Monday, March 18, 2024
Last Chance Tourism – As Climate Change Reconfigures the Earth
On average, each year appears to be hotter than the last. According to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), last month was the hottest February on record, as temperatures reached 1.77°C (3.2°F) hotter than “pre-industrial" times. Every month since June 2023 has become the hottest ever for that time of year. There are, indeed, consequences. I’ve blogged about many, including our raging wildfires, drought in some areas and elsewhere horrendous flooding, devastating tropical storms and tornados, coastal loss, glacial and polar ice melting, extinction of species, migration of everything from disease carrying insects into areas unprepared for their arrival to migration of people from now desertified farms, conflicts over vaporizing resources, decimated coral reefs and sea life, intolerable summer heat… and the battles between greedy or ignorant climate change deniers/marginalizers and those who understand how dangerous our future is… much sooner than many expected.
Yet people still clearcut or burn off carbon dioxide-absorbing forests or the leavings from a harvest, burn coal for fuel, buy gas guzzling trucks, cars, ships and planes, burn trash and use fossil fuel energy like there’s no tomorrow. The world doesn’t even look the same anymore. Oh, we’ve dealt with losing extraordinary ancient architectural ruins, like when China dammed up the Yangtze River – the Three Gorges Dam displaced almost two million people, and over 1,200 ancient statues, buildings and other structures and was completed over several decades. It was fully operational by 2012, but history was lost.
We’ve lost other “wonders of the world” before. The lighthouse at Alexandria Egypt, the Colossus at Rhodes, the Hanging Garden at Babylon were gone a long time ago. The natural wonders of the world also are now fading fast, and that at spurred a new form of high-end travel: Last Chance Tourism, as people want to see natural beauty and species that are rapidly disappearing. We’re told that summer ice will be mostly gone within a decade. That Northwest Passage will be open for predictable sea traffic, already setting off claims from Russia challenging US, Canadian, Finnish and Dutch (via Greenland) claims to some of that waterway.
Around the world, tourists are signing on for tours across mountain ranges and fjords where glaciers are disappearing, rainforests to visit disappearing foliage and the wildlife that has depended on these masses of trees, coral reefs slowly being bleached into oblivion, Arctic and Antarctic regions that are rapidly contracting and island nations disappearing into the sea. This new “last chance travel” is also heightening awareness of exactly how pronounced changes to Earth have become from accelerating climate change. How much has changed… permanently? New York Times writer Paige McClanahan, on March 3rd, notes: “It’s a question that many travelers are asking themselves, as climate change threatens a growing number of tourist destinations — from glaciers to coral reefs, ski slopes to low-lying islands. For thousands of years, humans have raced to be the first to scale a peak, cross a frontier, or document a new species or landscape… Now, in some cases, we’re racing to be the last.
“The term last-chance tourism, which has gained traction in the past two decades, describes the impulse to visit threatened places before they disappear. Studies have found that the appeal of the disappearing can be a powerful motivator. But in many cases, the presence of tourists at a fragile site can accelerate the place’s demise.
“There is some evidence that a visit to a threatened place can inspire meaningful behavioral change in visitors, potentially helping to offset the negative impacts of a trip. But research is still in its early stages, and results are mixed.
“In a place like Chamonix (a French mountain town with a once massive glacier) — where tourism is the mainstay of the economy, and where climate change is already having palpable effects on tourist offerings — such tensions are playing out in real time. The shift to a new way of interacting with the landscape may be slow to come, as many jobs — as well as tourist habits — are built into the old way of doing things. But some are already pioneering a new approach, and with the effects of global warming accelerating, change will have to come quickly.”
Those who take that last chance travel understand the scope and intensity of the changes. Those do not have enough money for such journeys at least know the truth from their revised daily lives … to witness, perhaps not as clearly as these world travelers. But some will continue to deny, ignore or marginalize climate change… but Mother Nature, deploying the immutable laws of physics, doesn’t care. It may be harsh, expensive to counter, but it will not stop itself.
I’m Peter Dekom, and even if some want to keep government climate change related spending down so that rich can maintain their luxurious lifestyles, can they really be that callous toward their own children and grandchildren?
Sunday, March 17, 2024
As MAGA Slowly Repeals the Reagan Legacy
Berlin, June 12, 1987
“I don’t think he would address his party’s front-runner at all. I think he would focus on the people who cheer at that candidate’s rallies. He would point out to them that dictatorships aren’t created by one person; they’re created by all the people who fall in line and say yes.”
Ronald Reagan’s daughter, Patti Davis, in a February 11th essay in the New York Times entitled,
“My father would weep for America.”
