The Revolution Continues blog is news, views, opinion and other expressions of hope from a leftist point-of-view. (We are not affiliated with any candidate, political party or organization. All are welcome.)
Everything You Wanted to Know About Maintaining the Status Quo (But Were Afraid You Already Knew)
by C.A. Matthews
From time to time The Revolution Continues
(TRC) likes to do a “man on the street” interview to get a finger on
the pulse of the public. What’s on the ordinary person’s mind lately?
Here is the transcript of our latest meet-up with an Average American
Voter (AAV).
TRC:
Thanks for agreeing to speak with us today. You told us earlier that
something is really bothering you. You suspect it’s also worrying
others, and you want to hear our thoughts on the matter. What’s your
concern?
AAV:
Well, it’s hard to put into words, but here goes: Why does it seem the
more Americans vote the way they tell us to, the worse things get? I
mean, why aren’t the Democrats doing anything to stop Trump and his
cronies from ruining the economy or stopping arms sales to Israel? I
thought the Dems were different.
TRC: Different? In what way are they supposed to be “different”?
AAV:
I expected them to take a more active role in protecting ordinary
people like me. You know, protect us from being taken advantage of by
the billionaires. But they’re just letting Musk tear the government
apart. You’d think they’d stand up and stop him from destroying so many
social programs, not just talk about it and do nothing of consequence.
TRC: And this inactivity on the Democrats’ part worries you?
AAV: Yes, it does. I’d like to be able to retire and collect my Social Security in a few years if possible.
TRC:
Completely understandable. To re-state your concern, you’re wondering
why the opposition party doesn’t seem able or willing to challenge the
actions of the party in power currently. The Democrats seem to be
cooperating more with the Republicans than actually challenging them. Is
that right?
AAV: Right. That’s not what I voted for. I want change. I want them to challenge the status quo, not go along with them.
TRC:
I see. I think that’s where your misinterpretation of the DNC’s
inactivity comes in. Because the Dems have, in fact, been quite active
as of late.
AAV: They have?
To discover the true nature of all this "activity," continue reading the rest of this article. Copy or click on this
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You might think I made up these collective groups' terms, but I didn’t. Well, maybe that last one I did. The closest I could come to a name for a grouping of criminals was “a cowardice of curs.” It definitely needs updating.
I dare you to tell me who has acted more criminal than the members of the Congress of the United States of America recently. They invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, a leader with an arrest warrant for genocide on his head, to come and speak before them. They actually wanted to listen to a war criminal gloat about the mass murders of Palestinians by the IOF and how they plan to use the land they’ve stolen once they’ve removed all the rubble and dead bodies from it.
Why is Congress such a bunch of bloodthirsty ghouls? Why did they find Netanyahu, this terrible excuse of a human being, an acceptable guest? Did they take a good long look in a collective mirror and see themselves?
Well, it takes one to know one. Like attracts like. [Insert your favorite aphorism here to compare the criminal and cooperative actions of Biden and Congress to Netanyahu’s genocidal government.]
In case you’ve been following mainstream media and haven’t heard, Benjamin Netanyahu has been charged with the following crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC)...
To read the rest of this article, click on this link to go to our Substack page: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com There
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"I don't think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body." --Joe Biden, 1974
Your Obedience Is Prolonging This Nightmare
by C. A. Matthews
I participated in one of the thousands of Protect Roe v. Wade/Pro-Choice protest rallies held across the US this past Saturday. Our local outing was well-attended. Both the signage and the chanting protesters were creative and colorful. Passers-by honked their car horns and gave everyone a smile and a thumbs up. It's good to know that many Americans won't take this possible abridgement of their rights to privacy and bodily autonomy lying down.
The saddest part for me was that some in this loud and boisterous crowd seemed oblivious to how and why the Roe v. Wade decision will be overturned. They seem content with supporting the corrupt status quo that created this dilemma in the first place. Whether this is intentional or unintentional makes little difference. The oligarchy that actually runs this country relies on the ignorance of the masses to promote their own purposes.
For every witty "Think Outside My Box" protest sign I spotted there was at least one sign proclaiming "Vote Blue in 2022 to Save Roe v. Wade." For every "My Body, My Choice" button there was a person carrying a clipboard, trying to sign folks up to become registered Democratic Party voters.
