It's not that the Dems are feckless & unskilled. It's that they play for the same team - the Oligarchy. They are simply one wing of the that two-winged oligarch-owned, warmongering, imperialist, capitalist "bird" known as the Duopoly.
They will feign opposition, but give the billionaires & war profiteers everything they want, hoping for campaign cash next election cycle.
Sorry to be so cynical. I don't believe anything will change until we upend the present corrupt political system.
I think the Democrats will not hamstring the Republicans because DEMOCRATS want the SAME policies as Republicans, they are the same party with the same wishes. Democrats only pretend to care about the working, class , minorities etc because they want a turn at the largesse every once and while. DEMOCRATS ARE REPUBLICANS like wolves in sheep's clothing
Turbulence at home is a deliberate distraction from mostly unipolar foreign policy and profiteering. Most times when the Public cares about an issue, it's because they were made to do so. What they care may be important but not the most the most important (Palestine an obvious exception, but even there the real intention is hidden).
I have enjoyed your articles throughout the past years and especially the political season.
I write here on Substack as well.
I'm struck by how often your thoughts seem to articulate and crystallize exactly what is going on in my head. Reason, with the exception of a few independent writers and journalists, seems to have left the building, never to be seen and heard from again.
In fact, I can't recall an election season so bizarre and vacuous, with half the population crying out for the government to stop killing women and children, and maybe, do something about the cost of living, and in response getting multi millionaire Oprah sing-shouting "Joy" at the DNC convention, along with lessons on how to properly pronounce "Kamala" from exploited children, a WWE spectacle at the RNC, (featuring Hulk Hogan's bulging muscles), failed assassination attempts met with indifference , all set to to a dystopian Megan Thee Stallion, Beyonce and Kid Rock soundtrack.
I have literally stayed off Facebook for days since the returns were announced, as some of my friends who can comfortably overlook US financed genocide, war, and a cognitively deficient Biden leading us to the brink of World War III are seriously, and I mean SERIOUSLY hysterical, despite months of evidence over the past years that fascism was firmly entrenched ALREADY. These people, largely white and privileged, see themselves as, I imagine, Anne Frank's family, or perhaps a 2024 version of the Von Trapp family climbing every mountain to escape the coming dictatorship.
That's been the most unsettling and sincerely scary thing to me in all of it.
Thanks for the reasoned, incisive articles and keep up the good work.
What about Cheney, Bush II, Rice, and any other War Criminals left over from America's 23-year run of "Forever Wars" since 9/11, here. there, and everywhere?
Including Obama and his Team, Trump and his, and most most recently, Biden's and his?
Gitmo needs to be closed now. It is a shining example of the US ability to punish people for disagreeing with the Military. I look for more Gitmos to be built in the US intended for people who object to the policies of our Government.
I agree Gitmo (and other such "black sites" should be shut down. Of course, by sarcastic point is, those who allow such should be recipients of its "accommodations." Trump was right to say the Liz Cheneys of the world should take their war lust and go to the front lines of their wars.
To Gitmo in particular, given our treatment of Cuba, we should be run off the island all together.
Different color same bullshit policies that only benefit the oligarchs. Clinton threw the working class under the bus when he signed NAFTA and gutted the social safety nets. Obama caved to the insurance lobby. They absolutely refused to codify Roe. And I'm fairly certain they threw the election to Trump.
Absolutely. In addition to what you wrote, Bubba and H. Clinton brought in the 'New Democrats' that has resulted in the world we live in.
Bubba started the NATO expansion east. He signed the Telecommunications Act in 1996 that consolidated the various news companies to the very few overly powerful ones left. He signed the bill that did away with Glass-Steagall in 1999, that led to the financial crisis in 2008-where Obama protected the perpetrators not the victims. And he approved the NATO bombing in the Kosovo war; a complex political situation that needed diplomacy not the application of often indiscriminate aerial bombardment.
H. Clinton pushed the destruction of Libya, for that alone she should have been condemned to the ninth circle of Hell. Then it was her actions and support behind Russiagate, with her acolyte Rachel Madcow, that created the hysteria that lasted through Trump's first term and poisoned domestic politics in a way that might have been avoided.
Thank you for the additions. They've committed so many crimes it's difficult to keep up with them. The repealing of Glass-Stegall made a lot of people homeless🤬 Then Obama bailed out the corrupt bankers and even hired a few of them.
That they continue to be treated as sages and given platforms to continue spouting their self-serving narratives - particularly the odious H. Clinton - says all one needs to know about the attitudes of the owners (the ruling class).
