Monday, April 8, 2024

The November Lottery: A Boycott, Divest, Sanction Scenario

When six white Western aid workers and their Palestinian driver were droned to death by Israel in Gaza last week, Joe Biden was so livid that he got right on the horn with Bibi. It turned out that the dead workers were employees of a wealthy personal friend of his. 

Joe has frequently dined at his high-end restaurants and had even appointed him to lead a White House nutrition council.

And just like that, Netanyahu withdrew his troops from the section of Gaza territory that his troops  were occupying and destroying. Biden had finally threatened to stop sending him the American weapons and ammunition that are so essential for the continued genocide of Palestinians. 

The deaths of six white Westerners with connections to a wealthy mover and shaker within Biden's own Beltway Bubble moved Biden like the deaths of more than 32,000 Gazans had not. After all, Palestinians all look alike to Biden.

He as much as admitted this fact to a Muslim doctor he'd invited ibto his inner sanctum to celebrate the end of the Ramadan fast. She had shown the president photos of injured  starving Gazan children in an attempt to move him. But all that he muttered in response was "I've seen those."

As the physician later told NBC News, however, this would have been impossible,  since they were private unpublished pictures she had taken herself. 

They all look alike to Biden because he is a racist, unable or unwilling to see the humanity of children with a darker skin color than his own. The Gaza genocide itself is the extreme manifestation of a global racialist capitalism, which grows and grows even to the point tof its own extinction, by extracting wealth and even life itself from various populations in the Global South. 

So how long will this de facto "truce" last? Some say Israel is only regrouping and preparing for a final assault in the south of Gaza, where more than a million refugees are trapped. 

Through  their favorite New York Times mouthpiece, Zionists say they fear that even Bibi's temporary acaquiescene to Biden's selective rage will lieave Israel vulnerable to attack by Hamas or even directly by Iran, in retaliation for its bombing of its embassy in Syria. Perhaps the embattled Netanyahu is even hoping for another  epic attack on his own people  thus giving him all the justification he thiks he needs to wipe out the entire Palestinian population with the help of those 2,000-pound American bombs.

Speaking of the New York Times, the paper of record devoted the prime upper left real estate of its digital front page Sunday to the plight of Biden and other Democrats who are finding no peace of their own, thanks to the thousands of protesters converging on their high-dollar  campaign events and even in front of their own luxurious homes. The way the Times frames it, you'd think that verbal attacks on these politicians and the inconvenience caused to their families are worse than the assault on Gaza itself. Protesters even poured buckets of fake blood on the heavily armed chauffeured car of the Secretary  of State himself!

The not-so-subliminal message in the Times piece is that if Biden loses to Trump n November, it will be the fault of the protest movement. The Times even grouses that the protesters are not also showing up at Trump campaign events- as if supposing that The Donald is also sending bombs to Israel despite not currently being in power. Maybe he stashed some ammo at Maga-Largo along with all those top-secret purloined papers.

Buried deep within the Times article is the chilling revelation that the Biden campaign and/or the FBI are screening the social media accounts of all the ticketholders to his campaign events. Several people were denied admission to his Radio City extravaganza because they were deemed to be anti-genocide threats. One elderly ticket holder, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, was escorted from the premises to that the Biden people called the "Solutions Tent" to get an explanation. All decisions to admit or not to admit, were of course Final.

But the suppression of protest by this division of the Censorship-Industrial Complex was not entirely foolproof:

One protester, Hannah Ryan, 33, a photographer from Brooklyn, said she had been flagged by the campaign, asked a battery of questions about people she knew and how she had acquired her ticket, and had then been allowed in. She shouted at Mr. Obama, who told her and other protesters, “You can’t just talk and not listen.”

The Times omitted the  last part of Obama's retort,  when he scolded that people who rudely interrupt their betters and speak out against genoicde are behaving just like "the other side." He is still operating under the delusion that people primarily identify themselves as members of a corrupt duopoly. If the Times had completed the quote, it would not have been a good look for him, comparing lefty protesters to right-wing rudeniks  at Trump rallies. It would only have highlighted the thoughtless Manichean mindsets common to politicians whose whole reason for being is to serve the 'rules-based order" - their euphemism for the reign of voracious, predatory, unfettered global capitalism. It would have exposed Obama's insistence that bland civility is the very essence of democracy to be the fraud it always has been. His  attempted repression of public voices is rapidly losing its overhyped "rock-star" punch -  if it hasn't collapsed from the cloying weight of its own hot air already.

