(This is a reprise from 2013 that I’d run into accidentally while looking for a vignette of a salt-of-the-earth local neighbor, ‘Albert the Blacksmith’ that I’d written years ago in order to send it to a friend from the Mancos Valley wayback machine…who is in dire need of some laughing time. Just above it, and to the left, was this same title, and I’d looked at with a furrowed brow, as it hadn’t rung a bell with me…at all. But when I read it, it seemed even more germane to the current mainstream, acceptable Amerikan zeitgeist than then. I’ll modernize it at the bottom.)
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A recent piece at Dissident Voice entitled ‘The Global Crisis of Legitimacy and Liberation of the Empty Self’ caught my eye, mainly because I tend to believe that too many in our society are largely unaware that they even have inner lives, psycho-spiritual inner selves, meaning that they haven’t actually examined their values and choices, residual emotional issues, etc., leading them to reflexively accept what this society has determined for them is ‘a successful life’, rather than a richly satisfying one; one that might lead to dying well, which is my personal measure of ‘a life well-lived’. Many in that state often fill their personal void spaces with shopping, the newest gadgets, this year’s fashions, and other temporary fixes, the fullness only lasting so long, of course, since their true unrequited hungers may be wholly psycho-spiritual in origin.
In extreme form, those unexamined needs can pave the way to addictive behaviors underpinning wealth and property accumulation, power-seeking just for the thrill of it, even though, again, there are no permanently satisfying levels for those acquisitions that call off the hunt automatically once reached. As: how much is enough? Studies conclude that ‘enough for a relatively secure future’ is more than enough; no matter, the addicted can’t internalize that measurement, can they?
It doesn’t take much sensitivity to feel that there is an increasing background hum of dissatisfaction in the air, but my sense of it is that so much of it is a free-floating anxiety that folks may have chosen the wrong road, and are feeling isolated, lonely, often angry and fearful, and sense that something’s just not right. My sense is also that they may go back and forth about their own part in the wrongness, but still are conditioned to cast blame outward, railing at the same authoritarian institutions they actually see as the authors of possible solutions to their discomforts. Yes, a serious disconnect it is. Many citizens alleviate their discomforts through joining a team, one that reinforces their personal beliefs or credos, not realizing that those often have cultural roots that have been thrust upon them. To wit: think what schools have taught us: loads of American mythology and jingoism that amply demonstrated what part or parts we would need to play in an Exceptional capitalist society: work hard, make a lotta money, become President! Might is right!
The author, Nozomi Hayase, has a different, but related, reason for hooking her essay to the empty self, rather by way of answering Ted Rall’s question about American passivity in the face of all that’s afoot these days in a dozen different fascist and unjust directions. She begins her unraveling of the question with observations about the normalization and easy acceptance of manufactured perceptions of the current zeitgeist, the acceptance of ‘brands’ rather than substance, feel-good faux-political Blue v. Red team sports aided by phony media horse races and staged political drama.
She references the recent dramatic shifts within the various political labels, and the normalization of inhumane ideas and actions that were roundly condemned (say by ‘Liberals’) not long ago. She reminds readers of Shock Doctrine fears and vulnerabilities leading to rather blithe acceptance of the overarching agendas that were the PTB’s agendas in any event. All of those now-deadened senses coalesce into what she calls ‘a second skin’, blocking the pain from the heat as the Frogs Slowly Boil, i.e.: blocking out reality. Not surprisingly, she sees this administration as the zenith of managed perceptions and extreme deadening gobbled up by the villagers on the teevee, popular music and movies, news as slick (often sick, I’d add) entertainment, etc. That, writes Hayase, ‘creates a lukewarm feel-good political bath replacing real human experience with pseudo-reality. This artificially installed skin intermediates our experience of actual events’.
Zo, back to ‘the empty self’. The term was coined by psychologist Philip Cushman in a book, and in this paper at the University of Texas (pdf, 13 pages) in which he theorized that a ‘self’s’ construction could only reasonably be examined within the context of the historical culture and milieus of the self’s time and place. Hayase encapsulates the relevance of his work in her mind:
‘Psychoanalyst Phillip Cushman, in Constructing the Self, Constructing America, analyzed how in post-World War II United States, modern industrialization broke down the traditional social bonds (the pre-modern self having been one that is rooted in family, religious faith, tradition, and community: my addition from his writings) and restructured the reality of community and that out of this, a specific configuration of self emerged. He called it “the empty self”, “the bounded, masterful self” and described how it “has specific psychological boundaries, a sense of personal agency that is located within, and a wish to manipulate the external world for its own personal ends”. He characterized this empty self as one that “experiences a significant absence of community, tradition and shared meaning — a self that experiences these social absences and their consequences ‘interiority’ as a lack of personal conviction and worth; a self that embodies the absences, loneliness, and disappointments of life as a chronic, undifferentiated emotional hunger”.
