Mass shootings by white supremacists should not be exploited to further militarize the police and lose more civil liberties, says Caitlin Johnstone.
By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com
Two mass shootings have rocked the United States in less than 24 hours, leaving dozens dead and many more wounded. The first in El Paso, Texas, was allegedly perpetrated by a white supremacist whose racist motives are outlined in a rambling “manifesto,” the second allegedly by a self-described “leftist” whose motives, like those of the 2017 Las Vegas shooter, are presently unknown. These incidents occurred a week after another mass shooting in Gilroy, California.
All the usual U.S. gun control debates have of course reignited, which is understandable. Alongside this debate, however, we are seeing another, far more pernicious agenda being raised that I would like to address here.
Malcolm discusses the need for congress to pass domestic terrorism laws. @MalcolmNance #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/PWlH85IYF6
— La Femme Nikita (@LaF3mm3Nikita) August 4, 2019
In an interview with MSNBC’s Joy Reid, notorious liar and propagandist Malcolm Nance claimed that existing laws aren’t sufficient for prosecuting the El Paso shooter, because there are no laws designating his act of mass murder as “domestic terrorism.”
“I think that Congress needs to take up right away a series of domestic terrorism laws,” Nance said. “It’d be very simple: just match them to the words ‘international terrorism,’ so that a member of al-Qaeda and a member of a white nationalist terrorist cell or a militia that thinks they’re going to carry out international acts of terrorism are equal all the way around. Right now there are no laws called ‘domestic terrorism law.’ They can get you for firearms, they get you for hate crimes, but you are not treated as a terrorist. This act in El Paso was clearly by all definitions a terrorist attack in the United States, but of course by the nature of the person being white and American he can’t be treated like a member of ISIS or al-Qaeda. He can’t even be detained, he can only be treated as a murderer.”
(The accused, for the record, is in fact under arrest currently, and prosecutors say that they are treating it as a domestic terrorism case for which they are seeking the death penalty. This is in Texas; he’ll be dead before the next “Fast & Furious” movie. Nance’s notion that prosecutors’ hands are somehow tied here is silly.)
“But he’s a murderer with a political intent who is spreading an ideology,” Nance continued. “So Congress should take that up immediately. And let’s see if the White House won’t sign that legislation. That would be very revealing.”
In other words, shove the legislation through and call anyone who opposes it a Nazi lover.
‘Islamic Terrorism’ Alarm
Political commentary is flooded with the word “terrorism” today. People are demanding that the El Paso shooter in particular and white supremacists in general be labeled terrorists by the narrative-making commentariat, and you know what? I totally get it.
Protest outside U.S. Supreme Court against President Donald Trump’s travel ban on refugees and immigrants from several Middle East countries, Jan. 31, 2017. (Lorie Shaull/Flickr)
The push since 9/11 to tar Muslims as “terrorists” has been extremely obnoxious and fueled by hate and bigotry, so it makes sense for progressive-minded people to push for the egalitarian usage of that term. But before doing so, please reflect on what lessons we learned from the post-9/11 “Islamic terrorism” scare.
“Years of misguided alarmism over ‘Islamic terrorism’ resulted in the erosion of civil liberties, militarization of police, and a host of other bad outcomes. Applying the same alarmist logic to ‘white nationalist terrorism’ is likely to produce a host of similarly bad outcomes,” tweeted independent journalist Michael Tracey in response to the chatter.
Years of misguided alarmism over "Islamic terrorism" resulted in the erosion of civil liberties, militarization of police, and a host of other bad outcomes. Applying the same alarmist logic to "white nationalist terrorism" is likely to produce a host of similarly bad outcomes
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) August 4, 2019
“I am telling you now that the government will use the violence that Trump himself has rallied as an excuse for more militarization, more surveillance, more violations of civil liberties — and a lot of people are going to welcome these things because they are afraid,” tweeted Truthout‘s Kelly Hayes. “I’m not guessing or being creative here. This is about having a sense of history and a sense of how these systems function in the present. I would love to be wrong. I would celebrate being wrong. But I’m not.”
I am telling you now that the government will use the violence that Trump himself has rallied as an excuse for more militarization, more surveillance, more violations of civil liberties — and a lot of people are going to welcome these things bc they are afraid.
— Puff the Magic Hater (@MsKellyMHayes) August 4, 2019
Indeed, it is an established fact that the U.S. will use the narrative about the need to fight terrorism to advance pre-existing agendas. The first draft of the massive USA Patriot Act was introduced a week after the 9/11 attacks, far too fast for anyone to have gathered the necessary information from all the relevant government bodies about what changes were necessary and typed out the hundreds of pages of the bill. Legislators later admitted that they didn’t even have time to read through the densely worded bill before passing it the next month, so to believe that it could have been written in a week would be childish.
High-altitude surveillance balloons have been deployed over America to "deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats” via "hi-tech radar". To be clear, this is not something they're considering or opening up for public debate. This has already happened. https://t.co/q7IKr5WMLN
— Caitlin Johnstone ? (@caitoz) August 3, 2019
In 2011 then-Congressman Ron Paul told Politico that “the Patriot Act was written many, many years before 9/11,” adding that the attacks simply provided “an opportunity for some people to do what they wanted to do.” Paul was serving in Congress when the Patriot Act was passed. The law has since been used to erode human rights at home and abroad by destroying Fourth Amendment protections and legalizing Orwellian surveillance, and it’s safe to assume that the opaque and unaccountable government agencies that were greatly empowered by it had already wanted this to happen.
North Penn Tactical Response Team practice, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, June 2008.
(Tim McAteer, CC BY-SA 3.0/ Wikimedia Commons)
I have no easy answers for America’s mass shooting epidemic, and as an Australian I see the gun control debate as outside my sovereign territory. I will simply suggest, as I so often do, that if Americans really want to address the problem then the best place to start is to do the first ever honest and in-depth study on the effects of domestic propaganda on the American mind, particularly war propaganda. There are only so many times a certain type of mind can be told violence-glorifying lies before it snaps; if anyone researches mass shootings in the light of the constant psychological abuse that Americans suffer at the hands of their mass media, I guarantee they’ll find a connection. Americans are the most propagandized people on earth because of their proximity to the most strategically crucial part of the empire; it’s not a coincidence that they’re also by far the most prone to mass shootings.
