Cognitive Dissonance

Update: Since this was published online, there's been yet another mass murder--this time at an elementary school in Ulvade, Texas. We'll talk about it in next Tuesday's post, but in the meantime, I believe this week's theme explains much about America's obsession with gun violence and sponsoring bloody warfare around the world.

This week we're all still reeling from the hideous massacre of ten African Americans by an 18 year old white boy. Shooter Payton Gendron drove three hours to predominantly Black East Buffalo to hunt down residents. His 180 page manifesto demonstrates that he idolizes the white supremacy philosophy of the Ukrainian Azov Battalion. Where did an American kid ever get such a horrific idea that actual Nazis are to be worshiped and glorified? 

Could it be that our dumping of billions of dollars of weaponry into the current proxy war and the mainstream media's downplaying of the Nazi white supremacist attitudes of the Ukrainian militias is to blame? Gendron made it clear that he sympathized with the Azov Battalion when he displayed their Nazi symbology, yet Biden and his neoliberal lackeys in the media continually downplay and actively try to rehabilitate their members' heinous reputations.

Our armchair historian gives us the following words of warning to those who would try to excuse fascism.

No Such Animal

by Coast Watcher

Knowing history as I do, I am continuously baffled by those who insist that there are "good Nazis."

People, there’s no such animal!

All those images of young men (and it is young men for the most part) sporting battledress badges and tattoos with Nazi symbols are exactly what they appear to be—Nazis.

Symbols have meaning. A "Caution: Contents will be hot after heating" symbol means the contents of a receptacle will be hot after heating. "Danger: Wet floor" means the surface of the floor is wet and dangerously slippery. Nazi swastika, SS lighting bolt, and black sun images mean exactly what they indicate—the person wearing them is committed to persecuting Jews, Gays, the Roma, the disabled—in fact anyone their extreme right-wing ideology tells them to, to the point of killing them in the most brutal way possible.

There. Are. No. Good. Nazis.

If somebody tells you otherwise, refer them to a history of Nazi German atrocities during the 1930s through to 1945. Don't forget to include those perpetuated in Ukraine and Russia following Operation Barbarossa, the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. The Azov Battalion people you are praising to the skies for defending Ukraine against Russia are ideologically no different to those SS folk 77 years ago. In fact they wear the same symbols to show their ideological connection and affinity with those fascist invaders. The "enemy of my enemy is my friend" does not apply to these people.

Get this through your head: There. Are. No. Good. Nazis.
 

What does this defense of fascism mean to America and the West in the long run? Peace activist and former Green Party Vice Presidential candidate Ajamu Baraka states:

Zelensky talks about the need to “defend the West,” “Europeanness,” “Western values,” and the liberal/left does not recognize the inherent assumptions of white supremacy in those terms. But Payton Gendron did and is why he enlisted in Zelensky’s fight not in Ukraine but in the middle of an African American community.

An exaggeration?

History will determine that. But what some of us see is a racialized discourse operating just below the surface in which Europe and Europeaness that Ukrainians strive for is also connected to a racialized trope of Europe being ontologically civilized while the less-white Slavs are barbarians, prone to irrational violence, like the Russians who decided “out of nowhere” to just attack Ukraine!

We also understand that downplaying the threat of a resurgent white supremacist fascism in its most sophisticated form represented by Zelensky who has become that slick, right-wing politician with politics as racist as Trump but without the crudeness who many feared could emerge in the U.S. No one could have anticipated that person would emerge in Europe as the lovable face of fascism.

Buffalo closes the loop that connects crude white supremacy with its more polished and dangerous expression. Both of these versions represent a consensus that is committed to using force and violence to ensure that white power will not to be “replaced.” This new consensus has created the ideological foundation for the legitimation of a cross-class white supremacist defense of something called European values and the interests of Europe. The lack of concern for the consequences of the war and sanctions on the rest of the world confirms that this consensus and the interests it defends are in contradiction to the interests of the non-Western global majority.

For us, Buffalo is not a wake-up call but a declaration of war. 

