Regarding war, I disagree with those who say that if only women were in charge things would change. My latest counter-example is Nikki "FINISH THEM!" Haley, surging in the polls. And of course we had Hillary and then outside of the US, Indira Gandhi and Golda Meir. It's too bad that the myth isn't true because it would be wonderful if war could be ended or even moderated so simply.
I'd like to see it a rule that if you declared war, that is, committed your troops to battle, you would be instantly put on the front line in a private's uniform and would remain there until the war, or you, ended. Biden and Netanyahu would likely be deceased by now.
Samatha Power* and Nikki Haley - two cheeks of the same arse! ( US - ass)
*Power's nomination to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations was backed by John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and the former senator Joseph Lieberman. Power also received support from Dennis Ross, the Director of the Anti-Defamation League. (The pro-Israel group opposing views critical of Israel's occupation of Palestine)
Also, Israel's Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren and Jewish lawyer Alan Dershowitz. The Director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (!); The Director of the Israel Project; The Jewish Council for Public Affairs; The President of the Rabbinical Assembly and The National Jewish Democratic Council.
I strongly agree, Cliff. That lament, "If only women were in charge" implies that all our woes- wars, imperialism (in all is effects), greed, prejudice, "Exceptionalism", consumerism, a lack of ecological caring, tribalism and xenophobia, etc. are attributable to maleness itself. And those who suggest that must necessarily ignore the examples such as you gave. We could add Marg. Thatcher, Madeleine Albright, Victoria Nuland, 'Condi' Rice, and no doubt a much longer list.
No, what all those people have in common with their male counterparts is that they rose and operated in a system that is itself ruthless and rewards the self-serving and ruthless with yet more money and power. Any woman who is willing to ignore questions of morality and conscience, and is willing to trade those off for money, power and status, can be just as devastatingly inhumane as any male, as we can see.
Unfortunately, so much of liberal thought today is focused on social identity, and ignores the deeper issues that drive all this conflict ; so it is almost natural for such types to jump to such silly conclusions.
you are likely aware, RH, that all human embryos and most invertebrate embryos/gametes are female. human embryos spend the 1st trimester as femmes, who during the 2nd trimester of gestation, if XY, transform into foetuses w/ male genitalia or, less often, ambivalent genitalia. testosterone remains prevalent in all female XX foetuses and thereafter, albeit to a lesser concentration than XY's. female mammals are particularly testosterone-saturated post- the ovulatory cycle, throughout her gestational dynamics, and post-birthings. some femmes have more testosterone coursing through their circulating vascular tissue than many males.
Many Americans are an incurious lot. So one thing that we are missing is healthy curiosity. How many Americans are curious about what Russia or China are really like? Most Americans prefer their fairytales about boogeymen. They don't want to know, and aren't even a bit curious. How often do most Americans put themselves in other people's shoes and ask themselves how it feels? Part of American exceptionalism is a total lack of interest in other people and other perspectives. Joe Biden is a perfect example. No curiosity, no understanding, no empathy. Just exceptionalism and arrogance.
The seeds for what the US has become were sown with WW 2. Eisenhower knew this and warned the people. It could be argued that the seeds were sown with the inception of the US and the genocide of indigenous people of North America but the industrial revolution and mass production of weapons became a profit center.
When Bush the second declared the war on terror he was in effect declaring an endless war on all inhabitants of the planet i.e. anyone who disagrees with US policy. "You're either with us or against us" is an authoritarian declaration. The Patriot Act effectively nullified the constitution and civil rights and liberties. Edward Snowden was in fact a patriot who exposed the relentless attack on American citizens who lost his citizenship and was labeled a "hacker" (a polite term for terrorist) by Obama, a president who was a constitutional lawyer. The term "terrorist" was never defined and can apply to citizens as well as foreigners. Homeland Security was created and cannot stop destitute illegal immigrants from crossing the border. It was never intended to stop terrorists but to control the citizens through surveillance methods established by Y2K. Snowden's message.
Last I knew 60% of our volunteer military were illegal immigrants promised citizenship for serving. So cheap labor and an army are the reasons for not solving the border crisis. It also adds numbers to the homeless population and effectively lowers the standard of living for Americans who have to compete with the illegals.
Executive orders come not from the president but the MIC bypassing the constitution but it appears that the government is in charge. War is highly profitable. The goods of war are all "disposable" and then there is the profit of rebuilding what was destroyed.
In the 1800's how long did it take to build a flintlock? Weeks? How long does it take to build an M16? Hours? In WW 2 we were building a Liberty ship a day. It took a lot longer to build the Constitution. So now we have a new profit center which the industrialists have happily and enthusiastically promoted. It's a different world than 1800.
Political correctness has been rammed down our throats for 30 plus years. In fact it's every citizens duty to be "politically incorrect" at times. It's called free speech.
The only good thing about Gaza and Ukraine is the fact that it's exposed the hypocrisy of the US government for what it is. And how much control it has over the people. And Americans are indeed paying for the wars. It's why most are in debt and struggling to survive, paying for food with credit and other essential goods. The national debt will NEVER be paid off. The homeless population is reported as 650 thousand. Then I read an article that the 2.5 million children are homeless in the US at any given time. Children apparently aren't counted as people. Over 30% of the population is on food stamps. A bit reminiscent of the good old days when the master had to feed the slaves. A good slave was worth about $25,000 to purchase in 1800. What does minimum wage yield? $15,000 before taxes and government fees,fines and interest. And today you don't need to even purchase your slave. No capitol outlay! No maintenance! Don't think too hard about that.
What are we missing and dismissing? The obvious. Can you see the forest through the trees? Of course the forest was clearcut and less than 1% is left standing. The rest are commodities to be used and disposed of as in our disposable consumer society.
The sad fact is people want ONE reason for the cause of things when there are many reasons. Consumerism is one of the biggest reasons for the destruction of the planet. The US is primarily responsible for the current wars and ecocide. Americans are complicit in ecocide because they can reduce consumption individually but won't because they feel individually entitled and feel it is up to someone else to do something. Leave it to someone else. "I'm going to Walmart!". As general Groves was obsessed with his Manhattan project "Gadget" Americans have become obsessed with their gadgets. No less destructive in the end. Just slower.
Then there is the problem with social media. The people who read this substack for example read it because they mainly agree with the opinions and topics. The people who don't agree with the opinions don't read it and are immersed in their own beliefs and reality reading a different substack or the MSM. So nothing is really accomplished. We preach here to the other preachers.
Professor Michel Chossudovsky’s piece “This Christmas, I have Tears in my Eyes. Disobey Unlawful Orders, Abandon the Battlefield” begins:
Let us have tears to our eyes in solidarity with the People of Palestine, in building a Christmas mass movement Worldwide, which confronts the ongoing mass slaughter before our very eyes.
