At the midpoint of the 52nd Congress

 The Second Session of Patria's 52nd Congress (2·LII 2023-24) adjourned for the Northern Hemisphere Summer recess, following the traditional Annual Message delivered by the Speaker Pro Tem:

Om Sri Maha-rajñyai Namaha. With the Divine Mother’s blessings, the Fifty Second Congress has reached the midpoint of its term of office. 

Patria respects tradition, and one of the oldest traditions in this Congress is that the final act of the session be the ratification of the budget for the year to come. Just moments ago, this House ratified Patria’s fiscal 2025 budget in which, as in previous year’s budgets, billions of rupees are committed to public transit improvements such as purchasing new vehicles, repairing roads, bridges, railways and other transportation infrastructure, strengthening the network of electric vehicle charging stations and other incentives intended to reduce dependence on – or should we say – addiction to fossil fuel. When it comes to public transit in Castoropolis and Patria’s other major cities, this Congress is committed to going beyond the traditional state of good repair (what usually passes for such in Toronto) in which the current, often inadequate, level of service is patched up and maintained as is. Rather, we will move towards bringing about real improvements in cleanliness of vehicles and stations, on-time performance and other positive changes that even the most casual rider of buses, streetcars and subways cannot help but notice. 

Twenty eight years after the first Premyatra in December 1995 and on this day six months ago, this Representative of Patria embarked on Premyatra II. From Cochin to Kanyakumari, a most fantastic voyage, of which the main focus was Amritapuri, the home of the former House Leader of the now-disbanded Amrita Party. Among the highlights of Patria’s visit to South India was a special address to a joint session of the Lok Sabha and Congressus Patriaë on Jan. 10, 2024. After brief visits to Madurai, Trivandrum, Kanyakumari and Cochin, the final day of the Premyatra culminated in the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. At Amma’s ashram, Patria’s famed 108^th Battalion raised the Patrienish Tricolor over the backwaters of Kerala as the Battalion’s Colonel-in-Chief Hanuman took the salute. The Amrita Party has dissolved, but Amrita’s legacy continues, affirming the special relationship between the Inner Realm and Bharat Mata. 

On the front lines of the culture wars, let it be known that Patria will not cave in the face of woke mobs, particularly when it comes to so-called “trans rights”. Trans women are not real women, no matter how much the drugs and surgery make it seem so. Trans women have rights to public accommodations in hotels, trains and the like, even a right to “gender-free” single-occupancy public restrooms, but in Patria they do not have the right to be accepted as real women. Violence against trans women will never be tolerated and the cowards who perpetrate such violence will be vigorously prosecuted. But know this: in Patria trans women will never play competitive high school or collegiate sports against real biological women. Nor will real women be required to share locker rooms and other intimate or safe spaces with these mutilated former men. In order to achieve these goals, this Session passed the SAAB Act – Sex Assigned at Birth, not the Swedish car. The fight against the acceptance of trans-folk may not be the hill everyone in Patria wants to die on, but it sends the message to our friends in the macro- and micro-world alike: notwithstanding the sizeable number of Social Democrats and other leftist or progressive parties in this House, Patria is not woke and will never be woke! Let it become the call letters of a new radio station: PINW, Patria Is Not Woke. 

At the University of Castoropolis, University of Caesarea, University of Lazuria and at other campuses across Patria, “Free Palestine” encampments have sprung up, in what is the largest student movement since the creation of the SRM in the 1960s. Patria joins the macro-national movement calling for an end not only to the current war but also to Israel’s almost 60 year old occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. For many years Patria has called for the establishment of a free and independent country of Palestine. Patria supports the hoary old “two-state solution” that has long been rejected by Organized Jewry and the Israel right-or-wrong lobbies in the US. Hamas is not our enemy. Israel is not our ally. Nonetheless Patria says this war has to end now, as does the occupation and Israel’s decades-old subjugation of the Palestinian people. Israel has a right to exist, but only within the borders that existed prior to 1967. Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorist attacks but does not have the right to go to war against every man, woman and child in Palestine and to kill civilian non-combatants in violation of international law. Let Organized Jewry hate Patria. They can call Patria’s legitimate condemnation of Israel “antisemitism”. They can call Patria’s small Jewish community “self-hating Jews” for not being Zionists and not supporting the Israeli war machine right or wrong, but know this: Patria must be a safe place for Jewish anti-Zionist and dissident voices such as Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now. Patria rejects Israel’s assertion that the government based in West Jerusalem since 1948 acts as the voice of and in defense of all Jews worldwide. If Mr. Netanyahu intends to bomb Gaza to the Stone Age, Patria’s Jews say “NOT IN OUR NAME!” If the IDF storm troopers are committing genocide, ethnic cleansing and other war crimes in Gaza, Patria’s Jews say “NOT IN OUR NAME!” If the Jewish lobbies in the US attempt to conflate the spiritual practices of Judaism with the bloodthirsty nationalism of Zionism, Patria’s Jews say “NOT IN OUR NAME!” More than forty years ago, Congress passed a resolution recognizing an independent State of Palestine. From one unrecognized by First World powers state to another, can I get a “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE!?” 

As the midpoint of Patria’s Congress always occurs amid the US presidential election campaign, Patria says NO to both Sleepy Joe and Donald 2.0. While Mr. Biden might be fit to serve as a ceremonial head of state like the President of India, his cognitive decline has only grown since 2020 and is such that he is unfit for the job of President of the United States. Would you fly on an aircraft captained by an 81 year old pilot? Would you undergo surgery by an 81 year old surgeon? Of course you wouldn’t. Mr. Biden is simply TOO BLEEPING OLD! The less said about Mr. Trump and his legal predicament as a convicted felon, the better. Both are too old to handle the duties of the office and have serious age-related cognitive deficiencies. These two failing old men are one of the main reasons that Patria has enacted an age limit of 70 for all elected federal and precinct public offices. America’s Founding Fathers did not intend to establish a gerontocracy. For that matter, neither did the Preceptors of Patria in 1818. Patria does not endorse any candidate in November 2024, but Patria does believe that Americans should consider voting for a third party candidate such as RFK Jr. or Jill Stein. 

Under the power vested in me by the Constitution of Patria, I declare closed the Second Session of the 52^nd Congress, and call this Congress to re-assemble here on Monday, 16 September 2024, in order to open the Third Session of the 52^nd Congress.

Patria's Jews say "FREE PALESTINE!"

