Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 379

The CIA Created the Western Left as a Soft Power Tool for Regime Change

Keaten Mansfield

Why is the Western left so often a fifth column of Western imperialism? History shows us the involvement of intelligence agencies in the development of their ideology and organizations.

The ‘New Left,’ born out of the hippie era and social justice movements of the 1960’s, has been a disaster for the socialist cause.

When the Communist Party USA was founded in 1919, it quickly became a political force to be reckoned with. Through the formation of unemployment councils and independent labor unions, CPUSA’s membership skyrocketed. Henry Wallace, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Vice President, had a relatively friendly relationship with the Communist Party.

The early American left understood the importance of populism. It understood the need to win as many people as possible to socialist politics through programs designed to raise the standard of living and quality of life. Through this, the Party quickly became a formidable political force.

The United States government realized the potential of the Communist Party and decided to first act with hard power. The House Un-American Activities Committee and the McCarthy era was a horrific time of political repression for communists in the United States. American communist leaders such as Foster, Browder, and Hall faced imprisonment for their political standing, often from legal technicalities to ensure their conviction.

Eventually, the McCarthy era came to an end as the Senator drank himself to death. Despite the harsh repression, McCarthy [and the forces that made him powerful] failed to destroy the communist movement, and for many, this only strengthened their faith in the revolutionary ideology.

Out of this period came the CIA-funded Congress for Cultural Freedom. Designed to appear as a grassroots socialist movement, the CCF pioneered the ‘anti-communist left.’The CCF ran with the narrative of ‘anti-authoritarianism,’ saying that, because the USSR, China, and other socialist countries did not have the same type of social liberalism as the United States, American socialists must oppose them. In 1966 it was revealed the CIA had been funding the Congress for Cultural Freedom, and the organization dissolved over a decade later. The CIA’s role behind the CCF and a myriad of other organizations and public figures associated with the “anti-authoritarian left” is well-documented in the book The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters by Frances Stonor Saunders.

Although the CCF hasn’t been active for over 40 years, the sentiments and ideology is alive and well. The phenomenon of Youtube political commentators, collectively known as BreadTube, have carried on the so called anti-authoritarian leftism. According to Google Trends, only in the US, UK, and France is the anarchist book Conquest of Bread searched for more than the communist State and Revolution. In the rest of the world, especially the Global South, ‘the State and Revolution’ enjoys by far the most popularity.

A year ago, the journalist and Director of the Center for Political Innovation, Caleb Maupin, wrote and published a book explaining this trend in the west. BreadTube Serves Imperialism was a massive success among anti-war socialists.

Leaked doc linking BreadTuber to Royal Institution

Recently, leaked documents linked the BreadTube personality known as Abigail Thorn (Philosophy Tube) to the British Crown through the UK’s Royal Institution.

This issue has become a serious matter in the recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine as Vaush, the most well known face of BreadTube, has pushed the pro-NATO narrative. With hundreds of thousands of young people interested in politics turning to figures such as Vaush, it has caused much of the so-called left-wing to be pro-imperialist.

From turning on leaders such as Bashar Al-Assad in Syria and Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, to supporting NATO expansion into Ukraine to combat the ‘evil Russkies,’ the left has gone from a mass movement of economic populism to an internet sect of war-mongers hiding behind a Red Flag and pushing capitalist culture on the global south.

The Western left must return to a message of hope and economic prosperity if it is serious about seeing a transformation of the United States to a socialist economy, until then, the left will remain a tool for imperialism and culture war.

* Featured image: screenshot from a promotional video by a chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America declaring their support for Rojava, a term used for the US-funded Kurdish rebels in Syria fighting against the Syrian government. Many radical liberals, antifa members, and anarchists from the US have gone to join the Kurdish YPG, which is funded by the US government, which fulfills the agenda of America and the Zionist regime to dissolve the Syrian government due to its crucial role in supplying arms to the Islamic Resistance Axis in Lebanon and Gaza.

[…]

Via https://www.greanvillepost.com/2023/08/14/cia-created-the-western-left-as-a-soft-power-tool-for-regime-change/

Two of the Riskiest, Profit-Driven Dental Procedures

Dr MercolaStory at-a-glanceEstimates suggest 5 million people have their wisdom teeth removed each year, and more than half may be completely unnecessary. According to a 2005 Cochrane Review, “Prudent decision-making, with adherence to specified indicators for removal, may reduce the number of surgical procedures by 60% or more”There are no scientifically proven health benefits to removing wisdom teeth that don’t cause problemsMany oral health experts recommend extracting wisdom teeth only if they’re growing in at an odd angle, causing pain, are affected by tooth decay, or if they’re impacting other teeth or causing inflammationExtracting wisdom teeth is not a risk-free procedure, even if you’re young. Risks associated with the surgery include poor wound healing, infection, dry socket, pain, uncontrolled bleeding and nerve injury resulting in numbness around the mouth and faceOpioid addiction is another hidden risk, as most oral surgeons prescribe opioids for post-surgical pain. Research shows a combination of ibuprofen and acetaminophen works better than opioids for pain following wisdom tooth extraction, so avoid opioids at all costsRoot canals is another risky procedure that is largely driven by profit motives. Root canal-treated teeth often end up harboring harmful microbes, the toxic waste products of which can have systemic health impacts and contribute to a variety of chronic diseases, from chronic fatigue and chronic pain syndromes to heart disease and cancer

The preemptive extraction of wisdom teeth before they become problematic has been a routine practice for decades. Surgical tooth removal began after the introduction of the local anesthetic Novocaine in 1902.

Before that, these third molars were rarely, if ever, removed as a preventive measure due to the pain involved.1 The removal of wisdom teeth started becoming more common after the 1950s with the advent of antibiotics to treat related infections.2

Oral health experts typically recommend extracting wisdom teeth if they’re growing in at an odd angle, causing pain, are affected by tooth decay, or if they’re impacting other teeth or causing inflammation.

Many parents, however, opt to have their teenagers’ wisdom teeth removed even when there’s no sign of trouble. Estimates suggest 5 million people have their wisdom teeth removed each year, and more than half may be completely unnecessary.3

According to a 2005 Cochrane Review,4 “Prudent decision-making, with adherence to specified indicators for removal, may reduce the number of surgical procedures by 60% or more.” The authors also note that “watchful monitoring of asymptomatic wisdom teeth may be an appropriate strategy.”

Controversy Continues: To Pull or Not to Pull?

