I despair whether more Americans will realise this. I keep seeing people commenting “oh under Joe Biden we could sleep easy” or “if we had Kamala we wouldn’t be in a war with Iran”. Wake the hell up America, your cluelessness is no longer cute. The world is dying because of you and they’ve been dying for a long time. Trump is not the reason, he’s the symptom
I hear the rationalization all the time: Kamala would never have done what Trump is doing now! Trump is way worse than any Democrat, way worse then Biden.
My response: No Shit Sherlock. You don't think those of us who follow this shit day after day don't know that? Maybe some of us actually have a fucking conscience and won't vote for a party that supports killing 10s of thousands of children in GAZA.
Makes me so angry that the "Lesser of Two Evils" (even now) still is equated with some kind of valid moral choice when it comes to a Genocide. NO IT DOESN'T.
And yet Americans are still falling for the "Lesser of Two Evils" bullshit yet again. All the Democrat party does is yell Trump, Trump, Trump 24/7 - like that's going to fix everything. Like suddenly the obvious corruption in the Democrat party itself will magically disappear. Bloody idiots.
Correct. Evil is qualitative--not quantitative. You can't be "less dead" or "less pregnant", can you? You are either evil or you are not. Voting for the "lesser evil" has introduced evil into the world. STOP IT!
I agree. I even have to wonder about who first mentioned the words "lesser evil", it makes no sense at all. If the opposite of evil is good, does that mean by their way of thinking there is a lesser good to fight the lesser evil.
Nearly a million more times worse in fact. Thank goodness I caught spell check that time or else you would be wondering why I thought it more wise to have killed so many.
Once you're a murderer of one, you are still a murderer to millions. Both are evil. You can't be "less of a murderer" just because you only killed one or a handful of fellow human beings compared to murdering millions. Evil as a trait is qualitative not quantitative. The law may punish you on the number of your murders, but never confused legality with morality. It was legal to own human beings in the US until 1865.
The No Kings protests are Dem establishment Psy ops that serve as a pressure valve for an increasingly boxed in and out of option population. There are no concrete demands, no material stakes, nothing that meaningfully threatens the machinery of power. Just a vague, slogan-level rejection of “kings” that somehow never extends to the actual systems or figures propping up the status quo.
It’s protest as performance: loud enough to feel cathartic, harmless enough to be ignored. The same political class that people reliably reinstall every four years remains entirely undisturbed, comfortably insulated from the kind of pressure that might force real change. That is also why these protests dont actually have any concrete demands and are backed by the Establishment of the Dem party: they understand how hamrless they are and ineffectual, just as they like their crowds.
The people going to these are the same fools who cling to the illusion that figures like Obama embodied moral leadership, or that “respectable” operators within the system like Jim Crow Joe Biden are fundamentally decent rather than structurally complicit.
The Establishment understands in the end people need these rituals every few months to blow off some steam. They understand they have to give people a sanctioned outlet for frustration so it never coalesces into anything disruptive. Let them shout, march, vent, anything to keep the anger diffuse, temporary, and ultimately harmless, keeping the shit at shoe level, while the machinery of power that keeps both side in power grinds on, just under a different tune.
They are only out of options if they think they are out of options. Your lives are in jeopardy right now, as is the planet because of two years of bombing on Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen... and now full throttle on Iran.
The only good thing is the whining by israelis because Iran is doing what it said it would-what you sow they are making you reap.
They are out of options because the only valid option in their minds is voting hard. Most of the people in these protests are shitlibs who dont believe in anything other than voting and writing polite letters to their reps to record their frustration. They neither feel the need to do more, nor do they believe in it.
It is helpful to do the writing to elected officials, but mainly because it is good to have paper trail when putting them on trial. Paper trail stops accusations of show trials and biased bus throwing. It makes the whole thing worthy of a history book.
Unfortunately, too many of those people you’re talking about don’t really care about evil, lesser or otherwise. Out of sight out of mind. Or worse, they don’t really care about Palestinians— or Iranians, or Lebanese. (They’ve had plenty of opportunities to see the photographs and hear the descriptions of returning physicians). Truth be known, they don’t even really care about most of their fellow citizens. This probably sounds harsh, but I’ve seen too many of them up close. “I care about Palestinians, too, but . . .”
“But it’s a ‘distraction.’” “But if we focus on Gaza, Republicans will win.”
Americans have been indoctrinated that helping others is a weakness, that you are just "enabling" the poor to remain poor if you try to help them. Tough love instead is more "virtuous". This mindset has also extended to limiting government to wars and tax breaks for the wealthy, and deregulating corporations - because the corporations and the super wealthy, are viewed as paragons of success in America. If you're a billionaire you're a "winner". If you work at Walmart you're a "loser".
One's sense of humanity is lost in a system that degrades the majority of Americans living ordinary lives - whom, no fault of their own, can be disposed of (dismissed from work/fired) by the thousands if it helps profits for some corporation - because profits are more important in America than the quality of an ordinary American's human life.
This machine like existence - with less and less every year being returned for one's labor because of egregious exploitation and extreme wealth inequality, is a moral wasteland, compounded by the problem that the dominant intellectual milieu currently is Reductive Materialism - insisting one's existence is only temporary, and you are traveling on a road that eventually leads nowhere.
"...because the corporations and the super wealthy, are viewed as paragons of success in America. If you're a billionaire you're a "winner". If you work at Walmart you're a "loser"..."
And let's not forget these Nepo babies that people choose to think of as some kind of Horatio Alger story. If you are given millions to start off, you're no 'self-made' man.
In other words their nation building by telling the world "send me your poor, your hungry..." shtick was just that; shtick. Remember any of the so-called founding fathers were from Europe but mostly UK.
This is what I say about the UK, they're exactly the same, the majority of the people doing the real work to make life more comfortable for those in power or having wealth, are looked down upon.
My argument is that no one in any government should be able to work in that government without first having done an "ordinary" job working alongside the people, mixing with the people. I don't care if they do five years in a factory, on the trains or a building site, but no one should be allowed to just secure a position within the government straight from university like they do here.
For those who say it wouldn't work, more often those aiming for government positions, I say yes it would. If it can work in China as it does, anyone from any upbringing has the chance to one day eventually become a government official. President Xi is a prime example, started by sweeping the factory floor, and over the years slowly progressed upward until he reached the lower levels of government, until finally he worked his way to being President.
I lived in Japan. Labor is respected, craftsmanship even more so. I thought it made a big difference in everyday life because everything is done to the best of one's ability. They even have a word for this (gambate). Produce in the supermarket is the greatest. Whereas the USA the whole ethos is to do as little as you can get by with.
Japan is a much more harmonious place. They don't have the endless class war of the West. That's why they still have successful manufacturing there.
I have heard a few great things about Japan, as with Germany m I wish people would leave the past where it belongs, besides we know the winners write the history books. The only time anything in relation to those countries should be brought up is, if we go to war with them again and then remember lessons that may have been learnt.
Sounds a really nice place to live. I used to know someone who had spent a year there, they said that if you dropped a purse/ wallet/ phone on the street you were guaranteed to either find it where you lost it, or you would get it back by other ways. That was around five years ago I heard that, soon after they returned home.
It's how Hitler was birthed. It's how most dictators are birthed. A weak opposition party pretending it supports the peasants, and a demagogue father figure promising huge change as long as you go along with his plans to exterminate the opposition.
Quite so. Did you know that Von Hindenberg, the head of state before Hitler, was severely demented? It's remarkably similar. We're also in the middle of a big bout of price increases.
"All the Democrat party does is yell Trump, Trump, Trump 24/7"
Why not? It's all they have to offer.
They say that our system requires a duopoly. They're wrong. The UK has the same system and they have 14 parties with seats in Parliament. Non-duopoly parties got 45% of the vote, more than either of the duopolists.
If neither of the duopoly has a majority in the legislature then a small party that holds the balance of power has great leverage.
