text:
Fox News Reportedly Used Fake Commenter Accounts To Rebut Critical Blog Posts
New Book Details An Extensive Campaign By The Networks' PR Staffers
Written by Ben Dimiero
NPR media reporter David Folkenflik writes in his forthcoming book Murdoch's World that Fox News' public relations staffers used an elaborate series of dummy accounts to fill the comments sections of critical blog posts with pro-Fox arguments.
In a chapter focusing on how Fox utilized its notoriously ruthless public relations department in the mid-to-late 00's, Folkenflik reports that Fox's PR staffers would "post pro-Fox rants" in the comments sections of "negative and even neutral" blog posts written about the network. According to Folkenflik, the staffers used various tactics to cover their tracks, including setting up wireless broadband connections that "could not be traced back" to the network.
A former staffer told Folkenflik that they had personally used "one hundred" fake accounts to plant Fox-friendly commentary:
On the blogs, the fight was particularly fierce. Fox PR staffers were expected to counter not just negative and even neutral blog postings but the anti-Fox comments beneath them. One former staffer recalled using twenty different aliases to post pro-Fox rants. Another had one hundred. Several employees had to acquire a cell phone thumb drive to provide a wireless broadband connection that could not be traced back to a Fox News or News Corp account. Another used an AOL dial-up connection, even in the age of widespread broadband access, on the rationale it would be harder to pinpoint its origins. Old laptops were distributed for these cyber operations. Even blogs with minor followings were reviewed to ensure no claim went unchecked. [Murdoch's World, pg. 67]
In the book's endnotes, Folkenflik explains that "four former Fox News employees told me of these practices." It's unclear whether these tactics are ongoing.


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At 631-584-5575
Tree Service In Westbury
The Top 5 Evergreen Trees for Privacy Recommended by a Leading Westbury, NY Tree Service
Competition Tree, Inc is a leading Westbury, NY tree service that has been caring for Nassau County trees for more than 22 years. Their team of highly trained and experienced arborists are dedicated to providing exceptional tree care. They offer the fastest, safest, and most affordable tree care services in the area. Whether you need to have trees on your property pruned or removed, you can count on the professionals at Competition Tree, Inc, a premier Nassau County tree care service to meet all of your tree care needs.
There's nothing better than spending time in your Nassau County yard barbecuing, chatting with friends and family, playing with your kids, or just lounging and taking in the fresh air. However, if your yard isn't wide open, you may feel like you are on display when you're outside and that lack of privacy can detract from your enjoyment.
While a fence can certainly provide the privacy you're looking for, if you're trying to maintain a natural look for your landscape, evergreen trees are a far better option. They add stunning visual appeal that will only enhance the beauty of your yard. Plus, as the name suggests, evergreens retain their foliage throughout the year and they're easy to maintain, so you'll always have privacy.
Creating a privacy screen with evergreen trees is pretty simple; however, choosing the right
trees can be a bit confusing. There are several species of evergreens that thrive in Nassau County, but the spiky foliage and sparse branches of some make them less than ideal for privacy purposes.
Here's a look at five of the best species of evergreen trees that Competition Tree, a leading Westbury, NY tree service recommends for your Nassau County yard.
Juniper Trees
Juniper trees do very well in Nassau County. Their needles have a lovely icy blue color, and they are very low-maintenance. Plus, they establish themselves very quickly, so you'll be able to take advantage of the privacy they create in no time.
There are a few different species of Juniper. Skyrocket Junipers are a great choice for a smaller space, as they grow tall, yet narrow (about 3 feet wide and 20 feet high). To maximize privacy screening, plant these trees close together. For a larger space, Wichita Blue Junipers are a great choice. This species grows about 5 feet wide and 15 feet high, so you won't need as many to create a screening effect.
Leyland Cypress
These dense evergreen trees are excellent for privacy. Their needles are flat, grayish-green in color, and their branches are narrow and grow in an upward direction, so in addition to privacy, they'll create stunning visual appeal for your landscape.