--Ajamu Baraka, The New Supremacist Consensus Part Two

Related Articles:

Buffalo Shooter Wore the Same Neo-Nazi Symbol as Ukraine's Azov (video)  https://youtu.be/sZDR7hsMOi8 

Massacre in Buffalo Highlights the Legacy of Racist Violence https://popularresistance.org/massacre-in-buffalo-highlights-the-legacy-of-racist-violence/

The New Supremacist Consensus Part Two--Shootings in Buffalo Solidify the Consensus https://popularresistance.org/the-new-white-supremacist-consensus-part-two-shootings-in-buffalo-solidify-the-consensus/ 

New Laws Make It Hard for Some Educators to Discuss Buffalo Shooting in Class https://truthout.org/articles/new-laws-make-it-hard-for-some-educators-to-discuss-buffalo-shooting-in-class/

Buffalo, The Tulsa Massacre and the Legacy of Anti-Black Violence https://www.rsn.org/001/buffalo-the-tulsa-massacre-and-legacy-of-antiblack-violence.html 

Cornel West: "White supremacy is as American as apple pie, as the latest killings in Buffalo show. Biden needs to take a stand against neofascists."  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/21/trump-black-white-supremacy-buffalo-joe-biden

Anti-Terrorism Bill Targeting White Supremacists  https://truthout.org/articles/anti-terrorism-bill-targeting-white-supremacists-puts-house-gop-on-the-defensive/

TRC's Ukraine War Series  https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/p/ukraine-war-series.html

Hunter Biden Raked in $11 Million from China and Ukraine (video)  https://youtu.be/9FznPmC84bY 

Seen on Twitter:

What goes around comes around.
The Orwellian thought police may pretend Azov aren’t neo-Nazis. But for white-supremacists, the praise being heaped on Ukrainian neo-Nazis is a public relations coup.
That should terrify us all. https://t.co/TYhuLAD33t

— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) May 15, 2022

Biden went to Buffalo, read off the names of the people killed by a white supremacist and said there was no place for white supremacy in America

Days later he stole $40 billion from the American people to use part of the money to arm Nazis that use the same symbol as the killer

— Black in the Empire (@blackintheempir) May 20, 2022

No more civilians to hide behind, no more undertrained Nazis on the frontlines. Now it’s just Russia VS NATO head on. Get ready y’all. The battle is over but the war has just started.

— Unholy (@UnholyRom3) May 21, 2022

literally no one believes this pic.twitter.com/JnGVUnQ8Np

— Brook Hines 🌸 got the existential willies (@nashville_brook) May 21, 2022

They gave an extra 48 Billion and weapons to Ukraine and the next day they lost the battle. 😆 Talk about a waste of money.

— Unholy (@UnholyRom3) May 22, 2022

I knew our country was going downhill but I don't know if I imagined reaching the point where I had to explain why giving billions of dollars to arm Nazis is a bad idea

— Black in the Empire (@blackintheempir) May 23, 2022

Haiku:

Lead in the water,
Dotard in the white house,
Dollars for Nazis.

— Goldlärche (@goldlarche) May 23, 2022

Wars have always come home in one way or another.

— Kris Legion 🦺📢 (@LegionSocialist) May 25, 2022

When Political Ignorance Is Fatal

by Vegematic

It's been horrible. We've witnessed a corrupt judge do everything in his power to insure a blubbering, young, racist murderer walked free in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. We've seen a president initially hailed as the new FDR show where his true allegiances lie, not with the people but with Wall St. and corporate lobbyists.  The evisceration of the BBB bill was sadly all too predictable and typical of the faux progressive and feckless Democratic party. 

Anyone not familiar with with Joe Biden's history could be forgiven for actually believing he would be a transformational president. The truth about Biden is much darker. 

A leopard doesn't change its spots, and a corporatist and drug warrior is unlikely to have an epiphany at age 78. I view Biden as the geriatric face of the Clintonite wing of the party. These neoliberal dinosaurs are desperately clinging to failed 1980s economic policies and the politics of corporate oligarchy. 

Did Americans really think that Biden, the very architect of so many of the nation's worst policies, could be trusted to repair the damage he helped to create? Perhaps people should ponder that question when they wonder why Biden has not passed a single executive order. Or why he continually refuses to use his power while pathetically pleading with the outright fascist GOP for bipartisanship.

When Biden won the 2020 election, America and the world heaved a collective sigh of relief. Sane Americans had prevailed, and it seemed for a brief time that something at least akin to democracy had been preserved. Less than a year later, we are realizing that sense of relief was to be short lived. 

Many had expected justice to be served finally after four years of the most corrupt and lawless administration in history. When Merrick Garland was appointed attorney general many believed he would indict Trump and his fellow insurrectionists. Obvious and repeated crimes had been committed, and some naively believed that no one is above the law. Instead, the infection of fascism has been allowed to fester and grow. 

You cannot give fascism any quarter. You cannot compromise with it, reason with it, or tolerate it. You must crush it with every tool at your disposal before you are crushed by it.