Thus are Democrats beginning to openly avoid the public sphere,  because they fear the public. If Trump wins in November, he too will fear the public. And this "public" will have nothing to do with the phony bourgeois pro-Hillary "pink pussyhat" crowds  hurling invective at him from their tony neighborhoods. Hillary Clinton herself was heckled by savvy students at her Wellesley alma matter over the weekend. They correctly pointed out that her neoliberal brand has aided and abetted the mass murder of women in Palestine.

Like Obama, Clinton is so arrogant that she she doesn't seem to realize that telling protesters to "get over yourselves" on the Jimmy Fallon talk show is not a winning strategy for getting Biden re-elected.

Since voting for either Biden or Trump this November is providing the neoliberal capitalist world order the fig leaf of consent for its continued oppressive rule, I won't be   partaking in this fraud at all, unless it is to vote for Jill Stein or Cornel West. A vote for Republicans or Democrats or even RFK Jr. is essentially a vote for the militarized world banking system and transnational corporations. These are the entities profiting from plunder and genocide in all their varieties. The politicians we elect are simply the middle-men and women acting as financialized capitalism's buffer zone.

So my vote is for the brave protesters making both the oligarchs and their political lackeys so uncomfortable and feeling more vulnerable than they're used to. That is why they are lashing out at us and attempting to censor us.

We are at a time of great crisis and a time of great change. Fighting for Palestinians is a fight for ourselves. Now that more and more people, especially the young, are realizing that capitalism  itself is the real monster behind the evils of the world, the many will find the wherewithal to defeat it and the  precious few corporations and billionaires currently at the increasingly uncontrollable controls.

Socialism is no longer a dirty word, especially for the young and the downtrodden. That is what gives me such hope.

18 comments:



  1. “All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally accompanies it. The character of the voters is not staked. I cast my vote, perchance, as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that that right should prevail. I am willing to leave it to the majority. Its obli­gation, therefore, never exceeds that of expediency. Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.”
    ― Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience

    “Remember something, if you will, about voting: Voting is not a horse race, you're not going there thinking 'Gee, I gotta pick the winner so I can brag to my friends - Oh, I picked so-and-so and he or she won.' Voting is voting your heart and voting your conscience and when you've done that, don't ever, EVER let a Democrat or Republican tell you that you've wasted your vote because the fact is, if you DON'T vote your heart and conscience then you HAVE wasted your vote.”
    ― Jesse Ventura

    ReplyDelete

  2. I recommend listening to Jeffrey Sachs on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour, including Ralph's piece, "Israeli Leaders’ Objective All Along Has Been the Expulsion of Occupied Palestinians and Seizure of Their Remaining Land."

    https://www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/p/saving-israel-and-palestine?utm_source=podcast-email%2Csubstack&publication_id=1047405&post_id=143537829&utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack&utm_medium=email&r=1gm7xf&triedRedirect=true

    ReplyDelete
  3. For all those in the party faithful who think the NYT is still a good newspaper, https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/requiem-for-the-new-york-times-read?publication_id=778851&post_id=143660241&r=7ya9a&triedRedirect=true

    ReplyDelete
  4. The NYT's idea of dispensing proper propaganda is through 'style directives' and 'style guidance' to obscure pure evil and deny genocide.

    From the Intercept:

    Leaked NYT Gaza Memo Tells Journalists to Avoid Words “Genocide,” “Ethnic Cleansing,” and “Occupied Territory”

    https://theintercept.com/2024/04/15/nyt-israel-gaza-genocide-palestine-coverage/

    They're also told to avoid referring to 'Palestinians' and instead use the term 'Gazans'. Israelis are said to be 'slaughtered' or 'massacred' but Palestinians just 'died' or were 'killed' but no mention of who killed them or how they died, as if their death could be from natural causes.

    'Explosions', not missile strikes, kill multitudes at hospitals as if an oxygen tank accidentally exploded. Palestinians are 'starving' instead of intentionally being starved to death.

    On and on it goes, propaganda in every way, shape, and form. Boycott NYT!

