Now that is rich, a “bi-partisan” poll, wherein bi-partisan
means there is no difference between the Republican establishment and the
Democratic establishment, found that half of Americans think the US is in real
danger of becoming an authoritarian country.
What I find surprising is that the number is so low. What planet are the other half
occupying? What is even more laughable
is that the poll was conducted by “stink tanks” formed under the auspices of
George W. (the constitution is just a God damned piece of paper) Bush and Joe
(I am a Zionist) Biden. Well no shit
Shakespeare.
What a joke the people most responsible for the dismantling
of Democracy in America conducted a poll and found Americans are losing faith
in their own government. From CityWatch:
Excerpt:
RESISTANCE WATCH: Half of Americans think the United States
is in “real danger of becoming a nondemocratic, authoritarian country.” A
majority, 55 percent, see democracy as “weak” — and 68 percent believe it is
“getting weaker.” Eight in 10 Americans
say they are either “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the condition of
democracy here.
These are among the sobering results of a major bipartisan
poll published Tuesday that was commissioned by the George W. Bush Institute,
the University of Pennsylvania’s Biden Center and Freedom House, which
tracks the vitality of democracies around the world… (I’m going to barf).
“We hope this work can be a step
toward restoring faith in democracy and democratic institutions,” Bush said in
a statement. (Ha, ha what a laugh) The concern about the condition of democracy
inside the United States transcends the tribal divide between Republicans and
Democrats, with majorities across races,
genders, age groups, levels of education and income brackets expressing fear. (Those majorities are the people who have no
representation in government)
Hey dipsticks you don’t have to pay millions to your stink
tanks, the GW Bush Institute and the Biden Center and (cough, cough) Freedom
House to figure out why Americans believe that our government has been taken
over by fascist forces like the RNC and DNC.
Here’s a twenty-year study that doesn’t cost you anything. From City Watch LA:
Excerpt:
Have you ever felt like the government doesn’t really care what you
think?
Professors Martin Gilens (Princeton
University) and Benjamin I. Page (Northwestern University) looked at more than 20 years’ worth of data to answer a
pretty simple question: Does the government represent the people?
Their study took data from nearly
2000 public opinion surveys and compared it to the policies that ended up
becoming law. In other words, they
compared what the public wanted to what the government actually did. What
they found was extremely unsettling: The opinions of the bottom 90% of income
earners in America has essentially no impact at all.
Princeton University study: Public opinion has “near-zero” impact on
U.S. law.
Gilens & Page found that the number of Americans for or against any
idea has no impact on the likelihood that congress will make it law. “The preferences of the average American
appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant
impact upon public policy.”
One thing that does have an influence? Money. While the opinions of the bottom 90% of income
earners in America have a “statistically non-significant impact,” Economic
elites, business interests, and people who can afford lobbyists still carry
major influence.
Nearly
every issue we face as a nation is caught in the grip of corruption. From taxation to national debt, education to
the economy, America is struggling to address our most serious issues. Moneyed interests get what they want, and
the rest of us pay the price.
They spend billions influencing
America’s government. We give them
trillions in return. In the last 5
years alone, the 200 most politically active companies in the US spent $5.8
billion influencing our government with lobbying and campaign
contributions. Those same companies got $4.4 trillion in taxpayer support — earning a return of 750 times their
investment.
It’s a vicious cycle of
legalized corruption. As the
cost of winning elections explodes, politicians of both political parties
become ever more dependent on the tiny slice of the population who can bankroll
their campaigns.
To win a Senate seat in 2014,
candidates had to raise $14,351 every single day... In return for campaign donations, elected officials pass laws that are
good for their mega-donors, and bad for the rest of us.
Our elected officials spend 30-70%
of their time in office fundraising for the next election. When they’re not fundraising, they have no choice but to make sure the
laws they pass keep their major donors happy — or they won’t be able to run
in the next election. Until it’s
addressed, Corruption will continue to
block progress on every issue.
That’s right these bought and paid for politicians can’t
understand why the American people hate them.
The Democratic Party in particular can’t figure out why their dogs (the
Democratic voters) won’t eat the dog food they give them. Both parties are corrupt beyond repair and
they still can’t understand why the voters voted for an outsider like Donald
Trump to be President.
They are still trying to breathe life into their “Russian
collusion” hot air balloon that won’t fly.
