S.T.

COUNTERPUNCH

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JUNE 27, 2024 BY ROB URIE


The ‘Israel Lobby’ Works for the US Military 🎩 IndustrialComplex

SNIPPETS:

The fact that neither Joe Biden nor his brain trust has picked up a telephone to speak with Vladimir Putin in 2 ½ years of war with Russia suggests that Mr. Putin and Russia might be better served by negotiating an end to hostilities directly with 🦍 Lockheed Martin and 🦍 Northrop Grumman. Biden is failing, corrupt, and he launched a war of choice against Russia that the 🦍 US is losing. He is currently leading a WWII style genocide in Gaza. Impressively, being allied with self-described Nazis in Ukraine while leading a racist genocide in Gaza represents the political program of both American liberals and the radical Right in 2024.


None of this is intended in an electoral frame. Donald Trump has demonstrated himself to be a ‘toll booth’ Zionist, having agreed to support Jerusalem as the capital of Israel after receiving $20 million in campaign contributions from Israeli-American Zionists. Now in line to receive another $100 million contribution from 🐍 Miriam Adelson, wife of the late 🐍 Sheldon Adelson, Mr. Trump recently supported a bill to further fund US wars in Ukraine and Israel, assuring its passage. There is little difference between the major party candidates regarding Israel’s genocide, likely because the American MIC is laundering its Federal subsidies through Israel. ... ...

With Zionist settlers in the West Bank now once again ‘clearing’ Palestinians by seizing their land and exiling them, the plan of Israel being revealed is the total extermination of the Palestinian people. Here the Wannsee Conference has bearing. It was the meeting of top Nazis in 1942 to plan the systematic extermination (‘final solution’) of European Jews as WWII was underway, illustrating that the most hateful acts in human history have come in the form of powerful political actors calmly planning the extermination of entire peoples. With Israel now exterminating the Palestinian people, history has come full circle. The persecuted are now the persecutors. That the US is funding and arming the effort makes it the ultimate state actor in this process of genocide.

Full article:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/06/27/the-israel-lobby-works-for-the-us-military-industrial-complex/

July 13, 2024 by Associated Press


Donald Trump appeared to be the target of an assassination attempt as he spoke during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, law enforcement officials said. The former president, his ear covered in blood, was quickly pulled away by Secret Service agents and his campaign said he was "fine," the AP reported.

The attack, by a shooter who law enforcement officials say was then killed by the Secret Service, was the first attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. It comes amid a deeply polarized political atmosphere, just four months from the presidential elections and days before Trump is to be officially named the Republican nominee at his party's convention.

A local prosecutor said the suspected gunman and at least one attendee are dead.

"President Trump thanks law enforcement and first responders for their quick action during this heinous act," spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement. "He is fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility. More details will follow."

The Secret Service said in a statement that "the former president is safe."

Two officials spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. They said the shooter was not an attendee at the rally and was killed by U.S. Secret Service agents.

The officials said the shooter was engaged by members of the U.S. Secret Service counterassault team and killed. The heavily armed tactical team travels everywhere with the president and major party nominees and is meant to confront any active threats while other agents focus on safeguarding and evacuating the person at the center of protection.

It's still not clear yet whether Trump was struck by gunfire or was injured as he was pulled to the ground by agents.

Butler County district attorney Richard Goldinger said in a phone interview that the suspected gunman was dead and at least one rally attendee was killed.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, was showing off a chart of border crossing numbers during his last rally before the Republican National Convention opens Monday when the apparent shots began.

It took two minutes from the moment of the first shot for Trump to be placed in a waiting SUV.

As Trump was talking, a popping sound was heard, and the former president put his right hand up to his right ear, as people in the stands behind him appeared to be shocked.

As the first pop rang out, Trump said, "Oh," and grabbed his ear as two more pops could be heard and he crouched down. More shots are heard then.

Someone could be heard saying near the microphone at Trump's lectern, "Get down, get down, get down, get down!" as agents tackled the former president. They piled atop him to shield him with their bodies, as is their training protocol, as other agents took up positions on stage to search for the threat.

Screams were heard in the crowd of several thousand people. A woman is heard screaming louder than the rest. Afterward, voices were heard saying "shooter's down" several times, before someone asks "are we good to move?" and "are we clear?" Then, someone ordered, "Let's move."

Trump could be heard on the video saying at least twice, "Let me get my shoes, let me get my shoes," with another voice heard saying, "I've got you sir."

