KO: I wanted to begin by disclosing that I had the great honour of working with Cheryl in hospice care as medical social workers and grief counselors for several years. Her compassion, intuitive empathy and healing manner taught me invaluable lessons on how to approach death and grief. 

I know that since our time working together you have been very busy. Can you talk about your book “The Final Dance: What the Dying Teach us about Embracing Life?” How you came to write it, and what you learned through the experience?

CD: Thank you for your kind words, Kenn. I too felt honored to work with such a compassionate loving man as you. 

It took me years to write  The Final Dance. Not years of writing but years of not writing and talking about wanting to write this book. Honestly I  kept getting in my own way. I would start to write and then fear would come up. I would ask “Who am I to write a book about dying?”   I felt a lot of resistance. Part of this was because the experiences I had with my hospice patients were Sacred and I did not want to do anything to dishonor those I had the privilege of working with.  

But as much as I tried to talk myself out of writing The Final Dance, there was this nagging voice saying that it was important to share these stories.  I feel honored to have had the experiences I have had. And realized that those of us who work with the dying have a unique perspective.  

KO: Can you describe that perspective more?

CD: Most people experience a handful of deaths in their life. And more and more people are sheltered from the dying experience. But as you know Kenn, those of us in Hospice experience death on regular basis. Because of this I found myself seeing patterns in people’s dying. As well as patterns in what they talked about. What was important to them. In fact, as a counselor for the dying we often have conversations that no one else is comfortable having. Patients try to protect family members by not talking about their dying or family is in denial and don’t want to talk about it. It’s a difficult subject. Especially if the person who is dying is someone you love. Because of this I was blessed to be the one they confided in. 

In The final dance I share some of these deep, rich conversations. Conversations about regrets, about what made them feel their life was successful or not. Being at the end of life gives people a unique vantage point and a big portion of our time is spent allowing our patients to do a life review. What were they proud of? What regrets do they have?What accomplishments mattered to them? 

KO: And what did you discover?

CD: I can tell you that the things people were proud of rarely had anything to do with the amount of wealth or possessions they acquire. It was about experiences they had had, relationships they had nourished,  risks they had taken to do what they loved.  I once worked with a man who told me a year before I met him he had been given a year to live. He went on to share that the last year had been the best year of his  entire life. The terminal diagnosis allowed him to drop any pretenses, to take more risks, to do what brought him joy without apology, to speak his truth. These were the types of lessons I share in The Final Dance.

Also, laced throughout the book I share the many supernatural experiences I, my patients, and their families have had around their dying. As a grief counselor I’ve heard hundreds of  unusual experiences from family members after their loved ones deaths. Convinced that their loved ones had reached out from beyond the grave. Prior to my work with hospice, I would have described myself as agnostic. But after 19 years of working with the dying I can tell you that I have no doubt that there is life after death. In The Final Dance I do not try to convince people of this. I simply share my experiences and the insights gained from working with  hospice patients and their families. 

KO: We are living through a pandemic which has taken so many lives prematurely. There are also other factors which complicate grief right now, like loved ones who are unable to be at the bedside of people who are dying of Covid-19 due to restrictions. I am also thinking about healthcare workers, including cleaning and delivery staff, who are affected by this. What are your thoughts about the pandemic and how it relates to your experiences with death and dying? 

CD: It is painful to witness and hear stories about so many who have lost their loved ones to COVID-19. Especially, the fact that they were not able to be at their bedside at the time of death. I know from my hospice experience how important being with their loved is for  many friends and family. The thought of their loved one dying alone will likely complicate their grieving experience. Wondering how they felt moments before their death. Were they scared? Did they suffer? Did they understand that their loved ones didn’t have choice about not being there? 

KO: Talk more about complicated grief and how it may manifest.

CD: Bereavement Counselors are often assessing for “Complicated Grief.” When a client is diagnoses with complicated grief this implies that they may have a more difficult time going through the grief experience. That a normal grief experience has been complicated by other issues. For example, prior to COVID, complicated grief could be a result of unresolved issues (such as an estranged parent losing their child prior to healing that relationship, or a suicide). I suspect that many who have lost someone to COVID while they were in the hospital may have a  more difficult time. When a friend or family member at the bedside of their loved one in the last days,  it is an opportunity to say what is on their hearts, to make any apologies, to tell them how much they mean to them. It is also an opportunity to see that their loved is not suffering or to intervene on their behalf if they don’t feel they are comfortable. Those at the bedside are able to support each other through the process. I have witnessed much healing between hospice patients and their loved ones in those last days. With COVID patients, people often do not get this opportunity. 

There are other factors that may also negatively impact how family and friends grieve when a person dies from COVID. If they were the one who exposed their loved one this could result in a tremendous amount of guilt. As you know we were getting mixed messages about COVID and there were many who do not believe it existed or felt that it wasn’t as serious as media was implying.  Because of this many people were not careful. Or they may have survivors guilt because they lived through getting COVID and their loved one didn’t

Another factor that impacts people who have lost someone to COVID is the isolation that many are experiencing. Due to the need for social distancing,  friends and family are left alone to deal with their grief.  Unable to hold or physically comfort each other many people feel very alone in the world as they are navigating the grief experience.

KO: Yes, loneliness and isolation seem to be major issues that complicate how we deal with loss and grief. Unfortunately our mental health often gets put on the back burner in times of crisis. This pandemic is revealing that truth in stark ways.

CD: I recently became aware of one other issue that is not spoken about. There are patients who go into the hospital and survive and are released home but are traumatized by the experience. These patients are often on the same floor, sharing a room with other COVID patients who don’t survive. I talked to one patient who had 3 different roommates die while she  was hospitalized with COVID. She witnessed people suffering at the end. Felt their fear. She had nightmares after this. Needing to process all that she experienced.  Just as many of our Veterans coming home from the battlefield do, she was experiencing Post Traumatic Stress. From all that I have heard, I would say that our hospitals have turned into war zones and have much of the same dramatic affects on those who survive. 

