A Few More Lies and/or Propaganda From Public and Private Institutions

1.  NBC News recently stated that the Fed interest rate hike (.25%) "...is a sign that the economy is improving.".  Nothing could be further from the truth.  That action is a sign that:  the Fed Reserve is recognizing it is increasingly losing credibility... and it is desperate.  For decades, Fed central planners have been facilitating a massive transfer of wealth from the common people to the Upper Crust.  As a result, the economic situation has been improving overwhelmingly only for the Rich and Powerful.  At the same time, Fed interference in the Money Market has caused the rest of us to struggle mightily simply to keep our heads above water.  The outright falsehoods put out by the Fed Gov't (at the highest levels) and regurgitated by the Corporate Media---regarding the unemployment rate, the price inflation rate, the jobs numbers, etc.---cannot belie the fact that we still are in a deep Recession, and heading for a Depression.  [I've detailed why that's true in several previous posts.]

2.  President Obama claims his ISIS Strategy is working, and that we will eventually "defeat ISIS".  About 9,000 U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria (never mind the airstrikes by other members of the "coalition") seem to have had little effect on ISIS, but plenty of negative effects on others--- the killing of innocent civilians, the creation of both refugees and more terrorists, and the destruction of civilian buildings.  Chaos prevails.  As to attacking ISIS sources of funding, good luck with that.  ISIS is funded primarily by Arab billionaires... billionaires.  If ISIS ever faces imminent "defeat", all they have to do is fade back into the woodwork... and live to fight another day.  Military actions are not the solution to the problem, but they are a great distraction from our imploding economy at home.  That has been done by governments for centuries.  Manipulating a population in this way is nothing new.

3.  A high Gov't official (can't recall who) recently stated that ISIS "has declared war on us".  That may be true, but we should keep this fact in mind:  "we" (i.e., our Gov't) attacked ISIS first, well before they did anything to anyone in the West...and that includes the brutal beheadings of Westerners.  I'm not defending ISIS in any way...but facts are facts.  Our Gov't once again stuck its nose into what basically is a civil war; "we" attacked ISIS in Iraq because they were getting close to some U.S. oil company operations there in the northern part of that country.

4.  Our Gov't is not providing an SS COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) for next year because "according to the Consumer Price Index [CPI], there was no price inflation this year"...so say SSA Officials.  I guess those same officials did no grocery shopping or renting of housing this year...never mind the increase in the cost of OTC meds and various other commodities.  It's true we're in a deflationary period now (e.g., crude oil, most metals, & some other commodities have gone down in price), but that doesn't apply across the board.
A side note regarding Social Security---
Since retirement from wage slavery in 2004, my primary source of income has been SS Retirement.  Unlike some Americans (hopefully not a majority), I don't consider SS to be any type of "welfare".  That money was taken out of every one of my paychecks for over 40 years for the express purpose of helping to provide for my retirement; I want it all back...every penny, and I don't want it stolen from me via inflation of the money supply (which results in commodity price inflation).
Some politicians claim there is no SS Trust Fund.  Not true, there is one...since LBJ first did it, every Administration since then has raided that Fund & used the money for other purposes.  Consequently, the SS Trust Fund is full of U.S. Gov't IOUs.  That's why SS supposedly is in financial difficulty... no other reason.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Obama's Orwellian Use of Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance is the uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas in your mind simultaneously.  It causes people to change their beliefs or behaviors, or to somehow justify the contradictory ideas...in order to achieve some peace of mind.  In crude, common parlance, it "fucks with your mind".  Obama appears to be a master of this technique.

EXAMPLE---
His ideas and actions regarding the concept of Perpetual War are a prime example.  He says one thing, then does the opposite.  For instance, he claims that the Afghan War essentially is over... that our "combat mission" there is done, finished.  The facts are:  according to the NYT, Obama wrote a secret memo authorizing the remaining 10,800 U.S. troops to engage in combat.  The Afghan War is not over for us.

He supposedly ended the second Iraq War... but now we're back in Iraq with 2600 ground troops and war planes.  He makes a big deal out of the fact that the troops are trainers and advisors.  The number of them started out as 300; very quickly that became 1300.  Now it's 2600.  Is this a pattern?  He says they don't have a combat mission, but holding true to that will be almost impossible.

Obama's Drone Wars pretty much have institutionalized Perpetual War.  That's because "terrorists" will always exist, especially given that U.S. actions continually are creating them.  He claims that we must not accept the concept of Perpetual War, but his actions virtually guarantee that the highest levels of Gov't already have accepted it.  Regarding war, Noam Chomsky made this comment about Obama, "He's worse than Bush."... I agree.

EXAMPLE---
His ideas and actions regarding the U.S. Constitution are another example.  He sometimes reluctantly points out that he's a Constitutional scholar; but anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the Constitution readily can see that he violates it more than Bush-Cheney did...and that's quite a feat.  Obama, like Dubya Bush (and others, including Bill Clinton), thinks that because he's Commander-in-Chief he can ignore Article I of the Supreme Law of the Land, especially Article I, Section 8.

Article I, Section 8 ENUMERATES the responsibilities of Congress, the duties of Congress.  Those responsibilities do not belong to the Executive or the Judiciary.  They include:  the power to put us at war; the power to issue assassination orders (Letters of Marque and Reprisal); the power to make rules concerning captures on land and water; and several others.

Even IF one accepts the unconstitutional premise that Congress does not have to "declare war" for us to be at war, that instead, Congress can issue a "Resolution" giving the Executive permission to go to war at some point in the future, at a time of his choosing... even IF all that, Obama still has violated the Law.  For his current ISIS War, he has been using a Congressional Resolution from the second Iraq War (over ten years ago).  Common sense should tell anyone that's ridiculous--- that was an entirely different situation from today.  That "Authorization" has expired.  The fact is:  he's currently at war without a Declaration of War OR a legitimate "Authorization" from Congress.  [Not only that, currently he's not asking Congress to issue an "Authorization"; instead, he's giving them one written by the White House.  That's not how it works---Congress is supposed to construct the document and determine the conditions.]  At the same time, he has planted the subtle idea in our minds that he's a Constitutional scholar.  If he is that, then he's ignoring Article I, Section 8 of that document... particularly, the war-making clause.  Just because other Presidents have done the same thing in the past does not excuse Obama one bit.

Barack Obama, more than any other President in my long memory, not only says one thing and does the opposite... but additionally, he does more to blatantly make it appear as if those actions are logical and not contradictory.  He's the unapologetic King of Cognitive Dissonance, hands down.  He beats out Dick Cheney... and that's quite an accomplishment.

Not just my opinion.  Be Well

Comic-Tragic SOTU Address and GOP Response

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw_AAzS-dZI

I find this very funny...and tragic... at the same time.

It's my critique of Obama's State of the Union Address and the response by Senator Ernst.

Not just my opinion.  Be Well