We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

‘You don't end up elected president of the US without being a fast track insider’

Click here to access article featuring an interview with Joachim Hagopian by the Muslim Press.

I often see capitalism as organized crime in which a relatively few highly organized "owners" of our economy have taken nearly complete control of our country and much of the world. Although it is still too soon to determine with confidence, the evidence is mounting that suggests the election of Trump signals a more aggressive criminal element of the capitalist ruling class has taken control of our their country.
Joachim Hagopian: What I meant calling Trump "an insider" is the fact that he was born into a wealthy family with a silver spoon in his mouth, receiving an Ivy League education (University of Pennsylvania). When the Donald was a mere lad in his mid-twenties, he met his mentor Roy Cohn who as the quintessential insider essentially owned New York City. Cohn was the high-powered, ruthless attorney who represented Senator McCarthy during the McCarthyism reign of terror in early 1950's America as well as the consigliore attorney representing all five heads of the infamous NYC mobster families. Trump became a real estate tycoon who for years used Cohn as his personal attorney, mentor and steppingstone ladder to making countless deals with New York mayors, mobsters and top Wall Street banksters.