Bernie, Bernie, why did you fold when we were ready to jump with you?! Now you are again a voice in the wilderness, appreciated but held within the cage of our corrupt Congress.
no deep thinking required stating 'not much difference between the 2 major parties'. I think they are pretty much allined. The passion for rightousness and trying to do the right thing (for the people) while in office seems to be completly absent in the halls of congress. They like to appear they are completely opposite from one another when in reality they are excatly alined. It's all for show smoke and mirrow BS. Let's face it folks we are the ultimate war machine, the number one death star. MICIMATT rules and feeds the death star with constant wars so our war economy stays well greased by the blood of mostly non white earthings. *The horror we see daily happening to the Palestinian people is a good exmple* We are a horrible war nation. Like dracula it feed on the blood of its many victims. Where is our humanity/love for ourselves and the earth we live on.
I was thinking about the history since Vietnam. Over 2 million Vietnamese died in that war, then add in all the people who died in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and Ukraine where a negotiated settlement could have been reached at the start but for the US demand that it not be. And we have Gaza in the past year. So much blood has flowed due to US action in the world.
I have been reading Steve Col's excellent account of Saddam Hussein's career from his rise to power to his death. I am stunned by all that the US did in the name of international law in cooperation with the UN...kicking him out of Kuwait and then the no-fly zone to protect the Kurds all the time hoping that an internal revolt would topple him yet not supporting the uprising after the 1991 eviction from Kuwait. Stunned as I say because of what we are doing with another monster of destruction - Netanyahu - that we present with all the arms and ammo and diplomatic support needed to lay waste without limit. It is an atrocity, fully protected from the UN by the US.
The US loved and supported Saddam when he illegally invaded Iran in 1980 to nip the 1979 Iranian Revolution in the bud. That brutal War lasted 8 years with over 1,000,000 causalities. The US had no comment when he used chemical weapons on the Iranians and Kurds.
That 1979 Iranian Revolution overturning the longest lasting Persian Throne predating the Papal Thrones and all the thrones in Europe, brought the Fear of God to all the British created Royal Oil Sheikdoms and Israel, the other Theocracy in the Middle East.
The leading indicators projected by the MSM suggest that Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty in the Revelation of Jesus Christ the Jew is closer than most people dare think!
Yes. I also tells of Rumsfeld's visits and of the lack of evidence that Saddam tried to kill Bush senior. It tells of the outrage we felt when Saddam gassed the Kurds, but the number killed was nothing compared to what Netanyahu is doing with our full support. One thing that stands out in regard to US policy that goes a long way in explaining why apparently contradictory actions make sense is that the goal was always to get the Iraqi oil and to make Iraq a safe place for business. I think that has been an overarching US goal for a very long time, profit over people.
The long-term, strategic goal of the US was and is not to get just Iraqi Oil, Clif, but ALL the Oil in that part of the world. That's what we created Israel for.
Thank You, Bashir. i just Kindled it and will definitely take a look.
In the meantime, may i request from You something like a one-paragraph overview and synopsis of what the book declares, and how it argues for that explanation and interpretation of the relationship between the US and Israel?
Ie: What specific narrative does it present that proves that Israel was not created for US strategic and tactical reasons and interests?
I recall early on in Trump 1.0, he introduced a public-private partnership infrastructure bill. I thought immediately (and was right to think so) that there was no way it would even get any consideration. Give Trump a win--let alone an early win the country truly needed? (Debate on public-private partnership notwithstanding.) Not just no, but hell no! Thus went all of Trump 1.0. Talk to nuclear powers? How dare you! Suggest Obama Care was not all its cracked up to be? You spawn of Satan!
We know going into Trump 2.0 that the same obstructionists are loaded for bear with more support from even more anti-Trump Republicans. Alas, if only common cause on common ground for the common good could prevail, but it shall not. Trump must do down in history as the greatest boogie man in American history. Our welfare and that of the world be damned to make it so.
I recall some news talk show discussing Trump's outreach to Russia early in his first term. The guest said Trump's efforts were not part of the accepted consensus. I think that was the first time I heard a flack for the owners publicly admit how things actually work.
"Accepted consensus"--so truly pathetic! I recall that as well. What is acceptable seems to be an ever-tightening noose to any concept of diplomacy in the West.
