Fascists Won WWII: Hear Me Out

These times are so confusing. The candidate Democrats insist I must vote against in order to stop fascism just published an op-ed in The Hill, co-authored by RFK Jr., warning that we must avert nuclear war. I'll admit I did not have that on my bingo card for 2024.

As a writer I was struck by how well-written it was -- by a staffer or two no doubt. When running for office, candidates can employ good writers able to state large truths clearly and elegantly. But once in office, imperial war mongers must employ hacks to spin elaborate confabulations to conceal even small amounts of truth.

Nukes were first used on Japan allegedly to defeat fascism there (but really to warn the communist USSR that we had two different kinds ready and waiting to use on them). Then Nazi rocket scientists and Japanese biological warfare experts were whisked away to the U.S. to found NASA and work for the Pentagon.

The Nuremberg show trials helped goad the United Nations into declaring the final European settler colonial project as Zionists were given Palestine.

Italian partisans fighting fascism in 1945

I'm reminded of something my friend told me her father said about fighting in Europe with the partisans.  Just as they had apparently defeated fascism, he said, the Zionists betrayed the socialist revolution and instead went for the land grab that is Israel.

Weaponizing antisemitism confused a lot of people, because the Nazis were emblematic of antisemitism taken to its murderous Final Solution. Generations of Jewish people around the globe were confused by slogans like "a land without a people for a people without a land."

But as the steadfast resistance of the Arab Palestinian generations denied Zionists their victory, technology ushered in real-time reporting from citizens watching their loved ones blown apart by the Israeli military and beset by pogroms conducted by violent settler militias.

https://x.com/NoorAbdelHaq1/status/1428359017873625090

Videos of gangs beating up on lone Palestinians is extremely reminiscent of depictions of Nazi violence against Jews in Europe, at least for this old history major. Sometimes the victims are Orthodox Jews in traditional clothing and ear locks, because they, too, oppose Zionism.

Young Jews aren't buying it. That's why police departments in the U.S. and Europe are beating the crap out of university students protesting the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Often at the invitation of university officials. That's also why universities came back strong this fall with attacks on student freedom of speech and assembly. It's the fascist playbook, is it not?

Other educators are busy "partnering" with war profiteers who now infest colleges and even high schools and middle schools. These are often presented as exciting STEM initiatives that invite youngsters to admire robotic "dog" weapon systems, or thermal imaging gadgets used to locate warm human bodies to murder.

Fascist leader of Italy Mussolini thought this sort of thing ought to be called "corporatism" i.e. the marriage of state and business interests. Neoliberals in the U.S. like to call it "public-private partnership." But fascism is much more to the point and it fits so much better in headlines.

Controlling information is a key element for fascism to continue succeeding. Silicon Valley's social media products exist for this precise reason, with accounts going dark all over Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Even TikTok has now banned RT and Sputnik accounts after the U.S. engineered a takeover if they wanted to be able to operate in the U.S. The EU is on board and apparently so is the UN.

https://x.com/samhusseini/status/1837844183056351647

So I conclude that, though they may have pretended to lose, fascists actually won WWII. And more significantly, they're now poised on the brink of a life ending WWIII with nukes all round. 

In the words of the great WWII film Underground (Podzemlje), f the motherf'ing fascists.

Things Your Corporate Government & Its Media Don't Want You To Know

What, no Labor Day post? You all know that Labor Day was created by the U.S. in order to delegitimize the longstanding international day of worker solidarity, May 1. Right? If you didn't know that, join the crowd. Your access to true facts and reliable information has been constrained since the day you were born. And it's getting worse at warp speed as genocide in Gaza kicks off what is undoubtedly the early stage of a third world war.

Ten things your corporate government and its media do not want you to know:

https://x.com/muhammadshehad2/status/1830159889714315753

1) Hundreds of thousands turned out in demonstrations against the Israeli government's genocide in Gaza taking place amid a general strike that a labor court just ruled must end today, accepting the government's argument that is is "politically motivated." The trigger: six hostages found newly dead by Israeli soldiers, deaths that many in Israel blame on their own government.

https://open.substack.com/pub/husseini/p/israel-wanted-disease-and-genocide

2) Polio vaccinations for Gaza are an elaborate public relations ruse aimed at repairing Israel's reputation in the world, but they are medically unsound due to the oral vaccine being used and the underlying health conditions of Palestinian children.

https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-troops-expel-palestinians-in-jenin-as-bloody-west-bank-assault-enters-sixth-day

3) Israel has expanded its genocidal attacks to include residences, refugee camps, and schools in the occupied West Bank this week, meeting with fierce resistance.

