truthout--2020-06-10--Immigrants Who Defend Themselves From Sexual Violence Face Prison, Deportation

On September 10 , 2018 , Amreya Shefa was released from the Minnesota prison in Shakopee .
But the 45-year-old mother didn ’ t have a chance to take a breath of freedom before she was driven to the Kandiyohi County Jail , which contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) to detain immigrants .
For the past two years , Shefa has fought for her freedom through the courts .
Now Shefa , who is HIV-positive , must also worry about contracting COVID-19 .
Shefa , an Ethiopian citizen and divorced mother , was living in Addis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a U.S. citizen in search of a wife .
The couple married in 2006 .
She remained in Ethiopia ; he visited periodically for the next six years .
During that time , the couple had two children .
In 2012 , Tesema brought Shefa and the children to Richfield , a suburb of the Minneapolis-St. Paul region .
( Shefa ’ s oldest daughter , from her previous marriage , remained in Ethiopia . )
That first night , he refused to allow her to call her parents ; instead , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her to have sex .
The abuse happened daily .
If Tesema was dissatisfied with the house ’ s cleanliness , he beat Shefa .
He raped her on a near-daily basis .
He forbade her to leave the house .
Shefa , who spoke virtually no English and knew no one else in the United States , was unable to seek help .
One month after her arrival , Tesema brought another man home ; both men raped Shefa .
Later , she learned that she had contracted HIV .
Tesema told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , she would be deported and lose her children .
On December 1 , 2013 , Tesema woke Shefa and forced her to have sex .
When she resisted having sex a second time , he cut her hand with a knife .
The two struggled and Shefa stabbed him .
He died ; she was arrested and charged with second-degree murder .
At trial , the prosecution attempted to depict her as having murdered her husband because he watched pornography and wanted to introduce other people into their relationship .
The judge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and sexual violence but still convicted her of manslaughter and sentenced her to five years in prison .
She has not seen her children , now living with Tesema ’ s brother and sister-in-law- , since that night .
Her parental rights were terminated in 2015 .
As a noncitizen , Shefa now faces deportation .
No national agency tracks the number of rape or domestic violence survivors imprisoned for self-defense .
Similarly , no agency tracks the number of immigrant survivors who face detention and deportation for their self-defense actions .
What @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incarcerated women have survived physical and domestic violence before arrest .
A 2016 report found that 86 percent of women in jails experienced sexual violence and 77 percent experienced partner violence prior to their incarceration .
What is also known is that abusive partners frequently use the threat of deportation to prevent immigrant victims from seeking help or leaving .
Linus Chan is Shefa ’ s attorney and the director of the Detainee Rights Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School .
Shefa is his first client facing deportation for defending herself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that it ’ s not uncommon for women to be coerced into criminalized and deportable acts by abusive partners .
Chan also noted that many survivors of trauma and abuse cope by using controlled substances — and then face incarceration and deportation for their substance use .
“ I Want to Speak Up and Help Other Women ” Under the Violence Against Women Act ( VAWA ) , immigration officials should have informed Shefa about resources for domestic violence and sexual assault , as well as avenues of relief for noncitizens with abusive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Regulation Act , they also should have provided a pamphlet notifying her that domestic violence and abuse are illegal in the U.S. and outlining available resources for survivors .
( It is unclear if such a pamphlet is available in Amharic . )
Shefa , however , did not speak English .
Her husband translated for her during all interviews with immigration officials .
If such information was offered , she was never told .
While at Shakopee , Shefa began learning English — and practicing with the women around her .
Hoping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ children , she also attended parenting classes offered by the Minnesota Prison Doula Project .
That was how she came to the attention of Tonja Honsey , the co-founder of We Rise !
, a leadership circle for formerly incarcerated women , and the director of the Minnesota Freedom Fund , which posts criminal and immigration bonds .
“ The justice system fails Black , Brown and Indigenous women .
We see that over and over again , ” Honsey told Truthout .
Quantifying the number of survivors remains difficult — fear and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their experiences , even when these experiences lead to their criminalization and threatened deportation .
For immigrant survivors , who are far from home , friends and family , there ’ s even less support for sharing their experiences — and advocating for their freedom .
“ Shefa is the first survivor [ facing deportation ] in Minnesota that we know of , ” Honsey said , but there may be others whose stories never make it to outside ears .
Shefa knows this all too well .
In a phone call to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ numerous women both in jail and prison who had suffered extensive abuse ; some were also imprisoned for defending themselves .
Now , she said , “ I want to speak up and help other women.
” Activist Ny Nourn knows the pathway from abuse to prison to deportation firsthand .
Nourn spent 16 years in prison after being convicted of murder after her abusive boyfriend fatally shot her boss .
Paroled in 2017 , she was immediately taken into ICE custody to await deportation to Cambodia , her mother ’ s home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Thai refugee camp and immigrated to the U.S. at age 5 . )
While in prison , however , Nourn became involved in organizing and connected with outside advocates .
When she was transferred to ICE custody , organizers waged a campaign to free her — raising public awareness , crowd-sourcing bond money and even occupying the local ICE office for her birthday .
“ Support is really crucial to helping survivors gain their freedom .
I don ’ t think I ’ d be here today if it wasn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Truthout .
Nourn is now an organizer with Survived and Punished , a national network fighting to free incarcerated abuse survivors .
On May 20 , she and other organizers secured the release of Liyah Birru , an Ethiopian abuse survivor who served four years in prison and faces deportation after shooting her abusive husband ( who survived ) .
The judge who granted bond to Birru noted that she had a defense campaign .
Nourn pointed out that Survived and Punished ’ s efforts also brought Birru ’ s story to local @ @ @ @ @ @ @ San Francisco Board of Supervisors has called for California Gov .
Gavin Newsom to grant Birru a pardon , which would remove the threat of deportation .
“ Organizing is important to bringing attention to immigrant survivors , ” noted Nourn .
Now , instead of languishing in jail , Birru can directly participate in her own defense campaign .
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act , the attorney general may not deport a person if that person ’ s life or freedom would be threatened in that country because of their race @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a particular social group or political opinion .
The Act provides an exception for those convicted of a “ particularly serious crime.
” Domestic violence and rape , while technically illegal , remain pervasive problems in Ethiopia .
A 2007 study found that of the 83 criminal cases involving the murder of women , the defendant was the woman ’ s partner in 95 percent of these cases .
There are no more recent studies about domestic violence and spousal homicide .
At Shefa ’ s 2017 immigration hearing , an expert in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lack of government protection for domestic violence victims and the danger of retaliatory violence for a woman who kills her husband .
While in prison , Shefa received letters from her sister warning that their family had received death threats , forcing them into hiding ; Shefa ’ s oldest daughter even fled the country .
Furthermore , HIV also remains stigmatized in Ethiopia .
Shefa fears being unable to access her medications , work or find a place to live if her HIV status is known .
Nonetheless , an immigration judge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Shefa has applied for a U-visa for immigrant victims of crime .
Her criminal court judge certified that Shefa had been a victim of sexual violence , but her application was denied .
Shefa has appealed the denial .
She also applied for a T-visa for immigrants who have been trafficked .
As of May 19 , Kandiyohi County had 420 confirmed COVID-19 cases , though no cases have been reported at the jail .
But COVID-19 has been spreading in other jails and Shefa ’ s HIV status puts her at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ filed a petition for her immediate release .
Members of Minneapolis ’ s First Universalist Church , who befriended Shefa during her detention , have secured her a place to live if she is released .
On May 11 , 2020 , a federal court remanded her case for a hearing as to whether her conviction for first-degree manslaughter constitutes a “ particularly serious crime , ” which would require deportation into potentially life-threatening circumstances .
“ The judge is supposed to look at the underlying facts and circumstances of her conviction , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attorney working with Chan on Shefa ’ s case .
“ Central to her conviction was that she was a victim of rape.
” Thus , Castro says , a decision about whether her conviction constitutes a “ particularly serious crime ” should take into account the repeated sexual and physical violence she endured .
The federal court ’ s decision to require a hearing invalidates the previous order of deportation .
Now , Shefa is awaiting her first bond hearing .
If a judge grants her bond , she may be able @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coercive control for the first time while she fights deportation .
Until then , Shefa shares a 5×10 foot cell with another person and a common area with 12 other people .
As in jails and prisons nationwide , social distancing is impossible .
Shefa has also applied for a pardon , which would expunge her conviction , removing the threat of deportation .
In Minnesota , unlike California where the governor has executive power , pardon applications must be unanimously approved by a panel of the governor , the attorney general and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ justice .
Castro notes that , thanks to activists ’ efforts and # MeToo organizing , society is now in a process of reexamining how survivors of domestic and sexual violence are treated by the legal system .
He ’ s hoping that the pardon board will take that into consideration — and recognize that Shefa was the victim of repeated rapes and physical violence from her husband .