That said, the controversy over what to do with asymptomatic wisdom teeth continues. The most recent Cochrane Review5 published in 2020 concluded that “The available evidence is insufficient to tell us whether or not asymptomatic disease-free impacted wisdom teeth should be removed.” As reported by The Washington Post:6

“Those who favor early extraction say it is generally easier, safer and results in quicker recovery when patients are young, between 15 and 25, although, as with all surgery … there can be risks. When patients are young, the roots of the teeth are small and simpler to remove, they say …

Opponents — including the American Public Health Association — regard such prophylactic extractions as unnecessary surgery. At least one paper7 says there are no scientifically proven health benefits to removing wisdom teeth that don’t cause problems.

A National Institutes of Health consensus conference urged against the practice as far back as 1980,8 and several recent studies9,10 suggest there is no compelling reason to do so …

The ADA agreed in a 2014 paper11 that asymptomatic wisdom teeth weren’t necessarily disease- or problem-free, but added there was insufficient evidence to conclude that prophylactic removal was better than continued monitoring.”

Wisdom Tooth Extraction Is a Money-Maker

Absent clear evidence of benefit, why are so many oral surgeons recommending this procedure? In a word: Money. A significant portion of oral surgeons’ paychecks come from the removal of wisdom teeth, so they have a financial incentive to maintain this new status quo.

It’s important to realize that this procedure is not risk-free, even if you’re young. Risks associated with the surgery include poor wound healing, infection, dry socket, pain, uncontrolled bleeding and nerve injury resulting in numbness around the mouth and face.

The prudent approach, I think, would be to have the state of your wisdom teeth evaluated on a regular basis, and if one or more is found to be damaged or causing a problem, to have the problematic wisdom teeth removed. If they’re not causing a problem, you may be better off leaving well enough alone.

[…]

Root Canals — Another Overused and Risky Dental ProcedureVideo Link

Root canals, also known as a pulpotomy, is another risky dental procedure that is largely driven by profit motives. Root canal-treated teeth often end up harboring harmful microbes, the toxic metabolic waste products of which can have systemic health impacts and contribute to a variety of chronic diseases, from chronic fatigue and chronic pain syndromes to heart disease and cancer.

In fact, most biological and holistic dentists agree that many chronic health problems can be traced back to these hidden dental infections. The key problem when you have a root canal performed is that the tooth has died but remains in the body. It’s well-known you cannot leave a dead organ in your body, or it will cause severe infection.

Even if the root of the tooth is thoroughly cleaned out, it’s physically impossible to get all the pathogens out of the microtubules, and the waste material from these bacteria is extremely toxic. As with wisdom tooth extraction, a primary driver of the root canal industry is the cash incentive.

All Root Canaled Teeth Are a Source of Infection

According to experts on this topic, all root canals are a source of infection. It’s only a matter of degree. The reason why not everyone with a root canal suffers in noticeable ways has to do with the fact that the response to toxins varies from person to person.

Some are constitutionally “hardier” than others to begin with. Your overall toxic load from other environmental exposures also comes into play. The bacteria produced are known to affect cardiovascular health. Cancer may also be triggered by infected teeth.

According to Dr. Dawn Ewing, a naturopathic practitioner and executive director of the International Academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine, 98% of the breast cancer patients have a root canaled tooth on the same side as their affected breast.22

Similarly, Dr. Jerry Tennant once claimed 96% of the last 60 cancer patients seen in his practice were found to have an infected tooth. Ewing and Tennant were both featured in the Netflix documentary “Root Cause,” in which these statements were made.

The pulp of your tooth is also closely interconnected with your lymph system and autonomic system — more so than any other organ. Your teeth are also energetically connected to and will affect your meridians, used in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Carefully Consider and Weigh Your Options

Now, should you happen to have one or more root canaled teeth, this does not mean you have to rush to extract them. It does mean, however, that it would be wise to remember this fact should you start to experience a chronic health problem, and to take it into consideration when deciding on a treatment plan for a chronic health issue.

Also, if your dentist is recommending you get a root canal, evaluate the data and your personal situation, such as your health risks, before making your decision. I would also suggest trying ozone therapy before getting a root canal or tooth extraction done.

Ozone therapy is typically administered through a syringe, right into or around the base of the tooth. Multiple visits are usually needed to address the infection.

Ozone is directly toxic to infectious material, and it also stimulates your immune system. I was able to prevent a root canal by using ozone therapy. It took about five treatments. It’s safe, nontoxic, and relatively inexpensive, so it may be worth considering before taking more drastic measures.

That said, if the pulp tissue has completely died due to infection, nothing, including ozone, will bring the tooth back to life, at which point a root canal or extraction are your only options.

[…]

Via https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/08/18/wisdom-teeth-extraction.aspx

 

The Partition of India in 1947

 

Episode 31 The 1947 Partition

A History of India

Michael Fisher (2016)

Film Review

The 1947 partition of India and Pakistan left millions of refugees in hostile territories where their ancestors had resided for centuries.

During World War II, the British imprisoned the most prominent (and most moderate) nationalists Gandhi and Nehru, which significantly empowered both left wing and right wing nationalists. The Communist Party of India (at the direction of Stalin) initially supported Hitler but switched sides following Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union. In 1942, leftist nationalists led multiple uprisings destroying post offices, police stations and other government facilities. Most of these were put down by British troops stationed in India as a staging area.

Former prime minister Winston Churchill is accused of engineering a famine in Bengal (India’s nationalist stronghold) in 1943, in hopes of furthering weakening India’s independence movement. As the Japanese invaded western India from Burma, he ordered all grain and boats confiscated in their path. As he redirected the confiscated grain to Bengal cities and British troops, three million rural Bengali were left to die.

Meanwhile right wing Muslim principalities (who had strong allies in the British House of Lords) did their best to suppress uprisings. While right wing Hindu principalities mobilized popular uprisings demanding an independent Hindu India.

In 1933, Cambridge student Choudhry Rami Ali first proposed the name Pakistan for a separate Muslim nation in India. Its literal meaning is “land of purity,” although it’s also an acronym for the Muslim majority provinces Muslim activists proposed to incorporate into the new nation of Pakistan: Punjab, Afgania, Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan.

As spokesman for the Muslim League, Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted the entire Muslim majority provinces of Punjab and Bengal as part of Pakistan, even though they had large Hindu and Sikh minorities. The British and the Indian National Congress would only agree to contiguous Muslim majority regions joining Pakistan, which left about half of Bengal and Punjab in India.

Churchill’s defeat by Clement Atlee in 1945 was viewed as support for decolonization. Hoping to bolster partition negotiations, Jinnah called a day of Direct Action in August 1946 in which 10,000 people were killed.

Sir Cyril Radcliffe was appointed to determine the final boundaries between India and Pakistan, which weren’t announced until after independence.

The sectarian fighting between Muslim and Hindu activists went on for months. West Pakistan, which was 97% Muslim, drove out 5 million Hindus and Sikhs with nothing but what they could carry.

