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

Saturday, August 4, 2018

Recommended articles for Saturday, August 4, 2018

  • AngloZionist attack options against Iran by "The Saker" from his website A bird's eye view of the Vineyard. I think when the author makes this political observation about how our ruling class regards Trump, he is right on target.
It appears that the Neocons have a basic strategy which goes like this: “we hate Trump and everything he represents, but we also control him; let’s use him to do all the crazy stuff no sane US President would ever do, and then let’s use the fallout of these crazy decisions and blame it all on Trump; this way we get all that we want and we get to destroy Trump in the process only to replace him with one of “our guys” when the time is right“.
The coming period will see many expressions of growing working-class resistance to exploitation and inequality. These struggles can only succeed if workers understand that they are confronting not just one company, union or government, but the entire capitalist system, whose basic operation is predicated on the continuous suppression of workers’ wages for the enrichment of the financial oligarchy. [my emphasis]

Friday, August 3, 2018

Who spews the most propagada MSNBC or Russia Today?

Listen and view Jimmy Dore on his show berate corporate media coverage and reveal that people such as Ed Schultz, Phil Donahue, and others were told what to say/write and not what to say/write; and if they didn't comply, they were fired. Dore contrasts these honest journalists and news anchors with corporate flunkies like Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes.

(By the way, I think Bernie Sanders was in on the game with the Democratic Party. He performed well his function as sheep-dog herding the "progressives" into the safe corral of the Party so that Hillary Clinton could ultimately benefit. Notice that he has not been expelled (fired) from the Party, and apparently finds it a comfortable home.)




(Thanks go to an activist who alerted me to this video.)

Recommended articles for Friday, August 3, 2018

Thursday, August 2, 2018

NATO’s “News Hero” – #PropagandaWatch

Click here if you wish to access the video below (via YouTube) and show notes from James Corbett's website. (Some editing done at 3:25 PM CT to amplify my views on fascism.)

Corbett is running a series of the most outlandish pieces of propaganda that he can find on the internet. This one is hilarious and its origin is from a source that identifies with NATO.

However, what I insist is that nearly all "news" reports (like 95%) from ruling class sources (mainstream media or corporate media) are designed to shape your thinking (propaganda) about major events both domestic and international to conform with, or support, the interests of the Empire's transnational capitalists. Because Trump as a business man is mostly looking for opportunities to enhance the bottom line (profits) of "America Inc" (national capitalists), he has been the target for much of the recent propaganda issued by media owned by the ruling class. It seems that the directors of the Empire can't get over the loss of their candidate's (Hillary Clinton) presidential bid in the last election and that many Americans voted the wrong way in spite of their tremendous efforts. You can be sure that this will never happen again.

I've noticed this trend of propaganda replacing hard news taking shape over the past several decades. Of course, capitalists have always had a major influence on news reporting, but nowadays it has sunk significantly deeper into the Orwellian swamp of pure propaganda. And, this post by Corbett provides an excellent, although rather extreme, example. (You may need to wait some seconds for this video to appear on your device.)

  

Our Empire masters have stayed with this traditional strategy of liberalism (the ideology of capitalism) by promoting the fake propaganda of contemporary version of "liberalism", a largely political and social propaganda construct, that is irrelevant to the interests of our masters in the capitalist ruling class. The latter don't really care whether you identify as homosexual or transsexual who sometimes uses the "wrong" bathroom; likewise, they don't care if a black face is elected president who is willing and able to serve their interests. But, they do care if you (especially if you manage to reach a significant audience with ideas or information inimical to their interests) advocate actively ideas that limit in any way the capitalist system's prerogatives of property ownership. Likewise the ruling class uses all sorts of methods to control their legislative and other legal bodies to make and enforce laws in order to promote their interests of profit and power at the expense of workers.

Fascists want to eliminate all of that fake apparatus of democracy. Fascists still use propaganda to promote their imperialist agenda but it has a slightly different character: it encourages obedience to authority, militarism, and patriotism. They mainly rely on the use of force or the threat of violence against those who differ from them. With the enactment of the Patriot Acts, the 24/7 surveillance of Americans, the FISA courts, the establishment of secret services (CIA, NSA, FBI, etc), the practice of censorship, and police violence against resisting minorities, our ruling masters have gone a long way down the path of fascism. Racism is now passé (they tried targeting Muslims, but this didn't fly very well), instead the ruling class authorities refer to the USA as an "exceptional nation" which can ignore all international agreements and norms of behavior. Above all, fascists promote the interests of property owning capitalists, but without all the pretenses of "democracy", elections, civil liberties, freedom of the press, and the rule of law. 

Our ruling class masters are discovering that it is increasingly difficult to maintain such fakes practices. Hence, I'm convinced, unless they are stopped by a revolutionary movement, the day will come when our capitalist masters will drop all their pretenses and implement pure fascist rule without all the pretty trimmings. That is one of the main reasons why I refer to the current practice of capitalist rule, also known as liberalism (classic), as pre-fascism.

The IMF is back in Argentina

Click here to access an interview with Eric Toussaint, international debt specialist, conducted by Sergio Ferrari posted on Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt.

While describing the details of the recent IMF loan to Argentina, Toussaint also provides an excellent illustration of the Empire's transnational capitalist orientation--privatization of profits and the socialization of debts.

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

If the economy is so good, why are wages flat?

Click here to access article by Pete Dolack from Systemic Disorder

Dolack explains why wages are so flat in spite of the abundance of reports in ruling class media that things are rosy for workers. Read the article to see how he reaches this final conclusion:
The hyper-competitive nature of capitalism, under which our labor is a commodity, can’t be altered; at best through massive effort reforms can be achieved until the next wave of attacks commences. As long we continue to fail to question the world economic system, our conditions will only worsen.

Heatwave 2018 explained - BBC Newsnight

Posted by BBC Newsnight via YouTube

Because of numerous heat waves and other symptoms of dramatic global warming such as wildfires, and freak weather, I've noticed this summer a rather dramatic increase of concern about the effects of global warming expressed through mainstream media websites. The lack of reporting in the past is in sharp contrast to what alternative and independent sites have been reporting for many years (for current reports see this, this, and this). 

It seems that the capitalist ruling classes can no longer ignore or downplay this threatening trend, and must reassure or "explain to" the public that the capitalist authorities recognize the problem and by using a careful selection of scientists, to suggest that the authorities have it under control. Meanwhile, through independent and alternative sites, scientists and other experts on climate are increasingly describing these trends in terms of dramatic climate destabilization within decades and likely leading to the extinction of humans.


Monday, July 30, 2018

Recommended articles for Monday, July 30, 2018

The Salisbury Bookshop Sketch

Click here to access article by Rob Slane from his website The Blogmire. (Thanks for this hilariously satirical post go to an activist in northwestern Oregon.)

Slane has re-written the dialogue from an old Monty Python sketch back in 1968 and updated it to target the recent reports of poisonings in England that were broadly and sensationally reported by Western media. Could it be that the Empire propagandists were trying to draw attention away from the World Cup soccer games in Russia?
The door of a bookshop opens and in walks Mr Roderick Praline, played by John Cleese. He walks over to the counter and rings a bell. A moment or two later the owner of the establishment, played by Michael Palin, enters nervously from a door behind the counter.