Houston, We Have A Corruption Problem
The Betrayal Of America By A Rabid, Warmongering, Congressional Uniparty Marks The End Of Alleged Democracy
Photo by fikry anshor on Unsplash
I was never the patriotic sort.
As a child, not knowing better, I eagerly participated in one mandatory, daily indoctrination ritual with my classmates in public school. Every morning, a disembodied voice would crackle across the school’s PA system telling us to stand, place our hands over our hearts, face the American replica flag mounted on a wooden dowel rod in the corner of the room, and recite the pledge. A ritual replicated across many generations, and not without purpose. What seemed innocuous and respectful then seems more like indoctrination today.
I eagerly accepted the position as a “Safety Patrolman“ on my school bus, which also came with the responsibility of another twice-a-day ritual: hoisting and lowering a full-size American flag on a 20 ft. high aluminum pole in front of my school with a pulley system. We were trained on proper folding, display, and storage. If I sit still enough in my thoughts, I can hear the clanking of the metallic snap hooks against the pole on windy days.
By High School, those nostalgic visions of the flag luffing in the breeze against a clear blue sky had dimmed considerably, the country had lived through the psychological shock of the assassinations of the Kennedys and Dr. Martin Luther King and was still dealing with a hugely unpopular, ongoing war in Vietnam, as the bodily remains of young men who would never fulfill their life destiny arrived in flag-draped coffins at American Air Bases by the planeload.
In some cases, 50 years later, the remains of men who fought and died in that war are STILL being returned. That’s the horrible legacy of this war.
The public was then, as they are today, divided against the war and each other.
The warmongers, represented by the ghoulish visages of a sweaty, smiling, President Richard Nixon, and his right-hand man, Secretary Of State Henry Kissinger, flooded the airwaves on the three major TV networks and the headlines of print newspapers with assurances that they were working on a peaceful solution, (withdrawal with honor) but in reality they were secretly escalating the bombings:
“When the communists launched another wave of attacks in South Vietnam in early 1969, Nixon secretly ordered the bombing to proceed. Cambodian premier Norodom Sihanouk, tired of his uninvited Vietnamese guests, had confidentially approved the attacks, and Hanoi was in no position to complain without revealing its own violation of Cambodia’s neutrality. Although elaborate measures had been taken in Washington and Saigon to ensure that the air attacks be kept completely secret, the story broke in The New York Times in May. Infuriated by this breach of security, Nixon began a series of measures to plug “leaks” of information; these became part of a system of illegal surveillance and burglary that eventually led to the Watergate scandal of 1972.”
Nixon bragged in a public interview that the bombing was “effective”.
In the true spirit of President Nixon plugging “leaks” of information and pursuing secret surveillance, we’ve come full circle, with Congress openly passing a measure, along with the Joe Biden Justice Department, to extend FISA.
In addition to that, top-ranking officials lied about the types of weapons used against both civilians and soldiers:
“American officials also lifted the restrictions on the type of weapons used in the air war. Beginning in the fall of 1965, the U.S. used napalm, white phosphorus, and cluster bombs.”
The lies and betrayal of public trust at the highest levels of the US government, as noted above, led to a formal resolution to impeach Nixon, but he was smart enough to realize he couldn’t fight the truth, he was caught, and he resigned in July of 1974. The President who often proclaimed he was “not a crook” was exactly that.
Yet, Nixon’s criminality seems quaint and trivial, almost like a misdemeanor, in comparison to the day-to-day warmongering and corruption of 2024. Unlike Nixon in 1972, the criminals aren’t even hiding it anymore.
Over the weekend of April 20th, bipartisan members of Congress committed, with a weird sense of joy, to the expansion of the proxy war in Ukraine, global war through Israel and NATO, and escalation of genocide in Gaza, financed, as always, by current and future generations of American taxpayers.
Despite my cynicism instilled after decades of patriotic indoctrination vs. reality, surprisingly, I was stunned into a sense of disbelief that still lingers, watching a jubilant celebration of war on the floor of Congress inappropriate now, and UNTHINKABLE during the time of Vietnam.