Let’s start with President Ronald Reagan’s understanding that labor from undocumented workers was an essential component of our nation’s economy. Yet, during his tenure, Reagan did not even face the current contraction of birth rates in the United States, today effectively resulting in restraints on growth, a reduction in our incumbent population, a contraction of the labor pool and a surge in pay for a huge segment of lower paid agricultural, construction, factory and hospitality workers… a major component in our inflationary increases. Immigration would counter that trend.
Early in Reagan’s presidency, he issued his “Statement on United States Immigration and Refugee Policy,” which praised the continued American tradition of welcoming immigration and suggested offering a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented workers who were the part of our labor force. That statement is the exact opposite of the Trump/MAGA effort to remove and displace this undocumented labor force, denying any possibility of citizenship (even for the DACA children who have never really lived overseas), instead blaming this hardworking cadre of undocumented workers for most of America’s ills, including obviously our self-inflicted harms. For an example of such self-infected harm, see my recent The State Most Behind the Massive Influx of Desperate Immigrants on Our Southern Border: Texas blog.
As recited in boundless.com, “On Nov. 6, 1986 Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the most far-reaching immigration law passed during his presidency. The Act’s most significant effect was that it allowed immigrants who had entered the U.S. illegally before Jan. 1, 1982 to apply for legal status, provided they paid fines and back taxes. This provision — which Reagan himself referred to as ‘amnesty,’ allowed around 3 million immigrants to secure legal status after paying $185, demonstrating ‘good moral character’ and learning to speak English.
“Although the bill was supposed to toughen sanctions against employers who hired undocumented immigrants, a provision exempting employers from penalties if their workers had presented relatively convincing fake documents meant that the sanctions were ineffective… Between 1980 and 1990 — a span that included the eight-year Reagan administration— the foreign-born population of the U.S. increased from 14.1 million to 19.8 million. This change included 4 million more Latin American-born residents and 2.4 million more Asian-born residents — and nearly 800,000 fewer European-born residents.” Next: our massive international misstep.
Since the end of WWII, the core of American foreign policy was the containment of communism, but more particularly the litany of Russian dictators, armed with nuclear missiles as then the second most modern military on earth and as the de facto shot-caller for all of Eastern Europe, enlisting other nations – from Cuba to Vietnam, from Nicaragua to Angola, from Egypt to North Korea – to join its opposition to all things American or Western European. While communism collapsed, eventually Russia’s replacement dictator, Vladimir Putin, continued, even accelerated, Russia’s commitment to contain and destroy the United States, both internationally and even within its own borders. Nothing has changed except the increasingly brazen attempts of Putin to deploy his military in a program of territorial expansion, regardless of the cost.
That American effort to contain a Russian dictator came to an abrupt halt, even a total reversal, under the autocrat-loving Donald Trump. He thoroughly eviscerated the Republican Party replacing it with a MAGA agenda, which not only embraced foreign dictators but sought to replace our own representative form of government, which Reagan worked so hard to preserve, with a Trumpian dictatorship (“I just want to be a dictator for one day”). Knowing that a withdrawal of American support for Ukraine, a Western European nation fighting a Russian invasion with annexation as the goal, would be the most profound gift to dictator Putin, MAGA is pulling that support as a their policy platform.
The results of a MAGA-controlled House of Representatives have been horrific: “For two years, Ukraine has relied on American weapons to fight Russian invaders. It has bombarded Russian lines with U.S. artillery, destroyed tanks with Javelin missiles and stopped aerial attacks with Patriot launchers… But American support has sharply declined. House Republicans have blocked additional aid to Ukraine, and the Biden administration cannot send many more weapons. (The $300 million package announced this week will likely help Ukraine for only a few weeks.)
“Ukraine has already felt the consequences. Over the past month, Russia made some gains after it took the eastern city of Avdiivka, once a Ukrainian stronghold. Intelligence officials warned Congress this week that Ukraine’s losses signal what is to come from an undersupplied war effort.
“Ukraine retreated because it ran out of artillery shells, the Biden administration said. These weapons have played a major role in the war; Ukraine has used them to deter and weaken Russian attacks before close combat. But with limited supplies, Ukraine’s leaders sacrificed Avdiivka to save munitions for more strategic territory, such as the Black Sea coastline and the country’s northeast. The chaotic retreat that followed left Ukrainian troops and civilians vulnerable.” German Lopez writing for March 14th The Morning (NY Times).
It is small wonder that clandestine Russian operatives are working overtime, using social media and robotic communications to tilt the upcoming US election in favor of their ally, Donald Trump. Trump’s victory, which would profoundly undermine NATO itself, would be a de facto invitation to Russia to continue its goal of territorial expansion and for China to feel free to occupy Taiwan. MAGA has become a rather pure white Christian nationalist party, looking a whole lot more like the Nazi party of WWII than Reagan’s Republican Party.
