ALL DINOs MUST GO... THE WAY OF THE DINOSAUR!

ALL DINOs MUST GO...  THE WAY OF THE DINOSAUR!

When the former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling was released from prison a few weeks ago, the news conjured memories of a corporate scandal that now seems almost quaint – and it was also a reminder that Enron executives were among the last politically connected criminals to face any serious consequences for institutionalized fraud.

Since Skilling’s conviction 12 years ago, our society has been fundamentally altered by a powerful political movement whose goal is not merely another court seat, tax cut or election victory. This movement’s objective is far more revolutionary: the creation of an accountability-free zone for an ennobled aristocracy, even as the rest of the population is treated to law-and-order rhetoric and painfully punitive policy.

America's new aristocracy lives in an accountability-freezone – The Guaridan

By JM Hamilton (10-7-2018)

As I write this, Judge Kavanaugh’ coronation  has just been approved by the US Senate for his appointed SCOTUS seat; Mr. Kavanaugh will now be able - along w/ other right-wing jurists - to legislate the GOP's & plutocracy's patriarchal & reactionary agenda for decades to come.  So if the House falls to Dems in 2018, and the Executive branch goes to any number of competent female Dem senators in 2020, the Court will be there to slow down a progressive agenda, and hold back the left's populist tide.

JMH has documented for several years, now, the ongoing collapse of our democracy, and the hostile takeover of the government by the monied elite.  JMH has always acknowledged the benefits of a capitalist economy - ameliorated by a strong social safety net - to protect the economically & politically disenfranchised.  However, the US no longer operates a capitalist economy, but rather, the economy is driven by predatory cartels and monopolies. With the plutocracy's capture of government now complete, the robber barons are free to engage in crony-capitalism (i.e. monopolistic taxation & rent seeking behavior as the sine qua non of all economic endeavor)  - coupled w/ austerity for everyone else - w/out worry or concern.  

The ultimate sugar daddies - an unelected & unaccountable FED & SCOTUS - will protect the American aristocracy from the barbarian hordes (from the perspective of the patriarchy: disgruntled gays, minorities, & women).

Characteristics of the crony government are trillion dollar deficits, for as long as the world is willing to tolerate the dollar as the global fiat currency.  As well as, credit card wars w/out end; a foreign policy dictated by Big Oil and the MIC; and the continued plundering of the economy & government - exemplified by financial engineering & tax cuts for the wealthy: all funded by the Fed's printing presses.

Trickle down is not only America’s default fiscal & monetary policy, but it is paramount judicial policy as well... via a slick veneer of originalist judicial dogma to add some legitimacy.  

And Americans of all stripes - but particularly minorities, the poor, and women & children - will suffer the most from Kavanaugh’ rise. 

In such an environment political blowback against the kleptocracy is inevitable, and certainly, last week, there were some things for liberals to celebrate.

Senator Sanders took a victory lap after Amazon agreed to raise its entry level minimum wage, for its long abused warehouse workers, to fifteen dollars a hour.  The Senator went on the offensive against Amazon, by simply stating the obvious: Amazon's profits were subsidized by the Federal government/US taxpayer, as many employees relied upon government assistance just to survive.  The Senator has taken on Disney, and more multinationals will undoubtedly follow.  So many US multinationals dodge taxation, while exploiting the United States dwindling credit line & social services to enhance their bottom line: a double kick to Uncle Sam’s nether regions, and Americans.  What was surprising, however, was not the inevitable pushback Mr. Sanders received from the extremist within the Republican party, and the US Chamber, but even members of the Democratic establishment attacked Senator Sanders (engaging in sophistry and specious declamation - typical neoliberal tactics - when reason and logic fail).  Go get 'em Senator!  

Despite Mr. Kavanaugh's crowning, and ascension to the thrown, ushered in by Senate Majority Leader McConnell (complete w/ the facade of a faux - FBI - investigation), the hearings showed that the #MeToo movement is alive and well, and women aren't going tolerate abuse. Women and minorities have been treated like second class citizens (indeed, at times as indentured servants and slaves), since the nation's founding. And they certainly placed a very large dent in Mr. Kavanaugh's record & pending reign.  He, and another current SCOTUS member, will forever have asterisks by their names: admitted to the bench after highly credible allegations of serial sexual harassment.  Thankfully, this movement isn't going away anytime soon, and unfortunately, neither is men's behavior towards women likely to change anytime soon.  Until parents are more open w/ their children about sex, sex education - and sexual behavior & issues surrounding orientation - our prudish, and often provincial (see red states), society will continue to breed and foster men like Mr. Kavanaugh.  As w/ nearly all things, education & transparency would do much to eliminate a pandemic of harassment, misogyny, rape, and sexual abuse.  

