“How do you know a politician is lying? His lips are moving.”
Saying that politicians lie is equivalent to saying hospitals treat sick people. A great majority know and accept that one cannot take at face value anything said by politicians. Yet, time after time, we allow ourselves to be held captive by the utterances of politicians.
We all, for many different reasons, lie at times. For the most part, people’s lies relate and effect their personal lives and relationships. But for those, who are in positions of public trust and influence, like politicians, lying is problematic and, in many cases, borders on criminal behavior.
Simon Gaechter, University of Nottingham, states, “Most people want to be honest, but if they live in a country where violations are rampant people say, “Well everybody cheats. If I cheat here, then that’s ok.”
Politifact, an organization that checks the veracity of statements made by politicians, did the following rating on Donald Trump’s presentations:
True statements: 4%
Mostly true statements: 12%
Half true statements: 15%
Mostly false statements: 19%
Completely false statements: 33%
“Pants on fire” statements: 18%
Lies are not always clear lies, many are misleading statements, exaggerations, or distortions of the truth. Politicians caught in a lie don’t admit they lied, instead they mumble, “I misspoke.”
During his brief inauguration speech, Trump stated, “ . . . starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you. It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America. This is your day. This is your celebration. And this, the United States of America, is your country. What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.
“January 20, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.”
Yet, this honorable president has surrounded himself with a cabinet made up of people who are worth anywhere from $9.5 billion to $14 billion. Trump’s cabinet controls more than one-third of the wealth of American households combined.
Is there anyone out there who feels that these people will be sensitive and responsive to the needs of the very working people they have exploited during their professional careers?
So much for populist billionaires.
Here are some other lies generated by Mr. Trump during his drive to the White House:
He alluded to the “fact” that there are 30 million undocumented immigrants in the US. The truth is, there are 11.4 million.
Mr. Trump continued to claim that Barack Obama was not born in the US despite evidence to the contrary.
Despite the lack of evidence, Trump claimed that millions of people voted illegally, allowing Hillary Clinton to win the popular vote.
Donald Trump is not unique, they all lie. The biggest problem with governmental lies is that they are repeated over and over again by the mainstream media. When you hear anything continuously, it takes on a flavor of truth, effecting and influencing the public’s perceptions. This is how governments gather public support for unpopular policies and actions.
In 2001, almost immediately after the 9/11 attack, the members of the Bush administration identified 19 Arabs and labeled Osama bin Laden as their mastermind and coordinator. Not one name of the identified “terrorists” appeared on the passenger list for any of the four planes supposedly hijacked.
It should also be noted that bin Laden’s name never appeared on the FBI’s most wanted list. When questioned about this, officials of the FBI stated that they could find no evidence linking bin Laden to the attack.
Was the Bush administration lying?
Then the Bush administration suddenly changed its focus to Iraq, claiming that it had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and presented a threat to US security. After securing public support, the US attacked Iraq and eventually admitted it could find no weapons of mass destruction.
Was the Bush administration lying again?
When Obama took office, the players were different but the lying continued.
On May 2, 2011, it was proudly reported that Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. This has been portrayed as an important moment in Barack Obama’s presidency and legacy . . . finally, the tyrant responsible for 9/11 is dead.
However, Seymour Hersh, well respected investigative journalist, claims that the raid in Pakistan on bin Laden is a lie. According to other journalists and officials, bin Laden died in December 2001 from a lung complication that resulted from kidney failure that he struggled with since the middle of 2000.
Was the killing of Osama bin Laden a fabrication perpetrated by the Obama administration?
On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya, imposing a ban on all flights in the country’s airspace (a no-fly zone), and increasing sanctions against Gaddafi’s country.
In order to save the people of Libya from the “tyrant” Gaddafi, US and British naval forces fired over 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libya and the French, British, and Canadian Air Forces flew continuous bombing missions over Libya.
Gaddafi, the so-called “tyrant,” was demonized by the US despite providing many economic benefits to the people. His government provided newlyweds money to buy an apartment, education and healthcare were free to all citizens, for every newborn in a family, that family received a payment of $7,000; those who wanted to open a business received $20,000 as a start-up bonus, electricity was free, and there were interest free loans. Not bad for a “tyrant.”
Why did the US/NATO want him out? Gaddafi was trying to organize a Pan-African effort to make Africa economically independent of the US and their Western European allies.
Did the US government lie and misrepresent Gaddafi because he refused to genuflect to the US agenda?