Shefa ’ s pardon hearing is scheduled for June 12 .
Honsey and other advocates plan to attend the hearing to show that Shefa @ @ @ @ @ @ @ however , they ’ re raising awareness about her story , both with the general public and legislators .
“ I know a lot of people now , ” Shefa said about the people she met while in prison and through her fight against deportation .
“ I wish I ’ d known them long ago.
” “ If Amreya [ Shefa ] were a U.S. citizen , a lot of what we ’ re asking for would not be necessary , ” Chan noted .
“ But she ’ s not and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pardon board .
”

On September 10, 2018, Amreya Shefa was released from the Minnesota prison in Shakopee. But the 45-year-old mother didn’t have a chance to take a breath of freedom before she was driven to the Kandiyohi County Jail, which contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain immigrants.
For the past two years, Shefa has fought for her freedom through the courts. Now Shefa, who is HIV-positive, must also worry about contracting COVID-19.
Shefa, an Ethiopian citizen and divorced mother, was living in Addis Ababa when she met Habibi Tesema, a U.S. citizen in search of a wife. The couple married in 2006. She remained in Ethiopia; he visited periodically for the next six years. During that time, the couple had two children.
In 2012, Tesema brought Shefa and the children to Richfield, a suburb of the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. (Shefa’s oldest daughter, from her previous marriage, remained in Ethiopia.) That first night, he refused to allow her to call her parents; instead, he ordered her to cook dinner and forced her to have sex.
The abuse happened daily. If Tesema was dissatisfied with the house’s cleanliness, he beat Shefa. He raped her on a near-daily basis. He forbade her to leave the house. Shefa, who spoke virtually no English and knew no one else in the United States, was unable to seek help. One month after her arrival, Tesema brought another man home; both men raped Shefa. Later, she learned that she had contracted HIV. Tesema told her that if she ever challenged him, she would be deported and lose her children.
On December 1, 2013, Tesema woke Shefa and forced her to have sex. When she resisted having sex a second time, he cut her hand with a knife. The two struggled and Shefa stabbed him. He died; she was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. At trial, the prosecution attempted to depict her as having murdered her husband because he watched pornography and wanted to introduce other people into their relationship. The judge acknowledged that Shefa had experienced ongoing physical and sexual violence but still convicted her of manslaughter and sentenced her to five years in prison. She has not seen her children, now living with Tesema’s brother and sister-in-law-, since that night. Her parental rights were terminated in 2015. As a noncitizen, Shefa now faces deportation.
No national agency tracks the number of rape or domestic violence survivors imprisoned for self-defense. Similarly, no agency tracks the number of immigrant survivors who face detention and deportation for their self-defense actions. What is known is that the majority of incarcerated women have survived physical and domestic violence before arrest. A 2016 report found that 86 percent of women in jails experienced sexual violence and 77 percent experienced partner violence prior to their incarceration. What is also known is that abusive partners frequently use the threat of deportation to prevent immigrant victims from seeking help or leaving.
Abusive partners frequently use the threat of deportation to prevent immigrant victims from seeking help or leaving.
Linus Chan is Shefa’s attorney and the director of the Detainee Rights Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School. Shefa is his first client facing deportation for defending herself against sexual violence, but he noted that it’s not uncommon for women to be coerced into criminalized and deportable acts by abusive partners. Chan also noted that many survivors of trauma and abuse cope by using controlled substances — and then face incarceration and deportation for their substance use.
“I Want to Speak Up and Help Other Women”
Under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), immigration officials should have informed Shefa about resources for domestic violence and sexual assault, as well as avenues of relief for noncitizens with abusive spouses. Under the 2005 Marriage Brokers Regulation Act, they also should have provided a pamphlet notifying her that domestic violence and abuse are illegal in the U.S. and outlining available resources for survivors. (It is unclear if such a pamphlet is available in Amharic.)
Shefa, however, did not speak English. Her husband translated for her during all interviews with immigration officials. If such information was offered, she was never told.
While at Shakopee, Shefa began learning English — and practicing with the women around her. Hoping to one day be reunited with her children, she also attended parenting classes offered by the Minnesota Prison Doula Project. That was how she came to the attention of Tonja Honsey, the co-founder of We Rise!, a leadership circle for formerly incarcerated women, and the director of the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which posts criminal and immigration bonds.
“The justice system fails Black, Brown and Indigenous women. We see that over and over again,” Honsey told Truthout. Quantifying the number of survivors remains difficult — fear and shame keep many from speaking openly about their experiences, even when these experiences lead to their criminalization and threatened deportation. For immigrant survivors, who are far from home, friends and family, there’s even less support for sharing their experiences — and advocating for their freedom. “Shefa is the first survivor [facing deportation] in Minnesota that we know of,” Honsey said, but there may be others whose stories never make it to outside ears.
Shefa knows this all too well. In a phone call to Truthout, she said that she met numerous women both in jail and prison who had suffered extensive abuse; some were also imprisoned for defending themselves. Now, she said, “I want to speak up and help other women.”
Organizers Call Attention to Plight of Immigrant Survivors
Activist Ny Nourn knows the pathway from abuse to prison to deportation firsthand. Nourn spent 16 years in prison after being convicted of murder after her abusive boyfriend fatally shot her boss. Paroled in 2017, she was immediately taken into ICE custody to await deportation to Cambodia, her mother’s home country. (Nourn was born in a Thai refugee camp and immigrated to the U.S. at age 5.)
“Organizing is important to bringing attention to immigrant survivors.”
While in prison, however, Nourn became involved in organizing and connected with outside advocates. When she was transferred to ICE custody, organizers waged a campaign to free her — raising public awareness, crowd-sourcing bond money and even occupying the local ICE office for her birthday. “Support is really crucial to helping survivors gain their freedom. I don’t think I’d be here today if it wasn’t for that support,” Nourn told Truthout.
Nourn is now an organizer with Survived and Punished, a national network fighting to free incarcerated abuse survivors. On May 20, she and other organizers secured the release of Liyah Birru, an Ethiopian abuse survivor who served four years in prison and faces deportation after shooting her abusive husband (who survived). The judge who granted bond to Birru noted that she had a defense campaign. Nourn pointed out that Survived and Punished’s efforts also brought Birru’s story to local politicians. As a result, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has called for California Gov. Gavin Newsom to grant Birru a pardon, which would remove the threat of deportation.
“Organizing is important to bringing attention to immigrant survivors,” noted Nourn. Now, instead of languishing in jail, Birru can directly participate in her own defense campaign.
Fighting Deportation While Incarcerated
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the attorney general may not deport a person if that person’s life or freedom would be threatened in that country because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. The Act provides an exception for those convicted of a “particularly serious crime.”
Domestic violence and rape, while technically illegal, remain pervasive problems in Ethiopia. A 2007 study found that of the 83 criminal cases involving the murder of women, the defendant was the woman’s partner in 95 percent of these cases. There are no more recent studies about domestic violence and spousal homicide. At Shefa’s 2017 immigration hearing, an expert in gender dynamics in Ethiopia testified about the lack of government protection for domestic violence victims and the danger of retaliatory violence for a woman who kills her husband.
While in prison, Shefa received letters from her sister warning that their family had received death threats, forcing them into hiding; Shefa’s oldest daughter even fled the country. Furthermore, HIV also remains stigmatized in Ethiopia. Shefa fears being unable to access her medications, work or find a place to live if her HIV status is known.
A 2007 study found that of the 83 criminal cases involving the murder of women, the defendant was the woman’s partner in 95 percent of these cases.
Nonetheless, an immigration judge dismissed her fears and ordered her deportation.
Shefa has applied for a U-visa for immigrant victims of crime. Her criminal court judge certified that Shefa had been a victim of sexual violence, but her application was denied. Shefa has appealed the denial. She also applied for a T-visa for immigrants who have been trafficked.
As of May 19, Kandiyohi County had 420 confirmed COVID-19 cases, though no cases have been reported at the jail. But COVID-19 has been spreading in other jails and Shefa’s HIV status puts her at risk for serious repercussions. Chan has filed a petition for her immediate release. Members of Minneapolis’s First Universalist Church, who befriended Shefa during her detention, have secured her a place to live if she is released.
On May 11, 2020, a federal court remanded her case for a hearing as to whether her conviction for first-degree manslaughter constitutes a “particularly serious crime,” which would require deportation into potentially life-threatening circumstances.
“The judge is supposed to look at the underlying facts and circumstances of her conviction,” explained Eduardo Castro, a student attorney working with Chan on Shefa’s case. “Central to her conviction was that she was a victim of rape.” Thus, Castro says, a decision about whether her conviction constitutes a “particularly serious crime” should take into account the repeated sexual and physical violence she endured.
