max keiser interviews paul craig roberts

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And the forecast is not good.

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all the way out of hand

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This is entirely out of hand. Waaaaaaaaaaaay beyond the pale. The Holocaust Industrial Complex will crash the tubes and any vestigial civilization, both....

when excuses rule the world

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Even if every one of them were telling the purest truth, it still is no excuse for ANYTHING.

christ

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I caught Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe on the jacket of a DVD... so... naturally... I grabbed it.

ANOTHER holocaust movie. "Adam Resurrected"....

This one was strangely riveting. Goldblum gets to be a mad and charismatic protagonist and, despite how over the top just about everything in the movie is, he does a great job with it.

What am I wailing about my wealthy socialist gentleman for? I could write a blockbuster holocaust screenplay and be wealthy myself. This is just beyond the pale out of hand.

the caller

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I think Frank Langella is a really good actor. Last night he pulled off Nixon okay, considering everyone in the world is better at imitating Nixon's voice than Langella is, including people in the movie, and he did not capture the loathing-propelled rictus Nixon called a smile. Langella is naturally too serene, even when doing agitated, but there were real moments where he began to embody Nixon's ghost, and that was fairly astonishing.

Elliott Gould, of course, was the barer of the hairy butt I saw in a tiny Playboy image for a piece about sex in the movies when I was about twelve, and it had shocked me utterly, the very thought. It was so repulsive and so alluring at the same time. I named my first male cat after him, and I always try to see his movies because of this happy early trauma.

So. Here I go.

[Very good movie. Very easy to tell. Very pretty to see. Only got made because there was a Holocaust hook in it. Thankfully, light, but fucking just as meretricious anyway.]

deeper and deeper and deeper

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well, right

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I had that feeling too... which reminds me, I gotta look up this Haim Saban... that name is entirely too close to the one attached to an Israeli maniac I knew years ago.

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Nope, nope. Not tall enough and jawline all wrong.... That's good.

i hear they pitched a hissy over my buddy at durban II

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...but I can't face listening yet, so I'm just linking this first of four videos of his whole speech so I can get there when I have the moxie for it. I swear, so far as I can tell, the Israelis were doing a Code Pink imitation at this conference they were supposedly boycotting....

Pheh. It's too psychotic to be borne, no matter what he said, and what he said always turns out to be nothing even nearly as horrible as it's made out to be... so... well, maybe this time it was. How do I know? Probably not. Seriously. Probably not.

i have had the very strangest day... or two....

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And this song has been running through my head for hours and hours and hours....

I was in the the middle of reading this when it starting getting so strange here....

So, trying to pick up where I left off, I'm looking around, and Larisa weighs in and so does Marcy. I just can't get over this about Jane Harman, the very committed author of the "Homegrown Terrorism" thought crime bill that thankfully tanked in the Senate. I remember being so appalled that a Democrat would put out something that fascistic. I am pleased beyond naming that this is breaking now. It means that serious people have had it with the Israel Lobby, that some awful stuff is going to be, finally, impeded, maybe even torn down. Norman was right. They are going to fail.

We have to find our feet.

The right things need to happen. There can't be any more of this outright insane, infantile, prurient, sociopathic, disorienting non-functioning. Do you hear me?

And now I'm over at Homie's listening to Naomi Klein talking about disaster capitalism, and thinking about the shocks that we all experience, even when we're not directly involved, the shock of knowing people are being tortured at the very moment we are shifting in our seats from the discomfort of being in one position too long, that fiends are out there instating rapist institutions as they murder and loot and scheme for astronomical profits out of the bankrupting of everyone, everything, and their no plan but hopping on a cruise liner to ride out the climate crisis, all of these terrible affronts to our sensibilities, our very humanity, coming in wave after wave after wave.

We never get our feet under us and there's more... and then even more... and more and more and more... and we all are out of our minds desperate for this new president to give us a rest, and by rest we mean relief after relief after relief from all these waves of shock that have left us regressed to toddlertude, yimmering maniacs yipping at each other incoherently over shit like "the sanctity of marriage" and "the beneficial effects of pot" and dangling flaccid tea bags as some simpering echo version of outrage supposedly doing duty as protest, as We're Mad as Hell and We're Not Going to Take It Anymore, with the despicable puerile dissemination of this stuff in the media trying to crack my skull with the impossible depths of lowbrow waving like Old Glory in the public square, while people who haven't been allowed to sleep for a week are being smashed against walls.

Oh, oh, no wait, Obama called that off, right? Everywhere except Bagram, except it hasn't stopped, but, no, he called it off... just ask Rahm, right? But nobody's going to get prosecuted... unless, unless, unless we all get up on our hind legs and MAKE him do it... so FDR-ish, ain't it... and some bought and sold old dolt is screaming about torturers having to ask the ACLU to do this torturing that they're not doing right now, only they are... as it's not even Obama's prerogative to decide, let alone state, whether criminals are prosecuted, or even to make an executive order against it because it's, goddammit, ALREADY ILLEGAL and long since, just as his predecessor had not the prerogatives to decide what he decided and nobody, nobody, nobody stopped him.