Excuse me? The Democrats have been in power with a majority in both legislative houses of government during the Clinton, Obama, and now Biden administrations. They have done nothing to codify the Roe v. Wade ruling into federal law at any time in almost fifty years. What makes you think they're going to change their stripes now?
Well, I guess Biden can point to the ill-timed attempt to codify Roe in the Senate this past week, but wouldn't you know it--it failed. That mean ol' senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, voted against it. What party does Manchin belong to? Why, he's a Democrat. He's also the head of many important Senate committees.
I got this bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you if you believe that line of bull hockey. No kidding. You can trust me. You trust the DNC, right?
So, you can understand why I'm very worried that we are going to return to the good ol' days of back alley abortions and women bleeding to death trying to induce one at home. If seemingly intelligent women at the rally actually believe the lie that either faction of the establishment (or either one of the "wings of the same bird") is going to protect a woman's right to choose, then we're destined to live in the world of The Handmaid's Tale.
I covered the whys of the duopoly's love affair with keeping Roe v. Wade only a ruling and never a law in last week's blog, so I won't repeat myself here. But I will repeat that this "magical thinking" that either the Democrats or Republicans give a hoot about you or your rights above their bottom lines is just that--foolish and nonsensical. You have become a part of the problem by not questioning their misinformation campaigns (also mentioned in last week's blog). You have become blindly obedient to following their directives. And, in doing so, you have become a part of this nightmare.
Please stop.
You're prolonging the misery of millions of Americans by mindlessly giving your time, money, or vote to either faction of the duopoly. Nothing will change if they remain in power. Nothing. You will never sleep well at night knowing a woman's right to choose is safe unless you elect and appoint persons to government who have nothing to do with the current system that produces "lesser evil" candidates. You just won't.
All the magical thinking in the world can't make politicians (who make a good deal of money on the side doing what they're doing) change. You have to "think outside the box" of voting either Democrat or Republican if you want them to stay out of "your box" and not take away your right to abortion care if and when you need it.
Luckily, there is one American political party that fields candidates that don't accept corporate bribes--uh, lobbyists' money--and also have it written into their platform that abortion care is health care and that all Americans have the human right to health care. It's the Green Party US. Here is it in black and white: https://www.gp.org/the_real_difference
Attend all the Protect Roe v. Wade rallies you like, but never forget that voting "blue no matter who" just keeps this nightmare going and going and going…
P.S. Same goes for endless wars for oil/natural gas. Voting "blue no matter who" got us into the current proxy war. (Update: The US has just invaded Somalia as well.) You have to admit that the "Orange Man" isn't in charge anymore, so we can't put this war on his tally, long as it is. The Democratic Party (including the supposedly progressive "Squad") are pro-military-industrial complex and pro-war, as every single one of them voted for the $40 billion package to Ukraine. Biden is admittedly anti-abortion as the earlier quote attests.
By listening to the propaganda from the "Ministry of Truth" (Disinformation Governance Board) that told you to "vote for the lesser evil" Biden, you installed Evil 2.0. And nothing has fundamentally changed, has it? We're still living in a nightmare. Until you decide to step out of line, that is.
Hard to believe that after all the countries the US has invaded, the Dictatorships it has supported, the Coups it has orchestrated, and Leaders and innocent civilians it has murdered, that our citizens still fall for this talk about fighting for Freedom and Democracy
— Black in the Empire (@blackintheempir) May 13, 2022
It's possible to not be a Putin puppet and be against the criminals running this country risking WWIII so they can steal another $40 billion from us and more.
— Black in the Empire (@blackintheempir) May 15, 2022
Everything bad that was supposed to happen if Trump got re-elected is happening under Biden (but worse) because this is how the duopoly works. The people and planet always lose and Big Business and the ruling class always win because they own both parties.
If you think billionaires and massive corporations aren't the problem, think again...
Protecting Our Right To Protest
by C. A. Matthews
Just when you think you can't fall down the rabbit hole into
Alice's Wonderland any farther, your
elected officials will come up with legislation to abridge your rights to protest
and free speech.
I'm not kidding.
Who could joke about something so offensive and so entirely undemocratic?
