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The Bio Fantasy Tours
musings, anecdotes, hot takes, relevant documents, and glib generalities
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TRAVEL OBSERVATIONS
Everywhere we travel on this tour, it’s the same, familiar political situation: the so-called liberal party has abandoned the left and the population is suffering more as a result, the so-called liberal party’s support has collapsed, and fascism is getting a field day. Anybody who still believes that so-called liberal politicians compromise with the far right “to win votes” is truly a fool. This fascist comeback we are all enduring is absolutely deliberate, and so-called liberals are helping it right along. The left are the only ones standing in the way.
Why fascism specifically? Not because some new evidence has come to light proving the inherent superiority of caucasians (or Jews, as the case may be). Rather, every other excuse for continuing our politico-economic system has crumbled to dust. Now that so much “Western civilization” sweet-talking has been exposed as lies, many desperate whites cling to any idea, no matter how preposterous, that might maintain what remains of their privilege. Latter-day white supremacy is the last throes of the denial that our politico-economic system was a mistake.
The function of camera-hog extremists like Trump, Netanyahu, and the IDF’s most visible sadists, is to repeatedly distract from the banal, everyday violence inherent to our political systems. They legitimize things like genocide by being extra-bad apples at it, so that so-called liberals can swoop in as the less offensive, more competent administrators of the very same genocide.
Today's lesser-evil liberalism is no more than a facade, disguising a barbarism as genocidal and racist as the far right. The so-called liberal’s role is to make genocide, apartheid, and mass rape more palatable. They’re the polite face of atrocity. They’re here to keep abandoned, angry populations quiet, by self-righteously accusing anyone who dislikes war crimes of being a racist, or worse, a litmus tester. The far right staves off impending revolution a little longer with violence and fear, the so-called liberals stave off impending revolution a little longer with pacification and guilt-tripping.
Ever notice how it’s always “Trump’s ICE,” “Trump’s Middle East wars,” “Trump’s racism,” “Trump’s outrageous Pentagon budget,” “Trump’s tax breaks for billionaires,” “Trump’s climate destruction,” “Trump’s attack on international law,” “Trump’s attack on democracy”…as if all these things weren’t the ordinary, everyday features of our politico-economic system, consistently supported and sustained by both parties?
For example, when Republicans interfere with basic electoral processes by redistricting, that’s a clear attack on democracy. But when so many Dems take AIPAC money and the party refuses to stop this foreign interference in our elections, that’s also a clear attack on democracy. When the Democratic party illegally prevents candidates or parties to their left from getting on ballots or participating in debates, that’s an attack on democracy. When Dem politicians consistently enable policies that are the direct opposite of the good policies voters want and need, that’s an attack on democracy.
On the plane I watched our friend Michael Shannon star in Nuremburg. The historical lesson was crystal clear. The Holocaust happened because people let it happen. Because they didn't stand up until it was too late. After the Holocaust, the tribunal was based on a few simple principles: All must be answerable to the law. Civilization can afford no compromise by dealing ambiguously or indecisively with genocides, military conquests, and war crimes. When governments commit crimes so calculated, so malignant and so devastating, civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because civilization cannot survive their being repeated. This is of course even truer now, with the looming threat of WWIII between nuclear-armed states than it was at the end of WWII.
After the Holocaust, the world created laws to make sure genocide would never be allowed to happen again. That worthy achievement is exactly what Democrats, Republicans and Israel are systematically dismantling before our eyes. The frameworks, institutions and consequences created to ensure the peace of world are now being demolished with the help of so-called liberals, in order to make an exception for Israel, because Israel’s violence is profitable to certain sectors of the so-called liberal economy.
If you care enough about the Holocaust to study its history, you know that Joe Biden and his team belong at the Hague. The Nuremberg laws were created to prevent genocide under any circumstances. No exceptions for revenge, no exceptions if you are traumatized, no exceptions if your economy is propped up on weapons sales. Israel, the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party are collaborating to throw those lessons and frameworks and international agreements from the aftermath of the Holocaust into the garbage. Together they defile the memory of the Holocaust and its victims.