This also applies to the nurses, doctors, social workers and other hospital staff who are caring for COVID patients. They too are experiencing Post Traumatic Stress. When the outbreak first started there was uncertainty with how to deal with it and many healthcare professionals witnessed people suffering, unable to breath, afraid and alone.  They also found themselves over and over again being the one who held a patient’s hand while they took their last breath so they didn’t have to die alone.

Many of them have also seen fellow co-workers contract COVID, some who later died. I have a friend whose daughter is a nurse on a COVID ward and had three small children at home so chose to live in a camper outside her house for fear of exposing her children and husband. For months she has not interacted with her children in a meaningful way because of this. 

KO: It really seems to be creating a generational crisis as well, with children being isolated from parents or grandparents, and vice versa. What else have you been seeing in your work with patients, family and staff?

CD: Another way that the medical staff are being impacted by the Virus and the high number of cases is what’s called compassion fatigue. I have been feeling some of this myself. Compassion Fatigue is when a person is so saturated with experiences of others suffering that at some point they either break down or shut down. They are often experiencing physical, emotional and spiritual exhaustion. 

When they shut down, they become numb to peoples pain in order to deal with all that they are experiencing. When they break down it becomes difficult to continue to function. They reach a level of exhaustion where they don’t feel they can continue doing this work. We have seen those who breakdown on facebook posts crying, needing others to know how traumatic this experience has been. Those who have shut down are not as apparent. It might look like indifference or a staff member just going through the motions. Patients become numbers and it is difficult to connect with the person who has shut down. 

Either way, compassion fatigue can impact their ability or willingness to provide good care to patients and their families. They have reached their threshold. The affects of compassion fatigue can spill over into their personal life as well. They may find themselves unable to empathize with others or feel the need to disengage with their own friends and family. 

All of these factors have a tremendous impact on healthcare professionals on the frontlines. This includes those who clean the rooms of COVID patients, deliver their meals while putting themselves at risk, EMT who bring them to the hospital. They literally have been at war with this invisible enemy. And with war comes trauma much of which has just begun to surface. 

I currently work in Home Health and visit seniors in their homes. As time has worn on, people are less understanding about how the Pandemic has impacted services available to them. They are tired of being careful, more demanding and irritable. They are fed up with what is happening.  I am seeing first hand the impact of a year of social isolation, fear and anxiety. I have seen patients decline physically and mentally as they spend more time alone in front of a television set. Which feeds into their fear even more as they listen to stats and hear about the rising number of deaths.  

KO: What do you think will need to be done to address all of this psychic and societal trauma?

CD: There will be much work to be done to heal the damage that this time has caused many. Some damage is irreversible. But it’s important to note that not everything about the Pandemic has been detrimental. This time of slowing down and isolation has put into perspective what matters in life in a very dramatic way. People are longing for meaningful connection with another, to be held, touched. There are those whose jobs have been impacted. Working less (or not at all) has given many who had gotten out of balance an opportunity to pause, and look at what really mattered to them.  Many people began evaluating their career choices or how many hours they had been working. Realizing that they could live on less and how being home positively impacted their children or their own well being. They often didn’t realize how much stress they were under or how unhappy they were until they were forced to  step away. It gave people an opportunity to explore other options.  

As we rebuild our lives, and our economy I hope that the lessons learned during this historic and incredibly challenging time propel people forward, making them aware that they can make different choices. May the realization of how fragile life is and how quickly things can change be a lesson we take into our futures. Making meaning out of the madness we have all encountered.  My hope is that this time has served to wake people up to their lives. 

We hope you have enjoyed this conversation between Cheryl Deines and Kenn Orphan. If you would like to order a copy of Cheryl’s book please go to the link below:
https://www.amazon.ca/Final-Dance-Dying-Teach-Embracing/dp/1732140006

As an independent writer and artist Kenn Orphan depends on donations and commissions. If you would like to support his work and this blog you can do so via PayPal. Simply click here:  DONATE

And thank you for your support and appreciation!

*Title painting is “At Eternity’s Gate” by Vincent van Gogh.

“In the future that the surveillance capitalism prepares for us, my will and yours threaten the flow of surveillance revenues. Its aim is not to destroy us but simply to author us and to profit from that authorship.” – Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

There is a painting I have been thinking about a lot these past few days. It is entitled “Corporate Decision” by the late American artist George Tooker.  In the background, a group of grey suited figures appear to be meeting in a boardroom of some kind. And in the foreground, a family grieves over the body of a loved one. The message is clear. The lives of ordinary, everyday people, mean nothing to those grey suited figures. In fact, ordinary, everyday people do not exist in any real way to those faceless men in the boardroom. Yet they wield enormous power over their lives.

This painting came to mind after being informed that my Facebook account was “disabled permanently” without any warning or explanation. In the blink of an eye, an algorithm took away 11+ years of memories with no option for appeal or recourse provided. And I suspect that it has to do with a massive purge that is taking place across all social media following the incident at the US Capitol on January 6th.

Since the insurrection, social media companies have been on tenterhooks, awaiting the consequences of allowing far right hate groups to organize freely on their pages for years. And they are not taking any chances. There has been a concerted effort by Facebook, Twitter and other social media giants to curtail hate speech. But in their rush to stop the next insurrection, they are rapidly constructing the infrastructure for corporate state censorship.  

My last piece is an example of this. It was in no way peddling the far-right conspiracy theories of a certain well-known cult. In fact, it was highly critical of the phenomenon. But none of that seemed to matter. It was undoubtedly flagged for the sweep. Now, the use of certain forbidden terms, even if you are not promoting the theories behind those terms and are merely discussing them, appears to be reason enough to have you excommunicated forever from the church of social media. Noam Chomsky once said “the smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.” It appears that that “spectrum of acceptable opinion” is becoming even more limited.

