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The Bio Fantasy Tours
musings, anecdotes, hot takes, relevant documents, and glib generalities
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A FEW BIG EARS FAVES
MARC RIBOT QUARTET -- STILL PROVIDES A TYPE OF MUSICAL CRUELTY AND SELF SABOTAGE UNIQUE TO MARC RIBOT. I AM STILL THE WILLING SMILING LAUGHING MASOCHIST. DEERHOOF WOULD NEVER EXIST WITHOUT THE RIBOT PUNK JAZZ BIBLE.
MATT MITCHELL ZEALOUS ANGLES — WHO'S DOING IT LIKE THIS? RELENTLESS REFUSAL TO PLAY IN A KEY OR A RATIONAL RHYTHM. REFUSAL TO PLAY ABOVE MEZZO PIANO. SO BEAUTIFUL PLUS THE FUNNIEST DRUMMER ON THE PLANET DAN WEISS
JOHN ZORN MASADA ORIGINAL LINEUP -- HYPED UP ORNETTE QUARTET WHICH IS IRRESISTIBLE BECAUSE WHO CAN RESIST JOEY BARON THE FUNNIEST DRUMMER ON THE PLANET
PENI CANDRA RINI — HER GROUP HAS DEVELOPED INTO A REAL BAND WITH ITS OWN SOUND. JUST BECAUSE SHE IS PERFECT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S AN ACT.
JULIAN LAGE & NELS CLINE DUO -- UNANNOUNCED IMPROV IN TINY ROOM AT LOW VOLUME. HUSH OF CONCENTRATION COMES OVER THE AUDIENCE WHO HANG ON EVERY TWIST AND TURN. I'VE NEVER HEARD SUCH CHOPS AND SUCH TELEPATHY.
JOHN ZORN COBRA -- USUALLY NOT A FAN OF CONDUCTED IMPROV BUT THIS WAS OUTRAGEOUSLY SATISFYING. WALL TO WALL A-LIST PARTICIPANTS RATHER INTIMIDATING TBH
PATRICIA BRENNAN -- SOME TUNES BORDER ON ATONALITY BUT THE CATCHIEST AND MOST IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO SMILE AND DANCE ATONALITY IN MUSICAL HISTORY. ENTIRE BAND OPERATING AT IMPOSSIBLE LEVEL OF MUSICIANSHIP. FINALLY GOT TO SEE MARCUS GILMORE IN PERSON ON THE DRUMS
THIS WEEKEND IN L.A. IS GOING TO BE INSANE. OPEN MELODY FESTIVAL 2026. FRIENDS AND LEGENDS:
MIKE WATT LUBOMYR MELNYK OOIOO TARA CLERKIN TRIO RP BOO VALENTINA MAGALETTI THE CONTAINER GROWING KASSIE KRUT TUSSLE PAUL DE JONG SUPER_COLLIDER WATER DAMAGE FRANCE ARTIFICIAL GO HUMAN ERROR CLUB
DEERHOOF PLAYS SUNDAY NIGHT
-GREG
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collapse
As another human empire meets its end, beware the lesser evil opportunist who promises to run its invasions, conquests, coups, assassinations, bombing campaigns, and genocides more competently.
As another human empire meets its end, beware the lesser evil opportunist who promises to stop mass murdering people with wars and go back to mass murdering them with genocides and sanctions.
As another human empire meets its end, beware the lesser evil opportunist who promises to make their crimes and corruption less obvious.
As another human empire meets its end, beware the lesser evil opportunist who promises to go back to being more technocratic about funding rape, torture, murder, slavery, apartheid, land grabs, and ww3.
As another human empire meets its end, beware the lesser evil opportunist who promises to bail out the A.I. companies, finance companies, fossil fuel companies, and other too big to fail companies whose bubbles have just popped.
As another human empire meets its end, beware the lesser evil opportunist who promises to secure our borders from all the refugees we have created.
As another human empire meets its end, beware the lesser evil opportunist who promises to beef up airport security against terrorism by increasing the ranks and weapons of the TSA instead of by doing less invading, sanctioning, enslaving, exploiting, and bombing of other countries.
As another human empire meets its end, beware the lesser evil opportunist who promises to keep America safe by beefing up the police, the military, the national guard, ICE, DHS, and our nuclear arsenal, instead of by making fewer enemies around the globe.
As another human empire meets its end, beware the lesser evil opportunist who promises to get rid of Netanyahu and replace him with someone less attention-grabbing but with the same genocidal, racist, Greater-Israel platform.
As another human empire meets its end, beware the lesser evil opportunist who promises to replace Trump with someone with a different name but just as beholden to billionaires, ICE, fossil fuels, arms trading, the Pentagon, Israel, and Big Tech.
As another human empire meets its end, beware the lesser evil opportunist who promises to crack down on human rights advocates, labor unions, antiwar activists, and other dissenters who dare to expose the collapsing empire for what it is.
As another human empire meets its end, beware the lesser evil opportunist who promises to do a better job of fighting against insternational laws and institutions that would convict them.