Leyland Cypress trees grow to be about 15 feet wide and can reach heights of up to 60 feet if left untamed. To maintain their beauty, light pruning at least once a year is recommended. Otherwise, they require very little care and provide beautiful year-round privacy for your Nassau County yard.
Arborvitaes are one of the most popular evergreen trees used for privacy screening. That's because they are very dense, which makes it almost impossible to see through them.
Emerald Green Arborvitaes are usually the species chosen for privacy purposes. They grow about 4 feet wide and 15 feet tall, making them a great choice for both large and compact yards. If, however, your property is very large, you might want to consider Green Giant Arborvitaes for your privacy screening needs. They can grow to be about 20 feet wide and 60 feet tall, so you won't need as many to create a privacy effect. They also fill in rather quickly.
Both of these species of arborvitaes maintain lush, dark green foliage throughout the year and are one the most commonly requested privacy trees that Nassau County homeowners plant in their yards.
Eastern Red Cedar
Eastern Red Cedar trees are native to Nassau County. In fact, you've probably seen them growing in forests and along the side of the road. Since they're native to the area, there's no question that they'll flourish in your yard.
In addition to being low-maintenance, Easter Red Cedar trees are aromatic. Not only will they create privacy for your Nassau County yard, but they'll also add a delightfully fresh scent. The vibrant needles are soft, bluish-green in color, and grow upright. Female trees grow blue berries that birds love to feed on, so if you want to welcome wildlife to your yard, make sure to include some in your yard.
Nelly Stevens Holly
Another excellent choice for privacy screening is the Nelly Stevens Holly tree. Unlike the previously mentioned trees, they don't have needles, but rather leaves, that remain on the tree all year long. The leaves are dark green and glossy. In the spring, small white flowers bloom, which give way to bright red berries.
This species of holly grows about 10 feet wide and 20 feet tall. And, unlike other holly trees, they grow relatively fast; about 3 feet a year.
Let a Leading Westbury, NY Tree Service Add Natural Privacy to Your Yard
For natural privacy in your Nassau County yard that will make your landscape even more stunning, consider planting any of these evergreen trees. For assistance with planting and maintenance, contact the experts at Competition Tree, Inc, a leading Westbury, NY tree service. Their crew will ensure your privacy trees will maintain their beauty for years to come. Call 631-584-5575 or visit https://www.competitiontree.com for more information.
- Learn more about Westbury, NY 11590
- Open a Westbury, NY map
- Find the Westbury, NY United States Post Office
- Locate nearby Westbury, NY pharmacies
- View the current Westbury, NY weather report
- Browse a list of Westbury, NY public and private schools
- Westbury, NY is located in Nassau county in New York State

subset: commoncrawl


text:
HOLLIS, Maine (AP) — A man accused of drunkenly strolling down a road in Maine wearing a black-hooded sweatshirt and a clown mask and brandishing a machete taped to his amputated arm has been arrested.
Maine State Police told WCSH-TV that 31-year-old Corey Berry, of Hollis, was arrested Tuesday and charged with criminal threatening. He was released after posting $200 bail.
Police say Berry was first spotted in Hollis but then fled into the woods. He was taken into custody after re-emerging in Waterboro. Police say Berry was intoxicated but cooperative. He told officers that he was copying previous clown sightings as a prank.
A phone number for Berry couldn't be found Wednesday, and it wasn't known if he has a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.


text:
Observing the Modern Theosophical
Effort, In Its Threefold and Sevenfold Nature
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
Front cover of "The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature"
The following text reproduces Chapter 21
of the book "The Fire and Light of Theosophical
Literature", by Carlos Cardoso Aveline, The
Aquarian Theosophist, Portugal, 255 pp., 2013.
"We say and maintain that SOUND, for one
thing, is a tremendous Occult power; that it is a
stupendous force, of which the electricity generated by a
million of Niagaras could never counteract the smallest
potentiality when directed with occult knowledge."
