The Exercise Of Imagination

 

“The exercise of imagination is dangerous to those who profit from the way things are because it has the power to show that the way things are is not permanent, not universal, not necessary.”

—Ursula K. LeGuin

The Exercise of Imagination

by C.A. Matthews

My husband has a new hobby. Every evening he turns on the local newscast to view the weather forecast so we know how much watering our garden will need the next day. Lately he waits until the national newscast comes on. This is when his cathartic yelling at the screen begins.

“What the…? It’s not a war, asshole. The children of Gaza are being murdered. It’s a goddamn genocide. Say the word, you stupid bastard!”

Mercifully, the six o’clock newscast runs only about sixteen minutes or else he’d be permanently hoarse. I timed the commercials one night, and discovered the half hour is made up of mostly commercials for Big Pharma. That gives you some idea who their target audience is—older Americans with deep pockets who love popping pills.

National newscasts really don’t provide news as much as they give out headlines. Their headlines tend to be predictable propaganda soundbites courtesy of the Ministry of Truth or the government propaganda machine. The news readers with their Hollywood-movie-star looks aren’t trying to impart factual information as much as they’re trying to persuade and provoke emotions, such as hatred and animosity toward those whom the oligarchy wants us to hate. They want us to despise and fear others so much that we’d be willing to go to war with them and die—or at least we’re okay with our children or grandchildren dying for the cause.

After watching several national newscasts, the emotional manipulation became bleedin’ obvious (as my British husband says). Do the regular consumers of mainstream (legacy) media realize they’re being manipulated to believe and feel a certain way in the first place? (See last week’s post about who does the manipulating and why.) What do they really get out of it? Do they actually enjoy being lied to? Do the lies reinforce their deep-seated prejudices and feed their wildest fears, making them fat and content in their hatred? Is warmongering propaganda a source of entertainment for them?

 

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There’s Always Money For Bombs

“The sinews of war are infinite money.” --Marcus Tullius Cicero

"How many free school lunches could have been bought with the money we used to send bombs to Israel so they could bury children under rubble?" --Professor Anthony Zenkus on X https://twitter.com/anthonyzenkus/status/1797464596552585340

There’s Always Money For Bombs

by C.A. Matthews

The images out of Gaza have been unrelentingly traumatic, but the slaughter in Rafah was just unbearably upsetting. Reports of decapitated babies. Charred children. People burned alive. All just days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah. All while the US government makes excuse after excuse for Israel’s flagrant breaches of international law, which Israel said was just a “tragic mistake”.

After those images, I couldn’t function anymore. I certainly couldn’t sit down and try and write. The hopelessness and the horror and my rage felt too overwhelming. My complicity felt too overwhelming – the knowledge that this mass slaughter is being facilitated and funded by the US taxpayer, the knowledge that a little portion of my writing income goes towards this suffering. All while the public school around the corner from me in Philadelphia is failing because there’s never enough money for education and the library near me shuts on Sundays because there’s never enough money for public services and there are people going bankrupt in the US from medical bills because there’s never enough money to invest in public health. But there’s always money for bombs. --from Where is Joe Biden’s fury about decapitated Palestinian babies? by Arwa Mahdawi

When I read Arwa’s impassioned plea for sanity, I identified with it completely. I knew I had to write about it.

There is always—and I mean always—enough money for bombs in the annual budget that the US Congress passes. Sure, some of the money goes for tanks, nuclear subs, the dockyard queen known as the “Littoral Combat Ship,” and for the crash-worthy F-35, too, but that’s the gist of where the majority of our tax dollars go toward. Armaments. War. Death. Destruction.

Genocide.

Why is that? Arwa makes some pertinent points here. There’s never any money for universal health care or to help struggling public schools in America, but there’s plenty of money to give to genocidal maniacs like Israel, always billions of dollars worth of bombs to hand over to these ethnic cleansing mass murderers. Bombs that have killed and maimed over 100,000 human beings in Gaza alone. Bombs that don’t create goodwill among the nations. Bombs that only create more animosity and fear.

Bombs that are bringing us each and every day closer to a nuclear war and the end of the world as we know it.

I’m sure there are plenty who feel that I’m exaggerating the point and that poor Arwa needs to take a chill pill and lie down until her brain fog clears. I call those types of people “idiots.” Okay, perhaps “morons” might be the better term in an intellectual sense, but either term works for me. Nowadays we can’t afford to keep listening to morons and idiots because these moron and idiots are trying to start World War III.

Don’t believe me? Believe another intelligent person who has looked into this issue:

The Biden administration has given Ukraine permission to use US-provided weapons to hit targets inside Russian territory (...) a step that marks a significant escalation of the proxy war.

