Power to the People My Ass

A rant.

Depressing.  I've never been "involved" in politics.  Never volunteered for a political campaign, joined a political party, canvassed for votes, etc.  I've never wanted anything to do with it.  I've known since an early age that it was all a farce, a system to keep us in our place, to make us believe we actually have a say in things. Those fuckers never represented me and never will.

I've never had a say on a damn thing regarding how this country is run in my 61 years. So all this talk on this site about the democratic party, what they did wrong, what kind of "intellectual" excuses they're making, who they're appointing to leadership positions, why they just don't fucking get it, it's all past me, man.  That's party politics, I can't do it and won't do it.

I wrote an essay I titled, "It's Time for Power to the People", in which I hoped that the Native American led protests in North Dakota could be a springboard to a real people's revolution, not some fake same old thing bullshit mostly tied to the political system.  Someone in the comment thread linked to an effort led by Shaun King to expand on the "victory" at Standing Rock by "launching an injustice boycott". 

https://medium.com/@ShaunKing/today-we-launch-the-injustice-boycott-against-racial-injustice-police-brutality-in-standing-rock-b1bb18da1f4f#.bjvy60hjo

Shawn King, I don't know I'd have to look it up, was some dude on Daily Kos wasn't he?  Then he got a paid gig somewhere?  I saw his schtick while at the Orange Satan and didn't pay much attention.  I couldn't understand the infatuation about him, but whatever. He seems to have some sort of following still, even though he evidently supported Hillary Clinton.  I mean come on, I'm speaking from a radical pov here, support Clinton and you're nowhere near that. In fact you are fucking against it.  Sorry.

Looking at King's site and his claim he had 200K people ready to take over the fucking world by boycotting businesses and banks to get some unknown demands met, I became depressed.  That was on top of another effort over at Popular Resistance, by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Occupiers, I saw at their website.  Same old shit, a bunch of demands, no way they're going to be met and we'll have another fucking election.  There isn't even a hint of trying to get Power to the People.  King is not even responding to requests for clarification on wtf the demands are.  What are the demands, man, what do we want?

Power to the People?  Maybe not. 

https://popularresistance.org/newsletter-time-to-ask-who-we-are/

I'm sorry, but the protests over DAPL by the Native Americans might be emotionally symbolic for liberals and progressives but it ain't shit.  It's not going to put even a dent in the fact that we're ruled by rich people and we currently have no fucking say in how they rule us.  They do to us whatever the want, whenever they want and we can't do shit about it.  Hell, Trump just nominated the CEO of Exxon Mobil as Secretary of State!  Talk about in your face.  It's like, I raise you the pot assholes. 

Here's King's plan.

"It’s an organized resistance, driven by local people and activists, supported by passionate believers all over the country and around the world. Just as the Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted for 381 days, we are prepared for this boycott to last as it takes to make change happen. Indeed, we won’t stop until it does. This boycott will not weaken, but will grow in size, strength, reach, and power every single day."

It's just another weak ass effort to funnel people into a dead end that won't amount to anything and will take away energy from forming an independent movement to take down this fucking government and political system.

But maybe nobody wants to take down the fucking government anymore, they just want fifteen bucks an hour and better healthcare.  And a job. 'Hey, give me a job and you can do whatever the fuck you want".

There's also the People's Revolution, the People's Action Institute, there are people who are going to protest Trump's inauguration, we've seen this kind of stuff forever.  It's never about really seeking Power to the People, it's always about seeking Alms for the Poor.  "We want our jobs back, we want fifteen bucks an hour, we want justice!  We want to complain about how you're treating us dammit!"  "We don't want Trump!" 

Which means somebody else would be OK, just not Trump.
 
No man, we should want the power.  Isn't that what it's all about?   I included a quote at the top of my other essay, "We have one demand, Power to the People".  I think that's it.  What do we all complain about?  That we don't have the power, that we're controlled by an oligarchy, rich people and corporations.  They make all the rules, they get all the wealth, we are the Serfs.  The banks own the place.  It's the same old story.  Do we really want the power or not?

