ANDREI RAEVSKY—By the way, it is interesting to note that while now we have irrefutable evidence that Russia did not interfere with US elections, the Neocons almost instinctively make a connection between the “revolting MAGA serfs” inside the USA and the “revolting Russian serfs” outside. And, truth be told, I would argue that the people of the USA and the people of Russia have the exact same enemy. The difference is that the US political system, a truly totalitarian system, cannot be subverted from the inside, but it can very much be defeated externally (if only because this system is BOTH non-viable – it is based on exploitation and imperialism – AND non-reformable – because it is absolutist in nature).
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CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—Talking about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine without also talking about the ways the US empire provoked and benefits from this war is the same as lying. One of the main differences between myself and other commentators who talk about an elite conspiracy to implement a totalitarian dystopia is that the others warn that we are being pushed toward this dystopia, while I insist that we’re already there and have been for generations.
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ERIC ZUESSE—So long as a “private” entity censors public debate, the nation’s laws cannot get involved in that — that censorship cannot be outlawed. If public debate can be squelched by private entities, that’s okay, in America’s system of Government. The false assumption of this system is that allowing private entities to squelch “the press” or “the news media,” is okay because different private entities will squelch different truths from being presented to the public; and, so, each citizen will select which types of truths not to know, and which types of lies to believe instead — and that’s ‘democracy’ in America.
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Whatever deals wound up being cut to finally allow the House of Representatives to elect Kevin McCarthy Speaker will probably not be clear for a while, if ever. But one proposed agreement demanded and won by the far right GOP holdouts is a significant cut in Pentagon spending. Difficult as it is for many to imagine, this firm demand for reduced military spending puts these ostensibly far right Republicans significantly to the left of many Democrats, including members of The Squad and Bernie Sanders, all of whom consistently vote for ever-increasing Ukraine War funding.
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During the Trump impeachment proceedings, Democratic Congressman and Chair of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff talked a good game about “American values” and the like, but when he decided he didn’t like certain journalists and tried to get them banned from social media outlets, well, maybe that whole “freedom of the press” thing wasn’t quite so important after all. In the latest Twitter Files dump, journalist Matt Taibbi reveals the efforts Schiff made to silence journalists who were a bit too “oppositional.” Guest host Aaron Maté and Taibbi discuss the journalists targeted by Schiff and how Twitter responded to the demands.
