Flashback: Top Journalist Exposes How Intelligence Agencies Control Western Media

Click here to access article by Steven MacMillan from New Eastern Outlook.

Although MacMillan mostly resurrects a 2014 report (I posted articles, see this and this.) by the German journalist Udo Ulfkotte to make his point about the infiltration of intelligence agencies in mainstream newsrooms, it must be stressed again and again.

While writing a commentary last year about China's President Xi and his visit to the Seattle area, I discovered that one of the major local TV stations in the Seattle area is owned by Tegna corporation located in McLean, VA.

This TV station, like all the other local stations, is not locally owned, instead owned by Tegna corporation based in McLean, VA. Maybe it's only a coincidence, but CIA also has offices there in addition to nearby Langley where CIA headquarters are located. 

Because the news coverage provided by all major network corporations reveals striking similarities, I think there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the coverage, especially regarding foreign affairs, is carefully managed by the CIA or some other intelligence propaganda agency.

Iraq – US Apocalypse in Mosul in the Guise of Bombing ISIS

Click here to access article by Felicity Arbuthnot from The Greanville Post.

I don't normally post articles of war activities based on a single source, but in this case I respect the honesty and credentials of both the reporter, Dr Souad Al-Azzawi, and Arbuthnot. Independent sources have issued many accusations against corporate media for dishonest reporting about US military campaigns against ISIS and associated armies, and this confirms that this is the case around the major Iraqi city of Mosul. 

This morning I also read two other reports on Aleppo, a major city under severe attack in northwestern Syria: the first from In Gaza entitled "Western Media Break Their Silence on Aleppo With Flagrant Lies, Omissions, Obfuscations" , and another from Reuters entitled "Air strikes on Aleppo hospital kill doctors and children" in which the overwhelming emphasis was on casualties inflicted by some mysterious air force. The contrast between the two articles regarding the same subject was startling. Only brief mention in the Reuter's article was made of ground weapons used. Also in the latter report the nation supplying the air bombardment was, for some strange reason, not clearly identified, but there were allusions made that either Syria or Russia was responsible.

A Syrian military source said government planes had not been in areas where air raids were reported. Syria's army denied reports that the Syrian air force targeted the hospital.

The Russian defense ministry, whose air strikes have swung the war in favor of President Bashar al-Assad, also denied its planes were responsible.  

How NATO-linked Think Tanks Control EU Refugee Policy

Click here to access article by F. William Engdahl from New Eastern Outlook.

It appears to me that Angela Merkel is like US presidents who are mere puppets for the deep state that lies behind the official government.

A flood of uncontrolled war refugees from Syria, Libya, Tunisia and other Islamic countries destabilized by Washington’s ‘Arab Spring’ Color Revolutions, has created the greatest social dislocation across the EU from Germany to Sweden to Croatia since the end of World War II. By now it has become clear to most that something quite sinister is afoot, something which threatens to destroy the social fabric of the very core of European civilization. What few realize is that the entire drama is being orchestrated, not by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, or by faceless EU bureaucrats of the Brussels EU Commission. It is being orchestrated by a cabal of NATO-linked think tanks.

Climate scientists are now grading climate journalism

Click here to access article by a "guest author" from Skeptical Science. 

This is excellent news. See how scientists reviewed a recent Wall Street report entitled "An Overheated Climate Alarm" by reading the report first and then the scientists review of it in Climate Feedback. Still, the Wall Street's report will be read by many millions compared to a few hundred that will read the critical reviews by scientists in Climate Feedback.

Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff: Not a Coup but Payback for Systemic Corruption

Click here to access article by Dady Chery and Gilbert Mercier from News Junkie Post. 

These authors provide a very different view from other alternative observers such as Pepe Escobar on the current efforts in Brazil to remove Rousseff and the Workers' Party from power.

After 14 years of Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT, or Workers’ Party), the Brazilian public has grown profoundly disappointed with a government that has failed, not only to keep its promise to clean up Brazil’s systemic corruption but also to avoid becoming tainted by this corruption. Inequality, social injustice, and racism are practically unchanged. Although Rousseff was elected with the expectation that the criminals of Brazil’s military dictatorship would be brought to justice, she promoted what she called a “national reconciliation” instead of their pursuit. Under both Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil expanded its police and military to unprecedented levels in peacetime and became an active handmaiden to US imperialism in the occupation of countries like Haiti. It took Lula and Dilma’s fake socialism to invade Haiti, not Brazil’s military dictatorship.

Ms. Rousseff’s legal troubles should rather be viewed as a sign that Brazil’s justice system is sufficiently well to take down the country’s top bankers, industrialists, and elected officials.

I am more persuaded by their arguments than that of other alternative observers who only see these efforts from the perspective of an effort of US in collaboration with a Brazilian right-wing to move the Brazilian government more to the right. It is not that I disagree with the views of the alternative observers, it is just that I believe their framing of these political events is far too limited. On the other hand, I don't entirely agree with the authors that the current political events in Brazil are only driven by the Brazilian people who are rejecting the Rousseff government.

I believe that the recent political gains by the right-wing oligarchs in Argentina, Venezuela, and Brazil are the result of very compromised leftist movements in those countries. (The same applies to Bolivia and the Morales government.) Each of them has tried to move in a limited left direction by offering some redistribution of their nation's wealth with various social programs. Although such left gains have been helpful to working people, they are only barely tolerated for temporary periods by the combined US ruling class in alliance with the local oligarchs. Such governments are always vulnerable to the subversive reaction of the right-wing forces, consequently their "shelf life" is quite limited.

The alternative observers could argue that this was the only realistic possibility given the severe oppressive reaction that would be generated by the US Empire if these governments had tried to pursue a more significant path against their capitalist ruling classes. There is a lot of merit to this argument because indeed the history of Latin America is filled with numerous examples of US interference in countries that try to deviate too much in favor of working classes. But the recent histories of these countries that have tried mild reforms leads one inevitably to the conclusion that only a vigorous revolutionary effort can be ultimately successful in the complete and lasting liberation of working people.

The New Right’s Origins in the Labor Battles of the 1930s

Click here to access a 44 minute interview with UC Davis historian Kathryn Olmstead conducted by Sasha Lilley on the program Against the Grain broadcast by KPFA, a listener sponsored radio station in Berkeley, California. The interview begins at 6:30m after a news report.

What are the origins of modern conservatism?  The failed Goldwater campaign?  Or the Cold War era discontent of midwestern small capitalists?  Historian Kathryn Olmstead argues that it should be located even earlier, in the intense and massive labor unrest that took place in the fields of California in the 1930s.  The response by growers and other elites pioneered methods that have become familiar today, from deploying populist rhetoric in the interests of big business to funding ostensibly grassroots organizations.

Unless a student can get access to honest historians like Olmstead, one must acquire accurate historical knowledge about workers from sources like this post and books. Otherwise I advise students to use educational institutions, which are always controlled by ideological capitalists, for skills training only.

