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Author Topic: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda  (Read 20461 times)

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AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #75 on: December 26, 2017, 05:57:47 pm »
Agelbert NOTE: Surly is a good man, an expert in journalism and a powerful debater. Watch him take the Trumper azozeo apart piece by piece.  ;D

Not 1 but 2 flat earth f u ck-tards lurk here at the diner.
First Surly, Now Ag
.

I'd be angrier, but you soil your pants with every such post. You were are better off posting images of lens flares and arguing Planet X/Nibiru. Keep licking those windows on your short bus.

I beat MKing to a TKO by consistently going to the body with facts. And he was smarter and a whole lot more clever. Your primary admins have trolled and done battle with trolls for the last decade. And to refer to me and AG as "flat earners" is to torture meaning, which is part of the standard toolkit of Trump acolytes.

As long as you wish to chew, swallow, and regurgitate precious right wing talking points, and offer slurping blowjobs to Trump's useful idiots, you will find your offerings challenged, refuted and corrected. And your ignorance thus exposed. A belief system is no substitute for knowing the truth, and weighing the evidence.

Since you want to bring up the "Uranium One" nothing burger, that North Star of the easily led, here is a corrective:


Alternative Fact of the Week: Uranium One and an Actual Fact All-Star
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-1117-alt-fact-uranium-one-20171115-story.html

Have someone read it to you, or better yet, have it printed, rolled into a tight cylinder, and pound it up your ass. And feel free to insult me some more: I'm just warming up.




He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #76 on: December 26, 2017, 05:59:56 pm »
Have someone read it to you, or better yet, have it printed, rolled into a tight cylinder, and pound it up your ass. And feel free to insult me some more: I'm just warming up.

Barfight!

RE

Not really. Just warming up in the bullpen.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #77 on: December 26, 2017, 06:02:37 pm »
Have someone read it to you, or better yet, have it printed, rolled into a tight cylinder, and pound it up your ass. And feel free to insult me some more: I'm just warming up.

Barfight!

RE

Not really. Just warming up in the bullpen.

Surly comes out of the Bullpen.

RE

 ;D
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #78 on: December 26, 2017, 06:08:51 pm »
Hot off the fuckin' griddle ****...

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index2459.htm

Indeed.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Sorcha_Faal

Sorcha Faal

Sorcha Faal is the alleged author of an ongoing series of "reports" published at WhatDoesItMean.com, whose work is of such quality that even other conspiracy nutters don't think much of it. There is a high chance that "Sorcha Faal" is actually David Booth, the owner/operator of the website, or someone collaborating with him.

The primary audience of Sorcha Faal's reports and the only ones who take them seriously are usually other conspiracy theorists, but in a few cases the site has been noticed outside of the fringe, such as in 2016 when a few Russian news sites reported Sorcha's inane speculation as a straight news story (see below).

Contents
 [hide]
1WhatDoesItMean.com
2Purported identity
2.1The Irish name
3The reports
4Reception
52016 Russian media circus
6Worst pages
7See also
8External links
9References

WhatDoesItMean.com[edit]
The website is an eyesore and apparently has been created by someone who taught themselves web-design in the 1990s and decided anything beyond garishly coloured static HTML is just giving in to them. Besides publishing Sorcha Faal's reports, WhatDoesItMean.com functions as a news aggregator, collecting links to news published elsewhere as "Top World News Now," neatly sorted by country in a large table on the front page.

Its current "About" page reveals almost no info about its owner(s), other than saying that "WhatDoesItMean.Com is a wholly owned of [sic] subsidiary of Oculus Miranda."[1]

Purported identity
[edit]
In 2004, the site claimed to be by Booth.[2] In 2005, it claimed to be by a Russian scientist named Sorcha Faal,[3] about whom none of the corroborating details like workplace or academic affiliationschecked out. By 2009, the site was claiming "Sorcha Faal" was the title of the head of the "Order of Sorcha Faal,"[4] whose real name is Maria Theresa of Dublin.[5] (The Russian scientist version of Sorcha Faal has been retconnedWikipedia's W.svg as being merely the person occupying the "Sorcha Faal" position at the time.)


We could go on, but really, why?
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #79 on: December 26, 2017, 06:10:24 pm »
The website is an eyesore and apparently has been created by someone who taught themselves web-design in the 1990s and decided anything beyond garishly coloured static HTML is just giving in to them.

That's the understatement of the year.  That is the ugliest website I have seen in a long time.

RE
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #80 on: December 26, 2017, 06:37:51 pm »
Agelbert NOTE: Now for the last sequence with the typical baloney about being "victimized" that Trumpers like azozeo love to wallow in.

The website is an eyesore and apparently has been created by someone who taught themselves web-design in the 1990s and decided anything beyond garishly coloured static HTML is just giving in to them.