As another human empire meets its end, beware the lesser evil opportunist who promises to save capitalism from a few bad apples who messed it up.
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fraud, swindle, racket, trick, diddle, con, flimflam, hustle, grift, shakedown, bunco, boondoggle
People say the Blue Team is failing hard but I’m not so sure. I’d say they’re actually pulling off some pretty spectacular scams.
Most Dems, including their leadership, are paid to want whatever wars and genocides Israel wants. They owe their careers to AIPAC’s generosity. But Dems don’t generally want to have to say they are pro-war and pro-genocide. How do they solve this?
Biden didn’t want to have to say he was pro-war and pro-genocide. So he simply disappeared from public view for months. At least until his live Presidential debate, where everyone saw for themselves the level of intellect steering the ship.
Since the Trump/Republican landslide, Dems have a new strategy. As under Biden and Pelosi, Dems are still paid to want whatever wars and genocides Israel wants. And they still don’t want to say so. So now what they do is make sure Trump and Republicans get just enough votes. Then point at Trump when WW3 turns out to be unpopular.
In fact Dems are paid to pass all kinds of policies desired by their handful of wealthy donors that are opposed by their voters. But Dems don’t want to say they’re anti-democracy. So they make sure Republicans have just enough votes to pass whatever the wealthy donors want. Then point at Republicans as anti-democratic when these unpopular policies pass.
Dems are also paid by AIPAC to wage war on any American who disagrees with Israel’s wars and genocides. Politicians, news personalities, and their fans forbid discussing obvious facts. Like Israel being a racist apartheid state. Like Israel committing genocide and other war crimes with total impunity. Then they point at Trump for being “authoritarian.”
Dem politicians, Dem-leaning news personalities, and their fans forbid criticism of Israeli military policy. They also forbid criticism of Dem politicians who enable that policy. They call it “anti-Semitic.” In fact this is a systematic destruction of the term. What is actually anti-Semitic to say that Judaism is synonymous with Israeli military policy, and that murdering Muslims is simply part of the Jewish identity.
Dems are paid and advised by arms dealers, Big Tech, oil companies, and “national security experts” to make war. They just don’t want to say they’re pro-war. So they make sure Republicans have just enough votes to make war. Then point at Republicans when the wars are unpopular.
Dems are paid and advised to increase ICE funding. They just don’t want to say they’re pro-ICE. So they make sure Republicans have just enough votes to increase ICE funding. Then point at Republicans when ICE kidnaps or murders people.
Dems are paid by corporate donors to increase billionaire wealth. They just don’t want to say they’re pro-billionaire. So they make sure Republicans have just enough votes to increase billionaire wealth. Then point at Republicans when the policies are unpopular.
Dems are paid and advised to break the law. They are told that international laws do not apply to them. Nor do domestic laws governing the funding of war crimes. Nor do they apply to any U.S. politician or cabinet member or military commander or corporation. Such laws only apply to their enemies. But they don’t want to say they are criminals. So they make sure the Republicans have just enough votes to commit the crimes. Then point to Republicans as being criminal and unconstitutional.
Many Dems say they are pro-Israel but simply don’t like Netanyahu. They then fund all of Netanyahu’s policies no matter how criminal or genocidal. And would continue to fund the same policies no matter who was in power in Israel.
We are allowed to look at actual Dem platforms and voting records. We can see that there is a certain propaganda and financial advantage to losing elections, staying out of the hot seat, and blaming everything on Trump. We don’t have to be so gullible to Dem marketing. We can call a scam what it is.
Most current Dem politicians do not have any discernible beliefs. They want money. They want power.
If we actually oppose genocide, oil wars, ICE, AI, wealth inequality, and the destruction of democracy, then funneling money and votes back to the Dems is not automatically a good thing. Candidates should start earning their votes. It’s more important to look at a candidate's actual platform and record than their party affiliation. Americans need to get over their phobia of independent candidates and third parties. Dems who want to win need to develop the courage to say no to rich donors who constantly demand more war crimes, ICE, AI, crackdowns, racism and billionaire profit margins.
Some countries are starting to reject their equivalents of the Democratic Party. Many in Europe and the UK are throwing their enthusiasm and votes behind parties and candidates that align with popular views. We can make the same thing happen here. In fact some Dems are starting to reject donations from AIPAC and other unpopular billionaire-funded concerns. This is good trend that would not have been possible without intense, sustained pressure from the left. Thank you, the left.
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the far right and their liberal opposition are collaborating
While the war against Iran is clearly not going as planned for the governments of the U.S. and Israel, and while calling Trump and Netanyahu deranged is accurate and somewhat enjoyable, it's not that simple. I suspect that there may still be a method to their madness. And I don't just mean the personal, short-term goal of each of them avoiding criminal prosecution by staying in power.
If you were a class of people who owned and controlled most of the world, and knew you couldn't hold onto to it without wars, genocides, crackdowns, and other crimes, you would have to find a way to justify the crimes. An obvious strategy would be to pretend to split yourself into two "rival" factions, one deliberately as horrible as possible, the other claiming to be reasonable by comparison.