4) Journalists arrested or harassed by Western governments now include Scott Ritter, Richard Medhurst, and Sarah Wilkinson. Wilkinson was arrested and had her devices confiscated by 16 goons in black balaclavas who accused her of terrorism for two retweets she posted, according to her daughter. And the Cradle reported August 30 on a related arrest:

Richard Barnard, the cofounder of pro-Palestinian activist group, Palestine Action, was charged under the Terrorism Act by UK police on 29 August. Barnard is being accused of “expressing an opinion that is supportive of a proscribed organization contrary to section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000.” 

VP Kamala Harris shared in an interview with CNN that she favors censorship on the Facebook and Twitter platforms. Meanwhile, Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested in France for refusing to allow governments to remove encryption on that popular news-sharing platform. TikTok came under attack in the U.S. earlier this year when Congress ordered it to sell out to Western ownership or be banned.

5) Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein with VP Dr. Butch Ware are polling equal to the Democratic candidates among Muslim voters.

6) The Green Party has ballot access for Stein-Ware in 41 states, making it eligible to earn 500+ electoral college votes (260 are needed to win in November). Newsweek magazine published a deliberately false map about this, then revised it under pressure, but the revision is still far from correct.

7) Ukraine continues losing ground as Russia took out much of the country's electricity infrastructure this week. This is retaliation for Ukraine striking civilian targets inside Russia and in the face of Russia's willing to negotiate a ceasefire. Another consequence of NATO/Ukraine escalation is that Russia is reviewing its nuclear weapons use policies.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_Y6BOxPDtX/

8) Israeli genocide profiteer Elbit Systems has shut down a facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts due to relentless pressure from pro Palestine activists. 

9) Columbia University protesters who occupied and renamed Hind Hall last spring have had their charges dropped because they masked up and also covered many surveillance cameras, leading a judge to say it was impossible to use the CCTV footage to identify individuals. Colleges are mostly back and arrests are already occurring as students pick up where they left off vigorously opposing their universities' complicity in Israel's genocide.

10) Many of the U.S. Navy's vessels are currently deployed to support the blockade of Gaza. Meanwhile, the Navy is considering sidelining 17 support vessels due to a lack of personnel to operate the ships.

Need better sources of information for yourself? Check out the ones I've linked to in this post. And share good ones you know about in the comments!

Sifting Through Reports On War In Ukraine And Nuclear Weapons

A U.S. B-52 strategic bomber. Khalil Mazraawi/AFP via Getty Images

Maybe the reason I get called a "mouthpiece for Putin" a lot these days is that I've been writing commentary like this for years:

Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of Russia Security Council: "The American state is just a shell for a conglomerate of huge corporations that rule the country and try to dominate the world. For transnational corporations, even US presidents are just extras who can be shut up, like Trump. All four assassinations of American leaders are connected to the corporate trail. It is no coincidence that a growing number of Americans are saying that Republicans and Democrats are just two actors in one play that has nothing to do with democracy. The American authorities, merged with big business, serve the interests of transnational corporations, including the military-industrial complex. The assertive foreign policy of the White House, the unbridled aggressiveness of NATO, the emergence of the military bloc AUKUS and others are also a consequence of corporate influence. The draft American budget for 2023 is the best evidence of Washington's plans to unleash new wars to the detriment of the well-being of its own citizens."

The unprecedented information control around what is developing into WW3 with the U.S. and its (sometimes reluctant) NATO partners threatening Russia, China, and Iran makes it hard for people in my country to know what's going on.

Original collage by James Fangboner (left image), modified by me (see "Hating On ____ Is What Gives Life Meaning")

Orange man bad equals Putin bad equals Zelensky good is the analysis they're being fed by a media conglomerate that runs on the fuel of false dichotomy.