(H.P. Blavatsky[1])
"If it is true (…) that everything in Nature is
septenate, then words and ideas are septenate…"
(Robert Crosbie[2])
The power of Mantra is intimately connected with the process of Emanation. "In the beginning was the Word", says John, I, 1, in the New Testament. And indeed, one can also say that "in the beginning" of the modern theosophical movement "it was the Mantra", the occult sound of Wisdom; and the sound was expressed in three levels, or rates of vibration.
The newly-born theosophical movement had a Spirit, a Soul and a Body. H.P. Blavatsky and the other two main founders – W.Q. Judge and H.S. Olcott – were but outer instruments who helped others in making the sacred sound start amidst the rather noisy bulk of human karma. It was the keynote for a new cycle that was beginning to vibrate.
These three initial layers or notes loosely expressed themselves and their complex impersonal interplay in the three recognized Sections of the movement.
In the Rules and Bye-Laws established in India in 17 December 1879, one reads:
"XI. The [Theosophical] Society consists of three sections. The highest or First Section is composed exclusively of proficients or initiates in Esoteric Science and Philosophy, who take a deep interest in the Society's affairs and instruct the President-Founder how best to regulate them. (…..) The Second Section embraces such Theosophists as have proved by their fidelity, zeal, and courage, and their devotion to the Society, that they have become able to regard all men as equally their brothers, irrespective of caste, colour, race, or creed; and who are ready to defend the life or honour of a brother Theosophist even at the risk of their own lives."
The Third Section was probationary. All new fellows were on probation, "until their purpose to remain in the Society has become fixed, their usefulness shown, and their ability to conquer evil habits and unwarrantable prejudices demonstrated." [3]
Such a triadic view of the movement as a whole corresponds to the threefold microcosmic classification of the individual levels of consciousness. The Movement has, 1) a Spirit, which provides the vision and the teaching; 2) a Soul, a central linking element; and, 3) a Body, an outer vehicle for its manifestation in the world. These three levels also relate to the three gunas or qualities of the manifested world. The First Section or Spirit gives the movement the Satwa guna, or rhythm and harmony. The Second Section, its Soul/Mind, gives it Rajas, id est, movement, passion, aspiration; it makes things happen. The Third Section, the Body, is the material aspect of the movement, and it corresponds to Tamas guna, which is stability and, in its negative aspect, routine and decay.
In the absence of the Spirit there is no Satwic rhythm and harmony. As a result, the Rajasic guna is poorly managed. Soon the Soul of the movement gets confused by ignorance and personal ambitions. Such a wrong kind of Rajas first provokes division and fragmentation. Later on it "calms down" only to lead the movement into a long term Tamas of paralysis and decay. The road to it is provided by an attachment to comfort and routine. It certainly is not too difficult, nowadays, to see Rajasic division and Tamasic paralysis, in many a sector of the movement.
In the long run, if one is allowed to use the metaphor presented in the classic work "The Dream of Ravan" [4] , we have the following view of the three sections or levels in the movement, and some of their analogical correspondences:
* The Third Section is the Body. Its quality is Tamas, and it corresponds to the Coal.
* The Second Section is the Soul/Mind. Its quality is Rajas; it corresponds to the Fire.
* The First Section is the Spirit. Its quality is Satwa, and it corresponds to the Light.
As long as one obtains a correct combination of the three factors above, there is enough fire and light in the movement. Time and experience show how best to keep the coal dry, and how to use the wind of thought so that Fire purifies Soul and Spirit enlightens Life.
Such a triadic view of the movement is not the only way to look at it. After the first years of her public mission, HPB started teaching about the seven principles of consciousness. She gradually unveiled the septenary character of all things in the universe.
The Sun light and its energy have seven aspects. Sound and music have seven main notes in their scale, and these correspond to the seven sacred planets, related to the Pythagorean Music of the Spheres. The Earth chain has seven globes. Our humanity evolves through seven races, and every human being combines in himself seven different levels of reality, through his seven principles. Humans are septenary inhabitants of a septenary planet, which travels along the space of a septenary solar system. And the solar system moves around the center of a Septenary Galaxy whose size is one hundred thousand light years, according to present-day science.[5]
There is a harmonious correspondence between the triadic and the septenary views of man. Atma and Buddhi, the two highest of the seven principles, are the equivalent in the triadic classification to Spirit. Manas and Kama, the two intermediary principles, correspond to the Soul. And Linga Sharira, Prana and Sthula Sharira, the three outer principles, correspond to the Body.