Narcissists like Trump and Netanyahu are happy to play the scary monster role in return for the spotlight and legal immunity, which is exactly what they get from their so-called "liberal opposition." The illusion of a lively discourse between opposing philosophies is maintained, with the opposition even permitting a handful of token anti-imperialists to win, playing on voters' hopes that this faction will eventually become anti-imperialist if we just vote harder. Meanwhile the actual wars, genocides, crackdowns, and other crimes necessary for the ownership class to stay in power still get passed either way, often by "magically" just enough votes.
In this way, Trump and Netanyahu do an enormous favor to their "liberal opposition" who get to look reasonable by "saying" they oppose the wars, genocides, crackdowns, autocracy, crimes against humanity and other "insanity," while in fact this system makes absolutely sure that the wars, genocides, crackdowns, autocracy and crimes against humanity happen either way, and in fact keep escalating.
The longer gullible Americans can be tricked into voting for politicians who are "a little less extreme" or "a little less obvious" in their war crimes, the more criminal the country's policies are forced to become. And each time Schumer, Jeffries, Biden, Harris or Walz are allowed to push the Dems a little deeper into war crimes and ICE funding, the further right Trump, Vance, Miller ot Hegseth have to move to look even more "insane" to keep the strategy working.
The only way this diabolical strategy can succeed is for this ownership class to have a propaganda arm ("the media"), a bribery/blackmailing arm ("lobbying"), a militarized police state ("law enforcement," "ICE"), cannon fodder ("the armed forces"), and apologists (legions of cheerleaders sentimentally devoted to one faction or the other, who are allowed to make memes insulting each other for the price of collaborating to delegitimize third parties and independent candidates).
In the U.S., in Israel, in France, in the UK, in Germany, this strategy has managed to successfully trick millions of self-described liberals into literally voting for genocide, not to mention their own bankruptcy and oppression. But the strategy is unsustainable on several levels and is falling apart.
You can't keep escalating wars, genocides and crackdowns without eventually destroying your customer base, your voting base, your own military, your own economy, and ultimately wiping out most life on Earth with a nuclear war.
As the entire world can easily see, the U.S. and Israel are losing against Iran. It's not because they've shown mercy. They've bombed elementary schools. They've poisoned the air for over 10 million human beings. But it's not working. And it's obvious they will continue to lose, unless they either quit, or deploy ground troops and/or nuclear weapons.
Their war aims can't be achieved without "escalation" -- an increase in the number people who must die. This means ground troops and/or nuclear weapons. Any politician or TV personality still failing to loudly and clearly oppose funding the war in Iran, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, or the Israeli military, is telling you straight up that they are in favor of global mass murder, and increasing the chances of nuclear war with few if any survivors.
The responsibility for this great and perhaps final crime against humanity rests on any lawmakers and influential media personalities who make the policy, fund the policy, fail to oppose funding the policy, fail report on current events accurately, take the AIPAC money, increase the Pentagon budget, villainize innocent Palestinians, Iranians, or Lebanese, or give the tax breaks to Big Tech companies helping to carry out the crimes. Unfortunately that's almost every sitting national lawmaker or corporate news personality, both "liberal" and "conservative."
The human race has had enough, although many don't know what to do. The manufacturing of hopelessness is the last strategy the ownership class has left. What survival requires is a massive movement away from imperialism, war crime, and nuclear bombs as the uncontested national policy of wealthy states and their biggest corporations. Indeed the UK people appear to be doing just that, by abandoning the Labour Party altogether, in favor of the Green Party.
In the U.S. there are powerful, historic movements afoot that the media arm of the ownership class deliberately chooses to ignore if possible, or vilify if necessary. These movements include third parties. They include movements for historical and media literacy. They include boycotts and strikes targeting Israel as well as the arms dealers, oil companies, Big Tech, and the two capitalist political parties now making such a fortune from wars, genocides, crackdowns and crimes against humanity.
The movements for peace, justice, survival, and skepticism about ruling class narratives are obviously scaring those who stand to lose their wealth and power as a result. When the ownership class feels threatened, that's when they start their crackdowns, which is what we've increasingly been seeing since the War On Terror began under Bush. In other words, these anti-imperialist movements are creating a real crisis. That's why they need our support.
It's less about individual candidates or personalities than it is about a change in the value system of policymaking. The average American has next to nothing in common with this class of people who now own and control most of the world. At this point we would have a better chance as a species if the U.S. President, U.S. Congress and corporate executives were chosen at random, as we do with jury duty. The election process and corporate ladder are a complete waste of money and time, totally corrupted, anti-democratic, and bringing the planet to utter ruin.
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antiwar shame is an imperial luxury we can no longer afford
Why are we going bankrupt while our taxes are used to blow up elementary schools with a.i.? For the profit of Israel, oil companies, arms dealers, and a.i.
Why? Because the U.S. economy is artificially propped up on Israel, oil, weapons, and big tech.
If we no longer want to go bankrupt while our taxes get used to blow up elementary schools with a.i., getting rid of Trump is not going to be sufficient. We’d have to build an economy that is not artificially propped up on Israel, oil, arms trading, and big tech.
