We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore LappĂ©, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, July 9, 2016

The Human Experiment is Probably Coming to an End

Click here to access article by Moti Nissani from Dissident Voice.

(Note: This week I am radically departing from my usual rule of posting articles that are limited to the past 30 days. I have recently discovered to my deep chagrin that I have been missing many excellent articles by Moti Nissani due in large part to my own failings, some misunderstandings, and because no one drew my attention to them. I am making up for this now by posting what I regard as the best articles of his in chronological order starting in 2010, one for each day everyday of this week, and maybe beyond until I catch up.

By giving Nissani this special consideration, I do not wish to imply that I agree with every single one of his views. Nobody has a monopoly on truth. We are like the blind men and the elephant fable who must collaborate to unravel the many mysteries of our existence. This is in sharp contrast to immature people who always look to leaders or "people in the know" for guidance on what to believe and how to behave. All of us must become our own seekers of truth if there is to be any hope of our continued existence as humans.)



This retired professor of biology with a rich background in the humanities looks at all the possible threats to humans, assesses probabilities, and adds them up to see what the future looks like for humans. It doesn't look good.

But what if we could replace the dominant class-based social-economic system in the world known as capitalism with one that could rationally coexist in harmony with the biosphere? I think this would greatly increase our chances of survival for many centuries. I see this as the major and crucial challenge facing humanity today. 

Some scientists say that it is already too late to save the biosphere and human extinction is imminent (20-30 years); but I argue that even if we as individuals accept this as true, we as a species must strive to do better than what we have done so far. This means in the time remaining we will demonstrate that our human natures simply will not accept an economic system that guarantees the rule of a class of people and their culture whose character is defined by "greed, shortsightedness, and colossal stupidity". We are better than that. 

NATO Paranoia Versus Eurasia Integration

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Sputnik.
...the real “threat” to NATO members is not Russia, but what pertains to a taboo debate in Europe; the blowback for Washington’s direct and indirect Middle East blunders — from Shock and Awe to “leading from behind” to weaponizing “moderate rebels”, classic Empire of Chaos moves that contributed to a massive refugee crisis.

NATO loses countenance

Click here to access article by F. William Engdahl from Katehon

Referring to the US Empire and its control of Europe, Engdahl writes:
...power is being lost – just look at Brexit. The EU is slowly going to dissolve one state after the other. All the measures had been taken to hold the union together but it’s not working. NATO just added chaos instead of offering stability. Now there is a very strong opposition in the EU countries to all kinds of Washington’s provocations against Russia. The foreign minister of Germany indicated this quite openly.

Friday, July 8, 2016

Pillars of American “Democracy": Sunshine Bribery

Click here to access article by Moti Nissani from Veterans Today.

The influence of money is so obvious in today's world, but people have become so habituated to this fact that it seems like there is no alternative. Besides that, many people residing in dominant countries like the US also share to some extent in the booty that is plundered from weaker countries by our capitalist masters. Nissani explains how our masters use the second main pillar to fund many secondary pillars that insures their rule. 
Obviously, when it comes to sunshine bribery, what is lacking is not awareness but outrage.  A good part of this circus is out in the open, and yet we seem unmoved.  Perhaps, the bankers have dulled our moral faculties by corrupting language.  Perhaps they have done so by exposing us to endless violence while watching TV or movies, serving in the armed forces, passing the time in prison, or interacting with police.  Perhaps the bankers have used the educational system and mass media to stifle our curiosity, kill our imagination, trivialize our lives and aspirations, surround us with endless distractions, and diminish our capacity to think for ourselves. 

The revolution will not be subsidized or absurd failure of the left (an interview with Cory Morningstar)

Click here to access article featuring an interview with Morningstar by a representative of a French website. (The text is translated from French with some errors, but unfortunately the graphics are not. I translated the second and fifth one: 2) "The climate is haywire..." 5) "Remember, to be radical is simply to grasp the root of a problem. And the root is us."

Morningstar expresses her opinions of the failure of the "left" in the US and Canada to pose any serious threat to capitalist rule. She mainly targets the influence of well funded non-profit organizations (NPIC: non-profit industrial complex, NGOs when in foreign countries) which she has worked so hard to expose in the past decade.
...if “the left” could fully understand that they are continually being reabsorbed back into the very systems they claim to oppose, we could be militant against such manipulation. By fully embracing both discipline and critical thinking, we could stop this from happening over and over again. But western society has taught us the opposite. It celebrates the opposite. Don’t think critically. Don’t learn your history. Believe in the 10-second sound bites delivered to you from the corporate superpowers echoed through the NPIC/media chambers. But when I started writing the ugly truths about the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who form the NPIC, I discovered people believe in these institutions. The belief is powerful – akin to the belief in man’s white, blue-eyed male god. 

