JOHNSTONE

The Washington Post has a weird new article out citing multiple anonymous US officials saying that the Chinese "spy balloon" we've been hearing about for the last two weeks was never intended for a surveillance mission over North America at all.

Reading by Tim Foley.

US war planes have shot down three unidentified objects in North American airspace over the last three days, which is entirely without precedent.

On Sunday an octagon-shaped object was reportedly shot down over Lake Huron near the Canadian border after first being detected some 1,300 miles away over Montana on Saturday night. On Saturday a cylindrical object was reportedly shot down over Canada's Yukon territory by an American F-22, and on Friday an object "about the size of a small car" was reportedly shot down after being detected over Alaska.

Reading by Tim Foley.

“We had people taking apart Russian propaganda and telling the true story on blogs,” WaPo was told by a source described as "a person in the Special Operations community."

US special ops forces "employing Ukrainian operatives" to "take apart Russian propaganda" and "tell the true story on blogs" is just US special ops forces administering US propaganda online. Whether or not they actually see themselves as "telling the true story" or "taking apart Russian propaganda" does not change the fact that they are administering US government propaganda. A government circulating media which advances its information interests is precisely the thing that state propaganda is.

Reading by Tim Foley.

(My sources are logic, common sense, and public statements by US government officials.)

Reading by Tim Foley.

Days after the war in Ukraine began it was reported by The New York Times that "President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has asked the Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, to mediate negotiations in Jerusalem between Ukraine and Russia." In a recent interview, Bennett made some very interesting comments about what happened during those negotiations in the early days of the war. 

Reading by Tim Foley.

Being labeled a Russian propagandist all day every day for criticizing US foreign policy is really weird, but one advantage it comes with is a useful perspective on what people have really been talking about all these years when they warn of the dangers of "Russian propaganda".

Reading by Tim Foley.

The US empire has been surrounding China with military bases and war machinery for many years, in ways Washington would never tolerate China doing in the nations and waters surrounding the United States. There is no question that the US is the aggressor in this increasingly hostile standoff between major powers. Yet we're all meant to be freaking out about a balloon.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Don't let the fraudulence of this civilization eclipse the supernova of authenticity hidden just beneath that thin membrane.

Don't let the vapid artificiality of mainstream culture cause you to miss the weird magic of life as it actually is.

Don't let the barrage of advertisements screaming "THIS IS NEVER ENOUGH" distract from the symphony of joy in your cells at simply being alive.

Don't let the nonstop corporate messaging that you are ugly conceal from you your radiant beauty.

Don't let the Valentine's Day products from Hallmark steal the spotlight from our wide open hearts and our roaring passion.

Don't let the authoritative dronings of the imperial pundits mask the fact that they are babies made of mysteries and stardust.

Don't let the feigned confidence of the people around you trick you into thinking that any of us really knows anything.

Don't let all the buildings and billboards make you forget that no matter where you go you are always in the thick of nature.

Don't let the deluge of lies and propaganda cause you to lose sight of the fact that they are trying to pour concrete over a bottomless abyss of truth.

Don't let the footsteps marching to the beat of the imperial drum drown out the ancient song at the heart of consciousness.

Don't let this civilization's insistence that you are finite delude you into missing your own boundlessness.

Where it seems like there is an absence of depth, there are depths that couldn't be explored in a thousand lifetimes.

Where it appears that there is an absence of truth, truth hides just behind the eyes which perceive this.

There are galaxies hidden in supermarket aisles. There are universes hidden in parking lots.

Just beneath the superficial phoniness, there's a reality that is older than the stars.

Just beneath the capitalist tedium, there's an endless fountain of amazement.

Just beneath the collective psychosis, there's an oddly familiar sanity.

Just beneath the indoctrinated familiarity, a real encounter is waiting to happen.

Just beneath the hopelessness of our current plight, a great power is cracking a smile.

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Reading by Tim Foley.

People have a fairly easy time accepting that things are fucked because we are ruled by corrupt assholes. They have a much harder time accepting that we are ruled by corrupt assholes because our corrupt asshole systems will always necessarily elevate corrupt assholes to the top.

It's easier to blame our problems on oligarchs or the Deep State or a cabal of satanic pedophiles than it is to blame them on systems that we ourselves participate in and have lived our entire lives intertwined with and which have been continuously normalized within our culture. If the problem is just a few corrupt assholes then it's not a very daunting problem, because all you have to do is remove those corrupt assholes and everything's golden. If the problem is the systems around which our entire civilization is structured, it's far more daunting.

Reading by Tim Foley.

It's impossible to overstate how much our society is shaped by the fact that those who are given the most influence and the largest platforms will experience our status quo systems as working very nicely and have a vested interest in preserving those systems which benefit them. The media-owning, culture-manufacturing class of the super-wealthy elevates people to wealth and celebrity who look like they will be good protectors of their class interests. Those people will necessarily speak fondly of the status quo political systems which let them be rich.

Reading by Tim Foley.