Why I Dislike Most Celebrities (Except for Two)

 

Why I Hate Dislike Most Celebrities (Except for One Two)

by C. A. Matthews

(I was going to say “Why I Hate...” but I didn’t want the AI ‘bots reading my stuff calling me a “hater” at some point. They’ll be busy calling me antisemitic anti-cementic by then anyway.)

This past week’s ruckus over pop singer Ed Sheeran dropping his fellow performer, the rapper Macklemore, from his big stadium tour (and then consequently being dropped by his own backup band and all his opening acts) demonstrates to me that there is such a thing as poetic justice.

Justice is now being served on Sheeran as he deals with millions of fans unfollowing him on social media, being labeled a “coward” and a “zionist”, two adjectives that don’t paint a very pretty picture of him. How Ed is being treated by the public doesn’t surprise me. I truly believe some celebrities deserve a good hard kick in the arse now and then to remind them that they, too, are only human.

This is the theme of this piece: We are all human beings, and, as such, we all have human rights. One of the more important rights is the right not to be ethnically cleansed by white colonizers who stole your homeland. This is where Ed Sheeran totally dropped the ball.

Celebrities like Ed Sheeran entertain the notion that just because they’ve reached a certain level of fame or celebrityness they’ve somehow become something better than us mere mortals. They have become superhuman or superior to the rest of the struggling masses on this planet. They don’t need to consider anyone else’s feelings but their own. We see this mindset in Ed’s choice of billionaire friends, the NFL New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft...

 

...But there is one “celebrity” I hold a great deal of admiration for. She’s not a pop singer or a movie star, but she has been in the limelight quite a bit over the past three years. I’m talking about Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Here’s a short review of her latest book, When The World Sleeps: Stories, Words, and Wounds of Palestine. (Available from Other Press.)

“When the world sleeps, it falls on us, we the people, to wake it up--and now more than ever the world needs an awakening.”

So begins Francesca’s memoir of how she became the champion of human rights we see today on the world stage. Each chapter is a story of a friend or acquaintance who has shaped her outlook on Palestine and life in general. Each person helped her to take the next step in her personal development, steps necessary to deal with the stress of working pro bono for the United Nations. Each person poses a question that we all need to answer for ourselves...

 

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Weather As A Weapon

words and original photos by C.A. Matthews

By the fourth day of record high temperatures and tropical humidity, I was convinced that this unusual Midwestern heatwave was more than it appeared. I haven’t seen such record high temperatures linger for more than a day or two since I lived in the Southwest. I can’t recall anything like this amount of heat and humidity for days on end growing up in this part of the world. The weather suddenly seems very unnatural and deadly. Deliberately so.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist—the name the CIA devised to smear the reputations of those who early on thought the details surrounding JFK’s assassination seemed highly suspicious. I don’t believe in UFOs or flying saucers because, let’s face it, what intelligent alien species would want to land on this hellhole of a rock? No self-respecting alien would come to a planet where babies and children are forfeit if they come from the wrong indigenous ethnic group or are seen as “playthings” for the pedophile perverts in power.

Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not talking conspiracy theories here. I have some evidence to back up my opinion that global warming/climate change is happening because the perverse people in power find it’s a useful tool to keep us poor folks in our place. The weather works well as a weapon in their arsenal to fight foreign enemies, too...

During this heatwave, I wondered how much longer can I carry on like this. I’m not getting any younger. I’m not sure I’ll be able to take care of my garden in the future during a similar extreme heatwave, especially if they become regular events. Maybe it’s time to call it quits, sell my house and garden, and move on? Who really cares about the native plants I’ve encouraged to grow so they and their pollinators don’t become extinct? Who else but me and my spouse cares about the trees we’ve planted as a small attempt to restore some of the vast forests that used to cover this part of the world?

Now, take my experience and observations in my garden recently and multiply them times a thousand or even a million. What if every small land holder or backyard gardener in the US decided within the next few years that it’s impossible to keep growing their own fruit and vegetables in this extreme weather? What if they decided it’s not worth planting trees if they’re going to dry up due to not receiving our “typical” rainfall amounts?

