W.J. Astore
Corporate Capture of Government, not Age, Is the Problem
In honor of Presidents’ Day, let’s look ahead to the 2024 presidential election.
Right now, Joe Biden and Donald Trump are the leading candidates of their respective parties for the 2024 election. Biden will be 82 if reelected; Trump will be 78. Are they simply too old to serve?
The short answer is “no.” Sixty is allegedly the new forty, so I suppose eighty is the new sixty. Seriously, age alone isn’t the issue. Many people are mentally alert and physically vigorous well into their eighties and beyond. But many people aren’t; age does take its toll, we do age unequally, so it’s best to take this case by case, person by person.
Trump’s problem isn’t that he’s too old; he’s simply too much of a con man and a narcissist. Even as a businessman, he was largely a loser. When you go bankrupt running casinos, where the odds are stacked in your favor, you truly are incompetent. Trump wants to be president again because he lost and hates to lose. He lacks a positive plan for America, which isn’t surprising, as he has no empathy for others. He’s not too old; he’s just supremely focused on himself.
Biden isn’t too old, in theory. But more so than Trump, he does appear to be in physical and cognitive decline. At the British Guardian, Margaret Sullivan wrote that:
“Of course, I wish Biden were 20 years younger; I wish he didn’t stumble over his words and sometimes make inexplicable mistakes. I worry about his cognitive decline and physical frailty. But right now, he looks like the best bet to stave off a likely-disastrous Republican presidency and his record, while not flawless, is impressive.”
Her argument is simple: Biden is the best bet to defeat Trump (or DeSantis), so ignore his faults and frailties. It’s OK for a president to stumble over his words, to make inexplicable mistakes, even to exhibit signs of cognitive decline and physical frailty. Why? Because Democrats apparently have no other viable candidate to defeat the Republicans.
The willingness of the mainstream media and so many otherwise sensible people to dismiss obvious signs of Biden’s decline inadvertently points to a larger truth: Biden, if reelected, won’t be running the country anyway, so why worry about his physical and mental health?
As Chris Hedges and others have argued, America isn’t a democracy. Presidents aren’t public servants. America is an oligarchy, and presidents largely answer to the oligarchs. A corporate coup d’etat enacted over the last half-century ensures the real rulers of America are on Wall Street, in big finance, and with the national security state and similar powerful interests.
So, which figurehead do you want, Trump or Biden? That seems to be America’s “choice” for 2024, making this Presidents’ Day grimmer than it should be.
Show me a candidate who wants to fight against the corporate capture of the U.S. government, and I’ll joyfully vote for that person irrespective of their age.
(A coda: Speaking of age, can you imagine two women the ages of Biden and Trump contesting for the presidency in America? I can’t. They’d be dismissed by too many as “old hags,” obviously well past their prime, as Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was recently described by CNN host Don Lemon, and Ms. Haley is only 51! Yet again, America has a “choice” between aging white men wearing red power ties, each with serious flaws. Democracy!)
Bracing Views 
Good read. Kudos.
“Show me a candidate who wants to fight against the corporate capture of the U.S. government, and I’ll joyfully vote for that person irrespective of (his/her) age.” No chance of a viable Third Party? — pushed and pulled and fueled-by-the-undeniably-needed-big-bucks and forced into the mainstream by the many, many, many American patriots like WJA who must needs band together in a millions-of-voters-huge and unstoppable-momentum drive to save the “union” that is on the very edge of final extinction? Isn’t there a (younger) Ralph Nader out there somewhere around whom the WJAs can coalesce and entice the commoners like me into their orbit?
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Can’t we at least wait a year before starting up again with the imperial oligarchy’s meaningless …
Take-it-or-Take-it “Choices”
(All Sizes Fit One)
Nothing off the table
Something on the floor
Metaphor and fable
Adding up to war
Bomber John and Lindsey
Graham and McCain
War for them is whimsy
Others get the pain
So at least in theory
Goes the latest “plan”
Two, at least, are leery:
Russia and Iran
China, too, ain’t buying
What we’ve got to sell:
More bad debt and crying
On the road to Hell
Waffle Waitress Nikki
Threatens the UN:
“We will have our quickie!
Any where or when!”
Deadbeat country failing
Fighting just to lose
“Sick” or “ill” or “ailing”:
“Options” we can “choose”
“Alternate” provisions
“On the table” sit:
All scream, “More divisions!”
Same old sorry shit.