Let us recall The Christmas Truce of 1914, 109 years ago this Christmas Eve:
“Something happened in the early months of the “War to End All Wars” that put a tiny little blip of hope in the historical timeline of the organized mass slaughter that is war. The event was regarded by the professional military officer class to be so profound and so important (and so disturbing) that strategies were immediately put in place that would ensure that such an event could never happen again.” (Dr. Gary G. Kohls)
And it concludes:
Confront corrupt politicians.
May the tears of humanity in your eyes in December 2023 be conducive to a Worldwide movement to ABOLISH AND “CRIMINALIZE ALL WARS”.
Let us break the insidious narrative of a handful of Wall Street billionaires who finance America’s “humanitarian wars”, unseat the West’s “Classe politique” and establish the foundations of “Real Democracy by the People for the People”.
My blow back: We got neocons (either party) giving us forever wars because of our exceptionalism. This warring, this exceptionalism is on the rise not steady state or decline. Biden since joining the politician status has voted for and funded every war effort...almost exclusively on black brown and yellow races. His toughness on crime has incarcerated many of the down trodden "other" americans. Trump pontificates constantly at every gathering of his tribe to purifying white blood of Amerikana. Both parties IMHO are white supremists but one party masks it a tad better to maintain certain voting blocks. Trump will stop the hords seeking entry to our historical immigrant based society by any means possible. Let's call it mowing the lawn a euphorism the Isreal governments uses.
As for us addressing climate change? Both parties most nations: drill baby drill.
That is the direction we and the nations of the world are going
A Link or a Video showing "Trump pontificating to his tribe to purifying white blood of Amerikana" please Jazzme. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
And of course, America is historically immigrant based. LEGAL immigrants.
Ask me about hard how it was for me to immigrate to the US in 1974?
And I was married to an American. Had money. And was a degreed Civil Engineer.
I did not have an infectious disease. Was not destitute. And was not unskilled.
"A Nation that cannot control its borders is not a Nation" - Ronald Reagan
Trump only aims to stop the hordes of illegal immigrants entering America who will be a huge drain on American society - that in 2023 the US cannot afford with all its domestic problems.
And of course, if one does not watch Trump videos, one has to rely on the MSM reporting on what Trump allegedly says. And misconstruing and distorting the hell out of what he says and stands for - because they hate his guts for daring to challenge their biased reporting, and they have chronic TDS.
We need to have the courage and the intellect to tackle these two main problems of the 21st. century I think mainly Climate Change, and stopping a planet killing Nuclear Exchange between the Superpowers. So I think we are missing both courage and intellect at this pt. in time. Maybe a new Visionary leader will arise on the world stage like a magnificent Comet illuminate the people of earth before its too late. I remain cautiously hopeful and optimistic, but at the same time realistic to what may still enfold if we do nothing, or not have the "Will" to stop our destructive tendencies...! Happy New Yr.
The $1.5 trillion in military outlays each year is the scam that keeps on giving—to the military-industrial complex and the Washington insiders—even as it impoverishes and endangers America and the world.
On the surface, US foreign policy seems to be utterly irrational. The US gets into one disastrous war after another -- Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and Gaza. In recent days, the US stands globally isolated in its support of Israel’s genocidal actions against the Palestinians, voting against a UN General Assembly resolution for a Gaza ceasefire backed by 153 countries with 89% of the world population, and opposed by just the US and 9 small countries with less than 1% of the world population.
In the past 20 years, every major US foreign policy objective has failed. The Taliban returned to power after 20 years of US occupation of Afghanistan. Post-Saddam Iraq became dependent on Iran. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad stayed in power despite a CIA effort to overthrow him. Libya fell into a protracted civil war after a US-led NATO mission overthrew Muammar Gaddafi. Ukraine was bludgeoned on the battlefield by Russia in 2023 after the US secretly scuttled a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine in 2022............................................................
A comment: "Imagine if someone had tried to block an investigation into Pol Pot, or the Khmer Rouge. My country is doing essentially the same thing. It’s horrific and shameful."
Haytham Faraj, lawyer and former US Army Commander, talks to TRT World about the Israel-Palestine conflict and explains how Israel is headed for defeat.
Last week we witnessed what the Bible calls “you reap what you sow” when the Israeli army killed three fleeing Israeli prisoners. Israel sowed a culture of hate where the life of Palestinians, or non-Jews, was expendable. The Israeli soldiers in the neighborhood of Shejaiya, Gaza, followed standard army procedures by shooting three shirtless individuals waving white flags.
Was the killing a mistake, as posited by the Israeli army, or intentional according to the Palestinian resistance?
I disagree with assertions made by the resistance spokesperson, Abu Obaida, —who increases news viewership exponentially when he delivers his video messages — suggesting that the three prisoners were deliberately killed by the Israeli army. I reject it because the shooting was in keeping with the Israeli army’s lenient military rules when encountering Palestinian civilians. The three were shot to death because the Israeli army kills civilians with white flags. The trio were victims of their own culture’s self-inflicted hate.
Soon after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, Israeli military leaders signaled their intent to retaliate with widespread devastation.
On Oct. 10, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops he had “released all the restraints” and that “Gaza will never return to what it was.” The same day, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said that “while balancing accuracy with the scope of damage, right now we’re focused on what causes maximum damage.”
In a little over two months, Israeli air forces fired more than 29,000 air-to-ground munitions, 40 to 45 percent of which were unguided, according to a recent assessment from the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The bombing rate has been about two and a half times as high as the peak of the U.S.-led coalition’s effort to defeat the Islamic State, which at its height fired 5,075 air-to-ground munitions across both Iraq and Syria in one month, according to data from the research and advocacy group Airwars.
The Gaza Strip is only 26 miles X 5 miles. Israeli air forces fired more than 29,000 air-to-ground munitions, 40 to 45 percent of which were unguided in an area no bigger than a big City.
So much for Israeli LIES they take every precaution to spare the innocent Civilians in Gaza.
Anyone with eyes can see on TV, that's a whopper of a LIE!
The US government and Americans are complicit in this Israeli CRIME against Humanity
It was good to see the Morning Joe show people finally pushing back with some hard questions making it awkward for Israeli former Ambassador to the US Oren to deflect.
Oren has been a regular on MSNBC since the WAR started, and Today was the 1st Time he got push back that I saw.
Ray, all Americans have to do is spend as many hours watching Al Jazeera TV coverage of this "War", as they do watching NFL games, to have known all this for a long time.
It's not a WAR when one side has jet fighters, bombers, Apache Attack helicopters with Hellfire Missiles, tanks and artillery against a Civilian Population. It's not a WAR but a Massacre!
What about what Joe "I am Zionist" Biden is thinking, Ray?
Can he think you reckon?
During his 36 years in the Senate, Biden was the chamber's biggest recipient in history of donations from pro-Israeli groups, taking in $4.2 million, according to the Open Secrets database.
On what basis Dennis, do You assume that Biden is the person calling the shots here? And don't volunteer to hold Your breath until the Israeli People stop the genocide. You will have a long wait.