“Ukraine needs support from the US for targeting when it fires US-provided missiles, which means the US will now be directly supporting strikes inside Russia. The escalation risks provoking a major response from Russia, as Moscow recently warned the UK that it would target British military sites in Ukraine and “beyond” if British missiles were used in strikes on Russian territory. (…)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that any NATO countries that let Ukraine strike Russia with their weapons would face “major consequences.”  From Biden Gives Ukraine Permission To Strike Inside Russia With US Weapons by Dave DeCamp

There it is in black and white. The US is threatening Russia. One nuclear power is threatening another by giving bombs to another country, Ukraine, even after what President Putin said about the first country will be held accountable for whatever damage their bombs do. And the idiots and morons in the US allow Ukraine to shoot American bombs/missiles into Russia, targeting nuclear radar sites, knowing full well that these actions could escalate the current conventional bloodbath into full-fledged nuclear warfare. For added fun, US NATO ally France is sending some of its troops into Ukraine to get slaughtered as quickly as Ukrainian troops have. There can never be enough cannon fodder—I mean “soldiers”.

I know it’s difficult to get your head around this horrific state of affairs, but allow me to help. I believe the word you’re looking for to describe this situation is “suicide.”

To reiterate: There’s always money for bombs. AND the US will always make certain there are bombs enough worldwide to commit a nuclear genocide against every last living thing on earth. Why? Because the US is hell-bent to get its way and remain the top dog economically and militarily while standing on the apex of a pile of smoldering rubble called the Late Great Planet Earth.

See, that’s not too difficult to understand, is it? It isn’t a good thing. In fact, it’s something that the rest of the people of the planet desperately want to stop. It’s what keeping both Arwa and me awake at nights.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know what I mean by the terms “zio-bully” and “zionarcissism”  and how to apply them to the behaviors of the United States of Israel. The US suffers greatly from the mental illness of zionarcissism. It believes the best thing in the world is to zio-bully everyone into doing what they say by threatening them with bombs raining down on them from the sky, along with the parts from more than a few Boeing jets for good measure. [Editor’s note: The US bombs that were rained down upon the sleeping refugee camp in Rafah were actually made by Boeing, the Boeing GBU-39. (Cost reports range from $30,000-$40,000 per bomb.)Yes, Boeing can make something that actually works as intended. Too bad this something was intended to maim and kill.]

by Mark Taylor www.DeMOCKracy.Ink

I know what you’re thinking, if you’re a sane and moral person, that is. You’re thinking: “It doesn’t make any sense for the US, or anyone for that matter, to provoke a nuclear confrontation. Nobody wins in a nuclear war.” You’re absolutely right. But if you’ve been following recent events, you’ll have come to the conclusion that the US is not run by anyone the least sane and/or moral.

For crying out loud, Butcher Biden has been giving away billions of dollars worth of bombs and armaments to Israel who is clearly committing war crimes against an indigenous civilian population! Children are being burnt alive and suffering amputations without the benefit of anesthetic because Biden allows the Israelis to block food and medicines from coming into Gaza. I ask you how is Biden’s behavior either “sane” or “moral”?

“But what do we Americans get out of all this death and destruction?” you wonder. “Surely we must get something out of it, or why else do it and ruin our reputation on the world stage?”

Good questions. Perhaps there are no satisfactory answers. One thing the NATO countries are getting from watching the Israeli Occupation Forces bomb and sniper-shoot their way across Gaza is lots of great data on how well their instruments of death work in the field. Military scientists now know exactly how many bombs it takes to turn a city the size of Gaza City into rubble. This could make fighting conventional wars in the future (if there is a future) much more organized and cost effective.  If you know you’ll only need like 25,000 bunker buster bombs for your first month’s barrage, then you won’t need to buy or stock any more bombs than that. See how that could save a few trillion bucks in the Pentagon’s budget? (More money for those legendary golden toilet seats for F-35s!)

Even more sinister than that is now all these wonderful military-industrial complex corporations have great feedback on just how deadly their weapons of war really are. I mean, it’s difficult to know just how many children can be burned alive in a refugee tent camp without actually testing out your bombs by dropping them on some human guinea pigs. Isn’t it nice how the people of Gaza have volunteered their services essentially to serve as “crash test dummies” for the past eight months?

You don’t believe me that scientists actually collect this sort of data from the deaths of civilians and use it to make more lethal weapons? Well, if I told you that Nazi scientists tested weapons on the bodies of living (soon dead) concentration camp prisoners during World War II, and that information was snatched up by the US and others at the end of the war and studied closely, would you still not believe me? It’s okay if you don’t. But watch out that you and yours don’t become the next guinea pig they decide to test out their instruments of death on.

In the end, that’s all the military-industrial complex CEOs want—lots of profits (which the US government is providing) and lots of success with their “products” so they get repeat business. And these products won’t necessarily be sold to be used abroad in a distant land against a distant people you don’t like next time. Americans could be the next guinea pigs. Take a look at our militarized policing systems in American cities.

Why the hell does a small town with less than 25,000 people in the heartland of America need a dozen Humvee armored cars, courtesy of a Pentagon rummage sale? Answer: It doesn’t. But I used to drive past the police depot that contained these weapons of war when I lived in that little town, and I wondered if the cops bought them just in case they ever needed to mow down a few protesters who started acting out of line and demanding an end to the genocides, an end to the endless wars.

