The news is focused on Christmas-related human-interest stories, shopping deals, travel woes, actresses who market their bodies and then complain when they aren't treated with due respect, and the latest absurdities flowing from Trump's reprobate mouth.
The Right is playing up the gruesome murder on a New York City subway - apparently it would have been less of an atrocity if the perpetrator had been a legal resident or citizen. There also remains a fixation on the case of the murdered United Healthcare CEO, even while there are many brutal murders that take place every day and yet don't receive much if any attention or media and law enforcement resources. In other words this murder matters because the victim is part of the same millionaire class the media represents and there is a fear that such vigilantism might spread. Certainly the public outcry of support for the shooter has generated alarm.
For my part I find it outrageous that the media has not given due attention to Biden's pardoning of the 'Kids for Cash' corrupt judge in Pennsylvania. This at the very least should have given rise to a huge protest from within his own party - a move reeking of corruption far more than the pardoning of his son.
Instead the media covered it only for a day or so and has now moved on to speaking of him 'leaving office with quiet dignity' and other such deceitful language. The truth is his administration is marked by not just corruption but war and genocide. Trump is of course no better and in some respects worse - but Biden's criminality and moral degeneracy should not be downplayed.
But there are stories even more important that are being almost ignored.
The new NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) or Pentagon budget - once again the largest in history is glossed over. All the discussion remains focused on whether or not the military will pay for so-called 'gender affirming care', the latest abomination to emerge from the American Sodom.
But there is also a massive issue that is being ignored - one that easily overshadows everything aforementioned. And that is the new nuclear expansion. The US is planning to expand its arsenal in preparation to fight a 'nuclear peer' multi-front nuclear war - obviously a reference to China and Russia. This multi-front doctrine has been official since 2022 (though recently elaborated) and the nuclear expansion began under Obama. The new budget reflects many of the realities surrounding this new nuclear scenario the US has chosen to pursue.
Given that such a conflict would destroy civilization and make much of the Earth uninhabitable - it seems an issue that the public (if this is indeed a democratic society) should be discussing. But it cannot be discussed if it remains unknown. And you'll find that apart from some Left-wing outlets, military journals, and think-tank associated websites - there's almost no coverage at all.
This episode reveals once again the true purpose of the media. In most cases it provide info-tainment - a mix of news and consumer-oriented programming focused on new developments in retail and celebrity culture. This task is also designed to distract - to keep the public from thinking about hard questions, from being exposed to knowledge that will provoke a response and lead to further inquiry.
The Right-wing alternative media is no better - in fact its worse, attempting to thoroughly manipulate its audience into an even more restricted set of parameters. Left-wing media (which should not be confused with the Establishment/Mainstream or Legacy outlets) is far from ideal and often highly problematic but I will at least grant that the outlets I have followed and utilized are not guilty of this. They have their problems and I disagree with them more often than not, but even when they are attempting to steer coverage, there is almost always an open and genuine invitation or challenge to explore the issues further. And that's a shame because the people involved in these outlets are not Christian. Neither are the people involved with FOX or Newsmax, but the difference is they pretend to be and obviously have fooled and deceived many.
In addition to the change in nuclear posture, the US is planning to spend over 650 billion dollars over the next twenty-five years on this development and expansion - though by some metrics it could be already placed at well over a trillion. It should be remembered that significant portions of the nuclear budget are attached to the Department of Energy and when included with the Pentagon budget, along with the intelligence budget, spy satellites, etc. - the real US military budget is over a trillion dollars a year and has been for some time.
In addition to over 600 new missiles and warhead designs - a process which again began under Obama, the US is building a new fleet of Columbia class ballistic missile submarines - to replace the Ohio class which entered production in the 1970's. A fleet of new B-21 bombers is also in development. These can be used to drop conventional bombs but are also planned as the key air component within the Nuclear Triad, especially as the B-52's are finally being phased out. The estimated price tag of $70 billion for the new B-21 fleet is most certainly a gross underestimate. The new submarines (the maritime component of the Triad) are projected to run $150 billion but this is already acknowledged as a low figure. And with these programmes are various upgrades and replacements to missiles, bombs, and warheads. The costs are staggering and given that projections have more than doubled from what they were a little more than a decade ago (due to inflation) - it is certain that all of these figures are too low.
If the media explained these programmes and the costs, there might be a public reaction and debate. But then again maybe not. Of course it also makes one pause when one considers that the currently deployed bombs and missiles (as well as those being developed and produced) all yield a destructive power many magnitudes beyond that of the bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. When one considers the costs of these programmes and how the money could be spent on infrastructure and to alleviate so many societal ills - it leaves one almost speechless and wondering what in fact this society is all about. It's pure madness - but then again, maybe not. There are tremendous profits here for the investment class and the oligarchic forces atop this society. And fear of course has its uses.