One thing I can tell you won’t fix your problems, America, and that’s listening to the propagandists who want you to hand over even more control to a government that has already begun floating high-altitude surveillance balloons over your country without your permission.
Don’t let them bully you with fear.
Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper who publishes regularly at Medium. Follow her work on Facebook, Twitter, or her website. She has a podcast and a new book “Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.”
This article was re-published with permission.
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“Americans are the most propagandized people on earth because of their proximity to the most strategically crucial part of the empire; it’s not a coincidence that they’re also by far the most prone to mass shootings.”
Number 1 fact right here!
Also, since the lobby slobs at the propagating media continue to go around in circles every single time, the new dystopian future should be well awaiting us within the 2020s era (if not the 2020s, then the next decade afterwards).
I was very confident of what you would say and am glad you made the further connection to living in a MIC culture.
You did not add that neoliberal despair and the exposure (not existence) really took off in the 70’s and is now peaking as shown recent fascist trends.
We are at the “burn it all down cuz somebody’s gonna pay” phase.
Well Ms. Johnstone. Before I read this, has there been even one significant event in recent history that wasn’t exploited and named for Orwellian purposes?
The Patriot Act? Really?
Do you have a point? Really?
Hi Brian. It could be that ‘commenter Dave’ was making the point of “never let a tragedy go to waste” as to how the establishment is (once again) operating. Events can be seen as Black Swan investment opportunities to *manipulate public opinion*. They just need to be watchful and ready.
How do the powerful Get Away With:
? declaring illegal regime change wars (including deadly sanctions all done in Our Name)
?writing civil liberty-destroying laws against Us (We The People)
?extracting the bulk of Our tax dollars for Pentagon and “NATO job creators” (dollars which are desperately needed at home by Us)
The narrative must first be controlled very carefully. This is hard to maintain in a society with free speech that also has genuine access to the internet. Looks like ‘The Town Square’ must be subject to censorship and control as it would appear that ‘1984’ REALLY WAS A HANDBOOK after all.
We The People (aka comfortable Americans) smugly believe that we do not have to worry about anything other than ‘Trump!’ and ‘Russia!’ and ignore the fact that we already exist under ‘Flawed Democracy Status’. Shiny keys really work and the mainstream media knows its place.
We apparently are not responsible for our privately owned and easily hacked electronic voting machines. We are oblivious of how the World views us. We also appear to not want to know, either.
They say “knowledge is power”. But with power comes great responsibility. Ignorance is so bliss.
There was nothing ‘patriotic’ about the Patriot Act. The name itself was a farcical joke to be played against us at the convenience of the permanent State. Are we having fun yet?
Thank you for the great article Caity. We need calm voices of reason in this time of divisive barking.
The last thing we need are calls for “Domestic Terrorism” Laws .. All this does is to divide this nation into several pieces and create anarchy and chaos. Therefore, we must – as the author of this report says – “Beware Calls in US for Domestic ‘Terrorism’ Laws”. Period. Such laws remind me of Lenin’s and Stalin’s decrees in the Bolshevik USSR.
Simple solution for U.S. terrorism Put the 10 commandments back on the court house door . bring God back into the school . The murder rate ill go down like it was before
You have “In God We Trust” all over the place in your country, including your currency. That didn’t exactly prevent the obscenity that was the savings and loan scam leading to the worst global financial catastrophe since the Great Depression. But sure, go ahead and try your magical thinking. Post a prayer on your door, that’ll keep any burglars and salesmen away, right? No-one’s ever persecuted Christians who were wearing crucifixes, have they? Because God never lets bad things happen to good people. “The Lord helps those who help themselves” means you get off your ass and work, not put up a bit of text and expect it solve complex social issues.
The ghost of J. Edgar Hoover is awakening.
Most rations article I read since the shootings, Caitlin
I already hear talk that anti-fa should be treated as a ‘terrorist organization’. While the changing the language about domestic terrorism should be welcomed, I think Ms Johnstone is right that we should be very suspicious of new surveillance/judicial state actions.
The repetition of the “White Suprematist Manifesto” is persistently announced by well meaning journalists, and will become a subliminal call to action for those persons looking to resolve some lack in their identity. They can reason some reflective causations to imitate this ‘Hi Ho Silver’ solution for their own swarming, unresolved impotent psycho persecution. A final solution.
I have become increasingly fearful of the thousands of TV watching stay at home in emotionally impoverished individuals, who find their truth in Media.
Caitlin. I do read your work with respectful clarity, but are you reporting with longer term insight? I am surrounded by eye glassed Christian simpletons made paranoid by non M.S.Media based propaganda (aka insightful journalism) where most of them will reveal (after several Bourbons) their Weapons Cache, all licensed including a Winchester 20 G under the couch (I never ask if it’s loaded)
With a monkey at the helm of Australia capable only of imitating Patriot thoughts, we are sitting Ducks for media glued unresolved glory finders, who’s actions will liberate Scot(ty) Morrison with reason to imitate his loyalty instincts to the alpha leader.
Caitlin, I become increasingly fearful of what you report only because of who might be reading it. With Respect – David Verrall
>persistently announced by well meaning journalists,<
They're not well meaning, they're just careerist parrots doing what they perceive will advance their careers.
White supremacy is another phony meme being pushed hard by the garbage media.
But what's the aim, the intent of the "elite" having the media do this?
I think it's probably intended to discredit and undermine white identity, especially white male identity, and to get laws passed that will disarm the entire US citizenry whites, browns, blacks.
The "elites" may perceive this is to their benefit.
Constant surveillance of all Americans will be required because anyone could potentially commit acts of “domestic terrorism.” I wouldn’t be surprised if those high-altitude surveillance balloons are made by Amazon.
“According to the company, Rekognition can identify people in real-time by instantaneously searching databases containing tens of millions of faces, detect up to 100 people in ‘challenging crowded’ images, and track people through video—within a single shot and across multiple shots, and even when the camera is in motion—which makes ‘investigation and monitoring of individuals easy and accurate’ for ‘security and surveillance applications.’ Amazon has even advertised Rekognition for use on police officer ‘bodycams.’ (The company took mention of bodycams off its website after the ACLU voiced concern, but “[t]hat appears to be the extent of its response[.]’)”