Sectarian fighting drove a comparable number of Muslims out of India, though an equal number remained.

Gandhi went on hunger strike until the treasury of newly independent India allocated  gave an appropriate share of its pre-partition monies to Pakistan.

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/366254/366231

An Assange Plea Deal? For What Crime?

Caitlin Johnstone

Whenever I talk about the need to dismantle government secrecy I always get some know-it-all empire simp going “Without secrecy we wouldn’t be able to wage wars and coordinate against our enemies and have nukes, you idiot.”

And it’s like, uh, yeah. That’s kind of my point. They only use secrecy to do evil things and act against the interests of normal human beings.

The lie is that the government uses secrecy in order to counter its enemies and win wars, when in reality the government uses secrecy to make enemies and start wars.

Julian Assange said “The overwhelming majority of information is classified to protect political security, not national security.” It doesn’t exist for our benefit, it exists for theirs. It’s so our rulers can keep doing depraved things with no accountability. That’s why they keep expanding government secrecy and increasing the punishment of those who breach it: because they want to do more depraved things and remain unaccountable.

It really is nuts how there’s now talk of Julian Assange being offered a “plea bargain” for rightly exposing US war crimes. What’s he meant to plead guilty to? Good journalism?

The last time there was a credible military threat to the United States near the US border, the US responded so aggressively that it nearly ended the world. The reason people don’t tend to get it when you compare Ukraine or Taiwan to a hypothetical scenario in which Russia or China were amassing heavily armed proxy forces on the Mexican border is because people literally can’t wrap their minds around that happening. It’s just too remote and unthinkable a proposition in today’s world.

But that shows you just how clear it is that the US is the aggressor in those standoffs: it’s doing something so freakishly aggressive that people literally cannot imagine it happening on the US border. If you see amassing a heavily armed threat on the border of an enemy nation as normal and fine in one instance and literally unfathomable in another, that shows you your perception and expectations have been warped by propaganda.

If a political commentator isn’t routinely drawing outraged responses from both Republicans and Democrats, they’re not talking about the world’s problems accurately and authentically enough.

Whenever you see someone with a high profile taking a stand against the establishment and whipping up rebellious populist enthusiasm in the US, just watch and wait: 95 percent of the time they’ll get around to telling you that the best way to channel your revolutionary ideals is to vote for Democrats or Republicans.

[…]

Via https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/an-assange-plea-deal-for-what-crime?publication

I Went to Rehab for Alcoholism 18 Times. Only Psychedelics Helped

Collage by Cath Virginia | Photo via Gettyby Lidia Polito “Using [psilocybin] four to six times has managed to achieve what the other therapies didn’t do in years.”

I met Amanda at a pain therapy clinic in Zurich last December. She was sitting on a chair, hands folded neatly in her lap – she’d come here with her husband Tim for one of her regular visits to neurologist Livia Granata, one of the few specialists in Switzerland offering psychedelic therapy.

British-born Amanda is 50 years old and has been an alcoholic for two decades. She also struggles with severe depression and anxiety stemming from childhood trauma. It took a lot for her to share her story, so she asked to be referred to on a first-name basis to protect her and her husband’s privacy.

For the past seven years, Amanda hasn’t lived in her flat with her partner and their children, but outside on the balcony. She stays in an improvised shelter her husband made for her, only going in to use the toilet – and the pandemic only further tightened the grip her anxiety disorders have on her life.

A year ago, Amanda probably wouldn’t have shown up for this appointment at all, either cancelling at the last minute or simply letting it pass. Over the years, she’s been through too many treatments – experimental therapies that brought little to no relief. But in April 2022, she found her way to the clinic – and to the first treatment she felt ever truly worked.

About 30 percent of depression patients experience treatment-resistant depression, meaning an illness that doesn’t improve with traditional psychiatric therapy. In 2022, a study of 79 patients with treatment-resistant depression found that a single dose of psilocybin (the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms), accompanied by immediate therapy, improved a third of the participants’ mood. These promising results contribute to a growing body of evidence that psychedelics might present an important tool for treating mental disorders.

The first studies looking at psychedelic therapy date back to the 50s and 60s, but research projects were shut down in the two decades that followed as psychedelics became increasingly criminalised. One of the countries that contributed most to this research is Switzerland, where psychedelic therapy was briefly legalised between 1988 and 1993 and used to treat almost 200 private patients.

Research began again in the early 2010s and, since 2014, doctors can apply for an exemption with the Swiss government to administer otherwise illegal substances like magic mushrooms, LSD and MDMA to patients. Dr. Granata has been granted a licence to do this for a year and has treated 20 people with psilocybin over this period.

Most of her patients come to her practice for chronic pain: migraines, cluster headaches, phantom pains. Our scientific understanding of why exactly psychedelics work is still unclear, but studies have shown that they probably help with brain plasticity, meaning they can stimulate neurons into forming new connections which in turn reorganises thought patterns.

Psychedelic therapy was Amanda’s last resort. After growing up in a traumatic environment, she initially managed to get her life on track as a young adult. She went to uni, where she met Tim in 1988; she travelled, she partied. In 2003, the two moved to Zurich and started a family. But then, something unknown precipitated a state of emotional turmoil which she attempted to lessen by drinking.

“I was a functional alcoholic,” said Amanda, recalling the first years of her addiction. “I only drank in the evenings, but I drank way too much and it was starting to affect my family life.” In the beginning, alcohol helped her escape unwanted thoughts, but that soon stopped being effective. She kept drinking anyway.

In 2007, Amanda realised she had a problem and decided to seek help. But her children were little at the time and she couldn’t bear the thought to leave them for long stretches of time. Over the intervening years, she’s visited rehab centres and psychiatric clinics over and over again – 18 times in total, some for a few weeks, others for months. She was often institutionalised with people with severe and diverse mental health conditions, and that made her feel unsafe. Sooner or later, she’d relapse. “Even though I was there voluntarily and I could ask to go out, it was just the feeling of being locked in [that scared me],” she remembers.

[…]

As time went on, Amanda became suicidal because she “couldn’t beat this thing”, as she puts it. Her attempts at suicide – 12 in total – caused her to be forcibly committed, fuelling the cycle of failed therapies and making her sicker and sicker.

Her last hospital stay in the summer of 2021 made it clear to her she never wanted to go back to a psychiatric ward again. “I’d lost a lot of weight, it went down to 50kg,” she says. “I’d just had enough.” Then, she came across a documentary about a study in Switzerland where alcoholics are treated with psychedelics. She signed up to participate and was referred to Livia Granata.

Initially, the two tried a course of therapy involving ketamine IVs. Ketamine is an anaesthetic used in emergency care and as a recreational drug, but has psychedelic effects. It’s also been shown to be an effective antidepressant and anti-suicidal drug, and particularly good with cases of treatment-resistant depression.

