U.S. Empire Rapidly Losing Consent Of The Governed

Let's start by admitting that the U.S. empire never had the consent of the governed in places like Okinawa, Ramstein, Managua, or Vicenza. 

What it did have: imperial servants who made possible the soft and hard coups that enabled 800+ military bases in other nations. Also, a rapidly metastisizing NATO.

Such is the nature of empires. Or, as the State Department weasel word experts would have it, "The U.S. government works to advance U.S. interests in Nicaragua by helping the country increase its prosperity, security, and democratic governance." Uh huh.

The U.S. used to have the consent of most of the white people it governed in North America. This was back when home ownership and health care were not out of reach for full time workers.

But, while WW3 looms as the military-industrial complex "solution" to eroding U.S. hegemony, the Biden administration is rapidly losing that consent on several fronts.

Losing the consent of the governed, health care dept.

For-profit health care is an oxymoron and millions have died too young as a result of the greedy medical profiteers who own and operate the U.S. government. 

The architect of U.S. failure to contain a pandemic still killing 400 people a day just announced he is retiring at 81 -- with a net worth of about $10 million. From a career in public service? Give me a break. 

A subscriber-only piece on Patreon by Jack Mirkinson, "Good Riddance to Anthony Fauci," argues convincingly that, "The worship of Fauci feels like the ultimate triumph of vibes over reality." Because all the blather about how we had to vote blue no matter who to get a bad, science-denying president out of office had Democrats rejoicing that now the U.S. would "follow the science" and, with Fauci able to lead, get our deadly pandemic mismanagement under control.

We see how well that has worked out.

Number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths worldwide 

as of August 15, 2022, by country

Find more statistics at Statista

Or maybe you prefer to compare per capita rates, which take into account total population? The U.S. has 10.37 deaths per million residents. By contrast, Japan, another capitalist state that miraculously also maintains a robust public health system, has 0.94 covid deaths per million. Canada, with demographics and culture more comparable to the U.S., has a rate of 4.03.

But statistics can lie, so what about the anecdotal evidence my Twitter feed is chock full of? So many posts noting that, where public health and commerce are in conflict, commerce prevails. And when it comes to commerce, Weapons R U.S.!

Meanwhile, people in the US can't pay their rent, afford food, or get healthcare. Wake up. No one cares about some corrupt European version of a 3rd world country. The US doesn't stand with your MIC dumping ground. We want our money here.

— SJones 🌻 (@SJonesWasTaken) August 21, 2022

As the next pandemic looms, we hear that tiny and heavily sanctioned Cuba -- which has one of the most successful public health programs on the planet -- already has measures in place to protect its people from simian smallpox (aka monkey pox). The U.S. has a few vaccines and not much else.

Back to Fauci-land:

Is it true that the CDC is still working remotely because of the health risks while telling everyone else to get back in the office?

— Starbucks Unions Form Like Voltron (@TweetyMctwat) August 20, 2022

Following the $cience.

— Starbucks Unions Form Like Voltron (@TweetyMctwat) August 20, 2022

 

Most CDC staff work remotely.

White House aides are strictly tested and wear N95 masks to meet with POTUS.

Pres. Biden isolated until he tested negative.

But everyone else? Go to work without COVID safety standards; no need to isolate if exposed; take 5 days if you get sick.

— Walker Bragman (@WalkerBragman) August 19, 2022

 

Losing the consent of the governed, economic dept.

Medical debt in the U.S. is a huge factor detrimental to personal wealth. It's part of what makes us so exceptional. You think Japanese and Canadian people lose their homes to mortgage default when they can't pay for cancer treatments?

That's been the sad case for decades now, but recently the Biden administration's sanctions on any country not helping with the proxy war on Russia have taken an ax to global economic structures. 

This has Europe reeling from double digit inflation, only kept below 10% in the U.S. by a gas tax holiday contributing mightily to the hottest northern hemisphere summer ever.

It has also led to to a stampede away from the dollar as a medium of global exchange. Maybe the warhawks who love to wield economic sanctions didn't really think this one through?

