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, August 26, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Thursday, August 26, 2021

Note: I am planning a first road trip to the US east coast probably immediately after Labor Day, September 6, from my home in southern Minnesota. (Most of my adult life was on the west coast.) If any of you regular followers would like to meet me on this road trip, I will try to accommodate you in my itinerary. The arrangement would at least consist of meeting over a beverage of your choice at a location near you or at your home. Please contact me if this interests you at my email address: goatmeal36@yahoo.com.  Ron H.

Now that the FDA has given full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, policy makers anticipate government agencies, universities, and private companies will start ramping up vaccine mandates. Even before Pfizer’s FDA approval, vaccine mandates were rolling out across the country. But who is liable for injuries that arise from COVID-19 shots? RT America’s Trinity Chavez explains, then Michael Bixby attorney at Levin, Papantonio and Rafferty weighs in.
  • Propaganda Today: How US created Taliban & al-Qaeda, and behind Afghanistan war profiteering by Ben Norton from The Grayzone. My reaction: Although Norton harps throughout his spiel about the military-industrial complex (he refers mostly to the "belt-way bandits"), but the summary provided by The Grayzone listed what I believe is the most important reasons for the military-industrial complex, a tool of advanced capitalism or fascism (the merger between corporations and government).  The following quote describes the balance of his remarks that are far more important than his references to the military-industrial complex heard in the posted video:
In the rest of the video, Ben documents the history of US meddling in Afghanistan, going back to the 1970s, showing how the CIA gave birth to the Taliban and al-Qaeda as part of Washington’s campaign to undermine and destroy socialist, communist, and left-wing nationalist movements in Muslim-majority countries by supporting far-right Islamist extremist groups.
 
Since the 1917 Russian Revolution, the first attempt to establish socialism which inspired people of so many other nations, the capitalist ruling classes have engaged continuously to stamp out these rebellions in order to preserve their system of capitalism that has given them so much wealth and power. Read, if you haven't already, my post here and here.
For the last 20 years, the corporate media and imperialist powers of the world raised no objections as the United States killed over 100,000 people, set up black site torture chambers, carried out drone assassinations and robbed the country of its resources. The major imperialist powers joined the US in the invasion and occupation. The corporate press facilitated the commission of horrific crimes by promoting the war as a “just cause,” a necessary response to September 11, 2001. Those who exposed the real character of the war in Afghanistan—including Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Daniel Hale—were locked up in prison.

But now, all of the tropes employed by the corporate media to “sell” to world public opinion the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in 2001, no matter how moth-eaten and worn out, are being revived.
  • Palestine’s Africa Dichotomy: Is Israel Really ‘Winning’ Africa? by Ramzy Baroud from Dissident Voice. My reaction: I often post Dissident Voice's articles, but I want to make clear that I don't agree with all of them, and the ones by Baroud I must disagree with the implied assumption. He sees Israel as a separate entity from the de-facto US/Anglo/Zionist Empire which is completely false. So, read this post accordingly.
  • Science Update: The Hottest Month in History featuring the views of Prof. (retired) Guy McPherson, an independent scientist (via his YouTube channel--06:20m), who has fearlessly focused his attention throughout his career on the climate crisis. 
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