The federal court’s decision to require a hearing invalidates the previous order of deportation. Now, Shefa is awaiting her first bond hearing. If a judge grants her bond, she may be able to live in the U.S. free of coercive control for the first time while she fights deportation.
Until then, Shefa shares a 5×10 foot cell with another person and a common area with 12 other people. As in jails and prisons nationwide, social distancing is impossible.
Shefa has also applied for a pardon, which would expunge her conviction, removing the threat of deportation. In Minnesota, unlike California where the governor has executive power, pardon applications must be unanimously approved by a panel of the governor, the attorney general and the state supreme court’s chief justice.
Castro notes that, thanks to activists’ efforts and #MeToo organizing, society is now in a process of reexamining how survivors of domestic and sexual violence are treated by the legal system. He’s hoping that the pardon board will take that into consideration — and recognize that Shefa was the victim of repeated rapes and physical violence from her husband.
Shefa’s pardon hearing is scheduled for June 12. Honsey and other advocates plan to attend the hearing to show that Shefa has community support. For now, however, they’re raising awareness about her story, both with the general public and legislators. “I know a lot of people now,” Shefa said about the people she met while in prison and through her fight against deportation. “I wish I’d known them long ago.”
“If Amreya [Shefa] were a U.S. citizen, a lot of what we’re asking for would not be necessary,” Chan noted. “But she’s not and that needs to be considered by the pardon board.”
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truthout--2020-06-10--Noam Chomsky: Amid Protests and Pandemic, Trump’s Priority Is Protecting Profits

Many years ago , social scientist Bertram Gross saw “ friendly fascism ” — an insidious authoritarianism that denies democratic rights for corporate ends without the overt appearance of dictatorship — as a possible political future of the United States .
Today , that future has arrived .
Donald Trump has not only consolidated the integration between Big Business and government , but now , with the country in the grip of some of the biggest protests in more than half a century , he is actually trying to turn the U.S. into a police state , to “ ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ potential opposition , ” as Noam Chomsky astutely points out in a new and exclusive interview for Truthout .
C.J .
Polychroniou : Noam , for the past 40 or so years , we have been witnessing in the U.S. the demolition of the welfare state and the supremacy of the ideology of market fundamentalism to the point that the country is unable to deal with a major health crisis , let alone resolve long-standing issues like large-scale poverty , immense economic inequalities , racism and police brutality .
Yet , Donald Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the George Floyd protests to declare that , “ America is the greatest country in the world , ” while he is seeking at one and the same time to start a new civil war in this country through tactics of extreme polarization .
Can you comment on the above observations ?
Noam Chomsky : I don ’ t think Trump wants a civil war .
Rather , as he says , he wants to “ dominate ” by violence and terrify any potential opposition .
That is his standard reflex .
Just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Senator , Lisa Murkowski , broke strict Party discipline and raised some mild doubts about the magnificence of His Royal Majesty .
Or his firing of the scientist in charge of vaccine development when he raised a question about one of Trump ’ s quack medicines .
Or his purge of the inspector generals who might investigate the fetid swamp he ’ s constructed in Washington .
Another Trump reflex is his call for “ the most vicious dogs , and most ominous weapons , I have ever seen ” when peaceful protesters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ vicious dogs ” evokes the country ’ s horror when images of vicious dogs attacking Black demonstrators appeared on the front pages during the civil rights movement .
Trump ’ s use of the phrase was either by intent , to stir up racist violence , or reflexive , arising from his innermost sentiments .
I leave it to others to judge which is worse , and what either tells us about the malignancy at the center of global power .
With that qualification , there is no inconsistency .
Both the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the world , in his special sense , and his call for domination , follow from his guiding doctrine : ME !
A direct corollary to the doctrine is that he must satisfy the demands of extreme wealth and corporate power , which tolerate his antics only insofar as he serves their interests abjectly , as he does with admirable consistency in his legislative programs and executive decisions , such as the recent Environmental Protection Agency decision to increase air pollution “ in the midst of an unprecedented respiratory pandemic , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disproportionately Black , the business press reports , but increasing wealth for those who matter .
The success of his tactics was revealed clearly at the January extravaganza at the Davos ski resort , where the masters of the universe , as they are called , meet annually to cavort and congratulate one another .
This year ’ s meeting departed from the norm .
There was visible concern about “ reputational risk ” — recognition that the peasants are coming with their pitchforks .
Therefore , there were solemn declarations that , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but we are changing , you can put your faith in us , we will become “ soulful corporations , ” to borrow the phrase used in accolades to corporate America in the ‘ 50s .
The keynote address was , of course , handed to Trump , the Godfather .
The elegant figures assembled don ’ t like him .
His vulgarity and general brutishness disrupt their preferred image of enlightened humanism .
But they gave him rousing applause .
Antics aside , he made clear that he understands the bottom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stuffed lavishly with more dollars .
Another direct corollary of the guiding doctrine is that the con man in charge must control his voting base while he is stabbing most of them in the back with his actual programs — a difficult feat , which he has so far carried off with much skill .
The voting base includes not only avid white supremacists but others in the grip of the fear of “ them ” that is a core part of the culture — and is of course not without foundation .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ they ” often resort to crime — that is , the retail crime of the weak , not the wholesale crime of the powerful .
For Trump ’ s prime constituency of great wealth and corporate power , America is indeed the greatest country in the world .
How can one fault a country in which 0.1 percent of the population hold 20 percent of the wealth while the majority try to survive from paycheck to paycheck and CEO compensation has reached 287 times that of workers ?
And calls for domination @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voting base .
So , all falls into place .
The actor George Clooney responded with an essay for the Daily Beast to the killing of George Floyd by saying that racism is America ’ s pandemic , “ and in 400 years we ’ ve yet to find a vaccine.
” Why is racism so entrenched and intractable in the United States ?
The answer is given by what happened in those 400 years .
It ’ s been reviewed before , but for me at least it ’ s useful to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through again until it becomes deeply ingrained in consciousness .
In summary : The first 250 years created the most vicious system of slavery in human history once the colonies had gained their liberty , the foundation of much of the nation ’ s wealth .
It was unique not only in hideous cruelty but also in that it was based on skin color .
That is ineradicable , a curse reaching to future generations .
Other minorities were brutally treated , even barred from the country by racist laws ( Jews and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1924 immigration law , which lasted for 40 years , long enough to condemn European Jews to crematoria , and post-war , to ensure that survivors went to Palestine , whatever they might have preferred ) .
But the stigma was not permanent .
They could be assimilated and turn to more “ acceptable ” professions than running Murder , Inc. Also unique is the fervor of American racism .
The “ one drop of blood ” criterion for the U.S. anti-miscegenation laws that remained on the books until the civil rights movement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Nazis rejected it when they were searching for a model for the racist Nuremberg laws — though they did appeal to the American precedent as the only one they could find .
Formal slavery ended in 1865 , and a decade of reconstruction offered Black people a taste of freedom , which they used with remarkable effectiveness , given the horrifying legacy .
That soon ended .
A North-South compact offered southern racists free rein to murder and repress , and to provide a fine workforce for agribusiness and the southern industrial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employers a disciplined work force with zero rights .
One of the best general books on the post-reconstruction period is called Slavery by Another Name , by Wall Street Journal Atlanta Bureau Chief Douglas Blackmon .
That stain on American history lasted pretty much until WWII , when free labor was needed for war industry .
I remember well when Black domestic servants disappeared from middle-class homes .
During the great growth period after the war , some opportunities opened for Black Americans , though serious impediments remained .
The educational opportunities offered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contribution to the health of the society , were denied to Black people .
Home ownership , the basis for wealth for most people , was restricted by federal laws barring Black people from federally funded housing — laws that were hated by the liberals who voted for them , but there was no recourse if there was to be any housing at all , thanks to the iron grip of influential southern Democrats , whose racist passions shifted to the Republicans under Nixon ’ s southern strategy .
By the time these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the activism of the ‘ 60s , the opportunities for many Black Americans were lost .
The economy suffered stagflation in the ‘ 70s and then the hammer blow of neoliberalism , designed to keep the poor and working people in their place , with Black communities as usual the most brutally affected .
That assault was compounded by a new wave of criminalization of Black life initiated by the deeply racist Reagan administration .
That was amplified by Clinton under the cloak of “ I am one of you , ” and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s not hard then to answer the question , at least on one level .
At a deeper level , we can ask why the disease is so hard to cure .
It is worth bearing in mind that racism is not unique to the U.S .
It has always existed in one form or another , but it was not until the Age of Enlightenment and the imperial conquests that it assumed its contemporary virulence .
To see it on display in Europe , it is enough to view the intensive efforts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the victims of centuries of hideous European slaughter and terror from “ soiling ” their shores .
