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, February 22, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Saturday, February 22, 2020

Because of my concern for your mental health in contemplating the imminent disappearance of our human species (and most others), I am beginning today's posts with humor and satire, followed by outstanding posts regarding the climate crisis and other subjects.)
  • Mike Bloomberg Is A Russian Asset by Bernhard (Germany) from his weblog Moon of Alabama. (Note: This is a spoof on media corporations and their Russiagate type coverage.)
The most optimistic assessment I know of suggests that decarbonizing the planet’s energy systems would cost, up front, $73 trillion dollars ....
Power is the ability to control what happens. Absolute power is controlling what people think about what happens. Humans are story-oriented creatures, so if you can control the stories that the humans are telling each other about what’s going on, you can control those humans.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Thursday, February 20, 2020

One likely wouldn't be able to understand the Middle East conflicts without this journalist. And one wouldn't likely understand this article without having following events closely in the Middle East for over 30 years. Capitalists of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire have viewed this region, which is rich in fossil fuels, as a strategic factor in their obsessive desire to rule the world. 
Ordinary Americans, coping with rising inflation, particularly health-related costs (see the next posted article), and tenuous employment do not have the time to understand even the details of this long history. They are focused on surviving. In this vacuum of understanding, Americans, and others throughout the Empire, have also been brainwashed on a massive scale by media corporations, Hollywood films, and schools to believe that their countries were fighting terrorism in the Middle East.
Americans have been the target of the transnational capitalist Empire as much as nations in the Middle East. Although they have been manipulated by home grown terrorism perpetrated by agents of the Empire, Americans and other ordinary people in the nations of the Empire have not suffered terrorism on a much larger scale--terrorist Jihadi armies. These were organized by agents of Empire and their allies,  and suffered by nations in the Middle East who have opposed the Empire. And, Americans don't understand the devastating effects of economic sanctions on the lives of ordinary people in the Middle East.
However, for those Americans, who have had the time and followed closely the events in the Middle East from more independent sources for the past many decades, this article is priceless toward their understanding of the current scene today in that unfortunate region.
There are growing concerns within the party apparatus and much of the corporate elite that wins for Sanders in Nevada and South Carolina could set him up for victories on Super Tuesday that would make his nomination unstoppable. The response of the corporate media and the party establishment has been twofold: to promote the candidacy of Bloomberg and launch new political provocations aimed at derailing the Sanders campaign.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Wednesday, February 19, 2020


(Note: This is a re-post of a 1977 article by Bernstein that made into Rolling Stone Magazine which represented a more militant, anti-establishment media organization that was gradually disappeared by the efforts of the same CIA and other media corporations. 
Those were the days when activists were really challenging the ruling class! They are beginning to appear again among those who have discouraged by their experiences in carefully managed elections (also see this). Back then even Congress tried to stand up to the secret, unaccountable spy services. Idaho's Sen. Frank Church vigorously defended the public's right to know and aggressively attacked several secret agencies during his years in office. Incidentally--or maybe not--he lost his next election and died conveniently a few years later at the age of 59.
The CIA went on to infiltrate media corporations in the USA and throughout the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire, and co-opt journalists like Alsop. With the 9/11 false flag operation the ruling capitalist class intimidated Congress so much that they caved in completely to the military-industrial complex. Meanwhile the ruling class persecutes real journalists like Julian Assange. This is where we are today.
  • Revising the history of WWII by Lucas Leiroz from Brics. (Note: Revising history is increasingly necessary to serve the interests of the Neo-fascist US/Anglo/Zionist Empire.)

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Posts that I especially recommend today: Tuesday, February 18, 2020

(Note: BlackRock, the largest investment managing company for the transnational capitalist ruling class, is supposedly going "green". But BlackRock is also the "biggest driver of climate chaos you've never heard of." Although it is too late to be concerned about the environment, maybe it's a good thing that capitalists are starting to wake up. But it isn't. As Mark Kramer admitted "The problem is, investors don’t read sustainability reports.", and I think that this was probably an announcement that was written by their public relations department. Also read this and this.)