Persecuted are the Truth-tellers

An earlier version of this piece stated that Ms. Reality Winner sent NSA information to The Guardian. In fact, she sent this information to The Intercept.

Persecuted are the Truth-tellers

If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

-       George Orwell

You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.

-       Senator Daniel Moynihan

By J.M. Hamilton  (2-4-2018)

What does it say about a country that ostracizes and persecutes those who tell the truth?

As important, if a country or society ignores or rejects truth, what is its foundation built upon?  And how long can such a foundation hold?

Our society looks up to patriarchal figures – men of financial accomplishment or w/ professional designations – and it nearly takes an act of the Goddess above, before we will believe the allegations and the corruption that all too often falls upon such men.

To be sure many men, and women, obtain some degree of success in this world, w/out sacrificing morals or societal standards; but as of late, it seems increasingly rare, particularly for the most powerful among us.

Day by day another man of accomplishment or stature seems to fall, often over allegations concerning their abuse of power, or a private or public trust.

The last several months have been very revealing – not just about the dry rot surrounding the US power structure – but, as important, about how the United States crucifies, and often ignores, those who are brave enough to come forward and tell the truth.

Let’s examine several recent examples:

Many people probably don’t know who Rachel Denhollander is, but she is one of the first women, if not the first, to come forward against the serial pedophile, Doctor Larry Nassar.  Mr. Nassar is all over the front pages presently for molesting scores of young women athletes.

And how did society treat Ms. Denhollander for demonstrating this courage?  We don’t have to wonder, the NY Times recently published her account.  This is what Ms. Denhollander endured and suffered, in her own words:

I lost my church. I lost my closest friends as a result of advocating for survivors who had been victimized by similar institutional failures in my own community.

I lost every shred of privacy.

When a new friend searched my name online or added me as a friend on Facebook, the most intimate details of my life became available long before we had even exchanged phone numbers. I avoided the grocery stores on some days, to make sure my children didn’t see my face on the newspaper or a magazine. I was asked questions about things no one should know when I least wanted to talk.

And the effort it took to move this case forward — especially as some called me an “ambulance chaser” just “looking for a payday” — often felt crushing.

Yet all of it served as a reminder: These were the very cultural dynamics that had allowed Larry Nassar to remain in power.

Based upon societal reactions one might think, for a moment, that Ms. Denhollander was the person committing monstrous abuse on a massive scale, against minors.  More unsettling still, Dr. Nassar was investigated many times prior to his recent conviction, and the authorities and investigative bodies always gave the psychopath a pass (because who is one to believe, a teenage, or young, girl, or a respected member of the medical community?).

Mses. Rose McGowan & Uma Thurman are better known, and their narratives surround the notorious Hollywood mogul, Mr. Harvey Weinstein. 

Mr. Weinstein abused his position as a Hollywood producer to, allegedly, sexually assault – and sometimes rape – actors by the dozens.  All throughout Hollywood the code of omerta was maintained for decades; or conveniently, the assaulted women would no longer get movie or television roles, or job offerings would suddenly drop off.  Mr. Weinstein, of course, couldn’t have possibly assaulted this many actors w/out a great deal of help, from attorneys, investigative agencies (who  dug up dirt on the victims for purposes of blackmail), and assorted assistants.

A lot of people were in on this lie, but nobody came forward.

Ms. McGowan recently shared w/ ABC, what she thought of the artificial and superficial reaction the Hollywood elite had in response to Mr. Weinstein and the #metoo movement.

“It felt like people were dancing on our graves. People in fancy dresses, like, black of course, posing and living it up on the red carpet,” McGowan told ABC News "Nightline" co-anchor Juju Chang. “The black stupid clothes that the stupid men wore. It's a lie, and I knew they were going to trot the activists out there for PR.”

And Ms. Thurman had this to say, for Maureen Dowd at the NY Times:

She (Thurman) thought she could confront him and clear it up, but she took Herman with her and asked Weinstein to meet her in the Savoy bar. The assistants had their own special choreography to lure actresses into the spider’s web and they pressured Thurman, putting Weinstein on the phone to again say it was a misunderstanding and “we have so many projects together.” Finally she agreed to go upstairs, while Herman waited on a settee outside the elevators.

Downstairs, Herman was getting nervous. “It seemed to take forever,” the friend told me. Finally, the elevator doors opened and Thurman walked out. “She was very disheveled and so upset and had this blank look,” Herman recalled. “Her eyes were crazy and she was totally out of control. I shoveled her into the taxi and we went home to my house. She was really shaking.” Herman said that when the actress was able to talk again, she revealed that Weinstein had threatened to derail her career.

So we know how society responds to truth-tellers, but how about state organs – with totalitarian tendencies – w/in the U.S. government?

