Independence Day is a special holiday held high and celebrated in different corners of society. For some it is just a brief relief from a never-ending money-earning drudgery. For others it is the holiday of their nationalist notions easily linked to fascist white supremacist ideas stuck into their heads from the top by the rich ruling class and their demagogic minions in politics and the mass media to divert (with xenophobia and hate speeches) their justified anger away from the true culprits and causes of their mutilated lives, thus turning them into a duped army of violent right-wingers and idiot voters. For others, like myself, it is an annual reminder of the great ideals of some of our heroic founding fathers whose liberating ideas spread around the world causing awe and love and hope, and even change — change from monarchies and dictatorships to democracies or even attempts at socialist economies (a natural consequence of the life, liberty, and happiness for all concept).  Continue reading “European Thoughts Fitting our Fourth of July”→
Stars: David Doel (The Rational National), Richard Wolff (Democracy At Work), Bob Hennelly, Thom Hartmann, Dahl Jamail, Ralph Nader, Josh Fox, Bruce Fein, Laura Flanders, Nomi Prins, Niko House, AOC, Cenk Uygur, Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett, Jimmy Dore, Ben Norton, Abby Martin, Greg Wilpert, Paul Jay, Brigida Santos, Jamarl Thomas, Bernie Sanders…
Topics:
AOC: Wow, a Congress Person Exposes our National Immorality
Even Elder White Americans Waking Up to our National Immorality
MLK’s Secret
Economy: Public Spending
Climate etc. Crisis: Getting Mentally Ready
Climate & Toxic Water: Fracking Out (also: Presidential Wars)
I. AOC: Wow, a Congress Person Exposes our National Immorality
… and a great speech by a Canadian pointing out what should be obvious to everyone but some of us are still blind to:
(Note: If the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for David Doel (The Rational National) and the title: “AOC: A World With Billionaires Is Immoral”)
This last video weekend compilation of 2018 has some really jaw-dropping stuff like a recovering former capitalist describing the warped mentality that shackles the capitalist class (and the rest of us) and that used to be his mindset until his business dissolved and he became a human being. He describes how our system brings the worst out in people. Another pearl: the flaw in the American spirit. More stuff: the 7th week of the Yellow Vests, and a lot more. Do take a look.
Topics:
Capitalism: Confessions of a Recovering Capitalist, etc.
Socialism: Was Jesus a Socialist?
Fascism: Racism & Division from the Top
Economics: The Need for a More Humane Economic System
Another great video weekend for those who can find time in this busy holiday season. More great facts and insight on the Yellow West Movement, public mind manipulation, the core nature and effects of capitalism, and so on.
Topics:
Yellow Vests News
War, Morals, & Veterans for Peace
Hypernormalization
Election Meddling
Refugees: Fleeing U.S. Dirty Wars in Central America
Filling the Swamp (Mnuchin)
Cool Conversation (Paul Jay, RoseAnn De Moro, John Cusack, and Bob Pollin)
Another video compilation to enrich our weekend with insights in our troubles and clues for change. Once again, your weekend can be wisely spent learning a lot.
Once again a lively and very informative mix of videos to grow our political awakening, awareness, and ideas. Stars: Ralph Nader, Mike Figueredo, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Jimmy Dore, Richard Wolff, Chris Hedges, Nomi Prins, Ana Kasparian, The Rational National, Emma Vigeland, and our future president Nick Braña (in order of appearance). Topics:
Economist Richard Wolff discusses the coming economic collapse with Chris Hedges. They touch upon both past & present of the top destroying everything and the people fighting for life. This came out too late to make it into my weekend video compilation. But now here it is:
(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “The Coming Collapse of the American Economic System with Richard Wolff”)
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Ending Note:To get the word out, please widely share links to these posts. You can alsohelp in other ways(including much needed financial support). Only together can we change this messed-up world
Money “Making” Money (in reality siphoning it away from those who earn it). The super-rich taking from the rich and turning our government into their puppet. A little explanation of index funds and the hedge fund scam, plus an additional little insight into the current tax “reform” gift to the rich:
(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Warren Buffett Wins $1 Million Bet That Hedge Funds Are a Rip-Off “)
How the Predatory Capitalists Crashed the World Economy. What’s sadly funny is that the makers of this documentary in 2011 still thought the mortgage banksters and Wall Street predators who with their self-enriching criminal gambles crashed the world economy and robbed millions of working people of their homes, jobs, and careers – in other words their chance at a tolerable life – were about to be held accountable:
(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “The men who crashed the world“)
II. Russia, Russia, Russia!
Some real info about Russia:
(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “American Journalist In Russia Tells Truth About RT“)
Note: 21:22 min in, a great point is made. Namely, if the Russian political elite had really wanted to boost Trump’s candidacy in 2016, all they would have had to do is publicize what they know about the Clinton’s uranium deal with them. No need for them to hack into the DNC’s emails to commit the oh so horrible “election hacking” of revealing important truths to the public. That was clearly done by others. Plus, the Russian political elite doesn’t care who’s in office in the U.S. because it won’t make a difference since ALL U.S. governments, R or D, have been hostile to them.
