If Hillary Isn’t Indicted, the Rule of Law and the Republic Are Dead

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Charles Hugh Smith

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/03/hillary-isnt-indicted-rule-law-republic-dead.html 

To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway: How did you lose your Republic? Two ways, gradually and then suddenly. The Romans experienced this when their Republic was extinguished by Empire.
The erosion of the Republic was gradual: slowly but surely, the lower classes’ representation in governance was curtailed; the Oligarchy of the wealthy and powerful cemented their privileges at the expense of the many; Oligarchs rose above the laws that were supposed to apply to all, and executive power was consolidated in top administrators and the wealthy at the expense of the Senate.
When Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his army to seize control of Rome, the Roman Republic ceased to exist. Gradually and then suddenly: this is how Republics become Empires.
We find ourselves in a parallel moment in history: the American Republic has been hollowed into a shell that is maintained for PR purposes. Beneath the propaganda, the Establishment runs the nation for its own benefit. The people are ignored, because they are powerless in this hollow shell of democracy: their only role is to provide bodies, talent and blood for the Imperial armed forces, pay taxes if they have any money, and be content with their food stamps if they don’t.
Here’s the proof:
Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens

Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.
Here are two articles in the same vein:
America the Banana Republic
The Quiet Coup
The United States has reached a crossing the Rubicon moment: either Hillary Clinton is indicted for knowingly violating statutes regarding State Department security, or the rule of law and the Republic are dead. This is a binary moment: we either let Hillary evade the laws that were established to protect the security of the nation and confess there is no rule of law now for the Oligarchy, or the agencies tasked with defending the nation indict her.
There is no middle ground. If Hillary isn’t indicted, the rule of law, i.e. no one is above the law, is dead.

If you believe Hillary that she didn’t really do anything to violate the spirit or the letter of security laws, please review these statutes:
U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual Volume 12 – Diplomatic Security
12 FAM 531.1 Top Secret Storage
12 FAM 531.1-1 Domestic
(CT:DS-185; 01-31-2012)
(Uniform State, USAID, OPIC, TDP)
2 FAM 558 CRIMINAL LAWS
(TL:DS-70; 10-01-2000)
Incidents involving intentional or grossly negligent release or mishandling of classified information may be subject to criminal penalties. An illustrative list of criminal statutes establishing penalties of fine and imprisonment for the release of classified information is set forth in 12 FAM 558 Exhibit 558.
Once the Oligarchy is above the law, the Republic is already dead. Once the people have lost the ability to influence the central state’s policies and decisions, the Republic is dead. Once the elected officials can no longer impose the nation’s statues on the Oligarchy (or have lost interest in doing so because they are all corrupted cronies), the Republic is dead. Once the nation’s agencies of law enforcement are stayed from indicting, prosecuting and jailing members of the Oligarchy, be they super-wealthy politicos like Hillary or super-wealthy Wall Street bankers, the Republic is dead.
The Democratic Party bosses and special interests have already selected Hillary as their shoo-in candidate for the Presidency, and these Oligarchs and special interests won’t let any pesky details like laws protecting the security of the nation stand in the way of their Not So Quiet Coup.
The nation’s Deep State, which I have covered extensively, has at least grudgingly approved Hillary as the next neo-conservative (never met an Imperial entanglement or drone strike she didn’t like), neocolonial (we’re going to put the “little people” in their rightful place, i.e. under our management) Imperial President.
A vote for Hillary, unindicted Oligarch, is a vote in favor of the destruction of the rule of law and the Republic. This is the Rubicon every voter must decide to cross or refuse to cross: vote for Hillary (destroy the Republic and surrender to Imperial Oligarchy) or refuse to vote for an unindicted Imperial Oligarch.

Robert Reich: There's a Revolt Against the Ruling Class Brewing -- Elites Don't See It Coming

In two very different ways, Trump and Sanders are agents of this revolt.

By Robert Reich / RobertReich.org

August 3, 2015

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/robert-reich-theres-revolt-against-ruling-class-brewing-elites-dont-see-it-coming?sc=fb

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks while campaigning for US Senate Democratic candidate and Kentucky Secretary of State, Alison Lundergan Grimes (D-KY), in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 15, 2014

