ConsortiumNews broadcast the latest vigil for Julian Assange as the publisher comes under new pressure to be expelled from Ecuador’s London embassy, while charges await him in the United States.
The broadcast was Friday night. With Ray McGovern, Chris Hedges, Margaret Kimberly, Suzie Dawson and more:
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Watch Vigil for Assange
Click here if you wish to access the video directly from Consortium News.
Book review: Professor Stephen Cohen’s “War with Russia?”
Click here to access article by Yvonne Lorenzo from A bird's eye view of the Vineyard.
Over ten years ago, one of the few voices that I listened to that provided facts outside the propaganda narrative of the legacy mass media and the U.S. government on what the situation was regarding Georgia fighting with Russia was from Russia scholar Professor Stephen Cohen. I felt blessed to discover him and his work.
After the events in Ukraine, where a U.S. sponsored putsch installed a fascist government in power, he and conservative radio talk show host John Batchelor held numerous conversations on the “New Cold War” with Russia. Professor Cohen has decided to collect the summaries of those conversations, up to recent events including the Kerch incident, in a new book, War with Russia?: From Putin and Ukraine To Trump and Russiagate. While Professor Cohen has written several works of scholarship and is unique in not sticking to the “party line” that Russia is greatest enemy of America and the West, this book is special because it’s both timely and accessible to interested readers.
Articles/videos relating to the "yellow vest" uprising in France
- Yellow Vests Rise Against Neo-Liberal ‘King’ Macron125,000 French Take To Streets As Trump Trolls Macron; Protester's Hand Blown Off In Graphic Video posted by Tyler Durden from ZeroHedge. Includes several videos of on street clashes between protestors and police in Paris.
- France’s Yellow Vests: It’s just 1 protest…which has lasted 8 years by Ramin Mazaheri from A bird's eye view of the Vineyard.
- Why are the 'yellow vests' protesting in France? by Rokhaya Diallo from Al Jazeera.
- Yellow Vests Rise Against Neo-Liberal ‘King’ Macron by Diana Johnstone from Consortium News.
- France’s Yellow Vest Rebellion: Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité by Richard Galustian from Global Research.
- Les Déplorables Demand The Fall Of The Regime by Bernhard from Moon of Alabama.
- French government threatens bloody crackdown on “yellow vest” protest by Alex Lantier and Francis Dubois from World Socialist Web Site.
Saturday, December 8, 2018
How Big Brother Grips Americans’ Minds to Support Invasions
Click here to access article by Eric Zuesse from Strategic Culture Foundation. (Added additional content at 10:55 AM CT, and another edit for clarity at 6:08 PM CT.)
I don't mean to shock my fellow Americans, who have not been following my blog, by attacking the arguments of this old-fashioned liberal who sees the rich (he frequently refers to them as "aristocrats") as the root of all evil in America today. This view conveniently diverts attention from the rise of American fascism. Under the insidious guidance of fascist American capitalists, this development can be dated from about 1941 when the well-connected (to the rich ruling class) Henry Luce, owner of Time Magazine, published his propaganda piece entitled "The American Century". (Previously this fascist element hid under the label of "isolationists". They often had supportive ties with European fascist capitalists. Incidentally, there were real isolationists who opposed getting into European wars.) This event was the launch of American fascism, the inevitable final stage of capitalism, which eventually turns the capitalist ruling class into fascist capitalists.
Under fascist capitalism the addiction to the drugs of wealth and power reach a final stage in which its addicts can no longer function rationally, and must increasingly rely more on the use of violence and deceit to maintain their rule. In order to maintain their system of capitalism, which provides them with the drugs of power and wealth, their use of deceit must increasingly be used to induce beliefs in the general population that share in, and reflect, their fantasies about global power. It is now evident from the author's solid citation of a recent Gallup poll survey that Americans overwhelmingly share in their fantasies of being an "exceptional nation" that should rule the world.
Unfortunately, Zuesse is an old-fashioned liberal much like Pat Buchanan is an old-fashioned conservative. These capitalist ideologues were left behind when American fascist capitalists decided to launch their empire project in 1941. And did they ever launch it! It is now a masterpiece and a monument to the celebration of skulduggery! I am not going to explain how they did it in this commentary because I've devoted much of my website for the last nine years to explain the process. (Look under the label-categories: history, CIA, ruling class, best posts, etc. on the right hand side of this website toward the bottom.) But I insist that fascist capitalism is an inevitable development once the system of capitalism was established in the world first in Holland and Britain in the 17th century, in France and the USA in the 18th century, in Germany in the 19th century. From these powerful colonial nations it metastasized to the rest of the world.
Anyway, the point I wish to make in this commentary is that Zuesse, as an old-fashioned liberal, has the naive conviction that only if the rich didn't lie, we would enjoy the benefits of a "democracy".
If you have read most of his other essays, you will notice that he rarely, if ever, mentions the word "capitalism". You will also notice that he always cites the rich capitalists, which he frequently describes with the feudal term "aristocracy", as the root cause of all our problems today. As such, he, along with many other old-fashioned liberals, functions as a welcome propagandist for the fascist capitalist ruling class by diverting our attention from the system that produced the fascists to the rich. Notice, like all old-fashioned liberals, he looks back affectionately to Franklin Roosevelt as a good president who tried to set the USA on a good path. But, alas, the evil rich "aristocracy" took over control of the nation by lying their way to power. This simplistic, childish notion ignores the fact that every ruling class has historically lied their way to power, and they must lie to maintain themselves as a ruling class!
I don't mean to shock my fellow Americans, who have not been following my blog, by attacking the arguments of this old-fashioned liberal who sees the rich (he frequently refers to them as "aristocrats") as the root of all evil in America today. This view conveniently diverts attention from the rise of American fascism. Under the insidious guidance of fascist American capitalists, this development can be dated from about 1941 when the well-connected (to the rich ruling class) Henry Luce, owner of Time Magazine, published his propaganda piece entitled "The American Century". (Previously this fascist element hid under the label of "isolationists". They often had supportive ties with European fascist capitalists. Incidentally, there were real isolationists who opposed getting into European wars.) This event was the launch of American fascism, the inevitable final stage of capitalism, which eventually turns the capitalist ruling class into fascist capitalists.
Under fascist capitalism the addiction to the drugs of wealth and power reach a final stage in which its addicts can no longer function rationally, and must increasingly rely more on the use of violence and deceit to maintain their rule. In order to maintain their system of capitalism, which provides them with the drugs of power and wealth, their use of deceit must increasingly be used to induce beliefs in the general population that share in, and reflect, their fantasies about global power. It is now evident from the author's solid citation of a recent Gallup poll survey that Americans overwhelmingly share in their fantasies of being an "exceptional nation" that should rule the world.
Unfortunately, Zuesse is an old-fashioned liberal much like Pat Buchanan is an old-fashioned conservative. These capitalist ideologues were left behind when American fascist capitalists decided to launch their empire project in 1941. And did they ever launch it! It is now a masterpiece and a monument to the celebration of skulduggery! I am not going to explain how they did it in this commentary because I've devoted much of my website for the last nine years to explain the process. (Look under the label-categories: history, CIA, ruling class, best posts, etc. on the right hand side of this website toward the bottom.) But I insist that fascist capitalism is an inevitable development once the system of capitalism was established in the world first in Holland and Britain in the 17th century, in France and the USA in the 18th century, in Germany in the 19th century. From these powerful colonial nations it metastasized to the rest of the world.
Anyway, the point I wish to make in this commentary is that Zuesse, as an old-fashioned liberal, has the naive conviction that only if the rich didn't lie, we would enjoy the benefits of a "democracy".
If you have read most of his other essays, you will notice that he rarely, if ever, mentions the word "capitalism". You will also notice that he always cites the rich capitalists, which he frequently describes with the feudal term "aristocracy", as the root cause of all our problems today. As such, he, along with many other old-fashioned liberals, functions as a welcome propagandist for the fascist capitalist ruling class by diverting our attention from the system that produced the fascists to the rich. Notice, like all old-fashioned liberals, he looks back affectionately to Franklin Roosevelt as a good president who tried to set the USA on a good path. But, alas, the evil rich "aristocracy" took over control of the nation by lying their way to power. This simplistic, childish notion ignores the fact that every ruling class has historically lied their way to power, and they must lie to maintain themselves as a ruling class!
Only if the population boycott lying individuals and organizations, is democracy even possible to exist in a nation. Democracy can’t possibly exist more than truth does. In political matters, deceit is always treachery; and its practitioners, whenever the evidence for it is overwhelming and irrefutable, should experience whatever the standard penalty is for treachery. Only in a land such as that, can democracy possibly exist. Elsewhere, it simply can’t. The only basis for democracy, is truth. Deceit is for dictators, not for democrats. And deceit reigns, in the U.S. and in its allied countries. Is this really tolerable? Americans, at least, tolerate it.
Friday, December 7, 2018
Recommended articles for Friday, December 7, 2018
- 9/11 Breakthrough? News provided by Lawyers' Committee for 9/11 Inquiry posted on PR Newswire. (This article was suggested to me by a diligent activist.)
- On The Road to a Post-G20 World by Pepe Escobar from ConsortiumNews.
- Pakistan not ‘hired gun’ anymore: Imran Khan tells Trump from PressTV.
Whitewash - The 'Last Bastion Of Freedom' Is An Al-Qaeda Infested Town
Click here to access article by Bernhard from Moon of Alabama.
The author blasts the shoddy piece of propaganda about an Syrian town controlled by Al-Qaeda, one of the Empire's terrorist mercenary armies.
The author blasts the shoddy piece of propaganda about an Syrian town controlled by Al-Qaeda, one of the Empire's terrorist mercenary armies.
In reality "an alternative history" is not what happened to Saraqib, but what is presented in the New Yorker piece. It is a whitewash of a brutal international attack on Syria. A hagiography of one Osama al-Hossein, a Muslim Brotherhood 'activist', who got funding from the United States. It includes every false propaganda cliche about 'barrel bombs' and 'moderate rebels', who never were moderate, that the 'western' agencies inserted into the news stream. It is also full of stupid and nonfactual assertions.The major question in my mind is: how did the respectable, although ruling class magazine, become a conduit for pure Empire propaganda? This could be asked about a number of ruling class sources of information and opinion. And, what happened to the articles authored by Seymour Hersh? The New Yorker previously published them. Why has he been forced to publish his recent articles abroad? I think these are more indications of the inherent weakness of the Empire and its desperate attempts to cling to power. Don't misunderstand me. The capitalist US-led Empire is most dangerous when it is seriously threatened.
