Happy Co-Dependence Day, America (Boiling Frogs)

 

Happy Co-Dependence Day, America

(Boiling Frogs)

by C.A. Matthews

The story goes that you can boil a live frog, but you have to go about it the right way or else the frog will jump out of the pot. So, you start with the frog not sitting in boiling water, but sitting in a nice, relaxing bath of lukewarm water instead. Then you slowly, slowly turn up the heat under the pot. Since the frog enjoys sitting in their mini-hot tub, they don’t react and just stay there, slowly falling asleep in the hot water until it’s too late. They boil alive.

Not a very pretty picture, is it?

The boiling frog analogy keeps coming to mind whenever I contemplate this past week’s 100 degree plus Fahrenheit temperatures and hazardous 300 air quality index forecasts in the continental US. Americans are definitely in the second frog scenario. We’re happy to sit and relax in our gradually warming hot tub until we’re boiled alive or choked on the dust and pollutants from firestorms. We’re not even trying to hop out of the pot.

Worst yet, we completely trust our boilers, that is, our corrupt status quo politicians. We let them do whatever they like—and they love to please their corporate masters. We all acknowledge that burning fossil fuels has caused this global warming that is, in turn, intensifying the forest fires in Canada and elsewhere.

But we boiling frogs are happy to let our rulers take lobbyists’ money and pass legislation to allow BP, Chevron, Exxon and all the rest to drill for more oil. We’re not fighting back. We’re not hopping out of the pot, even though they’re slowly killing us.

Americans are acting as foolishly as those fatalistic frogs sitting in a pot of boiling water.

What’s wrong with us, America? Did our so-called “Founding Fathers” raise a bunch of wimps? A bunch of collaborators with corporatists? A bunch of Stockholm Syndrome sufferers?

On July the Fourth, this our supposed “Independence Day,” we act like we’re okay with not being...well, independent.

Americans seem to enjoy force-fed propaganda from our government's own version of the dystopian novel 1984’s Ministry of Truth. We’re good listening to and accepting outright lies as long as we’re comfortable in our hot water bath that isn’t quite boiling—yet.

Whenever a politician on a cable news network says, “The economy is doing great!” we take him at his word although we’re struggling to pay bills. Like good little boiling frogs we’ll even consider voting for the idiot! No push back, no demand for him to stop gaslighting us—we’ve convinced ourselves that the status quo always knows what’s best for us, even when it knows jack-shit.

And trust the evil sycophants of the mainstream media to chime in and give their stamp of approval to every half-ass thing our billionaire-bought-and-owned public officials try to pull over on us. Just watch them as they never question these fallacious statements:

“War is peace!” the warmongers claim as the bodies of soldiers and innocent civilians pile up.

“We had to cancel the election/primary in order to save democracy!” the politicians state because they can’t risk an upstart entering the race who could overturn their apple cart of lobbyist money.

“The US has the best medical care in the world!” (That money can buy, that is. Big Pharma lobbyists gave Biden $41 million in 2020 to run for office. Don’t worry—they gave Trump $21 million!)

“What homelessness? What horrible rents?” say the status quo sycophants who have never been hungry or without a bed to sleep in and would never be caught associating with poor Americans who have experienced such a perilous situation.

These quasi-journalists can’t wait to soft pedal their interviews with bigwig politicos and make brownie points with the establishment so they, too, can become a permanent part of that bourgeoisie class. And boiling frogs—I mean, Americans—just keep eating these lies up.

What is wrong with us? Didn’t our ancestors 247 years ago tell British soldiers to get the hell off their land and let them be their own bosses? Americans of today seem to want others to do all the thinking for them, even if it means others’ thinking is boiling us alive. We apparently give no thought to how silly or mentally-incompetent we appear to others, either.

Observing videos of the protests and riots in France this past week, I’m impressed at how much the French don’t act like Americans. They don’t act like boiling frogs (no offense intended) waiting to be eaten. A young man of Algerian descent was killed by police in a suburb of Paris on Tuesday, and the response was explosive before the end of the week. 

There are fires and protests in every major city in France. Cars burning. Mayor’s mansions burning. Town halls burning. Police stations burning—as well they should. Seventeen year old Nahel's cold-blooded murder by police was part of a well-established pattern. In recent times, French police have arrested and killed persons of color at an alarming percentage compared to the majority white populace. No one in leadership has addressed this terrible issue. Perhaps now they will.

Three years ago, Americans marched and shouted “Black lives matter!” for a couple of months after the death of George Floyd and then stopped. Why? There are just too many deaths to mourn and protest. After a while they all start to blur together, don’t they? We just send our thoughts and prayers now and get back to sitting in our pot-shaped hot tubs like good little frogs waiting for the water to boil. 

