The Root Of All Evils

The Root Of All Evils

by C. A. Matthews

 

For the love of Big Oil is the root of all evils. —1 Timothy 6:10 

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve [both] God and Big Oil. —Matthew 6:24

Before you interject, “Hey! That’s not quite what those Bible verses say,” read this short article from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Here’s a blurb:

The Unrealized Potential of Palestinian Oil and Gas Reserves  28 August 2019

Oil and natural gas resources in the occupied Palestinian territory could generate hundreds of billions of dollars for development. 

Geologists and resources economists have confirmed that the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) lies above sizeable reservoirs of oil and natural gas wealth, in Area C of the West Bank and the Mediterranean coast off the Gaza Strip, according to a recent UNCTAD study.

Let that information settle into your brain for a bit. You’re a smart person. (You’re reading this blog, aren’t you?) You’re intelligent enough to put two and two together and come up with five, right? What would you do to get your hands on 122 trillion cubic foot of natural gas along with an estimated at 1.7 billion barrels of oil?

More importantly, what wouldn’t you do to get a hold of such a resource?

I know many of my readers are supportive of environmental concerns and would state without hesitation, “I’d do nothing about those oil and gas reserves off the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The burning of fossil fuels is heating up our planet and causing catastrophic climate change—a change we may never be able to recover from as stronger hurricanes, larger floods, and long-lasting droughts become more common. Big Oil has enough blood on its hands already.”

I sincerely appreciate that response. It’s a commendable answer, but let’s venture into the hypothetical realm for a minute, shall we? Let’s pretend we’re not decent, planet-loving individuals but politicians from certain nations. (We discussed what kinds of politicians we generally have in the West in last week’s blog and why we need to get rid of these sociopaths.) Okay, ready to use your imaginations? Let’s go.

We’re politicians of large Western economies and their allies. Our countries are into burning fossil fuels big time, and we’re not planning to stop burning them anytime soon, no matter how often the climate scientists warn us about their downsides. There’s just too much wealth generated by Big Oil concerns to stop oil and gas exploration. We believe strongly in the superiority of capitalism and the making of big profits for our shareholders.

As an added bonus, Big Oil pays us politicos quite well for our work supporting their drilling and fracking. They don’t pay us directly, of course, but they pay us through their lobbyists and political action committees (PACs) that support our campaigns. We’re not about to forget there’s untapped oil and gas reserves off the coast of Gaza and in the West Bank region of what is now known as “Israel” because our bosses in Big Oil will keep reminding us. We’re going to do whatever we can to get our hands on those natural resources, and we’re not going to let anyone or anything get in our way.

To put this argument into the oil man’s vernacular: Drill, baby, drill!

Our minds are made up. We’re going to drill for that oil and gas that’s just sitting there asking for us to take it. We’ll need some land on which to build our oil refineries and start our new pipelines headed north toward Western Europe to sell our oil and gas products, too.  We might even put in a canal near the drilling site to circumvent having to pay another country to ship these products worldwide.

You do know why we need to sell natural gas in particular to Europe, don’t you? In case you’ve forgotten, we blew up a perfectly good liquid natural gas pipeline a year or so back in the Baltic. (More on that story here.) Doing so took out the competition for our oil companies’ gas sales to Europe. Without competition, our oil exporting country sold heating oil to places like Germany for four to six times the previous price they’d paid our competitor.

Unfortunately, shipping all this heating oil to Europe started making our own country’s heating oil and gas prices go through the roof, making our constituents none too happy. It also made them question the billions of dollars in military aid we were giving to a proxy army in order to bankrupt our biggest oil and gas competitor. Oops!

We told our friends in the mainstream media to keep pushing the narrative that our funding of this proxy war was all about protecting “freedom and democracy,” even if the leader of this proxy war had a long track record of absconding with funds. Some of the armaments we sold to him for this proxy war went “missing,” because we didn't keep track of them too closely. These missing armaments eventually ended up in the hands of other not-so-nice people around the world that we’ve said in the past were terrorists. Double oops!

So, we decided that we really have to stop selling so much of our own oil and gas to Western Europe and get the E.U. their fix via this new pipeline we planned to build in the Middle East.

