Rep Ilhan Omar tells the truth about pro-Israel AIPAC and gets smeared. 1
Ilhan Omar Confronts War Criminal Reply
Slavoj Žižek: Trump’s rise is a symptom of a dark and subtle force 22
For 25-30 years, I have said that the main political issues in the USA are imperialism, widening class divisions, and use of the wars on drugs, crime, and (later) terrorism to create a domestic police state. Regrettably, most of liberal and left opinion during this time has been more focused on “identity” issues and (to a lesser degree) environmentalism or expanding the welfare state instead.
We are seeing the consequences of that now. The US has killed millions of people in …the past 20 years with wars of aggression. Class divisions are the widest they have been in a century, and incarceration rates are setting world records. In fact, it’s often been the far right (paleocons, libertarians, sovereign citizens, isolationist xenophobes) who are more in tune on many of these issues than liberal and left opinion.
U.S. Congressman Introduces Bill to Remove Income Taxation from Gold and Silver Reply
By J P Cortez
Washington, DC (February 11, 2019) – The battle to end taxation of constitutional money has reached the federal level as U.S. Representative Alex Mooney (R-WV) today re-introduced sound money legislation to remove all federal income taxation from gold and silver coins and bullion.
The Monetary Metals Tax Neutrality Act (H.R. 1089) backed by the Sound Money Defense League and free-market activists – would clarify that the sale or exchange of precious metals bullion and coins are not to be included in capital gains, losses, or any other type of federal income calculation.
“My view, which is backed up by language in the U.S. Constitution, is that gold and silver coins are money and are legal tender,” Rep. Mooney said. “If they’re indeed U.S. money, it seems there should be no taxes on them at all. So, why are we taxing these coins as collectibles?”
Kick the Puppy Episode 21 Reply
Kid with the last name Trump falls asleep during Trump speech, American anarchist murdered in Acapulco, Cody Wilson indicted on multiple charges, person upset by Virginia governor’s abortion stance tipped off about racist photo, veterinarian stitched bags of heroin into the bodies of puppies to use them as drug mules, drug dogs, Black Panthers in prison after 46 years, the New Black Panthers are racist assholes, man in Smokies dies of meth, bear eats man in Smokies who died of meth, man kills bear in Smokies who ate man who died of meth, Colorado woman dies after two kidneys mistakenly removed, incompetent doctors, fake doctors, weird doctors, 8 children taken to hospital after eating weed gummy bears, anti-weed book pushes “reefer madness” hysteria, frozen cat covered in ice revived after being found in snowbank, cryogenics and weird rich people, one school district’s security upgrade includes facial recognition to track IDs and AR-15s, school in China, schools in England introduce a new subject: “mindfulness,” wtf is mindfulness, German town votes no to street addresses, new study says smoking weed is associated with higher sperm count, El Paso zoo will feed animals cockroaches named after your ex on Valentine’s Day, “living alone can be deadly” – if you’re not rich, of course.
Keith Preston: Israel lobby losing power in US as BDS gains traction Reply
Press TV. Listen here.
The Israel-lobby’s strong influence on the US government has started to fade as a result of recent changes in the American public’s view of the Tel Aviv regime, an American political analyst says.
Keith Preston, director of Attackthesystem.com, argued that the frustration amid American with Washington’s unconditional support for Tel Aviv was growing among American people and politicians.
“Well, it’s certainly true that Israel has a very very powerful grip over the American government,” Preston told Press TV on Sunday, adding that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) maintained the most influence the policy-making process in the US.
The analyst said the influence of the pro-Israel lobby was best seen when Donald Trump and other 2016 US presidential election hopefuls attended events by AIPAC to reassure the powerful interest group of their commitment to protect Israeli interests.
However, the political landscape in the US has seen some changes with regards to Israel and although politicians remained strong allies of the regime more people were turning against it.
“While Americans have generally been very very pro-Israel; that is starting to decline somewhat,” Preston argued. “I think more and more people for example in the United States are getting tired of American constantly being at war in the Middle East in large part because of the influence of the Israeli lobby over American foreign policy.”
Another notable change, he said, was the growing population of ethnic and religious minorities in the US, who “correctly see Palestinians as an oppressed people.”
Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who became the first Muslim members of the House of Representatives in January, have been outspoken about their criticism of Israel’s crimes against the people of Palestine.
The Councils Before Maduro! 1
By Nicky Reid aka Comrade Hermit
Exile in Happy Valley
Venezuela is fucked up. A nation hanging from the edge of a cliff by its broken and bloody fingernails. Thick noxious clouds of acrid black smoke gather around the capital of Caracas as the bodies continue to stack up. There is all out chaos in the streets as warring clans of half-starved people open fire on each other indiscriminately. The sides are ill-defined. There seem to be leftists, soldiers and cops in uniform on both ends of the melee. The government of Nicholas Maduro rounds up scores of hellions, holding the ones who don’t get shot in the streets indefinitely in unknown locations. Meanwhile the western vaunted opposition launches full blown terrorist attacks, killing scores of soldiers and civilians alike. There are no clean hands in this fist fight. Everyone has lowered their standards of human decency to meet the standards of their nations new era of depravity. Few things are clear here. The streets and social media alike are awash with rumors and hearsay. One thing that is clear is that we’re not in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela anymore. The once robust egalitarian experiment of Bolivarianism has devolved into violent statist hell and this was the point.
Venezuela is fucked up because its been fucked up, subjected to a concerted campaign of economic sabotage that started long before Maduro’s absurd Dengist market socialist reforms. The United States launched this campaign through its numerous tentacles, public and private, in response to a democratic revolution that also began long before Hugo Chavez became its benevolent figure head. Under this relentlessly oppressive regime of crippling sanctions and monetary manipulation, a nation state of any kind would crumble beneath the pressure. Just add the constant threat of coup de tats and a return to the western sanctioned petro-fascism of past decades and even the most egalitarian experiments will take on increasingly statist and authoritarian policies to protect their revolution and the people it serves. The cruel irony being that by taking these desperate measures they adopt the very same attributes they’re attempting to stave off in the name of a revolution that these very trends betray. An almost operatic tragedy of the commons.
Keith Preston: US trying to ‘farm out’ Afghan invasion to various proxy forces Reply
Press TV. Listen here.
US President Donald Trump is seeking to replace American troops in Afghanistan with private contractors and mercenaries to outsource the US conflict against the war-torn country, says a political analyst in Virginia.
Keith Preston Interview 2019-2-7 Reply
Texas indicts Cody Wilson on multiple counts of sexual assault of a minor 3
By Nathan Mattise
ARS Technica
AUSTIN, Texas—More than three months have passed since a warrant (PDF) initially went out for Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson’s arrest. That document detailed Wilson’s alleged sexual assault against a female “child younger than 17 years of age” whom he reportedly solicited through the website SugarDaddyMeet.com. Last Friday, December 28, the State of Texas finally formally indicted (PDF) Wilson. The 3D printed gun advocate now faces multiple charges: four counts of sexual assault of a child, two charges of indecency with a child by contact, and two charges of indecency with a child by exposure.
These charges are all second-degree felonies punishable by up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.
Wilson’s two previously scheduled initial court appearances in November and December had each been pushed back, as often happens in cases still waiting on a formal indictment. This recent filing may make it more likely that the newest tentative date (scheduled for early February) will occur, meaning Wilson’s team would need to finally appear at the Travis County Courthouse.
Congressman Demands CFTC Explain Its Failure to Find Silver Market Manipulation Where DOJ Did 1
By J P Cortez
Washington, DC (February 5, 2019) – A member of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee today pressed the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on its conspicuous failure to uncover the very silver market manipulation now being prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
In a probing letter dated February 5 to CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo, Rep. Alex X. Mooney (R-WV) writes:
“U.S. Justice Department obtained a guilty plea from a former commodities trader for JPMorganChase & Co. to charges of manipulating the gold and silver markets between 2009 and 2015, and its investigation into the actions of related parties is ongoing.