I’m Peter Dekom, and perhaps we should stop calling this MAGA takeover as the “Republican Party,” since it appears that they are the real RINOs (Republicans in name only).
Saturday, March 16, 2024
The State Most Behind the Massive Influx of Desperate Immigrants on Our Southern Border: Texas
Why are there so many desperate asylum seekers on our southern border? Many cannot find a way to make a living in their native homelands. Most fear they cannot survive the cartel-induced violence and the accompanying political corruption that decimates justice… and hope. In neighboring Mexico, for example, cartels have “convinced” local farmers to “transfer” their avocado and citrus orchards to these criminal organizations… either for free or for chump change. It’s a great money laundering opportunity and an asset base for cartel faithful.
Most probably, if you’ve eaten an avocado from Mexico (most are) recently, you have paid a cartel for that delicious moment. Try getting a reasonable job or farming a productive plot (forget about climate change!) in this environment. How much protection must you pay if you can even keep your farm? Are your sons being force-recruited by local gangs? What exactly gives these cartels and their supporting gangs so much power? Ask Texas Governor Greg Abbott; he actually knows.
“Every year, half a million weapons enter Mexico [and points south] illegally from the U.S., and many of them are military-style weapons that end up in the hands of drug cartels and other violent criminals, said Alejandro Celorio Alcántara, legal adviser of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“‘In addition to prosecuting criminals and seizing guns that are illegally in Mexico, we decided to go to the source of the problem. Like if this were a toxic river, in addition to cleaning the river, we need to go to the source and stop the toxic waste from being dumped at the river,” said … Alcántara, referring to the landmark lawsuit the Mexican government filed against 10 U.S. gun manufacturers in U.S. federal court last summer [in 2021]. It is the first time that a foreign government has sued American gunmakers.
“Mexican officials have said that a significant part of the epidemic of violence and crime that has plagued their nation in recent decades is driven by the illicit traffic of weapons from the U.S. Mexico has restrictive firearms laws, with one gun store in the entire nation and only about 50 permits issued per year. Between 70 to 90 percent of guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico can be traced back to the U.S. Drug cartels, in particular, buy those weapons in the U.S., mostly in Texas or Arizona, and smuggle them across the border.” The Harvard Gazette 2/18/22. By sheer volume, Texas is the main and most obvious source of those smuggled weapons.
Getting a legal gun in Mexico, a constitutionally protected right, requires a background check, proficiency with the selected gun and a psychological profile test… all of which can take well over a year. The owner is retested upon renewal. There is only one legal (and government owned) gun store in the country, in Mexico City. The millions of guns in the hands of cartels and their supporting gangs definitely are not legal.
Even if we could immediately stop the flow of guns (especially the military assault rifles), properly maintained guns can last for decades. The funds that bought all those illegal guns came from drug users, mostly in the United States. With exceptionally lax gun laws, especially in Texas, and a vastly lower level of border inspection for trucks moving south across the border, the supply of guns, from dealers, private owners and gun shows, has been a flood for a very long time.
Writing for the March 10th Los Angeles Times, Ieva Jusionyte, associate professor of international security and anthropology at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, adds: “When President Biden and former President Trump visited Texas at the end of February, each spoke about migration and border security. Biden called for restricting asylum. Trump engaged in fear-mongering, blaming migrants for crime. But neither mentioned one of the main reasons the border has drawn so many migrants and asylum seekers — the flow of guns from the U.S. into Mexico.
“This link between our guns and the people who seek safety at the border is particularly clear in Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott’s hard-line approach to stopping migrants from crossing completely ignores the state’s role as a main source of weapons for criminal groups and violence in Mexico, which is a result of its loose gun regulations. It’s no wonder that Mexicans are the largest national group among the hundreds of thousands who try to cross the U.S. southern border each year.
“Since I began volunteering in 2015 at a migrant aid clinic in Nogales, Mexico, I have met the men, women and children who make up these statistics. Various presidents and Congresses have handed down a hodgepodge of policies intended to solve the perpetual crisis on the border, but the reasons people try to escape Mexico and the difficulties they encounter on their journeys have not changed in any meaningful way.
“At the clinic, mothers and fathers told us why they had to flee. Somebody’s brother was murdered. Somebody’s cousin was kidnapped. Somebody else could no longer pay extortion fees. These migrants were fleeing insecurity rather than poverty, although the two often overlapped. Criminal violence is a problem throughout Mexico. In 2023, more than 110,000 Mexicans were officially listed as disappeared. Close to 90% of all crimes are never reported and 9 in 10 homicides go unpunished. In some parts of the country, law enforcement works with organized crime groups. The families I met did not have an option to go to the police. They packed what they could carry, hoping to find safety once they crossed the border.