Expand these ideas to include farmers on the few small family farms still remaining in the US. Do they continue to struggle to make a living in this hostile climate? Why not sell off their cows, pigs, goats, and chickens? Why not sell off their old tractor and move into the city and work at a Walmart? Suddenly there’s a lot of “unused land” on the market for Tech Bros to buy cheap so they can build more heat-producing, water-hogging AI data centers, isn’t there?

Without gardeners and small farmers “hogging” water for their crops and livestock, there’s much more water to be had for cooling AI data centers. I can hear the gears clicking in the greedy idiots’ heads in the Trump administration even now...

 

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Happy Birthday Vichy USA!

 

If everybody had a notion ’cross the USA

That everybody’s gone fascist—like Donnie Trump, oh yay!

 You’d see them wearing blond hairdos

Doing their sieg heils too

Everybody’s gone fascist! Vichy USA!

(Sung to the tune of Surfin' USA. The rest of the lyrics can be found at the Substack link below.)

 

by C. A. Matthews

The 1976 Bicentennial was really something. I remember fondly all the fabulous fireworks displays, huge parades, and special band concerts in the park. It was nice to think about how the United States had stayed together and made it a full two hundred years. As a child, I didn’t really understand what all had happened in those two centuries and how the US had played a major role in maintaining violence and oppression both at home and around the world, activities that would lead to the current fiasco Americans find themselves in fifty years later.

I would have never thought that the “land of the free” meant that we’d come to deny immigrants asylum based on their race, religion, or ethnicity. I probably would have laughed at the mere idea that well-to-do white South Africans would be considered deserving refugees, but that poor black Haitians who fled a disintegrating country (helped to fall apart by greedy Americans) would not.

I would have never thought that locking up thousands of non-violent immigrants was “freedom”, nor that sending young children out of the country without their parents was a compassionate thing to do. These weren’t the concepts of freedom and morality I was indoctrinated in at church and school.

Fifty years ago, I would have never thought that anti-fascist activists would be labeled “terrorists” and sentenced to harsh sentences by a federal judge for trying to point out the crimes of ICE. These are the sentences of the activists who protested at the ICE facility in Texas: Benjamin Song: 100 years, Marisela Rueda: 70 years, Cameron Arnold: 50 years, Savanna Batten: 50 years, Zachary Evetts: 50 years, Bradford Morris: 50 years, Elizabeth Soto: 50 years. What essentially are life sentences for daring to set off fireworks and wearing all black clothing to a protest, no less.

Meanwhile, the ICE agents who murdered Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and Keith Porter have received a total of 0 years in prison. You read that right—the ICE agents responsible received sentences of zero years for their murders of Renee, Alex, and Keith. The similarities between ICE and the Nazi Gestapo are undeniable...

 

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To Die For The Ungrateful

by C. A. Matthews

The original title for this piece was going to be “No one wants to fight for Israel!” Veterans for Peace member and Green Party candidate for US Senate from North Carolina Brian McGinnis shouted, “No one wants to fight for Israel!” as he was violently dragged away from a recent Capitol Hill hearing, his arm severely broken in the process.

I find the video of Brian’s protest very hard to watch, wincing when I witness how cruelly injured he was for standing up for his rights of free speech. But his words and the images of the protest have been incorporated into an heavy metal song video. It’s really good and gets his message across beautifully. Click on the link to watch it and see what I mean:

https://youtu.be/jPneMI_BijQ

I considered using Brian’s quote as a title, but I figured the blog would be shadow-banned even more than usual if I did. A day or so later, I had another idea for a title when the following meme popped up on my feed on UpScrolled.

We the unwilling

Led by the unqualified

To kill the unfortunate

Die for the ungrateful

Talk about poetry in motion!

“To die for the ungrateful” echos Brian’s fervent cry of “No one wants to fight for Israel!” Because war is hell—particularly when it’s a completely avoidable conflict that serves no one’s interests except the capitalist-elite class. You can call them the “Epstein class” if you prefer, but I hope you realize those files don’t contain an extensive list of all capitalists who have caused much suffering in the world. And, surprisingly, pedophilia is not a qualification to become a capitalist or member of the ruling elite.

