Monday, February 25, 2019

A NATION SQUANDERED - AMERICA SPENDS BILLIONS BUILDING WALLS TO PROTECT ANTI-AMERICAN DICTATORS


THE ECONOMIST:
America’s drift to war and economic collapse

"The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"    PAT BUCHANAN


“It notes in passing that for the American government, which already runs annual budget deficits approaching $700 billion, “finding the money will be another problem.”

THE INVADING CRIMINALS:

A county by county chart:       


According to the nonpartisan Center for Immigration Studies, the deportations occurred between October 2008 and February 2015. The three counties with the most deportations during this period were Los Angeles County, Calif.; Maricopa County, Ariz.; and Harris County, Texas.

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Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute has testified before a Congressional committee that in 2004, 95% of all outstanding warrants for murder in Los Angeles were for illegal aliens; in 2000, 23% of all Los Angeles County jail inmates were illegal aliens and that in 1995, 60% of Los Angeles’s largest street gang, the 18th Street gang, were illegal aliens. 
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ILLEGALS CLIMBING CALIFORNIA’S BORDERS FOR JOBS AND WELFARE: SAN DIEGO … Mexicans (unregistered democrat anchor baby breeders (1,877).
In just the month of October 2017 CBP Border Patrol San Diego border sector reported apprehension of individuals from Bangladesh (12), Brazil (1), Camaroon (3), Chad (1), China (16), El Salvador (76), Eritrea (7), Gambia (4), Guatemala (178), Honduras (54), India (101), Iran (1), Mexico (1,877), Nepal (31), Nicaragua (1), Pakistan (13), Peru (1), Somalia (1), and “Unknown” (1) — a total of 2,379 individuals. These numbers are similar to volumes seen in this sector for October since 2012. MICHELLE MOONS



AMERICA’S ROAD TO REVOLUTION will march down Wall Street first:

THE BANKSTER REGIME WILL BE TOPPLED AND MEXICO PUSHED OUT OF AMERICA’S OPEN BORDERS!


 "The report was drafted in conjunction with a survey conducted among nearly 1,000 banking and business executives, government officials and academics, which found that 93 percent of them feared a worsening of confrontations between the major powers in 2018. Fully 79 percent foresaw a heightened threat of a major “state-on-state” military conflict."

"One of the premier institutions of big business, JP Morgan Chase, issued an internal report on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the 2008 crash, which warned that another “great liquidity crisis” was possible, and that a government 

bailout on the scale of that effected by Bush and Obama will produce social unrest, “in light of the potential impact of central bank actions in driving inequality between asset owners and labor."

STARING IN THE FACE of AMERICA’S UNRAVELING and the ROAD TO REVOLUTION
It will more likely come on the heels of economic dislocation and dwindling wealth to redistribute.”
"The kind of people needed for violent change these days are living in off-the-grid rural compounds, or the “gangster paradise” where the businesses of drugs, guns, and prostitution are much more lucrative than “transforming” America along  Cuban lines." BRUCE THORNTON

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There can be no resolution to any social problem confronting the population in the United States and internationally outside of a frontal assault on the wealth of the financial elite. 
*
 The political system is controlled by this social layer, which uses a portion of its economic plunder to bribe politicians and government officials, whether Democratic or Republican.

“Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat and Republican alike, has become a kleptocracy approaching par with third-world hell-holes.  This is the way a great country is raided by its elite.” ---- Karen McQuillan AMERICAN THINKER


'2019 is going to be the most vitriolic year in American politics since the Civil War': Steve Bannon issues a stark warning for the nation ahead of what he predicts will be a tumultuous 12 months for Trump


  • Former White House counselor Steve Bannon cited the multiple investigations into President Trump as one of the reasons 2019 will be full of vitriol 
  • Trump is facing probes from the special counsel's office, the Southern District of New York, and House Democrats 
  • 'I think that 2019 is going to be the most vitriolic year in American politics since before the Civil War,' Bannon told CBS News
  • He said House Democrats could use the probes as a weapon against Trump
  •  He also predicted Trump would run for reelection and win 
  • 'I happen to think now, the president is going to run again in 2020 and I think he'll win. I think he'll win bigger than he won in 2016,' Bannon said 