Trump got to his feet moments later and could be seen reaching with his right hand toward his face. There appeared to be blood on his face. He then pumped his fist in the air and appeared to mouth the word "Fight" twice to his crowd of supporters, prompting loud cheers and then chants of "USA. USA. USA."

The crowd cheered as he got back up and pumped his fist.

His motorcade left the venue moments later. Video showed Trump turning back to the crowd and raising a fist right before he is put into a vehicle.

Police began vacating the fairgrounds shortly after Trump left the stage in what local officers described as a crime scene.

The perils of campaigning took on a new urgency after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in California in 1968, and again in 1972 when Arthur Bremer shot and seriously hurt George Wallace, who was running as an independent on a campaign platform that has sometimes been compared to Trump's. That led to increased protection of candidates, even as the threats persisted, notably against Jesse Jackson in 1988 and Barack Obama in 2008.

Presidents, particularly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, have even greater layers of security. Trump is a rarity as both a former president and a current candidate.

President Biden said in a statement that he had been briefed on the shooting and said he was grateful that the former president "is safe and doing well. I'm praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information."

"Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety," Biden said. "There's no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it."

After the shooting at Trump's rally, the Biden campaign was pausing all messaging to supporters and is working to pull down all of its television ads as quickly as possible, the campaign said.

Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., posted a photo on X of Trump, his fist raised and his face bloody in front of an American flag, with the words: "He'll never stop fighting to Save America."

North Dakota governor Doug Burgum (R), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), the three men on Trump's shortlist for vice president, all quickly sent out statements expressing concern for the former president, with Rubio sharing an image taken as Trump was escorted off stage with his fist in the air and a streak of blood on his face along with the words "God protected President Trump."

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said in a statement on X that he had been briefed on the situation and Pennsylvania state police were on hand at the rally site.

"Violence targeted at any political party or political leader is absolutely unacceptable. It has no place in Pennsylvania or the United States," he said.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/washington-watch/washington-watch/111081

AGelbert NOTE: Because Trump had turned his head just before the shot, something that CANNOT be scripted in advance, this appears to be a genuine assassination attempt, not a show to jack his polls up. At any rate, Trump's polls are going to jump at least ten points now, so he probably is now pretty much GUARANTEED to take back the White House with a win in the November (s)election.

That said, IF the shooter turns out to be a PALESTINIAN, or even a non-jewish (of course) lefty American critic of Israel's GENOCIDE in Gaza, I will smell a VERY BIG NETANYAHU 🐀 RAT (i.e. Mossad False Flag 😉😈 attack for the purpose of demonizing Arabs in general, and Palestinians in particular.). Now that Netanyahu's pack of cruel murdering NAZI IDF bastards have been exposed for their "Hannibal" murderous rampage on July 7, 2023 (that killed MOST of the Israelis that died that day, while Israeli Government LIARS blamed Hamas FALSELY and REPEATEDLY, for MONTHS, for most of the deaths AND sexual violence that NEVER HAPPENED!), they need another  BIG LIE to keep most Americans from seeing through their Morally Bankrupt "policy" of methodically murdering Palestinian men, women AND 😱 CHILDREN (for the last 75 YEARS!) in order to steal their land.

The question to be asked is NOT whether or not this assassination attempt was that of a "lone nut" or some "disgruntled" or "Deranged" person.

The QUESTION to be asked is Cui Bono?

👉 Graphics and emojies by AGelbert. 👈

JULY 16, 2024 By JIM BUIE


The stuff of legend, mythology and the curse of Tecumseh

SNIPPETS:

“I’m not supposed to be here,” Donald Trump told the NY Post. “I’m supposed to be dead,” repeating “I’m supposed to be dead.” If he had not turned his head slightly to the right to read a chart on illegal immigrants, he would be dead, he told reporter Michael Goodwin. The assassin’s bullet only grazed his ear. “The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle,” Trump said.

The story of Trump’s survival now rises to the level of legend or mythology. I’m tempted to re-read Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” about the emperor who named himself dictator of the Roman Empire for insight into this moment. Caesar’s rule lasted for less than a year before he was famously assassinated by political rivals in 44 B.C.

The classified documents case against Trump has been dismissed by Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee. The other federal cases against him also appear to be in jeopardy. It’s now certain no trials will conclude before the November election.

Will these near-death experiences — both literally and politically — change Trump? His behavior, and that of his supporters at the Republican convention this week, will be the first indication. He looked subdued and almost tearful, with a patch over his right ear, as he silently greeted the crowd on the convention’s first night. ... ...

