Monday, August 1, 2022

Hype, Hostility, Hysteria Hiding Reality

What is Amped … What is Ignored

Today in America (in the current news cycle), anti-Eastern talkers and shock jocks masquerading as journalists or otherwise valid sources of information are hemorrhaging headlines and scripted lines about Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and ilk’s flagrant, belligerent provocation (act of offense) against the Far East. 

Of course, they are not calling this latest US outrage by its real name: a vile provocation (an act of divisiveness and aggression) against a sovereign nation and region and against international (multilateral, multicultural) relations; on the home front, a contemptuous act of distraction of Americans from the disintegration in Washington, the breakdown in US “leadership,” and thus the further breakdown of United States of America.

These pseudo news sources championing their “right” to spew nonsense—the right to saturate the public airwaves and cyber sphere with vile propaganda—are carrying on the tactics of their masters,  serving their masters' ends of disparaging nations with which (or leaders with whom) their masters disagree; spewing nonsense about a US public official’s “right” (or “US” “right”) to visit one of the United States’ allies of convenience.

L

et this truth be known: Neither the Far East nor Eastern Europe, neither the Russian Federation nor the People’s Republic of China is an enemy of the Americas in general or the United States of America in particular. The enemies of the United States of America are the leaders of the United States and their incestuous, nepotistic (private-NGO-academic-media-military industrial) partners and paymasters.

 

World and US News and Views

Missing in US- based headlines, Hawkers' scripts

“World is ‘one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation’” according to the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (world news source August 1, 2022)

 “In Kosovo as in Ukraine, the same Western ‘invisible hand’ foments conflict

In both cases, the West put no pressure on the side it supports to adhere to signed international deals: In addition to the conflict in Ukraine, Europe is now faced with the prospect of renewed conflict in Kosovo, Serbia’s breakaway province (officially named Kosovo and Metohija according to the Serbian constitution). Kosovo’s unilateral secession was recognized by the main Western powers in 2008. This came nine years after NATO’s attack on Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, after which NATO forces occupied the province and helped install an ethnic Albanian-led government dominated by former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army terrorist organization” (global political analysis, news August 1, 2022)

 “West should avoid ‘one-sided’ view on Ukraine crisis” a German official is reported to have said. “The fall of the Soviet Union represented a lost opportunity for a new European security framework, a local top politician said” (world news reporting August 1, 2022)

 “If telling the truth puts me on Ukraine’s ‘Russian propagandist’ blacklist, I’ll wear that tag proudly: When it comes to fact-based analysis, I’ll take so-called ‘Russian propaganda’ over ‘Ukrainian truth’ every day” (world news, an American patriot’s opinion July 29, 2022)

 

Death toll rises from devastating US flood” At least 30 deaths in US state of Kentucky as a result of torrential rains; hundreds of people are missing (world news August 1, 2022

“Young, low-income Americans hit hardest by soaring inflation: Persisting high inflation in the US has forced Americans to spend more on gas and bills, making young and low-income consumers feel the financial pressure and piling credit card debt” (world news, interviews August 1, 2022)

 “Fast-moving wildfire in northern California forces residents to evacuate: The McKinney Fire in northern California near the Oregon border has forced 2,000 residents to evacuate and has destroyed homes and critical infrastructure” (world news August 1, 2022)

“US lawmakers facing threats amid rise in political violence. US lawmakers will receive thousands of dollars to upgrade security at their homes amid rise in political violence” (world news August 1, 2022)

US President Joseph Biden “in denial” about US recession; (as) US lawmakers introduce bill, mirroring US Ukraine aid bill, to arm Taiwan (world news)

 “The US is in a recession and it is worse than you think: The Fed’s solution to record inflation is based on flawed logic, and US government policy is only compounding supply issues” (world news, opinion August 1, 2022)

“Define ‘recession’: Biden’s administration refuses to see economic reality Op-ed

Instead of addressing the most pressing problem of regular Americans, the president and his staff play word games” (world news, opinion July 28, 2022)

“State of (US) Homelessness 2022: Vallejo (Californian) trying to find its way with unsheltered situation, many have died (Internal US news reporting August 1, 2022)

 

C

rimes in the United States: “Total crime rate of the United States (overall and allowing for various definitions among different nations) is higher than developed countries—specifically Europe and East Asia…. United States' homicide rate is substantially higher, as is the US prison population. US violent (state and federal lethal injection) executions January-August 2022 average one a month (general reference).