Former White House counselor Steve Bannon predicted this year will be 'the most vitriolic year in American politics since the Civil War' because of the investigations into President Donald Trump.
Bannon cited the upcoming release of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russiaprobe, the investigation of Trump's businesses from the Southern District of New York attorney's office, and House Democrats' plans for probes of the administration as the reason for the forthcoming chaos.
'I think that 2019 is going to be the most vitriolic year in American politics since before the Civil War,' Bannon told CBS News in an interview that aired Sunday. 'And I include Vietnam in that. I think we're in, I think we're in for a very nasty 2019.'  
Former White House counselor Steve Bannon cited the multiple investigations into President Trump as one of the reasons 2019 will be full of vitriol
Former White House counselor Steve Bannon cited the multiple investigations into President Trump as one of the reasons 2019 will be full of vitriol
President Trump is the focus of three federal probes plus investigations from House Democrats
President Trump is the focus of three federal probes plus investigations from House Democrats
Bannon, who served as chief strategist for the Trump White House before then-chief of staff John Kelly forced him out, predicted a tough few months ahead for the president with the pressure of the investigations increasing on him and his administration.
'I think the next 90 days to four months is going to be a real meat grinder,' he said. 'I mean, the pressure on the president is coming from many different angles.' 
President Trump indicated the investigations were on his mind Sunday morning when tweeted on the matter - one of his favorite subject to rage about on social media. 
'The only Collusion with the Russians was with Crooked Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee...And, where’s the Server that the DNC refused to give to the FBI? Where are the new Texts between Agent Lisa Page and her Agent lover, Peter S? We want them now!,' he wrote.
It's unclear what the president meant by new texts between FBI agents Lisa Page and Peter Strzok. The two agents - who were working on the Russia investigation and having an affair - had texted of their hopes Trump would lose the election.
Trump previously has accused the bureau - without proof - of deleting messages between the two.  
However, the Justice Department's inspector general, in a report released Thursday, found no evidence the FBI intentionally destroyed text messages between Strzok and Page. 
The IG could not recover any texts from the phones assigned to the two agents because, by the time investigators requested the devices, they had been reset for others to use the
The inspector general faulted an FBI-wide software failure that resulted in large portions of FBI text messages not being archived, the Associated Press fact checker found.
The president has previously accused Clinton and the DNC of collusion with Russia, again without proof.
He is believed to be referring to the unverified Steele dossier.
The dossier, put together by former British spy Christopher Steele and paid for by a research firm that also did work for the Democratic National Committee, offered unverified allegations Trump was vulnerable to blackmail from Russia and had engaged with 'golden showers' with prostitutes during a 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant.  
Meanwhile, President Trump is the focus of three federal investigations: Mueller's probe of whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 election and two investigations being run out of the Southern District of New York: one focusing on the hush money payments made or arranged by then-Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen, and another examining the flow of foreign money to the Trump inaugural committee. 
Mueller is expected to wrap up his report in the coming months, Cohen is reported to be giving additional information to New York prosecutors in regards to Trump business dealings and House Democrats have opened multiple probes into the administration - not just Russian interference with the 2016 election but also the president's immigration policy security clearances for administration staff, and possible conflicts of interest.
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Bannon also predicted Democrats would 'weaponize' any and all of investigations against the president.
'I think you've already seen it from what the Democrats, some of these reports they've been dropping here without telling anybody. I think that now they control the House they can weaponize this, they could weaponize the Mueller report,' he said.
House Democrats have said they want Mueller's report to be made public. The special counsel's only obligation is to file his findings with the Justice Department, which decides what to with it from there.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff on Sunday vowed to subpoena the report, bring Mueller in to testify before Congress and take the Trump administration to court if the findings aren't made public.
'We are going to get to the bottom of this,' Schiff said on ABC's 'This Week.' 'We are going to share this information with the public. And if the president is serious about all his claims of exoneration, then he should welcome the publication of the report.'
Trump showed the investigations were on his mind with a tweet on Sunday
Trump showed the investigations were on his mind with a tweet on Sunday
Robert Mueller
Jerry Nadler
Trump is the focus of multiple investigations including special counsel Robert Mueller's (left) Russia probe, the Southern District of New York and from House Democrats, including Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (right)
'I never worked for Russia!' Trump fury over collusion question