Verizon sticks it to its workers because $45 billion isn’t enough Apr 27

Click here to access article by Pete Dolack from Systemic Disorder.

Does a company that racked up $45 billion in profits over the past five years really need to stick it to its employees? The answer depends on who’s asking. From any ordinary human standpoint, clearly no. From the perspective of Wall Street and corporate board rooms, the answer is always an enthusiastic yes.

A company is mandated by capitalist law to maximize profits, so Verizon is only being a good capitalist. But the real fundamental question should be: is capitalism good for society? By trying to reform capitalism to recognize workers' interests and satisfy them is very much like asking a slaveholder to stop exploiting his slaves so much. You might accomplish some relief for a while, but ultimately the the slaveholder is motivated to get as much work out of his slaves as possible. Fighting for workers' rights and rewards is a losing battle as the history of unions has clearly illustrated. That doesn't mean workers should not use unions in the present to fend of exploitation by powerful employers, but it does mean that the ultimate solution is not unions, but revolution and the establishment of a system based on equality.

The system of capitalism only benefits the tiny section of society called capitalists. Its history has clearly shown that it is not good for the vast majority of any society, and its future portends more inequality, poverty, climate destabilization, and wars.

Venezuela’s Opposition: Attacking Its Own People

Click here to access article by Eric Draitser from TeleSur.

Note: This post was inspired by a reader of my blog in Oregon who made a reference to Venezuela as a socialist nation which is common among left oriented activists. But this is contrary to what I know about that country. So I proceeded to find factual information about the ownership of the economy. What I found was a plethora of articles from corporate media sources spewing pure propaganda pieces attacking Venezuela, and a few naive pieces of left sources that exhibited considerable ignorance about conditions there, and without any background knowledge of the history and culture of that country. This post by Draitser was a single exception. My commentary that follows is an elaboration of my response to her.

The politically volatile conditions in Venezuela never seem to let up, and now that the right-wing opposition is in the majority in their parliament, things are only going to get worse. Although I visited the country for two weeks in 2005 and toured many of the organizations that the Bolivarians created, and followed events there subsequently via the web, I am by no means an expert but feel that I have much more accurate information than most people. For a North American to understand what is going on there requires one to thoroughly understand the history and culture of Latin America.

First of all, I do not view Venezuela as a socialist state in spite of all the rhetoric that Chavez used. I was unable to find factual information about state owned enterprises, but they are very much a minor participant in the economy--except for their oil industry that is state owned. Chavez and supporters did nationalize companies that refused to produce or were counter-productive, but they were few. He did introduce grass-root organizations such as co-ops, media such as Telesur to counter the ubiquitous and blatant right-wing media, and re-distributed wealth through his many social programs. The Bolivarian government, although ruled by the Socialist Party, is mostly social democratic with Latin American characteristics. (People must stop being confused by political parties that use the name of "socialism", but are in fact social democratic parties. This has been common throughout Europe simply because socialist ideas were so popular with the people. Even the Nazis used socialism in their party's name: National Socialist German Workers' Party.)

The history of Latin America since the US launched into empire mode (early 1900s) is strewn with military interventions and indirect forms of domination of those nations. In the early days of the US domination, our capitalist ruling class simply sent in the Marines whenever they didn't like what was happening in those countries. (Read War is a Racket by Gen. Smedley Butler.) Nowadays whenever there is an unfriendly government that takes power, US agents use their updated strategy of chaos to destabilize the country and pave the way for US-loyal right-wingers to take power. By supporting the local capitalist elites who do much of the work of creating chaos, they have found a much cheaper way to effect regime change. Chili, after the people elected a "socialist" government, is a prime example. Another is Nicaragua in the 1980s. The US has been, and is now accelerating that strategy in Venezuela.

Yes, there is a lot of economic chaos in Venezuela, the chief being that of the very high rate of inflation. They have long had that problem, and it is my impression that it is not as bad now than under previous administrations. Also with the Saudi's decision to pump greater amounts of oil to depress prices, their state oil industry has suffered a loss of income which has impacted many of their social programs and is probably contributing to the high rate of inflation. This adverse effect on the economy was very likely the result of collusion between Empire directors and the Saudi family to wreck economic havoc on both Russia and Venezuela.
  

Their political culture is one of "clientelism" and this has been true of the Chavista governments as well. The state is typically seen as a prize and whichever group can capture the ruling regime fills the government posts with relatives, friends, and neighbors. Thus there have been many instances of government corruption, and this has continued, probably to a lessor extent, under the Chavez governments. 

There is also a strong overlay of racism that has reinforced a split between classes based on the private ownership of the economy. Like most all of the Latin American countries, you will find most government agencies and businesses run by light-skinned Spanish (or in Brazil, Portuguese) descendants. Most of these people also identify with the capitalist interests of the Empire and thus cooperate with the latter's destabilization efforts. Of course, opportunities for education have favored this group and consequently many of them are in the Bolivarian government.

While Chavez often referred to his program in terms of "socialism of the 21st century" and accordingly promised a political role for his grassroots organizations ("bottom-up democratic structures"), he never implemented any type of independent role for them. He mostly used them for his political support during elections.

There is a considerable amount of crime in Venezuela. Their society is wracked by open class war due both to its racist and classist history and, I think, together with US interventions has fostered this kind of sociopathy.

My overall impression is that Venezuela is now under attack by right-wing capitalist forces in alliance with US agents to spread as much chaos as possible in their nation until it is ripe for a military takeover by right-wing military figures. Meanwhile the vastly more numerous Chavista supporters are preparing to defend their social gains.

BRICS Under Attack: Western Banks, Governments Launch Full-Spectrum Assault On Russia (Part I)

Click here to access article by Eric Draitser from Mint Press. 

The U.S.-NATO Empire, with its centers of power in Washington, on Wall Street, and in the city of London, is on the offensive against the BRICS countries. This assault takes many forms, each tailored to its specific target.

The ongoing soft coup in Brazil has recently entered a new stage with the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff of the left-wing Workers’ Party. Simultaneously, the destabilization of the ANC-led government in South Africa continues as political forces align to remove President Jacob Zuma. These two situations illustrate clearly the very potent forms of subversion via Western-funded political formations and movements being employed against Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the bloc of emerging economies also known as BRICS. 

Mind Control: It’s Happening to You Right Now

Click here to access article by Jeremy Lent from his blog Patterns of Meaning. 

Your mind is being controlled by distant strangers who don’t have your best interests at heart. If that sounds like a paranoid fantasy, brace yourself and read on. These are the findings of a series of scientific studies that show how a few dominant institutions have the power to affect how you feel, how you act, and even how you vote – without you ever knowing about it.

Winners and losers of the Great Recession

Click here to access article by economist David Ruccio which briefly elaborates on the meaning of the following chart. Post is from his blog Occasional Links & Commentary.

Transnational Capitalist Class

Click here to access a transcript of a speech given on April 16, in Oakland, CA, by By Peter Phillips.