Small town cops can’t ever be too careful come a full fledged “riot” of five grandmothers and two dogs standing on the corner of Main Street carrying “Free Palestine” banners. Those armored cars will come in handy in running those “killer grannies” down, won’t they? Who’s to say our militarized police won’t use these military-grade weapons against us for other things like being the wrong color, wrong religion, wrong politics, wrong gender identity, wrong… You get the picture.

So remember: There’s always money for bombs. That is, until We the People decide that there isn’t, and we do something to stop these insane genocidal-suicidal morons.

photos by Stefan Fane

One big thing we can do is show solidarity with oppressed people both at home and around the world. We can broadcast their cause to a wider audience, since broadcast mainstream media stations won’t bother to. We can stand together and not let the morons-in-charge divide us and conquer our power.

I did just that this past weekend. I marched in solidarity for Palestine with an interesting mix of people—peace activists, queer activists, LGBTQIA supporters, American Muslim activists and their supporters. I know, these don’t sound like groups that normally would march together in a summer festival parade under the banner of Palestine liberation, but they did. We had a great time and received over all good responses from the community.

Marching with Stefan

We can’t allow the morons to break our spirits. We can’t allow them to divide and conquer us as we fight for our case. We can’t quit protesting until we see our objectives met.

One day soon, we will make it so there is never any money for bombs as long as there are oppressed human beings in need of our help anywhere on the planet. I can’t wait to walk beside you then.

Related Articles and Other Interesting Links

Israel’s Tents Massacre in Rafah Is a Heinous War Crime https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/tents-massacre-rafah-war-crime

Rafah Invasion Was Once Biden’s “Red Line” — But Israel Continues to Cross It https://truthout.org/articles/rafah-invasion-was-once-bidens-red-line-but-israel-continues-to-cross-it/

Where is Joe Biden’s fury about decapitated Palestinian babies? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/30/biden-palestinian-beheaded-israeli-babies

Biden Lets Ukraine Strike Russia With US Weapons While Ukraine Attacks Russian Nuclear Defenses  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/biden-lets-ukraine-strike-russia

Biden Gives Ukraine Permission To Strike Inside Russia With US Weapons https://news.antiwar.com/2024/05/30/biden-gives-ukraine-permission-to-strike-inside-russia-with-us-weapons/

US Presidents Who Gamble With Nuclear Armageddon https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/30/us-presidents-who-gamble-with-nuclear-armageddon/

The Military-Industrial Complex Is Killing Us All https://scheerpost.com/2024/06/03/the-military-industrial-complex-is-killing-us-all/

Surveillance and interference: Israel’s covert war on the ICC exposed https://www.972mag.com/icc-israel-surveillance-investigation/

The ICC Takes on Israel and the US Congressional Mafia https://medeabenjamin.substack.com/p/the-icc-takes-on-israel-and-the-us

Top EU official accused at ICC of ‘complicity’ in Gaza genocide https://thecradle.co/articles/top-eu-official-accused-at-icc-of-complicity-in-gaza-genocide

Israel Seizes Entire Gaza Border! https://rumble.com/v4ygyze-live-israel-seizes-entire-gaza-border-and-much-more.html

Biden pressures Netanyahu to accept peace deal that could have been agreed 40,000 bodies ago https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/biden-pressures-netanyahu-to-accept

Falsified US State Department Report Inspires Yet Another Resignation https://popularresistance.org/falsified-us-state-department-report-inspires-yet-another-resignation/

This Texas Company Is Providing the Jet Fuel for Israel’s Assault on Gaza https://truthout.org/articles/this-texas-company-is-providing-the-jet-fuel-for-israels-assault-on-gaza/

UN Calls for International Aid as Sudan Faces Imminent Famine Amid Civil War https://truthout.org/articles/un-calls-for-international-aid-as-sudan-faces-imminent-famine-amid-civil-war/

UCLA's Disturbing Crackdown on Peaceful Protesters: An Injustice Unfolds https://www.citizenschronicle.org/p/uclas-disturbing-crackdown-on-peaceful

Gaza-on-the-Rhine, a history lesson https://autonomies.org/2024/03/yazan-alloujami-gaza-on-the-rhine-a-history-lesson/

From Massachusetts, Some Tax-the-Rich Inspiration https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/28/from-massachusetts-some-tax-the-rich-inspiration/

In a Victory for Assange and First Amendment, UK Court Grants Right to Appeal  https://truthout.org/articles/in-a-victory-for-assange-and-first-amendment-uk-court-grants-right-to-appeal/

Why Celebrities Aren't Speaking Up About Gaza https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/why-celebrities-arent-speaking-up

Educators Celebrate as Judge Strikes Down New Hampshire ‘Banned Concepts’ Law https://scheerpost.com/2024/05/30/educators-celebrate-as-judge-strikes-down-new-hampshire-banned-concepts-law/

Delhi Heat Wave Suggests Underestimated Speed and Intensity of Global Warming https://truthout.org/articles/delhi-heat-wave-suggests-underestimated-speed-and-intensity-of-global-warming/ 

Murray & Galloway on Ending Israel's Genocide in Gaza https://youtu.be/mW5KF-Z08ug

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Clusterf*cked: The Cruelty is the Point

 

Clusterf*cked: The Cruelty is the Point

by C.A. Matthews

Editor's Note: This week we ran into a very interesting person who expresses a very disturbing point-of-view. We asked her what she thought about some recent headlines to get a reading on how she felt about the issues. Her answers might surprise you. Or not.

