“Genocide is the moral imperative of our era,” declares Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein in this episode of The Chris Hedges Reports as she continues her campaign for the U.S. presidency. Joined by running mate, Professor Butch Ware, the two make their case as to why they should earn the vote of every disenfranchised American, stuck in the woes of personal domestic struggles and the atrocities committed abroad on their behalf by a self-serving empire.
That was brilliant Chris. JILL STEIN, BUTCH WARE, if I was American I would vote for you, you are the only adults in the room apart from Dr Cornell West who I adore. and who should hold a cabinet post in your cabinet, but you should be President and Vice President.
So great to see your post here Roger. My partner and I love the work you do for human rights. We are sickened by all the attacks against you for doing so, but that simply means you are on the right side of morality and history. Thank you from the very core of our being for all you do.
Genocide which is the absolute worst crime humanity can do against other humans is now considered just fine and dandy as long as our “allies” are doing it according to US policy. Anyone who votes for either brand of the corporate UniParty is on board with genocide. It is my red line when it comes to voting, which is why I have not voted for either of them for decades now. I consider the Palestinians to be my family members because in truth we are all one big family on this earth. I am so over the idea of voting for the lesser evil. Evil is evil. And genocide is as evil as it gets, along side ecocide which we are also doing daily. And I know that Kamala is not going to stop this genocide. And even if she planned to do so, she would not be inaugurated until late January next year. That is close to five more months that Israel will continue to annihilate whatever is left of the Palestinians and their land. By then there will be nothing left, as right now most of it is completely destroyed. So I will vote for Jill Stein this time around simply from moral grounds.
I somewhat agree with your comments, but would add that the world is not run by opinion. The world is run by finance, and that empirical financial system is corporate/fascist by design. Very few persons ever stop to examine how corporate dictatorships originated... Here is an example list of results: >>> Military/Industrial operatives <<<
Airbus Space & Defense, BAE Systems, The Boeing Company, General Dynamics Corporation, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies Corporation, and other franchise and subsidiary operations throughout the world.
The willful slaughter of civilian populations has been part of the human operating system for at least 6000 years. If wars ceased to be created via financial extortion, weapons and civilian slaughter would become virtually obsolete... Therein lies the rub... Thank you for commenting.
Unfortunately; representative democracy involves civilian extortion via legislative fraud. The legislative vote is based on civilian proxy and consent, not popular vote. Direct Democracy via 75% civil referendum would be preferable to legislative fraud....
“Government is the Entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.” - Frank Zappa - (December 21, 1940 - December 04, 1993)
And were I a citizen of the US - Jill Stein and Butch Ware would have my vote at once - all US bases cleared from Australian soil - ugly giant US embassies in Viet Nam, Cambodia, Egypt and in India and in Sri Lanka (such as I have seen in recent travels) would be downscaled or sent packing - filled as they are with CIA operatives and surveillance/blackmailing means. Lying and thieving its way around the world - insinuating itself into all international relationships as if by right (though indubitably because of arm-twisting power dynamics) and always for the sale of military equipment by raising fearful spectres of "the other". All good wishes to Jill S and Butch W - and to your own good self, Chris H.
Powerful to hear and watch. Jill Stein and Butch Ware need more press and air time to negate FEAR.
Their messages, through both language and presence, is calming and truly hopeful (without using the actual fluff words). Such a departure from the fear mongering and pumped AIR the public has been accustomed to.
Wider consistent broadcasting of their platform can nudge the public further from fear; Nader is right… fear takes over at the ballot.
Rather, “HEAL and EDUCATE”, as Professor Ware described. 💚
I will vote for Jill Stein and would vote for her even if I were in a swing state. Florida is red but I hope the young people here and everywhere can put a dent on the democratic party's mendacity. My candidate is actually Cornell West but I think the Green Party has a bigger chance to do what is needed and rock (and sink) the boat that holds the bourgeoisie, the asinine and haters.