Demanding all these supposed improvements to our lives and country, like fifteen dollar minimum wage, improving Medicare, ending the war in Afghanistan, etc., is not going to change the fact that we don't live in a democracy and we're ruled like the Serfs of past.  Trying to have a voice through third party political parties is not going to change that.  Trying to work within the duopoly will never change it.  Tulsi Gabbard, the new hero of the democrats, won't change it.  We're going to have to do way more than that.  If WE had the power we wouldn't have to continually demand things from the Rich People who Rule Us, we could decide that for ourselves.  That's democracy, but do we really want it?  

It's funny.  People active in politics, are members of a political party and vote regularly criticize those who don't as being apathetic, lazy, not interested, etc.  Yet, these same people are too lazy and apathetic to do anything more than allow politicians to make their decisions for them.  They don't want the power, they want to give the power to politicians.  They want leaders and heroes and stars, oh my. 

I'm not sure if enough people want to really change how we govern ourselves.  In fact, I KNOW most people either don't want to or don't care.  I know a lot of people do, I'm not alone in my feelings, we all are rarely alone in our feelings.   I look at Trump and who he's appointing, or trying to appoint to his administration, a bunch of billionaires, millionaires, corporate CEOs and generals and I say we have to take these bastards down.  Not just Trump and his faction but the entire oligarchy.  We have to stop this shit and it won't happen unless we fucking try.  This Trump administration is lining up to be the next level of oligarchic and fascist rule over We the Serfs.  It is, people better wake up to that quick.

But it's turning into the same old thing real quick.  On the "left", the Berniecrats and Hillarybots are blaming each other while both are proposing what can be done to rebuild the party.  Tulsi Gabbard is the new progressive hero, hail, hail, 2020.  I wonder how many have truly vetted her, let alone the fact that she's a democratic party politician just like Bernie was.  The democratic party is going to reinvent itself donchaknow.  It's all about the economy, now they get it.  The object becomes take down Trump and the republicans via the democratic party by playing their part in Great American Political Theater. That's the only real way isn't it? 

I feel like I could go to sleep for two years and everything will be the same, only worse.  

Warmongers/Zionists want to "Restore Coercion" on Iran

“As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in ?"(Alexis de Tocqueville)

The chips certainly seem to be lining up for Iran to be the next target of the United States empire.  You can't underestimate what comes out of all these ruling elite funded think tanks, institutes and other organizations regarding government actions and policies.  The United Against a Nuclear Iran organization is a Zionist backed neocon organization (http://lobelog.com/document-reveals-billionaire-backers-behind-united-against-nuclear-iran/) that has been prepping to guide the next president toward a war with Iran.

"United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI), an organization packed to the gills with a bipartisan who’s who of hawkish figures, held an event on the “Future of Iran Policy” in Washington DC. Unsurprising, given the list of attendees, the future they envision is war, and lots of it.

The event headlined by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R – FL) and former Sen. Joe Lieberman saw calls to “restore coercion” against Iran, with several figures advocating that the US accept the limits of sanctions alone by sinking Iranian naval vessels in the Persian Gulf."

"Restore Coercion".  These incredibly childish assholes that occupy this status in our society, somefuckinghow, want U.S. warships to unilaterally attack Iranian naval vessels because, among other reasons, "Israel is unilaterally attacking Syrian military targets in Syria".

Isn't it funny how things just seep into our created reality.  They think nothing of advocating for war crimes while readily admitting Israel is committing war crimes in Syria.  But few catch it, it's like it's OK.  Syria is bad, Iran is bad, so Israel and the U.S. doing these things must be justified. These figures, government officials, a Senator, people from the Defense of Democracies, which by the way is represented in Trump's administration picks, meet for this high powered meeting and advocate for and admit to war crimes.  And it's reported as a legitimate meeting of experts and professionals recommending legitimate U.S. actions against an enemy.  