When we say Chuck Schumer, Hakim Jeffries, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, their cabinet and spokespeople are sell-outs, we don’t just mean they are corrupt or greedy. We mean that they are literal war criminals. They will go down in history as having assisted the attempted annihilation of an entire ethnicity. They are living symbols of racial hatred, terrorism, and profitable violence. Their crimes are so malignant, repulsive, and evil that people have been hanged for less.
The lesson so-called liberals are now taking from the Holocaust isn’t that genocide is wrong, but that you have to look sad when you do it. Trump and Netanyahu offend so-called liberals because they smile as they kill. They violate the codes of etiquette that govern the liquidation of peoples. The fact that neither Israelis nor Americans are safer as a result of their governments’ ceaseless violence is not the issue. The breaking of international laws meant to prevent future holocausts is not the issue. In fact those laws apparently deserve to be broken, and using your money.
Voting records are clear. Today’s so-called liberals stand for nothing less than profitable genocide, profitable slavery, profitable rape centers, profitable computerization of mass killing, profitable land theft and resulting real estate deals, profitable ICE raids, profitable apartheid, and profitable demolition of international laws put in place after the Holocaust. They stand for funding and investing in the murder of journalists, doctors, teachers and aid workers. So-called liberals are building a world in which even the vilest criminals face no consequences. And they will probably succeed, because they have a friend in the White House.
When a so-called liberal says they intend to continue the good work that Biden or Obama did, they are saying they believe that there shouldn’t be any rules governing the use of force on Earth. This is your indication that they are comfortable with the world as it is. They are comfortable with its inhabitants being slaughtered, so that their billionaire donors don’t get annoyed. Society collapses while the war machine gets more and more of your income.
Current so-called liberals are also comfortable losing elections to the far right. This way they can continue to raise money off of scaremongering. They can sustain the bipartisan policies of bombing Middle Eastern countries, enslaving incarcerated Americans and Congolese children, building up ICE and the police and the Pentagon and the border wall, while letting Trump or whoever currently leads the far right take the PR hit. No matter how far off the deep end the latest far right policy goes, you can count on so-called liberals to insist we must meet the fascists halfway.
In fact current so-called liberals themselves fulfill the key definitions of fascism. They promote, sustain and defend genocide, illegal invasions, crimes against humanity, enslavement, torture, apartheid, and forced starvation. They pass policies that are the opposite of what their voters want. “But at least they’re not fascist.” Liberal “rights” are meaningless when they can be swiped away in a flash whenever there’s an “emergency,” and the people creating and declaring the emergencies are the same people doing the swiping. Liberal “hope” is meaningless when the world is this close to nuclear armageddon and environmental collapse.
Today’s nation-states offer voters a choice between genocide deniers and genocide champions. You’re asked to argue which style of genocider is worse, and then pick the other one. Then feel self-righteous about having just enabled the worst crime humans have ever invented. Only the left offers any alternative. Their policies are popular, but the war criminals often succeed in tricking voters into believing that it is an unrealistic pipe dream to support policies, candidates, or parties that are remotely humane or sustainable.
How is this situation possible? Opposing genocide is hardly a lefty fringe policy. It’s not “going too far.” Talking about genocide is not “being too strident.” What’s going too far is genocide. What’s strident is genocide. Genocide is an extreme-right fringe policy, regardless where the person in charge has a “D” next to their name. Most people on Earth are absolutely disgusted by it and rightly so.
What makes this absurd situation possible, at least in the U.S., is simply that our political system runs on legalized bribery. Someone with lots of money offers to finance your campaign in return for an agreement that you will do as you are told. If you don’t, the superPAC or corporate lobbyist representing Big Oil, Big Tech, Israel, or the military industrial complex, will simply fund your opponent’s campaign.