"He can't possibly win the nomination," is the phrase heard most often when Washington insiders mention either Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders.
Yet as enthusiasm for the bombastic billionaire and the socialist senior continues to build within each party, the political establishment is mystified.
They don't understand that the biggest political phenomenon in America today is a revolt against the "ruling class" of insiders that have dominated Washington for more than three decades.
In two very different ways, Trump and Sanders are agents of this revolt. I'll explain the two ways in a moment.
Don't confuse this for the public's typical attraction to candidates posing as political outsiders who'll clean up the mess, even when they're really insiders who contributed to the mess.
What's new is the degree of anger now focused on those who have had power over our economic and political system since the start of the 1980s.
Included are presidents and congressional leaders from both parties, along with their retinues of policy advisors, political strategists, and spin-doctors.
Most have remained in Washington even when not in power, as lobbyists, campaign consultants, go-to lawyers, financial bundlers, and power brokers.
The other half of the ruling class comprises the corporate executives, Wall Street chiefs, and multi-millionaires who have assisted and enabled these political leaders -- and for whom the politicians have provided political favors in return.
America has long had a ruling class but the public was willing to tolerate it during the three decades after World War II, when prosperity was widely shared and when the Soviet Union posed a palpable threat. Then, the ruling class seemed benevolent and wise.
Yet in the last three decades -- when almost all the nation's economic gains have gone to the top while the wages of most people have gone nowhere -- the ruling class has seemed pad its own pockets at the expense of the rest of America.
We've witnessed self-dealing on a monumental scale -- starting with the junk-bond takeovers of the 1980s, followed by the Savings and Loan crisis, the corporate scandals of the early 2000s (Enron, Adelphia, Global Crossing, Tyco, Worldcom), and culminating in the near meltdown of Wall Street in 2008 and the taxpayer-financed bailout.
Along the way, millions of Americans lost their jobs their savings, and their homes.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has opened the floodgates to big money in politics wider than ever. Taxes have been cut on top incomes, tax loopholes widened, government debt has grown, public services have been cut. And not a single Wall Street executive has gone to jail.
The game seems rigged -- riddled with abuses of power, crony capitalism, and corporate welfare.
In 2001, a Gallup poll found 77 percent of Americans satisfied with opportunities to get ahead by working hard and 22 percent dissatisfied. By 2014, only 54 percent were satisfied and 45 percent dissatisfied.
The resulting fury at ruling class has taken two quite different forms.
On the right are the wreckers. The Tea Party, which emerged soon after the Wall Street bailout, has been intent on stopping government in its tracks and overthrowing a ruling class it sees as rotten to the core.
Its Republican protégés in Congress and state legislatures have attacked the Republican establishment. And they've wielded the wrecking balls of government shutdowns, threats to default on public debt, gerrymandering, voter suppression through strict ID laws, and outright appeals to racism.
Donald Trump is their human wrecking ball. The more outrageous his rants and putdowns of other politicians, the more popular he becomes among this segment of the public that's thrilled by a bombastic, racist, billionaire who sticks it to the ruling class.
On the left are the rebuilders. The Occupy movement, which also emerged from the Wall Street bailout, was intent on displacing the ruling class and rebuilding our political-economic system from the ground up.
Occupy didn't last but it put inequality on map. And the sentiments that fueled Occupy are still boiling.
Bernie Sanders personifies them. The more he advocates a fundamental retooling of our economy and democracy in favor of average working people, the more popular he becomes among those who no longer trust the ruling class to bring about necessary change.
Yet despite the growing revolt against the ruling class, it seems likely that the nominees in 2016 will be Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton. After all, the ruling class still controls America.
But the revolt against the ruling class won't end with the 2016 election, regardless.
Which means the ruling class will have to change the way it rules America. Or it won't rule too much longer.
Robert B. Reich has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He also served on President Obama's transition advisory board. His latest book is "Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future." His homepage is www.robertreich.org.

Greece, Democracy and Magical Thinking

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Charles Hugh Smith

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/06/greece-democracy-and-magical-thinking.html 

What is representative democracy but organized bribery on a mass scale? Politicians seeking control of the spigots of state wealth and power promise endless swag to voters. Those who promise the most swag and do so with the most inspirational Soaring Rhetoric ™ win elections and gain control of the spigots of state wealth and power.
What are promises of endless swag but lies cloaked in magical thinking? The magical thinking has many manifestations: the aptly named Laffer Curve, used to justify cutting taxes to the already-wealthy; entry into the Eurozone, a magical land of unicorns and endless prosperity, based not on hard work and the creation of value, but on membership alone; the blowing of serial asset bubbles in real estate and stocks (works equally well in Asia and the West), and various iterations of Manifest Destiny: it’s our right to grow rich, preferably on the labor and resources of others.
Representative democracy offers choices with no consequences: no matter which politico and party is elected, the promises of endless swag remain unchanged.
In contrast, direct democracy offers choices with consequences: voters make a choice of policies that, whether intended or not, have consequences.
This forces voters to actually ponder consequences rather than indulge politico promises of endless swag in return for supporting a corrupt, predatory, parasitic status quo that benefits the few at the expense of the many.
Even direct democracy is easily corrupted by magical thinking. The actual consequences may be ignored in favor of magical-thinking dreams of only good consequences and no trade-offs or sacrifices, all powered by the magic of debt.
Debt is the ultimate political aphrodisiac, for it enables an orgy of consumption and a bacchanalia of spending on the backs of children and the yet unborn who don’t vote.
The most potent of all political fantasies is that growth will solve every problem, i.e. we can grow our way out of corruption, artifice, lies, kleptocracy and most importantly, out of debt.
And so now, at long last, the Greek people have a direct say on whether they prefer magical thinking (i.e. that a debt-based, Elite-ruled kleptocracy can produce endless swag for all as long as the kleptocracy is within the European Union) or the real world of trade-offs, opportunity costs, sacrifices and broad-based growth that must be earned by producing more than is spent and investing the surplus in productive assets rather than being squandered on interest payments for past consumption.
Direct democracy is anathema to politicos, Elites, state bureaucracies, vested interests and kleptocracies, because the people might refuse to be bribed by magical thinking promises.
Elected representatives and the public can both be bribed or threatened into compliance, but when the promises of endless debt-based swag for all fade, it’s the people who bear the consequences, not the politicos.
There are no guarantees that the people will choose more wisely than their representatives. The masses can choose magical thinking over reality, too. But with direct democracy, at least the people have an opportunity to choose wisely.
Regardless of what the Greek people choose, at least the choice will be theirs, along with the consequences.