Amanda received infusions on four consecutive days. She lost consciousness, had wild hallucinations and called out for her husband in fear. Still, after the sessions, there was hardly any change in her mental state.

Then Granata decided to try administering her psilocybin – 20 milligrams per session at first, then 30 because she “tolerated it extremely well”, Granata says. They did six sessions of about eight hours, or until the psychedelic high was over. Granata and her team are not therapists – they simply supervise Amanda while she listens to music, lies down on the couch or the carpet, puts a mask over her eyes and just gives in to the feeling.

Many patients cry during treatment, says Aisha Savdi, a medical assistant in the team. Some want to be held, others want to be left alone. The sessions often bring up past memories and emotions that have been repressed. Many report that they look at their lives like an outsider. Things become clearer; perspectives change.

For Amanda, the hallucinogenic effect was weaker than with ketamine. The lights were slightly blurred, but above all, she felt good: relaxed, anxiety gone. “Tim had trouble getting me back to the car, because I was looking at all the bright colours like a kid,” she says. “It certainly changed my attitude a bit, I feel the weight lifted.”

Since then, she and the people in her life have observed a huge improvement in her severe depression and anxiety. Although she still can’t bear to move out of the balcony, she’s been able to leave her house, visit the hairdresser, go on a walk or to see a friend. She can watch some videos explaining childhood trauma without shutting down. “My mind seemed more open so I could really take it in,” she explains.

[…]

And something else is different, too – her urge to drink is gone. She has been abstinent since April 2022 – her longest time without alcohol in 20 years. Granata has prescribed a ketamine nose spray to help with the cravings, which sometimes still happen, especially when something changes in her life. The holiday was challenging, for instance – but so far, she’s been able to swerve drinking.

“I haven’t gone back to that place [of addiction and depression]. Well, briefly, but not a really bad place,” Amanda said. Four months after the initial treatment, her mood dipped again, so Dr Granata decided to give her a booster, starting a new course of therapy in September 2022. Amanda has also been on the hunt for a trauma-informed therapist to explore talk therapy while high.

[…]

Via https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5vzg4/psychedelics-helped-alcoholism

Third Pilot Death, Fifth Collapse, This Week

Dr William Makis MD

Aug.17, 2023 – IndiGo Pilot for Nagpur-Pune flight collapses at boarding gate, declared dead in the hospital

MUMBAI: An IndiGo pilot (identified as 40 year old Manoj Subramanium) who was to operate a flight from Nagpur to Pune, India, fell unconscious and collapsed at the boarding gate on Aug.17, 2023. He was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead, said sources.

This is the third case of sudden death involving pilots this week, with two of the deceased being Indian pilots.

On Wednesday, a senior pilot with Qatar Airways, who was flying from Delhi to Doha as a passenger, fell in on board and died. The flight QR579 was diverted to Dubai following the medical emergency. The pilot had earlier worked with Alliance Air and SpikeJet.

A statement from IndiGo is awaited.

3rd Pilot death this week, 5th incapacitation/collapse:

Aug.16, 2023 – Qatar Airways Flight QR579 (DEL-DOH) Delhi to Doha, Qatar, 51 year old pilot collapsed inflight and died, plane diverted to Dubai.

Aug.14, 2023 – LATAM Flight LA505 (MIA-SCL) Miami to Santiago, Chile – 2 hours into 8hr flight, 56 year old Captain Ivan Andaur collapsed and died in the lavatory – plane diverted to Panama City!

Aug.9, 2023 – United Airlines UAL1309 (SRQ-EWR) Sarasota to Newark, pilot had a heart attack and lost consciousness in flight

Aug.7, 2023 – TigerAIR Flight IT237 (CTS-TPE) Sapporo to Taipei, copilot had a medical emergency after landing plane in Taipei

[…]

Via https://makismd.substack.com/p/pilot-death-indigo-pilot-who-was

Are Vaccines Behind the Rapid Spread of Red Meat Allergy?

By Angelo DePalma, Ph.D.

The lone star tick isn’t the only source of alpha-gal, a sugar linked to alpha-gal syndrome, also known as red meat allergy. Alpha-gal also is used in the manufacture of foods, personal care products, medical devices and drugs — including vaccines.

Recent news reports on the recent rapid spread of alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), or red meat allergy, blamed the lone star tick. That’s because the tick’s saliva contains trace quantities of a sugar, alpha-gal, a known human irritant that many researchers and clinicians believe induces the dangerous allergic responses that are the hallmark of AGS.

But the lone star tick isn’t the only source of alpha-gal. One of many sugars that attach to meat proteins and other animal-derived products, alpha-gal also is used in the manufacture of foods, personal care products, medical devices and drugs — including vaccines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides an informative, but incomplete list of vaccine ingredients containing alpha-gal, whose chemical name is galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose.

The CDC’s list includes bovine serum albumin, a protein produced from cow’s blood; gelatin, made from the bones and connective tissues of cows and pigs; magnesium stearate from numerous animal sources including red-meat animals; and glycerin, sourced from both animals and plants.

These substances, known as excipients, are added to many types of drug formulations to protect the more active ingredients from chemical and environmental degradation.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) categorizes glycerin, stearate and gelatin as “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS), but that designation applies only to foods, not to injected substances.

Serum albumin, the most abundant protein in mammalian blood, is not on the GRAS list but is consumed by ingesting beef and dairy products. Albumin is also used in many drugs and in beauty and personal care products.

Bovine serum albumin is itself an allergic irritant that can, along with other milk proteins, induce cow’s milk protein allergy in susceptible individuals. This is not the same as lactose intolerance, which results from the inability to break down milk sugars.

The Johns Hopkins excipients in vaccines list is interesting for the sheer number and chemical diversity of additives found in vaccines. Just focusing on the four ingredients the CDC says “may contain” alpha-gal, one finds 11 vaccines use bovine or calf serum, three contain glycerin, three contain stearate and nine use gelatin as an ingredient.

Two vaccines list both stearate and glycerin. An additional 22 vaccines contain various bovine extracts.

So could vaccines — and not a tick bite — be the principal source of alpha-gal exposure leading to sensitization, and rarely, to symptomatic AGS?

That hinges on whether alpha-gal is actually present in one or more of the four vaccine components of interest mentioned above.

Do vaccines contain alpha-gal or not?

Of the questionable ingredients, bovine serum albumin would be the prime suspect, as it’s found in so many vaccines, is independently associated with allergic reactions, and because many related mammalian proteins readily link to alpha-gal.