Enter Reality Winner ...   Ms. Winner, some may remember, served her country in the U.S. Air Force and at the NSA as a contractor, before sending NSA information to The Intercept.  For her act of truth-telling, also known as whistleblowing, Ms. Winner has been charged with violating the Espionage Act for allegedly releasing national security information.  In our opaque government, nearly everything is marked “secret” or far too often designated a matter of national security.  

If your looking for honesty or transparency, there’s very little to be found at the NSA. 

And yet, the U.S. Congress just re-upped on mass surveillance, by extending again, Section 702 of the FISA Act (which basically means the surveillance state can read your online activities w/out a warrant). 

Constitution and civil liberties be damned.

But I digress.  Kudos to Trevor Timm, who recently wrote a piece for The Intercept, aptly comparing the treatment a patriot, like Ms. Winner, is receiving, versus Mr. Trump’s wealthy former campaign manager, Mr. Manafort.

One needs only glance at recent headlines — and the case of Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who was charged with conspiracy and money laundering, among other counts — to see how absurd it is to deny Winner bail. Manafort, whose alleged criminal endeavors involved foreign government patrons, has millions of dollars at his disposal and was the owner of three passports. Not only did Manafort get bail, he was given permission to spend Christmas in the Hamptons.

Winner, on the other hand, is incarcerated indefinitely for, as officials have said, allegedly mailing an NSA document about Russian election hacking to The Intercept. (The Intercept had no knowledge of the source’s identity.) It’s an injustice that is not only out of step with precedent, but also creating an undue burden on her defense team. That’s why they’re taking these steps to appeal the bail decision again.

Other galling examples of the boot heal of American society and government stomping on the face of truth-tellers, include Chelsea Manning & Edward Snowden.  Their only, respective, crimes were revealing how the military industrial complex abuses its power and the war machine (against civilians and reporters), and how the surveillance state spies – not just on foreigners – but Americans.

And what did we do to these two patriots?  We locked up Ms. Manning and threw away the key (until POTUS Obama commuted her sentence).  Mr. Snowden is, of course, in exile. 

To date, no one has ever proved that the documents released by Ms. Manning or Mr. Snowden has in anyway harmed the U.S. (nor has anyone ever proven the efficacy of the NSA or unlimited warfare).  And yet, their service to the American people was both incalculable & invaluable.  In fact, if government was truly transparent – “transparency” is very hot w/ the Republican Party, presently – we would never had heard their names: Manning, Snowden, or Winner.

It is because our government is captured by the wealthy and well-connected – and operating in the shadows and against the interests of ordinary Americans – that there is a need for truth-tellers, and that these truth-telling women and men should be celebrated.  It is because industry has been consolidated to such a degree that moguls, like Mr. Weinstein, are able to act in an abusive manner towards labor with reckless abandon.

This is what this nation does to those who dare tell the truth.  We lock them up, or make examples of them.  

In short, we make their lives a living hell (which, surprise, discourages others from telling the truth).

Think about that for a moment.  By persecuting the truth-tellers, we enable corruption, and we help maintain a corrupt power structure that plays by its own unstated rules.

By attacking those who tell the truth, we protect a lie…. But not a single lie, many lies.

And a country based upon a foundation of lies, and opaqueness, will not long endure.

Our complete lack of appreciation for the truth, and those bold enough to tell the truth, is not a symptom of this nation’s problems… it goes to the very heart of why the United States is in the situation we are in today: a bankrupt empire; with an overextended military & a surveillance state run amok; and a thoroughly unaccountable Kleptocracy calling the shots.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2018

The Kleptocracy giveth, and the Kleptocracy taketh away…

The Kleptocracy giveth, and the Kleptocracy taketh away…

Insofar as “synergies,” “efficiencies” and “adjacencies” are a euphemism for job cuts, 2017’s huge merger haul spells trouble. The 10 biggest U.S. transactions to quantify targets in 2017 expected a combined $7.9 billion of annual savings, equivalent to the cost of employing 250,000 American workers at the median wage. Some $3 billion of the proposed savings come from one merger alone: Broadcom’s $130 billion offer for rival chipmaker Qualcomm.

-       Dealer’s Choice, from Reuters Breakingviews

By J.M. Hamilton (1-21-2018)

One could hear a pin drop last week, w/in C-Suites throughout the land. 

POTUS Trump, once again, made it abundantly clear that the GOP is racist; and that he entered the White House utilizing a divide & conquer GOP campaign strategy (and subsequently enacted policies) that has been in place since Mr. Nixon darkened the White House grounds, as Commander in Chief.

At issue, in the midst of immigrant and refugee negotiations with the Senate, Mr. Trump referred to El Salvador, Haiti, and Africa as “shithole countries.”  While it’s true that many of these nations are economically challenged, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the U.S., and the West, have played a major role in the current malaise surrounding many of these countries’ economies: from a history of colonialism to CIA intervention and meddling, all the way to multinational exploitation and intervention in local government.

