Why Did Trump Stop The Attack On Iran?

  Last Thursday,  Trump called off an attack on Iran which had been planned as retaliation for Iran shooting down a drone over its waters.

   For some reason, people who don't believe Trump's official story "Killing 150 people as revenge for an unmanned drone, is not proportional".

  Why not?  That is obviously true.   Killing 150 people in retaliation for no person dying is clearly not moral or right, in any moral compendium.

    So, many people have come up with their own fanciful explanations.  The most bizarre one is that the US called off the retaliatory attack because they suddenly realized that Iran was capable of shooting down objects at high altitudes.
    This makes no sense.  Iran shoots down an object at high altitude and the US plans an attack based on that excuse, but then calls it off because they realized that Iran can shoot down objects at high attitudes?   Ridiculous.

    More likely is the story in this article.   The US, which did manage to attack Iran with the Stuxnet virus a few years ago (and then the virus spread.  Whoops!), thought that they could do it again.  They attacked the computer controls of Iran's defense apparatus, thinking that once Iran was helpless, they could attack without consequences.

    But when they realized that they had failed and Iran would be able to defend itself, they called off the attack.
    That makes sense.  I still appreciate that, for the first time in my memory, a president talked about dead bodies on the receiving side of US aggression.   That is a refreshing change from the usual emphasis of Americans Only.


 

Protecting Shipping and International Trade in the Gulf

  Trump announced that the US is tired of "protecting" international shipping in the Persian Gulf, and told other nations to step up and help.

   In the meantime the Trump Administration slapped more sanctions on Iran and top diplomats in Iran, with the stated goal of stopping ALL oil shipments from Iran to other countries.

   I see a contradiction in these plans.  

   But it will be interesting when other countries who depend on Iranian oil send their warships to the Gulf to protect those shipments, and claim that they were told to do so by the USA.

Loose Lips Expose Terror Plots

   Two years ago, after Trump was in office for four months, the media and the Democrats went ballistic, because he warned Russia of a terrorist plot against one of their airliners.   Well, more ballistic, because we all remember that the media was All Trump All The Time, 24/7.
    The general tone of the blitz was that it was Absolutely Outrageous for Trump to try to save a civilian airliner from being blown apart in mid-air (the way that had happened over Egypt, during Tight Lipped Obama days, when a Russian civilian airliner blew up over Egypt, killing 224 people, including 17 children, just after Russia joined Syria in their fight against ISIS in Sept.  2015).
   The reason given was that the information Trump gave them came from Israel, and protecting their sources was deemed much more important than the lives of hundreds of people.   They also claimed that Trump shouldn't declassify classified information without permission.   They claimed that the plot was another ISIS plot, but that the US should have let ISIS blow up another plane, because......classified.
"If true, it is another indication that you cannot possibly control this guy," Wayne White, a senior intelligence official at the State Department during the George W. Bush administration, told POLITICO.

    Interestingly enough, in recent days,  a New York Times article  stated that the US is attacking the Russian electric grid, but that the "intelligence community" didn't let Trump know about it, for fear that he would tell the Russians again.
    They just don't trust Trump to let them destroy another country's infrastructure unimpeded.   
    Not only is that a mind-blowing step forward in having the Paper of Record  substantiate that there is an unelected  secret team that actually runs things in this country, but they casually mentioned that the reason they didn't tell the elected president of their scheme was because he had warned the Russians of a previous scheme in 2017.

   Oh, you mean the "ISIS terrorist plot"?  That was actually a US plot?  How very interesting.   

 

Worthwhile Advice

Old Farmer's Advice:

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.
Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
Words that soak into your ears are whispered... not yelled.
Meanness don't just happen overnight.
Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.
Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
You cannot unsay a cruel word.
Every path has a few puddles.
When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
The best sermons are lived, not preached.
Most of the stuff people worry about, ain't never gonna happen anyway.
Don't judge folks by their relatives.
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good and honorable life, then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.
Don't interfere with something' that ain't bothering you none.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every morning'.
Always drink upstream from the herd.
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.
If you get to thinking' you're a person of some influence, try ordering' somebody else's dog around.
Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, and enjoy the ride.
Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just shoot you!