Obviously the only hope of a candidate representing voters’ interests is if their backbone is stronger than their desperation for campaign funds. If a politician has already proven themselves susceptible to corporate or military influence, they can never again be trusted. The pressure on a politician from war profiteers doesn’t magically decrease when they reach some higher point on the totem pole of power. Exactly the opposite.
The field of so-called liberal politicians is littered with sell-outs. AOC has already folded. She epitomizes the politician who campaigns on values matching those of voters, only to have those values crushed once they attain power. AOC has pivoted from being a member of the left, to dismissing the left as people who are never satisfied. In this, she apparently is referring to the majority of her own voters, who hold the outrageous fringe belief is that genocide is bad. We can do better than that. A lot better.
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REFLECTIONS ON I SWEAR
I Swear was a great movie experience for me. Highly recommended. As someone who has Tourette’s Syndrome, it was a tremendously rare and emotional experience to see someone like me portrayed sympathetically in a movie. Basically never happens, certainly never this convincingly. I felt seen and understood and touched. It’s a tear-jerker. I also thought it might be worth trying compare the experience of the protagonist with my own, which is a little different.
The fact that the main character in I Swear has such a severe case of Tourette’s Syndrome helps make the movie’s educational purpose crystal clear. At the same time, most people with Tourette's Syndrome have milder cases. In my case there are many differences with the experiences portrayed onscreen. The most obvious is that I've never been subjected to the kind of violence and level of humiliation that he has. It brought home how lucky I’ve been to have the family and friends I’ve had.
Because his case was severe, its onset was clear, if misunderstood. He and his family knew something was strange right away. He understood very quickly that he was behaving in ways he couldn't help. In my case, years went by before I really understood and believed that my tics were beyond my control. This is partly because my milder case allowed me to suppress them for a time, leading me to wonder if my tics weren’t just “bad habits” that I just wasn't trying hard enough to control.
Among the blessings and curses of his severe case was the fact that for him a diagnosis came sooner. For me, it was 10 years from the point where I started having tics until I was able to acknowledge to myself that I was different. Eventually my dad read something in a newspaper about Tourette's Syndrome and thought "This is Greg." I was already in college. Diagnosis was nothing more than describing my symptoms to a doctor and him saying "Yep, sounds like Tourette's."
Another fascinating characteristic of the movie's protagonist, at least as portrayed in this fictionalized account, is the extreme contrast between his maximally offensive and violent tics, and his seemingly angelic personality. While it’s fun to identify with him and imagine that I too am perfect, most people with Tourette’s are just as capable of vices, meanness and mistakes as anyone else.
The educational theme of the movie, stated explicitly at one point, is that those encountering someone with Tourette's Syndrome should ignore the tics, as they do not represent the feelings, wishes, beliefs, intentions, or attitude of the person with the condition. For someone with a milder case, this distinction has always felt much less cut and dried. I'm about to turn 57 and still can't really say where Tourette's ends and my personality begins.
One thing I really appreciated about I Swear was a hospital scene in which the main character could not resist aggravating his own injuries. This really rang true. I also really appreciated how easy it was to see and empathize with how mentally and physically exhausted someone with Tourette's can be, not only from the tics, but the energy it takes to try and suppress them. Although the movie didn’t emphasize this, so many of us treasure our alone time where the mask can come off.
For anyone who knows me it should go without saying that I didn’t identify whatsoever with the emotional hay the story made of his being awarded some gong from a criminal, entitled, superrich figurehead. Vindication and acceptance can come in many forms and most of us aren’t going to get it from a queen and wouldn’t even be interested.
It is entirely understandable that the possibility of drugs or devices that reduce tics would be a welcome relief for this character and many, many like him. For many others like me, the losses can seem to outweigh the gains. I was prescribed some pills after my diagnosis, and was disappointed to discover that while my tics calmed down, so did my creative spark, my silliness, my explosive personality, and my tendency to concentrate intensely and almost endlessly on something I was doing. I stopped taking them after a maybe a month and never looked back.
