El Presidente Donald Trump is the gringo version of brutal and corrupt dictators foisted on Latin American countries by their oligarchs and Yankee imperialists.
I recently finished, “The Feast of the Goat,” which Vargas Llosa described as fiction based on historical events. Most of the book’s characters are based on real people, including Trujillo’s several assassins. I found it gripping, hard to put down.
This is a passage I highlighted from the book:
“(you come to understand how) so many millions of people, crushed by propaganda and lack of information, brutalized by indoctrination and isolation, deprived of free will and even curiosity by fear and the habit of servility and obsequiousness, could worship Trujillo. Not only fear him but love him, as children eventually love authoritarian parents . . . .”
I also read “In the Time of the Butterflies,” about the Mirabal sisters, who became revolutionaries against the Trujillo regime, another unputdownable novel based on true events.
On another topic, but timely and important: there is a bill pending in the U.S. House of Representatives that would end financial and other support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, labeled as such in the bill, and require enforcement of applicable domestic and international laws.
H.R. 876 currently has 20 House sponsors, as well as the support of several organizations, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, The New Policy, and Jewish Voice for Peace. The House members who are sponsoring the bill represent states from California and Texas to Florida, from Oregon to Minnesota and Illinois to Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York. Please consider calling and/or writing your representatives in support of this bill. The number of sponsors has grown as a result of public pressure.
I hope it passes. What the west has aided and abetted is a word they most like to use as an accusation against their opponents....but its time we owned it.
Other states represented: Michigan, Vermont, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Georgia and Indiana, which shows that opposition to genocide has and can gain support in states across the political spectrum.
Thank you Nancy. Great comment and I have another book or two I'd like to read. Your comments on this thread and a few others I see you on are one's I look forward to.
I often read others state what you have stated in your comment, Chris, that this piece is one of Mr. Hedges best - I think so too. However, what is more accurate IMO is that Chris Hedges writes about what is most important and urgent in these crazy days and when we read it, we connect with the truth of his words -- we realize just how accurate they are and how much we all need to hear the voice of sanity and reason, both so absent in the world we'd hoped to inhabit - the words feel right and give us hope that another world is possible.
you financially and prayerfully. You have magnificently made your case against El Presidente however some constructive criticism:
X Russiagate was a real thing and those that were promoting it should be prosecuted. Treason is never justified.
X While E P has some whacked out ideas on health he has installed some qualified individuals making an attempt to find causes why 1 in 32 children have autism and childhood cancers are on the rise. The health of Americans is growing worse every year and big Pharma’s cozy relationship with US health agencies is not helping. It is way past time for correction.
I recently finished, “The Feast of the Goat,” which Vargas Llosa described as fiction based on historical events. Most of the book’s characters are based on real people, including Trujillo’s several assassins. I found it gripping, hard to put down.
This is a passage I highlighted from the book:
“(you come to understand how) so many millions of people, crushed by propaganda and lack of information, brutalized by indoctrination and isolation, deprived of free will and even curiosity by fear and the habit of servility and obsequiousness, could worship Trujillo. Not only fear him but love him, as children eventually love authoritarian parents . . . .”
I also read “In the Time of the Butterflies,” about the Mirabal sisters, who became revolutionaries against the Trujillo regime, another unputdownable novel based on true events.
On another topic, but timely and important: there is a bill pending in the U.S. House of Representatives that would end financial and other support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, labeled as such in the bill, and require enforcement of applicable domestic and international laws.
H.R. 876 currently has 20 House sponsors, as well as the support of several organizations, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, The New Policy, and Jewish Voice for Peace. The House members who are sponsoring the bill represent states from California and Texas to Florida, from Oregon to Minnesota and Illinois to Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York. Please consider calling and/or writing your representatives in support of this bill. The number of sponsors has grown as a result of public pressure.
I hope it passes. What the west has aided and abetted is a word they most like to use as an accusation against their opponents....but its time we owned it.
Genocide took the Americas. It's old hat with us.
Other states represented: Michigan, Vermont, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Georgia and Indiana, which shows that opposition to genocide has and can gain support in states across the political spectrum.
Thank you Nancy. Great comment and I have another book or two I'd like to read. Your comments on this thread and a few others I see you on are one's I look forward to.
Thanks, John. Likewise.
Every American should read this and hear this, before it's too late. Perhaps it is
Yes.
Chris, this is one of your best. It’s not even hyperbolic, just historic and blunt!
I often read others state what you have stated in your comment, Chris, that this piece is one of Mr. Hedges best - I think so too. However, what is more accurate IMO is that Chris Hedges writes about what is most important and urgent in these crazy days and when we read it, we connect with the truth of his words -- we realize just how accurate they are and how much we all need to hear the voice of sanity and reason, both so absent in the world we'd hoped to inhabit - the words feel right and give us hope that another world is possible.
Love you Chris and support
you financially and prayerfully. You have magnificently made your case against El Presidente however some constructive criticism:
X Russiagate was a real thing and those that were promoting it should be prosecuted. Treason is never justified.
X While E P has some whacked out ideas on health he has installed some qualified individuals making an attempt to find causes why 1 in 32 children have autism and childhood cancers are on the rise. The health of Americans is growing worse every year and big Pharma’s cozy relationship with US health agencies is not helping. It is way past time for correction.
Tar him repulsive abhorrent yes even loathing
DC’s Unrighteous Despot in Chief
Ashamedly adorned in Emperor’s New Clothing
He’s our modern day depression’s
Bible hawking ghost of ‘Moze’ Pray
His fawning followers easily led astray
Pursue Unholy ‘Moze’ on his lost expedition
Struggling to keep up along his road to perdition
✌🏼❤️🙏🕉
He is somehow our creation. Odd how long I thought Jonathan Schell's Fate of the Earth was the most terrifying book ever. How naive of me.
It’s fair to compare Trump to Latin American despots, but even they might not have been quite as fragile. https://open.substack.com/pub/shahidbuttar/p/the-rise-of-the-fragile-tough-guy