Americans invented a word for bribery so it would stop sounding like bribery.
They called it "lobbying."
A pharmaceutical company that spends $300 million purchasing the votes of legislators who will then block drug price regulation is not, in American law, corrupt.
It is "civically engaged."
A defense contractor that pays a retired general $500,000 a year to advocate for weapons contracts, contracts the general previously approved from the government side, is not a conflict of interest.
It is "private sector expertise."
A senator who receives $2 million from the insurance industry over a career and votes against universal healthcare every single time is not bought.
He is "fiscally responsible."
The genius of American corruption is not that it is hidden.
It is that it is legible, documented, publicly filed, searchable on the internet, and still not called what it is, because the people who would name it are the same people cashing the checks, and the people watching it happen have been trained to call it "democracy."
At least when a Nigerian official takes a bribe, everyone in the room knows what happened.
In Washington, they hold a press conference about it.
An IDF statement issued yesterday stated a 14 year old boy was shot dead in the West Bank on Monday, because he planned to throw stones at them. Not threw stones, PLANNED, to throw stones.
This is Zionism.
For the first time in history, a massive wave of people across the US, Europe, and Australia are challenging decades of unconditional support for Israel.
From the very base of Israeli settler colonialism, more people are demanding justice for Palestine, and that gives me hope.
Mice got a mild covid infection that never reached the brain. No inflammation, no neuron loss. Every check you'd run came back clean. Two weeks on - fewer synapses in the memory region, more amyloid. The protein that builds up in Alzheimer's🧵
How is the Israeli engineering of death in Gaza not currently leading @abcnews TV bulletins?
We've seen the footage of what Palestinians are currently enduring, not all surviving, and it's fucking Nazi level shit from Israel.
Morrison’s deal. Albanese’s commitment. Our bill.
AUKUS will cost every Aussie $1 every day, for 33 years. Including kids.
The independent public inquiry says scrap the submarine plan. I agree.
It’s a very expensive way to make Australia less safe and waste public money.👇🏽
CRITICISM OF ISRAEL, ITS LEADERS AND ITS CRIMINAL GENOCIDE IS *NOT* ANTISEMITISM!
Works of art and literature that engage with these issues are not antisemitic!
To claim that they are, displays a level of irrationality that would lead to a fail at both the secondary and tertiary levels of education.
On the rise of antisemitism in Australia https://t.co/LPZUfEiRnx
@JasonClareMP why don't YOU support 79% of Australians?
Jillian Segal’s school curriculum changes will backfire – Jeff Loewenstein https://t.co/auWarHwzA2
Dental visit. My practitioner is the practice owner.
When I asked how things are going: 'You know what it's like, everyone's sick all the time so I have to pick up more hours.'
Sadly, the new normal.
Note: they wear an N95 for me & I get first appointment of the day.