99% of the World population Jeff assumes Biden is not calling the shots. How could it be any more obvious eh?
In a recent statement, Ofer Cassif, a Member of Israeli Parliament (Knesset) for the Hadash party said that the Netanyahu government is ramping up repressive powers against ANY form of opposition to its military actions in Gaza. He said public meetings throughout Israel are being banned for any groups who are calling for an end to the genocide and for negotiations. According to Cassif all citizens including Jews who are speaking out against the genocide are liable to be charged as “terrorists”.
In his statement, Cassif said, "I plead to the world - supporting the Israeli government is not supporting Israeli people - it is supporting fascism, death and dictatorship. If you wish to help Israeli people in this dire time support the peace movement, not the warmongers who waged a war against their own people.”
Jeff I am not holding my breath that the Israeli people will stop the genocide next week, but for sure a groundswell of Israeli opposition is building against Netanyahu and his "war". Getting bigger everyday as IDF deaths mount, the hostages are not released and Israel's economy tanks. And of course, continued US support is favoured only by a minority in the US now.
And lets not forget that even before the events of Oct 7 Israel was tearing itself apart with large protest movements opposing plans which would give politicians much greater control of the judiciary. The mass protests that united the already polarized society included strong opposition from military reservists and the normally apolitical tech sector. Israeli protesters held up placards saying the proposed reforms spelled “the end of democracy”.
“Israel is in the throes of a profound crisis. Anyone who thinks that a real civil war, of human life, is a line that we will not reach has no idea. The abyss is within touching distance.”
To say Israeli politics was already a ticking time bomb is not an exaggeration. Add Netanyahu's fight against corruption charges. Israel is in deep shit eh!
your verities illuminate the shadows that so many of our consociate sciophilous creatures hide in, clif brown. reaching back into my youth some 7 decades ago, i recall w/ pin-pricking pain how viciously disdainful, spiteful, and mean-spirited certain girls were in my school's ambit... far more derogating and denigrating than the males were. hillary clinton, nikki haley, golda meir, and indira ghandi were the equivalent of these cruel, hate-spewing femmes on their respective playgrounds, all of whom likely smirked and rejoiced in their diminishment of other femmes who, they feared, might be a threat to their own diminished sense of self-worth. never underestimate the mindless, benumbing savagery of the female constitution.
The primary reason the United States has been in a perpetual state of war against somebody someplace since the end of World War II is that a significant number of Americans have made, now make, and will continue to make a great deal of money from all those wars.
And the secondary reason for all those wars, particularly in the 21st century, is that ~ thru the magic of budgetary Deficits ~ the American Peoples have not paid a single dime for them. And with the end of the Draft following the Vietnam debacle, the only Americans who have fought in ~ and suffered from ~ all those wars are those who have joined the so-called “All -Volunteer Force.”
Thus, for the American Peoples, all the wars that America has waged ~ at least since Vietnam ~ have been virtually cost-free in terms of both Blood and Treasure.
A very simple first step toward ending America’s addiction to war is the following “No War-For-Profit” Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:
1. Any and all individuals, organizations, or institutions doing business with the Military-Industrial-Congressional-FatherLand- Security Complex [MICFLS-C] must be and thus will be publicly-held NON-PROFIT business enterprises.
2. No individual, bank, and/or any other financial or other institution [including foreign nations' and their money-lenders] doing business with the MICFLS-C may earn any interest or other profit from loans, bonds, or any other fiduciary instruments used by the Government of The United States to finance or otherwise "pay for" this nation's Wars-by-Credit Card.
3. No print, electronic, and/or internet-based news or otherwise info-entertainment media organization may be owned and/or operated by any organization or individual doing any business whatsoever with the MICFLS-C.
A very much simpler first step toward ending America’s addiction to war is the following:
1. Make Congress the only ones that can declare War - as required by the Constitution.
2. Congress enforces the Laws* prohibiting sale of Arms to nations abusing human rights.
3. Prohibit dual-citizenship employees in Government. Especially the State Department.
4. Cut the military off at its pockets. Half the Defense Budget.
*The Leahy Laws and its Amendments are US Laws that prohibit the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign forces that violate human rights with impunity. ( IE, the IDF)
The Preamble to the United States Constitution, beginning with the words - We the People.
That's who.
If you don't believe that Jeff - the great American experiment of democracy is dead. If you think the CIA, the Pentagon and the Congress is more powerful than we the people - you might as well toss the whole experiment in the trash eh!
"Are we now obliged to pay for the ineffective and swollen CIA into perpetuity? Let us terminate with extreme prejudice its foreign policy functions. At the entrance to the CIA building in Langley, Virginia a very large seal proclaims: “You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.” The CIA’s assumptions of national truth have been ventures in ethnocentrism, which have led us into disaster upon disaster. It is time to ask how we can end our pathological dependence on it."
BTW, were the majority of Americans who fought in WW2 "Involuntary Servitude"? And if you think half of the DC Swamp rats being dual Israel/American citizens has nothing to do with the current genocide I have a bridge to sell you.
Dennis, what you call "the great American experiment of democracy" has been dead for a long Time.
What the US has is a Pyramid System of an Oligarchic Plutocracy at the top of the Pyramid System and since the same Oligarchs own the MSM, print and TV, it's deceiving non stop America 1st Propaganda that has Americans believing they have anything like a Democracy.
The Propaganda says Israel is a Democracy. How can that be when it's a Democracy for Jews only in the Illegal West Bank settlements, but a Military Dictatorship for Palestinians with Israeli Military Courts and no Democratic or Civil Rights for Palestinians resisting the Israeli Occupation of their Land.
Yes, Dennis. i know the difference between a Republic and a Democracy, and the United States is neither.
And i have already asked a couple of times here on BV whether or not the US will survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026. And whether or not it CAN survive.
And ~ given the current system of government and governance ~ whether or not it SHOULD survive.
And so, Dennis, exactly How are those "We, the People" going to make/force Congress to do all those things You prescribe? By threatening to not vote for them in the next election?
And what's Your source on "half of the DC Swamp rats being dual Israel/ American citizens"?
And Yes: Those Americans who were drafted and did not voluntarily enlist who fought in World War II were in Involuntary Servitude, just like those who were drafted who fought in Korea and Vietnam. Involuntary Servitude is Involuntary Servitude if the person is forced into service against his will.
Your first question Jeff: If "we the people" can't make/force Congress do what we want - doesn't that make the US Constitution a bit of a joke? You tell me eh.
New Zealand does not have a constitution, but the NZ people were able to make/force their Government to pass Laws like not allowing nuclear powered vessels in our waters and banning assault rivals for example. But then again, NZ is the second rated Full Democracy in the World. The US is ranked 30th, and a regime type 'Flawed Democracy".
Is this a flakey website you reckon Jeff?
89% of our Senators and Congress hold dual citizenship with Israel.