The latest news on the plight of Julian Assange
- Julian Assange: Wikileaks founder rejects deal allowing him to leave Ecuador embassy in London after six years by Adam Forrest from The Independent.
- Julian Assange rejects UK-Ecuador deal for him to leave the embassy posted by Adam Forrest on YouTube:
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Recommended articles for Wednesday, December 5, 2018
- Assange’s integrity remains unwavering in the face of heightened threats to his health, safety and freedom by Prof. Marcello Ferrada de Noli from The Indicter.
- How the West eats its children by Thierry Meyssan from his blog VoltaireNet.
By allowing capitalism to run wild, President Bush Sr. hoped to extend prosperity to the world. But capitalism is not a political project, it is simply a system of logic designed for creating profit [for capitalists]. The logic of the US multinationals was to increase their profits by delocalising production to China, where it is now possible, and where workers are the lowest paid in the world. [my insertion]
- Extremes of heat will hit health and wealth by Tim Radford from Climate News Network.
Checklist: Are You Organizing Democratically?
Click here to access article by Matt Noyes from Labor Notes.
Although this is written for labor organizers who work within a capitalist system, there are also important suggestions for organizing an effective bottom-up authority structures absolutely necessary for any kind of authentic revolutionary movement. Unfortunately, many labor organizers, especially those who are indoctrinated in sociopathic norms of a capitalist society, are co-opted by corporations in order to help them manage workers into supporting their profit objectives. But let us examine and take seriously some of Noyes's recommendations. One thing he failed to mention: above all, such organizers must be appointed and controlled by members of any society, be it a group or a nation.
Although this is written for labor organizers who work within a capitalist system, there are also important suggestions for organizing an effective bottom-up authority structures absolutely necessary for any kind of authentic revolutionary movement. Unfortunately, many labor organizers, especially those who are indoctrinated in sociopathic norms of a capitalist society, are co-opted by corporations in order to help them manage workers into supporting their profit objectives. But let us examine and take seriously some of Noyes's recommendations. One thing he failed to mention: above all, such organizers must be appointed and controlled by members of any society, be it a group or a nation.
Americans’ Self-Contradictory Views of Socialized Healthcare
Click here to access article by Eric Zuesse posted on Washington's Blog.
I'm not so sure that Zuesse's argument is correct. He does support his argument by furnishing data, but I think he is drawing the wrong conclusions. Permit me to argue for another interpretation.
The data suggests not that the American people hold contradictory views on government administration of universal medical care, but they, consciously or not, do not want the government of the ruling class to administer it. They have already experienced the government's administration of Social Security and Medicare, and they don't like it for quite rational reasons: poor service and/or benefits because the administration of these programs are deeply biased to prevent ordinary Americans from receiving benefits, frequently they reward privately owned insurance corporations abundant opportunities to enrich themselves, and experts like Allen Smith argues that much of the funds of the Social Security Administration are "borrowed" to cover government deficits.
Ordinary people need help from the ravages of ruling class government, but they won't get it from a government controlled by the rich and powerful ruling class. Only a government controlled by the people and for the people can accomplish this.
Left-liberals such as Zuesse frequently criticizes government policies, but cannot overcome their well-educated mindset that has been formed through so many years of capitalist indoctrination in capitalist ruling class-controlled schools.
I'm not so sure that Zuesse's argument is correct. He does support his argument by furnishing data, but I think he is drawing the wrong conclusions. Permit me to argue for another interpretation.
The data suggests not that the American people hold contradictory views on government administration of universal medical care, but they, consciously or not, do not want the government of the ruling class to administer it. They have already experienced the government's administration of Social Security and Medicare, and they don't like it for quite rational reasons: poor service and/or benefits because the administration of these programs are deeply biased to prevent ordinary Americans from receiving benefits, frequently they reward privately owned insurance corporations abundant opportunities to enrich themselves, and experts like Allen Smith argues that much of the funds of the Social Security Administration are "borrowed" to cover government deficits.
... the truth about the trust fund has been kept from the general public for the past 30 years. Every dollar of the $2.7 trillion in surplus revenue generated by the 1983 payroll tax hike was embezzled by the government and transferred to the general fund. As the government spent the Social Security surplus money, the actual money was replaced with IOUs, which the government calls “special issues of the Treasury.” The public has been led to believe that the IOUs are real bonds, just like the marketable Treasury bonds held by China, and our other creditors. But the IOUs are not at all like the marketable Treasury bonds. They cannot be sold or used to pay benefits. They represent only an accounting record of how much Social Security money has been spent on other things.Corporate media is flooded with reports emanating from so-called taxpayer and ruling class sources who do no want government funds be diverted to helping people. Instead they want government funds used to enrich themselves which means billions for weapons, support for war policies which require weapons production, and crumbs for the poor. You will rarely find articles posted in corporate media that reflect criticisms of users of government programs. Instead, you will find them in alternative, independent websites that the ruling class is trying to limit via their control of giant internet corporations like Google, Facebook, etc. You must search out and find critical articles from independent websites such as the following: Shock Therapy: Perfect Storm, Seniors Need To Be Tenacious In Appeals To Medicare, In Time for Christmas: A Social Security Plan Only Scrooge Could Love, Social Security: The 14th Amendment and “Odious Debt”, and Social Security in the Great Jambalaya.
Ordinary people need help from the ravages of ruling class government, but they won't get it from a government controlled by the rich and powerful ruling class. Only a government controlled by the people and for the people can accomplish this.
Left-liberals such as Zuesse frequently criticizes government policies, but cannot overcome their well-educated mindset that has been formed through so many years of capitalist indoctrination in capitalist ruling class-controlled schools.
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Chomsky Proves George H.W. Bush Was War Criminal
Jimmy Dore provides a clip of Noam Chomsky explaining to the interviewer about the war crimes committed by George H.W. Bush. This is furnished as an antidote to all the sickening corporate coverage extolling the virtues of this war criminal.
Sir David Attenborough Predicts the ‘Collapse of Civilization’ at UN Climate Summit
Click here to access article by Brandon Specktor from Live Science.
"Right now, we're facing a man-made disaster of global scale," Attenborough told delegates from almost 200 nations. "Our greatest threat in thousands of years: climate change. If we don't take action, the collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon."
Nations as Foreign Capital Corporations
Click here to access article by Francisco Fernández-Bullón from A bird's eye view of the Vineyard.
The article is not well written (or translated), but one still gets a realist impression that many of the Latin American countries (the US's "backyard") are ruled by mafia-like corporate gangs who have plundered such countries for many decades. Such insights are helpful in understanding why so many Central Americans are marching to the US border.
The article is not well written (or translated), but one still gets a realist impression that many of the Latin American countries (the US's "backyard") are ruled by mafia-like corporate gangs who have plundered such countries for many decades. Such insights are helpful in understanding why so many Central Americans are marching to the US border.
The foreign capital company strips all of the homelands of its excess inhabitants, who then have to migrate on foot looking for other lands. The only nationals that Honduras has at the moment are Orlando Hernandez and his cadre of cocaine traffickers who are the only ones who feel at home in the country (although they would probably prefer to live in Miami and be North Americans) and perhaps the high-ranking US military stationed at the base of Palmerola. .... However scarce the rights enjoyed by the Hondurans that manage to enter the stepmother country of adoption that could be the USA, they’ll always have more than in their own country, where they have none and where their death isn’t news. Now finally they have become “news” after many decades of being anonymous victims, thanks to an epic journey on foot, crossing the hostile lands of Central America and North America: lands hostile to those who don’t have more capital than only their hands or their wit, as long as they do not use it to foment crime and robbery.
Who I Am, Where I Stand, And What I’m Trying To Do Here
Click here to access article by Caitlin Johnstone from her blog.
In this article the increasingly popular Australian online activist reveals all about where she is coming from intellectually and personally.
In this article the increasingly popular Australian online activist reveals all about where she is coming from intellectually and personally.
My goal here in this little slot of digital real estate is to do every little thing I can to help save the world. Humanity appears to be hurtling toward extinction by way of climate destruction or nuclear annihilation, both of which are movements held in place by a transnational alliance of plutocrats and secretive government agencies. This unelected power establishment (which is sometimes referred to as the deep state, a term I now avoid since Republican partisans have distorted its meaning) seems to be motivated not by any ideology, nor by any loyalty to any particular nation or government, but by sheer hunger for limitless power. I place emphasis on the United States, because that’s where the largest amount of power appears to be centralized.
In a system where money both (A) translates directly to political power and (B) comes most abundantly to whoever is sufficiently cold and unfeeling to do whatever it takes in order to become immensely wealthy, we naturally find ourselves in a world ruled by sociopaths.
Monday, December 3, 2018
Capitalism Is Dead, But We Still Dance With The Corpse
Click here to access article by Joe Bageant posted on Titanic Lifeboat Academy.
Anyway, I thank the serious activists at Titanic Lifeboat Academy for this post. They tried in vain for many years to teach their fellow Americans about the environmental crisis we were facing and the necessity to live more simply and ecologically.
As an Anglo European white guy from a very long line of white guys, I want to thank all the brown, black, yellow and red people for a marvelous three-century joy ride. During the past 300 years of the industrial age, as Europeans, and later as Americans, we have managed to consume infinitely more than we ever produced, thanks to colonialism, crooked deals with despotic potentates and good old gunboats and grapeshot.
Yes, we have lived, and still live, extravagant lifestyles far above the rest of you. And so, my sincere thanks to all of you folks around the world working in sweatshops, or living on two bucks a day, even though you sit on vast oil deposits. And to those outside my window here in Mexico this morning, the two guys pruning the retired gringo's hedges with what look like pocket knives, I say, keep up the good work. It's the world's cheap labor guys like you -- the black, brown and yellow folks who take it up the shorts -- who make capitalism look like it actually works. So keep on humping. Remember: We've got predator drones.I remember reading that Bageant was living in Belize back around 2011, but I was sad to learn only today that he left us sometime during that year. I was moved by his articles because I think he and I were very much alike. I even thought about moving to Belize among several other places like Mexico and Ecuador--anyplace to escape brainwashed Americans. (Thank god that I was able to live in Canada for four years shortly after "9/11" when in the US a softer, although more effective, slide toward fascism began!) So, I am posting this as a token of appreciation for all of his writings.