War on Iran- How Will It Play Out

  I am happy that Trump called off the US military attack on Iran.   This was a good thing.   It is very sad that people are unable to simply point that fact out, without the obligatory litany of "things that are bad about Trump" recitations.

   It is depressingly eye-opening to see US reactions to the prospect of open war with Iran, though, because they do tend to revolve around previous American body counts, completely ignoring how many victims the US wars have left strewn around the world.

   One of the newer American forms of war involves simply destroying a society, its infrastructure and government, and leaving a Balkanized dysfunctional society, in which the US can make alliances with thugs and warlords for looting of resources and people.  This can be done using proxy death squads and terrorists, involving very few US "boots on the ground", as is being done now in Syria, where the US occupies 30% of Syrian territory, which only a reported 4,000 actual boots stomping around, supporting their proxy terrorists.

    This started in the 90s, where the destruction and breakup of the Soviet Union into weak and impoverished countries, made it easy for the US to literally Balkanize the actual Balkans, a process still ongoing.  The US now has a giant military base in Kosovo, where it allies with the terrorist gang formerly known as the KLA, and runs drugs and trains terrorists to further their goals elsewhere in the world.

   My Iranian friend had this to say about the US plan for Iran, as opposed to the assumptions of most Americans who are literate enough to comment on social media-

   "I keep reading posts about how a war with Iran will be different in scope and scale for the US compared with their barbaric and illegal wars against other poor peoples of the world - any conflict with Iran will be the day of reckoning for the US military. The US military will be defeated.

   The aim of the US 'war' against Iran is not about fighting on the battlefield, whereby two armies will be pitched against each other. The US war objectives against Iran are:

- cause civil unrest
- balkanise Iran, i.e. divide Iran into smaller states

   If the US achieves the above two objectives, the US will have won the war. It is that simple. These two objectives could be achieved by non-military interventions.

   Yes, the Iranian military is extremely strong, powerful and brave, but, in asymmetrical warfare powerful armies serve little purpose. With the barbaric and inhumane US led sanctions against Iran, for instance, the Iranian military can do very little, apart from embarking on an 'offensive military campaign' against the US - and the Iranian military has every right to do this. The US led sanctions against Iran amount to 'acts of war/aggression' under international law. The sanctions, with other operations (i.e. US support for terrorist groups such as MEK) are designed to cause civil unrest.

    In order for Iran to win the 'war' against the US, the peoples of Iran need to remain resilient. It is the resilience of Iranians that will ensure the US 'war objectives' aren't met - ensure the country does not descend into chaos and anarchy."

Zindebad, Iran 🇮🇷

Iranian Shootdown of Drone

In 1988 the US shot down an Iranian civilian airliner, killing 290 people, including 66 children.

The US then claimed that the airliner was using a military channel, that it was over international waters, that it was descending towards the Navy ship, and that it didn't respond to warnings.

These were all lies. The Vincennes was in Iranian waters, the airliner was over Iranian territory, it was ascending, not descending, it was squawking on civilian channels, but the Vincennes used military channels to warn them.

The lies were spread around on the Mighty Wurlitzer immediately, the truth dribbled out later, and is now down the Memory Hole.

The crew got "combat" medal ribbons and the captain, William Rogers, got a Legion of Merit award.

Vice President Bush said about the incident.."I will never apologize for the United States of America. Ever. I don't care what the facts are."

Anyone who believes what the US says about the Iranian drone has the official diagnosis "Too Stupid To Live"

Homeless Camps vs Refugee Camps vs Concentration Camps

  Here in the Land of the Free, we have a special category of people we call "liberals".   These people can be stirred up easily by the media, and I have a suspicion that there are think tanks that have puppet masters who delight in making people dance to their tunes.  They might even get their jollies from watching.

