in Africa but was actually ending up in Europe may have had something to do with it.) 

Those with the patience and a stomach for truth may want to listen to the 3 1/2 hour speech plus Q & A session with Putin at the Valdai Discussion Club last week. If you need a chuckle today, imagine either Biden or Kamala Harris pulling off something like what Putin did at Valdai.

Why am I laughing in the face of millions freezing and starving this winter as we face the real possibility that our corporate overlords crave nuclear war?

Because if I start crying I might not be able to stop.

* Actually, I was wrong. AOC is only half a millionaire. Thanks to reader Edward F. for the correction.

Featured

Do We Really Have A Free Press In the U.S.? You Be The Judge

/ went2thebridge / Leave a comment

My graphic incorporating the now disappeared photo of napalm on the runway in Brunswick, 2012.

One of the reasons I started writing this blog in 2010 was to keep my head from exploding over current events.

The other reason is a persistent interest in battling information control. I am inspired by blogs and websites who peek around the corporate media monolith and report what they see and hear. 

Today I share a specific, detailed example of information control on behalf of the U.S. military by corporate news entities in my home state of Maine.

Recently the Blue Angels brought their noise and air polluting daredevil show to Brunswick and I organized a protest that included speeches. It’s not the first time I’ve protested air shows which are recruiting events and terribly harmful to our already struggling climate.

In my remarks, I mentioned that in 2012 the same air show had burned napalm on the runway as a grand finale. Vietnam vets that were inside at the time recognized it and I heard them talk about it; also, the local newspaper The Forecaster ran a photograph of the napalm burning with a plane overhead as part of their August 26, 2012 coverage of the show.

In my blog post about it, I inserted the photo using a url that directly linked to the photo. I used to put photos in blog posts this way because it was faster than downloading and then uploading photos, and also because it was more respectful to the source as it pinged back to them if a reader clicked on it.

Sadly, this is what my blog post looks like today:

Ok, so the old link is broken. Happens all the time. Just go to the archive of The Forecaster and get it again, right?

Wrong.

The Forecaster, now owned by the Portland Press Herald, mysteriously has no archived articles about that air show — a two-day event that typically produces at least two articles. In fact, it mysteriously has zero articles on any topic for the two day duration of the show: August 25 & 26, 2012. 

Bear with me, it gets even stranger.

In my searching I did uncover an article reporting on the planned protests for the 2012 air show from a press release sent out by the organizers of the protest. This is from the Times Record, another local paper now owned by the Portland Press Herald. 

It, too, has a missing photograph though the caption remains humorously intact:

Who is this dude? No idea. 

Did a clerical error result in his face appearing where the banner pic was intended to go? We’ll probably never know but in case you’re curious, here’s the banner:


Bruce Gagnon and Mark Roman at air show protest Sep. 4, 2021 Photo credit: Gigi Larc

Fast forward to this week when the Times Record refused to print a letter to the editor by Brunswick organizer Rosie Paul about the 20th anniversary of a weekly vigil for peace. Especially significant on the 20th anniversary of the events of 9/11, wouldn’t you say? 

Here’s the text of her letter:

Greater Brunswick PeaceWorks marks this Twentieth Anniversary

In the week following 9/11/01, members of the Brunswick community met together looking for what might be an effective response to the tragic events of that date.

We put out a call for a Vigil for Peace for that next Friday at 5, a Vigil urging non-retaliation so we could move ahead wisely from the crossroad all of us faced.

On that Friday, and for several subsequent Fridays, the edge of the Town Green was lined with as many as 90 community members who felt keenly the need to reflect on what had happened, to think about why it may have happened, and to see how we could help to shape a response that would lead to more understanding and certainly not to more violence.

When the United States chose to retaliate against Iraq and Afghanistan, the numbers at the vigil dropped, both in frustration and in disappointment. A core of some 10-15 members has met at the edge of the Green nearly every Friday since.

Gradually we gave our group a name – PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick – and set about organizing monthly discussions, film showings, presentations of various kinds, and an annual Peace Fair to celebrate and build on the connections among Maine’s many non-profit groups working for Justice and Peace.

The weekly vigil has continued – fondly known as “Honk for Peace” – and we find our numbers growing again, infused with energy from other areas where violence needs to give way to compassion and cooperation: The Black Lives Matter Movement , The Poor People’s Campaign, and the looming Climate Crisis – all of them connected and all of them crying out for us to wake up, to find the sustainable future we know is possible.

You are warmly invited to join us on the Green (opposite Walgreens) next Friday and for as many Fridays as you can. www.peaceworksbrunswickme.org

Rosalie Paul, Brunswick 

Rosie’s queries about why the letter was rejected have met with stonewalling by executive editor John Swinconeck. 

No surprise to me since Swinconeck is the one who terminated Peaceworks’ monthly column which Rosie used to coordinate and where I was sometimes published. His reason given at the time was that there was not enough local content in our columns. That won’t fly for her recent letter so he simply said, we have no plans to publish this letter at any time.

All this came up because someone who heard me speak on September 4 about napalm being burned for entertainment in 2012 was questioned by an acquaintance who was incredulous that it could be true. So she reached out to me for evidence, and I began my futile search.

Do we really have a free press in the U.S.? You be the judge.