Posted Dec. 2021 — March 2022
12/17/21: “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen." So said Lenin when he was in exile before the Russian Revolution. For the US, the weeks leading up to the siege of the US capitol last January are a clear example. We are still feeling the impacts, and do not yet see how fundamentally they have changed the country’s direction.
An older example suggests the scope. On December 10, 1898, a peace treaty between the US and Spain was signed, ending the Spanish-American War. Spain gave Cuba, their prize possession, its independence. In reality, this placed it under US control for the next 60 years.
The emerging empire also acquired most of Spain’s remaining imperial possessions. That included Puerto Rico, parts of the West Indies, Guam and the Philippines. In less than two months the US had defeated one of the so-called “great powers” and acquired significant colonial possessions. It became one of few nations with the ability to project power far beyond its borders. Eventually, it would be labeled a “superpower,” a handy euphemism to avoid mentioning its imperial status.
A year ago, that empire officially entered an era of decline that is unlikely to be reversed. In weeks, its basic ideals were shattered, its capitol was attacked and vandalized by its own people, and its “rule of law” failed. A return to “normal” is no longer possible. Millions have lost faith and too much has changed. Perhaps the worst can still be avoided. But the barbarians are inside the gates.
1/3/22: Vaccination & Its Discontents
Suspicions about vaccines and inoculation are almost as old as the scientific innovations themselves. In the West, two physicians first proposed “engrafting” people with smallpox pustules in 1714. They had seen it done in Instanbul. Among the earliest patients were the diplomatic class and royalty — Maria Theresa of Austria, Louis XVI, Catherine II of Russia — and their children! A safer approach was eventually developed using cowpox to vaccinate; credit for this goes to Benjamin Jesty, a farmer, in 1774, and more widely, to Edward Jenner, who performed his first vaccination about 20 years later.
As Naill Ferguson explains in Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe, European royalty and educated Americans like Cotton Mather were ready to accept the risks of the practice. However, local folk were sometimes skeptical. During an epidemic in Boston, for instance, town meetings passed resolutions charging that a schoolmaster, Samuel Danforth, had “endangered the town” by inoculating people and wanted to “remove such inoculated persons” from their midst. A novel approach to quarantine.
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| Greg Guma |
Smallpox vaccination became compulsory in Massachusetts in 1809; Sweden followed seven years later. By 1874, England, Scotland, the Netherlands and Germany had joined the list. But in the US, vaccination became and remains a divisive issue. By 1930, compulsory vaccination had been prohibited in Arizona, Utah, North Dakota, and Minnesota. In 35 states, regulation was left to local authorities.
Only nine states and the District of Columbia followed Massachusetts’ example. In those places, fines were imposed and only vaccinated children could attend school. That approach was backed by the US Supreme Court in 1905. But nothing has quelled the resistance. Instead, vaccine opposition has grown, with fewer seeming to accept the advice of scientific authorities today than did a century ago.
In Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud argued that aggression was the greatest threat to humanity. It stemmed, he theorized, from our primitive, subconscious and perhaps self-destructive urges. These days willful ignorance and knee-jerk suspicion add more fuel to humanity’s deep unrest. The combination can be lethal.
1/12/22: The denial virus
How can it be shocking that tens of millions embrace wild conspiracies and comforting lies when we have known for so long that almost half the population (40% in recent Gallop and other polling) also believes the earth is only around 10,000 years old? This suggests another virus is rapidly becoming a pandemic — denial. And given its extension to thinking about the environmental crisis, rumbling toward us like a Tsunami, the prospects look grim.
This virus also distorts how we handle immediate problems, like preserving what remains of democracy across much of the world. In the US, for example, we persist in believing that negotiation and compromise remain possible with those who simply do not believe in it. We also deny that this group extends beyond what we call conservatives, the Right or disciples of Trump.
Long before they decided that regime change (by any means necessary) was justified, even noble, this was the belief of revolutionaries and many on the Left. They avoid the issue today, but not so long ago it was an article of faith. Faith in an inevitable overthrow of capitalism that would replace “bourgeois democracy” with the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” In other words, control of society by the working class.
