Though the US doesn't have a king, unless it is profit, our elite act like courtiers never out of earshot of the throne. The nonsense about the ultra-wealthy doing a good job and being so necessary to the US when in fact they are vultures surveying the world for the next investment opportunity and don't hesitate to outsource or move facilities overseas. Milley is worse than a politician because, in pandering to his audience he is out for himself alone with not even a pretense of helping we the people. But he spent his life in the military and helped Americans in that way? The performance of the military over his time in it has been a disaster and not just because of astoundingly bad presidential leadership, but of loss after loss by the military itself, despite its undeniable lethality of which Kamala Harris is so proud. Can anyone say our armed forces have achieved success since WW2?
I'm thoroughly tired of seeing and hearing Elon Musk. He would be the first to say that he has earned every penny of the billions he has, but in reality he is the prime beneficiary of those who buy Teslas just as Bezos is the prime beneficiary (I mean by that the individual receiving far more than any other) of the users of Amazon.
Think about it for a moment. When you or I buy something, we think only of the product and not the fact that a portion of what we pay is adding to the wealth of someone very wealthy. How is this take of every consumer purchase justified when it has nothing to do with the use of what is being bought? It is justified because the law allows it, nothing more. Ditto for stock buybacks and reduced taxes on capital gains. The most protected group of people in American society are the members of the 1%.
Ya know, Ken, every time you post an article, I admire the reporting and remember why I subscribed. It's always in the public interest, on a topic that is under- or non-reported in other outlets, and challenges centers of power.
On the other hand, when I see you post a Substack note, I wonder who this human being is and why he was let loose on the public. I suppose one form of posting is an outlet for the other...
You recently published like ~10 notes on the WaPo/Bezos story without writing an article about it. I thought it was a little odd - were you planning to write something and got sidetracked? Granted it would go against my claim of "underreported".
as a former enlisted military member and current business owner (who did it all on his own) I commend the good “General” for all his “hard work “ and am sure everything he ventured was all his doing and none on the back of his soldiers….
America is a parasite feeding in the rest of the world and has been since WWII.
Every was we have fought had been about destroying any brown-skinned nation that threatens to use the free market to charge market rate for their labor and natural resources.
The USA murdered priests, nuns, and children to keep the price of bananas down, for the love of Jesus.
While in uniform, many of Mille's actions certainly appeared to be politically sycophantic. Now that he's retired, that behavior has become more clear; just the benefactors have changed.
Ken, do you have any particular feelings about the accuracy of the coverage of the war in Ukraine that most Americans see? There is less coverage now but because it's not being blatantly censored and journalists can actually travel there etc it's hard to know what the reality on the ground is versus what the administration wants us to believe.
Though the US doesn't have a king, unless it is profit, our elite act like courtiers never out of earshot of the throne. The nonsense about the ultra-wealthy doing a good job and being so necessary to the US when in fact they are vultures surveying the world for the next investment opportunity and don't hesitate to outsource or move facilities overseas. Milley is worse than a politician because, in pandering to his audience he is out for himself alone with not even a pretense of helping we the people. But he spent his life in the military and helped Americans in that way? The performance of the military over his time in it has been a disaster and not just because of astoundingly bad presidential leadership, but of loss after loss by the military itself, despite its undeniable lethality of which Kamala Harris is so proud. Can anyone say our armed forces have achieved success since WW2?
I'm thoroughly tired of seeing and hearing Elon Musk. He would be the first to say that he has earned every penny of the billions he has, but in reality he is the prime beneficiary of those who buy Teslas just as Bezos is the prime beneficiary (I mean by that the individual receiving far more than any other) of the users of Amazon.
Think about it for a moment. When you or I buy something, we think only of the product and not the fact that a portion of what we pay is adding to the wealth of someone very wealthy. How is this take of every consumer purchase justified when it has nothing to do with the use of what is being bought? It is justified because the law allows it, nothing more. Ditto for stock buybacks and reduced taxes on capital gains. The most protected group of people in American society are the members of the 1%.
I end where I began, profit is our king.
Ya know, Ken, every time you post an article, I admire the reporting and remember why I subscribed. It's always in the public interest, on a topic that is under- or non-reported in other outlets, and challenges centers of power.
On the other hand, when I see you post a Substack note, I wonder who this human being is and why he was let loose on the public. I suppose one form of posting is an outlet for the other...
lol I'm not sure I follow - how do the notes posts differ from the stories?
You recently published like ~10 notes on the WaPo/Bezos story without writing an article about it. I thought it was a little odd - were you planning to write something and got sidetracked? Granted it would go against my claim of "underreported".
Then there was these gems:
https://substack.com/@kenklippenstein/note/c-74610592
https://substack.com/@kenklippenstein/note/c-74594222
Eh I'm not sure what there is to say that hasn't been said already. We have a pretty high bar for formal articles.
100% fair. Glad that's a metric for your articles (if not for your notes).
as a former enlisted military member and current business owner (who did it all on his own) I commend the good “General” for all his “hard work “ and am sure everything he ventured was all his doing and none on the back of his soldiers….
Exactly
surreal.
I disagree - it is depressingly banal.
America is a parasite feeding in the rest of the world and has been since WWII.
Every was we have fought had been about destroying any brown-skinned nation that threatens to use the free market to charge market rate for their labor and natural resources.
The USA murdered priests, nuns, and children to keep the price of bananas down, for the love of Jesus.
While in uniform, many of Mille's actions certainly appeared to be politically sycophantic. Now that he's retired, that behavior has become more clear; just the benefactors have changed.
Yep! Well put.
The US military: profitably creating tomorrow's enemies today!
Maybe having for-profit military contractors isn't such a great idea.
Ken, do you have any particular feelings about the accuracy of the coverage of the war in Ukraine that most Americans see? There is less coverage now but because it's not being blatantly censored and journalists can actually travel there etc it's hard to know what the reality on the ground is versus what the administration wants us to believe.