Welcome to Suspicious Angels

Here we go again. Those dems who like to think of themselves as progressives, a description most of the rest of us compare to one hand clapping, have emerged from their hidey holes, dusted off their playbook and come up with a whole new rationale to get your vote— voting the “right way” (democratic) is the only thing that stands between us and Armageddon. You may feel a tinge of nostalgia as most of the rhetorical flourishes springing up like weeds are a November election year specialty of the house, The difference this time? Their guy is losing. Time to bring out the heavy artillery— “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Topping the list of reasons according to these progressive to keep Biden in office “enable President Biden to achieve more progressive policy objectives during his second term and prevent a fascist takeover.” Translation: If our guy doesn’t win and we lose our hold on power, a whole lot of billionaires, many of them that control the mainstream media, are going to be left friendless in the corridors of power in Washington. For those of you discouraged by the low achievement metrics in U.S. public education, take heart. The progressives have a solution: Biden and the democratic party will “develop and repetitively use more aggressive messaging against and educate the public about the dangers of fascism including exposing and condemning…the fascist blueprint for a second Trump administration.”

Sounds robust doesn’t it? Before we get our blood pressure up, let’s understand the motives for what purports to be a “revolutionary” statement of principles. To understand what’s happening now, we need to turn the time machine back to 2022 when a similarly bold stand was promised on Ukraine. It went something like this. The progressives were going to call for the U.S. to admit its complicity in a proxy war it started to destabilize Russia and overturn Vladimir Putin (business as usual, according to the Washington Post “the US tried to change other countries’ governments 72 times during the Cold War”). They were going to encourage the U.S. to come clean and admit their 2014 role in deposing the democratically elected Ukrainian leader to replace him with a U.S. stooge. Finally, the progressives would call on Biden to remember that in 1990 the U.S. made “iron guarantees that NATO jurisdiction or forces would not move eastward.” [February 9, 1990]

Sad to say, that’s not the way it went down. What really happened demonstrates the shamelessness of the progressives. In 2022 instead, a group of self-described progressive democrats wrote to Biden congratulating him for his massive give away of money and weapons to Ukraine (by that time, the U.S. had emptied the treasury of over $63 billion taxpayer dollars to bolster the Ukrainian military as well fund basic services for Ukrainian citizens letting Americans citizens vie for a spot under bridges and on sidewalks. Here’s the revolutionary part —a timid request for a “proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a cease fire.” Pretty inflammatory stuff, eh?

Publicly the White House acknowledged the “very thoughtful concerns” of the progressives. Privately the Biden gang was furious. The “redoubtable” Biden press secretary responded — “Our job as we see it today, as we’ve seen it for this past year — more than a year — is to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs on the ground.”

How do you think the progressives responded? Surely they held firm to their main message “peace won’t come from war.” Good for them. Maybe a little pushback was all the administration needed to put a stop to the ravaging of Ukraine. Wait a minute, reality bites when the truth comes calling. Less than 24 hours after this”bold” proposal Madame Pramila Jayapal fell on her sword — “The proximity of these statements [to Republican hesitation over further funds for Ukraine] created the unfortunate appearance that Democrats, who have strongly and unanimously supported and voted for every package of military, strategic, and economic assistance to the Ukrainian people, are somehow aligned with Republicans who seek to pull the plug on American support.” Quicker than you can save cave, the progressives retracted their letter and returned to the fold. What does it prove? The fecklessness of progressives or that they finally got their heads on right? After all, speaking in one militaristic voice guarantees that the campaign funds raised by the democratic national committee goes to their campaigns and helps guarantee their prime objective — keeping their jobs. All that other blarney—feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, cancelling student debt, creating a national healthcare system, raising taxes on millionaires and billionaires and ending the devastating toll of income inequality, including the bone they threw to abortion rights activists (blaming the end of Roe on Trump’s Supreme Court picks. No need to mention that Democrats didn’t lift a finger to make Roe a federal law). Blarney is okay on the campaign trail, progressives reason, but when it comes to helping their billionaire donors, the time has come to muzzle pesky activists who raise a fuss about administration priorities: financing a gang of neo-Nazis in Ukraine fighting a war they lost two years ago, helping a group of Zionist thugs stage a genocide in Gaza, and intimidating (unsuccessfully) China by more than quadrupling the current number of troops deployed to Taiwan…[Wall Street Journal]. In order to accomplish these critical foreign policy objectives, they need congressional buy in to back up their bucket list with money —$95 billion to the usual suspects: Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

