28 November 2023

Authoritarianism, Anti-Jewish Racism, And The Israel-Hamas War: An Open Letter To The Left

[Photo: “War & Peace”, Christopher Weyant, CagleCartoons.com]

By Chaia Heller
Source:  Znet

Editor's Note
My compliments to Chaia Heller on an excellent article that demonstrates a conceptual finesse often missing critical discussions. I have been concerned with parts of the left, primarily what might be called the “hard left” since the 2016 presidential campaign when many leftists tacitly supported Trump because they argued that he would either destroy the “deep state” or weaken it significantly, or by the highly vocal critique of every Democratic candidate as being fundamentally flawed. I found myself feeling betrayed that so many leftists would embrace an authoritarian and eschew means for an end they desired – regardless of the human costs of such a course. In other words, it seemed that a vocal part of the left was much closer to the far right than I had ever feared possible.   

Continue reading

Category: Guest, Israel, Morality & Ethics, Palestine, Social (In)Justice | Comments Off on Authoritarianism, Anti-Jewish Racism, And The Israel-Hamas War: An Open Letter To The Left
4 September 2023

Project 2025: A 5-Alarm Fire Bell for Our Republic

inequality

[Photo: ‘If U.S. Land was Divided Like U.S. Wealth” by Randy Coffey.]

By Thom Hartmann
Source:  CommonDreams

Editor's Note
We are on the downhill slide into a fascist oligarchy controlled by the wealthiest at the expense of people, nation, world, and planet. In the following article, Thom Hartmann does an exceptional job presenting the political-historical context for Project 2025 – the right-wing think tank Heritage Fund’s new plan to fully control the levers of power in the United States. Or in their own words:

It is not enough for conservatives to win elections. If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left, we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration. 

Continue reading

Category: Corporate - Corporatization, Corruption, Guest, Hegemony, History and Patterns, The .01% | Comments Off on Project 2025: A 5-Alarm Fire Bell for Our Republic
1 July 2023

The Appalling Silence of the Good People

[Photo: Art and activism for climate change, San Francisco 2018 (Fabrice Florin).]

By Ted Glick
Source:  Znet

Editor's Note
Ted Glick has hit on one of the ongoing frustrations of my life – why don’t people step up and speak out. Regardless of the setting, most people seem satisfied to play the role of bystander. While I have been a so-called “activist” for most of my life, that has largely referred to active participation in a variety of social movements. However, that is not the only place where it is important to stand up for what is right. Those opportunities present themselves everywhere from the dinner table to the grocery store to the workplace and beyond.

Continue reading

Category: Activists, Guest | Comments Off on The Appalling Silence of the Good People
26 May 2023

North American Colonization of Indigenous People, Cultures, and System of Social Welfare

[Photo: Steve Courtoreille, Chief of the Mikisew Cree First Nation at Parliament Hill after speaking about legal action against the federal government (1/8/2023). The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld via Intercontinental Cry]

By Mohammad Momin Khawaja


Editor's Note
The problems of today, in any nation on the planet, have their roots in history – in decisions made and paths taken. It is a particularly apt time to look closely at colonization. We can think of it simplistically as a pattern in the past whereby certain nations, through a combination of practices, subdued and attempted to supplant the indigenous peoples of lands the supplanters desired. That combination of processes was not singular. There was the outright use of military force; there was the withholding of food and access to survival (in combination known as genocide); there were attempts to destroy the culture, language, and spirituality (known as cultural genocide). However, colonization is not simply a process that is engaged in by the colonizer on those to be colonized. It also requires fundamental changes in the hearts, minds, and ways of being of the colonizers themselves.

Continue reading

Category: Canada, Europe, Genocide, Guest, History and Patterns, Imperialism and Colonialism, Policy, Social (In)Justice | Comments Off on North American Colonization of Indigenous People, Cultures, and System of Social Welfare
17 May 2023

Senator Whitehouse: 275 of 315 Pages of GOP Debt Limit Bill Are Big Oil FavorsThis is so

By Sharon Zhang
Source:  Truthout

Editor's Note
This policy offering by the Republicans is so wrong that it is hard to know where to start. First, we are facing an existential crisis with global warming, but underneath that is another one that folks seem to have put on the shelf – peak fossil fuels. I know we are drilling like crazy, but most of the oil today is cruder than before we hit the bottom of the barrel, and this lower grade of crude is harder and more expensive to process. It is not a coincidence that fracking has become such a big deal, and natural gas is being pushed globally as a “clean” replacement. The reality is that we are literally burning through fossil fuels at a prodigious rate. According to ZME Science,

At the current rates of production, oil will run out in 53 years, natural gas in 54 years, and coal in 110 years, according to estimates from the 2015 World Energy Outlook study by the International Energy Agency. This forecast is predicated on the assumption that fossil fuels will constitute 59% of the total primary energy demand in 2040, even despite aggressive climate action policies.

Continue reading

Category: Climate Chaos, Corporate - Corporatization, Corruption, Environment, fossil fuels, Guest, Policy | Comments Off on Senator Whitehouse: 275 of 315 Pages of GOP Debt Limit Bill Are Big Oil FavorsThis is so