So where does this leave America? With the Democratic Party poised to be annihilated in next year's midterms, it appears that yet again the party has chosen corporatism over democracy. By refusing to abolish the filibuster and pass desperately needed and immensely popular legislation, they are leading the nation directly back into Trump's sweaty little hands. One has to wonder if Manchin and Sinema are merely the assigned villains in a deliberate attempt to appear powerless while mollifying the Democratic establishment's corporate donors.

America, it seems, is heading into a deep abyss. Republican gerrymandering and voter suppression laws are being passed in state after state. Without immediate passage of voters' rights legislation, the country may well end up being permanently  governed by a fascistic minority. If that happens, the Democrats will be no less culpable than the MAGA-hatted yahoos who voted for Trump.

 

BIO: Our friend from the North (Canada, that is) is back! Catch Vegematic and his spectacular tenth anniversary videos this week on his You Tube channel.  Thanks, Veg, for all you do to keep our hopes alive as you peer deeply into the moral abyss that encompasses our current society.

https://youtu.be/j_tXrQKy6NA 

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This month, world leaders met in Glasgow for the global climate talks. And while the talks were historic in many ways, we didn't see any major commitment to stop the flow of investment to oil and gas projects.

So, we're increasing the stakes. Over the coming days and months, we're going to push more financial institutions to move their money away from fossil fuels: starting with one of the biggest fossil fuel investors, public pension funds.

Your representative has the power to decide whether public pension funds shift away from climate-destroying oil, gas, and coal investments.

Tell your state representative to divest public pensions from risky fossil fuel stocks.

Why are we focusing on public pension funds?

Public pensions are some of the biggest holders of fossil fuel stocks. 30% of all fossil fuel stocks are owned by pension funds. And public pension funds are some of the biggest pools of financial capital on Earth. Just in the United States, public pension funds control over $4.5 trillion in financial assets. That's a lot of money.

Moving a financial institution this huge and powerful might seem unwinnable, but this is where things get interesting: Public pension funds are vulnerable to public pressure because politicians have a say in how they function. And the politicians answer to us.

MESSAGE YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE NOW

State employees – from sanitation workers to firefighters and teachers – rely on state public pension funds for their well-earned retirement. We need to make sure that their funds are divested from fossil fuel corporations whose financial outlook is looking shakier and shakier by the day.

Your representative in the state house can change this. And we’ve built a tool you can use to send a message directly to them.

Will you use our tool to tell your state representative to secure pensions from risky fossil fuel stocks?

Some pension managers are beginning to recognize that there is no long term future for fossil fuel stocks. Earlier this year, New York State took its first steps in dropping fossil fuel stocks from its public pension funds. But in order to secure the retirements of public servants in an emissions-constrained world, we need to make sure their pensions are fossil-free.

I'm not going to lie to you: This fight is going to be hard. While some fund managers are starting to see the logic and the ethics behind this, financial instutions can be quite stubborn.

But the Stand.earth community has moved difficult targets before. We've gone up against multinational oil, gas, and coal companies worth billions of dollars and have come out victorious, blocking dozens of their projects. We've shifted billions of dollars of purchasing from corporate powerhouses like Starbucks, Staples, and Levi's onto more sustainable pathways.

By getting funds to divest from fossil fuels, we're following in the footsteps of divestment movements in the past, including the successes of the tobacco movement, and the divestment movement that helped bring down Apartheid. These victories happened because people like you dared to take a stand.

Can you send your message now?

In solidarity,

Amy Gray
Senior Climate Finance Strategist
Stand.earth

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Help Black Trans Lives Matter

Stop Violence Against Trans Women

& Save Lives

Black Trans Lives Matter was founded by black trans people who are sick and tired of being harassed, bullied, and victims of violence by strangers, coworkers, law enforcement, and even by those we know and love Can we count on you to commit to a donation of $25 to help us create a K12 curriculum about black trans people in order to combat racism and transphobia in our schools? We can't do it without you. Click here to contribute!

Donate Now

Black Trans Lives Matter

https://www.blacktranslivesmatter.life

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In a near-future dystopian world, hope blossoms where mutual aid and democracy begins...

Zonta’s world is turned upside down when Jake arrives at the commune to investigate the disappearance of agents of the Authority. Can she persuade him to switch sides before the Protectors (antifascist fighters) take action?

