Wakeful Video Weekend 2019-12-08 (23 videos)

Much on how we are being oppressed and kept to suffer in huge inequality and injustice… and how to fight for change to bring us universal common decency, fairness, liberty, and good lives… and how evil gangs fight back against such change… and the role of the National Security State. Enlightening news reports hidden from you on MSM channels, plus satire, humor, music, system analysis… Media not to miss. Watch, share, discuss, grow, and enjoy!

Stars and channels: CODEPINK, DW Documentary, Moderate Rebels, New Economic Thinking, The Hill, Jimmy Dore, thejuicemedia, Michael Brooks, The Real News Network, and more…

Topics:

1. Satire: Quiet Supremacy
2. Song: Living in the Wasteland of the Free **
3. Fighters for Change: MLK & Bernie
4. Germany reporting on U.S. Poverty
5. Big or Small Government in Oligarchy
6. The Blue-Red One-Party System (Fascist Patriot Act Renewed)
7. Socialist GOP
8. Business Aristocracy Discussed
9. Change: Mild Tweaking Won’t Work
10. Interesting Pre-Election Conversation about Trump
11. Capitalism = Man-made Impediments against Living Decent Lives
12. U.S. Poverty so Underreported – Talk w/ the Poor People’s Campaign
13. World: Bolivia (History before the Coup, Current Coup Situation)
14. The #1 Reason for Socialism “Failure”
15. World: France Protests against the Precarious Life Today
16. Upside Down Lawfulness
17. Crumbling Society: Schools
18. Humor: U.S. Healthcare an International Joke

 

1. Satire: Quiet Supremacy

Australia is much like the U.S.:

Honest Government Ad | Quiet Australians ~ thejuicemedia

Unaccountable U.S. Government Agencies

Chris Hedges: Maintaining US Empire is bipartisan ~ RT America

By now, a growing number of Americans have become aware of how our intended democracy has become undermined by Big Money and turned into a sham where voter participation is essentially blocked by a twin party tyranny of the R- and D-Party, both working exclusively for the rich and their corporations, think tanks, and an army of 42,000+ registered lobbyists (plus many more unregistered ones) while dangling billionaire puppets in front of us as “our” candidates, excluding true people’s representatives from our ballots or rigging the elections when one does make it on the ballots. Some of us fight for honest candidates or try to take over one of these corrupt major parties from within (always failed, so far), fight for a new party that really represents us, or are even awake enough to fight against the massive election fraud committed by both major parties.

But an issue still often overlooked or smeared as “conspiracy theories” is an evil bureaucracy that also rules us, commits crimes in our name, and is unaccountable because even when we do manage to elect trustworthy representatives into Congress or the White House (or state and local governments), our various bureaucratic institutions are kingdoms of their own whose bosses are not elected, at best appointed by elected officials, but even then generally independent from those as these bureaucratic bosses have no term limits while our elected officials do. And even when the very top bosses are replaced by elected officials, they tend to be or later become lobbyists for the corporations they should regulate rather than serve, so they benefit from term limits and are even more reliably driven into the control by billionaires and their corporations – rather than being restrained by term limits – just like our term limited elected officials. (One reason why term limits aren’t really helpful to democracy, which makes the recent smear of Bolivia’s elected president as a “dictator” because he didn’t accept unconstitutional term limits in Bolivia a bit ironic — and sad, of course, when one looks at the violent mass murders and threats committed by his “political” opposition that is running a racist and fascist coup with support or even organized by OUR unaccountable bureaucratic bosses). 

Wakeful Video Weekend 2019-10-26 (22 videos)

An amazing number of brilliant women made fantastic arguments and analyses this week. Don’t miss them nor the also insightful men in these 22 outstanding videos treating what’s wrong and how to make change.

Stars and channels: Krystal Ball, Naomi Klein, Jane Fonda, Jill Stein, Bernie, Richard Wolff, Taya Graham (The Real News Network), John Spritzler, The Rational National, The Michael Brooks Show, Jimmy Dore, Gayle McLaughlin (the California Progressive Alliance), Harriet Fraad, Politics and Prose, Aaron Glantz, Democracy Now!, Ralph Nader, Steven Greenhouse, Nick Hanauer, and more.

