U.S. citizens are being prosecuted for speech and political activities that don’t align with the wishes of the government.
President Joe Biden looks on as Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers remarks at the White House in May 2022. (White House/ Adam Schultz)
By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com
The Biden administration’s Department of Justice has just charged four members of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) for conspiring to act as agents of Russia by using speech and political action in ways the DOJ says “weaponized” the First Amendment rights of Americans.
The Washington Post reports:
“Federal authorities charged four Americans on Tuesday with roles in a malign campaign pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda in Florida and Missouri — expanding a previous case that charged a Russian operative with running illegal influence agents within the United States.”
The FBI signaled its interest in the alleged activities in a series of raids last summer, at which point authorities charged a Moscow man, Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, with working for years on behalf of Russian government officials to fund and direct fringe political groups in the United States. Among other things, Ionov allegedly advised the political campaigns of two unidentified candidates for public office in Florida.
Ionov’s influence efforts were allegedly directed and supervised by officers of the FSB, a Russian government intelligence service.
Now, authorities have added charges against four Americans who allegedly did Ionov’s bidding through groups including the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement in Florida, Black Hammer in Georgia and an unidentified political group in California — part of an effort to influence American politics.”
U.S. State Department offers $10 million for information about Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov. (Rewards for Justice, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons)
AFP reports that the conspiracy charges carry a sentence of up to 10 years, with three of the four APSP members additionally charged with acting as unregistered agents of Russia which carries another five years.
“Russia’s foreign intelligence service allegedly weaponized our First Amendment rights – freedoms Russia denies its own citizens – to divide Americans and interfere in elections in the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen in the DOJ’s press release regarding the indictments, adding,
“The department will not hesitate to expose and prosecute those who sow discord and corrupt U.S. elections in service of hostile foreign interests, regardless of whether the culprits are U.S. citizens or foreign individuals abroad.”
Looks like the United States has decided to dispense with those freedoms as well.
This is an absolutely remarkable – and chilling – indictment. Several American black leftist groups and activists are being charged with felonies for posting memes and other political content against the war in Ukraine, protesting racial injustice: allegedly on behalf of Russia: https://t.co/SQ1K1VZG1v
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 19, 2023
The superseding indictment containing these charges consists of a lot of verbal gymnastics to obfuscate the fact that the DOJ is prosecuting U.S. citizens for speech and political activities in the United States which happen not to align with the wishes of the US government.
The grand jury alleges that the aforementioned Ionov “directed” these Americans to “publish pro-Russian propaganda” and “information designed to cause dissention in the United States,” which is about as vague and amorphous an allegation as you could possibly come up with.
For the record Omali Yeshitela, the founder and chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party and one of the four Americans named in the indictment, has adamantly denied ever having worked for Russia.
Earlier this month before charges were brought against him, The Tampa Bay Times quoted him as saying, “I ain’t ever worked for a Russian. Never ever ever ever. They know I have never worked for Russia. Their problem is, I’ve never worked for them.”
Omali Yeshitela in July 2020. (David Lance, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)
But it’s important to note that this should not matter. Under the First Amendment the government is forbidden to abridge anyone’s freedom to speak however they want and associate with whomever they please, which necessarily includes being as vocally pro-Russia as they like and promoting whatever political agendas they see fit, whether that happens to advance the interests of the Russian government or not.
The indictment alleges that the four Americans engaged in “agitprop” by “writing articles that contained Russian propaganda and disinformation,” but even if we pretend that’s both (A) a quantifiable claim and (B) a proven fact, propaganda and disinformation are both speech that the government is constitutionally forbidden from repressing.
It’s not reasonable for the government to just dismiss the First Amendment on the grounds that it is being “weaponized.” You can’t have your government dictating what speech is valid and what counts as “agitprop” and “disinformation”, because they’ll always define those terms in ways which benefit the government, thus giving more power to the powerful and taking power away from the people.
You can’t have your government dictating what political groups are legitimate and which ones are tools of a foreign government, because you can always count on the powerful set such designations in ways which benefit themselves.