It may make sense by some tortured means of strategic and ethical calculus - the kind of thing found in degenerate and evil institutions like the Heritage Foundation, but by the metrics of the New Testament it is sick and satanic.
A nuclear war with Russia and China would be an act of suicidal madness. Hundreds of millions would die in the first hours and hundreds of millions more in the weeks and months after. There is no such thing as winning when it comes to such a scenario. The fact that these generals and strategic planners think so and produce such plans - the horror of which is obscured in the framework of bureaucracy only points to the fact that they are both evil and insane.
How many people really understand all of this? And regardless of whether the war is ever fought, the costs of this strategy cannot be underestimated. In a moment of reflection and maybe regret, Dwight Eisenhower warned the public as he left office in 1961:
"As we peer into society's future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow....
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.
Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
Eisenhower helped erect this apparatus of monstrosity and yet he's alarmed about it - but doesn't know what to do. He feels it necessary but realizes it will fundamentally change the nature of American society and (he rightly feared) destroy its democracy.
The 1950's are looked back on as a 'conservative' time. This is a myth or at best a false analogy because it's only when the 1950's are compared to subsequent decades that they appear conservative. In reality the 1950's represented a break from the past. A new lifestyle and culture emerged in the aftermath of the war and people turned their back on the old American culture - especially the rural culture and austere values of the 19th century that had survived well into the 20th. The Cold War transformed all of society's values and it demanded a militarization of society. But this was done in a way that obscured what was fundamentally taking place - and despite the protests and challenges to it during the Vietnam and Watergate eras, it's grip was never broken and today it is an existential part of the society in which Americans live. It is so intrinsically woven into the thinking of the public that few can even grasp what this is all about and what it represents. They can't see it because it is inseparable from their own concepts of being and existence. It is woven in with the identity of what it is to be American and the idol-religion it represents.
The media does not exist to inform the public so that they can be equipped to analyze the issues and make intelligent choices in the voting booth or with their wallets. It is an exercise in manipulation and smoke and mirrors. It is there to reinforce the system and this is why the celebrity 'journalists' are paid top dollar. They are bought and paid for and if they challenge the order they will lose the money, fame, and security that has been given to them for their services.
The myth of the present in some circles is that the Right-wing outlets are somehow different, somehow challenging this paradigm. They are in fact even more corrupt and willing to use the methods of anger and fear to generate revenue. They represent a faction within the larger spectrum - not a challenge to it. Even Trumpism with all its iconoclastic bombast is a tool of Wall Street. As I've often argued, conspiracies are real and pervasive. The problem is that many conspiracy theorists fall into two-dimensional and over-simplified thinking. They assume everything is being controlled by one clique and that these same powers are able to orchestrate all events. This is not the case. There are circles of power that overlap. There are conspiracies but not all is controlled or managed. There are betrayals, people rise and fall, and conspire against one another. There are times when power is concentrated and times when it is fragmented. In that sense one could say the 'conspiratorial' view is all wrong but the Establishment uses this complex reality to dispel the notion of conspiracy in one grand sweep - when in fact it is everywhere, and yet always changing as well.
One of the conspiracies that stares us in the face is the nature of the media. This does not mean that everything on the news is a lie. By no means. Right-wing outlets often resort to bold faced lies and use a great deal of disingenuous conjecture to push their stories. Think Benghazi and Hunter Biden's laptop. Mainstream outlets lie through omission and manipulation. Their assumptions and framing are taken for granted and most of the public not knowing any different doesn't know they're being sold something. They don't know how to challenge the assumptions of what is being said. To do so requires a broader understanding of history, politics, and so forth.
The BBC does a decent job covering the broad strokes of American politics and sometimes their coverage is more informative than American outlets like CBS and NPR. I could mention FOX but that channel should not be considered a news outlet.
But at the same time the BBC is terribly biased when it comes to covering Russia, or issues connected to NATO, China or the like. It's very much in line with the Atlanticist Establishment. The same is true of an outlet like NPR which consistently relies on voices from the think-tanks of imperialism such as Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) - much in the same way an outlet like the BBC relies on Chatham House. On these issues they are unreliable. The BBC will sometimes have a more nuanced take on say America's nuclear policy - even through Britain is woven into this policy. In the United States, it is barely even talked about. In fact at this point in time one struggles to even find any kind of serious news coverage in the United States and there is absolutely no mainstream international coverage to speak of. Twenty years ago I would have pointed to NPR but no longer. The closest thing would be something like the PBS Newshour. In reality the best hope for coverage is to watch or listen to foreign-based outlets that run English-language programming.
A recent example of manipulation is with regard to China. The US pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019 - blaming its withdrawal on supposed Russian violations. The truth is the US has wanted to develop such weapons for years - not to aim at Russia per se but China. Long-range intercontinental systems could be used against China but it would be more effective to have low-trajectory high speed missiles aimed at them from Taiwan. And so the US rolled out its new Typhon system in 2023 - indicating it had already been in violation of the treaty as it was certainly developing the system prior to 2019.
