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

Messages to my readers (all)

Many times in the past I've made clear that humans face two threats to their existence: one from a catastrophic nuclear war brought on by the by mostly the transnational capitalist class in the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire; and two, a longer range problem due to the operations of the capitalist system which is well on its way to destroying our ecosystem that supports humans and so many other species. Previously I have limited all posts to one month from the current date, however because the second threat to our human existence moves more slowly (although it is picking up speed due to its accelerating momentum), I've decided to remove this requirement from posts related on this general subject.

I was not born with a gift for writing, but over time I think I have achieved a reasonable level of competence. I learned much from George Orwell whose essay about five rules plus one I have tried to follow. I try to write for people who have at least some advanced education or who have read somewhat widely about political and economic affairs. Because 40% of my readers are from foreign countries and their language skills are not primarily in English, I will sometimes provide links to definitions especially when using words that have many meanings or phrases that are common American expressions (slang)--which I try to avoid.

I especially appreciate people notifying me whenever they spot a significant error or a clause that is ambiguous or simply doesn't make sense. In such instances notify me, Ron Horn, immediately via email at goatmeal36@yahoo.com, and let me know if you wish to remain anonymous for the correction. Otherwise I will credit you on the edited post, and probably with your name.

The "categories" section is not ideal because once a writer uses a category, they cannot be easily changed because of the nature of Google website software. One has to go back to each article and change categories. For example, for several years now I would like to use the category "Syria"; but because the conflict there started so slowly beginning in 2011, I lumped articles pertaining to Syria under the category of "Mid-East". Once I realized the importance of Syrian affairs and wanted to have a separate category for this, I would have spent many hours changing each previous article to the new category. Because of this, it may be more useful to use keywords (for example, like "Syria" or "Syrian Kurds") in the search engines to find what you are looking for on my website. On the other hand, if you wish to obtain my views on various subjects, I recommend that you use the category "best posts" which often, not always, includes my commentaries to obtain a "best post" rating.

In early 2019 I began to list articles that I "especially recommend", and this needs some explanation. I especially recommend articles after I have perused a number of articles each morning that are from sources that I deem credible and of geopolitical significance. The articles recommended are my selection from a total of around ten times the number of articles from credible sources that I've read or scanned on the World Wide Web. This new type of post illustrates my declining energy as my old age advances. Thus in the future you will see fewer posts that include commentaries which are time and energy consuming.

Late in 2019 I gave up on a revolutionary solution to the fascist rule of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. I am sorry to announce this but I simply can't deny the overwhelming evidence any longer that our species are doomed to extinction. Thus, in December of 2019 I changed the name of my weblog from "Surviving Capitalism" to "Surviving Capitalism (Not)". I am finally convinced that our skies and oceans are so loaded with carbon and other greenhouse gases that we have already closed the door on surviving capitalist destruction of our Earth's habitat which can support humans and so many other species. In the time remaining for me (due to advanced age) and this weblog, I will be concentrating on understanding how this catastrophic situation was brought about.

12/19/2019: I have in the following four posts and three sections, entitled "A Revolutionary Model" describes what I believe to be the mostly likely to succeed proposal for a positive revolution in the USA.  Part 1 explains the assumptions that inform my revolutionary proposal; the second and third posts deal directly with the proposal, and finally the fourth post focuses directly on the reactionary measures we might expect to threaten such a movement and the preparations we need to cope with such methods.

I don't want to give the impression that by this proposed model, I am somehow an enlightened being (this fits so well with the authoritarian mindset of most Americans) who deigns to give you a revolutionary proposal. I offer this as only an example of what is necessary to overcome the extinction of our human species. The Earth's humans will ultimately decide the fate of themselves.

I, for one, am convinced it's too late. But, I am not an expert of the climate crisis. I have followed the science of climate studies over the past five decades to arrive at this conclusion. I have discovered with the creepy feeling that scientists, too, especially those in employed in privately owned industries or the government, are subject to mind engineering by capitalist agents. I think it's too late, and I doubt that I will work on this proposal in the future. 

In any event, the following revolutionary proposal needs improvement and updating. I especially invite others to contribute suggestions to these posts.  Part 1 Part 2a Part 2b Part 3


On January 14, 2020 I announced that in the future I would be placing more emphasis on articles which addressed the climate crisis and less emphasis on exposing the lies issued by the Empire from their media corporations. However, this change of emphasis was soon overtaken by the covid-19 pandemic declared the World Health Organization of the UN. Since then I had had to place more emphasis on what appears to be a conspiracy by the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire's ruling class to coerce people into accepting severely restrictive behaviors dictated by the corrupted World Health Organization (corrupted by Bill Gate's billions) and motivated by the Great Reset project of the Empire's ruling class. 