Better that tens of thousands should die in the Mediterranean , fleeing from Libya , the scene of the first post-World War I genocide at the hands of the Italian fascist regime — which , we might recall , was highly praised in the liberal democracies of the West , including the guru of “ libertarianism , ” Ludwig von Mises , who wrote in 1927 that , “ It can not be denied that Fascism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of dictatorships are full of the best intentions and that their intervention has for the moment saved European civilization .
The merit that Fascism has thereby won for itself will live on eternally in history.
” ( His apologists plead that he only intended for these “ best intentions ” to be a temporary means to “ save civilization ” ; the Blackshirts could then retire . )
Aside from Trump ’ s criminal negligence of the spread of COVID-19 and his complete insensitivity to the frustration and anger of the people seeking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ killing of George Floyd and police brutality generally , the United States does not seem to be well served by its version of federalism .
Federalism in its modern form dates back to the Civil War , which changed the phrase “ United States ” from plural to singular ( in English at least ) .
But the problems with U.S. federalism trace back to the country ’ s founding , and are becoming very severe .
In the late 18th century , the U.S. Constitution was a progressive doctrine in comparative terms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ framers ’ coup ” against popular pressures for democracy , to borrow the title of the fine study by Michael Klarman that is the gold standard for scholarship on the establishment of the Constitution .
Even the words “ We the people , ” however remote from reality , were a serious challenge to the regimes of the day .
The challenge was serious enough to evoke the venerable domino theory among the leaders of the day .
King George III feared that the example of the American revolution might lead to erosion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Metternich had similar concerns about “ the pernicious doctrines of republicanism and popular self-rule ” spread by “ the apostles of sedition ” in the colonies that had cast off the British yoke .
That was then .
By today ’ s standards , the U.S. political system is so regressive that if the U.S. were to apply for membership in the European Union , it would probably be turned down by the European Court of Justice .
The Senate is a travesty of democracy .
Wyoming , with 500,000 people , has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with 40 million .
This extreme perversion of democracy affects the Electoral College as well .
The House was carefully designed by Madison with measures to reduce the threat of democracy , but all of that has been effaced by radical gerrymandering and an array of devices , mainly devised by contemporary Republicans , to suppress voting by the wrong people .
The powers of the presidency have been constrained by good faith and trust , the way the British Constitution functioned for centuries ( now eroding ) .
With a wrecker @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a party of trembling cowards , these powers verge on dictatorship , as we are now seeing .
By now a small minority — rural , white , devoutly Christian or evangelical — can run Congress .
Furthermore , this is ineradicable .
The small states can block a constitutional amendment .
These remarks keep to the formalities of the democratic system , putting aside those whom Adam Smith called “ the masters of mankind , ” FDR ’ s “ economic royalists.
” Smith recognized them to be the “ principal architects @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the model of democracy in his day .
As he wrote , they made sure that policy served their interests , however “ grievous ” their impact on the general population .
Today , they virtually own the political system , from campaign funding to the overwhelming force of lobbyists and innumerable other devices to keep the government securely in their pocket .
Though their power is immense , it is fragile .
Hence the concern at Davos about “ reputational risks , ” and the statements of top executives that they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t have to read David Hume to learn that since “ FORCE is always on the side of the governed , the governors have nothing to support them but opinion , ” which can be withdrawn .
The power of the masters is indeed fragile .
It can be restricted , even overturned , by a public dedicated to different goals .
But that requires organization .
Thatcher and Reagan knew what they were doing when they launched the neoliberal era with a sharp attack on labor unions , traditionally the spearhead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ keeping to the formal democratic system , a serious constitutional crisis is inevitable for structural reasons — and Trump is edging toward it right now .
It is a matter of concern in high places committed to the constitutional order .
There is no precedent for the denunciation of his call for violent suppression of protest by some of the highest military officers — the two previous chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , his former defense secretary and former chief of staff , the former commander of NATO and U.S. forces @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some of whom went on to eloquent support for the protesters .
More important , also without precedent is the remarkable mobilization of whites all over the country to participate in the mass nonviolent protests , braving the serious threat of succumbing to the virus along with some police violence .
A poll in the first days of June found 64 percent of American adults were “ sympathetic to people who are out protesting right now , ” while 27 percent said they were not and 9 percent were unsure .
Where this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and more may be coming as a fateful election approaches .
It ’ s hard to determine what is more ominous : another four years for the malignancy to spread its poison , or an electoral loss that Trump will declare illegitimate , refusing to leave the White House , calling on the heavily armed “ tough guys ” he regularly urges on to defend their “ Second Amendment rights ” by protecting the self-declared “ chosen one , ” eyes lifted to heaven .
Is this a wild fantasy ?
Maybe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being discussed in respectable circles .
Specialists on the topic have warned that Trump is bringing fascism to the U.S .
Personally , I think that gives him too much credit .
Fascism is too sophisticated a doctrine for him to grasp .
It is , furthermore , a doctrine that is antithetical to his own simplistic conception of how the world should be run : by the masters of the universe , with Trump wielding the wrecking ball at whim .
Fascist ideology calls for strict control of the society by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; crucially , control of the compliant business classes .
That is almost the opposite of what prevails and what Trump ’ s limited vision seeks to entrench further .
He may advocate fascist tactics , but that ’ s far from fascism .
It resembles more closely a tin-pot dictatorship .
Well-regarded analysts in the mainstream are concerned .
One is former CIA analyst Robert Baer , who has had lots of experience in tin-pot dictatorships .
In his view , We can remind ourselves of how fateful the coming election is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — for example , the recent report from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography , the main monitor of atmospheric CO2 , that levels have not only long surpassed all of human history , but are approaching the highest they have been for 3 million years , when sea levels were 50 to 80 feet higher than they are today .
The coronavirus dip is a statistically insignificant deviation , though it does serve to instruct us that there is still time to avert a cataclysm , though not much .
The countries of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to respond , not enough , but at least something .
The country that is doing the least is the United States , in the hands of the wrecker-in-chief .
Trump does not waste a minute in his relentless drive to race toward the cliff .
His February 2020 budget proposal , while naturally calling for continued defunding of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the midst of a raging pandemic , also called for further subsidies to the fossil fuel industries that are laboring to destroy organized human life .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ using the cover of the pandemic to dismantle “ federal regulations designed to protect workers , consumers , investors and the environment , ” rescind requirements for factories and power plants to monitor or report missions , waive environmental laws for pipelines and other projects , and instruct “ agencies across the government to rescind , modify or simply stop enforcing regulations if they burden the economy.
” The last phrase is a euphemism for interfering with profits .
Helping the economy would mean building infrastructure and productive capacity , not pouring funds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ benefit of rich investors and predatory financial capital .
“ The White House will seek to make many of those roughly 600 deregulatory actions permanent , ” according to a former White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity .
Trump ’ s May 19 proclamation , on which this press account is based , drops enough hints to render the prediction plausible .
The heads of all agencies are instructed to “ review any regulatory standards they have temporarily rescinded , suspended , modified , or waived ” and other actions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which , if any , would promote economic recovery if made permanent , ” subject to conditions that are meaningless ; and to consider an array of actions that “ temporarily or permanently ” relate to “ regulatory standards that may inhibit economic recovery ” ( emphasis added ) .
The phrase “ economic recovery ” has always had a definite meaning in the Trumpian lexicon that there is no need to review .
Trump ’ s dedication to destroy organized human life in the near future for the sake of short-term profit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worst of his crimes , in fact the most extreme crime in human history .
It is approached in malignancy only by his systematic dismantling of the arms control regime that has reduced the severe threat of terminal nuclear war ; and , concomitantly , his promoting the development of more advanced weapons that enemies can use to destroy us .
Amazingly , none of this enters into current discussion , except at the margins .
In the age of COVID-19 , we have seen the sudden return of economic thinking guided however @ @ @ @ @ @ @ increasing government spending and lowering taxes in order to reboost economic activity , and maintaining a solid welfare state ) especially in Western Europe .
Is this an indication that neoliberalism is finally on its way out ?
Or will we see a return to the “ normal state of affairs ” once the health crisis is over , especially in the United States , where there is significant resistance to the ideas of social democracy ?
Like a lot of good questions , this one is virtually impossible to answer .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , including the pandemic and the race to self-destruction , are not wasting a moment in their dedication to ensure that the neoliberal disaster persists , indeed in harsher form , with more sophisticated means of surveillance and control .
They will succeed unless the general population withdraws consent , makes use of the power that is in the hands of the governed , and becomes organized to create a world that is more humane and just — in fact , survivable .
That requires at the very least constructing a minimal social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ difficult step that will be by looking at the liberal commentary on the Sanders campaign : good ideas , but the American people aren ’ t ready for it .
That is an incredible indictment of American society , which , according to this judgment , is not able to rise to what is normal elsewhere : universal health care and free higher education , Sanders ’ s major planks .
But joining the world should be the least of the objectives for a progressive popular movement .