  The US has received a large number, in the thousands, of refugees from other countries recently.     Other countries routinely set up refugee camps for refugees, but the US, in previous years, either deported them, imprisoned them or turned them over to large corporations and farms to supply cheap labor.
   Now, apparently, the authorities have decided to emulate other countries and set up tent cities as refugee camps.
   The liberals have been told that these are actually "concentration camps".  You know, like Hitler's.
   And since they believe that Trump is "literally Hitler", they are screaming in indignation.

    The numbers of refugees on the border, of course, pale besides the number of homeless Americans across the country who sleep in tent cities, or in cars, or in doorways, or in abandoned houses.

     So what is the difference between a homeless tent city and a "concentration camp" tent city?

    The people in the refugee camps don't have to worry that the cops will come kick them out, steal their stuff and slash their tents.

Japanese and Iranian Leader Talk About Nukes

  Something left out of most stories about the attack on the Japanese tanker was that Prime Minister Abe was carrying a message to Khamenei from Trump, but Khamenei refused to accept it.
That would be when the second message was sent, in the Gulf.

Saving the Crew of Front Altair

   After the two tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman last Thursday, Iran reported that they had saved the crews.

    The US immediately said "No, WE saved the crews".  Then they said that the crew of the Front Altair had been saved by a Dutch tanker and then kidnapped by the Evil Iranians.

     I find it very interesting that the crew of the Front Altair was Russian and Filipino.  Both Russia, and to a lesser extent, the Philippines, are being threatened by the USA.   For every 100 stories of the Evil Putin we are fed, we get 1 story of Evil Duterte, but having 11 Russians and 11 Filipinos in US custody would be quite a coup.  And you would have to feel very, very sorry for those 22 men and their fates.

    So, whether Iran picked them up originally or not, it is very clear that Iran did, indeed, save them from a very unpleasant hostage situation.  They have already left Iran and headed to Dubai.  They owe Iran a debt of thanks.

Imperial Media Balks on Iran Story-Shades of Anthrax

   A week after 9-11 the anthrax attacks started.   9-11 had been blamed on, well, it's a long story, but the basic gist of it is that the US needed to destroy Afghanistan.   The media went along with this story obediently.
   Plus, they turned Bush into a strong and presidential hero.  This was odd.  It would have been just as easy to turn that unelected blithering idiot into a scapegoat, for hanging out at his Texas ranch the month of August, ignoring warnings, then spending the morning of 9-11 reading about a goat before hiding in a cave all day.  But no, I remember the TV showing him, after he came out of hiding and was flown back to Washington, striding manfully across the White House lawn, alone, like John Wayne, ready for a showdown, while the narrator spoke, in hushed tones, of the awe they felt of seeing his masterful command.

   But this very same media balked at the anthrax story, after a brief time of performing as directed.  The script they were supposed to follow  was that Iraq had mailed weaponized anthrax to innocent Americans, killing some and terrorizing millions.  People opened their mail wearing gloves, and letters to Congress (and the editor, the main way people had to communicate horizontally back then) were banned.
    For a couple of weeks, the media dutifully put fear into Americans, who responded not just by fearing envelopes, but also by stocking up on plastic and duct tape.
    Here's an interesting tidbit.  I just used a search engine to find articles about the destruction of 70 years worth of anthrax samples at Iowa State in Ames,  during the "investigation" of the anthrax attacks.  The FBI, headed by Robert Mueller, had OK'd the destruction.

   Why?  Why would Iowa State destroy a 7 decade trove of anthrax samples, right in the middle of an anthrax scare?  And why would the FBI OK such a move?  And why is it that the only newspaper article I could find to link to is a weekly in San Francisco?

   OK, it's not that the imperial media did a great job on debunking the "Iraq tried to kill us all with anthrax" narrative, but they did push back enough that we all know it was American anthrax, not Iraqi.   And then the entire hysteria was dropped down the Memory Hole, while 9-11 continues to this day.
    And the narrative for the attack on Iraq was an entirely different story, which the media happily participated in pushing.