I call it insane.  These fuckers live in a different world than you and me.  It's like Carlin said, "it's a small club, and you and me ain't in it".

People on the left and right still think Trump and his selections of anti-Islam, anti-Iran, anti-Russia, anti-China, pro-imperialism, pro-governnance by sociopath generals and establishment garbage will bring an improvement in how the United States conducts itself on the planet.  Trump won't and can't change destiny.

"William Henry Seward, who would later acquire Alaska as the “drawbridge to Asia” avowed that control of the North American continent would “ensure the controlling interest of the world”… “Multiply your ships,” he urged “and send them forth to the East… The nation that draws most materials and provisions from the earth, and fabricates the most and sells the most…must be, and will be the great power of the earth.” In short order (1853) seeking safe harbors from which to penetrate the landmass of Asia, the U.S. overtly threatened Japan with armed force to open her doors to commerce on terms dictated by American warships. The result was that the island nation would soon imitate and compete with her European and American challengers, seeking to beat them at their own game, leading ultimately to the Pacific War of the 20th century and Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/09/war-has-been-is-and-will-be-the-american-way-of-lifeunless/

"Such reveries would require the expansion of naval power, a proposition the emerging steel and ship building trusts and their Washington confederates, especially Theodore Roosevelt, leapt to initiate. As the U.S. provoked tensions with doddering Spain Teddy gushed that “I should say that I would welcome a foreign war. It is very difficult for me not to wish war with Spain for that would result at once in getting a proper navy. In strict confidence I should welcome almost any war.” Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, scion of Boston “Brahmins,” boasted that “We have a record of conquest, colonization and expansion unequalled by any people in the 19th century …for the sake of our commercial prosperity we ought to seize the Hawaiian Islands now.” Roosevelt added that it “would be a crime against white civilization not to annex Hawaii.” Teddy then ginned up his war with Spain. Close advisers like historian Brooks Adams, descendant of John and John Quincy, thrilled that “this war is the first gun in the battle for ownership of the world.” In the Senate Albert Beveridge proclaimed that “The power that rules the Pacific rules the world.”

After things settled in this country, after the "revolution" and Constitution and War of 1812, those who control this country set out to do what they're still trying to do today, rule the world. 

If you think Trump is going to change that I've got a hotel room in Trump Tower to sell you.

This is how we can take away their power and put it in our hands, by demanding, no, dictating an end to the quest to rule the world.  The corporations, banks, the entire oligarchy can be brought down by ending what sustains them.  Then we can start all over.

I propose First Nation Native Americans join with Veterans for Peace to form a movement to end U.S. imperialism.

James Mattis, Trump's Secretary of Defense, is a War Criminal, Warmonger Imperialist

"James Mattis is a Secretary of Offense." David Swanson

The president of some U.S. citizens, Trump, or whoever else is making the decisions for the president of some U.S. citizens (sorry man, I can't help it) has/have selected retired general James Mattis as Secretary of Defense.

Bad news man, real bad news. But then we knew that. What did you expect, Mary Poppins?

This is a dude they call Mad Dog. James Mattis is a war criminal, a murderer, and a cold and callous imperialist warmonger who thinks in terms of blowing thinngs up and killing anything in his way, even women and children.

This is a military man hired to do a civilian job as head of the American War Machine. Screw being retired, he did 40 years. Who the fuck does 40 years? If ever the imperialist military doctrine has been completely and irretrievably ingrained in someone, it's James Mattis.
 
Oh ya, he's outspoken, gruff, gets to the point, no nonsense, and a little Napolean bully punk.
He is career military man selected to head the Department of Defense and the Pentagon and very anti-Iran. The Secretary of Defense power over the military is second only to the President. I talked about this in a recent essay, how Trump appeared to be surrounding himself with anti-Iran warmongers and that Iran has long been the "next war", the final step in the neocons plan for remaking the Middle East. The final country on Wes Clark's infamous "seven countries in five years" discovered plan in the hallways of the Pentagon.

