By Carey Wedler
Like clockwork, the mainstream media is fervently focusing on a story filled with scandal and intrigue: James Comey’s testimony. Whether it’s a terror attack in the West, a celebrity tailspin, or a superficial drama like James Comey’s conversations in Congress today, when the media drives an obsessive narrative, there’s usually other events occurring.
“But Russia might have intervened with our democratic process!” some may retort. “Donald Trump is probably a criminal!”
While these things are certainly possible — though raw evidence is yet to presented to prove as much — whether or not Russia intervened in an electoral process already riddled with corruption, conflicts of interest, violence, and deceit is ultimately negligible.
As the media continues to trump up the story, however, below are five stories that reflect just how broken the system already is — and continues to be as the public’s attention is led toward media feeding frenzies and away from the true levers of power. As Anti-Media often notes, these stories are not entirely unreported by the media. Rather, they are relegated to scrolling text at the bottom of cable news screens and fail to draw attention from traditional publications as they obsess over stories like Comey’s testimony:
1. Once again, the United States launches airstrikes against the Syrian government — On Tuesday, Anti-Media reported that the American military had launched an airstrike on pro-regime forces within Syria. In response, the Syrian government issued a statement that it intends to strike back if this red line continues to be crossed — this is because the U.S. is an invading force in Syria yet claims it is “defending” itself. Despite this warning, on Thursday — at the same time the media focused its attention on Comey’s testimony — the U.S. launched another air strike in Syrian territory. Both of this week’s strikes occurred in al-Tanf, where Iranian militias have been advancing toward a “deconfliction zone.”
These U.S. strikes have come despite the fact that these Iranian troops, aligned with the Assad regime, have been largely successful in their fight against ISIS — the terror group President Trump, like Obama before him, uses to justify strikes in the country in the first place. Also on Thursday, the U.S. shot down a pro-regime drone, claiming it was a response to pro-Syrian forces, who allegedly “dropped one of several weapons it was carrying near a position occupied by Coalition personnel who are training and advising partner ground forces in the fight against ISIS,” according to a statement from CENTCOM. Trump also claimed on the campaign trail that he was not interested in advancing U.S.-backed regime change around the world, a position his administration began to walk back after bombing Syria in April following an alleged chemical weapons attack — yet another event the corporate media obsessed over.
2. Congress moves to repeal Dodd-Frank financial regulation — After transferring billions of taxpayer dollars to big banks following the financial crisis of 2008, lawmakers passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which aimed to put more restrictions on the financial industry in the name of protecting the average American consumer. Now, Republicans are attempting to undo that legislation. Though some argue this is ultimately impossible, the effort itself reveals a loyalty to big banks that has plagued Congress and the federal government for over a century. While many may fume at the current effort to repeal the legislation, however, the real story rests with the omnipotent power of the Federal Reserve bank — legislation written over a century ago by powerful bankers who passed it onto a Congress that approved it with minor modifications. Had this hegemonic bank, which to this day is overseen and controlled by powerful bankers, not clinched this power in the early 20th century, it’s unlikely the Dodd-Frank bill would have been necessary at all. Regardless, Dodd-Frank ultimately proved ineffective precisely because the banks had already amassed uncheckable power through the Federal Reserve central banking apparatus.
3. U.K. election pits two wildly different paths for the future against each other — Amid the Comey hysteria, it’s unlikely most Americans are paying attention to the current election taking place in the United Kingdom. Theresa May, the current prime minister, is facing off against Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn as the parties — Tory and Labour — also vie for power. The two party leaders could not be more different. May, who previously worked as head of the Home Office, has been a long time proponent of mass surveillance and has taken a staunchly establishment stance on foreign policy. She has continued to maintain ties with Saudi Arabia, to whom the U.K. has consistently sold weapons in spite of the country’s ongoing human rights violations and support for radical terror. Rather than acknowledging this reality amid two recent terror attacks in the country, May has instead encouraged further intervention in Syria and advocated rolling back human rights protections in her own country.
In contrast, Jeremy Corbyn came out strongly against such policies, arguing that arming radical Islamists in Saudi Arabia and waging perpetual war is a main driver of terrorism. Currently, the Tory party is ahead in the vote and is expected to prevail, signaling the continuance of business as usual among the U.K.’s establishment. Notably, there is at least one report of young voters being turned away from polling stations at Keele University in the constituency of Newcastle-under-Lyme, where Labour won the last election in 2015 by a slim margin.