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/05/amazon-stop-powering-government-surveillance
It is true that most mass US shooters have been white, as the country is still majority white. But very few of these shootings have been about race. Race is just a nice and simplistic method of attempting to process very complex issues. For the racial makeup of our mass killers, see: https://www.statista.com/statistics/476456/mass-shootings-in-the-us-by-shooter-s-race/
There is so much misinformation dispensed in these mass shooting accounts that one has to seriously consider many of them to be “false flag” events designed to further stampede the public into accepting stricter gun control legislation. My question is- when someone takes a gun and sprays a crowd with bullets does the demographic makeup of the victims determine whether it’s a “race crime”? Not only that, but the official accounts of most of these mass shootings sweeps witness’s accounts of “multiple shooters” under the rug, leaving only a “lone nut” to face the legal music or death. Again and again these mass shootings leave more questions, legitimate questions, than answers! In a democracy, people should ALWAYS demand the truth, even if the lying media brands these people as “cold-hearted” for wanting to investigate the deaths of people further!.
Thank you, Caitlin Johnstone! I had begun to think that i must be the only one. On Monday evening Lester Holt jumped on the “more gun control” bandwagon beside Amy Goodman–every way I look progressives and conservatives are marching in lock step. Why Lester even mentioned in passing that we would need sacrifice some of our first amendment right!
There are plenty of white supremacists all across the United States. These of course will enjoy enhanced authority. In fact all sorts of government agencies employ white supremacists. The only ones who will “sacrifice rights” are us citizens.
Since when, Lon Cleveland, is it good to recommend that we sacrifice our rights under the Constitution? The idea America, the experiment of freedom, so readily given up for “security”! Our forefathers were willing to sacrifice their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor for future generations to just roll over, play dead, while being stripped of what was once so held priceless! And, I’m sorry to add, this article is premature in placing blame. But boy, what a vehicle more and more violence — physical and rhetorical — is to hasten our foreseeable enslavement!
‘he’s a murderer with a political intent who is spreading an ideology’ Think Trump!
One part of the hype about mass murders is the call for a ban on “assault weapons.” That is a fraud perpetrated by jumbling the meaning of “assault weapons” with the meaning of “assault rifles.” The two terms have no relationship beyond the purely cosmetic resemblance of assault weapons to assault rifles. An assault weapon is a semi-automatic rifle with one or more cosmetic features similar to those of an assault rifle, which is a weapon capable of firing on full automatic or burst fire. That is, the assault weapon may have a pistol grip, a detachable magazine, or other quasi-military decoration.
But the assault weapon is no different in lethality from any other semi-automatic rifle, which would continue to be sold under an assault weapons ban. The U.S. had an assault weapons ban enacted in 1994 for a ten-year term, following a pattern of mass shootings. .
That ban passed without major National Rifle Association opposition largely because of the continued availability of other semi-automatic rifles, equal in lethality, that looked more like a traditional deer rifle than an assault rifle. Rifle manufacturers were okay with the ban because they could still sell just as many semi-automatic weapons. Only their cosmetic appearance was changed.
Politicians liked it because it allowed them to claim that they had done something about gun violence. But nothing could be further from the truth. An assault weapon ban is a fraud upon the voters.
Good points all, Caitlin. Of course the US government will use any opportunity to gainsay control over the lives of its citizens. Compare the immigration crisis with the opoid crisis. In one, trained medical doctors legally administered pain medication they knew was addictive at the request of pharmaceutical companies. When the crisis escalated, the US government made the recipients of the legal drugs liable for criminal penalties, because their need for chronic pain relief made them “addicts.” The perpetrators received no penalty, and continued operating under the same conditions that led to the crisis. When it comes to immigration, those hoping to enter the country, legally or illegally, were criminalized by politicians and made to suffer the results of ideological purity by both parties, one out of sadomasochism, one out of fear of looking weak. In both instances, both citizens and possible citizen were made to suffer from government excesses, whatever the cause. The government declared war on us a long time ago, probably about the time the Bush administration threatened to break up Microsoft, probably to begin the national surveillance needed by the government to counteract the Internet revolution.
Curious about one point Are liberals going for a ban on strong pain relief medications in the US? This, of course, would make it necessary for those who truly suffer to turn to streets drugs, and we would see death rates soar. In reality, it can be exceedingly difficult to obtain prescriptions for strong pain relief medications since we began our simplistic opioid scare some years ago. However, when my father was dying from cancer, I was very glad that those addictive drugs existed. Complex issues always suffer in the simplistic public discussion.
As a Norwegian living in the U.S. trying to better understand American gun violence I see one glaring difference between the U.S. and the rest of the world: The way Americans perceive guns. Other countries like Switzerland and Norway have guns too, lots of them. They are for hunting and sport and not for self protection. You do not take the law into your own hands and kill people.
Guns are not for killing people outside of war and war is not something you go looking for.
American gun culture is very different and saturates society. From it’s dark roots in slave patrols and the colonization of the West. The glorification of the armed forces through action filled advertisements on TV. Cops killing unarmed citizens with impunity and perhaps most important. The father cleaning his weapons while telling his 7 year old how he’s ready to “take on” the intruders, the others. It’s okay and heroic to kill the bad guys. It’s a God given right. Junior’s a sponge, he’s got the message. America is full of these fathers. Good, hard working people, sitting on their arsenals. Itching for the right guy to walk in that door so they can exercise their 2nd amendment rights.
Now who’s to tell who the bad guys are? People overseas that hate us? The guy who wants to steal your stuff? The LGBTQ community or the Mexicans invading the country? The guy who sleeps with your wife? The difference is, some people it is legal to kill, it can even be fun, according to General. “Mad dog” Mattis. Others are not. The reasoning behind pulling the trigger is the same.
Hate speech, video games, mental health problems, racism, action movies, internet groups, the whole world’s got those things. The lack of regulations on semi-automatic rifles and handguns in particular, does of course help make it easier for Americans to shoot people. Guns are to gun violence what alcohol is to drunk driving. Should we ban alcohol? I hope not. Just don’t drink and drive. And get it out of your heads that’s it’s okay to kill people. It’s not.
To further underscore my point. The bad guy behind the mass shooting in Texas will without a doubt be executed and America will call it justice served. Get ready for the next one.
Another formula shooting(s) concocted by the Trotsky communists.
