Video Weekend 01-27-2018 (10 Videos + Commentaries)

This weekend’s collection of politically instructive videos not only addresses a variety of issues (more than easily shows in its titles) but also sports a large collection of notables: Chris Hedges, Jimmy Dore, Lee Camp, Abby Martin, Mike Figueredo, and Kyle Kulinski, to name the best known.

1. Plutocracy and Patient Dumping
2. The Fight to Retake the “Democratic” Party
3. Class Warfare, White Male Fury…
4. The Base of the Far Right
5. Medicare for All
6. Tell Tale World Politics

 

I. Our Toxic Plutocratic Civilization (case: Patient Dumping)

Plutocratic, profit-driven, me-me-me-mentality-polluted societies treat people like commodities and trash:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Video Shows Baltimore Hospital’s ‘Patient Dumping’ | NBC Nightly News”)

Like most of us, when I saw one of the original videos about this case, I was outraged. I also couldn’t help but wonder if it was real or staged. So I searched around and found the mainstream media agreeing that it was real. I asked myself, what were those security guards thinking. Were they thinking of their paycheck and the video games awaiting them at home? Had they been reluctant but ordered by their boss, threatened with being fired? Had the patient been violent endangering hospital staff and other patients?

So, I kept digging and came across this video. It reveals a lot about our broken healthcare system and our broken society on the whole. The bigger picture is always worth looking at. Yes, we should be outraged, but not just at a particular hospital staff dangled before us by people who don’t see the big picture or by media moguls who are only into making money and status from their position on our TVs. Do watch this doctor telling about the big picture and ask yourself if there isn’t indeed a lot more to be outraged about, a lot more needing to be fixed:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “The REAL Story Behind That Baltimore Patient Dumping Video | Incident Report 135”)

 

II. Update on the Fight to Retake the Democratic Party

Maybe, just maybe, not all hope is lost for a Democratic Wing of the “Democratic” Party. This is a follow-up to Thursday’s article ( The Poisonous Duopoly):

I guess, this year will show how this plays out:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Signs Revolution Happening Inside Democratic Party w/Nomiki Konst “)

Here is another possible indication that corporatist “Democrats” may be breaking, but at the same time it is a reminder to be cautious in believing their smooth talk. Do the actions confirm the words? We have been lied to by forked-tongued politicians before, hence we must keep a close eye on their actions:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Kirsten Gillibrand Names Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren as Leaders of Democrats “)

Comment: Before anybody dissolves in a warm, fuzzy assurance that the “Democratic” Party is about to start representing us (the people) to any extent, please keep in mind that the party bosses will have no reason to buckle unless we have somewhere else to go, meaning a growing people’s movement and coalition that has third parties and independent candidates cooperate with each other and become a strong alternative to the Repucratic-Dempublican duopoly (a.k.a. Twin Party Tyranny). A new party that’s a true people’s party may take some time to build, but a coalition of existing third parties and new parties can produce a powerful people’s voting bloc quite fast, not to forget that independent voters are our largest voting bloc these days. Without the coalition they (just like the twin party lemmings,too) just rarely know who truly deserves their vote. A people’s coalition could do even more than provide an alternative to the duopoly. It could present us with entire cabinets running for office instead of just a single nominee, and it would bring ideas and issues to the table that the duopoly and establishment media have kept taboo. Oh, I can’t wait…

 

III. MISC

Insights on a mix of subjects:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “[95] Class Warfare, Alienation, & Real Origins Of #MeToo With Dr. Harriet Fraad”)

 

IV. Societal Cancer: The Unreasonable Far Right

The populist powerhouse of the American fascist right:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Chris Hedges 2018 (Jan 13, 2018) – Abby Martin Trump, Fascism & the Christian Right “)

 

V. Medicare for All

The healthcare and media war:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Over 1 Million Watch Bernie’s Medicare For All Town Hall, Media Yawns “)

 

VI. The Media War

The Media wars and more:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Is Rachel Maddow Dangerous To Journalism? W/Abby Martin “)

Oh, dear Abby… more power to your words of citizen journalists and people’s media needing to build each other up and creating networks. Just like what I keep saying.