Therefore the movement is Three, and it is Seven. But it is also One, because, as William Judge wrote, "it is to be found in all times and in all nations".[6] Its inner constitution is not subject to outer bureaucratic divisions. It is a unique combination of several levels of reality, consciousness, karma and universal good will, and it does not obey to the limits of human institutions.
Our Earth relates to the physical Body of man, or to his three lowest principles, in the septenary classification. The Moon has a special link to his Soul, or his intermediary principles. And the Sun relates to his Spirit, his Nous, his highest principles, his Monad.
In "Isis Unveiled", there is a long quotation by Plutarch on this topic. The ancient sage had this to say on the triad made of Nous (understanding), Soul (feeling) and Body (physical vehicle): "Of these three parts conjoined and compacted together, the earth has given the body, the moon the soul, and the sun the understanding to the generation of man." [7]
Besides these three astronomical elements, one must also take into consideration that the "sacred planets", from the point of view of the Earth and Man, are seven.
Each of these three and seven lines of evolution has its own rhythm, although they are all intimately interconnected. In "The Secret Doctrine", one reads that the Sun, the Moon and the Earth are all septenary, just as human beings are:
"The last word of the mystery is divulged only to the adepts, but it may be stated that our satellite is only the gross body of its invisible principles. Seeing then that there are 7 Earths, so there are 7 Moons, the last one alone being visible; the same for the Sun, whose visible body is called a Maya, a reflection, just as man's body is. 'The real Sun and the real Moon are as invisible as the real man', says an occult maxim." [8]
The Mysteries have seven keys (see "The Secret Doctrine", volume I, p. 325). Eastern Occultism has seven modes of interpretation for sacred scriptures ("The Secret Doctrine", volume I, p. 374). The theosophical movement must therefore have seven levels as well. But can we have a distinct glimpse of its sevenfold nature?
H.P. Blavatsky did not say much about this issue. In November 1890 she made one brief commentary on the seven principles of the movement, during a meeting with students of her Inner Group in London. According to the records of the meeting – which give it in a few words – HPB said, first, that the Theosophical Society was but the lower Quaternary of the movement. As we know, a lower quaternary includes:
1) The physical existence (sthula sharira);
2) The "physical" vitality (prana);
3) The "astral double" (linga sharira), and
4) The animal/personal feelings (kama).
HPB added further that the Esoteric School was the Lower Manas, and the Inner Group of the School was the Manas of the movement.[9]
Of course, such a statement was an informal metaphor made en passant and containing hints about the occult topography of the movement. It was not to the Theosophical Society per se, or to the Esoteric School and its Inner Group as physical realities, that HPB was referring. She referred to levels of consciousness, not to outer shells, nor to formal or bureaucratic groups of students.
Indeed, soon after HPB left the scene the original Theosophical Society ceased to exist, due to a perhaps unconscious treason led by Annie Besant and others. HPB's London Esoteric School and its "inner group" also disappeared as living realities, although they subsisted as empty shells.
This cannot change the central fact that the septenary classification of principles does apply to the theosophical movement, a point which can be better understood if one looks at the movement as a living process and not as a dead letter bureaucracy. Wherever and whenever the movement is really alive, it must be both triadic and septenary. The essence of HPB's septenary classification of principles is valid today as it was in 1890; and so is the essence of the threefold classification. If one puts in more general words the same information given by HPB in the 1890 meeting, so that it can more clearly apply to the living movement in any time and place, one will say:
* The outer theosophical movement, that is, the variously organized sangha or community which gathers students of the authentic esoteric philosophy, corresponds to the lower quaternary of a more complex, septenary, living process.
* The esoteric level or "school" of such a movement is that environment or atmosphere on which students can promote and share a long-standing process of self-training whose aim is lay discipleship or inner learning; and this corresponds to the lower Manas, or the lower aspect of the fifth principle in the movement.
