Mob Rule & Songs of Dismemberment

Mob Rule & Songs of Dismemberment

Fitzgerald: “The rich are different from you and me.”

Hemingway: “Yes, they have more money."

A top Saudi doctor of forensics had been brought along for the dissection and disposal of the body — an addition to the team that Turkish officials have called evidence of premeditation. And as the agents cut off Mr. Khashoggi’s head and dismembered his body, the doctor had some advice, according to the senior Turkish official.

Listen to music, he told them, as he donned headphones himself. That was what he did to ease the tension when doing such work, the doctor explained, according to the official describing the contents of the audio recordings.

-      Audio Offers Gruesome Details of Jamal Khashoggi Killing, Turkish Official Says,   NY Times

“YOU DON’T hand matches to an arsonist, and you don’t give power to an angry left-wing mob,” President Trump tweeted this month. “Democrats have become too EXTREME and TOO DANGEROUS to govern.”

-     The GOP’s ‘angry mob’ rhetoric is a dangerous assault against democratic norms, Washington Post

By J.M. Hamilton (10-20-2018)

Political discourse has sunk to new levels in this country, but particularly from the institution that used to be known as “the leader of the free world," a/k/a The President of the United States.  (The term, “leader of the free world," was widely used during the Cold War to denote democratic values, freedom of the press, and the free exchange of ideas & opinions that took place in the West, and the US, vis a vis, The Soviet Union and Communist China.)

Apparently, as Messrs. Fitzgerald & Hemingway noted, the elite and powerful aren’t like you and I.  Not only do they have more money, but they also have notoriously thin skins.  Mr. Trump and his best buddy, Prince  Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (MBS for short), are both a case in point; but the same could be said of many of today’s global elite.  China, apparently w/ the help of Google & assorted US multinationals, has ramped up repression, and the Democratic reforms seen in the former Soviet Union, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, all but gone now, under Putin.  Autocratic rule & oppression go hand in hand and crush civil liberties, democracy, and human rights.  And if one thinks the US is exempt, one is very sadly mistaken.

Many of the rich & powerful live in hermetically sealed bubbles… an airtight chamber filled with sycophants and yes men & women.   And when this bubble is burst, all sorts of hell often breaks loose.

The Saudi-Khashoggi Affair being a case in point. 

After Khashoggi was killed - to the hear the Turks tell it – by a Saudi hit squad consisting of fifteen men (including one doctor, who, in the ultimate act of premeditation, was there to offer guidance on corpse dismemberment), the Saudi dictatorship, first, disavowed all knowledge, then they threatened to shut down the oil spigot, and as of this writing, and after a visit from the US Secretary of State, have come upon scapegoats and mass arrests.  Anything but the truth, and anything in order to protect the Saudi prince.  The whole thing reeks of the Kavanaugh cover-up, and faux- FBI investigation.  Perhaps Pompeo, or McKinsey & Co., gave the Saudis some pointers?

Oh, and Mr. Khashoggi’s crime: he wrote, in the free press, articles and opinion pieces critical of Terror, Inc. and the Saudi royals. 

For Trump, the whole affair meets at the very nexus of what he has come to stand for: a deep disdain for the fourth estate; a ruling international plutocracy, where all that matters is the next deal & the bottom line (where citizens are mere peons and all too often, collateral damage); and a reckless disregard for the democratic principles, and civil liberties, for which this country long stood (albeit far from perfect in its execution).  The latter demonstrated, by Trump’s affection and love for dictatorships the globe over.

Like the Saudi Prince, Trump, too, is hyper sensitive.  And so when his SCOTUS nominee, Mr. Kavanaugh, suffered the slings and arrows, associated w/ allegations of serial sexual assault, Trump described the women protestors as an “angry left-wing mob.”  Trump, however, is not alone.  Many Republican Senators, and Congressmen, have expressed similar views.  Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner recently threatened to tap dance on the face of his opponent with “golf spikes.”

All this GOP anger, pathos, rage, much of which is driven by fear and a recognition that their party is sadly lacking in new blood & ideas….  It’s most unbecoming.   Why I can remember when the GOP was the party of ideas, when William Buckley stood athwart history, and yelled: “Stop.”  But alas, no more… the Republicans are at the barricades, backs against the wall, like Confederate dead-enders, hanging onto power (Bibles & guns), no matter how bankrupt or vacuous, The Cause.  

Presently, the GOP is very much like an anachronistic/preternatural creature forever sealed in amber... political Darwinism in action; and establishment Dems, GOP-Lite, are right behind them.

Instead of being the party of ideas, today, we are treated to ad hominem attacks, denials, lies, and if a Republican is particularly gifted, perhaps a little sophistry.  Most of the argumentation today is puerile and elementary:  the co-opting of the left’s argumentation, the equivalent of a playground taunt:  I know you are, but what am I?!.  We saw this recently when the Senate Majority leader attempted to blame, on Bloomberg, the manufactured deficit explosion on social spending, instead of credit card wars and more tax cuts for the rich (all evidence notwithstanding, and almost universally understood, even among some Republicans).

Or we get the authoritarian line, per Mr. Trump, recently expressed in his 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl,  “I’m President, and you're not.”

Alrighty then: game, set, and match.

Richard McGuire’s “Fat Cats,” at The New Yorker

If we look up the word “mob,” in the Oxford English Dictionary, it has several meanings.  As Mr. Trump used the word, he was dismissively talking of a disorderly crowd of people bent upon causing trouble (a/k/a democracy).  The dictionary goes on to note that the word “Mob” also refers – in North America -  to the mafia or a criminal organization.

Unfortunately, for us mere mortals, the globe’s citizens, this is the Mob we truly need to be frightened of…. A band of one percenters, who - in an organized & criminal fashion - prey upon the 99% the planet over.  Their first means of attack, economically, is via cartel, the exploitation of obscene amounts of debt, financial engineering, globalization, and monopoly & monopsony; the second order of attack is political - stirring up division, social unrest, & war – as a means to distract from the first order of attack (and as a profit making venture unto itself); and the third order of attack – very much like Hitler – is to co-opt, and destroy, democratic government, norms, and institutions by any means necessary (as democracy is the only known viable check/ threat to authoritarian rule, kleptocracy, and oligarchy).  This third order of attack, if successful, ultimately, leads to capture & ownership of fiscal, foreign, judicial, and monetary policy in the service of the elite, the billionaire class.

And of course, if all else fails, there’s a fifteen-man hit squad to take out one honest - 60 year old - journalist, via La Cosa Nostra (per the Saudis, in a fist fight gone horribly wrong).

I wonder...  when the bone saws were deployed, did the Saudi mercenaries listen to Bach, Coltrane, or Madonna?

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2018 

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