    ReplyDelete

  5. Pro-Israel money pours in to unseat progressives in congressional races --
    Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush face formidable challenges but Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Summer Lee in stronger positions.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/17/pro-israel-money-progressives-congress-challenges
    17 April 2024 ~ by Alice Herman, Joan E Greve, and Will Craft

    EXPUNGE GOOGLE !
    No Tech for Apartheid: Google Workers Arrested for Protesting Company’s $1.2B Contract with Israel —
    https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/17/no_tech_for_apartheid_google_israel
    April 17, 2024
    >>>—USE INSTEAD—> https://duckduckgo.com/

    "Don't Be Evil, How Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles — and All of Us",
    by Rana Foroohar, Currency, an imprint of Random House, NY, 2019.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "He (Obama) is still operating under the delusion that people primarily identify themselves as members of a corrupt duopoly." Hard to believe, in eight short years, the abuse of power has been so blatant and the missteps so obvious that I would guess a third of our population no longer trusts our elected officials to govern wisely on our behalf. I agree, Karen, the tired old Lesser of Two Evils isn’t going to work as it has in the past. When my Party Faithful friends try to use it on me and say people like me will be to blame for a Trump presidency, I shoot right back and say that the DNC is to blame for giving us such unqualified, stupid, corrupt candidates and that the Party Faithful is to blame for not being better informed and for not holding our Democratic politicians accountable for good governance. Why can’t Biden fall on his sword for his country and go against the will of Israel? Why can’t he pardon Julian Assange? It is not like he’s going to win in November. I’ll tell you why. It is because he is a selfish, egotistical, unpatriotic, reprehensible man.

    As I've written here before, I've pretty much alienated all of my friends with my openness to seeing both sides of geopolitical events unfolding - kind of like the way we were all raised to think. Remember quarrels at school where a wise adult would sit the two kids down and help them to understand the point of view of the other child? Then that adult would model good judgement by getting to the root of the problem and advise wisely, resulting in peace or at least a détente? It seems like most of our political leaders have forgotten those lessons in their Lord of the Flies approach to international relations – or in dealing with their dissatisfied electorate. But the awakening is slowly taking place. I take courage from the fact that there are others like me - people I don't know – who, thanks to alternative media, are also able to find one another and see through the propaganda that is non-stop.

    I take heart in the young people who – perhaps because of lack of exposure to the MSM - or thanks to the aforementioned alternative media and the boots on the ground videography that allows them to show what is really happening in Palestine, are speaking and acting out. They are informed and are not buying what the propaganda wing, the MSM, of the government is selling. They have the critical thinking skills to understand that our elected officials aren't working in our best interest and like the empires of history, are more than ready and willing to send their younger generation to fight their endless wars for land and resources. They see how decimated Ukraine is – and they see the population of people their age being conscripted and then wasted on a pointless war. – much as the young people in the sixties and seventies understood the same about the Vietnam War. Is this the “Fourth Turning?” I hope so. There is only so much more materialism and war the human race can take. (to be continued)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sorry - I went on so long that I have to divide my comment into two parts!

    Furthermore, and maybe it is me, but it seems that this younger generation isn't allowing itself to be blamed or labelled or shamed. When I started my career, in a small Texas town where racism simmered under the surface, I overheard a white boy calling a black boy a ni..er and that black boy calling the white boy a honkey. The word honkey didn't have the power to hurt or humiliate the way the ”n” word did. In that way, the antisemite, Jew hater, Putin lover, China apologist labels just don't stick - nor will, I believe, protesters and those who refuse to vote for Biden or Trump allow themselves to be blamed for the disastrous government that is to come. Nader and his supporters, because they are the types of people to critically think about the consequences of their choices, somehow took on a little of that blame – although, we all know they are blameless for wanting a more just governance – but not THIS group. This group is defiant and their numbers are growing. Furthermore, their actions are resonating with an older generation that is, albeit very, very slowing, also awakening after decades of slumber.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment is in reference to Erik's link on pro Israel money being spent to unseat progressive candidates.

    I just don't understand why these candidates and their supporters don't just get out there and say, "Unlike the opposition, my vote isn't for sale." Or "Who owns our government? The Israel Lobby?" Or "The Israel Lobby is working against my candidacy. Have you ever asked yourself why?"