That's the understatement of the year.  That is the ugliest website I have seen in a long time.

RE

That's it....
You've had all fu cking day to work me over like a cheap suit & all I get from
you is poor website design, REALLY ?
Well it's better than Surly's bullpen oration. That wasn't even worth a reaction.
Hope you enjoy the fireworks as much as I do.


Life's a stage & we're merely just bit players.
Sir Francis Bacon.

So, AZ complains about being "beat up". This is typical baloney about being "victimized" that Trumpers like azozeo love to wallow in. You certainly are doing a great imitation of your Hero, Trumper.

You've had all fu cking day to work me over like a cheap suit & all I get from
you is poor website design, REALLY ?

What's to work you over with?  You just drop on these links to tweak people who are anti-conspiracy website.  The only thing that struck me visiting the link was how god-awful ugly it was.  I read about 3 paragraphs on the first page which had nothing of interest to me.

RE


Well it's better than Surly's bullpen oration. That wasn't even worth a reaction.

Then next time, read for comprehension. Or get someone to read it to you.
;D

http://aprillajune.com/rogue-cia-gives-nuke-tech-north-korea-via-uranium-one-iran-deal/

ROGUE CIA GIVES NUKE TECH TO NORTH KOREA VIA URANIUM ONE AND IRAN DEAL

Let's put this bullshit to bed once and for all.


Let's put this bullshit to bed once and for all.

What Is the Uranium One 'Scandal?' Well...
Would you like cheese with your nothingburger?


Getty

BY JACK HOLMES
DEC 21, 2017
585
Periodically, we hear about the so-called "Uranium One" scandal, a conservative fantasy in which Hillary Clinton somehow engineered the sale of nuclear materials to Russia. Strangely, it seems to crop up every time there's a damaging news report about President Trump's own ties to Russia.

NBC News reported Thursday morning that the Justice Department, under the direction of Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, is once again looking into the Uranium One deal—and even whether a special counsel is needed to investigate. Notice how eager Republicans are to work "Russia," "special counsel," and "Hillary Clinton" into a news story. And notice that there's also a report today that could bolster the obstruction of justice case against President Trump:

Caroline O.‏ @RVAwonk
FollowingFollowing @RVAwonk
More
Welp. WH counsel Don McGahn discussed with Trump his concerns about Flynn lying to the FBI (& potentially violating Logan Act) in January — well *before* Trump fired Comey. Prosecutors say these records may bolster obstruction case against Trump. http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/12/20/white-house-counsel-knew-in-january-flynn-probably-violated-the-law



You'd want people to talk about uranium, too. NBC provided a lowdown on what Republicans say the Uranium One scandal is:

At issue is a 2010 transaction in which the Obama Administration allowed the sale of U.S. uranium mining facilities to Russia's state atomic energy company. Hillary Clinton was secretary of state at the time, and the State Department was one of nine agencies that agreed to approve the deal after finding no threat to U.S. national security...As the New York Times reported in April 2015, some of the people associated with the deal contributed millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation. And Bill Clinton was paid $500,000 for a Moscow speech by a Russian investment bank with links to the transaction.
What NBC doesn't mention up top is that the story was fed to the Times from a book called Clinton Cash, which was written by a Breitbart editor and funded by a political action group tied to Steve Bannon and his billionaire benefactor, Robert Mercer. Essentially, this story is the product of a verifiable swamp of Trumpists. It is not real, which NBC lays out farther down:

Nonetheless, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, approved the deal by a unanimous vote, according to public reports. Clinton was just one member of the nine member CFIUS by virtue of her role as Secretary of State. The other eight members of CFIUS came from Treasury, Homeland Security, Commerce, Defense, Energy, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Office of Science & Technology, and the Justice Department.
Defenders of the deal point out that the Russians don't have a license to export the uranium out of the U.S., and that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found no risk to national security. Clinton has said she was not involved in the deliberations and played no role in the decision. Jose Fernandez, a former assistant secretary of state, told the Times that he represented the department on the committee, and that "Mrs. Clinton never intervened with me on any C.F.I.U.S. matter."

This story was also debunked months ago, and more recently. Those debunkings include one by Shep Smith of Fox News:



 

They also include an expert cross-examination of a conservative talking head by MSNBC's Joy Reid:


This scandal is not real. It's a distraction. You know that because, as usual, Donald Trump has made the political machinations of the Republican Party explicit. In his eagerness and his foolishness, he spelled out the plan to reporters:

"That's your Russia story," said the president . "That's your real Russia story. Not a story where they talk about collusion—and there was none. It was a hoax. Your real Russia story is uranium."


