#poppy fields

[vintagegermany]

Poppy fields, Germany 1919

[thefreethoughtprojectcom]

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, revealed that during the early War on Terror, opium production in Afghanistan surged under U.S. and NATO watch. When he questioned the protection of poppy fields, superiors warned him to stay quiet, hinting at deeper Western interests.

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/guest-john-kiriakou-cia-whistleblower-on-americas-secret/id1439014279?i=1000709009334

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/04h1hRcL9GAX4jR5aJgChK

Podbean: https://thefreethoughtproject.podbean.com/e/behind-closed-doors-the-cia-israel-and-the-battle-for-truth/

#TheFreeThoughtProjectPodcast

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

It’s Remembrance Day in the UK today. 11/11. I’ve see a lot of AI generated poppy images the last few days so I felt it appropriate to share a real poppy field. Lest We Forget.

* * * * *

Memorial Day 2025: We must be witnesses to the truth.

May 26, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

On Memorial Day 2025, I am offering a brief reflection on our obligation as citizens of a democracy purchased by the ultimate sacrifice of men and women of the US armed forces.

More than 650,000 service members have given their lives in defense of an ideal that has yet to be achieved—a democracy in which the promise of the Constitution and its amendments are fully realized for every citizen and resident of the United States.

Today, some seek to turn that idea on its head, arguing that the Constitution privileges the wealthy and powerful, and grants special status to those whose ancestors had the good fortune to arrive in America decades or centuries ago. While that may have once been true, the Civil War and the amendments that followed forever removed those antiquated and inhumane concepts from the Constitution.

The deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans stand as sentinels to the truth of what American democracy promises: Justice for all and equality under the law. Try as the anti-democratic forces might, they cannot erase the testament given by the graves of fallen service members. Their deaths testify to the truth: American democracy is worth defending.

We must repay their sacrifice by being witnesses to the truth. We are living through a moment in which truth itself is under assault. Anti-democratic forces are seeking to rewrite history and distort the facts and meaning of unfolding events.

Future generations and historians will look back on this time and ask, “What really happened? Why?" Who rose to defend democracy? Who abandoned our nation in its hour of need?”

If we are not witnesses to the truth, the historical record will yield answers that will mislead future generations.

It can be exhausting to constantly correct the record. But it is essential that we do so.

We must speak the truth in plain but powerful words.

We must ignore voices that tell us, “Don’t take the bait. It’s a distraction. He doesn’t care. His supporters don’t care.”

We are not speaking to change the current president’s mind, or the hearts and minds of his loyal base.

We are speaking to future generations and historians.

We are speaking to our children and grandchildren.

We are speaking to persuadable voters.

We are speaking to eligible voters who believed that the stakes in 2024 weren’t grave enough for them to vote.

We are speaking to ourselves.

The current president spoke to the graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point on Memorial Day weekend. Future historians should note that it was the worst commencement speech by a president to Cadets in the academy's 223-year history.

Does it matter?

Yes.

It matters not (merely) because the speech was a meandering, narcissistic, inappropriate diatribe filled with lies.

The speech was affirmatively dangerous and corrosive to the mission of the US military: To defend democracy.

The speech was affirmatively dangerous and corrosive to unit cohesion, military morale, and chain of command by attacking Cadets and military members who do not fit neatly into the “white Christian nationalist” mold being promoted by anti-democratic forces.

It matters because the Commander in Chief told future officers that there was no place for diversity in the US military—a force that is more diverse than the US population at large.

Imagine the non-white and female Cadets hearing that there was no place in the military for officers who are not straight, white, male, and Christian—the truth behind Trump’s attack on “DEI.” Their faces must have flushed with rage that their Commander-in-Chief was insulting them on their day of graduation and commissioning—in front of their family and friends.

Much of the mainstream press reported Trump’s speech by saying that he promised a “new golden age” for the military.” True, he said those words. But in every other way, he signaled his desire for the destruction and devolution of the military into a political advocacy arm of the president. Nothing could be more inimical to the mission of the US military.

That is what happened on the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend 2025. Trump assaulted the institution of the US military—and the press pretended it didn’t happen.

We must be witnesses to the truth. We cannot let the lie of Trump’s Memorial Day commencement speech take root.

We must be witnesses to the truth. We owe it to the hundreds of thousands of US military members who gave their lives so that we could continue the never-ending quest to realize the promise of the Constitution and its amendments.

I will talk to you tomorrow.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[convexicalcrow]

something something Scar saying he went into a bit of a trance placing poppies down with Cub and Tango something something vex magic idk idk 3am thoughts I can’t articulate

[wat3rm370n]

Claude Monet | Poppy Fields near Argenteuil | The Met

[colorsoutofearth]

Poppy field photos by Jack Dykinga

[septembergold]

[rainie-is-seasonchange]

Poppy fields in Umbria, Italy.