The movie showed how the tics can tend to calm down under certain circumstances, such as being around someone deeply trusted, or being fully engaged in an all-consuming activity. They go away entirely during sleep. At the same time everyone is unique and that is no less true when it comes to Tourette’s Syndrome. Some people have ADHD, OCD, or Asperger’s symptoms. Personally I think I’m very obsessive but have no ADHD. Like most people with Tourette’s, I don’t have coprolalia. I find that activities that take all of my concentration, like playing the drums, give me relief from tics, while nevertheless seeming to be influenced by the character of my tics. It is confusing.
Unsurprisingly for this movie (or for any movie or TV show or instagram clip), the music overemphasized the lyrical and the melancholy in an effort to jerk tears. It’s not that I or anyone with Tourette’s Syndrome is incapable of the same lyrical or melancholy moods as everyone else. But if the goal was to elucidate those feelings and sensations and impulses that are unique to those with Tourette’s Syndrome, it might have been nice for the soundtrack to try and conjure something of the unsettled, uncomfortable, almost electric quality that is more or less present all the time for someone with this condition.
- GREG, AMATEUR MOVIE CRITIC
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THE RICH AND POWERFUL ARE DERANGED SURVIVALISTS
If the actions and policies of U.S. and Israeli politicians confuse you, you may be misunderstanding their purpose.
The rich and powerful are fully aware that human civilization is collapsing. They are the ones deliberately causing the collapse. What they are doing is hoarding wealth and amassing weapons for one purpose: to save their own skin.
why anger and shaming alone are no longer winning strategies
Anger and shaming are valid emotions but we should remember that our leaders are already perfectly comfortable with them. Trump loves controversy and has profited immensely from it. The system they uphold can withstand anger and shaming easily. It monetizes them, uses them as propaganda, and uses them as pretexts for more attacks.
why warning lawmakers of an apocalypse is not a winning strategy
Those causing the apocalypse are aware they are causing an apocalypse. They are simply betting on being the ones to survive it. That’s why they are hoarding resources and amassing weapons. It’s why so many of them are invested in arms and engaged in insider trading.
why calling our leaders illogical or immoral may be valid, but is ineffective
Nihilists don’t have values to bruise. They have adjusted their psyches to be comfortable with lying, cheating, stealing, killing, raping and torturing. They gave up trying to be logical or moral a long time ago. They see an epic conflagration coming and they want to be the winners.
why calling our leaders corrupt or criminal may be true, but is ineffective
They are the ones breaking the laws and taking the bribes. They know better than anyone that our political system and policies are illegal and corrupt. They are not planning to start following laws again once the current emergency is over. Their strategy is to buy control of the legal system that would prosecute them. Their strategy is to dismantle the legal frameworks that humans have built to allocate consequences.
Weapons CEOs are not trying to defend America or defend democracy or defend civilization.
They already know America’s collapse is well underway. They know that the U.S. is not a democracy, and neither is the corporate world they live in. They are profiteering from chaos, hoping to be in the winners’ circle when the dust settles. That doesn’t necessarily mean military victory. It means stoking permanent conflict while continually increasing investments in weapons. It means hiding in a bunker when the surface of the Earth becomes unlivable for everyone else.
Tech billionaires know that AI will not save the U.S. economy or solve any of society’s problems.
They know AI data centers are obliterating our water supply and destroying the habitable environment. They know that AI is infringing on rights and degrading its users’ intelligence. AI is a weapon. Investment in AI is an investment in violence. AI weapons' ultimate purpose is to protect these billionaires against everyone else. The goal is not a strong economy or better society. The goal is for them to survive the apocalypse they are actively causing.
Fossil fuel billionaires know that more domestic drilling is not a permanent solution to endless conflicts over oil.
Oil is a finite resource and it is running out. Oil companies’ purpose is not saving America. Their purpose is to prevent a transition to sustainable energy. Their purpose is hoarding, in preparation for collapse.
Today’s rich and powerful are aware of famines.