All very true, Jamenta,the differenceright now is Drumpf wants to remain president until he dies(hopefully soon). He has shatterd public services, put untrained and unpressional hooligans on the streets where they are trigger happy, and now he's putting them in airports because staff are sick of not being paid so are leaving - what sodding use are gun totting uneducated gangsters at landing planes or dealing with an air emergency. People see them they're not going to ask for help they're likely to just leave, especially if your skin is the wrong colour according to ice thugs.
And this is all Drumpf's doing while he's making himself and his billionaire cronies wealthier - from this war on Iran and oil insider trading plus-his wife's getting in on the act with her crypto and her doco, neither of which seem to be getting as much attention as her ego thought they might(You sleep with dogs you wakeup with flees).
America, you helped out him in, now you need to be the ones that take him out.
Absofuckinglutely. And I see the glaze-over when I start to speak with conviction about a general strike or, horrors!, revolution. So many people aren't even ready yet to learn about the history of the U.S. or resistance movements. The empire is going down. I hope. Justice for Palestine ☮️ ❤️
So true... America and much of the world will remain clueless so long as they remain uninformed on a host of issues... notably on who holds power be political or financial... and how that affects their daily lives
I sometimes feel I'm being harsh on the Americans because some of them like us are anti-war and critical thinkers. And yet we hear that a huge percentage of Americans are against Trumps war on Iran. So why aren't they on the streets burning Washington down.
Do they need a proverbial slap on the back of their head to wake them up?
CJ>>"The problem is US presidents, not kings. The problem is the US empire, not Trump."
Well expressed Caitlin!
Trump is a symptom (the current symptom) of what the US Empire has evolved into. Fighting Trump is not about fighting Imperialism or Capitalism or any of the so many important things that matter to real, ordinary people (in the US and across the world).
Like you say, "They just want a more polite, photogenic empire." It definitely feels that way to me too. My only hope is that something more comes out of it...
The problem is the US Empire and the acceptance by the leaders of the rest of the so called democratic world: Starmer, Carney, Albanese, Macron and so many other money grubbing "leaders". We need to get rid of billionaires. Sure, Trump is demented and power hungry, but he has lots of support. Without all that support, he would not have gotten away with Iran, with Gaza, with Lebanon and Syria; with ICE, with taking away healthcare, with doing so much harm to the American people and to the rest of the world. If we really live in a world where one person can destroy the environment, the financial stability, healthcare, racial integration, then we need to think about a lot more than what Trump and the US Empire are doing. We need to think about why the others are accepting this.
But it’s not one person, that’s the point, it’s the design of the whole system. The problem isn’t Trump, it’s the fact that Trump was inevitable. The democrats are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
I believe the problem is the Collective West as a whole or the Golden Billion as we are also called. I have no doubt that Europe Canada Aus and NZ are fully behind the US empire and tacitly support the war against Iran. However EU and UK are financially constrained and cannot contain Russia in Ukraine which is why they are not going to get actively involved in the US empires war in West Asia
Well, there is a question about whether the Ukraine war was ever winnable, whoever was involved; there is a question about whether it’s our fault in the first place for trying to add Ukraine to nato and the EU (because the US invaded Cuba when Russia’s attempted to put missiles there). Also the American coup which deposed the democratically elected pro-Russian government of Ukraine. Biden’s statements that if Russia finished the pipeline, the pipeline would be destroyed, which it was, which was the actual reason for the war. Never in a million years was the west going to beat Russia there without a ground war (or, probably, with one) and there’s no way on earth British teenagers were ever going to volunteer en masse to get massacred by Russian drones. Ukraine is an American war that really needed American involvement to be viable.
But hey now the pipeline’s down, America’s not interested in cleaning up its mess, who could have guessed?
So even before the Iran situation comes along, both Europe and the US were already overcommitted. The Iran war is ridiculous. Everyone told Trump not to do it, including the pentagon. Europe and the rest of the west are being dragged into it but we aren’t happy about it.
This is the general picture. It’s not an alliance, we aren’t happy partners, we are America’s bitches and increasingly we hate it. You wouldn’t know it from listening to our politicians or media, but we are not on board. The biggest protest in Britain’s history was against the second Iraq war. Since then, “anti-establishment” or “anti-elite” movements have prospered increasingly, including ones which pretend to be anti-establishment but aren’t. The lesser evil wing of the Labour Party had to deliberately lose four general elections in the 2010s because the anti-war wing had the steering wheel.
Our politics has been co-opted but it’s fracturing now. The genocide, essentially, has killed lesser evil. In the next few years our voters will have the choice between total evil and something possibly not evil. It’s by no means a given but there’s a chance of escape.
Because they are exactly the same, no choosing between the US and anyone you mentioned in your comment. The exact same system exists in our countries, the word Empire slapped on makes little difference, it only means it's your country's turn to be the bad guy.
I had the same reaction. The protests feel performative, choreographed, scripted. I do not see where or how they have had ANY significant affect on slowing the INSANITY. The only "protest" with any chance of affecting change would be a MASSIVE number of folks dropping out of the consumption loop. And, equally important, a NATIONAL ROLLING, ONGOING STRIKE....$$$ is THE ONLY language power understands. But I think American culture is too oriented to me, me, me, instead of to consideration of the common good. I am committed now to spending ONLY for the basics of life. I have stopped attending social events that require paying, I'm trying to "recreate" in nature, library programming, etc. And I try to shop locally, eat only at local restaurants. Any suggestions on moving beyond the occasional protest?
>>"Any suggestions on moving beyond the occasional protest?"
What's your pain threshhold? There are lots of things that are possible (as evidenced from previous upheavals in history). It eventually comes down to 'how much are people willing to sacrifice of their lives, lifestyles, futures, children's futures, etc.' to do what is needed to change the status quo. Here, different people have different 'acceptable levels of commitment' and risk/reward tolerances based on their personal circumstances and life histories.
Usually, real (and significant) change happens when a particular society gets desperate enough and takes seriously the 'what more do I have to lose' question. I don't see American/Western societies anywhere near this 'threshhold area' yet. I wish I could be more positive about where we are heading...
I agree that it's really difficult for most people to make their own lives more difficult - suffer - when they don't see others doing the same, or any meaningful impact. It needs a significant number to COME TOGETHER and target a specific area, with a clear understanding of the gains to be made by resisting, and the dangers of not doing so. Most people understand this only obliquely, and a handful boycotting Starbucks and Amazon isn't going to change anything, at least not soon enough. Mobilisation is key, but so many of us (me included) need certain parts of the system we abhor in order to make a living and we're already (in my case) just months away from destitution in any given year.
I am very tolerant to pain but I agree many people are not. Like you I don't see things changing a lot in the near future unless just maybe, if this war sees prices out of many people's price range, they discover exactly what they can live without.
Teach the individuals who inhabit the rolls of their enforcement: soldier, police, security people so that at the right time enough will join us This IS what happened during the Vietnam era! Relatives, neighbors, friends who ae in those areas.
Yes, but that war didn’t end until Congress passed bills to stop the funding. So, unfortunately, much of our work needs to focus on pressuring members of Congress to do the same thing now. If they don’t, it’s our failure as much as theirs. We’ve done relatively little to pressure them. They wouldn’t exist but for us. And it doesn’t help to keep voting for candidates who fund a genocide.
The trouble now is that the average Westerner has been so totally indoctrinated that it may not be possible to deprogram enough of them to make a difference in time to avoid an Israeli/Zionist induced catastrophe.
I think part of the whole game has been the project to depress and exhaust us to the point that when it comes to a choice between revolution and death, we walk placidly into the abattoir.
The Russian Revolution could not have succeeded without the support of military and law enforcement personnel who were inspired to join the revolutionaries.
Military/law enforcement/security personnel must be brought to realize that they are merely pawns that are being played, and that will be sacrificed, in a game that is played by corrupt leaders who don’t represent their interests.
People join military and police because they are thugs and bullies who get off on following orders. These people can never be our allies. You have highlighted one of the main problems with violent revolution. It requires the involvement of thugs and bullies, who, once they have been shown that it’s ok to use force to get what they want, carry on doing so.
Whoever is first against the wall when the revolution comes, second are usually the revolutionaries, put there by the muscle necessary for their revolution.