The definition of fascism is the merging of the state with corporate power. The party that most closely resembles that definition is the Democrats and its supporters in the Republican party (Lindsey Graham, John Cornyn, Mitch McConnell, etc.) And doesn’t it somehow diminish Hitler and the Holocaust to call Trump and his supporters Hitler? That was a unique moment in history that deserves to keep Hitler’s name so all will never forget what happened in those years. Some words should never broaden their meaning.
I also despair that so many Americans have such little faith in the power of the Constitution. We withstood an actual Civil War and a collapse of capitalism in the 1930s. There are still checks and balances, a separation of powers, and federalism. We have had incompetent presidents, feckless politicians, corrupt politicians and judges. We have had presidents who overstepped their constitutional authority (vaccine mandates come to mind). And yet, we had a peaceful election and a peaceful transition of power has been promised. We are going to be just fine.
But Mary, the Constitution is meaningless when it can either be ignored (by Congress dumping it to allow the White House to war at will) or it can be interpreted to produce the bizarre explosion of personal firearms, to declare that money is speech, and on and on. The Constitution has been left behind except when it is convenient to power to invoke it. I can't share your optimism that it will be a life saver for the country.
When I am out picketing for liberty and justice for all it dismays me that the great majority of passersby simply do that, going about their day without any recognition of how bad things are. I place no faith in we the people when what is happening brings no demand to bring it to a stop - the slaughter in Gaza the prime example, but the almost routine mass and school shootings that are now accepted as the norm as well. The country is becoming unrecognizable but acceptable as long as the Amazon packages arrive promptly.
I agree with much of what you are saying here. I posted earlier that I saw America as a plutarchy with many elements of fascism to it. Both Democrats and Republicans are evil. And you should vote for a way out of evil-Jill Stein. But that does not mean that one of the two evils is not eviler. Those that voted for Stein did the right thing. But now they must live with the worst of the two evils. Under Trump concentration of wealth will accelerate. And the notion that things have to get worse before they get better is foolhardy. When Hillter came to power many Germans thought- once Germany experiences him enough, more fully, they will reject his ways. But it took a war to stop Hitler. I am not saying that Trump is a Hitler. But Trump's policies will ensure greater concentration of wealth/power. But to ignore the initiatives of Lina Khan of real anti-trust enforcement under Biden is foolhardy. To ignore his highly imperfect but better than Trump climate policies is dangerous. And to say that things can't get worse for the Palestinians under Trump than Biden-that the Genocide cannot be greater and more complete under Bibi and Trump is to ignore what Trump has said-Biden should get out of Bibi's way and finish the job. Things that are extremely bad can get worse.
It does not take much to imagine Jared Kushner on the phone to Bibi talking about real estate projects-beach front properties on the shores of Gaza. "My father-in-law will ensure resorts there and that Israel is indeed from sea to sea-he will hasten the extermination-before the United Nations or international law can catch up to us."
Jesse Jackson Knew how profoundly wrong Bill Clinton's policies were -especially his welfare policies-his policing of the poor and imprisoning of poor minorities while delivering great welfare- great socialism to the rich. "Cruel capitalism for the poor-socialism for the rich". But he also knew that there was more room for hope within Clinton's party than in Republican party that wanted to shrink all social safety nets. He supported Clinton in great pain because he knew the Republicans would have been worse. At the 1996 DNC convention he talked of the Big Tent being the only real room-real place for any hope at all. While it is true that that big tent has shrunk to suffocate the likes of Bernie and to be more and more corporate- more monied controlled, it's also true-the likes of Bernie-AOC- Warren were still able to influence some of Biden's policies. There is absolutely no room for the likes of Bernie now or ever in the last 40 years in the Republican party. Everybody should watch the short powerful speech given by Jackson at the 1996 convention. It's on the internet. Feel his pain- hear his eloquence-hear how he followed his thoughts through to reach a sound conclusion. Bernie would tell you Trump is a greater evil than Biden. Nader spent his radio hour yesterday hammering at that. And no man on the planet understands the need for supporting third parties better than Nader.
I recall Jackson saying "The best of us owe it to the rest of us". Could there be a statement more opposite to what that 1% (though hardly the best of us) are doing and have been doing? In 1968 when MLKJ was assassinated it seemed like the world was crumbling. It wasn't even close to the disintegration going on now.
In equating Trump and Kamala as two equal evils Bill illustrates reactionary thinking -not suffering through- not following thoughts through to see the real differences between Kamala and Trump. Biden was addressing climate change and making great efforts at enforcing anti-trust laws-at going after the concentration of wealth-that causes all evils. As Bill suffers from Trump come January 2025. I will suffer the suffering Bill offers up here.