Kiwis and Yanks who fought in WW1 and WW2 you might say were Involuntary Servitude. I would guess that many would disagree. I don't know how many served in those two wars against their will. Korea and Vietnam you know more about than me obviously. What point are you trying to make about Involuntary Servitude Jeff?
It's possible that roughly 40 Members of Congress hold dual citizenship with Israel, though that number is probably inflated by those Jewish members with the "right of return" to Israel for Jewish people. If 40 is the number, that's less than 10%.
I have no idea what that 89% refers to. It seems people are inflating Jewish influence in Congress for anti-Semitic reasons. There's no need for this nonsense. We all know of AIPAC and the powerful influence of money/lobbyists.
You didn't answer my question, Dennis: Exactly HOW are all them "We, the People" supposed to make/force Congress to do anything? And have "We, the People" EVER made/forced Congress to do anything? Can You cite any specific examples?
When i have nothing more important to do, i'll do a more extensive search. At this point, my educated hunch is that that is not merely an "urban legend," but complete and total bullshit.
And i am sure that many people who were drafted and fought in WW1 and WW2 ~ Kiwi, Yank, Brit, German, Japanese, etc ~ did not think they were doing Involuntary Servitude. So what? i'm sure that the majority of American Blacks who were drafted to fight in Korea and Vietnam probably did not and do not think they were doing IS. Again, so what?
The point i am trying to make is that to force someone to go into the military against their will to kill and maim ~and very possibly be killed or maimed ~ is nothing but a form of Slavery. Just like forcing a woman to carry a fetus that she does not want to full term and delivery is another, different form of Slavery.
Jeff, I removed my point "reinstate the draft", knowing how you feel about it.
But I still think if America is attacked by an enemy, and Congress approves a so-called "just" war, that citizens being called up to fight as Americans and New Zealanders were in WW1 and WW2 is NOT "Involuntary Servitude. It's defending your country surely eh?
"What, sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. …Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins. - Elbridge Gerry, Fifth Vice President of the United States.
Whether or not America is attacked and whether or not Congress formally declares war, forcing someone to go into the military to fight and to kill and/or maim ~ and possibly be killed or maimed ~ against their will is Involuntary Servitude. It is an Involuntary Servitude different from Slavery, but it is still Servitude, and it is still Involuntary.
Yes, the notion of 'no more war' is a little silly as is the notion that we are always progressing, never regressing, not to mention any sort of exceptionalism. Because we are always wrestling between good and evil, progress and decline, indeed such a conundrum is perhaps the fundamental human predicament, or challenge.
But there is much more that needs being acknowledged these days. Many of us are beginning to realize that most of the bedrock premises of our civilization have either been already or are in the process of being abandoned, and in many cases quite possibly weren't all they were cracked up to be in the first place anyway.
I'm talking about the Enlightenment which, with its reliance on reductionist materialism (only physical matter is real i.e. only body not mind), ends up believing in and creating an inhumanly mechanistic mindset and culture which in turn tends towards a totalitarian obsession with control, order, predictability. Also the fading of Christianity which is concerned with absolute principles over relative, with compassion over success, with sacredness in personal and communal perception. We don't share that underlying view any more and, truth be told, perhaps we never did. Whether we did nor not it is now too late to say, such a shared civilization that knit together all countries and peoples in the West is no more. And what about democracy? Clearly it is a con, though too few are brave enough to admit it. As some wise man put it: 'if voting mattered they would never let us do it!' and that is the truth. The rule of law is mainly a performance. Look at the world: if this is progress how come the entirely unnecessary civil war in Eastern Ukraine - Novorussiya? If we are so advanced how come Israel can keep bullying and punishing Palestinians for about a century now and counting with the international community unable to do anything about it (unable or unwilling?). And so much more.
The underpinnings of Western civilization, and with it the Modern World, are being revealed as hollow. But what would it take to reverse this, to remedy this? I do not believe we have enough collective wisdom with shared vocabulary to even discuss this any more, let alone do anything substantive about it. We are disintegrating, fracturing, falling about. Things will probably have to get much, much worse before there is any chance of their getting better again, but by then so much will have been lost forever that it's more like an entirely new cycle will need to begin, starting over from the bottom after probably hundreds of millions, if not billions, of deaths. And that's if we are lucky. What is more likely is that we will be herded into some sort of totalitarian dystopia bereft of independent agency and freedom. That might prove the end of war. It will also prove the end of Man.
Regarding war, I disagree with those who say that if only women were in charge things would change. My latest counter-example is Nikki "FINISH THEM!" Haley, surging in the polls. And of course we had Hillary and then outside of the US, Indira Gandhi and Golda Meir. It's too bad that the myth isn't true because it would be wonderful if war could be ended or even moderated so simply.
I'd like to see it a rule that if you declared war, that is, committed your troops to battle, you would be instantly put on the front line in a private's uniform and would remain there until the war, or you, ended. Biden and Netanyahu would likely be deceased by now.
Nikki Haley fancies herself a warrior-queen. No thanks.
Samatha Power* and Nikki Haley - two cheeks of the same arse! ( US - ass)
*Power's nomination to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations was backed by John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and the former senator Joseph Lieberman. Power also received support from Dennis Ross, the Director of the Anti-Defamation League. (The pro-Israel group opposing views critical of Israel's occupation of Palestine)
Also, Israel's Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren and Jewish lawyer Alan Dershowitz. The Director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (!); The Director of the Israel Project; The Jewish Council for Public Affairs; The President of the Rabbinical Assembly and The National Jewish Democratic Council.
I strongly agree, Cliff. That lament, "If only women were in charge" implies that all our woes- wars, imperialism (in all is effects), greed, prejudice, "Exceptionalism", consumerism, a lack of ecological caring, tribalism and xenophobia, etc. are attributable to maleness itself. And those who suggest that must necessarily ignore the examples such as you gave. We could add Marg. Thatcher, Madeleine Albright, Victoria Nuland, 'Condi' Rice, and no doubt a much longer list.
No, what all those people have in common with their male counterparts is that they rose and operated in a system that is itself ruthless and rewards the self-serving and ruthless with yet more money and power. Any woman who is willing to ignore questions of morality and conscience, and is willing to trade those off for money, power and status, can be just as devastatingly inhumane as any male, as we can see.
Unfortunately, so much of liberal thought today is focused on social identity, and ignores the deeper issues that drive all this conflict ; so it is almost natural for such types to jump to such silly conclusions.
you are likely aware, RH, that all human embryos and most invertebrate embryos/gametes are female. human embryos spend the 1st trimester as femmes, who during the 2nd trimester of gestation, if XY, transform into foetuses w/ male genitalia or, less often, ambivalent genitalia. testosterone remains prevalent in all female XX foetuses and thereafter, albeit to a lesser concentration than XY's. female mammals are particularly testosterone-saturated post- the ovulatory cycle, throughout her gestational dynamics, and post-birthings. some femmes have more testosterone coursing through their circulating vascular tissue than many males.
