Here a dog, there a dog, everywhere a barking-wagging dog to garner your attention and distract your mind from the crimes committed by them..
Lynda
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Snip of a long article.
By Don Via, Jr.
In recent years and months it has become apparent that more often the attention of the American public is easily diverted. With increasing frequency we are seeing attention spans decrease, swaying incoherently from one curated narrative to the next, often irrational and logically inconsistent, to align with the “current thing” that establishment officials and their obedient talking heads on the ‘tell-lie-vision’ proselytize.
The new “current thing” takes the place of the old “current thing” in a seemingly never-ending game of Simon Says: Empire Edition. In just a month’s time we’ve seen virtue signalers exchange Ukrainian flags for Pride Flags, and COVID hysteria for monkeypox hysteria, with a smattering of gun control hypocrisy in between; shifting back and forth from “No one needs an AR-15!” to “Weapons for Ukraine!”, and “all cops are racist!” to “Only cops should have guns”.
Here are five stories you’re missing while obsessing over the “current thing”.
1.) What The Hell Is Even Going On In Ukraine??
It seems with the “current thing” moving from Ukraine, to monkeypox, to guns, to pride, and so on that the fervor behind #StandWithUkraine is rapidly losing its zeal. Sure there is still a smattering of coverage here and there. A brief mention on the evening news, but it certainly isn’t the apex of awareness that it was even a month ago.
It’s almost frightening how quickly the public attention span can shift nowadays from one arbitrary point of focus to the next at the drop of a dime. Case and point with Ukraine. We haven’t seen Americans stop caring about a war this fast since the Pentagon murdered an entire innocent family during the withdrawal from Afghanistan…
And while the military-industrial complex continues churning out billions of our tax dollars to keep the war machines newest play thing in the swing, the managers of empire may have their own motives for diverting public gaze away from the conflict in Eastern Europe.
To put it bluntly, Ukraine is losing.
This has been the case for quite some time, but since the recent capture of Mariupol saw the fascist holdouts of Azovstal surrender in the hundreds, it has been painfully obvious. And where once Western media was rife with headlines of “Russia is losing”, that narrative is quickly diminishing.
Some of the media have tried their best to keep the ardor alive, at least enough to continue securing weapon shipments, publishing some of the most audacious atrocity propaganda in recent memory; such as the completely unsubstantiated assertion that Russian troops are using sexual assault as a weapon of war en masse. A claim so outlandish and unfounded that even Ukraine’s own parliament was forced to remove the official who made the accusations.
Meanwhile, the US establishment and corporate press seem as though they are slowly beginning to distance itself from Zelensky. In recent days, criticisms of Ukraine’s government are beginning to creep into corporate discourse.
On June 8th the New York Times published a piece titled “US Lacks A Clear Picture of Ukraine’s War Strategy, Officials Say”. As the article goes on it begins to assert the all too familiar narrative of “intelligence failure”.
Painting a picture that any losses in Ukraine fall at the feet of the intelligence community, hindered by Zelensky’s reluctance to share information with them.
On June 10th, the Associated Press published a piece regarding remarks from Joe Biden essentially throwing Zelensky under the bus by claiming the Ukrainian president “didn’t want to hear” any warnings from the US leading up to the invasion.
Around that same time reports were also published of Ukrainian officials admitting not only that ammunition is low and they are now nearly entirely dependent on Western armaments, but also openly acknowledging they’re now at risk of losing the Donbass region.
While a recent piece from The Hill notes that Biden had informed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to “tone down” the vocal support for Ukraine back in April after the two publicly affirmed the Biden Administration’s desire for Ukraine to win and weaken Russia. Concerned that such a position would “set unrealistic goals” and possibly pull the US into a direct conflict with Moscow.
The sentiment of Western culture and media slowly losing interest in Ukraine is even making its way on mainstream media along with begrudging acknowledgements that Ukraine is in fact losing. On June 19th, Former Deputy National Security adviser KT McFarland spoke with Fox News regarding the progress of the war, stating;
“Ukraine is losing this war slowly, bitterly, grindingly, with terrible results. I think the quicker this war ends, or the fighting of it ends, the better.”