Cushman argued how this new configuration of self and its emotional hunger was indispensable to the development of US consumer culture.’
We can only assume that he’s speaking of a person’s unconscious desires, knowledge, and related derivations leading to external manipulation ‘for it’s own personal ends’.
She marches on to the relevance in postmodern USA:
‘Cushman argued how this new configuration of self and its emotional hunger was indispensable to the development of US consumer culture. Stuart Ewen, in his classic Captains of Consciousness, explored how modern advertising was used as a direct response to the needs of industrial capitalism through its functioning as an instrument for the “the creation of desires and habits”. “The vision of freedom which was being offered to Americans was one which continually relegated people to consumption, passivity and spectatorship”, Ewen saw this in the shift of economy from production to consumption and of personal identity from citizens to consumers.’
Yes, indeed, and she further quotes our old friend Edward Bernays, who parlayed his uncle Herr Doktor Sigmund Freud’s theories of the unconscious into his book Propaganda, in which he states:
‘“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country”.
Hayase calls the work: “the executive arm of the invisible government.” Good framing, isn’t it?
How do you sell propaganda, candidates, ideas, jingoist memes, or the need for unnecessary objects that will be tossed into the landfill six months later? Easy, say Jung and his friend Marie-Louise von Franz: you play on unconscious archetypal drives and desires that can be easily projected externally. Use this perfume: you’ll catch a husband; drive this car: watch da ladies flock to you; buy this huge house; go to this college; Need a new iPad? charge it!; need a facelift, breast augmentation to catch that special man?: 99 dollars down, sixty-three EZ payments! (don’t read the fine print); Vote for Hope and Change! Drown government in a bathtub! Well, you know it all…
The Commons are not Free Speech Zones! Do not create intentional community with others. Seek only what benefits you and yours since the economic shit is about to hit the fan again. We are Rugged Individualists. Blue Team, Red Team means Choice! Are you With Us, or Agin’ us? Despondent? Angry? There’s a Pill for that! What the banks did may have been immoral, but it wasn’t illegal…Bomb for Democracy, Bomb for Peace; Don’t pay any attention to the man behind the curtain! Keep the Homeland Secure!
And on and on the internalized allegiance to Product Authority goes, so few being able to resist with dulled senses and reasoned argument against the constant din of the consumer culture. Those of the dissenting, creative, and rebel classes are crushed, jailed, and surveilled as ‘Terrorists’.
Manufactured propaganda is working very well in the current Government Shutdown ‘crisis’. The R’s are behaving like such flagrant assholes that the D’s look benevolent in contrast. But if you look more closely, as per David Dayen or Norman Pollack, you’ll see how false the framing really is, and what will happen as a result of Obomba’s sequestering. No matter; the polls already show the R’s will be held culpable, as in Newtie Gingrich’s day. The award-winning Obomba Brand has won (aided by the Crazy R’s of course).
But Hayase sees hope of course, as the wheels turn toward more and more global citizens acknowledging the illegitimacy of the institutions and governing bodies and that have sold out The People, and the abject perfidy of Ruling Elite whose crimes against humanity, both militarily and domestically should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. More and more of us are calling for true democracy, as we begin to pierce the Veil of Propaganda, creating new alternatives, manifestly proving that the need for our autonomy, our voices heard. As more of us experience the horrors of the Planned Privations comin’ down the track soon, even the middle class citizens will feel more exposed, and will be forced to examine their beliefs and inner values. Hayase again:
‘In this nakedness, therein lies the possibility for a true freedom. Only when our emptiness is fully confronted and accepted can we find our true autonomy. With emotions and desires that are truly our own can we guide the world into a future that springs from the depth of our imagination.
Who am I? Who are we? What do we want? The thirst for real democracy is a thirst to be free. It is the spirit that drives us to find our true aspirations within. Our self is empty. When society loses its grip and leaders become devoid of morals and compassion for humanity, we need to declare autonomy from all those outside that try to allure us and promise to fulfill our dreams. Through connecting with our own desires and passions we can fulfill the void of the empty self and transform empty slogans into real action. Only then will it be possible for us to become the authors of our own lives, transform history and take charge of our common destiny.’