The upside, women are motivated, and woke, to run for political office, and vote, as never before.

I'll take a battalion of angry - motivated - women over an army of elitist, entitled frat boys any day of the week, in their ability to bring about constructive change. The other positive, SCOTUS, and yes, all US courts, continue to be exposed as the political institutions that they are; that it to say, run by politicians wearing black robes for the elite's benefit.  The answer to this problem is simple: term limits and popularly elected SCOTUS/Federal court members (i.e. greater democracy). That and the judicious use of SCOTUS impeachment when appropriate.  If the GOP, and their paymasters, are so confident in their economics & politics then surely they would not object to greater democracy and a popular vote on their judicial nominees?  Ditto the Dems.

And yes, let's give the devil his due.  Mr. Trump negotiated a better NAFTA deal last week, or USMCA trade agreement. The agreement has a number of pro-labor features, not the least of which are: greater North American parts content in North America assembled vehicles; exponentially higher pay for a percentage of Mexican workers, so that mercenary multinationals may be less inclined to move factories south of the border to exploit Hispanic labor; and my personal favorite, Chapter 11 has been nearly eliminated (but for the notable exceptions of - surprise - Big Oil & Telecommunications).  Chapter 11 allowed multinationals to sue governments - in rigged corporate panels - for loss of profits, due to changes in laws & regulations.  Sovereignty, and the people's will, appear to have been restored. (Kudos PM Trudeau!)  Of course, as w/ all trade agreements, Satan is in: the details; the enforcement mechanisms; and passage through a Congress, that is wholly owned by a nefarious US Chamber of Commerce.

That said, Trump appears to have paved the way, and set the bar on trade. Has anybody taken a look at China's stock market lately, or China's diminished growth prospects, & foreign investment into mainland China & Asia?  Not good. Trump appears to be winning on trade, as the Sino-US trade war heats up (aka the title fight).  Now future Dem administrations can't hide behind closed doors w/ multinational overlords & donors, or behind the Chamber's skirt.... the die is cast, and American labor expects Dems to only improve upon Trump’s work & future trade agreements.  Neoliberalism (aka exploitation of global labor, tax laws, & lax regulation, at the expense of American labor, the tax base, & economy) is dead.  

Add in Bloomberg's story about China hacking the motherboards throughout US industry, tech sector, and the US government, and America has far greater incentives to bring both jobs & supply lines home.  Dem leadership take note: sometimes it pays to be aggressive - even at the risk of upsetting allies, or so-called niceties & norms - in the pursuit of your base's & the country's interests.  

This also means upsetting the donor class.

No DINO, American labor is feeling the Bern.

In spite of the good news, there are still some immediate concerns on the horizon... the Democratic party is loaded w/ DINOs (Democrats in name only), or dinosaurs as I like to call them; that is septu & octogenarians, who have been sucking on the corporate/multinational tit for decades, in the form of campaign contributions and donations. 

You know, the usual suspects: Clintonistas, GOP-Lite, establishment types... somewhat liberal on social policy, but on economic and foreign policy (FP), basically indistinguishable from their republican colleagues. 

It's time for a purge.  If the Democratic party is to demonstrate that it has learned anything from 2016, the DINOs must go, or be converted.  DINO policies - from Clinton & Obama administrations - led directly to the rise of Trumpism and the rejection, by the everyman, of the Democratic party. The Party of the People - allegedly Dems - ignored the people, got in bed w/ the super-predators of Wall Street & Silicon Valley, and have been thrown out of federal & state executive, legislative, & judicial branches.

Blame the dinosaurs & their neoliberal policies... I mean DINOs. Bottom line: America doesn't need two Republican parties.

The future is AI, continued automation, and perhaps, to a far lesser degree, globalization.... but this means the US needs even greater social policies to aid ordinary Americans, minorities, women, children, and yes, even white males.  This means progressives are going to need to attack & leash: neoliberalism; a criminal & failed neocon FP; our crony- kleptocracy; and yes, DINOs, themselves, in bed w/ the US Chamber and its laissez faire agenda. The national debt must also be methodically & slowly written down, so that both establishment parties can no longer weaponize the national debt against the 99%.  The national debt was run up to pay for tax cuts for the rich, credit card wars, and bailout Wall Street and its aftermath.... so why are ordinary Americans stuck paying for the serial pathologies, and recidivism, of the elite?

The people don't need DINOs and the party doesn't need them either.