I can’t think of a solution to this other than democratic socialism. But I fully recognise the inherent problems with democracy which brought us to this point.
Not necessarily. There is no "inevitability," only probability. But, as the song "all Along the Watchtower goes, "There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief; there's too much confusion; I can't get no relief." Life finds a way.
Some people join the military services out of a misguided notion of patriotism. I was one of those.
Others join out of the need for a steady income and the possibility of a career.
Many thugs and sadists do join to satisfy their psychological motivations. Oddly enough, the “Regular” US armed forces do try to screen out thugs, sadists, psychopaths, but organizations such ICE, DHS and possibly the FBI are more welcoming.
As for local and state law enforcement agencies, the situation is varied with a mix of the proverbial “good cops / bad cops”, with the “good” ones being in the majority, according to my own personal experiences.
Your points are valid and I apologise. (I also apologise for that apology sounding like ChatGPT). That was a broad and sweeping statement.
I know/have met far more British police officers than US military. Some of those have been basically Ok people. But even the “good ones” are affected by their role. For example I know a police officer who has retrained as a therapist, and his counselling style is heavily influenced by his training in interrogation. I think to do the police job successfully you need to have a dominant/assertive “alpha” type personality and this comes out.
I also remember the British army using Corbyn’s face as a dartboard. These people will never support, will always oppose a genuine leftist revolution. Any revolution which could get them on side would be pointing in the wrong direction.
Disillusioned veterans is one thing; people who were conscripted is another; but for people who have voluntarily signed up to protect the state to become genuine vehicle for positive change would require a total inversion of the world as far as I can see it.
No, we start with those who have some understanding and let them know they are not alone; once on board, they can work among their colleagues. This IS what happened in the Vietnam era; I was a civilian supporter and know something about this.
Precisely my point. Their slogan of "land, bread, and peace" was exactly what was needed in 1917,and people responded with enthusiasm. May I now propose our own' "Truth, Justice, and Peace."
The problem with z-USA is that it's a 250 year old settler colony at heart and in lock step with the zionist settler colony in West Asia. I like your philosophy of undermining the consumer society on which the billionaire epstein class thrive.
I am pretty much doing the same as you are as a personal solution. For some reason way back when I first opened my bank account, I decided not to practice usary and much to my banks chagrin and all their inducements over the years, I still have the very same debit account as back then. Admittedly they have given up trying to change me this last fifteen years or so. I admit to book and notebook buying but even that is research driven, so I live cutting my cloth according to what I have and renting living accommodation as opposed to buying.
The "No Kings" ersatz "movement" is paid for, ironically, by the actual kings, the Bill Gates', George Soros', Klaus Schwabs' and WEF types who are currently leading would-be leftists around by the nose...
I’m not convinced that it affects anything when people press buttons on “voting machines” or put check marks on pieces of paper. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the presidents and prime ministers are all actors deployed by the spiders at the heart of the web, to convince us we have elections.
I have no way of personally verifying that the American war of independence (or any of the other processes by which countries left the British Empire) ever occurred. It could all still be run from Westminster. Or fuck it, Vienna or Rome.
Lol I think if it was still run from Westminster they'd have picked someone a bit more effective than 'rabbit caught in the headlights, I'm paid to be a Zionist' Starmer
Westminster is run by the City of London by the board of thirteen, one who has a permanent place in parliament to keep a check that those "not really elected" are obeying orders.
I understood London a lot better when I realised that it was founded by the Romans as the colonial city to harvest all the money out of Britain and extract it back to Rome, and it has been doing that job ever since.
I remember the first or second "no kings" protest they interviewed someone on MSNOW about the upcoming event. The person was all excited but said "please don't bring any "free Palestine" or "genocide signs". That showed me right then and there that it all of this was just a huge farce.
A huge farce--that's probably the best description of these events I've seen. They're for letting off steam for the neoliberals. They have their fun and then don't need to do it again for several months. No real actions taken or planned to change the corrupt system. Just letting off steam.
You are absolutely right. My point for decades. The problem is rooted in the Constitution; created by oligarchs for oligarchs and still controlled by oligarchs.
A rule by which everyone wealthier than a set amount has to give ALL their excess to charity, or a central pot - like taxation but a cash donation, to go where it's needed or directly to the poorest. There's a natural instinct to want to 'do well ' and rise to the top. That is human nature - to want to succeed and feel like you've made the most of yourself. But that should not be equated solely with money. I'd get more satisfaction from knowing how many I'd been able to help, and the systems I'd been instrumental in changing. Nobody needs more than £1 million.
Exactly. A real parliamentary system works much better, if you Believe in "democracy." China now runs on a meritocracy where the bright young grads go to work for govt. In "democracies," concerned people only get a vote every 4 years then are sidelined again - in China they would already be IN govt.
China’s economic and academic success is very impressive. I am a little skeptical when it comes to domestic politics. It is possible that their system is good for China. I think a real functioning direct democratic system (similar to that of Switzerland) would be better for my political orientation.
The entire No Kings concept is ridiculous. They don’t have any demands or plans. It’s essentially a huge nationwide Kumbuya festival.
It seems that what they want is a nicer, kinder, warmer, fuzzier president than Trump. You know, a smooth communicator like Bill Clinton or his holiness: Barack Obama. Someone who can make you feel good about being raped or raping the rest of the world.
The CVs of the organizers is straight out of the DC political establishment. They have NO interest in disrupting the status quo. But they will suck up a lot of oxygen while accomplishing nothing. If their only goal is to prevent the creation of a king in the U.S., they have succeeded. There is no king.
"Americans of conscience should be feeling deeply embarrassed right now", says Caitlin Johnstone.
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"Trump is not some freakish aberration; he is the product of the same American political status quo as his predecessors"....
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"Donald Trump is a US president who is doing US president things. US presidents consistently murder people with unforgivable acts of mass military violence, mistreat immigrants and marginalized communities, and promote tyranny for the benefit of corrupting special interests in defense of the US empire and the capitalist status quo. That’s what their job is. If they weren’t willing to do these things, they wouldn’t get the job".
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So, here is the thing:
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In November of 2024, during that election cycle, 99% of active U.S. voters cast their ballot for a U.S. Presidential candidate who had explicitly committed themselves to doubling down on the Genocide of the Palestinian people.
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When the dust settled, the Genocider-in-Chief who was elected to the Office of the President of the United States, by that 99% of active U.S. voters in 2024, turned out to be the candidate supported the Red State people.... the orange-headed guy with the Republican Party.
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The other guy -- who in this case (as in 2016) happened to be a gal – was equally willing to be the damn-the-torpedoes, full-steam-ahead Genocider-in-Chief of the Israel-U.S. Empire, but did not get elected to that office.
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And so, the Blue State people are very unhappy with this state of affairs... because the Red State Genocider-in-Chief is being extremely unpleasant to the Blue State people.
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And no, I'm not suggesting that the Blue State should not be unhappy with this state of affairs. After all, the Red State orange-haired guy is being deeply unpleasant to everyone – well, pretty much everyone, whether at home or abroad, who is not prepared to put $1 billion in his pocket in the next five minutes.
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That is really unpleasant to be around, and it kind of makes four years feel like a very long time.... and even feel like four years could go on a lot longer than four years.
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Yet, when all is said and done, those 99% of active U.S. voters all got pretty much most of what they voted for. At any rate, they got a lot of what they voted for. The 99% voted for a genocide and they got a genocide.
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Now, as the genocide is being expanded to Iran and Lebanon (well, it had pretty much reached Lebanon already), how much more greatly unpleasant such an event is to the people at the tip of the spear – than to the complicit citizens at the Empire's core – is what be the entire nation of the United should be talking about 24 hours a day.
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But that is not the case. The majority of people in the United States -- when they even bestir themselves to protest – are still talking only about what they have always talked about: how very unpleasant things are for them – such as the increase in the price of petrol at the gas pump.
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As Caitlin Johnstone says:
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"Americans of conscience should be feeling deeply embarrassed..."