And this is why I have thought about Tooker’s piece so much of late. Of course, my experience in no way compares with the gravity of the subject of that painting, but it has parallels., Our online identities have become so enmeshed with our lives. Social media acts like the journals of the past. A place where we record our activities and thoughts from day to day. And aside from the daily routines we become accustomed to, many of us attach a sacredness to sharing moments of our lives with others in this medium. Moments of joy, frustration, surprise, sorrow, anger. Holidays, births, weddings, deaths, trips, illnesses, dinners, reconnection with old friends. All of this is now captured in pixelated time. When it has been entrusted to a corporation and then permanently disappeared by them due to some arbitrary algorithm, it feels as if your home has been robbed.

Today the corporation has, for all intents and purposes, become the state. We are its subjects. And it is not a democratic arrangement, but a dictatorship of wealth. Deregulation, austerity and privatization, the hallmarks of neoliberal economics, have prevailed. The land, water, air, food and all that makes life possible have been commodified. Healthcare, education, and communication have been monetized.

The commons, and this includes the digital realm, have been carved up among powerful oligarchs who are unaccountable and unanswerable to our questions, complaints or pleas. It freely mines our data while it decides how we should think and speak in its realm. And it profits enormously from this arrangement. Facebook, alone, was worth $528 billion in 2020. And while we still have the freedom to express ourselves enshrined in certain historic documents, that right is meaningless if we have been denied access to the rest of the community. Of course, all speech and expression holds with it responsibilities and consequences. However, in a corporatocracy the arbiter of such decisions has little to no accountability to the people. And dissent of any kind is reason enough for them to expel someone without any warning or explanation.

But this arrangement is not absolute. Anything can change with enough public will. And we have more agency than we realize. As the late writer Ursula Le Guin said, “We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.”

Kenn Orphan February 2021

Painting is entitled “Corporate Decision” by George Tooker August 5, 1920 – March 27, 2011)

As an independent writer and artist Kenn Orphan depends on donations and commissions. If you would like to support his work and this blog you can do so via PayPal. Simply click here:  DONATE

And thank you for your support and appreciation!

Special note: the author’s Facebook account was likely disabled by the company for the previous title of this piece, without any regard for the actual content. After careful consideration the editors and author decided to change the title so as not to cause any difficulties for anyone sharing this piece on social media. We apologize if this has caused any distress or inconvenience.

This month, following an opinion piece in the New York Times by liberal political commentator Nicholas Kristof, the Canadian based porn site Pornhub was put on trial. The accusations revolve around the site allegedly allowing and profiting from sex trafficking, child, and rape porn. Without a doubt, Pornhub as well as many other similar sites, have profited from some questionable content. Like social media, it is not responsible for the content uploaded by individuals. It is only responsible for dealing with it once it is there. This is the only logical way that a free and open internet could possibly work. But there is a dark side to Kristof’s Pornhub diatribe. This crusade against porn comes at a time of unhinged QAnon conspiracy theories involving secret elite pedophile rings. And much of it smacks of a typical American-style sex panic.

Following the publication of Kristof’s piece in the NYT, credit card behemoths Visa and Mastercard discontinued their service to the site, adversely affecting the livelihoods of scores of sex workers and performers. In addition to this, far right groups, such as Exodus Cry, have seen the article as a clarion call in their crusade for sexual “purity.” Morphing from the early Puritans into today’s evangelicals, this war has never ended for them. Exodus Cry claims that its aim is to stop human trafficking, an admirable goal. But the organization never addresses decriminalizing sex work or the inhumane immigration laws and policies which are at the root of the problem. They also exclude gay men and transgender people as victims of sex trafficking and assault, even though this is a well documented problem. In addition to this, the founder Mike Bickle and the president Benjamin Nolot have expressed their antigay and anti-choice positions on several occasions, with one comparing being gay to opening “the demonic realm.”

Pornography has always been a charged topic in America, and it is often painted with a broad brush. Most people understand that exploitation of children or non-consensual sex are abusive and thus designated as crimes. Certainly, the modern porn industry is rife with abuses. But beyond this, who decides what is acceptable for adults? Back in the late 1980s, Robert Maplethorpe’s art works were censored in the US because they were labeled “obscene” by some politicians. And the genre of erotica is often lumped in with more explicit, hardcore pornography. Indeed, sexual expression in the visual medium has been a part of human culture for millennia. In fact, to many evangelicals and other religious conservatives all or most displays of public nudity or eroticism are considered offensive or perverse.

But this crusade against a pornography giant cannot be understood outside of the context of the rise of QAnon, a cult that centers around an antisemitic conspiracy about an elite, pedophile ring run by prominent Democrats who sacrifice children to extract a life prolonging chemical called adrenochrome. It is reminiscent of the debunked satanic ritual abuse scandal of the 1980s and 90s. Both panics were over the top and deranged in their allegations and accusations. Both rallied around the noble cause of “protecting children.”  But, as in the panic of earlier times, there is no other reason for this other than the reactionary elements of a society being confronted with the agency of groups who have been historically oppressed.

The liberation movements of the 70s which saw great gains for women and LGBTQ people were seen by many conservative Christians to be the ultimate evidence of America’s denigration. Traditional gender roles were being challenged. Children were suddenly being taken care of by others while women joined the workforce. Today, there is a similar dynamic at play. Transgender people are challenging the very notion of a fixed gender. Sex workers are demanding recognition and labor rights. And once again, the hegemony of reactionary sections of society are feeling threatened. The difference now is that there is a marked disconnect from reality in a huge section of the population.