    Even if all they get are supporters marching around with signs on street corners. I think all Americans can agree that we don't want a foreign government running OUR government. Where is the movement and the blow back on The Lobby?

    ReplyDelete
  9. @Valerie

    It's not just our U.S. Government under ownership of a certain foreign country. I follow several journalists and economists in the UK on X and they've been commenting on the outsize influence of the Israel lobby there.

    The 'Conservative Friends of Israel' is a British parliamentary group which counts former PM David Cameron among it's many members. It's said to be the largest, with 80% of the Conservative Party.

    From the river to the sea, set us all free!






    ReplyDelete
  10. @Though Criminal,

    Apparently, it is here in Australia as well. Although I don't follow politics the same way I do the U.S. - Mainly because our alternative media isn't so great and John Pilger, my main source - other than Caitlin Johnstone - recently died.

    ReplyDelete

  11. Run Jesse run!
    But the deadly problem is that the damn duopoly controls who can be on OUR ballot.

    Watch YouTube interview below, ignore media slanted headline, and note how Jesse counters CNN's Burnett.

    Former Gov. Jesse Ventura boasts he could beat unpopular Trump or Biden if he ran for president —
    The pro wrestler-turned-politico defended Robert F. Kennedy's decision to run as third-party candidate.
    https://www.startribune.com/jesse-ventura-biden-trump-cnn/600360168/
    April 19, 2024 ~ by Eder Campuzano, Star Tribune

    CNN OUT FRONT FMR GOV JESSIE VENTURA INTERVIEW 04 18 2024
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG1j7_TxRm0



    ReplyDelete
  12. Really Missing JayApril 19, 2024 at 4:20 PM

    It really is a shame that RFK Jr threw his lot in with Israel. With his intelligence and his legal career, not to mention the information we all have on the corruption surrounding the Covid vaccine (which has certainly made me question whether my decision to get vaccinated was the right one) to say nothing of the name recognition of the Kennedy name, IMHO, he could have drawn a lot of disenchanted votes.

    Not to make excuses for a guy who so enthusiastically supports a country that is acting like N@z! Germany, but I expect Moss@d has a lot on him, considering his "friendship" with Jeffrey Epstein when he was using drugs - and he probably thought he couldn't take on the Israeli Lobby in addition to the DNC and the RNC. But Jr gambled wrong. He had no idea how blatant and shameless that country's behaviour and overt racism has been revealed to be and how much the world is ready to hate Israel and the reprehensible Israeli Lobby.

    At the same time, I am getting pretty disgusted with all of these charismatic people coming out of the woodwork who haven't put their in time in Congress, learning the ropes for a few election cycles, before deciding they are fit to run for POTUS. I am not even sure governors are qualified - although Jimmy Carter certainly was exceptional. While I think Jesse Ventura is better than either Trump or Biden in terms of ethics and common sense, he's nothing compared to Elizabeth Warren or Dennis Kucinich. And we need Warren given the destructive influence of the Big Banks and the twisted system of derivatives. Unless someone really good comes out of Left Field, I'm sticking with Jill Stein who at least, through trial by fire, understands the system. Cornell's style of being folksy just isn't going to fly with most voters and those of us voting outside the duopoly need to coalesce around one candidate.

    Non sequitur, I have been listening to Sputnik radio and happened across this article on Israel. I found it quite informative. It is as common sense would assume, Israel is in big trouble economically - as opposed to the Israeli/West propaganda that is being spouted by the MSM. Just a lot of solid information and facts. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240419/israel-cant-afford-escalation-with-iran-and-gaza--1118019349.html

    ReplyDelete
  13. Check out Trackaipac.com!

    It lists amounts the Israel lobby donates to House and Senate members.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Zionocracy!

    Alon Mizrahi, an Arab Jew living in Israel, used that term in an essay on X to describe the new system of government imposed on us by the Anglo-American-Israel empire, aka 'The West'.

    He says we're allowed to disagree, debate, argue, and dissent about anything EXCEPT Zionism. That is not tolerated.

    "To find out who rules over you, simply find out who you're not allowed to criticize." Try using that quote and you will be met with angry accusations that it's associated with anti-semitism. Case closed!