From my own minuscule spot in the cosmos, it’s an article of faith that the positive changes that are occurring are part of the Revolution of Higher Consciousness foretold by many of the Indigenous prophets around the globe, calling for creating brotherhood among ourselves and with the planet in understanding that we are inextricably bound together both materially and spiritually. They believe that there are ways to live in harmony, justice, and cooperation, knowing that we were meant to be creatures of cooperation, not competition. Exactly as MLK had tried to channel, no?
Truth is coming, it will not stop. You cannot kill an idea whose time has come.
What are your thoughts? We’ve just skimmed the surface of managed perceptions and propaganda. I know that many readers have developed able bullshit detectors, whether through my definition of a fuller self, through reading history, using analytical thought and reasoning. Have you developed skills in aid of the Great Awakening in your communities?
But ya know what? I suddenly feel like an idiot. Having chosen this video accompaniment a couple weeks ago when I began researching for this piece (competing psychological theories, ontological (never mind the hardwired v. acquired arguments) and philosophical schools, and more), I’d forgotten that all I’d really needed to present was this John Trudell video. (Rest in Power, you brilliant warrior) His prose said it all, while I spent goodness knows how many words bending your ears (er…eyes). Forgive me, please.
‘Trying to isolate us in a dimension called loneliness leading us into the trap believe in their power but not in ourselves piling us with guilt always taking the blame greed chasing out the balance trying to isolate us in a dimension called loneliness.’
(the extensive lyrics, bless american humanity’s heart)
Some modernizations; feel free to add your own.
Last night on one of our PBS stations was an ad for Part II of Frontline’s ‘Putin’s Revenge’: ‘a 2 part examination of Vladimir Putin‘s rise, rule, motivations and the accusations of Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.’ It’s either a redux, or our stations hadn’t carried in late Oct./early Nov., but in any event, it goes hand-in-glove with the Mueller investigations of Russia-gate The trailer:
CNN’s ‘review’ was tragi-comedic in utter lockstep with the psyop, of course, but at least it was on their Entertainment tab. My favorite parts:
“Far from just resentment toward Hillary Clinton and efforts to destabilize a geopolitical foe, Putin has nursed “a lifetime of grievances” against America, the narrator intones during the latest soberly impressive production from director Michael Kirk and his team.
“Putin’s Revenge” goes on to detail the Russian leader’s history as a KGB officer when the Berlin Wall fell, and the psychic scars left by those events before he succeeded reformer Boris Yeltsin in 2000.
Foremost, Putin saw democratic movements rising around the globe in recent years, as well as dissent within Russia, as being fomented by the U.S. according to experts interviewed by Frontline. The Russian strongman — described as being “obsessed with TV” — was especially struck and alarmed by images of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi being beaten and killed by an angry mob.
Meddling in the American election thus served not only as a means of undermining a rival but an equalizer, even if the cyber campaign’s architects didn’t expect it to actually sway the outcome.”
‘Progressive’ Salon.com decoded those sections this way:
“From there, many moments in recent history were seen by Putin as one slight upon another. Bush’s post- 9/11 and the subsequent topping of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi in Libya as well as uprisings brewing in former Soviet countries were seen as existential threats. As he centralized power, restoring Joseph Stalin’s national anthem with new words in the process, his quest to make Russia great again became just as much about elevating his standing in the world and deteriorating America’s.”
Then there’s Emptywheels’ Dec. 16 ‘Poot and POTUS Plan to Move Beyond the Mueller Investigation’ in which she parses different reports of a Herr T-initiated phone call with Poot after he’d seen reports he’d been mentioned during Poot’s long Q and A presser. Afterward she report on Poot having been interviewed by Terry Moran, and yes, his lauding of Trumponomics was disgusting, but Marcy Wheeler takes Putin’s answer to the question ‘do you still want to normalize relations with the US/Trump as “do you still want to go steady?”:
“Putin wants to get on with things, with making good on his investment in Donald Trump. And in response to that message, Trump made moves towards trying to end the investigation that would show such a plan would be the quid pro quo for Putin’s help getting Trump elected.”
Comments are full of ‘What does Vlad have over Trump?’, ‘Putin and his oligarchs have stolen half of Russia’, ‘sewing chaos’, ‘he controls the Russian media and kills journalists!’ etc.