Americans don’t stand up for themselves against the corrupt system. We don't want to cause our corporate masters any problems it seems. We don't burn nearly as many things as the French do, or the Belgians, or the Dutch, or the Swiss, or the...

Banks are burning in France.

Can you imagine Americans actually striking back at the bastards at BlackStone who have made it impossible for them to buy a home? I can hear the excuses now:

“Nah, we’re fine with the real estate investment mavens sticking it to us. We’ll just live in our mother’s basement for a few more years until our bankruptcy clears. Hopefully we’ll be able to save up enough money to afford a down payment on a tiny apartment. That is, if we don’t experience a medical emergency that wipes out all our savings before then.”

For pity’s sake, little froggies! Hop out of the pot before you boil and show some backbone!

https://stopcop.city/

Mercifully, not all Americans are afraid of their shadow. They do demonstrate courage. The brave protesters of Atlanta’s Cop City (Weelaunee Forest) aren’t acting like boiling frogs. They're in the streets and under the cops’ noses, making their point known. They won’t forget the senseless murder of Tortuguita, one of their own. And yes, the corporate-owned politicians (who have made millions of dollars off this Cop City scheme—don’t let them tell you otherwise) are instructing their bully boys in blue to arrest and charge the protesters with “domestic terrorism.”

Ha! What’s a charge of “domestic terrorism” to a warrior trying to save the planet from the “frog-boilers” of the police/military-industrial complex?

Americans have got to stop being such co-dependents before we cease to exist as a people. Face it—our government and its corporate henchmen don’t give a flying f*** about our collective health and well-being. They’re only in politics for the money. They figure they'll catch a ride on Bezos’ or Musk’s rocket later after they’ve completely destroyed the planet.

We’ve got to treat these villains like our ancestors treated the British soldiers on their soil: We fight them; we push back; we don’t take “no” for an answer. Take hints from the “domestic terrorists” at Cop City, the French, and others. It won’t be easy, but at least we will be choosing life over the slow boiling death these billionaire bastards have planned for us.

Happy Co-Dependence Day, America. Get yourselves out there and start acting like an American Revolutionary from 1776! Learn what true independence is all about. You know you want to, because now you realize you have to. There’s no excuse for us destroying our children’s future. It's time to free the frogs from the pot before it's too late.

Related Articles and Interesting Links: 

Sabby Sabs: MACRON'S FRANCE ON FIRE https://www.youtube.com/live/g8oNhXo2PhM 

Unbelievable Images of France Burning! https://youtu.be/2XV9MdrcNF8

‘Stop Cop City’ Week Of Action Day 5 https://popularresistance.org/stop-cop-city-week-of-action-day-5

Stop Cop City Week of Action Showed Movement’s Strength Amid Rampant Repression https://truthout.org/articles/stop-cop-city-week-of-action-showed-movements-strength-amid-rampant-repression

Mobilize the working class against French police murders and state repression! https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/07/01/mcrf-j01.html

Are Migrants Really Burning Down France? https://youtu.be/9p2HOVKvUIg 

Cities burn across France as cops assault protests against police murder of youth https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/30/ivwt-j30.html

As Movements Like Stop Cop City Gain Power, Police Treat Free Speech as a Crime  https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/29/as-movements-like-stop-cop-city-gain-power-police-treat-free-speech-as-a-crime/

FRANCE RIOTS: 40,000 Police Deployed by Macron, Cities on Fire
https://www.youtube.com/live/A8Brb73OpjE

France is at War with its own People https://councilestatemedia.substack.com/p/france-is-at-war-with-its-own-people

New Docs Link CIA to Medical Torture of Indigenous Children and Black Prisoners  https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/01/new-docs-link-cia-to-medical-torture-of-indigenous-children-and-black-prisoners/

UN Expert Demands Immediate Shutting Down of Guantanamo Prison, Apology to Inmates
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/06/27/un-expert-demands-immediate-shutting-down-of-guantanamo-prison-apology-to-inmates/

Mexico Refuses To Bow To US Sanction Threats
https://popularresistance.org/mexico-refuses-to-bow-to-us-sanction-threats/

PSOE-Podemos enforcement of EU “Let them drown” policy kills another 37 migrants in Spain
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/28/knlq-j28.html

Supreme Court Keeps Navajo Nation Waiting For Water
https://popularresistance.org/supreme-court-keeps-navajo-nation-waiting-for-water/

Breaking: Supreme Court Ends Affirmative Action for Colleges
https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/29/breaking-supreme-court-ends-affirmative-action-for-colleges/

Systemic Racism and the US War Machine
https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/29/systemic-racism-and-the-us-war-machine/

US Supreme Court Strikes Down Student Debt Relief
https://popularresistance.org/us-supreme-court-strikes-down-student-debt-relief/

We can use stem cells to make embryos. How far should we go?
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/04/07/1071121/stem-cells-make-embryos-how-far-should-we-go/

The Latest Honest Government Ad: Labor (The Shit-Lite Party) https://youtu.be/fHB0vDhdM3c 

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

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Join Team Orca!