Hey, Mr. President: You're giving away the game again. The Republicans' goal here is to get another Russia storyline going that targets Trump's vanquished opponent, or get a second special counsel appointed, or both. That way, they can muddy the waters and say that there was all kinds of collusion, and Russia was everywhere, and why is the Fake News Media and the corrupt Robert Mueller (whom, when he was first appointed, Republicans almost universally praised) only concentrating on the president?

This is classic authoritarian politics, where the line between fact and fiction is gradually erased until all that matters is what team you're on. Oh, you say Trump colluded? Well I say Clinton colluded, and she gave them uranium! Never mind that they can never export the uranium, and that there's no evidence Clinton had anything to do with the deal.


The Republican caucus.
Getty
 
This isn't the only way Trump's authoritarian lackeys are trying to muddy the waters, either. Just yesterday, Politico reported that House Republicans are trying to gin up corruption claims against officials at the Justice Department and the FBI. The move is led by Devin Nunes, who now has an extensive record of trying to obstruct Russia investigations that includes switching cars so he could go to the White House grounds late at night, undetected, to receive classified information from an unidentified source. Talk about embracing your role providing oversight of the executive branch.

If authoritarianism does take root in this country, it will be thanks to pathetic hand servants like Nunes and other Republicans in Congress, who are terrified of their own base—or who are perhaps worried that someone has leverage over them. For now, there is only one Russian issue subject to formal probes, and one special counsel. If they get their way, there will be however many are necessary to get the Don off the hook.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #81 on: December 26, 2017, 06:56:18 pm »

Is Azozeo on the Trump Alternative Facts payroll? (see wild bears and woods poop habits question)
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #82 on: December 29, 2017, 01:06:56 pm »
EcoWatch

Does Record Snowfall Disprove Global Warming? 'Exactly the Opposite,' Scientist Says

By Lorraine Chow

Dec. 27, 2017 11:06AM EST


The lakefront city of Erie, Pa. has been inundated by several feet of snow this week, “shattering many records," the National Weather Service said.

The historic storm—a whopping 62.9 inches since Dec. 23, with more flakes to come—prompted the city's police department to declare a “Snow Emergency" due to dangerous and impassable roads.

While climate deniers might point to the cold weather as more proof of the "global warming hoax," climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe  begs to differ.

"What's with all the snow?" she tweeted Tuesday. "Does it mean global warming is finished? Nope; it's exactly the opposite, in fact. Warmer temperatures are increasing the risk of lake-effect snow."

According to the National Weather Service, "Lake Effect snow occurs when cold air, often originating from Canada, moves across the open waters of the Great Lakes. As the cold air passes over the unfrozen and relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes, warmth and moisture are transferred into the lowest portion of the atmosphere. The air rises, clouds form and grow into narrow band that produces 2 to 3 inches of snow per hour or more."

Hayhoe went on to explain over several tweets that both natural cycles (i.e. the North Atlantic Oscillation, La Niña) and human factors (i.e. rising temperatures from man-made climate change) have exacerbated this weather phenomenon.

     Katharine Hayhoe
    ✔
    @KHayhoe

What's with all the snow? Does it mean global warming is finished? Nope; it's exactly the opposite, in fact. Warmer temperatures are increasing the risk of lake-effect snow, and here's how: (thread)http://buffalonews.com/2017/12/26/you-think-its-snowy-in-buffalo-check-out-what-erie-pa-got/ …

    Katharine Hayhoe
    ✔
    @KHayhoe

If the Great Lakes aren't frozen, when cold winter weather systems sweep across the lakes, the air warms and becomes more humid. It then rises, the water vapour freezes, and gets dumped as snow. Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake-effect_snow
    9:53 AM - Dec 26, 2017

        2 2 Replies
        31 31 Retweets
        60

     Katharine Hayhoe
    ✔
    @KHayhoe
    Replying to @KHayhoe

What's the connection between lake-effect snow and global warming? First, as the world warms, it's harder for ice to form, and it isn't lasting as long. For 15 of the last 20 years, Great Lakes ice cover has been below the long-term average. pic.twitter.com/RUDn5dXcoe
    10:01 AM - Dec 26, 2017

Second, this is increasing the risk of days when it's still cold enough to snow, but the lakes aren't ice-covered. So lake-effect snow is on the rise.
    Source:http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1016/j.jglr.2008.11.003 … pic.twitter.com/DyM8TeCPlT
    10:03 AM - Dec 26, 2017


What do we expect for the future? Some continued increase in lake-effect snow over the next few decades, but also a transition from snow to rain, particularly in late fall and early spring. Read more: http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/less-lake-ice-more-potential-lake-effect-snow
    10:05 AM - Dec 26, 2017

     Katharine Hayhoe
    ✔
    @KHayhoe
    Replying to @KHayhoe

So what's happening this year? Both natural and human factors are at work: the influence of natural cycles like La Nina and the NAO + exacerbated by a long-term warming trend driving increased risk of lake-effect snow = very low Great Lakes ice cover forecasts for this year. pic.twitter.com/mIQl3NCu90
    10:08 AM - Dec 26, 2017


 At the end of her twitter thread, Hayhoe joked, "When two feet of snow's just been dumped on our driveway, we all think—I'd like a little global warming now, please!"