Anything less, and the Democratic party will find itself out of power, just as quickly as it might find its way back, post - November elections. Take lessons from FDR & the New Deal... the only POTUS to win four terms.  

The road map to success for Democrats was laid out in the 1930s & 40s. 

PS

Finally, I was re-reading the Declaration of Independence last night – you know that manifesto that shook off the chains of a corrupt elite - presently American law.  I couldn’t help notice that if we substitute "US aristocracy" for "King George," and any reference to same.... we can quickly see that not only does the document hold up today, but the tyranny of a monied elite has replaced the cruel oppression of a monarch.

Many of the outrages the founding fathers accused King George of, in 1776, apply here and now to American aristocracy.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.... that is, until a political revolution arrives.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2018 

The Kids Lead the Way

The Kids Lead the Way 

 

It’s all very sketchy and deeply unsettling.  Americans are living through a time of great evil, a considerable amount of which emanates from our own government, the duopoly, our elected representatives, and the oligarchy.  Americans, therefore, have a duty to speak, to march and be heard.  Power concedes nothing w/out a demand. 

 

In times of great evil, we no longer have the luxury of remaining civil… in our discourse and protests.  We must call out great evil for what it is, frequently and often.  The wealthy and their henchmen, corrupt politicians addicted to power and the corporate MSM… count on & rely upon our civility, as cover and to hide their crimes of civilian genocide, mass murder of children, and endless profits from endless wars. 

 

Nothing less than immediate cessation of all hostilities & the immediate creation of the State of Palestine should be called for by all world leaders.

 

-       Genocide & the Fall of Western Credibility, By Gregg Wall (October 28, 2023)

 

 

By Gregg Wall (5-11-2024)

 

For many it’s been a really dark period.  The entire episode, since October 7, has been both eye-opening and galvanizing… millions and millions who were once pro-Israel or maybe ambivalent have had to rethink everything (in the face of Western corruption, certitude by Western elites surrounding the righteousness & right to commit mass murder, and repugnant Zionist leadership).  Genocide and the mass murder of children tends to have that effect.  An outfit called AIPAC Tracker, on X, names names and how much politicians have taken in from Israel and it's not pretty:  POTUS Biden $11.2 million; Senator Rubio $1.0 million; Senator Schumer $1.7 million; Rep Jefferies $1.3 million; Senator Fetterman $244K; Trump $1.0 million; Senator Graham $1.0 million and the list goes on and on.  Can you say, ‘compromised’? (One has to love the audacity of paying Israel $300 billion, since 1948, only for Israel to turnaround and buy the U.S. congress with American taxpayer money, or is that antisemitic to say?)  And without variation, in lockstep, Team AIPAC dutifully repeats their talking points over and over, as if they were members of the Israeli government.  I can barely stomach the American MSM news organizations but if you tune in, they too, parrot the same narratives, long discredited: the right to self-defense, no matter how disproportionate the response; Hamas must be brought to justice (no matter the thousands of women and children murdered by Israel and the U.S., no matter that Hamas is less than 1% of Gaza), and the lie to end all lies, anybody who disagrees with Bibi is an antisemite.  Trust me, given the damage the PM has done to America and Israel, Bibi - and his cabinet and billionaire sponsors - are the greatest antisemites on the planet (although Biden certainly is making a major contribution).

 

All this, despite, as reported in Haaretz, Bibi Netanyahu (aka Mr. Hamas) is trusted by less than 5% of the Israeli population.  All this, despite the fact, that Biden has consistently plumbed the depths of abysmal public approval ratings, and Congress has an approval rating of 13%.  Looks likes the crooks in the political class, in Israel and the United States, have a great deal in common. 

 

Meanwhile, the steady stream of devastation, destruction, murder, and great violence are jaw dropping.  No wonder congress wants to kill 1A, the Constitution, civil liberties, and social media (especially TikTok).  And still, congress, who can never seem to find a dime for the American people, shovels billions and billions at the genocide in Gaza and the war in the Ukraine, $95 billion in the latest authorization.  (The national debt is out-of-control, to such an extent the IMF is issuing warnings).  And the congress completely ignores the fact that Bibi funded, supported, and underwrote Hamas for fourteen years.  That Hamas operated inside Bibi’s Gaza prison camp. That ultimately, per Israeli press, Bibi was the beneficiary of the October 7^th attack.