Here’s a howler for you. During this session of Congress democrats provided the margin of victory on two traditionally Republican issues. When warrant-less wiretapping of American citizens in section 702 of the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) was up for re-authorization, along with a measure to expand the government’s mass spying authority , more Democrats voted for the bill than Republicans. Here’s what privacy advocates thought of their betrayal: “Despite a litany of abuse—improper snooping on protesters, lawmakers, thousands of campaign donors, and journalists—the House today wrote the FBI and intelligence agencies a blank check to keep misusing FISA Section 702.” [Jake Laperruque, Center for Democracy & Technology] Heard enough? It only gets worse. One amendment introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) would have required U.S. intelligence agencies to obtain a search warrant before surveilling Americans’ communications. Once again, more democrats (126) opposed the amendment than republicans (86). With their help it failed to pass. The Biden administration opposed the amendment, no surprises there, and trained their big guns on the opposition. The danger to national security held center stage. Like the sheep they are, enough dems played follow the leader to insure another two years of major spying and surveillance on American citizens.

The democrats weren’t finished breaking our hearts. The passage of the foreign aid bill with its $95 billion giveaway to Nazis (Ukraine), purveyors of genocide (Israel), and violators of America’s “one China” policy (the U.S. military) was bad enough, but to ban the popular social media app Tik Tok in the U.S. unless the Chinese company who owns it, sells it to someone the U.S. approves of is downright silly. Watched by one-third of Americans for at least twenty minutes daily, Tik Tok was the first or second most downloaded app (depending on whether you believe U.S. bean counters) in 2023. Why go after Tik Tok? According to one democrat speaking for the majority of democrats — “the powerful national security threat posed by TikTok… a company legally required to do the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party” [Senator Mark Warner, Chairman of the Senate “Intelligence” Committee]. It will probably come as no surprise that the measure passed in the House because 165 democrats —over three-quarters of House democrats — voted for it. In a stunning turnabout, only 150 republicans were in favor. How many Americans do you supposed are worrying that a looming fascist takeover poses “the most dangerous threat…in our history” when they go to the grocery store, pay their rent, their car insurance or pull up at the gas pump? When it comes right down to it whose lies are more dangerous — Biden’s or Trump’s. The answer may decide who you vote for.

You want to know how much the U.S. empire cares about providing economic security for those at the end of their working lives? Stay tuned. Social Security, the program designed by FDR in 1935 to do just that, happens to be the largest program in the federal budget responsible for 21% of federal spending. Despite the high hopes that accompanied the legislation, its bragging rights are remarkably slim. The best one can point to is its longevity as the major source of income for whatever the government deems to be the retirement age. Its stingy benefits leave many seniors in the lurch. Like the 3 ½ million unable to afford life-saving medicine or the 5 ½ million officially classified as “food insecure” (government-speak for not enough to eat). The empire can be vindictive punishing 2 ½ million for the crime of never making enough money to repay their student loans. The picture gets a lot darker when you compare the way senior Americans are treated with their peers in other countries. While social insurance plans around the globe pay out an average of 57.9% of workers’ earnings in retirement benefits, the payout in the U.S.is a pitiful 41% of earnings. Born in 1962 and looking forward to 2027 when you reach the magic age of 65 and can retire with full benefits? Sorry to disappoint you but in 1983, your elected officials raised the retirement age to 67 delaying your government retirement benefits by two years. A move that will cost all affected seniors 13%. In addition to other shortcomings, Social Security has also been bedeviled by wage inequality. In 2024,160 million workers will have 6.2% deducted from their wages all year to fund the program. But for 220 top earners, it was a matter of a few hours. For Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, it only took two hours. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, the second and third richest people in the world, were done in less than 4 minutes. Why, you may ask incredulously. The U.S. Government has put a fail safe for the wealthy into the Social Security law only taxing the first $168,600 of income. The same law also excludes capital gains (investment income), a major source of compensation for the 1%. If would be a different America if the income cap and the capital gains exclusion did not exist. Ten wealthy Americans would have to pony up $3.5 billion to Social Security. Talk about wage inequality —the wealthiest pay 1% of their income to fund Social Security while ordinary Americans pay 6.2%.