Prof. of Sociology Peter Phillips

The TCC [Transnational Capitalist Class] represents the interests of several hundred thousand millionaires and billionaires who comprise the richest people in the top one percent of the world’s wealth hierarchy. Ironically, this extreme accumulation of concentrated capital at the top creates a continuing problem for the TCC, who must continually scour the world for new investment opportunities that will yield adequate returns (7-10%).

War is one use for over-accumulated capital.

Cuba and the Future: a Great Debate Has Just Begun

Click here to access article by Nelson Valdes from CounterPunch. 

The author captures many of the difficulties that the Cuban socialist revolution has faced, and particularly, is now facing while being an island of 10 million people existing 90 miles from the center of the capitalist Empire. Under such circumstances it is a miracle that Cuba still exists as an independent nation and one that has major socialist components in its economy. However, because of forced austerities and a relaxation of controls of money transfers from the US, they now are facing new insidious influences that may be tearing the fabric of socialism which Cubans have constructed over the past 57 years since their revolution.

The Cuban political system is beginning to go through its most significant transition as the seasoned old revolutionaries step aside in what Havana is calling a “generational change,” while the United States government is attempting to foster as much growth in the Cuban private sectors of the island. In Washington, DC it is hoped that those Cubans born after 1980 will identify the revolution with all the shortages and difficulties that ensued after the demise of the Soviet bloc (post 1991), without acknowledging the national, social and cultural achievements.

Like video games? You may be playing with government propaganda.

Click here to access article and 24:38 audio discussion posted by Matthew Gault from Reuters.

Video games are an industry worth tens of billions of dollars. Games make more money than Hollywood and the music industry combined. Video games can be great fun and even great art, but they can also be great propaganda.

Still More Primary Phenomena

Comic by Tom Tomorrow which is the pen name of editorial cartoonist Dan Perkins, posted from Daily Kos. 

New Milestone: Earth Sees 11 Record Hot Months in a Row

Click here to access article by Andrea Thompson from Climate Central. 

The past 11 months have been the hottest such months in 135 years of recordkeeping, a streak that has itself set a record and puts in clear terms just how much the planet has warmed due to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Seymour Hersh Dishes on Saudi Oil Money Bribes and the Killing of Osama Bin Laden

Click here to access article by Ken Klippenstein from AlterNet.

It's hard to tell whether Klippenstein or the editors of AlterNet chose this headline, but it tends to downplay the excellent research that Seymour Hersh continues to do on all the lies of Empire spokespeople which are endlessly repeated by corporate media. For his efforts at seeking the truth, like many other investigative reporters Hersh is no longer employed by mainstream media corporations. Thus he must seek out foreign media such as the London Review of Books or in this case a minor blog like AlterNet to express his views. 

Nonetheless I think you will find Hersh's answers to Klippenstein's questions of the utmost interest. They are questions about--not only matters related to Bin Laden but--the whole phony War on Terrorism as officially "played" by the Empire and its sordid allies . Notice to his credit that Hersh is always very restrained about the implications of the real information he uncovers.

The real reason Dilma Rousseff’s enemies want her impeached

Click here to access article by David Miranda from The Guardian. 

The country’s elite class and their media organs have failed, over and over, in their efforts to defeat the party at the ballot box. But plutocrats are not known for gently accepting defeat, nor for playing by the rules. What they have been unable to achieve democratically, they are now attempting to achieve anti-democratically: by having a bizarre mix of politicians – evangelical extremists, far-right supporters of a return to military rule, non-ideological backroom operatives – simply remove her from office.

Indeed, those leading the campaign for her impeachment and who are in line to take over – most notably the house speaker Eduardo Cunha – are far more implicated in scandals of personal corruption than she is.

Politics in Latin America have always reflected real class power conflicts without much of the gloss of rights, justice, and due process that is superficially imposed on the conflicts in the leading Euro-American nations. Thus, like any real war, the ethics of these contests for political domination in Latin America tend to be that of real war: to the victor go the spoils. This has been true even under "progressive" regimes of Argentina and Venezuela. Consequently Latin Americans are much less deceived by the absence of morality under class rule, whereas in the leading Western nations the immorality of extreme inequality is glossed over by a huge propaganda apparatus. But another consequence is that these more "progressive" governments are also infested with corruption which doubtlessly is encouraged by the US Empire to bring down those governments.

The solution, of course, is the elimination of the organization of societies around classes. This would require a revolutionary movement whose objective would be elimination of the basis of inequality of power in today's societies--capitalism. This system gives property rights to a tiny minority to "own" the fruits of labor in economies which are almost entirely devoted to the profit interests of this minority at the expense of the benefits to the vast majority. But revolutions would make Latin American nations a definite target for the wrath of the Empire which would find, or create, some excuse to overthrow them.

Second Gilded Age

Click here to access article by economist David Ruccio from his blog Occasional Links & Commentary. 

There are still some who believe we’re all in this together. But we’re not, not by a long shot.

When the economy is organized so that the surplus is pumped out of one group (whose wages are stagnant), appropriated by another group (the tiny group of capitalists who sit on corporate boards of directors), and then distributed to still another group (who do all that is necessary to make sure the surplus continues to flow), and the top 1 percent get to spend the expanding surplus it receives on all manner of luxury goods and services—well, you get what can only be described as the Second Gilded Age.

Bernie Sanders: the Candidate Who Came in From the Cold

Click here to access article by Jeffrey St. Clair from CounterPunch. 

This piece is not terribly enlightening, but it conforms precisely to my recent observations about Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Bernie Sanders lost the moment he became entranced by the prospect that he might win. What did he lose? His grip on political reality.

For most of his life Sanders has cultivated the role of political cynic, a professional outsider, a grand-standing critic of The System. Once he came in from the cold and converted from independent socialist to a Democrat (for life, according to his campaign manager Jeff Weaver) that hard-boiled cynicism—one’s tempted to call it realism—eroded away in the face of large crowds of adoring supporters, from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon. Is it possible that Sanders became intoxicated by the floridness of his own rhetoric?

The best system for some people

by Steve Artley from his website.

Fear and Loathing in the Arabian Nights

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Sputnik. 

Escobar furnishes a very different take on Obama visit to the Saudi kingdom than I did yesterday. With his inside sources and reportedly sources from the Financial Times he claims that it was to put additional pressure in the form of threats so that the kingdom would drop its support for from cutting production. The US wants the economic war against Russia to continue, and thus Obama, diplomatically I'm sure, "put the heat on" Saudi officials. This heat not only included the "28 pages" but also a new threat of freezing Saudi assets.

The heart of the whole matter is that Washington has been threatening Riyadh to freeze Saudi assets all across the spectrum if the House of Saud does not “cooperate” in the oil price war against Russia.

The 'Absolutely Disturbing' New Normal: Earth Just Smashed Another Climate Record

Click here to access article by Andrea Germanos from Common Dreams. 

Our ever-warming planet just passed another climate record.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Tuesday that March 2016 was the warmest March since records began in 1880.

