Brainwashing is now a highly developed art that, aided particularly by digital technology, is difficult to escape from. They say hope dies last. Strange. Hope is long dead but still we suffer.

9/11 is but one event, albeit an extremely important one. There have been many assassinations, President Kennedy being one of the more notable, but not forgetting Lumumba, Allende, among many others. There have been lies galore: Gaddafi killing his own people, Milosevic genocide of Muslims, Saddam's use of poison gas, Assad killing his own people, and so on, and so on, and so on. The leaders (and their media) of the USA have been most inventive at blackening enemies while projecting themselves as being pristine clean and virtuous.
Language has total flexibility: it can promote truth or lies, it can bring peace or anger, it can incite or pacify, it can enlighten or confuse.
One piece of sage advice: "By their fruits, you shall know them."
Among dishonest nations, "secret services" are needed BUT, being secret 'who do they serve', and 'how do we know''?

Who benefits most from empire?
Who pays the price of empire?
How many years does it take for an empire to decline and collapse?
Who pays the price of collapse?
What spirits remain in rebuilding from rubble?
Can they be exorcised?

Much could be written about each of these, but would it make any difference?
We are what we are; and what we are is the result of our experiences.
We carry memories. We carry hopes. We carry prejudices. These are part of the rubble we use to rebuild. These carry the ghosts that need to be exorcised.

In human society, wealth has become all-important. Virtually EVERYTHING can be bought. The “bottom-line” determines everything. Of course human society is in a bad way.
Can it be put right? Well, never say never, but the odds against it are so great that it is near impossible.
Given that humans can now completely destroy most, if not all, life on earth, it seems that time is drawing short for any significant change of direction in human affairs.
The ride is exhilarating. Enjoy it!

Desiderata are beautiful words; but actions speak louder, much louder, than words.
Language can be used to inform or deceive, to inspire or depress, to bring together or to break apart.. Wordsmiths play with language.
Edward Bernays spent much of his working life studying means of mass control, hence advertising, propaganda, and public relations. All words!
Words are crystallised thoughts. As such, they are beacons to future actions and herein lies the power of words. Those that raise passions, by fervour or deceit, hold the greatest danger.
Desiderata is a piece of beautiful writing in a world of evil actions. Is its failure total?

Sage advice: don't judge anyone until you have walked for two moons in their moccasins.

What is the history of "free assembly" and "freedom of speech?"

Conditions when such freedoms were fought and died for have long since changed. Modern information communications technology has, potentially, given EVERYONE a voice that is heard by many. Is some information more reliable then other?

Then there is ONE-WAY communication; or if interaction is allowed then answering may be tightly CONTROLLED: i.e. far from 'free'.

Language is a sophisticated and flexible form of communication. People play with language, seeking its precision, its elasticity, its boundaries. Certainly, listeners must judge.

But then we have Bernays, Edward Bernays, who researched the use of language as a means of mass control. hence advertising, propaganda, and public relations.

The "Art of Lying" is a craft, taught at prestigious universities: barristers, diplomats, politicians, the 'bedside manner' of medicos.

What is truth and, whom should we believe in this over-vocal world?

As a gardener, I believe firmly in the TRUTH of the soil. It is solidly grounded!

"When did you stop beating your wife?"
"Guilty!" unless you can prove a negative.

Matt Taibbi sounds a piercing alarm about INSTITUTIONAL POWER, and its abuse, rather than that of any particular character, be it Bush, Assange, Trump, Clinton, Snowden, or of any single event such as happened recently in the Capitol. Spotlighting individuals helps Institutional Power (financial institutions, military services, intelligence agencies, high-Tech, and media) to lurk unseen in the shadows. The British Government's treatment of Julian Assange, via its Secret Service and Judiciary, shows there is a widespread evil not confined exclusively to the USA.
He gives us many examples to illustrate his case and these serve to remind us that evil is ubiquitous. INSTITUTIONAL EVIL is rigorously covered up by a "pliant press", while unregulated leaks by informants seeking to reveal the truth is dealt with ruthlessly and viciously as a warning to others. Manning, Assange, and Snowden have fallen into this Institutional hell that is devoid of pity.
Matt goes further: he alerts us to the Power of the Algorithm – how giant Tech companies can determine who has a voice and what is allowed, just as drone algorithms determine matters of life and death: an outsourcing devoid of feeling, judgement and responsibility. This is just a foretaste of the future of Artificial Intelligence in the hands of INSTITUTIONAL POWER. He does NOT mention the potential of genetic engineering, from microbes, through the plant world to that of humans; nor the present reality of nuclear power and its destructive radiation.
The future is bleak because of the weaknesses of the human brain.

You are wide of the mark as far as Brexit is concerned. Brits simply want to have control of their own country and not be ruled by an unelected oligarchy. Yes, Britain is also a hidden oligarchy but at least we know where and how to protest without interference from others far away and unconcerned. Surely, that is no bad thing if you believe in 'people power'.

Not sure, Pete, whether it is your eyes or your understanding that is at fault. Nothing in the article about 'communism'; far more in the Holy Bible where Jesus talked about brotherly love, the evil of riches, and the generation of scorpions and vipers: moneylenders aka bankers. Pretty sound advice to me.