It’s a lie, a stinking, rotting lie devised before the election as an
insurance policy against a Trump Administration and the people know it. America’s founders wrote the Declaration of
Independence to declare the states’ independence from the monarchical rule of
Great Britain and what we got was an oligarchical rule from the billionaires
who own our politicians. From Caitlin
Johnstone
at Consortium News:
Excerpt:
America Celebrates Lateral Move From Monarchy To Corporate Rule
Today America celebrates its liberation from the shackles of the British
Crown and the beginning of its transition into corporatist oligarchy… Fireworks will be set off, hot dogs will
be consumed, and a strange yellow concoction known as Mountain Dew will be
imbibed by patriotic high-fiving Yankees eager to celebrate their hard-fought
freedom to funnel their taxes into corporate welfare instead of to the King.
In trouncing King George’s
red-coated goon squad, you made it possible for the donor class to slowly buy
up more and more control of your shiny new government, allowing for a system of
rule determined not by royal bloodlines, but by wealth bloodlines. Now instead of your national affairs being
determined by some gilded schmuck across the pond, they are determined by the
billionaire owners of multinational corporations and banks…
The elite class secured its stance
as British Rule 2.0 by throwing their money behind politicians who they knew
would advance their interests, whether those interests are in ensuring that the arms and munitions they
manufacture get used frequently, the expansion of predatory trade policies,
keeping tax loopholes open and keeping taxes on the wealthiest of the wealthy
very low, deregulating corporations and banks, or enabling underhanded Wall
Street practices which hurt the many for the benefit of the few…
So if you’ve ever wondered why
seemingly common sense matters like a living wage and healthcare as a right
consistently get shot down by your government, this is why… The oligarchs can keep that from happening by
continually escalating income inequality. They
use their massive political power to repress the minimum wage, to undermine the
power of unions, and to continually pull more and more energy away from
socialist programs and toward the corporate deregulation of neoliberalism.
America is a corporatist oligarchy
dressed in drag doing a bad impression of a bipartisan democracy. Sometimes it
doesn’t even keep its wig on; a recent party at the Hamptons saw Jared
Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Kellyanne Conway and Charles Koch mixing it up with
Chuck Schumer and George Soros. When they’re not dining on champagne
and rare fillet together, these people pretend to be locked in a vicious
partisan battle that is “tearing the nation apart,” but at Lally Weymouth’s
annual Southampton summer party the act stops and the oligarchs frolic together
like children.
1776 turned out to be nothing other than a transition from one form of
exploitative rule to another, but who knows? Maybe a year in the
not-too-distant future will see America celebrating a real Independence Day.
Let’s hope that sometime in the near future there is a real
Independence Day, but in the meantime the Oligarchs are calling in their chits
and demanding their puppets in the US Senate rein in President Trump’s advances
toward peace. They are demanding the
Senate bestow some kind of legitimacy on their corrupt FBI’s concocted Russian
collusion crap report. From The Hill:
Excerpt:
Senate panel upholds finding that Russia backed Trump, contradicting
House
The Senate Intelligence Committee has unequivocally upheld the
conclusion of the intelligence community that Russia developed a "clear
preference" for then-candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 election and
sought to help him win the White House.
The assessment, announced in an unclassified summary
released Tuesday, represents a direct repudiation of the committee’s
counterpart in the House — and of President Trump himself, who has
consistently rejected assertions that Moscow sought to bolster his candidacy
through its election interference…
The so-called "intelligence community assessment," or ICA, is
a "sound intelligence production," according the Senate panel..."
Senate investigators also rejected the notion that the ICA was
inappropriately influenced by politics, as some of Trump's supporters
have alleged… The committee says it reviewed "thousands of pages of source
documents" and interviewed all the relevant
officials who were involved in developing the ICA, from agency heads and
managers to line analysts—and
"heard consistently that analysts were under no politically motivated
pressure to reach any conclusions…"
Move on, nothing to see here. Our spooks weren’t politically motivated, we
asked them and they said no. Sounds like
a case of “if you can’t dazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with your
bullshit.” Who can trust the Deep State
“intelligence” agencies who have been only consistent in one thing, being wrong? Wrong on “911 terrorist warnings” wrong on
“weapons of mass destruction,” wrong on the many mass shootings where the
perpetrators were well-known to and associated with the FBI or CIA and we’re
supposed to believe them now?? From TheAnti-Media:
Excerpt:
Former US Ambassador: Intel Report on Russian Interference “Politically
Motivated”
Prominent journalists and politicians seized upon a shabby, politically
motivated, “intelligence” report as proof of “Russian interference” in the U.S.
election without the pretense of due diligence, argues Jack Matlock, a
former U.S. ambassador in Moscow.