QAnon is perhaps one of the most dangerous of all conspiracy phenomenon in recent history thanks to its enormous influence. There are now sitting members of congress who are adherents. And it gained momentum thanks to the slow and steady chipping away of scientific education. But it should not come as a surprise that it arose in the United States. This is a country, after all, where many politicians still blame natural disasters on gay marriage or supposed sexual immorality.

Without a doubt, the pornography industry was given a significant boost by technology this century. The internet has enabled access to images and videos with ease and in the comfort of one’s own home. And it is no wonder that it has become one of the most lucrative industries on the planet. Sex, after all, sells. And capitalism has created a market where virtually everything, including sex, can be stamped with a barcode. But although pornography is, at best, a poor facsimile of sexual intercourse and relations, it sells because of its power to remove a person from the staleness and monotony of modern life. Like opioids, internet porn serves as a temporary release from the crushing reality most Americans deal with daily. But the latter is far less damaging to the individual and society in general.

To be clear, Pornhub is not a victim in this battle. It will still rake in millions of dollars off the backs of underpaid sex workers. And its content is not likely to change very much from the standard porn it profits from. Sex workers, an already marginalized community, will continue to lose their livelihoods and be demonized as societal degenerates. The real victims of sex trafficking will not see any justice in this crusade against porn either, because ultra-conservative organizations like Exodus Cry are only interested in promoting their rigid and reactionary mores regarding human sexuality. But QAnon has brought this issue to a different level, one fraught with both hysteria and idiocy. No one should kid themselves that the attacks on a prominent porn site are without a broader agenda. This has never been about pornography or “saving” children or women. Conservative evangelicals have an axe to grind. And this is only the beginning of their renewed war on human sexuality and the diversity of its expression.

Kenn Orphan   February 2021

As an independent writer and artist Kenn Orphan depends on donations and commissions. If you would like to support his work and this blog you can do so via PayPal. Simply click here:  DONATE

And thank you for your support and appreciation!

After far right fascists and supremacists stormed the Capitol this month, it is little wonder that the American Empire would ramp up the security state. It is on steroids now, with more troops in DC than there are in Iraq. But whatever one might think of the necessity of increased security at the Inauguration tomorrow, it should seem pretty clear by now that, although democracy never really existed in any true form in the US republic, the very pretense of it is now officially dead.

The American Empire has long used its power, at the behest of wealthy corporate interests and in a bipartisan manner, to disrupt, dismantle and suppress democratic governments all over the world, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to Iran, to Honduras and beyond. It has used its military to decimate nations and regions that dared defy its hegemony. And it did all of this while employing platitudes about its own supposed democratic greatness. The alleged “city on a hill” trope.

But the American Imperial brand has been tarnished. Given the state of our world, it is unlikely to recover. No platitudes can erase what has happened. No corporate media whitewashing can sponge away what we have seen. No political speech can steer the American Empire clear of the looming cliff of climate catastrophe and its myriad ramifications for society in general.

And perhaps that is a good thing. Trump, as vile as he is, may have served as a catalyst for tearing the veil from the noxious falsehood once and for all. And if there is any lesson to be learned, we don’t have any time left for the empty mythologies of the past.

Kenn Orphan January 2021

*photo is from MSNBC

Some thoughts on the corporate silencing of Trump and the far right. I understand the urge to silence and censor. After years of lies and racist tweets and cruelty and calls for violence, Trump being silenced feels like justice. But we should remember that the corporations doing the silencing are no friends to democracy. They aren’t friends of the left either.

Over the past few years, progressive and leftist websites have been shut out by the algorithms of Google. Pages and groups were shut down and removed by Facebook. Zuckerberg isn’t some kind of hero here. He is a corporate capitalist. And Trump’s brand was becoming bad for his business. Same with Twitter and others.

Another thing to consider is this: censorship never truly extinguishes dangerous elements in society. It merely drives them further underground. Many of the people involved in the storming of the Capitol were at or went to Parler, but most of the serious planning was going on in the so-called “dark web.” At least on Twitter and Parler, we could keep track of Trump. We could keep track of the feelings and sentiments of the far right. Now that they are forced onto the dark web, we are in the dark.

In addition to this, I am concerned about liberals calling for more “security” and more action by agencies like the FBI or Homeland Security, etc. These institutions have a long and sordid history of infiltrating and cracking down on groups who dissent, especially Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ, women, environmentalists, antiwar and anti-capitalists. After 9/11, the surveillance/intelligence state grew even larger, and it led to gross infringements on civil liberties.

The corporate state is no friend to us. So while we condemn what happened at the Capitol and are vigilant about the rise of fascism, we should be careful not to put our trust in this wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Kenn Orphan January 2021

*Title art by Banksy.

As an independent writer and artist Kenn Orphan depends on donations and commissions. If you would like to support his work and this blog you can do so via PayPal. Simply click here:  DONATE

And thank you for your support and appreciation!

Without a doubt, the people who stormed the US Capitol on January 6^th are not ashamed. They have been emboldened. Egged on by a wannabe proto-fascist, his endless stream of lies about a stolen election, and driven by a relatively new cultish religion called QAnon, this mob breached the Capitol of the wealthiest and most powerful imperial power in human history. This mostly white crowd, already coming from a place of enormous privilege, did something no Black or Indigenous person could ever dream of in America. Yet there they were, being allowed into the historic building by members of the Capitol police, who some would later take selfies with. At the end of the day, four people would be dead, including a woman who was trying to break into the building. She is being referred to by some on the far right as a “martyr for the revolution.” A police officer would be dead a short time later from his injuries.

What occurred at the Capitol was not an insurrection. It wasn’t a coup either. But it was most certainly an attempt at both. Trump, himself, has already tried this several times. He only recently agreed to a peaceful transition of power; but has doubled down on the lie that the election was stolen, sans evidence. On the far right, however, Trump is only a symbol of their cause. With or without him, they have pledged to “retake” the republic.