But wait a minute! There are 2.2 million people living on this land where we recently discovered the oil and gas reserves. It’s one of the most densely populated areas on Earth, no less. And these people aren’t interested in us taking their fossil fuel resources from them. They actually want to keep their homes, schools, hospitals, historical landmarks, and houses of worship. They want to keep everything for themselves. Such selfish animals!

I know, I know… What else is new? Indigenous people are always crying over losing their land rights and having their mineral and petroleum resources stolen from right under them. But we in the Western nations know how to shut up indigenous people forever, don’t we? It’s what we’ve always done—we just use our military strength to overpower them and wipe them off the face of the earth or scatter them to the four corners of the globe. After all, we do what it says in the white man’s bible: Might makes right.

And it’s right for us to have control of all that untapped oil and gas, isn’t it? Our main trading currency, the petrodollar, is tied to the price of fossil fuels. We can’t afford to lose control of the world’s markets of oil and gas. We must have it, or else our economies will falter and collapse, and we politicians would be out of work and off the Big Oil gravy train before we knew it.

So, think again: What would you, as a sociopathic politician who is paid well by Big Oil, do to get your hands on that oil and gas? Would you go to war over it? Would you fund a proxy army in a far away country to stop another country from making profits from their own fossil fuels, especially if you could do so without using your own military and risking your own soldiers’ lives? Would you blindly support a Western “ally” in the Middle East, one that you regularly give billions of dollars in aid and military equipment to, and give them carte blanche to wipe out those pesky natives so you can get your oil men on the ground and start the drilling for all that lovely “black gold”?

Would you lose any sleep over exterminating the indigenous people who are in the way? (There's only 2.2 million of them, with half of them age 17 or younger. No big loss there since children can't drive yet.) We’re talking about 122 trillion cubic foot of natural gas along with an estimated at 1.7 billion barrels of oil. What does that amount of fossil fuel translate into dollars? You can't even imagine how much profit there is to be made!

And if your “partner” in this acquisition of petroleum resources first wants to wipe out those savages and bomb all their buildings into rubble so they can be razed? Well, that’s their business, not ours. It’s not like we’ve set a sterling example on how to deal kindly with the indigenous peoples of our own white-settler colonizing project over the past three centuries, now have we? Racists gotta live and make money, too.

I know some of you will balk and say something along the lines of, “But I would never sanction ethnic cleansing just to steal land and drill for oil!” But put yourself into the shoes of the sociopathic leaders of the Western nations and Israel and ask yourself the questions again. You know now what all is at stake, and how much you’ve already invested into this scheme. 

The Palestinian people of Gaza and the West Bank area are considered racially inferior by Israel, your partner in this oil deal. You have no problem with the Israeli take on these indigenous people. They feel they rightfully deserve to have control over that oil and gas. So, there's no problem taking it from the Palestinians, is there?

Ask yourself the questions again: What would you do to get your hands on 122 trillion cubic foot of natural gas and 1.7 billion barrels of oil? What wouldn’t you do to get a hold of such a prize?

Please don’t tell me there aren’t people in Washington DC and in Israel who aren’t more than willing to commit war crimes in order to get that oil and gas and make their Big Oil masters happy. We all know that’s exactly what they’re doing. Capitalists always get their way. 

Money makes the world go round, after all, a capitalist will tell you. What better way to generate it than by drilling for oil and gas?

Why else would the US government want to keep all Israeli aid and military spending talks secret—done without Congressional approval? If the US isn’t committing war crimes alongside the Israeli military already, it certainly sounds like they’re getting ready to do so. And our spineless, sociopathic politicians know the majority of the American public won’t knowingly stand for it and could rebel against them. So, the feds are going to keep their actions quiet and lie about what they're doing for as long as they can get away with it.

“For the love of Big Oil [money] is the root of all evils.”All evils—but especially the evil called genocide. 

Keep protesting and speaking out to expose Big Oil's evils. Stand with others to end the rule of Big Oil's puppets and the entire military-industrial complex. Shut down the genocidal war machine forever.

