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

Friday, October 8, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Friday, October 8, 2021

You think you’ve got rights? Think again.

All of those freedoms we cherish—the ones enshrined in the Constitution, the ones that affirm our right to free speech and assembly, due process, privacy, bodily integrity, the right to not have police seize our property without a warrant, or search and detain us without probable cause—amount to nothing when the government and its agents are allowed to disregard those prohibitions on government overreach at will.

This is the grim reality of life in the American police state.
  • All Our Problems Are Built On Us-Vs-Them Propaganda by Caitlin Johnstone with her American husband, Tim Foley, also reading the script (but you may miss supporting examples, illustrations, etc.)--from her weblog. My reaction: This is propaganda 101, a beginning lesson of propaganda, in which most Americans need to enroll.
When you use the military to eliminate opposition, everyone knows it happened. When you use propaganda to eliminate opposition, people aren’t even aware you did it. They think it was their own idea to suddenly become super concerned about Saddam or Putin or Maduro or whomever or to go along with this or that power-serving agenda. Beyond the hard, concrete realities of war and militarism there’s a whole other war being fought on a far greater scale and of far greater consequence, and most people don’t even know it’s happening: the mass-scale psychological manipulation of the entire human species.
Here is a nice example how the U.S. keeps certain issues in the news and thereby propagandizes its people against its perceived enemies.
 
My reaction: Many ordinary people in the USA seem unaware that they are increasingly being targeted as "enemies".
  • The Anonymous Executioners of the Corporate State by Chris Hedges from Scheer Post. My reaction: In reference to the title, the corporate state, of course, refers to a fascist state according to Mussolini's definition of fascism, the ultimate evolutionary objective of capitalism. So far, the fascist-capitalist state is winning.
... they emphasize that the United States’ and its allies’ overseas military biological activities (over 200 US biological laboratories are deployed outside its national territory, which function in opaque and non-transparent manner) cause serious concerns and questions among the international community over its compliance with the BWC. The two sides share the view that such activities pose serious risks for the national security of the Russian Federation and China, and are detrimental to the security of relevant regions.

The Russian Federation and China further note that the United States’ and its allies’ military biological activities on their national territory also cause serious compliance concerns.
It appears that the de-facto US/Anglo/Zionist Empire is supporting another terrorist army to topple a government in Africa (Ethiopia) that is not to their liking. I previously have known little about the political situation in Ethiopia, but looking further I found a recent, interesting article entitled "Ethiopia: TPLF Terrorism Expands, Civilians Massacred" by Graham Peebles from Dissident Voice. I advise you to read it. 
 
I note that the TPLF is supported by nations of the Empire. My suspicion is that the directors of the Empire are using the TPLF, which in an elaborate post from the corrupted Wikipedia describes it as a left-wing oriented group, as a template (together with other of their terrorist organizations) for crushing the remaining disorganized opposition in the USA. If my suspicion is correct, it may be of more interest to left-wing Americans here in the USA.
  • From Russia Without Love - Mercenaries in Mali by Mark P. Fancher from Black Agenda Report. (Note: The title refers to this sentence: "The prospect of a Russian company with close ties to the Russian government playing a prominent role in Mali has generated extreme panic among western imperialist powers".) My reaction: The extent of knowledge about Africa from the disappearing members of my generation was limited to the Tarzan movies.
  • "IT'S ALRIGHT WHEN THEY DO IT!": Elites Worst Kept Secret Exposed featuring Russel Brand, a British comedian, rather sarcastically commenting on the Pandora Papers which revealed, once again, that the rich are not paying taxes and hiding their income in off-shore bank accounts via his channel on YouTube (15:03). (Note: You might also be interested in another article illustrating how mainstream media is framing this article for its usefulness as propaganda.)
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