    Common sense can get you arrested these days.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh wow, the Streisand Effect! After the Ziobedient Columbia U President ordered cops to arrest pro-Palestine protesters at Columbia, it's spreading like wildfire at other campuses.

    There goes the First Amendment, however, due to the Chosen Ones claiming to feel unsafe and uncomfortable. I guess it's their dark skin that makes them so easy to identify, right? No, of course not, but being a pathetic, self-absorbed, entitled whiner does. That's just my 1st amendment two cents worth.

    Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions should accelerate now, just as it did when students were instrumental in ending apartheid in South Africa. But this is totally different. These kids are standing up to Zionism, a gigantic real life monster and the Third Rail of politics.

    As we've sadly learned over the past 7 months, there's no one in Government to end this madness. We've learned not just who's participating in genocide while lying and denying it, but who's eagerly capitalizing on it. It's been a horrifying awakening in all respects. We're ruled by monsters.

    Zionism appears to be the glue that is binding capitalist-racist-colonialist Western governments together, covering them a facade of religious and moral legitimacy, enabling them to claim they're saviors preventing a second Holocaust of the Jews. (Lord help us). On the other hand, we're heathens and devils who protest and object to their righteous slaughter.

    Those students need all the courage, strength, encouragement, and appreciation they can get. Remember what was done to activists in early October before the real horrors were revealed? They were doxxed, blackballed, and had their lives ruined, their faces and names were posted online, on billboards, and buses. By Zionists.

    Now because of the Columbia Univ president, those kids will have criminal records which will ruin their credit rating. This isn't the old days anymore. Courts send judgments straight to credit rating agencies for inclusion. Credit ratings are used for everything, from loans to rent to employment to insurance rates.

    I hope every one of those arrested sues the pants off Columbia and the U President for violations of the 1A and costs they will incur throughout their lifetimes and damage to their reputations and career opportunities because of her.

    Congress is also currently in the process of vastly expanding surveillance powers due to alleged "unprecedented domestic threats coming from all directions" (pro-Palestinian 'antisemitism'). So expect more stings of pro-Palestinian activists where FBI infiltrates and constructs 'terrorist' threats, like arsonist firefighters.

    Ironic that it's our governments who "hate us for our freedom", particularly our First Amendment. Even Supreme Court Justice Brown-Jackson expressed concern in a recent case that the 1st Amendment stifles the government. What a maroon.

    So... can we expect any of these students to vote for Genocide Joe? Will their parents? When Occupy happened the kids spread the ideas to their parents and I expect the same result now - the Genocide Joe Effect!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I had a friend, years ago, who was my mother's age. She came from an upper middle class conservative Republican family. Their son was drafted during the Vietnam War and fled to Canada. Just as you said, Thought Criminal; suddenly, his war mongering Conservative parents were upsetting all their friends by speaking out against the Vietnam War. Young people showing their parents videos of the genocide, dinner conversations and arguments, children reminding their parents of religious teachings about peace and justice, reminders of the similarities with the Holocaust. We are winning. Genocide Joe will lose - unfortunately, Genocide Donald and Genocide Jared, both who are without any conscience or shame, will win.

    My concern in the last few days is that there are rumours that Israel traded not attacking Iran and starting WW3 for being able to attack Rafah with impunity. Unbelievable that this is even being discussed! While I am no fan of Obama, I sure wish he was president right now.

    There is a very good discussion between Naomi Klein and Yanis Varoufakis on fascism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhz0RWJxRyg Well worth a listen.

    I wish I could talk to JayOttawa right now.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I am back to loving Naomi Klein. After being annoyed with her about seeing through RFK Jr from the beginning and putting him in the Doppelganger group - I apologise to Naomi! She was right, I was wrong. James Webb worked on his campaign for a time and quit, publicly, calling RFK Jr a dilettante.(Interview with Scott Horton - letter of resignation here: https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/james-r-webb-resigns-from-robert-f-kennedy-jr-campaign/)

    At this point, I think RFK's main value is in showing that a Third Party candidate can be viable enough to take away from the Trump vote.

    ReplyDelete
  18. "Republican Rep. Majorie Taylor-Greene has proposed an amendment requiring lawmakers who vote in favor of the $60 billion Ukrainian aid bill to join the country’s military."

    Strange world when I find myself agreeing with Taylor-Green.

    ReplyDelete