Media war & American Empire:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Abby Martin Exposes Untold History of U.S. Empire”)

An idea just occurred to me. I haven’t been keen on a Trump impeachment because I fear that Mike Pence, taking over from him, will be even worse. The silver lining that just occurred to me is that if those who are working their evil behind Trump’s front would then be more exposed…

 

VII. World Politics

Thanks to Facebook’s increasing blocking, word of yesterday’s post hasn’t gone out as much as it should. OK, none of our articles here do, but this one was stymied more than past ones. It provides a really important insight into the oligarchy’s trickery, though, and the lies fed us on the corporate mainstream media, so I am reposting the featured video report here:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Smuggled Crisis: Who’s crashing Venezuela’s economy?”)

Have a restful weekend if at all possible, my friends.

APPEAL: I need your help to share links on social media. Facebook is blocking me from sharing them, treating me like a spammer if I share to more than a tiny handful of groups, effectively locking me out of groups I have participated in for years and always been welcome in. It’s getting worse every day. Soon nobody but my few subscribers will know when I publish a post. Please contact me if you wish to join an outreach team over which we can scatter the sharing.

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QuickyNews 1/18/2018: Current Urgent Activism

Net Neutrality, CHIP, and DACA have fights this week. 

All the GOP Has Done is Attack the Poor

It’s the gist of 2017, but it’s also been true for a very long time. The thing to add is that some thirty years ago the “Democratic” Party joined in this feeding frenzy of the rich upon the poor. The Dems try to save face by sometimes standing up for one or the other safety net program when the Reps are attacking it. However, in the long run, both political gangs are set to steal from the poor to give to the rich. It’s the millionaire minions working for kickbacks from the robber billionaires. And whenever we, the people, turn a blind eye because the current raiders are affiliated with the party we believe to be ours, we enable them.

The below video describes the current raids:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Donald Trump & Republicans Want to Cut Social Safety Net Programs in 2018 “)

QuickyNews: The Swamp Boils Over, Net Neutrality on the Gallows, International Neoliberalism, & The Unrig Summit

A quick news summary of this week:  

Medicare for All Petition

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has a petition out for Medicare for All: Sign the petition now: Tell Congress to fight for Medicare for All!

 

Video Weekend 10-14-2017 (7 Videos)

This weekend’s anti-corporatist, pro-democratic video collection has two parts. The first starts with some news — one on healthcare sabotage, the other on our kleptocracy’s failure to help the hurricane-ravaged U.S. colony Puerto Rico — and then ends with a somewhat humorous bit on a sane view of reality. The second part is about the last element in the unholy trinity of oppression by the 1%: censorship. (The first two elements of this unholy trinity are economic enslavement and political manipulation, and you can read yesterday’s article about those if you haven’t already.) Today, I am adding insights into the third element since censorship is sharply on the rise in America this year.

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Part 1 – News & Miscellaneous Stuff

News: Obamacare Gutted

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Trump Guts Obamacare With Executive Order “)

News: No Help for Puerto Rico

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Where Are Puerto Rico’s Supplies Going? (You’ll Be Shocked!) “)

A word to the wise adapted from a comment made in this interview by New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera, as he explained his motivation for working to help Puerto Rica recover: Let’s never let the mix of sadness, anger, and frustration shut us down!

Sanity:

A cure for Bill Maher? I doubt it. But this one is for a cherished friend of mine:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Russell Brand Educates Bill Maher On Neoliberal Failures “)

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Part 2 – Censorship

Why we need non-US-government-allied foreign media to publish in the U.S.:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “These 5 Censored Books Tell a History the Establishment Wants Hidden “)

…and, what’s worse? Fake news, which will never go away, or censorship?

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Facebook decides censorship is better than fake news “)

… and to draw a line under it:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Punishing Reporters for Truth in a Censored Media | Abby Martin & Amber Lyon “)

… Does anyone need another reason why this is important?