Topics:

1. #MfA: Universal Healthcare for Liberty
2. Risks for All, Not Just Investors
3. Police Crimes: Our Dungeon & Dragon Society
4. Let’s Have No Government by and for Criminals
5. Bernie (Reviews, Movement, Track Record, Market vs Society)
6. Bernie & Tulsi Combo: Might it Landslide the Nation?
7. Corporatists and Oligarchs Looking for Another “D” Puppet
8. Organizing Outside of Political Parties
9. The Source and Success of Racism
10. Humor: The ‘Elites’ Crying When We Call Out their Corruption
11. The Twin Party Tyranny Blocking Representation of the People
12. Panel: Naomi Klein & Jane Fonda – Sunrise, Climate, & Humanity
13. Banksters: The Then & Now Real Estate Raid
14. Indigenous Dealing with California Wildfires
15. Immigration & Border: Many Victims are Native Americans
16. American Past, Present, & Future & Comparison w/ Other Nations
17. SCOTUS, The Achilles Heal of Democracy
18. A 0.1%er Getting Some of the Wrongness

Quickynews – The High and Mighty Need not Stay above the Law

We are used to presidents, CEOs, and so forth to be above the law in our country. They have demonstrated that they can commit any crime (lie, steal, torture, and mass murder) and get away with it. However, let’s realize that we can change this. Let’s take a look at other countries, Peru for example. Former Peruvian President Fujimori was recently released after many years spent in jail — supposedly on humanitarian grounds because of bad health at his old age. His successor (Toledo) is currently taking cover in the U.S. with an international arrest warrant issued against him. His successor (Humala) is currently being investigated, and his successor (Kuczynski), who is the current president in office, is also in the cross hairs already. Wait a moment… just another moment… Yup! Kuczynski just stepped down shortly before an assured impeachment. Let’s see if he manages to flee the country before he is apprehended. 

Quickypinion: Is Government the Problem?

Government is the problem only when it is controlled by the 1% instead of the people. ~ Dirk  Droll

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Video Weekend 10-07-2017 (6 Videos)

This video weekend has a story arc that starts with the topic of state violence and gun ownership, transitions to high-brass corruption and holding the corrupt accountable, then reviews some of our nation’s highest corrupt politicians (i.e. presidents), circles back to our last not-so corrupt president in conversation with Bernie Sanders, and ends in a grand finale about our country’s decay presented by some of our best and brightest truth tellers and fighters.

 

I. Riot Police against Voters

I have a slightly different take on Catalonian’s desire for secession from Spain than Lee Camp. I think they should reconsider. My rationale: I am for fewer rather than more borders. Instead of more affluent regions surrounding themselves with walls and fences, and leaving poorer regions to struggle all the harder, I’d prefer to see more solidarity and a successful push to bring affluence to all parts of the world. Then we wouldn’t have these silly wishes for costly walls, mass migrations disrupting millions of families, badly justified hatred of immigrants, and/or a bad conscience for how we stiffed the less fortunate. On the other hand, I do share Lee’s outrage at riot cops brutally suppressing voters or stealing ballot boxes. It’s an example of what 2^nd-Amendment proponents warn against. And while I’d like to see less mass shootings and gun-assisted crimes in the U.S., I do get the argument of 2^nd-Amendment proponents that day-to-day folks should not be completely helpless against violence brought against them by warlords, corporations, and governments. I think we have to fix our political and economic riggings first before we can all come to much of a consensus on what to do about guns.

Anyway, here is Lee Camp’s fine rant. He does his rants very well:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “What They Won’t Tell You About Catalonia, Spain”)

 

II. When the Mighty are Held Accountable

Another report about events outside our border. Big fish can be held accountable (heck, Peru even prosecutes its presidents for crimes committed in office!):

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Lawyers Fight Staggering Corruption In Brazil & Win!”)

 

III. When the Mighty Have no Clue

Talk about being privileged and disconnected from your fellow human beings:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Trump Throws Paper Towels At Puerto Rican Victims”)

 

IV. Presidents of Graft

Our wonderful presidents (could we have a little Peru here?):

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Corp. Democrats Disgusting Rehabilitation Of George Bush”)

 

V. Our Last Not-so-Corrupt President

President Carter is now often seen as a virtual angel. He wasn’t a perfect president. Deregulation began under him, starting the neoliberal slide of our country towards hell. Still, the beginning of his panel discussion with Bernie is quite good (the rest less). I thought I shared this one before but can’t find it if I did. So, here it is:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “FULL CONVERSATION Between Bernie Sanders and Jimmy Carter on Human Rights”)

A point made about human rights and economy: We violate human rights when we allow corporations to push people into poverty. And that is true both here and globally, because today’s economy is global.