I am deeply embarrassed/appalled/nauseated right now. I have been for a long time. I've tried talking/emailing friends and family. I've gone to "protests". I was previously engaged in "the political system". Nothing seems to work. WTF do we do?
I dunno. I mean, sure vote Trump out. But Trump is a SYMPTOM of the disease we Americans now have, he is not the DISEASE. But the Democratic party, and those pundits who still are pushing the Democratic party, want us to believe Trump is the problem. He isn't. He's just a symptom of the problem. Getting rid of Trump doesn't fix a goddamn thing, it's like putting a piece of tape over a dam that is already breaking.
From across the pond, we now see the Democrats as worse. They smile while doing genocide, and deny they've done it. At least Trump announces he's gonna do it.
I agree, Trump isn’t the problem, he’s a symptom. The Democratic Party is part of the disease.
I can’t see an easy way past the impasse though, there is no third party option. Still. As much as I would want people to vote… sigh… green… I cannot reasonably argue they’ve got a real chance of winning, not within maybe five cycles, even if elections are real. And I don’t think armed revolution is generally successful in delivering the aims of the revolutionaries who usually get shot by the muscle they have to employ.
I cannot see a good solution to this. Collapse leading to anarchy (Freeform anarchy as opposed to the arcane structures of Ursula le Guin, which would not emerge naturally from chaos) will only provide another context in which the powerful hold all the cards.
I've never worked out how it works, it comes up with words that don't match anything you type, like it takes the whole sentence and decides this word will suit it better.
Teach the individuals who inhabit the rolls of their enforcement: soldier, police, security people so that at the right time enough will join us This IS what happened during the Vietnam era! Relatives, neighbors, friends who ae in those areas.
Note how nothing ultimately changed after the Vietnam era.
You’ve got half a chance with discarded and disillusioned former soldiers, especially conscripts. The draft was the biggest mistake they made and it might help if they forget this and do it again. But anyone who voluntarily joins the forces of oppression is, in their heart, a stormtrooper.
bravo again Caitlin. Im worried about the next 3 years. I doubt that the DNC is going to move to stop Trump even if it wins majorities in the midterms. What a lame country.
The DNC won't. I remember the entire movement against George W Bush in 2006. The Democrats won. And Nancy Pelosi and her Dems turned right around and said essentially "Nah, never mind!"
Believe it or not there was actually a time, about 20 years ago, where liberals wanted George W Bush and Dick Cheney to be held accountable for their war crimes. I was a stupid idiot to think they were sincere and became a stench Dem for 20 years. 2016 woke me up.
Yep, watching them nobble sanders to put in Trump, whilst watching them nobble Corbyn to put in Johnson, showed me what I needed to see. Never lesser evil again, not under any circumstances.
All manner of curious heart attacks and suicides. Funny old world.
Watching the right wing of the Labour Party put the conservatives in office four times in a row to prevent even very slightly leftish Labour victories really blew the whole game for me. Then oh look what’s this, the Clintonites will allow Satan to win rather than sanders, and even he still supports Israel. They can shove it as far as I’m concerned.
In that case, why does the possibility of their cancellation concern you? Surely anything that hastens the collapse of this sham and allows people to see through it is good?
Trump is not in charge. The people in charge will keep their power, no matter if it’s a dem or republican. The farce of partisan politics needs to be extinguished. People need to train their minds to look at things as what they are. It’s a class war. There is no left and right with the rich, they just use the farce to divide society.
When I look at politicians, I don’t see party lines, I see my enemy, no matter what party they claim!
Which it already is, right? So wouldn’t it be better for people to recognise their reality, so that they can start doing something about it? Because as long as you can keep pretending you’re not there yet you’ll keep believing in elections and no kings protests.
The problem, I think, is the Nazi cabal that never lost WW 2 (Germany most certainly did), moved across the Atlantic and made powerless puppets of every U.S. president since Truman.
If you’re taking that line… how do you know the American war of independence happened, and it isn’t all still run from Whitehall? Every US president since Washington has been an actor picked by Whitehall (no different to our PMs or leaders of any other “former” colonial subject).
When you press buttons on a “voting machine” nothing happens apart from the display on the screen. They’ve all been puppets, it’s always been a scam.
The Matrix wasn’t science fiction, we have been inside the simulacrum since 1775.
The No Kings event I attended certainly didn't seem like a "protest" to me. It was more complaining about the mean Orange Man for raining on their parade. For some reason our group got stares for holding up "Stop the genocide of Gaza!" signs... I guess genocide is "okay" by them as long as they don't have to put up with Trump? SIGH.
Went to one Indivisible protest in 2025 with my Palestinian flag and pro-PAL sign. Right away, 3 people asked me what flag I was holding. 😳 I stood next to the president of our local Democrat org. He moved across the street.
A lot of folks have gotten the same “cold shoulder treatment” from the Dems. All it proves is that the duopoly (BOTH “Team Red and Team Blue”) are one and the same when it comes to supporting Zionism and the MIC.
I despair whether more Americans will realise this. I keep seeing people commenting “oh under Joe Biden we could sleep easy” or “if we had Kamala we wouldn’t be in a war with Iran”. Wake the hell up America, your cluelessness is no longer cute. The world is dying because of you and they’ve been dying for a long time. Trump is not the reason, he’s the symptom
I hear the rationalization all the time: Kamala would never have done what Trump is doing now! Trump is way worse than any Democrat, way worse then Biden.
My response: No Shit Sherlock. You don't think those of us who follow this shit day after day don't know that? Maybe some of us actually have a fucking conscience and won't vote for a party that supports killing 10s of thousands of children in GAZA.
Makes me so angry that the "Lesser of Two Evils" (even now) still is equated with some kind of valid moral choice when it comes to a Genocide. NO IT DOESN'T.
And yet Americans are still falling for the "Lesser of Two Evils" bullshit yet again. All the Democrat party does is yell Trump, Trump, Trump 24/7 - like that's going to fix everything. Like suddenly the obvious corruption in the Democrat party itself will magically disappear. Bloody idiots.
They need to be reminded - Choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.
Correct. Evil is qualitative--not quantitative. You can't be "less dead" or "less pregnant", can you? You are either evil or you are not. Voting for the "lesser evil" has introduced evil into the world. STOP IT!
I agree. I even have to wonder about who first mentioned the words "lesser evil", it makes no sense at all. If the opposite of evil is good, does that mean by their way of thinking there is a lesser good to fight the lesser evil.
Veronica,
As I mentioned to jamenta sometime ago, the lesser of two evils, is still evil.
I agree with you, which is why the lesser evil makes no sense.
Huh. Maybe it's just me, but killing a million people seems worse than killing one.
Why does everything have to be viewed through a binary choice? Why is this being normalized?
You must do this, or a million people die. Surely, we can do better?
I don't get it either, nor should anyone else in the world.
Nearly a million more times worse in fact. Thank goodness I caught spell check that time or else you would be wondering why I thought it more wise to have killed so many.
Once you're a murderer of one, you are still a murderer to millions. Both are evil. You can't be "less of a murderer" just because you only killed one or a handful of fellow human beings compared to murdering millions. Evil as a trait is qualitative not quantitative. The law may punish you on the number of your murders, but never confused legality with morality. It was legal to own human beings in the US until 1865.
I mean - yeah I get it. Sometimes choosing lesser of two evils can SOMETIMES work. But in this case, after 3 decades of this shit, IT ISN'T WORKING.
Choosing evil NEVER works.
The No Kings protests are Dem establishment Psy ops that serve as a pressure valve for an increasingly boxed in and out of option population. There are no concrete demands, no material stakes, nothing that meaningfully threatens the machinery of power. Just a vague, slogan-level rejection of “kings” that somehow never extends to the actual systems or figures propping up the status quo.
It’s protest as performance: loud enough to feel cathartic, harmless enough to be ignored. The same political class that people reliably reinstall every four years remains entirely undisturbed, comfortably insulated from the kind of pressure that might force real change. That is also why these protests dont actually have any concrete demands and are backed by the Establishment of the Dem party: they understand how hamrless they are and ineffectual, just as they like their crowds.