“It’s not only people that are affected by the proliferation of guns. The criminal organizations forcing families to flee are often also running the Mexican drug trade. When fentanyl is smuggled across the border, usually through ports of entry and often by U.S. citizens, it wreaks havoc in our communities. But the drugs would not be coming north in such large numbers if not for our guns flowing south.”
In a nation where the average voter in 2024 prefers to lay blame rather than take responsibility for obvious serious problems, it’s major advantage to MAGA and the blame-meister, Donald Trump. Truth can be hard to take, but problems do not get solved without it. Gregg Abbott. a callous, heartless, irresponsible MAGA-in-Chief, deserves massive blame, not asylum seekers.
I’m Peter Dekom, and from a state that exonerated the 2022 Texas police who sat on their hands as an angry and deranged killer used an AR-15 to kill 19 students and two teachers, while 17 others were injured but survived, the unwillingness to apply reasonable gun control and take responsibility for mounting gun-related homicide from Texas sourced guns is no surprise.
Friday, March 15, 2024
The Rise of the Democratic Repeal of Democracy – Illiberalism
To Donald Trump, Democracy simply doesn’t work, because too many of “them” can vote. Generally, “them” is mostly people who disagree with him, but it includes Democrats, African Americans, younger Hispanics, LGBTQ+, college educated folks (especially with advanced degrees), scientists/doctors/”elites”, foreigners of non-Christian faith or with darker skin. But Trump is one of a number of “illiberal” autocrats who were elected to the highest leadership positions in their countries. Vladimir Putin, Recep Erdogan, Nicholas Maduro, Victor Orban, etc. – all leaders who, unlike Trump, managed to stay in office a very long time. Their method. Change the rules once elected so you cannot lose in a subsequent election.
Donald Trump was unable to do that during his presidency, and his efforts to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election after the fact turned out to be an autocratic “too little, too late.” But with a massive cadre of “populist replacements” being enlisted by the Heritage Foundation (who gave us all of Trump’s rightwing Supreme Court appointees) to take over the “deep state” federal bureaucracy, installing a very toxic, conspiracy theory “alternative” Trumpian deep state, Trump promises if elected (or if anointed) as president, the United States can expect a massive rule change. Trump will assure himself and his nominees of perpetual control at the top.
So how does that happen? Perhaps the best recent example is the MAGA darling and Trump buddy (see above picture), Hungary’s elected autocrat, Victor Orban. Although he lost his first reelection bid, Orban started with an advantage, because Hungary is a very difficult country to live in if you were not born there. With a vague and less than meaningful connection to Finnish, Hungarian is both a difficult language to learn and is not materially based on any other language. Immigrants have never really been welcomed there. So, Hungary is massively defined by its cultural and linguistic and very unique homogeneity. Still, MAGAns love him. Their Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has traveled to Budapest for one recent meeting in 2022, and Orban is always honored at CPAC meetings in this country. He paid an early March visit to Mar-a-Lago as a very personal guest of an admiring Donald Trump.
Orban’s the longest serving leader of any EU nation (and NATO member), is close to Putin and is not a fan of the EU and US support for Ukraine. He started with a standard “elected autocrat” ploy: shutting down or taking over all mainstream media. That approach was not available to Trump during his term, but he consistently called mainstream media – mostly not rightwing conspiracy rags and channels – “truly the enemy of the people,” “The press is doing everything within their power to fight the magnificence of the phrase, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” and labeling accurate but negative reports on his statements as “fake news.” Let’s hope Trump still cannot go as far as did Orban. Oh and Orban over-regulated “disloyal” businesses until they were forced to sell to Orban’s buddies; Trump has openly promised to follow that path if elected again.
Back in April of 2022, the New York Times wrote: “In more than a decade in power, Mr. Orban has not hesitated to use the levers of government power to erode democratic norms and cement one-party rule. He has rewritten the Constitution, remade the courts and used state-run and privately owned television stations — even school textbooks [where have we seen that in the US recently?]— to advance his agenda or push misinformation about his rivals.
“He has unleashed a fresh round of election law changes that benefit his party. He put an inflammatory but ultimately symbolic L.G.B.T. referendum up for a vote, a move that is likely to rally his most strident supporters. And he legalized the registration of voters outside of their home districts — a common practice, until now criminal, that is known as ‘voter tourism.’