Anyway, I thank the serious activists at Titanic Lifeboat Academy for this post. They tried in vain for many years to teach their fellow Americans about the environmental crisis we were facing and the necessity to live more simply and ecologically.
Remembering
Click here to access article by Ghada Chehade from her website Ghada's SoapBox.
I can only read and understand her poems when I am not bothered by all the distractions that direct our attention elsewhere ranging from the maintenance of our personal lives to the more insidious and ubiquitous distractions of our capitalist world. I must be still and isolated from all these distractions, and I frequently find that it is quite a challenge.
I've long tried to listen to my inner voice in spite of all the pressures to conform to the norms of behavior and thought that growing up in a capitalist world entails. Such an orientation is not recommended if you "want to get ahead" in what Chehade and others refer to as a "rat race". However, it is recommended to those who struggle to live their own lives freely. What do I mean by this last statement?
Well, I think Chehade focuses on that in her poem. She finds it a struggle to listen to her own inner voice while living in a capitalist world in which so many powerful voices demand our attention. Most of us are overwhelmed by these latter voices which smother our inner voices to the extent that we lose ourselves in the melee. We often become like automatons which are programmed by our masters to think and act in certain ways. Jay Dyer has studied this phenomenon and has some interesting and helpful insights regarding this dilemma which Chehade expresses existentially in her poem.
I can only read and understand her poems when I am not bothered by all the distractions that direct our attention elsewhere ranging from the maintenance of our personal lives to the more insidious and ubiquitous distractions of our capitalist world. I must be still and isolated from all these distractions, and I frequently find that it is quite a challenge.
I've long tried to listen to my inner voice in spite of all the pressures to conform to the norms of behavior and thought that growing up in a capitalist world entails. Such an orientation is not recommended if you "want to get ahead" in what Chehade and others refer to as a "rat race". However, it is recommended to those who struggle to live their own lives freely. What do I mean by this last statement?
Well, I think Chehade focuses on that in her poem. She finds it a struggle to listen to her own inner voice while living in a capitalist world in which so many powerful voices demand our attention. Most of us are overwhelmed by these latter voices which smother our inner voices to the extent that we lose ourselves in the melee. We often become like automatons which are programmed by our masters to think and act in certain ways. Jay Dyer has studied this phenomenon and has some interesting and helpful insights regarding this dilemma which Chehade expresses existentially in her poem.
US coal firm launches NAFTA suit against Alberta over coal phase-out
Click here to access article from ISDS Platform.
The ISDS Platform, a non-profit NGO, tracks such cases throughout the world. I am posting this article to illustrate the powerful control that the advanced version of capitalism, neoliberalism, has, and that their capitalist beneficiaries enjoy, under the domination of the US-led Empire. One little clause that is inserted in every neoliberal agreement requires a nation to submit to a private court any laws that are passed that might result in a loss to private owners.
In this example where a Canadian province decided to stop coal production as a means to allay global warming, they are likely to be forced to pay billions of dollars in compensation to the coal companies. While reading this article, you might also notice other examples this organization has tracked.
The ISDS Platform, a non-profit NGO, tracks such cases throughout the world. I am posting this article to illustrate the powerful control that the advanced version of capitalism, neoliberalism, has, and that their capitalist beneficiaries enjoy, under the domination of the US-led Empire. One little clause that is inserted in every neoliberal agreement requires a nation to submit to a private court any laws that are passed that might result in a loss to private owners.
ISDS is a mechanism included in many trade and investment agreements to settle disputes. Settling these investor disputes relies on arbitration rather than public courts. Under agreements which include ISDS mechanisms, a company from one signatory state investing in another signatory state can argue that new laws or regulations could negatively affect its expected profits or investment potential, and seek compensation in a binding arbitration tribunal. Corporations typically seek compensation which may amount to millions or billions of US dollars.Capitalists have always regarded the ownership of economic property as sacred. International corporations have managed with the backing of the US Empire to insert such clauses in every economic agreement between and among nations. Nations must accept such neoliberal clauses if they want to do business with nations under the control of the US Empire which is most of the world. Also recalcitrant nations will likely be denied loans from international banking agencies such as the IMF and the World Bank. Such agreements are especially onerous for nations that have suffered many decades, even centuries, of exploitation by foreign corporations under colonial regimes.
In this example where a Canadian province decided to stop coal production as a means to allay global warming, they are likely to be forced to pay billions of dollars in compensation to the coal companies. While reading this article, you might also notice other examples this organization has tracked.
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Recommended articles for Sunday, December 2, 2018
- Guardian ups its vilification of Julian Assange by Jonathan Cook posted on BSNews.
- In Defense of ‘Conspiracy Theories’ by Max Parry from The Greanville Post.
Obama: The worst US president ever
Click here to access article by Ron Ridenour posted on The Greanville Post.
The following critical commentary is not directed at Ridenour who I very much admire, but to reveal the extent of racism in the USA. Even progressives like Ridenour are affected by the ubiquity (def.) of racism that is always a part of the arsenal of the capitalist ruling classes in the category of "divide and conquer" that is used to secure their self-serving rule from any threats emanating from the people.
In racism the surface characteristics of people become the primary mode of thinking about them. Because Obama has a Caucasian mother and a Black African father, he still has a number of surface Negroid characteristics of Black Africans, and the characterization of him as a black persists. This is because the capitalist ruling class instilled in their working class subjects that whites were superior of blacks to insure the toleration of their use of slaves that were necessary to develop the resources because of the shortage of labor in the early history of the USA.
Obama was largely raised initially by a white mother and more-so by a white grandmother who was a vice president of a bank in Hawaii. The latter two shaped his thinking about about social reality, and that mentality, particularly being raised in a upper-middle class home, was milder in form in multi-racial Hawaii (I lived there for five years) than on the mainland. His self-concept and ideological views were largely that of every upper-middle class white kid of the US. Yet, he is still identified by his surface characteristics as a Black African-American, even by progressives such as Ridenour.
The Democratic Party leaders and the ruling class used this racism to manipulate the American people into voting for him. He was packaged as a different kind of candidate that would bring a non-racial administration to America to provide a cover for their policies of increasing militarization of the police forces and more onerous restrictions of civil rights, increasing censorship, increasing surveillance of ordinary Americans, more aggressive foreign policies, etc. In short, he was the perfect candidate for his time and for our masters. Once again, the capitalist ruling class fooled ordinary Americans.
The following critical commentary is not directed at Ridenour who I very much admire, but to reveal the extent of racism in the USA. Even progressives like Ridenour are affected by the ubiquity (def.) of racism that is always a part of the arsenal of the capitalist ruling classes in the category of "divide and conquer" that is used to secure their self-serving rule from any threats emanating from the people.
In racism the surface characteristics of people become the primary mode of thinking about them. Because Obama has a Caucasian mother and a Black African father, he still has a number of surface Negroid characteristics of Black Africans, and the characterization of him as a black persists. This is because the capitalist ruling class instilled in their working class subjects that whites were superior of blacks to insure the toleration of their use of slaves that were necessary to develop the resources because of the shortage of labor in the early history of the USA.
Obama was largely raised initially by a white mother and more-so by a white grandmother who was a vice president of a bank in Hawaii. The latter two shaped his thinking about about social reality, and that mentality, particularly being raised in a upper-middle class home, was milder in form in multi-racial Hawaii (I lived there for five years) than on the mainland. His self-concept and ideological views were largely that of every upper-middle class white kid of the US. Yet, he is still identified by his surface characteristics as a Black African-American, even by progressives such as Ridenour.
The Democratic Party leaders and the ruling class used this racism to manipulate the American people into voting for him. He was packaged as a different kind of candidate that would bring a non-racial administration to America to provide a cover for their policies of increasing militarization of the police forces and more onerous restrictions of civil rights, increasing censorship, increasing surveillance of ordinary Americans, more aggressive foreign policies, etc. In short, he was the perfect candidate for his time and for our masters. Once again, the capitalist ruling class fooled ordinary Americans.
Saturday, December 1, 2018
Assange Never Met Manafort. Luke Harding and the Guardian Publish Still More Blatant MI6 Lies
Click here to access article by Craig Murray from his website. (Thanks go to a concerned activist for alerting me to this article.)
Assange is not a whistleblower or a spy – he is the greatest publisher of his age, and has done more to bring the crimes of governments to light than the mainstream media will ever be motivated to achieve. That supposedly great newspaper titles like the Guardian, New York Times and Washington Post are involved in the spreading of lies to damage Assange, and are seeking his imprisonment for publishing state secrets, is clear evidence that the idea of the “liberal media” no longer exists in the new plutocratic age. The press are not on the side of the people, they are an instrument of elite control.
Foreshadowing, Ritual and Symbology in Film
Click here if you wish to access Bonnie Faulkner's 56 minute interview with Jay Dyer directly from her website. (As you may know, she was even too "controversial" for the censors at KPFA, a listener sponsored radio station in Berkeley, California, and as a result she has gone independent.) I regard this as a "best post".
Jay Dyer discusses his book, Esoteric Hollywood: Sex, Cults and Symbols in Film. We take an in-depth look at Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut and Clockwork Orange; Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, The Ninth Gate and Chinatown; The Manchurian Candidate and The Parallax View, as well as television programs The Lone Gunman and G.I. Joe, with special emphasis on predictive programming, mind control and the influence of the military and intelligence on Hollywood productions.In the following interview Dyer explains the thesis of his book as being the focus on the connections of a society's power structure on art, particularly film-art in today's capitalist societies.
Friday, November 30, 2018
CNN Fire Marc Lamont Hill After Slamming Israeli Policies In UN Speech
Click here to access article by Robert Inlakesh from AMN (Beirut, Lebanon).
This report illustrates what happens to people in mainstream media who don't follow the scripts imposed on them by the ruling class of capitalists.
This report illustrates what happens to people in mainstream media who don't follow the scripts imposed on them by the ruling class of capitalists.
DAMASCUS, SYRIA (2:30 A.M)- CNN announced the termination of their contract with an American scholar, this Thursday, following a speech delivered – by the scholar – before the United Nations.
Prominent scholar and activist, Marc Lamont Hill, has been fired from CNN. The move by CNN, came following a speech delivered by the scholar before the United Nations. The speech, delivered on the 70th anniversary of the declaration of Human Rights, slammed Israel’s illegal mistreatment of the Palestinian people.
The Real Red Pill
Click here to access article by Cailin Johnstone from her blog.