Patria is “where woke goes to die” as Congress adjourns

 The First Session of the Fifty Second Congress (1·LII 2022-23) adjourned for the summer recess at 10:13 PM (local time in Patria). The Sergeant-at-Arms brought down the gavel immediately after the traditional Annual Message to Congress was delivered by the Speaker Pro Tem. The speech doubled down on the message that has been propagated over the past three years of COVID and post-George Floyd racial reckoning: PATRIA IS NOT WOKE.

Following is the text of the Annual Message to Congress:

Om Sri Matre Namaha. With the Divine Mother’s blessings, the Fifty Second Congress marks one year in office. 

Earlier today, this House ratified Patria’s fiscal 2024 budget – traditionally the last act of Congress on the final day of the Session. As in previous years, this budget includes the necessary appropriations to build and improve Patria’s transportation infrastructure, support education from grade school to graduate school, maintain national defense in all branches of the military and fund new law and order initiatives. “Defund the police”? Not happening. Not at a point when crime – particularly violent assaults committed by mentally ill psychopaths who belong in institutions, not on the streets – is out of control. Indeed, you do not have to be a National Unionist to agree that there must be a stronger police presence on Patria’s streets and particularly on Castoropolis Transit buses and subways. 

In the past year, Patria has continued on its maverick path of progressive economic and social policies while rejecting the usual leftist orthodoxies, political correctness and of course “wokeness”. Again, say it loudly and say it proudly: PATRIA IS NOT WOKE! To paraphrase Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Patria is where woke goes to die. 

Why is Patria not woke? Because no objective and informed citizen of Patria can fail to at least question, if not completely reject, premises the American-style leftists and self-proclaimed progressives relentlessly promote:  

Human civilization is unsustainable. We are running out of fossil fuel. Burning fossil fuel will destroy the planet. Renewable energy is clean. Renewable energy is the only acceptable option. White people are inherently racist and enjoy unwarranted privileges. Math and the hard sciences are racist and male-dominated. The nuclear family is oppressive. People can choose their genders. Men not named Jean Drapeau can have babies, or can at least turn themselves into women through drugs and surgery. Not to mention that women can have penises. 

Each of these premises is not only false, but, had they been accepted, would have wreaked destruction on Patria. 

Yet these foundational lies inform every manner of mainstream public communications, from news, entertainment, education, and public policy debate, to social media discourse and search engine results. The truths that must replace these lies, in similar fashion, constitute the foundation of a resistance:  

Humanity can flourish. Fossil fuel does not create an existential threat to the planet, and though it is wise to use it efficiently and not needlessly waste it, there’s plenty of it. Renewable energy is not cleaner or more sustainable than fossil fuel or nuclear power. White people are not inherently racist. Providing equal opportunity to earn success in a colorblind society is the only equitable way to allocate privileges. Math and the hard sciences are not racist or sexist. The nuclear family with a father and a mother is the optimal way to raise children to become healthy, happy and productive adults. Sex is immutable and binary. Women give birth to babies, and men father babies. 

Is that clear enough? It is a relief and a breath of fresh air to hear anyone in Patria explain that we’re not all about to die in a climate cataclysm caused by human activity, that there are plenty of energy resources of which electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines are only a part, that prosperity is an eminently possible choice, that Patria has created the most inclusive society in the history of the world, and that it’s OK to be white, black, brown, or whatever, it’s OK to be colorblind, it’s OK not to want trans women playing competitive sports against real biological women and it’s OK to have a traditional family and teach traditional values and norms to your children. 

Wokeness – though usually associated with liberals and the left – has never been progressive in the slightest. It wants to fight discrimination with discrimination. It relies on coercion, censorship and cancellation to defeat its opponents. Its obsession with race only pits working-class people against one another. It does virtually nothing to improve the lot of ordinary citizens of all races, sexual preferences and genders. And that is why the divisive woke ideology has been rejected by the Social Democrats and all of Patria’s progressive parties. 

As the First Session rises for the summer, this House recalls the so-called “For You” or “Flashdance” summer forty years ago, the last mad fling of the Cold War in Reagan’s first term. Nonetheless the 42^nd Congress left Patria in a better place than it found it. Why such hedonism? Why such a lacking of spiritual or at least inward focus at this time in 1983? Just four words: it filled a need. 

This Session also has four words for those in both the macro- and micro-world who are unable to wean themselves from wearing masks (even when alone outdoors!) and continue to live in fear of a respiratory virus that did not justify the unaccountable, dictatorial, draconian measures taken almost everywhere in the macro-world three years ago and has now become a “learn to live with it” inconvenience like the seasonal flu or common cold: just let it go. Or we have moved on. Patria awaits the “Covid Nuremberg”, when those who advocated and enforced lockdowns and mask mandates will be tried for crimes against humanity or at least be called to account for children’s learning and social skills deficits, undetected and untreated cancer and other non-COVID diseases, spikes in domestic violence, drug abuse and alcoholism, small businesses that permanently shuttered, the proliferation of depression, anxiety and other mental health issues and the tragic rise in suicides directly attributable to the lockdowns. 

In previous years Congress would adjourn with a congratulatory message to the winner of Jim Rome’s Jungle Party Smack-Off. But this year’s 29^th edition of the Smack-Off is a week away, on Patria’s National Day no less. Good luck to all participants in Smack-Off XXIX as Patria will be listening on PMBC-1152 or on other AM radio stations on June 30. Speaking of which, let us note one of the key pieces of legislation passed by the First Session: Patria has ensured the survival of AM radio in all cars and trucks, whether gas or electric, by passing its version of the AM for Every Vehicle Act that is making its way through the US Congress with bipartisan support. 

Until we meet again in September, the House adjourns with a brief prayer: 

Twameva mata cha pita twameva

Twameva bandhushcha sakha twameva

Twameva vidya dravinam twameva

Twameva sarvam mama deva deva.

 

Kayena vacha manasendriairva

Buddhyatmana va prakriteh swabhavat

Karomi yadyat sakalam prasmai

Narayanayeti samarpayami.

 Under the power vested in me by the Constitution of Patria, I declare closed the First Session of the 52^nd Congress, and call this Congress to re-assemble here on Monday, 18 September 2023, to open the Second Session of the 52^nd Congress. 

HUMAN INTELLIGENCE DISCLAIMER: the preceding message was prepared, edited and delivered without the use of Chat GPT or other artificial intelligence.

Also today, Patria Post issued a commemorative stamp in memory of Baba Hari Dass, on his hundredth birth anniversary.

"Patria is not woke!" is the take-away as Congress adjourns

The Third Session of the Fifty First Congress (3·LI 2020-21) adjourned for the summer recess at 11:23 PM local time today. The Sergeant-at-Arms brought down the gavel immediately after the traditional Annual Message to Congress was delivered by the Speaker Pro Tem. The message ended with a reminder that despite being generally progressive and liberal on social issues and economic policy, with a plurality of seats held by Social Democrats, Patria is not "woke".

