P. GREANVILLE—WARNING: John Oliver, a comic firmly entrenched in the imperialist/liberal Democrat stable is not one of our favorites by a long shot. He and his ilk, which certainly includes folks like the treacherous Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher, often use their enormous platforms to distort reality and advance the agendas of the American plutocracy, whom they naturally serve at every turn despite frequent proclamations of independence and populism. That said, not even evil can be absolute when enacted by humans, and so is the case with this guy who in this episode tackles a subject of import to society, a topic that most mainstream tv networks remain afraid to touch: the historical role of religion and religiosity in the US and the lurid abuses of trust by the Christian fundamentalists (although of late, with the Catholic pedophelia scandals, we can categorically say that few denominations are exempt from criticism). So, keeping that in mind, watch and take what you can from this presentation.
October 26, 2018
Making selfishness into a virtue: The charlatan of capitalism Ayn Rand squares the circle.
3 minutes readP. GREANVILLE—People who admire this witch of unrestrained capitalism want to feel good about being utterly selfish, something that American culture, in its infinite hypocrisy, approves of and stimulates at every turn, while pretending to be charitable and “Christian.”
After the Khashoggi Murder, It is Up To Israel to Repair the Crack in the Axis of Evil
22 minutes readANDREW LEVINE—So far, the country has gotten through nearly two years of Trump and is still, for the most part, not too seriously damaged. But there are at least two more years to go, and even if fortune smiles upon us and that longed for “blue wave” materializes, it won’t help much.
If our luck nevertheless holds, future historians will wonder why the Khashoggi murder, but not, say, the more outrageous and far more lethal war that the Saudis are waging, with American help, in Yemen, or the many other greater and lesser assaults on international law and basic human morality that have always been the stock and trade of the Saudi royal family, get a pass.
What the mail bomb uproar says about American politics
10 minutes readPATRICK MARTIN—Trump’s nominal opponents in the Democratic Party have directed all opposition behind powerful factions of the military and intelligence apparatus—including figures such as Brennan. They have utilized the anti-Russia campaign to press for a more aggressive foreign policy in the Middle East and against Russia, while demanding ever more overt measures to censor the internet and block all views that “sow divisions” within the country.
Feigning moral outrage, the Times’ Thomas Friedman comes to the defense of the Saudi killer regime
BARRY GREY—The Times and other media critical of Trump have seized on the Khashoggi killing to step up their criticism of his decision to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear accord, not because they are opposed in principle to a war for regime-change in Iran, but because they see his action as a reckless diversion that has isolated the US from its nominal allies in Europe and distracted attention from the more pressing confrontation with Russia and China.
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