But don't forget that Hitler presented a referendum to the German people asking for absolute power, and they approved it. With Trump receiving only 27% of the vote of the electorate, were he to present such a referendum it would be soundly voted down.
Of course the German people were coming out of truly awful times whereas Americans are still, most of them, doing ok. I think that is the key to our steady political decline - we still are out there buying stuff and as long as gasoline is not going wild in price, ignore everything including global warming and keep on keeping on with the American way of life that GWB said is not negotiable. Remember him advising us to go out and shop after 9/11? Total blindness.
We the people in the US and all over the world have never before been in such danger of obliteration as we are now. The two conflicts raging now are potentially fatal for all living beings whether Animal,Insect or human. The prognosis is not favorable given the politics around the world.
I will be 82 early in December. I really don't give a damn how the Capitalist,War Mongering class handles their demise. Either we do that or we are dead men walking.
I think you’re delusional. The GOP has a monopoly: President, Senate, House and Supreme Court. You can apologize after Trump has been in office for about 6 months.
Update as the count comes in Trump still leads popular vote but the "missing" all Biden ballots is down around 7 million out of about 150 million total counted so far. 5 days after the voting!.
Great article, but I only disagree with one thing because it's customary. I believe if Biden/Harris did not congratulate Trump, it would have been throwing shade, and there's more of a story there. So, it was the polite thing to do. Are the Democrats more aligned with Trump than they're willing to admit? Time will tell for sure, but as I've mentioned before, I'm just waiting for it all to go sideways so I can start getting in the face of those who really thought Trump was going to do something good and foolishly cast their ballot his way. xo
Answering the question "Is Trump going to rule like a dictator"presumes we currently have a democracy. Since when have we had a democracy?
Never. We have a democratic republic. It was established that way because the best form of communication at the time was the pony express. We now have a form of communication where the public can be polled and our representatives Informed how to vote our wishes. Instead we have the wealthy in control. An oligarchy or plutocracy. Call it what you like. I'm tired of idiotic arguments. Make up a new word we can all agree on Trumpism.
Trump wants to deport millions of illegal immigrants. Immigrants who are supplying cheap slave labor In agriculture construction and other dirty work Americans don't want to do. Either Americans will replace them for the same wages or we will experience hyperinflation with increased wages. America's greatest export will be human beings. Slave wage jobs will be supplied for Americans. Otherwise McDonald's will run out of cheeseburgers.
Tariffs on Imports will have a similar effect. Any increase will just be passed on to Americans.
It's a simple and effective means of transferring wealth upwards and impoverishing Americans.
How long will it take to set up manufacturing again in America? 5 to 10 years? How much will it cost? Do we even have the machinery? Do we have the skilled labor force?
Americans like to be dictated to. They have no idea of what they want let alone what they need. Trump promised all of their wants to be fulfilled based on vague promises. He has the magic wand. Dorothy is back in Kansas.
Climate change is a hoax. ( Americans will soon be eating cats After they eat all their dogs)
Ecocide ? Worrying about it would inhibit progress.
Upgrading nuclear weapons? Absolutely vital to keeping us safe. We can even use them to stop the hordes of terrorists coming across the border. Protect our cats and dogs.
Since none of these were addressed They must not be important.
12-year-old taken into custody after allegedly threatening teacher
This is why the moderate Republican Harris/Cheney campaign didn't announce policy - to do so would have highlighted the indifferences between the two factions of the duopoly. They were only against Herr Drumpf.
It's not that the Dems are feckless & unskilled. It's that they play for the same team - the Oligarchy. They are simply one wing of the that two-winged oligarch-owned, warmongering, imperialist, capitalist "bird" known as the Duopoly.
They will feign opposition, but give the billionaires & war profiteers everything they want, hoping for campaign cash next election cycle.
Sorry to be so cynical. I don't believe anything will change until we upend the present corrupt political system.
Thank you for all your insights and writing!
I think the Democrats will not hamstring the Republicans because DEMOCRATS want the SAME policies as Republicans, they are the same party with the same wishes. Democrats only pretend to care about the working, class , minorities etc because they want a turn at the largesse every once and while. DEMOCRATS ARE REPUBLICANS like wolves in sheep's clothing
In many cases, that's exactly right.
Turbulence at home is a deliberate distraction from mostly unipolar foreign policy and profiteering. Most times when the Public cares about an issue, it's because they were made to do so. What they care may be important but not the most the most important (Palestine an obvious exception, but even there the real intention is hidden).