Join Team Orca!

by C.A. Matthews

It’s not every day that warming oceans and the detrimental effects they cause make the news in four separate, but not unrelated stories.  

One would hope that a warming ocean would be as relaxing and therapeutic as a warm bath, but unfortunately this isn’t the case. Warming oceans can generate more and more intense storms on land—higher winds, more outbreaks of larger tornadoes, more flooding. They can also cause more havoc in the oceans themselves, generating more hurricanes and typhoons, as well as practically boiling microscopic food sources that many aquatic lifeforms rely upon for life, and these lifeforms, in turn, provide food for even larger lifeforms that prey on them.

To put it bluntly, warming oceans means we all are up Shit Creek without a paddle. Warming oceans are yet another component of the climate catastrophe caused by too many greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.  

But what can we do? We’re addicted to fossil fuels to run our power grids. We adore our gasoline-guzzling vehicles. Huge Big Oil lobbyist groups promote the interests of the fossil fuel industry to keep the best politicians that money can buy in charge and in their pockets. We the poor and unconnected are screwed. We could become extinct before you know it.

Luckily for us bipedal, land-dwelling types, the Earth is full of other intelligent species to take our place on top of the food chain. Unfortunately for them, most of these intelligent species dwell in the oceans, our climate changing warming oceans.

One of the most intelligent creatures on our benighted planet is the orca. Orcas are the largest member of the dolphin family. These beautiful sea mammals were once labeled killer whales because they can hunt down and consume other sea creatures much larger than themselves, including giant squids and full-grown whales. Orcas, not us, are probably the most successful mammal on Earth. They’ve been around in their evolved state for 6 million years and have no known predator. Except humankind, that is. 

You might remember how adorable the famous orca “Shamu” was, as pictured on SeaWorld posters. Why don’t we see these majestic beasts in aquatic theme parks anymore? If you guessed it was because orcas have actually lived up to their former name of killer whale when it came to occasionally hurting and killing their human zookeepers, you’d be right. 

Highly social creatures, orcas being forced to live by themselves in tiny swimming pools and made to jump through hoops in order to entertain crowds really started to piss them off. You can’t blame the orcas for acting out. Would you like being jammed into a fish pond and kept away from your family members? Of course they got violent in order to express their anger and frustration at their imprisonment. Wouldn’t you? 

In other words, orcas aren’t a creature to ignore or whose actions should ever be taken lightly. We can learn a lot from them.

Recently, orcas have been observed aggressively attacking yachts—and sinking them—around the Strait of Gibraltar off the coast of Spain. They did so as a gang in a well-orchestrated attack. It was deliberate. The orcas knew what they were doing and probably what could happen to the humans onboard the sinking yachts.

Orcas hang out together in pods, which are family groups of 50 or more orcas run by a grandmother, and they are highly capable of communicating behaviors with each other and with other pods of orcas. Scientists have always been fascinated at how quickly orcas do communicate with each other and with other pods and how multiple pods can join together to form an even larger army of orcas. 

What’s even more fascinating is that orcas from far distant pods are actually imitating the yacht ramming behaviors that were noted in the warm waters of the Mediterranean. Uh-oh. They’ve attacked yachts in the North Atlantic as well.

Could the heating up of our oceans be driving the orcas crazy? Could the overcrowded sea lanes be a problem? Could humanity's blatant disregard of the health of the very waters that ultimately sustain us all act like a poison to orcas? Is over-fishing depleting other species that orcas depend upon for sustenance? It’s possible. Already the dwindling numbers of wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest have seen orca numbers diminishing in the area as well.

But orcas are a very adaptable species—they live in every ocean of the Earth, from the North Atlantic down to the Antarctic Ocean and across the wide and woolly Pacific Ocean. You’d think a smart animal like an orca would do just like humans do when climate change causes the place they call home to be less than hospitable to live in. They’d migrate to a better place. 

And here comes the third story of life on the warming oceans I promised. 

