I received the following email in response to this post and thought I’d share it and my reply:
“That kind of thing can only cause harm if you are too chicken to put your name in it so that both you and they can stop filling up the recycle bin in the first place. Do something useful.”
Well, let’s address the “too chicken” accusation first. I don’t include my name in the envelopes in order for the Dumbocrats to continue sending me their junk mail so I can send it back to them and have them waste money. If I was “too chicken” I wouldn’t have written and signed the post.
DUH!
Now, as to the environmental concern…
If this effort were to mean just ONE 2,000-pound American bomb weren’t dropped on Gaza, shredding and vaporizing dozens of children, sending ambulances and a school or hospital into a towering, billowing column of smoke and dust that would offset any environmental effect of this small effort to stop the genocidal US/Israel genocide by a factor of millions.
But, feel free to ride on on your moral camel. Just turn around in the saddle.
I’m with you, already sent a copy of code pink newsletter to at the time Biden and now Schumer campaigns, don’t know how they got my address, never being registered as democrat
Good job! I'm sure Biden and Schumer will be excited to read of the good work of Code Pink. I wonder how they get addresses. I'm sure there are companies that buy and sell mailing lists from magazines, newsletters to candidates and parties.
I exposed the most serious corruption in the history of the Democratic Party of South Africa, yet my family and I received their election ads without having supplied our cell numbers, which means they were illegally obtained. Consequently, I have to love your spirit of citizen defiance across the water.
Oh, now there's a good idea. I mean, heck, it's worked so well in the past. Right?
When it comes to two promoters and defenders of genocide, there is no "lesser evil'. They are both evil and rotted to the core. There is no greater crime than genocide.
Democrats say, "But, but, Kamala says she'll maybe kinda' sorta' possibly, maybe when she thinks of something, do some good stuff!"
Even if she were to bring us Medicare For All -- the idea she campaigned on before and has now abandoned, just like her position on banning fracking -- it would not off set genocide. Hell, even Hitler did a bunch of good stuff; brought jobs after the Great Depression and built the Autobahn and NONE of that outweighed his genocide.
None.
It's one corporate party and until people tell it to go to hell, the only change that will come is it will get worse. Our politics are dead n' done. Time for direct action: strikes; general strikes; work slow-downs; sit-ins; targeted boycotts; people in the streets; mutual aid ... telling this entirely rotted system to F-off. Anything less is doomed to failure.
People do not understand that fascism is HERE and all we can do is delay the effects here a few years while we build mutual aid. I’d prefer to try to do that NOT dodging deportation for being a “pro-Hamas radical” like the Republican Party platform calls for. We did this in 2016. We got trump. Who you may remember, was also not great for the Israel genocide situation (moving the embassy to disputed territory and naming it the capitol) while also getting Americans killed in a pandemic and through massively increased hate crimes. Also, since his election, far right governments have popped up worldwide, almost like he emboldened the fascists. What am I missing?? Oh right, trump is bffs with Bibi and has been telling him to not ceasefire for MONTHS exactly so people like you do this. I know it hurts and feels disgusting, but if you want to be able to continue helping others you need to vote for your own oxygen mask first.
Of course fascism is already here. No argument there ... and it is completely bipartisan.
Oxygen mask?
Voting Democrat -- or Republican -- is like wrapping your lips around the end of an exhaust pipe on a diesel truck and inhaling deeply.
Kamala is all about joyfully helping the Israelis to continue slaughtering defenseless refugee camps. She has said it -- no conditions on continued unlimited military aid to the ZioNazi government of Israel: Whatever they want for as long as they want it, as long as a Palestinian remains in Palestine.
She and Trump are both genociders and as such, BOTH will turn on any dissenters because, heh, that's what fascist genocidal mass murdering monsters do.
Too strong a critique?
Remember, it was Kamala who was "honored" to accept the endorsement of Dick Cheney, one of the worst fascist war criminals of all time. A criminal whose policies and initiatives continue to reverberate across the Middle East with every 2,000-lb American bomb dropped on innocents.