It should be no secret by now (for those with an IQ above imbecile),
that (((ALL ))) the mass shooting since 2012 have been NDAA propaganda
events ! It should also be no secret that the banksters wish to purge anyone
with any memory of freedom into oblivion. The crimes taking place are not
original thinking…. they are ancient techniques to crush that part of the populace
that will eventually crush the corrupt political system if the get the chance….
perhaps a better explanation is this : “Kill those you’ve robbed and owe money
to before they kill you…. that’s an ancient debt erasure method too.
Toward the end of the Roman empire the populace was fully aware of what
the Politicians had done to them… The Emperor(s) did to Romans what AmeriKa
is doing to Americans… they imported Enemies of Rome to do battle with the populace !
The Roman soldiers refused to fight the citizens unless paid in silver or gold…
Rome had squandered both , and was left with copper and iron….
So in the end, the DC criminals (AND) the boyz from Mt. Sinai, wish to repopulate
AmeriKa with mud people who have MUCH lower expectations than the decedents
of White Europeans . The catalyst for all this was counterfeiting, media mind control,
entertainment, diversion, a sabotaged school system (thank you Ronald Reagan),
religion, and manufactured wars to transfer debt from the middle class to the Lords.
This is not “The New World order”, it’s a “New Old World Order” ….
Oppose it, or get in line for the “The shake and bake savior”… rumor has it, he’s got
X-TRA loaves and fish for true believers….
LET US PREY…………https://imgur.com/a/YqwiurG
No one is in charge, Eric32. Eliminating whatever scapegoat will not solve problems. Aren’t 1/2 the mass killers trying to eliminate scapegoats?
A lot of Americans think that NKVD type surveillance won’t hurt THEM, because they are nicevor unimportant or some other absurdity.
Zhu – you are so right, though I would imagine that were you to ask a like question of the general population in most western countries, you would get a similar answer: “I don’t care if the government is monitoring, watching, listening in to me because I am honest, never break nor have ever broken any law and therefore I have nothing to fear.”
Bullshit, of course. Most people have at some time or another broken a law, however minor it be: speeding, driving while legally intoxicated, fudging their taxes, taking home from work a note pad and/or a few pencils…..
And even if one’s life is as pure as the driven snow: WHY would one want anyone, perhaps most particularly the government in any of its guises, knowing *anything* about one’s private life? None of their f…ing business what I think, say, believe, write.
Really, folks in general do not seem to know the truth of Niemoller’s verse: “First they came for the Socialists…” Once any government arrogates to itself total surveillance and punitive powers, we are all at risk. No contrary views, dissent, objections allowed – Orwell and Huxley combined.
Excellent article. I agree with Cat.
The killer in El Paso likely wants to known as a
Eco Terrorist cleansing the planet of inferior non white folks. But he is no more than a cowardly Murderer.
Despite my conflicting veiws on Capital Punishment
I would have been OK if he met the same fate as the Murderer in Dayton.
MSM sure is pushing the White Supremacist Mass Shooter Trope: Here is a breakdown of recent mass shooters (defined as 4 or more killed) by the Los Angeles Times and ABC News (neither particularly trustworthy sources):
At least Fourteen Mass Shooters were people of Color: Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer (mixed race), Daylon Delon Gamble, Anthony Watkins Jr, Terrance Wesley, DeWayne Craddock, and Gary Martin, Jarrod W. Ramos, Gerry Dean Zaragoza, Jose Larin-Garcia and Esteban Santiago, James Cloud and Donovan Quinn Carter Cloud. ( Not sure how to racially classify Immigrants or their Children)
At least Eleven were “white” men: Ian David Long, Devin Patrick Kelley, John Robert Nuemann Jr, Dylan Roof, Patrick Crusius, and Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer (mixed race), Nikolas Cruz, and Stephen Paddock, Robert Bowers, Dakota Theriot
At least Eight were immigrants or children of immigrants: Dimitrios Pagourtzis, Arcan Cetin, Omar Mateen, Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, Nam Le, Chi Dinh Ta, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. Possibly nine (Zephan Xaver??)
At least Five were ex-military: Ian David Long, Devin Patrick Kelley, John Robert Nuemann Jr, Esteban Santiago, and DeWayne Craddock (National Guard training)
Six were Black men: Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer (mixed race), Daylon Delon Gamble, Anthony Watkins Jr, Terrance Wesley, DeWayne Craddock, and Gary Martin
Three were avowed White Supremacists: Dylan Roof, Patrick Crusius, and Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer (mixed race)
Four were Hispanic: Jarrod W. Ramos, Gerry Dean Zaragoza, Jose Larin-Garcia and Esteban Santiago
Six had obtained weapons illegally: Gary Martin (felon), Chi Dinh Ta (felon), Daylon Delon Gamble, Anthony Watkins Jr (felon and domestic abuser), Terrance Wesley (felon) and Devin Patrick Kelley (domestic abuser)
Two were Native Americans: James Cloud and Donovan Quinn Carter Cloud
Two had unclear motives: Nikolas Cruz, Connor Betts and Stephen Paddock
One was an avowed anti-Semite: Robert Bowers
One was a Cajun– Dakota Theriot
Problem posting comments- help please…..
2Eric32- forgive me, but I believe what you meant was “happenstance”, and you’d be right to suspect it isn’t all just random. This centuries-long tactic of divide-and-conquer, keep the masses scared, confused, ignorant, and divided, it’s never failed. This is not to say that some of these events are not random, but the lowest-of-the-low see them as opportunities, bad as it is now, and exploit them accordingly. As bad as it is now, it appears things will need to get much, much worse before millions of citizens are able and willing to organize and fight back.
Excuse me CN, why am I having such difficulty posting comments here?
Excellent analysis by Caitlin Johnstone.
Another perceptive piece appears at the humorous / satirical site, the Babylon Bee. It’s entertaining, but it is also perceptive, especially in light of the 9/11 parallel that Johnstone speaks of:
https://babylonbee.com/news/new-legislation-targeting-violent-gun-wielding-groups-accidentally-bans-government
The issue of antidepressant medications given to many of these perpetrators is frequently covered up and kept hidden. If the medication is stopped abruptly, there’s a big effect on the body. We rarely get more than cursory details of each case before it’s on to the next show.
A friend of mine’s wife was on Paxil for about 10 years, suddenly decided to quit, and substituted vodka. One night she walked out onto the front lawn and blew her brains out. She had 7 grandkids that are all scarred for life.
What is the differences in character between the Domestic mass killers within US borders and our killers of masses of foreigners by our military men and women ?