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Pillars of American “Democracy:” Cloak-and-Dagger Smoking Gun Evidence

Click here to access article by Moti Nissani from Veterans Today.

(Note: This week I am radically departing from my usual rule of posting articles that are limited to the past 30 days. I have recently discovered to my deep chagrin that I have been missing many excellent articles by Moti Nissani due in large part to my own failings, some misunderstandings, and because no one drew my attention to them. I am making up for this now by posting what I regard as the best articles of his in chronological order starting in 2010, one for each day everyday of this week, and maybe beyond until I catch up.

By giving Nissani this special consideration, I do not wish to imply that I agree with every single one of his views. Nobody has a monopoly on truth. We are like the blind men and the elephant fable who must collaborate to unravel the many mysteries of our existence. This is in sharp contrast to immature people who always look to leaders or "people in the know" for guidance on what to believe and how to behave. All of us must become our own seekers of truth if there is to be any hope of our continued existence as humans.)


In this article Nissani like any good lawyer continues and concludes his argument that one of the primary "pillars" that the ruling class (mostly major bankers) use to sustain their power are assassinations or other dire consequences ("cloak-and-dagger"). Like a trained scientist that he is, Nissani demonstrates based on statistical evidence that this theory meets scientific standards of credibility. If his allegation is true, and he makes a very convincing case, one can easily see that the ruling class is very similar to any mafia type of organization or an organized crime syndicate.

Class conflict USA

by cartoonist "Tom Tomorrow".



Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Pillars of American “Democracy:” Cloak and Dagger Case Studies

Click here to access article by Moti Nissani from Veterans Today

(Note: This week I am radically departing from my usual rule of posting articles that are limited to the past 30 days. I have recently discovered to my deep chagrin that I have been missing many excellent articles by Moti Nissani due in large part to my own failings, some misunderstandings, and because no one drew my attention to them. I am making up for this now by posting what I regard as the best articles of his in chronological order starting in 2010, one for each day everyday of this week, and maybe beyond until I catch up.

By giving Nissani this special consideration, I do not wish to imply that I agree with every single one of his views. Nobody has a monopoly on truth. We are like the blind men and the elephant fable who must collaborate to unravel the many mysteries of our existence. This is in sharp contrast to immature people who always look to leaders or "people in the know" for guidance on what to believe and how to behave. All of us must become our own seekers of truth if there is to be any hope of our continued existence as humans.)


Nissani makes a case against the top layer of capitalists in the banking sector that ...
the top oligarchs resort to character—or literal—assassinations.  They humiliate, malign, intimidate, smear, harass, impoverish, frame, incarcerate, poison, or blow the brains off anyone, anywhere on earth, who threatens their control. This pattern has an obvious corollary: When friends of the people suffer or die prematurely, the first suspects are the bankers.
This reminds me of many articles written by Pam and Russ Martens at their Wall Street On Parade website who have questioned many deaths of people in the banking sector. Read this article entitled "Zurich Insurance Death: Reminder of Rash of Finance Deaths in 2013-15" which has links to many others of theirs on this subject.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Pillars of American “Democracy”: Introduction

Click here to access article by Moti Nissani from Veterans Today.

Nissani like many others appears to limit his analyses of the threats to real democracy by targeting major bankers and the major financial institutions where they reside. This is where we differ a bit. I target the system of private ownership of the economy known as capitalism whereas he targets bankers.

I regard bankers as the top of the heap of the capitalist class. They like their industrial corporate counterparts have enjoyed the benefits of the ownership of production of commodities and their sale for profit which is a central feature of capitalism. As is commonly known, capitalism tends to convert everything into a commodity so that capitalists can secure profits from them. Money has also been transformed into a commodity by the system. Major bankers who own the Federal Reserve are very much like industrial corporations except that they have monopoly ownership of the production of money and they secure their profits from their rental fees (interest) on the money they lend mostly to industrial corporations and other banks. Banks outside of the Federal Reserve derive their profits from the method of fractional reserve loans by charging interest on money they lend out but mostly don't have. 

(Note: I tried and failed to reach a link to a most valuable source of explanation about money at the Wizards of Money site, but it doesn't appear on my computer. You can reach the audio portion of these broadcasts here, but not the transcripts--my old ears have difficulty hearing any spoken English other than with a standard American accent. I have just received an email from the administrator of the website indicating that they are having temporary problems. Another option is this website which contains many links about money.) 

Anyway, in this introduction to a series of articles he broadly outlines how any pretense of a genuine democracy in the US has been subverted by bankers.
Given the fact that, over the last 35 years, every single political decision in America served the bankers’ interests and harmed the interests of the American people, how did the bankers manage to steadily increase their power and wealth at the expense of the vast majority?

We the corporations constitution

by cartoonist Adam Zyglis.