Hi Bill:
I have enjoyed your articles throughout the past years and especially the political season.
I write here on Substack as well.
I'm struck by how often your thoughts seem to articulate and crystallize exactly what is going on in my head. Reason, with the exception of a few independent writers and journalists, seems to have left the building, never to be seen and heard from again.
In fact, I can't recall an election season so bizarre and vacuous, with half the population crying out for the government to stop killing women and children, and maybe, do something about the cost of living, and in response getting multi millionaire Oprah sing-shouting "Joy" at the DNC convention, along with lessons on how to properly pronounce "Kamala" from exploited children, a WWE spectacle at the RNC, (featuring Hulk Hogan's bulging muscles), failed assassination attempts met with indifference , all set to to a dystopian Megan Thee Stallion, Beyonce and Kid Rock soundtrack.
I have literally stayed off Facebook for days since the returns were announced, as some of my friends who can comfortably overlook US financed genocide, war, and a cognitively deficient Biden leading us to the brink of World War III are seriously, and I mean SERIOUSLY hysterical, despite months of evidence over the past years that fascism was firmly entrenched ALREADY. These people, largely white and privileged, see themselves as, I imagine, Anne Frank's family, or perhaps a 2024 version of the Von Trapp family climbing every mountain to escape the coming dictatorship.
That's been the most unsettling and sincerely scary thing to me in all of it.
Thanks for the reasoned, incisive articles and keep up the good work.
FYI: I'm in the minority that voted third party, any other choice didn't make moral sense to me.
I endorse your comment, every word of it.
if anyone deserves to be locked up it is Rachel Maddow....
Guantanamo sounds good to me for her and 1,000 or so others along with her. I'm bipartisan enough to put Pompeo as her cell mate.
Pompeo and Maddow in the same cell -- justice at last! :-)
What about Cheney, Bush II, Rice, and any other War Criminals left over from America's 23-year run of "Forever Wars" since 9/11, here. there, and everywhere?
Including Obama and his Team, Trump and his, and most most recently, Biden's and his?
Gitmo needs to be closed now. It is a shining example of the US ability to punish people for disagreeing with the Military. I look for more Gitmos to be built in the US intended for people who object to the policies of our Government.
I agree Gitmo (and other such "black sites" should be shut down. Of course, by sarcastic point is, those who allow such should be recipients of its "accommodations." Trump was right to say the Liz Cheneys of the world should take their war lust and go to the front lines of their wars.
To Gitmo in particular, given our treatment of Cuba, we should be run off the island all together.
Matt Taibbi, who worked with Maddow before she became the superstar, says she is unrecognizable now. Getting a leg up to power does things to people.
Exiled to Point Barrow, Alaska.
Different color same bullshit policies that only benefit the oligarchs. Clinton threw the working class under the bus when he signed NAFTA and gutted the social safety nets. Obama caved to the insurance lobby. They absolutely refused to codify Roe. And I'm fairly certain they threw the election to Trump.
Absolutely. In addition to what you wrote, Bubba and H. Clinton brought in the 'New Democrats' that has resulted in the world we live in.
Bubba started the NATO expansion east. He signed the Telecommunications Act in 1996 that consolidated the various news companies to the very few overly powerful ones left. He signed the bill that did away with Glass-Steagall in 1999, that led to the financial crisis in 2008-where Obama protected the perpetrators not the victims. And he approved the NATO bombing in the Kosovo war; a complex political situation that needed diplomacy not the application of often indiscriminate aerial bombardment.
H. Clinton pushed the destruction of Libya, for that alone she should have been condemned to the ninth circle of Hell. Then it was her actions and support behind Russiagate, with her acolyte Rachel Madcow, that created the hysteria that lasted through Trump's first term and poisoned domestic politics in a way that might have been avoided.
They both should be reviled.
Thank you for the additions. They've committed so many crimes it's difficult to keep up with them. The repealing of Glass-Stegall made a lot of people homeless🤬 Then Obama bailed out the corrupt bankers and even hired a few of them.
That they continue to be treated as sages and given platforms to continue spouting their self-serving narratives - particularly the odious H. Clinton - says all one needs to know about the attitudes of the owners (the ruling class).
That it does.
Bernie, Bernie, why did you fold when we were ready to jump with you?! Now you are again a voice in the wilderness, appreciated but held within the cage of our corrupt Congress.