This piece portrays a scene in an American bar where six guys and a bartender try to sort out what is real and what isn't about the world today. Only if it were real! I may be too cynical, but I think it is only wishful thinking, more blue pill stuff for people pretending to take the red pill. God (or Allah), I hope I'm wrong!
It seems to me that such a conversation can only be found in fiction. The vast majority of people like their illusions. They depend on them to cope with their very challenging lives. When supposedly ordinary people such as Steve, Greg, Ed, and old Pete try to argue that such illusions are fake and present some real truths about our existence, people such as Ian and Bill get upset and try to shut them up. This is the real truth (red pill) about humans that explains why most of them ignore the plight of people like Julian Assange who has revealed that their capitalist masters are nothing but war criminals who constantly lie to them. That's "The Real Red Pill" version of reality.
Our capitalist masters know this secret about human weakness. Thus, they keep feeding us lies to maintain their self-serving domination over us.
This piece portrays a scene in an American bar where six guys and a bartender try to sort out what is real and what isn't about the world today. Only if it were real! I may be too cynical, but I think it is only wishful thinking, more blue pill stuff for people pretending to take the red pill. God (or Allah), I hope I'm wrong!
It seems to me that such a conversation can only be found in fiction. The vast majority of people like their illusions. They depend on them to cope with their very challenging lives. When supposedly ordinary people such as Steve, Greg, Ed, and old Pete try to argue that such illusions are fake and present some real truths about our existence, people such as Ian and Bill get upset and try to shut them up. This is the real truth (red pill) about humans that explains why most of them ignore the plight of people like Julian Assange who has revealed that their capitalist masters are nothing but war criminals who constantly lie to them. That's "The Real Red Pill" version of reality.
Our capitalist masters know this secret about human weakness. Thus, they keep feeding us lies to maintain their self-serving domination over us.
Thursday, November 29, 2018
An Unredacted Interview with Comedian Lee Camp
Click here to access article by Whitney Webb from Mint Press News.
Taking on the biggest issues in politics was not on Lee Camp’s mind when he first got into comedy. The American comedian — now known for his incisive political commentary and humor — first started writing jokes when he was just 12 and began performing at 18, focusing first on “standard observational comedy” that was aimed more at lifting people’s spirits than opening people’s minds.From there we learn about the details of the increasing political nature of his comedy (he has been compared to George Carlin of fairly recent decades), and we learn about a totally unredacted, uncensored one-hour show he has done to promote his political comedy that you can access for a small charge.
However, as Camp continued to perform, he became more politically aware and wanted his comedy to cover the “darker issues.”
Why You Should Care About the Julian Assange Case
Click here to access article by Matt Taibbi from Rolling Stone.
The reason Taibbi comes up with are sprinkled throughout the article:
The reason Taibbi comes up with are sprinkled throughout the article:
Although Assange may not be a traditional journalist in terms of motive, what he does is essentially indistinguishable from what news agencies do, and what happens to him will profoundly impact journalism.It seems to me that most Americans look on the activities of "their" government as crazy and corrupt most of the time, and thus ignore what the government is doing by focusing on their own private lives. The underlying assumption is if they ignore it, it will go away and essentially not impact them. This assumption, I am convinced, is a gross error that will likely be the end of all of us, one way or another.
Reporters regularly publish stolen, hacked and illegally-obtained material. A case that defined such behavior as criminal conspiracy would be devastating. It would have every reporter in the country ripping national security sources out of their rolodexes and tossing them in the trash.
... in terms of what an Assange prosecution would mean for journalism in general. Hate him or not, the potential legal consequences are the same.
... a prosecution that uses the unpopularity of Assange to shut one of the last loopholes in our expanding secrecy bureaucracy. Americans seem not to grasp what might be at stake. Wikileaks briefly opened a window into the uglier side of our society, and if publication of such leaks is criminalized, it probably won’t open again.
There’s already a lot we don’t know about our government’s unsavory clandestine activities on fronts like surveillance and assassination, and such a case would guarantee we’d know even less going forward. Long-term questions are hard to focus on in the age of Trump. But we may look back years from now and realize what a crucial moment this was.
With Azov Sea Events Stealing Spotlight, US Gathers Huge Military Force in and Around Syria
Click here to access article by Arkady Savitsky from Strategic Culture Foundation.
If you are unaware of the latest mischief that the US-led Empire (USA, Britain, France, plus the Zionist state of Israel) has been up to near Crimea (Sea of Azov), get up-to-date with two articles I posted here, then read this article. You see, the Deep State (see my commentary here) which guides the policies of the Empire, never sleeps in its objective to maintain the re-constituted colonial powers under the new capitalist Empire as a dominate power in the world.
The author spots, and brings to our attention, the buildup in the Mediterranean by forces of the Empire, and wonders what this is all about.
If you are unaware of the latest mischief that the US-led Empire (USA, Britain, France, plus the Zionist state of Israel) has been up to near Crimea (Sea of Azov), get up-to-date with two articles I posted here, then read this article. You see, the Deep State (see my commentary here) which guides the policies of the Empire, never sleeps in its objective to maintain the re-constituted colonial powers under the new capitalist Empire as a dominate power in the world.
The author spots, and brings to our attention, the buildup in the Mediterranean by forces of the Empire, and wonders what this is all about.
The concentration of US military in the region is a worrisome sign. This huge force has gathered for something much more serious than just training. With the events in Europe grabbing public attention, the situation creep in Syria is staying under the radar. It shouldn’t be. Something is definitely being cooked up.Perhaps the perceptive geopolitical analyst, Stephen Gowans, is right when he wrote back in September the following:
The United States has a new strategy for Syria, according to The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. The new direction, however, is simply the old, largely unrecognized, one, transformed from a de facto status to official one by presidential authorization. In other words, an aggressive US policy on Syria will continue to be implemented—one the US president had, for a time, openly mused about reversing, but has now accepted.
The latest regarding Julian Assange--two articles
- Guardian ups its vilification of Julian Assange by Jonathan Cook from his blog.
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
U.K. and Ecuador Conspire to Deliver Julian Assange to U.S. Authorities
Click here to access article by Gareth Porter from Truthdig.
Porter reports the ongoing conspiracy by Empire agents to eliminate the truth-teller Assange, and analyses baseless propaganda pieces by Empire publishers to justify his persecution.
Porter reports the ongoing conspiracy by Empire agents to eliminate the truth-teller Assange, and analyses baseless propaganda pieces by Empire publishers to justify his persecution.
What is the Assange case all about
Click here to access article by Marcello Ferrada de Noli, Professor Emeritus, Founder and chairman of Swedish Doctors for Human Rights, posted on The Indicter.
The author includes a propaganda piece ostensibly written by a former FBI agent and published in Newsweek, a prime media source for the US Empire, which reads:
The author includes a propaganda piece ostensibly written by a former FBI agent and published in Newsweek, a prime media source for the US Empire, which reads:
As an FBI operative working a mission against Russian military intelligence, I often struggled with this incomplete picture. Even though I spent hours in front of Oleg Kulikov, a Russian intelligence officer posing as a United Nations diplomat, his importance in the intelligence wars was unknown to me. Working with a small three-person team, I was constantly reminded that my job was to work Oleg, not to think about the larger questions of who he was and why he mattered.Notice that he "trusts" the authorities which under our hierarchical system are our masters in the capitalist ruling class, and the piece suggests that readers do likewise. Our masters have lied to us about the assassinations of Jack and Bobbie Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, many community leaders like the Black Panthers, the student protestors at Kent State and Jackson State, about the wars they have engaged in like the Vietnam War, Iraq War, the Syrian conflict, etc. (the list is endless), and the false-flag attack of 9/11. They wouldn't be able to tell the truth if their lives depended on it. Unfortunately, this well-paid dupe is highly representative of the American people in general. He trusts his masters, narrowly views the task at hand ordered by his "superiors", and performs his duties for which he is well rewarded. Then, no doubt, he returns home to his family and watches entertaining TV shows. This is the sad story of most Americans.
I was to focus on the objectives at hand. I was ok with this for one simple reason: trust. I trusted that the endpoint of our mission was truth, and whether or not I was in on every decision being made, I trusted we were all moving toward that shared goal using a common set of rules and ethics. I also trusted the people I worked with. I trusted them to keep my secret work secret, which meant I trusted them with nothing short of my life.
Tripled climate cuts needed to fulfil pledge
Click here to access article by Alex Kirby from Climate News Network.
Guess what? Well, another report generated by scientists and distributed through a United Nation's agency says what was obvious from day one about the voluntary 2015 Paris Agreement:
Guess what? Well, another report generated by scientists and distributed through a United Nation's agency says what was obvious from day one about the voluntary 2015 Paris Agreement:
The world is not yet living up to its undertaking to tackle global warming, and it will have to make tripled climate cuts − at least − if it is to do so, a report says.Thus, the capitalist ruling classes who dominate the world have "enjoyed their cake and ate it, too". They lulled workers all over the world while pursuing the accumulation of wealth and power--the health of our planet be damned! These ruling classes are so thoroughly addicted to their drugs that any appeal to reason is futile. They are late stage drug addicts: they can only go after more drugs of wealth and power that their system of capitalism supplies them to satisfy their addiction. Meanwhile, most of humanity believes their lies (think the Paris Agreement) and go back to their ordinary lives while the rest of conscious humanity, which unfortunately is a tiny minority, can only sit back, powerless to do anything about it, and wonder how much time is left before the next catastrophe strikes them.
The emissions gap − the difference between the global emissions of greenhouse gases scientists expect in 2030 and the level they need to be at to honour the world’s promises to cut them − is the largest ever.
The 2018 Emissions Gap Report is published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). While it is still possible to keep global warming below 2°C, its authors say, the world’s current pace of action to cut emissions must triple for that to happen.
Revenge Is Mine Saith Washington
Click here to access article by Paul Craig Roberts from his blog.
The British people are ultimately responsible for the fate of Julian Assange who struggled so heroically to bring the truth to ordinary people of the world about the crimes of their masters. Because he is imprisoned in London, it is clear to me that only concerned British citizens can free him. Recently I surfed all the left-wing British websites/blogs I could find on the web, and found none that dealt with his desperate situation.
For eight years Julian Assange’s life has been lived in a Kafka Police State. He has been incarcerated first under British house arrest and then in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, despite the absence of any charges filed against him.I think that Roberts is correct with his statement that the "entirety of the Western world ... has turned its back to the injustice". It appears that capitalist ideologists are correct to argue that humans are basically selfish and look only after their own interests and comfort. Only a few people like Roberts--and he has served the ruling capitalist class--have some faint notion of morality left in them.