Impeaching Trump gives you Vance. Impeaching Vance gives you Johnson. In fact you would have to impeach almost the entire Congress before you reached anyone who might be willing to turn their back on Israel, oil, arms deals, and big tech as the traditional ways to artificially prop up the U.S. economy.
It's not enough to elect candidates who seem nice or charm you personally. Obama was charming to millions of people, but because he was weak on foreign policy, he allowed “national security experts” to advise him to expand the War on Terror from two countries to nine, to kill innocent bystanders with drones every Tuesday, and become a war criminal whose Secretary of State threatened on national t.v. to "obliterate" Iran.
If we no longer want to go bankrupt while our taxes get used to blow up elementary schools with a.i., we’d have to either completely replace our political system (a revolution -- not impossible, they happen all the time), or we could keep the same political system but start overwhelmingly electing lawmakers who clearly state in their campaigns and platforms that they intend to turn their backs on the traditional sources of U.S. economic power. Lawmakers who say clearly that they intend to divest from Israel, oil, arms dealing, and big tech.
In case anyone has forgotten, the last occupant of the White House also bankrupted the American taxpayer to fund the blowing up of elementary schools with a.i. The fact that we elected him and let him do it with no consequences is what told Trump it was ok to the same.
It should be obvious to everyone that candidates who explicitly promise to continue propping up the economy on Israel, oil, arms dealing and big tech (Harris and Newsom) will keep using our taxes to blow up elementary schools with a.i. But candidates who remain vague on the issue (AOC and Warren) are also likely to be persuaded, like Obama was, to keep investing in Israel, oil, arms dealing, big tech, and war crimes. In other words, they can therefore be expected, if elected, to keep using our taxes to blow up elementary schools with a.i.
As Americans, we’ve been taught our whole lives to feel shame about antiwar candidates, parties, movements, and businesses. We need to let go of that shame. It has become an imperial luxury we can no longer afford. This war with Iran is the least popular new war in American history. But until we are willing to do more than just whine about it, and actually give material support to the candidates, parties, movements and businesses that explicitly oppose such wars, even if they are independent or from third parties, we can expect to continue going bankrupt while our taxes get used to blow up elementary schools with a.i.
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retreat
There is no easy victory in Iran, or any of Israel’s wars.
The three options are:
- Send in U.S. troops for long wars of attrition that bankrupt the U.S. taxpayer and unnecessarily kill stupendous numbers of people. (Going that route in Afghanistan wasted over $3 trillion, took 20 years, and ended up failing. Iran is much stronger militarily than Afghanistan.)
- Retreat and give up on having a U.S.-Israeli empire in the Middle East, and put that money into American well-being instead.
- Detonate a nuclear bomb and quite possibly end life on Earth.
Retreating, and thus giving up on imperialism and colonialism, is not just the only viable answer. It’s the only moral answer. That’s not because I’m a fringe lefty. This is mainstream opinion.
Israel’s attempt to colonize the Middle East and create “Greater Israel” is not a personal quirk of Netanyahu. It’s a longstanding, publicly stated military objective of even his “liberal opposition.” The only thing keeping this deranged fantasy alive is the U.S. taxpayer. Once the U.S. taxpayer decides they don’t owe Israel any more money, the wars grind instantly to a halt.
Why does the "Israel has a right to exist" line never apply to Iran, to Lebanon, to Greenland, to any other country that Israel or the U.S. is trying to conquer? Because our duopoly is bought by AIPAC, arms traders, big tech and oil billionaires who are making a fortune right now. You will almost never hear the “retreat” option even mentioned by a Democrat or Republican.
I distinctly remember in 2008 bands getting popular off of appropriating African music and saying in mainstream interviews that it was OK to do that now that we’re in a post-colonial period. This isn’t a criticism of any band or music, which I often loved. But since then people have woken up to the fact that we are not in a post-colonial period. We’re in the climax of the colonial period. Rubio just stated as much. We’re in a period in which the U.S. has the largest and most lethal military ever constructed, and even genocides are considered moderate.
In politics as in everything else, actions are always louder than words. Democratic opposition has been nothing but words. The past several years have proven that it’s not enough to support politicians who “say” they’re against genocide, or “say” they hate Trump or Netanyahu, but whose party still manage to enable their worst policies again and again.
We tolerate those worst policies - wars, genocides, militarized police, concentration camps, massive inflation, media censorship, mass surveillance, corporate bailouts, crackdowns on free speech, suspension of civil liberties - because they are sold as “emergency” measures. But if we make exceptions for their every “emergency,” then they will simply keep creating more “emergencies.”
The Ayatollah was assassinated and strategically it made no difference. Something similar would be true in the U.S. or Israel. Trump and Netanyahu are replaceable. Focusing all your energy on one or two human beings legitimizes the political careers of those one or two human beings, while enabling the system they epitomize to thrive while you’re distracted. Trump getting impeached, assassinated, or reaching the end of his term will not dismantle the American war machine.