Michael Murry, “The Misfortune Teller,” Copyright © 2018
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“During the intervals between elections the political existence of the citizenry is relegated to a shadow citizenship of virtual participation. Instead of participating in power, the virtual citizen is invited to have ‘opinions’: measurable responses to questions predesigned to elicit them.” — Sheldon S. Wolin, Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism
The Circus that Wouldn’t Leave Town
( a terza rima sonnet)
From time to time, the circus once arrived,
Quadrennial in its appointed rounds.
Yet somehow it has artfully contrived
To never leave — bombarding us with sounds
And sights so lurid and insistent that
Whatever tripe The Candidate expounds
Begins to clog the arteries with fat,
Inducing aneurysms in the soul
Through endless touting of a puerile spat.
Consultants endlessly conduct a poll
Which tells us what they wish for us to hear:
That folks like us will play our scripted role.
Commercial ads have made that crystal clear.
If only fright were all we had to fear
Michael Murry, “The Misfortune Teller,” Copyright 201
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“Aneurysms of the soul,” indeed, Mike.
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I’m somewhat bewildered by the fact that you don’t mention that there are a few progressive democrats out there. One I would be willing to vote for is Elizabeth Warren, but there are a few others as well that I might consider if I had more info – one is California’s governor; I’d need a lot more info, but he seems to have done a good job in Calif. which is a state that is bigger than a lot of European countries; another is Ro Kahna (SP?) I’d need all these names to fill in their ideas about war and peace, because we certainly need something better than Biden who is clearly a tool of Wall Street and the military. I’m surprised you didn’t mention Bernie Sanders. I personally think he is too old to run, but if Biden isn’t too old, then neither is Bernie and I’d much prefer him. At least he’s not crazy, and he doesn’t show signs of senility. If Biden is the candidate, I will not vote for him; I’ll vote for the green party or write in a name. I think a lot of people feel that way, and by the way I’m in Biden’s generation. I know what it’s like to be over 80. My brain is still in one piece (it’s better than Biden’s) but my energy is not what it once was. It’s not just young people who want someone other than Biden, it’s old people too. So I think we should be encouraging people like Warren to run. I hope you’ll address that Bill.
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I agree. But I don’t see a progressive challenger to Biden in 2024. Unless Biden has a serious lapse in health before then, he’ll almost certainly be the candidate.
As you know, we had a progressive choice in 2020. Sanders and Biden were running neck-and-neck, then Obama and the pros intervened, tipping the primary to Biden. (Recall that “Mayor Pete” and Amy K. were basically told to drop out, tipping their votes to Biden, but Warren was encouraged to stay in so that she’d draw votes from Bernie.)
So, we may wish for a progressive to run in 2024, but the fix is already in. It’s Biden unless he croaks, and even then the DNC might try a “Weekend at Bernie’s” ruse with him.
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Well Bill, with all due respect from a loyal reader, this is not one of your most informed and cogent
posts. May I , as a 79 y/o retired Psychiatrist with 40 years of practice , including multidisciplinary
medical center , private practice forensic psychiatry, and 5 years as VA staff Psychiatrist (I also am a
Vietnam combat Vet as Battalion Surgeon 9/69-9/70) offer separate comments/opinions about each of our
contemporary former/current Presidents–
1) Former President DT–Please read in Wikipedia the section “Personality Disorders Cluster B”–
there you will see a detailed description of the 4 subtypes of this cluster, and you will see that DT has elements of all 4, not just narcissism, making this a rare, severe, untreatable condition, totally
incapacitating for any vocation–
2) President B–May have some age-related cognitive decline, but remarkable physical and psychophysiologic energy and functional capacity–as a lifelong progressive Democrat I have appreciated his domestic focus on rebuilding the Middle- and Working Classes, but agree with you that the
accompanying devotion to support of the MICC/DOD/American Empire is hopelessly outdated.
Neither one, for these different reasons, should be running for President in 2024.
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Well, you gotta take the bad with the good. 🙂
I don’t think we disagree here. As I said, Trump has no empathy, is narcissistic, and is entirely self-centered. I can’t join you in making a psychiatric diagnosis since I don’t have your knowledge and experience.
Biden, though he expresses sympathy for the working classes, has failed in raising the minimum wage, in getting student debt relief, in providing better health care and a single-payer or state option. But of course the reason here is obvious: the corporate capture of government, in which Biden, a man in decline, is a willing servant and figurehead.
I agree with you that neither man should be running for president in 2024, but I don’t think they’re going to listen to you and me!