Robert Stark talks to Keith Preston about Secessionist Political Parties Reply
Afghan politicians & Taliban hold talks in Moscow to end war Reply
Kick the Puppy Episode 20 Reply
Burgerville employees organize first fast food labor union, scientists in Israel may have found a cure for cancer, obese woman who advocated plus size positivity dies from heart attack at 49, Leslie Van Houten makes parole again, police ask criminals not to commit crimes because it’s too cold, feds end investigation into Vegas shooting-no motive found, police make 10 million arrests a year but that doesn’t mean they are solving crimes, neighbors of slain couple who shot 4 cops dispute police story, cop who shot fellow officer was drinking on duty, public dissection was a gruesome spectacle, the French have managed to preserve their intellectual book culture, the personal toll of whistle blowing, prisons are quietly building databases of incarcerated people’s voice prints, SF proposal would ban government use of facial recognition in the city, self-driving cars will “cruise” to avoid paying to park.
More…
A Few Thoughts About Another Goddamn Shooting 1
By Nicky Reid aka Comrade Hermit
Exile in Happy Land
I had every intention of writing a polemic on the American Empire’s latest shit show in Venezuela this week, another erudite contemplation on the sour virtues of imperialism in some violent dirt floor theater, time zones away from my small town tranny middle class existence. But this week violence came to visit me through the all too common place spectacle of the active shooter situation. It’s so fucking cliche that I bite my tongue just saying it out loud but you really do feel like that’s a problem that happens somewhere else but not here.
Anarchy Bang: Episode Four – Capitalism 2
Aragorn Bang’s podcast. Also, check out Little Black Cart.
A great program discussing many pertinent issues.
Anarchists have largely agreed on the big two. Central to our politics is opposition to the State, or as we discussed last week the monopoly on violence (or corrected by some as the monopoly on the legitament use of violece) and opposition to Capitalism. This week let’s discuss what that means. Unlike the State, that we can largely ignore outside of paying taxes, being corraled at protests, and a brief hesitation prior to committing murder and the like, capitalism is largely something we “do” or at least experience every single day. So we both despise and participate in this system of organizing exchange relationships.
What does this mean for anarchists? Largely it means that we sound crazy when we discuss alternatives to the existing order. Being in this world and of another means that we discuss moral, ethical, and philosophical topics rather than practical or “reasonable” ones. We have very little to say, and less to offer, poor people. We argue the destiny that we are sure of like lunatics and mostly argue these points with some of the only other people who identify as anarchists who we insist are not.
And our natural allies are among the largest mass murderers of the twentieth century in Russia, China, and Vietnam. For some reason that has something to do with marketing and the way that the Internet makes people either lose their mind or forget the past Old Fashion Red Communism has come back into some sort of vogue. And closer to home one of the largest leaks in this little rowboat we call Anarchism is the even more obscure communisms of Pannekok, Luxemburg, and Theory Communiste from Holland, Germany, and France respectively. Europe is back baby as if it every went away.
This week our challenge is to stake our position on Capitalism. Great oppositional system against human self-expression and self-worth or greatest system? Call in and let us discuss capitalism, it’s strength’s, which are many, and its weaknesses.
The Sordid Origin of Hate-Speech Laws Reply
All western European countries have hate-speech laws. In 2008, the eu adopted a framework decision on “Combating Racism and Xenophobia” that obliged all member states to criminalize certain forms of hate speech. On the other side of the Atlantic, the Supreme Court of the United States has gradually increased and consolidated the protection of hate speech under the First Amendment. The European concept of freedom of expression thus prohibits certain content and viewpoints, whereas, with certain exceptions, the American concept is generally concerned solely with direct incitement likely to result in overt acts of lawlessness.
Yet the origin of hate-speech laws has been largely forgotten. The divergence between the United States and European countries is of comparatively recent origin. In fact, the United States and the vast majority of European (and Western) states were originally opposed to the internationalization of hate-speech laws. European states and the U.S. shared the view that human rights should protect rather than limit freedom of expression.
Rather, the introduction of hate-speech prohibitions into international law was championed in its heyday by the Soviet Union and allies. Their motive was readily apparent. The communist countries sought to exploit such laws to limit free speech.
As Americans, Europeans and others contemplate the dividing line emerging on the extent to which free speech should be limited to criminalize the “defamation of religions” and “Islamophobia,” launched by the member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (oic) since 1999, they should bear this forgotten history in mind. However well-intended—and its initial proponents were anything but well-intended—the Western acceptance of hate-speech laws severely limits the ability of liberal democracies to counter attempts to broaden the scope of hate-speech laws under international human rights law, with potentially devastating consequences for the preservation of free speech.
PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD MUST STOP INTERFERING IN THEIR “OWN” POLITICAL SYSTEMS Reply
By Dun Scotus
Affirmative Right
Recently the Deep State, which runs America under a thin veneer of fake democracy that allows “the people” to put random ‘pop icons’ into the White House from where they are duly controlled, has been having a little trouble with the latest of these pop icons, namely Donald Trump.
Whatever it is, Trump just doesn’t seem to quite get it. He keeps missing his cues, and acts as if ‘real democracy’ actually exists in America and as if Presidents should take all the rhetoric they spouted on the campaign trail seriously.
No, really, LOL!
Doesn’t the guy know the voters are just dumb sheep whose collective memory goes back as far as what happened on last week’s latest reality TV show? I mean, it’s embarrassing to see a guy this naive up front. This is why he has to be taken down or at least tamed, and the way to do this—without resorting to a messy Kennedy-style assassination—is to point out how Russia interfered in the US election.
Or at least that’s what the Deep State thought.
Somehow or other this strategy, despite the full 24-7 support of the mass media, just doesn’t seem to be working. And it’s not just stubborn Conservatives and Dissident Righters who are screwing things up. You even have Leftists, who should be playing along, coming out and saying frankly unhelpful things like this from Noam Chomsky:
“It’s a pretty remarkable fact that—first of all, it is a joke. Half the world is cracking up in laughter. The United States doesn’t just interfere in elections. It overthrows governments it doesn’t like, institutes military dictatorships. Simply in the case of Russia alone—it’s the least of it—the U.S. government, under Clinton, intervened quite blatantly and openly, then tried to conceal it, to get their man Yeltsin in, in all sorts of ways. So, this, as I say, it’s considered—it’s turning the United States, again, into a laughingstock in the world.”
I mean the naivety here is astounding. America—or more correctly the American Deep State—doesn’t “interfere” in anyone’s elections. It is really the other way round. Here, let me explain:
How the System Works 1
“It’s interesting how figures like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are labelled as “communists” for wanting the economic policies of the 1950s (when a third of the US labor force was unionized and the top income tax bracket was 91%), and the Trumpians/MAGA hats are considered “fascists” for wanting immigration policies that are to the left of Eisenhower’s in the 1950s. Whatever the USA was in the 1950s, it was hardly fascist or communist.
In most countries with a democratically elected government (roughly 60 to 75 percent of the world’s nations), open socialists, communists, fascists, nationalists, fundamentalists, Greens, quasi-anarchists, animal rightsers, populists, and all kinds of assorted weirdos regularly run for and get elected to all kinds of stuff. That’s how “democracy” is theoretically supposed to function.
The USA has one of the most tightly controlled and narrowly constrained electoral systems in the world. Some of the most retrograde Latin American nations have a similar system. The different factions of the oligarchy (mostly the traditional Chamber of Commerce types vs the newer techno-oligarchs and urban professional class) put forward their bought candidates as quasi-celebrities, and the role of the media is that of a pro-wrestling announcer, i.e. to pretend like it’s all a real contest as opposed to a staged theatrical production.” – Keith Preston
“Its a rigged game and a charade, and people are starting to see it, even if they cannot describe it in the political language that you just did. Parliamentary systems are better because even outsider candidates can pick up a few seats. The US is actually a Plutocratic, Quasi Totalitarian State with Democratic façades. The electoral system and the liberal and conservative wings in the US are totally bought off, and the corporate and national security state elements actually run the country, with the political class being basically their employees from the President on down. Freedom of Speech is no threat, the US population is so brain benumbed and ignorant, repeating all the nonsense they hear from Fox News and MSNBC that nothing they think, say, or do can pose any kind of challenge to the system. OTOH people are disgusted with government, corporations, banks, the government, and the establishment parties, they no they are getting screwed and the system is scared. So there is tactic of inculcating strife between various groups in society over race, political views, sexism, LGBT, etc. Cultural Liberalism as a divide and conquer strategy. Economic misery us breaking down American society, the fissures are everywhere. It will get so bad with drug use, suicide, nihilism, mass killings, mental illness, that society will no longer function normally anymore, and it will collapse.”-David Alexander
Attack the System: Interview with anarchist author Keith Preston Reply
US suspends obligations under INF treaty with Russia: Pompeo Reply