It used to be that I wasn't allowed to dissent on the wisdom of dumping $100 billion into arming and propping up Ukraine because I was doing Putin's work for him.

Then I was told I sounded like Tucker Carlson which liberals think is enough to silence anyone with a brain. (Never mind that Carlson has left-leaning intelligentsia like Aaron Mate and Glenn Greenwald on his show regularly.)

Currently the crime of people who oppose the war on Russia in Ukraine is that we sound like some of the most disparaged Republican members of Congress. Knowing that you might share the stated beliefs of someone like Marjorie Taylor Green is supposed to send you scurrying back to the safe haven of the Democrats.

The fact that both parties receive millions in donations from the very corporations who profit from the constant warmongering of the U.S. and NATO is not obscure, but mainstream propaganda never brings it up.

So forgive me if I say I don't give a fuck who I sound like, this war is 1) morally wrong; 2) gobbling up resources better spent making sure children in the U.S. don't sleep on the pavement and go hungry; and 3) uniquely dangerous as it staggers toward the use of nuclear weapons.

Nuclear forces are being moved into place in Europe and the Pacific region as you read this.

Photo : Twitter / @US_EUCOM

From the Instagram account of Russian media outfit Sputnik shared under the ominous headline:

US 'Doomsday Plane' Capable of Ordering World-Ending Nuclear Strikes Spotted in Europe

Is Sputnik biased? Of course. Is their information useful? It might very well be. They seem to share my concern that an all out nuclear war would destroy the cities where children in the U.S. sleep on the pavement.

Here's another ominous piece of news I found this week at the website zerohedge:

Air Force Relieves Six Leaders At Nuclear Base Over "Loss Of Confidence"

BY TYLER DURDEN

TUESDAY, FEB 28, 2023 - 12:45 PM

Six leaders, including two commanders and four of their subordinates, at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, were abruptly relieved of their duties "due to a loss of confidence," the US Air Force wrote in a press release Monday.  

Maj. Gen. Andrew J. Gebara, commander of the 8th Air Force, relieved Col. Gregory Mayer of the 5th Mission Support Group and Maj. Jonathan Welch of the 5th Logistics Readiness Squadron from their leadership positions at Minot AFB "due to a loss of confidence in their ability to complete their assigned duties." 

"These personnel actions were necessary to maintain the very high standards we demand of those units entrusted with supporting our Nation's nuclear mission," said Gebara.

Also, four subordinate leaders assigned to Minot AFB were relieved of their duties. 

"Eighth Force continues to safeguard global combat power and conduct around-the-clock strategic deterrence operations in a safe, secure and effective manner.

"Our mission is foundational to our Nation's defense, and we remain committed to the success of that no-fail mission," Gebara said.

Minot AFB is home to the 5th Bomb Wing, which falls under the 8th Air Force. The wing flies nuclear-capable Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers. The air base also has a missile wing that operates intercontinental ballistic missiles. 

Gebara did not explain what caused the loss in confidence among Minot AFB commanders entrusted with the nation's nuclear bombers and ICBMs. 

I found this item because it was shared on Twitter via the account of someone I follow on the basis of his bio (“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.” -Anatole French).

ahf (Tony) speculated: they didn't want to shoot balloons? or nuke Russia?

Several times in history nuclear war has been averted because individual military men refused to follow orders.

And don't think the Pentagon doesn't know that, even if they don't want you to know it.

Meanwhile, if you're not a U.S. Air Force nuclear weapons commander -- or even if you are -- all out on March 18 to say NO to war!

Garbage In, Garbage Out: The Nuclear Option

What we need: universal health care and urgent action on climate crisis.

What we get: a Democratic Party supported gargantuan Pentagon budget bill (and all the climate harm that goes along with it)

plus propaganda implying that nuclear war is survivable.

Link if embedded video doesn't work for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-5d7V4Sbqk

This message is from NYC Emergency Management, "not The Onion." It would be virtually impossible to parody something that is already this ridiculous.

Pretending that the nuclear option is a viable option is galloping ahead of our species' ability to survive. 

Part of this strategy is pretending that the nuclear option is survivable.

The claims in this video would not have been true in Hiroshima or Nagasaki 50 years ago, and they're even more false today. Today's nuclear weapons, which our corporate overlords have gone on building while people went without health care, are vastly more powerful than the old school versions. 