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Thank you for your kind and insightful reply-we do agree and I want to encourage and support your efforts to re-invigorate a rather deflated Anti-War, Anti-
MICC/Dept of War movement in recent months !
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Since The Washington Post suspended me from commenting for a week, I’m waiting to see if The New York Times will publish this comment just submitted for approval?
US WAR Propaganda showing how brave President Biden is going to a WAR zone US/NATO is paying 100% of the COST with BORROWED MONEY is all staged Kabuke theatre.
Kiev set off the air raid sirens and there were no incoming Russian missiles. That did not make the President brave.
This article does not mention what is already revealed. In a DE-confliction phone call, Russia was informed of Biden’s trip as he travelled in a luxury rail car to and from Kiev.
The fact Russia was informed, the train could have been hit and missiles fired into Kiev while Biden was there.
Contrary to the steady US/NATO WAR Propaganda, Putin came off as the real Rational Actor knowing if he did strike, WWIII/Armageddon would be on already.
US/NATO has already given Ukraine much more money and weapons than Russia’s $60 Billion annual DoD Budget.
As much as Western Propaganda says NATO has to stop Russia in Ukraine or it will march into Poland, that is totally delusional and misleading US WAR Propaganda.
With the $585 BILLION US DoD Budget, added to the DoD Budgets of the 30 NATO Vassals to the US, that’s NATO’s $Trillions of WAR Dollars against Russia alone.
Russia has already achieved it’s limited goals in Ukraine.
It absorbed the Russian speaking UKRAINIANS back into Russia establishing a land bridge to Crimea.
WAR was inevitable. The 2014 US/CIA Coup/regime change of the Russian friendly gov. installing a US proxy anti-Russian gov. began shelling CIVILIANS in the East rejecting the US Coup.
‘Biden’s Surreal and Secretive Journey Into a War Zone’
President Biden traveled covertly to the besieged Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, hoping to demonstrate American resolve to help defeat the Russian forces that invaded a year ago this week.
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Comment published along with many shorter comments in reply to others
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The latest comment that hasn’t appeared yet in the NYT article;
After the failed CIA Bay of Pigs invasion of Sovereign Cuba, Cuba asked the Soviet Union to deploy missiles in Cuba as a DETERRENT to the US from attempting an illegal invasion again.
The US was so offended by Russian missiles that close to the US, it reacted with an ACT of WAR setting up the US Navel Blockade of Cuba.
The US was ready for WWIII/Armageddon in 1962 by that ACT of WAR.
President Kennedy had the Common Sense to recognize the GRAVE implications, as in BILLIONS of People dying with the unfolding Realities.
Using the DE-confliction line in 1962, he negotiated a Peaceful resolution to the Crisis promising not to attempt another invasion of Cuba, and promising to remove the US missiles deployed in new NATO Member Turkey aimed at Russia in a few months.
For Domestic Political reasons, Kennedy extracted a promise from the Russians to keep the US missile withdrawal from Turkey secret and not part of the deal ending the Crisis.
Having learned how close this Material World came to self-destruction (MAD), in June 1963, Kennedy uttered the essential truth that can keep us alive today:
“Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy–or of a collective death-wish for the world.”
Ukraine in NATO is NYET in Russia!
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Maybe the NYT will not approve my basic POV like The Washington Post and not publish them. The WaPo deletes them after they appear.
This is my 1st comment on this other NYT article, ‘Putin’s Move on Nuclear Treaty May Signal End to Formal Arms Control’
Mutual inspections have been suspended for years because of the pandemic. But New START, the last nuclear agreement between Russia and the United States, is dying.
With all the SINS of Historical OMISSION in US/NATO anti-Russian Propaganda, this article leaves out a whole lot of FACTS of History.
Russia is not withdrawing from the Treaty but suspending participation only for legitimate reasons this article points out.
In the latest US Defence policy just reiterated, the US reserves the right to 1st use of Nuclear Weapons in a Conventional War but the US MSM hushes that up.
Russia had a no 1st use policy until 2013 when Moscow clarified it would reserve the right to first use of nuclear weapons in the face of a massive conventional invasion of Russia.
That won’t happen unless the US and it’s 30 obedient Vassal NATO States, move into Ukraine because there are not enough Ukrainians left to fight this US WAR with Russia over Ukraine in NATO so the US could have boots, tanks, rockets and missiles RIGHT ON RUSSIA’S BORDER..