Why should decisions about our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over which people have at least some control , to unaccountable private hands , as neoliberal doctrine dictates ?
Going further , why should people spend almost all of their waking lives under controls so extreme that Stalin couldn ’ t have dreamed of them — what is called “ having a job ” ?
Work under external command is an attack on fundamental human rights and dignity that had been regarded with contempt from classical Greece and Rome until the 19th century , and was bitterly condemned by working people in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only a bare beginning .
A different world is possible , a very different one .
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length .

Many years ago, social scientist Bertram Gross saw “friendly fascism” — an insidious authoritarianism that denies democratic rights for corporate ends without the overt appearance of dictatorship — as a possible political future of the United States.
Today, that future has arrived. Donald Trump has not only consolidated the integration between Big Business and government, but now, with the country in the grip of some of the biggest protests in more than half a century, he is actually trying to turn the U.S. into a police state, to “‘dominate’ by violence and terrify any potential opposition,” as Noam Chomsky astutely points out in a new and exclusive interview for Truthout.
C.J. Polychroniou: Noam, for the past 40 or so years, we have been witnessing in the U.S. the demolition of the welfare state and the supremacy of the ideology of market fundamentalism to the point that the country is unable to deal with a major health crisis, let alone resolve long-standing issues like large-scale poverty, immense economic inequalities, racism and police brutality. Yet, Donald Trump did not hesitate in the midst of the George Floyd protests to declare that, “America is the greatest country in the world,” while he is seeking at one and the same time to start a new civil war in this country through tactics of extreme polarization. Can you comment on the above observations?
Noam Chomsky: I don’t think Trump wants a civil war. Rather, as he says, he wants to “dominate” by violence and terrify any potential opposition. That is his standard reflex. Just look at his outburst when one Republican Senator, Lisa Murkowski, broke strict Party discipline and raised some mild doubts about the magnificence of His Royal Majesty. Or his firing of the scientist in charge of vaccine development when he raised a question about one of Trump’s quack medicines. Or his purge of the inspector generals who might investigate the fetid swamp he’s constructed in Washington.
It’s routine. He’s a radically new phenomenon in American political history.
Another Trump reflex is his call for “the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen” when peaceful protesters appear near his abode. The phrase “vicious dogs” evokes the country’s horror when images of vicious dogs attacking Black demonstrators appeared on the front pages during the civil rights movement. Trump’s use of the phrase was either by intent, to stir up racist violence, or reflexive, arising from his innermost sentiments. I leave it to others to judge which is worse, and what either tells us about the malignancy at the center of global power.
With that qualification, there is no inconsistency. Both the claim that America is the greatest country in the world, in his special sense, and his call for domination, follow from his guiding doctrine: ME!
A direct corollary to the doctrine is that he must satisfy the demands of extreme wealth and corporate power, which tolerate his antics only insofar as he serves their interests abjectly, as he does with admirable consistency in his legislative programs and executive decisions, such as the recent Environmental Protection Agency decision to increase air pollution “in the midst of an unprecedented respiratory pandemic,” risking tens of thousands of deaths, disproportionately Black, the business press reports, but increasing wealth for those who matter.
The con man in charge must control his voting base while he is stabbing most of them in the back with his actual programs.
The success of his tactics was revealed clearly at the January extravaganza at the Davos ski resort, where the masters of the universe, as they are called, meet annually to cavort and congratulate one another. This year’s meeting departed from the norm. There was visible concern about “reputational risk” — recognition that the peasants are coming with their pitchforks. Therefore, there were solemn declarations that, We realize we’ve made mistakes, but we are changing, you can put your faith in us, we will become “soulful corporations,” to borrow the phrase used in accolades to corporate America in the ‘50s.
The keynote address was, of course, handed to Trump, the Godfather. The elegant figures assembled don’t like him. His vulgarity and general brutishness disrupt their preferred image of enlightened humanism. But they gave him rousing applause. Antics aside, he made clear that he understands the bottom line: which pockets have to be stuffed lavishly with more dollars.
Another direct corollary of the guiding doctrine is that the con man in charge must control his voting base while he is stabbing most of them in the back with his actual programs — a difficult feat, which he has so far carried off with much skill. The voting base includes not only avid white supremacists but others in the grip of the fear of “them” that is a core part of the culture — and is of course not without foundation. One consequence of bitter repression is that “they” often resort to crime — that is, the retail crime of the weak, not the wholesale crime of the powerful.
For Trump’s prime constituency of great wealth and corporate power, America is indeed the greatest country in the world. How can one fault a country in which 0.1 percent of the population hold 20 percent of the wealth while the majority try to survive from paycheck to paycheck and CEO compensation has reached 287 times that of workers? And calls for domination by vicious dogs placates much of the voting base.
So, all falls into place.
The actor George Clooney responded with an essay for the Daily Beast to the killing of George Floyd by saying that racism is America’s pandemic, “and in 400 years we’ve yet to find a vaccine.” Why is racism so entrenched and intractable in the United States?
The answer is given by what happened in those 400 years. It’s been reviewed before, but for me at least it’s useful to take a few minutes to think it through again until it becomes deeply ingrained in consciousness. In summary:
The first 250 years created the most vicious system of slavery in human history once the colonies had gained their liberty, the foundation of much of the nation’s wealth. It was unique not only in hideous cruelty but also in that it was based on skin color. That is ineradicable, a curse reaching to future generations. Other minorities were brutally treated, even barred from the country by racist laws (Jews and Italians, the prime target of the 1924 immigration law, which lasted for 40 years, long enough to condemn European Jews to crematoria, and post-war, to ensure that survivors went to Palestine, whatever they might have preferred). But the stigma was not permanent. They could be assimilated and turn to more “acceptable” professions than running Murder, Inc.
Also unique is the fervor of American racism. The “one drop of blood” criterion for the U.S. anti-miscegenation laws that remained on the books until the civil rights movement of the 1960s was so severe that the Nazis rejected it when they were searching for a model for the racist Nuremberg laws — though they did appeal to the American precedent as the only one they could find.
The power of the masters is indeed fragile. It can be restricted, even overturned, by a public dedicated to different goals. But that requires organization.
Formal slavery ended in 1865, and a decade of reconstruction offered Black people a taste of freedom, which they used with remarkable effectiveness, given the horrifying legacy. That soon ended. A North-South compact offered southern racists free rein to murder and repress, and to provide a fine workforce for agribusiness and the southern industrial revolution by criminalizing Black life and offering employers a disciplined work force with zero rights. One of the best general books on the post-reconstruction period is called Slavery by Another Name, by Wall Street Journal Atlanta Bureau Chief Douglas Blackmon.
That stain on American history lasted pretty much until WWII, when free labor was needed for war industry. I remember well when Black domestic servants disappeared from middle-class homes. During the great growth period after the war, some opportunities opened for Black Americans, though serious impediments remained. The educational opportunities offered by the GI Bill, a major contribution to the health of the society, were denied to Black people. Home ownership, the basis for wealth for most people, was restricted by federal laws barring Black people from federally funded housing — laws that were hated by the liberals who voted for them, but there was no recourse if there was to be any housing at all, thanks to the iron grip of influential southern Democrats, whose racist passions shifted to the Republicans under Nixon’s southern strategy. By the time these racist laws were withdrawn under pressure of the activism of the ‘60s, the opportunities for many Black Americans were lost. The economy suffered stagflation in the ‘70s and then the hammer blow of neoliberalism, designed to keep the poor and working people in their place, with Black communities as usual the most brutally affected. That assault was compounded by a new wave of criminalization of Black life initiated by the deeply racist Reagan administration. That was amplified by Clinton under the cloak of “I am one of you,” and on to George Floyd.
It’s not hard then to answer the question, at least on one level. At a deeper level, we can ask why the disease is so hard to cure.
It is worth bearing in mind that racism is not unique to the U.S. It has always existed in one form or another, but it was not until the Age of Enlightenment and the imperial conquests that it assumed its contemporary virulence. To see it on display in Europe, it is enough to view the intensive efforts of “civilized” Europeans to keep the victims of centuries of hideous European slaughter and terror from “soiling” their shores. Better that tens of thousands should die in the Mediterranean, fleeing from Libya, the scene of the first post-World War I genocide at the hands of the Italian fascist regime — which, we might recall, was highly praised in the liberal democracies of the West, including the guru of “libertarianism,” Ludwig von Mises, who wrote in 1927 that, “It cannot be denied that Fascism and similar movements aimed at the establishment of dictatorships are full of the best intentions and that their intervention has for the moment saved European civilization. The merit that Fascism has thereby won for itself will live on eternally in history.” (His apologists plead that he only intended for these “best intentions” to be a temporary means to “save civilization”; the Blackshirts could then retire.)