On August 21, 2013, there was a chemical attack (sarin gas) in Ghouta, Syria. Although the majority of fighters looking to overthrow the Assad government were not Syrians and were hired mercenaries (al Qaeda and Isis), the US insisted that this was a civil war conducted by Syrian “rebels” looking to overthrow the “tyrannical” Assad government. For your information, Assad won the last election in Syria, gathering 86% of the popular vote. If we consider and accept the veracity of this information, who was it that was rebelling against his rule?
When the gas attack occurred, the US was quick to blame Assad’s Syrian army and were prepared to bring US troops and weapons into Syria. However, there was growing evidence as to who really fired this deadly gas into the city and it wasn’t Assad’s army. More and more evidence came to light and pointed to the US supported “moderates” as being responsible for the sarin gas attack. The US was trying to sell this misinformation to the public as a means of providing justification for a military attack inside Syria.
Was the Obama administration, that was committed to a regime change in Syria, guilty of intentionally disseminating misinformation in order to justify an invasion with US boots on the ground?
Lastly, I would like to focus on the allegation recently made that Russia, under President Putin’s direction, hacked into the computers of the Democratic National Committee obtaining emails that showed that Hillary Clinton and the DNC conspired to sabotage Bernie Sanders’ campaign for the Democratic nomination for president. Russia was accused of providing these emails to WikiLeaks in order to ensure that Donald Trump won the election.
It is interesting to note that the content of these emails were ignored despite the fact that they may have constituted criminal behavior, while Russia’s so-called involvement became the focus.
Russia and Putin were accused of compromising the integrity of the US electoral system while the behavior of the Clinton campaign in conjunction with the DNC was not seen as attacking the integrity of the system.
The bottom line was these accusations against Russia were made with no evidence provided that would justify these accusations. Craig Murray, former British ambassador, stated that he knew who leaked the emails to WikiLLeaks and it was not Russia. He further stated that the emails were made available, not by hacking but by the leaking of a disenchanted insider who was angry about the behavior of the DNC.
Julian Assange also made it clear that WikiLeaks did not receive the documents from Russia.
Murray and Assange were ignored, the crimes committed by the DNC and the Clinton campaign were ignored and the government and the MSM continued to attack Putin and Russia.
The above incidents are only a fraction of the lies and distortions that are presented to us in order to manipulate the public into supporting policies and actions we might not support if we knew the truth.
The public was quick to accept Obama’s propaganda efforts. After all, he had a nice smile, he was intelligent and well spoken, he presented himself as just a regular guy. In other words, he seduced us into non-action.
Now we have Donald Trump, a known liar, a narcissist, a racist, a misogynist, a xenophobe, etc. It is important to watch what he does and not focus on what he says in order to gauge where he is going and who and what he represents.
But, let us not get bogged down with the personalities of the individuals who vie for power. While focusing on individuals, we miss the bigger picture. Yes, there are some differences between the Democrats and Republicans. While the Democrats pose as the party of the people, the Republicans tell us to go screw ourselves, our constituents are the rich, white guys.
When we attend to how both parties function, we find that they serve the same master . . . the rich, white guys.
In a recent article, I focused on the Project for the New American Century, a document that defined the neoconservative agenda for the US in the 21st century, an agenda that preached world domination and the use of a strong military. Many of the crises we now face are a result of the policies projected in this document.
I would like to now introduce the Bilderberg Group, a group of 120 to 150 people of the Western European and North American political elite, experts from industry, finance, academia, and the media.
This organization was established in 1954 and since then this special group of people have met annually. It is interesting to note that the location of their meetings, which change annually, is never revealed beforehand, there is no agenda that is available for the public, and there are no minutes of meetings available to the public.
The question comes to mind, what are these very rich, powerful people discussing and planning that there is this great need for secrecy? Certainly, they’re not planning for the following year’s Super Bowl. I would venture to guess that they are planning on policies and actions their governments are to sponsor so that these elites can maintain or even expand their wealth and power.
It is important to know of this group because I have often stated that no matter who becomes the president of the United States, he/she has an agenda to follow and fulfill.
The existence of the Bilderberg Group along with the Project for the New American Century, verifies, for me at least, that there are powerful forces behind the political curtain that dictate governmental policy.
Therefore, voting has become a very successful strategy keeping the people from revolting against this oppressive system we call capitalism. It allows us to feel that we live in a democracy and we have choices regarding who shall govern this country. It’s merely an illusion.
Dave Alpert has masters degrees in social work, educational administration, and psychology. He spent his career working with troubled inner city adolescents.