Why does wearing a uniform of US justify killings of millions and displacing of 10x more millions lay claim to status of hero?
Why is it that no matter the nation only about 5% oversee and are the actual economic and political power, that employs some 12% of population to administer over remaining 83% of their peoples?
What is the character, human nature, of the 83%.
Why is it that in US with a population of 350+ millions it is so hard to find individuals that do not wether indirect or directly depend upon its Governments
Military establishment to support their lifestyles?
To those who say no way, they are eitherblying, deliberately pretending or are actually ignorant of the fact.
Think no further than your cell phones, computers and internet , all cast offs of lesser capability products from military industrials to society at large.
Fly in civil aircraft, they use GPS to take off, find and stay on routes to destination and its landing, all including modern planes and navigation, radar and GPS that stem not from civilian designed needs but for military.
The computer Combat games of warfare once stemmed from creative minds of individuals but today all on Internet have direct military influence including hiring pros to game against owners, direct and indirect financing from military advertizing funds.
The worst polluters of water, air and soils are each and everyone dependent upon US military powers to use and protect or steal wether domestic or foreign owned.
Each of last 12 years police have killed more unarmed Americans that it lost due to foreign occupied lands and peoples.
Every freaking day police shoot and kill an average of 50 to 75 peoples pet dogs; and by DOJ records 1 in every 5 of those pet killings a child was in line of fire; yet Supreme Court ruled it was legal and up to each officers choice.
A lawless nation is a violent nation, a nation where people think hi tech means intelligence and civilized living, forgetting the fact that the minds of men have not advanced but declined since industrialization began, and are not intelligent enough to see the deaths and indetiness caused by hi tech far outweighs the advantages to 80% of worlds population.
Violence, what are all our mining, carbon and nuclear, as well as chemical and biological agricultural extractions, our political class warfare by identity politics. all are but violence in action.
Our greatest political and religious ally, Israel, kills and maims hundreds a month, and we pay them well, then of course a Palestinian child throwing stones is a terrorist.
No matter the nations political and financial corruption there can be found those millions who support and profit from its violent nature.
So what makes people in US any different from them?
We apparently are deeply offended when societal norms are violated on our own soil. We appear to be unable to actually recognize what should be .. normal.. in society.
When incredibly tearful brown skinned children are shown on televsion news channels it is probably to generate negative publicity for the current administration in a political cycle and is probably little to do with generating solutions for immigration policy.
There are many tears shed by children on the other side of the world from our daily drone use and I don’t see many people being offended or even interested. We don’t want any real skin in this game called ‘caring’ .. unless it is to our clear advantage.
George Carlin referred to NIMBY: “not in my back yard”. Our morality has limits to its inconvenience.
Let me think for a moment. Do we participate and ultimately profit from the military industrial complex? (Empire is quite the drug, isn’t it?)
Would like to recommend the following commentary on Democracy Now–today’s show.
Professor George Ciccarello-Maher commenting. A couple of notes from it:
The mass shooter in El Paso was paranoid with “replacement theory” or whites being replaced by Hispanics; therefore he was “saving my country.”
All this encouraged by Trump with his continued repetition on “invasion”; Trump’s rhetoric has dove-tailed (a paranoid vision) with gunman rhetoric, including New Zealand white supremacist shootings.
El Paso shooter’s statement in effect states: “I am the victim I am forced to respond this way.” The shooter saw himself as participating in border patrol.
MSM also encourages the paranoia–white America disappearing. Result: white nationalist organizations spreading.
https://www.democracynow.org/shows/2019/8/6?autostart=96.0
The Second Amendment almost did not make it into the Bill of Rights, according to Michael Walkman’s excellent book, titled The Second Amendment, a Biography. It was based on the English Bill of Rights of 1689 which empowered any group of citizens from oppression. The framers of the US Bill of Rights intended state militias would keep the federal government’s army in check. The Second Amendment was never intended to be used for personal safety. It was written for the purpose of a well regulated ”well regulated militia.” Until 2008 Washington DC v Heller case, Justice Scalia wrote the decision allowing firearms use, exclusively for self defense.
Prior to the 2008 Scalia decision, the US could easily have ratified the original purpose of the Second Amendment. Perhaps redraft the Amendment on the issue of quality of “arms” differ dramatically from 1791, as too, has the United States, now with the largest and most advanced military, it seems unlikely any state attempt to defend its statehood from the gluttonous US military.
Your excellent article reminding us to “beware” of loosing our liberties, we need to also beware, almost every gun owner uses as there go-to mantra hoping to protect the Second Amendment, as it is their “Constitutional right.”
@ “The Second Amendment was never intended to be used for personal safety. It was written for the purpose of a well regulated ”well regulated militia.”
That’s a highly restrictive view of the Constitution — and the English language — that sheds no light. The text of the amendment reads:
“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Like the other rights preserved by the Bill of Rights, this is worded as a right that pre-exists the Constitution, a right that shall not be infringed. A right that shall not be infringed *because* a well regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state.
The reason given for the government preserving the right does not define the right’s scope, or even other possible reasons for protecting it.
One might imagine another Bill of Rights provision that reads:
“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to grow and eat food, shall not be infringed.” Thus arguing that the right to sustenance is necessary to a well regulated militia, which is certainly true. Does that preclude other reasons for growing and eating food being recognized by the courts? No, because our imaginary amendment does not define the scope of the right any more than the Second Amendment does.
What then is the source of this preexisting “right of the people to keep and bear Arms” so that we might ascertain its scope?
For that, we must look to Natural Law rights, particularly as espoused by John Locke, whose Two Treatises of Government had been published in 1690 and was enormously influential upon the founders of the U.S. constitutional government, particularly his second treatise, “an essay concerning the true original extent and end of civil government.”
And early in the third chapter we are told that the right to use violence in defense of self is fundamental to Locke’s vision of Natural Law:
“Sect. 16. THE state of war is a state of enmity and destruction: and therefore declaring by word or action, not a passionate and hasty, but a sedate settled design upon another man’s life, puts him in a state of war with him against whom he has declared such an intention, and so has exposed his life to the other’s power to be taken away by him, or any one that joins with him in his defence, and espouses his quarrel; it being reasonable and just, I should have a right to destroy that which threatens me with destruction: for, by the fundamental law of nature, man being to be preserved as much as possible, when all cannot be preserved, the safety of the innocent is to be preferred: and one may destroy a man who makes war upon him, or has discovered an enmity to his being, for the same reason that he may kill a wolf or a lion; because such men are not under the ties of the commonlaw of reason, have no other rule, but that of force and violence, and so may be treated as beasts of prey, those dangerous and noxious creatures, that will be sure to destroy him whenever he falls into their power.