December 1, 2020 update: Due to advanced age, I haven't been able to keep up with all the machinations of the capitalist ruling class who have lied to us, manipulated our minds with psy-ops, and rewrote our history to serve their interests of power and profits. I can no longer keep up the schedule as I have been for sometime, but I will continue to do the best I can. I've decided to post articles that I deem very important throughout my day as I discover them and as my energy holds up. Thus, I won't post all articles once a day, but as I come across them. 

April 11, 2021: In reviewing my last entry, I noticed that I didn't follow the change in my former plans (above). Old habits persisted and I returned to the previous routine of posting articles and some commentaries around 1 PM CT after working on them from 6:30 AM. But recently I have had a significant change in my health (see the post dated April 11, 2021) which necessitates a change in schedule to no schedule. Previously I've entered daily posts except for one day a week (usually Saturday). I will now post articles and occasional commentaries only sporadically until further notice. 

Update on my note of April 11, 2021: As you can see, if you are steady followers of my website, I have been able to follow my old schedule following my loss of balance around April 1. I will continue to follow this old schedule with interruptions due to medical and dental appointments which in the future I expect to interfere with my daily routine. I've been taking most Saturdays off from this routine to catch up on tasks from my daily life. This will continue. And, I will take days off when I simply don't feel well enough to review and post entries that I consider very significant. Thus, in the future, you can expect more frequent interruptions in the daily posts of recommended articles.

Briefly regarding my health, I've recovered about 75% of my physical balance, and I notice that I tire rather sooner than before when I engage in routine activities. This is to be expected as I approach 85 years of age.

6/20/2021 update: I am abandoning the use of "labels" or categories (except "best posts") as of today to further lighten my labor load in my almost daily task in continuing this list of essential articles and commentaries. Labels do not seem worth the extra effort. You are encouraged to use words or phrases, which I think are much more useful, in the search engines on my website. I've recovered about 90% of my physical balance, but I notice that I tire rather sooner than before when I engage in routine activities. This is to be expected as I approach my final expiry date.

1-3-2022 update: I will continue my efforts at reducing my time maintaining my website by reducing the number of posts that I scan (50 at present) from which I list posts that are especially relevant. This change will likely not happen in today's aggregated post because I've had a long weekend to work on it. But after today, this will put more of a time burden on my readers to search out other articles of their interest. I will also need to ensure that my "recommended" websites/weblogs, located on the right-hand side of my website, are maintained and up-to-date.

3-27-2022 update: I have not succeeded in reducing my time on my weblog mainly because of the war in Ukraine. I regard this war as a "mother" of all battles to sustain the de-facto US/British/Zionist Empire in their struggle to prevent the integration of the European economies with Russia. To the directors of Empire, this was intolerable and would result in alienating European governments, which they have carefully nourished and subverted, into the protection of the Empire. This became a major threat to the Empire as the completion of the Nordstream 2 pipeline drew near and its likely approval by the German government. 

Early in 2022 this "mother" of all battles in the Ukraine began, which was engineered by the Empire, to topple the ruling regime in Russia by their steady encroachment of NATO bases next to Russia and especially the Empire's support of the Nazi regime in Ukraine. The Russian public is terrified of the Nazis which wrecked so havoc on their nation in WWII. The directors of the Empire knew that this Nazi regime would be a dire threat to Russia that would provoke a Russian invasion of Ukraine. This would, in turn, cause to frighten European leaders and their populations that they needed NATO to protect them from the Russians, and its end result: to prevent Europeans from integrating their economies with Russia. Should this not happen, this would constitute a turning point in the growth of the Empire and their goal to rule the world. (Read my articles here and here, and this has been recently confirmed (confessed) by a Columbia U. professor in his book Tomorrow the World.)

Since the Summer of 1918, I experimented with occasional "Recommended" articles, but I continued this practice entirely in late December of 2019. I don't recall when I started with my essays. (In late 2009 I began with my website with list of articles that shed some light on current problems experienced in a capitalist nation such as the USA.)

In short, I cannot keep this pace. In the future, I have decided to revert to my previous format to write occasional essays interspersed with a list of article recommendations. It may not be a full list because in the past I often have been perusing about 50 of them every morning. And I will be focusing more on the war in Ukraine because I suspect this outcome will determine all others affecting the imperialist dominance of the de-facto US/British/Zionist Empire. 