Aside from Trump’s criminal negligence of the spread of COVID-19 and his complete insensitivity to the frustration and anger of the people seeking justice through their street protests against the killing of George Floyd and police brutality generally, the United States does not seem to be well served by its version of federalism.
Federalism in its modern form dates back to the Civil War, which changed the phrase “United States” from plural to singular (in English at least). But the problems with U.S. federalism trace back to the country’s founding, and are becoming very severe. In the late 18th century, the U.S. Constitution was a progressive doctrine in comparative terms, even though it was a “framers’ coup” against popular pressures for democracy, to borrow the title of the fine study by Michael Klarman that is the gold standard for scholarship on the establishment of the Constitution. Even the words “We the people,” however remote from reality, were a serious challenge to the regimes of the day. The challenge was serious enough to evoke the venerable domino theory among the leaders of the day. King George III feared that the example of the American revolution might lead to erosion of the empire. The Tsar and Metternich had similar concerns about “the pernicious doctrines of republicanism and popular self-rule” spread by “the apostles of sedition” in the colonies that had cast off the British yoke.
That was then. By today’s standards, the U.S. political system is so regressive that if the U.S. were to apply for membership in the European Union, it would probably be turned down by the European Court of Justice. The Senate is a travesty of democracy. Wyoming, with 500,000 people, has the same number of senators as California, with 40 million. This extreme perversion of democracy affects the Electoral College as well. The House was carefully designed by Madison with measures to reduce the threat of democracy, but all of that has been effaced by radical gerrymandering and an array of devices, mainly devised by contemporary Republicans, to suppress voting by the wrong people. The powers of the presidency have been constrained by good faith and trust, the way the British Constitution functioned for centuries (now eroding). With a wrecker like Trump in office, backed by a party of trembling cowards, these powers verge on dictatorship, as we are now seeing.
CO2 levels have not only long surpassed all of human history, but are approaching the highest they have been for 3 million years.
By now a small minority — rural, white, devoutly Christian or evangelical — can run Congress. Furthermore, this is ineradicable. The small states can block a constitutional amendment.
These remarks keep to the formalities of the democratic system, putting aside those whom Adam Smith called “the masters of mankind,” FDR’s “economic royalists.” Smith recognized them to be the “principal architects of policy” in 18th century England, the model of democracy in his day. As he wrote, they made sure that policy served their interests, however “grievous” their impact on the general population. Today, they virtually own the political system, from campaign funding to the overwhelming force of lobbyists and innumerable other devices to keep the government securely in their pocket.
Though their power is immense, it is fragile. Hence the concern at Davos about “reputational risks,” and the statements of top executives that they are mending their ways. They don’t have to read David Hume to learn that since “FORCE is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to support them but opinion,” which can be withdrawn.
The power of the masters is indeed fragile. It can be restricted, even overturned, by a public dedicated to different goals. But that requires organization. Thatcher and Reagan knew what they were doing when they launched the neoliberal era with a sharp attack on labor unions, traditionally the spearhead of struggles for social justice.
Just keeping to the formal democratic system, a serious constitutional crisis is inevitable for structural reasons — and Trump is edging toward it right now. It is a matter of concern in high places committed to the constitutional order. There is no precedent for the denunciation of his call for violent suppression of protest by some of the highest military officers — the two previous chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, his former defense secretary and former chief of staff, the former commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, all top-ranking generals — some of whom went on to eloquent support for the protesters. More important, also without precedent is the remarkable mobilization of whites all over the country to participate in the mass nonviolent protests, braving the serious threat of succumbing to the virus along with some police violence. A poll in the first days of June found 64 percent of American adults were “sympathetic to people who are out protesting right now,” while 27 percent said they were not and 9 percent were unsure.
Where this will lead is anyone’s guess, and more may be coming as a fateful election approaches. It’s hard to determine what is more ominous: another four years for the malignancy to spread its poison, or an electoral loss that Trump will declare illegitimate, refusing to leave the White House, calling on the heavily armed “tough guys” he regularly urges on to defend their “Second Amendment rights” by protecting the self-declared “chosen one,” eyes lifted to heaven.
Is this a wild fantasy? Maybe, maybe not. It’s being discussed in respectable circles. Specialists on the topic have warned that Trump is bringing fascism to the U.S. Personally, I think that gives him too much credit. Fascism is too sophisticated a doctrine for him to grasp. It is, furthermore, a doctrine that is antithetical to his own simplistic conception of how the world should be run: by the masters of the universe, with Trump wielding the wrecking ball at whim. Fascist ideology calls for strict control of the society by the fascist party led by the maximal leader; crucially, control of the compliant business classes. That is almost the opposite of what prevails and what Trump’s limited vision seeks to entrench further. He may advocate fascist tactics, but that’s far from fascism. It resembles more closely a tin-pot dictatorship.
Well-regarded analysts in the mainstream are concerned. One is former CIA analyst Robert Baer, who has had lots of experience in tin-pot dictatorships. In his view,
If I were a foreign intelligence officer assigned to Washington, I’d ask how close he is to imposing martial law because it looks pretty close to me. I mean, he said he will. He’s preparing for it. He’s got a secretary of defense right now who’s balking. It’s very easy to remove him and put somebody in his place. This president is very insecure. And we’ve watched him go after the FBI and the Department of Justice, and he will go after the Pentagon until he gets the officers in that don’t countermand his orders.… I have never seen this in the United States, never heard since the Civil War.… If I were a foreigner, I would really wonder … what’s happening to American democracy.
We can remind ourselves of how fateful the coming election is by keeping our eyes on current science — for example, the recent report from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the main monitor of atmospheric CO2, that levels have not only long surpassed all of human history, but are approaching the highest they have been for 3 million years, when sea levels were 50 to 80 feet higher than they are today.
The coronavirus dip is a statistically insignificant deviation, though it does serve to instruct us that there is still time to avert a cataclysm, though not much.
Helping the economy would mean building infrastructure, not pouring funds into keeping stock prices high for the benefit of rich investors and predatory financial capital.
The countries of the world are seeking to do something to respond, not enough, but at least something. The country that is doing the least is the United States, in the hands of the wrecker-in-chief.
Trump does not waste a minute in his relentless drive to race toward the cliff. His February 2020 budget proposal, while naturally calling for continued defunding of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the midst of a raging pandemic, also called for further subsidies to the fossil fuel industries that are laboring to destroy organized human life. To accelerate the disaster, Trump is using the cover of the pandemic to dismantle “federal regulations designed to protect workers, consumers, investors and the environment,” rescind requirements for factories and power plants to monitor or report missions, waive environmental laws for pipelines and other projects, and instruct “agencies across the government to rescind, modify or simply stop enforcing regulations if they burden the economy.”
The last phrase is a euphemism for interfering with profits. Helping the economy would mean building infrastructure and productive capacity, not pouring funds into keeping stock prices high for the benefit of rich investors and predatory financial capital.
“The White House will seek to make many of those roughly 600 deregulatory actions permanent,” according to a former White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity. Trump’s May 19 proclamation, on which this press account is based, drops enough hints to render the prediction plausible. The heads of all agencies are instructed to “review any regulatory standards they have temporarily rescinded, suspended, modified, or waived” and other actions they have taken, and “determine which, if any, would promote economic recovery if made permanent,” subject to conditions that are meaningless; and to consider an array of actions that “temporarily or permanently” relate to “regulatory standards that may inhibit economic recovery” (emphasis added).
The phrase “economic recovery” has always had a definite meaning in the Trumpian lexicon that there is no need to review.
Trump’s dedication to destroy organized human life in the near future for the sake of short-term profit for his constituency is by far the worst of his crimes, in fact the most extreme crime in human history. It is approached in malignancy only by his systematic dismantling of the arms control regime that has reduced the severe threat of terminal nuclear war; and, concomitantly, his promoting the development of more advanced weapons that enemies can use to destroy us.
Amazingly, none of this enters into current discussion, except at the margins.
In the age of COVID-19, we have seen the sudden return of economic thinking guided however loosely by Keynesian ideas (such as increasing government spending and lowering taxes in order to reboost economic activity, and maintaining a solid welfare state) especially in Western Europe. Is this an indication that neoliberalism is finally on its way out? Or will we see a return to the “normal state of affairs” once the health crisis is over, especially in the United States, where there is significant resistance to the ideas of social democracy?
Like a lot of good questions, this one is virtually impossible to answer. The forces that created the current socioeconomic regime, including the pandemic and the race to self-destruction, are not wasting a moment in their dedication to ensure that the neoliberal disaster persists, indeed in harsher form, with more sophisticated means of surveillance and control. They will succeed unless the general population withdraws consent, makes use of the power that is in the hands of the governed, and becomes organized to create a world that is more humane and just — in fact, survivable.
