Drowning in the Cesspool

“The simple fact that occupying armies, whether allied or enemy, always become unpopular hardly ever figures in official calculation.” I.F. Stone

Being an American isn’t easy these days, not with an imbecile in the White House who barely knows that the Constitution is a document with actual meaning. A number of corporate media pundits have discovered, as shocking as this may seem, that Trump is unfit for office. Why it took them so long is anyone’s guess. Our would-be emperor has been debasing his office since Day 1.

Why does the New York Times believe that Iran is Israel’s foremost enemy? Is it because Netanyahu said so and the Times, like the rest of the mainstream herd, must repeat it for fear of offending the Israel lobby? Sober analysis of the military capabilities of Israel and Iran might lead one to conclude that Iran has more to fear from Israel than vice versa.

The Republicans shudder and turn a blind eye to Trump’s ineptitude, while Democrats chase Russian shadows like they are the Holy Grail.

The corporate media, propaganda arm of the corporate-state, warns us that Russia is a dangerous enemy, but how many sovereign nations has Russia invaded and occupied in the last fifteen years? The US has at least seven notches in its belt. How many military bases does Russia operate around the world? One, in Syria. And the US? Between 750 and 800, dotting the entire globe. Plus aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. But it is the US that shakes with fear in the face of Russia and Iran…and Venezuela. I’ll tell you what, I’m 1,000 times more afraid of the Trump administration and the American war machine than I am of Russia, Iran, ISIS or North Korea, and tiny Venezuela doesn’t even appear on my radar.  

American citizens are played for fools. The Pentagon calls for more troops for the failed war in Afghanistan, a war that can’t be won, ever, and the citizenry yawns. This is year 16 of our misguided attempt at nation building in a country that simply refuses to be built by any foreign power. Billions of dollars have been dumped into Afghanistan for all sorts of purposes, from road construction to training local security forces. The Afghans are always on the cusp of taking over their own security, almost ready to graduate to total self-sufficiency, if we only provide another five, ten or twenty million dollars. Our exalted generals can break the stalemate and wipe out the Taliban if only...you get the picture.

On a recent podcast of Intercepted with Jeremy Scahill, Pulitzer prize winning author Tim Weiner said, “We are living in Trump-world folks. You must be able to hold two opposing ideas in mind in order to stay sane.” In the same discussion, Scahill noted that it feels like Trump has been in office for four years, not four months, with mounting scandals, ever more erratic behavior, sheer stupidity, blatant lies, and total incoherence.

If you’re still waiting for Trump to find his footing, I feel sorry for you. The orange buffoon is drowning in a cesspool of his own incompetence.

The great Amy Goodman, one of my personal heroes, and her writing partner Denis Moynihan, were at La Caza de La Raza in Santa Barbara last night, in support of community radio station KCSB and independent media. La Caza, a community hub for decades in Santa Barbara was packed with more than 400 people. Goodman spoke about the stand-off at Standing Rock, and recounted how private security guards unleashed attack dogs on peaceful water protectors. Goodman herself was absurdly charged with the crime of rioting, a charge that was quickly dropped, but it shows the hostility of the corporate state for independent media. “Dissent,” Goodman said, “will save us.” Amen to that.  

A Perfect Metaphor

“Is capitalism any longer compatible with democracy? Was it ever?” Steve Fraser, The Age of Acquiescence

The accursed farce is almost at an end. If America isn’t the laughing stock of the world, we should be.

The presidential election spectacle has revealed Americans at our very worst: trivial, narcissistic, bombastic, conniving, hypocritical, crass, arrogant, and mendacious.

After I cast my ballot on November 8 I’m going to take a long shower and fill a large tumbler with single malt scotch.

Something is fundamentally wrong with my country -- we are afflicted with a disease and I think it may be terminal. The journalist Chris Hedges might be right: perhaps we are well along the road to fascism. I don’t want to believe that, but when I look around, the idea isn’t that farfetched.

Look at the ongoing protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Unarmed protestors, men, women, kids, being blasted with beanbag rounds, sprayed with mace and pepper spray, beaten with batons, and confronted with militarized police and goons.

Whenever Capital is challenged by the people, it always gets a helping hand from the state, and the go ahead to use an iron fist.

Look at how we treat dissenters and those that attempt to expose the misdeeds of the powerful. Edward Snowden, Thomas Drake, John Kiriakou, Jeffrey Sterling, and others, speak out and have their lives destroyed. Even Amy Goodman, a journalist supposedly protected by the Constitution, is charged with bogus crimes for doing her job.