The Revolution Continues: Thank you for chatting with us today, Nellie Neoliberal. Tell us a little about yourself.

Nellie Neoliberal: I’m just your “typical progressive” who votes “blue no matter who.” I raise money and awareness for Democratic candidates and support liberal causes and fight for equal rights. In my spare time I like to shop, watch The View, and play tennis and golf at our local country club. 

TRC: Let’s start with  equal rights and some recent news stories. Would you say you’re supportive of trans rights and the right of people of all ages to have access to gender-affirming care?

NN: Of course, you can’t legally discriminate against men who want to play women’s sports in tennis dresses, but I really don’t think they should because it’s just not fair. I can barely return the serve without hitting the net some days. And definitely children shouldn’t be allowed to change their birth gender. That’s barbaric.

TRC: Even if the child strongly feels they’ve been misgendered and their mental health professional believes gender-affirming care would be good for them and their parents agree?

NN: What does mental health got to do with it? Next thing you know you’ll be saying the taxpayers should pay for these cosmetic surgeries. I paid for my own face lifts and tummy tucks, by the way, so that’s that. Besides, these parents are just plain abusive. 

TRC: Abusive? How so?

NN: The child needs a good shrink and signed up to play football or hockey or something equally rugged so they can discover their true masculinity and get over their cross-dressing fantasy. There’s enough sissies already on the streets.

TRC: Oh...kay. Switching subjects, a federal judge ruled recently that social media platforms should not be forced into censoring or blocking free speech just because the FBI, CIA or other government organizations advises them to do so. What are your feelings on free speech? Do you feel people should be able to post whatever they like online and readers should be able to read it and share it freely with others?

NN: Of course people should be able to post and read whatever they like on the internet, but the government ultimately knows what's best. There’s got to be some parameters to what can or cannot be posted online. 

TRC: Explain what you mean by “parameters.”

NN: Well, there’s got to be rules. You can’t go spreading unfounded rumors and making up crazy conspiracy theories without proof. And bad language… There’s enough online already. It's “violence” according to A.O.C.

TRC: So you would allow government agencies to censor whatever they feel is “misinformation”?

NN: Who’s talking about censoring? I’m just saying that people shouldn’t be saying things online that make other people uncomfortable.

TRC: Uncomfortable? How exactly?

NN: They shouldn’t be able to say things and point things out about the issues or a candidate that causes doubt in his supporters’ minds. We shouldn’t have our faith shaken by outsiders.

TRC: Outsiders? People who don’t belong to the same group as you belong to? What group do you belong to that needs government censorship protection from outsiders’ opinions?

NN: Blue-no-matter-who voters, of course.

TRC: Oh, you mean people shouldn’t post content that could lead Democratic voters into believing Joe Biden is suffering from dementia, for example. They shouldn’t mention anything about him walking off a stage abruptly, shaking invisible hands, having to be led by the arm around a public venue so he doesn't get lost, or shouting out “God save the queen” for no reason whatsoever?

NN: (Volume and pitch rising.) Joe isn’t senile! He just has a playful sense of humor.

TRC: And the hair sniffing behaviors, groping women, making them feel uncomfortable that has been observed and recorded on numerous occasions?

NN: Those are photoshopped videos. I know they look real, but they’re fakes. The people in them are right-wing actors. That’s not our Joe in them.

TRC: They very well could be “right-wing” as you say. You seem very sure about it.

NN: (Sniffing.) I have to be. I’m in charge of membership retention of our local Democratic Women’s Club. Some of them are already insisting they want the DNC to hold primaries and debates with Bobby Kennedy Jr. and that Marianne woman. Some even say they’ll vote for Cornel West because he was a fan of that awful Commie Bernie Sanders.

TRC: Are you saying there’s trouble afoot among the ranks?

NN: (Shrugging.) Nothing a good fundraising party and a stern talking to can’t solve.

TRC: Following along the line of government-sponsored censorship, what about censoring what the public can know about the proxy war in Ukraine? Only recently The New York Times admitted what independent journalists have said all along about the strong Neo-Nazi elements in the Ukrainian army and government. Prior to February 2022 the Azov Battalion and Right Sector were reported about in the mainstream media, but at the start of the hostilities suddenly reporters who reported on these groups were labeled “Putin puppets” or  “disinformation spreaders.” What do you say about that?

 NN: They were disinformation spreaders. The American public didn’t need to know about the Nazis. It makes them nervous and doubt our motives. That just clouds the whole point of going to war.

TRC: And what is the point of giving Ukraine hundreds of billions of dollars in aid and weapons?

