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, November 15, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Monday, November 15, 2021

  • The Real Anthony Fauci. RFK Jr. Discusses His Book in this 1:20:13 interview with Robert Kennedy, Jr. from Mercola's weblog. (Note: This post includes a transcript of the interview. I had to read the interview because my hearing deficit made it difficult to hear Kennedy's speech.)
  • Pfizer Anti-Viral & Ivermectin Science Based Comparison featuring Jimmy Dore from his channel on YouTube (30:49) using a video by John Campbell, PhD, to explain why Ivermectin is medically useful, but not profitable to Big Pharma. Pfizer has come up to a new drug that it is very similar to Ivermectin but is profitable.
The truth is that the CIA runs United States’ foreign policy covertly, along with the Pentagon and the weapons/oil/minerals industries, which are somewhat more visible.
  • Censorship is the Last Gasp of the Liberal Class by Danny Haiphong from Mint Press News. My reaction: Although US corporate media often prefer "liberal" (because it sounds much better than "capitalist"), the word is often used in the sense of civil rights as reflected in the Bill of Rights which were tacked on to the original US Constitution to garner more support. Although nowadays "liberal class" is not a socioeconomic class, I think Haiphong uses the word to describe people who otherwise support capitalism, but pretend to favor civil rights. When capitalist practices conflict with civil rights, such people always support capitalism. I think Haiphong uses the word in this sense. Others often use the word "liberal" in the classic sense to refer to "capitalist ideology". This is for historical reasons: "liberal" was often attached to the early capitalists as meaning free of monarchical control. Earlier capitalists often had to obtain licenses from monarchs to engage in commerce. Socioeconomic class has been banned by the capitalist ruling class from usage in contemporary America. The ambiguity of the word (see Wikipedia's meaning) aids the US ruling capitalist class, which literally owns mainstream media, in their efforts to confuse workers. 
... let us not forget this is a system that deliberately sought to eradicate a culture of self-reliance that prevailed among the working class in the 19th century (self-education, recycling products, a culture of thrift, etc) via advertising and a formal school education that ensured conformity and set in motion a lifetime of wage labour and dependency on the products manufactured by an environmentally destructive capitalism.

A system that has its roots in inflicting massive violence across the globe to exert control over land and resources elsewhere.
The close involvement of corporations in the climate talks at Glasgow is testimony to the fact that these negotiations are not solely beholden to the public. The financial stakes are high and so is the involvement of private interests. The widespread acceptance of stakeholder capitalism is indeed chilling. It basically means that unelected corporations are partners in the regulation of markets which they themselves are participating in. Because the partnership between governments and corporations is one of equality, there can be no regulation by the govt over the corporations, and this logic then extends to international bodies like the UN as well. It is a betrayal of democracy but is not a recent phenomenon.
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