Meanwhile, sabre rattling at other nuclear powers is ramping up steadily.

Does it really matter which branch of the corporate duopoly is in power? 

Who Needs Consent Of The Governed When There Are Profits To Be Made? Maine's Rocket Launch Bill

Rocket launch site built at public expense in Kodiak, Alaska.

A local law with far reaching consequences snuck across the finish line this week in my state. The bill created a Maine Space Corporation, defined as a public-private partnership to facilitate establishing rocket launch sites in Vacationland. It was passed under the gavel i.e. without a roll call vote in the House, and will undoubtedly receive the governor's signature as Janet Mills, a neoliberal Democrat, is a consistent cheerleader for corporate looting of public resources.

Why Maine? Most types of orbit require launch sites nearer the equator, but polar orbits need launching nearer the poles. A local space watcher theorizes that the Pentagon is promoting the construction of many "private" launch sites at the expense of others, hoping to drive down the cost of paying to use them for military launches by creating competition. 

Certainly, rocket launch sites are proliferating all over the planet.

A group of us collaborated to ferret out the details of a bill that was rushed through the public hearing process of the IDEA legislative committee. That event was successfully managed to hear from those who plan to profit from the bill but a dismal failure at hearing from actual Maine taxpayers ("no one testified against the bill!" gloated supporters). Considering not a single article or television news story on the bill appeared until after the public hearing, those of us who would have testified about objections didn't know about it. We did of course then submit written testimony detailing our objections (which testimony you can read here).

During work sessions in committee, the bill received no fiscal note i.e. identification of expected costs to the public. One committee member reported the group was told that they would have to pass the bill to learn the eventual costs, another that the price tag would likely be $90 million.

 Two competing amendments further muddied the water as the bill passed out of committee with a divided report, two members voting no on any version and some voting "ought to pass" contingent upon one or the other of the amendments.

The amendment that was eventually adopted contains this gem of wholesale looting of public resources for private profits, couched of course in the impentrable language of bureaucratic fascism:

"removes the prohibition of public officials, members of the board of directors or employees of the corporation from acquiring or holding a direct or indirect financial or personal interest in a corporation activity, a corporation property or a contract or proposed contract in connection with a corporation activity."

My husband called to leave a message with our senator on the morning we had heard that the bill would be taken up after passing with no roll call vote in the House. According to the Senate office in Augusta, it had already passed the previous night.

In an email our senator, Brad Farrin, (one of 7 who voted no) commented:

I agree with your assessment of LD 1923 as many bills during this “emergency “ session are being rushed through without proper hearings and debate.

In addition to our website NoToxicRockets4ME, here is the one-pager we prepared for citizen lobbying efforts in advance of its passage:

"Explosion rocks SpaceX test launch site in Florida during test""

You might think that the state's big environmental organizations would have opposed this bill, but you would need to ask yourself first if they take money from the Democratic Party. You might also ask yourself why these organizations nationally have been so ineffectual in halting the extraction activities that are hastening us to climate chaos whether D's or R's are in control of the White House and Congress. (Hint: if it involves pushing back on the military, fugedaboudit.)

The only group successful at opposing the plan for rocket launches from the Maine coast was the lobster fishing community of tiny Jonesport. They rallied around and got a moratorium in place as one of the originators of the bill made plans to launch from an island smack dab in the middle of their fishing grounds. The rocket profiteer eventually dropped plans saying the public were misinformed but so stubborn that he'll look for a site in Florida instead.

Is the consent of the governed needed to put a good appearance on things? 

NIMBY efforts would lead us to say so, but the way LD 1923 was bum rushed through the legislative process suggests otherwise. This year Maine's governor has vetoed a slew of bills strongly supported by the people who voted for her, but she'll no doubt sign this one at the behest of her corporate sponsors.

She's counting on the fact that most in Maine will vote for her anyway, because the Republican is so awful.

Democrats may continue misconstruing that as "having the people's support," but my reading of history tends to suggest otherwise.

A staggering inflation rate for food and fuel, and no universal healthcare despite a ongoing pandemic, is what national Democratic leadership is offering up. 