NN: To punish Putin, of course! We have to destroy him and the Russian economy before it destroys us. 

TRC: Are you saying that Putin is to blame for rising food and gasoline prices and the recent rent price hikes across the US?

NN: (Frowning and crossing her arms.) Say what? Joe Biden is on top of the economy. It’s bigger and better than it’s ever been. Go Bidenomics!

TRC: Do you happen to do your own food shopping?

NN: No. That’s what my housekeeper is for. If she doesn’t get herself deported by running into Ron DeSantis, that is. (Whispering) Hiring illegal aliens is a real bargain. They’re ever so appreciative.

TRC: Uh-huh. In your opinion, is Russia preventing US workers from striking and organizing? 

NN: Always about the striking! Always about the unions! You’d think people would be happy just to have a job. Instead, they’re getting all whipped up about wanting a (miming air quotes) “living wage” and better working conditions. So much conspiracy theory getting out there on the internet that isn’t being stopped like it should. American workers have it good. It’s all Russia’s doing.

TRC: Putin and Russia must be destroyed is your contention? At all costs?

NN: Whatever it takes. 

TRC: You don’t believe the hundreds of billions of dollars sent to Ukraine so far could have been used more productively at home? Spent on programs to give Americans health care, for instance.

NN: More disinformation and exaggeration. Everyone in the US can get health insurance through their jobs or Obamacare. (Harrumphing.) You’re not one of those Bernie types who thinks Americans have some kind of inborn right to food, housing, and health care, are you? How can businesses make profits if people get things like that for free?

TRC: We’re running short of time, so let’s not go there right now. What do think about the US supplying deadly cluster bombs that have been outlawed in over 110 countries to Ukraine?

NN: A cluster-what? Just sounds like something rude to me.

TRC: President Biden announced it this week. Cluster bombs are large shells that contain hundreds to thousands of smaller bomblets. When they’re dropped from the air they can scatter across football field-sized areas. The bomblets often don’t explode until children—thinking they’re toys—pick them up and then they can explode. Many innocent children throughout the world have had their arms and legs blown off by cluster bombs. It's even estimated that civilian rather than military targets are hit by cluster munitions up to 90% of the time.

NN: (Looking uncomfortable.) Never heard of them. Have they been around long?

TRC: Yes, they have. During the secret US war on Laos during the Vietnam War, the military blanketed the country with almost 300 million bomblets. Many didn’t detonate right away. Instead, they killed and injured tens of thousands of Lao people in the decades after the US pulled out of Southeast Asia. 

NN: (Frowning.) That doesn’t sound like something we’d ever do. Another conspiracy theory that shouldn’t be shared online. Besides, you said they were outlawed. America always does what's right. It follows rules based order.

TRC: What are these rules? Who created them?

NN: I'm not really sure, but President Biden says we follow them, so I believe it.

TRC: Unfortunately, they don't jive with the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) which prohibits the use, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions. The US, which has killed more people with cluster bombs than any other country, is not a signatory. During the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, cluster bombs killed and injured hundreds and littered the countryside with deadly unexploded ordnance some of which are still there, bomblets waiting for an innocent bystander to pick up or accidentally step on. The US has also been implicated in the use of cluster munitions through its support for Saudi-led forces in the Yemen conflict. 

What are your feelings toward cluster bombs now that you've been informed about their lethality and cruelty?

NN: Oh… (Biting her lip.) That's the whole point of war, isn't it? So what if a few Russkies get their arms blown off? That’s the price you pay for invading another country.

TRC: I'm not sure you understand. Cluster bombs are more than likely to cause more deaths and injuries to Ukrainian civilians than Russian soldiers. These cluster bomblets don't end war—they prolong the killing years after a war ends. 

NN: (Shrugging.) Not our problem really once the war is over, now is it?

TRC: Isn't it? In Iraq, the devastation of cluster bombs was compounded by the use of depleted uranium munitions. This led to the people of Fallujah experiencing higher rates of cancer, leukemia, infant mortality, and sexual mutations than those recorded among survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the years after those cities were nuked by American atomic bombs. The US and the UK have said they would supply depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine. 

The introduction of cluster bombs and depleted uranium could lead to an escalation of hostilities to the point of nuclear conflict. Do you understand now why these weapons should be outlawed and never delivered to Ukraine?

NN: (Sighing and nervously tapping a finger on her lip.) Dear, oh, dear. Well, I guess that’s the price you pay whenever you ask the US for more weapons, right? That dishy Mr. Zelensky wants more firepower and we deliver… Just like Joe Biden delivers! (Flashing her BIDEN 2024 button and grinning.)

TRC:  He certainly does. Thank you for your candid responses, Nellie Neoliberal. You've explained a lot about what’s going wrong in the world today.