Following the the text of the Annual Message to Congress:

Mr. Sergeant-at-Arms, members of this House, fellow Citizens of Patria, on this day we rise to acknowledge that with the Divine Mother’s blessings, the Fifty First Congress has reached the three-quarter mark of its term.

 In keeping with Patria’s traditions and congressional protocol, the last act of the Third Session took place just moments ago – the ratification of Patria’s fiscal 2022 budget that – with support from all parties – will include almost a trillion rupees earmarked for keeping Patria’s transportation infrastructure in a state of good repair. 

And in keeping with a new 51^st Congress tradition, once again this final day’s sitting was paused for three hours in order to listen to Jungle Party House Leader Jim Rome’s Smack-Off XXVII, broadcast on PMBC-1152. Congratulations to Smack-Off winner Brad in Corona, his sixth Smack-Off title. 

One major legislative achievement of this session is the elimination of the gerontocracy, such as seen in the United States from Joe Biden to Nancy Pelosi. This House has ratified legislation imposing a mandatory retirement age of 75 for all public offices in Patria, from rat catcher to Speaker of the House. 

In this Session of Congress, as in the Second Session, Patria has considered the COVID-19 pandemic – or should we say “panic-demic” – little more than a bad flu season, like the Hong Kong Flu pandemic of 1968. Remind us again how long we had to wear masks in 1968. Remind us again how many small businesses were shuttered and how many social, sporting and other public events were canceled in 1968. Remind us again how long we had to forgo hugs and human contact in 1968. Remind us again how many cases of cancer and other deadly diseases went undetected and untreated in 1968. Remind us again how suicides, domestic violence, alcoholism, drug abuse, personal bankruptcies, obesity and depression spiked due to extended lockdowns in 1968. Patria has consistently said NO to government overreach and over-reaction, NO to unelected public health officers wielding dictatorial powers, imposing lockdowns, social restrictions and mask mandates. Alone against virtually the entire the macro-world and even the micro-world, who believed we could extra-constitutionally and unilaterally impose freedom-destroying restrictions and ultimately vaccinate our way out of COVID, Patria adopted herd immunity, put into practice the “Focused Protection” approach of the Great Barrington Declaration and allowed daily life for healthy citizens to continue almost unchanged even before a made-in-Patria version of the AstraZeneca vaccine became available, along with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. From grade school to graduate school, from ABCs to PhDs, schools in Patria have remained open. Not one day of in-person in-classroom instruction has been missed because of COVID. Not a single restaurant has been forced to limit itself to take-out because of COVID. Patria’s small family-owned businesses have not only stayed open during COVID, they continue to thwart the plans of Costco, Walmart and the other big-boxers to expand into Patria. Have there been, and are there still, cases of COVID in Patria? Yes, and the vast majority of these cases are mild, only slightly worse than a typical seasonal flu that can be treated by resting at home. Have there been hospitalizations because of COVID? Yes, and there is not a single emergency room or intensive care unit in Patria that has been overwhelmed beyond capacity due to COVID. Have citizens of Patria died because of COVID? Yes, unfortunately. But virtually all of these deaths occurred among elderly people living in nursing homes, long-term care homes and the like, as well as those already in poor health due to underlying medical issues or compromised immune systems. Only in a tiny handful of cases was COVID the primary cause of death. 

Patria rejects the privatization of the war on free speech, the downloading of government-mandated censorship and cancellation of politically incorrect and dissident online voices to private sector gatekeepers – particularly the tech giants, internet providers and social media major players such as Twitter and Facebook. Such private sector censorship or deplatforming is an end-run around the Constitutions of both the United States and Patria that enshrine freedom of speech – not limited to freedom of speech in ones home or in the pre-internet paper media and public square – as the most fundamental human right. 

For those snowflakes and SJWs who complain of micro-aggressions, oppression or so-called systemic racism (which, unlike real systemic racism such as Apartheid or Jim Crow, has never existed in Patria), whose feelings may be hurt by words and pictures, know this: government can protect its citizens only against physical harm. Not against hurt feelings. For protection against the latter, one must grow a pair of testicles or ovaries, and recall what your parents and caregivers taught you as a pre-schooler to respond to name-calling bullies: “sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me”. 

As the Fifty-Second Congress campaign begins in earnest this summer even before the opening of the Fourth Session, as Patria prepares to vote in April 2022, know this: from Social Democrats to SRM, all parties in Patria say NO to cancel culture. NO to the Thought Police enforcing extra-legal speech and thought codes from college campuses to corporate boardrooms. NO to the violent thugs of Antifa, an openly Marxist organization that neither speaks for the majority of the Black community in the United States or in Patria, nor in any way, shape or form, represents their best interests. NO to PC virtue signalling. NO to critical race theory, white guilt and “equity” over equality. YES to free speech, free thought, open debate and ALL LIVES MATTER, not only the black ones. As the summer recess begins, as Campaign 2022 rolls out, as the #Patriavotes2022 hashtag appears on Twitter, don’t be fooled by the number of seats held by Social Democrats in this House. Patria may be leftist or socialist in economic policy, Patria may be progressive in social and environmental policy, but Patria rejects Cultural Marxism and is NOT woke! 

And let us stay un-woke when this House meets again in September. 

Let us pause to remember the lives lost by suicide as a direct result of COVID-19 lockdowns in Canada, the US, UK and elsewhere in the macro-world, and the hundreds, if not thousands, of North American First Nations children who died of disease, hunger or abuse in residential schools and were buried in unmarked graves across Canada. 

Lokah samasthah sukhino bhavantu. 

Asato ma sad gamaya
Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya
Mrityor ma amritam gamaya.

Hari Om.  Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

Under the power vested in me by the Constitution of Patria, I declare closed the Third Session of the 51^st Congress, and call this Congress to re-assemble here on Monday, 20 September 2021, to open the Fourth Session of the 51^st Congress

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Campaign 2022 posters are beginning to roll out across Patria.

Election Day in Patria is April 16, 2022. As in previous election campaigns, you can follow the race for Patria's 52nd Congress on Twitter, using the hashtag #patriavotes2022

Congress adjourns at mid-term, invokes Sheetala's blessings to cure COVID

As the Fifty First Congress adjourned for the summer recess at the midpoint of its term, the Arati to Sheetala (click on above) was sung in temples throughout Patria as the Inner Realm continues to seek her blessings in order to find a cure for COVID19.