They know that scientific consensus has warned that global starvation is coming soon. They read the same headlines we all do. They are not trying to stop it. They are trying to make sure they will have food for themselves. They are hoarding resources and building protected enclaves on the bet that they will be the ones to survive.
Trump is not trying to make America great again.
And neither are Democrats. Every politician in DC knows that America will never be great again. What they are doing is trying to save their own skin in the revolution or world war they know is coming. Because this fact can no longer be hidden, someone must be willing to play the bad guy. Trump is currently the one performing that role.
Netanyahu is not trying to save Judaism.
Calling criticism of Israeli military policy “antisemitic” is a propaganda device to get everyone to fall in line with billionaire survivalists. What changed since October 2023 is that Israel realized they must give up on trying to appear moral. The violence that had previously been hidden from the American taxpayer who funds it could be hidden no longer. Netanyahu is currently the one willing to play the bad guy role for the sake of colonizing “Greater Israel.”
Israel’s publicly stated goal is the annihilation of its neighbors.
Investing in Israel means betting that Israel will succeed. Or at least betting that the wars will continue to be profitable. That’s not just war profiteering, but war crime profiteering. Using taxpayer or pension money for those illegal investments forces the average person into an awkward position. They now must also wish for the annihilation of Israel’s neighbors, whether they actually want that or not. Most Americans are repulsed by the idea.
Having personal ties to Israel is not a legal defense for genocide.
A war criminal is not your friend, even if they are a Democrat. It’s possible that some of them are nice people but simply clueless, due to living in a bubble of yes-men and sycophants and in an environment that has normalized war crimes. I suspect most commit their war crimes knowingly. They expect their gullible supporters to try and come up with some kind of clever defense for their actions, while the politicians themselves could not be reached for comment. They are not committing these war crimes on your behalf, nor on behalf of Jewish safety, nor American safety, nor democracy. They are committing them on behalf of themselves.
why lesser-evil voting is no longer appropriate
When both evils bet on the profitable collapse of civilization, lesser-evil voting means voting to collapse civilization. When both evils are comfortable with your death if it can mean their survival, lesser-evil voting means voting to sacrifice yourself for the sake of a politician. It means sacrificing yourself so that the world can stay at war and arms dealers can get richer. It means sacrificing yourself so that Israel can steal some more land for its apartheid state. Ask yourself is those are causes worth dying for.
It’s not that Democratic politicians don’t realize that they could win elections by saying “Free Palestine.”
They realize it. They don’t say it because they don’t want to free Palestine.
Any Dem politician could score instant political points by championing any number of popular policies.
“Stop funding Israel’s wars.” “Stop funding apartheid.” “Abolish ICE.” “Defund the police.” “No AI data centers.” “Forgive student loans.” “Medicare For All.” “Invest in clean energy.” “Tax the rich.” If you aren’t hearing your favorite politician say these things explicitly, it’s because they oppose them.
Just because a Dem politician wants to keep you in denial about the contradictions of capitalism doesn’t mean they are in denial about the contradictions of capitalism.
They know that an economic system that prioritizes greed and endless growth on a finite planet is unsustainable and self-destructive. They know that capitalism is now ending the possibility of civilized human life. They read the papers just like you do. What they are doing is preparing for that end by hoarding wealth and amassing weapons.
Anyone invested in war, capitalism, AI, or oil is telling you straight up that they are betting on the end of civilization.
But that doesn’t mean they are correct. A program of peace, justice, sanity, and international cooperation could also succeed. Such a program needs to be shown to be more popular. Such a program needs to be shown to be more sustainable and more fun.
The rich and powerful need to be convinced that they cannot remain rich and powerful on their current course.
They live in a bubble of no consequences, not even for war crimes. They need to see real legal and financial consequences, not just anger and shaming. They need to be defunded, boycotted, and striked against. They need to be defriended, sued, and prosecuted. They need to be unsubscribed from, switched off, and ignored. Their program of destruction needs to be delegitimized, disobeyed, and sabotaged. Their narratives need to be countered with the truth. Their destruction and hatred need to be countered with creation and love.