Meanwhile the Biden administration is roundly scorned for failing to pass universal health care or even Build Back Better, failing to forgive student loans as promised, and passing a climate bill that benefits fossil fuel and electric car corporations. Oh, and a rider extended the Unaffordable Care Act and will allow Medicare to negotiate prices of a paltry ten medicines several years from now. Too little, too late.

All the puff piece journalism lauding this "win" for Democrats -- who won't even protect the most basic medical rights of those of childbearing age elected them for -- exemplifies why the U.S. public is also rapidly losing the last shreds of trust in corporate media.

Losing the consent of the governed, police state dept.

Forget the FBI at Mar-a-Lago. The loss of faith in police nationwide is accelerating steadily. Evidence? Search on Twitter for the term "suspended" and see what pops up. The recent worst in a sea of brutality:

Arkansas police officers Zack King, Levi White and Thell Riddle have been suspended following the release of this video showing them brutally beating a homeless man. In the video a bystander can be heard yelling "Don't beat him! He needs his medicine!" pic.twitter.com/vBgR5AYqKd

— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) August 22, 2022

People of color knew all along that this shit happened to their loved ones with little accountability. Now, because phone videos are everywhere, white people know it too.

Cue the Biden administration's budget requests for FY23: $37 billion for 100,000 additional police officers, and even more transfers of used military equipment from the Pentagon to municipal police departments.

"New York police officers beating protesters with batons on May 30 [2020]. 

Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images" Source: Vox.com

Because when you're rapidly losing the consent of the governed, who you gonna call?

Dems And Repubs Create Sneaky Backdoor to Privatize Medicare

Instead of looking to improve and expand Medicare as the majority in the U.S. favor, the Biden administration is using a back door created by the Trump administration to invite Wall St. to privatize it. Since this would be an unpopular move, a bureaucratic structure known as Direct Contracting Entities (DCE) has crept in behind the scenes.

In case you think the U.S. health care system already has too many middlemen raking in profits from people's illnesses, you ain't seen nothing yet.  

Doctors are enticed to sign up for a DCE on the promise that their revenues will go up. 

Then patients are opted into the DCE without their consent or even knowledge. They can opt out again and change doctors, but only if they know about it.

Physicians for a National Health Program has put together this explainer about the threat posed by DCEs -- which already exist in 43 states, including Maine. (It's a pdf so I can't embed it but I'll include a screenshot.)

Why would both Democratic and Republican administrations create a way for private investors to prey on the elderly or people with disabilities who currently receive Medicare?

Because when Wall St. says Jump, both Democrats and Republicans ask, How high? 

The big bucks that flow into campaign coffers on "both sides of the aisle" are what buys representation in this alleged democracy, while the people get fleeced with the government's cooperation.

We already spend the most on health -- enough and then some to fund universal health care -- and rather than good health we have lousy outcomes. The fact that we alone of rich countries have no public health system is a direct result of ultra wealthy health "insurance" corporations sponsoring our government.  

Commerce and health just don't mix.

A more in-depth discussion of DCEs is here on YouTube.

Join me in signing the PNHP petition to stop DCEs here.

Masses Demand Medicare For All, The Most Broken Campaign Promise Of Democrats

Today the 600,000+ people in the U.S. who died from COVID won't be marching for Medicare for All. 

Neither will many Democrats in Congress who campaigned on the most popular form of universal health care, a basic human right that people in the U.S. lack. 

My own congressperson Jared Golden co-sponsored M4A legislation last time around. Then he ran for re-election and took campaign contributions from big tech firms looking to expand into the for-profit health care sector. Guess who doesn't support M4A anymore? His rationale: he's heard from constituents that they want to keep their employer-sponsored healthcare. Really? Then why do Mainers call it the Unaffordable Care Act? 

Once you've been sick with your ACA mandated insurance you understand that Obama's deal with the insurance industry to guarantee their profits had nothing to do with providing you with a reasonable standard of care.