Do Americans care about such gross unfairness? In a 2024 poll, 71% of likely U.S. voters want Congress to guarantee Social Security’s solvency “by increasing taxes on wealthy Americans” rather than cutting benefits. [Data For Progress]. If American democracy were real instead of happy talk on the campaign trail, the peoples’ wishes would have borne fruit decades ago. Who objects to Americans who have worked their whole adult lives ending up with a comfortable retirement? The millionaires and billionaires whose donations determine political winners.

While we’re on the subject of bought-and-paid for officials how about a subject that both sides of the aisle agree on — scamming seniors. Starting with the democrat Bill Clinton. He wanted to privatize Social Security. But a young intern and impeachment doomed his scheme. Next up, a republican George W. Bush took another bite at the privatization apple. This time an outraged public intervened. Then came Obama and the public saw a ray of hope. Soon dashed when he and Biden, his vice president, tried to formulate a “grand bargain” with the Republicans featuring benefit cuts. When their poll numbers started going south, they quickly backed off.

Joe Biden, president at last (third time around), didn’t break the mold. In 2018 he previewed his position on bilking seniors. —“Paul Ryan was right…what did he say we have to go after? Social Security and Medicare…that’s the only way you can find room to pay for it. When he was running for president, he took a strategic 180° and “vowed” not to go after Social Security. Becoming president in 2020, history presented him a golden opportunity to be the president who saved Social Security. Instead of starting wars, he could have sent Congress a bill raising the cap on earnings. That act alone would have guaranteed recipients another 35 years of full benefits. Then he could have wiped out the exclusion on taxing capital gains. Social Security would have been funded for 75 years.

So much for that fantasy. He had a more important promise to keep than one another president made eight decades ago. At a campaign event for the ultra-rich, in exchange for boatloads of money he promised that in his administration “nothing would change.” In line with that promise, he nominated Andrew Biggs, senior fellow of the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, to a seat on the policy-making Social Security Advisory Board.

Andrew Biggs is a dream come true for America’s one percenters and a nightmare for the rest of Americans. A long-time supporter of benefit cuts who in 2013 opined on the retirement age— “idea that we can’t have a higher retirement age… flies in the face of the fact that people did, in fact, retire later in the past, and today’s jobs are less physically demanding than they were in the past.” Other notable parts of his rap sheet include a leading role in George W. Bush’s failed attempt to privatize Social Security in 2005 when he was an associate director of Bush’s National Economic Council.

Joe Biden nominated this critter to be on the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB) not once, but twice in 2022 and 2023. He will undoubtedly come up for a vote in this session. The expected will become reality. “Progressives” will whine and hint darkly about voting no. When push comes to shove, they will cave. Not the first time the people have endured a bipartisan kick in teeth. In 1983 when Congress raised the retirement age to 67 and now when the possibility exists that Congress will raise the retirement age to 70, costing future seniors a 20% cut in their lifetime benefits. Shame on a rich country that cannot afford to keep the promise it made 89 years ago. “It is a law [the Social Security Act] that will take care of human needs and at the same time provide the United States an economic structure of vastly greater soundness.” [FDR 8/14/1935]

Why Do I Love Thee, Israel?