That's all fine and true and righteous. When the existing centrist Wall St. MILINDCOMPLEX party is defeated by the Christo-Fascists, let 's hope we aren't all drugged, stripped and thrown out of helicopters. The Greens and their quadrennial show have not done the work to build a party that can take over Congress and take back our money. Electoral politics is chess not some moral proving ground. One of those two parties is going to be setting up an administration. Which one is going to be better for continuing the work towards the real change we need? An administration by the Adolf Coors/Heritage Foundation project would be very bad.
However you rationalize voting for an open and conscious genocide yourself. Voting for Ms. Stein, is not going to stop anything. Even if she was elected, the Greens are not set to take the Congress. The only thing that's going to happen with her victory is Stein's death by a lone assassin with a magic bullet. Again, electoral politics is chess not some moral proving ground.
Both Eisenhower and Reagan picked up the phone to Israel when they were attacking other countries and told them the USA would not support them by stopping and/or reducing material support to Israel. Israel stopped immediately in both instances. It has been done and Genocide Joe could have done so. For you to suggest that Stein could not stop this genocide as president is nonsense. Whether or not she would be killed for doing so is another story. And if electoral politics is not a “moral proving ground” then there is little point in ever voting again according to your logic, so why do you advocate voting for either party now.
So your suggestion to vote for the lesser evil makes zero sense. A vote for either party is a vote for genocide. And I must wonder in your first post where you talk about which one is going to be better for continuing the work towards the real change we need what you are talking about. Neither party is ever going to change. The only hope is third parties, which both parties have done everything they can to stop them. For some of us, voting for a third party is still one way of working towards the change you talk about. So just what do you see as the work that will actually bring that about? And just what does morality mean to you?
Quoted from the transcript: 'Privilege preserves mediocrity.' Mr. Ware nailed it with this observation. "Rights" and privilege have gotten us to where we are today...
I can’t believe I’m addressing this discussion. Been around this corner of several versions of the left since 1968. I have actually spoken with a number of Multi-Gens, all strangers in my Brooklyn neighborhood. Not a single one has come even close to identifying themselves as the Marxists that you would likely identify yourselves as. That fantasy is over! At the so-called founding of the labor party so many decades ago Ralph made a pitch. A close associate of mine and a long time friend of Ralph’s was asked to try to get him to stop his third party attempt which it seems has been inherited by Jill Stine. It might be a good time to recall Ross Perot and his role in getting Bill Clinton elected. And by Ms Stine’s role in getting John Kerry to bale out when he might have squeaked by. My point, if I have one, is how tiresome this rhetoric has become. We can. We must! It’s why fools can get pretty likeminded folks to space out. You’re telling us that it doesn’t matter who wins this election - it’s all the same. I suppose what I’m saying is GET REAL. If anyone actually reads this and gives pushback I’ll just fade away. It’s gonna happen soon enough anyways.😶🌫️
Howard: "I suppose what I’m saying is GET REAL" Yes, I got REAL decades ago when I realized that voting for the lesser evil is always another evil that has brought us to where we are today. We need to demonstrate to the puppet masters that we are not going to continuing this game.
Jill Stein and Butch Ware are a breath of fresh, invigorating air compared to the tired, hot air being produced by Harris and Trump. I will vote for Stein and Ware!
I was going to vote for Dr. Stein as I have done it in the past, but now, after this report, I will vote for her even with more zest. I'm and will continue being an independent and for this reason I love the independent media that doesn't support any candidate, and their only concern is to provide true news. I believe Dr. Stein is wrong when she said "Even DemocracyNow! has refused to cover our campaign. We've had one, maybe two mentions in headline news, but no interview whatsoever. It's just outrageous, the kind of Trump fear that has been whipped up to try to silence political opposition."
Since I know that Amy Goodman is not afraid of Trump or anybody else, I checked DM archives to verify her assertion, and I didn't find any interview with Dr. Stein of any other candidate but instead I found 149 news related to her since 2012. The last one being:
Democracynow.org 08/19/24 : "Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Taps Historian Butch Ware as Running Mate.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein announced historian and professor Butch Ware as her running mate. Jill Stein, who also ran on the Green Party ticket in 2012 and 2016, has made a Gaza ceasefire one of the main pillars of her platform.
