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

Saturday, January 15, 2022

Posts that I especially recommend for Saturday, January 15, 2022

  • States Hoarding Billion Of Welfare $$$ featuring Naomi Karavani, a comedian, who uses sarcastic comedy to expose, under covid's government policies, how the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer--from Redacted Tonight's channel on YouTube (07:06).
  • Hang On…. Have We All Been CONNED By Jan 6th?! featuring Russell Brand, a British comedian, turned serious political analyst, astutely commenting, on what sounds like the Deep State, regarding the latter's distorted and hostile emphasis on the Jan. 6 protests at Congress--from Brand's channel on YouTube (18:05).
They’ve been working tirelessly to ensure that the internet serves as a net positive for themselves and a net negative for the rest of us, manipulating the large-scale movements of information so that dissident voices are increasingly marginalized and inconsequential while giving themselves the ability to funnel propaganda into public minds far more rapidly and efficiently than ever before. If they succeed in their objectives, ordinary people will wind up no better at sharing unauthorized ideas and information than they were before the internet, while our rulers will be far more effective in controlling the way we think at mass scale.
  • Andrew Cuomo Investigations DROPPED! featuring Jimmy Dore and whoever is posing as Cuomo as a sarcastic commentary on the dropped charges by various prosecutors--using his channel on YouTube (06:37).  
  • Pentagon Just Admitted They're Unaccountable featuring Lee Camp, a comedian, using his humorous asides to maintain his comedy, but meanwhile lambasting media corporations for cooperating with the Pentagon (under the Department of "Defense") to downplay its unaccountability--from his Redacted Tonight's channel on YouTube (07:37).
The world is entering what looks like a new, even more complex cold war, in which any misunderstanding, mishap or false move could rapidly escalate into nuclear confrontation
 
My reaction: I've recently been in communication with a friend who is traveling the world, and he has observed that a secret US base in some nation is acting as a relay base to send a huge contingent of American troops to other areas. This worries me.
  • Kazakhstan coup fails, US-Russia talks go nowhere. Is war on horizon? featuring Pepe Escobar in a lengthy, but an important interview conducted by Max Blumenthal of The Grayzone using the latter's channel on YouTube (1:50:12). My reaction: I obviously haven't listened to all of this interview, but I will. I consider Escobar as the world's top journalist.
Max Blumenthal and geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar discuss the violent coup attempt in Kazakhstan, and its crucial importance as an ally of Russia and the center of China's Belt and Road Initiative. Pepe addresses US and Turkish meddling, and why this massive and misunderstood country is suddenly at the heart of the new cold war.

They also talk about the failure of the US-Russia talks in Geneva and if war could be on the horizon. 
  • Kazakhstan Chaos: An Opportunity, But for Who? by Brian Berletic, an independent blogger, ex-Marine, who lives in Thailand with his family--from New Eastern Outlook. My reaction: Berletic points to US organizations whose policies are propaganda and subversion.
Sean Twomey, an Irish physicist, flew into clouds to measure their reflectivity, and found that the smaller and more numerous the water droplets, the higher the albedo. Watching the white spray from crashing waves, John Latham realized that Twomey's idea could work to keep the Arctic cool. If tiny droplets of seawater could be seeded into clouds, they would reflect more sunlight, and prevent ice from melting in the summer. He asked #StephenSalter to design a system to make it work. He did. Peter Wadhams agrees that this method would apply a sticking plaster to global warming and buy time to restore the climate. The same process could help preserve coral reefs.
 
Now the question is, can someone be found to finance the operation soon enough to prevent the melting of the Arctic and subsequent release of methane? As #PaulBeckwith points out, it's not rocket science. Instead of sending rockets into space, if Messrs. Musk, Bezos, or Branson would focus on saving the planet, they could provide the ships needed for marine cloud brightening. #PeterWadhams notes that the cost is low for such a powerful intervention and well worth it. It could save the sea ice, the coral reefs, and help cool the ocean. If nations won't do it, maybe a scientifically minded billionaire can rise to the challenge. 
 
My reaction: The capitalist ruling classes that are in control of the US/British/Zionist Empire are certainly not going to fund this effort because it is not profitable or won't extend their power. Depending on billionaires to save us is foolish. Meanwhile, the leading nations who have declared independence from the Empire have all they can handle to survive the ongoing efforts of the Empire to destroy them.
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