John W. Whitehead -- Come Home, America: Stop Policing the Globe and Put an End to Wars-Without-End

Come Home, America: Stop Policing the Globe and Put an End to Wars-Without-End

By John W. Whitehead

Global Research, January 08, 2020

Region: USA

Theme: US NATO War Agenda

“Let us resolve that never again will we send the precious young blood of this country to die trying to prop up a corrupt military dictatorship abroad. This is also the time to turn away from excessive preoccupation overseas to the rebuilding of our own nation. America must be restored to a proper role in the world. But we can do that only through the recovery of confidence in ourselves…. together we will call America home to the ideals that nourished us from the beginning. From secrecy and deception in high places; come home, America. From military spending so wasteful that it weakens our nation; come home, America.”—George S. McGovern, former Senator and presidential candidate

I agree wholeheartedly with George S. McGovern, a former Senator and presidential candidate who opposed the Vietnam War, about one thing: I’m sick of old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.

It’s time to bring our troops home.

Bring them home from Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Bring them home from Germany, South Korea and Japan. Bring them home from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Oman. Bring them home from Niger, Chad and Mali. Bring them home from Turkey, the Philippines, and northern Australia.

That’s not what’s going to happen, of course.

The U.S. military reportedly has more than 1.3 million men and women on active duty, with more than 200,000 of them stationed overseas in nearly every country in the world. Those numbers are likely significantly higher in keeping with the Pentagon’s policy of not fully disclosing where and how many troops are deployed for the sake of “operational security and denying the enemy any advantage.” As investigative journalist David Vine explains, “Although few Americans realize it, the United States likely has more bases in foreign lands than any other people, nation, or empire in history.”

Don’t fall for the propaganda, though: America’s military forces aren’t being deployed abroad to protect our freedoms here at home. Rather, they’re being used to guard oil fields, build foreign infrastructure and protect the financial interests of the corporate elite. In fact, the United States military spends about $81 billion a year just to protect oil supplies around the world.

John W. Whitehead -- How Would Jesus Fare in the American Police State?

How Would Jesus Fare in theAmerican Police State?

by John W. Whitehead

December 20, 2019

Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child’s cry, a blazing star hung over a stable, and wise men came with birthday gifts. We haven’t forgotten that night down the centuries. We celebrate it with stars on Christmas trees, with the sound of bells, and with gifts… We forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled, all that is, except one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up. The stocking for the child born in a manger. It’s his birthday we’re celebrating. Don’t let us ever forget that. Let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most. And then, let each put in his share, loving kindness, warm hearts, and a stretched out hand of tolerance. All the shining gifts that make peace on earth. — The Bishop’s Wife (1947)

The Christmas story of a baby born in a manger is a familiar one.

The Roman Empire, a police state in its own right, had ordered that a census be conducted. Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary traveled to the little town of Bethlehem so that they could be counted. There being no room for the couple at any of the inns, they stayed in a stable (a barn), where Mary gave birth to a baby boy, Jesus. Warned that the government planned to kill the baby, Jesus’ family fled with him to Egypt until it was safe to return to their native land.

Yet what if Jesus had been born 2,000 years later?

JOHN W. WHITEHEAD -- Who Will Protect Us From an Unpatriotic Patriot Act?

DECEMBER 11, 2019

Who Will Protect Us From an Unpatriotic Patriot Act?

by JOHN W. WHITEHEAD

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Photograph Source: Jeff Ruane – CC BY 2.0

“It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”

– Thomas Paine

While Congress subjects the nation to its impeachment-flavored brand of bread-and-circus politics, our civil liberties continue to die a slow, painful death by a thousand cuts.

Case in point: while Americans have been fixated on the carefully orchestrated impeachment drama that continues to monopolize headlines, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law legislation extending three key provisions of the USA Patriot Act, which had been set to expire on December 15, 2019.

Once again, to no one’s surprise, the bureaucrats on both sides of the aisle—Democrats and Republicans alike—prioritized political grandstanding over principle and their oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution.

