Video Weekend 7/15/2017: 7 Videos

This weekend, enjoy politically relevant videos across a wide spectrum of issues: media mendacity, Syria, U.S. poverty, automation and lay-offs , the next economic crash, repression of dissent, government spending for a new New Deal, and Universal Basic Income.

 

1. Media Lies and Syria

Beware the corporate media! Beware, beware, beware! If you use outfits like CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News as your only source of information, you will be mislead again and again. Sometimes they will let a bit of real news slip through; but you can only tell real news from fake news if you do some vetting of sources. One way is to check out multiple information sources from different places on the political spectrum – alternative media especially (to get away from vested corporate interests) – and then compare the disagreeing reports to find commonalities. Another way is to use your brain to take into account how these sources make their money, then put two and two together, and you will know what’s really going on. You know that you can’t trust a used cars salesman when he praises a car standing on his lot; but he may be quite honest talking about the weather or the problems his child has in school. Makes sense, right? — I work hard to bring you the real news, as well as original thoughts and ideas; so you would do well to follow my posts and help me reach more people (or even help me become financed, for example by a small donation from you, or you buying an online course from me).

One topic the corporate media are compulsive liars about is our eternal warfare around the globe. So, here is some rarely heard news about Syria:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Max Blumenthal on How the Media Covers Syria”)

Quote: “The progressive media’s job is to challenge [the establishment media] narrative, but in the Trump era this is not really happening.” The great risk, at this time, is that alternative media join the corporate media in their distractive anti-Trump mania, a convenient trick for our corporate media and politicians not to report on corporate crimes or truly transformative political opportunities. Merely resisting won’t move us forward. We must do more to fight the establishment and take our country back from the robber billionaires.

 

2. American Poverty

Meet the Poor Country USA (over half the U.S. lives in or near poverty (such as working for less than a living wage)). See and hear from their reality, if you don’t experience it yourself every day, or know you are not alone if you do:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “America Is The Poorest First World Country Linh Dinh”)

If you want to know how we got to this place, I write about this regularly. In fact, if you haven’t read it already, I wrote a succinct summary yesterday: How the Bandits Took Over

 

3. Automation and Lay-offs

McDonald’s just used its record stock prices to fire 2,500 of its workers. Conclusion: Technology either improves the profits of plutocrats or the lives of workers. Plutocrats fire workers replaced by machines to improve their profits. In contrast, workers owning their companies and making the decisions would improve their lives and their communities:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “McDonald’s, Capitalism, and Unemployment”)

 

4. The Next Economic Crash

The next economic crash is about to hit:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Economist Dr. Richard Wolff – The Lottery Economy”)

 

5. Repression Of Dissent

Brutal repression of dissent is quickly growing in our country. It will soon be the dark future for all of us if we don’t fight back now when it is still only hitting some of us:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “[#68] A U.S. Political Prisoner Is Finally Released & CNN Cover Up”)

 

6. Government Spending for a New New Deal

The below is probably the best video by Steve Grumbine that I have seen so far. This one is really good — full of vital truth. Gist: Watch your language! Most Americans need and want the same things, but the way we talk, pushing the party-line-division buttons, we tune each other out. Talk real issues, not slogans, party lines, or candidates:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Crossing political boundaries”)

Gist continued: Federal spending is an investment which can have taxes collected afterwards to balance out the economy. You don’t need to fight drawn-out political trench wars to free up tax dollars first, and you don’t need to burden most working people with higher taxes, to give us things like Medicare for All. All we really need, is a broad coalition of voters (across party lines) to get us a new New Deal. Taxes don’t exactly pay for any of these, the government does. The federal government can print all the money it needs (or create it with a click on a computer, actually). Taxation is only the re-taking of money from the economy lest we get inflation if the growth in money supply exceeds the growth of the economy. This re-taking is best done in places where the money uselessly accumulates (the billionaires).

Now, Steve Grumbine promotes a federal job guarantee but seems to oppose a universal basic income. Personally, I think that combining the two of them would give people a greater amount of flexibility. The thing not to overlook, after all, is that government – even one that is accountable to the voters (as our American government definitely is NOT and has not been for decades!) – is never perfect. One-size-fits-all measures always do wrong by some people. Hence, in my opinion, having an unconditional universal basic income as a financial safety buffer for all those for whom a federal job guarantee might not work, is highly recommendable. For example, if a federal job guarantee, for whatever reason, would exclude taking care of one’s children or one’s elderly (say, because their might be a worry about nepotism or unqualified care), then people able to rely on an unconditional basic income could still make the choice to care for their relatives, making for more individual liberty and a better, more caring society. Liberty and choice is what government should guarantee us, just like our founders demanded.

 

7. Universal Basic Income: A Comedian Talking Sense that Escapes Most Serious People

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Breaking The Stigma Towards Universal Basic Income Can Better Society!”)

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We Are So Out-Donated on Political Campaigns, We Are Letting Our Information Sources Die

Truthout, which for the longest time has been providing trustworthy and critical news coverage unlike all those mainstream media — the same Truthout about whose hair-raising revelations I have often reported here — just gave out a final desperate yell for financial help. For years, Truthout has always survived on reader donations (like I would like to do, too). In their current fund drive, they have whittled down the missing donations amount to about $10,000. However, after all our donating to Bernie Sanders and other anti-corporate candidates and campaigns, we seem to be reaching our limit. Truthout writes: 

Video Weekend 6/24/2017: One Who Came Before: Bill Moyers

In the dark days of accelerated mass media consolidation by giant corporations, when they were thoroughly brainwashing the American people and blacking out every bit of important truth, before the arrival of independent media on the Internet such as you are reading this very moment, you could count the remaining voices of truth on the airwaves on the fingers of one crippled hand, foremost among these a name that resonates venerably with many of the older folks: Bill Moyers. As fascism descended upon our country, he was cut down, yet rose again. Like Bernie Sanders in politics, Bill Moyers had the stamina and age-long standing in news and commentary to somehow persist. Like Bernie, old enough to enjoy his final years in retirement, the decline of our country and our lives has not let him rest; and when I think I will never hear from him again, I stumble upon a happy surprise.