😞
no deep thinking required stating 'not much difference between the 2 major parties'. I think they are pretty much allined. The passion for rightousness and trying to do the right thing (for the people) while in office seems to be completly absent in the halls of congress. They like to appear they are completely opposite from one another when in reality they are excatly alined. It's all for show smoke and mirrow BS. Let's face it folks we are the ultimate war machine, the number one death star. MICIMATT rules and feeds the death star with constant wars so our war economy stays well greased by the blood of mostly non white earthings. *The horror we see daily happening to the Palestinian people is a good exmple* We are a horrible war nation. Like dracula it feed on the blood of its many victims. Where is our humanity/love for ourselves and the earth we live on.
I was thinking about the history since Vietnam. Over 2 million Vietnamese died in that war, then add in all the people who died in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and Ukraine where a negotiated settlement could have been reached at the start but for the US demand that it not be. And we have Gaza in the past year. So much blood has flowed due to US action in the world.
I have been reading Steve Col's excellent account of Saddam Hussein's career from his rise to power to his death. I am stunned by all that the US did in the name of international law in cooperation with the UN...kicking him out of Kuwait and then the no-fly zone to protect the Kurds all the time hoping that an internal revolt would topple him yet not supporting the uprising after the 1991 eviction from Kuwait. Stunned as I say because of what we are doing with another monster of destruction - Netanyahu - that we present with all the arms and ammo and diplomatic support needed to lay waste without limit. It is an atrocity, fully protected from the UN by the US.
The US loved and supported Saddam when he illegally invaded Iran in 1980 to nip the 1979 Iranian Revolution in the bud. That brutal War lasted 8 years with over 1,000,000 causalities. The US had no comment when he used chemical weapons on the Iranians and Kurds.
That 1979 Iranian Revolution overturning the longest lasting Persian Throne predating the Papal Thrones and all the thrones in Europe, brought the Fear of God to all the British created Royal Oil Sheikdoms and Israel, the other Theocracy in the Middle East.
The leading indicators projected by the MSM suggest that Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty in the Revelation of Jesus Christ the Jew is closer than most people dare think!
Does that book detail how the U.S. engineered the coup that brought Hussein to power in the first place?
And then supplied, equipped, and bankrolled his War on our behalf with Iran after the 1979 Revolution and the disposal of The Shah?
Yes. I also tells of Rumsfeld's visits and of the lack of evidence that Saddam tried to kill Bush senior. It tells of the outrage we felt when Saddam gassed the Kurds, but the number killed was nothing compared to what Netanyahu is doing with our full support. One thing that stands out in regard to US policy that goes a long way in explaining why apparently contradictory actions make sense is that the goal was always to get the Iraqi oil and to make Iraq a safe place for business. I think that has been an overarching US goal for a very long time, profit over people.
The long-term, strategic goal of the US was and is not to get just Iraqi Oil, Clif, but ALL the Oil in that part of the world. That's what we created Israel for.
There is a book I recommended for you to read:
Against Our Better Judgment: The hidden history of how the United States was used to create Israel -Alison Weir.
It goes against the typical narrative that the US supported Israel because of strategic reasons.
Thank You, Bashir. i just Kindled it and will definitely take a look.
In the meantime, may i request from You something like a one-paragraph overview and synopsis of what the book declares, and how it argues for that explanation and interpretation of the relationship between the US and Israel?
Ie: What specific narrative does it present that proves that Israel was not created for US strategic and tactical reasons and interests?
Funny thing is, the US is now the number one producer of oil in the world, well ahead even of Saudi Arabia.
Heh. True indeed. But that's not ALL the Oil. Look at the Top-10 producers of Oil, and how many of them are in ~ or want to be in ~ BRICS?
And what would happen if Saudi Arabia made that jump so it became BRICSSA?
I recall early on in Trump 1.0, he introduced a public-private partnership infrastructure bill. I thought immediately (and was right to think so) that there was no way it would even get any consideration. Give Trump a win--let alone an early win the country truly needed? (Debate on public-private partnership notwithstanding.) Not just no, but hell no! Thus went all of Trump 1.0. Talk to nuclear powers? How dare you! Suggest Obama Care was not all its cracked up to be? You spawn of Satan!
We know going into Trump 2.0 that the same obstructionists are loaded for bear with more support from even more anti-Trump Republicans. Alas, if only common cause on common ground for the common good could prevail, but it shall not. Trump must do down in history as the greatest boogie man in American history. Our welfare and that of the world be damned to make it so.
I recall some news talk show discussing Trump's outreach to Russia early in his first term. The guest said Trump's efforts were not part of the accepted consensus. I think that was the first time I heard a flack for the owners publicly admit how things actually work.