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Despite his predictions of a tough 2019 for Trump, Bannon, who served as chief executive of Trump's 2016 campaign, said he has 'zero' doubt the president will seek reelection.
'I happen to think now, the president is going to run again in 2020 and I think he'll win. I think he'll win bigger than he won in 2016,' Bannon said.  
Bannon did say expects President Trump will face a 2020 primary challenge from some moderate Republicans.   
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich have mulled about making such a move although there has been no official announcement.   

AMERICA'S ROAD TO REVOLUTION

"This dangerous power vacuum has fueled frustration and created an entirely new breed of disenfranchised voters who are fed up with the status quo. These are real people, their anger is palpable, and it’s not going away anytime soon."

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez … enemy of borders, laws and American values


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"Ocasio-Cortez ran on an explicit promise to abolish the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, as well as to nationalize health care."



"The DSA is not fighting for socialism, but to strengthen the Democratic Party, one of the two main capitalist parties in the United States, which shares responsibility with the Republican Party for all the crimes committed by American imperialism around the world and against the working class at home."

PHONY BILLIONAIRE SWAMP KEEPER TRUMP VOWS HE WILL BEND OVER FOR THE KOCH BROTHERS AND KEEP AMERICA FLOODED WITH FOREIGNERS SUCKING UP JOBS AND WELFARE.
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The Kochs and their network of donors have opposed any reductions to legal immigration to raise American workers’ wages; reforms to save U.S. taxpayers billions by ending welfare-dependent legal immigration; and an end to the country’s birthright citizenship policy that rewards illegal aliens’ U.S.-born children with American citizenship. 
The Washington, DC-imposed mass legal immigration policy is a boon to corporate executives, Wall Street, big business, and multinational conglomerates, as America’s working and middle class have their wealth redistributed to the country’s top earners through wage stagnation.

 JOHN BINDER
The border emergency is about 2020, not the courts




It won't be long before some judge stops the president's border emergency order.  My money is on the judge writing the first opinion from San Francisco, Seattle, or Hawaii.
What happens in the courts?  It will go back and forth and head to the Supreme Court.  My guess is that President Trump will get five votes and win.
No matter what happens in the courts, this is all about 2020.  President Trump has successfully painted the Democrats as a party that does not believe there is a crisis on the border.  Some Democrats, like former representative O'Rourke, are even willing to eliminate existing barriers.  How crazy is that?
So the sides have been chosen.  On one side, President Trump and the GOP see a crisis.  On the other side, the Democrats think it's all manufactured.
The Democrats' "we need to say no to Trump" position is stupid and an electoral train wreck about to happen.
Of course there is a crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border.  I agree with this IBD editorial:
As we continue to face wave after wave of illegal immigrant [sic] "caravans" egged on by Democrats and open-borders advocates — and the possibility of drug dealers, terrorists and criminals crossing into our country unhindered — Trump's declaration became an imperative. 
As we've said for years, a nation that doesn't control its borders ceases to exist.  Period.
Exactly night.  No border, no nation.  My guess is that most Americans get that a nation has to have borders, or it will lose its sovereignty.
As we walk to 2020, a year away, President Trump will force Democrats to defend the nonsense that there is no border crisis.  My good guess is that a lot of Democrats will start to break from leadership and distance themselves from this utter nonsense of denying a crisis on the border.
PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.