In a post announcing her VP pick, Stein wrote, “This is truly a historic ticket bringing together a Jewish woman and Black Muslim man against genocide, endless war, climate collapse, and rampant injustice, and for an economy that works for working people, a livable future for our children, and an America and a world that works for all of us.” Stein and Butch Ware held a virtual press conference on Saturday.
Butch Ware: ”AIPAC and the arms manufacturers have bought and paid for both of these parties, so of course they cannot agree to an arms embargo, because those checks have already been cashed, right? They have their projections of all of the future income off of the endless future war.”
What a powerful and inspiring interview with Jill Stein and Butch Ware! They and their message(s) are so clear and strong and their trust is in truth and true caring for the people of this country, which completely undercuts the constant deliberately cultivated atmosphere of fear and panic hinging on the lie of the so called lesser and big bad greater evil. Thank you, Chris, for giving them this airtime. We so need them and what they are giving voice to! They have my vote.
"“The psycho-social dimensions of fascism become quite complex, but they can be simplified by thinking of them as part of a collective bargaining process carried on between all the elites of the particular state with the regime acting as arbitrator.
A mass society that is actually a mass jungle.
At its core, fascism is capitalistic and capitalism is international.
Beneath its nationalist ideological trappings, fascism is always ultimately an international movement.”
-George L. Jackson—Blood In My Eye; Classes At War
Brilliant team, Jill Stein & Butch Ware, speaking in rich soil and Earth truths, not the usual soggy chemical laden word-salad topped with lies and double speak that is daily pressed into our faces from MSM. Thank you Chris Hedges for hosting Jill & Butch on your platform. The odds may be stacked against them, but Truth, Commitment, and Hearts in the right place will prevail!
Thank you Chris Hedges. It was refreshing to listen to Jill Stein's commentary. Her focus on the corporate/political fraud of the last fourteen years was spot on. AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) has completely corrupted and infiltrated US politics for nearly 60 years. It's influence on political and diplomatic debate has led the middle-eastern world toward nuclear disaster.
Enough is enough. It's time to put this sick dog out of it's misery...
“A Horrifying Undercount”: Ralph Nader Says True Gaza Death Toll Could Be Many Times Higher"Former presidential candidate and celebrated consumer advocate Ralph Nader discusses Israel’s war on Gaza, the U.S. presidential election and more. Nader’s latest article, “Exposing the Gaza Death Undercount,” can be read in the Capitol Hill Citizen, which he also founded. The official death toll in Gaza has been suspended at around 40,000 for months, as Israel’s devastation of the territory makes it increasingly difficult to properly recover and identify the dead. Nader says that the true cost in Palestinian lives could already be “well over 300,000,” and that “if the true count was known, it would devastate the mythology that the Biden administration and Congress are furthering, that the Israeli government does not purposely target civilian populations.”
The prestigious British medical journal Lancet has estimated the actual death toll could be 186,000 or even higher, roughly 8% of Gaza’s population. The report looks at how war leads to indirect deaths due to shortages of medical care, food, shelter and water.
AMY GOODMAN.: Let’s start with this undercount, what you are saying is so much higher, the death toll in Gaza, than what we understand.