Who could come up with a law that would make even chalking a protest message on
a sidewalk a felony? Who could come up with a way to make it legal for the cops
to shoot unarmed protesters if they feel the least bit "threatened"?
Our elected officials can--and they have!
Ohio isn't the only state to introduce anti-protesting
legislation, but it's the one I'm most familiar with. There are several bills currently in the Ohio legislature that focus on
curtailing or restricting protesting and free speech. They are Senate Bills 33,
16
and 41
as well as House Bills 22
and 109.
I recently encountered some protesters in Toledo who were speaking out (while
we still can) about protecting our rights to protest. Here's my impression of
where they were coming from and how it differs from my take.
Most of my fellow anti-protesting protesters (you go crazy just
saying that!) weren't happy about their elected representatives supporting these
measures, but they felt sure one thing could turn all of these bills
around. And what one thing is that? Why, voting these naughty politicians out of office.
The only reason these politcos created these anti-protesting bills in the first place, according to one of my
fellow protesters, is because they belong to the Republican Party. It's that simple. To be a Republican is to be anti-free speech and against embarrassing protests, in his opinion. As soon
as "good Democrats" can be put into office and take over these wayward politicians' seats, all
threats to our rights to protest and free speech will simply evaporate like a
light rain on a hot summer's day.
I wish I could be so optimistic.
Alas, I doubt that turning around the overwhelmingly Republican Ohio
House and Senate will automatically kill these anti-protest bills. I wish it could
be that simple. But it isn't.
Why isn't it? You only have to look at who or what is behind these pieces
of legislation to see why they won't simply "go away" when all the bad,
evil, wicked GOPers are voted out of office and replaced with the only other "recognized
establishment party" (the Democrats) in the Buckeye State. (That's a whole
other blog piece in the making. Ohio's current political establishment hates alternative parties so much that it makes it almost impossible for third parties to keep their "recognized" status from election to election.)
The real money and impetus behind Ohio's anti-protesting measures isn't because Republicans hate free speech. It's because the
fossil fuel industry hates free speech and bad publicity more. Big Oil is terrified of protesters shouting,
"People over pipelines!" over each and every mile of pipe they bury into our soil. The fracking industry doesn't care much for
the bad press they get whenever one of their wells or collection ponds leak. Somehow, Ohioans are
supposed to drink petroleum-laden well or river or lake water and
like it and live happily ever after.
Uh-huh. Yeah, like who's really fallen down the rabbit hole here?
Big Agriculture plays a part in all this shutting down of
free speech, too. But I suspect you already know something about that if you've
followed this blog's coverage of the first Rights of Nature Law passed in the
United States, The Lake Erie Bill of Rights.
Since both establishment parties--the Republicans and the
Democrats--have been well-awarded by Big Oil, Big Ag, and their lobbyist friends over the years, the
chances that a flip in the Ohio House and Senate to a majority Democratic Party
leadership would make any difference to how these new laws would be passed and enforced
is slim to none. Money talks--and
politicians whose hungry campaign coffers love a big helping of Big Oil dollars
aren't going to tell the fossil fuel industry to shut up and go away.
So we will have to do it.
Calling all activists! This spring and summer our voices must
be heard and our signs and bodies must be seen before it is too late. And start
raising your bail money now. Anti-protest laws mean more arrests. That's the purpose of them. But we have something Big Oil doesn't have--sheer numbers. They can't lock all of us away, all at the same time, can they?
Our elected representatives in Washington DC are also trying to abridge our right to free speech. Watch this interview with a person who was intimidated by the police for a response to a tweet he posted--not his actual tweet (which wasn't threatening) but another person's response to it that was. He was questioned and scared essentially because the tweet wasn't exactly flattering to a certain Congressmember's recent performance. If your elected officials can't be held accountable and take responsibility for their actions, then are you really living in a democracy?
Plastic is accumulating on our beaches and in our oceans. There could be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050. Take action now.
Corporations
love plastic. Thanks to the fracking boom, it’s cheap for the fossil
fuel industry to create. So oil and gas companies are pushing plastic
consumption -- including the widespread use of one-use plastics -- to line their pockets.
But
the plastic waste problem has become massive: in the United States 91%
of plastic ends up being thrown away, never recycled. Some of it
ultimately ends up in our oceans, where it harms or kills marine
wildlife.