A sentiment also reflected by intelligence analyst and former Vice Chair of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council, Graham Fuller, as his recent analysis reflects on the miscalculations by Washington as the ill-tide of the conflict is putting a strain Europe’s eagerness to be dragged into another costly quagmire to back US unipolar hegemony.
Though despite this, so long as the US can manage to facilitate and prolong its proxy war it will do so. A recent report from the Washington Post indicates that Washington along with a few staunch war hawk allies intend to protract and drag out the war for as long as possible, as previously predicted by yours truly, and as noted by Antiwar’s Kyle Anzalone. Even more recently, the G7 has also affirmed its resolute desire to proliferate the conflict.
At this years G7 meeting, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen declared —
“We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. The negative global impact of Russia’s war will be front and center of our exchanges at the G7.”
Stating plainly the West’s intentions of grinding this war down to the last Ukrainian they’re willing to sacrifice, and also to the detriment of their nations own economies so long as the American war machine is satisfied.
Meanwhile, a recent piece from the New York Times has openly confirmed that US Special Forces as well as CIA personnel are in fact on the ground in Ukraine. Not only dispelling claims from the Biden administration that there would be no US troops on the ground in Ukraine, as well as contradicting its own previous reporting, but also putting the final nail in the coffin of the claim that this is not a US proxy war.
While it is still not yet certain whether or not a decisive end of the war will come about anytime soon, as Ukraine admits it is now suffering up to 1,000 casualties a day, it is becoming clear even to some ardent war hawks that a slow, grinding defeat is a highly plausible outcome, worsened only by Washington’s hubris and imperial machinations.
2.) The Supply Chain Continues To Collapse
Another iteration of “current thing-ism” seizing the public consciousness is the all too familiar divide and conquer rhetoric currently dominating public dialogue is over who is responsible for the skyrocketing gas prices (hint, it’s both big government and big oil; and while most people argue over one or the other the true culprits who control both of them are laughing their way to the bank).
But underneath this, America’s supply chain and critical infrastructure is being crippled. Whether or not certain aspects of this is being done intentionally can still be hotly contested, and is. But one thing is for certain, the overall manufactured crisis we previously warned of is worsening.
After several months and a multitude of dubious instances that have resulted in numerous food manufacturing and processing facilities being destroyed, it was reported on the 14th of June by Zero Hedge that yet another food processing plant had erupted in flames.
In Waupaca, Wisconsin a massive blaze tore through a pizza-making plant.
If this were an isolated incident it probably wouldn’t be much of a big deal, but it is not isolated. Recently, a string of destructive fires, mysterious accidents, mass killings of animals due to alleged bird flu outbreaks, among other instances have contributed to a worsening food shortage crisis the likes of which may be unprecedented.
As Zero Hedge continues, it is a part of much larger spate of incidents impacting Americas food manufacturing and supply chain over the course of the last year.
They go on to provide a list of over 90 similar incidents;
1/11/21 A fire that destroyed 75,000-square-foot processing plant in Fayetteville
4/30/21 A fire ignited inside the Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Monmouth, IL
7/25/21 Three-alarm fire at Kellogg plant in Memphis, 170 emergency personnel responded to the call
7/30/21 Firefighters on Friday battled a large fire at Tyson’s River Valley Ingredients plant in Hanceville, Alabama
8/23/21 Fire crews were called to the Patak Meat Production company on Ewing Road in Austell
9/13/21 A fire at the JBS beef plant in Grand Island, Neb., on Sunday night forced a halt to slaughter and fabrication lines
10/13/21 A five-alarm fire ripped through the Darigold butter production plant in Caldwell, ID
11/15/21 A woman is in custody following a fire at the Garrard County Food Pantry
11/29/21 A fire broke out around 5:30 p.m. at the Maid-Rite Steak Company meat processing plant
12/13/21 West Side food processing plant in San Antonio left with smoke damage after a fire
1/7/22 Damage to a poultry processing plant on Hamilton’s Mountain following an overnight fire
1/13/22 Firefighters worked for 12 hours to put a fire out at the Cargill-Nutrena plant in Lecompte, LA
1/31/22 a fertilizer plant with 600 tons of ammonium nitrate inside caught on fire on Cherry Street in Winston-Salem
2/3/22 A massive fire swept through Wisconsin River Meats in Mauston
2/3/22 At least 130 cows were killed in a fire at Percy Farm in Stowe
2/15/22 Bonanza Meat Company goes up in flames in El Paso, Texas
2/15/22 Nearly a week after the fire destroyed most of the Shearer’s Foods plant in Hermiston
2/16/22 A fire had broken at US largest soybean processing and biodiesel plant in Claypool, Indiana
2/18/22 An early morning fire tore through the milk parlor at Bess View Farm
2/19/22 Three people were injured, and one was hospitalized, after an ammonia leak at Lincoln Premium Poultry in Fremont