Patria is doubling down on herd immunity and COVID dissident voices as the Annual Message to Congress was delivered and the Sergeant-at-Arms brought down the gavel to declare closed the Second Session of the 51st Congress (2·LI 2019-20) and call lawmakers to return to the Capitol on September 21, 2020 for the Third Session (3·LI 2020-21).

Following is the transcription of the Annual Message:

Om Durga Uma Lalitha Bhavanye Namah. With the Divine Mother’s blessings and at the lotus feet of Amma Sri Karunamayi and Amma Amritanandamayi, the Fifty-first Congress has come to the midpoint of its term. The Second Session actually passed quite a bit of legislation and held some key debates from September 2019 until the first week of March 2020. And then the lamps went out all over the world, as the corona virus gripped both the macro- and micro-world in fear of another 1918 flu pandemic. Yet over the course of the Second Session, while the corona virus has proliferated throughout the macro-world, there have been only a few mala’s worth of serious cases of COVID-19 in Patria that required hospitalization and fewer than 108 mahasamadhis that were directly attributable to the virus. For the vast majority of Patrienish citizens who contracted it, COVID-19 turned out to be little more than a mild flu, if they had any symptoms at all.

For several weeks in March and April, as a lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 was imposed, Patria’s economy ground to a near halt. But the lockdown was called off not only because COVID-19 failed to become the deadly killer that the fear-mongers had predicted but because the social, economic and mental health costs of indefinite layoffs, furloughs and forcing almost everyone to stay at home as if under house arrest were far worse than the disease itself. Here on the floor of Congress, it was argued by the Social Democrats and SRM opposition alike that the goals of keeping the economy out of recession and allowing citizens to resume their everyday activities far outweighed the need to cower at home out of fear in order to feel safe from a disease that was having almost no effect on much of Patria. As Congress and the 13 Precincts declared an immediate end to the lockdown, the following points were made in favor of re-opening the economy:

• How many children should starve in order to make you feel safe?
• How many families must go bankrupt in order to make you feel safe?
• How many business owners should lose everything they've worked for in order to make you feel safe?
• How many people are you comfortable with committing suicide from hopelessness and financial ruin in order to make you feel safe?
• How many women and children should be victims of domestic violence in order to make you feel safe?
• When so many are trapped indoors, deprived of their usual exercise at their local gym, YMCA or other fitness facility, how many cases of heart disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes are you willing to tolerate in order to make you feel safe?
• How many cases of alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, anxiety and PTSD do you find acceptable in order that you feel safe?
• How many people have to lose their jobs, their life savings, and most important precious time with their family and loved ones they will never get back in order to make you feel safe?

Also, remember this – if the macro-world TV news had never told you to be afraid of this virus, you wouldn't have. You likely would have gone about your life as usual along with everyone else. You likely would have thought that this was just another type of flu. So remember, citizens of Patria and the macro-world alike, that all your fears and panic exist because you were told by the mainstream media to live in fear and panic, because you can’t spell pandemic without panic. Patria will not live in fear and panic. Patria will say “kevál estí grippí” – it’s only the flu. Patria will let the virus run its course among healthy citizens who are at low risk of serious or potentially fatal complications, while protecting those who are at high risk, particularly seniors in nursing homes and anyone with pre-existing health issues or weakened immune systems. Patria will advocate reasonable common-sense precautions such as frequent hand washing, while aiming towards the goal of herd immunity in defiance of the “experts” and “our betters”.

A little over a month ago, Patria had only four words to say to the COVID-19 Thought Police and fear-mongers: I DO NOT CONSENT. To that message, one more can be added: I do not consent to wearing a mask in public places. Unless you are actually sick, caring for someone who is sick, or work in a hospital, masks are of dubious value. Not wearing masks can be Patria’s simple act of civil disobedience, Patria’s answer to the so-called experts and authority figures. If the fear-mongers are correct and a second wave of COVID-19 really does happen later this year or early 2021, and should any precinct legislatures or city mayors attempt to impose another lockdown for the sake of the tiny one percent or less of the population actually at risk, Patria’s second wave will be a wave of satyagraha – non-violent civil disobedience inspired by Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., but for the most part leaderless resistance. Know this. There will be non-violent pushback to any kind of authoritarian government overreach. SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS.

If a second Great Depression is foisted upon us because of the corona virus, Patria is prepared to weather the storm. Amid the declines in the stock market, both Wall Street and the Castoropolis Stock Exchange, the Patrienish Rupee is still the most stable micronational currency. When the lockdown was abandoned in mid-April, trillions of rupees were saved that would have been paid out in unemployment benefits and business bailouts, and instead will flow back into the economy from the pockets of consumers. This has not gone unnoticed in the last act of the Second Session that took place earlier today, the ratification of Patria’s fiscal 2021 budget, albeit paused for three hours so that members of this House could listen to Jungle Party leader Jim Rome’s Smack-Off XXVI on PMBC-1152. Congratulations to the Smack-Off winner, Leff in Laguna.

Patria is not a safe place for status quo dishwater-dull moderates. Patria is not a place for incremental change or “nothing will fundamentally change” centrists. In the remaining two years of this Congress’ mandate, Patria must remain a safe place for dissident voices, for liberals who have been red-pilled to some extent by COVID-19, for populists who despise the elites, for politically incorrect iconoclasts and for those who thumb their noses at the leftist Thought Police while at the same time advocating a made-in-Patria progressive democratic socialism in which the violent thugs of Antifa and the discredited rabble who destroy statues of great leaders and monuments to our proud heritage are not welcome.

Far be it from Patria to endorse any candidate in a macro-national election, particularly for the US presidency. Nonetheless, Patria still “feels the Bern” and believes that honorary Patrienish citizen Bernie Sanders would have won in 2016 and should be campaigning for re-election today rather than being on the losing end of a battle with the Democratic National Committee, Wall Street plutocrats and the establishment powers that be. Joe Biden is the Hillary Clinton of 2020 and it will probably not end well for Sleepy Joe. Biden’s cognitive abilities have declined to the point where he is unfit for the job. His rambling, incoherent sound bites are not “gaffes” but clear displays of senility showing that he belongs in a retirement home, not the White House. American citizens living in the Inner Realm should not endorse the zero-sum binary game of US politics in which Republicans and Democrats are locked in a virtual duopoly, but should instead mail in their absentee ballots for a Third Party candidate such as the Green Party or a write-in vote for Bernie Sanders.

As Congress adjourns for the summer, let us pray: Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu and let us offer pranams to Mother Sheetala, who cures all infectious diseases. Jai Sheetala Mata!

Under the power vested in me by the Constitution of Patria, I declare closed the Second Session of the 51^st Congress, and call this Congress to re-assemble here on Monday, 21 September 2020, to open the Third Session of the 51^st Congress.