Shortly after the assassination attempt on Trump, Vance published an incendiary tweet: ... ...

  There are no facts to back up Vance’s assertion. ... ...

High Costs Paid 🥺 By Other Presidential Families

Robert Todd Lincoln, the only son of Abraham Lincoln who survived to adulthood, lamented that during his father’s presidency, “I scarcely even had ten minutes quiet talk with him on account of his constant devotion to business." Shockingly, Robert was nearby or a witness to three presidential assassinations — his father’s; that of James Garfield about 16 years later; and William McKinley in 1901. He later refused presidential invitations because “there is a certain fatality about presidential functions when I am present."

Differing Views of Political 🦍 Power

Drawing from the work of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert spoke of politics as a noble and honorable profession, representing and mediating a myriad of societal interests with the hope of making the world, or some part of it, a better place. They paid a heavy price — the ultimate sacrifice — for involvement in causes larger than themselves.

Trump’s (and Vance’s) view of political power seems similar not to the gentle Greeks who founded power-sharing democracy but to the Romans who believed in 🦍 domination and amassing power for its 😈 own sake.


How might this brush with death affect Trump and his extended family? Will he or they foment anger, revenge, and crackdowns on political opponents or, like the Kennedys, develop compassion and empathize with others’ pain? ... ...

One wonders about the cost of a stressful public life on the families of Presidents Biden and Trump, as well as other leaders.

Who is surprised, given such toxic political rhetoric in America, that actual violence has occurred?

Eras of Political Assassinations in America

The attempted assassination of Trump recalls earlier eras of political violence in America, most notably spanning from November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated to March 1981, when there was an unsuccessful attempt on the life of President Ronald Reagan. JFK’s murder was preceded by the assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers in June 1963, and followed by the murders five years later of civil rights activist Martin Luther King and his brother Robert Kennedy, a senator from New York who was running for president, in 1968. In 1972, Alabama Governor George Wallace, running for the Democratic nomination, was shot and crippled at a shopping mall in Laurel, MD. In 1975, two attempts within 17 days were made on the life of President Gerald Ford, both by women. NYT coverage.

The first American political assassination was of President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865, shortly after the Civil War ended. Little more than 15 years later, President James Garfield was assassinated four months after taking office. President William McKinley was assassinated in September 1901, seven months after beginning his second term.

McKinley’s successor, Theodore Roosevelt, was shot in the chest in 1912 while running for a third term as an independent on the Bull Moose Party ticket but was protected by a 50-page copy of his speech in his breast pocket. He finished the speech.

In February 1933, Teddy’s cousin, New York Governor and President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt was nearly killed in Miami, Fla. The mayor was murdered instead. FDR’s life was saved by a woman.

Legend, Mythology, And Superstition Around Presidential Assassination Attempts

Mythology has been built up around presidential deaths, beginning in 1840. William Henry Harrison was elected president that year, defeating Martin Van Buren, on a campaign slogan of “Tippecanoe and Tyler too.” Harrison was considered the hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe in Indiana. The mythology is that Harrison’s rival, Shawnee leader Tecumseh, put a curse on him and presidents to follow in 20-year cycles. Harrison died in office just three weeks after his inauguration. Every president elected in the 120 years to follow: Lincoln in 1860, Garfield in 1880, McKinley in 1900, Harding in 1920, Franklin Roosevelt in 1940, and Kennedy in 1960, died in office. Ronald Reagan was shot but survived and George W. Bush supposedly broke the curse, although since he lost the popular vote in 2000, maybe Tecumseh didn’t recognize his election. But both Joe Biden and Donald Trump would be the oldest presidents elected and might revive the curse.

A 20-Year Curse on the 🦅 American President?
Full article:
https://jimbuie.substack.com/p/attempted-assassinations-take-heavy

Selected COMMENTS:

David Carroll
Interesting piece. Thanks.

Actually if you read Victoria Newland’s husband’s Opinion piece in the Washington Post 7 months ago he basically calls for Trumps assassination in Caesarian terms. Bullseye missed. Matt Taibbi writes an interesting story on how the Democratic has been out to “eliminate “ the outsider Trump in all ways possible in the “Slow Motion Assassination “ a couple days ago. Fittingly it starts with Hillary Clinton in 2016. Go figure.