As Congressman Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) predicted:

RO -- John W. Whitehead -- Ferește-te de Răul Progresiv printre noi

Ferește-te de Răul Progresiv printre noi

de John W. Whitehead

29 Octombrie, 2019

“Ne văd pe stradă. Ne observă la televizor. Puteți chiar să votați pentru unul dintre ei, în această Toamnă. Dvs. îi considerati ca sunt oameni ca voi. Greșiți. Sunteti complet greșiți. "

- They Live (Ei trăiesc)

Trăim în două lumi, voi și eu.

Există o lume pe care o vedem (sau pe care suntem făcuți so vedem) și apoi există aceea pe care o simțim, (și, ocazional,o întrezarim), din care ultima este complet diferita de realitatea impulsionată de propaganda fabricata de către guvern și de către sponsorii corporativi/antreprenori ai lui, incluind comunicarea mass-media.

De fapt, ceea ce majoritatea americanilor percep ca viața - privilegiata, progresistă și liberă - în Statele Unite, este foarte departe de realitate, unde  inegalitatea economică este în creștere, agendele adevărate și puterea de necontestat sunt îngropate sub straturi de limbaj orwellian de neînțeles, și de întunecare corporativa indescifrabila, și ”libertatea”, așa cum ea este, este administrata în doze mici de acord cu legea, de către poliția militarizată și înarmată până la dinți.

Nu totul este ceea ce pare a fi.

Acesta este argumentul filmului lui John Carpenter - They live, lansat acum mai bine de 30 de ani, și rămâne, enervant și înspăimântător de potrivit, pentru epoca noastră modernă.

Cunoscut înca pentru filmul său de teroare Halloween, care presupune că există o formă a răului atât de sumbră încât nu poate fi ucisă, producția totală a lui Carpenter este imbuiată cu o puternica înclinare lacónica anti-autoritara, anti- establishment, care vorbește de preocupările cineastului asupra desfășurarii societății noastre și, în special, a guvernului nostru.

Carpenter portretizează frecvent, guvernul acționînd împotriva propriilor lui cetățeni, o populație afara din contactul cu realitatea, cu o tehnologie necontrolată și periculoasă, și un viitor mai oribil decât orice film de teroare.

În Escape from New York, Carpenter prezintă fascismul ca viitorul Americii.

În The Thing, o reconstituire a clasicului de fictiune stiintifica din 1951 cu același nume, Carpenter presupune, că, din ce în ce mai mult, ne dezumanizam cu toții.

În Christine, filmul adaptarii cinematografice a romanului lui Stephen King despre o mașină posedată de demon, tehnologia își afișează propria voință și conștiință și intră într-o violență asasină.

În The Mouth of Madness, Carpenter observă că răul crește atunci când oamenii îsi pierd "capacitatea de a recunoaște diferența dintre realitate și fantezie".

Și apoi exista They Live al lui Carpenter, în care doi muncitori migranți descoperă că lumea nu este ceea ce pare a fi. De fapt, populația este controlată și exploatată de străinii care lucrează în parteneriat cu o elită oligarhica. În mod obisnuit - populația - din fericire inconștienta de adevărata programare în acțiune în viața ei - a fost ambalata lin, îndoctrinata în consecință, bombardata cu distractii de la comunicarea mass-media, și hipnotizata prin mesajele subliminale transmise de televiziune și de variatele dispozitive electronice, precum și prin posterele de propaganda în locurile publice și dispozitivele similare.

Doar atunci când vagabondul fara adapost, John Nada (interpretat la extrem de către decedatul Roddy Piper) descoperă o pereche de ochelari de soare sofisticati - lentilele Hoffman - este că Nada vede ceea ce sta în spatele realității fabricate de elita: controlul și sclavia.

John W. Whitehead -- A New Kind of Tyranny: The Global State’s War on Those Who Speak Truth to Power

A New Kind of Tyranny: The Global State’s War on Those Who Speak Truth to Power

By John W. Whitehead

November 05, 2019

“What happens to Julian Assange and to Chelsea Manning is meant to intimidate us, to frighten us into silence. By defending Julian Assange, we defend our most sacred rights. Speak up now or wake up one morning to the silence of a new kind of tyranny. The choice is ours.” 

—John Pilger, investigative journalist

All of us are in danger.