We're too busy reeling from the sheer volume of ultimate offenses to our humanity, and can't seem to discern just how psychedelic all this really is. We're like burn victims being poked, or tilted pinball machines, smoking and impervious to our buttons being slammed from every direction. A global symphony of abject helplessness. Disgusting. Maybe that is why I respect Hamas and Hezbollah and certain others out there not well liked by Western "civilization" -- which is this massively incogitant wreckage flying in every direction -- because, because they are actually doing things to protect themselves and their brothers and sisters, fighting for decency and integrity against these horrific odds. How dare we look upon them as bad guys! Really. Where did we get the nerve?

And now I'm picturing beautiful dear Homie in her little place in Tehran, listening to Naomi and getting an idea about what is in store for Iran, courtesy this time of Obama's unwillingness to take a stand against it.

It's actually a wonder more of my days aren't this strange.

Maybe all my days should become this strange.

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THE NEXT DAY: I've got a logistical nightmare of getting my repaired car and packing and getting prescriptions at the right pharmacy and driving back to my parents' place today, and I'm still stranged out anyway, so, well, I don't know if I will be here posting anything until really late tonight, Tuesday, or tomorrow, Wednesday. It's just this big foggy and squirming blot of future not forming up in front of me....

dare we hope for an end to private contractors?

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Is this really airing on MTV? And can we get it on other stations? Quickly. Please. [Oh, man, I so way had to strike that! You won't BELIEVE what Old Uncle Dave dug up about this. Scary, scary, scary stuff. Go to comments and find out.... No. Really.]

No, wait! You gotta read the comments on this post! OMG!

i am drowning in anger and loathing right now

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I'm calling up all my gay friends right now to ask if they will mind very much if I use all the filthy epithets formerly reserved for homosexuals to describe our dickless mountain of hubris president from now on.

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I'm thinking back to when Caroline Kennedy stepped out of her habitual public timidity to compare him with what people have told her about her father. Oh, god, Caroline, would that you could have known! Would that you could possibly have kept your father long enough to have known.

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Chas Freeman's statement:

You will by now have seen the statement by Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair reporting that I have withdrawn my previous acceptance of his invitation to chair the National Intelligence Council.

I have concluded that the barrage of libelous distortions of my record would not cease upon my entry into office. The effort to smear me and to destroy my credibility would instead continue. I do not believe the National Intelligence Council could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction in a foreign country. I agreed to chair the NIC to strengthen it and protect it against politicization, not to introduce it to efforts by a special interest group to assert control over it through a protracted political campaign.

As those who know me are well aware, I have greatly enjoyed life since retiring from government. Nothing was further from my mind than a return to public service. When Admiral Blair asked me to chair the NIC I responded that I understood he was “asking me to give my freedom of speech, my leisure, the greater part of my income, subject myself to the mental colonoscopy of a polygraph, and resume a daily commute to a job with long working hours and a daily ration of political abuse.” I added that I wondered “whether there wasn’t some sort of downside to this offer.” I was mindful that no one is indispensable; I am not an exception. It took weeks of reflection for me to conclude that, given the unprecedentedly challenging circumstances in which our country now finds itself abroad and at home, I had no choice but accept the call to return to public service. I thereupon resigned from all positions that I had held and all activities in which I was engaged. I now look forward to returning to private life, freed of all previous obligations.

I am not so immodest as to believe that this controversy was about me rather than issues of public policy. These issues had little to do with the NIC and were not at the heart of what I hoped to contribute to the quality of analysis available to President Obama and his administration. Still, I am saddened by what the controversy and the manner in which the public vitriol of those who devoted themselves to sustaining it have revealed about the state of our civil society. It is apparent that we Americans cannot any longer conduct a serious public discussion or exercise independent judgment about matters of great importance to our country as well as to our allies and friends.

The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired, still less to factor in American understanding of trends and events in the Middle East. The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth. The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views, the substitution of political correctness for analysis, and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our government other than those that it favors.

There is a special irony in having been accused of improper regard for the opinions of foreign governments and societies by a group so clearly intent on enforcing adherence to the policies of a foreign government – in this case, the government of Israel. I believe that the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for US policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics has allowed that faction to adopt and sustain policies that ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel. It is not permitted for anyone in the United States to say so. This is not just a tragedy for Israelis and their neighbors in the Middle East; it is doing widening damage to the national security of the United States.

The outrageous agitation that followed the leak of my pending appointment will be seen by many to raise serious questions about whether the Obama administration will be able to make its own decisions about the Middle East and related issues. I regret that my willingness to serve the new administration has ended by casting doubt on its ability to consider, let alone decide what policies might best serve the interests of the United States rather than those of a Lobby intent on enforcing the will and interests of a foreign government.

