Today's Food for Thought

Yes, Mr. Giroux: Is It Too Late?

Recently, leading progressive intellectual Henry Giroux penned an essay for Counterpunch.org. In the piece, Giroux accurately assessed the current state of American political manifestation: "We live in perilous times. The mobilizing passions of fascism are no longer a distant echo of history—they are here, surging through the United States like an electric current. We are in a period of social, ideological, and racial cleansing. . . . Americans are not witnessing a slow drift toward authoritarianism. They are living through the violent, coordinated seizure of democratic life by fascist forces emboldened by indifference, cruelty, and the architecture of unaccountable power. . . ." As people with an obligation to our descendants, we have the responsibility to preserve a record of the events leading to the collapse of our social and political milieu. There is no better way of fulfilling that obligation than by obtaining the latest flash drive, containing all of Dave's 45+ years on the air and a library of old anti-fascist books. Dave has established a Patreon site featuring articles that he and other researchers have written, interviews with guests and three, weekly talks by Dave. Listeners can interact with Monte and other guests on the platform. WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE.

News & Supplemental

• Yes, Mr. Giroux: Is It Too Late? Apr 9 Recently, leading progressive intellectual Henry Giroux penned an essay for Counterpunch.org. In the piece, Giroux accurately assessed the current state of American political manifestation: "We live in perilous times. The mobilizing passions of fascism are no longer a distant echo of history—they are here, surging through the United States like an electric current. We are in a period of social, ideological, and racial cleansing. . . . Americans are not witnessing a slow drift toward authoritarianism. They are living through the violent, coordinated seizure of democratic life by fascist forces emboldened by indifference, cruelty, and the architecture of unaccountable power. . . ." As people with an obligation to our descendants, we have the responsibility to preserve a record of the events leading to the collapse of our social and political milieu. There is no better way of fulfilling that obligation than by obtaining the latest flash drive, containing all of Dave's 45+ years on the air and a library of old anti-fascist books. Dave has established a Patreon site featuring articles that he and other researchers have written, interviews with guests and three, weekly talks by Dave. Listeners can interact with Monte and other guests on the platform. WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE. Read more »
• Oligarchs for Austerity and the CNP Have a Big New Scheme: Suing their Way to a New Constitution Apr 1 Did you hear? President Trump is going to be running for a third term in office. And he's not joking. Who knows how serious he is, but as we're going to see, the constitutionality of third presidential term may not be as set in stone as many suspect. Along with the rest of the US Constitution. A constitutional convention could be just around the corner. Just a lawsuit away. And we can thank the DC austerity lobby and their fellow travelers at the Council for National Policy (CNP) and the American Legislative Exchange Committee (ALEC) for this looming threat. The same austerity lobby that has spent years trying to roll back Obamacare, eviscerate Medicare and Medicaid through block-grants, and generally erode what's left of the US's social safety-nets as more and more Americans are forced to take any work available just to qualify for increasingly meager government assistance. That austerity lobby. It's back with a big sneaky plan: a lawsuit purporting to prove that the 34 state threshold for an Article V constitutional convention has already been met. David M. Walker - the former US Comptroller for both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush - is leading the legal effort, with legal support from NRA lawyer (and CNP member) Charles "Chuck" Cooper. If the lawsuit succeeds, get ready for a new constitution written by and for the oligarchy. But this story isn't just about this new lawsuit. It's also about how the DC austerity lobby has been working with CNP to push these constitutional convention ambitions since at least 2013, which is right around the same time it become clear that the last major round of DC austerity lobbying had failed in achieving a "grand bargain" of slashed entitlements. A round of lobbying that began in earnest as the 2008 financial crisis was still playing out with David Walker - then President and CEO of the newly formed austerity-centric Pete Peterson Foundation - taking on a lead role as public austerity advocate. The Great Recession was a great opportunity for a "grand bargain". And it almost worked. But didn't work, at least not entirely, and it wasn't long after that failure became clear that we saw the austerity lobby and the CNP begin hatching far more ambitious plans. Plans that just might be about come to fruition. Because as we're also going to see, if a constitutional convention does happen, the forces behind this plan are the ones who will be running it. The DC austerity lobby really is just a lawsuit away from winning everything. Read more »
• The New World Ordoliberalism, Part 8: A New MIC Becomes the EU’s New Austerity Loophole. Maybe. Mar 12 Life on earth really can't afford another major military industrial complex (MIC). But that's what's coming. Or at least the financing is getting worked out as Europe deals reels from the damage already inflicted on the Transatlantic alliance in the open months of the second Trump administration. It's urgent. A new era of security independence has begun for the European community and there's no time to spare in getting started on building it. Plans are already taking shape. Plans to dramatically increase EU-wide defense spending by effectively forcing each EU member to achieve at least 3% of GDP on defense spending, well about the 2% NATO minimum. Roughly 650 billion euros in extra defense spending over the next four years. But what about the EU's strict debt and austerity rules? There's a plan for that too: extra defense spending will not count towards the EU's debt and deficit rules. At least for the next four years. And perhaps longer. And yet, all signs indicate that this extra debt will have be repaid eventually. So are we looking at the beginning of a new MIC? Or the largest austerity trap in EU history? Time will tell. Other plans include 150 