In an age of prosecutions for thought crimes, pre-crime deterrence programs, and government agencies that operate like organized crime syndicates, there is a new kind of tyranny being imposed on those who dare to expose the crimes of the Deep State, whose reach has gone global.

The Deep State has embarked on a ruthless, take-no-prisoners, all-out assault on truth-tellers.

Activists, journalists and whistleblowers alike are being terrorized, traumatized, tortured and subjected to the fear-inducing, mind-altering, soul-destroying, smash-your-face-in tactics employed by the superpowers-that-be.

Take Julian Assange, for example.

Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks—a website that published secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources—was arrested on April 11, 2019, on charges of helping U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning access and leak more than 700,000 classified military documents that portray the U.S. government and its military as reckless, irresponsible and responsible for thousands of civilian deaths.

Included among the leaked Manning material were the Collateral Murder video (April 2010), the Afghanistan war logs (July 2010), the Iraq war logs (October 2010), a quarter of a million diplomatic cables (November 2010), and the Guantánamo files (April 2011).

The Collateral Murder leak included gunsight video footage from two U.S. AH-64 Apache helicopters engaged in a series of air-to-ground attacks while air crew laughed at some of the casualties. Among the casualties were two Reuters correspondents who were gunned down after their cameras were mistaken for weapons and a driver who stopped to help one of the journalists. The driver’s two children, who happened to be in the van at the time it was fired upon by U.S. forces, suffered serious injuries.

This is morally wrong.

PT -- John W. Whitehead -- Cuidado com o Mal Progressivo no nosso Meio

Cuidado com o Mal Progressivo no nosso Meio

por John W. Whitehead

Outubro 29, 2019

 “Vêem-nos na rua. Observam-nos na TV. Podem até votar num deles, neste Outono. Vocês consideram que são pessoas como vós. Estão errados. Completamente errados. ”

- They Live (Eles Vivem)

Estamos a viver em dois mundos, vocês e eu.

Existe o mundo que vemos (ou que somos feitos para ver) e, a seguir, há aquele que sentimos (e, ocasionalmente, vislumbramos), o último dos quais é completamente diferente da realidade impulsionada pela propaganda fabricada pelo governo e pelos seus patrocinadores corporativos/empresariais, incluindo a comunicação mediática.

De facto, o que a maioria dos americanos percebe como vida - privilegiada, progressista e livre - nos Estados Unidos, está muito longe da realidade, onde a desigualdade económica está a aumentar, as agendas verdadeiras e o poder incontestável estão enterrados sob camadas de linguagem orwelliana incompreensível e de obscurecimento corporativo indecifrável e a “liberdade” tal como ela é, é administrada em pequenas doses de acordo com a lei, pela polícia militarizada e armada até aos dentes.

Nem tudo é o que parece.

Este é o argumento do filme They Live, de John Carpenter, lançado há mais de 30 anos e permanece, irritante e assustadoramente apropriado, para a nossa era moderna.

Mais conhecido pelo seu filme de terror Halloween, que assume que existe uma forma do mal tão sombria que não pode ser morta, a produção total de Carpenter está imbuída de uma forte inclinação lacónica anti-autoritária, anti-establishment, que fala das preocupações do cineasta sobre o desenrolar da nossa sociedade e, particularmente, do nosso governo.

Carpenter retrata, frequentemente, o governo a agir contra os seus próprios cidadãos, uma população fora de contacto com a realidade, com a tecnologia descontrolada e perigosa e um futuro mais horrível do que qualquer filme de terror.

Em Escape from New York, Carpenter apresenta o fascismo como o futuro da América.

Em The Thing, uma  reconstituição do clássico de ficção científica de 1951 do mesmo nome, Carpenter pressupõe que, cada vez mais, todos nós estamos a desumanizar-nos.

Em Christine, o filme da adaptação da novela de Stephen King sobre um carro possuído pelo demónio, a tecnologia exibe vontade e consciência próprias e entra numa violência assassina.

Em The Mouth of Madness, Carpenter observa que o mal cresce quando as pessoas perdem “a capacidade de reconhecer a diferença entre a realidade e a fantasia”.