    But, what strange sight is this?  Some of the media is balking on pushing the latest Iran story.  Two tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman yesterday.   One was a Japanese tanker, and, by an interesting coincidence, the prime minister of Japan was in Tehran,  meeting with the leader of Iran.
    Pompeo and Bolton promptly told us that Iran chose the time of a state meeting with the leader of Japan to attack a Japanese tanker.
   Why?  Um...….because Iran is just Evil like that?  We're supposed to just believe them, not think. And definitely don't use logic to look for a motive.  That is not usually allowed.  But this time, a majority of the people of the world have loudly proclaimed that the Official Story is clearly Bullshit.

   Is that the reason the imperial media has rebelled?   Well, not really rebelled, just meekly added some weasel words to their stenography.
    Some media outlets, including NPR, CNN and Reuters, added "no evidence" to their headlines.  That is odd.   They haven't talked about requiring evidence for ruling class claims since Colin Powell took his test tube to the UN.

   Is this an anthrax moment?

Update:  Never mind.  The brief moment of skepticism is gone, and they have fallen into line.


 

Message from the US to Iran

   Apparently, Prime Minister Abe of Japan was carrying a letter from Trump for Khamenei, but Khamenei refused to accept the sritten message.

   And then Japanese oil tankers carrying Iranian oil were attacked.

   A different kind of message?

Attack on Japanese Tanker

  Anyone brain dead enough to believe that Iran would invite the Japanese prime minister to Tehran, and then pick that time to bomb a Japanese tanker filled with Iranian oil, is beyond hope of intellectual redemption.

   That would be like believing that Assad would invite a UN chemical weapons inspection team to Syria to investigate Syrian claims that the terrorists were using chemical weapons on Syrian soldiers, and then pick the team's arrival in Damascus as the time to use sarin gas on children in a Damascus suburb, thus crossing Obama's ''Red Line''.

   Oh.....wait....

My Experience With Social Media Censorship-A Facebook Experience

   A quick google search of ‘’social media fake news” brought up thousands of hits, and, as I expected, they seemed to be dated from 2016 to today.  I recalled that the propaganda blitz started around the 2016 election, and my search confirmed that recollection. Ironically, a google search with those words will likely not be censored by Google, since the ruling Establishment is solidly behind the project to convince people that they should distrust  and abandon social media, and return to the comforting fold of the legacy media, now self-proclaimed the “legitimate media”.   More aptly named the imperial media, it beams the message of the ruling elites vertically, top down, into each house or car.   The citizens receive the message passively, and  have no way to catch errors, or share their skepticism or opinions with others.

   90% of the “legitimate media”, TV, radio, magazines, web news and newspapers are owned by 5 mega-corporations, so you know it must be trustworthy, right?

    Starting in 2016, the alarm bells of “too much wild west freedom”  have been rung in almost every one of those 90% outlets, as well as by major politicians, including Congress,  President Obama and would-be president, Hilary Clinton, (who spends a great deal of time bitterly making lists of those who she believes caused her failure).

     In the spring of 2017, many alternative news websites began noticing that their reader numbers were falling precipitously.   Google had agreed to set up protocols to steer people away from those websites, in the name of countering “fake news”.   A list drawn up by a sketchy group called Prop Or Not was relied upon, although many of the best news sites on the internet were included, some founded by ex-journalists, including prize winning journalists,  who had been fired from the “legitimate media” for failing to follow the imperial script.

   In the following spring, 2018, Mark Zuckerberg was hauled in front of Congress for two days of grilling and lecturing, while the Congress members extorted a promise from him that censorship on Facebook would be ramped up.