But alpha-gal does not attach to albumin natively, so any alpha-gal present in preparations containing albumin must be an impurity carried over from the protein’s manufacturing process.

However, that is unlikely because of how albumin is manufactured. The process, especially for food and drug applications, almost always includes chromatography, a method that efficiently separates proteins from very small molecules like alpha-gal.

How about the other suspected ingredients?

As noted previously, the CDC warns that gelatin, another vaccine ingredient of interest, may contain alpha-gal. An AGS advocacy website echoes this concern.

According to the Johns Hopkins Institute for Vaccine Safety, nine vaccines contain gelatin in quantities up to 15 mg per dose. These include vaccines against rabies, influenza and measles/mumps/rubella.

Whether a product contains alpha-gal depends on how the gelatin was sourced. Alpha-gal has not been found in gelatin derived from fish, but its presence in cow-derived gelatin is well-established.

A 2021 study described cases of severe anaphylaxis in individuals receiving vaccines containing gelatin. The authors stated:

“Gelatin-containing vaccines should be administered with caution or avoided in patients with AGS because of their high potential to activate basophils indicating a risk for anaphylaxis.”

In living systems, glycerine (also called glycerol) is a carrier molecule that helps transport fats and sugars throughout the body. Alpha-gal could be a side product of glycerin manufacture.

However, in contrast to the potential gelatin-alpha-gal connection, unbound alpha-gal and glycerin are similar enough chemically that some alpha-gal might sneak into the final product as an impurity.

A sugar closely related to alpha-gal attaches to glycerine — but this seems to occur only in plants.

Whether this sugar might also cause allergic reactions is unknown. But if it does, glycerine sourced from plants could pose a higher risk to individuals with alpha-gal sensitivity than similar products from cows.

Derived from stearic acid — biologically a fat — magnesium stearate is used in a variety of medicines, foods, and personal care products. Although stearic acid attaches to many other chemicals, it does not appear to combine with sugars.

The concern over magnesium stearate as a possible source of AGS is therefore limited to situations in which alpha-gal is a process impurity. Due to the chemical nature of both molecules, however, and how magnesium stearate is manufactured, this is practically impossible.

Table 1 summarizes these findings.

Vaccine ingredient of concern, according to CDCSource: mammals or plants?Attaches alpha-gal natively?# of vaccinesgelatinmammalsyes9stearatebothno3albuminmammalsno11glycerinbothpossibly3bovine extractmammalsvery likely22

Table 1. Vaccine ingredients associated with exposure to alpha-gal, their sources, type of association, and the number of vaccines containing the ingredient

Note that “bovine extract” is a chemically undefined product that may include any number of suspicious ingredients, according to the FDA:

“Animal-derived products used in vaccine manufacture can include amino acids, glycerol, detergents, gelatin, enzymes and blood.

“Cow milk is a source of amino acids, and sugars such as galactose. Cow tallow derivatives used in vaccine manufacture include glycerol.

“Gelatin and some amino acids come from cow bones. Cow skeletal muscle is used to prepare broths used in certain complex media.”

Bovine extract is found in all four ingredients — albumin, stearate, gelatin and glycerin — that the CDC says contain alpha-gal.

Order Now ‘The Wuhan Cover-up’ by RFK Jr.!

Perhaps not alpha-gal at all, but similar sugars

Since so many individuals carry alpha-gal antibodies but so few get sick, the connection between alpha-gal sensitivity (based on a positive antibody test) and symptomatic allergy is at the very least mysterious.

But what if exposure to alpha-gal may not even be necessary for those antibodies to exist?

Many sugars trigger an allergic response, but sometimes the body confuses the original source of exposure with something else it encounters later on.

Sugars of one type that elicit a response to sugars of another type are known as “cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants.” Reactivity to alpha-gal, as measured by antibodies to this irritant, could therefore arise through exposure to a chemically similar sugar.

[…]

Via https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/rapid-spread-red-meat-allergy-alpha-gal-sydrome-vaccines/

Is the MMR Vaccine a Fraud or Does It Just Wear Off Quickly?

Dr Mercola

Story at-a-glanceNinety-five percent of children entering kindergarten in 2018 have received two doses of MMR vaccine, as have 92% of school children ages 13 to 17 years. In some states, the MMR vaccination rate is near 100%Despite achieving a vaccination rate that theoretically should ensure vaccine-acquired herd immunity, outbreaks of mumps keep occurring, primarily among those who have been vaccinatedMumps is making a strong comeback in 2018 among college students, with hundreds of outbreaks occurring on U.S. campuses over the past two decadesResearch suggests the reemergence of mumps among young adults is due, at least in part, to waning immunity; protection from the vaccine is wearing off quicker than expectedAccording to a still-ongoing lawsuit filed in 2010, Merck is accused of falsifying efficacy testing of its mumps vaccine to hide its poor effectiveness. So, resurgence of mumps may be the result of using a vaccine that doesn’t offer much in terms of protection

In 1986, public health officials stated that MMR vaccination rates for kindergarten children were in excess of 95% and that one dose of live attenuated measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) would eliminate the three common childhood diseases in the U.S.1 In 1989, parents were informed that a single dose of MMR vaccine was inadequate for providing lifelong protection against these common childhood diseases and that children would need to get a second dose of MMR.2

Today, 95% of children entering kindergarten3 have received two doses of MMR vaccine, as have 92% of school children ages 13 to 17 years.4

In some states, the MMR vaccination rate is approaching 100%.5 Despite achieving the sought-for MMR vaccination rate for more than three decades, which theoretically should ensure “herd immunity,” outbreaks of both measles and mumps keep occurring — and many of those who get sick are children and adults who have been vaccinated.

Mumps Is Making a Comeback

As reported by Science Magazine6 and The New York Times,7 mumps is making a strong comeback among college students in 2018, with hundreds of outbreaks occurring on U.S. campuses over the past two decades. In summer 2017, the Minnesota Department of Health reported its largest mumps outbreak since 2006.8

According to research,9 the reason for this appears to be, at least in part, waning vaccine-acquired immunity. In other words, protection from the MMR vaccine is wearing off quicker than expected.

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A Third Booster Shot May Be Added

According to public health officials, the proposed solution to boosting vaccine-acquired mumps immunity in the U.S. population is to add a third booster shot of MMR vaccine at age 18.

Unfortunately, adding a booster for mumps means giving an additional dose of measles and rubella vaccines as well, as the three are only available in the combined MMR vaccine or combined MMR-varicella (MMRV) vaccine. At present, a third MMR shot is routinely recommended during active mumps outbreaks, even though there is no solid proof that this strategy is effective.

Considering two doses of the vaccine are failing to protect young adults from mumps, adding a third dose, plus two additional doses of measles and rubella vaccines, seems like a questionable strategy, especially in light of evidence that the mumps vaccine’s effectiveness may have been exaggerated to begin with.