Speak out against the empire and you will be labeled unpatriotic. Ask why we must wage war every day for fifteen years somewhere in the world and you will be accused of aiding and abetting the terrorists.

Christopher Hitchens once said that the connection between stupidity and cruelty is a close one. Given the evidence of this election season, the mud and muck and slime that has been thrown in our faces by the political duopoly, there is little doubt -- at least in my mind -- that we are a stupid nation, and our behavior at home and abroad is more often than not cruel as well as deadly. It’s as if we have run dry of ideas and the only tool in our bag is violence.

The state’s response to endemic racism and inequality at home is violence, the vilification and murder of unarmed black citizens; we incarcerate more of our citizens than any other nation, and we punish those citizens brutally, while they are caged and again when, if, they get out.

We blame the poor for their poverty and then strip away any assistance that might help the poor to lift themselves up. Our compassion won’t fit in a thimble.

The president claims an inalienable right to order the murder of someone -- even an American citizen -- without a whiff of due process. This scale of hubris is mind boggling.

Our government has waged war against a tactic for fifteen years; we are not winning, but we cannot stop losing.

One half of the political duopoly pledges to obstruct the other, for no reason than because they can. As citizens we pay these “representatives” while they play roulette with our present and future.

The American brand of capitalism -- said to be the envy of the world -- monetizes almost every aspect of our lives and brutally separates winners from losers. We are reduced to what we own and what we can buy. When the wealthy overextend themselves, the poor pick up the tab.

None of this will change on November 9 or next January. Driving back to Santa Barbara from Monterey the other day, on the 101 freeway alongside the ocean, I saw a Southern Pacific railroad maintenance truck rolling along the track, fixed on the rails, unable to change course, able to go only where the rails take it, even if that means straight to the edge of the abyss.

Perfect metaphor for America in November of 2016.  

Dry Rot

“Failed states—czarist Russia, the Weimar Republic, the former Yugoslavia—vomit up political monstrosities. We will be no different.” Chris Hedges

The state of North Dakota wants to arrest Amy Goodman

For doing her job;

Guess the folks up there haven’t heard about the 1st Amendment.

The Standing Rock Sioux are standing against the bulldozers,

Machines on one side, men and women on the other,

But the big media can’t be bothered to get off their lazy asses

And cover the story.

The Southside of Chicago is a war zone as hot as Beirut once was,

as dangerous as Sadr City or Aleppo,

But when violence is black-on-black,

America doesn’t care;

“Let them kill each other, then we’ll clean up the mess.”

Hopeless children armed to the teeth, fighting to the death

Over turf long since abandoned by those with the power to

Help.

Democracy in America withers on the vine by design. The more

Obedient, quiet and pacified the people are, the better the oligarchs

Like it.

Money is our God, war our narcotic.

Our politicians slash taxes on the wealthy and lob trillions

At the Pentagon

Decade after decade

Then blame the poor and the elderly for the budget deficit.

Morning in America means private opulence and public squalor.

The American Kool-Aid, brewed in the fevered imaginations of

Greedy capitalists, is that tax cuts and loopholes for the wealthy

Produce prosperity for everyone.

This is just one of the destructive lies that left

the bridge to the middle class in splinters.

Our brand of capitalism enriches the few and punishes the many,

ruins lives, makes men and women disposable, trashes the planet.

I pity you if you think Trump or Clinton is inclined to stop our slide; the

Dry rot in both parties is terminal, and more of the same means death.

The central banks

Of the world are out of options

So

When the next crash hits

2008 might look like a blip.

My Interview with Amy Goodman - Santa Barbara Independent - April 5, 2016

Amy Goodman Talks 20 Years of Independent Journalism

Amy Goodman, host and executive producer of Democracy Now, the only public media program that airs simultaneously on radio, cable, satellite television, and the Internet, will be speaking at UCSB on April 10 at 7:30 p.m. Goodman, along with longtime writing partners Denis Moynihan and David Goodman, are on a 100-city book tour to promote their latest book, Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America. 

UCSB

Amy Goodman

Amy Goodman’s list of journalism awards and accolades is too lengthy to mention. Suffice it to say that Goodman has walked the walk in war zones and areas wrecked by natural disasters, and has been on the ground to cover major stories such as the recent Paris climate negotiations and the Black Lives Matter movement. 


Brian Tanguay caught up with Amy Goodman on the eve of her book tour. 