Available now from Extasy Books: https://www.extasybooks.com/Where-the-Bodies-Lie

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From RootsAction:

Save Sinjajevina's Nature and Local Communities from a Military Base! People in Montenegro have put their bodies in the way and prevented military exercises on their land -- an amazing victory! But they need our help to make their success permanent and end all efforts to build a NATO military training ground in the mountains of Montenegro. A little support from outside Montenegro can make a world of difference there. Please click here to learn more and to sign and share the petition!
The petition is addressed to: The EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement; and the Ministry of the Defense of Montenegro The petition reads: Stand with the local communities of Sinjajevina and the ecosystems they preserve and: • Ensure the removal of the military training ground in Sinjajevina in a legally binding manner. • Create a protected area in Sinjajevina co-designed and co-governed by local communities. Big events are planned to advance this campaign in the coming months. The more signers of the petition, the more powerful a tool it will be. Sign here. -- The RootsAction.org Team

 

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Let Us Be Thankful For Each Other

 

I wrote the following essay a couple of weeks before the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict came in. These were the contest specs:

Every year for Thanksgiving, the Wall Street Journal features a passage from a pilgrim detailing what colonists perceived when they arrived in the “New World.” The passage is full of disdain and racism towards indigenous people, and petition starter Randy, an indigenous activist, thinks it’s time to stop publishing this story.

But what should one of the nation’s most widely-read newspapers publish on Thanksgiving? How can we as a nation stop telling the false story behind the holiday and instead tell a story of our nation that honors indigenous people? We want to read something which positions the descendants of the U.S.’ original inhabitants and settlers as modern day accomplices in the fight for a more just nation...

So, in spite of the fight for a fair and just nation taking a bit of a blow from the Kenosha, Wisconsin trial, here's what I came up from the contest prompt. I really hope channels of communication stay open wide enough so we can continue to work through our conflicts and truly become thankful for each other.

Let Us Be Thankful For Each Other

by C.A. Matthews

If lockdowns and self-isolation have taught us anything, it's this: People need people. Real flesh and blood people, not just online people. We need a variety of people in our lives actually, because it can get awfully tiresome seeing the same four walls and the same few faces for weeks on end. Variety is the spice of life is how the old saying goes. So, let us enjoy meeting a variety of folks this holiday season along with hanging out with those most familiar to us.

One thing that Americans should be thankful for is that we have each other--and we're definitely not lacking in variety. We have a lovely diversity of Native peoples whose ancestors gifted those peoples who came to this continent later with their extensive knowledge of the flora and fauna. In return, these latecomers deprived the Native gift-givers of their lands, languages, and cultures. To make things even worse, the latecomers have up until recently made spurious claims that they are somehow the heroes of the story of how our peoples came together.

These outrageous wrongs should be addressed. Reparations should be made to the children of both our Native peoples as well as the children of those whose ancestors were brought to America in chains and forced to labor as slaves. Americans should make amends to all we have denied civil rights to because of their race, creed, or country of origin. 

Let's not kid ourselves. Americans are not perfect. Those Americans who don't appreciate our diversity of peoples are to be pitied, not lauded. They should be thankful that the majority have shown tolerance of their intolerance. We've been far too tolerant of this evil for far too long. On a holiday dedicated to thankfulness, let us practice forgiveness as well. First, we must beg forgiveness from all peoples we have wronged. Second, we must forgive ourselves for not acting sooner to end the harms of systemic racism.

As we gather around the Thanksgiving table to enjoy time-honored favorite dishes and conversation with friend and stranger alike, let us give thanks for each other. Sure, things could be better--much better--between us and our neighbors, but all is not lost. We still have each other. It's the one thing that in spite of our checkered past and our uncertain future we can count on--each other. And while there are open channels of communication, there is a possibility of healing.

Combining the strength of our different viewpoints, we can learn how to help each other and save our hurting world. There's no need to rely on only one viewpoint, only on one people's culture, overlooking all others'. Diversity is our strength. Variety is the spice that makes our homemade pumpkin pie recipes sing!

Americans, let us remember our past and vow not to repeat the worst parts of it. Let's put our self-centered ways behind us. Let us be there for our fellow Americans today and every day. This and every Thanksgiving, let us truly be thankful for each other. 

Travyon Martin was an unarmed 17-year-old kid. He was killed carrying a bag of skittles. The right-wing called him a threat.

Kyle Rittenhouse was 17 years old and armed. He shot and killed 2 people with an AR-15. The right-wing calls him a hero. pic.twitter.com/JursSJFT7j

— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) November 19, 2021

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Our Afghan friends need your support.