THE DEMOCRAT PARTY AND THE WASTELAND OF AMERICAN CITIES THEY CONTROL AND SURRENDER TO LA RAZA
study by Tom Wong of the University of California at San Diego discovered that more than 25 percent of DACA-enrolled illegal aliens in the program have anchor babies. That totals about 200,000 anchor babies who are the children of DACA-enrolled illegal aliens. This does not include the anchor babies of DACA-qualified illegal aliens. JOHN BINDER
https://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2019/02/a-nation-unravels-democrat-partys.html
“The Democrats had abandoned their working-class base to chase what they pretended was a racial group when what they were actually chasing was the momentum of unlimited migration”.  DANIEL GREENFIELD / FRONT PAGE MAGAZINE 
"It extends to each issue the Democrats embrace. Every city that has come under Democrat control is proof positive that instead of raising the standard of living for the occupants, the city falls to crime, gangs, and drugs.  In fact, "America is awash with troubled, dysfunctional cities that have been electing Democrat Party mayors for decades." EILEEN F TOPLANSKY

POSTED! NO LEGAL NEED APPLY!!!


WEST HOLLYWOOD WELCOME MAT FOR ILLEGALS...

Not a single employer of illegals ever prosecuted in this LA RAZA SANCTUARY CITY where they print voting ballots in Spanish so illegals can vote for more!

Wealth concentration increases in US.


American middle class is officially declared dead and buried!

The latest research on wealth inequality by University of California economics professor Gabriel Zucman underscores one of the key social and economic trends since the global financial crisis of 2008. Those at the very top of society, who benefited directly from the orgy of speculation that led to the crash, have seen their wealth accumulate at an even faster rate, while the mass of the population has suffered a major decline.
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The past 40 years have seen the consolidation of a plutocratic elite, which has subordinated every aspect of American society to a single goal: amassing ever more colossal amounts of personal wealth. The top one percent have captured all of the increase in national income over the past two decades, and all of the increase in national wealth since the 2008 crash.
“Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat and Republican alike, has become a kleptocracy approaching par with third-world hell-holes.  This is the way a great country is raided by its elite.” ---- Karen McQuillan AMERICAN THINKER
KAMALA HARRIS PROMISES ILLEGALS A VASTLY EXPANDED BORDER TO OPEN BORDER LA RAZA WELFARE STATE FOR ALL ILLEGALS WHO VOTE FOR HER.
Kamala Harris’s career received a boost from a patronage job in dubious circumstances. 
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Kamala Harris barely won her first race for California Attorney General in 2010. 
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 Kamala Harris was accused of using her state office to attack political enemies and reward friends. 
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 Kamala Harris was criticized for financial mismanagement during her 2016 U.S. Senate campaign.
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 Kamala Harris has been the star of viral video confrontations but has done little else in Washington.
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Kamala Harris faces new questions about a close aide who settled a $400,000 harassment lawsuit. ---- Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News

WHO BUT THE RICH WANT AMNESTY and WIDER OPEN BORDERS?
Well, the Globalist Democrat Party, Mexico, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and employers of illegals!
"Johnson tried to push the 213 “Gang of Eight” amnesty through the House during 2014. If it had passed, the amnesty would have shifted more wealth from ordinary Americans to investors, according to the Congressional Budget Office."
The cheap labor policy widens wealth gaps, reduces high tech investment, increases state and local tax burdens, hurts kids’ schools and college education, pushes Americans away from high tech careers, and sidelines at least five million marginalized Americans and their families, including many who are now struggling with fentanyl addictions.
THE LA RAZA “THE RACE” INVADERS:

AMERICA vs MEXICO: CLASHING CULTURES
By Frosty Wooldridge
Illegals cheat, distribute drugs, lie, forge documents, steal and k ill as if it’s a normal way of life. For them, it is. Mexico’s civilization stands diametrically opposed to America’s culture.
The legal age of sexual consent in Mexico is 12 years old. S ex with children at this age and younger is socially acceptable in Mexico. For example: A Mexican Lopez-Mendez pleaded guilty to sexual assault on a 10-year-old girl in West Virginia.

MEXICO’S INVASION, OCCUPTION and LOOTING OF AMERICA by INVITATION OF THE LA RAZA SUPREMACY DEMOCRAT PARTY
"Fox’s Tucker Carlson noted Thursday that Obrador has previously proposed ranting AMNESTY TO MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS. “America is now Mexico’s social safety net, and that’s a very good deal for the Mexican ruling class,” Carlson added."

