No, Americans aren't stupid. They are manipulated and, like all human beings,
they are self interested. They've been manipulated into believing that their
interests are identical to those of big business and the state. They accept any
actions which benefit business interests and the military.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2020 12:55 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: US Senate Quietly Approves $38 Billion for
Israel Amid Historic Economic Downturn
We must be the world's most stupid people. Allowing the government to abandon
its own needy people in order to clear the way for Corporations to reap huge
profits, taking food straight out of the mouths of the nation's own
impoverished citizens.
Carl Jarvis
On 5/23/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
US Senate Quietly Approves $38 Billion for Israel Amid Historic
Economic Downturn
S.3176 was passed without being named, debated, or even discussed,
even though it would set into law the largest such aid package in US history.
by Alison Weir
May 22nd, 2020
By Alison Weir
Menifee, CA (IAK) - The Senate Foreign Relations Committee quietly
passed a bill yesterday to give Israel a minimum of $38 billion over
the next ten years despite the ongoing devastation to the U.S. economy
caused by the coronavirus.
The bill - S.3176 - will now go before the full Senate. Since the
legislation has already been passed by the House of Representatives,
if the Senate passes the bill, it will then go to the president to be
signed into law.
The bill was passed by the committee under two unusual circumstances
and with almost no public awareness.
First, Senate Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-Idaho) refused to allow
a live stream of the meeting, despite the fact that the Senate Rules
panel had recommended that extra efforts be taken to ensure public
transparency while the Capitol is closed to the public and the
presence of reporters is severely limited. The Senate's Press Gallery
Standing Committee of Correspondents had objected strongly to Risch's
decision.
Second, the bill was passed without being named, debated, or even
discussed, even though it would set into law the largest such aid
package in U.S.
history. There has been no mention of the bill by most media in the
United States.
The massive package is particularly noteworthy in light of the current
devastation to the American taxpayers who will be footing the bill -
over
$10 million per day. In recent months approximately 30 million
Americans have lost jobs, 100,000 small businesses have already closed
forever, and over seven million are at risk of doing so.
The bill was voted on as part of a package of 15 bills that were voted
on "en bloc" (all together).
After Senator Kaine said he didn't know what the list contained, Risch
responded: "I'm not trying to pull anything here. this was circulated
among the staff."
Risch then rapidly listed the numbers but did not give the titles.
There was then a voice vote and the motion passed unanimously.
Democratic members of the committee had voiced strong objections to
blocking a live stream of the meeting because of a different agenda
item. After the meeting, Committee Ranking Member Robert Menendez
(D-NJ) released a video of the meeting.
None, however, voiced any concern for giving a massive aid package to
a country widely documented as a major violator of human rights.
Neither did any Democrats on the committee object to requiring
American taxpayers to give Israel what amounts to over $7,000 per
minute when many Americans are suffering catastrophic financial difficulties.
Democratic committee members Menendez, Ben Cardin, Cory Booker, and
Chris Coons, like many of the Republican members, are particularly
known for being under the influence of AIPAC and the Israel lobby and
receiving pro-Israel campaign donations. Many of the members are
co-sponsors of the bill.
The bill, entitled "United States-Israel Security Assistance
Authorization Act of 2020," expands and sets into law a memorandum of
understanding agreement signed by the Obama administration with Israel
in 2016. This agreement is nonbinding and not required by law. It also
set the $38 billion as a ceiling.
The legislation just passed by the committee would make this disbursal
legally required, and, in addition, it would make the $38 billion a
floor rather than a ceiling. In other words, the amount of money could
legally go even higher.
Given the power of the pro-Israel lobby, combined with the fact that U.S.
media are not informing Americans of this use of their tax money, the
likelihood is that U.S. money to Israel will go up in the future -
possibly even this year.)
Most Americans say they feel the U.S. is giving Israel too much money.
Israel has received more U.S. tax money than any other country - on
average, about 7,000 times more per capita than others around the
world.
The Council for the National Interest has posted a petition against
this year's installment, $3.8 billion. So far, it has been signed by
close to
2,000 people.