At this point, just saying you hate Trump or Netanyahu is another imperial luxury we can't afford. It does nothing to dismantle the system they epitomize, and is strategically completely worthless. People like Trump and Netanyahu feed off of your hate. They monetize your hate. For them there is no such thing as bad publicity. What we need is a plan to get out of these wars. What we need is to support those trying to create that plan.
What we need now is lawmakers who do not take $1 from AIPAC, arms dealers or oil billionaires. If they are a Democrat, great. If they aren’t a Democrat, even better. We’re on the brink of WW3 between states with nuclear weapons. We’re out of time to dream about slowly persuading Democratic politicians, already being successfully bribed and blackmailed to commit the worst crimes humanity has ever invented, that they will somehow give up their fortune by being nice to them.
At this point, suggesting that the Green Party, Working Families Party, Socialist Party, or any other 3rd party is "unserious," or only exists to promote Trump, is an imperial luxury we can no longer afford. It is a mistake on many levels:
- If every single 3rd party voter in the last presidential election had voted instead for Harris, she would still have lost every single swing state by a large margin. Democrats are simply not popular.
- 3rd party candidates, not bought by AIPAC, weapons manufacturers, big tech or oil billionaires, are allowed to have policies that voters want. Democrats, overwhelmingly bought by AIPAC, weapons manufacturers, big tech and oil billionaires, are overwhelmingly not allowed.
- 3rd party candidates repeatedly show that they have a much better grasp of political reality than sitting politicians.
- The reply guy habit of saying that 3rd party candidates are not “serious” is a weak, defeatist, non-substantive attempt to sabotage 3rd party candidates so that voters give up on ever being represented in government.
- The fantasy that the Democratic Party is on the verge of magically reversing their business model and becoming a viable opposition to Netanyahu so far has absolutely zero evidence of being true.
- 3rd parties are unpopular until they become popular, as we see with the sudden rise of the Green Party in the UK in the past month.
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they are arms dealers
Democrats object to Trump not committing his war crimes through the proper channels. Sorry Democrats, there is no proper-channel way to mass murder children.
If our government confuses you, you may be misunderstanding their goals. They're arms dealers. More than half of Congress is personally invested in arms trading. The U.S. economy is propped up on war profiteering, regardless who's in power. Ongoing chaos and civil wars, in Iran, or anywhere, are more profitable than peace or safety.
A country with no nuclear weapons, who signed the nonproliferation treaty and submitted to UN inspections, attacked by a country with nuclear weapons, who refuses to sign the nonproliferation treaty, and refuses inspections, supported by both U.S. parties and corporate media. Message to the world? Get nuclear weapons or we attack.
Today’s politicians aren't like Eisenhower or Kennedy. Ours don't prioritize being liked, trusted, or admired. Not inspiring voters. Not winning elections. The priority is to confuse, overwhelm, and fatigue Americans so we can't form a coherent narrative about their actions. They're also paid to be the fall guys for the corporate world.
The percentage of Americans who actually believe what a Dem or Republican says has never been lower. Both parties are fully aware their support has collapsed. They're desperately arming themselves against dissent, and scrambling recklessly to make as much money as possible before the collapse is total.
War with Iran should be enough to discourage anyone still supporting the funding and arming of whatever deranged crimes stray into the fevered minds of the Israeli government and military. But alas, there's simply no reasoning with imperialists.
Once a Dem or Republican has convinced themself that mass murdering children is OK, as long as their country or party maintains dominance, then shame, dignity and logic no longer play a role. Just a twisted version of team spirit combined with the tremendous ability of the human mind for delusion, rationalization and denial.
Sudden economic crashes, runaway gas prices, environmental devastation, emergency suspension of civil liberties, emergency police measures, emergency surveillance, emergency government secrecy, emergency diversion of domestic funds to the military, and emergency bailouts for billionaires -- They're all expected in a Middle East war. Under either party such policies usually become permanent.
War is a gold mine for corporate news, fossil fuel, AI, police crackdowns, arms dealers, and U.S. politicians whose campaigns are funded by arms dealers. The Iran operation has already wasted years' worth of Pentagon budgets. But Dems and Republicans know they can just increase the Pentagon budget once again. They know the people who will pay the price will be the taxpayer, the soldier, and those being bombed and shot.
Our near-total delegitimatization and disregard of international laws, frameworks, and institutions has been achieved gradually and methodically by many successive U.S. governments, and by both liberal and conservative corporate media. It reached a new peak when Biden declared himself OK to commit the supreme international crime of genocide. Trump has been running with that.
Since the DNC removed opposition to selective service from the party platform, it's more likely that your kids will be drafted into WW3 to kill Iranian or Chinese people for the sake of billionaire profits and apartheid.
Corporate media isn't in the business of learning lessons from Iraq. It's in the business of propagandizing things that bring short term financial gain to corporations. Including war crimes, mass murder, and global instability. And now most U.S. corporate media is owned by one person, someone explicitly dedicated to the liquidation of Palestinians.