This was not a patriotic waving of the AMERICAN flag, which would have violated “decorum” according to the House’s rules, but an unrestrained, enthusiastic waving of tiny UKRAINIAN flags by bipartisan members of Congress. Some of them took to X gleefully posting, as if the perpetuation of the unwinnable Ukrainian proxy war was cause for happiness.
If that wasn’t enough evidence of betrayal, packed within the legislative language of the lavish spending measure was the extension of warrantless surveillance via the FISA act, which targets the “average American” but makes an exception for members of Congress. This was accompanied by a fascist proposal to ban the vital, popular, and easy-to-use free-speech platform TikTok.
One of the things I’m committed to, as a boomer in my older age, is to genuinely and purposefully seek out and listen to the voices of young people. They best represent the present and future, in my view and they are far more open-minded. It’s THEIR future that is being tampered with, and it should be apparent, even to the least enlightened and indoctrinated, that TikTok is the messenger, and the message from young people is that their economic well-being and future have been compromised by the push for war by the American power elite. Take a moment to listen:
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Hearing these younger, well-informed, articulate voices ALSO expressing outrage and a sense of betrayal validates my view that the TRUE reason for a TikTok ban is not due to the alleged dangerous and nefarious influence of the Communist Chinese, or that the platform is a “national security risk.” The ban is intended to intimidate and openly silence voices of opposition to Israeli genocide, and the corruption and war profiteering of the US, and Western powers in NATO.
The best people could do in the 60s and 70s, pre-social media was to take to the streets, but the protests could be easily controlled and diffused by simply rounding up and arresting the protestors.
Today, in 2024, protests can be powerfully effected from home and piped immediately to the entire globe. There is nothing the power elite fears more than mass awakening and global unified consciousness.
That doesn’t mean that the old-school style of protest is invalid, it may be necessary as a supplement to internet-based free speech platforms, especially if they disappear. Some, like the excellent on-the-ground reporting of Status Coup News, will be vital to provide a voice against warmongering, corruption, and criminality. It was heartening, while perusing YouTube, to see people my age and older on the streets, and using their human presence to speak truth to power.
Of course, the TikTok ban, which will likely have teeth once it passes the Senate, is part of a larger, nefarious censorship program of the US, with cooperation from the allied powers of NATO and Israel, who desperately need to maintain a false narrative by not only demonizing China but now, by demonizing the students protesting against the genocide of Palestinians by labeling them broadly as anti-semitic.
As I alluded to in a recent post, it’s almost as if the lust for war, and the disregard and respect for human life represent spiritual problems as much as a mechanistic power play and knee-jerk political reflex, but practically speaking, the best military minds (who are also being attacked and demonized) have been saying for many months that the Ukraine proxy war is a sinkhole, a corrupt money pit. To quote former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter :
“Come July, when the last of the military equipment purchased for Ukraine from the money allocated by Congress is destroyed by Russia, and Ukraine has to bury another 100,000 troops, as Russian forces surround Kharkov and liberate the last of the Donbas… …all the keyboard warriors on both sides of the Atlantic who are cheering the actions of the U.S. Congress will be once again raising their collective voices in alarm. They will be screaming for more U.S. taxpayer dollars. And the U.S. Congress will comply… …until the last Ukrainian.”
The full-tilt insanity exhibited by the new, bipartisan war uni party, is perhaps exhibited most alarmingly in the sociopathic rantings of personalities like Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and his milder-mannered but equally war-enthused colleague, Democratic Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal.
In this unlikely duo, you can see how, when it comes to war, but more importantly, war spending benefitting the MIC donor class, two alleged political “opposites” come together easily in a vulgar display of bipartisan hand-holding.
Graham, as noted by Due Dissidence podcaster Russell Dobular, acts like a crazed Roman Emperor standing in the ruins of the empire he helped create, asking: Why can’t we fight The “Visigoths, The Goths, and The Vandals?”
Graham, a corrupt political opportunist and sociopath if there ever was one, in his annoying Southern accent, talks about endless supplies of weapons for “Is-Rull” “Tie Wawn” and “Yew Krane” like they were his children, unloved orphans in a cruel world that he, and by proxy, America, must support and defend. Graham calls out another Republican, J.D. Vance for his opposition to yet another “aid package“ as if it were a Christmas gift wrapped with a pretty bow. “Quit Talking!” drawls Graham angrily in response.
