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

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Posts that I especially recommend for Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Should everyone get a fourth booster shot against COVID? Certainly, if the FDA is to be believed. But maybe not, if we’re to believe insiders at the very same agency who have spoken out and insisted that the scientific case for boosters among the general public has not been made. But who cares about science when the pharmaceutical industry has profits to make?

Jimmy and The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal discuss the uniquely American phenomenon of demanding boosters for all regardless of the science.
  • It All Makes Sense Now features Russell Brand, a British comedian and former drug addict turned serious political critic--from his channel on YouTube (17:58).
What’s the truth of the covid origins? A bombshell article by Vanity Fair based on more than 100,000 leaked documents uncovers some damning revelations.
As debate over ‘The Science’ has increased, more and more people have started to question whether or not there is more to COVID-19 in terms of underlying agendas, in particular with respect to global-level actors such as the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and so-called ‘Big Pharma’. In the early days of COVID-19 any such talk was immediately dismissed as ‘conspiratorial’ nonsense and, broadly speaking, people raising non-mainstream doubts about any aspect of the COVID-19 issue were subjected to vilification by ‘authoritative’ voices and corporate media. Such dynamics were very much in evidence with respect to speculation about the origins of COVID-19. And yet, today, the so-called ‘lab leak theory’ has moved from a ‘sphere of deviance’ to a ‘sphere of legitimate controversy’ with many people, from mainstream science and corporate media to popular podcasts, discussing it.
  • 💥We Have Eight Months Left features Dr. Vernon Coleman from EarthNewspaper. This is a best post. (Note: The post follows with a rough transcript of his address--38:54.)
The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal addresses the April 10, 2022 Defeat The Mandates rally in Los Angeles, demanding public workers who refused the jab be given back their jobs and slamming the corporate state that generated $65,000 per minute for Pfizer and Moderna while millions sank into destitution. Blumenthal also urged solidarity for Julian Assange, describing his silencing as a precedent for the current wave of censorship: "In a corporate state, character assassination, censorship, and official silencing is the price of telling the truth."
  • 💥How The U.S. Does 'Diplomacy' by Bernhard, a German independent blogger from his weblog Moon of Alabama. This is a best post. Bernhard's opening statement is as follows: 
The U.S. doesn't do diplomacy. Every country has its own [ruling class] interests. But the U.S. and its pricks in the State Department insist that its interests must have priority over all others. Any country that disagrees with that will be called out on this or that issue or will even get sanctioned. [my insertion]

My commentary follows:
 
From a socialist point of view, I argue that, up to now in modern history, societies reveal a certain structure characterized by social classes ranging from a ruling class and ordinary people that make up a working class. Thus, nowadays one must think of societies ruled over by capitalist ruling class interests of profit and power. In advanced capitalist societies, one must think of monopolistic capitalist ruling classes that are often tempted to become fascist ruling classes like the Nazis in Germany and the present ruling classes in the transnational capitalists in the de-facto US/British/Zionist Empire. The latter rule by arbitrary "mandates". As we have seen, such mandates often bypass the respective constitutions and legal policies of entire nations in the whole world due to the capture by the Empire of the UN's World Health Organization. 
 
So, you have the Empire insisting on dominance over the entire world which are the reasons for the war in Ukraine and the ongoing conflicts in the south China Sea and Taiwan between the Empire and China. Russia and China, which are mixed socialist and capitalist nations, are spearheading efforts to establish a multipolar world. 
 
The end result will be the end of the Empire, capitalism, and we will eventually see the construction of truly independent socialist societies, that is, if we humans, and most other species, are not disappeared by the impending climate destabilization--which is likely.
When the 'boy mayor' of Cleveland took a stand against privatization of public power, the region's elites deployed every weapon in their arsenal against him, including attempted assassination.
  • UK Newspaper Hides Ukraine Truth in Plain Sight features Brian Berletic, an independent geopolitical expert and ex-Marine who for a lengthy time has lived in Thailand with his family--from his channel on YouTube (16:13) demolishing news sources (propagandistic) from Ukraine. 
  • Poking The Bear features Ross Ashcroft, host of Renegade's channel on YouTube (27:57) interviewing, once again, Scott Ritter, a recognized military expert. 
Britain’s MI5 has always maintained that the UK is just four away meals from anarchy. So with fractured supply chains, rising costs and failing agricultural policy, how worried should the Brits - who are net importers of food - be?
 
Ross Ashcroft is joined by agricultural analyst Michael Raw to discuss our national food security.
No, the US State Department does not care about human rights abuses. Blinken’s remarks are just the latest in a series of shots across the bow that the US empire has been firing at New Delhi to warn it against moving into alignment with Moscow.
Since objective reality has no place in United States foreign policy, it is interesting to look at how the US sees itself and how it regards other countries that are doing what Russia is doing or worse. When it comes to its own self-perception, America’s so-called leaders believe that their global leadership role is one by right and they can do no wrong by virtue of a quality referred to as “American exceptionalism.” That is of course a mythical attribute created to permit the United States to get away with mass murder and regime change without any consequences.

A principal beneficiary of American financial and political largesse is, of course, Israel, which consists not only of people “chosen” by Yahweh but also by the media, the United States Senate, House of Representatives and the White House.
Amid the ongoing global inflation crisis, NATO heads of state and mainstream media repeat a mantra that high energy prices are a direct result of Putin’s actions in Ukraine since end of February. The reality is that it is the western sanctions that are responsible. Those sanctions including cutting SWIFT interbank access for key Russian banks and some of the most severe sanctions ever imposed, are hardly having an impact on the military actions in Ukraine. What many overlook is the fact that they are increasingly impacting the economies of the West, especially the EU and USA. A closer look at the state of the global supply of diesel fuel is alarming. But Western sanctions planners at the US Treasury and the EU know fully well what they are doing. And it bodes ill for the world economy.
  • BREAKING: Lawmakers from Imran Khan's party resign from Pakistani parliament from The Cradle, based in Columbia. My reaction: Also see "Imran Khan: The fall of Pakistan's populist prime minister" from Middle East Eye, based in London. I want to direct your attention to the 48 minute interview conducted by two representatives of the Middle East Eye which, I think, reveals Khan as a leveled-headed Pakistani statesman.
This conflict of aims by ‘the West’ comes at a time when global warming and climate change are reaching a ‘now or never’ tipping point, where the Paris target to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5C cannot be met. In presenting the latest IPCC report on climate change (which supposedly outlines ‘solutions’ to mitigate global warming and meet targets), UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres commented: “The facts are undeniable. This abdication of leadership (by governments) is criminal.”
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