When you started the broadcast back in 1996, did you have any idea it would become what it is today?We thought it would be a nine-month project, ending with the election, however that turned out. We were the only daily election coverage in public broadcasting. But there was more demand the day after the election than before. More and more stations wanted to pick us up. First it was community radio stations, then NPR, and public access television stations. Then PBS stations asked to air us. It just grew and grew. We’re translated into Spanish and Democracy Now is now carried on 1,400 public stations. Our growth is an indication of the hunger for independent voices.

Democracy Now started at a time when media consolidation in the United States was gathering momentum. Did the prospect of trying to establish an authentic voice in a corporate-dominated environment give you pause? Sadly, they have left such a huge niche — in fact, the corporate broadcasters are now niche broadcasters. These corporate networks feature such a small circle of pundits who know so little about so much. Our work at Democracy Now is giving voice to the vast majority of people whose voices are not represented. That’s what gives us our authenticity.

You and your team at Democracy Now have profiled, featured, and interviewed people that the corporate media ignore. I’m thinking of Noam Chomsky, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Jeremy Scahill, Angela Davis, Arundhati Roy — a long list of important voices that the average American knows little if anything about. Was providing a platform for voices like these part of your original vision or did that evolve? These are voices that need to be heard. I won’t say these voices have been blacked-out — maybe whited-out is more accurate — but we’re talking about thinkers and grassroots leaders, and people closest to the issues that impact their lives and communities and nations. 

Of all the interviews you’ve done and events covered, is there one that stands out more than the rest? No, it’s more the inspiration of so many different voices. Our team at Democracy Now uses all its skill and diligence to give voice to people closest to the issues. This is critical in a democracy.

Can you recall the number of times you’ve been arrested in the course of reporting? (Laughs.) I don’t have the exact number, but I will say that it’s unacceptable that police arrest reporters. Our job is to be in the streets covering events and talking to people who are excluded from the conversation. 

Which corporate media broadcasts do you watch? As many as I can. It’s important to understand how events are framed, and what questions aren’t being asked. 

What unsettles you when you look at the contemporary political landscape, particularly the election coverage? The lack of diversity. 

What gives you hope? The movement. There’s no question about it. This book, written with my colleagues Denis Moynihan and my brother David Goodman, is about people all over the world who are challenging discrimination against immigrants or fighting for gay and lesbian rights or economic and environmental justice. The persistence and dedication and ingenuity of these people is inspiring.

I have to ask you this question, Amy, because it’s one of the most important questions of our time. Have you seen Hamilton? I can’t believe you’re asking me this question! It’s as if you have a little lens into my life. I have been wanting to see Hamilton, but of course there’s no way because the show is sold out for months. But then a week ago a friend of mine came into town for my birthday bearing tickets for the show! It’s an unbelievable work that is changing the face of Broadway. Who would have thought American history could be told through hip-hop and rap?

One Small Step Closer to the Gulag

On the day I begin re-reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Democracy Now host Amy Goodman is arrested in St. Paul, Minnesota for protesting the arrest of two of her colleagues. All three have journalist credentials and Press ID, and yet police in riot gear manhandle them as if they’re members of the Weather Underground. Fortunately, some alert soul captures this outrage on video and posts it on YouTube.

For all of Barack Obama’s soaring and inspiring rhetoric, we didn’t hear much in his convention speech about restoring civil liberties. I wonder if Bill Clinton’s call for restoring the American Dream at home also meant turning back the emerging American police state.

The police state will prevail unless and until the arrest of a journalist as prominent as Amy Goodman is front-page news. As of this morning, at least on the New York Times and Los Angeles Times websites, it’s not even worth a mention. I don’t suspect that Diane Sawyer or Matt Lauer will lead with the story, either, though in the grand scheme of freedom and liberty, the arrest of Amy Goodman and the systematic stifling of dissent in this country is more important than Hurricane Gustav or the hypocrisy of Sarah Palin.

Dissent is as fundamental to a real democracy as free and fair elections. The Constitution still guarantees the right of free speech and free assembly, but when peaceful protestors – with a permit -- are met by police in full riot gear and journalists trying to do their jobs are arrested, one wonders what the Constitution means.

I first read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1979. Back then America seemed as far from the Gulag as the moon is from Pluto. Today the distance is far shorter. We’re in the process of trading some of our most precious civil liberties for a false sense of security. No nation on this planet jails as many of its citizens as we do; we torture prisoners and invade countries that pose no threat to us. And, like Pravda in the days of the Soviet Union, the American media feeds the population a steady diet of half-truths, whole lies, and mind-numbing trivia.

We can ignore what happened to Amy Goodman in St. Paul, but not for long. Tyranny happens gradually.