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” How does the State of Israel  merit such blind devotion by the US government? Is it unrequited love? Or something else? A question we may never be able to answer, but worth a try. “The United States unequivocally condemns this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, and I made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel…Israel has a right to defend itself and its people… My Administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering.” [Statement issued by President Biden after the October 7 attack by Hamas] On October 17, Biden made the usual presidential pilgrimage to the lion’s den (Israel) in case Israeli officialdom didn’t get the memo about the “solid and unwavering” support U.S. political elites traditionally serve up to the Israelis. Probably because he “forgot” he’s been glad-handing the state of Israel for over fifty years, he rushed to the phone on October 7 to reaffirm the U.S. Hallelujah Chorus to the whims of Israel. After all his full-throated kudos, Biden timidly expressed (sotto voce) a feeble concern about Palestinian civilian casualties. But a swaggering head of state like Netanyahu wasn’t brooking any interference from one of his vassals— “As a sovereign state fighting for its existence and future, we will make our decisions by ourselves.” Until it comes to paying the bill. Perhaps Netanyahu suffers from the same delusions as Biden. What about the $14 billion taxpayer dollars the US has earmarked for Israel which the Senate has already approved with nary a progressive democratic peep of dissent. Or more shameful yet, Biden’s use of an obscure bill, The Arms Export Control Act (AECA), which allowed him to bypass congressional scrutiny to hand over $250 million in weapons sales to Israel (at least 30% of it going to fatten the wallets of the US defense industry). Like always, Netanyahu knew exactly who and what he was dealing with among US political leaders. Greedy officials eying their pay day from the Israel lobbies. With that knowledge, Netanyahu knew he was immune from penalties even criticism from any sector of the U.S. government. Not from Joe Biden who collected $4 million from pro-Israel lobbies to win the 2020 presidential race. (Trump got less than $1 million).

Not to be outdone in the race to burnish Israel’s image as an inseparable BFF of the United States and flaunt her bona fides as Israel’s highest ranking kept woman, Biden’s ventriloquist dummy, Kamala Harries cackled this inanity —“I pledge to you the Biden-Harris administration will sustain our unbreakable commitment to Israel’s security, including the unprecedented military and intelligence cooperation pioneered during the Obama-Biden administration and the guarantee that Israel will always maintain its qualitative military edge. Hard to believe but it gets worser and worser. As Israel threatened to invade Rafah, Gaza city that is the last refuge for 1.5 million Palestinians, Adm Kirby uttered these shocking words: “We are going to continue to support Israel… They have a right to defend themselves against Hamas. And we’re going to continue to make sure they have the tools and the capabilities to do that (the part he didn’t say out loud — even if it means thousands more dead children]  As the murderous rhetoric of the Biden administration climbed to new decibel levels and the civilian death toll reached stratospheric heights, the Senate passed a $95 billion aid package including $10 billion in offensive military assistance for Israel. The bill also authorized the State Department to supply more weapons and money to Israel withoutwaiting for Congressional buy in. The bill’s fate in the House is uncertain.  There are enough representatives who need Israel to come up with the big bucks before election day to predict another big win for Israel.

A few clips from the historical record underscore what slavish devotion to Israel’s delusions of grandeur have cost the U.S. On June 6,1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, a sovereign state, one of the first stops along their rampage around the Arab world. An invasion tacitly approved by none other than the U.S. and made possible by U.S. military support. Three months later September 9-16, 1982, two Palestinian refugee camps, Sabra and Shatila, were attacked killing between 2,000—3500 civilians. Guess whose fingerprints were all over the operation? The IDF (Israeli army) provided security and looked on while the massacre was in full swing. The US contribution to the massacre was as much or even more egregious than Israel’s. Beyond supplying lethal weapon systems, U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig gave a green light for the attack. Ronald Reagan, President at the time, like all president both before and after him, did the usual presidential knee bend. His reward for such blind devotion: an attack on a U.S. marine barracks killing U.S. 241 marines. In a national address the night of the bombing Reagan vowed “[we] must stay there until the situation is under control.”  Four months later he delivered the usual bluster — “If we’re to be secure in our homes and in the world, we must stand together against those who threaten us.” Three days later he ordered the marines out of Lebanon.