    And that is what happened to me.  I have been on Facebook since 2009.  I only joined to keep tabs on my son, who never wrote and never called.  As it turned out, he never posted either, but I quickly learned that Facebook was a great place to make friends all over the country and the world, and was very good for learning news and events that would never make it onto our self-proclaimed legit media.  It was also good for sharing skepticism of said media with other people, and countless times my friends would point out discrepancies, inconsistencies and laughable lapses of logic in the Official Stories of many events.  And yes, the laughing was important.  Hilarious memes were spread to highlight the utter ridiculousness of our leaders and their media stories and narratives.   (This widespread ridicule might be why our rulers are so fixated on stopping memes from being shared).

   So, after 9 years on Facebook, I suddenly was targeted by the censors.  Starting last winter, I would be scrolling along on Facebook, as I had been for years, and suddenly, there would appear an announcement that I had violated “community standards”.    My first jail sentence was for 24 hours, the next was for 3 days, and I am now doing a 5^th 30 stretch in the hole, since last December.

    What “community” was this, that was so offended by my posts and comments?  Apparently, it is the “international community” our rulers tell us are so important.

   I got two sentences for pointing out that the US had backed a coup in Ukraine in 2014 that has open Nazis involved, and posting a picture of some of them, posing with NATO and SS flags.

 “Yes, the US spent $5 billion to overthrow the elected Ukrainian government, according to Victoria Nuland, who should know, since she was there, passing out cookies and picking the next dictator.
"Yats! Yats is the guy".
Now Ukraine has open Nazis in the government, glorifying their Nazi ancestors, killing over 10,000 civilians in eastern Ukraine, and attacking gays, Russians, Roma and political opponents in the rest of Ukraine.
But we're supposed to send those brutal Nazis more weapons?
On what planet is that a good idea?”  

 The community was quite offended by that statement.

  The first 30 day sentence was then extended another 30 days for a crime of posting I had somehow managed to commit even though I hadn’t been able to log in to Facebook at all those first 30 days.  This sentence was served with access to my Facebook page.   I could see my page, but was unable to post, comment, “like” or message.   The ensuing jail sentences have all been like this.  I can see my page, but I cannot engage with anyone.

    My next crime was posting about a couple in England who had been arrested, imprisoned and lost their baby for the crime of naming him Adolf and being Nazi sympathizers.   They had committed no actual crimes.   How is it possible that pointing out that there are NATO-backed Nazis in Ukraine is verboten, but also that calling for freedom of speech and ideas, even for Nazis, is also verboten?  Does the community support armed Nazis in the Ukrainian government, but oppose unarmed parents in the UK who name their baby Adolph?  Where is the logic in that?  (I need a meme for this).

   My next two sentences were for comments, not posts.  They were on different friends’ posts, 40 days apart, but both were for the crime of pointing out that it was easy to tell who listens to the imperial media, because they repeat the dominant narrative verbatim, as if it were their very own thoughts, carefully considered and crafted.

   Because I can see my page, I have noted that many of my friends assume that my sentences are because one of my friends has turned me in to the authorities.  The advice of many people is to distrust my friends, preemptively block people for my safety and to only post to a limited audience.  

    I am inclined to dismiss this theory.  The fact that we went through 2 ½ years of anti-social media propaganda, the fact that Facebook openly vowed to censor, the fact that thousands of censors were added and the Atlantic Council was hired to help, seems to be a more reliable guide to my constant bans than the belief that my friends suddenly turned treacherous after 9 years.

   Recall that our overlords are skilled at disrupting movements.  We know that part of the 60s CointelPro program was a campaign to sow mistrust and paranoia between comrades, and the FBI would send letters accusing people of sabotage and infidelity, to rupture long standing friendships and alliances.   I see no reason to doubt that this strategy of sudden bannings, with no reason given, complainer named, or recourse allowed, is deliberate.   They want us to withdraw from social media, or at least, to limit the number of people with whom we interact.  The  uncertainty about what constitutes community standards, the randomness of the targeting, the inability to appeal, all contribute to a climate of  fear among Facebook users which make people hesitant to post on certain subjects and share certain stories, even if the sites on not on Facebook’s official banned list of sites.  This, combined with the actual removal of thousands of people for 30 day sentences, shuts down free and open discourse.