Gun Violence 2022 (as of July 31, 2022) approaches thirty thousand: all categories total 25,908

  • 199 children age 0-11 killed, 442 injured; 
  • 793 teens age 12-17 killed, 2,150 injured; 
  • 384 mass shootings
  • 16 mass murders (Gun Archive data sources verified: July 30, 2022)

 

V

iolence
Denial
Neglect

It is as it does. It's all the same act.

Commit it, order it, or acquiesce to it; righteously deny its cause or effect, its manifestation or result; fail to report it or fail to call it by its name—it’s all the same.  

Violence is Violence.

The coward ducks and hides. The brave, the courageous, stand tall. They confess the truth: actual truth, not manufactured "truth." They make amends, and mend their ways.

 

 



World and National Sources
Collage composed of individual Internet images
Composition, Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images
Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett

 

Saturday, July 30, 2022

Far removed from Chamber of Echoes


For the Record
“Ukraine”-USA
Fabrication, Violent Aggression: an Unchecked Pattern 

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estern leaders (US-led) persist in manufacturing crises. They persist in worsening international and regional situations and relations. Refusing to engage in talking diplomacy (for as long as it takes); yet all the while, they engage in (directly, by order or legislative act) transporting and trafficking in, funding and exporting lethal (offensive) weaponry against peoples and nations—in this context, onto the border of the Russian Federation.

Five countries sitting on Russia’s border hold membership in the tool of America: the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO). These countries and their year date of entry are Norway (1949), Poland (1999), Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (all three in 2004).

The Washington Treaty commonly known as the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, DC, on April 4, 1949. The treaty’s legal grounding and executing agent is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (net worth estimate 2022: $1.036 trillion).

The founding pretext of NATO, a relic of the post-World War II (Cold War March 12, 1947-December 26, 1991) era, was to contain expansion of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The USSR collapsed in 1991. However, NATO (USA: Washington) has kept up and increased its belligerence against the Russian Federation, and against countries closely allied with Russia.

U

kraine is not a member of NATO but is intimately (culturally, historically, politically) connected with Russia, and shares a 1,925.80-kilometer (1,196.636642-mile) border with Russia. The US “imperialist” adventure manifested in a pattern of global (reckless) interference, exploitation and destabilization has targeted this geographical area and regional relationships with the Russian Federation.

Therefore, it is understandable that “Russia feels threatened,” Richard Medhurst wrote back in February of this year. Given the US media’s complicity in aggression, Medhurst says, “I can’t help but draw parallels with Iraq because we need to understand what’s happening here.” [USA v Iraq is USA v Ukraine (i.e., Russia).]

In the anti-Iraq era Washington and press partners manufactured stories (later dispelled) that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was sending anthrax letters to members of the US Congress; that the president (though heading a Baathist secular government) had “links to al-Qaeda,” a group of “right-wing religious extremists”; and bombshell of all bombshell fabrications, the Iraqi president was “building his own weapons of mass destruction.” All of these fabrications disputed—AFTER the fabricators had carried out repeated bombings and utter decimation of Iraq’s culture and institutions, and overseen the public execution of its head of state.

The same sinister people and entities who, for their own purposes, manufactured yarns against Iraq and against Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Georgia, Belarus and others have, in actuality, manufactured chronic yarns against China and Russia. On the road of their malevolence, they have exploited people and places like Ukraine and Ukrainians.