"The man likely to be the next president of Mexico just called for mass migration to the US" RICK MORAN

 

“And soon, very soon — after the victory of our movement — we will defend all the migrants in the American continent and all the migrants in the world,” Obrador said, adding that immigrants “must leave their towns and find a life in the United States.” RICK MORAN
FACTS ON THE “REAL LATINO AMERICA” OF MEXICAN OCCUPIED LOS ANGELES:

(these are highly DATED stats on Mexico’s second largest city)

This is another "fact" spun from the 2004 op-ed by Heather Mac Donald, whose article refers to a single Los Angeles gang and the conjecture of an unnamed federal prosecutor.


1.      "40% of all workers in L.A. County are working for cash and not paying taxes. . . . This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card." The Mexican tax-free economy in Los Angeles County is estimated to be in excess of $2 billion dollars a year.

2.     "95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens . . . "


3.     "75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens."

4.    "Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers." The County of Los Angeles hands Mexico’s anchor baby breeders more than a BILLION DOLLARS a year in welfare.


5.     "Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally." California has the largest and most expensive prison system in the country. Half the inmates are now Mexicans. Half the murders in California are by Mexican gangs.

6.    Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.


7. "The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border."

8. "Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal."
immigrants.

9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking.

10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish.



Make E-Verify the Norm, Not the Exception

Donald Trump has recently issued his most influential executive order on immigration to date. Unfortunately, his order didn't come from the executive branch -- or anywhere in the federal government, for that matter. Instead, it came from the Trump Organization, the president's private company.
 The firm recently announced that its hotels, resorts, and golf clubs would adopt E-Verify  -- the free, online federal program which allows employers to check the legal status of prospective workers.  Although Trump deserves credit for embracing the program, the vast majority of the nation's employers have yet to follow suit. This widespread refusal to adopt E-Verify has led to an economy that exploits undocumented workers at enormous costs to both native-born Americans and legal immigrants. Making E-Verify mandatory would hold employers accountable for their unlawful hiring practices, while humanely reducing the incentive for workers to make the dangerous trip to come here illegally.
E-Verify has existed in some form since 1996, and it's remarkably easy to use. Enrolled companies simply enter the name, birthdate, and Social Security number from a new hire's I-9 form (which itself is highly subject to fraud) into the online system, and they're quickly told whether or not the employee is legally eligible to work. 
Nearly 99 percent of new hires are verified as eligible within 24-hours. Most of the remaining 1 percent are eventually found to be illegal immigrants.  
E-Verify is free and available to every employer in the country. My employer, Clemson University, has been using E-Verify for years now, and I've never heard of a legal immigrant having a problem.
Unfortunately, most businesses have stayed away from E-Verify, with just 10 percent of employers currently using the program. Why? Because they are lowering operating costs, so they either don't care or don't want to know if they are hiring illegal workers. For example, in a recent survey, 37 percent of illegals in America's three largest cities reported being paid less than the minimum wage, and 85 percent of them received no overtime pay for working more than 40 hours per week. 
Of course, these exploitative practices carry significant financial benefits for businesses. According to Harvard University economist and immigration expert George Borjas, illegals generate as much as $128 billion in added value for their employers each year. How ironic that such a perverse plan of income redistribution from the less to the more fortunate now has almost fanatical support from a significant percentage of politicians – with this support being driven by their goal of importing more potential voters into the country. 
American workers -- both native-born and legal immigrants -- suffer as a result. After all, if businesses have access to a pool of illegal labor willing to work for less than the minimum wage, why pay legal employees fairly -- or to hire them in the first place? The result, according to Borjas, is that illegal immigrants lower the wages of native-born Americans by between $99 and $118 billion a year. 
Mandatory E-Verify would ameliorate many of the problems arising from illegal immigration. As job opportunities for unauthorized workers dried up, the incentive to enter the country unlawfully would plummet, wall or no wall, barrier or no barrier. Overall rates of illegal immigration would plunge, like they did when Trump was first elected – but this time they would stay low. Businesses accustomed to exploiting cheap illegal workers would finally have to pay fair wages to American workers. And Molly Tibbetts, a 20-year old and fellow jogger murdered by an illegal alien whose company didn't use E-Verify, might still be with us.