Meanwhile, the entirety of the Western world, with the exception of former Educadoran President Rafael Correa and a UN agency that examined the case and ruled Assange was being illegally detained by the UK government’s refusal to honor his grant of political asylum, has turned its back to the injustice.
The British people are ultimately responsible for the fate of Julian Assange who struggled so heroically to bring the truth to ordinary people of the world about the crimes of their masters. Because he is imprisoned in London, it is clear to me that only concerned British citizens can free him. Recently I surfed all the left-wing British websites/blogs I could find on the web, and found none that dealt with his desperate situation.
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Recommended articles for Tuesday, November 27, 2018
- When you want to sanction States, you call them "terrorists" by Thierry Meyssan from his blog.
- Beware the Trumpenleft! by CJ Hopkins from his blog. This master satirist ridicules a number of targets, but mainly propaganda by mainstream media. To show that his satire has a serious purpose, he writes:
And this is where this “Trumpenleft” malarkey fits into the ruling classes’ broader campaign to eliminate any kind of critical thinking and force people to mindlessly root for their “team.” See, the problem with us “Trumpenleft” types is not that we support Donald Trump. For the record, none of us really do. Some of us think he us a dangerous demagogue. Others of us think he is a blithering idiot. None of us think he’s Fidel Castro, or that he cares one iota about the working classes, or about anyone other than Donald Trump.
No, the problem is not that we’re on the wrong team; the problem is that we are asking people to question the propaganda of the team that we’re supposed to be on, or at least be rooting for. We are asking people to pay attention to how the global capitalist ruling establishment is going about quashing this “populist” insurgency (of which Brexit and Trump are manifestations, not causes) so they can get back to the business of relentlessly restructuring, privatizing, and debt-enslaving everything, as they’ve been doing since the end of the Cold War. We’re asking folks, not to join “the other team,” but to pay close attention to how they are being manipulated into believing that there are only two “teams,” and that they have to join one, and then mindlessly parrot whatever nonsense their team decides they need to disseminate in order to win a game that is merely a simulation they have conjured up (i.e., the ruling classes have conjured up) in order to inoculate themselves against an actual conflict they cannot win and so must prevent at all costs from ever beginning … which, they are doing a pretty good job of that so far.
- Ukraine Provokes Russia to What End? by Tony Cartalucci from New Eastern Outlook. Also, related is a report Ukrainian sailors confirm that they deliberately entered Russian waters posted on A bird's eye view of the Vineyard.
- Ecuador’s Soft Coup and Political Persecution by former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, posted on CounterPunch. Also, if your interested, Elected Constituent Assembly in Venezuela provoked International Outrage, not the illegal handpicked one in Ecuador by Canadian Joe Emersberger from ZCommunications.
The detention and isolation from the world of Julian Assange
Click here to access article by Stefania Maurizi from la Repubblica (an Italian website).
They are destroying him slowly. They are doing it through an indefinite detention which has been going on for the last eight years with no end in sight. Julian Assange has become one of the most widely known icons of freedom of the press and the struggle against state secrecy. Recently, his detention in the Ecuadorian embassy in London has been joined by isolation, strict rules and various forms of pressure which seem to have no other purpose than to break him down. A grip meant to destroy his physical and mental ability to resist until he either breaks down or he steps out of the Ecuadorian embassy, unleashing the beginning of his own end. Because if he does step out, he will be arrested by the UK authorities, and at that point the US could request his extradition so that they can put him in jail for publishing classified US documents. Julian Assange is in extremely precarious conditions.
After eight months of failed attempts, la Repubblica was finally able to visit the WikiLeaks founder in the Ecuadorian embassy in London ....
Monday, November 26, 2018
Competition Is Dying, and Taking Capitalism With It
Click here to access article by Jonathan Tepper from Bloomberg. (Edited for clarity at 5:45 PM CT.)
Tepper is unwittingly supporting Marxist views of the intrinsic course of the development of capitalism. I have no doubt that this is because of his education about such matters that were restricted to ideological interpretations of history that students are exposed to in US higher education. Thus, the author concentrates on remarks made by an early ideologist of the capitalist religion, Adam Smith and his work The Wealth of Nations.
Tepper bemoans the development of a few giant corporations that control an industry and can ignore customer demands for service and quality. He argues that this situation is not capitalism, and thereby ignores all the Marxist literature and common sense about capitalist enterprises and their need to grow and combine in order to reduce competition. His grasp of history is that of an elementary school kid who has been fed only propaganda to justify capitalism. Hence, his regard for the system is very much like a faith-based religion: Adam Smith is Jesus Christ and The Wealth of Nations is the Bible.
Tepper is unwittingly supporting Marxist views of the intrinsic course of the development of capitalism. I have no doubt that this is because of his education about such matters that were restricted to ideological interpretations of history that students are exposed to in US higher education. Thus, the author concentrates on remarks made by an early ideologist of the capitalist religion, Adam Smith and his work The Wealth of Nations.
In 1776 Adam Smith wrote “The Wealth of Nations,” and the American Continental Congress declared independence from Britain. Smith complained bitterly about monopolies. He wrote of the East India Company: “… the monopoly which our manufacturers have obtained … has so much increased the number of some particular tribes of them, that, like an overgrown standing army, they have become formidable to the government, and upon many occasions intimidate the legislature.”The elites at the eve of the American Revolution found that the British Crown's monopoly of the East India Company and other restrictions by the British (because they saw America as a colony that should serve the British Empire) interfered with their businesses interests. These early American elites like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison had control of a very rich continent, but they were faced with two major problems: they were bound by British restrictions which limited their exploitation of these riches. The other major obstacle was that labor was necessary to acquire these riches. Earlier they made up for this lack by importing slaves from Africa. At some point this American ruling class saw the need to establish their own nation in order to obtain the riches and power they thought they deserved. To accomplish this they needed the help of free labor, and the latter were soon enlisted in the Revolution by such stirring propaganda pieces like the Declaration of Independence, the writings of people like Thomas Paine, and Patrick Henry. After the revolution succeeded, they quietly forgot about the radical ideas contained in these writings.
Among the reasons the Continental Congress cited for separating from Britain in the Declaration of Independence was, “For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.” The Boston Tea Party was in response to the East India Company’s monopoly on tea.
“The Wealth of Nations” and the Declaration of Independence were bold statements against the abuses of monopoly power. Americans wanted entrepreneurial freedom to build businesses in a free market.
Tepper bemoans the development of a few giant corporations that control an industry and can ignore customer demands for service and quality. He argues that this situation is not capitalism, and thereby ignores all the Marxist literature and common sense about capitalist enterprises and their need to grow and combine in order to reduce competition. His grasp of history is that of an elementary school kid who has been fed only propaganda to justify capitalism. Hence, his regard for the system is very much like a faith-based religion: Adam Smith is Jesus Christ and The Wealth of Nations is the Bible.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
The Fate of Julian Assange: Chris Hedges Interviews Consortium News Editor-in-Chief Joe Lauria
Click here to access the 27:54m video which is posted on Consortium News, or watch it below.
Chris Hedges and Joe Lauria examine the issues related to the continuing confinement of Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy and the well-documented intention of the agents of the US Empire to get him and do what they can to destroy him. It's clear from what the two discuss is that this is without legal precedent or legal foundation, but the power of elites or ruling classes have only occasionally been stopped from having their way. The rule of law which is often touted by capitalist ruling classes as a virtue of their rule will be easily dispensed with whenever their rule is threatened. The Anglo-American Empire is now being threatened like it has never before. Only the "distracted" people can stop them now from persecuting Assange and, above all, themselves.
If it were only the well-being of Assange that was at stake, people could ignore this persecution (and still survive). However, so much more is at stake. If the people continue to fail to act, they will permit the acceptance of fascist rule and the insane actions of an extremely threatened ruling class. The Empire's capitalist class knows it, but there are doubts about what the "distracted" people will do. Rarely have so much been at stake historically in a persecution of an individual by powerful elites.
Chris Hedges and Joe Lauria examine the issues related to the continuing confinement of Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy and the well-documented intention of the agents of the US Empire to get him and do what they can to destroy him. It's clear from what the two discuss is that this is without legal precedent or legal foundation, but the power of elites or ruling classes have only occasionally been stopped from having their way. The rule of law which is often touted by capitalist ruling classes as a virtue of their rule will be easily dispensed with whenever their rule is threatened. The Anglo-American Empire is now being threatened like it has never before. Only the "distracted" people can stop them now from persecuting Assange and, above all, themselves.
If it were only the well-being of Assange that was at stake, people could ignore this persecution (and still survive). However, so much more is at stake. If the people continue to fail to act, they will permit the acceptance of fascist rule and the insane actions of an extremely threatened ruling class. The Empire's capitalist class knows it, but there are doubts about what the "distracted" people will do. Rarely have so much been at stake historically in a persecution of an individual by powerful elites.
Saturday, November 24, 2018
Democracy, Class and the Fight against Recolonization
Click here to access article by Stephen Sefton (currently living in Nicaragua) posted in English on Wrong Kind of Green.
It seems to me that the title of this article is a bit pretentious. A better title would have been something like "The Empire's renewed assault on its Latin American backyard".
In the past I have frequently asserted that we must a have a revolution to save ourselves from the capitalist Empire's current death spiral. I wasn't arguing that we should man the barricades, or organize a militia. All we have to do is create and support a truth-telling organization!
So far, the hold on the minds of the people by the Empire's capitalist propaganda machines have been successful, however their influence is waning. The latter point coupled with the fact that we must act before it is too late to save ourselves from the Empire's dangerous behavior (planning for a global war and the ongoing assault on the environment).
It seems to me that the title of this article is a bit pretentious. A better title would have been something like "The Empire's renewed assault on its Latin American backyard".
Having lost Eurasia, US and allied elites have prioritized Latin America and the Caribbean, seeking to re-consolidate control of the region’s resources. They work to destroy political movements and leaders who defend their countries’ impoverished majorities against the West’s neocolonial agenda. In particular, Western elites work with local allies to eliminate expressions of national sovereignty. From within, they undermine and co-opt governments and institutions. Externally they deploy all kinds of financial, trade, media and diplomatic aggression as well as military intimidation.The author's main argument is that the US Empire is engaged in an increasingly aggressive media campaign to subvert truth throughout Latin America (I would argue throughout the world).