“Sect. 17. And hence it is, that he who attempts to get another man into his absolute power, does thereby put himself into a state of war with him; it being to be understood as a declaration of a design upon his life: for I have reason to conclude, that he who would get me into his power without my consent, would use me as he pleased when he had got me there, and destroy me too when he had a fancy to it; for no body can desire to have me in his absolute power, unless it be to compel me by force to that which is against the right of my freedom, i.e. make me a slave. To be free from such force is the only security of my preservation; and reason bids me look on him, as an enemy to my preservation, who would take away that freedom which is the fence to it; so that he who makes an attempt to enslave me, thereby puts himself into a state of war with me. He that, in the state of nature, would take away the freedom that belongs to any one in that state, must necessarily be supposed to have a design to take away every thing else, that freedom being the foundation of all the rest; as he that, in the state of society, would take away the freedom belonging to those of that society or commonwealth, must be supposed to design to take away from them every thing else, and so be looked on as in a state of war.
“Sect. 18. This makes it lawful for a man to kill a thief, who has not in the least hurt him, nor declared any design upon his life, any farther than, by the use of force, so to get him in his power, as to take away his money, or what he pleases, from him; because using force, where he has no right, to get me into his power, let his pretence be what it will, I have no reason to suppose, that he, who would take away my liberty, would not, when he had me in his power, take away every thing else. And therefore it is lawful for me to treat him as one who has put himself into a state of war with me, i.e. kill him if I can; for to that hazard does he justly expose himself, whoever introduces a state of war, and is aggressor in it.”
Notice that the free exercise of this Natural Law right of self-defense and defense of property is independent of any government need for a militia. It is a personal right, pre-existing the Constitution and certainly not overruled by the Amendment’s reference to *government’s* need for a militia, not dependent on any government’s blessing.
Later on in Locke’s essay, we learn that there is also a right of revolution (in fact Thomas Jefferson lifted some of Locke’s words verbatim for use in the Declaration of Independence), which is most surely to be acted upon through violence unless carried out legislatively.
True, the English Bill of Rights of 1689 has language speaking of the right to bear arms, but its language is quite different from the Second Amendment: “That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law[.]” There, the right is established to provide for *self-defense;* the right is is limited to protestants; and the right is subject to limitation “by law.” None of those topics is discussed in the Second Amendment. That suggests that Mr. Walkman is surely not squarely on the mark in suggesting that the Second Amendment was drawn from the English Bill of Rights provision, a provision intended to preserve the right of self-defense, not to maintain a militia.
The Constitution is chock full of undefined terms, like “liberty” in the 5th Amendment. And we can often see meaning of those terms in full bloom when we look to Natural Law rights that the Founding Fathers so fervently believed in. The Second Amendment’s “right of the people to keep and bear arms” is one of those terms.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not a gun-nut. I took a vow of non-violence when I returned from the Viet Nam War. But I care deeply about Law as the organizing principle of our society. Wishing the Second Amendment did not exist cannot destroy it. In my opinion, the only lawful way to substantially narrow gun rights is through amendment of the Constitution.
Thank you Paul for this exposition.
Such an amendment would be counter to Jefferson’s note that the tree of liberty must be watered by the blood of tyrants and patriots, which he supposed should occur in every generation. My readings suggest that the intent of the founders was to leave military power distributed among the population, to prevent its domination by the very central government they created. Jefferson though that we needed no Navy beyond patrol boats and privateers with Letters of Reprisal to ward off pirates, which had to be upgraded for the War of 1812. That was the first and last time the US was attacked by a foreign power, yet we now have millions of times that level of military power.
Maintaining the sound principle of keeping military power distributed among the people became ever more difficult as weapons became more powerful. A well-regulated militia had enough cannon to assemble an army for defense, and a small navy protected shipping without threatening the power of the people. Even the railroads and standing armies of the Civil War could be fully demobilized without risk of invasion of an isolated America. Even after WWI we were essentially demobilized, but the militias had been replaced by the National Guard for riot suppression, a contradiction of the purposes of the 2nd Amendment. But since WWII we have had large standing forces of all kinds, always used by warmongers for exploits abroad with little or no security value for the US.
If all of that military force were demobilized in favor of diplomacy and local militias, it would be harder to prevent their rapid remobilization to attack any rebellion or secession movement. Public recognition of the need to distribute military power to prevent central government tyranny, would be needed. That is not possible until money control is removed from elections, judiciary, and mass media. That is where we need constitutional amendments.
But I don’t see that happening, because we have lost those tools of democracy needed to restore democracy. The People of he US were apathetic for so many generations, during the ebullient emergence of the middle class, that we cannot restore democracy without external force, or such complete economic collapse and incompetent tyranny, the a central government could not command the loyalty of police and national guard. I son’t see that happening due to the same natural isolation and resources that enable us to establish the democracy we have lost.
Very few mass murders are by White Supremacists, yet that’s the media’s narrative (thanks to Dylan Roof and Patrick Crusius?)
Both the Los Angeles Times and ABC news have profiled 2019 and recent mass shootings (four or more dead victims) and their perpetrators:
Eight were immigrants or children of immigrants: Dimitrios Pagourtzis, Arcan Cetin, Omar Mateen, , Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, Nam Le, Chi Dinh Ta, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. (nine with Zephan Xaver???)
Six were Black men: Daylon Delon Gamble, Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer (mixed), DeWayne Craddock, Gary Martin, Anthony Watkins Jr and Terrance Wesley.