But altogether, it’s another version of ‘The White House has been painted Red’.
Now as to owning media narratives, all we have to do is look at PropOrNot (anti-‘Russian propaganda’) (nothing remotely left of center is recommended), and stifling dissent in the US of A? Keeee-rikey! And yet, we are free to vote, so we are a Democracy! Unless it’s stolen by…Russia and WikiLeaks, right? Or look at Google News directing traffic against even a bit left-of-center websites. With such compliant media, there’s no need for exact ‘state control’. Haven’t our own oligarchs committed massive theft against the people and polluted the Commons? Hasn’t the US deposed countless leaders and ‘interfered’ in elections, hello CIA, Soros, color revolutions, including a host of once socialist nations in the global south? Nah; we’re the good guys of the Colonized Mind Kind!
And of course, at the core of it all is the fact that Russia and other ‘ferrin’ alliances are challenging the Western Imperium in aid of a multi-polar world. Can’t have that, can ‘we’?
On 1/28 updates from comments:
this is not satire, but what a psyop: NATO joins the #MeToo movement
“Ending gender-based violence is a vital issue of peace and security as well as of social justice. Nato can be a leader in this effort”
“In our different roles we have seen how conflicts in which women’s bodies and rights are systematically abused last longer, cause deeper wounds and are much harder to resolve and overcome. Ending gender-based violence is therefore a vital issue of peace and security as well as of social justice.
The Nato Alliance was founded to safeguard not just the security but also the freedom of its peoples: in the words of President Harry Truman, as “a shield against aggression and the fear of aggression”. Sexual violence continues to be employed as a tactic of war. For nearly 70 years Nato has stood for collective defence against military threats. But also for the defence of democracy, individual liberty, the rule of law and the UN Charter.”
gob-smacking hypocrisy, but i’ll let julie hyland deconstruct the rest for you. she also reminds us of the many men raped, sodomized in prisons sponsored by the US and nato. good gawd all-friday.
this is a democratic socialists? LOL!
davidly
Greyson Smythe
LeMoyne
juliania2
ohiobarbarian
stephenadavis1
wendyedavis
café babylon 
the most recent tweet from nozomi hayase, and she seems to be a fan of wikileaks and cryptocurrency, of which i am wholly ignorant:
g’ night.
Bravo, wd.
Here’s a link to Captains of Consciousness beyond the financial purview of the gargantuan industry of the misappropriated name:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40719456
Which reminds me, I’ve got a big task on my hands, which involves searching and destroying all such links in my diary. I really should’ve known better.
thank you for both, davidly. but what means your last paragraph, please?
the amazon link to ewen’s oeuvre has more fun & cogent titles, as well.
any modernization updates to add? or simply too many, perhaps?
i’d also been thinking of the #meToo movement, and what it’s purpose really is beyond…what it’s purported to be.
Nothing to add. I just mean Amazon is indefensible enough that I need to expunge all their links from my diary, is all.
i’m not quite getting your drift about expunging all amazon links from your diary, but i’d been pinging pinging naomi klein’s ‘no logos: No Logos: “There’s a bad mood rising against the corporate brands. No Logo is the warning on the label; It tells a story of rebellion and self-determination in the face of our new branded world.’ when she (‘unfettered capitlalism along with her ‘this changes
everything!(nothing, as wrong kind ofgreen nails it) ) and billy bob mckibben (both cliimate change gods) may be the biggest brands in the US, both funded by the rockefeller foundation, and their related homies.
but wooot! mr. wd just sent off 2 packages to our chirren and grandchirren (nine of them) stuffed w/ grammy wd’s goodies, including decorations i’d made over the past couple decades and the best cookies ever. or so i’d lie to think. ;-) took a week to get it all together, not kiddin’, we’re soooo slow.
Back before I gave it much thought, I’d frequently link book & album titles to which I’d referred to Amazon, with the thought that if what I’d written had seemed of interest to the reader, the link would facilitate greater exposure. I typically looked for a more direct link to the author/artist, as the only downside I knew re. Amazon was its being less financially handsome for them. Now I have reconsidered my complicity in their exploitation.