Recycling falsehoods promoting the US regime change agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean corrupts democratic debate in the West and creates an alibi for the phony, anti-democratically framed elections of US allies like Brazil’s fascist ideologue Jair Bolsonaro. Clear-sighted anti-imperialist writers like Max Blumenthal, Kerry Ann Mendoza and Jonathan Cook, among many others, repeatedly make this same point. Untruthful foreign affairs coverage by the Western intellectual, NGO and media class, destroys democratic debate at home, to the benefit of NATO country elites. Western coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean, especially Nicaragua and Venezuela now, demonstrates that reality over and over again.You see, truth is revolutionary! That is precisely why a grassroots organization to counter their lies (like the one I have proposed) is so revolutionary.
In the past I have frequently asserted that we must a have a revolution to save ourselves from the capitalist Empire's current death spiral. I wasn't arguing that we should man the barricades, or organize a militia. All we have to do is create and support a truth-telling organization!
So far, the hold on the minds of the people by the Empire's capitalist propaganda machines have been successful, however their influence is waning. The latter point coupled with the fact that we must act before it is too late to save ourselves from the Empire's dangerous behavior (planning for a global war and the ongoing assault on the environment).
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Articles/videos I read/viewed and recommend to you on Wednesday, November 21, 2018
- Revenge Is Mine Saith Washington by Paul Craig Roberts from his blog.
Also, on the same subject of the persecution of Julian Assange by agents of the US Empire, RT America clarifies the legal issues regarding Assange:
- "Time for opioid makers to feel the pain" from RT America featuring views by Rick Sanchez.
The Ten Rules of Hate
Click here to access article by Matt Taibbi from BS News.
There is much food for thought in this essay about how corporate media keep ordinary people fighting each other instead of their real rich and powerful oppressors--and this is from someone who has spent so many years in journalism and has admittedly participated in the ruse.
There is much food for thought in this essay about how corporate media keep ordinary people fighting each other instead of their real rich and powerful oppressors--and this is from someone who has spent so many years in journalism and has admittedly participated in the ruse.
The trick is to constantly narrow your mental horizons and keep you geeked up [def.] on impotent anger. It’s a twist on Manufacturing Consent’s description of an artificially narrowed debate.
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Can the working class change the world?
Click here to access the review by Ian Angus of a book authored by Michael Yates with the above title, posted on Climate & Capitalism. (I have not yet read the book, but Angus's review sounds very inviting.)
Angus concludes his review with the qualifications of the author and this encouraging statement:
Angus concludes his review with the qualifications of the author and this encouraging statement:
Michael Yates worked for many years as a labor educator, teaching working people in classrooms and union meetings across the U.S. Those years taught him something very important — how to express Marxist ideas in everyday English, without condescension, without false bravado or illusions, and without any hint of dogmatism. The result is a superb popular account of what’s wrong with capitalism and what working people must do to get rid of it. Even if you think you know all this, you should read it to learn, by shining example, how to explain socialist ideas in clear, concise and convincing terms.
Can the Working Class Change the World? should be on every ecosocialist’s bookshelf. More than that, it should be in every radical worker’s hands. It’s a book to be read and discussed and argued over and acted on. Michael Yates has made an important contribution to building movements that not only can change the world, but must.
Monday, November 19, 2018
The “Resistance” Struggles To Justify Support For Trump’s Prosecution Of Assange
Click here to access article by Caitlin Johnstone from her blog.
(You might also be interested in reading an article by the same author entitled "The Empire Keeps Proving Assange Right About Everything".)
Ever since suspicions were confirmed that the Trump administration is indeed working to prosecute and imprison WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for publishing authentic documents, the so-called “Resistance” has been struggling to explain exactly why it is so enthusiastically supportive of that agenda. And when I say struggling, I am being very, very generous.Johnstone exposes the hypocrisy of Democratic party activists who pose as the "Resistance". I think that this is another illustration of how the capitalist ruling class is tolerating and using Trump as long as he does things that they couldn't get away with, or wouldn't want to, in order to preserve their facade of press freedoms.
(You might also be interested in reading an article by the same author entitled "The Empire Keeps Proving Assange Right About Everything".)
The World Order That’s Now Emerging
Click here to access article by Eric Zuesse from Strategic Culture Foundation. (Commentary edited for greater clarity at 4:15 PM CT.)
There are numerous errors in this article which in the first example illustrates sloppiness on the part of the author and the editor for this website, but following this error are errors due to long years of indoctrination that is an integral part of all education in the capitalist US-led (trans-national) Empire.
The first error is so obvious that I wonder about the editorship of this website. Zuesse's mathematical skills seem to be lacking when he divides 13.7% by .32% which is clearly more than 4.28. The correct calculation is 42.8. Thus those killed in the Soviet Union were 42.8 times greater than US killed in WWII. (11/22/2018: This error has now been corrected.)
The remaining errors he commits are the result of the long years of indoctrination he received to insure that he was thoroughly convinced of virtues of capitalism and likewise convinced of the failures of Marxist theories. The remainder of his essay provides numerous examples of this.
Throughout his posts he typically avoids referring to capitalism, ruling class, etc. by always using the feudal term "aristocracy" instead of the capitalist ruling class. He summarizes his liberal/left bias by stating:
Otherwise the essay is excellent in that it argues that we are on a path that will lead to a devastating WWIII, and is supported by excellent documentation. Also Zuesse accurately directs our attention to the two main weapons used by the US Empire to rule the world: military dominance and the maintenance of the US dollar as the world's currency.
Could it be that his perspective has found sympathy with the editors of this Russian website because Russian society has a large component of a capitalist contingent in their economy and government? In any case, I think you can agree that Zuesse's views illustrate what passes for a liberal-left perspective in America, and as such retards the rejection of a system that will be the death of all of us.
There are numerous errors in this article which in the first example illustrates sloppiness on the part of the author and the editor for this website, but following this error are errors due to long years of indoctrination that is an integral part of all education in the capitalist US-led (trans-national) Empire.
The first error is so obvious that I wonder about the editorship of this website. Zuesse's mathematical skills seem to be lacking when he divides 13.7% by .32% which is clearly more than 4.28. The correct calculation is 42.8. Thus those killed in the Soviet Union were 42.8 times greater than US killed in WWII. (11/22/2018: This error has now been corrected.)
The remaining errors he commits are the result of the long years of indoctrination he received to insure that he was thoroughly convinced of virtues of capitalism and likewise convinced of the failures of Marxist theories. The remainder of his essay provides numerous examples of this.
... the USSR’s communist regime was additionally hobbled by Karl Marx’s labor theory of value, which produced prices that contained no useful information about demand and thus no constructive information for planners.Whatever the weaknesses were of the Soviet Union, one was not charging much less for essentials like housing and food. Of course, they clearly had other measures to determine demand other than market prices. Thus, housing was dirt-cheap (like only a few dollars per month) and food likewise. This is true of every country claiming to be socialist. Socialism requires that such essentials as shelter and food not be a commodity the price of which is determined by the market. If there is a shortage of such items, genuine socialist societies will always resort to rationing.
Throughout his posts he typically avoids referring to capitalism, ruling class, etc. by always using the feudal term "aristocracy" instead of the capitalist ruling class. He summarizes his liberal/left bias by stating:
America’s post-WW-II dominance, combined with Marx’s crippling economic theory, and produced the exodus of East Europeans to The West.He goes on to argue that the great errors of the US "aristocracy" (sic) was to embark on a goal of world domination and adopted a "greed is good" orientation--not that capitalist systems inevitably result in ruling classes and must forever seek the accumulation of wealth in order exercise control/dominance otherwise they will be absorbed by others who gain more wealth and power. Thus, one often hears from capitalists about the necessity to grow or die. Zuesse avoids the intrinsic antisocial nature of the system by implying that this was simply an error of judgement by the US "aristocracy" (sic).
Otherwise the essay is excellent in that it argues that we are on a path that will lead to a devastating WWIII, and is supported by excellent documentation. Also Zuesse accurately directs our attention to the two main weapons used by the US Empire to rule the world: military dominance and the maintenance of the US dollar as the world's currency.
Could it be that his perspective has found sympathy with the editors of this Russian website because Russian society has a large component of a capitalist contingent in their economy and government? In any case, I think you can agree that Zuesse's views illustrate what passes for a liberal-left perspective in America, and as such retards the rejection of a system that will be the death of all of us.
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Blundering American Ambassadors Unmask the War on Terror
Click here to access article by David Boyajian from Foreign Policy Journal. (Commentary edited for greater clarity at 12:25 PM CT.)
Humans seem to have a genetic flaw that causes them to submit to "authorities" whether the earthly representatives of gods of their own creation, sociopathic leaders, or those who demonstrate a temporary command of weapons that can cause severe injury or kill. Humans have demonstrated this character flaw for roughly the last 10,000 years, or about 2% of human existence, as they settled down into communities after mastering the growing of their own food. This period saw the emergence of tiny privileged social classes that ruled over the vast majority using instruments of violence. Bringing human history up to date, during this period humans with their gift of intelligence have also mastered the creation of weapons of mass destruction that now threaten their own extinction. What could explain such a self-destructive flaw other than it is simply genetic?
I've been considering a theory that the conscious awareness of our own temporary existence is so terrible for many of us that we have been only able to cope by dominating or killing others. This murderous instinct somehow gives some of us a temporary sense of invulnerability, which for some, becomes an addictive habit. Likewise, those of us who are the victims of such violence have an almost obsessive need to cling to life by submitting to those with power who we come to idolize as superior humans. Over time this survival instinct instills in many people the need to seek their own advantage at the expense of others by serving those with "authority" which causes us to lie, and in some instances, to commit war crimes to please our "superiors".
Religions created by humans have also reinforced this orientation by declaring that we are above nature, from which we have arisen, and causes us to believe that nature should serve us. Religions claim that there are gods that will protect us, and give us permission to dominate or slaughter others who don't share such beliefs or who have their own gods to protect them. Species come and go as our planet experiments with so many life forms. Maybe our time is up.
Do you have a better explanation?
American officials downplay how “allies” such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia support terrorists lest the US government’s support of terrorism also be exposed.The author reviews the glaring lies of the officials, who serve the capitalist ruling class, regarding US's participation in the hiring of mercenary terrorist armies in an alliance with the feudal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to implement the Empire's imperialist policies in the Middle East. In their defense couldn't these officials now plead that they were only "following orders" from their superiors? Like the Nazi war criminals who lost WWII and the German Reich? Like the Saudi butchers have so dramatically illustrated in recent years?