In some sense, this is all rather karmic. After all, how many democratically elected governments have been overthrown via coups orchestrated by American intelligence agencies in concert with corporations? How many mass graves, massacres and atrocities have been committed by rightwing militias and death squads armed and trained by the United States military and the CIA?

But there is no reason to celebrate what happened at the US Capitol, not even smugly. What the world witnessed was a visible resurgence of overt fascism. A Confederate flag waved in the corridors of power. People proudly wearing “Camp Auschwitz” or white supremacist symbols took selfies as they sought out lawmakers. A mock gallows was erected outside. And make no mistake, these people are not ready to stop any time soon. As Trump was banished from Twitter and Facebook, far right groups like the Proud Boys have been organizing on Parler and other places on the so-called “dark web.” They are openly talking about a “second revolution,” and Inauguration Day may be the time they put this to the test. Censoring them, as in most cases, will only alienate and enrage them further.

All things considered, it is unlikely that Trump will succeed at a coup given the fact that the military establishment does not appear to support him. Their job is to protect the American brand. They safeguard the economic interests of corporate America, aka the coffers and trading status of the ruling class. And a coup, or the hint of one, within the world’s most powerful empire would be bad for business. But regardless of this, there were many members of the military and police officers amongst the fascist mob that stormed the Capitol. And the damage to that American brand has been done.

Attempts to remove Trump via impeachment or the 25^th amendment should proceed, but these efforts face enormous obstacles and must be done quickly to have any meaningful effect. Thanks to sweeping powers granted to the executive branch, mostly by the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, it is extraordinarily difficult to remove or curtail the powers of a sitting president. And Trump still has some rather terrifying tricks in his bag. A strike on Iran? North Korea? Even China? None of this is beyond his capacity and can be done with little to no authorization from either military brass or Congress.

Even as Trump faces his last days in office, he still has the power to start a nuclear war. This is a man who took the so-called “nuclear football” or briefcase with the nuclear codes, to a cocktail party in Mar-a-Lago. And just this month, the USS Nimitz was ordered to return to the Persian Gulf as tensions rise between Washington and Tehran. This comes as a US war ship was sent to menace China in military operations, and nuclear capable B-52 bombers were sent to the Middle-East, prompting one senior Iranian military adviser to warn the president in a tweet: “not to turn the New Year into a mourning for Americans.” Recently, the governments of both Iraq and Iran have issued arrest warrants for Trump, for his illegal use of drone strikes that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani last year. If there is one thing the last four years have demonstrated, it is that Trump does not take threats of arrest calmly.

The next few days will undoubtedly be tense. And even if the Trump presidency ends without incident or he is removed, we should not be ready to rest. Fascism has always simmered just below the surface in American society and within its economic and political institutions. But what is rapidly unfolding in the United States has precedent. History is replete with tragic examples of how fascism is born and nurtured; as well as how it spreads. And there is one solid lesson: we cannot afford to get comfortable with it, or collaborate with it, or even negotiate with it. It didn’t work in Weimar Germany, or in Franco’s Spain, or Pinochet’s Chile, or anywhere else that it reared its ugly head. Its root causes, which lie squarely in economic, material privilege and its deprivation, must be met head on. Empty platitudes like “this is not who we are,” or “we must embrace a spirit of bipartisanship” are nonsensical and dangerous, because they ignore the societal maladies responsible for fascisms’ rise.

To be sure, if things go as planned and Biden takes control of the American Empire, we should not expect any massive shift to the left either. The Democratic Party establishment is still staunchly neoliberal. Diverse in color and gender as his cabinet might be, it is almost completely beholden to military and corporate interests. In fact, Biden has made it clear that he will reach out to Republicans even more than progressives or leftists. We will undoubtedly see more money allotted to an already bloated military industrial sector. And following recent events, we can count on increased surveillance and brutal crackdowns on dissidents and protesters, most of whom will be people of color, Indigenous, environmentalists, and antiwar activists.

In addition to this, we cannot forget the fact that over 70 million Americans voted for Trump, almost half of the voting public. In fact, Trump received 10 million more votes than in 2016, which is astonishing given his atrocious record with the pandemic. And a huge swath of these people fervently believe that the election was stolen from them. Biden and elite Democrats, who have spent enormous time and money deriding anyone left of them in their ranks, will not enter into office with any strong mandate. In fact, if they continue to alienate their base, they will risk becoming irrelevant in a very short space of time.

And leftists should not kid themselves that by continually attacking liberals they will somehow succeed in swaying most disenfranchised voters on the far right. This is the mistake that Ernst Thälmann, chief of the German Communist Party (KPD), made in the final years of the Weimar Republic. His hatred of liberals only distracted him from an ever strengthening Nazi party. And he, along with many of his comrades, were among their first political victims as a result. After years in a concentration camp, Thälmann was killed on Hitler’s order in 1944.

There are many similarities of current day American politics to the final years of the Weimar Republic of the early 20^th century: a bureaucratic plutocracy governed by out of touch liberal capitalists, incapable of understanding, let alone meeting, the needs of ordinary working people, in a nation where factions of the left foolishly downplayed the looming threat of the far right. This terrible recipe created the conditions that led many Germans to feel increasingly alienated from public life, and thus easily manipulated by nationalism, racism and the scapegoating of all of their problems.

In the coming months and years, we will likely see more platitudes about unity, all while civil liberties are ruthlessly crushed by an already bloated surveillance state in the name of stopping “domestic terrorism.” It is not likely, however, that we will see any meaningful economic reforms, or the radical change that is needed to stem the rising tide of fascist sentiment, from the incoming administration either. No living wage. No universal healthcare, even in the midst of a pandemic. We will also likely see erstwhile or confused leftists attempting to align with elements of the far right. A venture which will only lead to tragedy. And without a mass movement to disrupt this trend, a reincarnated Weimar Republic may serve as a handmaiden for a more terrifying fascism to come.

