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, April 4, 2022

Posts that I especially recommend for Monday, April 4, 2022

  • Two Years After Covid, Eyes Remain Firmly Shut by Ron Unz from his weblog The Unz Review. My brief reaction: I am firmly convinced that the Covid-19 virus was produced in one of the Empire's laboratories. The US has been engaged in biowarfare weapons research since WWII having recruited Nazi and Japanese scientists after the war. They have undeniably used them in the Korean War. Unz does not question the data furnished by the CDC and other government sources which was corrupted by many factors such as paying hospitals more for those who have come down with the virus, great pressure put on medical physicians (including the loss of their licenses to practice) to diagnose patients as having the virus, etc. The fact that the virus was first noticed in China and Iran, two prime enemies of the de-facto US/British/Zionist Empire and the promotion by major media corporations to push vaccinations as the solution to the problem is enough to suspect otherwise. I hold great emphasis on media propaganda to reveal the true intentions of the directors of the Empire. I'll stake my whole political life and my many thousands of read books.
After European nations imported the most gas from Russian sources yesterday in months, scrambling to stock up on supplies as Russian President Vladimir Putin's deadline to either pay for gas in rubles (or be cut off) came and went, Russian gas giant Gazprom has officially halted all deliveries to Europe via the Yamal-Europe pipeline, a critical artery for European energy supplies.
  • Nazis in Ukraine: Seeing Through the Fog of the Information War by Gabriel Rockhill from Internationalist 360°. My reaction: There is no question that the secret services of the Empire have developed ties with the right-wing fascists of Ukraine and supported them in this venture to topple the Russian government since their coup in 1914 which they engineered.
  • We Told You features Russell Brand, a British comedian and former drug addict turned serious political critic, from his channel on YouTube (15:38).
The “democratic” country of Canada is following up actions during the trucker protests with a new bill to regulate online speech.   
  • "It's A Con" features an interview with Richard Hanania conducted by Russell Brand. Hanania "is a writer, researcher and President of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology and a Research Fellow at Defense Priorities. We discussed who benefits the most from American Foreign Policy."--from Brand's channel on YouTube (11:14). My reaction: Former comedians like CJ Hopkins, Jimmy Dore, as well as Brand are not censored because the ruling capitalist class doesn't consider that you will take them seriously. However, they can see how the government functions, and you can too.
  • It Begins features comments by Russell Brand regarding the promotion by Pres. Biden for military spending using funds for the covid relief funds, passed last year--from Brand's channel on YouTube (14:17).
Despite calls to fund life-sustaining food and housing programs, President Biden has encouraged more spending on police tech. Almost as if he’s expecting people to be angry about something.
Thanks to the war in Ukraine, and the attendant rise in gas prices, US fossil fuel companies stand to make between $37-126 billion in additional profits in 2022. That’s according to joint research conducted by Oil Change International, Greenpeace USA, and Global Witness. So is it any wonder that the politicians who serve this powerful industry would pursue policies making war likely?

Jimmy and comedian/playwright Howard Skora discuss the financial incentives that make war so profitable for fossil fuel companies.