According to a lawsuit filed eight years ago, the manufacturer of mumps vaccine — which is also the sole provider of MMR vaccine in the U.S. — is accused of going to illegal lengths to hide the vaccine’s ineffectiveness. So, might this resurgence of mumps simply be the result of using a vaccine that doesn’t provide immunity to begin with?10 And, if so, why add more of something that doesn’t work? After all, the MMR vaccine is not without its risks, as you’ll see below.

Still-Pending Lawsuit Alleges MMR Fraud

In 2010, two Merck virologists filed a federal lawsuit against their former employer, alleging the vaccine maker lied about the effectiveness of the mumps portion of its MMR II vaccine.11 The whistleblowers, Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski, claimed they witnessed “firsthand the improper testing and data falsification in which Merck engaged to artificially inflate the vaccine’s efficacy findings.”

According to Krahling and Wlochowski, a number of different fraudulent tactics were used, all with the aim to “report efficacy of 95% or higher regardless of the vaccine’s true efficacy.”12 For example, the MMR vaccine’s effectiveness was tested against the virus used in the vaccine rather than the natural, wild mumps virus that you’d actually be exposed to in the real world.

Animal antibodies were also said to have been added to the test results to give the appearance of a robust immune response.13

For details on how they allegedly pulled this off, read Suzanne Humphries’ excellent summary,14 which explains in layman’s terms how the tests were manipulated. Merck allegedly falsified the data to hide the fact that the vaccine significantly declined in effectiveness.15 By artificially inflating the efficacy, Merck has been able to maintain its monopoly over the mumps vaccine market.

This was also the main point of contention of a second class action lawsuit, filed by Chatom Primary Care16 in 2012, which charged Merck with violating the False Claims Act. Both of these lawsuits were given the green light to proceed in 2014,17,18 and are still pending.

In 2015, Merck was accused of stonewalling, “refusing to respond to questions about the efficacy of the vaccine,” according to a court filing by Krahling and Wlochowski’s legal team.19 “Merck should not be permitted to raise as one of its principal defenses that its vaccine has a high efficacy … but then refuse to answer what it claims that efficacy actually is,” they said. As of August 3, 2023, that lawsuit continues to sit in limbo in the federal court system.20

There’s No Such Thing as Vaccine-Acquired Herd Immunity

This certainly isn’t the first time vaccine effectiveness has been questioned. While herd immunity is thrown around like gospel, much of the protection vaccines offer has actually been shown to wane rather quickly. The fact is, vaccine-acquired artificial immunity does not work the same way as the naturally acquired longer-lasting immunity you get after recovering from the disease.

A majority of adults do not get booster shots, so most of the adult population is, in effect, “unvaccinated.” This calls into question the idea that a 95 percent-plus vaccination rate among children achieves vaccine-acquired “herd immunity” in a population. While there is such a thing as naturally acquired herd immunity, vaccine-induced herd immunity is a total misnomer.

Vaccine makers have simply assumed that vaccines would provide the same kind of longer-lasting natural immunity as recovery from viral and bacterial infections, but the science and history of vaccination clearly shows that this is not the case.

Vaccination and exposure to a given disease produce two qualitatively different types of immune responses. To learn more about this, please see my previous interview with Barbara Loe Fisher, cofounder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC). As explained by Fisher:

“Vaccines do not confer the same type of immunity that natural exposure to the disease does … [V]accines only confer temporary protection … In most cases natural exposure to disease would give you a longer-lasting, more robust, qualitatively superior immunity because it gives you both cell mediated immunity and humoral immunity.

Humoral is the antibody production. The way you measure vaccine-induced immunity is by how high the antibody titers are. (How many antibodies you have.) The problem is, the cell mediated immunity is very important as well. Most vaccines evade cell mediated immunity and go straight for the antibodies, which is only one part of immunity.”

Download Interview Transcript | Video LinkMMR Does Not Work as Advertised

It’s quite clear the MMR vaccine does not work as well as advertised in preventing mumps, even after most children in the U.S. have gotten two doses of MMR for several decades. Public health officials have known about the problem with mumps vaccine ineffectiveness since at least 2006, when a nationwide outbreak of mumps occurred among older children and young adults who had received two MMR shots.21

In 2014, researchers investigated a mumps outbreak among a group of students in Orange County, New York. Of the more than 2,500 who had received two doses of MMR vaccine, 13% developed mumps22 — more than double the number you’d expect were the vaccine to actually have a 95% efficacy.

Now, if two doses of the vaccine have “worn off” by the time you enter college, just how many doses will be needed to protect an individual throughout life? And, just how many doses of MMR are safe to administer in a lifetime?

Clearly there is far more that needs to be understood about mumps infection and the MMR vaccine before a third dose is added to the already-packed vaccine schedule recommended by federal health officials for infants, children and adolescents through age 18.

Mumps Virus May Have Mutated to Evade the Vaccine

Poor effectiveness could also be the result of viral mutations. There are a number of different mumps virus strains included in vaccines produced by different vaccine manufacturers in different countries. The U.S. uses the Jeryl-Lynn mumps strain in the MMR vaccine developed and sold in the U.S. by Merck. There’s significant disagreement among scientists and health officials about whether the mumps virus is evolving to evade the vaccine.

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Be Aware of MMR Vaccine Risks

If a vaccine is indeed highly effective, and avoiding the disease in question is worth the risk of the potential side effects from the vaccine, then many people would conclude that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the risks. They may even be in favor of an additional dose.

However, if the vaccine is ineffective, and/or if the disease doesn’t pose a great threat to begin with, then the vaccine may pose an unacceptable risk. This is particularly true if the vaccine has been linked to serious side effects. Unfortunately, that’s the case with the MMR vaccine, which has been linked to thousands of serious adverse events and hundreds of deaths. According to NVIC:25

“As of March 1, 2018, there had been 1,060 claims filed in the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program for injuries and deaths following MMR or MMR-Varicella (MMRV) vaccinations … Using the MedAlerts search engine, as of February 4, 2018, there had been 88,437 adverse events reported to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) in connection with MMR or MMRV vaccines since 1990.

Over half of those MMR and MMRV vaccine-related adverse events occurred in babies and young children 6 years old and under. Of the MMR and MMRV vaccine related adverse events reported to VAERS, 403 were deaths, with over 60 percent of the deaths occurring in children under 3 years of age.”

Keep in mind that less than 10% of vaccine adverse events are ever reported to VAERS.26 According to some estimates, only about 1% are ever reported, so all of these numbers likely vastly underestimate the true harm.