Americans Support a Peaceful Deal With Iran By Almost a 2-to-1 Margin

Posted on March 31, 2015 by WashingtonsBlog

The Elites Want War, But the People Want Peace

While the hawks have desperately been trying to stir up war with Iran for decades, the American public is for peace.
The Washington Post reports:

By a nearly 2 to 1 margin, Americans support the notion of striking a deal with Iran that restricts the nation’s nuclear program in exchange for loosening sanctions, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds.
***
Support outpaces opposition across nearly all demographic and political groups, with liberals (seven in 10) and Democrats (two-thirds) the most supportive. At least six in 10 independents and moderates also back the broad idea of a deal with Iran.
Republicans are about evenly divided on an Iran deal, with 47 percent in support and 43 percent opposed. The split contrasts with Republican lawmakers’ widespread backing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech deriding the potential deal in early March before a joint meeting of lawmakers. Additionally, all but seven Republican senators signed a letter to Iran’s leadership warning that Congress or a future president could override any agreement made by the Obama administration.

For background on why war with Iran would be stupid, read this.

Global Partners Pledge $240 Million to Fight Neglected Tropical Diseases (Another that makes me go hummmm)

Uniting to Combat NTDs, a partnership of foundations, global health organizations, and pharmaceutical companies, has announced commitments totaling $240 million to fight neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that disproportionately affect the world's most vulnerable populations.
A new commitment of $120 million by a group of the partners of will be used to combat soil-transmitted helminths (STH), intestinal worms that are among the most common cause of infections in poor children. The funding includes commitments of $50 million from the Children's Investment Fund Foundation to provide technical assistance to national deworming programs; $50 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to explore the feasibility of interrupting transmission and mitigating the risks of drug resistance; $8 million over five years from the Buenos Aires-based nonprofit Mundo Sano to test strategies for deworming and develop combination treatments; and $4.5 million from Vitamin Angels to scale deworming with Vitamin A distributions and  implementation support.
In addition, Dubai Cares will design programs that integrate nutrition, deworming, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions in schools; WaterAid will deliver WASH programs in NTD-endemic areas; and the World Food Programme will work to ensure deworming interventions are provided as part of school feeding programs.
The World Bank also announced that it is committing $120 million from the International Development Association, its fund for the poorest countries, to support NTD control and elimination programs across Africa, including support for school-based deworming programs.
Spearheaded by the Gates Foundation and launched two years ago to support efforts to meet the World Health Organization's control, elimination, and eradication targets for ten specific NTDs by 2020, the Uniting to Combat NTDs effort also includes the U.S. Agency for International Development, the UK Department for International Development, more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies, and a number of nongovernmental organizations. In conjunction with the announcement of the new commitments, the partnership released a report highlighting the progress made over the past two years.
"We're taking the 'neglect' out of neglected tropical diseases, thanks to the commitment of partners from across the public and private sectors," said Gates Foundation co-chair Bill Gates. "Pharmaceutical companies are providing drugs free of charge, endemic countries are scaling up integrated screen-and-treat programs for multiple diseases, and donors are delivering essential funding. If we stay focused, we can reach the London Declaration's 2020 goals and help provide millions with access to health."

"Global Partners Are Taking the 'Neglect' Out of 'Neglected Tropical Diseases'." Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases Press Release 04/02/2014.