Any oatmeals in there? Coconut?
ahhhh, now i see; thanks. yes, there often are more direct links, including reviews, or author pages. also, so many used book sites are available online now, often w/ multiple copies in varying conditions. it was weird learning that even the indies on amazon had to pay the piper such high fees.
ah, coconut! i finally begged mr. wd the other day to score me some fine shredded stuff. see, he’d been withholding it from me, the cad. he went to our local (very high-priced) natural food store…and bought half a pound. can’t wait, even though i don’t like more than a bite of anything sweet. but no, last year molasses hermits w/ golden raisins and oatmeal were total fails, so this year the toll house bars they love, peanut butter cookie bars, and an italian version of a russian tea cake made w/ lemon zest an extract.
more current brandings, rebranding, psyops, this reflects what i’d thought might be afoot in the #MeToo destruction by accusation movement. not proof positive, but as the Dem mouth pieces NYT and wapo were actively soliciting accusations, coupled w/ the fact that on the twit machine dems would yell: “see? we police our own!”
December 19, 2017 ‘Reactionary Movements are Not Revolutionary‘ by Robert Abele, dec. 19, CP
“Progressive movements traditionally target social issues and institutions for change, not people for professional assassination. If change is the goal, the accusations need to be dealt with either in the institution in which it occurred, or in a court of law, not just in the court of public opinion alone. If it is brought into the public arena, the target should be the offending institution and culture that protects sexually deviant conduct, and their managers who support it.”
abele posits that “they have stooped to using the strategy of “sexually cleansing” the Democratic Party of men accused of such misconduct, so that they may use the same weapon of sexual accusations as a bludgeon against Trump. They didn’t even bother with Al Franken’s own suggestion that he be investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee. This shows the extent of the reactionary nature of this movement: by weaponizing sex in the public realm—similar or parallel to what they charge their targets with doing in the private realm—they can gain political power.
“That the Democrats can only come up with strategies that support for the “Me, Too” movement (and “blame Russia”) is a sign of moral and political bankruptcy.”
will the underclass see any serious relief from sexual exploitation when this likely limited hangout goes down the memory hole? how many of the underclass even know that this ‘movement’ exists?
i’m not sure how to characterize this D drivel: ‘convenient situational branding’? from wsws:
“In response to the ultra-right hysteria over FBI political bias against Trump, congressional Democrats have embraced this notorious instrument of repression and political spying as a bastion of democracy. At a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, where Republicans grilled Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein over the Strzok-Page emails, one Democrat after another jumped to the defense of the FBI.
The senior Democrat on the committee, Jerrold Nadler of New York, called the Republican attacks on the FBI “wildly dangerous” to American institutions. Representative Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, said it was “sickening” to listen to Republicans smear the FBI.
Democrat Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued an email statement declaring, “The men and women of the FBI are among the most professional and committed public servants in our nation,” adding that they “serve all of us.”
ha ha ha!
“Characterize this D drivel: ‘convenient situational branding’ ” for what It IS: Fooking retardation from teh fount 0f ReTardis
lol and thanks, bruce. ah, rahm. plus: ding ding ding: 33 billion mac dogfood burgers sold! (okay, 2 commenters, boy is this diary unpoooopular! please tell the cafe cashier as you leave…that your meal has been comped!
Hi Wendy, I don’t have a lot of time these days but wanted to let you know I still look in from time to time. Happy solstice to thee and thine.
how great to see you, doug. i hope what’s occupying your time is beneficial. and good solstice to you as well; i’ll be glad that the days will be growing longer again. i was cold last night, and it’s supposed to get to minus three here on sunday night.
but then jason’s living in a tent in olympia right now, so my whingeing is ridiculous in comparison. be well, mi amigo.
this is not satire, but what a psyop: NATO joins the #MeToo movement:
“Ending gender-based violence is a vital issue of peace and security as well as of social justice. Nato can be a leader in this effort”
“In our different roles we have seen how conflicts in which women’s bodies and rights are systematically abused last longer, cause deeper wounds and are much harder to resolve and overcome. Ending gender-based violence is therefore a vital issue of peace and security as well as of social justice.
The Nato Alliance was founded to safeguard not just the security but also the freedom of its peoples: in the words of President Harry Truman, as “a shield against aggression and the fear of aggression”. Sexual violence continues to be employed as a tactic of war. For nearly 70 years Nato has stood for collective defence against military threats. But also for the defence of democracy, individual liberty, the rule of law and the UN Charter.”
gob-smacking hypocrisy, but i’ll let julie hyland deconstruct the rest for you. she also reminds us of the many men raped, sodomized in prisons sponsored by the US and nato. good gawd all-friday.
end to *gender*-based violence? wth?
b/c, you know, just like, ending, like, violence and stuff…nah. she’s cool with kill/rape/torture/banishment as long as it’s gender neutral.
well met, tom joad on the road! nice to see you’re alive and kickin’. but well, they add this psyop word salad, to boot:
“Nato’s senior military leaders, have a vital role to play in being positive role models, and promoting the role of women in the military.
