“Propaganda doesn’t have to change your mind to be effective– all it has to do is disable your critical thinking by blinding you with rage, misdirecting your attention, generating an “Other” that acts as a target for projected frustration, creating either-or thinking, splinter the working / middle classes into divisive “tribes” supported by echo-chamber social media and addict you to constant drips of carefully tailored emotional derangement”

Charles Hugh Smith

It has been another week of mass propaganda coming from all sides. The State and its proponents are enraged that President Trump revoked the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan. You may remember that he called Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin and the post summit press conference to be an act of treason. A group of former intelligence officials wrote a letter declaring Trump’s action as a violation of free speech. Being the dutiful blogger that I am, I reread the 1st Amendment and I saw no mention of security clearances. It must be one of those implied powers of the State and its proponents that don’t apply to mere citizens such as you and I. Its ironic that Brennan accuses Trump of treason. While he was the director, the CIA funded the Al Nusra Front and ISIS terrorists in a failed effort to effect regime change in Syria. Giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States after all is the legal definition of treason.

The founders must have omitted security clearances from the first amendment by oversight. How could they have imagined that the nation they founded would have massive and numerous intelligence agencies and the activities of those agencies would be kept secret from the citizens. That is why the freedom of the press described in the first amendment is so vital. The citizens of the country need a vibrant press constantly looking into the actions of the federal government and reporting it to the citizens. Sadly today, the press is congealed with former intelligence officials who act as paid security analysts. Little wonder that the press of today is not that concerned with the actions of the CIA, NSA etc. For example, take Brennan’s compatriot James Clapper. He lied to Congress under oath about the NSA mass surveillance program. Amazingly he was never prosecuted. Who can forget Oliver North’s trial for committing the same crime? Instead, you will see Clapper making the rounds on the news networks and being paid handsomely do do so.

Also this week, a group of newspapers ran joint editorials about the importance of the press. I agree wholeheartedly and would advise it to remove all these former proponents of the State from their payroll. I would much rather hear honest reporting then to hear some member of the Deep State telling me what I should think. Also, President Trump should stop using the phrase “enemy of the people”. Its a little disconcerting to hear the US President quoting Stalin. Also, it echos past presidents who have attacked the press including Abraham Lincoln and FDR.

Actually the best thing to do is to take the advice of Charles Hugh Smith in his recent blog (www.oftwominds.com) and just ignore all of the propaganda from all sides at least until the midterm elections are over.