Contains element of SamplePack73

1 hour challenge made in more than 3 hours... (rabbit hole style)
baked on mpc one standalone
reheated with Audacity

mpc rocks!

LDSR733

The Joe Rogan/Spotify controversy is still going on and has only gotten more vitriolic and intense. Claims that Spotify must walk away from its $200 million contract with the world's most popular podcaster for promoting vaccine misinformation have sparked a lot of debates about freedom of speech, online censorship, what exactly those terms mean, and whether they can be correctly applied to the practice of Silicon Valley deplatforming.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Let's Back Up A Sec And Ask Why Free Speech Actually Matters

It's not that the US elects incompetent leaders who make bad decisions that kill millions of people with warfare, it's that the global US empire is held together with military violence and the threat thereof. It's an intrinsically evil institution and you should always oppose it.

It's not that the US government has done evil, it's that the US government is itself evil. The very way it has set itself up to operate in the world necessarily means it must exert endless violence and oppression to keep populations functioning in its interests. That's evil.

The Mafia hasn't happened to make bad decisions throughout its history that resulted in the unfortunate demise of certain individuals, it's an institution explicitly set up to reap profits by exerting and threatening violent force. The US empire is exactly the same. Same evil.

It's not that the American people keep accidentally electing warmongering thugs, anymore than it's an accident that the Mafia is always led by men who are willing to bully and kill. The US empire is an intrinsically thuggish and violent institution, and needs that kind of leader.

The US empire is just a rich man's mafia. And you should want it gone for the exact same reason you don't want your neighborhood to be tyrannized by violent mobsters.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The US Empire Is Evil And You Should Want It To Fail

If the Kremlin wanted to kill large numbers of people it should have done so with starvation sanctions and proxy militias like a civilized government.

Fashion has moved on since the early 2000s, you savages.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Civilized Nations Kill With Sanctions And Proxy Armies

Get The Fuck Up

Ukraine's only chance at stopping Russia in the near term would be if it could persuade NATO powers to take a more direct role in combat, like setting up a no-fly zone as President Zelensky has persistently pleaded with them to do. One way to get around NATO's rational resistance to directly attacking the military forces of a nuclear superpower would be to appeal to emotion via atrocity propaganda. By circulating a narrative that Russia has done something heinous which cries out to the heavens for vengeance, regardless of the risks entailed.

The United States would also benefit from circulating atrocity propaganda about Russia, in that it would further consolidate international support behind the agenda to economically strangle the nation to death in facilitation of the empire's struggle for unipolar planetary hegemony. Even before the invasion the US was already pushing the narrative that Russia has a list of dissidents, journalists and "vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ persons” who it plans on rounding up and torturing.

To be clear, it is not conjecture that the US and its proxies make use of atrocity propaganda. The infamous Nayirah testimony for example helped manufacture consent for the Gulf War when a 15 year-old girl who turned out to be a coached plant falsely told the US Congressional Human Rights Caucus that she'd witnessed Iraqi soldiers taking babies out of incubators in Kuwait and leaving them on the floor to die. 

Reading by Tim Foley.

The US And Ukraine Have Every Reason To Lie About The War

On the empire's grand chessboard, Russia is the queen piece, but China is the king. Just as with chess it helps to take out your opponent's strongest piece to more easily pursue checkmate, the US empire would be well advised to try and topple China's nuclear superpower friend and, as Consortium News editor-in-chief Joe Lauria recently put it, "ultimately restore a Yeltsin-like puppet to Moscow."

Reading by Tim Foley.

The US Empire's Ultimate Target Is Not Russia But China

This project was proposed by Rob Walker.

More on this 537th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Penitent Honk (The Assignment: Do sound design for “a missing gesture” of vehicular life) — at: https://disquiet.com/0537/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0537-penitent-honk/

So Sorry Alarm (disquiet0537)

More on this 537th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Penitent Honk (The Assignment: Do sound design for “a missing gesture” of vehicular life) — at: https://disquiet.com/0537/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0537-penitent-honk/

Carcophony (disquiet0537)

We Knows

The far right is on the move, installing themselves in key places throughout the election infrastructure of the country. States are considering further attacks, like eliminating early voting, after Republicans have spent decades filling the state legislatures. These attacks are racist, undemocratic, and coming to a head this November.

Brian is joined by Esther Iverem, a longtime journalist, producer and host of the show ‘On the Ground: Voices of Resistance From the Nation’s Capital,’ which comes out weekly on Fridays. Check it out at onthegroundshow.org and two dozen Pacifica stations nationwide.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Behind the Scenes: How the Right Wing Is Quietly Planning to Seize Election Infrastructure

Readings of all Caitlin Johnstone's articles, usually by her co-writer Tim Foley.