Related Articles and Interesting Links

The Unrealized Potential of Palestinian Oil and Gas Reserves https://unctad.org/news/unrealized-potential-palestinian-oil-and-gas-reserves

The New Litmus Test https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-new-litmus-test.html

Israel Destroys Gaza to Control World’s Most Important Shipping Lane (video) https://rumble.com/v3t4nim-november-1-2023.html

Biden Wants Arms Deals With Israel to Be Done in Complete Secrecy https://truthout.org/articles/biden-wants-arms-deals-with-israel-to-be-done-in-complete-secrecy/

“This culture of silence is happening even as senior agency officials may acknowledge in private that Israel is committing war crimes, according to the report. “Over the past weeks, as I have heard from numerous officials across both the executive and legislative branches, it has become clear to me that many senior leaders not only fully understand how Israel is currently using U.S.-provided arms in Gaza, but are even, behind closed doors, willing to acknowledge that these actions include ‘war crimes,’” [Josh] Paul told HuffPost. “The fact that none are willing to do so publicly … points to a deep moral rot in our system.”

Israel’s Final Solution for the Palestinians https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/israels-final-solution-for-the-palestinians

Ask the American People Before You Impose a Genocide Tax for Prosperous Israel  https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/02/biden-and-congress-ask-the-american-people-before-you-impose-a-genocide-tax-for-prosperous-israel/

Fossil Fuel Firms Bought Lawmakers  https://youtu.be/2qEIOvF5_H0?si=eY0UP2xOArVGEIV8

Israel Is Evicting Palestinians NOT In Gaza https://youtu.be/ESSQhpgOj7w?si=k9wKOYV3gcyv_XZJ

The Moral Complexities Of Bombing A Concentration Camp Full Of Children  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-moral-complexities-of-bombing

As The Lights Go Out In Gaza https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/as-the-lights-go-out-in-gaza

Israel Has A Directive To Kill Hostages
https://youtu.be/_T5SLfZs5ww?si=Gc_kAMO8-072XQxl

White House in discussions with Israel on deploying US troops to Gaza https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/11/01/sjlf-n01.html

Israel in Search of Its Hiroshima: Massive Bomb Wipes Out 20 Apt. Buildings, Kills, Wounds 400 Civilians  https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/01/israel-in-search-of-its-hiroshima-massive-bomb-wipes-out-20-apt-buildings-kills-wounds-400-civilians/

Israel Apologists Relentlessly Gaslight And Attack Our Sense Of Reality https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-apologists-relentlessly-gaslight

New Document Leak on Plan to Expel Gaza Population https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/31/new-document-leak-on-plan-to-expel-gaza-population/

This is not a war, it's the second Nakba https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/this-is-not-a-war-its-the-second

In Gaza, Biden is an equal partner in Israel’s mass murder
https://www.aaronmate.net/p/biden-is-an-equal-partner-in-israels  

“Gaza has become a graveyard for children,” a UNICEF spokesperson says. “It’s a living hell for everyone else.”

US Says It's Powerless To Stop The Genocide That It Is Directly Funding And Supplying https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/us-says-its-powerless-to-stop-the

Biden 'Countering Islamophobia' While Incinerating Gaza Is The Most Democrat Thing Ever https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/biden-countering-islamophobia-while

The fight for Palestinian Liberation is a Fight for the Whole Working Class https://unac.notowar.net/2023/10/23/the-fight-for-palestinian-liberation-is-a-fight-for-the-whole-working-class/

This Weekend’s DC Protest Was Largest Pro-Palestine Mobilization in US History https://truthout.org/articles/this-weekends-dc-protest-was-largest-pro-palestine-mobilization-in-us-history/

 

Palestine Solidarity Activists Block Boeing’s Doors to Stop Delivery of Bombs https://truthout.org/articles/palestine-solidarity-activists-block-boeings-doors-to-stop-delivery-of-bombs/

 

Gaza Peace Activists Chain Themselves To Ship Headed To Israel

https://popularresistance.org/gaza-peace-activists-chain-themselves-to-ship-headed-to-israel/

“Killers of the Flower Moon” Shows Wealth-Building Doesn’t End Racial Injustice https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/11/01/sjlf-n01.html

US Immigration Policy Is Designed to Divide the Working Class
https://truthout.org/articles/us-immigration-policy-is-designed-to-divide-the-working-class/

Only Israel, the United States, and Ukraine Refuse to Stand With Cuba https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/03/only-israel-the-united-states-and-ukraine-refuse-to-stand-with-cuba/

UN Human Rights Committee Calls for Moratorium on Life Without Parole in U.S. https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/03/un-human-rights-committee-calls-for-moratorium-on-life-without-parole-in-u-s/

Perfect Vision: 2020

Happy New Year!