But to Mr. Trump, his classification and designation had a more racial bent, because it was coupled w/ his belief that we need more immigrants from Norway (a country that is predominately white).

Like I said, not a word from the corporate & multinational aristocracy.  After all, POTUS Trump had just delivered a huge tax cut.  And apparently, the price to be paid - for what Mr. Samuelson at the Post referred to, recently, as a “bribe” - is complicity and silence.

And that silence is both deafening and can be construed as consent:  Qui tacet consentire videtur, ubi loqui debuit ac potuit.

Moreover, the multinational royalty aren’t just remaining silent, but are endorsing Mr. Trump by opening their checkbooks.  Many have stepped forward with one-time bonuses for their employees, or slight hikes in pay (albeit the pay increases, in many instances, still will not provide a living wage).

That these bonuses have been coupled in more than several instances, w/ rounds of layoffs or corporate facility closings, means that the tax cuts provided by the GOP will more than likely be allocated to financial engineering: job killing M&A; stock buybacks; and further job cuts. 

But we don’t have to wonder about this, many CEOs have gone on record as saying as much.

And hence, the quid pro quo…  You make us, and our shareholders, wealthier Mr. Trump and we’ll trickle a few bonuses among our employees.  These bonuses – in the aggregate - might spark a temporary economic sugar rush, that will hopefully help out the GOP’s 2018 reelection prospects (Notice, the employee bonuses are one time, whereas the GOP tax cut for business is permanent – that is, “permanent” at least until some future generation finally recognizes that trickle down is nonsense, and has bankrupted this nation, and mortgaged their future).

And just like compounded interest, compounded tax reductions – on this order or magnitude – will mean the kleptocracy’s wealth will explode exponentially over time.  Further aggravating the wage & wealth divide that is threatening to tear Western governments and society apart at the seems.

More unsettling too, is that several market characteristics and dynamics are coming together to create the perfect storm, in favor of multinationals and against labor.

Consider the following:

·      As noted by JP Morgan CEO, Jamie Dimon, last year, the number of publicly traded companies since the mid- ninties has nearly been cut in half;

·      Entrepreneurship and the number of startups has been in considerable decline, spanning decades ;

·      Industry consolidation and M&A has flourished, over the same time frame;

·      Lending among Wall Street banks – a catalyst for entrepreneurship and job growth – has declined since 2010 (only recently enjoying an uptick); and

·      The capture of the Federal government by the oligarchy means that law and policies that protect labor, and labor’s right to organize has been decimated.

All these things combined not only have helped fuel wage & wealth inequality, but have given large businesses, w/in our cartelized economy, significant power – monopsony power – over labor. 

To such an extent that big and larger business, which employs 50% of U.S. labor (small businesses, as defined by the SBA, as 500 and fewer employees - per enterprise, employ 50% of the labor), has grown so powerful that they, collectively, can make or break an economy, based upon hiring decisions.

It’s important for liberals and for progressives to know and understand this, as the GOP continues to implode under POTUS Trump.  

What may follow, possibly, is the Democratic Party taking one or both houses in 2018, and possibly, the White House in 2020. 

Democratic leadership seems to recognize the damaging effects of this exceptional concentration of economic power, as they more recently have adopted positions designed to mitigate the control and power cartels & monopolies hold over the economy and government, via advocacy for greater antitrust enforcement.

But there is still more work to do and thought given on how to prevent the kleptocracy from throwing the economy into a tailspin, the second a future Democratic, or even Green, Administration enacts policies designed to curtail the power of cartels and monopolies.  (Some may recall a taper tantrum a few years back.  When the Fed started to back off its hyper-accommodative monetary policies that help fuel the stock market's rise, the bond investment community caused the Federal Reserve to reverse course, and rev up its printing presses, again.  Could we expect a tantrum directed at the economy and hiring, if, say, Dems began enforcing & updating antitrust laws?  That's not as improbable as some might believe.  Think: Capital Strike!)

The kleptocracy is not likely to act favorably or kindly to anything that upsets the status quo, or threatens their power to mint money (via monopolistic returns) and control the government.  They could act in ways to deliberately sabotage an administration or political party, the kleptocracy deem to be unacceptable or unworthy.  

Given the precarious position of the nation's finances (thanks to tax cuts for the wealthy and credit card financed nation building & wars w/out end), a severe recession - orchestrated by the multinationals - and the resulting diminishment in tax receipts - could have a destabilizing impact upon the Federal government.

As for our friends, the C-Suite aristocracy… many businesses talk about accountability, ethics, philanthropy, and responsibility; but throwing money at a political party – that is based upon the premise of white supremacy – in the hopes of reducing one’s tax bill - is morally reprehensible, and is not a sustainable business practice.

If business leadership truly wants to be accountable and responsible, they must speak up, frequently and often, against the party of racism.

After all, misogyny and racism no longer sells.

Misogyny and racism are bad business.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2018