Reflections from the Heart of the Empire: Conjunctions of Repression and Rebellion

But hawks still fly free

• France celebrated the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Paris from the Nazis by arresting Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who is facing a possible 20 year prison term because Telegram is “insufficiently moderated” in violation of EU censorship rules, which prompted Tucker Carlson to say,

Darkness is descending fast on the formerly free world.

• Jupiter is in conjunction with Mars in Gemini, which the New York Post’s astrologer says will make it impossible for people to sit down and shut up.

• This was certainly true for protestors at the Democultic National Religious Revival in Chicago.

• For the first time in American history since we’ve had political parties, there is a nominee for president who never received a single vote for the position. Democults instruct us to feel their joy because, well, because they said so, you ignorant peasant!

• At least they’re telling us to shut up in all the colors of the rainbow, so that’s nice.

• As for the Democrats themselves, they’re falling all over themselves filled with the joy of Kamala’s Diversified Portfolio Spirit, and there was much speaking in tongues, for they were so filled with the Kamala Spirit that none of them could make any sense.

Oops. Wrong image. The audiences act so much alike I find them confusing, but can’t you just feel their joy at being told what to believe by their trusted ministers?

• If only everyone would just join their cult everything would be hunky-dory. Unfortunately for them, there are people who are exploring sources of information which they do not control, and some of them have actually rethought what they knew and (gasp!) changed their minds. Here’s one Substacker’s journey to a most heretical conclusion:

You Need To Stop Watching Western Mainstream Media!

• The First Amendment is still a powerful force in the United States, and the new information technology is as out of control of the authorities as the printing press was centuries ago. So stand up and give ‘em hell. Better rethink that trip to the EU or the UK if you’re too well-known, though, as both Durov and Richard Medhurst have discovered.

I Was Arrested at Heathrow Airport as a “Terrorist” for My Journalism

• Hezbollah launched retaliatory rocket and drone strikes into Israel. Several airlines, including British Air and Air France, suspended flights to Israel.

• That’s OK, because Israel massacred another few dozen Palestinians anyway.

• Speaking of massacres, Burkina Faso, the country with the coolest name in the world for a capital—Ouagadougou—was attacked by Al Qaeda militants who killed over 200 people. Since Burkina Faso just kicked the French out, and since the CIA funds Al-Qaeda quite a bit, it is logical to assume the US Empire is trying to destabilize the new nationalist government.

• Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations accused the US Empire of trying to orchestrate yet another coup in Caracas. All signs are this one went about as well as the last, that is, it went nowhere fast.

• Military Watch magazine reported that Ukraine has lost 2/3rds of its American tanks, like this one that was displayed in Moscow. Fun fact: We’ve only sent 31 of the things to Ukraine.

• Boeing, Boeing, gone! The American astronauts stranded on the International Space Station by Boeing’s crappy and dangerous Starliner will hitch a ride back to Earth next year on one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX spacecraft because they don’t want to die during re-entry.

• Bangladesh just can’t catch a break. Their prime minister was just forced out, and now they’re being flooded. Again.

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his presidential campaign in the swing states and endorsed Donald Trump. This may go down in history as the coldest dish of revenge ever served in American politics. Khan approves.

• Hundreds of Ukrainian Orthodox Christians in western Ukraine marched on a pilgrimage in defiance of their government’s ban of their church. Isn’t it nice to know we’re funding a government that is persecuting what was its de facto national religion just two years ago? There’s diversity and inclusion for you.

• They got some support. Pope Francis publicly condemned Zelensky’s ban of the church. I’m normally not a big fan of Roman Catholic popes, but I confess that I do respect this one.

• Australia passed a law granting workers the right to ignore employers’ phone calls and emails when they are not on the clock. Apparently, capitalists figured that if their employees were able to work from home at all, then they were able to work 24 hours a day, and it was causing so much discontent that Parliament felt they had to do something about it.

• Finally, the Animal Rescue League of Boston freed a red-tailed hawk from netting it got itself entangled in at a golf course. The hawk is unharmed. The netting, not so much.

Thank you for reading, good day or night, and good luck.

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