In the court of public opinion, unlike a court of law, one is guilty until proven innocent. The speeches from which quotations have been lifted from their context are available for anyone interested in the truth to read. The injustice of the accusations made against me has been obvious to those with open minds. Those who have sought to impugn my character are uninterested in any rebuttal that I or anyone else might make.

Still, for the record: I have never sought to be paid or accepted payment from any foreign government, including Saudi Arabia or China, for any service, nor have I ever spoken on behalf of a foreign government, its interests, or its policies. I have never lobbied any branch of our government for any cause, foreign or domestic. I am my own man, no one else’s, and with my return to private life, I will once again – to my pleasure – serve no master other than myself. I will continue to speak out as I choose on issues of concern to me and other Americans.

I retain my respect and confidence in President Obama and DNI Blair. Our country now faces terrible challenges abroad as well as at home. Like all patriotic Americans, I continue to pray that our president can successfully lead us in surmounting them.

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Go here for a taste of what we have missed as chair of the National Intelligence Council.

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FUCK!

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You don't seem to understand! I can't afford to get myself another cheer-me-up haircut! I just did that yesterday, and already all the positive effects are gone. For a few precious hours I lightened up about the perfidies of this "new" "administration". I think I'm going to go try squeezing between my box springs and mattress for a little while... see if that doesn't straighten me out....

if obummer stands up for freeman he gets a big kiss from me

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But he's been such a pussy about the Israel Lobby, the Holocaust Industry, I will be shocked if he mans-up enough to do the right thing. This is a big test of his decency and courage and he's been flunking those left and right.

Update, 3:30pm PDT, I have been avoiding for hours:

GOD FUCKING DAMMIT ALL TO HELL!

oh, get a testosterone patch, you old wuss

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there has not been a ceasefire

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I found this image months and months ago while looking to express my feelings about Zionism. I only used part of the image, because, as you can see, even with my having blurred the stark, sharp-edged original, the whole of it is, or was, possibly fiercer than my vehement desire to evaporate them from the map of time. I'm not sure I want to hold back anymore. I want, yes, to be as reasonable and humane as is extra-humanly possible, but the situation is beyond the pale, as wrong, and more, than what we died in our thousands to beat in Germany.

If you have not yet listened to Norman Finkelstein on the matter, I can't stress heavily enough how much it would benefit you to do so. His words about our having defeated the Nazi psychosis in Germany, releasing them from the sickness and giving them a way to manifest positively into the future, are cogent and well taken. While I want Israel moved to the South Pole, I can see the elegance and the truth in his assertion, but, no matter what, this vicious and malign pathology must die as surely as Nazism had to, whether America is the prime mover or Israel, as he and his teacher have so hotly debated.

So maybe this image is no longer too harsh for me to use.

listen!

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Ripped from the pages of P U L S E, swiftly becoming one of my favorite places on the tubes, and about an hour of time well spent:

I gotta listen again, but I didn't want you to die of Super Bowl flu while I dithered about getting it for you. He was Norman Finkelstein's teacher, and so you gotta listen to that action. You just must.

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So, well, I listened again, and wanted to hear him debate Finkelstein, whom I worship, and lookee hyere:
another hour [17 April 2007]



Ain't I clever....

[They're really going at each other here, and half way through it, I gotta say Petras is fairly well mowing down Finkelstein, once his student, the old coot... oo, oh, no, wait, Norman's back up... oh, uh, nope, back down he goes, but more level.... Even so, I'm still going to worship him... and Petras.... Until one or the other of them does/says something unforgivably wrong/rotten, just out of pure ego, or gain, that is. You don't want to be a blind worshipper. I'm here to tell you. Nope, not, never, not that!]

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I don't think he understands that Obama would not have been allowed to be president without these conditions -- Hillary had to cheat him to a draw in so many places -- and I don't think he understands that the organization he so carefully documents will do worse than just badmouth Obama if he crosses them, much, much worse....

Or: Obama really, truly, doesn't give a shit what we want and will simply invite in anyone who will support him in exchange for anything they want.

Those are the only two explanations I can come up with.

Pick.

It could be a combination of both.

We are so fucked.

speakers of truth

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... are killed by the self-interested over and over and over and over and over....

It's incumbent on me, again, to direct you to what he's actually saying and ask you what is unreasonable about his position?

[And, who would have thought this Pope would do more for the rehabilitation of truth than any in memory? Galileo finally has his reward.]

it is incumbent on me to point out

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...that these are the words of a truly decent man. The truth is never bad. He is rock solid in terms of good faith here, and everyone, everywhere, of good faith should hear him. Hear him.

Compare and contrast, please, if you would be so kind.

[This is right on point and worth at least a good skim.]