Recent studies have shown the effect of climate change on regional precipitation. In a study published earlier this month, researchers from Dartmouth College, the University of Maine and the University of New Hampshire revealed how they were shocked to find that the Alaska Range has received an average of 18 feet of snow per year—that's more than double the average of eight feet per year from 1600-1840.

The likely culprit is none other than climate change. The authors suggested that warmer waters from the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans caused a strengthening of the "Aleutian Low" pressure system with its northward flow of warm, moist air, driving most of the snowfall increases.

https://www.ecowatch.com/snowfall-global-warming-2520296568.html
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #83 on: April 25, 2018, 06:58:50 pm »
Truthdig

APR 23, 2018 ARTICLES

Unconditional Love for Israel 👹, Silence 🙉 🙊 for Palestine

SNIPPET:

In truth, after seventy years of failure, and the long track record of one-sided support America has shown toward Israel, I’m no longer optimistic about the prospects for a two-state solution. That said, as a lowly soldier who spent countless hours receiving ear-fulls of criticism of U.S.-Palestine policy from distant Afghans and Iraqis, I am certain of one thing: America’s unjust favoritism of Israel places U.S. servicemen at risk in the Middle East.

Israel has a choice. It purportedly desires to be three things: Jewish, democratic, and expansive—encompassing all territory from the Mediterranean to the Jordan. It can be any two, but not all three. If it is to be expansive and democratic, then it must absorb millions of Palestinians—at which point it ceases to be Jewish. If it continues to deny statehood or full civil rights to the Palestinians, but remains expansive—it is no longer democratic. The best path seems obvious: a less expansive Israel that allows a genuine Palestinian nation-state its own sovereignty. Only, so long as the right-wing Likud Party 😈 of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 🦀 is paramount, that solution is off the table.

And so, America too, has a choice. It can be a fair arbiter , truly the “beacon of democracy” it boisterously bills itself.  Or, it can continue to favor Israel and ignore the plight of Palestinians.

Full article with links to the accurate history of heinous actions by Israel, CONTINUING TO THIS DAY, and the evil people in US media, and in our government, that support Israeli injustice and cruelty:

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/unconditional-love-for-israel-and-silence-for-palestine/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #84 on: June 10, 2018, 10:39:00 pm »
Agelbert NOTE: Check this video on Venezuela out. :emthup: It is quite revealing. The history covered is accurate.

Debunking John Oliver on Venezuela

June 9, 2018

The week of Venezuela’s presidential election, John Oliver dedicated an ENTIRE episode of his HBO show “Last Week Tonight” to the country—full of distortions and highly misleading to progressive-minded people. Responding to Oliver’s major points, Empire Files producer Mike Prysner walks us through the most glaring omissions and misrepresentations


https://therealnews.com/stories/debunking-john-oliver-on-venezuela
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #85 on: June 12, 2018, 01:37:40 pm »
https://jackrasmus.com/2018/06/10/south-americas-made-in-the-usa-growing-crisis-how-brazil-argentina-and-venezuela-are-destabilized/

Jack Rasmus

Predicting the Global Economic Crisis


South America’s ‘Made in the USA’ Growing Crisis–How Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela Are Destabilized


June 10, 2018 by jackrasmus

Emerging market economies are heading for an economic implosion. From South America to South Asia conditions are deteriorating rapidly and heading for an even more severe economic crisis in which many are already mired. At the head of this list is Brazil and Argentina. Others increasingly fragile, however, include Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, and even India, which has covered up its weak economic condition, and massive non-performing bank loan problem, by manipulating its GDP to falsely exaggerate its growth rate.

Business pundits, and even some commentators on the ‘left’, argue that emerging market economies, of which all the above are key members, now account for more than half of the world’s GDP. This suggests their vulnerability to US and G7 economies is less than it has been in the past. The so-called advanced economies–i.e. the USA, Japan, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy (the ‘G7–are increasingly irrelevant. But global GDP numbers are manipulated everywhere to show a stronger growth than actually has been occurring. Overnight, economies like India double their GDP numbers by redefining categories that compose their Gross Domestic Product, GDP, by manipulating price estimations that boost real GDP and by introducing statistical assumptions in their estimation of growth that are gross misrepresentations. GDP is thus not a good indicator of the condition of their economies. Even so, global GDP itself is now slowing this past year, as global trade also slows (even before USA precipitated ‘trade wars’ take effect). But this idea of declining vulnerability of economies like Brazil and Argentina is incorrect.