Six had obtained their weapons illegally: Gary Martin (felon), Chi Dinh Ta (felon), Anthony Watkins Jr and Terrance Wesley (felons, domestic abuse), Devin Patrick Kelley (domestic abuser) and Daylon Delon Gamble (felon)
At least Five were ex-military: Ian David Long, Devin Patrick Kelley, John Robert Nuemann Jr, Esteban Santiago, and DeWayne Craddock (National Guard training)
Four were Hispanic: Jarrod W. Ramos, Gerry Dean Zaragoza, Jose Larin-Garcia and Esteban Santiago
Three were avowed White Supremacists: Dylan Roof, Patrick Crusius, and Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer (mixed race)
Two had unclear motives: Nikolas Cruz and Stephen Paddock
Two were Native Americans: James Cloud and Donovan Quinn Carter Cloud
One was an avowed anti-Semite: Robert Bowers
One was a Cajun: Dakota Theriot
There are quite a few agendas one could build with these data, but White Supremacy is not the basis for many mass shootings. More likely it is severe frustration and disappointment with their lives, to the point of mental illness, shared across these groups.
Great point.
We frequently ask why these mass murders tend to occur primarily in the United States, with Democrats blaming the Second Amendment, but the reality is probably that reflected at the end of Caitlin’s article. No other country glorifies violence or justifies state violence and its related “collateral damage” more than the United States. The mindset that creates, the one that permits purported liberals to admire Barak Obama, a mass murderer who is responsible for killing more women, children and elderly, albeit abroad, than all the mass murderers in United States history, can be expected to have no consequences other than those we are continually living through.
Something for the decent among us to ponder.
Precisely! We are a culture of violence and have been throughout our history. Frederick Douglas called it out and a century later so did King stating in his sermon on Vietnam,
“As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they asked, and rightly so, “What about Vietnam?” They asked if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government.”
We didn’t listen then. We’re not listening now. We will enact ‘tougher’ laws and arm more in public places but we will never move to a less armed and less trigger happy culture here or aboard. It seems our fate to self destruct.
Yes, but self-destruction would be the kindest of fates: we are more likely to be tyrannized for centuries, as the scum who rise in unregulated economies are forced to domestic tyranny after worldwide embargo and loss of productivity. It is the economy that brought tyranny to the US, due to democratic institutions unprotected from economic power. It is the economy that celebrates violence in mass media, to recruit opportunists for the rich. It will take a very desperate economy to bring these sheeple to destroy their own opportunists to depose the rich. I don’t see that for centuries. The US is already a complete disgrace and will remain so until completely insignificant or destroyed from without.
Since Mr. nor Ms. middle America ( now thoroughly propagandized ) showed much protest when Assange was dragged to jail, the CIA, its foot solders and DC establishment are increasing emboldened to expand their control.
Another day, Another mass killing. Another raft of laws to steal more of our civil liberties. But zero self-reflection about why US society continues to churn out deranged killers that tote assault rifles.
Why would they not, when their “leaders” spend all their time on war planning, making more laws to restrict freedom for the majority of the population, pandering to lobbies for more weapons, more waste of fossil fuels, more environmental destruction?
Clearly it’s the work of that dastardly villain, Anonymous. Luckily, 8chan is being shut down, so the scourge of internet radicalization will finally be cleansed Forever.
As usual Caitlin Johnstone is right. I love the comment about the “psychological abuse” of the MSM. It’s abuse by distraction and Denial of News.
And it was another “scare,” the dreaded hanging chad in Florida in 2000 and the resultant putsch that brought us W Chaney, GWOT, and the electronic voting machines, removing all transparency and reliability of electoral results. Herded like sheep or lemmings. Except that we did not choose this, it was imposed on us from above. And again we see the official narrative providing cover for those that would implement many things that have been their desire for quite some time.
Ted Cruze and his ilk want to imprison and possibly execute those that actively resist fascism. And we have already heard rhetoric from some quarters of our masters that ideas such as Medicare for all, wealth redistribution, and increased taxation of the wealthy amounts to nothing less than “economic terrorism.”
Once again that prophet and sage, Frank Zappa, nailed it: “Scab of a nation, driven insane.”
btw: thanks Caitlin for the link to the stratospheric balloon surveillance. I had no idea. I heard yesterday over on TRNN an interview with the author of “Bitten” about a US military program to weaponize ticks, fleas, and mosquitos and how this may have led to the spread of Lyme disease and affiliated illnesses associated with tick bites. Our tax dollars at work.
The US operated bio weapon labs on N Long Island (opposite Lyme CT where Lyme disease started) and in Alaska, and dropped mites infected with plague and other diseases on China in the 1950s.
Domestic mass murders lead the sheep to pass laws that retard or prevent the restoration of democracy.
Mass killings by the angriest measure the glorification of violence, and real suffering that leads to rebellions.
They are an early sign of the rebellions that Jefferson noted must water the tree of democracy.
Taking force from the people and militarizing police delays restoration of democracy, and makes it bloodier.
Apathy and distraction allowed gold to control the institutions of democracy, and now solidify that control.
Apart from cautious informed thinkers, most hide from the truth until corrupt government comes for them.
Tyranny need only hide or smear its victims, rationalize obvious injustices, and call all suffering inevitable.
The mass media of gold need only glorify state violence, and make up foreign enemies, to recruit henchmen.
So long as we have domestic resources for bread and circus, people will hide and accept public mythology.
The good fortune of America in its isolation from old world conflicts, may permit domestic tyranny forever.
The US never was a peaceful nation. Violence, somehow, always dominates the picture. But with the advent of Trump, the “violent Genie” has been let out of the bottle. But suffering from short memory, once these sad episodes have left the headlines, very few will remember them…or possibly even care.
If you can ‘t see the potential for a planned multiple shooting scenario
you can’t see the start of violence at rallies, confrontations inside and out,
leading to serious injury.
Review the past campaign and the violence. I can assure you it
wasn’t caused by the labeled Old Violent White Men. All we’ve
been guilty of is carrying this sick culture on our working backs
for sixty, seventy or even eighty years.
One thing we did learn, as the children of those who won WWII,
was to fight back or lose.
Your readers should read ‘A Distant Mirror’ by Barbara Tuchman. She’s writing about the 14th century. The book is densely packed and fascinating but the part where she describes the consequences in Europe from the Crusades in the Middle East is the enlightening bit for our current world.
Yes Jeff
“A Distant Mirror” was one of my favorite history reads–tough though. It’s so gritty. Tuchman pulls no punches when illustrating the senseless brutality. When an army marched through an area, they routinely burned, pillaged and raped–even in their own region!
I wonder how much, of if humans have evolved in consciousness since then? Is that not the question she is posing with the title?