"Honored"... and the Democratic Party giddy about such an "honor." Tells you all you need to know about who and what today's Democrats really are.
Did Dick's endorsement brighten up your day, Jack?
The election is between 'Ass Hat A' and 'Ass Hat B'. Vote for either of them if you wish, but recognize the karma that comes with the complicity of in any way enabling continued genocide.
And what are you doing to resist the genocide? Please provide us all with your wisdom and some guidance.
What has been the reaction from the Internal Revenue Service to your announcement that you are withholding your tax payments to the death machine?
What kind of IRS hearings and audits did you have to go through not paying your taxes?
Was there a court hearing and were they willing to hear your good moral arguments against paying your taxes? What was the response of the judge?
Obviously, Dean, you have stopped paying your taxes to not fund the genocide, right? Please inform us all of your experiences with tax protest. Obviously, you have figured out how to do that. Very courageous of you. Please contact me and I'll do a Substack post on your courageous stand and we can all join you.
Not a nerve, curiosity. And as to responding on your repost...I'm sure you support free speech and open debate.
Good for you, Dean. But not all people can go the path you have taken. Most people live in the cities, many in small apartments, not on farms where they can grow their own food and most have little to barter or swap or live in communities where much of that goes on. Some have physical or family limitations and couldn't do that side economy stuff you describe and have to work salaried jobs.
What is your plan when you are on Social Security? Perhaps you already are. The feds siphon away the federal tax before the monthly benefit goes to your bank account. Maybe refuse Social Security? What's your plan for that, or what are you doing now to keep that hard-earned cash out of the death machine?
No, really, I'm interested in how you are now -- or in the future --- dealing with the Social Security tax withholding question. Given your critique of my position, it is a legitimate question and ignoring it throws a shadow across your argument. Simple question: Do you, or will you, refuse SS benefits?
I appreciate your admission that you did not read down through my whole response. Before responding, one should read through what they are attacking. I have read through each of your notes at least three times before responding and then again when you blast back to make sure I didn't miss something.
That lack of reading through my whole comment suggest you have not read other posts I have on Substack and aren't familiar with other things I have written, positions taken, actions taken and networking to others taking actions. Additionally, you would not know about my work in journalism and the mental health field working with the victims of our sick system.
While I have not gone into great detail on them in Substack, I experienced some big professional costs experienced in challenging the systemic issues that lead to such problems both within the healthcare system and political world.
Since you may well not have read through my entire post, you might want to consider the closing section of the post where I made it clear that my recommendation was a PIECE of resistance, not the only kind of resistance; it was offered as a small tool in the tool box of resistance.
Here's the closing section with a note at the end:
Now is this gonna stop the Democrats’ sponsorship of the US/Israel genocide? No, of course not.
Will extra postage bankrupt the billionaire-bought n’ funded Democrats? Nope.
Will Kamala Harris ever see my message or give a cat turd for it if she did see it? No and no.
But it is a small act of resistance and those who do see it — be it a postal worker, clerk at the processing center or the person carrying out the trash — might pause for a moment to consider, doubt and question this nation’s immoral, murderous behavior. Small messages and signs of resistance spread across daily life can have a cumulative effect in changing awareness, perception and opinion.
Daily resistance on all levels, from mass street demonstrations and voting third party down to bleeding off a few cents from the Democratic Party war machine, is important. Multiply it all by thousands — maybe eventually millions — and you have what we saw with the Vietnam and Civil Rights movement — a shift in public perception, opinion and, eventually, policy.
So, if you are getting such fundraising trash from either party, take a few minutes and stuff the pre-paid return envelopes. Cutting up macaroni boxes is a good way to get them plump and weighty. Remove your name and address from anything you cram into the envelop. Maybe get on a few Republican mailing lists to make your patriotic effort bipartisan and you can waste both party’s money coming and going.