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/30/trump-dictator-2024-election-robert-kagan/

https://open.substack.com/pub/taibbi/p/the-slow-motion-assassination
   
Jim Buie > David Carroll
David, I read Kagan's lengthy piece. There is nothing in it that calls for Trump's assassination. He simply outlined the stakes in the election. Matt Taibbi too is way over the top. Trump was shot by a 20-year-old Republican loner quite apparently acting alone. Let's stop accusing "the other" of things for which there is no evidence. That's simply paranoia. I do think the choice of J.D. Vance could lead to an elevated, substantive debate between him and Kamala Harris. Unlike the recent Trump-Biden debate for which media reports focused entirely on appearances rather than substance.

AGelbert > Jim Buie
While you are quite right in making the point, in your admittedly erudite and historically accurate article, that Trump et al is ideologically all in with the Romans, who believed in domination and amassing power for its own sake, I disagree that it is "paranoid" to seriously consider the CUI BONO question in regard to certain members of the Biden Adminsitration. I don't think Retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern is now, or ever has been anything but a hard nose reality based student of history.

Jim, it is time for you to study Secretary of State Blinken's record. If you do not scrutinize him and his neocon partners in, what cannot be sanitized with euphemistic happy talk, Mens rea War Crimes, you will miss the Weimer Fascism Enabling Democratic Party Forest for the Full Blown Fascist Trump Tree.

Sir, Trump GOT to where he GOT to in 2016 BECAUSE Hillary and company STOLE the nomination from Senator Sanders. That was a CRIME that Schiff sat on for two and a half YEARS!

I shudder at the prospect of Trump returning to power, but, as it looks now with his polls, Weimer Obama/Hillary/Biden et al are fully responsible for helping that low down Facsist Hitler wannabe Trump GET THERE by bailing out Wall Street and the Bankers, NOT the we-the-people victims of said Bankers, fomenting budget breaking wars, supporting Genocide in Gaza, denying Medicare for all, denying a LIVABLE minimum wage and a PROPERLY, increased for actual inflation, Social Securiity pension system. You can argue until the cows come home, but all people of good will in the USA KNOW that the "Democratic" (LOL!) Party ELITE OWNS the Trump return to the White House.

It is not "paranoid" to consider the possiblility that a pack of War Criminals within our government, who have everything to lose if vengeful Trump makes it back into the White House, try to "finish the job" some time soon.

AGelbert > David Carroll

Well said. The QUESTION Jim Buie has, for some reason, studiously avoided asking about this assassination attempt on Trump is, as Retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern asks, and I agree, CUI BONO? From what he says in the interview below, Secretary of State Blinken appears to be the PRIME SUSPECT in the Conspiracy to Assassinate Trump.

McGovern knows the score. He finishes the interview by making it clear that he is not suicidal, so if he "dies suddenly", we KNOW Cui Bono (Blinken, Sullivan, Biden et al).

July 15, 2024

Ray McGovern on the Failed Assassination of Domald Trump

👉 Graphics and emojies by AGelbert. 👈



July 22, 2024 By CHRIS HEDGES


Joe Biden was discarded by the same billionaire class he assiduously served throughout his political career. Barely able to stumble his way through the words on a TelePrompter and not always cognizant of what is happening around him, his billionaire supporters pulled the plug. He was 🦖🎩 their 😈 creature – he has been in federal office for 47 years - from start to finish. He was used as a foil to defeat Bernie Sanders in the 2020 primaries and was anointed as the candidate in 2024 in a Soviet-style primary campaign. The 🦖🎩 billionaire class will now anoint someone else.

Democratic Party 🐒🐵 voters are stage 🗽😉 props in this political farce. 👿 Donald Trump, unlike 🐍 Kamala Harris or any other 🦍 apparatchik the billionaire class selects as a presidential candidate, has a genuine and committed base, however fascistic.

In Hitler and the Germans, the political philosopher Eric Vogelin dismisses the idea that Hitler — gifted in oratory and political opportunism but poorly educated and vulgar — mesmerized and seduced the German people. The Germans, he writes, supported Hitler and the “grotesque, marginal figures” surrounding him because he embodied the pathologies of a diseased society, one beset by economic collapse and hopelessness. Voegelin defines stupidity as a “loss of reality.” The loss of reality means a “stupid” person cannot “rightly orient his action in the world, in which he lives.” The demagogue, who is always an idiote, is not a freak or social mutation. The demagogue expresses the society’s zeitgeist.