Maybe the ruling class needs to keep building weapons while children go to bed hungry because they actually do know what happened to regimes that lost the consent of those they governed?

AUKUS Excludes, Angers France And It's Odd Because Acronym Cries Out For An F

Photo of Bush speech program folder source: @JebSprague (graphic overlay by me)

I've been watching with delight the news that rehabilitated (by the corporate media) war criminal President George W. Bush cannot speak in public without being confronted by veterans and their family members.

W's hecklers reported scattered boos but also complimentary responses from the audience and even police. 

Here is video of me shutting down George Bush last night.

The wars he started in the Middle East damaged the lives of so many. He wasted trillions of $ for nothing.

Meanwhile, he’s made tens of millions of $ in speaker fees since leaving office. Sick!pic.twitter.com/RqV7poonAz

— Jeb Sprague (@JebSprague) September 22, 2021

https://t.co/5ohAdxxBJk

— FREE PALESTINE (@MikePrysner) September 20, 2021

When Michelle Obama tells reporters that she and W are on friendly terms because "our values are the same," this must be inconvenient for the blaring narrative that there are huge, HUGE differences between the Democratic and Republican parties. But in the cult of personality surrounding the chief executive office of the U.S., a good smile for the cameras counts as a "value" I guess.

Fawning over the architect of the War on Terror is likely a needed counterweight to the public's vast dillusionment with the war on Afghanistan coming to an end (sort of). 

source: https://socialistchina.org/2021/09/22/aukus-a-dangerous-military-escalation-of-the-new-cold-war/

And the absurdly named AUKUS rises from its ashes.

The "security pact" to menace China in its own backyard has angered France due to the cancellation of a lucrative contract to build submarines for Australia. The Aussies will now purchase U.S.-made nuclear-powered submarines capable of launching nuclear weapons.

The nonsensical aspect of Australian "defence" menacing its chief trading partner is beautifully captured in this clip from the satirical show Utopia.

This is the kind of international relations we in the U.S. get when our Secretary of "Defense" just resigned and cashed out from the board of Raytheon. (And many of the Pentagon brass arrived through the revolving door from other big weapons manufacturers like General Dynamics, Boeing, and Northrup Grumann.)

When President Obama announced a "pivot to Asia" he was hampered by having to operate under the auspices of that belligerent alliance, NATO. China is just so inconveniently far from the North Atlantic. (As was Afghanistan. But, 9/11.)

In the intervening years, the U.S. has bullied Japan into dropping its post WW2 commitment to self-defense only and has continuously built up military bases in Okinawa, South Korea, and Australia.

War as a marketing scheme continues to make its purveyors filthy rich.

War as a lived experience continues to produce corpses, orphans, widows, PTSD, starvation, and massive contributions to climate chaos -- our biggest actual security threat.

Maybe this is why the People's Republic of China does not start wars?

Dems And Repubs Team Up To Profit From CMP Corridor Project

I fished my copy of this junk mail out of the trash.

I wanted to share the latest in deceptive advertising funded by big money interests promoting a loathsome clear cut through the northern Maine woods. 

Photo credit: Joel Dorr

Miles of tree removal eliminates their beauty and carbon sequestration in a time of climate chaos in order to enable a transmission line from Canada to Massachusetts. That project will benefit Canadian energy behemoth Hydro-Quebec, Spanish energy behemoth Iberdrola (owner of Central "Maine" Power, or CMP), and Goldman Sachs (the project's investment bankers).

The project is strongly opposed by most actual people who live in Maine.

A bill to block foreign corporate entities from pouring money into Maine to influence the outcome of referendum items was vetoed by Democratic Governor Janet Mills. She also vetoed the bill to establish a consumer-owned utility in Maine that would replace the rapacious CMP. 

Do I need to tell you that Mills supports the CMP corridor project?

Do I need to tell you that her predecessor, a Republican, also supported the CMP project?

I heard Bangor Daily News political editor Michael Shepherd laughing with conservative radio host Mike Violette (starts at 3:55 mark in the clip) about the strange bedfellows teaming up to produce the deceptive message: Willy Ritch, former spokesperson for progressive Democrat Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and Adrienne Bennett, former spokesperson for arch conservative Republican Governor Paul LePage.