I’m not sure, but I think if a prepaid envelope is taped atop a box filled with junk mail the recipient has to pay the postage. Or maybe an old lawn mower? But maybe not.
In the midst of such grim times, have some fun as you screw back the duopoly.
Resist wherever possible.
Or perish.
SOLIDARITY.
COMMENT: One reason the left is so miserably ineffective in this country -- to the benefit of the oligarchy -- is the left has the habit of doing circular firing squads. Rather than finding ways to unite and knit together broad approaches to resistance it goes to who is being more pure; a kind of radical wokeness. Such a self-destructive habit of the left is the oligarchy's greatest asset.
As I understand it, there is no easy way to not pay taxes on Social Security. Some states -- like mine -- don't tax SS benefits.
Did you read the last segment of the post -- the last part of my last reply?
I offered the mail idea as a small PIECE of resistance, noting that small actions can have a cumulative effect. Specifically: "Daily resistance on all levels, from mass street demonstrations and voting third party down to bleeding off a few cents from the Democratic Party war machine, is important. Multiply it all by thousands — maybe eventually millions — and you have what we saw with the Vietnam and Civil Rights movement — a shift in public perception, opinion and, eventually, policy."
To dismiss every thing I've done and written and specifically said in the excerpt above is itself trolling and just more of the pointless lefty circular firing squad stuff. If you want to have an effect consider building alliances rather than dismissing others as lackey in your own purity. That is not "curious" ... it is obvious.
I received the following email in response to this post and thought I’d share it and my reply:
“That kind of thing can only cause harm if you are too chicken to put your name in it so that both you and they can stop filling up the recycle bin in the first place. Do something useful.”
Well, let’s address the “too chicken” accusation first. I don’t include my name in the envelopes in order for the Dumbocrats to continue sending me their junk mail so I can send it back to them and have them waste money. If I was “too chicken” I wouldn’t have written and signed the post.
DUH!
Now, as to the environmental concern…
If this effort were to mean just ONE 2,000-pound American bomb weren’t dropped on Gaza, shredding and vaporizing dozens of children, sending ambulances and a school or hospital into a towering, billowing column of smoke and dust that would offset any environmental effect of this small effort to stop the genocidal US/Israel genocide by a factor of millions.
But, feel free to ride on on your moral camel. Just turn around in the saddle.
MT
I’d be proud to put my name on such an envelope!
That guy mounts with his RIGHT foot in the stirrup 😉
Actually it was a lady!
As noted, I do the anonymity because now I want them sending me that crap, so I can send it right back -- with more -- at their expense.
I’m with you, already sent a copy of code pink newsletter to at the time Biden and now Schumer campaigns, don’t know how they got my address, never being registered as democrat
Good job! I'm sure Biden and Schumer will be excited to read of the good work of Code Pink. I wonder how they get addresses. I'm sure there are companies that buy and sell mailing lists from magazines, newsletters to candidates and parties.
I exposed the most serious corruption in the history of the Democratic Party of South Africa, yet my family and I received their election ads without having supplied our cell numbers, which means they were illegally obtained. Consequently, I have to love your spirit of citizen defiance across the water.
Hey, good one, Mark!
I’m on it!
Save up those cereal boxes!!!
Great blog - thank you.
Fill those envelopes, Boris!
Brilliant! 🤣😂🤣
I just cut up the box my latest load of Friskies cat food came in. Can't wait for the next fundraiser letter! Now I look forward to such junk mail.
Good ideas.
OMfuckinG Mark I LOVE IT!!! Can’t wait to do it myself! Why didn’t we think of this before???
But no cat food coupons puleez…it’s bad enough that the fuckin Canadians eat horses! 🤬
I love this.
love it
I love it!
The US presidential election is irrelevant. It's one corporate party, the Republocrats ... the CU ... the Corporate Uniparty.
Oh, now there's a good idea. I mean, heck, it's worked so well in the past. Right?
