Category: MK

Liberty Links 4/14/18 – World War 3

World War 3
Sharing links unrelated to the reckless, criminal and unconstitutional act launched by Donald Trump and the U.S. government last night feels kinda inappropriate. As such, here are a few short paragraphs on what I think it all means. I’ll have more next week.

I think last night’s historically foolish action by the U.S., UK and France may mark the official start of World War 3. You could argue it began long ago, but there’s always been hope for the trends to reverse. We’ve now likely gone over the brink, and the odds of turning this ship around is so low it doesn’t deserve serious consideration.

Russian leadership are not a bunch of fools, nor will they back down. After last night, they know for certain the U.S. empire is determined to castrate them globally at all costs in order to impede an inevitable emergence of a multi-polar world.

I don’t think Russia or Iran will respond with a shock and awe attack any time soon, nor will this likely spiral out of control in the near-term. It’s more likely we’ll see this all play out over the course of the next 5 years or so.

I also don’t expect this to go nuclear, but I think the chances the U.S. experiences an imperial collapse similar to that of the USSR (or like any historically unmanageable and corrupt empire) has become increasingly likely. My view at this point is the U.S. and its global power position will be so dramatically altered in the years ahead, it’ll be almost unrecognizable by 2025, as a result of both economic decline and major geopolitical mistakes. This will cause the public to justifiably lose faith in all leadership and institutions.

I’ve been increasingly using Twitter to express my thoughts, so you should really check out my timeline there.

Here are a few tweets from the last 24 hours.

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I’m Not Right, Left or Center – I’m a Free Thinking Human

It’s not often my work’s mentioned in mainstream publications, but it’s always instructive when it happens. Such an instance occurred earlier this week in the form of a nonsensical BuzzFeed piece.

The article was originality titled, “Here’s How A Bunch Of Syrians Trolled The Far Right Into Freaking Out Over A Twitter Poll,” but was quickly changed to “Fox & Friends Tried To Poll People About Whether The US Should Intervene In Syria And It Didn’t Go Well.”

I immediately pointed out the ridiculousness over Twitter about being included in an article with a title implying I’m “far right,” but there’s no way to know if this influenced the alteration. Either way, the piece gives me a perfect excuse to once again highlight some very important points regarding the dangers and counter-productiveness of excessive political tribalism.

Besides the idiotic original title, the other noteworthy aspect of the article was how the author described yours truly. Here’s what she wrote:

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The Time for a Massive Anti-War Movement is Now

An alleged new ‘chemical incident’ in Syria reminds of a similar series of events we saw last year. We are told to believe that each time the U.S. pulls back from the war on Syria the Syrian government is responding with a ‘chemical attack’ that pulls the U.S. back in.

– From Moon of Alabama article: Syria – Timelines Of ‘Gas Attacks’ Follow A Similar Scheme

If you’re genuinely against U.S. wars for profit, power and empire the current moment represents our best opportunity to push back aggressively and launch a real grassroots anti-war movement. The entrenched forces who’ll stop at nothing to get their war with Iran and Russia going seem to believe that time’s running out. As such, they’re resorting to increasingly comical and preposterous interpretations of “events” to get their conflagration going. The war sales-pitches have become increasingly desperate and nonsensical, which provides us with a window of opportunity to push back.

It’s hard to keep track of the timeline of events these days, but it was just last week that the British foreign office was caught deleting a tweet in which it had falsely claimed it confirmed the nerve agent used in the Skripal poisoning had been produced in Russia.

As The Guardian reported:

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Liberty Links 4/8/18 – Chinese, Russian Militaries Are Closer Than You Think, China’s Defense Minister Says

If you appreciate my work and want to contribute to independent media, consider becoming a monthly Patron, or visit the Support Page.

Event Note: I’ll be part of an excellent Bitcoin panel in Denver on April 25th. If you’re in the area or want to be, it’d be great to meet some of you.

Top Links

U.S. Take Note: Chinese, Russian Militaries Are Closer Than You Think, China’s Defense Minister Says (South China Morning Post)

Exclusive: Yellen Gets Post-Fed Payday in Private Meetings with Wall St. Elite (Least surprising thing ever, Reuters)

New Study Provides Yet More Proof Of Saudi State Sponsorship Of ISIS (Zerohedge) 

Saudi Crown Prince: Iran’s Supreme Leader ‘Makes Hitler Look Good’ (This guy needs to go home already, The Atlantic)

John Bolton, Cyber Warrior (More on how much of a thug Bolton is, Politico)

The Poison in our Body Politic (Important read on shameless UK government lies, Craig Murray)

Don’t Fix Facebook. Replace It. (I agree, The New York Times)

Palestinian Journalist in Vest Marked ‘PRESS’ Shot Dead by Israeli Troops in Gaza (The Washington Post)

Supreme Court Rules for Police Officer in Excessive Force Case (The New York Times)

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Brave New World Revisited and the Disease of Over-Organization

When people talk of the freedom of writing, speaking or thinking I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists; but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more.

– John Adams letter to Thomas Jefferson, July 15, 1817

Brave New World Revisited is one of the few books I’ve read in my life that I continue to think about on a regular basis. In terms of understanding where humanity stands at present and what we need to do to get out of the mess we’ve created, it’s one of the more important pieces of non-fiction you can find.

I recently felt the need to reread the book for some unknown reason, and I’m glad I did. The choices we make as a species about how we reorganize human affairs in the decades to come will determine the future of human freedom on this planet. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World Revisited offers an abundance of wisdom for us to consider as we move forward.