It also marked an 11-month of streak of record-breaking global temperatures.

During the past week temperatures here in the Seattle area have exceeded all past records not just by a degree or two but as much as ten degrees (Fahrenheit). It looks to me like global heating is accelerating.

Either capitalism dies or Mother Earth dies...

from TeleSur.  (Some additional comments were added to my commentary on 4/23/2016)

Of course what is meant here is that the part of nature which supports human life will die, not our planet's Mother Earth who, by casting off another species who failed to adapt to her rules, will go on into eternity to support other life forms. 

Also, of course, the concept of "Mother Nature" is an anthropomorphized version of the web of life that is for all practical purposes confined to our isolated planet. I emphasized the latter to clarify that we (or more likely the ruling capitalist class) cannot, as they often fantasize, simply toss the Earth into some metaphorical dumpster and then travel to another planet that can sustain humans. (Presumably in this fantasy they would eventually trash this new planet also, and then migrate to another, ad infinitum.) No, from what I've read (I can't find a reference now), scientific evidence has made clear that there might be other suitable planets in the vast universe, but they would be impossible for we humans to reach them. 

It looks highly probable to me that we humans have so trashed our only possible home that the planet's landlord, the web of life, is about to evict us. It is only that small chance that we might turn things around that keeps me posting these articles.

Obama: ‘If we let Americans sue Saudis for 9/11, foreigners will begin suing US non-stop’

Click here to access article from RT. 

It seems that Obama's employers in the ruling class directorate have ordered their chief of US public relations to scurry over to Saudi Arabia and mollify the medieval princes who are worried about the disclosure of the censored 28 pages of the official 9/11 Commission report. The Saudi royalty are famous for sponsoring terrorists and beheading people. 

What is surprising to me is that our capitalist masters don't see any contradiction between their government's support of the major trade agreements (TPP and TTIP) which gives corporations the right to sue governments for loss of profits in private tribunals with Obama's latest argument that it is unthinkable for ordinary people to sue governments, and especially the US government, for major crimes.

New York voting fiasco just the warm-up for the November game

Click here to access article by Greg Palast from Uncommon Thought Journal.

Before the 2000 presidential election I, who will soon be 80 years of age, had never heard of "voting irregularities". Now it seems they are a normal occurrence especially every four years during the presidential elections. I noticed that corporate media with their one-sentence references to the recent "voting irregularities" in NY City also seem to regard such occurrences as normal. (See also this and this for independent reports.)

It appears that when our aggressive capitalist masters fail to get us to vote right (no pun intended), they now resort to wholesale vote tampering. What's next?  Cancelling these election circuses? That would certainly save them a lot of money which furnishes the basis of all their power. But then the great hoax of American "democracy" would be finished, and they would have to spend even more on their militarized police forces to keep us in line. So I think we can expect them to keep the show going for the near future.

The BRICS: Still a Hegemonic, Not Anti-Capitalist Project

Click here to access article by François Houtart from TeleSur. 

Many alternative geopolitical analysts have lauded the BRICS countries for promoting a "multi-polar" world which challenges the dominant Empire. According to the author of this article the BRICS differ very little in their behavior from the Empire. Although the BRICS try to pursue independent policies, they are still considerably influenced by the dynamics of capitalist enterprise. So I don't see how we can expect major differences.

...even if the social and solidarity considerations are introduced in the development of the South-South relations by the BRICS, the logic of growth remains the same. Gosh Jayathi conclude: "Many trade and South-South investment agreements and their consequences, are unfortunately similar to those of North-South relationships, not only for investment protection, but also to guarantee the Intellectual Property Rights."

All this helps to reinforce the destructive character of the dominant model, at a time when many instances, notably international, alert governments and public opinion on the need for a radical change of perspective. To avoid that ecosystems deteriorate irremediably and also considerable human costs through the center-peripheries relations of the BRICS, it is necessary to propose a change of development matrix and finally also to promote the definition of a new paradigm. 

The Empire Files: Understanding Marxism and Socialism

Click here if you wish to access an interview conducted with Richard Wolff by Abby Martin posted by TeleSur on YouTube.

I highly recommend the first 29:50 minutes of this 31:18m interview in which Wolff explains the key concepts of socialism as interpreted by Karl Marx. In this major segment he offers with great clarity also an understanding of the criminal nature of capitalism, that capitalism is essentially organized crime.

The last 1:28m are marred by his promotion of Bernie Sanders' self-identification with socialism when in fact his political views are that of social democracy which represents a capitalist fix for all the chaos their system creates for working people. I challenge anyone to find among Sanders' speeches any statements that expresses his wish for public ownership and control of economic enterprises. The latter are the key ingredients of socialism and the direct opposite of capitalism with its fanatic emphasis on individual ownership and control. 

Social democracy only adds significant safety nets to capitalism to prevent the worst effects of the frequent capitalist crises on working people. Even the strongest forms of social democracy found in Europe, which were introduced following WWII to appease the widespread popularity of true socialism, is being dismantled due to the competition from transnational corporations that take advantage of global operations.

People who are true revolutionaries do not mix up these concepts, but people who have pursued careers in politics (Sanders) and in academia (Wolff) do often mix them up. They do this because their careers demand it, or to put it another way, the capitalist overseers of their careers demand it. It is the only way they can express opinions that are favorable to socialism and maintain their careers.

Press Release: 1.5°C vs 2°C global warming – new study shows why half a degree matters

Click here to access article from European Geosciences Union.

European researchers have found substantially different climate change impacts for a global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C by 2100, the two temperature limits included in the Paris climate agreement. The additional 0.5°C would mean a 10-cm-higher global sea-level rise by 2100, longer heat waves, and would result in virtually all tropical coral reefs being at risk.

It appears that the Great Barrier Reef off Australia is already in trouble judging by this report from the Independent entitled "Great Barrier Reef: Half of natural wonder is ‘dead or dying’ and it is on the brink of extinction, scientists say".

However, none of this matters to capitalists who are addicted to power and profits that is delivered to them by their system. I wonder how long the rest of us are going to let these drug addicts and their delivery system destroy the Earth's habitat that can support human life.

Breaks and broken

Click here to access article by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review Blog.

Combining his own research with that of Oxfam, this economist concludes the following:

Those breaks indicate that not only is the U.S. tax system broken; so, too, is the political system.

Except, of course, for U.S. corporations.

His data also adds more ammunition to the charge that the US government is ruled by a class that is aligned with the interests of corporations that are owned by people known as a capitalist class. This class lives off of the profits from productive activities that workers engage in while working in these corporation. Capitalists do not produce or create anything themselves. They justify this exploitative relationship with workers because of their devotion to property rights which they have built into a cornerstone of their legal system that supports capitalist class rule. 

The meaning of property has been extended far beyond the common notion of personal property into the "ownership" of things ranging from tools and machines that workers use in their daily productive activities to ideas and to life forms (DNA) created by scientists. With these rights of property capitalists justify their right of appropriation of all profits from economic enterprises that use such property, and nearly absolute control over how, when, and where the enterprises operate.