Kenn Orphan January 2021

As an independent writer and artist Kenn Orphan depends on donations and commissions. If you would like to support his work and this blog you can do so via PayPal. Simply click here:  DONATE

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“There are two problems for our species’ survival— nuclear war and environmental catastrophe.” Noam Chomsky

“We should indeed be worried,” – Kingston Reif, a nuclear expert with the Arms Control Association in Washington, D.C., regarding Donald Trump and the nuclear codes.

 

This week, Trump ordered the USS Nimitz, via his acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, to remain in the Persian Gulf. He said this was due to supposed Iranian threats “against President Trump and other U.S. government officials.”

In a statement, Miller said he had “ordered the USS Nimitz to halt its routine redeployment.” The carrier will now “remain on station in the U.S. Central Command area of operations,” Miller added. “No one should doubt the resolve of the United States of America.” In the last days of 2020, Trump ordered nuclear capable B-52 bombers to the Middle-East, prompting a senior Iranian military adviser to tweet directly at Trump, warning him “not to turn the New Year into a mourning for Americans.”

At this same time, congress has gone home for two weeks, while the governments of both Iraq and Iran have issued arrest warrants for Trump, for his illegal use of drone strikes that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani last year.

Trump’s most loyal base remains the fundamentalist and far right fringe of evangelical Christians in the US, whose sole reason for believing in him lies in uncritical and unwavering US support of Israel, regardless of human rights abuses. Many of them see support of this country as key to scriptural prophecy. Many see our times as the “Last Days,” and Trump as a biblical King David. In addition to this, he has been under increasing pressure from both the Israeli and Saudi governments to take action on Iran.

To sum up: A deeply disturbed and increasingly unhinged Donald Trump still has complete control over the nuclear arsenal and submarines until January 20th. One senior adviser told the New York Times that he “has lost it.” And that he has been “impossible to talk to all day.“

The laws of the US have been written such that the Commander and Chief has sole power over the use and launch of such weapons. Only impeachment or the 25th amendment to the Constitution stand in his way from launching a nuclear strike.

According to Forbes: “America’s roughly 6,200 nuclear warheads—and Trump’s sole command of them via a portable “biscuit” control system—hung like a specter over the proceedings. “The way our nuclear command and control works, all it should take for a nuclear launch order to be executed is that it be valid and legal,” said Ankit Panda, a nuclear expert and author of Kim Jong Un and the Bomb.“Any order issued by the president, provided he is properly able to authenticate his identity through the so-called ‘biscuit,’ would be regarded as valid.””

Up until the insurrection at the Capitol yesterday, Trump was refusing to accept defeat. He told the mob storming the building to go home, but couched it in the lie that the election was stolen from them. He has since agreed to an orderly transition. But his history is one rife with deception.

His words have often been somewhat cryptic, as if to send a secret message to his followers, who are appearing more and more like a religious cult than a political voting bloc. QAnon is not as weak as some might wish it to be. If he has any chance of retaining these fanatical followers without having to do a lot of work over the next four years, he must make good on some promises now.

Perhaps, he will be pushed back into the corner. Perhaps he will see this as detrimental to his future as a former president, reality star.

We can only hope.

But if this doesn’t make you tremble, or at least give you pause, you have no idea just how serious this current moment in history actually is.

 

Kenn Orphan January 2021

 

As an independent writer and artist Kenn Orphan depends on donations and commissions. If you would like to support his work and this blog you can do so via PayPal. Simply click here:  DONATE

And thank you for your support and appreciation!

What is unfolding in the US state of Georgia and in Washington DC are indeed historic events. I am beyond pleased that it appears that the proto-fascist Trump has once again lost. But, as we can see unfolding in the capitol right now, I don’t see him leaving office without sowing, or at least trying to sow, maximum chaos and damage.

He has already attempted an actual coup several times, even though the US corporate media would never characterize it as such. And he is still refusing to accept a Biden victory, holding maskless rallies with his feckless fans. Trump still has some rather frightening tricks in his bag. A strike on Iran? Calling on police or his white supremacist fans to become violent? None of this is beyond his capacity. Some of it is already happening. And any of it should make a sane person nervous.

If the military establishment feels the need to voice their opinion on a presidential election, which they have recently, you know it has to do with a coup or the attempt of one. Their job is to protect American economic interests, aka the coffers and trading status of the ruling class. And a coup, or the hint of one, in the world’s most powerful empire would be bad for business. So it is unlikely any coup attempt will succeed. In any case, the damage to confidence in the American imperial brand will have been done. In many cases, it has already been done.

And even with the Democrats taking the presidency and the senate, we should not expect any massive shift to the left. Over 70 million Americans voted for Trump, almost half of the voting public. In fact, Trump received more votes than in 2016, which is astonishing given his atrocious record of 357,000+ deaths from Covid 19. And we should remember that the Democratic establishment is still staunchly neoliberal capitalist, with a penchant for war.

Schumer, Pelosi and Biden all have long histories of aligning with Republicans on hawkish militarism and foreign policy, and blocking progressive reforms. And the Democrats will not have a super majority in the senate. Indeed, progressives have their work cut out for them, because centrist, corporate Democrats, along with their Republican colleagues, will throw up every barrier to economic change, and halts on an ever expanding American militarism, they can.

To be sure, the world is a different place than it was four years ago. It is vastly different than it was just a year ago, largely thanks to the global pandemic. But also due to mass movements that have taken place around the planet, from Minneapolis to Beirut to Santiago. And if there is any lesson to learn about pandemic politics, it is that the US imperial hegemony is irredeemably corrupt and incapable of leading in any way that is beneficial to humanity and the living earth, and this is true no matter which ruling class political party is at its helm.

