BY PATRICE GREANVILLE
NOTE: ALL VIDEO MATERIALS FROM CBS THIS MORNING, 9.9.16
CBS Charlie Rose with socialite Amanda Burden. A courtier by instinct, Rose has built a niche as America’s tv “intellectual”. But doing imperialist propaganda, serving as a smooth ideological watchdog for his masters, is what comes naturally to him, especially now that he is a millionaire many times over. Photo by david_shankbone 
The Establishment picks a candidate
[dropcap]B[/dropcap]asically at this point, the dominant wing of the corporate establishment, a mob bent on US global hegemony at any cost, has decided to make Trump a pariah while casting its bets with Hillary. We know the fix is in because the mainstream media prostitutes, which constitute a dense, self-impressed layer at the very top of their smelly heap (being ready to act as enthusiastic shills for the empire and its countess crimes at home and abroad is as much a requisite for a successful career in US “journalism” as it is in regular politics) have been working around the clock to ridicule, “expose” and warn the public off, in hysterical terms, about Trump’s supposed threats to the nation and the planet. Yea, he’s that dangerous.
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he kingmakers’ disgust with Trump does not stem from anything decent or rational, or even remotely moral. That is never the case in American politics, a nation that has cultivated hypocrisy, “pragmatism”, and self-delusion to an astonishing degree. These establishment worthies are furious, offended and concerned by something else, the fact that Trump—technically their class brother, is too erratic, “too narrowly self-seeking, old-fashioned, and small-biz capitalistic” —to be trusted to carry out the imperialist agenda that the highest circles in the US ruling class have long embraced. This is a Neocon vision for the 21st century calling for war on Russia and China, and possibly other nations, if necessary, to preserve and expand the dominance of the United States in every corner of the world. The overwhelming majority of the US populace remains infantilistically innocent about this nifty project. Trump, for all his innumerable lies and faults, obviously does not see the need to court disaster in order to continue his enrichment or that of his class. Nor —businessman to the hilt—is he fully conscious or convinced that marketing rhetoric (in this case his ultra-chauvinist drivel) should be backed up with actual policies.
But, even with a man as unworthy of respect or credibility as Trump, strange emanations issue from his lips that set the alarms ringing. For the Donald, like the legendary broken clock, is still able to float —unpredictably, erratically and much too fleetingly—notions that strike even the normally brainwashed American as “reasonable”. Things like, why not just talk to the Russians and negotiate instead of starting a countdown to mutual incineration? Or, why not ally with Russia in the fight against ISIS, since the Russkies do it so well? (Apparently no one has bothered to tell Trump, who never reads and gets his info by watching television, that the official line that the US is actually fighting ISIS in Syria is total bunk.) Or, get this—equally heretical—why should we be paying for NATO when it is those cheap ingrates, the Europeans, who “benefit” from our “generosity? Why not just dismantle it? Yea, let them pay for their own defense. All of this sends shivers down the spine of the Deep State imperialists, for whom Hillary, is the only vetted horse.
O’Donnell: Cheerleader pretty, but a journalist?
To the US establishment, from its intel goons and henchmen, to the plutocrats in the defense and energy industries that control so much of US international policy, or, for that matter, that strange and untouchable tumour in the US foreign policy body, the Zionist neoplasm, all of this talk of isolation and dismantling is sacrilege, unnerving incoherence, plain heresy. Trump is therefore something to be combatted by any means necessary, and the first move has been to rally round Hillary, with alacrity. As Bruce Fein has summed it up so lucidly,
If you believe like former Democratic Secretary of State Dean Acheson that “[i]n the final analysis, the United States is the locomotive of mankind and the rest of the world the caboose,” an arrogance that begot the gruesome Vietnam War, then you should vote for Hillary Clinton.