Second, by helping to raise the standards of other militaries. Nato and Allied countries are involved every day in training partner militaries around the world. We want to explore ways in which existing training on the protection of human rights and civilians, including against sexual violence, can be strengthened.
Third, Nato has developed standard operating practices for soldiers in the field, learned through mandatory pre-deployment training. Standards and training are not the only answer, but they ensure that personnel recognize the different ways in which women and girls are affected by conflict and are trained to prevent, recognize and respond to sexual and gender-based violence.
This is a vital part of helping to create lasting cultural changes, including debunking the myths that fuel sexual violence and deepening understanding of the centrality of protection and rights for women in the creation of lasting peace and security.”
but nothing on the 1000+ nato/amerikan bases around the world where GIs rape locals with near impunity, of course.#human rights day, was the prompt. ‘nato’…human rights; gawd’s blood.
Yeah, I’d seen that article already. Left me gobsmacked. Maybe after the great success in Afganistan, what with liberating the women there, they felt it worth expanding.
whooosh, i guess so. as well as in libya, iraq, somalia, but ‘back in somalia again!’ julie did a fine job, didn’t she?
you’ve prolly read van auken’s take on MAGA security strategy, but i’m trying to dig thru some of the 60-page pdf for more….how stupid of me, including how hard it is to copy paste from a freakin; pdf. hardly any alt-media have covered it yet, not even strategic culture, consortium news. but here it is, the holly-days, and there are so many things to write about, dagnabbit, even for such a wee boutique site as the cafe (may alt-code accent acute’s broken, arrrg.) i just got used to more big-bore (so to speak) blogging in days of yore; can’t get over myself, i reckon. ;-)
but in many respects it’s a set-up for further r2p projects, isn’t it? rape and genocide by gadaffi were bogus reasons #1 and #2.
now i reckon that this is by way of a psyop within a psyop: ‘Jill Stein cooperating with Senate Intel Committee’s probe into Russian meddling’ NYDRag.com , Dec. 19
now stein’s ‘request’ to appear before the committee is based on this ubiquitous photo taken at an RT-sponsored dinner she’d attended in 2015:
…and since both vladamir putin and michael flynn (already admitted to lying to the committee), well, where there’s smoke, tra la la…
oh, and this version of the subversive dinner helpfully names the guests. me, i wanna know what’s for dinner, too, and why so many empty plates… ;-)
“Documents turned over to the panel show that Stein “made the trip with the goal of reaching an international audience and Russian officials with a message of Middle East peace, diplomacy and cooperation against the urgent threat of climate change, consistent with long-standing Green principles and policies,” she said.
(senator mark) Warner also said Stein had said complimentary things about Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who Warner said “clearly was being used by the Russians to take some of the hacked information and release into our political system.”
Assange denies receiving the material from Russia.
now in those stein documents also may have been her petitions to (huffpo) “recount campaign in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania (the three states that gave Trump the victory), Stein’s announcement quoted her on her website as saying that because “foreign agents” had “hacked into party databases, private email servers, and voter databases in certain states, many Americans are wondering if our election results are reliable.” Stein’s page was then updated to eliminate reference to “foreign agents” in her quote.
“Exhibits D through G — meaning all of Stein’s exhibits — are on alleged Russian hacking. One article is about an alleged attempted Russian hack of the 2014, post-coup Ukrainian election.” [Pfffft]
you’ll remember that the green steering committee objected to raising money for the recount, and to the recount as well, as did her running mate ajamu baraka. but we’ll likely never know which of her documents had been subpoenaed, eh?
but is that what’s she’s referring to here w/ this doublespeak? @DrJillStein Dec 18
“Complying with Senate Committee request, Jill Stein urges safeguarding elections from interference – while cautioning against the targeting of political opposition”
they raise ’em pretty stupid in Virginny don’t they? Terry McAuliffe for guvna & this snowflake for senator. Jill Stein did something other than anathematize Assange & call for his & his writings’ burning at the stake?
