America's Mask Is Off: 'Genocide Joe's' One Gift / Staffers Rise Up

With the bloody daily tally of dead infants and children, the true reality of what this government has become is there for all to see.

Photo by Mark Taylor / DeMOCKracy.ink

“America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.”
— Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

By Mark Taylor
DeMOCKracy.ink (12/14/23)

I wrote the following in response to a recent Substack post on the need for the Democrats to somehow shed themselves of the dead weight of vice president Kamala Harris before the 2024 election. The following — with a few tweaks — is what I wrote in response:

The issue is not "Cackle" Kamala. The issue is Biden and his criminal support, diplomatic cover, funding of and military supply of genocidal war crimes in Gaza. Let's be clear: Joe..Biden...is..a..war...criminal.

Through her cold, cynical silence, on the US-enabled genocide, my democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin (WI-D) is also a war criminal, along with pretty much every member of congress who has supported the genocide. The entire State Department and all of the War Department are war criminals. By any measure of international law, all those officials are war criminals and our government is a criminal state.

I very reluctantly voted for Biden last time around. I have voted twice for Baldwin. I will vote for neither in 2024 because I will no longer vote for war criminals. Of course, with my support of Obama and Bill Clinton in the past, I essentially supported war criminals. Something I am ashamed of. No more.

A little time travel

A friend was warning me about how we have to stop Trump in '24. I asked him to do a little thought experiment and pretend it was the fall of 2020 and I had just returned with Elon Musk from time travel to 2023 and wanted him to know that the winner of the election would be responsible for the following three things:

ONE: Sabotage of a mutual peace agreement that would directly lead to a grinding trench war we would lose in Central Europe, resulting in the death of some 500,000+ young men, millions displaced, whole cities laid waste and threat of wider war in Europe.

TWO: The largest single act of eco-terrorism in the world, resulting in crippling energy costs throughout Europe and the slide to deindustrialization of our most important European ally and business partner, Germany.

THREE: Full-on US participation in funding and arming of a massive religious genocide where two-thirds of the current (counted) dead would be women, children and infants with the very real threat of throwing the entire Middle East into war.

I said to my friend, "You would have said, OMG, that's why we need to stop Trump. Go For Joe!!!!"

He reluctantly agreed.

Here's the brutal truth: when it comes to more wealth for corporations, the military industrial blob and war, there is NO difference between the two parties. It's just one big blood-soaked war-loving corporate party: The Republocrats.

( You can see my portrait of the mascot here: https://mark192.substack.com/p/the-one-party-republocrat )

The real need for impeachment

Biden is a self-proclaimed Zionist, which means he has political loyalties outside the US — perhaps the real need for impeachment. The one tiny bit of good Biden has done with the US/Israeli genocide is to have peeled away the last smug, grinning mask from the fascist state we are suffering under. We now see the full extent and ugliness to which this corporate fascist state will go to dominate others and -- when the time comes -- ourselves.

The Republicans are ‘pedal to the metal’, speeding 125mph into a wall of fascist totalitarianism.

The Democrats are doing so at 85mph … in Biden’s shiny Corvette.

The destination is the same.

Time for people to resist.

But I fear they won't.

*****

Courage At A Time Of Cowardice: Biden Staffers Demand Cease-Fire At 'Historic' White House Vigil

"Every single one of these people is risking their jobs and, possibly, their careers because they know the stakes of this moment.”

By Jake Johns
Common Dreams (12/14/23)

Dozens of Biden administration staffers held a vigil outside the White House late Wednesday calling for a lasting cease-fire in Gaza as the Palestinian territory's healthcare system collapsed and the U.S.-armed Israeli military bombed the entirety of the besieged strip.

The staffers donned masks and sunglasses to conceal their identities, likely out of fear of retaliation from an administration that has been accused of cracking down on dissent against President Joe Biden's support for Israel's assault on Gaza.

Josh Paul, a former State Department official who resigned in October over the administration's weapons transfers to Israel, also took part in the demonstration and delivered remarks on behalf of the staffers.

"We were horrified by the brutal October 7 attacks on Israeli civilians, and have been horrified by the disproportionate response by the Israeli government, which has indiscriminately killed thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza and displaced over a million more," said Paul. "We have seen refugee camps, hospitals, schools, and entire neighborhoods bombed. We have seen dead men, women, and children pulled from the rubble in their pajamas. We have seen harassment, humiliation, and degradation of many kinds. This is unacceptable."

"The American people and respected institutions like the United Nations are pleading for a cease-fire, but this administration has yet to listen," Paul added. "We demand President Biden and members of the cabinet to speak up: Call for a permanent cease-fire, a release of all hostages, and an immediate de-escalation now."

Yonah Lieberman, co-founder of the Jewish American advocacy group IfNotNow, applauded the Biden staffers for holding the protest, noting that "every single one of these people is risking their jobs and, possibly, their careers because they know the stakes of this moment."

Historic show of resistance

Political analyst Mitchell Plitnick called the demonstration "historic."

The vigil was the latest display of growing internal outrage over the Biden administration's unconditional support for the Israeli military, which has used U.S. weaponry to commit atrocities in the Gaza Strip. The demonstration came days after the U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, drawing international condemnation.

Earlier this month, more than 40 White House interns sent a letter condemning Israel's "genocidal response" to the October 7 attack and imploring Biden to support a permanent cease-fire.

In November, as CNNreported Wednesday, "more than 700 staffers and political appointees signed a letter calling on the president to support a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict."

"The letter was signed by staffers who work in more than 30 departments and agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, FBI, and NASA," the outlet noted.

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

Link to story

*****

Chris Hedges: "The United States Is Israel’s Partner In GENOCIDE"

Renowned journalist Chris Hedges joins Sabby Sabs’ for an insightful interview on the real history of the brutal 75-year long Israeli genocide of the Palestinians and the role of bipartisan support by the United States.

*****

Israel Accused Of War Crimes For "Apparently Deliberate" Killing of Reuters Journalist in Lebanon

(Note: Pres. Biden just sidestepped congress to send almost 14,000 tank shells to Israel. Similar to the ammunition used in this war crime. — Mark Taylor)

Democracy Now! (12/14/23)

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are calling for Israel to be officially investigated for committing war crimes in its targeting of journalists. This comes after an internal Reuters investigation conclusively found that its journalist Issam Abdallah was killed by an Israeli tank shell fired on him and a group of six other journalists in southern Lebanon on October 13.

We speak with investigation co-author and Reuters Lebanon bureau chief Maya Gebeily, who says the group of journalists "did everything right," including being clearly marked as press, yet were still fired upon in two successive strikes, meaning the attack is a clear violation of international humanitarian law against the military targeting of journalists.