4/25/2022 update: Because I've noticed feelings of resentment and mistakes while recently working on my website, I am reducing my posts to original essays that I will be able to post about once per week (this is just an estimate) any day of the week including Sundays. This new policy is partly due to my declining stamina in my old age (approaching 86). Thus, you will be able, if you want, to access my website only occasionally, but you may want to access my website for research purposes. For example, you may want to access my articles in February of 2014 and beyond in which I closely followed the events in Ukraine.

This change will require more of you to exert greater efforts to keep up on accurate news. I advise you to follow my recommended websites (on the right-hand side), or if you prefer, to follow websites/weblogs that you have found to be of particular interest in the past.

5/1/2022 update: My unfinished contribution to a revolution (I will no longer be working on this--what's the point?)

Unfortunately, we live in a capitalist society which means that individual families are competing for influence and advantages of wealth. The capitalist ruling classes have attained so much power with their ownership of fabulous wealth that they think that they are invincible. They think they will use naive ordinary humans fight to the death to protect their system from being overthrown as they are doing today in Ukraine. They are the masters of deception, and they have used their tools of deception to deceive most of us to go along with their agenda to acquire ever more dominance and control. The capitalists have destroyed societies and the ecology of our mother Earth with their deceptions.

This was a fundamental insight that Margaret Thatcher, the fanatically useful tool of British capitalists, articulated with her dictum: "there is no such thing as society, there is only individuals and their families". I'm sure that she was well rewarded for her efforts. It is unfortunate that humans have not been able to grow out of their infantile belief in families and extended families before the climate crisis really sets in or wars will end in the disappearance of humans in a final nuclear war.

Also, the ruling capitalist classes of the dominant capitalist empire (the de-facto US/British/Zionist Empire) refuse to give up their top-dog status on our unique planet Earth which caused both crises--destruction of our planet's ecology and constant wars. This truth is obvious in the war in Ukraine where they are determined to use gullible ordinary humans to fight to the death for their powerful Empire that provides the capitalist classes with so much wealth and control over the rest of us.

After more than 12 years, this essay finally ends my work on the "Surviving Capitalism (Not)". I will do my best to maintain updated recommended websites/weblogs to the right of my website.

5/21/2022 update: I thought about recent changes regarding my emphasis on my list of "My Recommendations: Weblogs/Websites" and I decided to move it to the main page, from the right-hand side, to facilitate readers who view my website on their smartphones. Thus, I have moved it from the right-hand side on my website to the main page, and this will be my main work until further notice. I expect that "My Recommendations" will change occasionally and only a little.

The only exception will be that I added Global Research to my list of "My Recommendations" because I felt it worthwhile for those who don't have time to read other items on my list. Global Research, a Canadian website, is an aggregated website (def.) that offers current posts of items that they consider of special interest regarding fundamental issues of our time. This is one I can recommend--the only exception being that Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, who is the administrator of this website, is mistaken regarding the subject of abrupt climate destabilization ("climate change") which he, in the years past, considers as a "hoax". On this topic, which his selected posts address very infrequently (especially since the recent and conservative IPCC reports came out) is sadly mistaken; but on other fundamental issues facing humanity, his selected posts are very worthwhile.

7/3/2022 update: I have discovered that my new format is best given my advanced age and limitations. I have focused on honest independent websites to keep you informed during this age of ubiquitous propaganda and censorship of real news. 

I peruse these websites in addition to about 10 others, but the changes I have made do not list articles that impressed me. By "peruse" I mean much for superficial reading of these articles. I have made almost daily changes to my monthly listing of recommended websites for you to follow. I post the monthly lists early in the month, but so far I have made almost daily changes to clarify, add additional websites, and other edits to my monthly lists. These daily changes throughout the month won't be specified in my edited updates. Thus, you will need to occasionally refer to these monthly lists. I will transfer the lists from the updated previous month to the new month early in the month.

1/7/2023: I decided to list websites that I have used in the past without recommended articles for two reasons: 1) The post was unwieldy and lengthy; and 2) I have not been able to check all the websites. Keep in mind that I am only providing websites that I have found in the past to be reliable for sources of information and analysis of world events. I cannot include all of the growing list of reliable sources. I have nearly 50 listed and additional visual posts from YouTube. I have decided to limit posts. In consideration of the latter, I will need to drop website posts when I add further reliable posts.