We're all looking forward to a happier and saner year, which could be the last one with the present occupant in the White House. What could be better than having our resident historian do a wrap up of all things "twenties" as we head into the year with a "perfect vision" of what the world could really be like...

Perfect Vision: 2020

by Coast Watcher 

What went before:

A hundred years ago, the 1920s were a time of great social change across the Western world. The newly-won voting franchise of women in both the United States and Britain changed the political landscape for good.

In the United States a series of Republican governments made it acceptable to be greedy. A laissez-faire attitude toward business dealings led to a burgeoning stock market and corruption at high levels of the Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover administrations. These governments came into direct conflict with the growing Socialist movement in America, most of which was driven by post-WWI feelings caused by the horrendous loss of lives in that conflict.

The commensurate desire for a better, more peaceful world sat at odds with the capitalist desire to drive down wages, promulgate longer working hours and unsafe working conditions, all in the drive to increase profits. Then as now the rise of share prices did not mean better conditions for the workers—quite the opposite. When the shareholder—and especially the board member—profits, the working person loses.

A similar situation arose in Britain. Men returning from the “War to end all wars” rightly wanted to see a reward for their blood and sacrifice. The Labour Party and union movement gained followers and strength to the point where they could challenge the dominance of the Conservative and Liberal Parties, which had held a monopoly on parliamentary governance for centuries. The Labour Party under Ramsay MacDonald took office for a short period—January to November 1924—with a strong commitment to nationalization. Although it lost the next election to the Conservatives, the precedent had been set. The massive General Strike of 1926 showed the union movement had teeth. It paralyzed the country for weeks before a settlement was reached.

In France the right wing of politics predominated, with the country focused on post-war recovery efforts. Restoration of those areas of the country destroyed by warfare, and assertion of France’s territorial gains following the various treaties with the losing Central Powers were uppermost in French government policies. Even so, labor movements also made efforts to redress the balance between the employers and workers.

Germany turned into a hot mess. Radical left wing groups fought lethal battles with the radical right. Inflation ran rampant with billions of Marks needed to buy even the most basic items of food. Stability of a kind was achieved late in the decade at great cost and some lenience over war reparations on the part of the victorious powers, only to fall to pieces with the rise of the Nazis.

Italy saw the “Red Years” of 1919-1920, with widespread general strikes and labor unrest, mostly directed at the rising power of the Fascisti under Benito Mussolini. Mussolini created a coalition of big businesses and crushed the labor movement, taking control of the entire country in 1922. Any pretense at democratic government ended in 1930 with Mussolini’s declaration of single-party governance, which lasted until his downfall following the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943.

Where we are now:

We face dangers and changes our grandparents and great-grandparents of the 1920s would never have conceived of. Climate change is a real factor in spite of certain politicians’ fondest wishes and active opposition to remedial action (and I’m looking at Trump's sale of national parks to developers and fracking operations,  Bolsanaro of Brazil’s accelerated destruction of indigenous peoples and the Amazon jungle, and Doug Ford of Canada who enacted a policy of dismantling wind turbines). The current bush fires in Australia have killed over 500 million animals and laid waste to vast areas of that country. Certain species such as the koala bear may not recover. Similar fires have hit the Congo, Siberia, and California. The Californian fires were made worse by a telecommunications company restriction firefighters’ access to the network at a crucial time. Capitalist greed will and does threaten lives and property.

Temperatures in Australia and India have reached record and life-threatening levels for sustained periods. Ice melt from the poles and glaciers have already raised global sea levels, threatening coastal communities world wide. The thought that tomorrow will be the same as today is finding increasingly poor soil to flourish in all but the most rabid right-winger. Recent polls show the majority of Americans now believe climate change is real and dangerous.

It’s pretty obvious that the world seems to be becoming increasingly polarized between Left and Right. Social media bears a lot of the responsibility for this. Far from becoming a “village green gossiping session” writ large, it has allowed and enabled anyone with an opinion—no matter how extreme—to voice that opinion to the world instantaneously. “Moral disengagement” is used to rationalize anything from school bullying, through willful environmental destruction to Nazism.