It’s quite unsurprising then, that in this toxic climate, the media barons have been quick to mobilize their overpaid hacks, types like Mr. Rose of previous mention, to do the dirty work. The upshot has not been pretty, even if their target is execrable in almost every regard. In this manner, like Henry II’s assassins bent on relieving their master of a “turbulent priest” the modern media assassins have been quick to unleash a constant barrage of ridicule, questioning, and vilification on Trump calculated to leave nothing standing. It is indeed something of a miracle, that the Donald is still there, and in some places even contesting Hillary’s turf.
I imagine that the hacks’ work on Trump could not have been very difficult. After all, this is a man who stubbornly provides any would be media assassin with abundant ammo. Almost daily, sometimes hourly. So for experts in character obliteration, this must have been a walk in the sun, a trick scarcely more demanding than shooting fish in a barrel, and hardly more edifying. The GOP nominee, you see, the standard-bearer of a rump and disoriented Republican party, is generous with instances of grotesque silliness and yahooism, something that even many Yahoos recoil from. Ignorant to the core, incurably arrogant and narcissistic, Trump is simply a dream come true for cartoonists and satirists of every stripe.
Oprah protege King.
Under such conditions, if you are a student of American disinformation, watching CBS these days can be a rewarding activity. Not that CBS is unique in its shameless distortions. It’s just that the Tiffany Network is so smooth and elegant in its propaganda. They do it so well, almost as seamlessly as the New York Times, which set the standard for refined brainwashing under freedom.
Kaine holding forth on Obama’s great leadership brand and Putin’s lack of creds. Obviously.
So look closely how and for what totally base motives, the abject crew at CBS This Morning, led by that maximum ghoul of US media, Charlie Rose, supported, like a tv rock star by two of his adoring groupies, the forever clueless Norah O’Donnell and the slightly less dense Gayle King, pushes hard to advance Hillary’s fortunes by raising the specter of Trump’s admiration for Putin, the bottomless perfidy of Russia, the way Russia’s hackers menace the purity of US elections, how North Korea keeps threatening the peace, etc, etc. Certify also how CBS and the rest of the pack provide ample screen time to the worthless Clinton sidekick, Tim Kaine, a man better known for his well-deserved obscurity, and only slightly better informed than the pathetic Libertarian Gary Johnson, to lecture us on what constitutes “leadership”, “dictatorship” and other heavy notions. It would all be plenty laughable, if these jokers didn’t get to have the last laugh.
—PG
Incidentally, be sure to read the bonus material I am including with this post, two lucid analyses of the American way of politics by Steve Lendman, who rarely pulls any punches.
And one last thing: We are supporting Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka, the Green Party ticket in this election. If you can’t vote for them, don’t vote, stay home.
Special Bonus: In the land of ignoramuses
How Fantasy Democracy Works in America
by Stephen Lendman
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]merica is a one-party state with two right wings. Fantasy democracy substitutes for the real thing, tyranny by any standard, might over right, equity and justice be damned.
Independent candidates are shunned – at times grievously abused. More on this below. Governance at the federal, state and local levels exclusively serves wealth, power and privileged interests, no others.
Elections when held are farcical – easily and often rigged with electronic ease and by other devious means, most people none the wiser.
Power brokers run things. Ordinary people have no say whatever. Voting is a waste of time. Why bother when your choice doesn’t count.
Police state harshness punishes anyone challenging how America really works – a ruthless debauched state harming more people over a longer duration than any other country in history.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and her running mate Ajamu Baraka represent what governance should be all about – serving everyone equitably and fair, polar opposite the way America works.
Resisting tyranny is a universal right and obligation – civil disobedience for right over wrong one of the noblest of noble acts, the stuff redoubtable heroes are made of.
Stein and Baraka could be prosecuted and fined, even imprisoned for courageously standing in solidarity with Native American Sioux people and environmentalists in Morton, ND.
They oppose ecologically destructive Dakota Access Pipeline construction to carry crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois if completed. Standing Rock Sioux tribe lawyers sought injunctive relief to halt the project temporarily.
