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

Monday, April 12, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Monday, April 12, 2021

From the increasing sophistication of US intelligence/military contractor Palantir’s predictive policing programs to the formal announcement of the Justice Department’s Disruption and Early Engagement Program in 2019 to Biden’s first budget, which contains $111 million for pursuing and managing “increasing domestic terrorism caseloads,” the steady advance toward a precrime-centered “war on domestic terror” has been notable under every post-9/11 presidential administration.

.... And, while Facebook has long sought to portray itself as a “town square” that allows people from across the world to connect, a deeper look into its apparently military origins and continual military connections reveals that the world’s largest social network was always intended to act as a surveillance tool to identify and target domestic dissent.

  • Being on the Left Involves Losing a Lot by Nathan J. Robinson from Current Affairs. My reaction: So why keep fighting against corporations within the capitalist system? Better in the years to come to organize the fight against capitalism and for socialism, that is, the public ownership and control of the economy to serve social needs, not private needs of billionaires.
  • The FUNNIEST Russia-Gate Headlines Of All Time featuring Jimmy Dore (a comedian from his Rokfin video channel--58:35m) together with Aaron Maté from The Grayzone and Ron Placone hilariously reviewing numerous Russia-Gate headlines from major media corporations. 
  • Sunbeams From Cucumbers: The View From the Khanate of Kaganstan by Patrick Armstrong from Strategic Culture Foundation. (Note: This is mostly about the evidence of the ignorance displayed the Kagans (Robert Kagan, theorist husband and Victoria Nuland, operative wife) which are playing such a big role in the born-again Obama administration--the redux of the Biden administration.) My reaction: With Zionist players like this, what's to worry us? Except maybe a global nuclear war.
As the China-Russian-Iran alliance continues to gain new momentum spreading win-win cooperation and development across Asia, Africa and the World, the dying unipolar system run by detached militarists, financiers and technocrats is doubling down on its weird mix of 1) a “scorched earth” offensive threat to “dissuade” China and Russia from continuing on their current trajectory and 2) a “positive” green game on which nations are invited to tie their destinies as an alternative to China’s BRI [Belt and Road Initiative]. [my insertion]
  • Who Will Go Extinct featuring Prof. (retired) Guy McPherson on his YouTube video channel (2:38m) briefly stating what he has determined as inevitable in spite of human illusions that we are an exceptional species commonly found in mythology and religions.