This fake and racist case flows from the Russiagate hysteria that convinced millions of Americans that Russia was paying dissident groups to destabilize the US political system
The FBI was unable to find anything real, so it went after the African People’s Socialist Party https://t.co/C1fUn2pyuW
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) April 19, 2023
There’s also the brazen hypocrisy of it all. The U.S. government is constantly engaging in foreign influence operations with outfits like the National Endowment for Democracy, which was set up to help foment coups and color revolutions and advance U.S. information interests overtly in ways the C.I.A. used to do covertly.
As commentator Brian Berletic noted on Twitter,
“The U.S. through the National Endowment for Democracy has created armies of organizations carrying out malign influence operations around the world including here in Thailand. When the Thai government attempts to stop this activity, the US embassy shouts ‘free speech.’ Thailand’s government and others around the world could easily cite this move by the US Justice Department to target and uproot US-funded organizations doing exactly this and worse.”
The US through the National Endowment for Democracy has created armies of organizations carrying out malign influence operations around the world including here in Thailand.
When the Thai government attempts to stop this activity, the US embassy shouts "free speech." https://t.co/5MeXFlyzEO
— Brian Berletic (@BrianJBerletic) April 19, 2023
So for the U.S. government to now claim it’s legitimate to start throwing US citizens in prison for a decade because they published “propaganda” for another country is absurd, and more than a little scary. The most powerful government in the world needs more political dissent at home, not less, and here they are trying to turn it into a crime.
When they claim the members of the APSP published “propaganda” and promoted “dissention,” what they really mean is that they engaged in speech and political activism that the U.S. government does not like.
The spinmeisters will try to spin it, the legal mumbo-jumbo will try to obfuscate it, but that’s what’s happening. Don’t let them conceal this from you.
They’re not worried about Russian propaganda, they’re worried you’ll stop listening to U.S. propaganda.
Caitlin Johnstone’s work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following her on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, YouTube, or throwing some money into her tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy her books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list at her website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything she publishes. For more info on who she is, where she stands and what she’s trying to do with her platform, click here. All works are co-authored with her American husband Tim Foley.
This article is from CaitlinJohnstone.com and re-published with permission.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Yes, free speech is a weapon, a weapon against tyranny granted by the Constitution of the United States because the founders of the country thought it was the best weapon to be used in a civil society. However, they sought fit to add the second amendment just in case things got serious.
Speaking of propaganda, we should note the use of language here which twists and churns with stereotypes or inflammatory imagery–that is, the careless and inexact use of language, from individuals representing a “department of justice.”
The use of “alleged,” furthermore, is not a substitute for “found” or “proven.” Further, use of “weaponized” is a false analogy that might as well have emerged from someone imbalanced and biased.
Free speech can NOT be “weaponized” in proper use of the term. Speech is not accountable to “malign” harm unless it can be proven to cause physical injuries to the nation.
Starting or supporting an oppositional party to the currently elected one does not count as this kind of injury.
weaponize
w?p??-n?z?
intransitive verb
1. To supply with weapons or deploy weapons in.
2. To place or mount (an explosive or nuclear device, for example) on a missile or other delivery system.
3. To equip (a missile or other delivery system) with an explosive or other weapon.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
insinuate
?n-s?n?yoo?-?t?
intransitive verb
1. To express or otherwise convey (a thought, for example) in an indirect or insidious way. synonym: suggest.
2. To maneuver or insert (oneself) into a place:
3. To cause (oneself) to be involved or accepted by subtle and artful means.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
insidious
?n-s?d??-?s
adjective
1. Working or spreading harmfully in a subtle or stealthy manner.
2. Intended to entrap; treacherous.
3. Beguiling but harmful; alluring.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
Just a note: Federal grand juries ALWAYS vote to indict. They are spoonfed bullshit information with no contrary views allowed. Let us hope that an actual jury is not as compliant.
“Reward for Justice” appears to be a prank.
Check out the e-mail address.
Reality is becoming more and more difficult to satirize
Evidently somebody, some cohort, with power is afraid of speech. That’s interesting. I wonder what they have to hide?
And what’s power when it makes the powerful afraid? Evil?