I imagine even now that “We the Unwilling” (that is, US troops) are composing their poems as they’re being forced into a ground war against Iran on the behest of the apartheid regime of Israel with the assistance of the wealthy investors of the military-industrial complex (MIC) and Big Oil. To paraphrase Brian’s memorable quote, “Nobody wants to die for a bunch of rich Zionist assholes to make them even richer!” 

 

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A Very Stinky Story

 

A Very Stinky Story (or “Operation Epstein Slurry”)

by C. A. Matthews

Once upon a time there was a big, big boat sailing across the wide, wide open seas. This big boat had a very special task. It was sailing halfway around the world to fight a war for “freedom and democracy” and, of course, to control others’ oil production in order to maintain a stable petrodollar as the world’s reserve currency.

It didn’t make a difference that the big, big boat—affectionately known as “Jerry” to its friends—really needed to go home and have some repairs done first. It didn’t matter that its young crew (average age only 19 years old) had been gone from their homes and families for almost a year. It didn’t matter that they needed some down time to recuperate between missions. Oh, no, no, no! A big Orange Man called “the president” told Jerry to sail halfway around the world and do as it was told. Now.

The true reason Jerry and its crew couldn’t rest and be with their families was because Orange Man was afraid of the Boss Man, the real ruler of the Orange Man’s country. Not everyone in the Orange Man’s country realized this, but Orange Man always did as he was told by the Boss Man. Boss Man threatened Orange Man that he had a great big briefcase full of naughty pictures and not-so-nice stories about Orange Man’s favorite activity of hurting little girls in very mean and very ugly ways. So, Orange Man always did as he was told to by Boss Man. It was safer that way.

Boss Man told Orange Man that he wanted Jerry—and his fellow big boat friend Abe—to sail to the ancient Land of Flying Carpets to fight a war for “freedom and democracy” right away. Boss Man was tired of this particular war being put off again and again. Boss Man reasoned that if his his tiny pretend country wasn’t at war all the time his own people might send him to jail because of some not-so-nice things he had done in office.

So Orange Man agreed and told Jerry and its crew to get going. It was time to do some killin’! (Killing is one of the bosses’ favorite activities.)

 

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The System Deserves To Collapse

by C. A. Matthews

Teddy R. said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”
Donald T. says, “Shout loudly ‘cuz I have a small prick!”

Not one of my better attempts at writing poetry, but it came to me late at night. I just couldn’t forget it.

There’s so much truth in my short poem. It gives the real reason behind why the US is trying to start a war with Iran. It’s all because “Donald T. and his Board of Perverts and Genocidal Maniacs” are doing their best to cover up their heinous crimes, only a few of which have been exposed in this latest Epstein file dump.

What better way for the “Epstein class” to make the public forget all about their peccadilloes than by starting a war and risking nuclear Armageddon? You gotta admit it would create a gigantic smokescreen…

What child trafficking? What rape and torture parties? What genocide of the Palestinian people? What stolen oil and kidnapped president from Venezuela? Who’s blockading Cuba? Warehouses are being turned into ICE mega-prisons? What are you talking about? We’re at war with Iran now—that’s what’s important. That’s all that matters now.

It’s that easy. Besides, nobody of any real consequence will be at risk of being hurt or killed when we go to war with Iran alongside our “closest ally” in order to help them create Greater Israel. Nobody of consequence. Sure, some poor kids suckered into serving in the US armed forces and masses of Iranian civilians could be hurt or killed, but they’re of no consequence whatsoever when compared to superior individuals like Donald, Bibi, and their friends of the Epstein class...

 

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Our Children Are Not Disposable Playthings For The Ruling Class

by C. A. Matthews

Butch Ware, the Green Party candidate running for governor in California, made a statement about the recent Epstein files dump that sums up what I and many others believe:

x.com/ButchWare

As Governor of California I will direct the Attorney General to immediately open investigations into any and every California resident mentioned in the Epstein files.