Migrants of the human variety cannot simply move themselves from their war-torn and/or climate-ravished homelands and cross oceans to find a new home and make a new life for themselves in another part of the world. No, there are other humans who don’t want these climate and/or war refugees crossing oceans to live in the same country with them. US mainstream media pundits and more than a few politicians label these climate/war refugees “illegals” and “hordes” and “unwanteds”. We are told to fear them and treat them as inferiors, ignore them and send them away. 

Homeless migrants are not welcome anywhere in the European Union apparently, either. Only 104 people have been rescued from a boat that carried an estimated 750 refugees after it capsized on June 13 in the open sea near the coastal town of Pylos. Hundreds of lives were lost, mostly children and their families, when the boat didn’t make it to shore in Greece and the surrounding Coast Guard operations couldn't have cared less about rescuing them. 

This isn’t the first capsizing of a ship full of human beings trying to escape terror that  was denied a safe port in Europe. Over 23,000 refugees have drowned or gone missing while trying to reach European shores between 2014 to 2022, but the real number is probably much higher. No one is keeping records of how many people embark on these deadly journeys in the first place. (Working as an advocate with immigrants in the US, I can’t say it’s any better when climate/war/cartel violence refugees try to cross our borders to find a safe haven here. Read The Unwelcoming Society to see how Americans sometime treat strangers and others.) 

Orcas and human beings trying to escape dangerous situations have something in common—they’re not wanted by the status quo. Those with money and power don’t care if they continue to pollute our oceans and rage war to make their obscene profits. The billionaires/oligarchs simply don’t care if orcas and poor people looking for safety suffer or die, which leads to my last story related to oceans. 

In case you’ve been living under a rock, a “tourist submarine” (I never knew there was such a thing before) imploded and killed a handful of billionaires who wanted to view the wreck of the Titanic in the cold depths of the North Atlantic. These super-wealthy persons (who each could afford a $250,000 ticket) were engaged in “tragedy tourism.” They wanted to go beneath the waves and ogle the ocean graves of hundreds of poor immigrants, unfortunate working class human beings who were stuck in the lower decks and drowned in the sinking of the Titanic. The horrible loss of life happened because the rich passengers were given first pick of the seats on the inadequate number of lifeboats onboard. Only those who could afford first class tickets were considered worth saving apparently. 

This tourist submarine story was repeatedly broadcast on mainstream media outlets every night and day for a week. (Check out Lee and Eleanor’s video for their excellent analysis of this story.) The salaciousness of the taxpayer-funded rescue operation was built up for maximum effect in order to divert attention away from several other embarrassing news stories that came out this past week. It was used as a distraction to keep the working classes from thinking about just how horrible the fate of other workers can be at times. 

Do you recall hearing much about the hundreds of human beings drowning off the coast of Greece? Did you know that US Supreme Court says it's okay for cops to not read you your rights and to keep innocent people in jail? How deep Biden family corruption goes? No, you probably didn't hear anything about it. Perhaps the worst tragedy is that propagandized viewers will never realize how they were manipulated not to see the inhumanity of our treatment of refugees and the corruption happening in US because of the celebrity rich dying in such a novel way. 

At $250,000 a pop, billionaires must really love looking at drowned working class people’s remains and their personal effects lying on the ocean’s floor. In another hundred years or so, billionaires will be taking tourist submarine rides to go down and ogle the corpses of the migrant children lying off the coast of Greece, right? 

The Earth doesn’t need more billionaires and their sycophants. The Earth can certainly do without the Big Oil lobbyists and their ilk, causing global climate change and ocean warming. We don’t need more sociopaths staring at our corpses and giggling over how silly we were to attempt migrating to safer lands that don’t really exist. We the workers, the wage slaves, are the people who make things and grow food and clean toilets—what is it that billionaires actually do to make the world a better place for all? Nothing.

This is where the orcas in their family pods ramming yachts have the right idea. The orcas aren’t taking shit from the bourgeoisie class that causes the most pollution on the planet any longer. And neither should we. (Read The Average Billionaire for data on just how much these super-wealthy persons pollute.)The workers of the world need to form pods or groups and get out there and “ram” the “yachts” or “tourist submarines” or whatever else billionaires flaunt as symbols of how they oppress us and dominate all useful discourse in our world to the point of environmental collapse. Workers’ pods could communicate to other pods about what ways they found the most effective to “sink the yachts” just like the orcas in their pods are doing. 

We the workers no longer need to put up with these billionaires' contempt and ill-treatment of us. We need to swim in formation and save our oceans and our homes before it’s too late. Will you join me? Will you become like the orca, a majestic sea mammal who doesn’t put up with shit from anybody?

Welcome to Team Orca! We're glad to have you onboard. Let's get to work.