The so-called squad of progressive Democrats came under fire this year from lefty organizers who wanted them to withhold their vote to re-elect Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi until she agreed to put M4A to a vote. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, formerly the darling of people who yearn to believe the Democratic Party serves people rather than corporations, has fallen from grace over the "Force the Vote" issue. Progressive types see her coddling Pelosi, whose wealth has grown by hundreds of millions in office, and whose husband just raked in $5 million in profits buying tech stocks Congress was about to regulate. 

giphy.gif

14.6 million people lost their health insurance during the pandemic. Pelosi's response: continue enjoying the gold standard health care she has as a member of Congress while showing off her two refrigerators full of gelato. Together she and her husband have grown obscenely wealthy as she represented the interests of corporations rather than the people, and no one in the squad cares to oppose her. (Note: that's why electing women doesn't solve anything.)

Republicans are just as bad, but they're more honest about it.

It's clear that health care is a top priority for many voters. Inadequate insurance plus major illness is a leading cause of household bankruptcy and home foreclosures. Many of my friends are affluent enough in retirement to live in Mexico part of the year and receive their health care at affordable prices. Many of my friends are low income enough to be on MaineCare, a medicaid expansion program that applies to any children and some adults in my state. Many of my friends can only afford catastrophic health insurance because the premiums for comprehensive coverage are too high for the middle class to handle. 

That's why Democrats continue to run on promising to support M4A. 

A slew of so-called progressive Democrats claimed they supported it while campaiging, and then backpedaled as soon as they were in office.

Thus the marches today in big cities across the nation. Also the widespread campaigns to bring single payer health care at the state level.

I'm involved with both Maine's campaign to pressure Jared Golden to support M4A as well as the campaign to mandate that the legislature enact universal health care by a ballot initiative in 2022. And I support today's rally in Portland which will hear from Jess Falero, an advocate for the unhoused who will eloquently share just how much it sucks to be without housing AND health care.

But here's the reality as I see it: two things need to happen before the U.S. can achieve univeral coverage via M4A.

First, the Pentagon would have to be defunded to afford it. 

The reason we have warfare but not healthcare is that both are enormously expensive and members of Congress would rather keep their bread buttered than help their neighbors who are struggling. (Just yesterday the Senate voted to increase Biden's $715 billion Pentagon budget by another $25 billion to keep the weapons industry lobbyists happy.)

source: https://www.mic.com/articles/167192/general-strike-feb-17-what-will-happen-if-activists-stage-a-nationwide-strike-against-trump

Second, the workers of this nation will need to stage a general strike. 

As we saw from the pandemic, their labor is essential to turning the profits demanded by capitalists. Only withholding that labor would exert enough pressure on our elected officials to bend to the will of the people. 

ANGELA WEISS / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Here's hoping that today's marches display the desperation people feel around health care in this country, and bring together organizers who can make it happen, without being coopted by the Democratic Party.

International right wing death cult

Source: The Independent

There are two reasons I was relieved that Biden-Harris won the recent election. First, Black people (and Native people, and Latinx people) expressed how dangerous it felt to have the demagogue with bad hair urging violence against them by his disaffected white supremacist followers. (The fact that two architects of the carceral state and the ultra racist "war on drugs" represent relief for BIPOC is emblematic of the catastrophic racism foundational to our way of life in the USA. Not to mention the warmongering against brown people around the planet.)

The second reason I was relieved is that I am anticipating the end of headlines like this one from yesterday:

Source: Lewiston Sun Journal

At this point you may be wondering,

What do Maine's COVID-19 transmission rates have to do with who's in the White House?

Thinking about the campaign that just concluded, I am remembering several photographs and headlines:

Source: The Telegraph reporting on VP Pence's rally in Hermon, Maine Oct. 19

Mills ‘disappointed’ coronavirus guidelines weren’t followed at Pence rally

Hundreds gathered in Hermon on Monday for a ‘MAGA’ rally hosted by VP Mike Pence; Gov. Mills said she was “disappointed” and “saddened” by what she saw at the rally.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine Gov. Janet Mills voiced her disappointment of the Vice President over the “Make America Great Again!” rally in Hermon earlier this week, where hundreds—many not wearing masks—gathered for the outdoor rally.