To keep this article in proper perspective, it was George Bush who withdrew from the ABM Treaty signed with the Soviets in 1972 in 2001.
That Treaty banned the deployment of anti-missile missiles in Europe the US has now deployed in Poland and Roumania aimed at Russia, giving the US 1st strike capability.
It was the US that withdrew from the Open Skies Treaty offering real transparency to both the US and Russia.
No matter the spin, Putin is no more EVIL suspending participation in the Start Treaty than US Presidents Bush and Trump were in completely withdrawing from Treaties with Russia.
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The Link
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The NYT just published the comment
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Biden did not step up to match his rhetoric when he abandoned the railway workers need for rest, being overworked and underpaid, and now we see the catastrophe of the toxic derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
It’s interesting for me to note, CNN, MSNBC and other audio MSM call it Palestine with the phonetic emphasis on “tine” to separate it from the catastrophe of Israeli occupied Palestine.
So it was one more coincidence or SIGN in my CV reading this article in Investment Watch headed ‘ACID RAIN IN OHIO’ that moved me to make this comment relative to what we see unfolding in Today’s World.
This latest report is more interesting to me than for many for reasons obvious to anyone following the link to the People section in the August 31, 1981 MacLean’s, CanaDa’s National Magazine, and mentioning acid rain.
Even more relevant these Days, since the US/NATO/EU is lamenting, for all the $ BILLIONS they’re spending to extend the Ukraine WAR to “bleed Russia,” there are “NOT ENOUGH BANGS FOR OUR BUCKS,” that MacLean’s Cover 42 years ago points to.
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roberthstiver, I appreciate you’re the only on Bill’s site that likes most of my comments. May God bless you somehow someway for that.
It’s a Fact of my Life, the 1st Time I was sent to jail in 1977 was for breach of the single condition of a 1 year Probation with these express words typed in at the bottom of the form, “not to attend on the Sparks Street Mall or any other Street in Ottawa for the purpose of SPEAKING or shouting.”
That experience in my CV, tells me CanaDa’s US/NATO WAR Propaganda claiming the Ukraine WAR is over Democracy is BS!
I was arrested for “shouting causing a disturbance” making impromptu speeches to growing crowds on the Sparks Street Mall, one street from Parliament Hill in CanaDa’s Capital.
The local Newspapers at the Time reported the crowd demanded the Police leave me alone to speak. Who was disturbed?
I had no idea that mention in the People Section in that 1981 MacLean’s issue was in the works. I had to do some digging to find out how it got there?
The Whitehorse Star published this written by their Reporter Leslie Cole August 26, 1981.
Unknown to me, she was a Free Lance writer for MacLean’s Magazine and that’s how it got in the ‘Not Enough Bangs For Our Bucks’ issue.
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https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/acid-rain-in-ohio/
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When the United States blew up the Nord Stream Pipelines on September 26, it committed an Act of War against the owners, operators, and particularly, the customers of the infrastructure delivering Russian natural gas to Western Europe, particularly in Germany.
In NORD STREAM: WHAT HERSH GOT WRONG, Mike Whitney notes in his critique of Seymour Hersh’s report on the Pipeline destruction:
As reported by Hersh, the operation was ordered by US President Joe Biden and planned by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
Hersh wrote: “Biden’s DECISION TO SABOTAGE THE PIPELINES CAME AFTER MORE THAN NINE MONTHS OF HIGHLY SECRET BACK AND FORTH DEBATE INSIDE WASHINGTON’S NATIONAL SECURITY COMMUNITY ABOUT HOW TO BEST ACHIEVE THAT GOAL. FOR MUCH OF THAT TIME, THE ISSUE WAS NOT WHETHER TO DO THE MISSION, BUT HOW TO GET IT DONE WITH NO OVERT CLUE AS TO WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE.”
Whitney then asks:
“NINE MONTHS”?
The war broke out on February 24. The pipeline was blown up on September 26. THAT’S SEVEN MONTHS. So, if there were “more than nine months of highly secret back and forth debate inside Washington’s national security community about how to” “sabotage the pipelines” THEN WE MUST ASSUME THE SCHEMING PRECEEDED THE WAR.
This is a crucial point, and yet Hersh skims over it like it’s ‘no big deal’. But it is a big deal because it blows apart the entire narrative of US involvement in the war as a response to “unprovoked Russian aggression.”