The people going to these are the same fools who cling to the illusion that figures like Obama embodied moral leadership, or that “respectable” operators within the system like Jim Crow Joe Biden are fundamentally decent rather than structurally complicit.
The Establishment understands in the end people need these rituals every few months to blow off some steam. They understand they have to give people a sanctioned outlet for frustration so it never coalesces into anything disruptive. Let them shout, march, vent, anything to keep the anger diffuse, temporary, and ultimately harmless, keeping the shit at shoe level, while the machinery of power that keeps both side in power grinds on, just under a different tune.
Controlled opposition.
They are only out of options if they think they are out of options. Your lives are in jeopardy right now, as is the planet because of two years of bombing on Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen... and now full throttle on Iran.
The only good thing is the whining by israelis because Iran is doing what it said it would-what you sow they are making you reap.
They are out of options because the only valid option in their minds is voting hard. Most of the people in these protests are shitlibs who dont believe in anything other than voting and writing polite letters to their reps to record their frustration. They neither feel the need to do more, nor do they believe in it.
It is helpful to do the writing to elected officials, but mainly because it is good to have paper trail when putting them on trial. Paper trail stops accusations of show trials and biased bus throwing. It makes the whole thing worthy of a history book.
I put that in my comment, that it's more like Democrats against Republicans march from what I have heard and seen.
Their protests are music to the ears of the King.
I was going to say something but you beat me to it.
🎯
Unfortunately, too many of those people you’re talking about don’t really care about evil, lesser or otherwise. Out of sight out of mind. Or worse, they don’t really care about Palestinians— or Iranians, or Lebanese. (They’ve had plenty of opportunities to see the photographs and hear the descriptions of returning physicians). Truth be known, they don’t even really care about most of their fellow citizens. This probably sounds harsh, but I’ve seen too many of them up close. “I care about Palestinians, too, but . . .”
“But it’s a ‘distraction.’” “But if we focus on Gaza, Republicans will win.”
Americans have been indoctrinated that helping others is a weakness, that you are just "enabling" the poor to remain poor if you try to help them. Tough love instead is more "virtuous". This mindset has also extended to limiting government to wars and tax breaks for the wealthy, and deregulating corporations - because the corporations and the super wealthy, are viewed as paragons of success in America. If you're a billionaire you're a "winner". If you work at Walmart you're a "loser".
One's sense of humanity is lost in a system that degrades the majority of Americans living ordinary lives - whom, no fault of their own, can be disposed of (dismissed from work/fired) by the thousands if it helps profits for some corporation - because profits are more important in America than the quality of an ordinary American's human life.
This machine like existence - with less and less every year being returned for one's labor because of egregious exploitation and extreme wealth inequality, is a moral wasteland, compounded by the problem that the dominant intellectual milieu currently is Reductive Materialism - insisting one's existence is only temporary, and you are traveling on a road that eventually leads nowhere.
"...because the corporations and the super wealthy, are viewed as paragons of success in America. If you're a billionaire you're a "winner". If you work at Walmart you're a "loser"..."
And let's not forget these Nepo babies that people choose to think of as some kind of Horatio Alger story. If you are given millions to start off, you're no 'self-made' man.
In other words their nation building by telling the world "send me your poor, your hungry..." shtick was just that; shtick. Remember any of the so-called founding fathers were from Europe but mostly UK.
It's amazing how so many especially those in power choose to forget that fact.
No no, back in those days machines didn't do the work, people did. The USA very much wanted laborers and entrepreneurs and got them.
This is what I say about the UK, they're exactly the same, the majority of the people doing the real work to make life more comfortable for those in power or having wealth, are looked down upon.
My argument is that no one in any government should be able to work in that government without first having done an "ordinary" job working alongside the people, mixing with the people. I don't care if they do five years in a factory, on the trains or a building site, but no one should be allowed to just secure a position within the government straight from university like they do here.
For those who say it wouldn't work, more often those aiming for government positions, I say yes it would. If it can work in China as it does, anyone from any upbringing has the chance to one day eventually become a government official. President Xi is a prime example, started by sweeping the factory floor, and over the years slowly progressed upward until he reached the lower levels of government, until finally he worked his way to being President.
I lived in Japan. Labor is respected, craftsmanship even more so. I thought it made a big difference in everyday life because everything is done to the best of one's ability. They even have a word for this (gambate). Produce in the supermarket is the greatest. Whereas the USA the whole ethos is to do as little as you can get by with.
Japan is a much more harmonious place. They don't have the endless class war of the West. That's why they still have successful manufacturing there.
I have heard a few great things about Japan, as with Germany m I wish people would leave the past where it belongs, besides we know the winners write the history books. The only time anything in relation to those countries should be brought up is, if we go to war with them again and then remember lessons that may have been learnt.
Sounds a really nice place to live. I used to know someone who had spent a year there, they said that if you dropped a purse/ wallet/ phone on the street you were guaranteed to either find it where you lost it, or you would get it back by other ways. That was around five years ago I heard that, soon after they returned home.
Same in Australia.
For your sake I wish it wasn't.
The system has turned the majority into losers. This is the force that birthed MAGA.
It's how Hitler was birthed. It's how most dictators are birthed. A weak opposition party pretending it supports the peasants, and a demagogue father figure promising huge change as long as you go along with his plans to exterminate the opposition.
Quite so. Did you know that Von Hindenberg, the head of state before Hitler, was severely demented? It's remarkably similar. We're also in the middle of a big bout of price increases.
https://www.trackaipac.com/
Great link.
"All the Democrat party does is yell Trump, Trump, Trump 24/7"
Why not? It's all they have to offer.
They say that our system requires a duopoly. They're wrong. The UK has the same system and they have 14 parties with seats in Parliament. Non-duopoly parties got 45% of the vote, more than either of the duopolists.
If neither of the duopoly has a majority in the legislature then a small party that holds the balance of power has great leverage.
All very true, Jamenta,the differenceright now is Drumpf wants to remain president until he dies(hopefully soon). He has shatterd public services, put untrained and unpressional hooligans on the streets where they are trigger happy, and now he's putting them in airports because staff are sick of not being paid so are leaving - what sodding use are gun totting uneducated gangsters at landing planes or dealing with an air emergency. People see them they're not going to ask for help they're likely to just leave, especially if your skin is the wrong colour according to ice thugs.
And this is all Drumpf's doing while he's making himself and his billionaire cronies wealthier - from this war on Iran and oil insider trading plus-his wife's getting in on the act with her crypto and her doco, neither of which seem to be getting as much attention as her ego thought they might(You sleep with dogs you wakeup with flees).
America, you helped out him in, now you need to be the ones that take him out.
YES! YES! YES! 👍👊💪👏
Absofuckinglutely. And I see the glaze-over when I start to speak with conviction about a general strike or, horrors!, revolution. So many people aren't even ready yet to learn about the history of the U.S. or resistance movements. The empire is going down. I hope. Justice for Palestine ☮️ ❤️
So true... America and much of the world will remain clueless so long as they remain uninformed on a host of issues... notably on who holds power be political or financial... and how that affects their daily lives
I sometimes feel I'm being harsh on the Americans because some of them like us are anti-war and critical thinkers. And yet we hear that a huge percentage of Americans are against Trumps war on Iran. So why aren't they on the streets burning Washington down.
Do they need a proverbial slap on the back of their head to wake them up?
Absolutely! Trump didn’t make the
Nuclear button at his disposal, we all did in some small way. The button is also a
symptom of the way we think, and live.
CJ>>"The problem is US presidents, not kings. The problem is the US empire, not Trump."
Well expressed Caitlin!
Trump is a symptom (the current symptom) of what the US Empire has evolved into. Fighting Trump is not about fighting Imperialism or Capitalism or any of the so many important things that matter to real, ordinary people (in the US and across the world).
Like you say, "They just want a more polite, photogenic empire." It definitely feels that way to me too. My only hope is that something more comes out of it...