There is always a “supposed ‘imminent threat’ … justifying their claims” and prompting their ordered (legislated, droned, direct, mass acquiescence to) acts of violence—“attack on people or countries” to head off this fabled “attack on us.” Medhurst reported, “If you go on twitter” and peruse the account of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, “every six hours, like clockwork, he (Blinken) makes statements like ‘Russia needs to de-escalate’ (presentation of pretext) and ‘we express our unwavering support (call to war) for Ukraine.’ It is 24/7 propaganda,” a mantra accusing Russia of invading Ukraine—a claim that is neither checked nor challenged by articles or video reports produced and disseminated by major media outlets.

Enabling manufacture and malice is a collective media that fails to do due diligence of scrutinizing press releases, statements or claims. “People in media are basically mouthpieces for the government,” Medhurst writes; “by definition,” they are “state media” repeating made-up assertions as if they were confirmed fact. Added to major media’s fabrications are “some of the most insane things” (Medhurst’s words) conjured up on social media by “pundits or commentators.”

 

Richard Medhurst’s full article and interview appeared on February 20, 2022: Media Hyping War Interview “No Russian Invasion! Media Look like Fools Hyping War,” https://www.richardmedhurst.com/no-russian-invasion-media-look-like-fools-hyping-war/


R

ichard Thomas Medhurst is a journalist who did exclusive reporting on the Iran nuclear talks; and was one of the few independent journalists who covered the Julian Assange extradition hearing at the Old Bailey in London. Medhurst has lived in many countries (his parents, Syrian and British, worked with the United Nations) and speaks “four languages fluently: English and Arabic (mother tongue), French from secondary education and German, having lived in Austria.” His areas of coverage include “US politics, international relations and the Middle East;” his activism is “rooted in anti-imperialism.” His presence is in traditional and contemporary broadcast and print media.

 Additional reference sources

Friday, July 29, 2022

DISABLED (weakened) by the DIN

I am sick to death of the tiresome anti-Communism (or anti-Communist), anti-China, anti-Russia (generally anti-Oriental, anti Global South) shtick played ad nauseam by various US mass distracters—from self-righteous audio and video talk show performers; to self-serving panderers in upper echelons of government; to hordes of lackeys in concentrated industries of the press (traditional and virtual-space media), sports, and “entertainment.”

The only good public figures and media personalities can do for America—if indeed their intent is to do good for America, not merely attack the other fellow, and carry on an incessant blame fest targeting some distant (or close to home impaired) person or entity—is to compare present conditions, performance, results to objective principles. 

Compare America with America; not America with some irrelevant entity (If people want to be Communist, that’s their business; not the business of an American, and to use “Communist” as a slur is just another aspect of cheap distraction). Other nations and peoples; their form of government, choice of society or cultural traditions are irrelevant to arguments about US conditions. Moreover, United States public figures and the masses are deliberately, pathetically, recklessly ignorant of the former. US leaders have a penchant for manufacturing a specter that creates distraction (from their own failings), and spreads paranoia and perpetual hostility among the masses.

C

onsider indisputable truths.

 Russia and China trace their history in the hundreds of thousands, even millions of years (Africa too traces hundreds of thousands of years). History of the USA is barely past two centuries, and the people are seriously unhealthy. 

While US contemporary leaders (and their partners) spend time lecturing and disparaging other peoples and nations—they cannot (or do not bother to) instill, model or enforce standards of competence and incorruptibility in the United States of America. 

They cannot employ America’s jobless or shelter its homeless. They cannot run trains and planes on time or keep them in the air or on tracks, or vehicles safely on the roads. They cannot repair falling bridges or flawed roads, or keep debris off public surfaces. They can fill casinos and bars, and waste trillions in aggression foreign and domestic. But they cannot build, staff, equip and source good schools; educate the masses; instill discipline in the young or in the general citizenry. 

America is on a drug-addled rush toward self annihilation—aided and abetted by (left-right-center, et.al anachronistic, anarchistic, nihilistic extremist) distracters with technological gadgets, microphones, Teleprompters, and a choir of minders and yawpers and yammers.