In other words, IT PROVES THAT THE UNITED STATES WAS PLANNING TO ENGAGE IN ACTS OF WAR AGAINST RUSSIA REGARDLESS OF DEVELOPMENTS IN UKRAINE. IT ALSO SUGGESTS THAT THE RUSSIAN INVASION WAS MERELY A COVER FOR WASHINGTON TO EXECUTE A PLAN THAT IT HAD MAPPED OUT YEARS EARLIER.
Which raises a very interesting point: Wasn’t Russia’s SMO launched a year ago Friday so very, Very convenient?
Entire article as https://www.globalresearch.ca/what-hersh-got-wrong/5808306 ; EMPHASES added.
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Whitney continues his critique:
But the biggest failing of the Hersh piece is the complete omission of the geopolitical context in which this act of terrorism took place.
The US doesn’t go around the world blowing up critical energy infrastructure for nothing. No.
The reason Washington embarked on this risky gambit was because it is facing AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS THAT CAN ONLY BE RESOLVED BY CRUSHING THOSE EMERGING CENTERS OF POWER THAT THREATEN AMERICA’S DOMINANT POSITION IN THE GLOBAL ORDER. That’s what’s going on below the surface; the US is trying to roll back the clock to the glorious 1990’s after the Soviet empire had collapsed and the world was Washington’s oyster.
BUT THOSE DAYS ARE GONE FOREVER AND US POWER IS IRREVERSIBLY ERODING DUE TO ITS BASIC LACK OF COMPETITIVENESS. If the US was still the industrial powerhouse it was following WW2—when the rest of the world was in ruins—then there would be no need to blow up pipelines to prevent European-Russian economic integration and the emergence of a massive free trade zone spanning the area from Lisbon to Vladivostok .
But the fact is, THE US IS NOT AS ESSENTIAL TO GLOBAL GROWTH AS IT ONCE WAS and, besides, other nations want to be free to pursue their own growth model. They want to implement the changes that best fit their own culture, their own religion and their own traditions. They don’t want to be told what to do. BUT WASHINGTON DOESN’T WANT CHANGE. WASHINGTON WANTS TO PRESERVE THE SYSTEM BESTOWS THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF POWER AND WEALTH ON ITSELF.
Hersh does not simply ignore the geopolitical factors that led to the sabotage, he proactively creates a smokescreen with his misleading explanations. Check it out: “As long as Europe remained dependent on the pipelines for cheap natural gas, Washington was afraid that countries like Germany would be reluctant to supply Ukraine with the money and weapons it needed to defeat Russia. It was at this unsettled moment that Biden authorized Jake Sullivan to bring together an interagency group to come up with a plan.”
More baloney. Washington doesn’t care about Germany’s pathetic contribution to the war effort. WHAT WASHINGTON CARES ABOUT IS POWER; PURE, UNALLOYED POWER. AND WASHINGTON’S GLOBAL POWER WAS BEING DIRECTLY CHALLENGED BY EUROPEAN-RUSSIAN ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND THE CREATION OF A GIANT ECONOMIC COMMONS BEYOND ITS CONTROL.
AND THE NORD STREAM PIPELINE WAS AT THE VERY HEART OF THIS NEW BUSTLING PHENOM. IT WAS THE MAIN ARTERY CONNECTING THE RAW MATERIALS AND LABOR OF THE EAST WITH THE TECHNOLOGY AND INDUSTRY OF THE WEST. IT WAS A MARRIAGE OF MUTUAL INTERESTS THAT WASHINGTON HAD TO DESTROY TO MAINTAIN ITS GRIP ON REGIONAL POWER.
Think about it: This new economic commons, (“Greater Europe”) would eventually ease trade and travel restrictions, allow the free flow of capital and labor between countries, and harmonize regulations in a way that would build trust and strengthen diplomatic ties. Here’s more from an earlier piece that sums it up:
IN A WORLD WHERE GERMANY AND RUSSIA ARE FRIENDS AND TRADING PARTNERS, THERE IS NO NEED FOR US MILITARY BASES, NO NEED FOR EXPENSIVE US-MADE WEAPONS AND MISSILE SYSTEMS, AND NO NEED FOR NATO. THERE’S ALSO NO NEED TO TRANSACT ENERGY DEALS IN US DOLLARS OR TO STOCKPILE US TREASURIES TO BALANCE ACCOUNTS. TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN BUSINESS PARTNERS CAN BE CONDUCTED IN THEIR OWN CURRENCIES WHICH IS BOUND TO PRECIPITATE A SHARP DECLINE IN THE VALUE OF THE DOLLAR AND A DRAMATIC SHIFT IN ECONOMIC POWER.