Earlier this year (Spring 2024) the US placed these systems in the Philippines and when China protested the US insisted it was just for an exercise - and then promptly left them in place. These systems represent a direct threat to the Chinese mainland and as such China is responding by expanding its arsenal. This latter fact is reported and sensationalised but the media never explains why China has increased its nuclear weapons production. It's always presented as if it's unprovoked and an act of aggression. The same is true with Russia but this is simply not the case. And increasingly one has to really go searching to find some contextualised news - and there are very few such resources within the United States itself. Needless to say, such outlets have no access to mainstream politicians and are effectively blacklisted.
I marvel at the numerous resources available today but at the same time it feels like we're living in a desert. There used to be numerous print magazines and journals that produced good journalism. But of course these things required reading and concentration. The stories could not be read in three minutes. There's no market for any of that anymore and most of these resources are gone. They've been replaced by a myriad number of videos, podcasts, and the like - but this too has created its own dilemmas. Most of the resources are less than stellar and many are a waste of time.
The Soviet model was to censor material and to hide information. This simply produced suspicion and a desire to know. The people knew they were being lied to and in a non-consumerist society, a culture of intimacy, friendship, ideas, and the arts flourished - even if it was often behind closed doors.
The Western model is much more effective. The information is all there. It's on the shelves in the libraries (or used to be as libraries are clearly in a state of crisis). It's on the Internet as well if you spend some time looking. But the difference is - no one cares and increasingly the urban peasantry doesn't have the intellectual tools or basic knowledge to wade through it all. In this decadent society people pour their time and energy into mindless entertainment - television shows, sports, and pop culture. They obsess about remodelling projects, decoration, and tech gadgets. They can't be bothered to learn about substantial things and wrestle with weighty questions. They complain about high prices but won't take the time to understand what has happened and why. They are unable to connect history to the present and though they grumble about democracy and rights they fail to understand how these things have been undermined at every turn. They don't understand the madness and evil of the system but I also think in many cases they don't want to either. It would be too upsetting to just go on knowing that. It would change how they live and they don't want that.
And sadly in the Church things aren't much different. Listening to the 'wise teachers' of the day I am repeatedly struck by how often they come out by making an assertive and provocative statement only to walk it all back by the end of their discourse and fall back into the same groove of affirming the world and the present system. They too are (I'm sorry to say) part of this same madness and evil. They too are sold out to this Beast system and its worldview. And I'm not just speaking of the obvious cases of Mainline apostates and daft Pentecostals but supposedly conservative Evangelical and Confessional leaders.
In the end, if Providence decrees that this world is to undergo a catastrophic episode or conflagration - then so be it. God will use it. But I wouldn't want to be part of the system that brought it about. I wouldn't want to sanction the forces that led to this - even if it is with mere tacit approval. I've looked at numerous investment portfolios over the years - not my own as I do not have any investments, but the paperwork of others that I've been allowed and given opportunity to peruse. In every case these 401k funds and/or other managed portfolios are invariably invested in the companies that make all this happen. The military contractors involved in the production of this nuclear model and expansion are some of the biggest companies on Wall Street. If you're invested in the markets by means of some kind of managed fund - it is almost certain you're invested in these companies and profiting from this insanity and evil. I'm sorry to report it, but there are countless ministries and denominations also invested in this system and this military/war machine angle is but one facet of the larger American system of exploitative health care, insurance, and banking - all reinforced by the Evangelical leadership.
We live under a society that is both insane and evil and the apostate Church is fully integrated into it - supporting it every step of the way. We are distracted by peripheral political and farcical 'culture war' issues - often of very narrow focus. Abortion would be an example. It is of course abhorrent but I have for decades felt that the political interest on the part of the Right is merely manipulative and thus I have never felt compelled to support their goals. The Right has repeatedly demonstrated it is not pro-life in any meaningful sense.
My interest in such specifics was further reduced by stepping back and taking in the big picture. I laugh with bitterness at the multitude of blind Evangelical leaders who stir such emotion and passion and speak in such glowing and optimistic terms when it comes to these narrow issues - ever failing to take in the larger picture of the system as a whole and its fundamental immorality. The Babel system that is America (and the West) is one of death and yet they think by focusing on some narrow issue they can claim some sort of moral high ground.
They oppose abortion - bravo for them. But at the same time these same leaders overwhelmingly support the system and paradigm that has already killed tens of millions and if fully unleashed would kill hundreds of millions and virtually destroy civilisation and the Earth itself. They are victims of self-blindness. They are part of this same grand deception of smoke and mirrors. They lack wisdom and discernment. They utterly lack a moral compass. They are the architects of apostasy working hand in hand with the forces of Babylon. And when it falls they will be among those wailing and lamenting its fall. And their spiritual progeny will rush to sign on with whatever Beast power replaces it.
Redeem the time for the days are evil.