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It’s not what they say; it’s what they do!
Posted on January 24, 2017 by Dave Alpert
“How do you know a politician is lying? His lips are moving.”
Saying that politicians lie is equivalent to saying hospitals treat sick people. A great majority know and accept that one cannot take at face value anything said by politicians. Yet, time after time, we allow ourselves to be held captive by the utterances of politicians.
We all, for many different reasons, lie at times. For the most part, people’s lies relate and effect their personal lives and relationships. But for those, who are in positions of public trust and influence, like politicians, lying is problematic and, in many cases, borders on criminal behavior.
Simon Gaechter, University of Nottingham, states, “Most people want to be honest, but if they live in a country where violations are rampant people say, “Well everybody cheats. If I cheat here, then that’s ok.”
Politifact, an organization that checks the veracity of statements made by politicians, did the following rating on Donald Trump’s presentations:
Lies are not always clear lies, many are misleading statements, exaggerations, or distortions of the truth. Politicians caught in a lie don’t admit they lied, instead they mumble, “I misspoke.”
During his brief inauguration speech, Trump stated, “ . . . starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you. It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America. This is your day. This is your celebration. And this, the United States of America, is your country. What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.
“January 20, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.”
Yet, this honorable president has surrounded himself with a cabinet made up of people who are worth anywhere from $9.5 billion to $14 billion. Trump’s cabinet controls more than one-third of the wealth of American households combined.
Is there anyone out there who feels that these people will be sensitive and responsive to the needs of the very working people they have exploited during their professional careers?
So much for populist billionaires.
Here are some other lies generated by Mr. Trump during his drive to the White House:
He alluded to the “fact” that there are 30 million undocumented immigrants in the US. The truth is, there are 11.4 million.
Mr. Trump continued to claim that Barack Obama was not born in the US despite evidence to the contrary.
Despite the lack of evidence, Trump claimed that millions of people voted illegally, allowing Hillary Clinton to win the popular vote.
Donald Trump is not unique, they all lie. The biggest problem with governmental lies is that they are repeated over and over again by the mainstream media. When you hear anything continuously, it takes on a flavor of truth, effecting and influencing the public’s perceptions. This is how governments gather public support for unpopular policies and actions.
In 2001, almost immediately after the 9/11 attack, the members of the Bush administration identified 19 Arabs and labeled Osama bin Laden as their mastermind and coordinator. Not one name of the identified “terrorists” appeared on the passenger list for any of the four planes supposedly hijacked.
It should also be noted that bin Laden’s name never appeared on the FBI’s most wanted list. When questioned about this, officials of the FBI stated that they could find no evidence linking bin Laden to the attack.
Was the Bush administration lying?
Then the Bush administration suddenly changed its focus to Iraq, claiming that it had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and presented a threat to US security. After securing public support, the US attacked Iraq and eventually admitted it could find no weapons of mass destruction.
Was the Bush administration lying again?
When Obama took office, the players were different but the lying continued.
On May 2, 2011, it was proudly reported that Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. This has been portrayed as an important moment in Barack Obama’s presidency and legacy . . . finally, the tyrant responsible for 9/11 is dead.
However, Seymour Hersh, well respected investigative journalist, claims that the raid in Pakistan on bin Laden is a lie. According to other journalists and officials, bin Laden died in December 2001 from a lung complication that resulted from kidney failure that he struggled with since the middle of 2000.
Was the killing of Osama bin Laden a fabrication perpetrated by the Obama administration?
On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya, imposing a ban on all flights in the country’s airspace (a no-fly zone), and increasing sanctions against Gaddafi’s country.
In order to save the people of Libya from the “tyrant” Gaddafi, US and British naval forces fired over 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libya and the French, British, and Canadian Air Forces flew continuous bombing missions over Libya.
Gaddafi, the so-called “tyrant,” was demonized by the US despite providing many economic benefits to the people. His government provided newlyweds money to buy an apartment, education and healthcare were free to all citizens, for every newborn in a family, that family received a payment of $7,000; those who wanted to open a business received $20,000 as a start-up bonus, electricity was free, and there were interest free loans. Not bad for a “tyrant.”
Why did the US/NATO want him out? Gaddafi was trying to organize a Pan-African effort to make Africa economically independent of the US and their Western European allies.
Did the US government lie and misrepresent Gaddafi because he refused to genuflect to the US agenda?