When it comes to two promoters and defenders of genocide, there is no "lesser evil'. They are both evil and rotted to the core. There is no greater crime than genocide.
Democrats say, "But, but, Kamala says she'll maybe kinda' sorta' possibly, maybe when she thinks of something, do some good stuff!"
Even if she were to bring us Medicare For All -- the idea she campaigned on before and has now abandoned, just like her position on banning fracking -- it would not off set genocide. Hell, even Hitler did a bunch of good stuff; brought jobs after the Great Depression and built the Autobahn and NONE of that outweighed his genocide.
None.
It's one corporate party and until people tell it to go to hell, the only change that will come is it will get worse. Our politics are dead n' done. Time for direct action: strikes; general strikes; work slow-downs; sit-ins; targeted boycotts; people in the streets; mutual aid ... telling this entirely rotted system to F-off. Anything less is doomed to failure.
People do not understand that fascism is HERE and all we can do is delay the effects here a few years while we build mutual aid. I’d prefer to try to do that NOT dodging deportation for being a “pro-Hamas radical” like the Republican Party platform calls for. We did this in 2016. We got trump. Who you may remember, was also not great for the Israel genocide situation (moving the embassy to disputed territory and naming it the capitol) while also getting Americans killed in a pandemic and through massively increased hate crimes. Also, since his election, far right governments have popped up worldwide, almost like he emboldened the fascists. What am I missing?? Oh right, trump is bffs with Bibi and has been telling him to not ceasefire for MONTHS exactly so people like you do this. I know it hurts and feels disgusting, but if you want to be able to continue helping others you need to vote for your own oxygen mask first.
Of course fascism is already here. No argument there ... and it is completely bipartisan.
Oxygen mask?
Voting Democrat -- or Republican -- is like wrapping your lips around the end of an exhaust pipe on a diesel truck and inhaling deeply.
Kamala is all about joyfully helping the Israelis to continue slaughtering defenseless refugee camps. She has said it -- no conditions on continued unlimited military aid to the ZioNazi government of Israel: Whatever they want for as long as they want it, as long as a Palestinian remains in Palestine.
She and Trump are both genociders and as such, BOTH will turn on any dissenters because, heh, that's what fascist genocidal mass murdering monsters do.
Too strong a critique?
Remember, it was Kamala who was "honored" to accept the endorsement of Dick Cheney, one of the worst fascist war criminals of all time. A criminal whose policies and initiatives continue to reverberate across the Middle East with every 2,000-lb American bomb dropped on innocents.
"Honored"... and the Democratic Party giddy about such an "honor." Tells you all you need to know about who and what today's Democrats really are.
Did Dick's endorsement brighten up your day, Jack?
The election is between 'Ass Hat A' and 'Ass Hat B'. Vote for either of them if you wish, but recognize the karma that comes with the complicity of in any way enabling continued genocide.
And what are you doing to resist the genocide? Please provide us all with your wisdom and some guidance.
What has been the reaction from the Internal Revenue Service to your announcement that you are withholding your tax payments to the death machine?
What kind of IRS hearings and audits did you have to go through not paying your taxes?
Was there a court hearing and were they willing to hear your good moral arguments against paying your taxes? What was the response of the judge?
Obviously, Dean, you have stopped paying your taxes to not fund the genocide, right? Please inform us all of your experiences with tax protest. Obviously, you have figured out how to do that. Very courageous of you. Please contact me and I'll do a Substack post on your courageous stand and we can all join you.
Unless...
Not a nerve, curiosity. And as to responding on your repost...I'm sure you support free speech and open debate.
Good for you, Dean. But not all people can go the path you have taken. Most people live in the cities, many in small apartments, not on farms where they can grow their own food and most have little to barter or swap or live in communities where much of that goes on. Some have physical or family limitations and couldn't do that side economy stuff you describe and have to work salaried jobs.
What is your plan when you are on Social Security? Perhaps you already are. The feds siphon away the federal tax before the monthly benefit goes to your bank account. Maybe refuse Social Security? What's your plan for that, or what are you doing now to keep that hard-earned cash out of the death machine?