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Abby Martin Discusses Her Arrest At The DNC – The Ring Of Fire “)

Just so you know, our corporate government last month officially permitted US networks censorship of RT (and any other content that is “owned or controlled by the Government of the Russian Federation”). This assault on free speech has been buried deep inside the 2018 defense budget to make it less conspicuous. The oligarchs of today have become very sneaky. They manage to raise their resurrection of the former Soviet iron curtain quietly and in the dark. This is why we need independent media more than ever.

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Video Weekend 9-30-2017 (11 Videos)

A weekend collection of videos dedicated to fair-world issues of healthcare, the political revolution, smears of challengers by the establishment, the devastation of Puerto Rico by far more than just strong winds, information and freedom of speech under attack, the dark deeds of the corporatist global empire, and a vision for the future to fight for.

 

I. Bernie & Bob Conversation

Let’s listen to Bernie in a conversation rather than a stump speech:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Bernie Sanders & Robert Reich discuss how we defeat Republicans’ horrid ‘health care’ proposal “)

Robert Reich: “A lot of [working/poor] people don’t realize that they are fighting over a smaller and smaller slice of a pie that is actually getting bigger; but most of the pie is going to a very tiny group of very powerful people who are using some of that wealth to pollute and corrupt politics. … It’s not about “message” [manipulative catch phrases and such]; it’s about framing the issue ,so people understand what is really happening. It’s about giving people the motivation and the hope that they can join together and act on what they now understand.”

Bernie: “You gotta go into Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kansas, and Indiana, and you gotta go into those rural areas, and say: ‘You know what? Your kid can’t afford to go to college. And the black kid in Cleveland can’t afford to go to college. Don’t you think that maybe we should work together to make public colleges and universities tuition-free?’”

Bernie didn’t even have a Super PAC for his 2015-2016 campaign. I am increasingly convinced that Bernie’s campaign was never about the presidency but about mobilizing the American People against the cruel and destructive rule of the oligarchs. He never thought, setting out, that he could win the presidency. But he did hope he could change our conversations, away from establishment BS to the things that really matter, step by step, starting small, and he did succeed with that. An enormous first victory for the people, but certainly not one to stop at.

 

II. How the Establishment Smears its Challengers

Things that Bernie carefully tried to avoid was getting himself (and thereby the burgeoning people’s movement) smeared out of existence by doing one of these two things many of us desired him to do: (A) going against the DNC’s election theft that stole the primaries from him (because too many Americans were not, and – I fear – still are not awake and informed enough to believe in the giant extent to which our elections are being doctored and rigged), and (B) giving fodder to the corrupt corporate media for making claims that he was the spoiler in the general election that gave us Trump (if he had run independently or in the Green Party), the way Ralph Nader, one of America’s greatest public heroes, was smeared and slandered to the very fringes:

The dog and pony show we call politics in America, and the old tactic of smearing those who challenge the establishment (and far too many people believe these smears):

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Al Gore Betrayed Blacks, Progressives & America, Not Ralph Nader “)

Here was Ralph Nader in 2009 arguing for Medicare for All:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Ralph Nader on Single Payer Health Cae “)

Ralph Nader: “If you are not into politics, politics is gonna be into you.”

 

III. Puerto Rico: Storms and Continuing Colonialism

The news about Puerto Rico shouldn’t merely cover the hit by Hurricane Maria in isolation of all else:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “What You AREN’T Being Told About Puerto Rico & The Disaster Unfolding There “)

Debbie Lusignan, who no longer cares to call herself the Sane Progressive because labels like ‘progressive’ have so successfully been abused by the establishment to divide us – and she really speaks for ALL the people – also informed herself about Puerto Rico. So, if you want a longer explanation, you can listen to her:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Puerto Rico Billionaire Vultures As Destructive as Hurricane Maria “)

If you need a reminder of our climate becoming more severe, here is a compilation of footage from Hurricane Irma, one of a cluster of record-breaking weather events that popped up this year:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “MOST SHOCKING Footage Of Florida Hurricane Irma #Florida #IRMA “)

 