fuck you Mark Warner. such a self-righteous prick for a rabid CIA/DOD lapdog.
the internal mechanics of J Stein’s rationalizing her jumping on the anti-Russian jingo bandwagon are not that important in the end, but do we smell anything but rank, rancid, rotting opportunism?
ay y yi; i’d forgotten mcAuliffe. brilliant mofos, both. guess you’re right about Doctor stein’s rank, rancid, rotting opportunism, but no, all over at the librul sites is: “jill stein is a roosian spy!” with no countervailing issues… whatsoever. but i gripe too much, don’t i? i do remember that her millions for recounts had caused tarzie to…unspoool back in the day.
bit OT for this diary, but not for the ‘O, jerusalem’.
very on topic, tagged media propaganda; it’s hilarious!
as is this. these are democratic socialists?
‘Pinkerton 2.0’ via Jacobin
“The tactics used by corporate intelligence firms against nonprofits and activists are troubling. Equally distressing is the financial nature of the arrangement: these corporate spooks are trained in public agencies, their skill development bankrolled by public money, theoretically to serve the public interest. Corporate espionage can be very lucrative, which means that agents who develop even modest intelligence expertise are being lured away into the private sector — sometimes to wage war against the nation’s own citizens.
In the big picture, the revolving door between public and private espionage agencies amounts to a public subsidy for private corporations. We pay to train people who then use that training to maximize corporate profits at our expense. The CEOs of Fortune 500 companies enjoy the benefits of publicly funded intelligence education, while citizens’ groups increasingly feel the power of industry breathing down their necks.”
i mean there’s some interesting news in it, but jeez louise, meagan day; wake up.
.
…🎄🎆🌈 Seasons Greetings wd
…Nikki Haley as designated USian Empire hypocrisy practitioner at the UN seems to have no bounds of common or learned decency as to reckless abuse of facts and truths. Haley’s shamelessness with this being so in view of her ongoing abrasive conduct is acute.
… Plain to know here in late 2017 DeeTee is doing pretty much the same UN bash and abuse act that Slick+SmoothTalking USian Empire WarMonger/WarCriminal Barack Obama did for 8 years.
…Looks like the run amok Fact / Truth Baseless Bash Putin / Russia misdirection(s) malevolently mounted by the Clinton Gang and Dumbshit D’s since sometime back in mid 2016 going nowhere but in circles. Had the Dumbshit D’s worked as hard to make Barack Obama actually walk his talk from 2009 thru 2016 it would have been a much more worthy political quest. Imagine that…
…As it is the now $$$ lucrative junk politics of D vs. R which ran off the rails many decades ago now only serve assorted WashDC R and D rotted to the core vested interests. It is very numbing to see partisan D’s now steadily bashing Trump but yet not seeing how Obama betrayed so many D’s so often yet was / is not held accountable for any of the Big Lies, Big Snooping / Killing Sprees and War Crimes that Barack Obama stood with and for. Whatever Trump is / is not it should be seen that Barack Obama made it possible for the Bush/Cheney gang to get away with their many criminal acts, torture and death dealing. Now Barack Obama benefits from same Three Monkey SeeNot / HearNot / SpeakNot edifice.
…Barack Obama plainly made it possible for Trump to keep doing more Bush/Cheney/Obama which Trump most surely is now doing.
… Too bad the Dumbshit D’s who seek to continuously defend Obama, the Clintons and many Crooked D’s up on Capitol Hill while invoking ongoing odious nonsense of D vs. R junk politics are so blind and incapable of seeing what has been in plain sight for decades. The deepening consequences ensuing from this being so are becoming ever more real and knowable.
…Best Wishes to you and yours wd…always 🌈❤️🌞
…sta🏹
well howdy, stranger. great to see you, as always. i really don’t get how few understand that T’s just going a bit more wild on his FP and fascist security state than obomba, except well…tribalism. i’d meant to put up next some herr drumpf’s new ‘pragmatic and realistic security strategy’ (written by generals) next, but needs must, and i’ll post julian assange’s answer to being cut loose by the freedom of the press foundation instead. pffft.
it really is abysmal, but once the new tax reform and jobs bill hits hard, we’ll see what compromises the TINA! dems make to further reduce the social safety net to…nuttin’. hint: T’s security thang will mean *many more military jobs*! and look out china and russia! ‘we will be No.1 forevermore!’, quoth the yellow-headed pheasant.
love to you, arrow, and a good winter solstice as well.
one indication of the empty self is the reliance upon cliché to explain anything troubling, incl. what’s right in front of one’s face. so i’m standing in the coffee line in the warming center this a.m., with 75 plus other people, listening to this elderly volunteer barrista explain to a homeless person how private & public social services are really working hard to end homelessness. why he’s even on the board of a housing advocacy group himself!
the person saying this *must* say this b/c his self would be devastated if that rancid gruel were not true. take refuge in the cliché. & convince oneself that one’s own activities are not simple virtue-signaling & a waste of time. don’t trust your own penny of observation.
