The other night, I woke up from a dream about Netanyahu callling the Palestinians Ameleks, and how that was a justifucation for destroying them. I did something I almost never do, and came into my office, got on my computer and searched the term “Amelek.” Here’s what I learned:
The Torah and the Old Testament say that when the people of Israel were walking through the desert to return to their own land after being delivered from slavery in Egypt, they were attacked by the Ameleks. This act made the Ameleks the enemies of God, in the eyes of the Hebrews. But then, they thought that God himself had created the Ameleks to cause the Hebrews misery. It’s all very confusing and contradictory, but that’s how they thought.
In the Bible/Torah, it says if Moses kept his staff held high while the battle continued, the Israelites would win. If he let it drop, the Ameleks would win. Aaron and Tur helped Moses keep his staff high. This is not in any way superstition or homoerotic symbolism. Get your minds out of the gutter, heathens.
The Ameleks were a nomadic people who mostly lived in and around Canaan, which is in the southern part of modern-day Israel. They had moved into the area because of the void left by the Hebrew tribes being enslaved in Egypt.
“Amelek” is what Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have called the Palestinians. The Israelis think the Palestinians are the enemies of God. It doesn’t matter, though, because the Palestinians can’t be the Ameleks, because, over the course of generations, thousands of years ago, the Hebrews wiped out all the Ameleks.
Somehow we need to turn away from the path we’re trundling down as a species. We’re fixin to kill the world and ourselves with it if we don’t straighten up. The ideals and morals of the ruling class of this time are bereft of value and actively destructive. We have to change course.
And patterning behavior after tribal disputes from thousands of years ago doesn’t seem like a very good way to conduct ourselves. Especially when those tribal disputes ended with the death of an entire people.
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I feel like I have an obligation to dig into this whole Graham Platner debacle, considering how enthusiastic I’ve been about him.
I had thought to write a bit about a Jethro Tull album for this week, but I’ve trashed that post. I might write about it again at some point, since I am interested in the evolution of that band over its many decades of existence. Every band is a story, and Jethro Tull has fascinated me for years. This observation idea of mine is a chance for a deeper dive and I will definitely take that opportunity.
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But what I feel like I have an obligation to dig into right now is the whole Graham Platner debacle. Regular readers of this blog (if such a beast exists outside of my imagination) will remember that I have posted about that dude with enthusiasm on more than one occasion.
And then this week we learned that he probably is the horrible person the oppo researchers have so wanted him to be this whole time. Yes, most likely he’s a rapist. I’ll tell you straight up. I’ve been made aware of the incident’s particulars and it really does seem like he’s done a terrible thing, dehumanized a woman, and lived in denial of that fact for years – denied it so hard he thought he could deny it right into a seat in the US Senate.
And until the facts of this case surfaced, I was absolutely on his side, even though there were a few other rumblings in the oppositional noise to suggest that he had this tendency. Because that’s the nature of elections in this country. Throw dirt at your opponent and hope some of it sticks. In this case, it really did, like a fork in a roast turkey. Goddammit.
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I’ve been listening to The Pretty Reckless a lot lately. They’re a fabulously arty punk/rock/pop band with a decidedly modern flair. Taylor Momsen is blowing my mind, tbh. At different times, they’ve tickled my particularly generation jones ear with a redolence of Gun Club, Zep, Kelly Clarkson (this is a compliment, goddammit,) X, mid-seventies Floyd, and Jobriath. In short, they’re brilliant. The cover art for this new album, Dear God pt. 1, is spectacular. I have the indie-variant vinyl, which is, I think, the proper format for this album.
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But the thing with this whole Platner situation is that… Platner constantly said to his audience, “This is not about me, it’s about YOU!” and the fact is, that is the way every US pol should think. One of the things that really made Platner click with people is that he understood that money being the biggest influence in our politics these days needs to end. I think he also campaigned on the terminality of the cult of personality. We should vote for the politicians who say and feel like they will follow through with policies that will help working people.
I think I need to reiterate, at this point, that Graham Platner is not an acceptable or viable candidate. He has **** of his own that he needs to deal with now. And seeking the approval of the public while he goes through this is… anathema.
But whoever replaces him on the ticket should reflect the values of the voters who supported Platner. The next candidate should:
work to abolish ice
address the corruption on the supreme court and in the federal government generally
fight for medicare for all
campaign for a living wage and affordable housing
strongly oppose the Israeli genocide against Palestinians and Lebanon
And the same for all forever wars.
In short, he campaigned as a representative of working Americans. That needs to not be lost, and the next person who takes up the mantle of Democratic nominee for that senate seat should have the same positions.
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We’re about to start our third heat wave in as many weeks here. That seems to be going on in a lot of places. The planet’s clearly out of whack, due to stupid human activity. I’ve been hearing that we’ve crossed the line, and that no matter what we do, we’re about to face climate disaster. And yet we’re in the middle east fighting for oil and against human decency. It all makes me wonder if humanity can survive its own greed and thickheadedness. I don’t have an answer for you about this. Time will tell, if there’s anyone to listen.
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The best things about Summer are home grown tomatoes and ice cream. I wish you plenty of both!