Many Americans are an incurious lot. So one thing that we are missing is healthy curiosity. How many Americans are curious about what Russia or China are really like? Most Americans prefer their fairytales about boogeymen. They don't want to know, and aren't even a bit curious. How often do most Americans put themselves in other people's shoes and ask themselves how it feels? Part of American exceptionalism is a total lack of interest in other people and other perspectives. Joe Biden is a perfect example. No curiosity, no understanding, no empathy. Just exceptionalism and arrogance.
The seeds for what the US has become were sown with WW 2. Eisenhower knew this and warned the people. It could be argued that the seeds were sown with the inception of the US and the genocide of indigenous people of North America but the industrial revolution and mass production of weapons became a profit center.
When Bush the second declared the war on terror he was in effect declaring an endless war on all inhabitants of the planet i.e. anyone who disagrees with US policy. "You're either with us or against us" is an authoritarian declaration. The Patriot Act effectively nullified the constitution and civil rights and liberties. Edward Snowden was in fact a patriot who exposed the relentless attack on American citizens who lost his citizenship and was labeled a "hacker" (a polite term for terrorist) by Obama, a president who was a constitutional lawyer. The term "terrorist" was never defined and can apply to citizens as well as foreigners. Homeland Security was created and cannot stop destitute illegal immigrants from crossing the border. It was never intended to stop terrorists but to control the citizens through surveillance methods established by Y2K. Snowden's message.
Last I knew 60% of our volunteer military were illegal immigrants promised citizenship for serving. So cheap labor and an army are the reasons for not solving the border crisis. It also adds numbers to the homeless population and effectively lowers the standard of living for Americans who have to compete with the illegals.
Executive orders come not from the president but the MIC bypassing the constitution but it appears that the government is in charge. War is highly profitable. The goods of war are all "disposable" and then there is the profit of rebuilding what was destroyed.
In the 1800's how long did it take to build a flintlock? Weeks? How long does it take to build an M16? Hours? In WW 2 we were building a Liberty ship a day. It took a lot longer to build the Constitution. So now we have a new profit center which the industrialists have happily and enthusiastically promoted. It's a different world than 1800.
Political correctness has been rammed down our throats for 30 plus years. In fact it's every citizens duty to be "politically incorrect" at times. It's called free speech.
The only good thing about Gaza and Ukraine is the fact that it's exposed the hypocrisy of the US government for what it is. And how much control it has over the people. And Americans are indeed paying for the wars. It's why most are in debt and struggling to survive, paying for food with credit and other essential goods. The national debt will NEVER be paid off. The homeless population is reported as 650 thousand. Then I read an article that the 2.5 million children are homeless in the US at any given time. Children apparently aren't counted as people. Over 30% of the population is on food stamps. A bit reminiscent of the good old days when the master had to feed the slaves. A good slave was worth about $25,000 to purchase in 1800. What does minimum wage yield? $15,000 before taxes and government fees,fines and interest. And today you don't need to even purchase your slave. No capitol outlay! No maintenance! Don't think too hard about that.
What are we missing and dismissing? The obvious. Can you see the forest through the trees? Of course the forest was clearcut and less than 1% is left standing. The rest are commodities to be used and disposed of as in our disposable consumer society.
The sad fact is people want ONE reason for the cause of things when there are many reasons. Consumerism is one of the biggest reasons for the destruction of the planet. The US is primarily responsible for the current wars and ecocide. Americans are complicit in ecocide because they can reduce consumption individually but won't because they feel individually entitled and feel it is up to someone else to do something. Leave it to someone else. "I'm going to Walmart!". As general Groves was obsessed with his Manhattan project "Gadget" Americans have become obsessed with their gadgets. No less destructive in the end. Just slower.
Then there is the problem with social media. The people who read this substack for example read it because they mainly agree with the opinions and topics. The people who don't agree with the opinions don't read it and are immersed in their own beliefs and reality reading a different substack or the MSM. So nothing is really accomplished. We preach here to the other preachers.
Well said, Toma.
Professor Michel Chossudovsky’s piece “This Christmas, I have Tears in my Eyes. Disobey Unlawful Orders, Abandon the Battlefield” begins:
Let us have tears to our eyes in solidarity with the People of Palestine, in building a Christmas mass movement Worldwide, which confronts the ongoing mass slaughter before our very eyes.
Let us recall The Christmas Truce of 1914, 109 years ago this Christmas Eve:
“Something happened in the early months of the “War to End All Wars” that put a tiny little blip of hope in the historical timeline of the organized mass slaughter that is war. The event was regarded by the professional military officer class to be so profound and so important (and so disturbing) that strategies were immediately put in place that would ensure that such an event could never happen again.” (Dr. Gary G. Kohls)
And it concludes:
Confront corrupt politicians.
May the tears of humanity in your eyes in December 2023 be conducive to a Worldwide movement to ABOLISH AND “CRIMINALIZE ALL WARS”.
Let us break the insidious narrative of a handful of Wall Street billionaires who finance America’s “humanitarian wars”, unseat the West’s “Classe politique” and establish the foundations of “Real Democracy by the People for the People”.
Full article at https://www.globalresearch.ca/this-christmas-i-have-tears-in-my-eyes ; EMPHASIS added.
My blow back: We got neocons (either party) giving us forever wars because of our exceptionalism. This warring, this exceptionalism is on the rise not steady state or decline. Biden since joining the politician status has voted for and funded every war effort...almost exclusively on black brown and yellow races. His toughness on crime has incarcerated many of the down trodden "other" americans. Trump pontificates constantly at every gathering of his tribe to purifying white blood of Amerikana. Both parties IMHO are white supremists but one party masks it a tad better to maintain certain voting blocks. Trump will stop the hords seeking entry to our historical immigrant based society by any means possible. Let's call it mowing the lawn a euphorism the Isreal governments uses.
As for us addressing climate change? Both parties most nations: drill baby drill.
That is the direction we and the nations of the world are going
*Peace*
A Link or a Video showing "Trump pontificating to his tribe to purifying white blood of Amerikana" please Jazzme. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
And of course, America is historically immigrant based. LEGAL immigrants.
Ask me about hard how it was for me to immigrate to the US in 1974?
And I was married to an American. Had money. And was a degreed Civil Engineer.
I did not have an infectious disease. Was not destitute. And was not unskilled.
"A Nation that cannot control its borders is not a Nation" - Ronald Reagan
Trump only aims to stop the hordes of illegal immigrants entering America who will be a huge drain on American society - that in 2023 the US cannot afford with all its domestic problems.
Which is the right thing to do.
We are in different places Dennis. We talk past each other. I don't watch Trump videos.
Why not? How do you then know what Trump is "constantly pontificating"?
And of course, you have inadvertently revealed Americans BIGGEST problem.
Talking past each other.
TDS is working to get Trump elected. If only the Democrats could see this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rYIbXTn2_g
Nothing wrong with Trump videos. Just realize they're being constructed and pitched like any other politician's videos.
