Mask Off Moment For U.S. Fascism

"Spotted in Luigi Mangione's hometown of Towson, Baltimore County at a local pizza shop, Vito's" https://x.com/ElizWorthNews/status/1869796253443477960

I'm starting to wonder if the term "CEO" -- bragging point in many a LinkedIn profile -- will now evolve into a pejorative. Since Luigi Mangione allegedly gunned down a UnitedHealth CEO, he has ascended to folk hero. 

Instagram post rendering the 3D strategy in Monopoly money by @angryasianwomxn

Several have commented that the NYPD perp walk was a win for Mangione, not NYC.

https://x.com/JPHilllllll/status/1869866098654396431

My question: how could the NYPD spare so many cops for the Mangione perp walk/photo op when the real action was across town breaking a picket line of striking Amazon warehouse workers?

Meanwhile, the real corporate action was in Congress after 47 -- acting as he often does as mouthpiece for the elongated muskrat -- tanked a budget deal intended to forestall federal government shutdown.

Since when did the Tesla and Twitter/X CEO get so much influence in government? Since he bankrolled 47's campaign to recapture the White House, the 'rat has been ever in the news opining on federal spending excess.

Wait, you may be thinking, isn't the elongated muskrat the recipient of vast numbers of federal contracts via SpaceX?

Yes he is, and that type of conflict of interest is unusual only in its visibility.

Congress reliably does the bidding of its highest donors by acting on their behalf while pretending to represent the people of a congressional district.

This might be seen as the essential difference between the red and blue wings of the corporate duopoly turkey: barefaced greed vs. clandestine greed masquerading as virtue.

Once corporations and government have achieved this kind of tight private-public partnership, full blown fascism is underway. And has been for years, really. But the mask will be off during 47's tenure.

Zionists aren't worried, though. Their donations have held politicians of any color in thrall for decades. Slaughter in Gaza and the West Bank and Lebanon, and land theft in Syria, will continue no matter which party is the face of power.

Sam Husseini has developed printable handouts for you to share in your church during this Christmas season.

Maybe Branding U.S. Wars D or R Wasn't Such A Good Idea

There is considerable anti-war sentiment among voters worldwide -- which explains why candidates run on peace promises (Obama, Zelensky, Trump). There is also considerable pro-war sentiment among corporations who build weapons of mass destruction, and the think-tanks they fund to support them.

This push-pull has nudged warmakers into branding wars as "D for Democrat" or "R for Republican" in order to whip up support and manage dissent. Thus Democrats support President Biden's proxy war on Russia via Ukraine while Republicans and third parties (Greens, Libertarians, Communists) don't.

But based on the congressional circus this week, maybe that is not such a good strategy?

Those of us opposed to ALL wars our government wages have experienced the partisan split in who will stand with us. When a Republican is in the White House, Democrats come out in droves. Then when an Obama or a Biden is elected, they go home.

Original collage by James Fangboner (left image), modified by me

Then, the parties wage information wars to support their team. These have ramped up considerably to insist that Putin = Hitler (just silly), that there are no Nazis in Ukraine (maybe they all went to Canada?), and that funding Ukraine's government is a higher priority than funding our own. Even though as far back as July a CNN poll found a majority in the U.S. opposed sending any more money to Ukraine.

In order to avert a federal government shutdown over what to fund, we heard from Democrats that it was the bad Republicans' fault. From The Guardian: 

The US president said on Sunday he was “sick and tired” of the political brinkmanship, and that US support for Ukraine could not be interrupted “under any circumstances”.  

Even though Democrats never move left and always move right -- or maybe because of that? -- the Punch and Judy show where the two corporate parties bash each other constantly is having a long run.

Then we heard that the bad Republicans would only vote for averting a shutdown if it stripped out "aid" to Ukraine (currently at $180 billion and counting). And it worked! Worked, that is, after a fire drill shut Congress down when Democratic Congressman Jamaal Bowman pulled a fire alarm and delayed the vote a bit.