III. Celebrity Politics
For most people, politics has always been about particular personalities in politics. Not for me. I prefer to look at the big picture, find the faults, and design strategies to fix them. However, sometimes it is useful to review what the corporate politicians do to us and remove their false halos:
(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Obama Chose Wall St. Over Main St. – Thomas Frank on RAI (8/9) “)
Thomas Frank is someone with whom I don’t agree under the bottom line. He stays faithful to the treacherous “Democratic” Party, and he even endorsed Hillary if I recall correctly, an attitude which in my opinion misses the point that we will only go further down the drain if ALL the main parties (currently two) keep betraying the people, our country, and world to the robber billionaires because they can keep doing so as long as we keep playing into their hands.
It’s not some kind of impractical “purity” stance by me, when I insist we must create a new major party (or coalition of parties) to represent us. Rather, it’s an external pressure strategy combined with a fallback strategy. And it is also the simple reality on the ground, meaning it’s happenng and won’t just go away.
We are too close to the cliff now, to let corrupted politicians push us ever closer to it or – as has become ever more common in this century – sell us out at a rate that can only be described as a frantic fire-sale. We can’t expect different results by doing the same thing. We can’t expect the crooks in politics to go away if we give a pass to those crooks who rule a party we think we can take over. Taking over a party must include outing the crooks in it. And historically, it has always required massive pressure from outside the party, as well. Study up on what pressured FDR into going for the New Deal. Established political parties don’t change when the crooks running them feel assured that voters have nowhere else to go. Hillary and her machine were a blatant example of that attitude, as are Tom Perez and the lingering corporatist elite in the “Democratic” Party. They want their corporate money and figure we are helpless. Let’s prove them wrong!
IV. Moving Forward
Thoughts about breaking the corrupt party duopoly:
(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “People’s Party Founder Nick Brana, Live! Paradise Or Oblivion!?”)
Great points:
57:15 min: “What’s the U.S. mission statement? ”
1:43:38: “People get so normalized into the way the world is that they have a hard time seeing what it could be. In a weird way, they believe that society is organized in a natural way. They believe that the way we are organized is the natural way to organize. … No, these were policy choices that people made to advantage themselves while disadvantaging others. And all these policy choices can be changed. ”
Election Integrity:
I really do wonder why so many Americans seem to be so sold on electronic voting or electronic vote counts, and that in the face of massive election fraud in our country, a good deal of which made possible because of our electronic voting and vote counting. In other countries, much greater election integrity exists because they count votes by hand at the polling stations in the public and with opposing party members double-checking (recounting) each others’ counts. Simple and solid. The only chance of tampering exists up-chain in the count reporting. As long as that is handled in a transparent way, there can be no tampering with the cast votes.
So, why does Nick Brana seem to like block chain voting which is toted as a means of more tamper-proof electronic voting? Maybe because the American public isn’t yet ready to ban electronic voting and vote counting like, for example, Europe has done? Maybe he is looking forward to greater citizen participation in decision making by letting us all vote on issues rather than leaving them to corruptible delegates? The latter is something I toy with. I just don’t yet know if it can be done in ways that (A) eliminate tampering and (B) maintain voter anonymity. It’s another thing to research in the future. One question in my mind: can block chain voting really be transparent?
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Ending Note: It takes me at least 100 hours a month to research and write for this site and work on my book. If you find any value in what I do, please consider becoming a patron and supporting this site with an automatic monthly donation of $1 or more. If you can’t afford this, then don’t, but please share my posts, tell folks about my online course offering, refer others to this site, refer me to paying outlets or companionable fellow blogs, partake in discussion, or contribute essays of your own. Or help my book get out there when it’s finished. Thanks. Only together can we change this world. 🙂
A hallmark of our dark current times is debt. More and more people are drowning in debt while banks get bailed out and bankster CEOs ride into the sunset with huge bonuses even after crashing the world economy. People often think that a system of credit and debt is the latest in economic developments, but in reality debt has a long and interesting history which explains why our almost religious worship of debt can lead to dreadful human suffering.
You have the option of listening to the following 1 hour and 21 minutes-long talk by David Graeber or read my short 598-word summary below:
(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: »David Graeber: “DEBT: The First 5,000 Years” | Talks at Google«)
Summary: Debt started, and is apparently inborn in us, as a way of social cohesion. Example: I gave you, my neighbor, a cow. So, some day, you help me build a new barn. Another neighbor gave me a bunch of chicken to start my chicken coup, and next year, when he has had a bad harvest, I give him and his hungry family several sacks of potatoes…Â Continue reading “The Seductive and Destructive Power of Debt”→
David Graeber exploded on the scene of investigating our rigged society by sharing his recurrent experience he had with people whose paycheck-earning jobs contribute nothing of value to human society. An amazing realization in a capitalist world, where we would think efficiency and the creation of wealth were the top goals:
(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “5 Types of Bullsh*t Jobs with David Graeber”)
So, if so much valuable work has been taken over by machines, and so many jobs are nothing more than make-work, why are we still desperately hunting for jobs that often aren’t there? Why are we drowing in work and poverty at the same time? We should be swimming in prosperity and reducing our weekly work hours as machines are rapidly replacing us in the labor market and so much “work” being done is quite unnecessary. Why aren’t we? Why these bullshit jobs instead? Continue reading “Why Are We Wasting our Lives in a Flood of Bullshit Jobs?”→