GDP numbers obscure the still significant vulnerability of emerging market economies (EMEs) to the advanced economies and their policy actions, especially the USA. This is true for even the largest EME’s like Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, Indonesia, India and others. More symptomatic economic indicators of the growing crisis in EMEs are their currency declines, money capital outflows, rising domestic interest rates, and rising import cost inflation.

USA Levers of Economic Power: Currency, Credit Access & Central Bank Rates

While the EME’s share of global GDP has risen in recent decades, the world economy is nevertheless still largely manipulated by the USA and other G7 economies. That manipulation is exercised by the USA in particular by several means: through its dominant currency, the US dollar; by control of the flow of much of global credit (and debt) by US banks and US shadow banks through capital markets; and by the influence of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, over US interest rates and, in turn, rates by other central banks and banks elsewhere.

Recessions and crises in the EMEs are largely the consequence of USA policy shifts involving US interest rates, US dollar appreciation or depreciation, global crude oil price speculation that follow the dollar, or lending by US banks and US shadow banks (i.e. investment banks, hedge funds, private equity firms, etc.,) in what are called ‘capital (corporate debt) markets’ that function as alternative sources of credit from traditional bank loans.

In 2017 all these US policy levers began to shift to the disadvantage of emerging markets. That shift is accelerating in 2018. The result has been ‘made in the USA’ deepening recessions in the EMEs, collapse of their currencies, capital outflow from EMEs back to the USA and G7, accelerating EME domestic inflation, and increasing political unrest and instability.

Therefore, not GDP, but a more telling initial indicator of the growing fragility in emerging economies is the recent freefall of their currencies in relation to the US dollar, Euros, and Japanese Yen, as well as the capital flight from these countries that occurs in tandem with the collapse of their currencies. These in turn become the key drivers of EME domestic recession, mass unemployment, inflation, goods shortages, and growing political instability.

And at the head of the list of economies with currency instability today in South America are Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela. But the same process is emerging rapidly elsewhere in the EMEs, in Turkey, Indonesia. Malaysia, and perhaps next even India. But no region of the global economy more strongly reflects the crisis today than Brazil and Argentina.

Destabilizing Argentina and Brazil

Argentina’s currency, the Peso, has fallen around 25% since the beginning of 2018. Turkey, Brazil and others are also falling at double digit rates in recent months. With the collapse of their currency, the value of investments held by capitalists in these countries–foreign and domestic alike–also fall in value. To protect the value of investors’ assets from collapsing with their currency (i.e. stocks, bonds, real estate, foreign currency holdings, derivatives, etc.) their governments (legislatures and central banks) respond by raising interest rates in their own economies, in the desperate attempt to stem the capital outflow set off by currency collapse. Investors’ investment values are propped up by raising domestic interest rates. But the the contradiction is that higher interest rates depress the real economy, throwing it into recession; or if recession already exists, into yet deeper recession and even depression. But investors don’t care about recession; they care foremost about protecting the value of their investments. Thus the pro-business, pro-investor EME governments opt for higher rates and accept mass unemployment as a cost.

EME currency collapse has another economic consequence. Since most of these countries import much of their basic goods (food, medical supplies, oil, raw materials for manufacturing, consumer goods, etc.), the collapsing currencies also raise inflation on these goods due to rising import costs. Thus stagnating and then declining real economy and mass unemployment is accompanied by rising prices. More workers are laid off because of the slowing economy, while the prices they must pay for basic goods and services simultaneously rise as well.

Argentina and Brazil are especially exposed to this scenario of US rising interest rates and dollar that precipitates collapse of their currencies, capital flight, rate hikes, mass unemployment and inflation.
Since the 2008 global crash they have borrowed heavily–especially in US dollars. The massive trillions of dollars of debt they accumulated since 2008 must be repaid in dollars. To get dollars they must export and sell more goods. But the slowing of global trade and other developments in China, Europe and China has reduced their ability to export more. They can’t raise sufficient dollars with which to pay their US dollar denominated debt (to US banks and shadow banks). In order to continue to pay their foreign debt principal and interest coming due (to US and G7 bankers) they are forced to borrow dollars from the International Monetary Fund, IMF–another key economic institution controlled by the US and G7.

Argentina recently borrowed another $50 billion from the IMF–to pay its debt to USA and G7 bankers. However, this doesn’t solve its problem. It only shifts debt payments from private bankers to the the IMF. The IMF never ‘bails out’ countries; it always bails out bankers that have loaned to these countries when the latter cannot make payments to their bankers (and bond investors, etc.).