RALPH NADER: Amy, this is a horrifying undercount, and it has political rationale for it. If the true count was known, it would devastate the mythology that the Biden administration and Congress are furthering, that the Israeli government does not purposely target civilian populations and, therefore, violate all kinds of U.S. laws, conditioning the shipment of weapons to Israel, and international laws. So, I put together in this article in the Capitol Hill Citizen — people can go to CapitolHillCitizen.com and get it — the various probative evidence that shows that experts, who are blocked from getting additional data that the State Department has and is keeping secret — that the evidence shows that it’s well over 300,000. And it may double by the end of the year. In an article in The Guardian by the distinguished chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh titled “Scientists are closing in on the true, horrifying scale of death and disease in Gaza,” she estimates over 300,000 before the end of the year, pointing out, with The Lancet report that you mentioned, that The Lancet people used a very — quote, “used a very conservative estimate, but allowed that the number could easily be much higher. "And so, why is this happening? Why are all sides, the anti-genocide side, the Israeli, the Hamas — why are they always using these figures? Because, for different reasons, it serves their political purposes. Hamas doesn’t want the true count to be known, because it will be assailed by its own people and its international allies as unable to protect its own people and provide shelters. Netanyahu, of course, wants it lowballed for obvious reasons, and Biden for the same reason. So, what do these scientists see? They see a tiny enclave the geographical size of Philadelphia with 2.3 million people, crowded, already sick and destitute from years of Israeli illegal embargoes, high levels of anemia among the children before October 7th, and then, starting October 8th, the Israeli military issued the genocidal orders of no food, no water, no medicine, no electricity, no fuel, and they proceeded accordingly. And so, what these scientists are seeing are what’s called the empirical evidence, that people on social media are seeing and others. With over 130,000 bombs and missiles, plus daily tank shelling, ruthless sniper fire, there’s been massive destruction of apartment buildings, congested marketplaces, refugee camps, hospitals, over 150 health clinics, masses of families huddled in schools being blown up, ambulances being blown up, bakeries destroyed, schools, universities, mosques, churches, roads, electricity networks, critical water mains — just about everyone and everything. And some people, partisans of Netanyahu, will say, “Oh, the Israeli government never targets civilians.” Historically, they’ve always targeted civilians. Go back to the early '80s, when former Israeli ambassador and foreign minister Abba Eban wrote of Israel under then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin that Israel — and I'm quoting him — quote, “is wantonly inflicting every possible measure of death and anguish on civilian populations in a mood reminiscent of regimes which neither Mr. Begin nor I would dare to mention by name,” end-quote. And just a few years earlier, in the late '70s, Israel's leading military analyst, summing up remarks by the Israeli chief of staff, stated the following, quote, “The Israeli Army has always struck civilian populations, purposefully and consciously. The Army has never distinguished civilian [from military] targets … [but] purposefully attacked civilian targets,” end-quote. And why is this important? Because to this day, all of the administration spokespeople are denying that Israel has targeted civilians, denying that Israel has violated international genocide laws, denying that they have violated six federal statutes conditioning shipment of weapons to foreign countries on recognizing human rights excessively. To this administration and to the Congress, all deaths of civilians are accidental. Blowing up schools sheltering refugees, well, that was a mistake. So that’s why it’s important, Amy and Juan, to get that estimate as reliably high as possible. We are seeing possibly a million deaths before the end of the year. We have starvation. We have infectious diseases. All the doctors that you’ve had on Democracy Now! have provided the clinical evidence of what’s going on, 5,000 babies born every month into the rubble, contaminated water, horrific air pollution with heavy metals from the bombing, and no food. We’re led to believe by these 41,000 figures that 98% or more of the Palestinian population is still alive?... Now, let’s put it in comparative terms here. More Palestinians have been killed since October 8th than have been killed by the U.S. in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden. That total death toll was about 235,000-240,000 people. And those deaths were in countries, Germany and Japan, with 160 million population. Here we only have 2.3 million population. And all you’ve got to do is read the Israeli press, read Haaretz, read the statements by 17 Israeli human rights groups.
That was brilliant Chris. JILL STEIN, BUTCH WARE, if I was American I would vote for you, you are the only adults in the room apart from Dr Cornell West who I adore. and who should hold a cabinet post in your cabinet, but you should be President and Vice President.
Love
R.
So great to see your post here Roger. My partner and I love the work you do for human rights. We are sickened by all the attacks against you for doing so, but that simply means you are on the right side of morality and history. Thank you from the very core of our being for all you do.