Willy Ritch was last seen in action heading up the 16 Counties Coalition, a Democratic Party front group that aimed to unseat incumbent Senator Susan Collins. He presided over a "with or without her" town hall event in Portland in August, 2019 that my husband and I attended. 

My husband, Mark Roman, submitted a question on military spending at the August 20, 2019 meeting managed by Willy Ritch, so I know there was at least one in the pile.

Ritch allowed not a single question "from the audience" about the military whose budget is well over half the federal discretionary budget each year, and only one question on climate despite these perilous times. 

So, he is an experienced manager of messaging and public perception, whose last job boiled down to "Republicans bad, Democrats good." 

I suppose Ritch and Bennett are chummy in the way of paid professional communicators who will work for whoever is paying well at the moment.

Their newest astroturf group, Mainers For Fair Laws, wants voters to believe that, if something illegal was done in the past -- like issuing permits for use of public lands without the necessary consent of 2/3 of the legislature -- rescinding it now would be dangerous.

But we should and often do overturn bad laws to set things straight. For instance, Black people were once counted as 3/5 of a person in the census. (Some people argued against fixing that, too.)

The battle against the CMP corridor continues on many fronts: a lawsuit aimed at the corporate-controlled DEP, and November's upcoming referendum question among them.

Want to stand with Native people whose lands are destroyed by mega dams to produce dirty energy in Canada?

Water For Life, Not For Profit Theme Unauthorized At Maine's Bicentennial Parade

Lead organizer Luke Sekera-Flanders and educator Jake Kulaw carry a water defense banner in Lewiston Aug 21, 2021 created for Community Water Justice by the Artists Rapid Response Team (ARRT!). Photo credit: Nickie Sekera

A breathtakingly hot bicentennial celebration parade saw 100+ vehicles belching CO2 into the atmosphere as it wound its way from Auburn to twin city Lewiston yesterday in Maine.

Bringing up the rear was Community Water Justice walking entry "Bicentennial B-roll: The Villagers vs. The Pillagers!" (There were good banners in need of carrying, so I decided to leave my pitchfork in the car.)

It was a parade dominated by the corporate entities who treat Maine as a resource extraction colony: among them Poland Springs, the odious Central Maine Power, and Casella waste "management" i.e. trucking in construction debris from away and incinerating it as Maine-sourced waste.

We were an unauthorized entry to the parade and police twice ordered us out of the street, which we ignored. (Yes, white people can get away with that.)

Many people clapped and cheered our message, and twice at different points on the parade route someone shouted, "They saved the best for last!" As police tried to shoo us away the audience shouted, "Let them march!"

Besides our banners we wore or carried Stolen Spring logos, Maine Natural Guard, and "God bless the corporations for giving us candidates."

photo credit: Nickie Sekera

Getting press coverage was the usual struggle (one sentence in the Lewiston Sun Journal, crickets elsewhere) but Luke was well-prepared with a press release. An excerpt:

The parade...is sponsored by many of Maine’s worst environmental offenders, including Poland Spring (who is the headline sponsor), Casella, and Central Maine Power. Nestle recently sold Poland Spring to a pair of private equity firms now operating as BlueTriton Brands, playing Wall Street games with our water sources. These companies’ sponsorship of the bicentennial celebrations showcases the State of Maine’s relationship with these polluting corporations, and presents a great opportunity to show solidarity in our collective struggle for a healthier future. While many residents are aware of individual issues such as the CMP Corridor, industrial fish farms, Casella, Metallic Mining or Poland Spring bottled water, they are not aware of the larger context - that Maine’s environment is the target of exploitative international private interests.

Beyond being detrimental to Maine’s long-term economic, environmental and social stability, 

these corporations' presence in Maine is contradictory to any reasonable path to mitigating the effects of harmful changes in our climate. 

Earlier this month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest report, revealing that the key window for action to prevent the worst effects of climate change is within the next decade. Its findings confirm what Indigenous and environmental activists have been saying for decades - unless we dramatically reduce carbon emissions and pollution, we will face the consequences. 

The purpose of this action is to engage the public with the reality and urgency of Maine’s position as an object of corporate hyperfocus, and elevate the struggles for Indigenous sovereignty, water security, and environmental health into the public eye.