Biden and the Democratic Party are responsible for this zeitgeist. They orchestrated the deindustrialization of the United States, ensuring that 30 million workers lost their jobs in mass layoffs. As I write in America, The Farewell Tour, this assault on the working class created a crisis that forced the ruling elites to devise a new political paradigm. Trumpeted by a compliant media, this paradigm shifted its focus from the common good to race, crime and law and order. Biden was at the epicenter of this paradigm shift. Those undergoing profound economic and political change were told that their suffering stemmed not fromrampant militarism and corporate greed but from a threat to national integrity. The old consensus that buttressed New Deal programs and the welfare state was attacked as enabling criminal Black youth, “welfare queens” and other alleged social parasites. This opened the door to a faux populism, begun by 😈 Ronald Reagan and 😈 Margaret Thatcher, which supposedly championed family values, traditional morality, individual autonomy, law and order, the Christian faith and the return to a mythical past, at least for white Americans. The Democratic Party, especially under 😈 Bill Clinton and 😈 Biden, became largely indistinguishable from the establishment 🐘👿 Republican Party to which it is now allied.


The Democratic Party refuses to accept its responsibility for the capture of democratic institutions by a rapacious oligarchy, the grotesque social inequality, the cruelty of predatory corporations and an unchecked militarism. The Democrats will anoint another amoral politician, probably Harris, to use as a mask for outsized corporate greed, the folly of endless war, the facilitation of genocide and the assault on our most basic civil liberties. The Democrats, tools of Wall Street, gave us Trump, and the 74 million people who voted for him in 2020. They look set to give us Trump again 😬😟. ☝🏻 God 🙏🏼 help us.
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/my-thoughts-on-biden-dropping-out/comments

AGelbert REMINDER: Jeremy Scahill has repeatedly warned Democrats about the 💵🎩🍌☠️ political and economic system (SEE: DUOPOLY) that the Democratic Party Elite SERVES. Here is a four year old article by him that turned out to be painfully accurate in predicting Biden's morally bankrupt M.I.C War profiteering, Genocide supporting DESPICABLE policies (emojies by 🤠 me):

INTERCEPTED

October 21, 2020 with 🕯️🗽 Jeremy Scahill

SNIPPET:

From the very beginning, Donald Trump’s entire schtick about standing up for the downtrodden, the hard workers, the ordinary people of this country was a scam. One nonstop four-year 😈💰 grift. 🦀 Trump has used his political career and his time as president to enrich himself and his cronies. But more than that, he has served as a Pied Piper for the most extreme anti-worker, anti-poor agendas of the Republican Party. And he dug deep into the well of the most vile aspects of U.S. politics and history to win power. It was this weaponizing of hate that allowed Trump and his allies to manufacture the state of grave danger that so many poor and working people now find themselves in in this country. The extreme economic injustices of the past four years were produced on the rhetoric of white nationalism, xenophobia, racism, sexism.

But simply voting Trump out of office will not wipe any of this away. Many of these factors, while intensified during this administration, have persisted through both Democratic and Republican administrations. Both parties are beholden to corporate interests, even if one is more brazen and successful at producing dividends for the ultra-rich.

The hard truth we must all face is that the 💵🎩🍌☠️ political and economic system Trump has exploited and utilized will continue on in perpetuity unless the people of this country 🗽 bravely muster the collective will to challenge its very existence.

American Mythology: The Presidency of Donald Trump (Part Six: The Looting of the Nation)
10/21/2020 30 min
Full 🔊 Podcast or article:

A/POLITICAL 7.81K subscribers Aug 23, 2024

In the third episode of The Racket, Journalist and Author Matt Kennard speaks to American physician, activist, and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein ‪@JillStein2024‬. They discuss US foreign policy, corruption and empire, renewed fears of Nuclear war and Julian Assange & Edward Snowden's place in The White House.

The Racket is a series of interviews based on the book The Racket: A Rogue Reporter vs The American Empire by Matt Kennard, available to purchase via Bloomsbury: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/racket-...

The series examines the power of the US empire around the world and its attempts to control nations via war and economic strangulation.

Throughout Matt Kennard and guests will investigate the violent colonial beginnings of the most powerful nation in history, the tightening of its global stronghold post World War II, the crushing of dissent via CIA interference and its various ongoing wars around the world from a range of perspectives.

Matt Kennard is co-founder and chief investigator at Declassified UK, a news outlet investigating British foreign policy. He was a fellow and then director at the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) in London. He has worked as a staff writer for the Financial Times in Washington DC, New York, and London. He is the author of three acclaimed books: Irregular Army (2012), The Racket (2015) and Silent Coup (2023).

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