Humans seem to have a genetic flaw that causes them to submit to "authorities" whether the earthly representatives of gods of their own creation, sociopathic leaders, or those who demonstrate a temporary command of weapons that can cause severe injury or kill. Humans have demonstrated this character flaw for roughly the last 10,000 years, or about 2% of human existence, as they settled down into communities after mastering the growing of their own food. This period saw the emergence of tiny privileged social classes that ruled over the vast majority using instruments of violence. Bringing human history up to date, during this period humans with their gift of intelligence have also mastered the creation of weapons of mass destruction that now threaten their own extinction. What could explain such a self-destructive flaw other than it is simply genetic?
I've been considering a theory that the conscious awareness of our own temporary existence is so terrible for many of us that we have been only able to cope by dominating or killing others. This murderous instinct somehow gives some of us a temporary sense of invulnerability, which for some, becomes an addictive habit. Likewise, those of us who are the victims of such violence have an almost obsessive need to cling to life by submitting to those with power who we come to idolize as superior humans. Over time this survival instinct instills in many people the need to seek their own advantage at the expense of others by serving those with "authority" which causes us to lie, and in some instances, to commit war crimes to please our "superiors".
Religions created by humans have also reinforced this orientation by declaring that we are above nature, from which we have arisen, and causes us to believe that nature should serve us. Religions claim that there are gods that will protect us, and give us permission to dominate or slaughter others who don't share such beliefs or who have their own gods to protect them. Species come and go as our planet experiments with so many life forms. Maybe our time is up.
Do you have a better explanation?
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Trump’s Defense Spending Is Out of Control, and Poised to Get Worse
Click here to access article by Matt Taibbi from Rolling Stone.
Isn't it laughable how the two political parties which we are allowed to vote for in our great American democracy are in total agreement about the use of violence abroad and cutting "entitlements" like Social Security domestically?
Isn't it laughable how the two political parties which we are allowed to vote for in our great American democracy are in total agreement about the use of violence abroad and cutting "entitlements" like Social Security domestically?
A bipartisan commission has determined that President Trump’s recent record defense bill is insufficiently massive to keep America safe, and we should spend more, while cutting “entitlements.”
The Filter Bubble
Click here to access article by editor David Edwards from Media Lens, a British website.
Although the second half of the article is mostly about British media people and corporations, I am directing my North American audience to the first half regarding how the "filter bubble" works to keep us ignorant while our capitalist ruling classes commit war and other crimes.
Although the second half of the article is mostly about British media people and corporations, I am directing my North American audience to the first half regarding how the "filter bubble" works to keep us ignorant while our capitalist ruling classes commit war and other crimes.
This nightmare version of 'news' is maintained by a corporate 'filter bubble' that blocks facts, ideas and sources that challenge state-corporate control of politics, economics and culture. It is maintained by a mixture of ruthless high-level control and middle- and lower-level compromise, conformity and self-serving blindness.
It stands to reason that anyone seeking employment within this bubble will have to accept an unwritten agreement not to challenge the integrity of the bubble by which they are granted wealth and fame. Any ingrate deciding to renege is attacked, reviled and cast out; treated almost as sub-human, not entirely real. Politicians like George Galloway challenging the bubble can be beaten up in broad daylight and it is of no concern. Idealistic hippies like Russell Brand preaching love can be torn to shreds and silenced by the press pack – it doesn't matter. Whistleblowing activists like Julian Assange can be trapped, threatened with life imprisonment and death, and it is a laughing matter. Whole countries can be destroyed – it doesn't matter. The climate can be destroyed – it doesn't matter. The filter bubble has its own dream logic, follows its own cosmic laws as if the real world was none of its concern.
Trump Quietly Orders Elimination of Assange
Click here to access article by Eric Zuesse from Information Clearing House. (Thanks go to activist for alerting me to this post.)
Basically, Trump has arranged for Assange to be eliminated either by illness that’s imposed by his Ecuadorean agent, or else by Assange’s own suicide resulting from that “torture,” or else by America’s own criminal-justice system. If this elimination happens inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, then that would be optimal for America’s President and Congress; but, if it instead happens on U.S. soil, then that would be optimal for Ecuador’s President. Apparently, America’s President thinks that his subjects, the American people, will become sufficiently hostile toward Assange so that even if Assange disappears or is executed inside the United States, this President will be able to retain his supporters. Trump, of course, needs his supporters, but this is a gamble that he has now clearly taken. This much is clear, even though the rest of the secret agreement that was reached between Pence and Ecuador’s President is not.
Friday, November 16, 2018
Ecuador Expected to Extradite Assange to US, Lawyer Says
Click here to access article from TeleSur. (I thank an activist for alerting me to this report.)
“I believe that [Washington, London and Quito] have reached some agreement and that is exactly why the special protocol [on home rules] was introduced... to accelerate the process of ending his asylum and hand him over to the United Kingdom authorities," Poveda said Thursday.
Lucy is once again fooling Charlie Brown
I don't know if this archetypal cartoon was actually drawn by Charles Schulz, but I think the words were likely replaced. The cartoon and script suggests that the American public has been constantly fooled by our masters in the capitalist ruling class. (Thanks go to economist David Ruccio and one of his websites Occasional Links & Commentary.)
China’s Orwellian Social Credit Score Isn’t Real
Click here to access article by Jamie Horsley from Foreign Policy.
Recently there has been criticism of China's "social credit score" from a variety of US sources that have appeared online from people such as Vice President Mike Pence and media corporations like the NY Post. Horsley, who has a career in Chinese studies and lived in China for almost a decade, challenges those interpretations, and offers many corrections to such views.
Unfortunately, most of her links are necessarily to Chinese documents in Chinese characters. She argues that there is not a general score used by the Chinese government on individuals, but there are many private companies and individual towns and cities that use such scores. One excellent link (in English) that she provides illustrates how Chinese private companies use scores, and is from Wired. She reminds us that in the USA, banks and credit agencies make use credit scores on individuals; and other companies track what you purchase.
Recently there has been criticism of China's "social credit score" from a variety of US sources that have appeared online from people such as Vice President Mike Pence and media corporations like the NY Post. Horsley, who has a career in Chinese studies and lived in China for almost a decade, challenges those interpretations, and offers many corrections to such views.
Unfortunately, most of her links are necessarily to Chinese documents in Chinese characters. She argues that there is not a general score used by the Chinese government on individuals, but there are many private companies and individual towns and cities that use such scores. One excellent link (in English) that she provides illustrates how Chinese private companies use scores, and is from Wired. She reminds us that in the USA, banks and credit agencies make use credit scores on individuals; and other companies track what you purchase.
It’s not surprising that myths about the system are spreading, given the shrinking space in China for civil society, rights lawyering, speech, investigative journalism, and religious belief; its increasingly ubiquitous, invasive surveillance capability; and the Chinese Communist Party’s push to apply big data and artificial intelligence in governance. China’s party-state is collecting a vast amount of information on its citizens, and its social credit system and other developments internally and overseas raise many serious concerns. But contrary to the mainstream media narrative on this, Chinese authorities are not assigning a single score that will determine every aspect of every citizen’s life—at least not yet.
Thursday, November 15, 2018
A review of the predictions I made on Oct. 26, 2018
by Ron Horn
On Oct. 26 I wrote the following in a post:
Although the stock market continued to decline after Oct. 26, it began to climb at the end of the day on Oct. 30 to around 26,200 on Nov. 8 (two days after the election), after which it has declined. This is, except for the first few day, the opposite of what I predicted.
Regarding the second prediction, a guy (Cesar Sayoc, 56) was caught almost immediately (Oct. 26), but as yet he has only been formally accused guilty by a grand jury (which is easy to do), but has not been judged guilty because a trial has not yet taken place. It should be noted that nobody was killed or injured by the mailed pipe-bombs. I have not seen an reports that the any of them have been exploded, although the police claimed that they were authentic.
Finally, the results of the election indicated that Trump lost a few seats in the US Senate but Democrats gained a majority in the House of Representatives. Thus, Trump lost ground in both houses of Congress.
Overall, my predictions are not validated by the results to date, although we must await a trial to see if Sayoc is convicted. The influence on the stock market as I predicted is not supported by the evidence. This experience illustrated how much I allowed cynicism to influence what I predicted, and it should teach me not to make predictions.
On Oct. 26 I wrote the following in a post:
I predict two things will happen: the stock market, although the economy rests on very tenuous or unstable foundations, it will pick up after the elections because our masters have a great deal of control over it; secondly, the FBI will never solve who was sending these mail-bombs simply because agents employed by our masters did it. (Need I predict that our masters will succeed in their attempt to elect a majority of Democrats?)Results:
Although the stock market continued to decline after Oct. 26, it began to climb at the end of the day on Oct. 30 to around 26,200 on Nov. 8 (two days after the election), after which it has declined. This is, except for the first few day, the opposite of what I predicted.
Regarding the second prediction, a guy (Cesar Sayoc, 56) was caught almost immediately (Oct. 26), but as yet he has only been formally accused guilty by a grand jury (which is easy to do), but has not been judged guilty because a trial has not yet taken place. It should be noted that nobody was killed or injured by the mailed pipe-bombs. I have not seen an reports that the any of them have been exploded, although the police claimed that they were authentic.
Finally, the results of the election indicated that Trump lost a few seats in the US Senate but Democrats gained a majority in the House of Representatives. Thus, Trump lost ground in both houses of Congress.
Overall, my predictions are not validated by the results to date, although we must await a trial to see if Sayoc is convicted. The influence on the stock market as I predicted is not supported by the evidence. This experience illustrated how much I allowed cynicism to influence what I predicted, and it should teach me not to make predictions.
If Voting Changed Anything… – #PropagandaWatch
Click here if you wish to access the video and article by James Corbett directly from his website.
There is two parts to his show today: in the first rather brief part he has traced the oft used phrase "If voting changed anything it would be illegal" to a letter to the editor in 1976 printed in the Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun.
In the more substantial second part Corbett continues his presentation of the history of WWI by concentrating on the men who really controlled things behind the curtains of official government. Because I learned the real story of WWI a long time ago, I didn't re-post his previous material. However, in this second part of the post he traces the origins of today's Deep State and its directorate to events that began in the late 19th century. (I also recommend a book entitled The Anglo-American Establishment by Carroll Quigley.)