Genocide which is the absolute worst crime humanity can do against other humans is now considered just fine and dandy as long as our “allies” are doing it according to US policy. Anyone who votes for either brand of the corporate UniParty is on board with genocide. It is my red line when it comes to voting, which is why I have not voted for either of them for decades now. I consider the Palestinians to be my family members because in truth we are all one big family on this earth. I am so over the idea of voting for the lesser evil. Evil is evil. And genocide is as evil as it gets, along side ecocide which we are also doing daily. And I know that Kamala is not going to stop this genocide. And even if she planned to do so, she would not be inaugurated until late January next year. That is close to five more months that Israel will continue to annihilate whatever is left of the Palestinians and their land. By then there will be nothing left, as right now most of it is completely destroyed. So I will vote for Jill Stein this time around simply from moral grounds.
Right there with you SC, on all of this, including voting for Stein/Green on moral grounds.
Everything gets normalized, commodified under capitalism. It is a system of none for all and all for one.
and all for 1 %
I somewhat agree with your comments, but would add that the world is not run by opinion. The world is run by finance, and that empirical financial system is corporate/fascist by design. Very few persons ever stop to examine how corporate dictatorships originated... Here is an example list of results: >>> Military/Industrial operatives <<<
Airbus Space & Defense, BAE Systems, The Boeing Company, General Dynamics Corporation, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies Corporation, and other franchise and subsidiary operations throughout the world.
The willful slaughter of civilian populations has been part of the human operating system for at least 6000 years. If wars ceased to be created via financial extortion, weapons and civilian slaughter would become virtually obsolete... Therein lies the rub... Thank you for commenting.
If voting is run by correct opinion, then opinion will rule the world because the financial system would have to adapt or bankrupt.
Unfortunately; representative democracy involves civilian extortion via legislative fraud. The legislative vote is based on civilian proxy and consent, not popular vote. Direct Democracy via 75% civil referendum would be preferable to legislative fraud....
“Government is the Entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.” - Frank Zappa - (December 21, 1940 - December 04, 1993)
And were I a citizen of the US - Jill Stein and Butch Ware would have my vote at once - all US bases cleared from Australian soil - ugly giant US embassies in Viet Nam, Cambodia, Egypt and in India and in Sri Lanka (such as I have seen in recent travels) would be downscaled or sent packing - filled as they are with CIA operatives and surveillance/blackmailing means. Lying and thieving its way around the world - insinuating itself into all international relationships as if by right (though indubitably because of arm-twisting power dynamics) and always for the sale of military equipment by raising fearful spectres of "the other". All good wishes to Jill S and Butch W - and to your own good self, Chris H.
Powerful to hear and watch. Jill Stein and Butch Ware need more press and air time to negate FEAR.
Their messages, through both language and presence, is calming and truly hopeful (without using the actual fluff words). Such a departure from the fear mongering and pumped AIR the public has been accustomed to.
Wider consistent broadcasting of their platform can nudge the public further from fear; Nader is right… fear takes over at the ballot.
Rather, “HEAL and EDUCATE”, as Professor Ware described. 💚
Thanks Chris for giving Stein & Ware some airtime seeing as the democrats are trying to silence them.
I will vote for Jill Stein and would vote for her even if I were in a swing state. Florida is red but I hope the young people here and everywhere can put a dent on the democratic party's mendacity. My candidate is actually Cornell West but I think the Green Party has a bigger chance to do what is needed and rock (and sink) the boat that holds the bourgeoisie, the asinine and haters.
That's all fine and true and righteous. When the existing centrist Wall St. MILINDCOMPLEX party is defeated by the Christo-Fascists, let 's hope we aren't all drugged, stripped and thrown out of helicopters. The Greens and their quadrennial show have not done the work to build a party that can take over Congress and take back our money. Electoral politics is chess not some moral proving ground. One of those two parties is going to be setting up an administration. Which one is going to be better for continuing the work towards the real change we need? An administration by the Adolf Coors/Heritage Foundation project would be very bad.
However you rationalize voting for an open and consious genocide.
However you rationalize voting for an open and conscious genocide yourself. Voting for Ms. Stein, is not going to stop anything. Even if she was elected, the Greens are not set to take the Congress. The only thing that's going to happen with her victory is Stein's death by a lone assassin with a magic bullet. Again, electoral politics is chess not some moral proving ground.