“All of that is playing out in a media echo chamber, since Mr. Orban has cemented control of public television to the point where stories, photos and guests are handpicked to align with his talking points. Many of the largest independent news outlets have been taken over by Mr. Orban’s supporters.
“The situation is considered so extraordinary that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an intergovernmental organization, is sending observers to monitor the elections. It is only the second time in the European Union’s history that the group has started a full-scale monitoring operation on an E.U. member.” But Orban has eschewed the brutality of other autocracies; unlike Trump, he has never pledged a government based on retribution. The March 7th The Morning in the NY Times explains:
“Orban does not jail his opponents or have them beaten up the way Vladimir Putin does, but he has relentlessly squeezed the space available for critical voices by getting business cronies to buy up independent media and starving the few others of advertising revenue. Fidesz-controlled outlets treat critics as traitors and deviants. He has also funded a raft of friendly research institutes and a university that help flood the zone with pro-government views.
“When speaking at a 2022 gathering of American conservatives in Budapest, Orban hailed Tucker Carlson as a model of how media should work: ‘There should be shows like his day and night — or, as you say, 24/7.’ In Hungary, that goal has been achieved… Orban’s party, Fidesz, has gerrymandered. It has allowed voters to register in districts where they don’t live. It spies on government critics.
“Fidesz also uses the government to shape and skew public opinion. One example: ‘national consultations,’ pseudo-democratic exercises in which citizens are sent questionnaires with loaded questions. The government recently announced that 99 percent of Hungarians rejected the E.U.’s policy on immigration. The question, however, asked people whether they wanted ‘migrant ghettos’ in Hungary. Most people didn’t return the questionnaire, but Fidesz has trumpeted the result on billboards… The message is that the government represents the will of all but a tiny minority of the people — and which side do you want to be on?”
But with a lot of help from judges he appointed (who seem to toe the MAGA line in way too many cases) and the rightwing appointee screening Heritage Foundation, Trump threatens to remake the United States very much in the fold of Victor Orban’s Hungary… PLUS making room to use the DOJ and the US military to jail his opponents, in his own words.
I’m Peter Dekom, and still the majority of Americans see the 2024 presidential race as a traditional battle of issues… rather than what it really is: a referendum on democracy itself.
Thursday, March 14, 2024
Tik’d Off!
House of Representatives bill 7521 (“Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act”) was fast-tracked to the House after it was approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week by a unanimous vote of 50-0 and passed by the House on March 13th, 352 to 65. It is off to the Senate where its future is not certain, particularly after Donald Trump, following a conversation with a major shareholder/personal buddy in TikTok, seems to have reversed his personal stance that otherwise would have forced the social media company to be banned unless it completely divests from its Chinese parent, ByteDance. According to Theodore Schleifer, writing in the March 13th Puck.com, “Meanwhile, there has been no shortage of media attention lavished this week on Republican megadonor Jeff Yass, and the alleged role he’s played in convincing Donald Trump, among others, to oppose any legislation that would imperil his sizable stake in TikTok.” Autocrats do that with their cronies.
The official House legislative summary of the bill reads in part: “This bill prohibits distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services for a foreign adversary controlled application (e.g., TikTok). However, the prohibition does not apply to a covered application that executes a qualified divestiture as determined by the President… The bill gives the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia exclusive jurisdiction over any challenge to the bill. Further, a challenge to the bill must be brought within 165 days after the bill's enactment date. A challenge to any action, finding, or determination under the bill must be brought with 90 days of the action, finding, or determination.”
If the bill passes the Senate and is signed by Joe Biden, it may face judicial scrutiny since it rather directly targets TikTok as opposed to a more generic ban on adversarial ownership of media companies operating in the United States. That targeting may be a fatal flaw, easily fixed with generic standards to be enforced against any entity meeting the relevant criteria. But TikTok has evolved as a social platform as the primary source of news for millions of Americans, an effective “how to” search engine, a marketing machine for a lot of small businesses and start-up entrepreneurs and one of the greatest sources of user-generate content, from photogenic cats to dancing teens to joyful spreaders of conspiracy theories.
To legislators, it is also a mega-source of metadata on tens of millions of Americans, with tons of information on some very private consumer habits, also identifying political and personal biases and predispositions, all exceptionally valuable for anyone mounting an election mis- and dis-information campaign. It is also a front door delivery platform for the mis- and dis-information itself. We have some pretty clearly defined international enemies – Russia and China as the mega-powers and Iran and North Korea as menacing US-destroyer wannabes – who often take advantage of our first amendment right of open communication.