While Argentina has turned to the IMF to temporarily buy time as its crisis deepens, Brazil has gone another route to deal with its ‘made in the USA’ crisis that has been ripening since 2015. It has borrowed even more from US bankers. And it has chosen to raise its interest rates to astronomical levels, in the vain hope of propping up the value of its currency will stem its capital outflow (and encourage continuing capital inflow to Brazil from USA and G7 investors as well).

Brazil’s central bank interest rate is currently around 40%–up from around 14% just a few years ago. That means businesses or consumers have to pay 40% on any loan or debt their incur to stay in business or maintain consumption levels. Interest rates that high virtually shut down wide areas of an economy. And that’s what’s been happening in Brazil. Mass unemployment has followed. As has accelerating inflation and cost of living as Brazil’s currency, the Real, has collapsed in relation to the dollar. Understandably, political unrest follows as jobless grows and prices for basic goods accelerate. That too is now underway.

Brazil’s crisis began in 2015. At that time its central bank interest rates were, as noted, around 14%. Since 2015 they have risen to the 40%. More than half of that acceleration has occurred in just the past year, and especially in 2018. But those 40% rates, and the unemployment and inflation, are the result currency collapse and capital flight–which in turn is a process that has its origins in the USA and rising US interest rates and dollar appreciation.

The error of the Brazilian Workers Party while still in government, led by Lula and then Rouseff, was to allow Brazil’s central bank to steadily raise interest rates since 2015 to current levels. Central banks are always controlled by the private bankers. And private bankers in EMEs like Brazil are dominated by US bankers and investors. And EME central bankers are in turn controlled by their domestic banking interests.
Furthermore, capitalists everywhere have cleverly engineered their central bank institutions to ensure the central banks are shielded from popular national legislatures, just in case popular democratic movements (like the Workers Party) democratically assume power over national governments. Political power remains shielded from economic power. Capitalists have many ways to sabotage democratically elected governments. Central bank interest rates are but one tool.

The Political Strategy Element

The Workers Party in Brazil should therefore have democratized (nationalized in the public interest and fundamentally restructured) the Brazilian central bank back in 2015-16, by opening its decision making process to include democratic forces and representatives. (For my view of how central banks can, and must, be democratized see the concluding chapter to my book, ‘Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes’, Clarity Press, 2017).

In Argentina, the Kirchner government for years refused to repay the US hedge funds their billions of dollars in claims from the earlier debt crisis engineered by them. What it should have done was to pay the hedge funds in special issued and printed Argentine pesos, instead of dollars, and told them to get lost, they’ve been paid. Instead it fought them in global courts dominated by the US and G7.

As the Brazilian economy began to weaken after 2016, and conditions worsen, the USA, allied with domestic Brazil capitalists and pro-Business politicians in Brazil, developed a political strategy to accompany the US interest rate-dollar policies designed to undermine Brazil’s currency and destabilize its economy. This was the so-called ‘political corruption’ offensive, engineered in the USA and implemented in coordination with Brazilian business interests and pro-business political parties. By painting Workers Party leaders–Rouseff and then Lula himself–as corrupt, they drove them from office (or in the case of Lula jailed him to prevent him from running). An unapologetic pro-Business/pro-USA Temer government was put in place. A similar ‘political’ strategy was implemented against the Kirchner government in Argentina, to drive it from office and replace it with the current pro-business Macri government. Temer in Brazil and Macri in Argentina are mirror images of the USA-G7 economic-political strategy to remove populist governments in South America and replace them with pro-USA, pro investor governments.

The Special Case of Venezuela: When All Else 😈 Fails…Military Action 🦍

Destroy the currency is always at the forefront of USA imperialist strategy to drive out populist, democratic governments and re-install pro-Business, pro-US investor governments. USA policy toward Venezuela today is not dissimilar, and represents an extreme version of what has been rolled out in Brazil and Argentina. The USA embarked several years ago to destroy Venezuela’s currency, shut off access to US dollars with which to purchase needed food, medical and other imports, while launching another version of ‘government leaders are corrupt’ political-public opinion offensive. It has supported and financed domestic political opposition forces and parties to the Maduro government. Now it is talking about the final extreme alternative of military intervention. It is lining up other right wing governments in Latin America to take the lead in intervention if necessary. But the USA will plan, direct and finance the costs of military intervention using its proxies, if it comes to that. Recent elections in Venezuela that returned the Maduro government to office have signaled to Washington that the Brazil-Argentina strategy might not work in Venezuela. Thus the consideration of more direct military intervention is now on Washington’s agenda. Trump has as much as said so publicly.

But the USA’s strategies of economic destabilization by, initially, raising interest rates to generate capital flight and currency collapse, to have central banks escalate domestic interest rates in the countries to precipitate mass unemployment and recession, to cause accelerating import goods inflation of critical items–and to engage in ‘leaders are corrupt’ political offensives to depose democratically elected popular governments–may not prove successful in the longer term.