At the Maine CDC coronavirus briefing on Tuesday, Mills said she was “disappointed” and “saddened” by what she saw at the rally—large crowds, little to no social distancing, and scant mask-wearing among attendees.

One rally causing that much of an uptick in COVID cases three weeks later? Hard to believe.

But of course it wasn't just one rally. Multiple rallies for GOP candidates in places other than Hermon like Bangor, Saco, Levant, etc. saw crowds gathering from around the state, unmasked, and not socially distancing. Most of the rallies were to secure that one electoral college vote from Maine's 2nd district. They succeeded, but was the price for the people of Maine worth it?

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Academic research has demonstrated that nations with authoritarian oligarchic governments, like the US, Russia and Brazil, have failed miserably at containing the pandemic. Meanwhile countries led by socially-minded governments like New Zealand, Australia, and China have done best.

Maine is still full of people defiantly unmasked despite the governor's executive orders intended to keep more of us healthy and alive. I'm home in the 2nd district now that my own campaign has ended, and I don't dare go into the local store or post office.

I'm not overly optimistic about the new regime's ability to get a raging pandemic under control because they are deeply committed to keeping the profit motive in our failed system of health care. Only people can change that, probably by mounting a general strike until they get universal health care like Medicare for All.

In the meantime, I believe epidemiologists. I'm willing to wear a mask, cancel social events, and take extra precautions because I want to live to see my grandchildren grow and thrive. Don't you?

Charges Dropped Against Capitol Activists After Police Chief Tweets Asking To Join Their Action

Stop the War Machine: Export Peace banner used by those arrested on the Capitol steps July 12, 2017. Photo: Art Laffin from The Nuclear Resister

Reposting news of this great action and the report back from Max Obuszewski in Baltimore (emphasis added via bold sections of text is mine):

The government decides not to prosecute the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance Six, arrested on the U.S. Capitol steps for pleading for an end to war funding

It was a long and winding road for six citizen activists arrested on July 12, 2017 by the Capitol Police, but the case was finally concluded on August 24 when our “Stop the War Machine: Export Peace” banner and a red sash were finally released from police custody.  On that oppressively hot July 12, the anniversary of Henry David Thoreau’s 200th birthday, Joy First, from Wisconsin, Malachy Kilbride, a Quaker from Maryland, Max Obuszewski from Baltimore, Phil Runkel, an archivist of Dorothy Day’s papers at Marquette University, Janice Sevre-Duszynska, also from Baltimore, and Alice Sutter, a retired nurse from New York City, visited the offices of the Senate and House leadership from both parties.

A petition pleading for an end to war funding was taken to the office of Sen. Mitch McConnell and later to Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office.  One of Schumer’s aides, who was of Pakistani heritage, engaged the group in a lengthy discussion, especially over the question of the legality of drone strikes.   From there, the petitioners went to Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s office, where a staff person accepted the petition.  Our final stop was to the door of Rep. Paul Ryan’s office.  On Ryan’s door, which was locked, there was a sign “Only people with a scheduled meeting were allowed to enter.”  We knocked, but there was no answer.  So a petition was then slipped under the door with a flyer condemning U.S. military operations.  

We then proceeded to the steps of the U.S. Capitol, just across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court , and unfurled the banner and red sash, which represented the blood pouring out of the Capitol as our legislators consistently vote to fund the war machine.  We were wearing bloody tee shirts to signify what happens to the victims of war funding. Surrounded by Capitol Police officers, we took turns reading the petition.  We were given four warnings to cease or be arrested.  The reading kept getting interrupted as one-by-one, we were taken into custody.  Janice, a Roman Catholic woman priest, insisted to the police that she was going to finish reading the petition, and the police did not interfere. 