This is why the Biden administration opposed Nord Stream. IT’S NOT JUST A PIPELINE, IT’S A WINDOW INTO THE FUTURE; A FUTURE IN WHICH EUROPE AND ASIA ARE DRAWN CLOSER TOGETHER INTO A MASSIVE FREE TRADE ZONE THAT INCREASES THEIR MUTUAL POWER AND PROSPERITY WHILE LEAVING THE US ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN.”
Entire article as https://www.globalresearch.ca/what-hersh-got-wrong/5808306 ; EMPHASES added.
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Again: When the United States blew up the Nord Stream Pipelines on September 26, it committed an ACT OF WAR against the owners, operators, and particularly, the customers of the infrastructure delivering Russian natural gas to Western Europe, particularly in Germany.
And it is absolutely no surprise at all that Washington denied ~ and its Media either totally ignored or dismissed ~ Hersh’s allegations.
After all, when Hersh released his report on the 8th, America was still in quite a tizzy after the February 4 downing of the Chinese “Spy” Balloon via $400,000 Sidewinder missile, and mesmerized by scenes of death and distraction from the Earthquake in Syria and Turkey on the 6th.
And then along came those “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” shot down with three more $400,000 Sidewinder missiles over Alaska, Canada, and Lake Huron on the 10th, 11th, and 12th, respectively. Throw in the 12th being Super Bowl Sunday, and it’s not hard to see why Hersh’s report got little coverage.
Except, that is, dutifully reporting the White House’s, the CIA’s, and other reliable sources rejection and denunciation of it.
But even if Hersh had released his report on the slowest, dullest, quietest news week of the year, one can bet the ranch that it would have still been ignored by our News, Views, and Infotainment Matrix, whose sole function is to keep the minds of Americans focused on what America’s Ruling Political Class wants it to stay focused on.
One question that immediately comes to mind: Is an Act of War ordered by a President without a Congressional Declaration of War an impeachable offense? It has never been in the past, but with Election2024 just down the road and talk of “National Divorce” in the air, this time it might be different, eh?
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I don’t remember in which article way back I explained where the word, and the much bigger idea of ARMAGEDDON was derived from Har Mediggo located in Occupied Palestine when the word 1st appeared some 2000 years ago.
Har Megiddo is still a physical place in temporal Israel recreated from the Bible.
Just that fact alone in TODAY’S REAL WORLD AT WAR, should cause people to not dismiss the Bible out of hand and search what else is in there.
The Bible is ancient and nothing had been added to it in some 2000 years.
This is a Times of Israel report in TODAY’S edition in this Secular World,
‘Netanyahu said to huddle repeatedly with military brass over possible attack on Iran’
TV report says PM held 5 meetings with defense minister, IDF chief, Mossad head, Military Intelligence chief; he tells conference world must back up promise to thwart nuclear drive.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly held a series of secret high-level meetings with top military officials aimed at upping preparations for a possible confrontation with Iran.
According to a Channel 12 report on Tuesday, the premier huddled five times in recent weeks with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Mossad head David Barnea, Military Intelligence chief Aharon Haliva and other military brass to discuss readying for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear program.
The report, which was not attributed to any source, included few other details about the discussions, and may itself be designed to telegraph the seriousness of Israeli threats to resort to military action in order to shut down Iran’s suspected drive toward a nuclear weapon, which Netanyahu has described as an existential threat.
The report said the result of the meetings — that Israel will act alone if the international community does not step in — had been shared with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Netanyahu on Tuesday night repeated his stance that the international community needed to back its promises to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions with serious threats to take military action or by actually putting bombers in the air……………………………………………………
The one place ARMAGEDDON is mentioned in the Bible is in The Revelation Of Jesus Christ,
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth (Pope, Princes, Presidents, Prime Ministers, CEOs and other Idols of the People) and of the whole world, (the rest of us)
to gather them to the Battle of That Great Day of God Almighty. ( Seems the People don’t have much choice)
Behold, I come as a thief. (when you least expect it)
Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue ARMAGEDDON.
Seems to me this Material World has finally arrived at the Precipice of the 2nd Final Solution!
All Intelligent discussion with Good Will, Pro or Con, is welcome!
Honesty is Good!
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TIMES OF ISRAEL link: https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-huddles-with-military-top-brass-as-israel-looks-to-rattle-some-sabers/
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