   The destruction of the horizontal communication between the people of the world made possible by the flowering of social media is to be resisted.   We need to hold clear the principle that we have the right to share information, news and opinions without censorship or discrimination.  Social media platforms are privately owned, but they have a natural monopoly that cannot be replicated, and they are a common carrier of the kind that should be recognized as subject to laws forbidding discrimination or censoring.  They are the new town square, and everyone needs to have equal access to the soap boxes.

  

  

  

Pompeo, Bolton and Abrams as Used Car Salesmen

This is community radio for Southern Illinois, WDBX, 91.1 FM, Carbondale. And now we interrupt our regularly scheduled program for a special promotional announcement – from Pompeo & Bolton Auto Sales!

Pompeo: Hi, I’m Mike Pompeo, here with John Bolton, and have we got some great deals here for you!

Bolton: That’s right, Mike – like this 1989 Dodge Daytona, yours for the low price of just $50,000!

Pompeo: Now, some of you may be thinking that $50,000 is a lot of money for a 30-year-old car, with – how many miles on it, John?

Bolton: Looks like it got to 115,000 before it blew a gasket, there, Mike. Of course, I haven’t adjusted the odometer yet.

Pompeo: Okay, so yeah that is a lot of money for a 30-year-old car that may need some minor repairs before it will run. But guess what: It’s a great deal, and you, Bill Markham of Royalton, Illinois, are going to pay it. Tell them why, John.

Bolton: Because we know where you live, Bill. And where your wife goes to work and your children go to school. We sure wouldn’t want anything to happen to them, now would we, Mike?

Mike: No, of course not, and I’m guessing Bill wouldn’t either. Better pay up, Bill, by close of business tomorrow. What else we got, John?

Bolton: Check this out, Mike. We’ve got a 1992 Dodge Firebird for sale, for the low price of $50,000!

Mike: Wait, John. I thought the Firebird was a Pontiac model.

John: It is, Mike, but we had to replace so many of the parts with Dodge parts, we decide to go ahead and call it a Dodge. It does have three of the four wheels, though; the brakes work fairly frequently, and the windshield wipers work if you jiggle the handle just the right way.

Mike: Sounds pretty dodgy to me, John.

John: Yeah, I guess so, Mike. But Mariah Nielson of Ava, Illinois, you’re going to buy it! In fact, you’ve already bought it, because we gained access to your bank account! Congratulations, Mariah!

Mike: Great sales, job, John. Hey, speaking of great sales jobs, here’s one of our top salesman, Elliot “the Weasel” Abrams! How’s it going Elliot?

Elliot: Heh, heh, we’re doing some bang-up sales today, Mike. I’ve got an ‘85 Mustang here for sale for the low price of just $50,000. It is missing all the hubcaps, but, uh, we can replace those for an additional 5 grand apiece, so if you want the hubcaps – and I think you do – the grand total would be the incredibly low price of 70 grand. Hey, Mr. Corey Borkon of Sesser, Illinois, you need to pay up, see? Because, uh, it turns out that there are death squads in your neighborhood. Now, I’m not saying that I have anything to do with them, but I have it on good authority that they will lay off you if you come in and pay full price, or sign one of our very generous financing agreements by noon tomorrah, you catch my drift?

Mike: Ha ha, that Elliot, always with the death squads. He’s quite the cut-up folks! Hey John, tell the folks in radioland about our new windshield repair facility.

John: Oh, yeah, Mike. Right next to our showroom in Du Quoin, we’ve set up a great windshield repair facility. We will completely re-do your windshield with safety glass, personally certified by us, for just $10,000 plus taxes, licenses and fees. Now I know what you’re thinking – you’re thinking, there’s nothing wrong with my windshield, but actually [sound of glass shattering] you really do need a replacement.

