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

Thursday, May 27, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Thursday, May 27, 2021

  • Today I received this newsletter from LifeSiteNews.
  • Fact Checkers Take A Beating On Lab Leak Theory featuring Jimmy Dore of The Jimmy Dore Shows channel on YouTube. (Note: Dore goes on an appropriate rant about ruling class "fact-checkers", censorship practiced by ruling class corporate media, and both of their records of contradictions. He also puts Matt Taibbi, a journalist, on the podcast to comment on this subject.) My reaction: It's only realistic to assume that the consolidation and concentration of wealth, which is a core feature of capitalism, also gives the rich control over all of mainstream media--as well as all other institutions. Taibbi essentially explains that all the issues related to this subject can be explained by "politics". This is a shorthand way to obscure the problem of issues. Social-economic class conflict is the root cause of most social-economic issues, which is a recognition that class matters, and that a particular issue is a conflict between the rich ruling class and the working class. This view is verboten in capitalist USA.
  • The U.S.' latest COVID-19 lab leak theory push is a distraction by Andrew Korybko from CGTN, a major Chinese online news website. (Note: Now that the ruling class has suddenly shifted its main enemy from Russia to China--because of the stupendous rise of China as an economic powerhouse--in a major effort to prevent a powerful Russia-China combination, Korybko sees major problems for ruling class propagandists to fool Americans once again.)
  • The US Empire Is A Self-Reinforcing Trauma Factory by Australian Caitlin Johnstone and narrated by her American husband. (Note: Now that the billionaire ruling class has gotten rid of the upstart and unauthorized (by them) Trump, their propaganda efforts through their media corporations focuses on rampant crime in American to counter the defund-the-police movements.) My reaction: The American audience is being played (manipulated) once again.
  • Statement of NEO Editorial Board from New Eastern Outlook. My reaction: This another ironic example where "the [Empire's propaganda] pot calls "their enemies'" kettle black" (def.). I received this message when I tried today to access Middle East Observer's website.
  • Self-Reinforcing Feedback Loops #18 through #20, Climate-Change Summary by  Prof. (retired) Guy McPherson, an independent (independent of the ruling class) scientist who has for many years focused on the climate crisis, from his YouTube channel (04:24m). (Note: In this podcast McPherson cites a number of peer-reviewed studies that focus on the disappearance or the alteration of ice on both polar regions that contribute to the destabilization of our climate.)
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