In 2014, Moyers foreshadowed what Bernie Sanders would bring to the table of public discourse in his soon to follow campaign. Coming from a venerable old media man who interviews a former Republican who has come to see the light, perhaps the following two videos might open eyes even for people who self-identify as Republicans, conservatives, right-wingers, or whatever labels they prefer and which they consider incompatible with the virtues and values of justice and liberty for all, commonly associated with the political “left.” Here are these two remarkable videos:

Moyers & Company (Published on Apr 15, 2014) :

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “The Deep State Hiding in Plain Sight”)

Moyers & Company (Published on Apr 18, 2014) :

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “What the 1% Don’t Want You to Know”)

And here is an audio-only recording which could be of special interest to Black voters but also anyone else who wants a fundamental course change of our country. One of the ideas raised, is an interesting way of rethinking: the “blank-out campaign.”

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Voters Don’t Have to Choose Between Clinton and Trump”)

Healthcare Denial 2.0: Meet Our Sneaky Senate

Gist: The Senate version of the Healthcare-Kill-Bill known as Trumpcare 2.0 is just as deadly as the House version, only sneakier. In this one, the denials are better hidden. No wonder the perpetrators kept meeting in secret. They didn’t want their true intentions known; and they hoped to sneak this venal bill past us without us knowing how it will kick millions off of health coverage, price many of us out of healthcare, and thus collect hundreds of  billions of dollars as a tax gift for the richest of the rich, paid for with our misery and deaths. (if you ask me, these senatorial bandits all deserve to die of cancer before their Senate terms end, so they find out what healthcare is really about – health, not tax gifts to those who don’t need them – and make room for decent people to represent us) Here are the details:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “No Wonder Republicans Were Hiding Trumpcare…”)

Catching up on the News and Activism 6/20/2017: Trumpcare, Medicare for All, Gerrymandering, Jail Injustice…

Trumpcare 2.0 – They are trying to sneak it quietly through the Senate

From Reuters and other sources emerges: “Democratic” Senators criticize the closed-door meetings that Republicans have been holding to craft a replacement for Obamacare (as you know, even worse than Obamacare). They are calling for open committee hearings and more time to consider the bill before a Senate vote, which Republicans say could come in the next two weeks, although a draft bill has yet to emerge publicly. 

Jamarl Thomas on the People’s Summit, Bernie, and Other Important Topics (2 Videos)

Jamarl Thomas (a really bright guy who went to check it out) finally got around to make up his mind about the People’s Summit which at the start didn’t sit quite right with him. He also adds some other sharp thoughts, especially about Bernie Sanders’ role in our politics (to which I would add that Bernie might be doing what Richard Wolff suggested: namely prove that he has tried everything to save and reform the “Democratic” Party before turning his back on it when the attempt eventually has failed visible to all). This speech is really long, and has stretches that are rambling or recursive. But it is worth spending the time listening, maybe while you cook and do house chores or such. (1:20 hours)

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Jamarl Thomas Talks Bernie, People’s Summit and more #pplsummit | Context with Jamarl Thomas”)

Two days ago, Jamarl added another evaluation of the People’s Summit, concluding that there is a serious co-opting attempt, but that the visitors seem to have successfully resisted, so far. Also, he feels this kind of summit should be more action oriented like hammer out a political agenda (29 min):

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Discussion of People’s Summit and Push Back Against Criticism By People That Didn’t Attend“)

I might add that the slippery slope I wrote about last time is something to truly be wary of. People don’t necessarily get corrupted by it and the corporate money that sloshes around on it. They can become co-opted even with their best intentions intact, simply by being forced into compromises, restricted by the mechanics of private campaign financing, and such. To overcome these old co-opting weapons, I kind of agree with Debbie the Sane Progressive that we need to alter our mindset, consciously stop doing what hasn’t worked before, keep our sights on a bold vision for the future, and get creative about new ways of doing things (for instance create our own alternative media, run political campaigns heavily relying on grassroots volunteers (canvassing, distributing yard signs…) rather than money-sucking TV ads, etc.).

Please call to mind that independent citizen journalists like Jamarl (and me) are strapped for resources and can use your help, not some day far in the future, but now. Share, subscribe, discuss, and – if you can afford to – help us out a little financially.

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Poor Immigrant Workers in the U.S. – Another Failure of Our Economic System

Broken families. Broken hearts. Used up lives. Violated human rights. Human trafficking. Slavery. When the focus of our society isn’t people and human values, this happens.

Syrian Gas Attack Likely was What it Looked Like: a False Flag Operation

Remember the moment you may have had telling yourself you must become more skeptical about what you hear on the mainstream media and coming out of the mouths of politicians? Remember, perhaps, Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction?

Remember also the horrific chemical gas attack in Syria a few days ago, the one which allegedly prompted Trump to commit an act of war against Syria (for OUR national security somehow)?

American Properties Butchered by Trump’s Wall

Another news video worth sharing on this hectic day, in case you didn’t come across this already:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Trump Turning His Voters Into Mexicans”)

Trump Slashes Workplace Protection for Women

A news video I thought worth sharing in case you didn’t come across this already:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Ivanka Trump: “I’m Complicit”)