That requires at the very least constructing a minimal social state. We can see what a difficult step that will be by looking at the liberal commentary on the Sanders campaign: good ideas, but the American people aren’t ready for it. That is an incredible indictment of American society, which, according to this judgment, is not able to rise to what is normal elsewhere: universal health care and free higher education, Sanders’s major planks.
But joining the world should be the least of the objectives for a progressive popular movement. Why should decisions about our lives be transferred from elected representatives, over which people have at least some control, to unaccountable private hands, as neoliberal doctrine dictates? Going further, why should people spend almost all of their waking lives under controls so extreme that Stalin couldn’t have dreamed of them — what is called “having a job”? Work under external command is an attack on fundamental human rights and dignity that had been regarded with contempt from classical Greece and Rome until the 19th century, and was bitterly condemned by working people in the early industrial revolution.
That’s only a bare beginning. A different world is possible, a very different one.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
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truthout--2020-06-11--“I Can’t Do It” Say Some GIs Being Deployed to Quell Uprisings

A number of United States service members concerned about the possibility of being ordered by President Donald Trump to suppress uprisings in cities across the country are looking into ways they can personally abstain from such actions .
Trump has promised to “ deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem ” of protest across the country in order to end demonstrations that have sprung up following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis more than two weeks ago .
“ As we speak , I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers , military @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rioting , looting , vandalism , assaults and the wanton destruction of property , ” Trump said .
But organizations that provide advice and information to soldiers on becoming conscientious objectors or dissidents while in service say they ’ ve been receiving an influx of calls from military service members in the wake of Trump ’ s promise .
“ There are a lot of concerns , and there ’ s a lot of personal conflict and moral crisis that service members are experiencing right now , ” Garett Reppenhagen , executive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to New York Magazine .
“ In the last 15 years , we ’ ve seen our foreign conflicts escalating all over the world .
But I don ’ t think that folks thought that the global war on terror would be fought here in our country against Americans.
” The GI Rights Hotline and About Face : Veterans Against the War also confirmed they had received messages from service members about refusing such orders from the president .
“ Essentially , the events of the last week sort of catalyzed in me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can not continue to engage in violence or be complicit in it , ” one anonymous member of the National Guard told the publication .
Similar murmurs of dissent within the military were detailed in prior reporting from Truthout earlier this month .
One anonymous member of the National Guard explained that responding to and acting against Americans taking part in uprisings went against what they had signed up for — especially when they themselves agreed with what was being protested against .
“ I feel that I can not be complicit in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so many examples of soldiers and police acting in bad faith , ” that individual said .
“ I can ’ t do it , ” they said .
“ Even looking at my uniform is making me feel sick that I ’ m associated with this , especially after [ the National Guard unit ] shot that man who owned that barbecue shop [ in Louisville , Kentucky ] .
” If service members do indeed attempt to conscientiously abstain from orders to march into U.S. cities , it ’ s unclear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offenses , including desertion , absent without leave ( AWOL ) , and misconduct or receive other-than-honorable discharge .

It’s not clear what repercussions could result if a GI refused to adhere to the president’s orders.
A number of United States military service members concerned about the possibility of being ordered by President Donald Trump to suppress uprisings in cities across the country are looking into ways they can personally abstain from such actions.
Dissent within the military was first detailed in reporting from Truthout senior editor/staff reporter Candice Bernd earlier this month.
An anonymous member of the National Guard explained to Bernd that responding to and acting against Americans taking part in uprisings went counter to what they had signed up for — especially when they themselves agreed with what was being protested against.
“I feel that I cannot be complicit in any way when I’ve seen so many examples of soldiers and police acting in bad faith,” the Guardsman told Truthout.
A separate anonymous Guardsman, who serves as a medic, expressed similar discomposure to Truthout.
“I can’t do it,” they said. “Even looking at my uniform is making me feel sick that I’m associated with this, especially after [the National Guard unit] shot that man who owned that barbecue shop [in Louisville, Kentucky].”
If service members do indeed attempt to conscientiously abstain from orders to march into U.S. cities, it’s unclear whether they would be charged with various offenses, including desertion, absent without leave (AWOL), and misconduct or receive other-than-honorable discharge.
Trump has promised to “deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem” of protest across the country in order to end demonstrations that have sprung up following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis more than two weeks ago.
On June 1, Trump explained his rationale.
“As we speak, I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults and the wanton destruction of property,” Trump said.
Truthout’s reporting from earlier this month on dissenting service members was confirmed this week in separate reporting from New York Magazine, which also detailed how many in the armed forces are feeling conflicted over possibly being ordered to restore “order” against citizens of the United States.
Organizations that provide advice and information to soldiers on becoming conscientious objectors or dissidents while in service, speaking to that publication, confirmed they’ve been receiving an influx of calls from military service members in the wake of Trump’s promise.
“There are a lot of concerns, and there’s a lot of personal conflict and moral crisis that service members are experiencing right now,” Garett Reppenhagen, executive director of Veterans for Peace, said to New York Magazine. “In the last 15 years, we’ve seen our foreign conflicts escalating all over the world. But I don’t think that folks thought that the global war on terror would be fought here in our country against Americans.”
The GI Rights Hotline and About Face: Veterans Against the War also confirmed they had received messages from service members about refusing such orders from the president.
“Essentially, the events of the last week sort of catalyzed in me a realization in my heart that I cannot continue to engage in violence or be complicit in it,” one anonymous member of the National Guard told the publication.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
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truthout--2020-06-11--Trump Refuses to Discuss Removing Confederate Names From Military Bases

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday on social media that he would not engage in any discussions on renaming military bases that bear the names of Confederate generals .
The debate on removing Confederate names , symbols and monuments has been renewed in recent weeks , following a string of uprisings in cities across the U.S. after a white Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd , a Black man , in May .
Protesters across the country have removed monuments of Confederate generals and leaders on their own , including in Richmond , Virginia , where a statue of Jefferson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Some organizations , such as NASCAR , have announced a ban on displaying the Confederate battle flag during their events .
Branches of the U.S. Armed Forces have adopted similar restrictions , with both the Marines and the Navy announcing within the last week that they would no longer tolerate the presence of the Confederate flag .
On Monday , Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and Defense Secretary Mark Esper also said they were open to changing names of 10 Army installations that have been named after Confederate generals .
That suggestion appeared to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ responded on Twitter Wednesday that he wouldn ’ t allow such name changes to happen under his watch .
“ The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds , and won two World Wars .
Therefore , my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations , ” Trump wrote in a series of tweets .
“ Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with .
Respect our Military !
” Echoing Trump ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bases would be an affront to soldiers who died in battle , Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday also denounced the possibility raised by Army officials earlier in the week .
“ To suggest that these forts were somehow inherently racist and their names need to be changed is a complete disrespect to the men and women who the last bit of American land they saw before they went overseas and lost their lives were these forts , ” she said .
On Thursday , Trump tweeted out a statement that suggests he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more general sense .
“ THOSE THAT DENY THEIR HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT , ” he wrote , using all capital letters in his tweet .
The refusal to budge on the issue from the White House , however , took military leaders by surprise .
One unnamed official , speaking to Politico , said it was “ hurtful ” that moves to reconcile the country ’ s history ( in originally glamorizing Confederate leaders and now attempting to remove memorials to them ) were being met with such hostility , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discussion .
“ It feels like we took two steps forward and six steps back .
Just to have a conversation , that ’ s all we wanted , ” the official said .
White House officials were reportedly unaware of Trump ’ s plan to stand in the way of such changes in such a steadfast way .
According to Politico , they had understood that the president was , in a general sense , opposed to the idea , but didn ’ t realize he was planning to make a public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As Porshéa Patterson wrote for Truthout in 2018 , “ Monuments and other landmarks that memorialize Confederate leaders reinforce the trauma Black people face and the understanding that the US legal system is built to sustain the rights of people who side with the Confederacy over Black lives.
” “ Nothing better exemplifies the United States ’ tenuous relationship with its history than Confederate monuments and the number of streets , bridges and schools that still bear the names of racist leaders throughout the nation , ” Patterson wrote .

The White House is spinning removal of Confederate names from bases as an affront to those who served in recent years.
President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday on social media that he would not engage in any discussions on renaming military bases that bear the names of Confederate generals.
The debate on removing Confederate names, symbols and monuments has been renewed in recent weeks, following a string of uprisings in cities across the U.S. after a white Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, a Black man, in May.
Protesters across the country have removed monuments of Confederate generals and leaders on their own, including in Richmond, Virginia, where a statue of Jefferson Davis was torn down this week.
Some organizations, such as NASCAR, have announced a ban on displaying the Confederate battle flag during their events.
Branches of the U.S. Armed Forces have adopted similar restrictions, with both the Marines and the Navy announcing within the last week that they would no longer tolerate the presence of the Confederate flag.