Thursday, May 26, 2022

Undo the model and preexisting realities of U.S. violence

UNCHECKED, SANCTIONED U.S. violent CRIME: 24 / 7 setting the example for America’s young and impressionable

Americans lunge from crisis to crisis, from blame fest to blame fest, from bold headline to bold headline (sprinkled with hand-wringing “shock” and “thoughts and prayers”) — with no concern for or attempt to address and solve the United States’ deep-rooted contributive preexisting culture and conditions:

Promotion, choice and celebration, language and example of violence by public figures, politicians and public officials, and mass media (including news and sports broadcasting and entertainment sectors), which particularly affects the country’s mentally ill and impressionable.

Poverty, fear, ignorance

Sore human relations and community relations

Failed trust between citizenry and public service or government

Misplaced priorities and inadequate social, economic, educational, and leisure staffing and resources

Incest and nepotism yielding inadequate work ethic and unfit intellectual and experiential caliber and character in U.S. leadership and high-level personnel

Unfit moral, psychological and ethical character in leadership

 

♦ KILLED ON ORDERS 

Policy, acquiescence, direct actions of United States leaders, their partners and personnel 

Causalities abroad Ricocheted

Deaths 900,000 / Dollars 8 Trillion = (estimated) “Costs of the 20-year war on terror” https://www.brown.edu/news/2021-09-01/costsofwar

2021 2022 United States violence abroad continued, Costs of War continued to mount with estimates showing “that Americans are far from done paying the bill on the ‘war on terror’” still raging across continents. “The cumulative cost of military intervention in the IRAQ/SYRIA war zone has risen to $2.1 trillion since 9/11; and about $355 billion more has funded military presence in other countries, including SOMALIA and other African countries.” (Capital-letter emphasis added)

COSTS OF WAR project co-director is reported saying that “twenty years from now, (the people of the United States will) still be reckoning with the high societal costs of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars — long after (and even if) U.S. forces are gone. ” Stephanie Savell https://www.brown.edu/news/2021-09-01/costsofwar

DISPLACEMENT: “37 Million” people (at least) have been displaced by U.S. Post-9/11 Wars “New Costs of War Study” September 8, 2020 https://watson.brown.edu/research/2020/Post-9/11DisplacementStudy

U.S. SOLDIER SUICIDE: An estimated “30,177 active duty personnel and veterans of the post 9/11 wars have died by suicide.” Report June 21, 2021 - Paper - High Suicide Rates | Costs of War (brown.edu) https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/2021/Suicides

IRAQ BODY COUNT’s documented civilian deaths fr
om violence: 186,201 – 209,422 (further analysis of the WikiLeaks’ Iraq War Logs probable estimate: another “10,000 civilian deaths.” https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/ https://www.iraqbodycount.org/

 

♦ KILLED INTERNALLY following pattern set by U.S. leadership

Gun Violence Archives reports

2020: Total Number of GV Deaths - ALL Causes:  43,671; Mass Shootings: 610; Number of Children (age 0-11) Killed: 301 / Number of Teens (age 12-17) Killed: 1,083

2021: Total Number of GV Deaths - ALL Causes: 45,010; Mass Shootings: 692; Number of Children (age 0-11) Killed: 313 / Number of Teens (age 12-17) Killed: 1,247

2022 (to date, through May 24 2022) Total Number of GV Deaths - ALL Causes:  17,331 (Total Number of Injuries: 14,365); Mass Shootings:  214; Number of Children (age 0-11) Killed: 141 (301 injured) / Number of Teens (age 12-17) Killed: 512 (1,308 injured) https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/past-tolls https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/

END

Americans MUST ATTEND (focus, concentrate), Demand Strict Attention to Essentials:

Critical Matters of World and National History Knowledge Memory Principle, Practice Preservation Propriety United States public officials ...