Calling the SCMODS fellas… kindly note that I myself am entirely satisfied with the way things are and with the marvelously brilliant policies and decisions of the O’biden…absolutely! Brilliant Leadership! Do forge on with the brave attempts to conquer Russia, China, and all the other vile dictatorships that fail to appreciate the glorious new world they’ve been offered. I’m quite serious…do continue… Please!
You forgot to mention while simultaneously fighting half the population at home and others they don’t like. It’s an amazing feat. The next 20-50 years I submit will be interesting times.
I am wondering about this. What is the actual endgame here, not what we surmise from the authors unadulterated well written story. I am referring to something not mentioned but not pertinent to the concerns the author is trying to awaken.
These appear to be black nationalist organizations and other than financial gain what would these groups benefit from spreading Russian “propaganda”?
I find it curious the DOJ found the time for this because they are very busy harassing white people and other than cointelpro in the 60’s and 70’s certain groups don’t lose payment processors or platform access when they openly speak about killing “white babies”.
I surmise this is a group of sweep along victims who if they participated in any of the allegations it was unwittingly. I suspect the DOJ is tactically prosecuting this case for the appearance of balance.
If they get a conviction then they get precedent for their plan to stifle descent and punish their opposition. We really are a “banana republic” we don’t have a rule of law and at least a banana republic or even those evil Russians the red scourge, the USSR, at least these types of countries and the Russians I am supposed to be afraid of or hate are honest.
In the Soviet Union at least you knew the rules certain things were delineated, certain lines you didn’t cross or you knew the KGB would probably be knocking. In an “un democratic” “developing nation” they are honest and overtly jail or kill people they don’t like. America the hypocrisy and blundering bullying spreading sodomy and their farce of “democracy”
Now the former director of the CIA (Morrel) is actually admitting that the agency took up sides in the last presidential election and suppressed the contents of Hunter Biden’s lap-top, characterising them as “Russian disinformation.” In so doing, they were not only infringing upon the free speech of those who wanted this information and its relevance to the presidency discussed before the election but they were also lying like dogs to the public about the material so as to keep this crucial information out of the campaign. This alone makes Lord Biden’s “election” to the office a farce and a crime of the highest magnitude. Read all about it where? The NYT? WAPO? WSJ? Guardian? Daily Mail? The Enquirer? Not on your life. The MSM are strictly security state assets, and nothing to be found there that would rock the status quo. Such truths are nowadays found only in outlets such as RT. Well, whaddya know: hxxps://www.rt.com/news/575103-cia-head-biden-election/
As I have said too many times to recall, this bullshit is out of control. The weaponization of speech is old hat. SEE: CIA and all others use of propaganda.
This stand by Biden and Garland is old hat also. Something we might expect from pre-civil war racists.
What has changed is the distortion of the English language by an activist SCOTUS deciding without merit that money is speech. A contrived position with no place in reality. A method we have witnessed now several times with this current activist scotus
What we witness here is the democrats sliding into agreement with the republicans in order to further the fascist agenda of the neocon mindset.
DOJ should have strongly resisted going to this place by advising the potus of his ignorance of language and law.
Depressingly sad and highly repugnant actions from men supposedly operating under the rule of law. Seems maybe they found a use for our corruptly ignorant scotus. A court that will surely back Biden & Co. on this one.
Just imagine this happening in 1968. With idiotic though processes such this employed by our leaders then we might still be fighting in Vietnam.
Nice job by Ms. Johnstone
Thanks CN
The corporate-US news blackout is working. Facebook has just censored Hersh, so that Biden’s crime 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea will go unknown to many. That Biden is like Usama will never be appreciated, though knocking out Europe’s twin pipelines wasn’t as immediately deadly as knocking down our twin towers.
Yet, what Biden did was an environmental crime, a Constitutional crime, an attack on the energy assets of a fellow NATO member, and an invitation to Russia for war. Tons of methane in the air, an act of undeclared war, an attack on Europe’s economy, and a flirtation with World War 3 are now largely unknown to the American public.