I spent the 35 years of my government service with a “top secret”
clearance. When I reached the rank of ambassador and also worked as
Special Assistant to the President for National Security, I also had clearances
for “codeword” material. At that time, intelligence reports to the president
relating to Soviet and European affairs were routed through me for comment.
I developed at that time a “feel”
for the strengths and weaknesses of the various American intelligence agencies.
It is with that background that I read the January 6, 2017 report of three intelligence agencies: the
CIA, FBI, and NSA.
This report is labeled
“Intelligence Community Assessment,” but
in fact it is not that… The report
states that it represents the
findings of three intelligence agencies: CIA, FBI, and NSA, but even that
is misleading in that it implies that there was a consensus of relevant
analysts in these three agencies.
In fact, the report was prepared by a group of analysts from the three
agencies pre-selected by their directors, with the selection process
generally overseen by James Clapper, then Director of National Intelligence
(DNI). Clapper told the Senate in testimony May 8, 2017, that it was
prepared by “two dozen or so analysts—hand-picked, seasoned experts from each
of the contributing agencies.”
If you can hand-pick the analysts, you can hand-pick the conclusions.
The analysts selected would have understood what Director Clapper wanted since
he made no secret of his views. Why would they endanger their careers by not
delivering?
What should have struck any
congressperson or reporter was that the
procedure Clapper followed was the
same as that used in 2003 to produce the report falsely claiming that Saddam
Hussein had retained stocks of weapons of mass destruction. That
should be worrisome enough to inspire questions, but that is not the only
anomaly.
Unusual FBI Participation
During my time in government, a
judgment regarding national security would include reports from, as a minimum,
the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and the Bureau of
Intelligence and Research (INR) of the State Department. The FBI was rarely, if ever, included unless
the principal question concerned law enforcement within the United States…
What did I notice when I read the
January report? There was no mention of INR or DIA! The exclusion of DIA
might be understandable since its mandate deals primarily with military forces,
except that the report attributes some of the Russian activity to the GRU,
Russian military intelligence. DIA, the
Defense Intelligence Agency, is the U.S. intelligence organ most expert on the
GRU. Did it concur with this attribution? The report doesn’t say.
The omission of INR is more glaring since a report on foreign
political activity could not have been that of the U.S. intelligence community
without its participation… This
is where due diligence comes in. The first question responsible journalists and
politicians should have asked is “Why is INR not represented? Does it have a
different opinion? If so, what is that opinion?
The second question should have been directed at the CIA, NSA, and FBI: did
all their analysts agree with these conclusions or were they divided in their
conclusions? What was the reason
behind hand-picking analysts and departing from the customary practice
of enlisting analysts already in place and already responsible for following
the issues involved?
As I was recently informed by a
senior official, the State Department’s
Bureau of Intelligence Research did, in fact, have a different opinion but was
not allowed to express it. So the January report was not one of the
“intelligence community,” but rather of three intelligence agencies, two
of which have no responsibility or necessarily any competence to judge foreign
intentions.
The second thing to remember is that reports of the intelligence agencies
reflect the views of the heads of the agencies and are not necessarily a
consensus of their analysts’ views. The heads of both the CIA and FBI are
political appointments…
Prominent American journalists and politicians seized upon this shabby,
politically motivated, report as proof of “Russian interference” in the U.S.
election without even the pretense of due diligence. They have objectively
acted as co-conspirators in an effort to block any improvement in relations
with Russia, even though cooperation with Russia to deal with common dangers is
vital to both countries.
Ouch, seems the highly political report used by the Senate
Intelligence Committee is just a load of crap compiled by and for the special
interests who want to derail any cooperation between Russia and the U.S. that
would cut into their highly lucrative defense contracts.
Oh those wily Russians are at it again, not only did they
interfere with America’s Presidential election, now they’ve installed a
Socialist president in Mexico! Oh the
horrors! From Strategic Culture:
Excerpt:
Andrés Obrador Becomes President of Mexico: Good Prospects for
Russian-Mexican Relations
Until now, it has been generally
believed that the era of left rulers in Latin America was over. In December
2017, Sebastián Piñera of the National Renewal party, won in Chile after
right-wing forces came to power in Argentina (2015) and Brazil (2016). Three leading economies of the continent
had right-wing governments. It all changed on July 1 with the sweeping
victory held by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the candidate representing the
country’s Left.
His party Morena, the National
Regeneration Movement (Movimiento Regeneración Nacional), was formed only in
2014 to lead Obrador to victory over
other candidates from political parties that have ruled the country for the
entire century. Now he has enough power for implementing drastic changes.