Most of our Afghan neighbors are arriving with humanitarian parole, which only temporarily allows people fleeing danger to remain in the U.S. These Afghans will need to find another pathway to safety once their parole expires.   To ensure that Afghans find real, lasting safety in the U.S., Congress must pass the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would allow Afghan humanitarian parolees to seek legal permanent residence in the United States.  Call on your Senators and Representative to urge them to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act! This is one of the most important things you can do to ensure Afghans have an opportunity to build a life in the United States. We are asking for broad, bipartisan support—please ask your friends, family, congregations, and communities to join us!  Contact Your Congresspersonhttps://www.votervoice.net/LIRS/campaigns/89654/respond

Contact Your Congressperson

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Thank you for all you’ve done to build our movement for people, planet, and peace over profit!  Our work together has set the progressive agenda on issue after issue, from an emergency Green New Deal and Medicare for All to free public higher education, democracy reforms like Ranked-Choice Voting and much more. Now, in the face of accelerating climate collapse, crushing inequality, endless war and the epic failure of public health — we need independent politics more than ever to advance these transformative solutions our lives depend on.  I’m writing today to alert you to a battle that may well determine whether alternative parties and independents will be able to gain access to the ballot — an essential part of the struggle in elections to come. Currently, we are fighting a decision by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that strikes another blow against open, fair elections by seriously limiting our ability to use federal public matching funds to gain ballot access. Specifically, the FEC is demanding that our 2016 campaign repay over $175,000 in funds we earned under the federal matching funds program over five years ago. The FEC’s demand grows out of their refusal, after the fact, to recognize our use of matching funds to complete ballot drives during the 2016 primary campaign. Since our 2016 campaign account is all but closed, the FEC is attempting to hold me, as the candidate, personally liable for repaying this massive, unjust bill from my personal funds. Will you contribute now to help me fight the FEC's decision and stand up for the future of independent politics?

Please contribute today If the FEC ruling is allowed to stand, grassroots candidates running independently of the big money corporate parties will simply run out of money before overcoming onerous ballot access hurdles around the country. To make matters worse, the precedent of receiving a ruinous bill from the government years after the election would be an obvious deterrent to future grassroots candidates who rely on matching funds to challenge power without selling out to corporate political machines. In many states this would also make it far more difficult to run in local “down-ballot” races where Greens and other independents have had the most success. After fighting for over a year within the FEC bureaucracy, we and our legal team are eager to challenge this injustice in court. But to move forward, we must urgently raise at least $20,000 to cover the latest round of legal costs and our barebones operating expenses. And, in case justice does not prevail, we must prepare to pay down the penalties. Incredibly, the FEC’s rules prohibit me from contributing critically needed funds to my own defense because it would exceed the maximum I’m allowed to donate to my own campaign! That means I am essentially dependent on your generosity for defending myself and the matching funds program. To make this fight winnable, please donate by visiting jillstein.net or make out a check to “Jill Stein for President (2016)”. Every donation, no matter the size, is greatly appreciated! (Maximum donation is $2,700 for the primary election period, which is how the FEC classifies our current expenses.) Send checks to James Lane, Treasurer, 269 12th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215. For FEC compliance, please write in the memo: "2016, debt". Include address, occupation, and employer. (Additional details below.) Polls show unprecedented hunger for a new party, disgust with the political establishment, and strong support for our visionary proposals. That’s why this battle for public funding is so critical — to protect our right to a politics that’s independent of the corporate money machine and to advance the solutions we so urgently need. Thank you so much for your support at this critical moment, as the future of humanity and the planet are truly in our hands!

All my best,  Jill Stein Green Party nominee for president 2012, 2016

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 From the Juggernaut Project:

Tell the Justice Department: Remove Trump’s roadblocks and allow equal protections in the Constitution.

Surprise! Nearly 100 years since it was first introduced, the Equal Rights Amendment, which reads, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex,” was finally ratified by a quorum of states. Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the amendment in January 2020.

The House of Representatives had recently passed a law removing the time limitation on ratification of the amendment, and the bill is still pending in the Senate. But during the Trump administration, former Attorney General Bill Barr improperly weighed in on the process. The Constitution gives absolutely no authority to the Executive Branch when it comes to the Amendment process — but the Trump Administration was determined to pull out all the stops to stop equality under the law.

Sign the petition: Get rid of Trump-era roadblocks and advance the Equal Rights Amendment!

SIGN THE PETITION

The Equal Rights Amendment has satisfied all Constitutional requirements, but that has not stopped the enemies of equality to prevent it from moving forward. The Trump administration purposely used questions about the timing of ratification to kill the amendment. But the current Justice Department under President Joe Biden has the power to remove these roadblocks.

The ERA will help people of all genders achieve equality under the law, and women in particular, have waited long enough for the highest legal protections against discrimination in the land. It’s time for Attorney General Merrick Garland to act to protect this process.

Add your name today. Tell Biden’s Justice Department to overrule Trump’s unconstitutional roadblocks and advance the Equal Rights Amendment.

Thanks for taking action.

The Juggernaut Project