Patria rejects carbon tax as Congress adjourns

The First Session of the Fifty First Congress (1·LI 2018-19) adjourned for the [northern hemisphere] summer recess after protracted burn-the-midnight-oil debate on whether Patria should adopt a carbon tax. In the end, the tax was rejected thanks to heavy lobbying by the SRM and its conservative allies. Nonetheless, Patria remains committed to a made-in-Patria version of the Green New Deal.

As traditional, before the Speaker of the House whacked the gavel on the dais and the Sergeant-at-Arms blew the vuvuzela to declare the session closed, the Annual Message to Congress was delivered, as follows:

Sarvamangalya mangalye shive sarvartha sadhike, sharanye tryambake Gauri, Narayani namostute. With the Divine Mother’s blessings and at the lotus feet of both Amma Sri Karunamayi and Amma Amritanandamayi, the Fifty-first Congress has come to the end of its first year in office.

In keeping with Patria’s traditions and congressional protocol, the last act of the First Session took place just moments ago – the ratification of Patria’s fiscal 2020 budget. As a partial sop to the SRM and economic conservatives, and in order to keep the price of fuel affordable, particularly for anyone who prefers to drive rather than use public transit, this budget does not include a carbon tax. Such a tax, that would have added at least 12 Patrienish Rupees to the price of a litre of petrol but likely would do little – beyond a symbolic or virtue-signalling value – to protect the environment and would only force those in Patria who can least afford it – seniors, low-wage earners, families struggling to make ends meet, and small mom-and-pop businesses – to pay for the over-consumption of the US and other First World macro-powers, was voted down in this House albeit by a slim margin. Nonetheless, in order to encourage use of public transit, the budget includes increased funding for Castoropolis Transit and local transit authorities to purchase new vehicles, expand service and upgrade transit infrastructure.

  

Rather than impose another tax on those who can least afford it, this Congress believes that a better way to address climate change and help clean up the pollution caused by our addiction to fossil fuels is “make the polluters pay”. The costs of environmental remediation must be paid by the Big Oil plutocrats and the CEOs of amoral transnational corporations who have a far greater responsibility for runaway pollution and greenhouse gas emissions than single mothers or small businesses.

Carbon tax or no, Patria supports a peaceful, healthy planet and a made-in-Patria version of the Green New Deal that will move the economy away from dependence on fossil fuels and non-renewable energy. Since 2016, Patria has supported MAPS. In memory of Darcy Belanger – one of the leading movers of the Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary treaty, who lost his life in the Ethiopian Airlines B-737 Max crash in March of this year – Patria will redouble its commitment to MAPS. This treaty will keep military activity and commercial exploitation out of the Arctic Ocean waters and it is Patria’s hope that through Parvati and her team of dedicated devotees of Amma, more real-world macro-national governments will sign on to MAPS.

  

Along with Canada, Patria will pursue a ban on single-use plastic products such as straws, cutlery and shopping bags. These products are rarely recycled or re-used and while they may be easier and cheaper in the short term, they have long-term consequences for the environment. They already have been banned in a number of Patria’s cities and precincts. In 2020, this Congress will enact a Patria-wide ban. Be prepared now: if you drink from a straw, get a metal one. Bring your own cloth bag to the supermarket. Serve your family picnic or barbecue with real forks, not plastic ones. Friends of Patria, keeping needless plastic waste out of landfills and oceans is not rocket science.

  

As the Fifty-first Congress moves into its second year, Patria remains both democratic socialist and politically incorrect. Yes, this is possible. Patria is committed to democratic socialist ideals such as a living wage, single-payer health care for all and low-cost post-secondary education or apprenticeship training. At the same time, Patria says NO to the Thought Police, Cultural Marxists, self-righteous high-horse Social Justice Warriors and others who seem to proliferate on the so-called “woke” left doing everything humanly possible to destroy Patria’s constitutionally protected rights of free speech, open debate, freedom of association and lawful assembly for the purpose of peaceful protest. In Patria, in the 51^st Congress, the dissident and populist left can find a home. It is a home that Bernie Sanders would recognize but one that may not be friendly to easily-offended overly-sensitive snowflakes. It is a home where there are no so-called safe spaces and trigger warnings on college campuses. It is a home where physical assault by gutless cowards is a crime but not hurt feelings caused by lawful citizens exercising their constitutional right of free speech. And it is a home where the violent masked thugs of Antifa are not welcome, no matter how much they claim to be on “our side” or to be “progressives”.

  

In the First Session, Patria had a simple four-word answer to all the tired old horses that left the barn years ago and all the failed policies of ages past that keep getting trotted out and can’t seem to die: “we have moved on”. To the social conservatives who have not stopped trying to re-criminalize abortion, keep women in their place at home, bring back “1950s family values” and re-make Patria into a micro version of Red-State America: “we have moved on”. To dishwater-dull middle-ground centrist neo-liberals who cling to the status quo or at best “incremental” change: “we have moved on”. And to all those tired canards and lame proposals, many of which are leftovers from the last century, that will keep being dragged out over the next three years of this Congress or in the 2022 election campaign particularly by National Unionists, such as raising the drinking age to 25 or imposing dress codes and curfews on kids: “we have moved on”.

  

As heard earlier today on AM 1152 PMBC, Patria congratulates the winner of Smack Off XXV: five-time Smack Off winner Brad in Corona. While the Jungle Party is only a small player in the 51^st Congress, Jim Rome’s credo rings loud and strong throughout Patria: Have a take, don’t suck!

  

Finally, Patria congratulates the Toronto Raptors. Earlier this month the Raptors became the first team based outside the United States to win the NBA championship, in six hard-fought games against the heavily-favored defending champion Golden State Warriors.

And so the time has come; let us make a pledge to meet in September. As is traditional, this session is adjourned with a brief prayer, and a moment of silent reflection for those who have lost their lives during the course of this session as a result of war, terrorist acts, hate crimes or other senseless violence from Pittsburgh to Poway, Christchurch to Colombo:

  

Lokah samasthah sukhino bhavantu. Asato ma sad gamaya. Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya. Mrityor ma amritam gamaya. Hari Om.  Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

Under the power vested in me by the Constitution of Patria, I declare closed the First Session of the 51^st Congress, and call this Congress to re-assemble here on Monday, 16 September 2019, to open the Second Session of the 51^st Congress.

(the House adjourned at 11:55 PM local time)

On this last day of the congressional session, Patria Post released two new stamp issues, depicting both Ammas.

Third Session wraps for summer recess, Campaign 2018 is underway!