This dictatorship was meant to be a temporary arrangement, a comforting type of wishful thinking. And it was short-term in many places where attempted. But what followed mostly has been one-party and gangster states.
The response to that: let’s not talk about it.
1/16/22: What could go wrong? Here's how Sinclair Lewis imagined the inauguration and first days of a president much like Trump:
"Solemnly, for once looking a little awed, a little like a small-town boy on Broadway, Windrip took the oath, administered by the Chief Justice (who disliked him very much indeed) and, edging even closer to the microphone, squawked, 'My fellow citizens, I want to inform you that the real New Deal has started right this minute, and we're all going to enjoy the manifold liberties to which our history entitles us -- and have a whale of a good time doing it! I thank you!'
“That was his first act as President. His second was to take up residence in the White House, where he sat down in the East Room in his stocking feet...
“His third, in his role of Commander-in-Chief of the Army, was to order that the Minute Men (gangs of supporters) be recognized as an unpaid but official auxiliary of the Regular Army, subject only to their own officers...
“Fourth coup was a special message, next morning, to Congress, demanding the instant passage of a bill embodying Point Fifteen of his election platform -- that he should have complete control of legislation and execution, and the Supreme Court be rendered incapable of blocking anything that it might amuse him to do.
“By Joint Resolution, with less than half an hour of debate, both houses of Congress rejected that demand before 3 p.m. on January twenty-first. Before six, the President had proclaimed that a state of martial law existed during the "present crisis," and more than a hundred Congressmen had been arrested..."
And Lewis was writing 80 years ago. So, things COULD be worse.
1/20/22: How the Koch network hijacked the response to COVID and has continued to supplant public health experts
The authors of a new report, Walker Bragman and Alex Kotch, point out that "when COVID began its spread across the United States in early March 2020, states responded by locking down to varying extents. All 24 Democratic governors and 19 of the 26 Republican governors issued weeks-long stay-at-home orders and restrictions on non-essential businesses. Lockdown measures drove down cases in the U.S. and likely saved millions of lives globally."
However, the decline of in-person shopping and work, combined with factory shutdowns, disrupted the economy. "One sector in particular that took a big hit was the fossil fuel industry. Oil demand fell sharply in 2020, placing the global economy on uncertain footing.
"Before long, business-aligned groups — particularly those connected to fossil fuels — began targeting the public health measures threatening their bottom lines. Chief among them were groups tied to billionaire Charles Koch, owner of the largest privately held fossil fuel company in the world.
"The war on public health measures began on March 20, 2020, when Americans For Prosperity, the right-wing nonprofit founded by Charles and David Koch, issued a press release calling on states to remain open.... To fight its war, the Koch network also relied on the astroturf roadmap behind the anti-government Tea Party movement, using its dark money apparatus to coordinate anti-lockdown protests.
"Participants for a number of anti-lockdown rallies were recruited by FreedomWorks, a dark money group tied to Charles Koch instrumental in organizing Tea Party protests in 2009. Several of the 2020 rallies were also promoted by the Convention of States Action, a group founded by an organization with ties to the Koch network and hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer that wants to rewrite the U.S. Constitution."
2/3/22: Defining Trumpery
We often hear that Orange Julius Caesar says the “quiet part out loud.” In fact, it’s right there, in the family’s chosen name. Here’s the official definition, from the Oxford English Dictionary. Understanding what it means might have saved the world much time and trouble. As the OED explains, Trumpery is, 1) deceit, fraud, imposture, trickery; 2) a., something of less value than it seems; hence, trifles, worthless stuff, trash, rubbish; applied to abstract things like beliefs, discourse and writing, rubbish; applied to religious practices and ceremonies, idle or superstitious; showy but unsubstantial apparel, worthless finery; in gardening, weeds or refuse that hinders the growth of valuable plants; applied to a person, trash; 2) b., of little or no value, trifling, paltry, insignificant, worthless, rubbishy, trashy.
Take your pick and spread the word.