Related Articles and Interesting Links:

Ukraine Clusterf*ck - The Grayzone Live https://www.youtube.com/live/5Q4tsJQ4GeU

Biden Defends Decision to Send Cluster Bombs to Ukraine https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/10/biden-defends-decision-to-send-cluster-bombs-to-ukraine/

Cluster Munition Use in Russia-Ukraine War https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/29/cluster-munition-use-russia-ukraine-war

Sending cluster bombs to Ukraine, Washington makes clear it will stop at nothing https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/07/08/oewz-j08.html

US Depleted Uranium to Make Ukraine War Dirtier https://popularresistance.org/us-depleted-uranium-to-make-ukraine-war-dirtier/ 

Today in War Propaganda https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/today-in-war-propaganda  

The Democratic Party isn’t interested in protecting trans folks; only in furthering U.S. imperial violence https://rainershea.substack.com/p/the-democratic-party-isnt-interested

Federal Judge Rules Against Biden Admin Attack on Free Speech
https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/05/louisiana-judge-limits-contact-between-biden-officials-and-social-media-companies/

US Court Victory Against Online Censorship https://popularresistance.org/us-court-victory-against-online-censorship/

Biden Administration appeals the federal ruling on censorship https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.lawd.189520/gov.uscourts.lawd.189520.296.0_3.pdf

Establishment Dems Outraged as Court Bans Biden & FBI From Coercing Big Tech Censorship; NYT Defends Illegal Domestic Surveillance | SYSTEM UPDATE #110 https://rumble.com/v2ybni6-system-update-show-110.html

Censorship & Blacklists: Chris Hedges, Stella Assange & Matt Kennard https://youtu.be/k4lgsyo-3SE

Attila the Stockbroker Speaks Out On Corporate Censorship https://open.substack.com/pub/almartinez/p/attila-the-stockbroker-speaks-out

First There Were Neo-Nazis, Then There Were No Nazis, Then There Were https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/06/patrick-lawrence-first-there-were-neo-nazis-then-there-were-no-nazis-then-there-were/

Biden taps Elliott Abrams, champion of death squads, for US diplomacy panel https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/07/08/bwzp-j08.html

World’s Richest Added Average of $14M Per Day to Their Wealth Over Past 6 Months https://truthout.org/articles/worlds-richest-added-average-of-14m-per-day-to-their-wealth-over-past-6-months/

Report: 1,500 Big Oil Lobbyists “Double Agents” for Supposed Climate Champions https://truthout.org/articles/report-1500-big-oil-lobbyists-double-agents-for-supposed-climate-champions/

COVID Hasn’t Disappeared — But Empathy, Care and Solidarity Have https://truthout.org/articles/covid-hasnt-disappeared-but-empathy-care-and-solidarity-have/

Rank-And-File UPS Workers Prepare To Strike And Refuse To Back Down https://popularresistance.org/rank-and-file-ups-workers-prepare-to-strike-and-refuse-to-back-down/

UN Forcefully Hits at US Blockade of Cuba and Prison in Guantanamo https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/05/un-forcefully-hits-at-us-blockade-of-cuba-and-prison-in-guantanamo/

Stop Cop City Is Everywhere https://popularresistance.org/stop-cop-city-is-everywhere/

Patrick Lawrence: We Need to Talk About Nahel https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/06/patrick-lawrence-we-need-to-talk-about-nahel/

Jill Stein Explains Why She Thinks Cornel West Is 'The Right Person For America' In 2024 https://youtu.be/e2PVcxPJkns

Seen on Twitter: 

Twitter won't allow this Tweet that shows what cluster bombs really do to human beings to be embeded, but you can see it here:

https://twitter.com/LynnSchore/status/1677775891894796289

Wow. #bluemaga has ZERO concern for human rights. They think it's a cute game. pic.twitter.com/C8Ucys6iMX

— gaijingirl2004 Bronx Leftist/Green. 🦺 🇵🇸✡️ (@gaijingirl2004) July 8, 2023

THE RULES-BASED ORDER
1. The USA rules the world.
2. The USA makes all rules including these rules.
3. No one can know what the rules are, only that they exist.
4. No one is allowed to ask what the rules are.
5. The USA will be in charge of the flexibility provided by the rules’…

— Nury Vittachi (@NuryVittachi) July 10, 2023

The Unwelcoming Society

The Unwelcoming Society

by C. A. Matthews

When my mother first got off the ship in the United States of America, I wonder… Did she feel welcomed?

It was right before the start of the second World War. Mom had lived in Brazil all of her young life. Now, her parents thrust her into a strange, new world full of different people, weather, flora and fauna. Being scolded by her mother to “speak only English,” she soon lost the ability to converse in Portuguese, remembering only snatches of songs and nursery rhymes in later years. Mom learned that she had to speak English only because now she was American, for better or worse.

Nowadays, it almost always seems to be “for the worse” whenever an immigrant attempts to enter the US. They may be desperate to escape persecution and violence in their home country, but once they arrive in the US or at its border, their fears not only aren’t relieved—they’re often magnified.

I wrote about the end of the infamous Title 42 program and the new Biden Asylum-Transit ban a couple of months ago in The New Title 42. The mainstream media’s continual emphasis on the urban myth of the US southern border becoming inundated with immigrant hordes after the pandemic ban was lifted has not happened. However, the re-traumatization of asylum-seekers seeking safety has just begun.