2/22/22 The Shearer’s Foods plant in Hermiston caught fire after a propane boiler exploded
2/28/22 A smoldering pile of sulfur quickly became a raging chemical fire at Nutrien Ag Solutions
2/28/22 A man was hurt after a fire broke out at the Shadow Brook Farm and Dutch Girl Creamery
3/4/22 294,800 chickens destroyed at farm in Stoddard, Missouri
3/4/22 644,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, Maryland
3/8/22 243,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in New Castle, Delaware
3/10/22 663,400 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, MD
3/10/22 915,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Taylor, IA
3/14/22 The blaze at 244 Meadow Drive was discovered shortly after 5 p.m. by farm owner Wayne Hoover
3/14/22 2,750,700 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Jefferson, Wisconsin
3/16/22 A fire at a Walmart warehouse distribution center has cast a large plume of smoke visible throughout Indianapolis.
3/16/22 Nestle Food Plant extensively damaged in fire and new production destroyed Jonesboro, Arkansas
3/17/22 5,347,500 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Buena Vista, Iowa
3/17/22 147,600 chickens destroyed at farm in Kent, Delaware
3/18/22 315,400 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, Maryland
3/22/22 172,000 Turkeys destroyed on farms in South Dakota
3/22/22 570,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Butler, Nebraska
3/24/22 Fire fighters from numerous towns are battling a major fire at the McCrum potato processing facility in Belfast.
3/24/22 418,500 chickens destroyed at farm in Butler, Nebraska
3/25/22 250,300 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Franklin, Iowa
3/26/22 311,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
3/27/22 126,300 Turkeys destroyed in South Dakota
3/28/22 1,460,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Guthrie, Iowa
3/29/22 A massive fire burned 40,000 pounds of food meant to feed people in a food desert near Maricopa
3/31/22 A structure fire caused significant damage to a large portion of key fresh onion packing facilities in south Texas
3/31/22 76,400 Turkeys destroyed in Osceola, Iowa
3/31/22 5,011,700 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Osceola, Iowa
4/6/22 281,600 chickens destroyed at farm in Wayne, North Carolina
4/9/22 76,400 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/9/22 208,900 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/12/22 89,700 chickens destroyed at farm in Wayne, North Carolina
4/12/22 1,746,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Dixon, Nebraska
4/12/22 259,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Minnesota
4/13/22 fire destroys East Conway Beef & Pork Meat Market in Conway, New Hampshire
4/13/22 Plane crashes into Gem State Processing, Idaho potato and food processing plant
4/13/22 77,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/14/22 Taylor Farms Food Processing plant burns down Salinas, California.
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4/14/22 99,600 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/15/22 1,380,500 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Lancaster, Minnesota
4/19/22 Azure Standard nation’s premier independent distributor of organic and healthy food, was destroyed by fire in Dufur, Oregon
4/19/22 339,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/19/22 58,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Montrose, Color
4/20/22 2,000,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Minnesota
4/21/22 A small plane crashed in the lot of a General Mills plant in Georgia
4/22/22 197,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/23/22 200,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/25/22 1,501,200 chickens destroyed at egg farm Cache, Utah
4/26/22 307,400 chickens destroyed at farm Lancaster Pennsylvania
4/27/22 2,118,000 chickens destroyed at farm Knox, Nebraska
4/28/22 Egg-laying facility in Iowa kills 5.3 million chickens, fires 200-plus workers
4/28/22 Allen Harim Foods processing plant killed nearly 2M chickens in Delaware
4/2822 110,700 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
4/29/22 1,366,200 chickens destroyed at farm Weld Colorado
4/30/22 13,800 chickens destroyed at farm Sequoia Oklahoma
5/3/22 58,000 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
5/3/22 118,900 Turkeys destroyed Beadle S Dakota
5/3/22 114,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
5/3/22 118,900 Turkeys destroyed Lyon Minnesota
5/7/22 20,100 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
5/10/22 72,300 chickens destroyed at farm Lancaster Pennsylvania
5/10/22 61,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
5/10/22 35,100 Turkeys destroyed Muskegon, Michigan
5/13/22 10,500 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
5/14/22 83,400 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
5/17/22 79,00 chickens destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
5/18/22 7,200 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
5/19/22 Train carrying limestone derailed Jensen Beach FL
5/21/22 57,000 Turkeys destroyed on farm in Dakota Minnesota
5/23/22 4,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
5/29/22 A Saturday night fire destroyed a poultry building at Forsman Farms
5/31/22 3,000,000 chickens destroyed by fire at Forsman facility in Stockholm Township, Minnesota
6/2/22 30,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
6/7/22 A fire occurred Tuesday evening at the JBS meat packing plant in Green Bay.