* One level in the action of the most experienced, dedicated and insightful of such students will correspond in its collective focus to Manas proper, the higher fifth principle which is basically free from kamic bondage.
* Buddhi, the sixth principle of the movement, did not have to be mentioned by HPB. It corresponds to the action and influence of the Mahatmas and Initiates, as they connect to the Movement and to Humanity through buddhic Compassion and Solidarity.
* Atma, the seventh principle, corresponds to the Adeptic consciousness in itself, beyond any specific actions or tasks.
In a more specific approach, one may go back to the triadic view of the movement in order to obtain some of the best evidences available, regarding the sixth (buddhic) and seventh (atmic) principles of the theosophical effort.
The First Section, formally contemplated in the bye-laws of the original Society, corresponds to the "Monadic" (Atma-Buddhic) level of the movement. As we saw, for some time after 1875 Adepts and Initiates were officially considered part of the organized movement, in its triadic structure. This is not so any longer: yet they must be still connected to the movement, and the nature of their connection is well clarified by the study of the septenary vision of the movement. One significant fact is that Atma and Buddhi are not within the organism they inspire, as can be seen in the volume "The Mahatma Letters".
In August 1882, one of the Mahatmas wrote a revealing letter to A. P. Sinnett and A. O. Hume. In a previous statement, the Master had told them that "there is within man no abiding principle". Sinnett had then asked: "How about the sixth and seventh principles?"
The Master commented:
"To this I answer, neither Atma nor Buddhi ever were within man, – a little metaphysical axiom that you can study with advantage in Plutarch and Anaxagoras. The latter made his – nous autocrates[10] – the spirit self-potent, the nous that alone recognized noumena, while the former taught on the authority of Plato and Pythagoras that the semomnius or this nous always remained without the body; that it floated and overshadowed so to say the extreme part of the man's head, it is only the vulgar who think it is within them. (…..) The permanent never merges with the impermanent although the two are one."[11]
The same statement is made, and with more explanations, in "Isis Unveiled".[12]
By using the law of analogy and applying this idea to the movement as a whole, one sees that the higher principles of the modern theosophical movement – that is, the adeptic and initiatic consciousness – overshadow its intermediary principles, which correspond to the subtle atmosphere created by the efforts of serious aspirants to the esoteric wisdom. It may also have some influence on the movement's Quaternary, that is, on its organized, visible action and work.
This, however, can never be taken for granted. It will depend on the quality of the individual work done by theosophists, and whether they have "a clean life, an open mind, a pure heart", a courageous endurance of personal injustice, and a constant eye to the ideal of human progression and perfection.
Whenever the necessary conditions exist, the Sacred Presence will implicitly overshadow in a more intense way both the "soul" and the "body" of the movement. As "The Secret Doctrine" puts it:
"The ever unknowable and incognizable Karana alone, the Causeless Cause of all causes, should have its shrine and altar on the holy and ever untrodden ground of our heart – invisible, intangible, unmentioned, save through 'the still small voice' of our spiritual consciousness. Those who worship before it, ought to do so in the silence and the sanctified solitude of their Souls: making their spirit the sole mediator between them and the Universal Spirit, their good actions the only priests, and their sinful intentions the only visible and objective sacrificial victims to the Presence." [13]
Seen as a living organism, the theosophical movement is like that Ashwattha tree which grows with its roots above, its branches below.
As to its leaves, they are not only the Vedas, as the Gita states. [14] They include every wisdom tradition, and all philosophy, religion and science, if only one looks at them from the right point of view. HPB writes about a previous and wiser humanity:
"It was the living tree of divine wisdom; and may therefore be likened to the Mundane Tree of the Norse Legend, which cannot wither and die until the last battle of life shall be fought, while its roots are gnawed all the time by the dragon, Nidhogg; for even so, the first and holy Son of Kriyasakti had his body gnawed by the tooth of time, but the roots of his inner being remained for ever undecaying and strong, because they grew and expanded in heaven, not on earth." [15]
The true roots of the theosophical movement's tree are also in heaven, or rather in Atma-Buddhi, its sixth and seventh principles. At the right time in every cycle, the Branches and Leaves of such a tree-movement will once more get visibly strong: there is no need to ask about that. Yet perhaps the work for the movement is more meritorious during the hard, silent times, than during the easy and noisy ones.[16]
[1] "The Secret Doctrine", H.P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Company, Los Angeles, 1982, vol. I, p. 555.
