April 23, 2024
When future
historians go searching for the final nail in the US coffin, they may well
settle on the date April 20, 2024.
On that day
Congress passed legislation to fund two and a half wars, hand what’s left of
our privacy over to the CIA and NSA, and give the US president the power to
shut down whatever part of the Internet he disagrees with.
The nearly $100
billion grossly misnamed “National Security Supplemental” guarantees that
Ukrainians will continue to die in that country’s unwinnable war with Russia,
that Palestinian civilians will continue to be slaughtered in Gaza with US
weapons, and that the neocons will continue to push us toward a war with China.
It was a total
victory for the war party.
The huge
spending bill is all about politics for Biden, yet so many Republicans simply
went along with it. The last thing the people running Biden’s White House want
to see as a close election approaches are ads blaming Biden for “losing
Ukraine.”
The US and its
allies have already sent over $300 billion to Ukraine and the country is still
losing its war with Russia. Nobody believes another $60 billion will pull a
victory from the jaws of defeat. But this additional money is meant to keep up
appearances until November at the expense of Americans who are forced to pay
for it and Ukrainians who are forced to die for it.
Speaker Johnson
could not have passed these monstrosities without the full support of House
Democrats, as the majority of Republicans voted against more money for Ukraine.
So in the worst example of “bipartisanship,” Johnson reached across the aisle,
stiffed the Republican majority that elected him Speaker, and pushed through a
massive gift to the warfare/(corporate) welfare state.
After the House
voted to send another $60 billion to notoriously corrupt Ukraine, Members waved
Ukrainian flags on the House Floor and chanted “Ukraine, Ukraine.” While I find
it distasteful and disgusting, in some way it seemed fitting. After all, they may
as well chant the name of a foreign country because they certainly don’t care
about this country!
Along with
sending $100 billion that we don’t have to fund more overseas war, Speaker
Johnson threw in another version of the Tik Tok ban, which gives Joe Biden and
future presidents the power to shut down websites at will by simply declaring
them to be “foreign adversary controlled.”
Not to be
outdone, the US Senate on that same day passed the extension of Section 702 of
the FISA Act, which not only allowed the government to continue spying on us
without a warrant, but also contained new language massively expanding how they
can spy on us.
Many
conservative voters are asking what the point of Republican control of the
House is if the agenda is determined by Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer is even reported to have bragged to his colleagues about how easily
Speaker Johnson gave Democrats everything they wanted and asked for nothing in
return.
What is the
silver lining in all this bad news? Most Republicans in the House voted against
continuing the Ukraine war. That’s a good start. Our ideas are growing, not
only across the country but even in the DC swamp. Take courage and don’t give
up! Work for peace!
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