6/8/22 Firefighters from Tangipahoa Fire District 1 respond to a fire at the Purina Feed Mill in Arcola
6/9/22 Irrigation water was canceled in California (the #1 producer of food in the US) and storage water flushed directly out to the delta.
6/12/22 Largest Pork Company in the US Shuts Down California Plant Due to High Costs
6/13/22 Fire Breaks Out at a Food Processing Plant West of Waupaca County in Wisconsin
While this is of course very concerning, it is also necessary to reiterate in order to avoid being flagged by the oh-so-gracious and prudent “fact checkers” that no one here is definitively asserting with complete certainty that this is being deliberately done to manufacture a food shortage in the United states. As the Fact Check by PolitiFact points out, the overwhelming majority of these incidents have not been determined to be the result of foul play, that investigations have thus far found.
That being said, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a matter of foul play for it to still be of great concern.
Many parts of the world are already facing a hunger crisis due to a multitude of converging factors. Climate shifts impacting agriculture, the war in Ukraine, and constraints on the global supply chain already have nearly 50 million more people on the brink of famine. In addition to the hundreds of millions already estimated to be forced into famine due to the economic impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns, as we reported last year.
Combine that with empty supermarket shelves, soaring inflation, and corporate price hikes chief among a multitude of factors taking a heavy toll on the lives and wallets of average Americans, and consternation for any potential risks to critical infrastructure, especially one as vital as food, is very understandable.
No matter what the cause may be, concerns about it are valid. It deserves to be addressed by our so called “leaders”, if merely to just ease the anxieties of the public. But much like with every other factor currently contributing to our deteriorating economy, we don’t hear a peep of anything meaningful. Rather, we’re told everything is fine, just disregard everything you can plainly see with your own eyes, the economy is doing great.
Failure to address something of such vital importance with such callous disregard should be considered by anyone as well beyond a dereliction of duty.
3.) U.S. Trained Special Forces Implicated In Drug Running, Organized Crime
As current thing chicanery continues to capture public attention one of the big international stories that should be headline news — yet one would be hard pressed to find mentioned almost anywhere — is that of the latest scandal of U.S. central American foreign policy.
Thus far the only outlet we’ve found to have reported on it until now are the good folks at Popular Resistance, who deserve their just recognition.
As they report, new documents have become unsealed in relation to the case of former Honduran police officer Ludwig Criss Zelaya Romero, who was sentenced last year to 12 years imprisonment for drug trafficking offenses after being extradited to New York’s Southern District.
The document, dated 2016 and released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, highlights how the COBRAs, a Honduran special forces police unit trained and supported by the US, worked directly with the Los Grillos criminal gang in organized crime plots involving drug trafficking, theft, money laundering, abuse, and murder for hire.
As Popular Resistance goes on to note, the COBRAS have had a long controversial history stretching back to the 1980s. Being implicated in the disappearances of political dissidents, as well as several instances of excessive use of force and violent repression of protesters following the 2009 coup, in which a US-backed far right regime seized power from the democratically elected government.
In 2017, the COBRAS was merged with another elite police unit, the TIGRES (Tigers in English), otherwise known as the Honduran Intelligence Troop and Special Security Response Group. Also trained by the United States, the TIGRES also have a long history of corruption and abuse linked to working with drug cartels.