Mike: Thanks for bringing that good news to the people of Southern Illinois, John. Now, you may be wondering why this non-commercial radio station would suddenly let us do an advertisement, but it’s really not about the money, is it John?

John: No, Mike, we’re just trying to bring our style of democracy to the region. It’s for your own good, ‘cause we are the best.

Mike: Well there you have it. So remember, folks, come see us at Pompeo & Bolton Auto Sales right away. And we do mean, right away. Until our next visit, you can now return to your regularly scheduled program.

Legitimate Media Mourns Death of Al Qaeda Leader

 The reaction of the self-proclaimed "legitimate media" to the death of a terrorist (who they call a "rebel", rather like Reagan's calling the Contras in Nicaragua and the Muhajadeen in Afghanistan "freedom fighters") shows us why we need alternative media, and, therefore, why our ruling overlords are stomping down so hard on alternative media.

    As Syria moves into Idlib province to liberate the towns and cities there from the brutal head-chopping, throat-slitting, missile-launching terrorists that the US, Turkey, NATO, and the GCC countries have been supplying, training, arming and backing for the last 8 years, the media is ramping up the "Save Private Al Qadeda" campaign.  We saw this before the liberation of east Aleppo and Ghouta province, both of which are now rebuilding, sending their children back to schools, and living their lives without being monitored by crazed religious fanatics, backed and armed by the USA.

   Caitlin Johnstone is one of the best sources of clear-eyed analyses of the way the news is spun by the self-proclaimed legitimate media, 98% of which is owned by just 5 corporations.

    A favorite of the US was killed yesterday, and the imperial media was devastated.  As Caitlin points out....

 "Today, mass media outlets are mourning the death of a well-known Jaysh al-Izza fighter named Abdel-Basset al-Sarout with grief-stricken beatifications not seen since the death of war criminal John McCain. An Associated Press report which has been published by major news outlets like The New York Times, The Guardian, PBS and Bloomberg commemorates Sarout as a “Syrian soccer goalkeeper” who “won international titles representing his country”, as “the singer of the revolution”, and as “an icon among Syria’s opposition”.

  She also points out how the Mighty Wurlitzer spins the words to downplay and lionize a mass murderer...

“God willing we will work with them shoulder-to-shoulder when we leave here,” Sarout has been translated as saying in the speech. “And we are not Christians or Shiaa to be scared of suicide belts and car bombs. We consider these things as strengths of ours, and God willing they will be just that. This message is to the Islamic State and our brothers in Jabhat al-Nusra, that when we come out of here we will all be one hand to fight Christians and not to have internal fights among ourselves. We want to take back all the lands that have been filthied by the regime, that were entered and taken over by Shiaas and apostates.”

This bloodthirsty terrorist warmongering was taken by the aforementioned AP hagiography and twisted into the single sentence, “He repeatedly denounced rebel infighting and called on Syrians to unite against government forces.”

That is some impressive spin!  But the Atlantic goes farther, turning this call for blood (imagine the reaction if a Proud Boy made such a speech in the USA), into an integral part of his greatness...

"The Atlantic‘s Hassan Hassan framed Sarout’s unconscionable agendas as mere “flaws” which actually add to his inspiring and heroic story, tweeting, “Some individuals celebrated as heroes make you doubt all stories of heroes in history books. Others, like Abdulbasit Sarout, not inspire of but despite his flaws, make those stories highly plausible. He’s a true legend & his story is well documented. May his soul rest in peace.”

Yeah, come on, everybody’s got flaws. Some people suck at parallel parking, some people team up with ISIS and Al-Qaeda on genocidal extermination campaigns. We’ve all got our quirky little foibles."

   The propaganda of the imperial media will only worsen if members of the US Special Forces or CIA are captured, as they direct the terrorists and their activities in Idlib.

   Citizens of the US and its vassals should be very suspicious of all media claims and cautious of their outrage.