"Accepted consensus"--so truly pathetic! I recall that as well. What is acceptable seems to be an ever-tightening noose to any concept of diplomacy in the West.
The definition of fascism is the merging of the state with corporate power. The party that most closely resembles that definition is the Democrats and its supporters in the Republican party (Lindsey Graham, John Cornyn, Mitch McConnell, etc.) And doesn’t it somehow diminish Hitler and the Holocaust to call Trump and his supporters Hitler? That was a unique moment in history that deserves to keep Hitler’s name so all will never forget what happened in those years. Some words should never broaden their meaning.
I also despair that so many Americans have such little faith in the power of the Constitution. We withstood an actual Civil War and a collapse of capitalism in the 1930s. There are still checks and balances, a separation of powers, and federalism. We have had incompetent presidents, feckless politicians, corrupt politicians and judges. We have had presidents who overstepped their constitutional authority (vaccine mandates come to mind). And yet, we had a peaceful election and a peaceful transition of power has been promised. We are going to be just fine.
But Mary, the Constitution is meaningless when it can either be ignored (by Congress dumping it to allow the White House to war at will) or it can be interpreted to produce the bizarre explosion of personal firearms, to declare that money is speech, and on and on. The Constitution has been left behind except when it is convenient to power to invoke it. I can't share your optimism that it will be a life saver for the country.
When I am out picketing for liberty and justice for all it dismays me that the great majority of passersby simply do that, going about their day without any recognition of how bad things are. I place no faith in we the people when what is happening brings no demand to bring it to a stop - the slaughter in Gaza the prime example, but the almost routine mass and school shootings that are now accepted as the norm as well. The country is becoming unrecognizable but acceptable as long as the Amazon packages arrive promptly.
I agree with much of what you are saying here. I posted earlier that I saw America as a plutarchy with many elements of fascism to it. Both Democrats and Republicans are evil. And you should vote for a way out of evil-Jill Stein. But that does not mean that one of the two evils is not eviler. Those that voted for Stein did the right thing. But now they must live with the worst of the two evils. Under Trump concentration of wealth will accelerate. And the notion that things have to get worse before they get better is foolhardy. When Hillter came to power many Germans thought- once Germany experiences him enough, more fully, they will reject his ways. But it took a war to stop Hitler. I am not saying that Trump is a Hitler. But Trump's policies will ensure greater concentration of wealth/power. But to ignore the initiatives of Lina Khan of real anti-trust enforcement under Biden is foolhardy. To ignore his highly imperfect but better than Trump climate policies is dangerous. And to say that things can't get worse for the Palestinians under Trump than Biden-that the Genocide cannot be greater and more complete under Bibi and Trump is to ignore what Trump has said-Biden should get out of Bibi's way and finish the job. Things that are extremely bad can get worse.
It does not take much to imagine Jared Kushner on the phone to Bibi talking about real estate projects-beach front properties on the shores of Gaza. "My father-in-law will ensure resorts there and that Israel is indeed from sea to sea-he will hasten the extermination-before the United Nations or international law can catch up to us."
Jesse Jackson Knew how profoundly wrong Bill Clinton's policies were -especially his welfare policies-his policing of the poor and imprisoning of poor minorities while delivering great welfare- great socialism to the rich. "Cruel capitalism for the poor-socialism for the rich". But he also knew that there was more room for hope within Clinton's party than in Republican party that wanted to shrink all social safety nets. He supported Clinton in great pain because he knew the Republicans would have been worse. At the 1996 DNC convention he talked of the Big Tent being the only real room-real place for any hope at all. While it is true that that big tent has shrunk to suffocate the likes of Bernie and to be more and more corporate- more monied controlled, it's also true-the likes of Bernie-AOC- Warren were still able to influence some of Biden's policies. There is absolutely no room for the likes of Bernie now or ever in the last 40 years in the Republican party. Everybody should watch the short powerful speech given by Jackson at the 1996 convention. It's on the internet. Feel his pain- hear his eloquence-hear how he followed his thoughts through to reach a sound conclusion. Bernie would tell you Trump is a greater evil than Biden. Nader spent his radio hour yesterday hammering at that. And no man on the planet understands the need for supporting third parties better than Nader.
I recall Jackson saying "The best of us owe it to the rest of us". Could there be a statement more opposite to what that 1% (though hardly the best of us) are doing and have been doing? In 1968 when MLKJ was assassinated it seemed like the world was crumbling. It wasn't even close to the disintegration going on now.