To some extent this had a major effect on the recent UK General Election. A sizable percentage of Labour voters in the party’s traditional Northern English heartlands voted to leave the EU. They were subjected to a storm of criticism and insults for doing so, which caused them to reject their party’s values and vote Conservative, thus handing Labour an epic defeat. Boris Johnson won a landslide victory, another term of office, and within two weeks of the election result the Conservatives began their sell-off of Britain’s cherished National Health Service and reneged on a pledge to protect workers rights.

France is undergoing a general strike of epic proportions, fueling the gilet jaune movement against President Macron. Support for French workers is coming from international sources, especially Germany. Macron’s position looks increasingly shaky.

Looking forward:

So what will the new Twenties bring? Let's be optimistic here.

On the run-up to the election President Trump’s supporters will double-down over his impeachment but with little effect. Senator McConnell’s obstruction of due process will cost both of them dear in the 2020 election. Having learned their lesson the Democratic Party’s national committee will not pull the rug from under Senator Bernie Sanders and his supporters, as they did in 2016. Sanders is riding high in the polls, and even mainstream media is giving him reluctant coverage.

Sanders will become the 46th president of the United States, so expect an increase in social programs, environmental change remedial action and a decrease of American military action abroad. Trump's impeachment and eventual jail sentence will see the end of his business empire. Sander's policies will expand Medicaid, Social Security, women’s rights and environmental protections.

Britain’s situation is one unique in the annals of her long history. The British people have a talent for brilliant improvisation which has got the country through difficult times. The voting public will wake up to the havoc the Conservative government inflicts on the country’s infrastructure and vote them out next election. Whether this will come in time to prevent irreparable damage to the NHS remains to be seen.

It’s possible that Scotland will leave the United Kingdom to become a member of the EU in her own right. Whether this will lead to greater “freedoms” is debatable. The EU is nothing more than a thin veneer of socialist values concealing a hard core of capitalism. More likely Scotland will realize on which side her best interests lie and remain within the UK.

I think the growing awareness of environmental change will lead more and more people to ask - Why does the world obsess over the antics of politicians and border issues when our planet is burning down around us? I believe if we make it through the next thirty years without a global crisis destroying humanity, we’ll be secure for the future.

It’ll be interesting to see what the world of 2120 will look like. Maybe some of those babies born this year will live beyond their hundredth birthday to see it.

BIO: Coast Watcher looks to the past in order to interpret today and predict the future. Let's do our best to bring about his more positive predictions for 2020. The alternatives don't bear consideration.

*** 

From Friends of the Earth:

Last winter, beekeepers lost nearly half of their hives. Now beekeepers are bracing for another winter of record bee die-offs -- largely thanks to the use of bee-killing pesticides.

And it gets worse. 40 percent of wild bees and other essential pollinators are at risk of extinction. Scientists have warned that further decline of bees and other insects could lead us to a “collapse of nature’s ecosystems.” Pesticides are a key driver of this crisis.

The EPA has the power to stop the decline of bees -- but it’s sitting on its hands. This holiday season, bees need you to demand the EPA ban bee-killing pesticides. But you must act fast!

Help save the bees: Demand that the EPA ban bee-killing pesticides today!

Bees and other pollinators are vital to our food system. They pollinate two-thirds of the food we eat every day -- from almonds to blueberries. Without bees, we would have a hard time feeding our families some of our healthiest and favorite foods. 

But rampant neonic use is driving alarming bee die-offs. And the EPA is greenlighting their use in record amounts. Our recent study found U.S. agriculture is now 48 times more toxic to insect life than it was 25 years ago, and neonics are mostly to blame. 

Sadly, neonics hurt more than just bees. Recent studies show that these pesticides make songbirds lose weight and delay migration. This is especially concerning because more than half of all songbird species are in decline.

The EPA has had years to take action and protect bees and birds, but the pesticide industry is lobbying hard to prevent it from taking action. Now, the agency needs to know engaged environmentalists like you are watching and we won’t stand by while they let bees die! 

Take action NOW: Tell the EPA to protect bees and our food system from bee-killing neonics!

Neonic pesticides are the most widely-used insecticides in the world. They’re long-lasting and systemic, staying in the environment for years. We can’t even wash them off our food. Each day the EPA fails to ban them, our bees and our environment suffer.

The pesticide industry -- including companies like Bayer-Monsanto and Syngenta -- wants to keep selling products that are poisoning bees, and the EPA is letting them.