Ukraine Crisis: Just Another Globalist-Engineered Powder Keg

Brandon Smith

When one studies history, all events seem to revolve around the applications and degenerations of war. Great feats of human understanding, realization and enlightenment barely register in the mental footnotes of the average person. War is what we remember, idealize and aggrandize, which is why war is the tool most often exploited by oligarchy to distract the masses while it centralizes power.
With the exception of a few revolutions, most wars are instigated and controlled by financial elites, manipulating governments on both sides of the game to produce a preconceived result. The rise of National Socialism in Germany, for instance, was largely funded by corporate entities based in the U.S., including Rockefeller giant Standard Oil, JPMorgan and even IBM, which built the collating machines specifically used to organize Nazi extermination camps, the same machines IBM representatives serviced on site at places like Auschwitz. As a public figure, Adolf Hitler was considered a joke by most people in German society, until, of course, the Nazi Party received incredible levels of corporate investment. This aid was most evident in what came to be known as the Keppler Fund created through the Keppler Circle, a group of interests with contacts largely based in the U.S.
George W. Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Bush, used his position as director of the New York-based Union Banking Corporation to launder money for the Third Reich throughout the war. After being exposed and charged for trading with the enemy, the case against Bush magically disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the Bush family went on to become one of the most powerful political forces in America.
Without the aid of international conglomerates and banks, the Third Reich would have never risen to power.
The rise of communism in Russia through the Bolshevik Revolution was no different. As outlined in Professor Antony Sutton’s book Wall Street And The Bolshevik Revolution with vast detail and irrefutable supporting evidence, it was globalist financiers that created the social petri dish in which the communist takeover flourished.  The same financiers that aided the Nazis...
Thanks Dagney!!
http://www.alt-market.com/articles/2028-ukraine-crisis-just-another-globalist-engineered-powder-keg

The Pathology of the Rich - Chris Hedges on Reality Asserts Itself pt1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6unS2JF8TA
Thanks Dagny!!

Chomsky: Business Elites Are Waging a Brutal Class War in America

The business classes are constantly fighting a bitter class war to improve their power and diminish opposition.

Photo Credit: AFP

November 21, 2013  |  

 

 

 

This is an excerpt from the just released 2nd edition of Noam Chomsky’s OCCUPY: Class War, Rebellion and Solidarity, edited by Greg Ruggiero and published by Zuccotti Park Press. Chris Steele interviews Chomsky.

An article that recently came out in Rolling Stone, titled “Gangster Bankers: Too Big to Jail,” by Matt Taibbi, asserts that the government is afraid to prosecute powerful bankers, such as those running HSBC. Taibbi says that there’s “an arrestable class and an unarrestable class.” What is your view on the current state of class war in the U.S.?

Well, there’s always a class war going on. The United States, to an unusual extent, is a business-run society, more so than others. The business classes are very class-conscious—they’re constantly fighting a bitter class war to improve their power and diminish opposition. Occasionally this is recognized.

We don’t use the term “working class” here because it’s a taboo term. You’re supposed to say “middle class,” because it helps diminish the understanding that there’s a class war going on.

It’s true that there was a one-sided class war, and that’s because the other side hadn’t chosen to participate, so the union leadership had for years pursued a policy of making a compact with the corporations, in which their workers, say the autoworkers—would get certain benefits like fairly decent wages, health benefits and so on. But it wouldn’t engage the general class structure. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why Canada has a national health program and the United States doesn’t. The same unions on the other side of the border were calling for health care for everybody. Here they were calling for health care for themselves and they got it. Of course, it’s a compact with corporations that the corporations can break anytime they want, and by the 1970s they were planning to break it and we’ve seen what has happened since.

This is just one part of a long and continuing class war against working people and the poor. It’s a war that is conducted by a highly class-conscious business leadership, and it’s one of the reasons for the unusual history of the U.S. labor movement. In the U.S., organized labor has been repeatedly and extensively crushed, and has endured a very violent history as compared with other countries.

In the late 19th century there was a major union organization, Knights of Labor, and also a radical populist movement based on farmers. It’s hard to believe, but it was based in Texas, and it was quite radical. They wanted their own banks, their own cooperatives, their own control over sales and commerce. It became a huge movement that spread over major farming areas.

The Farmers’ Alliance did try to link up with the Knights of Labor, which would have been a major class-based organization if it had succeeded. But the Knights of Labor were crushed by violence, and the Farmers’ Alliance was dismantled in other ways. As a result, one of the major popular democratic forces in American history was essentially dismantled. There are a lot of reasons for it, one of which was that the Civil War has never really ended. One effect of the Civil War was that the political parties that came out of it were sectarian parties, so the slogan was, “You vote where you shoot,” and that remains the case.

Take a look at the red states and the blue states in the last election: It’s the Civil War. They’ve changed party labels, but other than that, it’s the same: sectarian parties that are not class-based because divisions are along different lines. There are a lot of reasons for it.

Much more here: http://www.alternet.org/economy/chomsky-business-elites-are-waging-brutal-class-war-america