Alice, Janice and Joy at Paul Ryan's office in Washington DC

We were not handcuffed, were given cold water and were allowed to keep all possessions without  being frisked.  There was no fingerprinting, but a photograph of each activist was taken. Then tables and chairs were brought out of a police van, and the officers gathered our personal information before giving the defendants a citation release document. We were charged with Crowding, Obstructing and Incommoding and ordered to report on July 13 to U.S. Capitol Police Headquarters to request a court date.  Actually, we had fifteen days to report.   

Based on many arrests by the U.S. Capitol Police, I had never experienced one without being handcuffed.  I have no idea why someone in the Capitol Police hierarchy decided to follow this procedure.  I was arrested on those same Capitol steps during President Obama’s last State of the Union address in January 2016.  We spent 6 ½ hours in jail before being released.    

On July 13, four defendants did appear at the Capitol Police Headquarters, and were given an arraignment date of July 26 to appear in D.C. Superior Court. Janice and I went to the headquarters on July 16, and were given August 2 as our arraignment date.   On July 25, Mark Goldstone, a renowned First Amendment attorney, was informed by the U.S. Attorney’s office that Alice, Joy, Malachy and Phil had their cases no-papered.   On our arraignment date, Janice and Max went online and discovered that we were not listed on the Superior Court docket.  So we presumed our cases were also not papered.  Now we began the saga to get the banner and sash released by the Capitol Police.  It took four visits to police headquarters, and the assistance of an Assistant Attorney General, before Janice could pick up the property. 

Members of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR] petitioned the Congressional leadership on behalf of the voiceless, the poor, the middle class, the immigrants and people whose pleas are ignored.  And this was done on the 50th anniversary year of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech at the Riverside Church in Manhattan, entitled “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” 

It was important, as well, to read the petition on the Capitol steps as part of the Rivers of Blood II action. On September 20, 2007, the original Rivers of Blood action included a die-in by 31 peace activists in the crypt of the U.S. Capitol. So what has changed in ten years? Congress still consistently  allocates tax dollars which go toward death and destruction in many parts of the world, most especially the Middle East.   

On July 11, Joy received an email from “Andrew:” “I am wishing for more information on the call for action at the Capitol tomorrow.

I have been arrested previously for non violent [sic] demonstrations and want to seek more justice.  What time are we expected to demonstrate and what specific location.  Thank you.” 

I had an opportunity to chat with the Capitol Police commander after the arrest and noticed his nameplate.  He was the mysterious Andrew who sent the email.  

Of course, it is unethical for a police officer to lie, but not illegal.  We intended to subpoena “Andrew” to appear in court to testify during the trial. Was this the reason the charges were no-papered?  Did the other arrests taking place in July inside the Senate and House of Representatives buildings over Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act overwhelm the court dockets? 

Regardless of the reason our cases were dismissed, the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance is gearing up for another action in the fall called Healthcare Not Warfare.  We will make a demand for improved Medicare for All. 

Let me know if you would like to join us.  Again the action is planned to be commemorative of the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s Riverside Church speech.Another anniversary to commemorate in 2017 is that of the ending of the Great War in 1917.  Randolph Bourne, a writer who died in 1918 of the flu epidemic brought on by World War I, understood a predicament which we are still protesting today: “War is the health of the State. It automatically sets in motion throughout society those irresistible forces for uniformity, for passionate co-operation with the Government in coercing into obedience the minority groups and individuals which lack the larger herd sense.” 

Have common sense, not larger herd sense, and join us in direct action calling for funding healthcare for all instead of the profiting from warfare by the few. 

Max Obuszewski is with the Baltimore Nonviolence Center 

“One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible. It may or may not be possible to turn the US around through nonviolent revolution. But one thing favors such an attempt: the total inability of violence to change anything for the better" - Daniel Berrigan 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

For-Profit Health Care As The Engine Of Poverty In The USA

Birthing simulator in use at a U.S. Air Force hospital. What's wrong with this picture?

It's been a couple of years since I wrote the satirical novella Your Health Is Important To Us, and I've been thinking on the need to add a new chapter.

