America Has a Problem
And the calls have been coming from inside the house ⌛ It's a Retro Fixation
Retro Fixation is the dedicated series of our enchantment with the past, which will always undeniably resurge since history has a habit of repeating itself. So step back on this journey below into a parallel time interval.
Robert DeNiro as Conrad Brean, “we’re not gonna have a war. We’re gonna have the appearance of a war.”
Keeping with eerily similar actions of the 1997 black satirical comedy, Wag the Dog by Barry Levinson, America currently has some mimicking disasters at the expense of the American people. Many food factories and plants have been exploding across the states. The Arizona truck spill (carrying nitric acid) and numerous train derailments carrying hazardous chemicals spilled onto the streets (the latest derailment was merely days ago near Detroit in Van Buren, Michigan). Coincidentally, the train was operated by Norfolk Southern, the same train company at the center of the Ohio crash that spilled dangerous chemicals like vinyl chloride.
When burned, vinyl chloride, a carcinogen, releases chloride (high enough to cause asphyxiation) and phosgene— a toxic gas used for pesticides. Notably, it was also used as a weapon during World War I— as it was a much stealthier weapon: it’s colorless, and soldiers did not at first know they had received a fatal dose via Science History. America has a problem; the calls still come from inside the house.
Whether purposeful or not, sinister ecological and chemical warfare is yet to be determined— if it ever truly will. However, there’s something suspiciously invisible going on, perceptible but not seen— it’s just an eerie and inexplicable feeling I haven’t been able to shake for some time. Perhaps my intuition and attention to detail of repeated patterns helped me realize the truth throughout the years, especially toward the U.S. government. Or maybe my inner saboteur is fully relishing in her conspiracy-theorist era. Still, this is America we’re writing about; her distorted and shameful history is repeatedly being whitewashed and gaslighted at the hands of congress and alphabet agencies.
I was young and impressionable during the tumultuous Bush administration, all the lies being spoonfed to the masses as we know more now than we were told. Dubya’s “Weapons of Mass Destruction” is permanently etched in my brain, along with “misunderestimated,” but it was the cavalier attitude in Bush admitting their blatant lie.
“So what?” — President George W. Bush, responding to ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz, who pointed out that Al Qaeda wasn’t a threat in Iraq until after the United States invaded. The interview took place in Baghdad, and followed the famous incident in which Iraqi reporter, Muntazer Zaidi, hurled two shoes at the President.
You can read the entire 2008 transcript in the archives via ABC News.
Instead of disclosing or informing Americans that then-Vice President Dick Cheney previously served as CEO of Halliburton and even profited from selling oil pumps to Iraq through a subsidiary. Or that then-POTUS Bush Jr. previously served on the Board of Directors at Harken Energy Company. We certainly weren’t told that Iraq’s 112 billion barrels of oil made ten percent of the world’s national reserves— all nationalized— is egregious destabilization. This doesn’t even cover the continuation of Nixon’s racist and expensive War on Drugs that each President inherited as the appearance of war surged as Americans were wildly distracted by the fear of terrorism and war. This led to Machiavellian looting, a free-for-all divided among countries like Russia, France, and Britain— and a giant leap toward global privatization of a vital resource. While big heads like the then-Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, said in a February 2002 address that it was “utter nonsense,” except we now know that Iraq’s once-booming economy was centered around oil. Retaliatory attacks were presumed from both sides as prior economic sanctions had already greatly deteriorated Iraq’s economy and infrastructure since the ‘80s— when the U.S. illegally sold arms to Iran. Like the previous administrations, drug money funds alleged war and terror because that’s fundable. Below are just a few patterns that came to mind.
Obama: Iraq War, Nuclear reactor loans, East Coast drilling, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP oil spill, Wall Street reform, Chemical weapons in Syria, Government shutdown, Russian sanctions due to “cyberattacks intended to interfere with the U.S. election,” and the highest number of deportations dubbing him, “Deporter in Chief.” The growing synthetic opioid epidemic continues as prescription stimulants like Adderall usage grow. Domestic terrorism continues.
Bush Jr: 9/11, years-long Iraq War, heroin usage rampantly rose among Americans as fields of poppies were cultivated in the Middle East, prioritizing invasion for
oil“Weapons of Mass Destruction,” leading Afghanistan to become the world’s largest producer of opium. The number of opioid synthetic and stimulant drugs like methamphetamine usage skyrocketed among white Americans. Claimed domestic terrorism rises.Clinton: the first terror attack at the World Trade Center in New York City, The U.S. Navy attacks Baghdad, the Battle of Mogadishu, domestic terrorism like the Oklahoma City bombing, NATO strikes on Serbia, Missile strikes on Iraq, U.S. Embassies bombed in Kenya and Tanzania, news reports of an affair with Monica Lewinsky, retaliatory attacks on Iraq, House votes to impeach Clinton, Clinton being acquitted, NATO attack on Serbia, synthetic drugs like OxyContin and other painkillers are created— leading an ongoing opioid epidemic which is still an ever-present grim reaper disguised as healthcare is the commodification of health while big pharmaceutical companies still cash in.