Resistance is Not Futile    

Already democratic movements, unions, strike actions, mass demonstrations are emerging in Brazil and Argentina. And Venezuela holds out despite the desperate destruction of its economy by USA-business interests. Elections are set soon in Brazil. The results will be critical. What the USA-Temer government’s next moves might be are critical. How Brazil goes, so too will go Argentina, giving rise to further popular demonstrations and strikes should elections in Brazil throw out the Temer government. And should both countries restore democratic governments, USA policy toward direct intervention in Venezuela will stall temporarily.

But whatever the political outcomes, the more fundamental economic forces will still prevail: South American popular governments must find a way to prevent their central banks from acting ‘independently’ on behalf of pro-business, pro-US investors, interests; they must find a way to stabilize their currencies not based on the US dollar; and they must not fall into the debt trap offered by the IMF. Until these levers of US-G7 economic power and hegemony are eliminated, emerging market economics like Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela will always be susceptible and at the mercy of USA economic hegemony.

Jack Rasmus is author of the recently published ‘Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression’, Clarity Press, August 2017; ‘Looting Greece: A New Financial Imperialism Emerges’, Clarity Press, October 2016; and ‘Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy’, Clarity Press, January 2016. His website is: http://www.kyklosproductions.com and twitter handle, @drjackrasmus.

SPECIAL NOTE TO READERS: For my analysis of Emerging Markets instability in 2015-16, including Brazil at the time, see my chapter 3, ‘Emerging Markets Perfect Storm’, in my ‘Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy’ book, Clarity Press, January 2016. For reviews click on ‘reviews’ tab on my website, http://www.kyklosproductions.com.


  BINGO!

The average American is so hopelessly propagandized that he thinks Oliver's heavily laced Pro-Imperialist, anti-Venezuela Propaganda BULLSHIT was actually funny.

A part by part analysis of Oliver's attack on Venezuela (Oliver is supposed to be a Progressive - see: Orwell) showed how cleverly all (non-fascist) things Venezuela are demonized while all things USA are sanctified.

Agelbert NOTE: Check this video on Venezuela out.  It is quite revealing. The history covered is accurate. The analysis of this video should be part of a college course that teaches how propaganda lies, distortions and misrepresentations are pushed as truth to the detriment of freedom and liberty everywhere. This video is CLASSIC Propaganda that would make Goebbels 🦀 green with envy.

Debunking John Oliver on Venezuela

June 9, 2018

The week of Venezuela’s presidential election, John Oliver dedicated an ENTIRE episode of his HBO show “Last Week Tonight” to the country—full of distortions and highly misleading to progressive-minded people. Responding to Oliver’s major points, Empire Files producer Mike Prysner walks us through the most glaring omissions and misrepresentations



https://therealnews.com/stories/debunking-john-oliver-on-venezuela




 
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #86 on: June 12, 2018, 02:57:41 pm »
Eighteen House Republicans already think Trump should win the Nobel for a foreign policy move they would have excoriated Obama for making.

Help, I'm trapped in a dangerous parallel universe and I need Zaphod Beeblebrox to swoop down and get me the **** outa here before this earth goes critical.


How Trump Made Diplomacy Great Again

Obama was attacked as ‘naive’ and ‘weak’ for talking to America’s enemies. Trump is turning it into a political asset.


Had Obama deigned to shake Kim's hand, the republicans on the hill would have erected a cross in the Rose Garden and nailed Barry O to it already.

Hypocrisy is just part of the skill set.


True.

The propagandists have been polishing their skills for quite a while. Even before Bernays they excelled in finger pointing to avoid being finger pointed at, of course.

But these word twisting fun and games from the duopoloy are mere food fights.

If you want to GRADUATE as a full scale expert in MINDFORK, you need to make a video that will actually get people KILLED if they follow the recommendations delivered as "fatherly advice to help you survive and thrive".

I am talking about making NUCLEAR WAR so palatable to the average Joe and Jane that they actually believe that they will be just fine if they "keep their house and surrounding grounds tidy".


Yes, you heard that.

Yeah, it sounds REALLY NUTS, doesn't it?

Well, the people that ACTUALLY KNEW EXACTLY what nuclear bomb ionizing radiation initial AND deadly after effects were all about, DELIBERATELY set about to mislead the American Public.

How so? Well, years prior to the making of the following video, several animals had been exposed to radionuclides, and not just by putting them at the bomb explosion site to see the effects. Humans were surreptiously injected with Plutonium in tiny amounts to find a "non-deadly" dose. There was no "non-deadly" dose of Plutonium. There was no dose, no matter how minuscule, that did not cause the exposed human or animal to get cancer and die. The hardiest critters were the insects, but even those mutated so horribly that their offspring were not viable within three generations. ALL THIS WAS KNOWN BY THE AUTHORITIES YEARS BEFORE THIS VIDEO WAS MADE. 