This winter, bees need our protection -- our entire ecosystem depends on it. Can we count on you to tell the EPA to protect our beautiful bees before it’s too late?  

Protect bees before it’s too late: Tell the EPA to save bees from bee-killing neonics!

Standing with you,
Jason Davidson,
Food and agriculture campaigner,
Friends of the Earth

 ***

Tell the CEOs of Hershey, Nestlé and Mars: "You have broken your promise and continue to profit off of child labor. These children are taken from their homes and paid low or even no wages to conduct the “worst forms of child labor” under international law. We demand you stop these practices immediately!" ADD YOUR NAME

The candy you got for Chirstmas is probably the result of child labor.

Are you mad? I am.

These kids are working to harvest cocoa, some starting as young as 10. They are swinging machetes, carrying heavy loads, spraying pesticides — all considered the “worst forms of child labor” under international law―for extremely low or even no wages.

ADD YOUR NAME: Tell the CEOs of Hershey, Nestlé and Mars to end their reliance on child labor immediately!

This kind of corporate pressure only works when we can draw national attention to it, and shame them.

But corporations can insist on standards for manufacturing and agriculture. It’s time to hold Big Chocolate accountable.

ADD YOUR NAME: Tell the CEOs of Hershey, Nestlé and Mars to end their reliance on child labor immediately!

Thank you,

Mike Phelan
Progress America

***

The violent attacks on the Jewish community in New York over the past weeks have been devastating.  Unfortunately, these are not isolated incidents but part of a growing wave of anti-Semitism that is plaguing our country and world.   It must be stopped.  I, and all my colleagues at IFYC will not rest until our Jewish co-workers, colleagues and community partners feel safe and free in this nation and around the globe.      There is so much to do, but we can all do something. As a Muslim American, I believe we must come together as a national interfaith community to push back against this rising tide of hate.  I know that our religious theology, practice, rituals, and values may be, and are, vastly different from one another. But our commitment to shared responsibility towards our world brings us together.     The poet Rumi said, “The wound is where the light enters you.” As Hanukkah comes to a close, there are pillars of light shining from synagogues and homes across the country. Our thoughts and prayers are no longer enough. Our tweets and Facebook posts are no longer enough. Our empty words of solidarity that aren’t followed by action, are no longer enough.      Rebuilding takes courage and commitment. It means we must confront these issues of hate, anti-Semitism, islamophobia, and others, within our own communities while also continuing to build relationships with those who are different than us. We have to physically show up to spaces that may be unfamiliar to us — like mosques or temples or churches — and be willing to engage with others across our shared values and our deep differences. This work requires us to bring our whole selves into relationship with one another and share the stories of the common good we create together.      As we enter the New Year I ask that you consider what you might do to make the world safer for all people and ask that you join me in pledging to confront anti-Semitism in 2020. Below are just some ideas and resources that may help: IFYC Alum Rabbi Josh Stanton talks about interfaith Cooperation in Judaism ADL calls us to support the Jewish community in their #ShareTheLight campaign Facing History And Ourselves offers resources about anti-Semitism and religious intolerance Build your awareness of the working definition of anti-Semitism from The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance

With peace, Jenan Mohajir Senior Director of Leadership

Carols for the New Era

A gift many of us are hoping the Electoral College will consider.

Carols for the New Era

by Cindy A. Matthews

 

We've entered an era of fear and dread. Not many feel like singing of "Peace on Earth" when so many are suffering from so little attention given to their needs for food, shelter and clean water. It's not a time to sing "Joy to the World!" when there's little joy to be gained from the knowledge that millions of votes in Michigan alone weren't counted and Wisconsin voting machines had their tamper seals broken. 

And freedom of speech and the freedom not to be spied upon by our own government? To quote Bloom County's Bill the Cat: "Aaack! Pfft!"

Presenting a collection of carols for the new era:

Let Him Go (Home) 
(Sung to the tune Let It Snow)

Our government is surely lying
because Ed caught it outright spying
How'd we know this fact to be so?
Let him go! Let him go! Let him go!

Our cell phones the Fed's been tapping
This info has us hap'ly clapping
By his sacrifice it came to show
Let him go! Let him go! Let him go!

When Ed finally came to say
How he hated living far from his home
A year-end pardon is all he wants
Why can't Obama grant one over the phone?