E depois existe o They Live de Carpenter, no qual dois trabalhadores migrantes descobrem que o mundo não é o que parece. De facto, a população está a ser controlada e explorada por estrangeiros que trabalham em parceria com uma elite oligárquica. Habitualmente, a população - felizmente inconsciente da verdadeira programação em acção nas suas vidas - tem sido embalada com suavidade, doutrinada em conformidade, bombardeada com distracções da comunicação mediática e hipnotizada através de mensagens subliminares transmitidas pela televisão e por vários dispositivos electrónicos, bem como através de cartazes de propaganda em lugares públicos e dispositivos semelhantes.

Somente quando o vagabundo sem abrigo, John Nada (interpretado ao extremo pelo falecido Roddy Piper) descobre um par de óculos de sol sofisticados - lentes Hoffman – é que Nada vê o que está por trás da realidade fabricada pela elite: o controlo e a escravidão.

John W. Whitehead -- Beware the Growing Evil in Our Midst

Beware the Growing Evil in Our Midst

by John W. Whitehead

October 29, 2019

“You see them on the street. You watch them on TV. You might even vote for one this fall. You think they’re people just like you. You’re wrong. Dead wrong.” 

— They Live

We’re living in two worlds, you and I.

There’s the world we see (or are made to see) and then there’s the one we sense (and occasionally catch a glimpse of), the latter of which is a far cry from the propaganda-driven reality manufactured by the government and its corporate sponsors, including the media.

Indeed, what most Americans perceive as life in America—privileged, progressive and free—is a far cry from reality, where economic inequality is growing, real agendas and real power are buried beneath layers of Orwellian doublespeak and corporate obfuscation, and “freedom,” such that it is, is meted out in small, legalistic doses by militarized police armed to the teeth.

All is not as it seems.

This is the premise of John Carpenter’s film They Live, which was released more than 30 years ago, and remains unnervingly, chillingly appropriate for our modern age.

Best known for his horror film Halloween, which assumes that there is a form of evil so dark that it can’t be killed, Carpenter’s larger body of work is infused with a strong anti-authoritarian, anti-establishment, laconic bent that speaks to the filmmaker’s concerns about the unraveling of our society, particularly our government.

Time and again, Carpenter portrays the government working against its own citizens, a populace out of touch with reality, technology run amok, and a future more horrific than any horror film.

In Escape from New York, Carpenter presents fascism as the future of America.

In The Thing, a remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic of the same name, Carpenter presupposes that increasingly we are all becoming dehumanized.

In Christine, the film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel about a demon-possessed car, technology exhibits a will and consciousness of its own and goes on a murderous rampage.

In In the Mouth of Madness, Carpenter notes that evil grows when people lose “the ability to know the difference between reality and fantasy.”

And then there is Carpenter’s They Live, in which two migrant workers discover that the world is not as it seems. In fact, the population is actually being controlled and exploited by aliens working in partnership with an oligarchic elite. All the while, the populace—blissfully unaware of the real agenda at work in their lives—has been lulled into complacency, indoctrinated into compliance, bombarded with media distractions, and hypnotized by subliminal messages beamed out of television and various electronic devices, billboards and the like.

It is only when homeless drifter John Nada (played to the hilt by the late Roddy Piper) discovers a pair of doctored sunglasses—Hoffman lenses—that Nada sees what lies beneath the elite’s fabricated reality: control and bondage.

When viewed through the lens of truth, the elite, who appear human until stripped of their disguises, are shown to be monsters who have enslaved the citizenry in order to prey on them.

Likewise, billboards blare out hidden, authoritative messages: a bikini-clad woman in one ad is actually ordering viewers to “MARRY AND REPRODUCE.” Magazine racks scream “CONSUME” and “OBEY.” A wad of dollar bills in a vendor’s hand proclaims, “THIS IS YOUR GOD.”

When viewed through Nada’s Hoffman lenses, some of the other hidden messages being drummed into the people’s subconscious include: NO INDEPENDENT THOUGHT, CONFORM, SUBMIT, STAY ASLEEP, BUY, WATCH TV, NO IMAGINATION, and DO NOT QUESTION AUTHORITY.

This indoctrination campaign engineered by the elite in They Live is painfully familiar to anyone who has studied the decline of American culture.