[2] "The Friendly Philosopher", Robert Crosbie, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles, USA, 1945, p. 41.
[3] "Principles, Rules and Bye-Laws as revised in General Council at Bombay, December 17, 1879", see "The Theosophist", Adyar, India, volume I, April 1880, pp. 179-180.
[4] "The Dream of Ravan", Theosophy Company, Mumbai, India, 248 pp., see p. 54.
[5] HPB wrote a great deal about the significance of number seven and the septenary character of life. See for instance her articles "The Number Seven" ("The Theosophist", June 1880 edition), "The Number Seven and our Society" ("Theosophist", September 1880), and virtually every Chapter in "The Secret Doctrine", especially Chapter XXV in volume II, "The Mysteries of the Hebdomad". The reader will also find many revealing passages in "Isis Unveiled", including volume II, pp. 417-419.
[6] In the article "The Theosophical Movement", "Path", August 1895. See "Theosophical Articles", W.Q. Judge, Theosophy Company, volume II, p. 124.
[7] "Isis Unveiled", H.P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles, 1982, volume II, pp. 283-284.
[8] "The Secret Doctrine", H.P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles, 1982, volume I, p. 179.
[9] "The Inner Group Teachings of H.P. Blavatsky", Point Loma Publications, 1985, p. 27. The exact words in the minutes of the meeting say: "H.P.B. said that the Inner Group was the Manas of the T.S. The E.S. was the Lower Manas; the T.S. the Quaternary."
[10] In Greek letters in the original.
[11] "The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett", TUP, Pasadena, Letter CXXVII, p. 455. See Letter 72 in the Chronological edition, Philippines.
[12] "Isis Unveiled", H.P. Blavatsky, volume II, pp. 283-285.
[13] "The Secret Doctrine", Helena P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Company, Los Angeles, volume I, p. 280.
[14] See the opening paragraph in the fifteenth Chapter, "Bhagavad Gita", The Theosophy Company, Los Angeles/Mumbai, 1986.
[15] "The Secret Doctrine", HPB, volume I, p. 211.
[16] An initial version of the above Chapter was published as an article in FOHAT magazine, Canada, Fall 2008, volume XII, Number 3, pp. 57-60.
In September 2016, after a careful analysis of the state of the esoteric movement worldwide, a group of students decided to form the Independent Lodge of Theosophists, whose priorities include the building of a better future in the different dimensions of life.


text:
Visual Studio Online is now integrated with the Azure portal
Published date: April 03, 2014
Manage your development lifecycle with Visual Studio Online in the Azure portal. Create a Team Project to collaborate with others, host your source code, track work items, monitor builds, and continuously deploy to Azure Websites. Start your next development project in the cloud – 5 users are free!Learn more


text:
Available Sundays and Mondays starting September 9 through October 28, 5 to 10 p.m.
Oak Grill's new executive chef, Brittany Valles, is showcasing her three-course dinner menu featuring some of her personal favorites, including Pan-Seared Branzino and BBQ Spiced Short Ribs. Guests can taste Chef Brittany's distinctly bright, bold and fresh flavors on Sundays and Mondays through October.
View Menu
$65 per person for a three-course prix-fixe menu. Price excludes tax and gratuity.


text:
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A lawsuit a former Beef Products Inc. worker filed against ABC News and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver over the use of the term "pink slime" has been moved to federal district court.
Bruce Smith was one of about 750 people who lost their jobs at BPI after the company took a financial hit following news reports about lean, finely textured beef. Smith sued ABC, ABC News, Oliver and food blogger Bettina Siegel in December for $70,000 in damages.
Smith filed the suit in Dakota County District Court in Nebraska, saying he wanted the case tried in the location where the damage was done.