What’s perhaps the most interesting, is the bunch of comments Youtube viewers left under this video. Here are some I picked out:

AS A BILLIONAIRE I WANT OUR COUNTRY TO SAVE MONEY. I [WANT] ALL AMERICANS WHO HAVE 2 LEGS, 2 ARMS, TO SIGN UP FOR WORK. WE OFFER A 401K PLAN TO SAVE YOUR MONEY.

Yeah, right, so that guys like you can siphon off a large portion into your vaults… I’d prefer living size social security benefits or that now mostly extinct thing called “pension” over this trick of stock market gamblers raiding people’s retirement savings.

WE LOVE BILLIONARES, WE DO NOT LIKE PEOPLE [WHO WANT] TO TAKE FREE MONEY. EARN YOUR BILLION.

I wonder if that was meant literally or sarcastically… After all, currently, it’s mostly the billionaires who get free money.

Does anyone really “earn” a billion dollars? If folks knew the dark, heartless shit untalented people will do to make that money as they hypocritically tell you “work hard”, you’d hunt and put them down as the conniving thieving dogs that they are.

Ditto!

52% of our income was paid into taxes. It’s like I work for the government, part time. I need a new roof, I need some windows, and I can’t afford to maintain my property so it looses value, because I am taxed to death!

That’s what happens when the governmnet has been bought up by the rich and works for them, taxing working folks and giving tax breaks, tax loopholes, and government subsidies to the rich.

Support OUR Public Schools & Public School Teachers! We have been dumbed down by big money behind standards and testing while the richest get even richer off our young’s back.

Having worked as a teacher, I can confirm that. Yes, the crooks have their claws in our school system, too.

 

VI. Summing Up America’s Decline

And now let’s turn from American presidents to really great Americans who have been telling us the truth about our systemic corruption and fighting for the people (a fight for us all to join):

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Poverty Inc. a film by Gary Null”)

There is much in this video about how the privileged keep themselves in charge, and ever grow their privilege, at the expense of us all, employing an antiquated pyramid scheme when the age of natural scarcity is long past and we could remake our system in the image of prosperity for all, even with plenty of leisure for all.

At 1:16:24 into the video, the important point gets made that we have moved from industrial capitalism to finance capitalism: a system which no longer is buying materials and labor and selling products but buying and selling entire companies, producing nothing for people, only shifting more and more of the world’s wealth to the top.

Also good to remember: in 1983, 90% of American media were owned by 50 companies. Today, the same 90% is controlled by 6 companies! Six corporations which, surprise(!), push corporate-friendly (a.k.a. billionaire-friendly or status-quo-friendly) narratives. And when you think about it, in the long run our status-quo isn’t necessarily friendly to the rich, either, since it is busy undermining our national and global economy and also destroying the life support systems of our planet on which human survival depends.

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Fourth of July, 2017: The Role of Government — Good or Bad, Small or Big, Dumb or Smart…?

I fully understand the worries many among us have concerning Big Government. I do so, even though, at the same time, I also belong to the crowd that demands so-called “free stuff” (not really free, of course) from our government. How is it possible that I straddle this stark divide in our political mentalities?

It’s a matter of life experience: 

DNC Lawsuit – Election Theft 2016 – And The Evidence

Two days ago, I reported about the class action lawsuit brought against the Democratic National Committee. Funny enough, after all this time and all the evidence, I still get responses like: oh, it’s all sour grapes and BS.

To this I reply: It’s sour grapes or BS only when you refuse to look at the evidence!

Breaking News: Manning, Snowden, Assange, and Obama

Maybe you just heard? Obama finally acceded to so many of us pleading and finally commuted the whopping 35 year sentence (more than most murderers and rapists get) of Chelsea Manning, one of our nation’s greatest whistleblowers. Manning is the one who allowed us to learn of the mistreatment of unlawfully detained people and the callous murdering of civilians (including reporters and good Samaritans) which parts of our military committed in Irak and elsewhere. These are things we should know about, shouldn’t we?