But if we set the historical time clock fifteen years before, an even greater atrocity occurred. On June 8, 1967, the Vietnam was in full swing with 500,000 U.S. soldiers deployed. 5,000 miles away off the coast of Egypt, an American intelligence (spy) ship, the Liberty, sailed in international waters. Those who lived to tell about it remember bright blue skies, visibility 25+ miles impossible not to see the giant American flag and the ship’s identifying number. The calm was suddenly and brutally disrupted as gunfire, missiles and napalm rained down from the skies on the deck. The sudden attack was as fierce as it was unexpected. Nine men died after the initial twenty-two-minute shelling. As suddenly as the planes appeared, they disappeared leaving the hapless crew to the mercy of three torpedo boats firing five torpedoes into the ship. When the horror finally ended, 34 men of the 294-man crew had been murdered their bodies ripped to shreds by the rockets, cannons, machine guns, 1,000-pound bombs and napalm hurled at them from, you guessed it, Israeli fighter planes, and torpedo boats. By the time the world knew who “done it,” the giant cover-up was already in full gallop. When the Liberty didn’t sink as had been expected, Israel was forced to apologize for their “grievous error.” President Johnson who had known all along what the Israelis were planning accepted their apology, no questions asked. He absolved the Israelis despite a mountain of evidence  as all American presidents do when trying to put a happy face on yet another one of Israel’s rampages. One has only to look at the Biden administration to see a presidential grovel in action. Like Biden’s Johnson’s perfidy was on steroids.  As two U.S. fighter jets took off to repel the Israeli attack and save lives, President Johnson ordered them to stop — “I don’t care how many Americans are being killed. I don’t want to embarrass one of our allies. I want that Goddamn ship going to the bottom. No help. Recall the wings.”  [Verbatim transcript of LBJ’s speaking to the captain of one of the aircraft carriers]  Later an official court of inquiry headed by none other than Admiral John McCain, father of the late senator and presidential nominee delivered the final betrayal to 34 dead sailors: “The Israeli attack on the USS Liberty was a grievous error, largely attributable to the fact that it occurred in the midst of the confusion of a full-scale war in 1967. Years later when there was an attempt to reopen the Liberty investigation and Israel’s involvement in it, the attempt was derailed by none other than sonny, the late Senator John McCain. Could it by any stretch of the imagination have been an accident? Not according to Captain Ward Boston, the lawyer for the court of inquiry. It took him 34 years but in 2004 he finally spilled the beans: “It was our [he and Admiral Kidd presiding over the court] shared belief, based on documentary evidence and testimony…that the Israeli attack …could not possibly have been an accident.” It was Admiral Moorer, Chief of Naval Operations in 1967, who, in 1983, put his finger on the problem that has haunted the American people since Israel’s founding in 1948: “I’ve never seen a President… stand up to Israel…if the American people understood what a grip these people have on our government, they would rise up in arms.”

It’s not just a few U.S. presidents. As Admiral Moorer pointed out it’s all of them who support the villainy of the Israel government. In 1999, Captain McGonagle who had been the captain of the Liberty was near death and anxious to clear his conscience wrote then President Clinton — “I think it’s about time that the state of Israel and the United States government provide the crew members of the Liberty and the rest of the American people the facts of what happened, and why . . . the Liberty was attacked. Clinton never responded.

Is it just the money that compels U.S. leaders to bow to Israel’s increasingly unhinged actions? Kowtowing to Israel is the one activity that has bipartisan support. As Ralph Nader opined —The only difference between the Republican and Democratic parties is the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when [Israel] knocks on their door.” [we changed corporations to Israel and it still fits] But as Solzhenitsyn reminds us “keeping silent about evil” risks a people or a nation losing its soul —“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand-fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.  [Fancy that: Not a little child leading us, but a Russian] You will find the full story of the Liberty Here and Here