I'd credit Trump's videos about as much as I'd credit Biden's, or DeSantis's, or Nikki Haley's, etc.
Always look at a person's record: what they have done. Their actions. Forget the glowing videos.
I used the term "videos" as a catch-all Bill.
You are 100% correct. Watch Trumps actions and record.
Compare his term in office to Bidens train wreck which has bought the US to its knees.
And of course, who could make a glowing video about Bidens record?
And of course, if one does not watch Trump videos, one has to rely on the MSM reporting on what Trump allegedly says. And misconstruing and distorting the hell out of what he says and stands for - because they hate his guts for daring to challenge their biased reporting, and they have chronic TDS.
We need to have the courage and the intellect to tackle these two main problems of the 21st. century I think mainly Climate Change, and stopping a planet killing Nuclear Exchange between the Superpowers. So I think we are missing both courage and intellect at this pt. in time. Maybe a new Visionary leader will arise on the world stage like a magnificent Comet illuminate the people of earth before its too late. I remain cautiously hopeful and optimistic, but at the same time realistic to what may still enfold if we do nothing, or not have the "Will" to stop our destructive tendencies...! Happy New Yr.
'US Foreign Policy Is a Scam Built on Corruption'
by Jeffery D. Sachs
The $1.5 trillion in military outlays each year is the scam that keeps on giving—to the military-industrial complex and the Washington insiders—even as it impoverishes and endangers America and the world.
On the surface, US foreign policy seems to be utterly irrational. The US gets into one disastrous war after another -- Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and Gaza. In recent days, the US stands globally isolated in its support of Israel’s genocidal actions against the Palestinians, voting against a UN General Assembly resolution for a Gaza ceasefire backed by 153 countries with 89% of the world population, and opposed by just the US and 9 small countries with less than 1% of the world population.
In the past 20 years, every major US foreign policy objective has failed. The Taliban returned to power after 20 years of US occupation of Afghanistan. Post-Saddam Iraq became dependent on Iran. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad stayed in power despite a CIA effort to overthrow him. Libya fell into a protracted civil war after a US-led NATO mission overthrew Muammar Gaddafi. Ukraine was bludgeoned on the battlefield by Russia in 2023 after the US secretly scuttled a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine in 2022............................................................
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/corruption-of-us-foreign-policy
US Moving to BLOCK Geneva Convention Conference
Criminals protecting other criminals. Beyond disgusting!
We don't want Israel investigated for war crimes!
That's "politicizing" the Geneva Convention! Yeah right!
The arrogance of power. The US evil empire trying to rule the whole World.
Trump ripped the mask of this fiction - that's why they hate him.
What are the chances Americans will regret their support of Israel as a result of the current goings on?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KKbJjHhcCg
A comment: "Imagine if someone had tried to block an investigation into Pol Pot, or the Khmer Rouge. My country is doing essentially the same thing. It’s horrific and shameful."
Where, When, and exactly How did "Trump rip the mask of/off this fiction"? And to which "fiction" are You referring?
He said the unspeakable. The US empire should not be involved in ruling the World.
Suggested dropping out of Nato for example.
Did you watch that link where this is discussed?
I think it answers your question Jeff.
No Dennis, i did not watch the video. As i have explained several times in the past, i don't watch videos unaccompanied by transcripts.
Haytham Faraj, lawyer and former US Army Commander, talks to TRT World about the Israel-Palestine conflict and explains how Israel is headed for defeat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59FpEZ4MXWA
That the US and Israel think they have the right to choose the future government for Gaza is preposterous. Arrogant at best. How did that go in Iraq?
Should Israel have to pay for all the reconstruction? Their money, not US tax dollars.
“Christ in the Rubble”: An Eloquent, Passionate appeal to Christians by a Palestinian Lutheran Minister.
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/12/26/christ_in_the_rubble_christmas_sermon?jwsource=cl
'Dehumanizing Palestinians'
Last week we witnessed what the Bible calls “you reap what you sow” when the Israeli army killed three fleeing Israeli prisoners. Israel sowed a culture of hate where the life of Palestinians, or non-Jews, was expendable. The Israeli soldiers in the neighborhood of Shejaiya, Gaza, followed standard army procedures by shooting three shirtless individuals waving white flags.
Was the killing a mistake, as posited by the Israeli army, or intentional according to the Palestinian resistance?
I disagree with assertions made by the resistance spokesperson, Abu Obaida, —who increases news viewership exponentially when he delivers his video messages — suggesting that the three prisoners were deliberately killed by the Israeli army. I reject it because the shooting was in keeping with the Israeli army’s lenient military rules when encountering Palestinian civilians. The three were shot to death because the Israeli army kills civilians with white flags. The trio were victims of their own culture’s self-inflicted hate.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/12/26/dehumanizing-palestinians/
Soon after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, Israeli military leaders signaled their intent to retaliate with widespread devastation.
On Oct. 10, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops he had “released all the restraints” and that “Gaza will never return to what it was.” The same day, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said that “while balancing accuracy with the scope of damage, right now we’re focused on what causes maximum damage.”
In a little over two months, Israeli air forces fired more than 29,000 air-to-ground munitions, 40 to 45 percent of which were unguided, according to a recent assessment from the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The bombing rate has been about two and a half times as high as the peak of the U.S.-led coalition’s effort to defeat the Islamic State, which at its height fired 5,075 air-to-ground munitions across both Iraq and Syria in one month, according to data from the research and advocacy group Airwars.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2023/israel-war-destruction-gaza-record-pace/
The Gaza Strip is only 26 miles X 5 miles. Israeli air forces fired more than 29,000 air-to-ground munitions, 40 to 45 percent of which were unguided in an area no bigger than a big City.
So much for Israeli LIES they take every precaution to spare the innocent Civilians in Gaza.
Anyone with eyes can see on TV, that's a whopper of a LIE!
The US government and Americans are complicit in this Israeli CRIME against Humanity
It was good to see the Morning Joe show people finally pushing back with some hard questions making it awkward for Israeli former Ambassador to the US Oren to deflect.
Oren has been a regular on MSNBC since the WAR started, and Today was the 1st Time he got push back that I saw.
Ray, all Americans have to do is spend as many hours watching Al Jazeera TV coverage of this "War", as they do watching NFL games, to have known all this for a long time.
It's not a WAR when one side has jet fighters, bombers, Apache Attack helicopters with Hellfire Missiles, tanks and artillery against a Civilian Population. It's not a WAR but a Massacre!
Yep it sure is a massacre Ray. I am watching Al Jazzera TV as I type here!
And President Biden could end it with one phone call.
And no more jet fighters, bombers, Apache Attack helicopters with Hellfire Missiles, tanks and artillery weapons.
But he won't.
But there are signs today that the Israeli people themselves will stop the genocide!
And the War Criminal Netanyahu is toast.
Wadda yah think?
I think Netanyahu knows he's toast and out of POWER as soon as the Massacre is over.
He has a self-interest in making this Slaughter and Ethnic cleansing of Gazans last as long as possible.