The Third Session of Patria's 50th Congress (3·L 2016-17) adjourned today for the summer recess. The traditional Annual Message summarizing the activities and achievements of Patria over the course of the academic/congressional year (as well as a de facto launch of the 51st Congress election campaign and Patria's bicentennial celebration in 2018) was delivered by the Speaker Pro Tem. The Fourth Session (4·L 2017-18) will convene on September 18. Transcript of the Annual Message to Congress follows.

Bhagavan Kripalu manelo sharane. Aavi ubho chun huñ to tava charane. Divine Compassionate One, my refuge, I have come to stand forever at your feet. As the Third Session of the Fiftieth Congress began, so it ends: with salutations and prostrations at the Divine Mother’s lotus feet. With Her blessings, the Fiftieth Congressus Patriaë has served three quarters of its term of office.

As per tradition, the final act of Congress prior to the summer recess is the ratification of Patria’s fiscal 2018 budget. Once again to the dismay of Republicans in the US and National Unionists here in Patria, this budget contains appropriate funding for health care, infrastructure improvements such as power grids and sanitation systems, which in some parts of Castoropolis within walking distance of the Capitol still date from the 1890s, public transit as the Castoropolis Metro celebrates its centenary as the capital’s subway system, education from grade school to university and specialized technical training, restoration of temples, shrines and other heritage public buildings, as well as the various social programs that conservatives of all stripes dread, but that nonetheless help make Patria a better place to be than the United States under Donald Trump.

As we know, Patria takes no position on macronational affairs such as Justin Trudeau’s broken promise of electoral reform that would have put an end to first-past-the-post in Canada and the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. Nonetheless, let it be stated once again that Patria had never officially endorsed either Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton and would not have preferred that Ms. Clinton – an evil, amoral one-percent plutocrat if ever there was one – had been elected to succeed Barack Obama. Mr. Trump’s election and the embarrassment, bluster, lies and deception that have ensued since his inauguration on January 20 are issues for the American people to deal with. Patria is merely a bystander, unrecognized by Rex Tillerson’s US State Department anyway. 

On the first day of this session last September, Patria ratified the Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary or MAPS treaty, intended to designate all ocean waters north of the Arctic Circle as a marine protected area free from natural resource exploitation, commercialization and military activity. MAPS is perhaps the best chance to protect one of the planet's most fragile ecosystems. It is Patria's goal that real-world macro-national governments such as Canada, the United Kingdom and even the United States will ratify MAPS in the near future. 

On February 13, Patria celebrated World Radio Day: a day that not only recognizes the value of radio in our daily life but serves as a call to preserve century-old terrestrial hertzian-wave broadcasting as an indispensible means of communication, particularly in times of war, revolution or natural disaster. In such times, it will be your battery or solar-powered radio – not your smartphone or tablet – that will serve as your essential source of news and information, beyond the reach of censors and impervious to power outages or collapse of the cyber-infrastructure. While lamenting the demise of international shortwave broadcasters, such as Radio Australia, which went dark at the end of January, Patria is committed to keeping AM or medium wave on the air as a vital piece of the broadcasting spectrum, providing full service and relevant made-in-Patria news, sports, entertainment and public affairs programming for all Patria. 

In the one year remaining in the 50^th Congress term of office, nationalism, populism, rejection of the elites and the plutocracy, as well as Patria First economic protectionism are far from taboo topics, particularly when advocated by the dissident left or alt-left. The streets and public squares, the halls of Congress, as well as the print and broadcast media in Patria will continue to serve as forums for non-violent dissident voices and unpopular or politically incorrect opinions. While remaining firmly committed to liberal social democracy, or democratic socialism such as propounded by Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn, Patria will not cave in to the politically correct thought police and cultural Marxists that proliferate among the mainstream or orthodox left. Patria was founded two centuries ago on the principles of constitutionally protected free speech, free thought, open debate, mature inquiry and peaceful protest. Cowardly attacks and assaults against anyone, motivated by a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, political views or any other factors, will be vigorously prosecuted and dealt with to the full extent of the law. But the fear that anyone can be harmed by thoughts, arguments, historical monuments or even song lyrics is laughable. The Inner Realm is not a safe space to hide from so-called micro-aggressions and it is not a place for overly sensitive, easily-offended, thin-skinned snowflakes, particularly on college campuses. 

On the other side of this summer recess: the campaign for the Fifty-first Congress – election day is April 21, 2018 – and Patria’s bicentennial celebrations. How Patria’s bicentennial – using the hashtag #Patria200 – will be celebrated over the course of 2018 remains to be seen and will likely evolve spontaneously with little or no official government planning or funding of so-called bicentennial projects. There will certainly be no micronational World’s Fair on the scale of Expo 67 and no visits from iconic macronational heads of state such as Haile “Lion of Judah” Selassie and Charles “Vive le Québec libre” de Gaulle, who were eager to be seen with Canada’s then-Prime Minister Lester Pearson half a century ago. No flotillas of tall ships as on the Fourth of July 1976. But know this: Patria will not be rocking a catchy kiddie-focused song to celebrate the bicentennial such as Canada sang for its centennial in 1967. Rather than “Ca-na-da” or “Ontari-ari-ari-o” [Ontario’s centennial song, “A Place to Stand”], Patria will celebrate two hundred years as a united federation by making a joyful noise unto the Lord, coming before His presence – and of course, Her presence – with bhajans, kirtan and the chanting of mantras. From Om Namah Shivaya to Hari Bol and Jai Ambe, and of course Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya, Patria will sing the praises of the Devis and Devas, as well as the Kripalu lineage, whose blessings have allowed this Inner Realm to grow and thrive since 1818. 

As per unwritten tradition, the closing of the Third Session marks the unofficial start of the election campaign for the new Congress. As the race for the Fifty First Congress gathers steam during the Fourth Session, Twitter will once again be the primary means of campaigning by all of Patria’s parties. In the months leading up to Election Day next April, you can follow the campaign @Patriavotes2018. 

For those souls who have passed out of physical body during this session, such as those murdered by evil Islamic State cowards in London and Manchester, England, let us say lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu. Let us make a pledge to meet in September and seal it with Amma’s kisses. Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah. Hari Om.

Under the power vested in me by the Constitution of Patria, I declare closed the Third Session of the Fiftieth Congress, and call this Congress to re-assemble here on Monday, 18 September 2017, to open the Fourth Session of the Fiftieth Congress.

"Jill not Hill" as Congress recesses at mid-term

Patria's 50th Congress (2·L 2015-16) reached the midpoint of its term of office. As Congress adjourned for the summer recess until September 19, 2016 (3·L 2016-17), the traditional Annual Message to Congress was delivered. Although Patria does not endorse candidates in macro-national elections, the address includes an unofficial endorsement in the US presidential election. And it's not Hillary!

