Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The US House of Representatives has voted 368-57 to spend $40 billion on a world-threatening proxy war while ordinary Americans struggle to feed themselves and their children. All 57 ‘no’ votes were Republicans. Every member of the small faction of progressive House Democrats popularly known as ‘The Squad’ voted yes. The massive proxy war bill then went to the Senate, where it was stalled with scrutiny not from progressive superstar Bernie Sanders, but from Republican Rand Paul. This is because the left-wing Democrat is a myth, like the good billionaire or the happy open marriage. It’s not a real thing; it’s just a pleasant fairy tale people tell themselves so they don’t have to go through the psychological turmoil of acknowledging that their entire worldview is built on lies.” [editor’s note: A gentle reminder that “pro-peace Democrat” becomes an oxymoron when they control Congress and the White House – SAT] (05/13/22)
“The New York Times recently reports there is a developing cooking oil shortage. The subhead to the article reads: ‘Several British supermarkets have joined other chains around the world in asking shoppers to limit their cooking oil purchases, as supplies dwindle and prices rise.’ Before reading the article I wondered if this sort of request of consumers risked being naive and counterproductive. After reading it, I am still unsure.” (05/14/22)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Hannah Cox
“Americans are already struggling under the weight of crippling inflation, from skyrocketing gas prices to exorbitant grocery bills. And even if few Americans thought the Biden Administration had a plan to combat these things — especially considering the fact that their spending and regulatory problems directly created them — I’m betting most Americans didn’t think the President would take obvious actions to immediately make things worse either. Yet, that is what he did this week, canceling one of the most important oil and gas leases at the country’s disposal in the middle of the night. This action will halt the potential to drill for oil in over 1 million acres on the Cook Inlet in Alaska, marking a devastating loss for those trying to increase the oil supply in the country.” [editor’s note: “Conflicting court rulings” doesn’t sound very “single-handed.” Or, for that matter, voluntary- TLK] (05/14/22)
“Recently, much attention has been focused on the Department of Homeland Security’s ill-conceived Disinformation Governance Board. And rightfully so. But against this backdrop, I believe a deeper, more organized, and deliberate disinformation campaign has been underway by political leadership at DHS. This campaign has been carefully planned and executed over a series of months and has been repeated time and time again, both to the American people and the U.S. Congress. … Political leadership at DHS wants you to believe that the border is closed and secure, that DHS has ‘operational control’ over the border, that illegal [sic] aliens are ‘promptly removed’ from the U.S., and that DHS has a plan to address the massive surge of illegal [sic] migration that will result from removing Title 42.” (05/13/22)
“Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Roe v. Wade in 1973, politicians on all sides have had a free ride on the issue of abortion. They could comfortably take positions that would never attract majority support, knowing they would never have to vote on actual legislation embodying those views. This allowed them to play up to voters who were passionate on one side of the issue and who could be relied upon to donate, volunteer, and turn out to vote. Now, however, the free ride may be over. The court is apparently on the verge of overturning Roe v. Wade …. If that happens, the authority to regulate abortion will return to the people of each state and their elected representatives. That puts state lawmakers in a new political world. They’re going to have to deal with the rest of the voters.” (05/15/22)
“One of the most destabilizing aspects of the chaos of the past few years is that the pillars of society—our democratic and academic institutions, along with our courts, media, police, doctors, corporate giants, and thought leaders—have not only been unable to resist the postmodern deconstruction of society but have become active perpetrators in a war on reality that is turning classical liberal democracy into a parody of itself. How did the institutions that were meant to prevent civilized society from devolving into a barbarian free-for-all become the drivers of the current descent into madness? How do we wake society from a nightmare in which nothing is sacred, freedom is blasphemy, and roosters are laying eggs … when society merely shrugs its shoulders in resignation?” (05/15/22)
“John D. Rockefeller ruled the Standard Oil Company monopoly until the trust busters from Washington broke up its giant price-fixing and predatory practices into several companies. Andrew Carnegie was the ruler of the giant Carnegie Steel Company (which became U.S. Steel Corporation). Carnegie violently broke up strikes, such as the 1892 Homestead strike, before he left the company to be a major philanthropist building libraries and universities. In the post-World War II years, the CEOs of General Motors and Ford had immense power but still had to contend with a strong United Auto Workers union and later with jolting consumer advocacy leading to federal safety and emissions regulation. Today’s corporate dictators are like no others, with unparalleled wealth towering over that held by Rockefeller and Carnegie (adjusted for inflation).” [editor’s note: Like his colleague Reich, Nader now appears to be as senile as Biden – SAT](05/14/22)
“Today, these States seem to be suffering yet another national pandemic: one of rage and paranoia. Consider that since June 2020, that cesspool on the Potomac has enjoyed a trifecta of anger, fear, and paranoia on the part of the political class and their minions. Perhaps not unlike what happened back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Yet different and worse, in many ways.” (05/14/22)
“The extreme left explains the Ukraine Crisis as essentially an outcome of inflated post-Cold War global imperial overreach orchestrated by the U.S., manifesting itself by way of neoliberal globalization in close conjunction with the projection of military dominance on a planetary scale. The extreme right, which enjoys far greater access to elite circles of government and media than the left, explains the Ukraine Crisis as an essentially evil plot by a Russian autocrat to destroy sanctity of the territorial rights of a sovereign state …. These ideological silos of explanation have different impacts in the West, leaving those on the left frustrated by their political irrelevance, while those on the right are currently riding a high wave of influence almost oblivious to the geopolitical storm clouds of a wider war that unleashes nuclear weapons.” (05/13/22)
“North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Pennsylvania have become this year’s battleground states, not in general-election contests but in vicious, high-priced Democratic primary runoffs between moderates and progressives. Moderate-supporting super PACs, under the guise of supporting issues like crypto and Israel, have poured in historic amounts of money to push their preferred candidate on Democratic voters. In just a handful of House races and one Senate race, they’ve spent tens of millions of dollars. That tidal wave of corporate money within Democratic elections is unprecedented, and has resulted in some dubious messaging and advertising. In Pennsylvania, the Penn Progress super PAC, supporting moderate Senate candidate Conor Lamb, became one of the rare entities to see one of its ads taken off the air on the grounds that it was demonstrably false and misleading, after it wrongly referred to his opponent John Fetterman as a ‘self-described democratic socialist.'” (05/13/22)