In short, if this empire cannot even muster up the most meager provisions for its own struggling populace, including financial support and universal healthcare in the midst of a global pandemic, there can be no hope that it will do anything useful for them, or the rest of us, as we face the looming shocks of catastrophic climate change, economic collapse, ecological devastation, and the ever present threat of nuclear war. Its first and only priority was, is and will always be, the welfare of the wealthiest at any cost.

I hope the best for progressives in the US, because they will likely have to fight even harder against a tide of apathy that generally comes with liberal governments. I hope the best for my American leftist comrades, who must now traverse a neoliberal landscape where they will likely be chided for any dissenting stance they might take.

But I am more hopeful about the world on the margins of the American Empire, even those parts which lie within its artificially imposed borders. Not in the empty, self-serving platitudes of politicians, or the policy platforms written by and for multi-billion dollar conglomerates, or toxic nationalism either, but in solidarity with each other, where it counts.

Kenn Orphan  January 2021

As an independent writer and artist Kenn Orphan depends on donations and commissions. If you would like to support his work and this blog you can do so via PayPal. Simply click here:  DONATE

And thank you for your support and appreciation!

The Pandemic is Over! As Ground Breaking new Vaccine is made Free to the Public. It was produced with complete transparency by a cooperative pharmaceutical collective, and without questionable practices. After hundreds of thousands perished, there is finally hope. Critical universal healthcare infrastructure is now in development to be ready for future outbreaks and the health needs of all people. In related news, as Big Pharma is dismantled, massive efforts are underway to tackle habitat loss, overdevelopment, factory farming, climate change and systemic poverty; factors that most likely contributed to the mutation and spread of the deadly pathogen in the first place. Scientists and policymakers are hopeful that the immense profits once hoarded by corporations will aid greatly in these efforts.

…

Billionaires Banished? Investigators are baffled by the disappearance of several prominent billionaires who were last seen boarding a small yacht in Hawaii for a three-hour tour, prior to rough weather. They reportedly packed a few bags full of cash, and some evening gowns and jewels, before fleeing aboard the tiny ship. This comes after Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos reportedly fled in a capsule bound for Mars. The billionaires were facing charges of aiding and abetting a coup to seize lithium in Bolivia and making obscene profits off of human misery during the pandemic.  

…

Following Massive General Strikes and Demonstrations, world leaders Agree to Meet the Demands of Billions of Workers. After mounting rage at the excesses and corruption of the capitalist class, the means of productions were successfully seized through organized dissent and sustained protest. Preparations are now underway for the permanent dismantling of the corporate, police/surveillance/war state, prioritizing large scale protections for the biosphere, immediate assistance for the impoverished, implementation of a living wage, free, quality healthcare, education and housing, support of the arts, an end to racist policing and incarceration, and the formation of the first Global Peoples Congress.

…

As Pentagon Budget Slashed, Economy is Revamped for the Benefit of All Humanity. Following major disinvestment in the police/surveillance/war state, money has been allocated on retraining troops for rebuilding infrastructure and communities across the country. All foreign US military bases are to be turned over to the nations where they are situated, as all weaponry is destroyed or transformed into medical and other useful equipment, machinery or even art work.  One of the last surviving veterans of World War 2 expressed his joy this way: “I fought in a war that was supposed to end all wars. It didn’t. But now my grand children and great grand children may have a chance at having a world free of militarism. A world where peace is imaginable.”

…

“The Occupation and Apartheid are Over!” declared one young Gazan, as Jews and Palestinians begin final negotiations for a transition to a secular, Democratic state for all people. Preparations are underway to allow for the right of return for refugees, guaranteed under international law. Spontaneous parties erupted across the West Bank, Jerusalem and even in Tel Aviv, where Jews, Palestinians and people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds were seen singing, dancing, sharing food and embracing. Related: Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly collapsed after hearing the news, while he was visiting the partially submerged resort, Mar-a-Lago in Florida, which was overtaken by sea waters recently. He was apparently with his friend, and owner of the soggy hotel, the disgraced reality star president Donald Trump, at the time. The two are also facing imminent indictment at the Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

…

“Justice, at Last!” exclaimed one elderly Iraqi after hearing Bush, Cheney, others to face charges for War Crimes at the Hague. Erik Prince and other mercenaries for the now defunct American Empire will also face similar charges in coming weeks. George W. Bush was said to be despondent. He was last seen painting portraits of world leaders on his toenails in his cell prior to trial. Other charges will eventually be brought against Hillary Clinton for her role in the destruction of Libya, and Barack Obama for his deadly drone program.

…

“The Welfare of the Earth and All of Her Children, human and non, will Once Again be made Humanity’s First and Only Priority,” said one Native elder, while from the Americas, Australia to Africa, Indigenous peoples celebrate massive return of stolen lands and resources. Restoration and reconciliation ceremonies were conducted by Indigenous healers in various locations around the world, as musicians, artists, dancers, poets and other artisans joined. In related news, heads of the most lucrative corporations reluctantly relinquished their stranglehold on economic and political power, as most are facing charges for the crime of ecocide, neo-colonialism, and the plunder of indigenous resources.

…

Scientists Decipher Message from Intelligent Civilization just Lightyears from Earth. Apparently, after observing our planet for decades, the more advanced beings have offered critical assistance with our planet’s massive ecological crises. “We would not have been able to reverse the terrible damage of climate change, save the rainforests, the oceans, or humanity and billions of other species, without their knowledge,” claimed one biologist, as he broke down in tears of joy.

One can dream…

Kenn Orphan   January 2021 

As an independent writer and artist Kenn Orphan depends on donations and commissions. If you would like to support his work and this blog you can do so via PayPal. Simply click here:  DONATE

And thank you for your support and appreciation!

