Joe Biden wasn't kidding when he bragged in that shambolic Oval Office speech that bankrolling the twin slaughters in Ukraine and Gaza in one mega-appropriation would be a great investment for America.
Dark Brandon knew whereof he spoke. Weapons manufacturers like General Dynamics and Raytheon are already posting huge profits since Israel declared war on two million imprisoned Palestinians (duly demoted from human being status to terrorists or sub-human shields for Hamas for purposes of brainwashing the public).
As if that gruesome windfall isn't bad enough, the likelihood that the wealthy investors in mass death will have to pay taxes on their ill-gotten gains will be practically nil, if newly-crowned House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) gets his way.
That's because the House Rules Committee just introduced legislation requiring that the US's $14 billion aid package to Israel, helping to finance the genocide of Gazans, will be offset by $14 billion in cuts to the IRS.
Not only would investigations and prosecutions of wealthy tax evaders be brought to an effective screeching halt, the cuts would also do away with the free digital tax filing program for regular people. Internet filers would actually have to pay a fee for the privilege of underwriting both the military-industrial complex and the wealthy tax cheats.
The Republicans' rationale seems to be that we have to fight the Palestinian families over there by punishing the powerless families over here. What more apt day is it than Halloween for us to remind ourselves that capitalism is a zombie that must keep replicating itself by varying its diet. Too much is never enough for the ruling class monsters. They were created without any sense of repletion. They are never full. The more that they eat, the hungrier they get. That especially goes for funding the forever-wars.
The GOP's bill would, of course, have to pass in the Senate, and then require Biden's signature. It's not the punishment of the working class factor that endangers this noxious piece of racist, genocidal, class war legislation, however. It's yhat the extra billions that Biden is demanding for Ukraine war funding is not included. So it's probably already dead on arrival in its current form. Or should I say undead on arrival. We all know that any legislative monster worth its salt (and blood-spatter) will undergo the good old sausage-making treatment in the secret congressional abattoir.
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| Congress |
As far as the reputedly more deliberative Senate is concerned, they not only joined their lesser congressional brethren in enshrining their support of the Israel government, they unanimously and magically transformed a nation full of antiwar and anti-genocide protesters into enemies of the state. The Senate has officially redefined supporters of the Palestinians as supporters of Hamas terrorists. and anti-Semites to boot.
Instead of shambling around and consuming stuff in order to numb ourselves, regular people are waking up. We're not only taking another long-delayed stand against cruelty and war, we're also going out on strike. And we're winning.
"And then, above all, there is the new arrival - the thinking that does not shy away from the horror of the world, the darkness, but looks it straight in the face, and thus passes over into a different kingdom, which is not the kingdom of darkness." -- Henri Lefebvre.
22 comments:
If you ever run out of things to read, I recommend a report/book from the Lyndon Johnson era, called "The Report from Iron Mountain," by Leonard Lewin. Available from the Internet Archive.
It is a perfect satire of think-tank logic and writing, a supposedly secret study done of the effects of a lasting peace on the U.S. economy. It concludes that peace would be undesireable. Of course in my entire adult lifetime we've been at warsome place, sometimes several places, so the premise has not been put to the test.
And there is a conspiracy element to the report, with some prepared to believe that its presentation as a hoax is designed to hide that it is really true.
Well said Karen. A great description of the horrible, non-leadership that rules this country (and tries to rule the world). May the protests and strikes continue to grow stronger.
On Wednesday, all caring Joe called for a 'humanitarian pause' in the all out attack on Gaza (to free the hostages). And to try and cover his ass.
I was sitting next to a stranger on the plane and struck up a conversation. As luck would have it, he was a very intelligent, well-read man so the conversation was very interesting. The propaganda in Australia is similar to that of the U.S., so most Australians recite the same ideas that my "liberal Democratic" friends recite OR are mind-numbingly apathetic - This man was a shining exception and a true critical thinker.
After exchanging information garnered from a variety of sources, and sharing our opinions of where this mess is going to lead our respective countries, we both mourned what the future holds – another war, even nuclear war, being a very real possibility. Israel and the Israeli lobby are so powerful, few of our CongressCritters dare cross them - even they developed a conscience – which doesn’t seem too likely. The lesson of what happened to Jeremy Corbin remains fresh in every politician's mind no matter what part of the Western alliance they represent - and as with Julian Assange, a rape allegation can easily be arranged.