To provide cover for this exploitative relationship and to make it more appealing to workers, the capitalist ruling classes often lay on their legal structure a rather thin veneer of civil rights for its citizens, sponsor political elections to simulate a "democracy", and provide minimal social safety nets. But the reality is this: one must have money to assert these civil rights effectively, capitalists exercise total control over the election machinery, and the safety nets are limited--they are only designed to contain major dissent (this is why they were expanded in the Great Depression). These are only the key features. To be a true ruling class, they had to take control over not only the government, but all institutions of society--media, education, entertainment, etc.

The capitalist class when threatened often resort to an iron fist type of authoritarian rule (often depicted as "fascism") that have these basic features: a dictatorship or centralized rule, extreme promotion and protection of private property especially of major capitalists, a suspension of all civil liberties, and a visceral hatred and violent crackdown of any anti-capitalist political movements.

Military spending is the capitalist world’s fuel

Click here to access article by Pete Dolack from his blog Systemic Disorder.

...why is U.S. military spending so high? It’s because the repeated use of force is what is necessary to maintain the capitalist system. As top dog in the world capitalist system, it’s up the to the U.S. to do what is necessary to keep itself, and its multi-national corporations, in the driver’s seat. That has been a successful project. U.S.-based multi-nationals hold the world’s highest share in 18 of 25 broad industrial sectors, according to an analysis in New Left Review, and often by commanding margins — U.S. multi-nationals hold at least a 40 percent global share in 10 of those sectors.

Exit from the Megamachine [a 'best post']

Click here to access article by Fabian Scheidler from degrowth.

Unfortunately, I have run out of time this morning to comment on this excellent post. However my reaction is probably not needed because the essay can stand on its own. It sums up so much that is true about today's world and the system of capitalism that is destroying it, and written by someone who has a clear understanding of it.

In the twenty-first century, however, the five-hundred year-long expansion of the megamachine is reaching insurmountable limits. On the one hand the accumulation-machine is stuttering: the huge numbers of poor people across the globe and the crumbling middle classes do not have the money to keep buying a growing production at profitable prices. This is why the economy is shifting to finance speculations that erupt in ever deeper crashes, further destabilizing economies as well as states. 

World’s largest Earth science organization to continue accepting ExxonMobil sponsorship despite calls from 250+ geoscientists

Click here to access article by Geoffrey Supran, Ploy Achakulwisut, Ben Scandella, and Britta Voss from Skeptical Science.

Last week, the President of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) - the world’s largest association of Earth scientists - announced the AGU Board’s decision to continue accepting sponsorship from ExxonMobil, despite calls for an end to this relationship from more than 250 geoscientists owing to ExxonMobil’s past and present climate science disinformation.

This is another illustration among many of the overwhelming power of major corporations in today's world. When capitalist power can triumph over the conservative discipline of scientific inquiry, then we are all in trouble.

Democracy Sleepwalking

Click here to access article by Arun Gupta from CounterPunch.

Although he initially identifies the protest march near the capitol as organized by Democracy Awakening, the author subsequently also identifies it with another liberal group called Spring Awakening whose members apparently joined in. 

The Nation branded Democracy Awakening and Democracy Spring “the most important protest of the 2016 election.” But despite more than half a year of organizing, 300 endorsing organizations, and millions of dollars spent directly or in staff time, organizers could muster barely a thousand people for an outdoor rally on a gorgeous spring day.

The gathering was a throwback to soporific pre-Occupy Wall Street protests.

Could such events represent the "last hurrah" for liberal activism? Hopefully this signals a deeper, more relevant, and more revolutionary movement that will take their place. 

Little remains of the liberal world, however. With the precarity of most unions and the rule of the oligarchy, the political space for liberals has been almost completely eliminated. They seem to understand they need to take risks if they hope to counter the strength of capital and the right. But Democracy Spring and Democracy Awakening show half-hearted measures won’t work. Only by embracing the uncertainty and unpredictability genuine movements unleash, can they have any hope of outmaneuvering the ruling class.

The differing lifestyles of low-level drug offenders vs banksters

as posted on Occasional Links & Commentary.

Review: ‘The Measure of a Man,’ a Tale of a Man’s Lost Labor

Click here to access article by Manohla Dargis from The NY Times.

Here is a film featuring a main character that many of us can identify with. Bush's "ownership society" played out to enrich the One Percent, bankrupted the banks which were subsequently bailed out by us, causing unemployment to skyrocket and since then has disappeared many off the unemployment rolls and others onto low paid future-less jobs. This film is about a character who is in the latter situation.  

Midway through the quiet emotional storms in the French drama “The Measure of a Man,” the hero, Thierry, begins working as a supermarket security guard. It’s a bitter victory. There is little that’s secure about the job, which requires Thierry to view not just every customer but also each employee as a potential thief. Supplemented with the trappings of the badly paid — a stifling tie, ill-fitting jacket, squawking walkie-talkie — he embodies 21st-century labor at its most heroically alienated. As he stands and watches, liberty seems a distant promise, as do equality and fraternity.

This is a tragic story about a worker that has been repeated many millions of times over the history of the boom-and-bust system of capitalism. 

Hybrid War Hyenas Tear Brazil Apart

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from RT.

This world traveling, outstanding journalist is at home in Brazil and discovering that the Empire is trying to do what they have accomplished in many parts of the world: overturning a popular government to serve neoliberal interests. They have recent successes in South America with the Macri regime installed in Argentina and the weakening of Venezuelan popular government with the right-wing wins in their parliamentary election. 

He argues that the impeachment effort, the first step of which was approved by the lower house of the Brazilian congress, has the ultimate objective of targeting the former very popular President Lula da Silva.

It’s impossible to understand what happened at the Circus Maximus this Sunday without knowing there’s a gaggle of Brazilian political parties that are seriously threatened by the non-stop overspill of the Car Wash corruption investigation. To ensure their survival, Car Wash must be “suspended”; and it will, under the bogus “national unity” proposed by lowly Brutus Temer [the vice-president who would take over for President Rousseff during the impeachment hearings should they be approved].

But first, Car Wash must produce a high-profile scalp. And that has to be Lula in jail – compared to which the crucifixion of Rousseff is an Aesop fable. Corporate media, led by the noxious Globo empire, would hail it as the ultimate victory, and nobody would care about Car Wash’s enforced retirement.      

The 54 million-plus who voted for Rousseff’s reelection in 2014 voted wrong. The overall “project” is a government without vote and without people; a Brazilian-style parliamentary system, without bothering with pesky “elections” and crucially, including very “generous” campaign financing flexibility not bound to incriminate powerful companies/corporations.

You might also be interested in an article in TeleSur on the same subject.

The Race to the Bottom

by Khalil Bendib from his website.

The myth of ‘free trade’

Click here to access article by Stephen Millies from Workers World. 