Our democracy is quickly dying
'Cause our human rights are flying
Out the door--there's naught to crow, so--
Let Ed go! Let Ed go! Let Ed go... home!


Oh, Little Town of Washington (Sung to the tune of Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem) 


Oh, little town of Washington--

Corrupt and backward DC!
Filled with one-percent brown-nosers
Bribed servants--far as the eye can see
Yet in your dark halls shineth
The wisdom of one so bright
Our hopes and fears from this past year
Need Bernie's leadership tonight!

Oh, little town of Washington
Your politicians lie!
Lobbyists purchase base men's souls
For a bigger slice of pie
You've silenced all progressives
To keep us in the dark
That way you rule with greedy fools
With morals of a shark

Oh, little town of Washington
How sad it is to know
The bought-off mainstream media
Killed all chance for it to grow
A dynamic coalition
Led by Bernie and the Greens
Gov'ment for all and one that calls
For investment in energy clean!


God Help Us--Racist Donald Trump! (Sung to the tune of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen)

God help us! Racist Donald Trump

Has made the Hillbots pay
They've installed a fascist dictator
Through blatant pay-to-play
The Dems' manipulation
Has led us all astray

O-oh, regrets of a country destroyed, country destroyed
O-oh, regrets of a country destroyed

God help us! Racist Donald Trump
Has made the pundits laugh
His choice of cab'net sec'taries
Is nothing short of daft
Without Bernie's guidance
We'll land knee-high in crap

O-oh, regrets of a country destroyed, country destroyed
O-oh, regrets of a country destroyed

Here's some e-candy (below) for your stocking to help deal with the pain of a Trump presidency. If you have any new words for carols for the new era, email them to us at thebernieblog2016@gmail.com Thank you.

 ***

Now we take a closer look at what's happening in Europe and

how it closely parallels the results of our recent election.

The Rise of the Right

by Adrian J. Matthews

Over the last decade European politics has undergone a broad and significant shift to the right. The Sweden Democrats, the French National Front, the Dutch Party for Freedom, and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) have all made inroads into mainstream politics. The recent Austrian election saw a tight race between the far-right Freedom Party and the Green Party--and the latter won only after a recount. Dutch Party for Freedom leader Geert Wilders was recently convicted of hate speech following comments he made during the country’s 2014 elections. In spite of this, the party is leading the polls ahead of the March 2017 parliamentary elections in the Netherlands.

With history downgraded to a minor role in some national schools’ curricula, it’s not entirely surprising the lessons learned from World War II are overlooked by the modern generation of young adults. Ignorance rules. Without the lesson of history, the rampant right-wing nationalism in Germany and Italy that gave rise to the conflict is no longer seen as undesirable. It’s telling that the demographics show the majority of supporters for these right-wing parties are under 30 years of age. Unlike their grandparents, the terrible waste of lives seen seventy years ago in World War II isn’t even a part of their world view.

Much of the support for the Right stems from the refugee and economic migrant crisis gripping Europe. The mass migration of peoples from Africa and the Middle East into the European continent is causing conflict with the citizens of the EU nations. A sharp rise in crime, radical cultural differences and immigrants "taking our jobs" are the three predictable reasons given for this attitude. Fear of "the other" is rife. Such feelings play easily into the hands of the right-wing demagogues. It’s no secret that most, if not all, of the right-wing parties view the European Union with deep prejudice. To the far right national sovereignty is all. Surrendering more and more of a nation’s powers to govern itself to a centralized authority is anathema to them. Any laws or regulations that emerge from the EU parliament and bureaucracy promoting freedom of movement and legal rights for immigrants are decried in violent terms.

The EU doesn’t help matters by its insensitive "one-size-fits-all" approach to issuing rules and regulations. For instance, what may apply to Poland might not work at all well in France. What might suit Denmark and Sweden wouldn’t work in Spain or Italy. Again, this approach leads to dissatisfaction with the EU as a whole. Even the more progressive governments in member countries often view the diktat with unease. The benefits a country’s membership bring are often overshadowed by such sentiment. In many EU countries, moves to withdraw from the EU are on the rise, usually instigated by the political right. The shock result of the Brexit referendum, induced by UKIP, looks set to take the United Kingdom out of the EU. In spite of the result causing a shambles that has still not been addressed to anyone’s satisfaction, other member nations may follow Britain’s example.

All of which has the European Union leadership deeply worried.