Huxley was deeply concerned with the importance of individual human freedom and the forces relentlessly trying to stifle it. Here’s a brief description of how Huxley viewed our species:

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Liberty Links 4/1/18 – Madman John Bolton Advocated for Iran Regime Change in 2017 Speech

If you appreciate my work and want to contribute to independent media, consider becoming a monthly Patron, or visit the Support Page.

Event Note: I’ll be part of an excellent Bitcoin panel in Denver on April 25th. If you’re in the area or want to be, it’d be great to meet some of you.

Top Links

John Bolton Called for Iran Regime Change During a Speech Last Year (Guy is a certified lunatic, YouTube)

Trump’s Choice Of Bolton Satisfies His Biggest Donor (Sheldon Adelson, no surprise, LobeLog)

The Teenage Demagogues (National Review)

Our Increasingly Unenforceable Constitution (Disturbing trend, The New York Times)

Facebook Goes on a Hiring Spree for Washington Lobbyists (Of course, Bloomberg)

Private Equity? It’s More Like Pirate Equity (This industry is up to some seriously bad stuff, Bloomberg) 

Building the Iron Wall (Must read by Chris Hedges, TruthDig)

A Billionaire Biotech Investor Says Facebook Will Be Decimated by Its Disastrous Data Leak (Business Insider)

Microsoft To Ban ‘Offensive Language’ And Monitor Your Private Account (CBS Philly)

We Don’t Give Our Kids Exams. But That Does Not Mean They Are Not Tested. (Short article about unschooling, FEE)

Everyone needs to click on the following tweet and read the entire thread:

U.S. News/Politics

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There’s Only One Word to Describe Julian Assange’s Internet Being Cut Off – Pathetic

Let’s get right to it. Earlier today, Julian Assange had his internet access severed.

Here’s a translation of the statement from the government of Ecuador, in whose embassy he’s been trapped since 2012:

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Liberty Links 3/25/18 – CBS Interview With Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman Was Crime Against Journalism

If you appreciate my work and want to contribute to independent media, consider becoming a monthly Patron, or visit the Support Page.

Event Note: I’ll be part of an excellent Bitcoin panel in Denver on April 25th. If you’re in the area or want to be, it’d be great to meet some of you.

Top Links

The CBS Interview With Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman Was a Crime Against Journalism (U.S. mass media is just public relations for the Saudis, The Intercept)

How Congress Censored the Internet (Always assume Congress is working against the people, EFF)

RT Editor-In-Chief Explains “Why We Don’t Respect The West Anymore” (Zerohedge)

How McConnell and Chao Used Political Power to Make Their Family Rich (Must Read, The New York Post)

A Memo to the Publisher of the New York Times (Excellent summary of America’s never-ending wars, TomDispatch)

Feds Quietly Dropped Charges Against 11 Erdogan Goons Involved In Washington Attacks (Despicable, The Daily Caller)

Saudi Crown Prince Boasted That Jared Kushner Was “In His Pocket” (The Intercept)

Jack Dorsey Expects Bitcoin to Become the World’s ‘Single Currency’ in About 10 Years (CNBC)

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The Only Reason We’re Examining Facebook’s Sleazy Behavior Is Because Trump Won

Trust me, there’s nobody more thrilled to see Facebook’s unethical and abusive practices finally getting the attention they deserve from mass media and members of the public who simply didn’t want to hear about it previously. I’ve written multiple articles over the years warning people about the platform (links at the end), but these mostly fell on deaf ears.

That’s just the way things go. All sorts of horrible behaviors can continue for a very long time before the corporate media and general public come around to caring. You typically need some sort of external event to change mass psychology. In this case, that event was Trump winning the election.

The more I read about the recent Facebook scandal, it’s clear this sort of thing’s been going on for a very long time. The major difference is this time the data mining was used by campaign consultants of the person who wasn’t supposed to win. Donald Trump.

To get a sense of what I mean, let’s take a look at some excerpts from a deeply troubling article recently published at the Guardian, ‘Utterly Horrifying’: Ex-Facebook Insider Says Covert Data Harvesting Was Routine:

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‘Whataboutism’ is a Nonsensical Propaganda Term Used to Defend the Failed Status Quo

If you spend any time on Twitter, you’ll probably be familiar with the latest pathetic attempt to defend and insulate the U.S. status quo from criticism. It centers around the usage of an infantile and meaningless term, “whataboutism.”

Let’s begin with one particularly absurd accusation of “whataboutism” promoted by NPR last year:

When O’Reilly countered that “Putin is a killer,” Trump responded, “There are a lot of killers. You got a lot of killers. What, you think our country is so innocent?”

This particular brand of changing the subject is called “whataboutism” — a simple rhetorical tactic heavily used by the Soviet Union and, later, Russia. And its use in Russia helps illustrate how it could be such a useful tool now, in America. As Russian political experts told NPR, it’s an attractive tactic for populists in particular, allowing them to be vague but appear straight-talking at the same time.

The idea behind whataboutism is simple: Party A accuses Party B of doing something bad. Party B responds by changing the subject and pointing out one of Party A’s faults — “Yeah? Well what about that bad thing you did?” (Hence the name.)

It’s not exactly a complicated tactic — any grade-schooler can master the “yeah-well-you-suck-too-so-there” defense. But it came to be associated with the USSR because of the Soviet Union’s heavy reliance upon whataboutism throughout the Cold War and afterward, as Russia.

This is a really embarrassing take by NPR. First, the author tries to associate a tactic that’s been around since humans first wandered into caves — deflecting attention away from yourself by pointing out the flaws in others — into some uniquely nefarious Russian propaganda tool. Second, that’s not even what Trump did in this example.

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