[Update]: British media is now forecasting a hung Parliament.
(Update: Corbyn wins election – Ed.)
4. Explosion at U.S. embassy in Ukraine deemed act of terror — While Americans’ eyes are glued to C-SPAN to watch James Comey’s interrogation, authorities have called an explosion at the U.S. embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, a terror attack. In normal times, this kind of attack would be major headline news, but in the media’s current narrative trying pin Hillary Clinton’s devastating electoral loss on Russia, it’s nowhere to be found. “Investigators found that an unknown person threw an explosive device on the territory of the diplomatic mission,” a local police statement said, as reported by the Times of Israel. There were no injuries reported, and the embassy remains open.
5. Hillary Clinton is back in the news for all the wrong reasons — Hillary has come under fire from Berniecrats and the progressive left once again after screenshots from her book went viral on social media showing she benefitted from what some are calling modern-day slave labor in the form of African-American prison workers. One Black Lives Matter activist called her comments “disgusting.” Further, conservative watchdog Judicial Watch just released a Hillary Clinton email showing she “knowingly used an unsecure BlackBerry device despite being warned by ‘security hawks’ against doing so” during her time as Secretary of State. And finally, from today’s Comey hearing, the former FBI director said he was pressured to roll back his investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email practices during the 2016 election shortly after former Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s highly publicized meeting with Bill Clinton.
***
It’s possible new revelations will emerge from Comey’s testimony, and some might reveal damning information about Donald Trump, Russia, and the machinations of actors within federal government. But as the media’s obsessive focus remains fixed on these developments, it is always important to keep in mind the other, all-encompassing power structures that continue to forge ahead full throttle, from war to corporatism and the ongoing corruption of politicians.
….and:
“Trump Empowers States with Massive Permitting Reform in ‘First Step’ to ‘Renewing America’s Roads, Rails, Runways and Rivers’”
Problem is the infrastructure project is designed to promote more fascist / corporatist control over America. Trump said the emphasis will be on Public Private Partnerships with multinational corporations, the mantra: privatize the profits and socialize the losses. In addition, about two weeks ago the administration began encouraging the sell off of public infrastructure such as road, bridges, and airports to help pay for the new infrastructure. The companies that buy or lease the properties are expected to charge new fees to profit from the deals.
Privatization of public assets is a cornerstone of the new global economic paradigm and Agenda 2030. It happens to be the reason Russia privatized Rosneft and Saudi Arabia is in the process of privatizing Aramco.
I see. So given the state of our monetary condition which is a disaster from 8 years of money printing and the consequent debt buildup which the central bankers left, what is the best way?
It’s tricky, eh? TPTB put us in double binds all the time, setting us up with problem, reaction, solution. If that wasn’t bad enough, there’s always a heavy blackmail component to their scheming. If we don’t do exactly as they wish, then they can pull the plug on the petrodollar faster than they are aiming to – or whatever.
Although, I wonder if they already decided to pummel us with some “shock doctrine” – thus, the ridiculous narratives to dismantle the petrodollar / dollar reserve becoming desperate theater of the absurd. The 28 redacted pages “the Saudis did it” didn’t get traction as it threatened to open up the entire 9/11 can of worms. Now they are resorting to a silly contrived spat between Qatar and KSA which is about as organic as piece of plastic fruit.
Truly, the only way out of this deep hole is to get more people wisely seeking transparency – in every venue, and fast! We can’t allow ourselves to be distracted.
Indeed, the blackmail-ability of the puppets is one of the key reasons they get into “power” in the first place.
Transparency will never work, because we will never get it. If transparency could happen, we’d all be driving Stan Meyer cars that can travel across the country on 3 litres of water, or flitting about in our Nikola Tesla flying vehicles. We’d be able to see the hoaxes for what they are…and they sure don’t want that.
The only real solution, at least on a human/material scale, is to completely divorce from the system…politically, economically, spiritually, and as physically as one is able. Learn to grow veggies, get with neighbors and figure out the best way to fix our own roads and streets. Stop SPENDING SPENDING SPENDING. Take a week, or two, or more, and don’t buy groceries or gasoline. Don’t go to their movie theaters. Don’t eat at their restaurants.