How welcoming is that?

From the terrorists masquerading as Customs Border Patrol agents at our borders, to the outright Jim Crow decrees from our state legislatures, it can’t get much more unwelcoming in the United States of America in the year 2023 CE. If you think I’m kidding, get a load of this:

A group of Chinese citizens who live, work, study, and raise families in Florida, as well as a real estate brokerage firm in Florida that primarily serves clients of Chinese descent, are filing a lawsuit to combat Florida’s discriminatory property law, SB 264. Signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the legislation unfairly restricts most Chinese citizens — and most citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Russia, and North Korea — from purchasing homes in the state. Unless the courts act, the law will take effect on July 1, 2023…

Today’s lawsuit argues that SB 264 will codify and expand housing discrimination against people of Asian descent in violation of the Constitution and the Fair Housing Act. It will also cast an undue burden of suspicion on anyone seeking to buy property whose name sounds remotely Asian, Russian, Iranian, Cuban, Venezuelan, or Syrian. 

Gov. DeSantis has argued that this law is necessary to protect Florida from the Chinese Communist Party and its activities. But this misguided rationale unfairly equates Chinese people with the actions of their government, and there is no evidence of national security harm resulting from real estate ownership by Chinese people in Florida. From Chinese Immigrants Sue Florida Over Unconstitutional, Discriminatory Law

This horrible law brings to mind the first immigration law passed in the United States, The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882:

From 1882 until 1943, most Chinese immigrants were barred from entering the United States. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the nation's first law to ban immigration by race or nationality. All Chinese people--except travelers, merchants, teachers, students, and those born in the United States--were barred from entering the country. Federal law prohibited Chinese residents, no matter how long they had legally worked in the United States, from becoming naturalized citizens… The Geary Act, passed in 1892, required Chinese aliens to carry a residence certificate with them at all times upon penalty of deportation. Immigration officials and police officers conducted spot checks in canneries, mines, and lodging houses and demanded that every Chinese person show these residence certificates. --From Digital History

We’re really come a long, long way in the good ol’ US of A, haven’t we?

Working in immigration advocacy, I am always shocked at how woefully ignorant most Americans are of how poorly we treat and have treated immigrants. Consider this sobering fact: It wasn’t until the middle of America’s involvement in World War II (1943) that Chinese-American persons—people of Chinese ancestry, born and raised in families that had lived for several generations in the US—were allowed to become naturalized citizens.

Just because your last name was Li or Chin, and it wasn’t Smith or Schmidt, you couldn’t vote even though you were born in the US, went to school all your life in the US, and raised your own family in the US. You and your children weren’t entitled to any benefits of citizenship simply because your ancestors were born far, far away, across a big, wide ocean. Funny how those “Smiths” and “Schmidts” whose ancestors also came across an ocean were able to claim US citizenship and vote without any problems, though.

Wonder what the big difference is between these two groups, persons of European ancestry and those of Asian ancestry? Hmm... Do you think it has anything to do with their skin color perhaps?

And you think the Chinese had (and still have) it bad? When did American Indians become US citizens? Their ancestors have dwelt on the North American continent for tens of thousands of years, but most who live within the boundaries of the USA were not able to call themselves American citizens until… No, not 1776 or 1865, but 1924. It actually took until the second decade of the twentieth century for Native Americans to be considered “American.” 

Now, convince me just how “welcoming” American society is if it can't even acknowledge the original inhabitants of this continent or keep any of the treaties it made with their leaders. I'll wait.

The US is so “welcoming” that we don't even believe that having enough food to eat is a human right. Imagine that! We voted against that proposal in the United Nations, of all places. That attitude certainly goes a long way in explaining our homeless and hunger problems, doesn't it? It's not that Americans can't feed and house our own people, it's that we don't want to.

But it isn’t always about race and ethnicity in the US when it comes to being unwelcoming. Senator Rick Scott (another Floridian) this past week has decided that those who are professed “socialists” aren’t welcome in his state. This announcement has really put a crimp in my vacation plans. I wanted to go south and visit my aunt, uncle and cousins in Florida, along with my sister and brother-in-law who recently retired there. Senator Scott says he doesn’t want any of my no-good socialist money in his state. It’s not good enough for the likes of Florida, like Chinese people’s money isn't, or Cubans’, or Venezuelans’, Syrians’, Iranians’, Russians’, and North Koreans’ money.

If you are trans or non-binary, you’re not wanted in the Sunshine State, either. It’s almost as if your gender identification is seen as a contagious disease. Give Florida its due—they’re racist, fascistic, and terrified of people who don’t meet their expectations of what a boy or a girl is supposed to be like. You could call it “Equal Opportunity Bigotry.”