The issue is thoroughly unpleasant as the David Leonhardt, writing for the March 13th The Morning by the New York Times, reports: “Despite low unemployment and falling inflation, TikTok is full of viral videos bemoaning the U.S. economy. One popular group of posts uses the term ‘Silent Depression.’ The posts falsely suggest that the country is in worse shape today than it was in 1930. (My colleagues Jeanna Smialek and Jim Tankersley reported on the posts late last year.)
“”After Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack, TikTok flooded users with videos expressing extreme positions from both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, tilted toward the Palestinian side, a Wall Street Journal analysis found. ‘Many stoked fear,’ The Journal reported. In November, videos praising an old Osama bin Laden letter also went viral.
“In December, a Rutgers University research group concluded that videos about topics the Chinese government dislikes — including Tibet, Uyghurs, Hong Kong protests and the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown — were strangely hard to find on TikTok. All were more prominent on Instagram. ‘It’s not believable that this could happen organically,’ a Rutgers expert told my colleague Sapna Maheshwari.
“On Monday [3/11], the top U.S. intelligence official released a report saying that the Chinese government had used TikTok to promote its propaganda to Americans and to influence the 2022 midterm elections. This year, the report warned, China’s ruling Communist Party may try to influence the presidential election and ‘magnify U.S. societal divisions.’
“There does not seem to be any historical precedent for TikTok’s role in the United States today. The platform has become one of the country’s biggest news sources, especially for people younger than 30, and has collected vast amounts of information about Americans.” It has also sparked biased users to stoop to fake AI generated or doctored images and sounds to present “alternative facts” as truth. There’s no question that malign superpowers have clear agenda in manipulating American elections (the focus, but they are messing with elections worldwide), but there is a big question over “censorship” in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
“President Biden has said he will sign the bill if Congress passes it. Already, many federal workers are not allowed to use the TikTok app on government phones… There are still big hurdles to the bill’s becoming law. [In addition to Trump mega-donor Yass, O]thers object to the bill because it would interfere so aggressively in the private sector. This opposition could complicate passage in the Senate or lead to later legal challenges… It’s not clear what will happen. But the chances of the U.S. government acting against TikTok have risen significantly in recent months.” NYT. TikTok has so woven itself into the fabric of everyday living for millions of Americans, but it is equally clear that Chinese ownership is more than mildly troublesome.
I’m Peter Dekom, and Western democracies and the resulting open societies are woefully unprepared for and are constitutionally impaired against malign actors using cutting edge technology that is often simply not understood by the vast majority of those elected to Congress… from either party.
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
The Replacement Killers
“They shall not replace us…”
The 2017 chant of the torch/cross-bearing white Christian nationalists in Charlottesville, VA.
There is a cold determined wind filling the sails of the Christian Nationalist movement behind the evangelical support of the MAGA GOP and the canonization of Donald John Trump as the permanent leader of the United States of America. It is incredibly white. It’s not subtle, tolerant or remotely consistent with democracy or our Constitution. It replaces that foundational document with the severe reading of the Gospel; the Bible is the supreme reference point for all laws, superior to all other doctrines, constitutional provisions and policies of governance at the state and federal level. Here is a draft of the relevant manifest, a work in progress:
They’re not stupid; they have some very clever conservative, populist thinkers behind them. But they are heavily committed to governmental control (er… fundamental Christian values control) over personal choice and permitted cultural expressions. They have successfully obliterated a woman’s right to an abortion, a right recognized in almost all other developed nations, and are fighting hard for a national abortion ban. But to move the entire nation into supporting their values, they are clever enough to hit on primary and secondary classrooms and libraries – under the seemingly reasonable notion of parental rights to control their children’s lessons (oh, and to control everyone else’s child as well) – and controversial demographic segments like the LGBTQIA+ communities. In their fundamental and judgmental doctrine, these individuals are not so much categorized by innate status (as the vast majority of medical professionals state) as by their own choice, often by reason of external adult “grooming” into sexual depravity.
Thus, but using this rubric, as Andrew DeMillo and John Hanna point out in the March 10th Los Angeles Times, increasing numbers of red state are defining genders as only binary. Male and female. “Kansas enacted a law last year that ended legal recognition of transgender identities. The measure says that there are only two sexes, male and female, and that they’re based on a person’s ‘biological reproductive system’ at birth… That law, and proposals introduced around the nation this year — often labeled as ‘bills of rights’ for women — are part of a push by conservatives who say states have a legitimate interest in restricting transgender people from sports competitions or from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity… Critics say the proposals to legally define sex as binary are essentially erasing transgender and nonbinary people’s existences by making it as difficult as possible for them to update documents, use facilities and participate authentically in public life…
“Measures have been proposed this year in at least 13 states — Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming — and advocates expect that number to grow… The bills follow Republican lawmakers’ push last year for restrictions on transgender people, especially youths. At least 23 states have banned gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and some are now trying to restrict such care for adults. Others are focusing on restroom and sports restrictions… Many political observers say the GOP focus on transgender people is an attempt to rally a voting base with a ‘wedge issue’ to replace abortion rights, which the public has largely favored. Transgender people and their allies worry that the efforts further stigmatize and threaten a community already at high risk of stress, depression and suicidal behavior.”
