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CNN reports that President Biden has nominated criminal neocon Elliott Abrams for a position on the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, which according to the US State Department is responsible for "appraising activities intended to understand, inform, and influence foreign publics" and pays "acute attention" to the US government's official foreign propaganda arm, the US Agency for Global Media.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Presidents Keep Hiring Elliott Abrams Because The US Empire Is Just That Evil

I was 19 the first time I was raped.
Backpacking through Europe, drugged, woke up being sodomised over a toilet bowl in some Italian hotel bathroom.
Blood everywhere.
Memories were fuzzy through whatever it was he slipped me, but I recall fumbling with the doorknob trying to get out, unable to understand why it wasn't opening, then looking down and seeing that he had his foot up against the bottom of the door.
Earlier that day I'd felt like I was flying. Here I was, traveling in Europe just like a grownup, making it work somehow even in a country where I didn't speak the language.
"I'm doing it! I can do it! My god, I can really do it!"
I was going to be an artist. I loved to paint. Teacher told me I should try to get some life experience before going to art school, so out I went to get some. My god did I get some motherfucking life experience.
Came home from Europe and immediately got into an abusive relationship, with a man who would use my talents to get him as much money, as much female attention, and as much professional clout as possible. He got me pregnant right after one of the times I tried to leave him.
I didn't paint.
I turned 26 the day after my daughter was born. I was terrified. I loved her so much I wanted her to have a better mother than me.
"Can I do it? Can I do it? Dear god, please help me do it!"
I gained a lot of weight, and I kept it on. Made me feel secure. Invisible. Like even if I can't do it, even if I fuck up royally at life and completely drop the ball, at least I won't wake up in a blood-smeared bathroom being sodomised over a toilet by a man who won't let me leave.
Now I am 48. I am healing, and I have grown strong. 
Through a strange series of miracles and unexpected rabbit holes, I've found myself in a situation where complete strangers from all around the world give me money to share my thoughts on things.
And I've begun painting again, after all these years. Just sold a few pieces at auction. And it's been bringing up some old feelings.
"I'm doing it! I can do it! My god, I'm really doing it!"
And my bum has started hurting. I've been having shooting pains radiating from right where that bastard stuck me all those years ago. Smacking me out of the air in my state of teenage exuberance. Breaking my wings. Breaking my paintbrush.
People keep asking me to do interviews, but I prefer to stay more hidden. Makes me feel secure. Invisible.
I don't know why I'm sharing this with you right now. I guess I can only write what's coming up for me on a given day, and this is definitely what's front and center for me at this moment.
I'm going to keep healing. I'm going to keep growing stronger. I'm going to keep painting. I may even do interviews one day. 
I don't know where this ride is headed, but I'm very happy I'm on it.
I'm really glad to be alive you guys.

I Was 19

Professional psychopath John Bolton has an article out with The Hill titled "America can't permit Chinese military expansion in Cuba" which inadvertently spells out exactly what's wrong with the way the US empire keeps amassing heavily armed proxy forces on the borders of its large Asiatic enemies.

Reading by Tim Foley.

John Bolton Accidentally Explains Why US Policy On Russia And China Is Wrong

The New York Times excludes some crucial information about cluster bombs from its headline, The Washington Post and Guardian have some interesting views on NATO membership for Ukraine, and, surprise! John Bolton loves cluster munitions.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Today In War Propaganda

The US won WW2 and then immediately plunged into the Cold War. The US won the Cold War and then immediately set to work destroying the Middle East. The US destroyed the Middle East and then immediately started another cold war in preparation for another world war. The US is war.

A normal country wages war with the goal of getting back to peacetime. The US wages war with the goal of getting to the next war.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The US Is War

And it really is interesting how almost everyone seems to be pretty much okay with corporations in the media and Silicon Valley interfering in a US election like this. Everyone shrieked their lungs out about the (now wholly discredited) narrative that Russian bots had influenced the US election with tweets and Facebook memes, but immensely wealthy corporations with universes more influence manipulating the way people think and vote is perfectly fine?

Reading by Tim Foley.

The Worst 2024 Election Interference Won't Come From Russia Or China

Julian Assange is a journalist who's been imprisoned for doing journalism on war crimes, by an empire that claims to defend journalists and oppose war crimes. 

Assange and his persecution expose the giant plot holes in every story the western power structure tells about itself. About its love of free speech and the free press. About its opposition to tyranny. About its wars and why it wages them.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Assange Exposes The Empire's True Face

"Let the market decide" really means let the manipulators decide, because the markets are dominated by those who excel at manipulating. We're taught that letting the market decide means letting supply and demand take its natural course, as though we're talking about ocean tides or seasons or something, but in reality both supply and demand are manipulated constantly with extreme aggression. Manipulating the supply of diamonds. Manipulating the supply of housing. Manipulating the supply of oil. Manipulating people into wanting things they'd never thought to want before through advertising. Manipulating women into feeling bad about their bodies so they'll buy your beauty products. Manipulating people into paying $2000 for a $20 bag using branding. Manipulating people into buying Listerine by inventing the word "halitosis" and convincing them to be worried about it. Manipulating people into believing Beanie Babies were prized collectors items when they were just standard stuffed toys. 

Capitalism gives us a civilization that is dominated by trickery. Those who get to the top are those who succeed in tricking as many people as possible. Tricking them into paying more. Tricking them into buying your product and not someone else's. Tricking people who actually produce something of value into making you their middle man who gets paid despite producing nothing. Tricking competitors into making the wrong move. Tricking people into asking their doctor about your extremely lucrative pharmaceutical product. Tricking people into buying or selling certain stocks or cryptocurrencies or NFTs. Tricking people by using the legal system and your team of lawyers who understand it better than normal people do. Tricking people into letting you privatize their own drinking water and then selling it back to them in bottles. 

It's a scam competition. Whoever scams the best wins. How can you save the planet from destruction by human behavior when all of human behavior is driven by a bizarre scam competition? And the biggest scam of all is the narrative that this system is totally working and is entirely sustainable. That's the overarching scam holding all the other scams together.

Reading by Caitlin Johnstone.

Capitalism Is A Giant Scam

Most propaganda isn't of the Yeonmi Park "communists are so poor that they have to eat mud and get out of the train and push it because there's no electricity" variety. It's subtle. It's these tiny little adjustments where US allies are reported on more sympathetically than US enemies, claims made by unaligned governments are reported with much more scrutiny and skepticism than aligned governments, and the sins which take place within the US-centralized power structure are overlooked while those outside it are amplified and condemned.

Reading by Tim Foley.

It’s Not The Really Blatant Propaganda That Gets You

פליישמן ובוסי שעה שנייה 02-11-23

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