Predicting a Cyber Pandemic More Destructive Than COVID

Dr. Joseph Mercola

Story at-a-glanceOver the past few years, a number of organizations have warned that the world is facing growing danger from hackers and cybercriminals, and could be facing a cyberattack large enough to take down our society as a wholeIn June 2020, the World Economic Forum (WEF) warned that the world must prepare for an “inevitable global cyberattack,” a “COVID-like global cyber pandemic that will spread faster and further than a biological virus, with an equal or greater economic impact”In December 2021, a 10-nation exercise simulated a scenario in which a cyberattack brought down the financial system worldwide. Responses and solutions included emergency liquidity assistance to banks, a globally coordinated bank holiday (bank closure), debt repayment grace periods, and a “coordinated delinking from major currencies,” meaning bank balances in USD, GBP and EUR were eliminated and replaced with a central bank digital currency (CBDC). In case of a real cyberattack on the financial system, we can therefore expect this to happenAt the end of 2020, hackers accessed the SolarWinds supply chain by delivering a backdoor malware through an infected SolarWind Orion software update. The malware infected the networks, systems and data of more than 30,000 public and private organizations, including local, state and federal agencies. It’s thought to be the largest and most devastating cyber breach to dateThe end game of all these organized cyberthreats is to eliminate anonymity on the web under the auspices of “preventing cybercrime,” and to impose extreme centralization of the internet for the purpose of information control

Over the past few years, several organizations have warned that the world is facing growing danger from hackers and cybercriminals and could be facing a cyberattack large enough to take down our society as a whole. An effective cyberattack could compromise any device and system connected to the internet, including but not limited to:

Life-saving medical devicesThe internet of things (IoT) ecosystem (i.e., devices that run smart homes)The internet of bodies (IoB) ecosystemGlobal financial systemsEnergy gridsWater treatment facilitiesGovernment IT systemsMilitary and defense infrastructureWarnings and Predictions of Internet Doom

In June 2020, the World Economic Forum warned1 that the world must prepare for an “inevitable global cyberattack,” a “COVID-like global cyber pandemic that will spread faster and further than a biological virus, with an equal or greater economic impact.”

“Our ‘new normal’ isn’t COVID-19 itself — it’s COVID-like incidents. And a cyber pandemic is probably as inevitable as a future disease pandemic,” the WEF said.

In November 2020, the WEF followed up with a report co-created with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which warned that the global financial system is failing to keep up with the ever-growing list of cyberthreats and is ill-equipped to defend against large-scale cyberattacks.2

To address this problem, the report called for greater coordination between government and industry, and for nations to cooperate more directly and intimately, rather than drafting a new treaty on international cybercrime.

Similarly, in March 2021, the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) predicted that a cyberattack on the global financial system is practically inevitable, with ransomware and other extortion attacks topping the list of hazards.3,4

Another major target for cybercriminals and ransomware hackers is the health care industry, which has seen the largest increase in attacks — about double that of other industries.5

What Simulations and Exercises Tell Us About the Plan

As in the biosecurity arena, a number of tabletop exercises have been held to simulate a massive cyberattack. One such exercise took place in early December 2021 in Israel.6 The simulation was based on a scenario in which a cyberattack brought down the financial system worldwide.

Participants included treasury officials from Israel, the U.S., the U.K., United Arab Emirates, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Thailand, as well as representatives from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS).

Emergency responses presented during that exercise included emergency liquidity assistance to banks, a globally coordinated bank holiday (bank closure), debt repayment grace periods and SWAP/REPO agreements.

The response also included a “coordinated delinking from major currencies,” meaning bank balances in USD, GBP and EUR were eliminated and replaced with a central bank digital currency (CBDC).7

So, in the case of a real cyberattack on the financial system, we can probably expect this swap to happen. It’s also possible that if the rollout of CBDCs fails, a catastrophic systemic attack on the banking system could be used to force the issue.

At the time, former Pfizer executive Mike Yeadon, Ph.D., said he believed the simulation was a front for a planned financial reset in which most people will lose all their financial assets, thereby bringing about the WEF’s promise that you will “own nothing” by 2030.8

Preparing for a cyber pandemic more destructive than COVID also took place during the Cyber Polygon exercises of 2020 and 2021. This is yet another annual event staged by the WEF.

In 2020, the simulation involved a cyberattack against the global financial system.9 The following year, participants simulated a targeted supply chain attack on a corporate ecosystem resulting in industry collapses, mass unemployment, widespread rioting and global lockdowns.10,11 Solution trends that emerged from those exercises include:12

A movement toward digital identity schemes, which the WEF has previously stated will determine “what products, services and information we can access — or, conversely, what is closed off to us”13“Fake news” being recognized as a “digital pandemic” that people must be protected fromA recommendation to strengthen public-private partnerships and collaborationA recommendation to increase consolidation of corporate and state resourcesA recommendation to target cryptocurrencies, especially those offering transactional anonymity, and the infrastructure used by them.14 This, even though only 0.34% of cryptocurrency transactions in 2020 were tied to criminal activity, down from 2% in 201915

As you can see, the solutions presented by these unelected globalists always require more surveillance and greater public-private collaboration that blurs the line between elected and unelected decision-makers. In the end, unelected globalists are demanding — and getting — more and more power to make decisions for humanity.

Recent Cyberattacks Reveal the Scope of the Problem

Cyberattacks are clearly increasing and getting larger in scope. This should come as no surprise, as the world is becoming increasingly digitized — and connected digitally. Hacking health records, for example, was near-impossible in years past when paper records were kept, but with the introduction of digital health records and the sharing of those records across institutions, hacking has become a relatively simple, and profitable, affair.

The end game of all these organized cyberthreats is to eliminate anonymity on the web under the auspice of ‘preventing cybercrime,’ and impose extreme centralization of the internet for the purpose of information control.

Recent cyberattacks demonstrating the scope of the problem include:

• The 2016 Bangladesh Bank heist, where hackers absconded with $81 million in a matter of hours by targeting the bank’s SWIFT accounts (the international money transfer system banks use to transfer money between themselves). Hackers used the SWIFT credentials of employees at the Bangladesh Central Bank to request money transfers to bank accounts in the Philippines and other Asian banks.16

• In 2020, a ransomware attack resulted in BancoEstado, one of the biggest banks in Chile, to temporarily shut down all branches. In this case, the bank’s internal IT network was infected with the REvil ransomware originating from an infected Office file opened by an employee. The file installed a back door to the bank’s network, which the hackers then used to install the ransomware.17

• At the end of 2020, hackers accessed the SolarWinds supply chain by delivering a backdoor malware through an infected SolarWind Orion software update. The malware infected the networks, systems and data of more than 30,000 public and private organizations, including local, state and federal agencies. It’s thought to be the largest and most devastating cyber breach to date.18

• In early August 2023, California-based Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. had to shut down certain services, including outpatient medical imaging and blood draw services, after a cyber breach was detected. Some of its hospitals and clinics also had to revert to paper records as IT systems were shuttered.