Bush Sr.: involvement in Iran Contra— including a 1992 pardon, Panama invasion, Persian Gulf War, and War on Drugs as cocaine and crack were introduced to American communities— the latter specifically targeting the Black community in California to raise millions to support the agency’s clandestine operations in Central America which we know now as CIA-Contras, Crack, Cocaine in an explosive exposé by the late reporter Gary Webb.
Reagan: Military buildup, Star Wars program, Suicide bombers attack Lebanon before the invasion of the island nation of Grenada, Sanctions on Poland, Embargo on Nicaragua against the Marxist Sandinistas, illegal sales of arms to Iran, Iran Contra, Cold War, War on Drugs— as cocaine usage and entry to America grows.
“Change the story, change the lede.” — Robert DeNiro as Conrad Brean, Wag the Dog. Distractions are rampant as the U.S. is on the precipice of an internal civil and international war as the hysteria of the opioid crisis’ third wave continues and seizures of Fentanyl rise.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid analgesic similar to morphine but 50 to 100 times more potent. Like most drugs, it was created as a synthetic opioid in the early ’60s and has been used in hospitals for cardiac and vascular surgery since then. Rising again as a cheap street drug due to misuse and abuse since 2013, it’s now everywhere and cheaply abundant on the streets of America, with accidental overdosing expanding— which includes the legendary artist Prince. The 45th POTUS declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, yet there hasn’t been concrete action, not even from the Biden administration. While reportedly, some drug supply comes from Mexico, reportedly from the Sinaloa Cartel through traffickers, and the rest reportedly originates from China— according to a 2017 public report from the Congressional US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
This criminalization is out of the Presidential handbook, acknowledging and condemning a drug epidemic to vilify its usage in its real internal culture wars centered on race and the impoverished— as congress rake in their alleged profits from insider trading and other criminal behavior. Despite advocates’ pleas not to stigmatize the substance like congress has toward any other targeted drug of the decade, efforts to control fentanyl have led to other more powerful than fentanyl substances like nitazenes (ISO) and Xylazine. I’m not a political activist, expert, or pundit, but I’ve had an annoying interest in politics at a young age. I’ve noticed the pattern of literal repeated history is fascinating to my conspiracist brain trying to piece that something big is imminent as my partner in any political discussion was my Abuelo. He was so well-informed and a C-Spann fan, and although he tended to be more centrist than I’d like— he kept up and stayed tuned into the politics. Much to the chagrin of my familia, they now hear my thoughts on the sociopolitical climate or, as I tend to sometimes, drop in my musings throughout Youthquake, like, when I wrote in Vulnerable Hours #203 back in June last year.
The disconnect of surviving the endless capitalistic enclosures during such daunting times with gas and grocery prices skyrocketing, continual mass shootings in America, and Russia continuing its deadly invasion of Ukraine— is horrifyingly growing globally. As Congress continues to implode or idly do nothing while being bankrolled by the NRA, insurance companies, big pharma, and the oil industry, or delve into insider trading to notice Americans are on the verge of another civil war.
Promptly, nearly a month after a top Biden military four-star Air Force general sent a memo on Friday, January 27th, to the officers he commands that he ‘predicts the U.S. will be at war with China within two years. U.S. General Mike Minihan’s ‘prediction’ to his officers was sent to the media that America should gear up for a potential war with China in 2025.
Within days, there were reports of UFOs as undetected objects were being seen around Billings, Montana, which initially seemed like a scene from Jordan Peele’s Nope. The Pentagon later labeled it a “Chinese spy balloon,” as allegations of spy balloons from both China and America ensued as each had extensive aerial surveillance programs as continual distrust grew over the past years. Coincidentally, this spy balloon was miles from Malmstrom Air Force Base, which stores nuclear weapons— a shootout with a “Chinese spy balloon” before America’s biggest sporting spectacle, Superbowl Sunday, is unequivocally the kind of American that right-wing America fawns over during their 4th of July, BBQs of unseasoned chicken with casseroles. Except our constant Imperial arrogance and ego leave us shortsighted, as China is far more advanced in its weaponry, with an electromagnetic ‘supergun’ aboard a warship which was reported back in 2018. Of course, all of the tragic and hazardous distractions and blatant bait-and-switches are meant to keep us sick in line as we wait with bated breath what the Biden administration will say about the matter.