IV. Information and Freedom of Speech under Attack

I touched upon this before, for instance on Thursday: our Information and Freedom of Speech (not the stupid porn kind, but the one that allows us to have a voice in our affairs and organize ourselves against our predatory establishment) is under attack:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “The Corporate State Escalates Media Censorship [79] “)

 

V. Resisting the Faux-Resistance

I am no friend of the astroturphed Resist-Trump “movement,” since I see it as a sheepdogging effort to keep the corporatist neoliberals in power over the “Democratic” Party and thereby the party duopoly in its seat of blocking the American People from having a democracy and a country with prosperity, justice, and liberty for all. Still, if this video was indeed shot at an Anti-Trump event, it is still worth sharing because of so many sensible people having the once-in-a-lifetime chance to speak their minds:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Empire Files: Voices From The Anti-Trump Resistance “)

Well, if you read the explanation TeleSUR left under its Youtube posting, you can actually see why these folks were so spot-on. They are part of this effort: “On September 16-17 a major national gathering was held in Washington, D.C. called the People’s Congress of Resistance, a broad and diverse coalition of organizers and community leaders formed to build the class-struggle wing of the anti-Trump movement.”

Hah! Fellow non-privileged, anti-establishment, day-to-day Americans are moving in to undo the sheepdogging. Kudos!

 

VI. Vision for the Future

Looking a stone throw beyond the Bern:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Michael Parenti on Bernie Sanders “)

Brightest point made: Bernie says that we want the rich to pay their share, too. That makes for a good start perhaps; but don’t we, in the end, want more? Don’t we deserve more? Don’t we want the rich to stop ruling our lives and meddling with our minds to control us? How about this: envision a world of shared prosperity in which we all have good lives, not suffering from want, fear, and despair. A world in which there are no poor and no rich.

 

VII. The Militarized Corporations

The parasitism of the military industrial complex works hand in hand with the parasitism of Big Oil and other large, hungry corporations (the tools of the robber billionaires):

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Can you face the truth you TV and Smart-phone Junkie !? – Michael Parenti – The Face of Imperialism “)

 

VIII. Global Corporate Empire

Meet the global empire of the robber billionaires:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Michael Parenti – To Kill A Nation”)

Are we finally coming to understand who the enemy of everybody is? The robber billionaires live like gods but are demons. (My guess is, the speech in this video was given in around the year 2000 when Parenti’s book “To Kill a Nation: The Attack on Yugoslavia” came out.)

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Video Weekend 9-23-2017 – Part 2

I have featured Mike Figueredo before to share his many spot-on insights and carefully gathered facts. He recently released a record length video compilation, over three hours long (and full of good stuff), a length that many of us can probably only handle on a weekend, except for those set up to listen to his podcasts while commuting.

Hence this part 2 of my video weekend post dedicated to Mike’s “Humanist Report.” To make it easier to handle, I have written up a timeline so you can more easily watch it in parts. The timeline is posted in the “Continue reading…” section below the video:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Hillary Clinton and Her Minions Seek Vengeance on America | Episode 110 “)

Timeline, Quotes, and Discussion: 

Video Weekend 9-23-2017 (8 Videos)

Once again, a collection of fine videos to brighten your weekend with enlightenment and fuel for our political revolution:

I.
Jimmy Dore and Lee Camp together. A fine duo. Unfortunately, I felt they had both made the same statements before, and better, when they did them alone and better prepared. Still, I like what comes up 14:20 minutes into this clip (asking why you would donate to the “Democratic Party” when its primaries are rigged by its own admission!). The talk then moves to the topic of our rigged debates keeping out third parties… handcuffing presidential candidates to keep them away from the rigged debates… and record climate events in the past two months. Later Lee Camp, talking about Bannon, reveals how our corporate media lift up right-wingers by allowing only THEM to criticize corruption even though they are part of it):

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Jimmy Dore On The Corporate State And The Power Of The Petrodollar “)

 

II.
Political wrangling surrounding Bernie’s Medicare for All bill:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Some Democrats Are Pretending Bernie’s ‘Medicare for All’ Bill Doesn’t Exist “)

 

III.
The usual lies about healthcare costs and single-payer:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Aetna CEO is Scared To Death of Single-Payer”)

Debunking one of the biggest lies: No, single-payer coverage such as Medicare for All is not single-provider healthcare, meaning a government-run healthcare, but merely a government-secured payment system. So, you can pick and choose your doctors as before, except this time their will be no question whether or not you can pay. It is simply our government doing its sworn duty to look out for its citizens.

