I have long enjoyed Jon Stewart but not taken him seriously. He is a court jester – such people are important in oppressive environments. They serve as a tension relief valve and foster the illusion of free exchange of ideas.
Stewart has always stayed in bounds, pushing the line, but only so far, never really hitting home with a point. He once took it the point of absurdity. He organized the “Rally to Restore Sanity”, a go-nowhere event with no forward motion, no insight, no ground-level organization or purpose. It was just a rock concert for half-baked ideas.
But what the hell – he’s a comedian. In our country, he’s doing more journalism than our journalists can muster. So I have watched him over the years, and will miss his presence on the air.
And I watched last night as he interviewed CIA mole journalist Judith Miller.
Miller was on the front page of the New York Times during the propaganda run-up to the attack on Iraq in March of 2003. Her stories were littered with lies and agitprop. It’s common behavior for people of her ilk and the Times and other major media outlets. When the military-industrial-intelligence complex wants a war, the media falls in line. (To this day, the New York Times has not admitted that the Gulf of Tonkin was a false-flag attack. You’d think that after 51 years they could let a little honest reporting slip through, but no.)
Last night Stewart was confrontational and well-prepared. He had read both her NYT writings and her new book. He did not let her slip off the hook. He did not allow her to insult his intelligence*. He tried to paint a big picture of an administration that was intent on making a war on an innocent country against her bullshit fear-mongering techniques. He held up a photo of a New York Times front page that had Miller’s article opposite a 9/11 tribute.
Maybe he’s feeling freedom, since he’s leaving soon. He cannot be fired. Whatever it is, my hat is off to him. That was a courageous performance.
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*Said Miller, “The intelligence sources we were talking to had never really been wrong before.”
Piece of Mindful 
Miller was and is self serving, imho.
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“Self-serving” in that she was advancing her own career? That is one possibility.
But note that her work was highly publicized by the Times, giving her front page access, and obviously done without rigorous fact checking. Note in a different situation the highly self-serving grandiosity of the Times in the matter of Jayson Blair. Miller received no sanctions for her performance, and even later went to jail to protect her sources, which takes on a different light if she is, as I speculate, an intelligence asset.
To me, that looks as though Miller is merely a device used by the intelligence agencies promoting the war to advance their propaganda. And the Times, even as seen in 1964, is cooperative. Why else would the Times allow her front-page prominence without fact checking her work?
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It really doesn’t take that much convincing to rally support for war, or any other human activity that relates to domination over another group, country, or nature itself. We are all for domination and manipulation. Look around, what’s left that’s wild, free or natural that hasn’t already been destroyed, or is in the process of being destroyed? The unreal is the new natural. Maybe Stewart is just looking for a more real, more natural, human existence after serving the system for so long. Actually, he and Miller are cast in different roles in the same business. But you said that. No freedom, no life.
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Without comment.
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It is possible, Swede, to listen to the thoughts of someone you disagree with, and not be infected. Your inability to even hear or watch, much less read disagreeable thoughts is a sign of deep brainwashing.
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My three observations about this video.
The title of the video is a lie.
The lawyer is an idiot.
Swede is either a liar, or an idiot, or both a liar and an idiot.
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Just a Zionist, Israel can do no wrong kind of guy. Israelis are inculcated with fear just like Americans are, and so are hateful and convinced Palestinians want to destroy them. It”s a deeply propagandize state, as is this lawyer, as is Swede.
Just the death tolls tell the story, and I am not convinced that those rockets, which merely invite in the American F16’s, are actually set off by Palestinians. One, they do no damage, and two they literally scream out “Bomb me! Bomb me!” Palestinians are not that stupid. Now and then Israel decides to have a turkey shoot.
Iron Shield (Dome?) is a joke by the way. Against a real attack, it would be useless.
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