2020 election Archives - Macska Moksha Press

“How Trump Stole 2020″—Talking with Greg Palast about his new book

July 16, 2020 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

“Voter suppression is simply class war by other means.” —Greg Palast

What do timber interests, nuclear power, and off-shore drilling have in common with voter-suppression in Georgia? Greg Palast lays it out, following the money and naming the names, in his new book, “How Trump Stole 2020: The hunt for America’s Vanished Voters,” which was released this week, and is available at gregpalast.com.

Starting with W’s theft of the election in 2000, he paints a picture of graft, theft, and malice, in which Republicans steal national office from Democrats, and Democrats steal their own party from their own progressive wing. As with Palast’s writing in general, it achieves that all too rare combination of being both informative and entertaining. The tome is chock full of statistics and facts, all studiously researched and well-supported, and punctuated regularly with punchlines for comic relief.

It also includes a comic book pull-out by Ted Rall, which provides an invaluable Cliff Notes version of voter suppression tactics.

Greg Palast is an investigative journalist who has written for the Guardian, BBC Television, Democracy Now!, Rolling Stone, and more. In 2001, he exposed how Florida was stolen from Al Gore, and since then, one of his main focuses has been voter suppression in the US. On this topic, he has few peers and has unearthed numerous scandals that deserve greater attention.

I interviewed Palast on July 15^th, and we discussed the moneyed interests behind voter suppression, including the Koch brothers, Paul “the Vulture” Singer, Georgia Pacific (the logging company), Georgia Power (the utility). We also went into the gutting of the Voting Rights Act in 2013; how exit polls showed widespread voter suppression in 2016; and the problems with mail-in voting.

What follows is a partial transcript, edited for clarity. You can listen to the entire interview here.

Sonnenblume: I got a copy of your book from Seven Stories and I had a chance to read it ahead of time and a lot of it I already recognized, from previous writing of yours but it was amazing to have it all together in one place. The scope of the theft and the graft is just breathtaking, honestly.

Palast: That’s one of the things that makes it difficult, too. My fellow journalists don’t want to look at the actual numbers of the vote theft. They stop short of going after the real information of the numbers because it’s so shocking.

Sonnenblume: That’s kind of the $64,000 question, isn’t it? That not only the media but the Democratic establishment basically ignores this scandal.

Palast: Yes. You’re asking two questions. Where’s the media? Where’s the Democrats?

For People, Planet & Peace: Interview with Lisa Savage, Ind. Candidate for Senate in Maine

May 11, 2020 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

Lisa Savage is running for Senate in the state of Maine, against Republican incumbent, Susan Collins. Lisa is long-time antiwar and environmental organizer, as well as being a public school teacher and a grandmother. Although she has been an active member of the Green Party, Lisa is running as an independent candidate due to restrictive ballot access laws in Maine. The state does, however, boast the advantage of having ranked choice voting, which gives independent candidates a better shot.

I interviewed Lisa for my podcast, “Voices for Nature & Peace,” on May 7th, 2020, and we covered a lot of ground: COVID-19 relief (including her call for a People’s Bail-Out), healthcare, agriculture, campaigning during a pandemic, the recently released documentary, “Planet of the Humans,” the Green New Deal, and US militarism. If she wins, she will certainly be one of the most progressive people to ever serve in the US Senate.

What follows is a partial transcript of our conversation. Listen to the full interview here.

Saying No to Blue-No-Matter-Who

April 10, 2020 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

When I listen to Blue No Matter Who people, here’s what strikes me: That revulsion they have for Trump? It seems superficial compared to the revulsion they should feel for the whole system; for the profoundly sick society that we live in; for “America” itself.

We are a nation built on genocide and slavery, and we’ve never tried to make up for either. We’re the only country that’s ever dropped nuclear bombs on cities (Hiroshima & Nagasaki) and we did it even though Japan was trying to surrender; we just wanted to send a political message to the USSR. During the Vietnam War, we killed at least 3,000,000 people. We are some brutal MF’ers.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s designation of the US government as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” still stands.

Do an image search for “Fallujah birth defects” sometime. Fallujah is an Iraqi city where we used depleted uranium and white phosphorous during the 21st Century’s Iraq War. To this day, babies are born there with multiple limbs or with internal organs outside of their bodies. That’s on us. (Side note: The general who led the attack? Mattis, who Sanders voted to confirm as Trump’s Secretary of Defense. This is who passes for “antiwar”?)

We are #1 in the world for military spending, incarceration, and pollution. A bipartisan consensus upholds these realities. The Democratic and Republican politicians are in consensus that we should bomb children, lock people up and destroy the environment. That’s how they vote.

I find all of this abhorrent beyond words.

We need to get honest with ourselves. That means looking in the mirror and acknowledging the depraved monster looking back at us. We are NOT a good people or a good nation. We are among the worst. Ever. We need to STOP. Then we need to go down a completely different road, one marked by humility, apologies and reparations.

Trump is not an aberration. He is what “America” is. History confirms this. The revulsion that people feel for him is a dodge for admitting the truth of who we are. It’s denialism and it’s a mark of our ill-earned privilege that we can entertain it at all. Other people in the world can’t afford to live in such illusion.

The ballot box is not designed to accommodate the scope of change we need. That’s no accident. We are not intended to have that much power, and the rules ensure we don’t.