During his State of the Union address on September 14 this year, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker recently referred to what he termed the “galloping populism” that is sweeping Europe. He announced that the next twelve months would be crucial for the European Union, that it faces a battle for survival in the face of rising nationalism. To quote Juncker, “the European Union doesn’t have enough union. There are splits out there and often fragmentation exists.”

Yet the EU’s approach to settling the refugee crisis seems mishandled and uneven. What is less obvious are the reasons why this mass movement of people is taking place. Climate change is affecting agriculture all over the world, especially in the developing nations of Africa. Once-fertile regions are yielding less and less crops as the years go by. Political unrest and extremism doesn’t help. In the Middle East, ongoing wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan contribute a woeful toll in refugees forced from their homes.

The fault for both wars and climate change lies squarely with Big Business. The military-industrial complex likes to keep wars at a rolling boil in order to make yet larger profits. Industry across the world prefers not to take steps to control the pollution it causes, since such controls cut into their profit margins. As a consequence people are forced out of their homes and country by war, climate change and economic decline, which leads in turn to rising conflict in the countries they eventually settle in. Big Business doesn’t care about such things, since it’s usually aligned with right-wing politics and generally benefits from strife.

The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States caused shock waves around the world. The Right applauds it; the Left is appalled by it. To most political pundits the rise of the Right and the potential for another world war now seems inevitable. Some right-wing supporters are of the opinion that the world must be reduced to rubble so humanity can build anew. 

What the left-wing, liberal and progressive movements across the world can do about the matter before such a war breaks out remains to be seen. If enough progressive candidates can win elections at all levels of government in the First World countries then the potential Armageddon may not happen. The signs are there that such a left-wing backlash is growing – but will it grow large enough in time?

BIO: Adrian is a British citizen living in the USA, watching the political situation closely on both sides of the pond.

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From Brand New Congress:

We just had our third All Hands call in which the volunteers and staff working to create a Brand New Congress got together to talk about our progress and the direction we’re headed in the future. We’re all incredibly grateful and privileged for the wonderful support we’ve received so far from people like you, and we’re excited to let you know how we are doing.

Click here to listen to our All Hands meeting

Here are some highlights of what we’ve accomplished so far:

• We’ve received about 2,450 candidate nominations.
• 34 of these nominees have gone through at least 3 rounds of thorough vetting.
• Of these 34 nominees, we are ready to announce 5 candidates who we want to draft.
• Our amazing volunteer-run help desk, led by Brad Lacke, has been answering every single question and piece of feedback.
• Our volunteer-run call team, led by Andi Duncan, Caitlin Remmel, and Taylor Apodaca has been calling nearly 300 signups a week to unearth great nominees from our supporters across the country.
• Our volunteer-led data management team has created a great tracking system that lets us find high-skilled volunteers for specific projects. This month we welcome new team lead Sandy Menor.
• We’re launching a brand new website in the next couple weeks to introduce our first five candidate draftees.
• Allison Jester, one of our excellent volunteers, put together a video explaining how to find candidates featuring Alex, Corbin and Issy from the BNC working group.
• We’ve created a volunteer-run research team that is putting in work everyday to look up people in every single district to find potential candidates outside of just the nominations we are getting.
• Another volunteer research team is currently hard at work researching the details of every single one of the 435 congressional districts in America so we know what we’re up against.

While we’re proud of how far we’ve come, we know there is a long road ahead. BNC is a campaign to recruit 400+ candidates to run in a unified campaign behind one plan to rebuild, reform and repair America. The whole idea here is to give America a way to really sweep Congress clean. We think that if we can announce a great slate of 400+ honest, dependable candidates, America will pledge to volunteer in huge numbers and donate millions of dollars to fund a powerful campaign. But there is a staggering amount of work to do to put together a slate of over 400 candidates, create a fully fleshed-out platform, and start creating the infrastructure necessary to run the biggest grassroots-backed national campaign ever. We know this won’t be easy, which is why all of us are working all-out to make it happen.

We’re committed to working until the very end to make a Brand New Congress a reality.  If you believe in our mission and want to see it through, please help us continue by contributing anything you can. Because of your support so far, we’ve been able to hire five full-time organizers and go to over 100 cities to recruit volunteers that have made all this work possible. Let’s keep the momentum going all the way to 2018.

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