The only thing I can think of that might derail the drums of war is a serious economic crisis - another 2008-9 scenario. When I remember the suffering of the poor, working and middle classes in the U.S. resulting from the vulture capitalism that was allowed to run rampant up to the point of crisis, I dread the idea. Yet, it might be the only thing that gets people onto the streets to take back their government and influence their "representatives" to stop spending tax dollars on war and corporate welfare and start spending it on their own people. Even though the crash would be worse in many ways - deeper because of the out-of-control shadowy derivatives market and the inability and/or unwillingness of China to bail us out - the working class comes from a stronger position in that their labour is required and in shorter supply - and as Karen wrote in this post, "Instead of shambling around and consuming stuff in order to numb ourselves, regular people are waking up." We can only hope.
Israel's vengeful mass murdering of Palestinians, many of whom are innocent children, is pure madness and deserves a special name.
It's definitely not a 'War' when civilians are deliberately targeted and killed in their homes, schools, hospitals, refugee camps, churches, and even bakeries and ambulances, all while food, water, fuel, electricity and internet are cut off in their fenced-in concentration camp.
It's also not just a 'massacre', 'ethnic cleansing' or 'genocide' although it's certainly all of those.
No, the blatant, shameless, depraved indifference to the lives of civilians and unrelenting killing of innocents is unconscionable. Therefore, in recognition of the living hell on earth created by USrael, it should referred to as The Hellacaust.
While not exactly a copy of the original version, it's close enough for Government work - looking at you, Israel and US Empire.
'An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind' but it's White supremacist governments and their loyalists that have blinded themselves. The rest of us now see their true nature with crystal clarity and no amount of propaganda can erase that.
‘We’re a war machine as a nation’: The truth about American politics —
“We prefer war over healthcare.
We prefer war over housing.
We prefer war over education.
We prefer war over the economic welfare of our own citizens”
https://therealnews.com/were-a-war-machine-as-a-nation-the-truth-about-american-politics
November 3, 2023 ~ by Chris Hedges
Israel’s ongoing massacre in Gaza has stirred worldwide calls for a ceasefire to stop the genocide unfolding. The United States has been no exception, which countless demonstrators taking to the streets in recent weeks. That hasn’t stopped the US government from backing Israel’s horrific campaign in Gaza to the hilt. The White House has refused to heed calls for a ceasefire and even deployed two aircraft carriers to the Mediterranean—not to defend Palestinians, but to dissuade regional powers from joining the fray to defend Palestine. As the possibility of a regional war looms with the entry of Yemen into the conflict, many wonder how the US might respond to such a scenario. Former US Congressperson Dennis Kucinich joins The Chris Hedges Report for a discussion on the US war machine—what it is, how it works, and how it might respond should the war in Palestine spiral into a wider conflagration.
Reporting has now surfaced, like in the "Intercept", of the increase in nefarious interference politics by AIPAC, DMFI, and the like to displace any U S politician or official who is not a declared supporter of Israel, with a pro-Israel candidate recruited by them. A lot of incentive money appears to be involved. I don't recall ever hearing that our revered "founding fathers" ever mentioned money as the prime mover in politics. Has the outrage over alleged Russian meddling in U S elections been forgotten? Rashida and Ilhan are the obvious prime targets.
The recently resigned U N lawyer Mokhiber, was labeled anti-semitic by a university president for having said that human rights under international law belong to Christians, Muslims, et al, AND Jews.
To me, it seems, that this entity called "the people", which our declaration and constitution enshrines as the final arbiter of political power is to be kept divided, deluded and powerless at any cost and by any means. As the supposed egalitarian institutional supports, like the press and public education, are corrupted, the only thing left to articulate justice is the individual human conscience. I try to imagine what it must have felt like to be anti-slavery in the early nineteenth century.
A listened to a Palestinian regret having had three children under those conditions.
Ta-Nehesi Coates recently said, about his visit to the West Bank, that a situation that is quite simple will be referred to as "very complicated" by the obfuscators. Indeed, what is complicated about apartheid and oppression, or about what the German Nazis called "Lebensraum"? It's difficult to respond to what you consider just too complicated. As Obama just delivered the obligatory equivocating speech, according to NYT reporter Lerer,
"to acknowledge the limits of his musings about...embracing complexity." He complained about "sloganeering", but not the "Israel has the right to defend itself" slogan in particular that those who have been equivocated into a stupor resort to for an opinion. No black vs white, "axis of evil" here.