But the defendants filed a notice last week that it was moving it to federal court in Omaha.
A lawsuit filed by BPI against ABC is pending.


text:
Performing a brief, early opening set in Manhattan one recent Monday, Bhi Bhiman looked like a law clerk in Mumbai stopping by for a drink after work: a neat South Asian man in a newsboy cap and glasses, wearing a gray sweater over a wing-collared white shirt. Except for one thing: He was holding a big acoustic guitar and picking it, John Hurt-style, as he sang a little something about kimchee.
Singing blues in a voice that suggests a more modest Nina Simone would be an unusual formal choice for any young person in 2012. For a second-generation Sri Lankan-American who grew up on grunge, it seems like a heroic act of will. But Bhiman's songs would be remarkable from anybody: He's a penetrating melodist as well as an accomplished guitarist and a striking singer. What he says he likes best about songwriting is wordplay, which can be heard in the tricky rhymes that populate his new album, Bhiman, out today.
Bhi Bhiman is a work in progress. He gets a lot out of his guitar and some spare accompaniment, but he's mired in four-four rhythmically and his personal songs don't sink as deep as the descriptive ones. Nevertheless, he's an original in a folkie mode that always looks played out until the next surprise from nowhere comes along. That surprise begins with the first track on Bhiman, a song called "Guttersnipe" that had me listening before his voice even entered.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
Seven years after 9/11, we witness another, greater and even more enjoyable collapse, that of the American financial pyramid. It took some twenty years in building; its collapse took only a few weeks. Let us cut the hypocritical crap: this was a wonderful show, no ifs, ands or buts.
The US stock markets boomed when they bombed Baghdad and Belgrade, they prospered when they robbed Moscow and squeezed sweat from Beijing. When they had it good, they had plenty of money for invading Iraq, threatening Iran and strangling Palestine. In short, when it was good for them, it was bad for us. Let them have a taste of their own medicine!
"They" are not the Americans, and "we" are not the rest of the planet. "They" are a small sliver of the American population, the get-rich-quick crowd from the East Side of Manhattan and similar places. The last twenty years witnessed a great shift of money upwards, to a smaller and smaller pack of greedy beasts. While the majority of Americans lost the ability to send their children to universities, these fat cats bought themselves villas in Florida and houses in Tel Aviv. Worse, they spent their billions buying up the media in order to subvert American democracy and send American soldiers to fight wars in far-away places. A big part of the stolen money was siphoned off to Israel, where apartment prices went through the roof and are still rising.
They had it good; they were proud that the financial charts of the US and of the world were drawn up in a small room by Henry Paulson of the Treasury, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan of the Federal Reserve, by Maurice Greenberg of AIG. They built their world surrounded by Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Marc Rich, Michael Milken, Andrew Fastow, George Soros, et al. Their exciting new world of Lexus and Nexus was glorified by Tom Friedman of the New York Times. They gave the Nobel Prize in Economics to Myron Scholes and Robert C. Merton, proud board directors of the now infamous Long Term Capital Management hedge fund that was bailed out by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to the tune of $3.6 billion. President Bush rewarded them for their unaccountability by releasing them from the burden of taxation. Let them pay now for all the fun they had.
They took your real dollars and turned it into funny money -- "unredeemable, non-interest-bearing promissory notes of the Fed, that are not backed by anything other than the confidence of the credulous," in the words of one Internet wit. The ruination of the American working class and even its middle class is unavoidable The fears about the Large Hadron Collider creating a big black hole in place of Earth were based on this sinking feeling that the incredible riches of the US are disappearing into their own black hole.
This is not the first confidence trick in US history: Jay Gould and Joseph Seligman caused the 'Black Friday' stock market crash in the late 19th century, while Jacob Schiff caused the notorious 'Black Thursday' panic that led to a nationwide economic depression (Benjamin Ginsberg, The Fatal Embrace: Jews and the State, University of Chicago Pres, Chicago 1993, p 73).