Oh, now, someone's nerve got tickled!!!
I'm guessing it's the Social Security thing, right?
Hard being clean and pure in a dirty, imperfect world.
No, really, I'm interested in how you are now -- or in the future --- dealing with the Social Security tax withholding question. Given your critique of my position, it is a legitimate question and ignoring it throws a shadow across your argument. Simple question: Do you, or will you, refuse SS benefits?
I appreciate your admission that you did not read down through my whole response. Before responding, one should read through what they are attacking. I have read through each of your notes at least three times before responding and then again when you blast back to make sure I didn't miss something.
That lack of reading through my whole comment suggest you have not read other posts I have on Substack and aren't familiar with other things I have written, positions taken, actions taken and networking to others taking actions. Additionally, you would not know about my work in journalism and the mental health field working with the victims of our sick system.
While I have not gone into great detail on them in Substack, I experienced some big professional costs experienced in challenging the systemic issues that lead to such problems both within the healthcare system and political world.
Since you may well not have read through my entire post, you might want to consider the closing section of the post where I made it clear that my recommendation was a PIECE of resistance, not the only kind of resistance; it was offered as a small tool in the tool box of resistance.
Here's the closing section with a note at the end:
Now is this gonna stop the Democrats’ sponsorship of the US/Israel genocide? No, of course not.
Will extra postage bankrupt the billionaire-bought n’ funded Democrats? Nope.
Will Kamala Harris ever see my message or give a cat turd for it if she did see it? No and no.
But it is a small act of resistance and those who do see it — be it a postal worker, clerk at the processing center or the person carrying out the trash — might pause for a moment to consider, doubt and question this nation’s immoral, murderous behavior. Small messages and signs of resistance spread across daily life can have a cumulative effect in changing awareness, perception and opinion.
Daily resistance on all levels, from mass street demonstrations and voting third party down to bleeding off a few cents from the Democratic Party war machine, is important. Multiply it all by thousands — maybe eventually millions — and you have what we saw with the Vietnam and Civil Rights movement — a shift in public perception, opinion and, eventually, policy.
So, if you are getting such fundraising trash from either party, take a few minutes and stuff the pre-paid return envelopes. Cutting up macaroni boxes is a good way to get them plump and weighty. Remove your name and address from anything you cram into the envelop. Maybe get on a few Republican mailing lists to make your patriotic effort bipartisan and you can waste both party’s money coming and going.
I’m not sure, but I think if a prepaid envelope is taped atop a box filled with junk mail the recipient has to pay the postage. Or maybe an old lawn mower? But maybe not.
In the midst of such grim times, have some fun as you screw back the duopoly.
Resist wherever possible.
Or perish.
SOLIDARITY.
COMMENT: One reason the left is so miserably ineffective in this country -- to the benefit of the oligarchy -- is the left has the habit of doing circular firing squads. Rather than finding ways to unite and knit together broad approaches to resistance it goes to who is being more pure; a kind of radical wokeness. Such a self-destructive habit of the left is the oligarchy's greatest asset.
As I understand it, there is no easy way to not pay taxes on Social Security. Some states -- like mine -- don't tax SS benefits.
Did you read the last segment of the post -- the last part of my last reply?
I offered the mail idea as a small PIECE of resistance, noting that small actions can have a cumulative effect. Specifically: "Daily resistance on all levels, from mass street demonstrations and voting third party down to bleeding off a few cents from the Democratic Party war machine, is important. Multiply it all by thousands — maybe eventually millions — and you have what we saw with the Vietnam and Civil Rights movement — a shift in public perception, opinion and, eventually, policy."
To dismiss every thing I've done and written and specifically said in the excerpt above is itself trolling and just more of the pointless lefty circular firing squad stuff. If you want to have an effect consider building alliances rather than dismissing others as lackey in your own purity. That is not "curious" ... it is obvious.