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

Sunday, February 14, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend today: Sunday, February 14, 2021

The expert began her presentation by indicating that the “concrete base” of Operation Condor was in Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet after the overthrow of Salvador Allende in September 1973. Plan Condor and Operation Condor were launched by U.S. intelligence services. 
Operation Condor included three phases designed by the FBI (U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation) and with input from the CIA (U.S. Central Intelligence Agency). They were aimed at “finishing off all the important exiles abroad in each of the Southern Cone countries”, she explained. 
Included in this scheme was the training of Latin American military personnel at the U.S. Southern Command and the meetings of the U.S. Armed Forces. This “ensured the dependence of our region”, she affirmed. Referring to the founding of the Condor Plan, she said that it took place on November 25, 1975 in Chile at the invitation of General Manuel Contreras, head of the Chilean political police DINA (National Intelligence Directorate) with the participation of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
But this US/Anglo/Zionist Empire's subversion of nations continues today especially in Belarus, Russia, Myanmar, and China under the banner of "human rights".
  • Conspiracy Theories Are Caused By Government Secrecy by Australian Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog. My reaction: She writes: "All the fixation on the way unregulated speech on the internet has contributed to the circulation of conspiracy theories conveniently ignores the real cause of those theories: government secrecy." I would go further: If government agencies and their collaborators in media corporations did not intentionally lie about their actions, there would be no need for conspiracy theories. It is secrecy, censorship of independent media, and deception that necessitates the appearance of conspiracy theories. Clearly, more Americans than ever before are mistrustful about information released from government sources and media corporations. There is a distinct feeling that they've been lied to so much in the past: the assassinations of JFK, ML King, RK, Malcolm X, the Vietnam War, 9/11, War on Terror, etc.
  • The New Normal requires a NEW Response by Catte Black and Vanessa Beeley from Off-Guardian (based in Britain). (Note: You will to know what PTB means--the Powers that Be--I hate such references to the ruling capitalist classes. "Elites", "the rich", "billionaires", or "oligarchies" aren't much better.) My reaction: People are beginning to get impatient with their governments' management of this pandemic.
  • Climate-Change Summary featuring Prof. (retired) Guy McPherson (via YouTube) summarizing the science which indicates abrupt climate change (via YouTube).