Is it just my feverish imagination, or do you detect a wiff of 1950's style racism AND denigration of the poor in the video as well? Imagine some white dude's thoughts when he walks by some poor black's house after watching the following Mens Rea Propaganda Masterpiece. It is SO EASY, after watching the video, to hope those poor, and often black, folks, "get theirs" for not keeping their homes tidy. Thus, from a horrendous nuclear holocaust danger to the entire biosphere by a group of war loving bastards, the bomb is converted into an excuse for demonizing poor people who live in dilapitated housing from lack of work, lack of opportunities or routine American Racism.

To what you correctly said about hypocrisy being an integral part of the skill set, I would add mens rea.

The House In The Middle (1954)
326,140 views


Nuclear Vault

Published on Aug 28, 2009

Atomic tests at the Nevada Proving Grounds (later the Nevada Test Site) show effects on well-kept homes, homes filled with trash and combustibles, and homes painted with reflective white paint. Asserts that cleanliness is an essential part of civil defense preparedness and that it increased survivability.

Selected for the 2002 National Film Registry of "artistically, culturally, and socially significant " films.

Producer: National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association 

Sponsor: National Clean Up - Paint Up - Fix Up Bureau. 😇  ;)

Produced with the cooperation of the Federal Civil Defense Administration. 

Quote
"The dingy house on the left. The dirty and littered house on the right. Or the clean, white house in the middle. It is your choice. The reward may be survival."

« Last Edit: June 12, 2018, 04:25:51 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #87 on: June 12, 2018, 04:34:57 pm »
Atomic tests at the Nevada Proving Grounds (later the Nevada Test Site) show effects on well-kept homes, homes filled with trash and combustibles, and homes painted with reflective white paint. Asserts that cleanliness is an essential part of civil defense preparedness and that it increased survivability.
Selected for the 2002 National Film Registry of "artistically, culturally, and socially significant films.

Producer: National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association 

Sponsor: National Clean Up - Paint Up - Fix Up Bureau.
Produced with the cooperation of the Federal Civil Defense Administration. 

Quote
"The dingy house on the left. The dirty and littered house on the right. Or the clean, white house in the middle. It is your choice. The reward may be survival."



Absolutely amazing. But by now, not surprising,..
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #88 on: June 15, 2018, 12:45:19 pm »
When Did You Become Aware Of The Ongoing Collapse of Civilization?

It's been a gradual awakening, to be sure.

It began in the late 80s when I worked with Greenpeace on the criminal practices of Waste Management; then went to work on radioactive waste issues with an organization called Don't Waste US; began reading Matt Savinar's forum Life After the Oil Crash, Matt Simmons, Michael Ruppert's website From the Wilderness and his eye-opening book Crossing the Rubicon, John Pilger, Bruce Gagnon and The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Noam Chomsky, Chris Hedges @ truthdig, Guy McPherson and Climate Change, the Organic Consumers Association (and its expose of the food industry's control over what we eat), and most importantly, the World Socialist Web Site ... reading, reading, reading ... and watching, i.e., films on Vietnam, Salvador, Ukraine, Syria, this country's relentless bombing, invading, destroying country after country, overthrowing governments, etc etc etc.

It's been a 30-year study of social inequality, the pursuit of escalating wars, the struggles of the working class, the silencing and vilification of whistleblowers (Assange/Snowden etc.), Wall Street's financial fraud, and so much more.

Well, you get the picture.

It's not a wonder that the ruling class is censoring the Internet.




  Exactly right! Thank you for telling it like it is.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Resisting Brainwashing Propaganda
« Reply #89 on: June 15, 2018, 01:27:49 pm »
When Did You Become Aware Of The Ongoing Collapse of Civilization?

I first became aware that Business as Usual (BAU) was a death sentence for human civilization by reading Counterpunch in the late 1990's.

I continue to be suspicous of the peak oil movement simply because it is a back door defense of massive price hikes in fossil fuels. The very idea that fossil fuels are "precious to civilization" is the height of Orwellian discourse. Yes, they boosted the standard of living for a period of time, but the COST of that boost has been, and increasingly is, degraded democracy, a SEVERELY degraded biosphere, strife, misery, slave wages, more wars, more pollution and eventual collapse. Fossil fuels were NEVER a "free lunch".


I will ALWAYS refuse to accept the BULLSHIT that those massively polluting fossil fuels are "precious" AND "indispensable" to the survival of human civilization.


I refuse to allow the peak oil meme to become a convenient "supply and demand" manufactured artificial scarcity excuse for the Profit over Planet BASTARDS 🐉🦕🦖 😈 👹, who got us into this mess in the first place, to profit even more.

 








He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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