Related articles and other interesting links:

Orcas are ramming yachts off the Spanish coast – is the whale world rising up? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/25/orcas-ramming-yachts-spanish-whale-behaviour-trauma-humans

Orca rams into yacht off Shetland in first such incident in northern waters  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/21/orca-rams-yacht-off-shetland-first-such-incident-northern-waters

Orcas have sunk 3 boats in Europe and appear to be teaching others to do the same. But why? https://www.livescience.com/animals/orcas/orcas-have-sunk-3-boats-in-europe-and-appear-to-be-teaching-others-to-do-the-same-but-why

Shipwreck in Pylos. Open Letter by Over 180 Human Rights Organizations https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/22/shipwreck-in-pylos-open-letter-by-over-180-human-rights-organizations/

The Mediterranean Shipwreck Tragedy Was an Outcome of Militarism https://truthout.org/articles/the-mediterranean-shipwreck-tragedy-was-an-outcome-of-militarism

Missing Sub Gets 100X More Coverage Than Drowning Refugees https://youtu.be/Y0XxGHOUpIw

Two episodes at sea: The submersible Titan and hundreds of refugees drowned in the Mediterranean https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/22/ilqz-j22.html

Brutal Heat and Storms Grip Southern States and Mexico on First Day of Summer https://truthout.org/articles/brutal-heat-and-storms-grip-southern-states-and-mexico-on-first-day-of-summer/

The Pacific Northwest’s Deadly 2021 Heat Wave Fuels a New Lawsuit Against Big Oil https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/24/the-pacific-northwests-deadly-2021-heat-wave-fuels-a-new-lawsuit-against-big-oil/

El Niño Is About to Accelerate the Global Climate Crisis. It’s Time for Action. https://truthout.org/articles/el-nino-is-about-to-accelerate-the-global-climate-crisis-its-time-for-action/

The Irony Of World Refugee Day: Celebrating, Then Blaming The Victims https://popularresistance.org/the-irony-of-world-refugee-day-celebrating-then-blaming-the-victims/

Mediterranean Migrant Shipwreck Reveals Cost of Cruel European Asylum Policies https://truthout.org/articles/mediterranean-migrant-shipwreck-reveals-cost-of-cruel-european-asylum-policies/

Supreme Court rules out suing police for Miranda violations https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna35012

East Coast Wildfires Put Incarcerated People on Frontlines of Climate Crisis https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/20/east-coast-wildfires-put-incarcerated-people-on-frontlines-of-climate-crisis/

West Bank Dispatch: 14 Palestinians Killed in 3 days; Army Carries Out Drone Strike in Jenin https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/23/west-bank-dispatch-14-palestinians-killed-in-3-days-army-carries-out-drone-strike-in-jenin/

Biden’s Asylum Policy Continues Tradition of US Cruelty to Haitians  https://truthout.org/articles/bidens-asylum-policy-continues-tradition-of-us-cruelty-to-haitians/

Merrick Garland STUNNED By Investigation RESULTS (clip) https://youtu.be/H78mfJK34uA

Cornel West TACKLES Liberal & Conservative MEDIA (clip) https://youtu.be/hdh98yKyVeg

Lithium Nevada Lawsuit Aims To Stop Praying At Sacred Site
https://popularresistance.org/lithium-nevada-lawsuit-aims-to-stop-praying-at-sacred-site/

Debunked: Media falsely claims China is building spy base in Cuba
https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/media-china-cuba-spy-base

Biden’s Refusal to Demand Accountability for Israeli Army Killings Is an Open Farce https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/22/bidens-refusal-to-demand-accountability-for-israeli-army-killings-is-an-open-farce/

The Unlimited Campaign Spending by Corporations and Billionaires Has Destroyed Democracy https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/22/the-unlimited-campaign-spending-by-corporations-and-billionaires-has-destroyed-democracy/

The Elite War on Free Thought
https://www.racket.news/p/the-elite-war-on-free-thought

Pastor Fined for Feeding and Housing the Homeless https://youtu.be/OOzByUAsSBQ

 

Media Silent as IRS Whistleblowers Expose Blatant Biden Family Corruption (System Update #105) https://rumble.com/v2vz0v2-system-update-show-105.html

The Average Billionaire https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-average-billionaire.html

The Unwelcoming Society https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-unwelcoming-society.html

Seen on Twitter:

Yet another killer whale attack on boats in the Strait of Gibraltar has been caught on camera.

More than 20 such incidents occurred last month alone, baffling scientists. pic.twitter.com/0nF30Ml4T5

— DW News (@dwnews) June 26, 2023

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

If you'd like to help out in the meantime, buy me a coffee!  https://ko-fi.com/therevolutioncontinues

More details to come. Power to the people!