Israel wants to conquer Iran, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Yemen. They feel the U.S. taxpayer owes them the money to carry it out. Dem politicians can't be counted on to oppose it. 2/3 are on AIPAC's payroll. The fact that Dem voter support for bombing Iran is at 7% is irrelevant.
To call Gavin Newsom a front-runner at this point is absurd. It suggests that somehow in a country of 350 million people, we can't find a single Democratic politician who shares the opinions of the average Democratic voter.
Why's it wrong to say globalize the intifada against genocide and apartheid, but it's OK, even mandatory, to globalize the genocide, and globalize the apartheid?
Why does international law get invoked not based on the frequency or severity of the crime, but on the skin tone or political party of the one committing the crime?
Our children will have better lives if we elect politicians who don't take money from AIPAC, fossil fuels, AI, or weapons manufacturers. If Dems and AIPAC continue crushing such candidates, we should take a cue from UK voters and turn en masse to the Green Party.
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Every day we wake up is another opportunity to either recommit to war criminals or to choose a sane path
The terrorist U.S./Israel attack on Iran comes as no surprise to anyone who has followed current events anytime in the last 20-odd years. Netanyahu has openly and repeatedly called for this war. It's part of Israel's plan to conquer neighboring countries and create "Greater Israel." Netanyahu's position is also not unusual in Israeli politics. His “liberal opposition” openly shares the same dream.
The fact that U.S. taxpayers are the ones forced to fund this attack is also no surprise. Most national level U.S. lawmakers of both parties are bribed by AIPAC to unconditionally support any and all of the wishes of Israel's government, in return for Israel being the U.S.’s military command post in the Middle East. This support comes in the form of years of weapons, lies, U.N. Security Council vetoes, biased reporting, and stupendous amounts of ordinary Americans' money.
What has made this latest catastrophe possible is a relentless propaganda narrative about Iranians being the world's arch-villains. The ground was methodically laid by years of speeches by Netanyahu as well as his political "opponents," as well as years of speeches by both Democratic and Republican politicians in the U.S. Kamala Harris famously called Iran the U.S.’s greatest enemy.
The fact that this war is completely illegal should also come as no surprise. We have Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Anthony Blinken, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Party, legions of Dem apologists, and corporate media to thank for the total normalization of international war crimes, as long as they are committed by the U.S. and Israel. They are the ones who rolled out the red carpet for Trump's lawbreaking.
Unlike invading Iraq, in which Bush and Cheney had to work hard to sell their fiction to the American public, the U.S. government no longer even bothers. Iran has no nuclear weapons and is no threat to the U.S. The U.S. had a nuclear agreement with Iran and Trump tore it up. Cue the Democrat standing ovation for Trump's lies about Iran's nuclear threat. This is unvarnished terrorism for profit, pure and simple.
This is also not about bringing democracy to the Iranian people, whom the U.S. and Israel are now murdering. Iranian democracy would mean that the will of the Iranian population would prevail, and the Iranian people have every reason to hate Israel and the U.S. What the imperialists want is to prevent Iranian democracy, and install a puppet regime willing to be subservient to U.S. capitalism and Israeli apartheid.
For all the Democrat/Republican/Israeli boasts about their own "lethality," the chances of "winning" this war and getting the Iranian population to submit to a pro-American, pro-corporate system willing to join up with Israel’s hatred of Islam are obviously zero. If we couldn't win in Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq, we can hardly be expected to prevail against a modernized, industrialized, militarized country of 92 million people.
"Winning" is not the actual goal. Mass killing has become a sort of casino for the rich and powerful. They risk their customers' and taxpayers' money on what they hope will be the prolongation, or better yet, escalation, of their genocides, civil wars and imperial conquests.
This includes "progressives" like AOC who vote to fund Israel's "defensive" weapons, which magically transform into "offensive" weapons whenever the mood strikes Benjamin Netanyahu or the IDF. There is nothing "defensive" about Israel's war crimes in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen or Iran. And none of them could be carried out without the massive infusions of ordinary Americans' income being diverted away from their own well-being and to the government of Israel.
Although some of them may quibble with certain procedural issues, the Bezoses, Trumps, Schumers, Theils, Eks, and Newsoms of the world want you to think that A.I.-assisted military adventures and genocides are a safe bet, a sound investment in American prosperity. In fact they risk Jewish safety, Israeli safety, American deaths, American bankruptcy, ecological collapse, world war, and nuclear Armageddon. Almost the entire world opposes our continuous lawlessness, and the outcomes of these global controversies are still very much up in the air.
The greatest threat to world peace is the U.S.A. This didn't start with Trump. Since the end of WW2, we've had the largest military in human history, and both parties publicly brag about its "lethality." Our military bases span the globe and hold the entire human race at gunpoint. Our sanctions, military actions, and C.I.A. have murdered over 100 million human beings in that time. And for the past 20 years, our most important partner in the killing has been another country with nuclear weapons: Israel.
Contemporary violence is being increasingly entrusted to A.I. weapons, for those who can afford it. The goal is more profitable war-making, more efficient genocides, and an expanded prison population. The main testing grounds have been Gaza, Ukraine, and ICE. Big Tech that ordinary people use every day, including OpenAI, Amazon, and Google, are collaborating with the U.S. government to make this reality possible.