“Be All That You Can Be.”  Uplifting? Propelling a mad rush to the Army’s recruiting offices? No. Today’s young Americans guess (rightly it turns out) that it’s their ticket to become cannon fodder in the perpetual wars the U.S. empire has conducted since 1945. Wars, all Americans know, it has failed to win. On the other hand, these wars have produced a stunning number of U.S. casualties: Korea 38,000, Vietnam 58,000, and 7,000 in post 9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last week, three soldiers were murdered as they slept at a “secret” army base in Jordan. What are U.S. soldiers doing in Jordan? Are we at war in Jordan? Chances are no one in the Pentagon knows or has forgotten. With more than 800 bases around the world, Pentagon generals are hard put to keep track of them all. Their track record of safeguarding Pentagon assets is equally shameful as evidenced by their sixth consecutive failure to pass an audit. Which leads to the inevitable question: what magic elixir will the Pentagon use to come up with enough warm bodies for America’s global perpetual war machine? In 21^st century America slogans no longer cut the mustard. Obama tried in 2009 to convince high school graduates that “[Military service would] carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.” Here’s a navy veteran who bought into that rosy promise — “Would you want to get into a profession or take a job where coming out of it you’ve got a chance of joining a million totally disabled? My kids and anybody who has any common sense or intelligence is not going to sign up for the military.”  The Pentagon’s response? “[We] value the dedicated service and sacrifice of every veteran and understand the concerns some may have. [Our] greatest strategic asset is our people, and we will always pursue options to enhance how we take care of our service members and their families.” Really? With today’s advanced medical treatments, soldiers are more likely to suffer horrible injuries than to die. Those that survive often need care and medical treatment for life. Does the Pentagon live up to its promise to enhance how we take care of our service members and their families” when returning soldiers need their help?  Welcome to a country that sends over $100 billion to the most corrupt country in Europe, Ukraine, for among other reasons humanitarian relief. US soldiers needing disability benefits would probably do better in Ukraine. In the U.S. the process of filing for veteran disability benefits is long and complicated usually taking months or even years to get approved. Over one-third of veterans are outright rejected every year. Compounding the problem, millions of veterans who get home in one piece are uninsured and lack even the most basic medical care. One dismal statistic that you will never see in Pentagon ads or on the mainstream media is the alarming number of soldiers who take their own lives. Not just veterans from twentieth century wars like Vietnam. Over 30,177 service members and veterans of U.S. post-9/11 wars have committed suicide — over four times as many as have died in combat. For the past four decades, the Pentagon has been trying to figure out new fairy tales to encourage the death wish in young Americans, particularly as the recruitment number continue to dwindle. In 2020 less than 150,000 people enlisted, 59% less than in 1980. While contemplating new wars every week, that downward trend in unbearable. The geniuses at the Pentagon put on their thinking caps and revisited a bad-terrible-horrible idea abandoned decades ago—to partner with Hollywood making films that painted a bogus picture of life as a U.S. soldier. Could lightning strike twice? In 2023, the military revisited that idea and bet big on movies like Top Gun: Maverick to spur interest in the military. They were sorely disappointed. The military missed its recruitment goal by 41,000 in 2023. What next? Dick