Some of Karen’s tomato haul from last year. Photo by me.
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Wherein I discuss certain warriors in the current struggle for Democracy in America
Up in the north and east from where I’m tap tap tapping away drafting this blog post, they put forward Graham Platner as the Democratic nominee for Senator from Maine two weeks ago on June 9th. The opposition besmirching that happened during the final months of the primary campaign and then immediately after the primary from his opponents’ campaigns seems not to be affecting Platner’s strong following significantly.
Oyster Farmer and Senate Candidate Graham Platner
I’m sensitive about this, because I see him as crucial to any chance this country has of defeating the fascist oligarchy currently trying to “revolutionize” this country into oblivion. I keep seeing substanceless attacks pointed at his character, some of which have validity, but only in the context of the history of a man who has had some relatable and entirely understandable struggles.
Nothing in his background can compare to things Donald Trump’s administration does in a typical week. His opponent in the coming general election this November, incumbent Republican Susal Collins, has voted with Trump 95% of the time over the course of their concurrent terms in office. Collins’ close association with the Trump regime renders her far less credible in my estimation than the relatively unknown quantity that Graham Platner represents.
I hope to see Platner sworn in as Senator from Maine when the next Congress convenes this coming January.
To the south and west, it’s primary day today in New York. There are 2 Democratic Socialists of America candidates running for US Congress, and I wish them both the best of luck. It’s great to see leftist candidates making headway in these times of rising fascism. Zohran Mamdani‘s win in New York last year still feels like a bellwether event, and I hope it’s enough of a turning point to actually be a mark on the path towards saving us.
I checked the map at the DSA site linked to above, and there is definitely a chapter in my neighborhood, which makes me happy. I’m probably going to check them out. They seem to be on about the same page as the Greens policy-wise, and they’re having a bit more success, because they’re working within the framework of one of the “legitimate” facets of the country’s two-party system.
In fact, it looks like every one of the contiguous states has at least a chapter or two, with the possible exception of West Virginia. I would suggest checking them out, if you’re like-minded. It’s a nexus for grass roots leftism, and since we’re in a fight for the life of this democracy, it might be worth remembering that the USA was always a leftist populist project, and that when working people wake up to the need to fight, and when we align with these left-populist impulses, we’re pretty much unstoppable.
Here in my area, we have a fairly good congressperson in Jim McGovern, and I’ll be supporting his re-election bid. I’ll never forget him mentioning the possibility of a general strike at the town hall he did here in Greenfield last year. The impetus towards that strike has long since dissipated, but it was nice to hear it mentioned by someone with the position, power, and influence to actually help with that project mention the possibility.
Of course, at the same time, he said supportive things about Hakeem Jeffries, who I see as a major part of the problem the Democrats have with their elected officials, but I think it would be very difficult to come up with a better candidate than McGovern for my disctrict right now. We’ve got a long struggle ahead of us. We’re not going to restore American Democracy tomorrow. So as we travel this long, uphill road, we need to pick leaders who can help us get where we’re trying to go.
People who I see as being helpful leaders on the path, I’ve linked to their websites. You can tell who I see as obstructionists by the lack of any such link.
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If you’re going to categorize my politics, this is the stuff I believe society should be organized around.
I am a libertarian socialist. I believe that societies should be organized at as close to ground level as they can possibly be. Centralized power is anathema to human happiness.
In fact, Capitalism never considers the need for people to be whole, healthy, and happy a priority at all. One only has to look at the current state of the world to see that this is so.
Capitalism is a good servant but a poor master. Commerce and trade offer crucial support to a community, but they must be held in check, and carefully managed with the larger context of sustainability and human happiness in mind.
Large corporations should not be allowed, and capitalists should not be allowed to earn more than 50 times the basic income rate, which should be defined in relation to how much it takes to meet basic necessities such as enough good, nutritious food, adequate housing, all other basic expenses met, and enough extra money to save against emergencies and for education and amusement.
Billionaires in general should not exist. I agree with the idea that if you somehow manage to amass a billion dollars, everything over 900 million of those dollars should be taxed at a marginal rate of 100%.
Centralized power should be avoided at all costs. Large concerns should be organized by cooperating communities and/or worker’s coöps. Large concentrations of power cause suffering in the best circumstances. Power should be balanced and distributed into as many different hands as possible. People caught abusing their power should have it taken away.
Administrative tasks should be handled on the most local and small level possible, and larger projects should be organized across boundaries between communities if necessary. Once projects of a larger size are completed, the authorities that created them should be either disbanded or minimized in size to conduct reasonable maintenance of any particular ongoing project. Such authorities should be under the aegis of all impacted communities.
Communities themselves should be organized along two axes: geography and affinity. Society should be as free as it can be made to be, but people should be able to organize based on what they need, like, and want as well as where they exist on the map. Communities should have different sizes and shapes and should have porous borders in some ways and firm ones in others. The power of the collective will always outstrip the power of any individual. By the same token, the power of the collective should only be exercised out of necessity.
There is more to say on these topics, and at some point, I may come back to this.
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Broadcast From the Brain Radio 