billion euros in direct loans from the EU to member states for approved military hardware purchases. Loans that, again, will have to be repaid. But the loans will also be provided at lower-than-market interest rates from funds raised directly by the EU Commission. In other words, jointly-backed bonds, something previously anathema to Germany and the rest of the EU's wealthier members. Remarkably, Germany isn't just strongly behind the loan plan but wants it expanded to potentially include loans to non-EU members like Norway, Switzerland, or Turkey. These big spending plans keep getting bigger, with German backing. It's an historic shift. Beyond that, Germany is already planning an 800 billion euro defense spending splurge of its own over the next decade and calling for the EU's plan to be extended well beyond the four year proposal. Yes, Germany is backing much higher EU-wide debt levels for the indefinite future. As long as that debt is spent on the military, of course. That's the incredible story current unfolding. The kind of story that points towards a big new EU MIC, much higher EU debt levels, and, perhaps, the biggest austerity trap in EU history. The devil in the details. Details yet t be hammered out, and possibly not ever hammered out until long after the EU has committed itself to this path and the trap has already been set. Read more »
• The Confederacy and Slavery: Alexander W. Stephens’ Cornerstone Speech Nov 7 Apologists for the Confederacy claim their ideology is based on "heritage, not hate." Confederate Vice-President Alexander W. Stephens characterized the Confederacy: " . . . . its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. . . ." As people with an obligation to our descendants, we have the responsibility to preserve a record of the events leading to the collapse of our social and political milieu. There is no better way of fulfilling that obligation than by obtaining the latest flash drive, containing all of Dave's 45+ years on the air and a library of old anti-fascist books. Dave has established a Patreon site featuring articles that he and other researchers have written, interviews with guests and three, weekly talks by Dave. Listeners can interact with Monte and other guests on the platform. WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE. Read more »
• PLEASE Get the New, 64GB Flashdrive! Oct 30 As people with an obligation to our descendants, we have the responsibility to preserve a record of the events leading to the collapse of our social and political milieu. There is no better way of fulfilling that obligation than by obtaining the latest flash drive, containing all of Dave's 45+ years on the air and a library of old anti-fascist books. Dave has established a Patreon site featuring articles that he and other researchers have written, interviews with guests and three, weekly talks by Dave. Listeners can interact with Monte and other guests on the platform. WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE. Read more »
• State of the Union per Sitting Bull Oct 16 Reflecting on the sorry state of this country, the wisdom imparted by Sitting Bull in the 19th century looms large. "We have now to deal with another people, small and feeble when our forefathers first met with them, but now great and overbearing. . . . the love of possessions is a disease in them. These people have made many rules that the rich may break, but the poor may not! . . . They even take tithes of the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule. . . ." Dave has launched a Patreon platform, featuring articles and Zoom talks. People can network directly with guests such as Dave's new co-host Monte. Containing all of Mr. Emory's work on Covid-19 and the Ukraine War, the latest 64GB flash drive is now available! WFMU-FM is podcasting For The Record–You can subscribe to the podcast HERE. Read more »
• Soft Fascism Florida-Style: Ron DeSantis’s War on Amendment 4 Oct 15 A fascist to the core. That's how retired US general Mark Milley, who directly served Trump as the chair of joint chiefs of staff, as described in Bob Woodward's upcoming book. As Milley put it, "He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is now the most dangerous person to this country." And while they may be true, it's important to keep in mind that Donald Trump is far from the only aspiring fascist in contemporary American politics. The Schedule F/Project 2025 scheme orchestrated by the Council for National Policy is a group effort, after all. And as we're going to see, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been laying the groundwork for the kind of 'soft fascism' that we should anticipate a lot more of under a second Trump presidency. The kind of 'soft fascism' that is shaped less by Trump's personal madness and more by the theocratic ambitions of the movements that have long animated the Republican Party. Which brings us to DeSantis's war on Amendment 4, a ballot initiative that would enshrine abortion rights in Florida's state constitution up to the moment of viability, coming months after Florida Republicans put in place a restrictive new 6 week abortion ban. After first trying to get Amendment 4 thrown off the ballot, the DeSantis administration has proceeded to spend taxpayer funds on an anti-Amendment 4 public messaging campaign includes tv and radio ads. An unprecedented investigation into the Amendment 4 ballot signatures has also been opened, with police showing up at people's homes to confirm they signed the petition. Local election supervisors are also under suspicion of verifying invalid signatures. And as we're going to also see, there's no possible way this investigation can get the Amendment 4 removed from the ballot even if it succeeded in revealing some fraud. It's pure intimidation. More recently, the Florida government has threatened television station employees with criminal charges if they air a pro-Amendment 4 ad. Why? Because the state claims the ads - which raise questions about whether or not women's health is adequately protected under the new 6 week abortion law - pose a threat to public health because the new law in no way endangers women. Yes, if you run an ad suggesting the new Florida abortion law - one of the strictest in the US - could put women at risk, you could be criminally charged. So if you were wondering how the GOP is planning on handling public discontent over the unpopular policy that are about to be imposed on the public at large, look to Florida. Ron DeSantis is one of the Council for National Policy's favorite politicians for a reason. Read more »
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