Much love and thanks Caitlin! ❤️🙏
The problem is the US Empire and the acceptance by the leaders of the rest of the so called democratic world: Starmer, Carney, Albanese, Macron and so many other money grubbing "leaders". We need to get rid of billionaires. Sure, Trump is demented and power hungry, but he has lots of support. Without all that support, he would not have gotten away with Iran, with Gaza, with Lebanon and Syria; with ICE, with taking away healthcare, with doing so much harm to the American people and to the rest of the world. If we really live in a world where one person can destroy the environment, the financial stability, healthcare, racial integration, then we need to think about a lot more than what Trump and the US Empire are doing. We need to think about why the others are accepting this.
But it’s not one person, that’s the point, it’s the design of the whole system. The problem isn’t Trump, it’s the fact that Trump was inevitable. The democrats are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
I believe the problem is the Collective West as a whole or the Golden Billion as we are also called. I have no doubt that Europe Canada Aus and NZ are fully behind the US empire and tacitly support the war against Iran. However EU and UK are financially constrained and cannot contain Russia in Ukraine which is why they are not going to get actively involved in the US empires war in West Asia
Well, there is a question about whether the Ukraine war was ever winnable, whoever was involved; there is a question about whether it’s our fault in the first place for trying to add Ukraine to nato and the EU (because the US invaded Cuba when Russia’s attempted to put missiles there). Also the American coup which deposed the democratically elected pro-Russian government of Ukraine. Biden’s statements that if Russia finished the pipeline, the pipeline would be destroyed, which it was, which was the actual reason for the war. Never in a million years was the west going to beat Russia there without a ground war (or, probably, with one) and there’s no way on earth British teenagers were ever going to volunteer en masse to get massacred by Russian drones. Ukraine is an American war that really needed American involvement to be viable.
But hey now the pipeline’s down, America’s not interested in cleaning up its mess, who could have guessed?
So even before the Iran situation comes along, both Europe and the US were already overcommitted. The Iran war is ridiculous. Everyone told Trump not to do it, including the pentagon. Europe and the rest of the west are being dragged into it but we aren’t happy about it.
This is the general picture. It’s not an alliance, we aren’t happy partners, we are America’s bitches and increasingly we hate it. You wouldn’t know it from listening to our politicians or media, but we are not on board. The biggest protest in Britain’s history was against the second Iraq war. Since then, “anti-establishment” or “anti-elite” movements have prospered increasingly, including ones which pretend to be anti-establishment but aren’t. The lesser evil wing of the Labour Party had to deliberately lose four general elections in the 2010s because the anti-war wing had the steering wheel.
Our politics has been co-opted but it’s fracturing now. The genocide, essentially, has killed lesser evil. In the next few years our voters will have the choice between total evil and something possibly not evil. It’s by no means a given but there’s a chance of escape.
The entire system is BRITTLE--hard but fragile!
Spot on
Because they are exactly the same, no choosing between the US and anyone you mentioned in your comment. The exact same system exists in our countries, the word Empire slapped on makes little difference, it only means it's your country's turn to be the bad guy.
I had the same reaction. The protests feel performative, choreographed, scripted. I do not see where or how they have had ANY significant affect on slowing the INSANITY. The only "protest" with any chance of affecting change would be a MASSIVE number of folks dropping out of the consumption loop. And, equally important, a NATIONAL ROLLING, ONGOING STRIKE....$$$ is THE ONLY language power understands. But I think American culture is too oriented to me, me, me, instead of to consideration of the common good. I am committed now to spending ONLY for the basics of life. I have stopped attending social events that require paying, I'm trying to "recreate" in nature, library programming, etc. And I try to shop locally, eat only at local restaurants. Any suggestions on moving beyond the occasional protest?
>>"Any suggestions on moving beyond the occasional protest?"
What's your pain threshhold? There are lots of things that are possible (as evidenced from previous upheavals in history). It eventually comes down to 'how much are people willing to sacrifice of their lives, lifestyles, futures, children's futures, etc.' to do what is needed to change the status quo. Here, different people have different 'acceptable levels of commitment' and risk/reward tolerances based on their personal circumstances and life histories.
Usually, real (and significant) change happens when a particular society gets desperate enough and takes seriously the 'what more do I have to lose' question. I don't see American/Western societies anywhere near this 'threshhold area' yet. I wish I could be more positive about where we are heading...
I agree that it's really difficult for most people to make their own lives more difficult - suffer - when they don't see others doing the same, or any meaningful impact. It needs a significant number to COME TOGETHER and target a specific area, with a clear understanding of the gains to be made by resisting, and the dangers of not doing so. Most people understand this only obliquely, and a handful boycotting Starbucks and Amazon isn't going to change anything, at least not soon enough. Mobilisation is key, but so many of us (me included) need certain parts of the system we abhor in order to make a living and we're already (in my case) just months away from destitution in any given year.
I am very tolerant to pain but I agree many people are not. Like you I don't see things changing a lot in the near future unless just maybe, if this war sees prices out of many people's price range, they discover exactly what they can live without.
Teach the individuals who inhabit the rolls of their enforcement: soldier, police, security people so that at the right time enough will join us This IS what happened during the Vietnam era! Relatives, neighbors, friends who ae in those areas.
Yes, but that war didn’t end until Congress passed bills to stop the funding. So, unfortunately, much of our work needs to focus on pressuring members of Congress to do the same thing now. If they don’t, it’s our failure as much as theirs. We’ve done relatively little to pressure them. They wouldn’t exist but for us. And it doesn’t help to keep voting for candidates who fund a genocide.
No objection to that either. "All roads lead to Rome (DC)' as they say. Their assault is all-sided and so must be our response. Division of labor.
The trouble now is that the average Westerner has been so totally indoctrinated that it may not be possible to deprogram enough of them to make a difference in time to avoid an Israeli/Zionist induced catastrophe.
My response; Despair never wins a battle. Despite odds, we must take the view that failure is not an option.
I think part of the whole game has been the project to depress and exhaust us to the point that when it comes to a choice between revolution and death, we walk placidly into the abattoir.
In this context hope is resistance.
I swear I know people who would literlly choose death before giving up Netflix, Macdonalds and their credit-funded SUVs.
Absolutely. Surrender in a the fight for our existence has never been an option.
The Russian Revolution could not have succeeded without the support of military and law enforcement personnel who were inspired to join the revolutionaries.
Military/law enforcement/security personnel must be brought to realize that they are merely pawns that are being played, and that will be sacrificed, in a game that is played by corrupt leaders who don’t represent their interests.
Great stuff, I’ll let you start with ICE.
People join military and police because they are thugs and bullies who get off on following orders. These people can never be our allies. You have highlighted one of the main problems with violent revolution. It requires the involvement of thugs and bullies, who, once they have been shown that it’s ok to use force to get what they want, carry on doing so.
Whoever is first against the wall when the revolution comes, second are usually the revolutionaries, put there by the muscle necessary for their revolution.
I can’t think of a solution to this other than democratic socialism. But I fully recognise the inherent problems with democracy which brought us to this point.
Unfortunately it also involves a lot of deaths of really good people before the revolution wins.
Not necessarily. There is no "inevitability," only probability. But, as the song "all Along the Watchtower goes, "There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief; there's too much confusion; I can't get no relief." Life finds a way.
Some people join the military services out of a misguided notion of patriotism. I was one of those.
Others join out of the need for a steady income and the possibility of a career.
Many thugs and sadists do join to satisfy their psychological motivations. Oddly enough, the “Regular” US armed forces do try to screen out thugs, sadists, psychopaths, but organizations such ICE, DHS and possibly the FBI are more welcoming.
As for local and state law enforcement agencies, the situation is varied with a mix of the proverbial “good cops / bad cops”, with the “good” ones being in the majority, according to my own personal experiences.
Your points are valid and I apologise. (I also apologise for that apology sounding like ChatGPT). That was a broad and sweeping statement.
I know/have met far more British police officers than US military. Some of those have been basically Ok people. But even the “good ones” are affected by their role. For example I know a police officer who has retrained as a therapist, and his counselling style is heavily influenced by his training in interrogation. I think to do the police job successfully you need to have a dominant/assertive “alpha” type personality and this comes out.