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cuz i’m just like Jack in Cameron’s “Titanic” (as Rose says to him, “You see people.” i’m just like that,) I’ve noticed people seem less frantic about the Xmas b.s. than usual. or maybe i’m so far out of it. but listening to 15 minutes turn in to 3 hrs as two elderly people with nothingness or eternity or reincarnation or whatever just seconds away & they jabber on about all the deals they just got at the Dollar Store & Marshall’s and…and all the nice particulars of the cute & cuddly & useful & needed junk they bought and how great all these knick knacks & tchotckas & bric-a-bric are at really bringing the bloom out of anyone’s soul.
ugh. 75 years of living consummated with the wisdom of the Dollar Store. bright & sparkly! get your bright & sparkly. all that glitters is gold.
the outer landscape is the inner landscape.
anywhodiddleydiddle, back to the woods to live simply, gnaw the bone of life, delete from the files all that is not life, and all that Walden stuff.
your bullshit detector is on high since you see so clearly, tom joad on the road, as well as that you’ve found more of your true humanity among the street people, the untermenschen, i believe that ‘class’ has been named. lower than the rabble, iow. guess i’d name the barrista’s remark as ‘reflexive cliché’, which is almost worse to me. one can hear her/him repeating that mantra to all homeless he encounters, but does not truly engage with.
i’m also reminded of the virtue-signaling that happens during the holidays, and that is making a public spectacle of oneself organizing ‘community dinners for thanksgiving and christmas: and all free!’ (ain’t we grand? is the subtext, at least in cortez it was, to a lesser extent in our valley.)
i reckon i have a bit of heart for the elders who’d been gargling on about their dollar store purchases from the $ store. maybe in earlier iterations they would have called it all…dreck, but have adapted to their circumstances. or maybe they were glurging on to con one another about how happy the items made them, who can say? even as “the outer landscape is the inner landscape” is undeniably so.
but this made me tear up w/ the image it pinged, and proud to know ya, bro:
“anywhodiddleydiddle, back to the woods to live simply, gnaw the bone of life, delete from the files all that is not life, and all that Walden stuff.” bless your pea-pickin’ heart.
jaysus, die Klischeedaemmerung (translate, please?), that made my eyes tear up. more later, i have 3 loves of bread to shape in their little pans right now. but oh, my, did i think of you well, all of us here, when this postcard from counterpunch came in the mail yesterday, advertising a book: ‘against charity’ by raventos and wark.
“this compelling and deeply thoughtful book is both an eloquent manifesto for the radical politics and kindness and a brilliant unmasking of our current ‘condescending saviors’- the tech billionaires and hollywood celebrities who disguise greed as charity and privilege as empathy.’
the non-industrial savior complex. gates leaps to mind first, although there are soooo many others.
Speaking of books, wendye, and me wondering this Christmas season what would be the antithesis of your empty self post here, my good little libraty has given me a great one – ” Father Joe – the man who saved my soul” by Tony Hendra.
I’ll just pop a few,quotes here:
“…Saints are driven to humbling themselves before all the splendour and horror of the world because they perceive there to be something divine in it, something pulsing and alive beneath the hard dead surface of material things, something inconceivably greater and purer than they…”
“The self must lose itself in love for the other. It’s the self we must leave behind…”
“New is not in things. New is within us. The truly new is something that is new forever: you. Every morning of your life and every evening, every moment is new. You have never lived this moment before and you never will again. In this sense the new is also the eternal…”
Merry Christmas, All!
happy christmas to you, stranger. i like the quotes a lot, and they reminded me of some poetry by rumi. if i find what i’m seeking, i’ll bring one back. this may not be a precise fit, but it reminds me somewhat of MLK’s requirement of a revolution of love, as do your quotes. thank you. ‘very moment is new’, and how hard it is for me to (baba ram dass): “be here now”.