Some Israel supporters and Zionists have been critical of the selection primarily based on his criticism of Israeli settlement expansion, even going as far as saying the word "apartheid". The Zionists Organization of America has come out against his selection as SecDef. However the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) wants to assure the Zionists that Mattis' anti-Iran stance and his warmongerness are actually good for Israel, which of course they are, and he is.

"Yet the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, issued a press release describing the claims against Mattis as “ill-founded and unfair.” The group, considered conservative in its views on Middle East security and defense issues, acknowledged that it shares “many of the objections” to Mattis’s comments, but noted that he had not repeated them since.
In addition, JINSA stressed that after holding conversations with Mattis, it is assured that his pick as Defense Secretary will actually improve U.S.-Israel relations. “We recently consulted several notable Israelis and Americans in the civic and military spheres who also have interacted with him and they share our confidence in his support for a strong U.S.-Israel relationship,” the group stated. It described Mattis’s commitment to a strong American presence in the Middle East and his outspoken views regarding the danger posed by Iran, as “heartening to the overwhelming majority of Americans who believe that a strong State of Israel is necessary for its own sake and important for a strong America.”

If anyone had any doubts about the foreign policies of the Trump administration, hoping that their imperialism would be a kinder and gentler imperialism, this should put that to rest. Trump wants to put Mad Dog in charge.

They will finish Syria, Iran is next, Russia will be played against China with the goal of weakening both and the New World Order will march on.

http://forward.com/news/national/355414/donald-trumps-top-choice-for-pen...

Don't believe me? Here's just a few samples of what Mad Dog Mattis brings to the table.

"Gen. James Mattis, head of U.S. Central Command, has recently stated that he envisioned about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan after the December 2014 withdrawal deadline."

"Following the gales of cheering that resounded from the room, Mattis, the gruff 40-year Marine veteran who once volunteered his opinion that “it’s fun to shoot some people,” outlined the challenge ahead. The “war on terror” that began on 9/11 has no discernable end, he said, likening it to the “the constant skirmishing between [the US cavalry] and the Indians” during the genocidal Indian Wars of the 19th century.
“The skirmishing will go on likely for a generation,” Mattis declared."

"General James Mattis, Commander of U.S. Central Command, (USCENTCOM), has intimated that the establishment of a “no fly zone” would de facto involve an all out bombing campaign, targeting inter alia Libya’s air defense system: 

‘It would be a military operation – it wouldn’t be just telling people not to fly airplanes. ‘You would have to remove air defence capability in order to establish a no-fly zone, so no illusions here.’ (U.S. general warns no-fly zone could lead to all-out war in Libya, Mail Online, March 5, 2011, emphasis added)."

"On April 28 the Atlantic Council held its annual awards dinner at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. where the U.S. State Department is also situated. 

The honorees were headed by former President Bill Clinton, who was given the Distinguished International Leadership Award for his intervention in the Balkans in the 1990s, expanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and launching the North American Free Trade Agreement. Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the Management Board and the Group Executive Committee of Deutsche Bank AG, was presented with the Distinguished Business Leadership Award. 

Distinguished Military Leadership Awards were presented jointly to U.S. Marine General James Mattis, currently chief of U.S. Joint Forces Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation from 2007-2009, and French General Stephane Abrial, who took over the NATO command in Norfolk, Virginia from Mattis last year. 

