House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has left Taiwan after a brief but diplomatically corrosive visit, the aftereffects from which may be felt for years to come. 

Toward the end of her speech alongside Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, Pelosi's brain underwent one of its increasingly common software glitches, causing her to begin babbling inarticulately.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The US Military Was Just Used To Help A Dementia Patient Try To Start WW3

Empire apologists are raging at Amnesty International for pausing its aggressive facilitation of western imperialism to issue one brief criticism of the way Ukrainian forces have been endangering civilian lives with their warfare tactics against the Russian military.

Reading by Tim Foley.

"Russian Propaganda" Just Means Disobedience

China is better than the United States of America. Not because China is perfect, but because the US is quantifiably the single most destructive and murderous government on this planet by an extremely massive margin.

Reading by Tim Foley.

China Is Better Than The USA

John: I'm worried about China.

Jane: Oh yeah? What about it?

John: Well more I'm worried about the example they're setting, and that western governments will start implementing their technocratic oppression style to turn us all into a bunch of brainwashed, homogeneous obedience machines.

Jane: What makes you think Chinese people are all brainwashed and homogeneous? 

John: Oh my God, don't you watch the news? Have you not heard of their social credit score system? The state censorship and propaganda those people are subjected to? The CCP literally doesn't let them have access to western social media platforms because our free thought and democratic values might interfere with their conformity policing. How have you not heard about this? It's in the news constantly.

Jane: Constantly?

John: Oh yeah, it's like a major news story all the time. All across the political spectrum, too. Fox News, CNN, The Washington Post. Alternative media too like Infowars and The Epoch Times; even lefty YouTubers like Vaush talk all the time about how bad it is in China.

Jane: So because you're being given the same message by all the western media you consume, you're worried about the enforcement of thought conformity in... China?

John: Yeah. Of course.

Jane: And this is why you're worried that, at some point in the future, that kind of brainwashing and homogeneity might someday be inflicted upon us by powerful people in the west?

John: I mean yeah, if the CCP doesn't do it to us first. Did you know they're trying to take over the world?

Jane: They are?

John: Oh yeah! The Chinese want to take over the world and give us all a social credit score so we'll all think the same. How do you not know about this? Don't you ever watch TV?

Jane: How do you know it's true though?

John: That they want to conquer us and give us a social credit score? Come on! Open your eyes! Have you seen how they treat their own population? They're genociding the Uyghurs as we speak! Millions and millions of them in Nazi-style extermination camps! Plus they deliberately released the Covid virus to hurt us after cooking it up in a lab, they're taking over Hollywood and infiltrating our political and academic institutions, and they've colonized the entire continent of Africa! Of course the CCP wants to rule us! Don't you ever watch Tucker Carlson? They're truly, deeply evil, and we've got to do something to stop them.

Jane: Sounds like you've got this China thing all figured out. You're right, that sounds really scary. I can't imagine what it would be like, living in a thought-controlled dystopia where your rulers are brainwashing everyone into obedience and making sure everybody thinks the same way about stuff.

John: Yeah! Finally you get it! I'm glad you've come around. Honestly you're the first person I know who didn't already understand these things about China. 

Jane: I'll bet.

John: So do you think it will happen? Do you think our government will implement a social credit score system to make us all believe lies and propaganda, like the Chinese?

Jane: You know, I wouldn't worry about it.
___________

Reading by Tim Foley and Caitlin Johnstone.

"I'm Worried We're Becoming A Thought-Controlled Dystopia, Like China!"

They lie to us all our lives about what soldiers do,
about what cops do,
about what journalists do,
about what presidents do.

They lie to us all our lives about how laws are made,
about how kings are made,
about how culture is made,
about how norms are made.

They lie to us all our lives about what our minds are for,
about what our hearts are for,
about what our neighbors are for,
about what foreigners are for.

The world is confusing
and they make it more confusing,
on purpose,
because they thrive in confusion,
and now we watch as the world turns to ashes
carried on the back of confusion
made by news men and corporate creatures who eat ashes.

And we stumble in confusion,
eyes darting behind lenses made of confusion,
trying to understand with minds made of confusion,
trying to feel our way through with hearts shackled by confusion.
Searching for an angel egg we know is there
but can't seem to find
because who turned out the goddamn lights?
And why can't I figure out which way is up?
And oop off we go chasing distractions again
for the next news cycle
the next election cycle
the next spin cycle
the next amnesia cycle.

They lie to us all our lives,
and then when we catch them in a lie they just say,
Oh, the person who gave you that information is bad,
or,
Oh, that came from Russian hackers,
or,
We made a mistake but we don't do that anymore,
or,
Don't be a conspiracy theorist,
or,
Hey! Look over there!
or,
We already knew that, it's no big deal.

And then everyone forgets,
and the confusion churns on.

But the angel egg is there in our mind's eye,
in our heart of hearts,
haunting our dreams,
calling us home,
the embryo holding our original eyes
for whenever we are ready to claim them.

They lie to us all our lives about what our country is,
about what our government is,
about what money is,
about what nature is.

They lie to us all our lives about where the answers are,
about where our friends are,
about where our enemies are,
about where our claws are.

They lie to us all our lives,
and they make the world confusing,
and beneath that confusion we are watching them
with our original eyes,
with our primal eyes,
with our natural eyes,
with our uncivilized eyes.

Watching them,
like lions watching a gazelle,
and waiting,
with primordial patience,
until it is time
to make our move.

_________________

_________________

_________________

Reading by Tim Foley.

They Lie To Us

“Germ and chemical weapons may often be weak in their battlefield applications but they are always strong in their emotiveness. Accusations of association with them have for centuries, even millennia, been used by well-intentioned as well as unscrupulous people to vilify enemies and to calumniate rivals. Can onlookers protect themselves against the possibility of such assaults upon their common sense today?”- Julian Perry Robinson

I interview journalist and geopolitical analyst for the Libertarian Institute - William Van Wagenen about his article covering the 2013 Eastern Ghouta alleged chemical attacks in Syria. Van Wagenen has done an incredible job of drawing all the threads together and demonstrating the collusion of Western, Israeli, Turkish and Gulf Intelligence agencies in the staging of events designed to provoke US/UK-led military intervention and to topple the Syrian government. 

His full article is here: https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/sarin-doesnt-slice-throats-the-2013-ghouta-massacre-revisited/

‘Sarin Doesn’t Slice Throats’: The 2013 Ghouta Massacre Revisited

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