A.I. takes human emotion out of the equation of mass killing. A.I. is shown to recommend nuclear war in 95% of war game tests. It's up to all of us to bankrupt military A.I. companies like Palantir (U.S.) and Elbit Systems (Israel) that risk blowing up the world. We also need to stop using companies like Amazon and Spotify that are heavily invested in A.I. warfare, which is why Deerhoof has quit both. We also need to stop voting for politicians of either party who support A.I.-assisted violence by ICE, police, or the U.S. military.
Every day we wake up, it's another opportunity to either recommit to war criminals or to choose a sane path. For anyone -- politician, pundit, or taxpayer -- who is not on board with Israel's psychopathic plan for the violent and criminal expansion of their racist apartheid state, and escalating world war, now would be a good time to withdraw your support.
To any politician still approving funding to Israel, taking money from AIPAC, or parroting Netanyahu's talking points: Your political career will improve by facing reality, meeting the moment, and changing course. To any voter still apologizing for Democrat or Republican politicians who fund these crimes: It's not too late to change your mind. And to those on the left who have been right this entire time: Do not give up.
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A WAR CRIMINAL IS ALWAYS THERE TO FILL IN YOUR BLANK SPACES
There's a huge, entrenched, inherently conservative, largely hidden team of "national security experts" that exists to pressure lawmakers to commit war crimes once they're in office. Candidates who didn't take a strong, moral, anti-racist stand on human rights and foreign policy during their campaigns are especially susceptible.
Many of the same Middle East hawks advised Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden. Their value system is consistent. Regardless of the personal beliefs of an individual politician, unless they’re known for a clear stand on human rights and foreign policy, they’ll end up defaulting to traditional imperialist doctrine. Exactly what happened under Obama.
It’s crucial to demand more from our candidates. It's a mistake to fantasize that you know candidates personally and just hope for the best, when they don't actually take a clear stand on ICE, genocide, billionaires, immigration, healthcare, fossil fuels, world war, or any other human rights issues.
Overtly pro-billionaire, pro-ICE, pro-genocide candidates like Newsom and Harris obviously don't stand a chance. But also many "progressives" are notoriously weak on human rights and foreign policy. Warren gives Trump a standing ovation for his Iran policy. It's confirmed that AOC lied when she said Biden was "working tirelessly for a ceasefire."
Actions are louder than words. Someone who says they don't "want" a genocide but still gives funds or votes to the ones committing it, is still liable. Creating rewards for genocide makes it more likely. Refusing to report genocide accurately actively normalizes it.
Our system deliberately makes resisting genocide difficult. There are strong incentives and punishments. "Not wanting" a genocide is not enough. We need incentives for resisting genocide. That means strikes, boycotts, and refusing to vote for Israel-funding candidates. The same is true for all the big issues facing our species where Dems are falling short: ICE, taxing billionaires, genocide, AI, imperial war-making.
By investing taxpayer money in genocide, you do more than just become an accomplice. Insidiously, you also tie Americans' personal finances, against their will, to the success of those enterprises. It creates an artificial incentive among taxpayers to want those projects to succeed, now and into the future. It’s investing our own futures in evil.
Harris and the DNC handed us Trump by being unwilling to compromise on genocide. That's no reason to try and make people stop caring about genocide. It's not a reason for Dems to try to be more like Trump. Trump is very unpopular. It's a reason for the DNC to reinvest in human rights and human values, or move aside for those who have the courage to do so.
Billionaires talk politics whether they seem to or not. Their criminal agenda is promoted non-stop through the politicians, networks, newspapers, entertainment companies, and marketing teams they own. Resisting oligarchy means delegitimizing these outlets, not just by ignoring them, but by relentlessly fighting back with sane talking points that aren't written by billionaires.
For example, If the U.S. federal government now makes the policies that determine who lives and who dies in Iran, Cuba, Gaza, and Venezuela, then to me it’s only logical that the populations of Iran, Cuba, Gaza, and Venezuela should be allowed to vote in U.S. elections.
For example, If the CEOs of tech companies, weapons companies, oil companies and finance companies write U.S. policy, then it's only logical that we all be allowed to vote for who becomes CEO of those companies.
For example, Newsom suggesting that Dems need to become more "normal" is hardly a reason to back genocide or ICE or billionaires like he does. Most humans don't support genocide or ICE or billionaires like he does. Most humans don't enjoy wrecking encampments like he does.
For example, how is calling it "antisemitic" to criticize the Israeli government for committing premeditated, racially motivated mass murder any different from saying that Judaism is inherently genocidal and evil? How is it any less antisemitic than the Proud Boys? Saying that you stand with Israel or want Israel to exist, and the only way to make that happen is by liquidating the indigenous population, is not a philosophy most humans will ever get behind.
Whether we just want to avoid a Vance presidency, or want remove the far right from power permanently, the way to do it would be run popular candidates who align with human rights and inspire people to vote for them, not take their orders from AIPAC, ICE, and billionaires.