THE SECRET REPORT ON TRUMP AND HIS PARASITIC FAMILY’S DESIGNS TO FLOOD AMERICA WITH CHEAP LABOR
TRUMP HOWLS ABOUT HAVING TO PAY LEGALS A LIVING WAGE AT SWAMP PALACE MAR-A-STOLEN.

“Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat and Republican alike, has become a kleptocracy approaching par with third-world hell-holes.  This is the way a great country is raided by its elite.” ---- Karen McQuillan AMERICAN THINKER

STARING IN THE FACE of AMERICA’S UNRAVELING and the ROAD TO REVOLUTION
It will more likely come on the heels of economic dislocation and dwindling wealth to redistribute.”
 “Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat and Republican alike, has become a kleptocracy approaching par with third-world hell-holes.  This is the way a great country is raided by its elite.” -- Karen McQuillan  THEAMERICAN THINKER.com

"The kind of people needed for violent change these days are living in off-the-grid rural compounds, or the “gangster paradise” where the businesses of drugs, guns, and prostitution are much more lucrative than “transforming” America along Cuban lines." BRUCE THORNTON
*
There can be no resolution to any social problem confronting the population in the United States and internationally outside of a frontal assault on the wealth of the financial elite. 
*
 The political system is controlled by this social layer, which uses a portion of its economic plunder to bribe politicians and government officials, whether Democratic or Republican.

Why do all global billionaires want wider open borders, amnesty and no E-VERIFY?
AMERICA: THE ECONOMY IS RIGGED BY COGRESS SO THE RICH BECOME SUPER RICH.
The American middle class gets the tax bills for Wall Street’s crimes and bottomeless bailouts!

Wealth concentration increases in US.


*
*
The latest research on wealth inequality by University of California economics professor Gabriel Zucman underscores one of the key social and economic trends since the global financial crisis of 2008. Those at the very top of society, who benefited directly from the orgy of speculation that led to the crash, have seen their wealth accumulate at an even faster rate, while the mass of the population has suffered a major decline.
*
The past 40 years have seen the consolidation of a plutocratic elite, which has subordinated every aspect of American society to a single goal: amassing ever more colossal amounts of personal wealth. The top one percent have captured all of the increase in national income over the past two decades, and all of the increase in national wealth since the 2008 crash.
*

“Our entire crony capitalist system, Democrat and Republican alike, has become a kleptocracy approaching par with third-world hell-holes.  This is the way a great country is raided by its elite.” ---- Karen McQuillan AMERICAN THINKER