On the website of the Atlantic Council, with the tag Renewing the Alliance for the 21st Century, [11] among the links to other sites provided are those under the heading of think tanks, which are:
American Enterprise Institute
American Foreign Policy Council
Aspen Institute
Brookings Institution
Carnegie Endowment
Cato Institute
Center for a New American Security
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Center for Transatlantic Relations/Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Council on Foreign Relations
Foreign Policy Research Institute
German Marshall Fund of the United States
Heritage Foundation
Hudson Institute
New America Foundation
Nixon Center
Rand Corporation
United States Institute of Peace
Wilson Center International Center for Scholars"

"More than 30 top U.S. officials, including presidents G.W. Bush and Obama, are guilty of war crimes or crimes against peace and humanity “legally akin to those perpetrated by the former Nazi regime in Germany,” the distinguished American international law authority Francis Boyle charges. 

U.S. officials involved in an “ongoing criminal conspiracy” in the Middle East and Africa who either participated in the commission of the crimes under their jurisdiction or failed to take action against them included both presidents since 2001 and their vice-presidents, the secretaries of State and Defense, the directors of the CIA and National Intelligence and the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and heads of the Central Command, among others, Boyle said." 

In the Pentagon, war criminals include the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and some Regional Commanders-in-Chiefs, especially for the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), and more recently, AFRICOM. Besides Chairman General Martin Dempsey, U.S. Army, JCS members include Admiral James Winnefeld Jr.; General Raymond Odierno, Chief of Staff of the Army; General James Amos, Commandant of the Marine Corps; Admiral Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations; and General Mark Welsh, Chief of Staff of the Air Force. 

Those who have headed the Central Command since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan include Lt. General Martin Dempsey; Admiral William Fallon; General John Abizaid; General Tommy Franks; Lt. General John Allen; and current commander General James Mattis. General Carter Ham of AFRICOM bears like responsibility."

"The United States is not at war with Iran yet, but just in case, the Pentagon says they want to be prepared. To do so, the Department of Defense has dispatched 15,000 troops to the neighboring nation of Kuwait.  

Gen. James Mattis, the Marine Corps head that rules over the US Central Command, won approval late last year from the White House to deploy the massive surge to the tiny West Asian country Kuwait, which is separated from Iran by only a narrow span of the Persian Gulf."

“It’s fun to shoot some people. You go into Afghanistan, you’ve got guys who slap women around for five years because they don’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood anyway, so it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them.”  

It was this same Lieutenant General Mattis who dismissed photographic evidence of the slaughter by US-led forces of dozens of people at an Iraqi wedding party last year. Among the dead were 27 members of the extended Rakat family their wedding guests and even the band of musicians hired to play at the ceremony. 11 of the dead were women. 14 were children."

"On May 12 James Mattis, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation [ACT] and commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, spoke at a three-day symposium called Joint Warfighting 09 in Norfolk, Virginia, where NATO’s Allied Command Transformation is based, and stated: “I come with a sense of urgency. The enemy is meeting like this as well.”  

A local newspaper summarized his speech:
“Mattis outlined a future in which wars will not have clearly defined beginnings and ends. What is needed, he said, is a grand strategy, a political framework that can guide military planning.”

He failed, for what passes for diplomatic reasons no doubt, to identify who “the enemy” is, but a series of recent developments, or rather an intensification of ongoing ones, indicate which nation it is."

"Russia"

"Even more blunt was Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, the former commander of CENTCOM, who retired only last year. Testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, he directly attacked Obama’s public position of “no boots on the ground,” stating, “You just don’t take anything off the table up front, which it appears the administration has tried to do.”
Mattis added: 

“If a brigade of our paratroopers or a battalion landing team of our Marines would strengthen our allies at a key juncture and create havoc/humiliation for our adversaries, then we should do what is necessary with our forces that exist for that very purpose.”

http://www.globalresearch.ca/search?q=james+mattis&x=9&y=14

Trump says he wants to stop overthrowing governments and turn toward peace, but considering James Mattis for Secretary of Defense suggests he's not serious."

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/11/21/james-mattis-is-a-secreta...

Or I could be wrong, they could throw candy and flowers at us. Ya, that could happen.

This would be a good time to get the antiwar thing going on. The War Pigs are restless.