The only thing that speaks in this material world is MONEY, or what passes for it. Your willingness to act, and your unwillingness to part with your earnings, has more strength than any vote at any time for any person in a suit. If, say, 40 or 50 million citizens decided to just stay home, all at the same time, for a few weeks, and not spend a DIME, businesses would come to a complete standstill. Inventory will build up, and these businesses, including and especially the banks, will have to re-think how business is conducted.
But I digress.
To NJ Guy – Proudly Deplorable: There really is no “best” solution, other than get right with God if you have faith in God. One thing that would be a GREAT solution is to do what Iceland did and arrest the central bankers, declare a jubilee on the nation’s debt, and start from scratch. They’ve (the banksters) been robbing the people blind since 1914, the last 8+ years are just an acceleration. The more debt the country can run up, the bigger the fall when the banksters come to cash their chips in.
One thing that is NOT a solution is to trust the government, and those that run it, with ANYTHING. NOT A THING. Having to rely on anyone, especially someone in government, can be costly. Learn to rely on yourself, your immediate loved ones, and especially God (if you are so inclined, as I am).
Peace.
I agree, I’m pretty much on the same page and I realize transparency requires critical thinking and walking away from the seduction of tech and materialism – which I’ve did a long time ago, and never was attracted to in the first place.
As for the “alt” promoting grow your own vegetables (great and organic!) most of this is to keep us from putting our energies into resisting the mark of the digital beast. BTW, Mockingbird tentacles are very long and don’t leave any ‘news’ sources they can’t control alone.
The UN Agendas (NWO paradigm), esp. 2030, are designed for very low global consumption patterns, “austerity” – thus, a lot of what we are being encouraged to do with a focus on our cities fits neatly into their plans. I think it’s fine and good to go this direction – we need to do it on our terms as best we can.
The mark of the beast is barreling down on us and that’s the MAIN curveball TPTB don’t want you to see coming. Qatar and Iran? Both are ahead of the west, esp. Qatar, implementing this as is the entire GCC regional govt. Caveat Emptor! – and much thanks for your reply.
Peace and kind regards.
Sadly, transparency won’t make the currency/debt problem go away.
Either the American people say ‘we have no intention of paying this bankers’ debt’ which would mean defaulting, or, we just pay it off with more printed federal reserves notes and begin a new currency which is a yuuuge task and not painless.
Not many good choices..
That’s the Hegelian aspect of what’s being done to us. Force us to accept a global digital currency, cashless society, eventually discarding almost everything resembling a free market and representative govt.
Qatar is another lightening rod story, absurd on its face because it has the largest US military base in the middle east with 11,000 American troops in advanced facilities, planes taking off and landing every 10 min around the clock.
Qatar’s financial ties go DEEP into the heart of the ziopath bankster beast and western minions and with 87% of its population comprised of foreigners it’s already going into full on New World Order mark of the beast mode.
In the past few months, the Qatari government has been battling parents resisting a new govt mandate that kids wear / carry an RFID tracking device with them at school. Qatar recently installed iris scan kiosks in its airport.
Big Brother cometh and lighten rod stories want us to be looking the other way in case we might get the idea of walking away from their control grid.
I’m afraid that very few will walk away from what those zioCounterfeiters keep providing with their unbridled level of eCurrency they pump out to whomever they want, for whatever they desire.
Good Grief! Where is a good hiding place? The Rothschild Organized Crime Cartel is everywhere! No class! I am convinced God doesn’t think they are neat, but God takes His time. As the English say, “Regardless of what has happened, always behave as if nothing has happened.”
Perfectly stated in a nutshell, you got it!
They used to say “Don’t believe anything you read and half of what you see.” Sheesh! Now you can’t even believe anything coming from government and MSM.
In the famous words of Lenny Bruce, “Even if they got pictures, don’t believe it.”
All this areticle essentially says is that we should have other prioritites. I think that the air strike on Syria and even the news about ISIS are largely irrelevant when compared to the Senate Hearings with Comey’s testimony. That is because we need someone who is President who is not all about himself, and after the fact makes ur ‘reasons’) for his decision which simply don’t make any sense to me. He started of talking about the Hillary investigation thinking, erroneously, that this would bring Congresional Democrats into the fold. This did not happen, so all of a sudden, after over 10 years in public service continuing to go up the ladder and serving Presidents of both parties in different positions well, Comey became suddently totally incompetent and the FBI agents did not like him and so everything in the agency, was all screwed up. FBI agents of all political strips refuted this,so we had another, and then, according to Comey, trying to interfere in the investigation into Gen. Flynn and all of his contacts with Russia. Which is actually the real reason? Can we have a full blown liar and probably Sociopath in this office? There there is all the BS about Comey telling Trump that he was not the target of the FBI’s investigation. He obviously does not realize, that as in a combat situtation, targets can chage as the situation changes. Now, with this, he has made himself a target of an investigation.