I know it’s not only the state of Florida that has passed these prejudiced decrees recently, but it is the perfect example of evil in action. Florida is full of hateful opportunists who are riding a wave of terror of “otherness” and hoping to make a profit while doing so. Look at what color Florida is on this map and what it stands for:

It's nothing to be proud of, in my opinion. I wouldn't be planning a vacation to Disney World or Universal Studios, in other words, unless you're a raving homophobic/transphobic, anti-Asian, anti-socialist. Then, by all means, go right ahead! (Just don't bother to return home. We can isolate all you bigots in Florida with a simple “border wall” at the top of the peninsula. We don't want your kind of “immigrant” in our states.)

A year ago, it was all “Hate the Russians! Love Zelensky! Who needs to spend billions on universal health care when America can spend it on the military-industrial complex and make our Congress members with insider stock trading deals richer!” And soon it will be, “Stop eating Chinese food and hate the Chinese! We’re at war with China over… over...”  

Gee, I forget! Why is the US mad at China? Is it because the have decent reserves of lithium? Silicon chip manufacturing? Or because they’ve been trying to bring about a diplomatic end to the conflict in Ukraine, saving lives and ending the madness in the process?  

It doesn’t take much to start a hate campaign against another country or ethnic or racial or political or gender group in the US. I sure wish our so-called “leaders” could do something to stop all this hate-mongering and sit down like rational adults and work out their differences with others in the best interest of every living thing on the planet before a nuclear war breaks out. (And no, corporations aren’t people, so they don’t count as “living things.”)

You could say that I’m just more than a little tired of the United States leading the way in all this worldwide nastiness; aren’t you?

The initials “US” are very appropriate. The initials “US” can also stand for the “Unwelcoming Society.” It's what we've become—or perhaps we've always been this way? It's time we stopped and took steps to reverse this horrid trend, don't you think?

 

Related Articles and Articles of Interest

Digital History: The Chinese Exclusion Act https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3291

Chinese Immigrants Sue Florida Over Unconstitutional, Discriminatory Law https://popularresistance.org/chinese-immigrants-sue-florida-over-unconstitutional-and-discriminatory-law/

ICE, Homeland Security Accused Of Targeting Outspoken Migrant Worker For Deportation https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/27/ice-homeland-security-accused-of-targeting-outspoken-migrant-worker-for-deportation/

Afghan families traverse most of Latin America to seek asylum at the US border https://theworld.org/stories/2023-05-17/afghan-families-traverse-most-latin-america-seek-asylum-us-border

Why are these Afghan refugees still stuck in limbo? https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/05/24/two-years-after-us-withdrawal-afghan-refugees-still-stuck-in-limbo/ 

Dozens of GoFundMe Users Seek Funds to Flee States Passing Transphobic Laws  https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/31/dozens-of-gofundme-users-seek-funds-to-flee-states-passing-transphobic-laws/

Target Accused of “Selling Out the LGBTQ+ Community to Extremists”  https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/27/target-accused-of-selling-out-the-lgbtq-community-to-extremists-after-pulling-pride-merchandise/

 

Many transgender health bills came from a handful of far-right interest groups https://apnews.com/article/transgender-health-model-legislation-5cc4a7cb4ab69150f670d06fd0f361ab

About Quislings
https://popularresistance.org/about-quislings/

East Palestine, 100 Days Later
https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/25/east-palestine-100-days-later/

US Troops To Train Peruvian Armed Forces, Proves US Behind Coup  https://popularresistance.org/us-troops-to-train-peruvian-armed-forces-proves-us-behind-coup/

$1.1 Trillion Was Spent On Militarism And War Last Year
https://popularresistance.org/new-report-1-1-trillion-or-62-of-the-federal-discretionary-budget-was-spent-on-militarism-and-war-last-year/

 

Washington-Insider Jeffrey Sachs on US Provoking Ukraine War | SYSTEM UPDATE https://youtu.be/kU7UzrJeX6E

Ukraine: Why Negotiations Are the Only Rational Option in the Face of Climate https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/25/ukraine-why-negotiations-are-the-only-rational-option-in-the-face-of-climate-chaos-and-nuclear-dangers/

 

Yes, Those Bioweapons Labs in Ukraine are a Real Thing

https://joebrunoli.substack.com/p/yes-those-bioweapons-labs-in-ukraine-are-a-real-thing-fad3785f3818

Media's Complete U-Turn After Russia Wins Bakhmut
https://youtu.be/O3kr4ZZl5FA

Fossil Fuel Companies Owe $5.4 Trillion In Reparations, Study Says
https://popularresistance.org/fossil-fuel-companies-owe-5-4-trillion-in-reparations-study-says/

10 Years After Snowden: Some Things Are Better, Some We’re Still Fighting For https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/23/10-years-after-snowden-some-things-are-better-some-were-still-fighting-for/

The Democratic Party’s Crucifixion of Matt Taibbi https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-democratic-partys-crucifixion

Manufactured crisis over US debt ceiling sets stage for bipartisan assault on Social Security and Medicare https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/05/25/pers-m25.html 

Kissinger vs. ‘The Most Dangerous Man in America’ https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/28/kissinger-vs-the-most-dangerous-man-in-america/

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

More details to come. Power to the people!