Indeed, the ramming white Christian nationalism into our system of governance is a carefully orchestrated and exceptionally well-funded effort. This includes powerful groups like the very religious The Center for Renewing America and the Heritage Foundation, the latter of which has become the ultra-rightwing self-appointed vetter of GOP presidential appointments, now completely MAGA dominated. The takeover of the federal bureaucracy if Trump prevails in November, will be almost instantaneous; legions of preselected prospective nominees with receive immediate appointments.
He’s already done that with the Republican National Committee, after appointing an insider and his daughter-in-law to the top positions: “The RNC is expected to cull about 60 people across the political, data and communications departments. At least five members of the senior staff will be let go and some third-party contracts may also be cancelled. One source familiar with the situation described it as an ‘absolute bloodbath’.” Guardian UK, March 11th. See also my March 1st The New, Malign and Vastly Deeper State blog for about Trump’s vast cadre of federal bureaucrat-appointees in waiting, another “bloodbath” in the making.
Writing for the February 20th Politico, Alexander Ward and Heidi Przybyla drill down as Trump allies prepare to infuse “Christian nationalism” into second administration: “Spearheading the effort is Russell Vought, who served as Trump’s director of the Office of Management and “Budget during his first term and has remained close to him. Vought, who is frequently cited as a potential chief of staff in a second Trump White House, is president of The Center for Renewing America think tank, a leading group in a conservative consortium preparing for a second Trump term.
“Christian nationalists in America believe that the country was founded as a Christian nation and that Christian values should be prioritized throughout government and public life. As the country has become less religious and more diverse, Vought has embraced the idea that Christians are under assault and has spoken of policies he might pursue in response.
“One document drafted by CRA staff and fellows includes a list of top priorities for CRA in a second Trump term. ‘Christian nationalism’ is one of the bullet points. Others include invoking the Insurrection Act on Day One to quash protests and refusing to spend authorized congressional funds on unwanted projects, a practice banned by lawmakers in the Nixon era.
“CRA’s work fits into a broader effort by conservative, MAGA-leaning organizations to influence a future Trump White House. Two people familiar with the plans, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal matters, said that Vought hopes his proximity and regular contact with the former president — he and Trump speak at least once a month, according to one of the people — will elevate Christian nationalism as a focal point in a second Trump term.”
Trump’s pledge of “retribution” rather openly intends to enlist the DOJ and the military, under the Insurrection Act, to arrest his critics, prosecutors and judges who have charged tried (or are about to try ) him, eliminating entire media channels (e.g., CNN and MSNBC). Using the regulatory agencies to drive any businesses which are not supportive of him to go out of business and be sold to Trump cronies, he will follow the same model successfully used by Hungary’s autocrat P.M., Viktor Orban.
I’m Peter Dekom, and understand that this sizeable cadre of well-armed religious zealots – where the ends justifies the means – believe that God has directed them to install Donald Trump as America’s leader and that any other result is simply the devil’s work, which must be stopped at all costs.
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
The Modern Version of Civil War: Anarchy
"Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?"
President Donald Trump, January 11, 2018, referring to immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and parts of Africa
Marauding warlords are nothing new. They’ve defined many ancient civilizations, including the fall of Rome, the struggles between factions in Japan and China, tribal warfare in Africa and South America, etc., etc. In the late 20th and 21st centuries, warlords have battled in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, various nations in Africa even evolving into the cartel strongholds in Central and South America. Innocents are always slaughtered, women raped, young men (even boys) are conscripted by occupying forces… and sometimes new nations are formed, usually unstable and economically weak.
Haiti and the United States have been intertwined in so many ways. In 1804, Haiti’s slaves defeated Napoleon’s forces and evolved into a slave-free nation. But the United States backed France’s claim for debilitating reparations (which continued to be paid until the 1940s) for the lost slaves. Haiti has thus lumbered under foreign debt, internal instability and crushing poverty, a condition that has never ended for this Hispaniola Island nation (an island shared with the Dominican Republic). Haiti, however, never stood a chance.