The Mexican revolution took place 101 years ago. This is the first time the
Left have come to power.
One of the president-elect’s
promises was standing up to Donald Trump if need be. His election is a blow to the United States influence in Latin America.
The US and newly elected Mexican presidents don’t see eye-to-eye on NAFTA,
bilateral trade and border security.
During the race, Obrador had to deny the rumors that originated from the United States, not Mexico, that he
had received money from Moscow. As in the course of the 2016 US election,
the invented stories were spread around. Then US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said he had seen “signs”
of Russia’s meddling into Mexican election campaign. The affirmation
was left unconfirmed as the official offered no details but US Senators Marco
Rubio (R-FL), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), and Tim Kaine (D-VA) lost no time to chime
in.
So did Enrique Ochoa Reza, the
chairman of the Mexican Institutional Revolutionary Party that lost the
election. Rumors remained rumors but
media did its part to make people believe the concoctions were true. Andres
Obrador used the strongest weapon against lies – humor. He jibed the stories to
win even more popular support…
Its economy is strongly linked to
NAFTA – the economic union US President
Trump wants to end so much, replacing it with separate deals. Perhaps, this
is the time for Mexico to diversify its economic partners.
Russia, China and other BRICS
nations can offer a good alternative to the rocky relationship with the
northern partner having become so unpredictable recently. Obrador’s victory may provide an impetus to the development of
Russian-Mexican ties, including energy, security and political interaction on
the global stage.
The sanctions imposed by the US and
the EU have prompted Moscow to expand contacts with other world economies. Russia has a strong diplomatic presence in
such countries as Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, and
Cuba…
Russia’s strongest trade relationships are Brazil and Mexico, which
together account for about half of all of Russian trade in the continent.
The Russian twin-engine MC-21 short-to-mid-range airliner with a capacity for
between 150-211 passengers offers a potential lucrative deal Mexico has paid
interest in.
In January, the Mexican Association
of Importers and Exporters (ANIERM) opened its trade office in Moscow. Mexico
is eager to explore a partnership with Russia to purchase and assemble
helicopters. Mi-35M and the Mi-28NE combat helicopters as well as Mi-17
military transport rotary wing aircraft are under consideration. Russia’s Lukoil energy giant has won two
tenders to expand its drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Grupo Maseca and
Nemak are operating in Russia.
Experts believe that Obrador’s election is a good chance to spur
the Russian-Mexican cooperation in all spheres. President Putin also
expressed hope that with Andrés Obrador at the helm, the bilateral relationship
will get a new impetus. The two leaders will meet at the upcoming G20 summit,
scheduled for November 30–December 1 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
And what does our great leader, President Trump have to say
about Mexico’s election of President Obrador?
He says congratulations. From ElPais:
Excerpt:
Trump congratulates Mexico’s new president: “I look forward to working
with him”
Donald Trump, who has been coming
down hard on Mexico over immigration and trade ever since he reached the White
House, struck a conciliatory tone on Sunday night and congratulated the winner of the Mexican presidential election, the
leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Some of the most contentious issues
between both countries include a renegotiation
of the NAFTA trade agreement, which is currently blocked, and Trump’s
promise to build a border wall that will be paid for by Mexicans.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, US
National Security Advisor John Bolton
said about Trump and López Obrador that “in this kind of context, having the
two leaders get together may produce some surprising results.”
“I think President Trump will
follow through with the same pattern he’s used with other foreign leaders. They look forward to meeting with him,
sitting down and talking about these things,” added Bolton in reply to a
question about López Obrador’s support for Mexican migrants who cross into the
US…
A few months ago, López Obrador –
or AMLO, the acronym he is known by – stated that there was one issue on which he and Trump were in
agreement: that Mexican workers’ wages have to go up. AMLO, who won the election with a
coalition whose main member is his own Morena party, is now being observed with
equal doses of hope and misgivings by the rest of the continent.
Congratulations indeed.
Maybe a real Independence Day will come in the near future for America
and the world. A new day is dawning, one
that will wash away the filth left behind by the past two administrations that
served as handmaidens for the billionaires who installed them. Perhaps an Independence Day will arrive that
finds America as an agent of peace instead of the agent of war and destruction
across the world for the benefit of the banks and the military industrial
complex.
Rejoice America and the world, a new, real Independence Day
is on the horizon. In the meantime
George W. Bush and Joe Biden can pay their stink tanks to conduct polls to tell
them the obvious. Americans believe they
left us on the brink of fascism and voted for Donald Trump to turn the Titanic
around.
By Patricia Baeten
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