Besides having said, "Prior to taking revenge, dig two graves", Confucius said, "To correct politics, first rectify the language." They're calling this mass slaughter of innocents a "war"? Oh, yes, Hamas hides in the ambulances headed for bombed by Hamas hospitals. However, we need to stop thinking that we can affect change with endless complaining. It is impressive how persistently well organized and funded these monsters are. Recall that Stalin granted Russians free speech, for a while, so that he could round up his critics and opposition (So I've heard).
I know this is a bit rambling, but I'd like to participate. I'm not a young person, but, to some extent I've been prevented from developing a voice. I'm hoping it's not too late.
I saw the Hedges/Kucinich interview and all I could think was this decent and intelligent man could have been our President. What a tragedy for our country!
I just read an article in Counterpunch, "Israeli Rabbi Describes Settler Rampages Across West Bank" written by Jeremy Appel. It is about an American born, Israeli Rabbi who is fighting to protect Palestinians and the harassment Jews of integrity and compassion, like him, endure at the hands of this psychotic regime. After reading that article, there is no doubt in my mind that this genocide is a Holocaust. Each group has a Nazi counterpart: These settlers - or at least the ones described in articles I have read since the war began - sound like Brown Shirts, the military and police sound and act like the SS and Netanyahu is like many in the Nazi leadership. What hypocrites the Israelis are to keep pulling out the history of the German Holocaust when they are supporting, and in some cases participating in, a holocaust of their own making. I don't think Israelis will ever be able to hide behind their victimhood again. The fact that Biden, his administration and our Congress threw their lot in with the Netanyahu regime says everything about us as a nation at this particular time in history.
Richard Wolfe speaks eloquently and compassionately on this topic on The Critical Hour, episode: Weekly News Wrap Up; UN Official Resigns; Hezbollah Leader Speech; Blinken in Israel
It's a Holocaust and Israel has forfeited the right to exist.
"It may be necessary temporarily to accept a lesser evil, but one must never label a necessary evil as good."
~ Margaret Mead
An astute and concerned friend forwarded a message she received from ProgressiveHub.net.
That listed "Six Things Your Television Just Failed to Tell You" which included:
1. At Least 31% Of Mass Shooters Were Trained To Shoot By The U.S. Military
2. Many Israeli October 7th Survivors Don't Want Revenge
3. They Let Humanitarian Aid In. Then They Bombed It So That Gaza Would Starve
4. Israel Is Arming Fascist Militias To Suppress Dissent, Knesset Member Warns
5. Israel Is Arming Fascist Militias To Suppress Dissent, Knesset Member Warns
6. Biden’s Israel-Palestine Policy Could Cost Him The Election
Not having a TV for several years, for me the subject headline was both revealing and ironic.
But whether via television broadcast, or by any other corporate-owned media, the underlying fact, exemplified there, is that all are lying, by omission as well as commission.
The most disturbing effect appears to be a looming defeat of Joe Biden, noted as number six on the list.
Today, the New York Times (a damnably egregious part of the problem) posted:
Trump Leads in 5 Critical States as Voters Blast Biden, Times/Siena Poll Finds —
Voters in battleground states said they trusted Donald J. Trump over President Biden on the economy, foreign policy and immigration, as Mr. Biden’s multiracial base shows signs of fraying.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/05/us/politics/biden-trump-2024-poll.html
Nov. 5, 2023 ~ by Shane Goldmacher
Those states are Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, with Wisconsin barely 2 points apart.
What progressives fail to recognize and act accordingly is that Joe Biden (and everything he represents) actually contributes to our current multiple crises, and consequently must be replaced post haste.
Now the corporate-controlling, powers-that-be who thrived under Trump (massive tax cuts for the rich), and are doing just fine under Biden (who assured the rich that "nothing will change"), plainly don't care, because it is a win for them either way.
A truly progressive alternative is anathema to the status quo and will not be given traction, let alone audience.
I'm afraid that 2024 will be as tumultuously catastrophic as was 1968.
I saw a poll that Biden is 4 points behind Trump, but generic "any Democrat not Biden" is 8 points ahead of Trump.
That 12 point swing is the price of running Biden.