On Monday, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and Defense Secretary Mark Esper also said they were open to changing names of 10 Army installations that have been named after Confederate generals. That suggestion appeared to go too far for Trump, who responded on Twitter Wednesday that he wouldn’t allow such name changes to happen under his watch.
“The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets. “Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!”
Echoing Trump’s suggestion that changing the names of these bases would be an affront to soldiers who died in battle, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday also denounced the possibility raised by Army officials earlier in the week.
“To suggest that these forts were somehow inherently racist and their names need to be changed is a complete disrespect to the men and women who the last bit of American land they saw before they went overseas and lost their lives were these forts,” she said.
On Thursday, Trump tweeted out a statement that suggests he opposes removals of Confederate symbols in a more general sense. “THOSE THAT DENY THEIR HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT,” he wrote, using all capital letters in his tweet.
The refusal to budge on the issue from the White House, however, took military leaders by surprise. One unnamed official, speaking to Politico, said it was “hurtful” that moves to reconcile the country’s history (in originally glamorizing Confederate leaders and now attempting to remove memorials to them) were being met with such hostility, without the president even being open to discussion.
“It feels like we took two steps forward and six steps back. Just to have a conversation, that’s all we wanted,” the official said.
White House officials were reportedly unaware of Trump’s plan to stand in the way of such changes in such a steadfast way. According to Politico, they had understood that the president was, in a general sense, opposed to the idea, but didn’t realize he was planning to make a public statement as he did on Wednesday.
As Porshéa Patterson wrote for Truthout in 2018, “Monuments and other landmarks that memorialize Confederate leaders reinforce the trauma Black people face and the understanding that the US legal system is built to sustain the rights of people who side with the Confederacy over Black lives.”
“Nothing better exemplifies the United States’ tenuous relationship with its history than Confederate monuments and the number of streets, bridges and schools that still bear the names of racist leaders throughout the nation,” Patterson wrote.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-06-11--Trump Picks Site of Anti-Black Massacre for Rally on Day Marking End to Slavery

President Donald Trump is planning to appear in Tulsa , Oklahoma , next week for his first campaign rally since the start of the coronavirus pandemic , at a location and on a date that many are saying is incredibly insensitive and disrespectful to events in Black history in the U.S. , especially in the wake of uprisings that have occurred following the killing of George Floyd late last month at the hands of white police officers .
Trump insisted that his decision to speak in Tulsa was based out of that state ’ s supposed handling of the disease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brand new .
We ’ re looking forward to it , ” Trump added , while speaking to reporters on Wednesday .
Republican Gov .
Kevin Stitt also claimed the decision to speak in the city was based on the state being a “ national example in responsibly and safely reopening.
” Yet campaigning in Oklahoma holds no strategic value for Trump politically — he already has a 19-point margin lead against his Democratic opponent Joe Biden — and the argument that Oklahoma serves as a model for how states should reopen after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus is also questionable , given that hospitalizations in the state have spiked there since reopening began at the start of May .
So why is Trump going to Tulsa ?
Many on social media have suggested that his decision is an underhanded way to discount an important holiday for Black Americans called Juneteenth , which celebrates the June 1865 announcement to enslaved Black persons in Texas about the abolition of slavery near the closing of the Civil War .
The holiday is often referred to as a “ second Independence Day ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 4th holiday did not grant freedoms to enslaved Black people when the Declaration of Independence was written .
The Trump administration is claiming that the Juneteenth date is meant to supposedly highlight “ some of the progress that has been made ” by the president on racial inequality , according to Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany , even though unemployment among Black Americans is the highest it has been in years .
The location of Trump ’ s rally is also seen as a sleight toward the Black community .
In June 1921 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the site of a massacre , when white residents of the city pillaged and burned Black homes and businesses , and attacked and killed hundreds of Black people in response to an alleged assault involving a Black man in an elevator with a white woman ( claims of impropriety , however , were “ highly suspect from the start , ” according to the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum ) .
More than 800 Black Tulsa residents were treated for injuries .
It ’ s believed as many as 300 were killed by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ planes above the Greenwood neighborhood .
Users on social media expressed outrage at the venue and date choices from the president ’ s reelection campaign .
“ Juneteenth is a celebration for emancipated slaves .
It ’ s next Friday , ” author Jason Overstreet noted .
“ That ’ s when Trump will have his next rally .
But he chose Tulsa , where in 1921 white residents attacked black residents and businesses in what is known as the Tulsa Race Massacre .
Trump is a RACIST DEVIL.
” Bestselling author Morgan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only offensive ” but also “ a desecration.
” “ We still haven ’ t found all the graves of those who were massacred there back in 1921 , ” she added .
In response to the announcement , historian Elexus Jionde also expressed indignation .
“ We live in the pettiest version of hell , ” she wrote .
Some wondered if Trump was unaware of the significance the city and the date had on Black lives in the U.S. “ Trump ’ s first rally in months will be on Juneteenth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Street massacre .
His team might be too stupid to realize this , but what disgusting symbolism , ” television writer Tyler Dinucci wrote .

As many as 300 Black Tulsa residents were killed during a massacre instigated by whites against their community in 1921.
President Donald Trump is planning to appear in Tulsa, Oklahoma, next week for his first campaign rally since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, at a location and on a date that many are saying is incredibly insensitive and disrespectful to events in Black history in the U.S., especially in the wake of uprisings that have occurred following the killing of George Floyd late last month at the hands of white police officers.
Trump insisted that his decision to speak in Tulsa was based out of that state’s supposed handling of the disease. “A beautiful new venue, brand new. We’re looking forward to it,” Trump added, while speaking to reporters on Wednesday.
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt also claimed the decision to speak in the city was based on the state being a “national example in responsibly and safely reopening.”
Yet campaigning in Oklahoma holds no strategic value for Trump politically — he already has a 19-point margin lead against his Democratic opponent Joe Biden — and the argument that Oklahoma serves as a model for how states should reopen after issuing stay-at-home orders during the rise of coronavirus is also questionable, given that hospitalizations in the state have spiked there since reopening began at the start of May.
So why is Trump going to Tulsa? Many on social media have suggested that his decision is an underhanded way to discount an important holiday for Black Americans called Juneteenth, which celebrates the June 1865 announcement to enslaved Black persons in Texas about the abolition of slavery near the closing of the Civil War. The holiday is often referred to as a “second Independence Day” among Black Americans, as the July 4th holiday did not grant freedoms to enslaved Black people when the Declaration of Independence was written.
The Trump administration is claiming that the Juneteenth date is meant to supposedly highlight “some of the progress that has been made” by the president on racial inequality, according to Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, even though unemployment among Black Americans is the highest it has been in years.
The location of Trump’s rally is also seen as a sleight toward the Black community. In June 1921, an affluent Black neighborhood in Tulsa was the site of a massacre, when white residents of the city pillaged and burned Black homes and businesses, and attacked and killed hundreds of Black people in response to an alleged assault involving a Black man in an elevator with a white woman (claims of impropriety, however, were “highly suspect from the start,” according to the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum).
More than 800 Black Tulsa residents were treated for injuries. It’s believed as many as 300 were killed by white Tulsans, which included firebombs from planes above the Greenwood neighborhood.
Users on social media expressed outrage at the venue and date choices from the president’s reelection campaign.
“Juneteenth is a celebration for emancipated slaves. It’s next Friday,” author Jason Overstreet noted. “That’s when Trump will have his next rally. But he chose Tulsa, where in 1921 white residents attacked black residents and businesses in what is known as the Tulsa Race Massacre. Trump is a RACIST DEVIL.”
Juneteenth is a celebration for emancipated slaves. It’s next Friday. That’s when Trump will have his next rally. But he chose Tulsa, where in 1921 white residents attacked black residents and businesses in what is known as the Tulsa Race Massacre. Trump is a RACIST DEVIL. — Jason Overstreet (@JasonOverstreet) June 11, 2020
Bestselling author Morgan Jerkins described the choice as “not only offensive” but also “a desecration.”
“We still haven’t found all the graves of those who were massacred there back in 1921,” she added.
I can't believe that man is holding a rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth, after all Black people in that city have gone through. It's not only offensive but it also feels like a desecration. We still haven't found all the graves of those who were massacred there back in 1921. — Morgan Jerkins (@MorganJerkins) June 11, 2020
In response to the announcement, historian Elexus Jionde also expressed indignation. “We live in the pettiest version of hell,” she wrote.
No but seriously, the whole thing is evil. A Trump rally. On Juneteenth. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of the black Wall Street massacre. We live in the pettiest version of hell — elexus jionde (@Lexual__) June 11, 2020
Some wondered if Trump was unaware of the significance the city and the date had on Black lives in the U.S. “Trump’s first rally in months will be on Juneteenth in the city of the Black Wall Street massacre. His team might be too stupid to realize this, but what disgusting symbolism,” television writer Tyler Dinucci wrote.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.