As for Blumenthal, he (to quote, and with apologies to David Bowie) “smiles like a reptile” as he cheerfully proclaims that Vance’s pessimism “underestimates America,” because we’re the “strongest, greatest, country in the world, we can produce artillery shells, Patriot missile systems, long-range artillery, and gee, what’s there to be gloomy about, and why the sad face? America is “back on offense!”
Blumenthal also notes the Foreign Minister of Lituania, told him personally that they were happy to see “America was back” as if “America” had disappeared entirely from the arena, like a quarterback now fully recovered from his injuries, ready to take the snap and drive the team to victory. Whether it’s Fox News, CNN, or any other flavor of corporate media, the Overton window requires the debate to be limited to the parameters of: Why are we so slow to finance war and supply weapons? Can’t we do it all? Fight every enemy of the empire now?
So as I type this the Senate has passed the bill giving another 95 billion dollars of US taxpayer money to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. While most of the public is envisioning mass shipments of weapons and cash, the ugly, corrupt reality is that the money will go directly to US weapons makers to replenish stockpiles. As Subatck writer and statistician Stephen Semler has noted previously, in this graph:
“The legislation includes $61 billion for the proxy war in Ukraine, much of which will go to US weapons makers to replenish US stockpiles. It includes over $9 billion in economic aid in the form of repayable loans, but Ukraine is not actually expected to pay it back. Another provision will authorize the US to sell off frozen Russian assets, which could be used to pay the loans. CNN previously reported that the Biden administration will also be able to cancel the debt.”
We’re now, as a country, deprived of moral leadership and rationality, and working-class Trump and Biden supporters should not expect either “candidate” to save their hides.
The pro-war uni party is the winner and now sees America as a powerful, dominating, necessary force for war and militarism, and the money is most certainly flowing to the campaign coffers in an unprecedented orgy of corruption.
You can’t vote your way out of this mess.
Update: 4/25/2024: In the best traditions of Richard Nixon’s secret escalation of the Vietnam war, noted above, it appears that history is yet again repeating itself as Biden has “secretly” sent long-range weapons in the form of ATACMS, a truly dangerous escalation of the Ukraine proxy war:
“The US confirmed on Wednesday that it had secretly sent Ukraine long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) last month as part of a $300 million arms package.
The long-range ATACMS can be fired from the HIMARS rocket systems and can hit targets up to 190 miles away, a range that marks a significant escalation in US support for Ukraine. Last year, the US secretly shipped an older cluster bomb variant of the ATACMS that has a range of about 100 miles.
A Biden administration official said Ukraine has already used the longer-range ATACMS twice, including in an attack on a Russian base in Crimea. US-supported attacks on Crimea or the Russian mainland always risk a major escalation from Moscow.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said a “significant number” of the ATACMS have been sent to Ukraine but wouldn’t specify how many. He said more were on the way as part of a $1 billion arms package that President Biden approved on Wednesday, although the Pentagon didn’t list ATACMS when it announced the weapons shipment.”
Also, as of 4/25/ 2024, it appears the first burst of protest against Israeli genocide at Columbia University was just the tinder igniting a larger fire, as the protests have now rapidly spread to college campuses nationwide. In a mirror of the Kent State protests of the mid-70s, our “leaders” have come forth, perhaps in desperation, to clamp down by sending in police, who have reacted violently, and have engaged in mass arrests.
Biden has outright called the protestors, including Jewish students in solidarity with Palestine, “anti-semitic” and House Speaker Mike Johnston has called for an “appropriate time” to bring in the National Guard, which historically has resulted in death and violence. After 8 years of Democrats braying about Russian election interference, it appears Bibi Netanyahu is directly interfering in US politics and affairs, now demanding a crackdown:
“What’s happening in America’s college campuses is horrific. Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities,” Netanyahu said. His comments echoed President Biden, who labeled the demonstrations “antisemitic protests.”
At some American universities, police have arrested and dispersed protesters, but Netanyahu said more should be done. “Now, fortunately, state, local, federal officials, many of them have responded differently but there has to be more. More has to be done,” Netanyahu said.