I also remember the British army using Corbyn’s face as a dartboard. These people will never support, will always oppose a genuine leftist revolution. Any revolution which could get them on side would be pointing in the wrong direction.
Disillusioned veterans is one thing; people who were conscripted is another; but for people who have voluntarily signed up to protect the state to become genuine vehicle for positive change would require a total inversion of the world as far as I can see it.
No, we start with those who have some understanding and let them know they are not alone; once on board, they can work among their colleagues. This IS what happened in the Vietnam era; I was a civilian supporter and know something about this.
As I say, you feel free to try engaging those people if you think it’s fruitful. I don’t.
Here’s an example:
https://www.normalisland.co.uk/p/police-to-resume-palestine-action/comments?utm_source=post&comments=true&utm_medium=web
And another:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/police-officer-called-al-jazeera-journalist-dog-and-donkey
And another:
https://www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/2026/03/24/manchester-mosque-attack/
All from the last few days.
Precisely my point. Their slogan of "land, bread, and peace" was exactly what was needed in 1917,and people responded with enthusiasm. May I now propose our own' "Truth, Justice, and Peace."
The problem with z-USA is that it's a 250 year old settler colony at heart and in lock step with the zionist settler colony in West Asia. I like your philosophy of undermining the consumer society on which the billionaire epstein class thrive.
I am pretty much doing the same as you are as a personal solution. For some reason way back when I first opened my bank account, I decided not to practice usary and much to my banks chagrin and all their inducements over the years, I still have the very same debit account as back then. Admittedly they have given up trying to change me this last fifteen years or so. I admit to book and notebook buying but even that is research driven, so I live cutting my cloth according to what I have and renting living accommodation as opposed to buying.
The "No Kings" ersatz "movement" is paid for, ironically, by the actual kings, the Bill Gates', George Soros', Klaus Schwabs' and WEF types who are currently leading would-be leftists around by the nose...
Democrats want a less ugly face- a friendly face on an extremely ugly nation.
Note the neocons effortlessly switched allegiances to Team D.
Check the smiles on every Democrat president ever. They're like a bunch of Stepford husbands
The problem is…CAPITALISM. The figurehead presiding over the system is just a face that changes every 4/8 years.
I’m not convinced that it affects anything when people press buttons on “voting machines” or put check marks on pieces of paper. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the presidents and prime ministers are all actors deployed by the spiders at the heart of the web, to convince us we have elections.
I have no way of personally verifying that the American war of independence (or any of the other processes by which countries left the British Empire) ever occurred. It could all still be run from Westminster. Or fuck it, Vienna or Rome.
Lol I think if it was still run from Westminster they'd have picked someone a bit more effective than 'rabbit caught in the headlights, I'm paid to be a Zionist' Starmer
Westminster is run by the City of London by the board of thirteen, one who has a permanent place in parliament to keep a check that those "not really elected" are obeying orders.
🎯
City of London. Meaning not London the city.
I understood London a lot better when I realised that it was founded by the Romans as the colonial city to harvest all the money out of Britain and extract it back to Rome, and it has been doing that job ever since.
Yes and it is the Rothschild's of the City of London who run the Vatican bank, they've always been involved but it is completely them now.
Most people do not realise, even here in the UK, that the City of London is a separate country to the rest of the UK.
Sorry, the problem is people. Have a wee think about it -no system can do anything without people using or abusing it.
True enough.
I remember the first or second "no kings" protest they interviewed someone on MSNOW about the upcoming event. The person was all excited but said "please don't bring any "free Palestine" or "genocide signs". That showed me right then and there that it all of this was just a huge farce.
A huge farce--that's probably the best description of these events I've seen. They're for letting off steam for the neoliberals. They have their fun and then don't need to do it again for several months. No real actions taken or planned to change the corrupt system. Just letting off steam.
hit the street anyways, hi-jack the thing with your keffiyeh, palestine flag, anti-war, anti-empire,anti epstein-class and anti-billionaire placards.
Not only that, their protests are music to the ears of the GOP.
You are absolutely right. My point for decades. The problem is rooted in the Constitution; created by oligarchs for oligarchs and still controlled by oligarchs.
The problem is rooted in the fact that over time, the powerful will figure out how to game any system.
I think the only way round it is revolutions every fifteen years.
Or perhaps a purge. A monthly purge of the richest ten people in the world at the end of every month would probably do it.
A rule by which everyone wealthier than a set amount has to give ALL their excess to charity, or a central pot - like taxation but a cash donation, to go where it's needed or directly to the poorest. There's a natural instinct to want to 'do well ' and rise to the top. That is human nature - to want to succeed and feel like you've made the most of yourself. But that should not be equated solely with money. I'd get more satisfaction from knowing how many I'd been able to help, and the systems I'd been instrumental in changing. Nobody needs more than £1 million.
Exactly. A real parliamentary system works much better, if you Believe in "democracy." China now runs on a meritocracy where the bright young grads go to work for govt. In "democracies," concerned people only get a vote every 4 years then are sidelined again - in China they would already be IN govt.
China’s economic and academic success is very impressive. I am a little skeptical when it comes to domestic politics. It is possible that their system is good for China. I think a real functioning direct democratic system (similar to that of Switzerland) would be better for my political orientation.
Yes, and who can name the President of Switzerland? It's an administrative, not a CEO like in U.S., and the CEO-style of govt is a total failure.
The entire No Kings concept is ridiculous. They don’t have any demands or plans. It’s essentially a huge nationwide Kumbuya festival.
It seems that what they want is a nicer, kinder, warmer, fuzzier president than Trump. You know, a smooth communicator like Bill Clinton or his holiness: Barack Obama. Someone who can make you feel good about being raped or raping the rest of the world.
The CVs of the organizers is straight out of the DC political establishment. They have NO interest in disrupting the status quo. But they will suck up a lot of oxygen while accomplishing nothing. If their only goal is to prevent the creation of a king in the U.S., they have succeeded. There is no king.
Yup. Neocons, but this time with PRONOUNS!
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"Americans of conscience should be feeling deeply embarrassed right now", says Caitlin Johnstone.
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"Trump is not some freakish aberration; he is the product of the same American political status quo as his predecessors"....
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"Donald Trump is a US president who is doing US president things. US presidents consistently murder people with unforgivable acts of mass military violence, mistreat immigrants and marginalized communities, and promote tyranny for the benefit of corrupting special interests in defense of the US empire and the capitalist status quo. That’s what their job is. If they weren’t willing to do these things, they wouldn’t get the job".
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So, here is the thing:
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In November of 2024, during that election cycle, 99% of active U.S. voters cast their ballot for a U.S. Presidential candidate who had explicitly committed themselves to doubling down on the Genocide of the Palestinian people.
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When the dust settled, the Genocider-in-Chief who was elected to the Office of the President of the United States, by that 99% of active U.S. voters in 2024, turned out to be the candidate supported the Red State people.... the orange-headed guy with the Republican Party.
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The other guy -- who in this case (as in 2016) happened to be a gal – was equally willing to be the damn-the-torpedoes, full-steam-ahead Genocider-in-Chief of the Israel-U.S. Empire, but did not get elected to that office.
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And so, the Blue State people are very unhappy with this state of affairs... because the Red State Genocider-in-Chief is being extremely unpleasant to the Blue State people.
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And no, I'm not suggesting that the Blue State should not be unhappy with this state of affairs. After all, the Red State orange-haired guy is being deeply unpleasant to everyone – well, pretty much everyone, whether at home or abroad, who is not prepared to put $1 billion in his pocket in the next five minutes.
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That is really unpleasant to be around, and it kind of makes four years feel like a very long time.... and even feel like four years could go on a lot longer than four years.
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Yet, when all is said and done, those 99% of active U.S. voters all got pretty much most of what they voted for. At any rate, they got a lot of what they voted for. The 99% voted for a genocide and they got a genocide.
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Now, as the genocide is being expanded to Iran and Lebanon (well, it had pretty much reached Lebanon already), how much more greatly unpleasant such an event is to the people at the tip of the spear – than to the complicit citizens at the Empire's core – is what be the entire nation of the United should be talking about 24 hours a day.