What about what Joe "I am Zionist" Biden is thinking, Ray?
Can he think you reckon?
During his 36 years in the Senate, Biden was the chamber's biggest recipient in history of donations from pro-Israeli groups, taking in $4.2 million, according to the Open Secrets database.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/i-am-zionist-how-joe-bidens-lifelong-bond-with-israel-shapes-war-policy-2023-10-21/
Is he really running for POTUS again - and does he actually realize that this will doom his chances? Genocide Joe.
On what basis Dennis, do You assume that Biden is the person calling the shots here? And don't volunteer to hold Your breath until the Israeli People stop the genocide. You will have a long wait.
99% of the World population Jeff assumes Biden is not calling the shots. How could it be any more obvious eh?
In a recent statement, Ofer Cassif, a Member of Israeli Parliament (Knesset) for the Hadash party said that the Netanyahu government is ramping up repressive powers against ANY form of opposition to its military actions in Gaza. He said public meetings throughout Israel are being banned for any groups who are calling for an end to the genocide and for negotiations. According to Cassif all citizens including Jews who are speaking out against the genocide are liable to be charged as “terrorists”.
In his statement, Cassif said, "I plead to the world - supporting the Israeli government is not supporting Israeli people - it is supporting fascism, death and dictatorship. If you wish to help Israeli people in this dire time support the peace movement, not the warmongers who waged a war against their own people.”
Jeff I am not holding my breath that the Israeli people will stop the genocide next week, but for sure a groundswell of Israeli opposition is building against Netanyahu and his "war". Getting bigger everyday as IDF deaths mount, the hostages are not released and Israel's economy tanks. And of course, continued US support is favoured only by a minority in the US now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2cLO40FcrQ&t=14s
And lets not forget that even before the events of Oct 7 Israel was tearing itself apart with large protest movements opposing plans which would give politicians much greater control of the judiciary. The mass protests that united the already polarized society included strong opposition from military reservists and the normally apolitical tech sector. Israeli protesters held up placards saying the proposed reforms spelled “the end of democracy”.
“Israel is in the throes of a profound crisis. Anyone who thinks that a real civil war, of human life, is a line that we will not reach has no idea. The abyss is within touching distance.”
To say Israeli politics was already a ticking time bomb is not an exaggeration. Add Netanyahu's fight against corruption charges. Israel is in deep shit eh!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/15/israeli-president-civil-war-is-within-touching-distance
So do You or do You not think that Biden is calling the shots on this, determining what US policy will be and how it is carried out?
And if he isn't, who is?
your verities illuminate the shadows that so many of our consociate sciophilous creatures hide in, clif brown. reaching back into my youth some 7 decades ago, i recall w/ pin-pricking pain how viciously disdainful, spiteful, and mean-spirited certain girls were in my school's ambit... far more derogating and denigrating than the males were. hillary clinton, nikki haley, golda meir, and indira ghandi were the equivalent of these cruel, hate-spewing femmes on their respective playgrounds, all of whom likely smirked and rejoiced in their diminishment of other femmes who, they feared, might be a threat to their own diminished sense of self-worth. never underestimate the mindless, benumbing savagery of the female constitution.
Israel denies visas to UN staff as it hits back against Gaza war criticism.
Israel retaliates against the UN
But why? Has Israel something to hide?
How about we deny Israeli visas everywhere.
Israel should be removed from the UN?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn0YbjEb-tg
The primary reason the United States has been in a perpetual state of war against somebody someplace since the end of World War II is that a significant number of Americans have made, now make, and will continue to make a great deal of money from all those wars.
And the secondary reason for all those wars, particularly in the 21st century, is that ~ thru the magic of budgetary Deficits ~ the American Peoples have not paid a single dime for them. And with the end of the Draft following the Vietnam debacle, the only Americans who have fought in ~ and suffered from ~ all those wars are those who have joined the so-called “All -Volunteer Force.”
Thus, for the American Peoples, all the wars that America has waged ~ at least since Vietnam ~ have been virtually cost-free in terms of both Blood and Treasure.
A very simple first step toward ending America’s addiction to war is the following “No War-For-Profit” Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:
1. Any and all individuals, organizations, or institutions doing business with the Military-Industrial-Congressional-FatherLand- Security Complex [MICFLS-C] must be and thus will be publicly-held NON-PROFIT business enterprises.
2. No individual, bank, and/or any other financial or other institution [including foreign nations' and their money-lenders] doing business with the MICFLS-C may earn any interest or other profit from loans, bonds, or any other fiduciary instruments used by the Government of The United States to finance or otherwise "pay for" this nation's Wars-by-Credit Card.
3. No print, electronic, and/or internet-based news or otherwise info-entertainment media organization may be owned and/or operated by any organization or individual doing any business whatsoever with the MICFLS-C.
A very much simpler first step toward ending America’s addiction to war is the following:
1. Make Congress the only ones that can declare War - as required by the Constitution.
2. Congress enforces the Laws* prohibiting sale of Arms to nations abusing human rights.
3. Prohibit dual-citizenship employees in Government. Especially the State Department.
4. Cut the military off at its pockets. Half the Defense Budget.
*The Leahy Laws and its Amendments are US Laws that prohibit the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign forces that violate human rights with impunity. ( IE, the IDF)
https://www.stimson.org/2023/law-and-policy-guide-to-us-arms-transfers-to-israel/
Simpler, indeed, Dennis. But how easy? For example:
1. Who is going to "make" ~ as in force ~ Congress do that? The Pentagon?
2. Ie, reinstate Involuntary Servitude. Wasn't there a Civil War about that very thing?
3. Again, who is going to enforce Congress to be the enforcer? The CIA?
4. How would ending dual-citizens as government employees accomplish anything?
5. Again, Yet, and Still.... Who is going to make/force Congress to halve the Defense Budget?
The Preamble to the United States Constitution, beginning with the words - We the People.
That's who.
If you don't believe that Jeff - the great American experiment of democracy is dead. If you think the CIA, the Pentagon and the Congress is more powerful than we the people - you might as well toss the whole experiment in the trash eh!
"Are we now obliged to pay for the ineffective and swollen CIA into perpetuity? Let us terminate with extreme prejudice its foreign policy functions. At the entrance to the CIA building in Langley, Virginia a very large seal proclaims: “You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.” The CIA’s assumptions of national truth have been ventures in ethnocentrism, which have led us into disaster upon disaster. It is time to ask how we can end our pathological dependence on it."
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/should-we-abolish-the-cia/
The CIA was created by the Government.
It can be taken away by the Government.
BTW, were the majority of Americans who fought in WW2 "Involuntary Servitude"? And if you think half of the DC Swamp rats being dual Israel/American citizens has nothing to do with the current genocide I have a bridge to sell you.
Take care my man
Dennis, what you call "the great American experiment of democracy" has been dead for a long Time.