Creating a somewhat controlled panic with bloated military budgets while procuring profits around military invasion seems much sooner than what Americans are being told. The economy is floundering, with many companies near bankruptcy, yet more crucially— poverty increases. I’m too nervous to ask aloud what is going on or what will happen, as Americans are overindulged in lies parallel to the sold lies on terrorism. On the heels of President Joe Biden signing a bill to block U.S. railroad strikes, he also signed the Fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act into law allotting $816.7 billion to the Defense Department; both were signed in December— one month before the, as mentioned above, U.S. General Mike Minihan’s ‘prediction’ of war with China. Mirroring the U.S. invasion and destabilization of Afghanistan with “Operation Enduring Freedom” on October 7th, 2001, President Bush signed the Patriot Act on October 26th, 2001.
The Act enabled investigators to gather information when looking into the full range of terrorism-related crimes, including: chemical-weapons offenses, the use of weapons of mass destruction, killing Americans abroad, and terrorism financing.
Usually, it takes a hell of a lot longer to pass a bill— the sudden urgency meant something was afoot with prior knowledge. Of course, the much bigger picture we know aside from the invasion was for oil “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” We also know now that this sudden law was the first of many changes to surveillance laws— making it easier for the government to spy on Americans in our data-driven world.
As the news is still breaking on the train derailments, Norfolk Southern earned $4.23 billion last year on stock buybacks. Conversely, they’re offering the citizens of East Palestine, Ohio, a measly $1,000 per affected person upon contractual signage— ‘inconvenience compensations,’ as birds fall from the sky and fish lifeless in the unsafe drinking conditions for its residents expand in the explosion aftermath. Then there are the 45th’s political pawns, like far-right conspiracy theorists and Cruella DeVille knockoff Marjorie Taylor Greene who continually stoke the fires for a ‘National Divorce.’ Most Americans know this previously occurred and was called the Civil War, which was centered around greedy profits and enslavement— which is still ongoing but hidden and swept under the rug, as most unpleasant atrocities that America indulges in, by way of the U.S. industrial-prison complex.
What are all these chaotic and somewhat coincidental disastrous events happening as such big news breaks? Even prior Presidents like Jimmy Carter— whose ineffectual administration left the man so despised after his presidency has been quietly restoring his image in publicity stunts with Habitat for Humanity. It’s the same as when the Royals visit food banks is akin to celebrities visiting soup kitchens with cars full of cameras for exposure and image currency. The narrative of Carter’s legacy and each following President experiences the same gentle and caring PR image makeover with assistance by media OP-EDs, articles, and even bots online to show their affinity for their ‘misunderstood’ administrations to slowly erase the passing time. A refashioning, as they continue with life in a somewhat public sector with book deals, tours, and do-gooder work— aside from the 45th POTUS. Most notable and blatant is George W. Bush’s reinvention from wildly despised nitwit is now akin to the likes of Mr. Rogers and Bob Ross. However, he’ll always be an embarrassing Texan and alleged war criminal who will not have peace like every other President, as Americans are only told what congress and alphabet agencies want us to know.
🧊 Pop Culture Cold Brew Roundup
Pop culture moments are inevitable whether we engage; celebrity speculation is a full-fledged spectator sport to us, regular folks, with mindless pop culture nonsense— escapism is well-deserved. Here’s the pop culture round-up we can’t get away from— or enough of, seemingly.
Adele and Ed Sheeran have reportedly declined offers to perform at King Charles’ coronation concert, how embarrassing for the establishment.
P!nk continues to live in the past as she harbors stale resentments toward alleged previous 00s nemesis Christina Aguilera— as she has a new album and tour to promote with defensive Twitter fingers. Pink, known as Alecia Beth Moore, has obvious internal misogyny with her ‘I’m not like the other pop girls’ schtick. Meanwhile, she started her career being a vulture of Black culture for profit and fame. Girl, let that resentment go and heal.
Billionaire and Wendy’s chairman Nelson Peltz’s shady history isn’t new. Now he’s being sued in a new lawsuit, as texts between nepo baby Nicola Peltz-Beckham continue to shine a light on the actress’s alleged abusive behavior toward employed staff or “the help” as they’re called— the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as reported back in 2009. However, the clincher is Hunter Biden begging for an interface with Nicola for a rebound via Radar Online. The absolute drama of the affluent guest lists because of petulant behavior is exactly what we’d expect— like Kendall Roy’s birthday on HBO’s Succession.
Letting us down by answering Kris Jenner’s call— Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, known as Bad Bunny, has been seen with the least interesting KarJenner. I’m not as bothered because it seemed inevitable, although the tweets have been entertaining throughout.
As of late, I’ve been indulging in documentaries— mostly political which oblige my discontent with American politics as I like being off the grid lately. Not entirely, though, because it’s still America, and surveillance and data collecting are ever-present.
As my Letterboxd suggests, I’ve been watching a mixture of first-time watches— currently watching The Murder of Fred Hampton doc on HBO (which is longer than the version I watched on Prime Video years back), Shrinking on Apple Tv+, and Harlem Rising on Peacock. I’ve also been watching documentaries on the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance— I’m completely all in a documentary vortex.
Con Amor,
Naomi x