2/9/22: Have you been following the Canadian trucker protests? First off, there were nowhere near 50,000 trucks. Second, Ottawa cops didn’t quit en masse. Third, the Canadian and Ottawa governments didn’t instruct hotels to refuse protesters. The misinformation goes on. One photo, labeled as being from Ottawa, is actually from Moscow in 1991. Another, supposedly taken of the 2022 convoy, is actually of a 2018 convoy in support of the... oil and gas industry.
Recent investigative reports also show that there’s more to these protests than meets the eye. The entity behind some of the largest Facebook groups supporting the protests is an unknown source who used the Facebook account of a Missouri woman. She says her account was hacked and stolen.
In short, this “siege” is no organic grassroots event. Rather, it’s an escalation on the information war against civil society.
2/13/22: Vermont in the news — but not in a good way
Drug overdoses now kill more than 100,000 Americans a year — more than vehicle crash and gun deaths combined. Sean Blake was among those who died. He overdosed at age 27 in Vermont, from a mix of alcohol and fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. He had struggled to find effective treatment for his addiction and other potential mental health problems, repeatedly relapsing.
“I do love being sober,” Blake wrote in 2014, three years before his death. “It’s life that gets in the way.”
Blake’s struggles reflect the combination of problems that have allowed the overdose crisis to fester. First, the supply of opioids surged. Second, Americans have insufficient access to treatment and other programs that can ease the worst damage of drugs. Experts have a concise, if crude, way to summarize this: If it’s easier to get high than to get treatment, people who are addicted will get high. The U.S. has effectively made it easy to get high and hard to get help.
No other advanced nation is dealing with a comparable drug crisis. And over the past two years, it has worsened: Annual overdose deaths spiked 50 percent as fentanyl spread in illegal markets, more people turned to drugs during the pandemic, and treatment facilities and other services shut down.
2/18/22: Realignment anyone? Many polls say that support for the Democratic and Republican parties is about equal, but more people lean Independent. Maybe they’re really uncomfortable with the current choices. In Vermont we also have Progressives. But they look (and vote) like left-leaning Dems, and often run on that party line.
There’s another take, one that breaks politics six ways. Personally, I lean toward the “outsider left,” though I am engaged, older and vote. We don’t have a party — yet — but it could happen. And Vermont’s upcoming races — from local boards to Secretary of State and Lt. Gov. — might be the place to start. Another Way Is Possible. Think outside the two-party box.
2/18/22: Slouching toward war
The ancient Greeks had many great stories — today we call them myths — some of which also served as warnings about the high price of exclusion, revenge, vanity, and quarreling over who is the best, the most deserving of love and respect.
Take Eris, known as the goddess of chaos, strife and discord. Some say she was the daughter of Zeus and Hera; others claim she was birthed alone by Nyx (dark night). Her opposite was Harmonia. Eris also had a son, known as Strife, whom she brought along when, accompanied by Ares, she rode her chariot to war.
As one story goes, all the Olympians — except for Eris — were invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, destined to become the parents of Achilles. Why was Eris snubbed? The gods knew about her tendency to cause fights. Leaving her out seemed like a way to avoid one.But the gods had miscalculated. Being excluded instead made Eris want to seek revenge. Her plan was simple: dropping a golden apple — henceforth known as the Apple of Discord — into the exclusive party. Inscribed on it were just four words — To The Fairest One.
The results were predictable and tragic. Hera, Athena and Aphrodite immediately began quarreling over who should get the apple. That brought vanity into the equation. When applied to countries, you might call it national pride.
Looking for a way to resolve the dispute, Zeus appointed Paris, Prince of Troy. Assuming he could be bribed, however, the goddesses offered him various gifts. It worked. Paris eventually chose Aphrodite, who promised him the most beautiful woman in the world. That was Helen, who happened to be the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta.
What resulted was catastrophe — the Trojan War and destruction of Troy. So, you might say that trying to avoid a fight by excluding an unpleasant person led to resentment and made thing much worse. The moral: perhaps that it’s better to air our differences than conveniently repress them.
2/25/22: TOP STORY…
Russia launched a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine early Thursday. As AP reported, “Vladimir Putin deflected global condemnation and cascading new sanctions — and chillingly referred to his country’s nuclear arsenal. He threatened any foreign country attempting to interfere with ‘consequences you have never seen.’” NATO held an emergency session after the Baltic nations and Poland, which border Russia, triggered Article 4 of the alliance’s treaty that allows members to hold consultations when they feel their territorial integrity is under threat.