Durbin, senator from Illinois, had a nifty idea. Why not draft undocumented immigrants? If they survive, they become citizens. Congress didn’t buy it and the White House ignored it. Other flaky ideas —allowing in recruits with serious medical conditions like asthma and ADHD. Or using platforms like TikTok to attract recruits (a platform the Pentagon itself abandoned in 2020). At the end of its rope, the Army is currently offering up to a $50,00 bonus to recruits who agree to stick around from three to six years. Throwing money around to attract recruits works about as well as “shoot ‘em up” films.  As one military official put it: “We can throw money at the problem all we want, but until we change how young people see us in uniform, we are going to struggle to get them to raise their right hands.” Two other less-than-brilliant ideas have caught the attention of Pentagon brass. If a branch of the service does not meet its monthly goal for recruitment, they are allowed to recruit low IQ individuals who could not pass the military aptitude test. A sad reminder of 1966 in the midst of the Vietnam catastrophe when the empire was running out of warm bodies to do its fighting and dying. Drafting college students to bolster the rolls was a step too far for President Johnson who feared the ire of his major donors. Instead Defense Secretary McNamara came up with Project 100,000 which aimed to recruit low IQ men who had been rejected for military service. Another truly abominable idea that was mothballed in 1977 but not withdrawn.  It is still in effect when the wars the empire starts exceed the number of volunteers willing to fight them. Idea two of the Pentagon’s perpetual quest to find more young Americans to fight the empire’s war lust is buried in the small print in the contract each recruit signs. It’s a tiny clause which no recruit notices and which the recruiter “forgets” to mention that allows every branch of the military to recall troops to active duty or to extend the term, beyond what was agreed to on the flimsy basis of maintaining troop strength. You heard that right: the contract these naïve young Americans sign is a form of   involuntary servitude preventing troops from leaving the service despite having completed their tour of duty. It’s officially called “Stop Loss” but the troops call it “back door draft.” Another major obstacle in growing the military to match the empire’s outsized ambitions is the woeful state of young Americans’ physical and mental development. In 2022, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville testified before Congress that only 23% of Americans ages 17-24 could pass muster. Of those, according to an internal Defense Department survey in 2022, only 9% have any interest in volunteering. How can an empire galloping into a new war almost every month cope with not having with enough bodies to fight them? What about re-instituting the draft? As long as there are rich campaign donors with children neither Congress nor the White House will consider it. America’s last draft ended in 1973. Here’s another idea that probably won’t gain traction among the megalomania-cal warmongers in Congress and the White House. End the reasons for a draft by instituting peace. That’s right no more 800 bases in virtually every country in the world. No more corporate welfare for the likes of Raytheon, Boeing and the rest of the criminogenic defense industry. A defense budget that is truly defensive: to protect America not police the world’s nations or expand the empire. The world already has a way to create a peaceful world. It’s called the United Nations. But the past holds a better promise. On August 27, 1928, fifteen nations came together to sign  the Kellogg-Briand pact outlawing war entirely. The elusive dream of peace made real. How about a new Kellogg-Briand pact now when the need is so great.  With so much on the line, we have nothing to lose.  