Seligman was also the mover behind the Panama affair, a stock market swindle that became proverbial in France. The swindle was set up by two Jews of German origin, Jacques Reinach and Cornelius Herz who bribed parliamentarians. While Reinach was working on the right wing, the 'Republicans' of his day, Herz was working on the 'Democrats'. Wikipedia quotes Hannah Arendt, who wrote that the middlemen between the business sector and the state were almost exclusively Jews. This warm embrace between the state and the business sector was a recipe for disaster.
Obviously things have changed since then, and now the Mammonites are of various persuasions, even of Christian Science, like Hank Paulson, whose net worth is estimated at $700 million and whose career at Goldman Sachs (Chairman 1998-2006) made him the obvious choice for the position of secretary of the treasury. Only their devotion to the god of Greed remained constant. In the world of ideal capitalism ("market economy") they so glorified, they would have paid a price.
In Glen David Gold's vastly entertaining novel Carter Beats the Devil, their spiritual ancestor was tarred and feathered by strong-willed Connecticut folk circa 1670, for he had bought a whole boatload of imported products with the criminal intent of getting rich quick by cornering the market and ripping off his fellowmen. Nowadays such a criminal would get a medal from the neo-liberal Milton Friedman Fund, a citation from JINSA and be taught as a positive example by the Harvard Business School.
Now they intend to use their control over the government in order to shift their losses onto ordinary Americans. Whether this act is called 'nationalisation' or 'privatisation' or 'bailout', the bottom line is that many Americans will find themselves poor, and all Americans will have a huge tax burden to bear. But the perpetrators of the pyramid will get off scot-free; they will retire to their castles and to their sure and protected investments as they have always done before.
The Americans were played for suckers; they were cleaned out as easily as were the unsophisticated Albanians a few years ago. Even worse: the Albanians took out their guns and pursued the robbers; the Americans take it all lying down. But the device was the same.
The Americans are entitled to know who robbed them and their children: these are the men who became so ostentatiously rich during last two decades. They should pay the price of their crime. And if the government, the President, the Congress and Senate, the Democrats and the Republicans are reluctant to enforce it, the ordinary Americans may do as their Connecticut Yankee ancestors did: apply tar and feathers liberally. If this does not help, hang the bastards on the lamp posts.
This is exactly the time to remember why America's Founding Fathers enshrined the people's right to own and bear arms in the Second Amendment to the Constitution. Thank God the ADL did not cancel it yet. These arms are not for robbers: they are given to enforce justice when all other means fail. Aux armes, to arms, as the French said when giving this treatment to their tricksters. America has a great tradition of instant direct justice enforcement, this Hang'em High call of the Westerns. Heed it now!
Let US soldiers come back from unneeded wars and remote bases all over the world: their real enemy is in their own country. In the ringing, still relevant words of Lenin, let us turn the imperial war into a civil one, against the greedy bastards. Instead of charging taxpayers, turn the US into a billionaire-free zone! The billionaires, these greediest rats, gained most from the Great Pyramid; pauperise them. Nullify their bank accounts. The disappearance of trillions of dollars from their electronic bank accounts will drive the value of the greenback up; your salary will become real money again!
If we assume that more than half of all billionaires are proud members of the Israel Lobby, it will also solve the Middle Eastern problem. To be on the safe side, confiscate all the assets of the Pyramid-builders: of Paulson and Bernanke, of Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs executives, and of President Bush who allowed it all to happen. Peace will come to Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq; Americans will again become proud of their country.
Such mass confiscation will restore democracy in the US: the next candidates for the Presidency will not go hat in hand to AIPAC to declare their fealty. The defeat of Greed will turn people back to God; the eliminated ballast will allow for national medical care, social security and free education for all. Instead of being a disaster, the financial collapse offers a unique opportunity to fix all America's ills. Do not miss it!
Speaking for the wide world outside America, I'll tell you this: do not throw good money after bad. Reject the seductive purring from Washington. Consider your funds in the US already lost. If you can still get something, good; but do not waste money and efforts to regain what is gone. There is a most valuable asset you may get for the lost ones; that is your freedom and independence. An undermined dollar means your economy will be safe. The Pyramid collapse will set you free!
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