Nor will the public be informed of the stunning breadth of Zelensky’s corruption, the death squads that he runs in the Russian areas of Ukraine (they rival our Operation Phoenix, where we slaughtered the political members of the Viet Cong opposition), the fact that there is no civilian control of Ukraine’s military, as we saw at Zolote, where the big sergeant told little Zelensky to go to hell after Z ordered him to withdraw his troops in accordance with the Minsk Accords, and his murder of Daria Dugina, a Moscow journalist nowhere near a battlefield, and finally, of the historical fact that the leaders and governing bodies of Crimea voted by big majorities to secede from Ukraine in 1993, long before the US-sponsored coup in Kiev in 2014.
And the beat goes on ………….
sigh—-and when the Bonus Army could not get their pay after WW I —-the military came out and shot the gathering soldiers .
Soldiers without money and who were camping near the White House suddenly became the enemy.
Yes, America, WORDS matter——— but so do the People.
In western culture there is no much space for other cultures to florish and grow; what we are good at it is to sell another picture, that see us as open to diversity, that we embrace it, that we encourage it; that’s serve only to disguise the underlying foundation of our culture in which its society is built on, such as: ethnocentrism, supremacism (cultural, racial, ideological, religious, technological), xenophobia, and fear. Borrell with the garden-jungle analogy to define the west-vs-others just exposed this western’s deception.
I believe that the only type of person from different cultures that we tolerate is the “coconut”; the Obamas are excellent example; African only by the color of their skin but “white as BaSO4” in their behavior, cognition and perception (Sunak another estraordinary example).
Our white society is like the “first order” in which individuals from the racial/cultural diversity are integrated in the system, but cancelled by the stormtrooper white armor, like Finn. Only when Finn escaped and liberated him from this “white armor” he found its true identity and place among the “resistance”, a force which fight for diversity against a force that “homogenize”, that eliminate everything and anything that is different, just like, christianity, the nazi and now the “liberal progressives”
Impeach Joe Biden.
While we’re at it, let’s have a constitutional amendment requiring ever president, VP, cabinet member and every member of Congress to be checked every 6 months for cerebral syphilis and other signs of mental illness.
And remove them immediately if they are not in their right minds.
This is going to get worse! This is how its starts. It starts small. People will overlook small cases like this and won’t say anything in protest.
Then, gradually, they will invent new terminology to indicte people for raising their voices.
Hate speech will include picking on the government, joking about the government and so on…
This is how communism started in Eastern Europe after 1945.
The problem is that there is nothing that people can do now. They are numbed by the culture wars, too embroiled in petty online arguments to see the real dangers and the real threats. The people are also dumbed by outrages cases of the LGBTQ+, thus their attention is focused on tackling the ridiculous.
Many others will also say “but the Democrats support the LGBTQ+ and BLM movements. The Democrats need the black movement. For sure those black leftists did something wrong”.
These are the useful idiots who can’t see the forest for the trees. The same useful idiots who participated to the rise of communism in the East, only to be butchered by the elites.
Ironic, isn’t it? One hundred years ago the West was capitalistic and the East turned communistic but were ruled by an elite. Now the West embraces neo-marxists ideas and are ruled by an elite and the East now embraces free trade.
Used to think it quaint, those “It can happen here!” warnings.
Not any more.
Unless the Bill of Rights has been overturned, these charges are not only baseless, but without legal standing.
Don’t suppose that matters anymore, ’cause they just make s#%t up anymore and intimidate us into acceptance.
In the run-up to the GW Bush invasion of Iraq I wrote many letters to the editor of my local paper that would have made anything the above accused said sound tame; I made the case – over and over – that all the reasons offered up for that second Iraq War were nothing but lies. Ultimately, I made the case that GW and his entire cabinet should be arrested and tried for treason. By what Caitlin reported above I should still be in jail with about half my sentence yet to go.
Judge Napolitano’s “Judging Freedom” is a remarkably good Youtube series. His interviews with Scott Ritter, Ray McGovern and others are very good.