The attack on Dodd-Framn and the Consumer Protection Bureau is not really unexpected. This goes back to Adam Smith and “The Wealth of Nations” – the bible fore fixcal conservatives – that does not even mention the roll of the consumer in the Economy, which means that Conservatives need no legal protection. Then we look at who will benefit the most from this proposed repeals – it will not be the well established businesses, who, in order to rely on repeat business, have done the self regulation in their pricing and return law. For example, probably the best run Company is Costco, which actually publishes its mark ups on various classes of product – if it is a bran name it is such a percent; if it is house brand, it is another percent,with the exception of things that are on sale. If you bought a TV at Costco 5 years ago, you can take it back, and get a full refund for the purchase price. If you do that more than about once, they will simply not renew your membership. The ones to profit most from the repeal are the fly-by-night companies which do not expect return business – the used car dealer, the roofers, the drive way pavers, some remodeling companies – in other words, the crooks. Fortunately, for many of this the repeal will not have much effect, because most states have similar laws, and there is not much different from doing State Time than there is Federal Time for fraud.
With all of this deregulation, it becomes quite obvious that the Legislators do not understand that the base reason for all of them is because someone has done something against the best good of society before. Bernie Madoff did not learn any lesson at all from the jail time that Ponzzi and others had gotten for the same reasons. Trump also wants to Privitize the FAA in the name of making air travel better – he does not know that the FAA has had plans for many years to do the same thing, but this has not been funded. Their equipment is so obsolte that replacements are no longer made. Then, how will this be funded. Right now air carries just pay a landing fee, based on passengers or cargo to the airports with the taxpayer paying for the FAA, so how will the private sector make a profit or even recover costs? No thought given to that?
Like Costco, the Government is in the business of governing in the long term, so what happens today should be noted, and if it was successful, repeated, but if not changed. Don’t fix it if it is not broken, and if it is broken, then why is it broken and can it be repaired or does it need to be replaced? Now the people who have been all about repeal of the ACA for years are on the spot because the only replacement that they have announced will reduce coverage at a higher cost, which is less than impressive. Sounds like trading your working car in on a junker.
you write about interesting points, but please have someone edit your work before posting. thanks.
Thanks. I learned to type by touch, and now I am going blind – courtesy of the VA, so I really cannot see what I have written. I see the little underlines, but not the letters very well. I have always tried to look for the red herrings – the distractions from the really important issues, and go to the issue.
Go to any word processor (probably even your email). Set the Font Size to whatever you can read (18, 24, even 36). Type your message. Edit the format and run a spell check. Copy it. Come back here and open a Reply box. Paste your message.
The only thing more disgusting than the corruption/evil within the ranks of the Shabbos Goi in D.C.?
The refusal/inability of the majority of fools within Idiot culture to see who’s behind those scum.
Dodd Frank?
P O S piece of legislation… passed as window dressing to give the appearance of doing something… because the professional political class of both parties is trying to avoid re-implementation of “Glass-Steagal like” legislation.
We NEED another Glass-Steagal… to separate the “casino gambling banking operations” from the public deposit side of banking. Dodd-Frank is a meaningless fish wrapper… without the separation of banking operations into discrete consumer/investment operations, all consumer banking deposits are at grave risk.
Hmmm
A couple of more whoppers you failed to mention:
The United States Senate votes 92-0 in a non binding resolution its support for Israel stealing all of Jerusalem and making it the Capital of Israel.
Jared Kushner, not to mention his lawyer, having already publicly admitted to committing a Felony (falsifying his application for a national security Clearance and lying to the FBI and the US Secret Service) is being shielded and protected at every turn by the Media and the establishment. This despite the fact that failure to disclose secret meetings (many of which Kushner participated in with Flynn) got Flynn fired and is now facing possible prosecution, yet Kushner is not. This is the real “coverup” being hidden from the Public. Russia’s election connections were always a red herring.