So no, I’m not going to vote blue-no-matter-who. I will not endorse this perverse system or its atrocities.

The Betrayal of “Not Me, Us”

April 8, 2020 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

“Now America gets a choice between a rich white man with mental problems, a history of sexually harassing/assaulting women, a long record of supporting racist policies, & a career of taking money from the big banks & financial institutions OR… Donald Trump.”
~Lee Camp

So it ends in a whimper.

The so-called “revolution” that Sanders was leading to retake the Democratic Party has been brought to an unceremonious halt. Many primaries still haven’t taken place, and Biden remains short of the delegates needed for automatic nomination, and anything could still happen between now and then (such as putting off the convention itself for reasons of public health), but Sanders has thrown in the towel.

“Not Me, Us” indeed.

Russiagate: The Toxic Gift That Keeps on Giving

February 24, 2020 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

"I have to ask: Is the Russian collusion in the room with us right now?"

“All smears are boomerang smears. That is why anyone worth a damn does not engage in it. That goes for the Russia-Gaters, the left/right smears on Gabbard, the years of left/right smears on Assange, the attacks on the Green Party and now the Russia narrative attacks on Sanders. Falling into line with the secret police will not save anyone. Red Scares target dissenters and promote war. Isn’t the history clear enough?”
Richard Moser

The despicable exhuming of “Russia!” to smear Sanders recently smacks of desperation and dishonesty.

Of course, the role played by the preposterous Russiagate conspiracy theory has always been the same: to be a distraction from issues that really matter. At best, it makes a mountain out of molehill. At worst, it’s straight up political psy-op.

For those just tuning in, a re-cap:

Coming Atrocities

February 5, 2020 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

Clear-cut in Humboldt County, 2016, making way for Cannabis cultivation

My perspectives on culture, politics and contemporary life in general have been profoundly informed by the time I’ve spent in rural areas, outside of cities, which has been most of the last decade. I have been in forests and deserts, grasslands and wetlands, mountains and coastal areas. And lots and lots of agricultural zones. One thing has struck me everywhere: When it comes to environmental destruction, most city people have no idea how bad it is. It’s not their fault; they just don’t get out there, and the media doesn’t report it. But the ignorance—however unintentional—has consequences.

The Anti-War Voter’s Conundrum

January 28, 2020 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

The author’s 2016 Oregon ballot (Photo by author)

I got called by a military recruiter when I was a senior in high school. This was ’86 or ’87, and I wasn’t surprised; other guys I knew had been contacted too, but even so, I hadn’t put any thought into how to respond ahead of time. Nonetheless, when the moment came I was unequivocal. I told the man I had no interest whatsoever in going overseas to kill people, no matter what. He was a bit taken aback–this was Nebraska, after all–but he pushed on.

“What if we were being invaded?” he insisted, and painted a picture of foreign soldiers in my own town, threatening my family.

“Well, I might think about picking up a rifle, then,” I said, “but otherwise no.” I told him to never call again and the conversation ended. So, non-violence with the possible exception of self-defense: a well-established and principled stand, actually.

I tell this story to illustrate how far back my anti-war sentiments go.

How Blaming Nader in 2000 Paved the Way for Today’s Neo-Fascism

December 9, 2019 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. -H.L. Mencken — *Collage by author. Background image sampled from Bin Im Garten, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.*

The lurch to the right by the entire US political establishment over the last twenty years has been both significant and alarming.

I was recently reminded of how bad things have gotten by the 20th anniversary of the Battle of Seattle, an event that sparked a brief period of radical resistance in the US, and which jump-started my own activism. As I sifted through my memories from that time, I realized that a lot has changed.

Do Bernie’s Supporters Know What “Not Me, Us” Means? Does Bernie?

December 1, 2019 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

Sanders "Not Me Us" merch — *Sanders “Not Me, Us” merch*

I’ve gotta give it to Bernie and/or his strategy folks. “Not me, us” is the best political slogan I’ve heard in long time.

Seriously, all cynicism aside, those three words sum up what has to happen in order for Bernie to win and, if elected, to serve effectively. It has to be about people power, not just the power—or inevitable weaknesses—of one personality.

I do believe that Bernie has a good chance of moving into the White House. The huge crowds, the record-breaking fundraising, and the sheer enthusiasm of his supporters are unmatched in the field of candidates. This all counts for something.

But the road to the White House is an uphill battle. The Democratic Party leadership is opposed to Bernie and his policies, despite the popularity of both inside and outside the party. It appears they would rather lose to Trump than share power with their progressive base.

Democrats: To Beat Trump, You Need to Buck Your Leadership

September 1, 2019 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

*Political cartoon from 1876 presidential campaign, by Albert Bigelow Paine [public domain]*

This essay is for rank-and-file Democrats, which includes friends of mine. (Disclaimer: As many of you know, I’m not a Democrat; my politics are much further to the left. However, with this piece I am wishing you well.)

Many of you are focused on the 2020 election, which you hope Trump will lose. Of course. But you cannot trust the leadership of your party to do what it takes to make that happen.

If you are serious about putting a Democrat in the White House, you’ll need to do it yourselves, through dint of will and sweat of brow. It’s not impossible. In fact, it’s totally doable. But you need to get on the stick now, and that means educating yourself about the reality of your challenge, which has not been well publicized.

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