Mostly I took the day off, to watch THIS.

There were tech glitches both here on the official stream and on other feeds (dear SabbySabs had one, for example), but I watched it in pieces, more or less live, anyway.

DD did a recap that had … um, glitches of its own. Whatevs.

***

I am not a complete pacifist.

I told you why I think WWII was in technical terms a ‘good’ war. (Because it was, technically, purely defensive.) There have been many, many wars since then, ranging from the big boots-on-the-ground affairs like Korea and Vietnam down to thousands of overlapping tiny covert warlike killfests like taking out Patrice Lumumba. Not a single one of them was anything close to Good.

Point being. We are not in the fucking democracy business.

We’re in the endless worldwide war business.

When the towers fell, what happened?

First thing we found out was why they did it. Because: endless war in the Middle East for decades, so payback.

Second thing: Bush rushed all the elite Saudis out of the country on the very first planes allowed in the air, because … 17 of the 19 hijackers, approximately, were Wahabist Saudi Arabians, and Bush, great friend of the House of Saud, feared for their safety.

Third thing: Invading Saudi Arabia, right? Nah. Iraq. Why? They said: Cuz that Sodom fella was all tight with Al Qaeda. Total bullshit. Even CNN couldn’t sell it. So then it was: WMD’s or something. By the time that got debunked it was too late. People started looking for real reasons, and the best of them got bumper stickers that said:

No Blood For Oil.

Even this missed the point. Sure we love us some oil on the side. But ….

We’re in the WAR business, baby. Who profited from the military money-laundering operations in Afghanistan and Iraq?

People like Dick Cheney’s old company Halliburton, and people like Cheney himself. On the ‘right’, on the ‘left’: didn’t matter. The Dems all voted for it too (here’s looking at you, Hillary darling), because War Is America’s Business, and they all made a fat fucking pile.

Invading Iraq made no sense at all to anyone who wasn’t cashing in, but it was convenient for reasons, including Bush Jr. getting to work out his daddy complex.

But to those who understand that democracy is a shell game and war is the Empire’s business model, it made all the sense in the world and it still does to this day.

Fuck this business. Fuck war. Fuck the one percent and anyone cynical enough to settle down inside the Beltway.

That’s the real message of the rally, and at least it was finally, finally a start.

***

The rally was organized by two minor political parties, the People’s Party and the Libertarians. Additionally, the Greens were on scene–Jill Stein spoke. There were a lot of former Republicrats and Demicans, like Dennis Kucinich and Rand Paul’s dad Ron.

But no active D’s or R’s to be seen anywhere, even though the rally was in DC.

The reason why is simple.

D’s and R’s are NOT anti-war. Actually being anti-war is political suicide, because a vote against war is a vote against American Business Capital and a vote against the Donor Class.

For some reason, even the new Bernie, everyone’s favorite alleged Independent, was also AWOL.

These are the same people that mumble and run whenever the question of who blew up that pipeline comes up.

These are the same people who voted down sick leave–any sick leave–for rail workers, and still have Joe’s back after he categorically denied federal disaster funding for the derail and train fire in East Palestine, Ohio.

Not one member of the Administration, not even Secretary of Transportation Weaselboy Pete, has visited the scene of the capitalist crime.

But guess–just fucking guess–who IS coming to dinner?

Is it cynical? Sure. Is it theater? Of course.

But that doesn’t mean it won’t work.

Put yourself in the shoes of an EastPalestinian for a second.

Team Blue and “Scranton” Joe are in power, but they say no to helping with the cleanup or helping people relocate or anything. Their shitsucker media slaves act like you and your town don’t even exist for three weeks solid.

Along comes Orangeman, hitting the ground and making sympathetic clucking noises …. maybe slapping a million or two of his own money down to ‘help’.

Who in the name of Jesus Fuck are you voting for in 2024?

Now just imagine you are yourself again.

And explain to me the one about the lesser evil again.

I’m here.

All ears.