Both Eisenhower and Reagan picked up the phone to Israel when they were attacking other countries and told them the USA would not support them by stopping and/or reducing material support to Israel. Israel stopped immediately in both instances. It has been done and Genocide Joe could have done so. For you to suggest that Stein could not stop this genocide as president is nonsense. Whether or not she would be killed for doing so is another story. And if electoral politics is not a “moral proving ground” then there is little point in ever voting again according to your logic, so why do you advocate voting for either party now.
So your suggestion to vote for the lesser evil makes zero sense. A vote for either party is a vote for genocide. And I must wonder in your first post where you talk about which one is going to be better for continuing the work towards the real change we need what you are talking about. Neither party is ever going to change. The only hope is third parties, which both parties have done everything they can to stop them. For some of us, voting for a third party is still one way of working towards the change you talk about. So just what do you see as the work that will actually bring that about? And just what does morality mean to you?
I forgot that the president has no say whatsoever in foreign policy.
He can throw out a comment or two, but they will only be considered as suggestions by the plutocrats.
The irony being that the Israelis themselves do not see it that way.
There can be no administration without a class with consciousness. Electoral politics is just one tool in the arsenal of social change.
But they are right about Harris.
Quoted from the transcript: 'Privilege preserves mediocrity.' Mr. Ware nailed it with this observation. "Rights" and privilege have gotten us to where we are today...
I can’t believe I’m addressing this discussion. Been around this corner of several versions of the left since 1968. I have actually spoken with a number of Multi-Gens, all strangers in my Brooklyn neighborhood. Not a single one has come even close to identifying themselves as the Marxists that you would likely identify yourselves as. That fantasy is over! At the so-called founding of the labor party so many decades ago Ralph made a pitch. A close associate of mine and a long time friend of Ralph’s was asked to try to get him to stop his third party attempt which it seems has been inherited by Jill Stine. It might be a good time to recall Ross Perot and his role in getting Bill Clinton elected. And by Ms Stine’s role in getting John Kerry to bale out when he might have squeaked by. My point, if I have one, is how tiresome this rhetoric has become. We can. We must! It’s why fools can get pretty likeminded folks to space out. You’re telling us that it doesn’t matter who wins this election - it’s all the same. I suppose what I’m saying is GET REAL. If anyone actually reads this and gives pushback I’ll just fade away. It’s gonna happen soon enough anyways.😶🌫️
We crossed the Rubicon. Debt will take us down along with de-dollarization.
What goes on in the global south is far more important than the presidential election.
Imperialism rages in Latin America.
Mexico is now see as territory that "might have to be invaded".
The US is really not a country. It certainly is not a ' unity of states.
It appears more as a commercial banking and money laundering center for the elites, most whom only reside in the US part time.
If the country is lucky it might turn into a Free Enterprise Zone but this is doubtful.
That the majority of youth have no education is not be accident.
They not only have no education, but they can do little, produce little.
Gil Scott Heron was right: "Democracy is rag time on the corner, hoping for some rain...."
Fifty years ago.
Gil Scott Heron "Winter In America" (1974)
https://youtu.be/m2zKdIcOV5s
“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” - GSH
Howard: "I suppose what I’m saying is GET REAL" Yes, I got REAL decades ago when I realized that voting for the lesser evil is always another evil that has brought us to where we are today. We need to demonstrate to the puppet masters that we are not going to continuing this game.
Jill Stein and Butch Ware are a breath of fresh, invigorating air compared to the tired, hot air being produced by Harris and Trump. I will vote for Stein and Ware!
I was going to vote for Dr. Stein as I have done it in the past, but now, after this report, I will vote for her even with more zest. I'm and will continue being an independent and for this reason I love the independent media that doesn't support any candidate, and their only concern is to provide true news. I believe Dr. Stein is wrong when she said "Even DemocracyNow! has refused to cover our campaign. We've had one, maybe two mentions in headline news, but no interview whatsoever. It's just outrageous, the kind of Trump fear that has been whipped up to try to silence political opposition."