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not rocket science
The best predictor we had for what the billionaires expected Trump to do as president is what those same billionaires expected Biden to do when he was president, only intensified: prioritize Wall St, corporate profits, weapons systems, AI, the police state, the military, and border control. In other words exactly what happened. And if these same billionaires are allowed to stay in charge, the best predictor of what the next president will do is what the current one is doing, only intensified.
If we don’t like the sound of that, and in our efforts to fight the increasingly violent and unfair policies of our government, we look for global, historical comparisons, the most obvious comparison of how the government operates under the current president is obviously how the government operated under the last president. From there, the closest comparisons would be to look further back into U.S. history.
From the beginning, this country has been organized around an extreme form of capitalism, around slavery, and around genocide. Because these historical facts have barely been reckoned with in a substantive way by the American mainstream, they still guide the culture and policy of the country. So the best strategies and examples for opposing American violence and injustice are to be found right here, within the ongoing history of U.S. dissent.
Comparing Trump to Hitler can also be interesting, but useful only up to a point. The Third Reich was not an aging, decadent superpower. It was an attempt to build an impoverished, hated country back after its humiliating defeat in WWI. Hitler had no impunity to commit war crimes. The world currency was not the Deutschmark. He had to repeatedly trick other world leaders into believing that Germany was an aggrieved party, justified in its conquests, each of which was sold to them as his last. He had to convince the world that Austria wanted to be united with Germany, and that Czeckoslovakia, Norway, Lithuaniana, and Poland had German minorities that were being violently oppressed and needed to be saved. It was all lies, but my point is that this dynamic was completely different from the U.S. now, or at any time in our history.
If we are looking for foreign historical comparisons, the most helpful ones would be the bloated empires of the past — other empires that punished other nations for nothing more than getting in the way of their own imperial aggrandizement, empires that enslaved people, empires that committed genocides with impunity, empires that ultimately collapsed. Going in reverse chronological order, that would be the British empire, the Hapsburg empire, the Dutch empire, the Iberian empires, the Venetian empire, and the Roman empire. All of which imploded for the same reasons: military overextension, overfinancialization of the economy, an unsustainable gap between rich and poor, and rebellions / mutinies / independence movements in their client states, conquered territories, military opponents, and own armed forces.
What are the lessons we can learn from this history? To avoid utter ruin, the population within the imperial core must take control away from its tiny ruling class elite, and reverse the military overextension, reverse the overfinancialization of the economy, close the unsustainable gap between rich and poor, and grant independence, freedom, and reparations to current client states, conquered states, military opponents, and veterans.
Our other option is simply to wait for our empire to end in the usual way: military defeat, the popping of economic bubbles, and the resulting utter ruin and mass death.
Although it is not the most historically effective way, the most commonly talked about way to defeat the imperialist elite who would bring this disaster upon the U.S. is through elections. But this is only possible if there are viable anti-imperialist candidates. Otherwise the U.S. will continue to follow its rather predictable course, leading to its collapse.
Understanding what voters want from their leaders is hardly rocket science. Americans, and Dem voters in particular, have had enough of politicians controlled by billionaires. They want a livable planet for their children. They want Medicare For All. They want abortion legalized. They want the war on trans people stopped. They want minimum wage raised. And they don’t feel that they owe any more money to ICE or Israeli genocide.
Going forward, it’s no longer going to be enough for Dem politicians to appeal to ordinary Americans with words. Right now the party is behaving as if it’s a greater offense to say that you support rape, torture, murder and pillage than it is to actually commit rape, torture, murder and pillage.
The most common tactic used against such Dems — public shaming — has proven less and less effective. I’d guess that a sense of dignity is pretty low on the priority list of most Dem politicians. It’s obviously not a priority whatsoever for most Republicans, but I think Dems have gradually joined them in having no shame about being hated / yelled at / the victim of memes.
Right now there is a lot of public energy warning Dems that their imperialist, pro-ICE, pro-genocide, pro-billionaire candidates are total non-starters and will almost surely lose. I of course completely agree. But this tactic assumes that Dems’ top priority is winning elections. I’m not so sure.
While winning elections may be a Dem goal, it’s probably no higher than fourth on their list of priorities. Their bigger priorities all have to do with money. First is DNC fundraising. They are a profit-seeking corporation after all. Second would be the personal comfort, wealth and safety of the individual career politicians themselves. Third would be returning favors to their corporate paymasters. So if our goal is to defeat the far right and stave off imperial collapse and utter ruin, threatening Dems with losing elections is not as going to be as effective a strategy as hitting them financially.
The first step is obvious. We can’t just threaten not to vote for imperialist, pro-ICE, pro-genocide, pro-billionaire candidates, but must refuse to donate to them, or even treat them as legitimate possibilities in any way. The next step is to put economic pressure on the billionaires and corporations that are underwriting those candidates. This is being done through boycotts, strikes, and lawsuits. Third step would be to join those donating what money/time/energy/endorsements they have to candidates and parties that actively oppose imperialism, ICE, genocide, and billionaires.