Human trafficking, s*xual abuse of children, women…humans…by powerful people demands accountability. They must face the consequences for these heinous, unspeakable crimes.

The Democrats and Republicans are protecting the billionaire predators that own them.

With God as my witness, I will go to WAR on p*dofiles and traffickers.

Our children are not disposable playthings for the ruling class.

His last sentence really says it all: Our children are not disposable playthings for the ruling class. It demonstrates just how the corrupt capitalist system operates. It allows the members of the ruling class, a.k.a. the elite or the oligarchy, to use human beings seen as inferior as their “playthings” and then casually dispose of them when they’re no longer wanted.

We’re so advanced now in the West that we’ve become willing to let the wealthiest and most powerful of our society abuse children in the most heinous ways purely for their own sick enjoyment. Those who possess large quantities of currency or positions of power know that only they are entitled to act out their most horrific fantasies with impunity.

Is it any wonder now that Western capitalists support a live-streamed genocide in Palestine? What’s another dead child to them...

 

To find out what we can do to protect ourselves and our children from the pedo-protectors and the abusers of the ruling class, please copy or click on the following link: 

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SHUT IT DOWN!

rants and original photos by C. A. Matthews

After several late nights watching the livestreams from the various boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla, cringing as the activists were pummeled with skunk water before being kidnapped by the Israeli Navy and taken to prison to be beaten and called “terrorists,” I’m in the mood for screaming:

SHUT IT DOWN!

The very last of the first flotilla boats was boarded by the Israelis by very early Friday morning Eastern time. But the next wave of boats to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza, a flotilla called “Thousand Madleens to Gaza”, had already launched, and are on their way. (Learn more about them at https://www.thousandmadleens.org/) There’s no stopping a good idea and good people who want to help others live a good life.

And keeping the Israeli Navy busy hunting for the small boats of the flotilla in the Mediterranean has actually helped the starving in a measurable way. Gazan fishermen were able to slip their boats out into the sea and fish without being shot at by the IOF! Even if the Israelis threw the humanitarian aid into the bottom of the sea, the flotilla really did break the blockade after all.

Greta and the others did what they intended to and weren’t persuaded to stay home and sit on their backsides. They worked hard and suffered much to—

SHUT IT DOWN!

Palestinian supporters in Europe have been marching in record numbers protesting their countries’ lack of help for the victims of Israel’s ethnic cleansing. In Amsterdam alone a quarter million were in the streets. In Italy over a million turned out. Workers and students demonstrated after the largest unions called for a one-day general strike. Hundreds of trains were cancelled or delayed, some flights were cancelled, and many schools were closed.

These same sorts of actions should be happening everywhere. In North America, we’re slow on the uptake. No major shut downs yet. No general strike. A meme says, “The problem with American protests is that we schedule protests one by one instead of showing up every night until the change happens.”

Word! We should show up every night until we—

SHUT IT DOWN!

 

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Would you risk arrest to SHUT IT DOWN?

 

The Land of the Greed and the Home of the Child-Haters

by C. A. Matthews

There’s nothing to be proud of living in a country that openly and unapologetically hates children. All children.

For those who are totally clueless (or pretending to be) the following articles will enlighten you. Once you’ve read them, you will no longer be able to claim ignorance of the genocide happening in Gaza and America’s involvement in it. You will understand why the rest of the world feels nothing but disgust whenever they spy the Star Spangled Banner waving in the breeze alongside an Israeli flag.

Ready to open your eyes and your mind? Here goes…

 (The article links can be found in the article on Substack.)

...You didn’t think I was going to leave out domestic child abuse/endangerment articles, did you? If the US government is willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on sending aid to Israel to bomb, burn, and maim Palestinian children (and then won’t even let them into the country for treatment), why wouldn’t it be willing to not spend any money at home to improve American kids’ health and educational opportunities?

Why wouldn’t the US government spend billions on hiring masked vigilantes under the guise of ICE to terrorize and rip families apart who are looking for asylum? Why wouldn’t the US government want to destroy the First Amendment and censor protests against these horrific American policies? It does these things because it can and it does get away with them.

And why? Because America hates children...

 

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