The following is the transcription of the Annual Message:

Om vighna nashinyai namah. Adorations to the Mother who destroys all obstacles.  As the Second Session of the 50^th Congress began, so it ends: with salutations and prostrations at the Divine Mother’s lotus feet. With Her blessings, the Fiftieth Congressus Patriaë has reached the midpoint of its term of office.

Over the course of the Second Session, as had been the intention on Inauguration Day two years ago, a more liberal Patria has taken root. A Patria that has let go of the “safe place for social conservatives”, “modest dress for women” and other tired, lame cliché slogans and is open, ready and willing to be completely restructured around the Positive Possibilities that were first elaborated by the Amrita Party, Chakra Party and others in 2010 and that took root in Canada during this session when the election of Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister swept away the dark ignorance of the Harper era. While on the topic of Positive Possibilities, it is worth noting that Parvati’s new song I am Light that debuted in March continues to sell well and gain radio airplay in Patria.

As per tradition, the final act of the session was the ratification vote of Patria’s fiscal 2017 budget. This budget, passed just minutes ago, contains funding for the usual social programs, from free lunches for grade school kids to subsidized tuition for university and college students, that economic and paleo-conservatives, National Unionists and US Republicans decry as “socialism” and “tax and spend” handouts. But even National Unionists travel by train and wish to do so safely; thus the budget also includes sufficient funding to maintain and upgrade Patria’s passenger rail infrastructure, including the installation of Positive Train Control on all trains – from lowly milk-runs to the superfast express trains that link Castoropolis with the precinct capitals. 

The budget also notes that the Reserve Bank of Patria will take appropriate measures if necessary to prop up the Patrienish Rupee, should the value of Patria’s currency be dragged down along with the British Pound Sterling following the decision in the United Kingdom yesterday to withdraw from the European Union. Patria, of course, did not endorse either the “Leave” or “Remain” side in the UK referendum, but does support the right to self-determination and independence of Scotland and Wales, as well as micronations within the United Kingdom such as Sealand. 

Patria generally does not endorse candidates or parties in foreign or macro-national elections. But over the course of the Second Session, as America votes in November and US citizens in Patria take the necessary steps to register and obtain absentee ballots, Patria has been enthusiastically and fervently supporting the campaign of Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Party’s nomination as the next President of the United States. Although the window of opportunity has virtually run out for the Senator from Vermont as Hillary Clinton has now clinched – or should we say rigged – the party’s nomination, Patria nonetheless unofficially endorses Mr. Sanders should he decide to run as an Independent or Third Party candidate. Failing the opportunity to “Feel the Bern”, Patria will unofficially endorse Jill Stein of the Green Party and the battle cry of “Jill not Hill!” (or hashtag #JillnotHill) will reverberate throughout the Inner Realm going forward into the Third Session.

Of course Patria strongly hopes to see a woman someday be elected President of the United States. Perhaps Elizabeth Warren in 2020. Or Tulsi Gabbard  in, say, 2032. But not Hillary Clinton in 2016. Over the course of the primaries and caucuses from New Hampshire in February until California early this month, we often heard that Ms. Clinton is more “experienced”, having served as a Senator and Secretary of State as well as First Lady. Indeed, she does have quite an impressive resumé. But in 1856, James Buchanan had also served as a Senator and Secretary of State, as well as United States ambassador to Russia, and turned out to be arguably the worst President ever, who did virtually nothing to prevent the impending Civil War. We heard that Ms. Clinton “got more done” during her tenure in the US Senate, when in fact she managed to pass only three inconsequential pieces of legislation, such as renaming a post office. Compare this with some of Bernie Sanders' accomplishments over more than two decades in Congress – from treating autism in the military to getting tough on child labor and exposing corruption in the military-industrial complex – which he achieved by building unusual but effective coalitions with Democrats and Republicans alike. We heard that Ms. Clinton is more “practical”, “pragmatic” and has “more realistic goals” than Mr. Sanders. But America and indeed the macro-world can do better in 2016 than baby-steps pragmatism and “incremental” change. Know this: no one has ever changed the world by being practical, sticking to realistic goals or maintaining the status quo. Such a world, where those in roles of leadership are unable or unwilling to create real change, would offer little more than a dull, beige existence. It would be a world where Mahatma Gandhi would have become a moderately successful trial lawyer, Nelson Mandela would have died in prison and Martin Luther King Jr. would have been preaching to the Ebenezer Baptist Church choir. Finally, we heard that in the upcoming election in November, we must hold our noses or put on blindfolds and vote for Ms. Clinton as she is the “lesser of two evils”. Not only is this an extremely tired, lame cliché (as everyone knows, the lesser of two evils is still evil), but Patria could make a good argument that Ms. Clinton is more evil than Donald Trump. Mr. Trump is simply a blustering, overweight buffoon, like the late former Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford, who would make America a laughing stock rather than great again. But at least Mr. Trump is not a tired old member of the status quo Republican establishment like Jeb Bush or Mitt Romney. Ms. Clinton is not only as establishment and status quo as it gets but is an amoral billionaire who can earn more money for a single dinner party or speaking engagement than Mr. Sanders earns in an entire year, a one-percent plutocrat and corporate shill whose principles are dictated by those to whom she is beholden: the Wall Street corporate suits and banksters, Big Oil, Big Pharma, the prison-industrial complex and the war machine of the military-industrial complex. Even one of the Koch Brothers has come out in favor of a second Clinton administration. Ms. Clinton claims to be “liberal” or “progressive” but supported Barry Goldwater in 1964 while Bernie Sanders was marching on the front lines of the civil rights movement. She has constantly flip-flopped on issues such as same-sex marriage and has done virtually nothing to advance the cause of true liberalism or progressive democratic socialism. She has never met a war she didn’t like and counts among her close friends and confidants the tired old Cold Warrior Henry Kissinger. If your loved ones who joined the military and deployed overseas have returned to America in body bags, with missing limbs, or a lifetime of battlefield trauma, you can blame her support of George W. Bush’s war in Iraq. If your job has disappeared, offshored to Mexico or China, and you are unable to find a meaningful job that offers even half the wages of your old one, you can blame her support of NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. If you have been needlessly incarcerated for a petty, non-violent crime – or even no crime at all – you can blame her support of the failed war on drugs and the private prison industry.