Call on Congress to protect our planet by supporting the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act.
Demand Congress address the plastic crisis before it overruns our planet.
Plastic
pollution kills over a million marine creatures annually, including
turtles, dolphins, whales, and sea birds. And plastics don’t
disappear. They just break down into smaller and smaller pieces until
they become microplastics.
But plastic also impacts humans. On average, people ingest the equivalent of a credit card each week. That’s right -- if
you’re an average person, you are likely consuming an average of 5
grams of plastic per week. Microplastics can be found in everyday foods
and drinks -- like beer, salt, shellfish and even drinking water!
Tell Congress you do not want to be exposed to more plastic in your food and water. Stop plastic polluters.
Plastic production also worsens the climate crisis. More than 99% of plastic is created from fossil fuels. The emissions from creating plastic could soon reach the equivalent of 300 coal-fired power plants.
Finally,
our country is one of the worst plastic offenders, which is why
Congress needs to take action. The United States produces the most
plastic waste per capita of any country -- then ships a large portion abroad to countries that are already struggling to maintain their own waste effectively.
Plastic
is polluting our entire planet, from the beaches to the deepest depths
of our oceans. Congress must address this crisis and stop Big Polluters
from destroying our health, land, air, and sea.
Demand the United States break free from plastic and stop the pollution at its source!
Michelle Chan,
VP of programs,
Friends of the Earth
***
We're rapidly approaching the May 1
deadline to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, and President Biden still
has not proposed a plan to fulfill his campaign promise.
War hawks in the foreign policy establishment are trying to dominate media coverage and claim nobody cares about ending the Forever War in an attempt to force President Biden to continue it.
But we have news for them — we
care. There is an overwhelming consensus among veterans and civilian
supporters that we must end the Forever War.
That's why Common Defense is calling on
supporters across the country to write Letters to the Editor to hold
President Biden accountable and show the media there is a grassroots
movement calling for an end to the Forever War.
The
war in Afghanistan has dragged on for nearly 20 years, and it is time
to do the right thing and end what veterans call the "Forever War." An
entire generation has never known a country at peace, and this conflict
has cost a trillion dollars and countless lives.
Pres. Biden has
the chance to right this wrong. This conflict must end now, as he
promised many times during his campaign. Our continued presence in
Afghanistan is not making America safer. In fact, prolonging these
conflicts is making us a target and putting our troops in harm's way
unnecessarily. It's well past time, please, Mr. President, bring our
troops home now.
Military withdrawal from Afghanistan will give
our diplomats a chance to do the hard work of building a peace
agreement, rather than continuing with a failed military strategy that
cannot accomplish anything further, and which the "Afghanistan Papers"
published by the Washington Post reveal top generals themselves do not
even believe in.
America's veterans and military members deserve
to have a government which advocates for them. We're counting on you to
do the right thing.
Writing a Letter to the
Editor can have a real impact, especially if you include any applicable
information about your military service or name your Representatives in
Congress. Believe me, elected officials read these!
If we can get dozens of veterans to sign on, we can take a crucial step to defending our democracy. But we need your help.
This
week, we learned what happens after a multi-billion dollar company like
Amazon spends a year intimidating, punishing, and suppressing workers
in Bessemer, Alabama who were working to form a union to push back on
unfair working conditions.
While this was not the result that we were hoping for, we are proud of the bravery and tremendous success the workers had in standing up to one the biggest corporations in the world, telling their story on the global stage, and demanding that they be treated with dignity and respect.
Congress needs to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act to make sure worker voices cannot be silenced.Unions are one of best ways to ensure fair working conditions and equity.
And we need to break up these corporations through stronger antitrust
laws that give the tools that regulators need to ensure that no
corporation can make billions of dollars by profiting from the suffering
of workers and the destruction of small businesses.
This
is only the beginning. Workers and communities have been standing up to
Amazon's greed and abuses for years and we will soon see a time where
those efforts will result in the power that workers need to break up
Amazon's grip on our economy.
We need to remember that what’s happening in Bessemer is a result of Amazon’s unchecked corporate power and what corporations have done for decades to diminish the power of labor law so that they can get the most profit out of us as possible.