Monday, July 4, 2016

Confessions of a Conspiracy Theorist

Click here to access article by Moti Nissani from Dissident Voice

(Note: This week I am radically departing from my usual rule of posting articles that are limited to the past 30 days. I have recently discovered to my deep chagrin that I have been missing many excellent articles by Moti Nissani due in large part to my own failings, some misunderstandings, and because no one drew my attention to them. I am making up for this now by posting what I regard as the best articles of his in chronological order starting in 2010, one for each day everyday of this week, and maybe beyond until I catch up. 

By giving Nissani this special consideration, I do not wish to imply that I agree with every single one of his views. Nobody has a monopoly on truth. We are like the blind men and the elephant fable who must collaborate to unravel the many mysteries of our existence. This is in sharp contrast to immature people who always look to leaders or "people in the know" for guidance on what to believe and how to behave. All of us must become our own seekers of truth if there is to be any hope of our continued existence as humans.)
One does not know whether to laugh or cry when one is mocked for being a “conspiracy theorist,” even in cases where there is overwhelming evidence of a secret, sinister, plotting by a powerful cabal. Conspiracy is a constant, recurrent, feature of human behavior, as common in history as bankers are on Wall Street. Sometimes we conspire for the general good and sometimes against it, but conspire we do.

A Special Indepedence Day Message [late addition]

A message by architect Ben Barnum (click here for transcript):

Sunday, July 3, 2016

On Canada Day, What Does Humanity Have To Look Forward To? Not What Canada Represents

Click here to access article by Stephen Gowans from his blog What's Left
Today is Canada Day, an annual fete in Canada to honour the birth of the country. In Ottawa, the capital, Canadians dress in the red and white of their country’s flag, set baseball caps with CANADA emblazoned across the front atop their heads, clutch mini Canadian flags in their hands, and make their way to the annual Parliament Hill spectacle, which features massive flags, marching soldiers, and Canadian war planes roaring overhead....
I regard Gowans as one of the leading thinkers in today's US-led Empire. In this essay he reflects on the traditional orgy of patriotic displays that are celebrated on Canada Day (July 1) that we in the US are so familiar with on July 4th. He examines the many contradictions between the celebrated ideological themes on their nationalistic holiday and the disturbing realities of his country's history and that of Great Britain, the mother country. It's clear that these contradictions are the same for the US because the same transnational capitalist class rules in the US. 

The devastating world wars of the 20th century largely settled the issue of competing centers of capitalist ruling classes. Previously there was a true multipolar capitalist world which nowadays we find so many "progressives" wanting to re-establish. The British Empire joined the powerful US capitalists to defeat the German affiliated nations of the capitalist world. Only the Soviet Union remained after WWII, and the Cold War and their own contradictions soon put an end to them. But what has arisen to compete with the US-led Empire are Russia and China whose mixed economies have mixed ruling classes who refuse to bow to the dictates of the Empire, and as a consequence are constantly hounded by the dogs of the Empire. But I digress.

What I really wanted to express is that all the nations of today's Empire are ruled by a tiny transnational class whose representatives come from all countries under the domination of the Empire's army of NATO. The behavior of this class has always been influenced by the drugs that they are addicted to: profit and power. Hence their foreign policies are imperialistic and their domestic policies exploitative, and all this has been hidden under a thick blanket of ideology.

In order to secure their workers allegiance to their rule, their agendas, and to fight in their wars, capitalists have always had to construct an elaborate ideological structure that appealed to workers in addition to supplying key leaders of the working class with a little of their imperialist plunder. This is what is celebrated most effusively on national holidays. Of course these ideologies are overwhelming filled with deceptions, and in this piece Gowans exposes the fakery of Canadian and British nationalistic ideology by revealing the true histories of their imperialist crimes.

New “CIA Officer Whistleblowing” Video Reeks Of Disinfo

Click here to access article by Brandon Turbeville from Activist Post

The video that Turbeville analyses as disinformation reeks of very sophisticated Madison Avenue advertising technology directed at wavering activists to buy into the Empire's wars in the Middle East.
Making quite the circuit on the Internet landscape is a new video purporting to show a former CIA agent speaking out against the manner in which the “war on terror” is prosecuted and portrayed to the American public. The video (see below) has been shared and discussed thousands of times particularly within the alternative media community as evidence that the “war on terror” is one big snowball of bad decisions and blowback.

The video, is a short clip of an interview conducted by AJ+ with Amaryllis Fox, a former CIA Clandestine Services Officer, who makes a number of claims during the three-minute clip that range from the reasonable to the absurd. While many alternative media outlets have hailed Fox’s video as “brave” and Fox herself as a whistleblower, it would be wise to analyze her statements for what they are as opposed to praising them simply because they are being presented as “anti-establishment.”

Another Exercise in Capitalist Democracy

by Jeff Danziger, cartoonist. (Of course, the phrase "capitalist democracy" is an oxymoron.)