There had been so much turmoil and foreign intervention that “the US Navy sent ships to Haiti 19 times between 1857 and 1913 to ‘protect American lives and property’ until the United States finally occupied Haiti in 1915… Prior to the occupation, the US military had taken control of the banks and collected $500,000 to hold in New York. The Haitian constitution was written in a manner that prevented foreign entities from owning land or operating in Haiti. However, as a result of the occupation, the US had influenced the Haitian government to rewrite the constitution to repeal an 1804 provision that forbade foreigners from owning land in Haiti. The occupation impacted the nation's economy as well as the people's self-image and independence. Ultimately, Haitians united in resistance of the US occupation, and US forces left in 1934.” Wikipedia. We left Haiti more impoverished than ever, having required that island nation effectively to pay for the costs of our occupation.
What followed was the horrific rule of Papa Doc and Baby Doc voodoo-practitioner dictators with carnage and brutality of the worst kind. For decades, the US supported these brutes by reason of their strongly anti-communist commitment. Until it was just too much. “The Reagan administration forced Baby Doc to leave in 1986, and when a repressive military dictatorship arose, Reagan suspended aid. The George H.W. Bush administration also embargoed and then blockaded Haiti, suspending all but humanitarian aid.” Wikipedia. The United States effectively created a completely US-dependent welfare state, with weak elected presidents, including an assassination, and little hope for economic recovery.
On January 12, 2010, a massive earthquake decimated Haiti. Buildings crumbled. Infrastructure was destroyed. Large segments of the population were unhoused, starving at the bottom of subsistence level life. The United States poured in relief aid, sent troops, but the nation simply unraveled into mega-chaos. The damage had begun a long time ago, with lots of help from the United States. As if that 2010 horror were not enough, in the fall of 2016, Hurricane Matthew slammed into Haiti (one of several major storms), causing $2.8 billion in damage and killing 546 people. Haiti has never recovered. It has become a de facto war zone, very little has been repaired, and its “leadership” embattled, ineffective and often “missing.” Today, Haiti is ruled by the latest generation of warlords: vicious ultra-violent gangs.
It is so bad these days that gangs are filling their ranks by breaking thousands (in early March, 4,000 to be more accurate) out of prisons. The elected Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, is missing (probably hiding in Puerto Rico)… and the shotcallers are demanding that he resign. They have laid siege to Haiti's main airport, Toussaint Louverture International, in the capital city Port-au-Prince, to prevent his return. On March 5th, a former police officer turned gang leader Jimmy "Barbecue" ChĂ©rizier announced that the country will head to civil war and genocide if Henry doesn't step down and the international community (including the US) continues to support him.
Will Henry return? “‘It’s the million-dollar question,’ said Jake Johnston, a research associate at the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research. ‘Nobody knows where he is or when he’ll return. The fact that he hasn’t even opened his mouth since the violence began has stoked all sorts of speculation.’” AP, March 6th. Haiti is ungovernable, its buildings and infrastructure are still in shambles, food shortages are the rule, and hope has left the building. The above pictures say it all.
The United States has been one of the primary reasons for Haiti’s sad condition. We extracted millions from their bank accounts, supported the worst dictators in the Western Hemisphere (and that’s saying something), effectively creating a country that was on the cusp of becoming a totally failed state. A huge earthquake and nasty hurricanes sealed the deal. As the poorest nation in our hemisphere, there is nothing short of miracle that can save Haiti. Desperation and nothing left to lose gave rise to gangs stepping in to moderate the chaos… only to amplify the chaos instead. That “shithole” country, Donald, got that way in significant part by the actions and inactions of the United States.
Haiti has spun deeper into chaos. “U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Caribbean leaders in Jamaica on Monday [3/11] in an urgent push to solve Haiti’s spiraling crisis , while pressure grows on Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign or agree to a transitional council… The closed-door meeting did not include Henry, who has been locked out of his own country after surging violence at home.” Associated Press, March 12th. But exactly how do you fix a nation that major powers, internal corruption and Mother Nature have spent centuries destroying?
Haiti represents the new face of civil war: factions battling themselves in the streets, using violence at the pathway to leadership. It may be an extreme example, but it is an example of what happens to a nation where government can no longer govern, where natural disasters (you mean like climate change “natural” disasters?!) inflict damage that was never sufficiently prepared for, and where people are so polarized and hopeless that the start killing each other as their perceived solution to all the chaos. Armed American MAGAns are threatening to use their vast store of guns to impose their solution on the rest of us. It can’t happen here? Maybe not as desperately as the unraveling in Haiti, but “making America great again” promises to be anything but.
I’m Peter Dekom, and there is big price to pay for massive tax cuts to the rich, failure to address obviously advancing natural disasters, creating laws to encourage and facilitate gun ownership and rejecting democracy as a good and legitimate form of government.
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