He swears this was an honest mistake. But I suspect the delay was so that some more back room deals on terms of the funding could be hammered out.

Received wisdom has it that Democrats want WW3 with Russia while Republicans want WW3 with China. But Greens like me see the corporate parties supporting all the wars and I think they're all nuts.

 I can see where the U.S. once believed it could beat Russia as it used the NATO alliance and CIA color revolutions to foment trouble like civil war for Ukraine. Looking at the situation today, it's clear that few aside from delusional thinkers allied with the Biden administration believes this is still the case. Russia has objectively kicked Ukraine/NATO's butt while the response in the West is best epitomized by the Canadian Parliament's standing ovation for a literal Nazi "who fought the Russians in WW2."

"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recognize Yaroslav Hunka, who fought with the First Ukrainian Division in World War II, in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Sept. 22, 2023." | Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press

(If you're unclear on WW2's major players and alliances, the late Howard Zinn's overview can be found here.)

Next up, preparations are already well underway for using Taiwan to create a situation where China feels it must respond to safeguard its own borders and sovereignty. What would lead to the delusion that AUKUS or NATO or U.S.-Japan-South Korea could defeat China in a hot war? Hot warriors falsely claim China is authoritarian, has lost the support of its people, and committed genocide against the Uyghurs.

Word to the U.S.: your government is increasingly authoritarian, has lost the confidence of its people, and has committed genocide in so many places it's hard to list them all. Maybe just note the ongoing attempted genocide of the indigenous people of North America and leave it at that.

Ranked Choice Voting Will Be Associated With Defeating Poliquin, Who Chose The Racist Wall As His Last Stand

Photo credit: Jim Anderberg

I'm no Democrat and I don't expect much from Jared Golden who unseated incumbent Bruce Poliquin because Maine voters got to use Ranked Choice Voting. The Maine constitution has language that will need to be amended for RCV to work for state elections, but nothing in the U.S. constitution stood in the way of using RCV to choose who would represent the 2nd district in the House of Representatives.

RCV allowed me to vote my conscience rather than hold my nose and vote for Democrats I believe are just as warlike as the other corporate party's candidates.

Last month I got a phone call from a nice woman at the League of Women Voters. She was responding to my affirming that I had ranked independent candidates in slots #1 and #2. She wondered if I would be interested in being party to the lawsuit the League will conduct to uphold RCV.

Yes, please! (Turns out they probably don't need me after all but that is ok because they won!!!)

Told the League of Women Voters person that I created the spybook page Where's Bruce Poliquin? in response to a request from my friend Ridgely Fuller. We used to be able to meet with our former representative Mike Michaud and share our concerns as his constituents, but Poliquin's Wall Street handlers put a stop to that sort of thing. He's best known for ducking into a women's bathroom to avoid reporters asking questions about his votes against health care coverage for the multitude of poor people in Maine's 2nd district.

Now he's being a sore loser and challenging RCV with a lawsuit. Which was thrown out of court but is now being appealed.

The Green Party, of which I am a member, fought for RCV for years before Maine voters passed it by referendum on November 8, 2016.

It was pretty clear that the Republican Party feared RCV as they fought it every step of the way.

When the oligarchs are united against a voting method, you can be pretty sure that it favors democracy rather than kleptocracy. 

Finally, we see some poetic justice in the end of Poliquin's term. He chose to make his last stand slavish obedience to The Wall.

You know, the pet project of the demagogue with bad hair in the White House. The one who shut down the federal government at midnight last night in a hissy fit over congressional opposition to the racist artifact he insists will be built. The one who tweeted his support for the losing candidate back in October.

What a fitting end for Poliquin. His defeat via ranked choice voting will historically be associated with cruel and injust immigration policy on our border with Mexico. 

He must be licking his chops in anticipation of the cash rewards headed his way.