In equating Trump and Kamala as two equal evils Bill illustrates reactionary thinking -not suffering through- not following thoughts through to see the real differences between Kamala and Trump. Biden was addressing climate change and making great efforts at enforcing anti-trust laws-at going after the concentration of wealth-that causes all evils. As Bill suffers from Trump come January 2025. I will suffer the suffering Bill offers up here.
But don't forget that Hitler presented a referendum to the German people asking for absolute power, and they approved it. With Trump receiving only 27% of the vote of the electorate, were he to present such a referendum it would be soundly voted down.
Of course the German people were coming out of truly awful times whereas Americans are still, most of them, doing ok. I think that is the key to our steady political decline - we still are out there buying stuff and as long as gasoline is not going wild in price, ignore everything including global warming and keep on keeping on with the American way of life that GWB said is not negotiable. Remember him advising us to go out and shop after 9/11? Total blindness.
We the people in the US and all over the world have never before been in such danger of obliteration as we are now. The two conflicts raging now are potentially fatal for all living beings whether Animal,Insect or human. The prognosis is not favorable given the politics around the world.
Fine with me. I have my popcorn and I'm ready to watch the world burn. They all did it to themselves.
I will be 82 early in December. I really don't give a damn how the Capitalist,War Mongering class handles their demise. Either we do that or we are dead men walking.
I think you’re delusional. The GOP has a monopoly: President, Senate, House and Supreme Court. You can apologize after Trump has been in office for about 6 months.
Trump has been made out by the propaganda mills as the embodiment of evil. All of it slander, baseless lies.
The burning question for this just passed vote count: where are the 17 million Biden ballots not counted this time?
Update as the count comes in Trump still leads popular vote but the "missing" all Biden ballots is down around 7 million out of about 150 million total counted so far. 5 days after the voting!.
Great article, but I only disagree with one thing because it's customary. I believe if Biden/Harris did not congratulate Trump, it would have been throwing shade, and there's more of a story there. So, it was the polite thing to do. Are the Democrats more aligned with Trump than they're willing to admit? Time will tell for sure, but as I've mentioned before, I'm just waiting for it all to go sideways so I can start getting in the face of those who really thought Trump was going to do something good and foolishly cast their ballot his way. xo
Answering the question "Is Trump going to rule like a dictator"presumes we currently have a democracy. Since when have we had a democracy?
Never. We have a democratic republic. It was established that way because the best form of communication at the time was the pony express. We now have a form of communication where the public can be polled and our representatives Informed how to vote our wishes. Instead we have the wealthy in control. An oligarchy or plutocracy. Call it what you like. I'm tired of idiotic arguments. Make up a new word we can all agree on Trumpism.
Trump wants to deport millions of illegal immigrants. Immigrants who are supplying cheap slave labor In agriculture construction and other dirty work Americans don't want to do. Either Americans will replace them for the same wages or we will experience hyperinflation with increased wages. America's greatest export will be human beings. Slave wage jobs will be supplied for Americans. Otherwise McDonald's will run out of cheeseburgers.
Tariffs on Imports will have a similar effect. Any increase will just be passed on to Americans.
It's a simple and effective means of transferring wealth upwards and impoverishing Americans.
How long will it take to set up manufacturing again in America? 5 to 10 years? How much will it cost? Do we even have the machinery? Do we have the skilled labor force?
Americans like to be dictated to. They have no idea of what they want let alone what they need. Trump promised all of their wants to be fulfilled based on vague promises. He has the magic wand. Dorothy is back in Kansas.
Climate change is a hoax. ( Americans will soon be eating cats After they eat all their dogs)
Ecocide ? Worrying about it would inhibit progress.
Upgrading nuclear weapons? Absolutely vital to keeping us safe. We can even use them to stop the hordes of terrorists coming across the border. Protect our cats and dogs.
Since none of these were addressed They must not be important.
12-year-old taken into custody after allegedly threatening teacher
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2024/11/09/12-year-old-taken-into-custody-after-allegedly-threatening-teacher/
With terroristic threatening. The Patriot Act is alive and well In Paradise the Aloha state.
LET'S GIVE TRUMP A CHANCE!
Is JD Vance going to be the next President?
Too many McDonald's hamburgers and we might find out.
This is why the moderate Republican Harris/Cheney campaign didn't announce policy - to do so would have highlighted the indifferences between the two factions of the duopoly. They were only against Herr Drumpf.