Nevertheless, the Fox-Trump right, as well as some on the left, blame NATO for the invasion and charge that its expansion since the 1990s forced Putin act and liberate Ukraine from a neo-Nazi regime. For them, AP and most media, along with both political parties, are all part of a global cabal that is hiding the real story, one which only they can see.
3/3/22: I should send the following summary to old friends who think Russian media is more reliable than CNN, but sometimes I think their heads are so far up their own behinds that they can no longer process anything but self-serving lies. Garbage in, garbage out. They’ve been quiet since Putin invaded Ukraine. But no doubt they’ll be back soon. Meanwhile, consider this:
On Wednesday morning, as Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine entered its seventh day, RT— the Russia-controlled network that has recently been banned in Europe and dropped by TV carriers across the world — continued its disinformation. Founded in 2005, and operating multiple channels including RT America, it has served as one of Putin’s largest megaphones, revealing how he would like to portray the world and Russia’s role in it.
RT hosts and personalities brazenly mislead its audience and deflect from the issues at hand. The main thrust presents Russia as a mere victim of western aggression, a country forced to launch a limited “military operation” after its hand was forced by a high-and-mighty NATO that showed no interest in taking Moscow’s security concerns seriously. Here's a brief breakdown:
Peter John Lavelle, the host of RT’s signature talk program, "Crosstalk," put it like this yesterday: the failed "liberal order" implemented by the West is to blame. "It is so irritating," Lavelle said. "The way it is being framed: Ukraine’s democracy. Well, it has nothing to do with Ukraine’s democracy — if you can say it even has one. ... This is about security … There is only security for other countries."
On its news programs, RT’s on-screen graphics blared breaking news alerts supporting that notion: "RUSSIA: NATIONAL SECURITY THREATS LEFT NO CHOICE BUT TO START MILITARY OPERATION." Another read, "RUSSIA SAYS ITS GOALS IN UKRAINE TO DEMILITARIZE & DENAZIFY THE COUNTRY."
According to RT, Russia wasn’t even the aggressor. The channel at times claimed that Russia was a "liberator," essentially freeing people from the menacing forces in Kyiv. "MILITIA SAYS 40 TOWNS AND VILLAGES NOW LIBERATED IN CURRENT OFFENSIVE," a chyron declared.
One package the network repeatedly ran characterized life under Ukraine as unbearable for those who lived in the Lugansk region. Another focused on damages to residential buildings in the Donetsk region.
Noticeably left out was a focus on how unbearable life has been for Ukrainians whose cities are under attack by Russian forces. Little coverage showed the damage they have caused as they try to seize control of the country. Or the residents of cities who live in terror and sleep underground in bomb shelters. Or the hundreds of thousands fleeing the country for their safety. Those are inconvenient facts. Also left out are the ramifications that the West's sanctions and other actions are having on Russia's economy.
On the other hand, RT did find time to portray Russians who aren’t even in the war zone as victims. One segment focused on how Russians "face hostility in western countries" over the "situation" in Ukraine. It quoted a man in the UK who said that he is "not ashamed" to say he is Russian, but "afraid" and "worried that society will have this perception that all Russians are bad."
RT portrays Russia as a country that cares deeply about humanitarian issues. The network aired a story yesterday on how Russia has welcomed school kids displaced by the war: "RUSSIAN SCHOOLS WELCOME HUNDREDS OF SCHOOLCHILDREN FROM DONBASS." With uplifting background music, the segment featured interviews with several children expressing how thankful they were and saying Russia is willing to welcome many more kids.
Now that Russia has invaded Ukraine and its role in promoting dishonest talking points has been exposed, RT is being cut off in some places. But its propaganda has aired across the world unfettered for years, coloring the minds of untold numbers of people, many who distrust western news outlets — sometimes with good reasons. But It apparently took a war to get some corporations to realize that the programming they beam into homes matters. Russia's real-world war started last week, but it's information war started long ago.