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But that is not the case. The majority of people in the United States -- when they even bestir themselves to protest – are still talking only about what they have always talked about: how very unpleasant things are for them – such as the increase in the price of petrol at the gas pump.
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As Caitlin Johnstone says:
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"Americans of conscience should be feeling deeply embarrassed..."
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I am deeply embarrassed/appalled/nauseated right now. I have been for a long time. I've tried talking/emailing friends and family. I've gone to "protests". I was previously engaged in "the political system". Nothing seems to work. WTF do we do?
I dunno. I mean, sure vote Trump out. But Trump is a SYMPTOM of the disease we Americans now have, he is not the DISEASE. But the Democratic party, and those pundits who still are pushing the Democratic party, want us to believe Trump is the problem. He isn't. He's just a symptom of the problem. Getting rid of Trump doesn't fix a goddamn thing, it's like putting a piece of tape over a dam that is already breaking.
From across the pond, we now see the Democrats as worse. They smile while doing genocide, and deny they've done it. At least Trump announces he's gonna do it.
Totally agree.
I agree, Trump isn’t the problem, he’s a symptom. The Democratic Party is part of the disease.
I can’t see an easy way past the impasse though, there is no third party option. Still. As much as I would want people to vote… sigh… green… I cannot reasonably argue they’ve got a real chance of winning, not within maybe five cycles, even if elections are real. And I don’t think armed revolution is generally successful in delivering the aims of the revolutionaries who usually get shot by the muscle they have to employ.
I cannot see a good solution to this. Collapse leading to anarchy (Freeform anarchy as opposed to the arcane structures of Ursula le Guin, which would not emerge naturally from chaos) will only provide another context in which the powerful hold all the cards.
That's depressing. I was holding out for collapse and anarchy.
I’m holding out for the youth of today, who seem infinitely cleverer than the youth of 25 years ago (which I was one of) to figure out a solution.
My generation fucked it all, hopefully the kids can fix it all! If not… erm.. dunno
You may be correct but, he has adequate America far more deadly even for Americans.
I believe the Ds would have been just as cruel, only the chosen domestic victims would have been different.
Made America... How does spellcheck manage to turn "made" into "adequate"?
I've never worked out how it works, it comes up with words that don't match anything you type, like it takes the whole sentence and decides this word will suit it better.
You musta typed ade.
strike!
I have some suggestions of what we should be doing at the end of my Substack this week: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com/p/know-your-enemy
I liked this.
Great article.
As I cite above:
Teach the individuals who inhabit the rolls of their enforcement: soldier, police, security people so that at the right time enough will join us This IS what happened during the Vietnam era! Relatives, neighbors, friends who ae in those areas.
Note how nothing ultimately changed after the Vietnam era.
You’ve got half a chance with discarded and disillusioned former soldiers, especially conscripts. The draft was the biggest mistake they made and it might help if they forget this and do it again. But anyone who voluntarily joins the forces of oppression is, in their heart, a stormtrooper.
Well, what ended the war on Vietnam was not the protests, but the breakdown in discipline in the Army beginning around 1970.
I hear you, sister 👍
bravo again Caitlin. Im worried about the next 3 years. I doubt that the DNC is going to move to stop Trump even if it wins majorities in the midterms. What a lame country.
Get help. The DNC is far worse. Do you have attention deficit? Remember a guy named "Biden"?
They are all the same breed of sewer rats. It will never end until people stop killing rats and burn down the nest.
The DNC won't. I remember the entire movement against George W Bush in 2006. The Democrats won. And Nancy Pelosi and her Dems turned right around and said essentially "Nah, never mind!"
Believe it or not there was actually a time, about 20 years ago, where liberals wanted George W Bush and Dick Cheney to be held accountable for their war crimes. I was a stupid idiot to think they were sincere and became a stench Dem for 20 years. 2016 woke me up.
Yep, watching them nobble sanders to put in Trump, whilst watching them nobble Corbyn to put in Johnson, showed me what I needed to see. Never lesser evil again, not under any circumstances.
And Smith to put in Tony Blair, except Smith actually ended up dead at such a young age in the scheme of things. Heart attack, hah.
Robin cook, david Kelly etc
For sure.
All manner of curious heart attacks and suicides. Funny old world.
Watching the right wing of the Labour Party put the conservatives in office four times in a row to prevent even very slightly leftish Labour victories really blew the whole game for me. Then oh look what’s this, the Clintonites will allow Satan to win rather than sanders, and even he still supports Israel. They can shove it as far as I’m concerned.
Exactly how I feel.
Whenever I see "so-and-so should be held accountable" I think, so-and-so is due for a promotion.
And a big bonus before they take up their new role.
The big worry is will there even be any Midterms.
Surely a bigger worry must be that whoever wins the “midterms” or any future “elections” it will make no difference whatsoever.
I think the gist of Caitlins' piece is that that's a given.
In that case, why does the possibility of their cancellation concern you? Surely anything that hastens the collapse of this sham and allows people to see through it is good?
It concerns me because if those elections are not held, it will confirm that Amerika is a fascist dictatorship led by a psychopath. With nukes.
And in 1940 and 1941 both my parents donned uniforms to fight fascist psychopaths.
Trump is not in charge. The people in charge will keep their power, no matter if it’s a dem or republican. The farce of partisan politics needs to be extinguished. People need to train their minds to look at things as what they are. It’s a class war. There is no left and right with the rich, they just use the farce to divide society.
When I look at politicians, I don’t see party lines, I see my enemy, no matter what party they claim!
Which it already is, right? So wouldn’t it be better for people to recognise their reality, so that they can start doing something about it? Because as long as you can keep pretending you’re not there yet you’ll keep believing in elections and no kings protests.
Yeah that worries me too. :(
I keep hoping the coming global recession will finally shake them out of their apathy.
....and in 2034 we'll have an ACTUAL REAL, THINKING NAZI in what's left of the WH.
The problem, I think, is the Nazi cabal that never lost WW 2 (Germany most certainly did), moved across the Atlantic and made powerless puppets of every U.S. president since Truman.
Fascism migrated and materialized elsewhere in numerous locations.
If you’re taking that line… how do you know the American war of independence happened, and it isn’t all still run from Whitehall? Every US president since Washington has been an actor picked by Whitehall (no different to our PMs or leaders of any other “former” colonial subject).
When you press buttons on a “voting machine” nothing happens apart from the display on the screen. They’ve all been puppets, it’s always been a scam.
The Matrix wasn’t science fiction, we have been inside the simulacrum since 1775.
Very astute!
No matter who you vote for, you always get Netanyahoo.
The real problem is the U.S. is under the complete occupation of foreign blackmailers, thieves, and murderers. No point in dancing around it.
Blame it all on foreigners. No need for reform here.
exactly
the student council will never change anything with their scheduled pep rallies
Glad I’m not the only one saying this. There’s some real weak ass energy here in the U.S.
I went to that last No Kings Protest. It felt like I was at a Boomer block party.
The No Kings event I attended certainly didn't seem like a "protest" to me. It was more complaining about the mean Orange Man for raining on their parade. For some reason our group got stares for holding up "Stop the genocide of Gaza!" signs... I guess genocide is "okay" by them as long as they don't have to put up with Trump? SIGH.
Went to one Indivisible protest in 2025 with my Palestinian flag and pro-PAL sign. Right away, 3 people asked me what flag I was holding. 😳 I stood next to the president of our local Democrat org. He moved across the street.
Wow.
Sad but sounds right for them.
A lot of folks have gotten the same “cold shoulder treatment” from the Dems. All it proves is that the duopoly (BOTH “Team Red and Team Blue”) are one and the same when it comes to supporting Zionism and the MIC.
I'm a Boomer and it definitely felt like that. We had singing of peace songs at our protest. I just couldn't take it. Where's the anger?!
No offense Barbara 😬
No Kings but for Hillary Clinton it was "Yaz Qween!" I honestly don't pay attention to these.