Holy mother of duh

I read through another transcript of the podcast Gaslit Nation by Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa. This episode is titled Inherent Contempt.

Senator Bernie Sanders said in his Democratic National Convention speech:

Under this administration, authoritarianism has taken root in our country. I and my family, and many of yours, know the insidious way authoritarianism destroys democracy, decency and humanity. … the future of our democracy is at stake.

Chalupa said good to see the “white male translator” finally say what Kendzior and Chalupa have been saying for four years. Hopefully Sanders supporters will stop brushing off Kendzior and Chalupa as hysterical. Maybe others will start to listen too. Lives would have been saved if they started listening sooner.

Kendzior said this year we are voting for a system of government, autocracy or democracy. Vote for a ticket you might not be thrilled with, then push them to pass progressive policies and hold the criminals accountable.

Kendzior and Chalupa discuss Volume 5 of the Senate Intelligence Report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. They call that report “Holy mother of duh” because all of the information is public, the two have been discussing it since before the 2016 election and in 2020 Kendzior published a book Hiding in Plain Sight, using public sources, discussing what is in the report. And she wasn’t the only one.

Chalupa said the first people to take Kendzior and herself seriously were communities of color. They understand police states. The people who dismissed them were white people who filled newsrooms. If those newsrooms had been filled with people of color they would have seen this coming. The mostly white males from whom we receive news are in a luxurious position where the could withstand actual authoritarianism. Communities of color can’t (as we’ve seen with COVID) because they’re explicitly targeted.

Kendzior said that over the last few years many newsrooms cut back on reporters. Then COVID happened and more were laid off. The result is many newsrooms are even more an elite white male environment. So support independent media (like theirs). They are aware that if the nasty guy gets a second term they might get shut down.

They talked about Kamala Harris nominated for Vice President. Chalupa says she was an early endorser of Harris – as in January 2019 early. Her reasons: She’s from Northern California, “which is the Rebel Alliance like in Star Wars.” They’re so progressive they push the rest of the country. She was Attorney General and Senator from California which, because its economy is bigger than Britain’s, means it’s like being a leader of an influential country. She’s good at slicing into people at Senate hearings. It’s “women of color who are a major part of the dam that are keeping fascism from flooding America right now.” She’s more experienced than Obama was when he ran for president. And she’s more liberal than Bernie Sanders.

Andrea reviewed Harris’ foreign policy positions, starting with rejoining the Paris climate change agreement and talking to China about human rights abuses. This is important because with an international crime syndicate in the White House foreign policy and domestic policy are the same thing.

Kendzior said she had learned over the last four years if one doesn’t investigate and prosecute the GOP administrations – Watergate, Iran-Contra, the illegal wars of Bush II, the Wall Street crash – the perpetrators of those scandals come back in office, back destroying the country. Kendzior fears that Biden and Harris …

will do the thing that Democratic administrations have always done, which is turn the other way and try to befriend people who are acting as hostile, murderous enemies. They can't do that. And I hope they realize, they have the support of the majority of the American public behind them if they go after these criminal elites.

Kendzior said that Joe Biden seems prepared that the nasty guy won’t concede the election. Biden had already said the nasty guy would destroy the Postal Service before it happened – a fact checking group mocked him for it, then issued a correction.

But Congress isn’t ready. Rep. Ted Lieu has been trying to use inherent contempt of Congress to force people who have been subpoenaed to show up and to force handing over documents. But he’s been prevented by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The House came back from recess to deal with the Postal Service because enough members demanded that hearing be held. And they still merely “invited” Louis DeJoy to attend. They didn’t subpoena. They didn’t arrest – which they would have grounds to do. Tampering with the mail is a federal crime. The members demanded because their constituents, the ones not getting medication or food, demanded. So keep demanding of your representatives.

Kendzior said about Pelosi saying about impeachment “He’s not worth it.”:

The Mueller Report, emoluments, children in cages, being a Kremlin asset in the White House, abusing the pardon power, none of that is worth impeaching. And when she said, “he's not worth it”, what she meant is, you're not worth it. Americans, this country, is not worth it. This Constitution is not worth it. Your rights, your safety, your freedom is not worth it. It means nothing to her and she has made that abundantly clear over the last 18 months.

Comments like that prompted me to think perhaps Pelosi has been corrupted, perhaps by Russia. I’ve long reported that the nasty guy is a Russian asset and many in the GOP have been corrupted by Russian money. So maybe Pelosi too? Kendzior again:

Whether it's the DCC taking an unparalleled donation from Len Blavatnik, a Russian oligarch partner, a partner of sanctioned oligarchs who pumped money foremost into the GOP and into Trump's partners but also into the Democrats in 2019 and suddenly, those hearings and those investigations stopped.

So, yeah, she’s been corrupted. As have many Democrats. She’s very good at performative protest, like tearing up the nasty guy’s State of the Union speech, which gives the illusion she’s on our side, but not actually doing anything to help us. Unless there is a massive public outcry. It’s time for the Democratic Party to retire her.

Chalupa said:

So here in the US, when they're trying to terrorize us, it's a deliberate strategy. So you've got to fight back by understanding your power comes not from fear, but from hope. And you have to keep hope alive.
…
And so, what you need to do, is hold onto your hope, unleash your creativity and build, build, build, build. All of us right now have to be in a mindset of creativity and a mindset of building. Go out and create something. Whether it's a poem, it's a song, it's a letter to an old friend, do something to get in that mindset of hope and creativity.

Then apply that creativity to your community.