I think that "free trade" can be better understood as a euphemism for unrestricted capitalist exploitation of man and nature. Millies describes some of the most outrageous crimes committed by capitalists whenever and wherever they could due to a lack of restrictions.

Slavery and the History of Capitalism

Click here to access article from communists in situ. 

An academic style of writing can be very off-putting to ordinary educated people because of its use of obscure words and references in frequently lengthy articles, but this article I believe is well worth a read because it provides an excellent critical survey of writings on the title-subject both historical and contemporary which one can make use of.  By reading some of this literature, we can increase our understanding of racism and slavery and the important role they played in the rise of capitalism.

The article also directs our attention to what is happening in the world of academia regarding this subject. For example, my attention was drawn to the fact that there has been a renaissance of writing about capitalism and the history of capitalism since the economic crash of 2008. We as activists can benefit from this re-awakening.

An energetic startup within the U.S. historical profession, the history of capitalism has grown rapidly over the past few years and won media attention most academics only dream of. Its popularity was sparked in part by the 2008 financial crisis, which renewed doubt about capitalism’s promises, and it emerges in the long wake of the demise of identity politics and the cultural turn within U.S. scholarship. It looks beyond supposedly narrow, sectarian concerns with particular groups left out of mainstream history—women and workers, peasants and slaves, blacks and gays. Some scholars have indeed argued for the capacious, democratic, and inclusive capabilities of this new field; others have been at pains to demonstrate that it is not a recapitulation of social history centered on the white male worker or business history fetishizing the white male capitalist. Even so, its institutional and ideological biases often shine through in its favored subjects and its anointed practitioners.

Saudi Arabia Threatens To Liquidate Its Treasury Holdings If Congress Probes Its Role In Sept 11 Attacks

Click here to access article by Tyler Durden from Zero Hedge. 

Who knows what is really going on behind the scenes of this threat to unload US Treasury bills, but what has been revealed by many independent investigators of 9/11 suggest that Durden's concluding question is really not the most important one:

...why the Saudi panic, and why immediately threaten with the "nuclear option", namely liquidating US Treasurys, if the Saudis have nothing to hide?

Many of these independent investigations have turned up evidence that suggests that 9/11 was a joint project of the CIA together with secret agents mainly in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. Durden along with the NY Times points only their fingers at the Saudis. This I think offers a convenient distraction from other more important culprits, many of which are within the US. Thus, I think that the big question remaining is this:

[why has the] "Obama [administration] been lobbying so intently against the bill that some lawmakers and families of Sept. 11 victims are infuriated [?]

It will be interesting to see how this contest between the highly motivated 9/11 family victims and Congress plays out. Even though I have no doubt that the censored 28 pages contain anything about the role of the CIA and Israel in this great tragedy, there is one thing that I am thoroughly confident about: there is so much more a than just Saudi Arabia's role and their monetary retaliation in this huge can of worms that will prevent the Congressional bill from ever passing. 

There is also the huge threat that the Saudi officials will point their fingers at the CIA and Israel. The NY Times is once again providing cover for the real agents behind the 9/11 event which provided the necessary excuse ("a new Peal Harbor" referred to on page 51 in the neoconservative publication entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses" ) for the launching of many wars in the Middle East and the establishment of police state features here within the US.

Trans Pacific Partnership

by Khalil Bendib from his website. 

“Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class”

Click here to access article by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review Blog.

No, that’s not the democratic socialist candidate for the Democratic nomination. It was actually Al Capone who once said that “Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class.”

Capitalism has a lot in common with organized crime because of its tendency to rob and murder others to gain wealth and power. The main differences between them is contained in the title quote above, that is, that capitalists have not only gained dominance over their societies by stealth, murder, and robbery; but have also gone on to establish many other institutions to provide legitimacy for them. This is especially true in their legal system where laws are made and enforced to give them the right to steal the fruits of working people and where the enforcement of their laws is done deferentially based on social class; their ownership and control of media is used to present news coverage that justify their rule and behavior; the educational system is used to instill capitalist values into unsuspecting, innocent children; and the entertainment industry is used to distract, entertain, and reaffirm their values. Capitalists make considerable use of deception in all these institutions. These efforts give this dominant class a certain veneer of respectability and legitimacy which organized crime doesn't bother with. 

There is a blurring of lines between organized crime and the institutions of "legitimate" institutions. They both share the same basic anti-social proclivities and they often collaborate when it is to their mutual advantage. Most often this collaboration can be found in drug and arms trafficking, and was dramatically evident in the assassination of John Kennedy in which many independent investigators turned up evidence of organized crime involvement. One sees collaboration most frequently in business and entertainment where members of both camps cooperate in plundering activities, and members easily cross over from one camp to the other. (Read The Money and the Power by Denton and Morris, Double Cross by the Giancana brothers, and Gangster Capitalism by Woodiwiss--in that order.) Capitalism is a perfect system for sociopaths--both capitalist and criminal types.

Safety Nets

by Khalil Bendib from Other Words.

Wall Streeters land just fine, but kids in dire poverty slip right through.

Smoke & Fumes

Click here to access article from Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL).

This is a major contribution to an understanding of the insidious role played by the fossil fuel industry starting in 1946 to suppress information about the threat their industry posed for a stable climate. The report is based on solid research which is well documented.

In late 1946, as public concern and media scrutiny mounted, executives from the Western Oil and Gas Association met in Los Angeles to consider a response. They emerged with a plan—and a Committee. Comprised of executives from leading oil companies (including Union Oil, Standard Oil of California (both now part of Chevron), Esso (now ExxonMobil), and Shell), the newly-created Smoke and Fumes Committee would fund scientific research into smog and other air pollution issues and, significantly, use that research to inform and shape public opinion about environmental issues. The express goal of their collaboration was to use science and public skepticism to prevent environmental regulations they deemed hasty, costly, and unnecessary.

The following 3:51m video provides an excellent introduction to the report which is concise and very readable.

This is a story about how the world’s most powerful industry used science, communications, and consumer psychology to shape the public debate over climate change. And it begins earlier—decades earlier—than anyone suspected.

The essential lesson to be learned from this report is that when an economic system is established to serve the profit interests of its private owners, profits will always trump the interests of the public, indeed as this report illustrates, even the very survival of humans. It must be understood that the accumulation of wealth and the control of jobs provides people known as capitalists with tremendous power over us and our society. The greater the concentration of wealth in this tiny segment of the population, the greater the power they exert over every institution of our society. This drug of power is extremely addictive, and over several centuries has created a monster capitalist class and a world Empire that threatens to kill us all if we allow it to continue. 

Socialist Senator Explains the Difference Between Democrats and Republicans

Click here to access article by Mike Whitney from CounterPunch. 

No, Whitney is not referring to Bernie Sanders. He is referring to Huey Long who was governor of Louisiana and then US senator back in the early 1930s. Long thought he could fight and win against major corporations. Well, he won some minor skirmishes, but his character was severely attacked by the press media of that time, and in the end he was literally assassinated. Whitney draws a very limited lesson from his history to conclude that all we need today is another candidate like Long!