Watching with a mixture of resignation and disgust — Resignation: “Oh, no, not again. They tried it in Vietnam, before that Korea, afterwards Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Ukraine. They never learn. They failed at both regime change and ‘democracy’ promotion.”  Disgust: “Probably their most shameful performance on the world stage — A partner in genocide. Bringing all their trillions of dollars’ worth of munitions to aid and abet a madman committing unspeakable acts of terror on an innocent population.” But you know all that, don’t you? As a card carrying American, the unholy triumvirate plus one of Biden, Blinken, Sullivan and Nuland —all unelected save one— has made you an involuntary partner in these murderous goings on. Not that it hasn’t happened before with an unhinged occupant in the White House. No, not Donald Trump whom the democrats love to paint with that unhinged brush, not Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan likely candidates but the jury is still out on them. Even LBJ doesn’t make the cut. But Richard Nixon does. It was called the ‘secret’ bombing of Cambodia. Nixon, whose irrational behavior stunned his staff— “all of us were worried about this man’s (Nixon’s) stability… [quoted in The Price of Power by Seymour Hersch], believed that somehow American troops laying waste to Cambodia would win the war in Vietnam. Makes perfect sense if you are an American leader in 1970 or curiously enough in 2023. Republican (Nixon) or Democrat (Biden) the urge to incinerate the world’s nations is bipartisan. One of the few things that is. But that was then, this is now. Israel is no Vietnam. But like all American presidents/war criminals both before and after him Richard Nixon was an unquestioning supporter of Israel in the Joe Biden mold. “We are for Israel because Israel in our view is the only state in the Mideast which is pro-freedom…[We are] the kind of friend that Israel needs and will continue to need particularly when the going gets tough.” Nixon might have said it in 1970 or Biden in 2023.  Most likely guess is Biden because it’s the kind of drivel that spews from his mouth directly from his addled brain (but then it’s not so much his dementia but a lifetime of sharing a bed with Israel). But in this case It was actually a Nixon memo to his partner in crime the departed but little mourned Henry Kissinger. Refreshing to know that on this issue, American foreign policy has remained firmly consistent. And Israel knows it. Here’s how they responded to Nixon’s egging them on in 1970. “Our military operations are the most encouraging breath of fresh air the American administration has enjoyed recently. A man would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to sense how much the administration favors our military operations…” [future Prime Minister Rabin, then Ambassador to the U.S.]. How prescient of him to define the U.S. groveling relationship to Israel which has remained static for the past half century. Here’s how the latest American war criminal president, Joe Biden, put it: ““Israel has the right to defend itself. We must make sure they have what they need to protect their people today and always.” When he wasn’t espousing the gospel  according to Israel, he was delivering comments reminiscent of Madeleine Albright’s efforts to deny U.S. responsibility for the starvation deaths of one half million Iraqi children —”We think it’s worth it.” “I’m sure innocents have been killed and it’s the price of waging a war” [Biden 10/25/2023] Not that Biden stands alone.  Although he occupies the number one spot among the top ten politicians who take the most money from lobbies shilling for Israel, accumulating $4.3 million over a lifetime of running interference for Israel, 8 of the top 10 beneficiaries of Israel lobby largesse are democrats. The golden rule of political “success” in the U.S: Follow the money. For openers there’s Chuck Schumer (D) (number 4 among the top 10 politicians in Israel’s pocket), a recipient of $1.7 million of Israel blood money, who earned his stash by maintaining that the mythical rise in anti-semitism in the U.S. is a far more serious situation than Israel’s genocide of a whole ethnic group: “Today, too many Americans are exploiting arguments against Israel and leaping toward a virulent antisemitism. The normalization and intensifying of this rise in hate is the danger many Jewish people fear most.”  Perhaps the best example of the stranglehold Israeli money has on politicians, even those self-described as progressive, is number 8 on the list, Dick Durbin (D), who has been showered with over $1 million dollars of Israel lobby money. He is a case study in the power of the Israel bribe machine. Back in 1982 running for a House seat against a popular Republican incumbent who was a proponent of the Palestinian people (also an early opponent of the Vietnam war), he didn’t stand a chance before the Israel lobby bankrolled him to victory. Earning his filthy lucre over seven house terms and five in the Senate, Durbin has called for immediate and copious military aid to Israel and co-signed a Senate resolution affirming Israel’s “right to self-defense.”  Although 61% of the American public, including 76% of democrats, 57% of Independents and 49% of Republicans support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, only 4% of what are supposed to be the peoples’ representatives in Congress support even a temporary halt to Israel’s murderous attack or favor UN resolutions to end the violence. Why the disparity? What happened to those noble sentiments about the importance of voting in a democracy so that those whom the voters elect will express their concerns and do their bidding. Sentimental hogwash meant to pacify the masses but when it comes serious business like keeping their jobs, lobby money and lots of it is the ticket to longevity. Newbies to Congress learn quickly that their survival depends on “voting the right way” when it comes to Israel. Take Chuck Schumer whose five terms in the Senate bear witness to his fealty to Israel’s interests. Israel’s capture of the U.S. legislative branch of government is manifest In the money that changed hands during the 2022 Congressional elections: “Pro–Israel lobbyist groups and individuals contributed nearly $31 million to American congressional candidates during last year’s election cycle.” [Open Secrets]. Of course, this money isn’t free. It comes with lots of conditions, the prime one being “having Israel’s back,” which includes backing the Zionist scheme of greater Israel, blocking a two-state solution and criminalizing BDS movements by force of law in the U.S. Politicians who refuse to bend a knee to Israel’s demands often find themselves facing an opponent who will. And what do the American people get in return from Israel? Its overwhelming gratitude for U.S. generosity or something else? Here’s Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in 2001— “…America is very easy to influence…they won’t get in our way…[If] …they say something so what?” What does the U.S. lose? “Unfettered support for Israel and the lobby consistently puts the United States at odds with international human rights organizations and the vast majority of nations over Israel’s war crimes and blatant violations of international law [Walter Hixson, historian] Is it worth it?