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BUSTED
The rules of nationalist hi-tech oil-centric militarist capitalism now demand that certain West Asian civilizations be wiped off the map. Billions of human beings may need to die in the eventual fallout. Trust me this is a good thing. It will help improve weapons profits and may bring down gas prices for Americans. Please don’t start talking about political parties that oppose nationalist high-tech oil-centric militarist capitalism because that would be impolite
This summer we've planned two Europe tours and one Asia tour, for which all flights and expenses have been paid. It’s unclear exactly how we’ll be able to do them when airlines have no fuel and the host countries’ economies are crashed, because of Amerisrael's wars. It’s unclear how we’ll be able to do them after a nuclear explosion.
Aren’t there some international rules, frameworks, agreements, or institutions that govern the use of force on our planet? Aren't there consequences for those who break them?
There used to be. The entire world watched as they were publicly and methodically dismantled by the Joe Biden administration. The left tried to stop it, warning of the obvious consequences. Their voices were silenced by electioneering “Democrats” who pronounced such warnings to be unserious. Or antisemitic.
The problem isn’t really Biden. It's not Netanyahu. It's not Trump.
People love to personalize evil policies. “Trump is evil and that’s why the world is the way it is."
Or people like to universalize evil. “Human nature is evil and that’s why the world is the way it is."
Both are comforting lies. We are allowing our politico-economic system to choose evil, again and again, every day.
The nationalist high-tech oil-centric militarist-capitalist system now destroying life on Earth needs people to make the laws to keep it alive. Fools like Biden, Netanyahu and Trump were simply the ones gullible enough to be impressed by the chance. They’re simply cowards enough to never admit a mistake. They live in a bubble of yes-men and ladder-climbers, buffered from reality. They’re kept in this bubble by sycophantic fans who would rather sacrifice human lives than allow their heroes to experience any legal or electoral consequences, or emotional discomfort.
This is what happens when you have two nationalist, pro-war, pro-capitalist, pro-billionaire, pro-ICE, pro-AI, pro-prison, pro-apartheid parties.
This is what happens when you have two parties that believe that ignoring the needs of their own voters is their divine right.
This is what happens when the two parties’ devotees insist that its leaders be shielded from any consequences.
Politicians who say they oppose Trump and don’t like Netanyahu, and then vote to fund or invest in Trump and Netanyahu’s initiatives for global destruction and apartheid, can be written off right now as ridiculous. Actions speak louder than stump speeches. Actions speak louder than campaign websites and fundraising emails. Actions speak louder than AI-enhanced PR images. Actions speak louder than marketing copy.
Capitalists have reached a point where they cannot increase profits any further without mass murder, and crippling debt for everyone lucky enough to survive. This is the logical, inevitable endpoint of capitalism’s contradictions and perverse incentives. The economic collapse we are all now enduring was not caused by Donald Trump. The specific form of extreme neoliberal capitalism he now presides over has been in place for some 50 years, racing towards this disaster while the left has tried to turn it around. This self-destructive economic system was never going to last forever. We're trying to stay alive during its final stage.
Even its leaders and beneficiaries know capitalism can’t last forever. They know it will be either be brought down in revolution or in world war. This is why they take your money and put it into the Pentagon, into ICE, into policing, into prisons, into border walls, into concentration camps, into mass surveillance, into nuclear arsenals. And into security detail and private jets and bunkers for themselves. They have planned for inevitable collapse while convincing you to focus on bathrooms and the name of the Kennedy Center.
Oppose nationalism and embrace internationalism. Defund the pentagon, ICE and the police. Dismantle capitalism. Join boycotts of Big Tech. Support candidates, parties, and businesses who align with your values. Stop being frightened into supporting candidates, parties and businesses that are trying to kill you. Stop letting this stupid game destroy the next generation’s chances for survival.
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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.