This is exactly what the country needs, a brassy-brawling chest-thumping populist who likes a good slugfest and doesn’t mind stretching the rules a bit when necessary. And if he happens to have some less-than-admirable human frailties, then so be it.

I simply don't understand Whitney and other such critics of the status quo. Surely he knows the sordid history of corporate takeover of all political institutions in the US since the 1930s. This history has led the US to what it is today: a capitalist Empire governed by a hidden "deep state" of financial, industrial, and military directors that control everything behind a facade of a democratic government staffed by their loyal employees. Surely he knows this! He has certainly written a number of articles describing it.

So, why does he write such articles as this one? Is it because he, like so many others, has also learned the real lesson of the Huey Longs of American history: that you can't fight and win against them in their system? Is it that he, too, has decided to play it safe because he fears the powers of the deep state to destroy people who fight against their system?

What we really need today are revolutionary-minded people who are willing to risk all and join together to end the ownership and control of our economy, country, and much of the world by capitalists.

The West's Terrorist "Catch and Release" Program

Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from New Eastern Outlook.

For fisheries around the world, the concept of “catch and release” allows anglers to enjoy the fishing experience while preserving the numbers and health of fish populations. The concept of “catch and release” for Western security and intelligence agencies appears very similar – to maintain the illusion of counterterrorism operations, while maintaining the numbers and health of terrorist organizations around the world.

But, you say, "why would they do that?" Come on! Think about it! How much longer are you going to let them make a fool of you? You know, or should know, that the "War on Drugs" was not really a war on drugs. We now have more drug problems and trafficking than ever before. Well the "War on Terrorism" is not about a war on terrorism-- whatever that means. Cartalucci supplies some real answers.

Consensus on Consensus: Expertise Matters in Agreement Over Human-Caused Climate Change

Click here to access article by Allison Mills from Michigan Tech News. (A similar report was also published in The Guardian.)

This is a report of a major study published in Environmental Research Letters, a science publication of the IOP (Institute of Physics).

A research team confirms that 97 percent of climate scientists agree that climate change is caused by humans. The group includes Sarah Green, a chemistry professor at Michigan Technological University. "What's important is that this is not just one study--it's the consensus of multiple studies," Green says. This consistency across studies contrasts with the language used by climate change doubters. This perspective stems from, as the authors write, "conflating the opinions of non-experts with experts and assuming that lack of affirmation equals dissent."

This seems like belated news since most of the voices challenging man-made climate destabilization have already been quieted. I think that this was a result not of a scientific study, but of the increasing occurrence of very extreme weather events. I think that Hurricane Sandy that hit the center of the Empire in 2012 was the most important single weather event that caused the "denialists" to shut up and ordinary people to believe what scientists had been telling them for several decades. 

Thus, nowadays we don't hear so much about the denial of climate destabilization. Instead, what we hear from TV talking heads employed by capitalists, whose system is causing this crisis, are reassuring myths about how they have geoengineering fixes to prevent any serious problems; and besides, the worst effects won't happen for another century. So, why worry? We are taking care of it. Just go shopping.

Billionaires

by Khalil Bendib from Other Words.

Ruling Class Games and Qualifications: on and Beyond the Bernie-Hillary Spat

Click here to access article by Paul Street from CounterPunch. 

I like to ignore the foreground of American style "politics" in order to focus on the politics of the "deep state" where the action really is. But in this piece Street takes ordinary Americans by the hand and leads them from their quadrennial habit of becoming interested in presidential elections to an understanding of how professionally managed these events are. The purpose of these election circuses are to distract us from any real understanding of the hidden deep state or the politics of the real "deciders". On the way in this journey to real politics, Street offers a number of insightful gems such as the following:

One Democrat at a top Wall Street firm even told Politico that Hillary’s politically unavoidable populist rhetoric was “a Rorschach test for how politically sophisticated [rich] people are…If someone is upset by this it’s because they have no idea how populist the mood of the country still is. The fact is, if she didn’t say this stuff now she would be open to massive attacks from the left, and would have to say even more dramatic stuff later.”

These reflections from “liberal” elites atop the “unelected dictatorship” speak volumes about the nation’s descent into abject plutocracy and the limits of progressive change permitted under elections and through parties subject to “the hidden primary of the ruling class.” 

If you would like to understand the origins of the management of popular politics, you need an understanding of the real history of politics in America. I have found such an article. It's quite lengthy, but it really covers the origins of the transformation of something that passed somewhat as real politics in America (1934) to what it is today: a controlled and professionally managed election process to select puppet-people to offices that will serve the real deciders in the ruling capitalist class. The article is entitled "The Lie Factory" by Jill Lepore from The New Yorker. In this piece you will learn about Clem Whitaker, the owner of the first political consultant/management firm in the 1930s. Here he expresses his cynical ruling class view of ordinary Americans:

“The average American doesn’t want to be educated; he doesn’t want to improve his mind; he doesn’t even want to work, consciously, at being a good citizen,” Whitaker advised. “But there are two ways you can interest him in a campaign, and only two that we have ever found successful.” You can put on a fight (“he likes a good hot battle, with no punches pulled”), or you can put on a show (“he likes the movies; he likes mysteries; he likes fireworks and parades”): “So if you can’t fight, PUT ON A SHOW! And if you put on a good show, Mr. and Mrs. America will turn out to see it.” 

Terror Profits — Arms Makers Rejoice As American Bombs Drop Faster Than They Can Make Them

Click here to access article by Claire Bernish from Mint Press News.

According to a recent report from Reuters, American cities are rejoicing over the new windfall, job creation and the economic benefits associated with increased bomb production.

.... It is also important to note that the money used to finance these weapons manufacturers is taken from the public via taxation, or deferred to our children’s children through Federal Reserve debt. As the threat of World War III looms across the planet, the American taxpayers are being fleeced to build the weapons with which this world war will be carried out.

Considering the military-industrial machine always finds a way to profit from killing people, it’s likely the bomb shortage won’t be long-lived.

The West’s Terrorist “Catch and Release” Program

Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from New Eastern Outlook.

For fisheries around the world, the concept of “catch and release” allows anglers to enjoy the fishing experience while preserving the numbers and health of fish populations. The concept of “catch and release” for Western security and intelligence agencies appears very similar – to maintain the illusion of counterterrorism operations, while maintaining the numbers and health of terrorist organizations around the world.

Capitalism: A Bleak Outlook

Click here if you wish to access the cartoon by Maram Heshan directly from Cartoon Movement. 

'When the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat money.' 

Monsanto's Willing Executioners

Click here to access article by JP Sottile from TruthOut. (Minor revisions made up till 7:30 AM Seattle time on 4/12/2016)

I have already established the fact that TruthOut has large Democratic Party funders (see my commentary at this post) who act like a Mephistopheles on the people who run this website. According the the Faust legend, when you make a pact with the devil (in this case people committed to capitalism), you bargain for more time to seek knowledge and power in exchange for your soul. With this post and similar ones TruthOut makes an effort to redeem its pact with the devil. Whether they can, unlike the legend, continue to do so and ultimately outwit the capitalist devil is for the future to reveal. (I extremely doubt it.)