 

Just how corrupt and racist are the members of congress?  Well, they are perfectly okay funding and authorizing a genocide, at last count some 35,000 souls, with approximately 10,000 more unaccounted for, and 14,000 children dead.  Absolutely wretched.  Of course, this doesn’t stop the Senate from demanding that the International Criminal Court not issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and assorted thugs in Bibi’s cabinet.  In terms of ICC charges, as Israeli leadership goes, so goes the congress that is funding this entire nightmare.  This also doesn’t stop the Biden Admin from indicating - in a pending report - that Israel has not violated international law, when Politico goes on to write the administration contradicts itself, hedges, and says that Israel has violated international law???

 

And then there’s the absolute contempt that drips from members of congress for peace protestors, students, college kids, who have made the simple demands for a ceasefire (along with the majority of Americans, including 80% of democrats) and that university endowments divest from defense contractors… hardly radical stuff.  And the response from federal, state, and local governments, many of them run by Dems: goon time, police state hooligans, violence, mass arrests, and like Israel’s response in Gaza, a complete militarized overreaction by the American establishment against peace protestors & very young adults.  Unvarnished thuggery. 

 

And congress and America have not seen anything yet.  Wait until the kids discover the American economy and good jobs have been hollowed out, liquidated, offshored, and consolidated into America’s totalitarian monopolies & utilities.  Wait until they discover systemic racism is embedded throughout the U.S. economy and healthcare and life itself are rationed.  Wait until the kids learn they’re indentured into trillions in national debt:  $39 trillion and counting for Wall St bailouts, corporate welfare, endless war, empire, colonialism, propping up the stock market, the perpetuation of the necro-death-economy.  All so that repugnant boomers can be filthy rich.  When people have nothing, are deep in debt, and they are systemically preyed upon, blowback inevitably occurs.  And what will a pampered and privileged gerontocracy’s/kleptocracy’s response be then? 

 

Cop city?  What happens when the establishment starts locking up white kids and young jews merely for protesting, The United States of Racism and Greed… our failed necroeconomy?  Or for stealing a loaf of bread? 

 

It’s ugly and it adds up to what many have known for some time, the United States is no more a democracy than China or Russia… and at least China doesn’t run around the globe attempting to backstop their economy with endless war, murder, and colonial subjugation and violence, so a few can cash in. 

 

 

 

 

 

It's really not fun to write about this every day.  I wish things were different.  I wish America was exceptional instead of tyrannical.   I wish America was indispensable instead of its leadership feared and loathed by the Global South, and yes, by America’s citizens.  I would love to believe the propaganda, the fairy tales, and lies we were all raised on… but increasingly that America no longer exists, if it ever did.  The middle class has been buried in a shallow grave.  It’s different when you are white and male. Although my life has been no picnic, I look at how blacks, gays, minorities, and women are treated in the U.S. and it’s absolutely disgusting.  And the folks America bombs to death overseas because they are brown or black skinned, and possess resources coveted by Western multinationals and oligarchs …  it’s why I celebrate every time I see erosion in America’s failed status quo (because I want to see the United States do well, I want to see the United States get better, reformed… I want to see all Americans do better).  But like a twelve-step program, American elites and the political class won’t even acknowledge the country is badly managed and that we have serious, serious problems. 

 

It all rolls up to a complete lack of accountability, arrogance, and avarice.

 

And the bright spots?  The young adults laying it on the line on the campuses, who have been radicalized by boomers, debt, many witnessing first-hand how their parents scrape by, the necroeconomy, an alleged democracy that continuously ignores the needs of the American people, corruption and racism that is built into the Great American Death Machine.  Outside agitators?  Really?  Who needs outside agitators to radicalize the kids when we have entirely corrupt state & federal governments, billionaires, the outside agitator of the State of Israel, imperious Washington, and greedy Wall St.? 

 

What other disinfectant and sunlight is coming this way?  The long prayed for arrest warrants from the ICC… may they come and soon, and may the warrants not be limited to the Israeli government.  More positive energy?  The fear that has finally taken hold of the Biden Administration, as it dawns on the party that Biden is toast and the Chicago Dem convention is likely not going to be the party they planned.  Did these idiots really believe they can murder thousands of innocent children, alienate their political base - repeatedly, blow off entirely their 2020 promises, and get away with it?  

 

It's 2016 all over again, and even snot-nosed Hillary is lurking around… like the bummer she is.  I don’t know whose decision it was to bring Hillary onboard Biden-Harris 2024 but Hills is the kiss of death.  A woman scorned, like Bill, by the American people and for very good reason.

 

And the final bright spot… the UN voted Friday, sidestepped the U.S., and started to further recognize Palestine.  Long, long overdue and a slap in the face to the United States government and every Western lackey government that follows America’s lead. 

 

Selah.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2024