 

IV.
Cha-Ching:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Obama Enriches Self With Back Room Oil Deal”)

 

V.
We have a responsibility not only for ourselves to fix our country:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Propaganda Buries Facts & Manipulates Emotions – Abby Martin with Chris Hedges”)

Various revelations about our country’s dark history. Also: an interesting and creepy revelation from former war correspondent Chris Hedges. He explains how the despotic regime in a foreign country went through the same motions as our southern states with their glorification of the Confederation: basically, when people are getting desperate over their worsening lives, give them a myth to feel good about, the better to control them. In our case, that myth would be the ‘noble heroism’ of our civil war’s slavery defenders, building up a white-against-black and south-against-north mentality that keeps us from uniting against the blood-sucking establishment controlling and exploiting us from above. The more divided we are, the better controlled from the top we are.

 

VI.
An older but very nice conversation:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Cornel West and Richard Wolff talk about Capitalism and White Supremacy”)

How much better off are freed slaves when they become enslaved by a wage slavery system? When one king of a company can hire and fire you, abuse you, rip you off and make you lick his boots – and every alternative job is just as bad – it is anathema to democracy!

 

VII.
Nice historic review of the last century of our economy and politics – the New Deal and its repeal:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Full Show 11/11/15: How Reaganomics Killed America’s Middle Class”)

Conclusion: we can’t keep a golden age after getting it, if we don’t topple the plutocrats who will roll back everything to resume their godlike status among a sea of serfs. The pendulum will always swing back to the dark side if we do nothing to lock it in place.

 

VIII.
And not to forget: the environment we depend on. One thing apparently forgotten in this conversation was the great danger that lies in our getting the permafrost soil to melt, releasing huge amounts of methane, which is a far worse greenhouse gas than CO₂. Basically, we are terraforming ourselves off this planet:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “After Maria “Obliterates” Puerto Rico, Trump Pushes Dangerous Climate Policy”)

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One More Thrust to Destroy the GOP’s Wealthcare Zombie (ACA-Repeal, Trumpcare)

As I think I recently mentioned, Republican “leaders” are hurtling one more time toward an Obamacare repeal, and we must tell them “No!” — Even as Bernie Sanders has put forth his Medicare for All bill, the worst of the worst in Washington are still hell-bent on shredding federal protections found in the Affordable Care Act, killing its subsidies and Medicaid expansion, and suffocating the fifty-year Medicaid program that benefits everyone from newborns to seniors in nursing homes. If we don’t stop them, they will do it this month before time runs out for them.

I want to share with you a passionate, excellently written and informative article: We Can Stop the GOP’s Dash to Destroy Health Care

Quotes:

“The GOP lawmakers who demand repeal, and the rich donors who back them, don’t seem to mind bulldozing our health care to make way for their tax cuts and market-based dystopia. … An unprecedented national solidarity has blossomed around the repeal proposal – in opposition to it. … That opposition includes medical and hospital groups. Patient organizations. Republican and Democratic governors. The health secretary for the home state of the bill’s top sponsor. Veterans. People who simply believe every person in our country deserves, and should get, health care. … So, call, call, call – not just to your senators, but to your representatives in the House, too. (Here’s the number for the Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121. But call local offices, too!”

I quickly dug up the following (untried by me) places to find phone numbers:

• http://www.statelocalgov.net/
• https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/

And this page gives you an idea of where the political creatures live:

http://www.politicalcampaigningtips.com/the-big-list-of-local-elected-offices-for-political-candidates/

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Help us help you! Find out more here! Or snatch scientific literacy from the jaws of public school defeat here!