What the US has is a Pyramid System of an Oligarchic Plutocracy at the top of the Pyramid System and since the same Oligarchs own the MSM, print and TV, it's deceiving non stop America 1st Propaganda that has Americans believing they have anything like a Democracy.
The Propaganda says Israel is a Democracy. How can that be when it's a Democracy for Jews only in the Illegal West Bank settlements, but a Military Dictatorship for Palestinians with Israeli Military Courts and no Democratic or Civil Rights for Palestinians resisting the Israeli Occupation of their Land.
Have you given up on the USA restoring some semblance of democracy Jeff? You know that America is a Republic and not a pure democracy eh?
Israel surely can't go Democratic. But it is not long for this World eh?
Is the US also not long for the world you reckon?
Yes, Dennis. i know the difference between a Republic and a Democracy, and the United States is neither.
And i have already asked a couple of times here on BV whether or not the US will survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026. And whether or not it CAN survive.
And ~ given the current system of government and governance ~ whether or not it SHOULD survive.
And so, Dennis, exactly How are those "We, the People" going to make/force Congress to do all those things You prescribe? By threatening to not vote for them in the next election?
And what's Your source on "half of the DC Swamp rats being dual Israel/ American citizens"?
And Yes: Those Americans who were drafted and did not voluntarily enlist who fought in World War II were in Involuntary Servitude, just like those who were drafted who fought in Korea and Vietnam. Involuntary Servitude is Involuntary Servitude if the person is forced into service against his will.
Your first question Jeff: If "we the people" can't make/force Congress do what we want - doesn't that make the US Constitution a bit of a joke? You tell me eh.
New Zealand does not have a constitution, but the NZ people were able to make/force their Government to pass Laws like not allowing nuclear powered vessels in our waters and banning assault rivals for example. But then again, NZ is the second rated Full Democracy in the World. The US is ranked 30th, and a regime type 'Flawed Democracy".
Is this a flakey website you reckon Jeff?
89% of our Senators and Congress hold dual citizenship with Israel.
https://nexusnewsfeed.com/article/geopolitics/89-of-our-senators-and-congress-hold-dual-citizenship-citizenship-with-israel/
Maybe this is urban legend....
https://www.policybear.org/post/are-there-dual-citizens-in-congress
Kiwis and Yanks who fought in WW1 and WW2 you might say were Involuntary Servitude. I would guess that many would disagree. I don't know how many served in those two wars against their will. Korea and Vietnam you know more about than me obviously. What point are you trying to make about Involuntary Servitude Jeff?
It's possible that roughly 40 Members of Congress hold dual citizenship with Israel, though that number is probably inflated by those Jewish members with the "right of return" to Israel for Jewish people. If 40 is the number, that's less than 10%.
I have no idea what that 89% refers to. It seems people are inflating Jewish influence in Congress for anti-Semitic reasons. There's no need for this nonsense. We all know of AIPAC and the powerful influence of money/lobbyists.
You didn't answer my question, Dennis: Exactly HOW are all them "We, the People" supposed to make/force Congress to do anything? And have "We, the People" EVER made/forced Congress to do anything? Can You cite any specific examples?
And i only checked two of the Senators on Your list [Sanders and Schumer], and according to Politifact ~ which i trust much more than nexusnewsfeed, which i have never heard of ~ they do not have dual citizenship. [ https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/feb/25/blog-posting/no-members-congress-dont-have-dual-citizenship-isr/ ].
When i have nothing more important to do, i'll do a more extensive search. At this point, my educated hunch is that that is not merely an "urban legend," but complete and total bullshit.
And i am sure that many people who were drafted and fought in WW1 and WW2 ~ Kiwi, Yank, Brit, German, Japanese, etc ~ did not think they were doing Involuntary Servitude. So what? i'm sure that the majority of American Blacks who were drafted to fight in Korea and Vietnam probably did not and do not think they were doing IS. Again, so what?
The point i am trying to make is that to force someone to go into the military against their will to kill and maim ~and very possibly be killed or maimed ~ is nothing but a form of Slavery. Just like forcing a woman to carry a fetus that she does not want to full term and delivery is another, different form of Slavery.
Jeff, I removed my point "reinstate the draft", knowing how you feel about it.
But I still think if America is attacked by an enemy, and Congress approves a so-called "just" war, that citizens being called up to fight as Americans and New Zealanders were in WW1 and WW2 is NOT "Involuntary Servitude. It's defending your country surely eh?
"What, sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. …Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins. - Elbridge Gerry, Fifth Vice President of the United States.
https://fee.org/articles/why-the-founding-fathers-feared-a-standing-army/
Wadda yuh think?
Whether or not America is attacked and whether or not Congress formally declares war, forcing someone to go into the military to fight and to kill and/or maim ~ and possibly be killed or maimed ~ against their will is Involuntary Servitude. It is an Involuntary Servitude different from Slavery, but it is still Servitude, and it is still Involuntary.
Yes, the notion of 'no more war' is a little silly as is the notion that we are always progressing, never regressing, not to mention any sort of exceptionalism. Because we are always wrestling between good and evil, progress and decline, indeed such a conundrum is perhaps the fundamental human predicament, or challenge.
But there is much more that needs being acknowledged these days. Many of us are beginning to realize that most of the bedrock premises of our civilization have either been already or are in the process of being abandoned, and in many cases quite possibly weren't all they were cracked up to be in the first place anyway.
I'm talking about the Enlightenment which, with its reliance on reductionist materialism (only physical matter is real i.e. only body not mind), ends up believing in and creating an inhumanly mechanistic mindset and culture which in turn tends towards a totalitarian obsession with control, order, predictability. Also the fading of Christianity which is concerned with absolute principles over relative, with compassion over success, with sacredness in personal and communal perception. We don't share that underlying view any more and, truth be told, perhaps we never did. Whether we did nor not it is now too late to say, such a shared civilization that knit together all countries and peoples in the West is no more. And what about democracy? Clearly it is a con, though too few are brave enough to admit it. As some wise man put it: 'if voting mattered they would never let us do it!' and that is the truth. The rule of law is mainly a performance. Look at the world: if this is progress how come the entirely unnecessary civil war in Eastern Ukraine - Novorussiya? If we are so advanced how come Israel can keep bullying and punishing Palestinians for about a century now and counting with the international community unable to do anything about it (unable or unwilling?). And so much more.
The underpinnings of Western civilization, and with it the Modern World, are being revealed as hollow. But what would it take to reverse this, to remedy this? I do not believe we have enough collective wisdom with shared vocabulary to even discuss this any more, let alone do anything substantive about it. We are disintegrating, fracturing, falling about. Things will probably have to get much, much worse before there is any chance of their getting better again, but by then so much will have been lost forever that it's more like an entirely new cycle will need to begin, starting over from the bottom after probably hundreds of millions, if not billions, of deaths. And that's if we are lucky. What is more likely is that we will be herded into some sort of totalitarian dystopia bereft of independent agency and freedom. That might prove the end of war. It will also prove the end of Man.