By Carey Wedler

Like clockwork, the mainstream media is fervently focusing on a story filled with scandal and intrigue: James Comey’s testimony. Whether it’s a terror attack in the West, a celebrity tailspin, or a superficial drama like James Comey’s conversations in Congress today, when the media drives an obsessive narrative, there’s usually other events occurring.

“But Russia might have intervened with our democratic process!” some may retort. “Donald Trump is probably a criminal!”

While these things are certainly possible — though raw evidence is yet to presented to prove as much — whether or not Russia intervened in an electoral process already riddled with corruption, conflicts of interest, violence, and deceit is ultimately negligible.

As the media continues to trump up the story, however, below are five stories that reflect just how broken the system already is — and continues to be as the public’s attention is led toward media feeding frenzies and away from the true levers of power. As Anti-Media often notes, these stories are not entirely unreported by the media. Rather, they are relegated to scrolling text at the bottom of cable news screens and fail to draw attention from traditional publications as they obsess over stories like Comey’s testimony:

1. Once again, the United States launches airstrikes against the Syrian government — On Tuesday, Anti-Media reported that the American military had launched an airstrike on pro-regime forces within Syria. In response, the Syrian government issued a statement that it intends to strike back if this red line continues to be crossed — this is because the U.S. is an invading force in Syria yet claims it is “defending” itself. Despite this warning, on Thursday — at the same time the media focused its attention on Comey’s testimony — the U.S. launched another air strike in Syrian territory. Both of this week’s strikes occurred in al-Tanf, where Iranian militias have been advancing toward a “deconfliction zone.”

These U.S. strikes have come despite the fact that these Iranian troops, aligned with the Assad regime, have been largely successful in their fight against ISIS — the terror group President Trump, like Obama before him, uses to justify strikes in the country in the first place. Also on Thursday, the U.S. shot down a pro-regime drone, claiming it was a response to pro-Syrian forces, who allegedly “dropped one of several weapons it was carrying near a position occupied by Coalition personnel who are training and advising partner ground forces in the fight against ISIS,” according to a statement from CENTCOM. Trump also claimed on the campaign trail that he was not interested in advancing U.S.-backed regime change around the world, a position his administration began to walk back after bombing Syria in April following an alleged chemical weapons attack — yet another event the corporate media obsessed over.

2. Congress moves to repeal Dodd-Frank financial regulation — After transferring billions of taxpayer dollars to big banks following the financial crisis of 2008, lawmakers passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which aimed to put more restrictions on the financial industry in the name of protecting the average American consumer. Now, Republicans are attempting to undo that legislation. Though some argue this is ultimately impossible, the effort itself reveals a loyalty to big banks that has plagued Congress and the federal government for over a century. While many may fume at the current effort to repeal the legislation, however, the real story rests with the omnipotent power of the Federal Reserve bank — legislation written over a century ago by powerful bankers who passed it onto a Congress that approved it with minor modifications. Had this hegemonic bank, which to this day is overseen and controlled by powerful bankers, not clinched this power in the early 20th century, it’s unlikely the Dodd-Frank bill would have been necessary at all. Regardless, Dodd-Frank ultimately proved ineffective precisely because the banks had already amassed uncheckable power through the Federal Reserve central banking apparatus.

3. U.K. election pits two wildly different paths for the future against each other — Amid the Comey hysteria, it’s unlikely most Americans are paying attention to the current election taking place in the United Kingdom. Theresa May, the current prime minister, is facing off against Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn as the parties — Tory and Labour — also vie for power. The two party leaders could not be more different. May, who previously worked as head of the Home Office, has been a long time proponent of mass surveillance and has taken a staunchly establishment stance on foreign policy. She has continued to maintain ties with Saudi Arabia, to whom the U.K. has consistently sold weapons in spite of the country’s ongoing human rights violations and support for radical terror. Rather than acknowledging this reality amid two recent terror attacks in the country, May has instead encouraged further intervention in Syria and advocated rolling back human rights protections in her own country.

In contrast, Jeremy Corbyn came out strongly against such policies, arguing that arming radical Islamists in Saudi Arabia and waging perpetual war is a main driver of terrorism. Currently, the Tory party is ahead in the vote and is expected to prevail, signaling the continuance of business as usual among the U.K.’s establishment. Notably, there is at least one report of young voters being turned away from polling stations at Keele University in the constituency of Newcastle-under-Lyme, where Labour won the last election in 2015 by a slim margin.

[Update]: British media is now forecasting a hung Parliament.

(Update: Corbyn wins election – Ed.)

4. Explosion at U.S. embassy in Ukraine deemed act of terror — While Americans’ eyes are glued to C-SPAN to watch James Comey’s interrogation, authorities have called an explosion at the U.S. embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, a terror attack. In normal times, this kind of attack would be major headline news, but in the media’s current narrative trying pin Hillary Clinton’s devastating electoral loss on Russia, it’s nowhere to be found. “Investigators found that an unknown person threw an explosive device on the territory of the diplomatic mission,” a local police statement said, as reported by the Times of Israel. There were no injuries reported, and the embassy remains open.

5. Hillary Clinton is back in the news for all the wrong reasons — Hillary has come under fire from Berniecrats and the progressive left once again after screenshots from her book went viral on social media showing she benefitted from what some are calling modern-day slave labor in the form of African-American prison workers. One Black Lives Matter activist called her comments “disgusting.” Further, conservative watchdog Judicial Watch just released a Hillary Clinton email showing she “knowingly used an unsecure BlackBerry device despite being warned by ‘security hawks’ against doing so” during her time as Secretary of State. And finally, from today’s Comey hearing, the former FBI director said he was pressured to roll back his investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email practices during the 2016 election shortly after former Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s highly publicized meeting with Bill Clinton.

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It’s possible new revelations will emerge from Comey’s testimony, and some might reveal damning information about Donald Trump, Russia, and the machinations of actors within federal government. But as the media’s obsessive focus remains fixed on these developments, it is always important to keep in mind the other, all-encompassing power structures that continue to forge ahead full throttle, from war to corporatism and the ongoing corruption of politicians.