In May of this year, the former head of the Honduran National Police Force and creator of the TIGRES, Juan Carlos “El Tigre” Bonilla, was also extradited to the US on drug trafficking charges.
For years, the United States supported a violent dictatorship ruling over Honduras which it helped gain power and whos narco-terrorist leaders plunged the nation into poverty.
In January of this year, that regime was finally deposed and a new democratic government was elected for the first time since 2009.
In what can be presumed as a preemptive attempt to shield itself from any potential blowback, the US has formally severed ties with its former drug smuggling ally. In April of this year, the former president Juan Orlando Hernández was indicted and arrested on a slew of drug, weapons, and conspiracy charges and extradited to New York’s Southern District.
Unfortunately, these circumstances are not an abnormality. Support for neo-fascist paramilitaries, violent coups, repression of dissidents, and drug trafficking are all staple elements of US imperialist policy in Latin America stretching back to Iran-Contra and before. Even as recently as last year The Free Thought Project reported information detailing how one of the most violent cartels in Mexico, tied to kidnapping, torture, decapitation, and rape, had received training from US Special Forces.
4.) Supreme Court Makes Federal Agents Basically Impervious To Prosecution
Much ado about the prevalence of “current things”, the most recent current thing now drawing the ire of public attention is the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. And while this is of course an incredibly important subject setting an incredibly dangerous precedent regarding bodily autonomy and reproductive rights, as we’re sure readers are all aware by this point this latest fiasco is also being capitalized upon by the media as a way to weaponize yet more divide and conquer rhetoric, as well as a means of further distracting the masses from other pertinent issues. While the implications of overturning Roe v. Wade deserve their own acknowledgment they are not the focus of this entry. There is a second Supreme Court ruling that has occurred setting a dire precedent of its own that is receiving little to no attention.
As if the American Police State didn’t receive enough protections of impunity from the judicial system, on Wednesday, June 8th, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a ruling in the case of Egbert v. Boule dismissing the defendants claims of violations of constitutional rights and undue harassment.
The case revolves around a 2014 incident in which a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, Erik Egbert, arrived at the Smugglers Inn bed and breakfast in the US/ Canada border town of Blaine WA, owned by Robert Boule.
Egbert followed a man who was staying at the inn believed to be an illegal immigrant and, without a search warrant, entered Boule’s private property demanding to question the individual. When Boule refused and demanded the agent leave his property, Egbert accosted the 64 year old Boule by pushing him against a car and down to the ground, causing injury to the elderly mans back requiring medical attention.
After a complaint was filed with his supervisor, Egbert then reciprocated by unjustly targeting Boule via the IRS resulting in a business audit, and filing a complaint with the local Department of Licensing.
Since, this case has been making its way through the court system, with Boule suing Egbert for a Fourth Amendment excessive use of force violation and a First Amendment unlawful retaliation violation. Until on June 8th the SCOTUS ruled against Boule and dismissed his claims in a 6/3 ruling.
The decision is another harsh blow to American’s civil liberties as it effectively expands qualified immunity to the point it is virtually impossible to sue a federal agent for use of excessive force.
As Reason explained the day of the ruling, “In Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (1971), the Supreme Court allowed federal officers to be sued in federal court for alleged Fourth Amendment violations. Unfortunately, the Court has since narrowed Bivens to point of practically overruling it. Today’s decision in Egbert v. Boule has shriveled Bivens even further.”
TFTP contributor Derrick Broze commented saying;
“This is perhaps more dangerous than people yet realize. Federal officials could pretty much kill you and not be sued or taken to court for it.”
Indeed, the precedent set by this ruling just made the police state a whole lot more dangerous, and almost no one is talking about it.
5.) A Johns Hopkins Study Proved Lockdowns Didn’t Save Lives, And Now Its Detractors Have Been Debunked.
Finally onto a topic that seems to have been completely submerged and forgotten in the deluge of “current thing-ism”— lockdowns. Remember? The two whole years that the ruling class completely suspended your civil liberties, put every one on de facto house arrest, turned the planet into an authoritarian hellscape, and destroyed millions of people’s economic livelihoods?
As regular readers of The Free Thought Project will know, we have been outspoken against the totalitarianism of lockdown mandates and other police state reactionaryism since the very beginning. Yours truly has published extensive work not only opposing but outright debunking the effectiveness of lockdowns for more than a year.