I doubt Biden can convince the real elites of the Democratic Party to pay that high a price for the privilege of him as their front man.
He will exit the stage gracefully, or by hook. But he's gone.
It will be most gratifying to see the hubristic Biden given "the hook" by his own party.
@annengma--
"It's a Holocaust and Israel has forfeited the right to exist."
So. Did Germany "forfeit the right to exist" after creating the original definition of the Holocaust?
Did Japan, after the rape of Nanking and their assorted war crimes?
Things seem to have turned out otherwise, no? They both seem to be our buddies now, don't they?
The U.S. and the British carried out what might be now considered "Holocaust-worthy" attacks with the firebombings of Dresden and Tokyo. And yet, is the U.S. seriously accused of war crimes? Hardly.
And then, of course, there're the ultimate "war crimes," the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Does anyone really care about the tens of thousands of Japanese who died in those attacks, except for a few remaining Japanese? Tens of thousands of Americans who were awaiting the potentially bloody invasion of Japan were GRATEFUL for the dropping of those two bombs and the ending of the war. No holocaust or war crime there.
Hey, all's fair in love and war. Pick a fight--as Hamas did--and pay the price. Maybe a bigger price than you anticipated. Just as did the Germans and the Japanese.
And yet, unlike the Palestinians and Israelis--and, perhaps, the Irish and the Northern Irish--past sins can sometimes be forgotten. The Palestinians get no sympathy from me.
Holocaust? It only depends upon who the victor is. And right now, the Israelis seem to be winning.
The die is cast. Israel has already lost.
Israel might be winning from a military standpoint - a giant, well-funded war machine turned loose on a helpless population - made up in huge part by defenceless women and children - children far too young to have voted for Hamas (which makes them innocent beyond a doubt). But the world is turning against Israel and people all over the planet see Israel as the evil, bully it is.
There is even a new term for it, "the Global Majority." And while governments might be too afraid of the U.S. to turn on Israel or are too afraid of getting involved in a larger war in the Middle East, they no longer give Israel the benefit of the doubt or will mourn if Israel gets its due. It is, by its own actions, a pariah of a nation. All the good will granted to it out of pity and compassion because of the European Holocaust is melting away. The Settler Colonialists and Netanyahu and Israeli politicians like him are widely despised for being racial terrorists and committing their own Holocaust. Israelis are no longer victims, they are perpetrators.
And a holocaust is a holocaust. We shouldn't think that the U.S. came out of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki without blemish. The world, and more importantly, History, knows what we did - and why we did it. When our empire finally falls, people will remember and speak of what we have done as a nation and it will be our turn to feel shame.
Today, inscrutably, the two comments I had posted to this, and which did appear in the comments as of yesterday, are now "missing" from the action.
Why?
"So. Did Germany "forfeit the right to exist" after creating the original definition of the Holocaust?
"Did Japan, after the rape of Nanking and their assorted war crimes?"
Yes, Germany did. It lost all of its government, right down to the local level, and much of its territory. Some lost territory is gone permanently, to Poland and Czechoslovakia and France, including key old territory such as Prussia, Pomerania, and Posen part of ancient Prussia, and Silesia (taken by Frederick the Great in 1745). The rest was divided among victors for decades.
Japan did more than we like to admit of our now-ally. It lost a "home island" when Formosa became Taiwan. It lost its northern island to Russia. It lost part of Okinawa to permanent occupation by the American military. Its government was supervised by a "viceroy" and re-written to the pleasure of the US in a Constitution still in force.
This is exactly the sort of thing we need to do with Israel, to end its warmongering and abuses of civilians.
Erik,
I restored both your comments. I have no idea why they disappeared. Please, everybody, let me know when this happens. I am not always here to constantly check - in this instance I was actually writing another post when it happened. It's very annoying for all of us.
@Mark Thomason
OK, so Germany and Japan lost some territory and had dramatic changes to their governments. Big deal. In the long run they both retained their cultural identities and are now respected and influential members of the international community. They still exist and generally thrive.
And you might care to think about just how “we” (What “we?”) will dismantle a country with 80-100 nuclear weapons and a variety of delivery methods. Look how “respect” for North Korea dramatically increased with development of its tiny arsenal.
Israel will continue to exist.
@Mark Thomason
Correction: Israel’s nuclear arsenal could be as large as 400 warheads.
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