Although the capitalist ruling class always controlled the USA mainly by controlling who would participate in elections, this development tightened their control immensely and thus they permitted women and minorities to vote in their phony elections.
Since then the general public has been bombarded by indoctrination by this Deep State to insure that ordinary people believe that the official government is the real government and the people decide via democratic elections who controls the government. This is the major myth that we are daily subject to and insures that capitalist ruling classes become ever richer and more powerful and more destructive. When people start disbelieving this myth is when we will see the arrival of overt fascism: the use of force against their own population to maintain capitalist rule. After the Deep State hoodwinked the people with the false-flag attack of 9/11, they insured that the laws permitting a fascist government were in place.
There is two parts to his show today: in the first rather brief part he has traced the oft used phrase "If voting changed anything it would be illegal" to a letter to the editor in 1976 printed in the Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun.
In the more substantial second part Corbett continues his presentation of the history of WWI by concentrating on the men who really controlled things behind the curtains of official government. Because I learned the real story of WWI a long time ago, I didn't re-post his previous material. However, in this second part of the post he traces the origins of today's Deep State and its directorate to events that began in the late 19th century. (I also recommend a book entitled The Anglo-American Establishment by Carroll Quigley.)
Although the capitalist ruling class always controlled the USA mainly by controlling who would participate in elections, this development tightened their control immensely and thus they permitted women and minorities to vote in their phony elections.
Since then the general public has been bombarded by indoctrination by this Deep State to insure that ordinary people believe that the official government is the real government and the people decide via democratic elections who controls the government. This is the major myth that we are daily subject to and insures that capitalist ruling classes become ever richer and more powerful and more destructive. When people start disbelieving this myth is when we will see the arrival of overt fascism: the use of force against their own population to maintain capitalist rule. After the Deep State hoodwinked the people with the false-flag attack of 9/11, they insured that the laws permitting a fascist government were in place.
After Lebanon 2006, Syria 2011 and Iraq 2014, the “Arab NATO” and a Sunni-Shia war to revive
Click here to access article by Elijah J. Magnier, an independent Kuwaiti journalist, from his blog.
According to this perceptive author, with failure after failure to topple one Mid-East nation after another, the US Empire will in desperation use various divide-and-conquer strategies to maintain control over the oil and gas rich area.
According to this perceptive author, with failure after failure to topple one Mid-East nation after another, the US Empire will in desperation use various divide-and-conquer strategies to maintain control over the oil and gas rich area.
The failure of this strategy has pushed the US establishment towards two new options: the first, of using media to reveal Saudi Arabia’s intention to harm the Iranian economy and assassinate its military commanders. The second is to promote and advertise for an “Arab (Sunni) NATO Army”. The goal is to keep the possibility of sectarian war alive.
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
United States Will Bring Assange to US in Chains
Click here to access article by Ann Garrison from Consortium News.
It appears increasingly likely Wikileaks founder and publisher Julian Assange will wind up in the clutches of the U.S. government.If we can't protect our hero Julian Assange, who tirelessly worked to keep real information flowing to us, from the war and environmental criminals, I fear all is lost.
It’s hardly surprising, given that in ten years’ time, Wikileaks published more classified information than all other media combined. It exposed human rights abuses, government spying, torture, and war crimes on an unprecedented scale.
What is the Point of Freedom of Speech When There is No Freedom of Thought?
Click here to access article by Sofo Archon from The Greanville Post.
He writes with insight about the illusion of freedom of speech:
The stark reality is that we live in a society where nearly all information is controlled by people who are rich and powerful mostly at our expense and sacrifice. Do you think they want you to be informed of this reality? That is why we are witnessing more and more control over information we receive and censorship of information that this class of people do not want us to think about. Many independent and dissident websites have lost so many viewers/readers because of this censorship. For the latest example, see this.
He writes with insight about the illusion of freedom of speech:
How much of a freethinker do you think you actually are? The majority of people aren’t much: Their ideas and opinions on the most important issues in life don’t sprout from their own personal experience and understanding, but are just a result of the conditioning they had to undergo during their upbringing. In other words, they have been brainwashed to accept and follow dogmas that were forced upon them by tradition through — just to name a few examples — school, religion, and the mainstream media.We are social creatures, so we learn about life from each other. But, what if nearly all of us ordinary people are fed information from a source that controls in a self-serving fashion all information? Well, I am absolutely convinced that we live in a society that is in very large measure controlled by a ruling class consisting of very powerful and rich capitalists. Peruse all the articles written by independent thinkers I've collected and posted over the past nine years to see if you aren't also convinced of this. So what is the freedom of speech worth in such a society? The author is right that the much vaunted freedom of speech we supposedly enjoy is just another foolish illusion.
Give this a thought: If your thinking is actually controlled and bounded within a tiny mental box, how much freedom of speech and expression do you actually possess?
The stark reality is that we live in a society where nearly all information is controlled by people who are rich and powerful mostly at our expense and sacrifice. Do you think they want you to be informed of this reality? That is why we are witnessing more and more control over information we receive and censorship of information that this class of people do not want us to think about. Many independent and dissident websites have lost so many viewers/readers because of this censorship. For the latest example, see this.
Crucifying Julian Assange
Click here to access article by Chris Hedges from Truthdig.
He opens his article with this dire statement:
He opens his article with this dire statement:
Julian Assange’s sanctuary in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London has been transformed into a little shop of horrors. He has been largely cut off from communicating with the outside world for the last seven months. His Ecuadorian citizenship, granted to him as an asylum seeker, is in the process of being revoked. His health is failing. He is being denied medical care. His efforts for legal redress have been crippled by the gag rules, including Ecuadorian orders that he cannot make public his conditions inside the embassy in fighting revocation of his Ecuadorian citizenship.But he ends with a call to protest. But the age of protest to our masters is over. Forget it. They aren't listening. They are completely under the influence of the drugs of power and riches, and like all addicts they are obsessed with accumulating ever more power and riches. It is for we, the people, to take matters in our own hands to free him one way or another.
Climate and the Infernal Blue Wave: Straight Talk About Saving Humanity
Click here to access article by Carol Dansereau posted on System Change not Climate Change.
I believe this is one of those rare times that I posted an article from a secondary website which has posted an article from a primary website/blog. I saw the headline from a feed reader which gives me titles of articles from various websites/blogs that I find reliable and of interest. One of those websites is CounterPunch. During the past five years I've found that its selection of articles increasingly take a rather insipid liberal-left orientation which is increasingly irritating as the main issues of a nuclear war holocaust and environmental catastrophe become increasingly dire for human existence.
CounterPunch is an old website that back in the 1990s I initially followed with great interest. Alexander Cockburn and his partner, Jeffrey St. Clair, published articles by authors that would critically deal with many issues that websites from mainstream corporation would not. Cockburn died in 2012 and his partner continued on with the website. Over the years the posted articles have become much less interesting to me, and I've nearly dropped them from my feed reader.
I spotted the headline of this article posted in CounterPunch in my feed reader, but was not interested primarily because of its source. Later in the day I received an email from System Change not Climate Change (SCNCC) alerting me to this article which they re-posted on their website. I read it and found it excellent. The author expressed her concerns about the dramatic warnings by a UN report which cited the short number of years we had left to prevent catastrophic climate warming which she saw were obviously caused by the operations of capitalism. I was very impressed! Few writers--although increasing in numbers--will write about the obvious solution: replacing capitalism with another system that will not destabilize the Earth's climate. And she wants to start organizing for this solution immediately! Early on she writes:
I believe this is one of those rare times that I posted an article from a secondary website which has posted an article from a primary website/blog. I saw the headline from a feed reader which gives me titles of articles from various websites/blogs that I find reliable and of interest. One of those websites is CounterPunch. During the past five years I've found that its selection of articles increasingly take a rather insipid liberal-left orientation which is increasingly irritating as the main issues of a nuclear war holocaust and environmental catastrophe become increasingly dire for human existence.
CounterPunch is an old website that back in the 1990s I initially followed with great interest. Alexander Cockburn and his partner, Jeffrey St. Clair, published articles by authors that would critically deal with many issues that websites from mainstream corporation would not. Cockburn died in 2012 and his partner continued on with the website. Over the years the posted articles have become much less interesting to me, and I've nearly dropped them from my feed reader.
I spotted the headline of this article posted in CounterPunch in my feed reader, but was not interested primarily because of its source. Later in the day I received an email from System Change not Climate Change (SCNCC) alerting me to this article which they re-posted on their website. I read it and found it excellent. The author expressed her concerns about the dramatic warnings by a UN report which cited the short number of years we had left to prevent catastrophic climate warming which she saw were obviously caused by the operations of capitalism. I was very impressed! Few writers--although increasing in numbers--will write about the obvious solution: replacing capitalism with another system that will not destabilize the Earth's climate. And she wants to start organizing for this solution immediately! Early on she writes:
This is not a joke, or a drill. This is it. Decision-point for humankind. The UN says we have to turn things around within 12 years to avoid catastrophe. Others give us even less time.She understands that working within the capitalist system which controls our nation can never be a solution because they, the ruling class, will never allow the system to be replaced--the tremendous power and wealth they enjoy is delivered by this system. We ordinary people must come to the rescue of our planet's ecosystem to save our ourselves, the rest of humanity, and future generations! She writes:
We need to act. And we need to act quickly. But we need to act rationally as well. It won’t help to run out and just “do something, anything” to fight for our future. We need to look honestly at whether the things we’ve been doing so far are effective. They aren’t.
Some say it’s crazy to fight for system change, leaving the Democrats and incrementalism behind. “System change is impossible” they maintain. “We can’t possibly achieve it in time to stave off disaster.” But which is crazier really? Fighting for actual control over our destiny, or continuing to fight within the very system that produced global warming, a system that thoroughly disempowers us?Enough said. Read the article in which she has some specific suggestions about how get the system-change started ... and act!
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Great powers commemorate First World War, and plan the next one
Click here to access article by Andre Damon from World Socialist Web Site.
Over the past weekend, the leaders of the world’s great powers met in France to commemorate the official end of World War I. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump pulled long faces, hugged each other and gave speeches lamenting the “horror” and “tragedy” of a war that claimed more than 16 million lives.
But their talk of “tragedy” and “suicide” could not hide the fact that they are all engaged in active preparations for a new and deadly world military conflict.
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