Since I know that Amy Goodman is not afraid of Trump or anybody else, I checked DM archives to verify her assertion, and I didn't find any interview with Dr. Stein of any other candidate but instead I found 149 news related to her since 2012. The last one being:
Democracynow.org 08/19/24 : "Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Taps Historian Butch Ware as Running Mate.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein announced historian and professor Butch Ware as her running mate. Jill Stein, who also ran on the Green Party ticket in 2012 and 2016, has made a Gaza ceasefire one of the main pillars of her platform.
In a post announcing her VP pick, Stein wrote, “This is truly a historic ticket bringing together a Jewish woman and Black Muslim man against genocide, endless war, climate collapse, and rampant injustice, and for an economy that works for working people, a livable future for our children, and an America and a world that works for all of us.” Stein and Butch Ware held a virtual press conference on Saturday.
Butch Ware: ”AIPAC and the arms manufacturers have bought and paid for both of these parties, so of course they cannot agree to an arms embargo, because those checks have already been cashed, right? They have their projections of all of the future income off of the endless future war.”
Excellent comment. DemocracyNow was much more anarchic and robust a few years ago, yet still worth a read from time to time. Best regards.
What a powerful and inspiring interview with Jill Stein and Butch Ware! They and their message(s) are so clear and strong and their trust is in truth and true caring for the people of this country, which completely undercuts the constant deliberately cultivated atmosphere of fear and panic hinging on the lie of the so called lesser and big bad greater evil. Thank you, Chris, for giving them this airtime. We so need them and what they are giving voice to! They have my vote.
"“The psycho-social dimensions of fascism become quite complex, but they can be simplified by thinking of them as part of a collective bargaining process carried on between all the elites of the particular state with the regime acting as arbitrator.
A mass society that is actually a mass jungle.
At its core, fascism is capitalistic and capitalism is international.
Beneath its nationalist ideological trappings, fascism is always ultimately an international movement.”
-George L. Jackson—Blood In My Eye; Classes At War
https://archive.org/stream/GeorgeJacksonBloodInMyEye_201512/George%20Jackson%20-%20Blood-in-My-Eye_djvu.txt
Brilliant team, Jill Stein & Butch Ware, speaking in rich soil and Earth truths, not the usual soggy chemical laden word-salad topped with lies and double speak that is daily pressed into our faces from MSM. Thank you Chris Hedges for hosting Jill & Butch on your platform. The odds may be stacked against them, but Truth, Commitment, and Hearts in the right place will prevail!
Thank you Chris Hedges. It was refreshing to listen to Jill Stein's commentary. Her focus on the corporate/political fraud of the last fourteen years was spot on. AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) has completely corrupted and infiltrated US politics for nearly 60 years. It's influence on political and diplomatic debate has led the middle-eastern world toward nuclear disaster.
Enough is enough. It's time to put this sick dog out of it's misery...
We need to stop this genocide. No in my name, not with my taxes no matter what they say in tonight's presidential debate.
Democracynow.org 09/10/24
“A Horrifying Undercount”: Ralph Nader Says True Gaza Death Toll Could Be Many Times Higher"Former presidential candidate and celebrated consumer advocate Ralph Nader discusses Israel’s war on Gaza, the U.S. presidential election and more. Nader’s latest article, “Exposing the Gaza Death Undercount,” can be read in the Capitol Hill Citizen, which he also founded. The official death toll in Gaza has been suspended at around 40,000 for months, as Israel’s devastation of the territory makes it increasingly difficult to properly recover and identify the dead. Nader says that the true cost in Palestinian lives could already be “well over 300,000,” and that “if the true count was known, it would devastate the mythology that the Biden administration and Congress are furthering, that the Israeli government does not purposely target civilian populations.”
The prestigious British medical journal Lancet has estimated the actual death toll could be 186,000 or even higher, roughly 8% of Gaza’s population. The report looks at how war leads to indirect deaths due to shortages of medical care, food, shelter and water.
AMY GOODMAN.: Let’s start with this undercount, what you are saying is so much higher, the death toll in Gaza, than what we understand.