Throughout, he seriously and repeatedly raises a core question. He asks, “Is the US government worthy of our belief..?” This, of course, after listing all the myriad ways in which it is not. Commenting on Austin and Nulands’ Congressional testimony, he says:
“What’s going on is the government itself selectively revealing top-secret military data in order to further a lie and selectively lying to Congress about the true state of the war in Ukraine in order to get funds appropriated for more killing.
“Is there a moral difference between Nuland’s revelations and Teixeira’s? Both are truths derived from secrets, yet one furthers killing and the other lets the public judge for itself if the government is worthy of belief. Is there a moral difference between what Teixeira told his buddies and what Austin told Congress? Yes, Teixeira told the truth and Austin lied” (hXXps://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2023/04/20/secrecy-versus-truth/).
It’s actually a simple and very to the point question. Answering it truthfully changes literally everything.
By the way, wasn’t Merrick Garland Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court that was blocked by McConnell much to the exasperation of the “woke crowd.” Now we see. It seems Garland knows which side his bread is buttered on. I guess actual free speech is not very big with him.
Thay are not confused Bill, they are not confused at all. You may be confused thinking you live in a free society but they know exactly what they are doing.
Yes.
Can yu please look into the other activities of this “Reward for Justice” program of the State Dept.? I suspect that at least some of them are just as dubious, or worse.
And since they are offering up to ten million dollars for evidence against Ionov, it seems a safe bet that they don’t actually have any. (But that doesn’t really matter, does it?) Russiagate 2.0 …
Joe, every day in every way you just keep making things worse for those trying to uphold the legacy of our constitution and the human rights it confers upon us. Stop stealing your cheap political mind games from 3rd graders. You were allegedly elected to the “presidency,” not the office of emperor. You are the putative administrator, not the sovereign of the USA. You are expected to preserve our rights under the constitution, not strip us of them. Joe, you need to be removed from the office you so much abuse. We the people need to be protected from you, ya maniac. You and your criminal family belong in jail cells, not the White House.
I actually believe that we who wish to preserve the First Amendment can win this fight and win big. I don’t know if the story of Danes in WW2 refusing to allow the arrest of Jews by a mass wearing of armbands with Jewish Stars is 100% accurate but suppose a huge number of American citizens declared themselves guilty of disagreeing with US policy in Ukraine….
and even, being individually honest about your reasons, that those who find the stories Russians and other witnesses including the UN are to be credible have a a right declare they have a right to listen to and agree with anyone they happen to agree with of any nationality. We have a right to think for ourselves. There is no declared war and even if there were a declared war some would oppose US war with Russia for any number of reasons. If you believe the Bill of Rights is still a fundamental and fully operative basis for the relation of citizens to government, then write the court and declare yourself guilty of the spreading the same ideas about Ukraine as these activist brothers.
Also there is no basis for a grand jury here. We have to demand our right to a jury of peers. If the courts were flooded and people were public in their disagreement with the US, Nato and Zelensky and people refused lawyers and demanded to speak for themselves this could be a powerful tool to assert the Freedom of Speech, the freedom to read what you want, talk with who you want, and age with whoever you agree with, the freedom to assemble for redress of grievance, the right to a legitimate jury process etc. I know I am in an excitable state but I feel we cannot stand by and watch politicians and courts take away the first amendment and a mass response makes a lot of of sense. I personally do read Putin’s speeches and find him more reasonable and credible on many issues than US politicians. If someone does not like that, so what. I am either free to come to my own ideas or not. And the constitution clearly says I have the freedom to believe and say what I want short of advocating a crime. There is plenty about Russian and Chinese policies I also disagree with but concerning Ukraine I find the Russian military defense of the majority Russian population of the Donbass and Crimea to be a very persuasive case and I have been quaker and pacifist for most of my life.
H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956): “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents… the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
Thank you, Mr. Tracey, for your thoughtful defence of human rights and the US Constitution. This isn’t the first time US politicians attempted circumvention of these human rights. The great social commentator, HL Mencken, rebuked American thoughtlessness and fascist tendencies. He was moved to write the “Declaration of Independence in American” during ‘…President Wilson’s Saturnalia of oppressions under the WWI Sedition Act”. Mencken is revered by literature reference librarians for his Dictionary of American Slang so the translation is hilarious.
hxxp://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/decind.html
H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956): “The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.”