• That same week, Pennsylvania-based Crozer Health also had to shut down its computer systems and close emergency rooms due to a system-wide ransomware attack.19,20

It experienced a similar attack in 2020,21 and apparently didn’t figure out how to prevent a repeat. According to cybersecurity experts, Crozer data was auctioned off in that 2020 attack after Crozer refused to pay the ransom.

Eliminating Online Anonymity Is the Endgame

So, where is all of this taking us? As explained by investigative journalist Whitney Webb in the short video at the top of this article, the end game is a) to eliminate anonymity on the web under the auspice of “preventing cybercrime” and b) to impose extreme centralization of the internet for the purpose of information control. threat to ‘democratic’ governments.

[…]

Global Cyber Utility Will Usher in Unprecedented Surveillance

In her article,23 Webb goes on to review the roles of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) and the WEF Partnership Against Cybercrime (WEF-PAC). Both are currently being positioned as a “main solution” to the catastrophic cyber pandemic predicted, by being set up as centers of global coordination of financial services and the protection thereof, with a “shared narrative” against cybercrime.

This new global “cyber utility” seeks to unite law enforcement agencies, cybersecurity firms, banks and other large corporations and “stakeholders” around the world under one umbrella to prevent cybercrime. For that to be feasible, WEF-PAC has noted that legislation may need to be revised to allow law enforcement agencies and government regulators to fuse their operations with the private sector, including entities they’re meant to oversee, regulate and prosecute for wrongdoing.

We’re already seeing this plan take shape, with the rapid consolidation of banks. The next step will be to merge the remaining banks with regulators and intelligence agencies, forming this new “cyber utility” entity.24

[…]

Via https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/08/16/cybercrimes-and-ransomware-attacks.aspx

Trump Indictment Distraction

Margaret KimberleyBlack Agenda Report

The latest Donald Trump indictment is no cause for celebration. The oligarchs still rule, the military industrial complex still gets public money, the criminal justice system he now faces is still constructed to ensnare Black people, and the democracy said to be protected doesn’t really exist.

There are many very serious issues which demand our attention at the current moment. July 2023 was the hottest month on record, with severe and deadly heat waves in the U.S. and the world. More than 4 million medicaid recipients have lost coverage after covid emergency programs ended, despite the fact that most of them are still eligible to receive that benefit. The U.S. continues to send money into the black hole of Ukraine while residents of Maui, Hawaii struggle to survive after devastating wildfires. The Biden administration dares to brag about a one-time payment of $700 to people who are now homeless while the military industrial complex is flush with a new infusion of $200 million.

Any and all of these issues are fodder for serious discussion, but one wouldn’t know it because the fourth Donald Trump indictment was just handed down in Georgia and has pushed every other issue out of the news cycle. District Attorney Fani Wills indicted Trump and 18 others, charging them with 41 counts of conspiring to overturn Georgia’s election results in 2020.

Clearly an indictment, much less the fourth indictment, of a former president is a legitimate news story. But the latest Trump indictment is not just resulting in headlines and clicks. It is being used to legitimize the continued failings of the Democratic Party and to brainwash the public into an epidemic of American exceptionalist nonsense.

Van Jones , CNN’s resident Black clown reporter, waxed elegiac about the indictment. “This is a beautiful system that we have. People around the world don’t have this.” Jones was once a Trump supporter, then cried on the air when Joe Biden won, and is now spewing nonsense about an unjust criminal justice system and musing on things he knows nothing about.

This latest Trump indictment is an opportunity to tell the public how prosecutors operate, how they craft Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) conspiracies, and how 161 separate acts can be used to make the case in a 98-page indictment. One of those acts involves Trump’s phone call to Georgia’s Secretary of State requesting a recount, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.” The words are open to interpretation, but is a request for a recount a criminal act? They are if a prosecutor wants them to be and that is what should be discussed and debated if the corporate media are going to give these trials so much attention.

One needn’t be a Trump supporter to ask questions about these cases. The U.S. criminal justice system is far from beautiful. Prosecutors nearly always win because they threaten defendants who don’t accept plea agreements. In fact, guilty pleas are more common than actual trials and that is how the “beautiful” U.S. has become the world’s biggest jailer, with more people behind bars than any other country.

Every indictment is a choice, and in the case of Trump, a political choice. He causes much of his own troubles by making a call to a Secretary of State when someone else should have done it, or having an alcoholic Rudy Giuliani make a case for election fraud. But the question needs to be asked, would Trump face any of these indictments if he weren’t running for reelection? The determination to indict again and again is an indication of political intent, and not one that serves the needs of the people.

The word “democracy” has been elevated to sacred status of late, and its use and overuse are an indication that many people are protesting too much. Trump is said to endanger a democracy that doesn’t really exist. Joe Biden was chosen to be the democrats’ choice in 2020 before most voters had any say in the primary process. The party establishment pushed everyone else out and crowned a mediocrity with cognitive impairment to be the standard bearer against Trump, who was heartily disliked by half of the public and was bound to lose.

Surely the sitting president deserves scrutiny. He is running for re-election too and with an approval rating of only 40% , a reflection of low wages and inflation that have caused a record $1 trillion in credit card debt for American workers. Biden’s team can make up a term like Bidenomics and claim success if they want, but the people know better and an anemic approval rating is the result.

Yet there is little attention if any given to the struggles of working people. The record heat is a health risk and an economic one too, as low income people struggle to keep cool without getting any government assistance in a time of crisis.

The latest indictment is at the state level, which means Trump could not pardon himself should he ever become president again. Georgia also has mandatory sentencing , a legacy of mass incarceration meant to ensnare Black people, but ironically now threatening the white nationalist former president.

But why does the idea of Trump being in jail create so much excitement? The interloper who defeated the favored but hapless Hillary Clinton would suffer for his crime of defeating her but what else would change? Any feelings of satisfaction would be empty, as a president who broke the railroad workers strike prepares to run for office claiming to be “the most pro-union president in American history.”

Trump certainly provides spectacle and as perhaps the most polarizing president in history creates emotional reactions. But he is still an ex-president who is not responsible for any of the woes facing the public. There may be satisfaction in kicking him while he is down, but no one should be confused. Trump indictments or even guilty verdicts will do nothing to change anyone’s circumstances and coverage of his legal problems will move important discussions to the sidelines. There is no benefit in fantasizing about bad outcomes for Trump or about any supposed democracy that is being protected.

[…]

Via https://www.blackagendareport.com/trump-indictment-distraction