RALPH NADER: Amy, this is a horrifying undercount, and it has political rationale for it. If the true count was known, it would devastate the mythology that the Biden administration and Congress are furthering, that the Israeli government does not purposely target civilian populations and, therefore, violate all kinds of U.S. laws, conditioning the shipment of weapons to Israel, and international laws. So, I put together in this article in the Capitol Hill Citizen — people can go to CapitolHillCitizen.com and get it — the various probative evidence that shows that experts, who are blocked from getting additional data that the State Department has and is keeping secret — that the evidence shows that it’s well over 300,000. And it may double by the end of the year. In an article in The Guardian by the distinguished chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh titled “Scientists are closing in on the true, horrifying scale of death and disease in Gaza,” she estimates over 300,000 before the end of the year, pointing out, with The Lancet report that you mentioned, that The Lancet people used a very — quote, “used a very conservative estimate, but allowed that the number could easily be much higher. "And so, why is this happening? Why are all sides, the anti-genocide side, the Israeli, the Hamas — why are they always using these figures? Because, for different reasons, it serves their political purposes. Hamas doesn’t want the true count to be known, because it will be assailed by its own people and its international allies as unable to protect its own people and provide shelters. Netanyahu, of course, wants it lowballed for obvious reasons, and Biden for the same reason. So, what do these scientists see? They see a tiny enclave the geographical size of Philadelphia with 2.3 million people, crowded, already sick and destitute from years of Israeli illegal embargoes, high levels of anemia among the children before October 7th, and then, starting October 8th, the Israeli military issued the genocidal orders of no food, no water, no medicine, no electricity, no fuel, and they proceeded accordingly. And so, what these scientists are seeing are what’s called the empirical evidence, that people on social media are seeing and others. With over 130,000 bombs and missiles, plus daily tank shelling, ruthless sniper fire, there’s been massive destruction of apartment buildings, congested marketplaces, refugee camps, hospitals, over 150 health clinics, masses of families huddled in schools being blown up, ambulances being blown up, bakeries destroyed, schools, universities, mosques, churches, roads, electricity networks, critical water mains — just about everyone and everything. And some people, partisans of Netanyahu, will say, “Oh, the Israeli government never targets civilians.” Historically, they’ve always targeted civilians. Go back to the early '80s, when former Israeli ambassador and foreign minister Abba Eban wrote of Israel under then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin that Israel — and I'm quoting him — quote, “is wantonly inflicting every possible measure of death and anguish on civilian populations in a mood reminiscent of regimes which neither Mr. Begin nor I would dare to mention by name,” end-quote. And just a few years earlier, in the late '70s, Israel's leading military analyst, summing up remarks by the Israeli chief of staff, stated the following, quote, “The Israeli Army has always struck civilian populations, purposefully and consciously. The Army has never distinguished civilian [from military] targets … [but] purposefully attacked civilian targets,” end-quote. And why is this important? Because to this day, all of the administration spokespeople are denying that Israel has targeted civilians, denying that Israel has violated international genocide laws, denying that they have violated six federal statutes conditioning shipment of weapons to foreign countries on recognizing human rights excessively. To this administration and to the Congress, all deaths of civilians are accidental. Blowing up schools sheltering refugees, well, that was a mistake. So that’s why it’s important, Amy and Juan, to get that estimate as reliably high as possible. We are seeing possibly a million deaths before the end of the year. We have starvation. We have infectious diseases. All the doctors that you’ve had on Democracy Now! have provided the clinical evidence of what’s going on, 5,000 babies born every month into the rubble, contaminated water, horrific air pollution with heavy metals from the bombing, and no food. We’re led to believe by these 41,000 figures that 98% or more of the Palestinian population is still alive?... Now, let’s put it in comparative terms here. More Palestinians have been killed since October 8th than have been killed by the U.S. in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden. That total death toll was about 235,000-240,000 people. And those deaths were in countries, Germany and Japan, with 160 million population. Here we only have 2.3 million population. And all you’ve got to do is read the Israeli press, read Haaretz, read the statements by 17 Israeli human rights groups.