On August 21, 2013, there was a chemical attack (sarin gas) in Ghouta, Syria. Although the majority of fighters looking to overthrow the Assad government were not Syrians and were hired mercenaries (al Qaeda and Isis), the US insisted that this was a civil war conducted by Syrian “rebels” looking to overthrow the “tyrannical” Assad government. For your information, Assad won the last election in Syria, gathering 86% of the popular vote. If we consider and accept the veracity of this information, who was it that was rebelling against his rule?
When the gas attack occurred, the US was quick to blame Assad’s Syrian army and were prepared to bring US troops and weapons into Syria. However, there was growing evidence as to who really fired this deadly gas into the city and it wasn’t Assad’s army. More and more evidence came to light and pointed to the US supported “moderates” as being responsible for the sarin gas attack. The US was trying to sell this misinformation to the public as a means of providing justification for a military attack inside Syria.
Was the Obama administration, that was committed to a regime change in Syria, guilty of intentionally disseminating misinformation in order to justify an invasion with US boots on the ground?
Lastly, I would like to focus on the allegation recently made that Russia, under President Putin’s direction, hacked into the computers of the Democratic National Committee obtaining emails that showed that Hillary Clinton and the DNC conspired to sabotage Bernie Sanders’ campaign for the Democratic nomination for president. Russia was accused of providing these emails to WikiLeaks in order to ensure that Donald Trump won the election.
It is interesting to note that the content of these emails were ignored despite the fact that they may have constituted criminal behavior, while Russia’s so-called involvement became the focus.
Russia and Putin were accused of compromising the integrity of the US electoral system while the behavior of the Clinton campaign in conjunction with the DNC was not seen as attacking the integrity of the system.
The bottom line was these accusations against Russia were made with no evidence provided that would justify these accusations. Craig Murray, former British ambassador, stated that he knew who leaked the emails to WikiLLeaks and it was not Russia. He further stated that the emails were made available, not by hacking but by the leaking of a disenchanted insider who was angry about the behavior of the DNC.
Julian Assange also made it clear that WikiLeaks did not receive the documents from Russia.
Murray and Assange were ignored, the crimes committed by the DNC and the Clinton campaign were ignored and the government and the MSM continued to attack Putin and Russia.
The above incidents are only a fraction of the lies and distortions that are presented to us in order to manipulate the public into supporting policies and actions we might not support if we knew the truth.
The public was quick to accept Obama’s propaganda efforts. After all, he had a nice smile, he was intelligent and well spoken, he presented himself as just a regular guy. In other words, he seduced us into non-action.
Now we have Donald Trump, a known liar, a narcissist, a racist, a misogynist, a xenophobe, etc. It is important to watch what he does and not focus on what he says in order to gauge where he is going and who and what he represents.
But, let us not get bogged down with the personalities of the individuals who vie for power. While focusing on individuals, we miss the bigger picture. Yes, there are some differences between the Democrats and Republicans. While the Democrats pose as the party of the people, the Republicans tell us to go screw ourselves, our constituents are the rich, white guys.
When we attend to how both parties function, we find that they serve the same master . . . the rich, white guys.
In a recent article, I focused on the Project for the New American Century, a document that defined the neoconservative agenda for the US in the 21st century, an agenda that preached world domination and the use of a strong military. Many of the crises we now face are a result of the policies projected in this document.
I would like to now introduce the Bilderberg Group, a group of 120 to 150 people of the Western European and North American political elite, experts from industry, finance, academia, and the media.
This organization was established in 1954 and since then this special group of people have met annually. It is interesting to note that the location of their meetings, which change annually, is never revealed beforehand, there is no agenda that is available for the public, and there are no minutes of meetings available to the public.
The question comes to mind, what are these very rich, powerful people discussing and planning that there is this great need for secrecy? Certainly, they’re not planning for the following year’s Super Bowl. I would venture to guess that they are planning on policies and actions their governments are to sponsor so that these elites can maintain or even expand their wealth and power.
It is important to know of this group because I have often stated that no matter who becomes the president of the United States, he/she has an agenda to follow and fulfill.
The existence of the Bilderberg Group along with the Project for the New American Century, verifies, for me at least, that there are powerful forces behind the political curtain that dictate governmental policy.
Therefore, voting has become a very successful strategy keeping the people from revolting against this oppressive system we call capitalism. It allows us to feel that we live in a democracy and we have choices regarding who shall govern this country. It’s merely an illusion.
Dave Alpert has masters degrees in social work, educational administration, and psychology. He spent his career working with troubled inner city adolescents.