We’ve heard this story before. Charles Manson told me if you listen to Helter Skelter backwards on the turntable, it means there’s a race war coming between the black people and the white people. When the shooting is all over, Charlie’s going to be king of the world… or something. Nothing new under the sun, is there?
http://osociety.org/2019/08/06/white-supremacy-is-aided-by-mainstream-institutions
Bien dicho – como siempre .
There are some things about these mass murders that I think largely go un-discussed.
There was more racial/ethnic intolerance in the US in past decades than there is now. There was far more poverty and angry hopelessness among all racial/ethnic groups in the Great Depression than now.
Guns, trucks, cars, poisons, arson and bomb ingredients useful for mass murder attacks have existed for many decades. So why are mass murders apparently happening with increased frequency in recent times?
Historically, most mass murders have had organization and economic/military/political aims and intent behind them.
After each of these episodes involving a white perpertrator, mass media quickly emplaces memes of white mass murderers and the need for gun control. It’s almost as though it’s part of a choreographed effort – something like the mass media effort to get much of the public believing that the 2016 Presidential election was decided by the Russians iterfering with the election, in collusion with Trump.
American statistics indicate whites are actually a little less likely to be mass murderers than other races/ethnicities. Whites account for about 70 pct of mass murderers while constituting about 74 pct of the US population.
So what’s going on with this?
Weird psychiatric drugs being given to kids? Violent computer games? Increased use of mind fracturing recreational drugs? The increasingly bizarre garbage that turns up in US “entertainment”?
Those factors might be part of an explanation.
Maybe there is something else.
What about mind control conspiracies being conducted for social psychology purposes, by the same noxious “elites” that in the past have created false predicates for wars killing millions, that engineered the 2008 financial debacle that damaged the lives of tens of millions, that arranged for the “lone gunman” assassinations of political figures who were perceived to threaten those with money and power?
“MKUltra” applications? (If you’re unfamiliar, do a search). Locate borderline people and then manipulate them with drugs and mind technology into atrocious acts? Take offs on Sirhan Sirhan, the supposed killer of Robert Kennedy?
Does that sound hard to believe?
Who arranged the Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy that substituted itself for attention being paid to some of the bad policies and neo-con appointments Trump has made, that were in direct opposition to what he presented to the public while campaigning? For what purposes has that plainly known conspiracy been conducted?
Question: wouldn’t such a murderous social psychology conspiracy be detected and stopped by American law enforcement, security and intelligence organizations?
Look at the witch occupying the top CIA position. What about the series of lying criminals preceeding her? Look at the FBI/DOJ’s corrupt “leadership” and selective investigation/indictment practices.
Look at the Clintons and their corrupt “charity” foundation that has gone on unmolested by law enforcement or the mass media, for some reason. Look at their friend, Epstein, who was allowed to go on molesting teenage girls for years, who coached and coerced underage girls into being sex playthings for his elite friends. It appears likely these “elites” were being recorded in their activities for coercion/blackmail purposes.
People who look for conspiracies are reacting to plainly observable events, past and present, in the US, and elsewhere.
It’s harder to believe that all this is just happenchance, than that there is a controlled game being played for intents and purposes benefiting the sort of people who put America into a series of murderous wars, who benefited from its de-industrialization and the destruction of it’s once prosperous and healthy middle class.
Social psychology-politcal kabuki shows exist. They are about money and power.
Good points. How would we know if the intel agencies weren’t recruiting these shooters the same way ISIS or Al Qaeda recruits suicide bombers? We wouldn’t. If they keep us scared enough they may eventually pry away all our liberties in the hope for security. Some analysts opine that these incidents are mere illusions floated by media co-conspirators, with both victims and perps created from whole cloth. I suspect it’s easier and more reliable to instigate the actual crimes.
2Eric32- forgive me, but I believe what you meant was “happenstance”, and you’d be right to suspect it isn’t all just random. This centuries-long tactic of divide-and-conquer, keep the masses scared, confused, ignorant, and divided, it’s never failed. This is not to say that some of these events are not random, but the lowest-of-the-low see them as opportunities, bad as it is now, and exploit them accordingly. As bad as it is now, it appears things will need to get much, much worse before millions of citizens are able and willing to organize and fight back.
I’ve never liked “happenstance”. Chance happening, happened by chance, ,,, happenchance seems more like the right word, at least to me.
Eric, I think you’ve just coined a new word, but I wanted to say something on the question of some kind of master control, dystopia around the corner, as though *they* really do know what they’re doing. The master control it seems to me exists independently as a kind of zeitgeist (except in a negative sense) now loose from specific directors per se. As with the difference between 1984 and Brave New World. In Orwell you need the surveillance and the cops, the Saudi Arabia effect; in BNW it’s all massaged in and automatic. The next step for our society is injection to the yet unborn, as a decent price for the pharmaceutical companies, to eliminate the worry your child could turn out radical or some sort of sick killer from all the video games ingested. By now, it seems to me, decades of brainwashing have done their dirty work, and even if all the sick would-be controllers of the universe died off immediately this particular negative zeitgeist would continue . . . And this is what needs to be undone, which is gargantuan to even consider how to reel back.
>Eric, I think you’ve just coined a new word [happenchance] ;-)) YES
>master control it seems to me exists independently <
Maybe the place to look for the "masters" or elites who tell these news media careerist parrots, and the FBI, CIA criminals what to say and do are the Bilderberg Group, Atlantic Council etc. attendees.
One of the problems is they tend not to be all that bright or far sighted.
Nepotism and inherited wealth aren't great qualifiers.
Eric, I have a typo on “injection to the yet unborn (I meant to say) AT (not as) a decent price for the pharmaceutical industry” (was trying to be ironical here . . . commerce tops principles of democracy).
Seemed to me afterwards my comment to you here is a bit abstruse. What I’m trying to say is we’re facing a decades-long onslaught of patriotic memes and brain-washing that is independent of current masters of the universe. How else explain the uncritical, unblinking reception of one false flag following another . . . Propaganda mounts ever higher and ever more difficult to plunge the needle into and deflate.
White supremacy is another phony meme being pushed hard by the garbage media.
But what’s the aim, the intent of the “elite” having the media do this?
I think it’s probably intended to discredit and undermine white identity, especially white male identity, and to get laws past that will disarm the entire US citizenry whites, browns, blacks.
The “elites” may perceive this is to their benefit.
Here’s a recent write up that bears on mind control that might be of interest to some.
https://gizadeathstar.com/2019/08/facebook-and-the-eeg-dictionary/