I wanted to write a tribute to a person who was very instrumental in my writing, and who died just this month, John le Carré, author of several famous spy novels, but I couldn’t find adequate words to describe this man. So I have decided, instead, to repost his epic essay “America has Gone Mad.” It was written in 2003 when the American Empire, under the war criminal George W. Bush, lead a war of destruction against Iraq, a country that had never attacked it, yet sat on the world’s second biggest oil reserves. Nearly two decades later and that war based on lies is still reaping carnage in the entire region. Sadly, I have yet to see any concrete evidence that any of what he has written has changed in the least.

“America has Gone Mad”

America has entered one of its periods of historical madness, but this is the worst I can remember: worse than McCarthyism, worse than the Bay of Pigs and in the long term potentially more disastrous than the Vietnam War.

The reaction to 9/11 is beyond anything Osama bin Laden could have hoped for in his nastiest dreams. As in McCarthy times, the freedoms that have made America the envy of the world are being systematically eroded. The combination of compliant US media and vested corporate interests is once more ensuring that a debate that should be ringing out in every town square is confined to the loftier columns of the East Coast press.

The imminent war was planned years before bin Laden struck, but it was he who made it possible. Without bin Laden, the Bush junta would still be trying to explain such tricky matters as how it came to be elected in the first place; Enron; its shameless favouring of the already-too-rich; its reckless disregard for the world’s poor, the ecology and a raft of unilaterally abrogated international treaties. They might also have to be telling us why they support Israel in its continuing disregard for UN resolutions.

But bin Laden conveniently swept all that under the carpet. The Bushies are riding high. Now 88 per cent of Americans want the war, we are told. The US defence budget has been raised by another $60 billion to around $360 billion. A splendid new generation of nuclear weapons is in the pipeline, so we can all breathe easy. Quite what war 88 per cent of Americans think they are supporting is a lot less clear. A war for how long, please? At what cost in American lives? At what cost to the American taxpayer’s pocket? At what cost — because most of those 88 per cent are thoroughly decent and humane people — in Iraqi lives?

How Bush and his junta succeeded in deflecting America’s anger from bin Laden to Saddam Hussein is one of the great public relations conjuring tricks of history. But they swung it. A recent poll tells us that one in two Americans now believe Saddam was responsible for the attack on the World Trade Centre. But the American public is not merely being misled. It is being browbeaten and kept in a state of ignorance and fear. The carefully orchestrated neurosis should carry Bush and his fellow conspirators nicely into the next election.

Those who are not with Mr Bush are against him. Worse, they are the enemy. Which is odd, because I’m dead against Bush, but I would love to see Saddam’s downfall — just not on Bush’s terms and not by his methods. And not under the banner of such outrageous hypocrisy.

The religious cant that will send American troops into battle is perhaps the most sickening aspect of this surreal war-to-be. Bush has an arm-lock on God. And God has very particular political opinions. God appointed America to save the world in any way that suits America. God appointed Israel to be the nexus of America’s Middle Eastern policy, and anyone who wants to mess with that idea is a) anti-Semitic, b) anti-American, c) with the enemy, and d) a terrorist.

To be a member of the team you must also believe in Absolute Good and Absolute Evil, and Bush, with a lot of help from his friends, family and God, is there to tell you which is which. What Bush won’t tell us is the truth about why we’re going to war. What is at stake is not an Axis of Evil — but oil, money and people’s lives. Saddam’s misfortune is to sit on the second biggest oilfield in the world. Bush wants it, and who helps him get it will receive a piece of the cake. And who doesn’t, won’t.

If Saddam didn’t have the oil, he could torture his citizens to his heart’s content. Other leaders do it every day — think Saudi Arabia, think Pakistan, think Turkey, think Syria, think Egypt.

Baghdad represents no clear and present danger to its neighbours, and none to the US or Britain. Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction, if he’s still got them, will be peanuts by comparison with the stuff Israel or America can hurl at him at five minutes’ notice. What is at stake is not an imminent military or terrorist threat, but the economic imperative of US growth. What is at stake is America’s need to demonstrate its military power to all of us — to Europe and Russia and China, and poor mad little North Korea, as well as the Middle East; to show who rules America at home, and who is to be ruled by America abroad.

The most charitable interpretation of Tony Blair’s part in all of this is that he believed that, by riding the tiger, he could steer it. He can’t. Instead, he gave it a phoney legitimacy, and a smooth voice. Now I fear, the same tiger has him penned into a corner, and he can’t get out.

It is utterly laughable that, at a time when Blair has talked himself against the ropes, neither of Britain’s opposition leaders can lay a glove on him. But that’s Britain’s tragedy, as it is America’s: as our Governments spin, lie and lose their credibility, the electorate simply shrugs and looks the other way. …

I cringe when I hear my Prime Minister lend his head prefect’s sophistries to this colonialist adventure. His very real anxieties about terror are shared by all sane men. What he can’t explain is how he reconciles a global assault on al-Qaeda with a territorial assault on Iraq. We are in this war, if it takes place, to secure the fig leaf of our special relationship, to grab our share of the oil pot, and because, after all the public hand-holding in Washington and Camp David, Blair has to show up at the altar.

“But will we win, Daddy?”

“Of course, child. It will all be over while you’re still in bed.”

“Why?”

“Because otherwise Mr Bush’s voters will get terribly impatient and may decide not to vote for him.”“But will people be killed, Daddy?”

“Nobody you know, darling. Just foreign people.”

“Can I watch it on television?”

“Only if Mr Bush says you can.”

“And afterwards, will everything be normal again? Nobody will do anything horrid any more?”

“Hush child, and go to sleep.”

Last Friday a friend of mine in California drove to his local supermarket with a sticker on his car saying: “Peace is also Patriotic”. It was gone by the time he’d finished shopping.

John le Carré (19 October 1931 – 12 December 2020)

Rest in Power.