Alexis de Tocqueville : “I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.”
Noam Chomsky: ”Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. Media.”
H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956): “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
William Casey (CIA Director 1981-1987): “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
Vladimir Putin: “If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly.”
The Sedition Act of 1918… although repealed 1920… 10,000 cases filed…. 1000 convictions… including labor activist Eugene V. Debs…
Surely grateful to reside in Calif USA… (such a large Dem majority don’t Have to Guilt Trip Myself for Third Party Voting)…
Fact is: DNC will Only sponsor Corpo-Sellouts…
Eventual Outcome (this instance): Outright Fascist First Amendment Repudiation!
Why would you ever “guilt–trip” yourself for 3rd party voting?
I Kinda am joking… Sadly as Protest Vote oughtn’t be SOP…
Truth is: Lotta Practice 3rd Party voting in CA as well… NEVER VOTED4 (retiring) Ms CBRE!
Btw – how do you feel about 3rd parties being kept off a ballot?
NO RIGHTS SINCE…
Of course BIPOC and poor people in general know that “Constitutional rights” often did not apply to them.
An ominous foreshadowing occurred during the 1999 anti-WTO protests I’m proud to say became known as The Battle of Seattle. Labor unions, students, eco-activists, churches, small businesses, scientists, small farmers, and indigenous peoples from all over the world united in a common cause.
About half of us arrested were Seattle area locals. But no matter where you were from, you had equal rights–NONE. In the name of security, our civil rights had been suspended. The needs of global corporate capitalism were primary.
I took an oath to defend the US Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic. It is my right and my duty to speak up if I believe the US government has been captured by domestic enemies. It is my right and duty to say I believe the US government is lying to American citizens about Russia. And further, that I find Russia, based upon all the evidence available to me, to be currently more trustworthy than this US administration.
The clutch of people currently running US foreign policy are not “America”, and they are certainly not the US Constitution. It seems to me and many others, the plain facts show they are trying via numerous specious arguments to destroy the US Constitution. My thanks to Caitlin for maintaining a focus on this topic.
This arrest signals the state’s more overt intentions to shut down dissent. ……Outsourcing to Big Tech the task of de-platforming/algorithmically downgrading dissenting/alternative viewpoints is not quite enough now, it appears. ………. This is a sign of desperation from an empire in rapid decline prosecuting and stoking a war that becomes more unpopular as time goes on.
……… Russia-gate, in addition to deflecting attention away from a terrible Clinton campaign and an attempt to attack Trump FROM THE RIGHT (“Putin’s puppet!” ” was also a major psy-op to precondition the American mind for the coming war ON Russia.
“Sowing discord (dissent)”…….. Ha! As if all is hunky-dory in der Homeland and it’s only, er, ‘Russian disinfo’ that’s pulling us apart.
……………. What is the difference between what these four APSP members have done and what ANY one of us here in a comment thread does when excoriating US foreign policy??? NOTHING! ……… If I write how US/NATO provoked Russia for years and ignored Putin’s entreaties to discuss plans for regional stability, can I be arrested?? ……If I write of US involvement in orchestrating the 2014 Ukraine coup, am I “sowing dissent” and “spreading Russian ‘propaganda'”????? ………… Gee, maybe they’ll come after us with that other bromide, we’re “GIVING AID AND COMFORT TO THE ENEMY”. …..doesn’t seem so far-fetched now, does it?
Make no mistake. We’ve entered a new phase of social control by the state. Say hello to McCarthyism 2.0.
Exactly. And this time it’s the Democrats pulling the newest iteration of Saddam Hussein from his “spider hole.” Only this time he’s here now, among us, and he plans to speak freely in public! No constitution can stand up to such monstrosities of injustice. Therefore, away with constitutional rights! Original intent and momentary deception will always live side by side in American life. Biden should be ashamed of himself. Instead, he’ll run again on solidifying free speech rights and supporting working class issues, much the same way he ran last time on climate change and improved health care.