Indigenous sovereignty might save us if we listen in time. How much indigenous wisdom was evident at this celebration of Maine's statehood? None that I saw besides our messaging. I know that Penobscot elders were holding a water ceremony that day, and also that former chief Barry Dana regards the bicentennial as a celebration of the long colonial genocide on Native people of the region.

photo credit: Nickie Sekera

When I was a small child in Maine it seldom got hot enough for swimming, according to my California girl mother. Yesterday in Lewiston-Auburn it was a 89 degrees and very humid. 

But why worry about all the carbon-belching parade vehicles and the lead sponsorship by Poland Spring, formerly owned by the multinational water extractor Nestle. 

The banner Luke carried had been modified to reflect that private equity water investors doing business as Blue Triton now own Poland Springs water extraction sites in Maine. What could go wrong? 

Revolution Needed, So Our Corporate Overlords Are Fanning The Flames For Second Civil War

 One of President Obama's many rewards for enriching banksters at the taxpayers' expense was this summer "cottage" on Martha's Vineyard.

Why do we need a revolution, you say? 

In rough order of priority:

o Global climate crisis driven by capitalism is spiraling out of control and the window to walk us back from catastrophe is rapidly closing.

o Global pandemic has killed millions and appears headed to kill millions more with a system of medical apartheid and for-profit medicine in the U.S. and other non-socialist countries.

o Eviction crisis on top of already galloping homelessness not only creates trauma for millions but is a big factor in the spread of COVID.

o Military spending and weapons systems surging -- including building nuclear weapons, illegal under international law because they could easily end human life if used.

o Incarceration for profit in the U.S. and to impoverish and disenfranchise Black, indigenous, and people of color is growing worse and was already at crisis levels. Racist policing continues at crisis levels but is now more visible due to cell phone videos.

o Student debt continues to depress the prospects of entire generations.

o Minimum wage is now about 1/3 of what an actual living wage should be in 2021, especially because of rapid, ongoing inflation of the cost of housing.

o Child care and public education continue to be underfunded in the face of immense unmet needs.

How are our corporate overlords fanning the flames for a second Civil War?

Charlottesville, Virginia "Unite the Right" rally August, 2017 

In roughly chronological order:

o Propaganda rather than useful information sharing is the norm across the spectrum of corporate-owned "news" outlets, from Fox News to CNN. The steady erosion of reliability in sourcing information is the work of corporate media and corporate social media that censors on behalf of the ruling class.

Carlos Piccata, who says he is a combat vet, to the Shasta, CA county commission: “It’s not going to be peaceful much longer. We’re building, we’re organizing. You won’t stop us when the time comes. This is a warning for what’s coming. There’s a million people just like me.” pic.twitter.com/EF8fjqGb1z

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 14, 2021

o White supremacy is in a desperate fight to remain in control, and numerous militias and other types of organizations have responded to perceived and real threats including the removal of Confederate statues and flags. Also, attacks on Black Lives Matter protesters, including killing them by running them down with cars (a practice that a few states have legalized) and targeting them for assassination.

o Law enforcement complicit in white supremacist movement, and armed to the teeth with cast off military equipment shared by the Pentagon.

o Widespread misinformation about public health protocols including vaccines, masking, and distancing and robust media coverage of refuseniks.

o Absence of national leadership on ending the pandemic leaving states, towns, and school boards to fend for themselves in the face of angry mobs. We are entering the third school year in a row pitting neighbors against neighbors and parents against school administration.

What can we in the U.S. do to bring on revolution rather than a second civil war?

In no particular order:

o Don't fall for divisive tactics. For example, consider the possiblity that "Divided We Fall May Be COVID's Underlying Purpose."

o Look and listen beneath the surface of false dichotomies.

o Don't demonize each other just because we disagree. People with ideas that seem wrong and dangerous may have PTSD from traumas. They may be experiencing hunger, bankruptcy, or lack of medical care. They may only have access to really poor information or outright disinformation. Don't write human beings off even if you loathe their ideas. 

o Free your mind and the rest will follow. Do your own thinking, take in new information, and be willing to rethink your beliefs. Put another way, don't mistake narratives for truth. Even this one.