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

Friday, December 20, 2019

Posts that I especially recommend today: Friday, December 20, 2019

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Posts that I especially recommend today: Thursday, December 19, 2019

  • Washington’s Refined Art of Torturing China May Ignite a War by Andre Vltchek from New Eastern Outlook. (Note: I found striking similarities in travel experiences with that of the author who is nominally an American journalist (in essence a citizen of the world). I experienced the same phenomenon in my short trip to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in about 1983 that he experienced in his travels in Russia in the early years of Yeltsin rule and more recently in China: the notable effect of Western propaganda on the citizens of Russia and China.)

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Posts that I especially recommend today: Wednesday, December 18, 2019

  • The News Churn Memory Hole: How The MSM Lies Even When Telling The Truth by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog. (Note: She sounds exasperated, but keeps plugging away at exposing the truth in the face off overwhelming presence of fake news and gaslighting (def.) furnished by corporate media. Other individual voices have tried to do the same--click on links to access their latest efforts: like satirist C.J. Hopkins and humorists like Lee Camp and Jimmy Dore; truth tellers like Bernard of Moon of Alabama, Eric Zuesse, Eva Bartlett, Vanessa Beeley, Abby Martin; whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, and persecuted whistleblowers like Julian Assange and Chelsea/Bradley Manning. But nothing seems to change.) 

Monday, December 16, 2019

Posts that I especially recommend today: Monday, December 16, 2019

Note to readers: Change of policy

Many times in the past I've made clear that humans face two fundamental threats to their existence: one from a catastrophic nuclear war brought on 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 to this general subject.