Eugene Debs – 21st Cent. edition …
Well, I suppose this is one way of getting rid of the Socialists – maybe it’s a good sign – 1st they ignore you, then they mock you, then they jail you – hmmm, then what…
Katie Halper great interview 8 mos ago with Uhuru founder but Fox news last week ran headline saying “First time” he spoke out. Somehow Jimmy Dore did not see fit to comment on SCOTUS Let stand and denied a man the right to sue Parma, OH police for arresting and prosecution over Facebook parody page. They are making satire a crime as well. VP only laughing at our expense again and AG Don Quixote windmill prosecutions, I am with Chris Hedges on some of these cases Ala Jan 6. I am sure the administration is reconsidering their leniency in the failure to make jaywalking a death penalty crime or not locking up parents of truant children. Maybe they can stop primary challengers by making felony cases for showing up to debates not just locking them in the basement like Jill Stein? Probably just wishing they could add Taibbi, and all Russiagate deniers as unindicted co-conspirators. Looking forward to some super PAC’s doing the perp walk.
Fascism is rooted in the militarization of the economy of a country running on a capitalist economy in crisis, according to the pioneering theorists who analyzed the political economy of that emergent system in early-20th century Germany and Italy. (see Georgi Dimitrov and George Seldes.)
Fascism’s base in the military appropriation of capital still seems to be borne out by what we’re seeing today. But the theory of fascism will have to be altered to fit some new features in is origin. It was thought that the ultra-right, most reactionary section of the bourgeoisie would be the instigators of fascism. But we can see today that a “liberal” bourgeois party, too, can spearhead the drive to fascism, especially when it links with the rightwing bourgeoisie to pursue activities like profiteering from military spending (the bipartisan budget passed by the US congress in only a matter of hours), military adventurism based on lies and schemes (Vietnam, Iraq, Ukraine), and efforts to use the mass media and courts to shut down dissent and prosecute critics for charges like endangering national security, supporting enemy regimes, etc. That is what we’re seeing in the current frenzied drive in the USA to curb free speech and criminalize dissent when that dissent threatens to spark public opposition to heavy investments in profitable military schemes. The lawful activities of the African Socialist Party members must be defended with all our might. The hyper-military spending also makes it impossible for our country to maintain, let alone upgrade, our educational, health-care, environmental, transportation, housing and cultural institutions.
And they say Trump is the fascist, which he is, but he’s certainly not alone on it. The democratic party is as guilty as its sister party, the republicans, of this descent into the repressive society the usa has become.
CONTROL
If the neolib/neocon cabal were sure of its power it wouldn’t need these clumsy efforts. The Empire is wearing no clothes and its ugliness is obvious.
“sow discord.” Well, that’s pretty much the point of any dissention, isn’t it?
“in service to hostile foreign powers” So who is “hostile”? Euro leadership when it’s insufficiently obsequious? The entire set of African countries who just said NO?
And who is ” serving”? Simple. Criticizing any government policy, no matter if entirely about domestic issues, is opposition. Since those hostile foreigners are also opposition, the two must be the same.
Just look at the facial expressions of Biden and Garland……the worship of the agenda……the love of an evil agenda…..the love of serving the cause of elite empire….
These same arguments could have been used against Israel and most of the christian Taliban in the US for the past 40 years, why haven’t they?
“You can’t have your government dictating what political groups are legitimate and which ones are tools of a foreign government, because you can always count on the powerful set such designations in ways which benefit themselves.”
It’s understandable why our f*ckwads in office (including the ‘justice system’) get confused on this point: it’s exactly what the ‘democracy’ we’re allegedly ‘defending’ in Kiev does to maintain the order it demands.
Kiers, ch wallace, and Bill todd, and others where applicable:
It’s has been all down hill since 911 when it comes to the us government using the bully pulpit of the Patriot Act to lurch into a fully authoritarian government. I’m seeing more and more signs of really serious civil contemptuous activities directed towards the fake government in D.C.. It is either that or concentration camps for those who resist.
This bullshit is getting very old very wickly!
Resist, do not comply act up and act out!
Thanks CN