I wanted to express how for-profit health "care" has been the engine of poverty for my generation and those that followed.

Mine was the last cohort who could cling to middle class comfort by means of jobs that buffered the effects of exploitative health insurance. Many of us have lost or are losing our grip, and many younger than us never had any health care or full benefits employment to hold onto.

That sense was what I was trying to express in my novella, which owes much to the tragicomedy of life under Zionism, The Secret Life of Saeed the pessoptimist by Emile Habiby. And to Voltaire's Candide, which inspired Habiby. And to The Good Soldier Schweik by Jaroslav Hašek, about a little man ground down by inexorable historical and cultural forces. Today's little man would be, I feel certain, a woman. Thus I created the anti-heroine Candida Albicans Smedley.

An actual heroine of the health care battles is Dr. Margaret Flowers. She has been on the front lines of the fight for universal health care in the richest nation on the planet, and I've blogged about her efforts to lead us in this direction a few times before.

Dr. Flowers was arrested in the Senate protesting the absence of voices for single payer in the hearings that led to the Affordable [sic] Care Act aka Obamacare. (Full disclosure: Subsequently, Dr. Flowers and I and my husband were arrested at the Obama White House protesting the ongoing slaughter of innocents in Iraq.) She has skin in the game of bringing health care to the masses, retiring from her career as a pediatrician to pursue social justice.

I usually keep up with Flowers' work by reading Popular Resistance, the website she helped found before "resistance" was a word co-opted by the Democratic Party branch of corporate government.


You know, the branch that brought us the insurance company giveaway called the Affordable Care Act.

This morning I read her critique of half measures like the ACA in her article for Counterpunch, "Improved Medicare For All Is The Answer." It shouldn't take someone with a medical degree to figure out what's wrong with the ACA, or to conclude that abolishing it without a replacement would be even more cruel and impoverishing to millions. Some of Dr. Flowers' clear thinking:

Most people who purchase health insurance have no idea which plan is best for them because nobody can anticipate what their healthcare needs will be in the future. A study of the Massachusetts health exchange plans done by the Center for American Progress showed that some plans were best for patients with cancer and other plans were best for people with heart disease or diabetes, but that isn’t something that can be advertised up front. Even if it were, people can’t predict if they will be diagnosed with cancer, heart disease or diabetes in the future. HR 676: The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act solves this problem by creating a single public plan designed to cover whatever our healthcare needs will be.

Dr. Flowers doesn't need me to explain that the goal of HR 676, i.e. covering "whatever our healthcare needs will be" is not the goal of federal health care policy.

That goal is the same whether we're talking about health policy, foreign policy or evironmental policy: protect profits for the corporations that put politicians in office.

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2014/jun/mirror-mirror

Because of the exorbinant costs of health procedures and pharmaceutical drugs, health care is an important driver of growing poverty and wealth inequality. It's a racist issue because it falls most heavily on people of color whose health outcomes and longevity are worse than the white majority. It's a class issue because, as depicted in Your Health Is Important To Us, health care is a constant drag on the economically depressed. 

A normal health crisis such as an automobile accident, a heart attack, cancer or, increasingly often, opioid addiction, can easily cause bankruptcy and the loss of one's home. And if you die early from lack of health care? "Americans are dying younger, saving corporations billions."

Be scared, be very scared, says our corporate government. Time and tide wait for no woman -- mostly everyone needs some form of health care in the end.

Medically induced poverty will be the great equalizer of the 21st century USA, sparing only the very, very wealthy. Unless there's a revolution soon, and Dr. Flowers' ideas prevail. Here's a final quote from her article:

I refer to a saying used by my now-deceased mentor Dr. Quentin Young: “You can’t cross an abyss in two jumps.” The only way we can get to a universal single payer healthcare system in the United States is by creating a universal single payer healthcare system in the United States. Anything less than that will fail because it will not achieve the savings on administration and prices needed to cover everyone and it will not compete with the powerful private insurance industry.