With the belief that America can and must do better than either Mr. Trump or Ms. Clinton, as Jim Rome’s Jungle Party Clones await Smack Off XXII on July 1, and as Patria says lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu in memory of those who passed away earlier this month – Muhammad Ali, Gordie Howe and the 49 lives brutally snuffed out in Orlando, Florida – let us wrap up the work of this session. Going forward into the second half of the 50^th Congress and towards Patria’s bicentennial celebrations in 2018 let us move beyond our preconceived notions and attachments and open to the wonders of life. Gone, gone, beyond in the words of the Buddhist Sutra: gate gate pāragate pārasamgate bodhi svāhā!

Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah. Hari Om.

Under the power vested in me by the Constitution of Patria, I declare closed the Second Session of the 50^th Congress, and call this Congress to re-assemble here on Monday, the 19^th of September 2016, to open the Third Session of the 50^th Congress.

Jill Stein - Patria's unofficial endorsement to succeed Barack Obama as US President.

One year in office: 50th Congress adjourns for summer recess

The First Session of Patria's 50th Congress (1·L 2014-15) adjourned today, following ratification of Patria's fiscal 2016 budget. The traditional Annual Message to Congress was delivered as the last function of Congress immediately prior to the Speaker of the House banging the gavel and blowing the vuvuzela to declare the House adjourned for the northern hemisphere summer:

Om anavadyangyai namah. Salutations to the Divine Mother whose body is worthy of worship. With the Divine Mother’s blessings, the 50^th Congressus Patriaë has come to the end of its first year in office. This session ends as it began – at the lotus feet of Amma Sri Karunamayi. As the Speaker of the House, Amma Karunamayi has kept peace and order on the floor of Congress. As a sadguru, her teachings have been an inspiration on the path of Sanatan Dharma. As an incarnation of Mother Saraswati, her spoken words and songs have brought life and light to the soul of all Patria even as Stephen Harper’s henchmen or Canadian border security authorities, possibly acting on orders from Canada’s spy service, apparently turned her away as she was about to bless her Toronto children. Jai Karunamayi!

In keeping with Patria’s traditions and congressional protocol, the last act of the First Session just moments ago was the ratification of Patria’s fiscal 2016 budget. It is thus duly noted that over the course of this session, Patria’s economy has improved to some extent. By pure statistics alone, the unemployment rate has fallen even if the jobs that have been created are less than ideal: short-term, contract positions or joblets that only throw those who accept such positions back on the unemployment rolls in short order, while the so-called permanent positions are mostly sub-entry level, minimum wage and with little job security or possibility for advancement. To state the obvious, we are still very short of the full recovery that was promised in the election campaign of one year ago. But as we know, over the course of a quarter century since the Dharmic Revolution, Patria is committed to offering its citizens more than simply “recovery” or subsistence-level dead-end jobs, while cutting “waste” or “gravy” in order to appease the bean counters, elites and plutocrats. This is why the austerity of the 49^th Congress, presumably in response to the global economic downturn that began in 2008-09, proved to be such a failed policy. As Amma recently said, “if the economic advancement of a nation fails to ensure well-being and happiness to its citizens, it should be assumed that there is a serious flaw in the process”. Whether a superpower like the United States, an emerging power like India, or an unrecognized micro-state like Patria, a nation’s growth should be measured in more than the numbers of its gross domestic product. To quote the Amrita Party leader again, “money alone cannot ensure happiness, which needs ethics and cultural values. Otherwise, it would be like putting makeup on a dead body”.

Along with the trillion-rupee economic stimuli, funding for social programs and the other components of a compassionate, progressive realm, the budget ratified today also includes appropriations for the celebration of “Ramrajyavarsham 200”, Patria’s bicentennial celebrations in 2018. On this day, one of the official bicentennial logos for the local and national celebrations has been released (and is viewable above).

As the 2014 election campaign sent the message that Patria would no longer be a safe place for social conservatives, Patria has indeed turned away from Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan and other mostly imported-from-America voices that would have taken Patria back to the 1950s rather than into the second decade of the twenty-first century. The tired war horses and hoary talking points of the social conservatives, such as opposition to same-sex marriage or advocating modest dress for women, are fading from Patria’s public squares and AM radio airwaves. Those who continue to push for restricted access to abortion, marriage only between a man and a woman, or abstinence-only sex education in grade school will prove to be on the wrong side of history, in Patria at least.

As the social conservatives were in retreat in 2014-15, the law and order conservatives have also become increasingly irrelevant over the course of this session. Nothwithstanding the National Union’s unrelenting push for mass incarceration, longer prison sentences, three-strikes-you’re-out mandatory life sentences for repeat offenders and a return to the death penalty, resistance is growing in Patria to the US-style prison industrial complex, also known as the “new Jim Crow”, filling cell blocks with mostly non-white males who – in America at least – become a permanent underclass, denied the right to vote and often virtually unemployable long after their release from prison. This session has taken action to ensure that privately operated for-profit prisons, whose bottom line is a steady supply of small fry caught in the failed war on drugs, must not proliferate in Patria.

Along with banning private prisons, Patria has said no to the literal definition of a police state – a state with a visible police presence on the street, where the police forces of major cities and even suburbs constitute an unaccountable above-the-law armed force equipped with more deadly firepower than the real Army. Wearing a badge and carrying a gun do not make police officers above the laws they are tasked to enforce. The police must not become a privileged elite corps or gang of bullies accountable only to themselves. No one in Patria – and certainly not in America – should be naive enough to believe that “if you are not breaking the law you have nothing to fear from the police”, or that simply having white skin will protect them from being falsely arrested, jailed without charges, bullied, beaten or even killed in cold blood by rogue police officers.

Even as Congress adjourns, the Jungle Party caucus awaits its most anticipated day of the year: the 2015 Smack-Off. Much of Patria will tune in to the Jim Rome show tomorrow, in Castoropolis on PMBC AM 1152, or will listen via Jungle Insider, to find out if Mike in Indy and Chael Sonnen can defend their shared king of smack title and take home the winner-take-all $5000 cash prize, and if not, whether the new Smack-Off champion will be a previous Smack-Off winner such as Brad in Corona, a sitting member of the Jungle Party caucus or a potential representative in the election of 2018.

And so the time has come; let us make a pledge to meet in September. As is traditional, this session is adjourned with a brief prayer, and a moment of silent reflection for those who have lost their lives during the course of this session as a result of war, terrorist acts, disasters or senseless violence, from Nepal to Charleston, South Carolina:

Lokah samasthah sukhino bhavantu.

Asato ma sad gamaya

Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya

Mrityor ma amritam gamaya. 

Hari Om.  Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

Under the power vested in me by the Constitution of Patria, I declare closed the First Session of the 50^th Congress, and call this Congress to re-assemble here on Monday, 21 September 2015, to open the Second Session of the 50^th Congress.