Sanders throws his support behind US propaganda campaign over Venezuela


Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders took to Twitter on Saturday to voice his support for the staged “humanitarian aid” provocation in Venezuela.
“The people of Venezuela are enduring a serious humanitarian crisis,” Sanders tweeted on Saturday. “The Maduro government must put the needs of its people first, allow humanitarian aid into the country, and refrain from violence against protesters.”
The tweet is in reference to this weekend’s attempt by the US to deliver “humanitarian aid” to Venezuela. Operating under the direction of the Trump administration, the right-wing Colombian and Brazilian governments attempted to move trucks into the country ostensibly carrying food and medical supplies. The US and its allies in the region used the occasion to stage orchestrated clashes between supporters of self-declared Venezuelan “interim president” Juan Guaidó and the Venezuelan government.
The incident is being used to whip up support for regime change and prepare a possible military intervention by the US on the part of Guaidó and his far-right Popular Will party.
Sanders’ tweet entirely accepts the “humanitarian” pretenses of the action carried out by the Trump administration against the Maduro government, which is seen as an obstacle to US domination of Venezuelan oil resources and overall domination of the continent. There is no reference to the fact that the “humanitarian crisis” to which Sanders refers has been severely compounded by US policies, including crippling economic sanctions, combined with the pro-capitalist policies of the Maduro regime.
As for “allowing humanitarian aid,” it is worth noting that the Red Cross opposed the US “aid” operation due to its transparently political purpose.
Sanders is quickly falling into line behind the Democratic Party, which backs the Trump administration operation in Venezuela. Sanders was criticized late last week after comments in an interview with Univision, in which he would not say that he recognized Guaidó as the legitimate president of the country. Asked whether he considered Maduro to be a dictator, Sanders refused to say yes or no.
Sanders’ earlier comments set off a flurry of denunciations from leading Democrats. Politico ran an article Thursday titled: “‘He is not going to be the nominee’: Dems slam Sanders over Maduro stance.” The article noted high profile Democrats such as Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and former Vice President Joe Biden, who have stated their support for Guaidó.
The Washington Post coverage quoted Christian Ulvert, a Florida Democratic strategist, saying, “They are clearly ignorant comments, and someone who’s running for president of the United States should be better briefed and knowledgeable about this crisis in Venezuela and how it impacts the Florida political landscape.”
Sanders’ tweet on Saturday was a message to the Democratic Party leadership that he will toe the line.
Following Sanders’ comments, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York congresswoman and member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), also weighed in, declaring in a video streamed on Twitter that “people want to make this about an ideology. Oh this is about socialism this is about capitalism this is about this that and the other. And what people don’t understand that this is really kind of an issue of authoritarianism versus democracy,” that is, that Maduro represents authoritarianism and Guaidó, “democracy.”
Going further to distance herself from socialism, she added, “People want to say my ideology is this my ideology is that, what I believe in above all else is a true democracy.”
Ocasio-Cortez is clearly taking her talking points from the same play book as Sanders. The Vermont Senator has a long history of framing foreign policy issues, to the extent they are addressed at all, around the struggle of “democracy versus authoritarianism,” in which the US ostensibly represents democracy, going as far back as his endorsement of the NATO war in the Balkans in the 1990s.
More recently, he has backed the US-orchestrated civil war in Syria, denouncing “Russian and Iranian support for Bashar al-Assad’s slaughter in Syria,” while criticizing the UN for being “too slow or unwilling to act.”
Sanders voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force resolution in 2001, which was used as the basis for the invasion of Afghanistan and has since been cited as the legal basis for military attacks, drone assassinations, torture and other crimes overseas.
The uncritical acceptance of the propaganda campaign by Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez is not surprising. It flows from the character of Democratic Party politics and their own role in providing the right-wing Democratic Party with a pseudo-left veneer.
What makes these developments all the more significant is the political context in which they take place.
President Donald Trump has spent the last month launching a globalcrusade against socialism, which began at the State of the Union address in which he pledged to “renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.” These denunciations came alongside appeals to nationalism and anti-immigrant racism.
Shortly following the State of the Union, the Trump administration declared a state of emergency in an attempt to usurp the prerogative of Congress to decide how public funds are to be spent to build his border wall. Then on February 18 in Miami, Trump doubled down on his anti-socialist crusade, delivering in a fascistic speech, “The twilight of socialism has arrived in our hemisphere.”
Trump’s diatribes serve a dual purpose. They are directed at creating the framework for aggression against the Venezuelan government, which is falsely identified as socialist, and subjugating all of Latin American to the dictates of US corporations. They are also directed at the working class in the US and creating the framework for mass repression at home. The Democratic Party’s response to Trump’s increasingly fascist tirades is to adapt to them.
The Democrats are gearing up for an extremely right-wing campaign in the 2020 election. Over the course of the past two years, the Democrats have concentrated their opposition to Trump on the anti-Russia campaign and the McCarthyite style #MeToo witch hunt.
Figures such as Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez play an important role. While occasionally spouting left and socialist phraseology, both have signed onto the right-wing policies and campaigns of the Democrats. Both have pledged their support for “border security.” Weeks after being elected, Ocasio-Cortez stood beside Bernie Sanders, nodding in agreement, as the Vermont senator endorsed the Democrats’ anti-Russia campaign.
A few weeks later, Ocasio-Cortez joined Sanders in the chorus of praise for Senator John McCain, utilizing the death of McCain as an opportunity to shift public opinion in favor of war and political reaction.
Now, both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are lending their support to the operation in Venezuela.
All this is proof once again that there can be no struggle against war except in the fight against capitalism, and there can be no fight against capitalism without a fight against war. In the case of Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and all the organizations that promote them—they oppose neither war nor capitalism.