On Wednesday, warrants were disgracefully issued for the arrests of Stein and Baraka. Wrongful charges include trespass and criminal mischief.
“And for what,” they asked? “For their commitment to defend the planet and stand in solidarity with the struggle of the Sioux people.”
“For standing with those who are defending their rights to clean water and sacred burial grounds.” They spray-painted messages on a bulldozer destroying hallowed ground.
Stein said “I hope the North Dakota authorities press charges against the real vandalism taking place at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation: the bulldozing of sacred burial sites and the unleashing of vicious attack dogs.”
“How does the act of Jill and Ajamu’s peaceful civil disobedience compare to the crimes being committed by the fossil fuel industry – threatening the water of millions and using dog and pepper spray attacks on peaceful protectors of the land,” both candidates asked?
Stein said “(w)e are facing a climate emergency that requires us to halt any further investment in fossil fuel infrastructure, and instead to transition to 100% clean energy as soon as possible.”
Energy and construction companies should be prosecuted for environmental destruction, not peaceful protesters courageously defending the land from their pillaging.
Baraka said “(o)ur campaign is all about standing up to the rich and powerful who believe in their right to exploit the rest of the planet’s beings and resources for their own profit.”
“The state should be prosecuting the crimes of threatening the water of millions and the attacks on peaceful protestors.”
Stein and Baraka are revolutionary activists at their best, heroic figures, their progressive agenda what’s badly needed.
Media scoundrels ignore their message, treating them like nonpersons. They’re denied the right to compete fairly against the two most widely reviled duopoly party candidates in US history.
Now they face arrest and criminal prosecution – for courageously doing the right thing, for challenging people and environmentally destructive pipeline construction.
America works this way – for its privileged few alone at the expense of most others.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Geopolitically Clueless Libertarian Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson
by Stephen Lendman
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen asked what he’d do about Aleppo if elected president, Johnson astonishingly replied: “(W)hat is Aleppo?”
Asked if he was “kidding,” he said “no.” Pre-war, Aleppo was Syria’s largest city, its main commercial hub. Now it’s the epicenter of weeks of war for control over a key part of the country.
James Petras believes its liberation would strike “a decisive blow against the alliance of Saudi Arabia, Washington and Turkey.”
Defeating terrorism in Aleppo “will turn the war,” said Petras. “(O)nce (it) falls, Raqqa” is next, ISIS’ stronghold in the country, “and Syria will be liberated.”
A disquieting development is Turkey’s August 24 invasion of northern Syria on the phony pretext of combating ISIS fighters it supports – wanting areas it occupies and more bordering its territory annexed.
Petras calls its action “a threat for all democratic forces in the Middle East.” Preserving Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity depend on challenging and deterring its aggression responsibly and decisively.
Gary Johnson’s troubling geopolitical ignorance is unsurprising. His gaffe is reminiscent of Gerald Ford once saying “(t)here is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe” while debating Jimmy Carter.
He’s like most Americans, sublimely ignorant about the nation’s imperial wars, why they’re waged, the millions of lives lost, the rape and destruction of one country after another, wanting all independent ones transformed into US vassal states.
Propagandists posing as journalists are know-nothings, regurgitating scripts handed them to viewers and readers, leaving them unaware of what’s most important to know.
Johnson’s interviewer calling Aleppo “the epicenter of the refugee crisis” failed to explain half of all Syrians displaced internally or externally, millions more affected the same way in all US war theaters.
America’s self-styled newspaper of record New York Times misreported, calling Aleppo the “de facto capital of the Islamic State,” later mistakenly saying it’s ISIS’ “stronghold” – wrong on both counts and one more, referring to Aleppo as Syria’s capital.
Anyone with minimum knowledge of what’s going on in Syria knows it’s Damascus. Americans are consistently fed misinformation or willfully lied to.
Media scoundrels complicit with authorities in Washington keep them in the dark, uninformed on vital issues affecting their lives and welfare.
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