Anyway, this piece is a major contribution to an understanding of how Monsanto has succeeded in selling so much poison that has been spread over much of our Mother Earth, and continues to in spite of popular opposition. 

We should not be surprised that when power and profits are at stake, corporations always win in any contest with the capitalist version of democracy. 

This piece has got me thinking. Staying with the metaphor of the Faust legend, one might think of the capitalist version of democracy as also a pact with the devil made by people several centuries ago when they joined the capitalist class to help them overthrow the rule of the existing ruling class--the monarchies and aristocracies of the feudal era. The capitalists seduced the peasants and workers (artisans and craftsmen) into supporting them with promises of all kinds of freedoms that became the capitalist ideology of liberalism. In reality the core concepts emphasized the equivalence of liberty with the rights of property and individualism. (This classic view of liberalism should not be confused with the revisionist form as used today with its emphasis on a mixed economy and the equality of social identities.) This was essentially a pact made between the rising capitalist class in the 17th and 18th centuries and the rest of humanity in the Western world.

Much of this ideology of freedom was stolen from Age of Enlightenment philosophers who challenged the many superstitions in the feudal era based on the developments of scientific inquiry and the subsequent discoveries by the early scientists of our natural world. (Notice that this is much like corporations today such as Monsanto that appropriate the scientific method to create antisocial products to enrich themselves instead of satisfying real social needs.) To conform to their interests, this new capitalist ruling class as they came to power made a revolutionary transformation of all institutions to conform to their interests. This was especially true of the underlying ideology of Western societies which they transformed into one that was much more compatible with their rule: the worldview of Romanticism which emphasized the heroic role of individuals (capitalists). 

I think that in this contemporary period, in which capitalism has spread throughout the world, we are seeing a day of reckoning for making this making this pact with the capitalist devil. We are seeing interminable wars and its effects (social chaos and the rise of terrorist armies), destabilization of the climate which threatens human habitat, the decline of living standards for most humans along with the enrichment of a tiny class, the rise of police state features (24/7 surveillance, militarized police forces, suspensions of civil liberties, etc.), and the ever present threat of a nuclear war conflagration between capitalist countries. It has now become questionable whether humans can survive even another century.

Capitalism And Global Agribusiness: From Ford To Monsanto, It's For Your Own Good

Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from East by Northwest.

Global agribusiness is threatening food security and food sovereignty. It has been able to capture government regulatory/policy agendas, important trade deals and global trade policies. Monsanto itself is a major player and wields enormous influence and receives significant political support. That company has a history of knowingly contaminating the environment and food with various harmful substances and engaging in cover ups and criminality.

In recent times, much resistance to the power of agribusiness has centred on seed patenting, the deleterious impacts of glyphosate-based herbicide and the dangers that GMOs pose to human and animal health and the environment.

The Future

Click here if you wish to access this directly from Stephanie McMillan's website.

Alone We Are Weak

Who’s in Charge? The Power Structure and Foreign Policy

Click here to access this book review by Martin Oppenheimer from New Politics.

Wall Street’s Think Tank: The Council on Foreign Relations and the Empire of Neoliberal Geopolitics 1975-2014
By: Laurence H. Shoup
Monthly Review Press, 2015. 400 pp. Hardcover, $34, $36 Can.

In books like this, one can learn who really runs our government and in whose interests these "deciders" really serve. In short, one can learn about the "deep state" that pulls the strings of government puppets. Or would you rather be distracted by following websites that cover what's happening with the puppets?

The CFR was founded immediately after World War I and “has been pursuing a world-spanning hegemonic project” that is promoted through a foreign policy “suitable to the U.S. capitalist class” since that time (10-11). Shoup tells us that the consequences of this “neoliberal geopolitical empire” has been “the destruction of unions and working class communities, privatization, speculation, grotesque economic inequality, ecological destruction, and … war and conquest”. This is quite an indictment; the book is a carefully documented effort, largely successful, to provide the evidence for that description.

Nuclear industry reveals its unsolved problem: waste

Click here to access article by Gordon MacKerron from Ecologist. 

The author deconstructs an announcement to find the real reasons behind the shipment of a large quantity of nuclear waste (it appears that most of it is from Britain's nuclear power plants) to the US allegedly because of terrorist considerations.  

The announcement draws new attention to an old issue: how to find a long-term solution to nuclear waste. Countries with atomic weapons or civilian nuclear power have been wrestling with this for several decades. This is partly because the problem was neglected for years, but more fundamentally because governments have failed to develop a strategy acceptable to the communities affected.

This reflects the uniqueness of the problem, of course - we are talking about substances which could harm human health for tens of thousands of years into the future. It raises profound ethical issues of equity between generations.

The scientific community does in fact agree on how to dispose of these materials safely: deep underground in appropriate geology such as clay or granite, with well engineered radiation barriers as an extra defence. Yet only Sweden and Finland, with political systems built on more trust and consensus than most countries, have a clear repository plan - and it will be several years before they become operational.

Some Possible Programmatic Ideas

Click here to access article from ZNet.

It seems that during presidential election years all the liberal-leftists are inspired by an approved liberal candidate (this election year it is Sen. Bernie Sanders) to formulate a new "radical" agenda which turns out to be a reform of the capitalist system to make it a kinder, gentler capitalism (an oxymoron). Such is the agenda in this piece and endorsed by many such people. (Yesterday I posted a European version of a reformist agenda.)

I've seen these come and go (after every election) every four years for the last 60 years. The capitalist ruling class love all the excitement they can muster regarding their well-managed elections. It helps to legitimate them by collecting and encouraging all the disillusioned people to participate in them. 

I really don't like to sound cynical, and I'm really not. I just hate to see these quadrennial feasts of reformist illusions. I am thoroughly convinced by personal experience and history that capitalism cannot be reformed. (Read this post's commentary.) The best reforms in American history were accomplished during the FDR administration in the 1930s that promoted New Deal policies. This was after a devastating Wall Street crash and world-wide economic collapse, the emergence of many truly radical movements in the US, and only 16 years after the first workers' revolution in Russia that established the Soviet Union. US capitalists were shaking in their boots over the threat that the radical movements posed to their rule. Thus they--and not without vigorous dissent and an attempted coup--permitted F. Roosevelt to hold office and work his mild reformist policies into the fabric of government to reduce the pressure from these popular movements.

The only way to create social justice and to live sustainably with nature is to abolish the rule of capitalists and put an end to their system. They will never permit their system to be significantly reformed. Thus the construction of a serious movement to overthrow their rule must be undertaken everyday for at least the next decade to end this cancer that will destroy us all if we fail. As you can imagine, this effort will require a lot more than showing up on one day to vote for the latest Bernie Sanders in capitalist controlled elections.