The Weekly Watch

Alabama, Cults, and Circles

Well finally some good news from an Alabama election....not all is bad in this state with such a bad reputation. There's good and bad everywhere I guess. Alabama does have cults. Have you read Salvation on Sand Mountain? I taught many children from the Holiness Church discussed in the book, but that's not the kind of cult I have in mind. It is the cult of media that Max Blumenthal talks about that we'll discuss in today's column. Then finally we'll go round and round the news cycle and end up celebrating the longest night of the year.

vortex of time.jpg

Jimmy Dore had a couple of pieces on Alabama's election
The first clip is a look at a Guardian article on lessons learned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgL1yDDi-Zg (17 min)
and the second is a take on Barkley's comments to the democrats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw0oXIjsEXU (22 min)
When Jimmy questions black folks voting for Moore, my guess is the ever present religious fervor with a healthy dose of homophobia played a role. I also think Shelby's comments right before the election relieved many republicans, and really encouraged them not to bother to vote.
Paul Jay and Nina Turner have a similar take (28 min or text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20694:Nina-Turner-on-Alabama-Vote-%26-De...
So does Shaun King https://theintercept.com/2017/12/15/charles-barkley-doug-jones-democrats...
Joe Reed long time education lobbyist and Alabama leader in an insightful interview.
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/12/roy-moore-doug-jones-black-voters/

Thankfully the black community showed up to vote and put Jones a nose ahead. The electorate was 65% white, 30% black, 2% Latino. For a detailed analysis of the voters see:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/politics/alabama-exit-polls/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/12/roy-moore-loses-alabama-...

200px-2017_United_States_Senate_special_election_in_Alabama_results_map_by_county.svg_.png

That blue swath through the center of the state is the Black Belt. Many people think it is called that because of the people that live there, but actually it is the soil type. The moon shaped crescent of the black belt was native grassland...prairie where mastodons and buffalo grazed. It was the bread basket of the Confederacy with it's fertile soils and large plantations.

There are other good aspects about Alabama. It has a rich natural history. It competes with much larger California as the most ecologically diverse state. This is at the heart of my love of Alabama. Just look at all the systems in the lower coastal plain which E. O. Wilson discusses below.

Alabama Geology 269.jpg

Scientist E.O. Wilson, born in Birmingham and raised in Mobile, in a clip from "America's Amazon," talks about the biodiversity found in the Mobile River Basin, in particular the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyv3aD4GcOU (1 min)
If you enjoyed that clip here's the entire piece, America's Amazon (57 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEynUn8VW3Y

Wilson is working to save more than a piece of Alabama. He wants to set aside half the natural world.

As species go extinct at 1,000 times the normal rate thanks to human interference, E. O. Wilson’s book “Half Earth” holds a bold plan to preserve the world’s biodiversity: set aside half of the entire planet for natural habitats. (6.5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq3w7cldgMU

AL physiography.jpg

The other thing that makes me feel positive about this backward third world state (with a constitution designed to keep the elite whites in power) involves all the people who have struggled against this unjust and often inhumane system. Many are well known...
Julia Tutwiler who worked for women's education and prison reform
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Tutwiler
Booker T. Washington who was the first leader of the Tuskegee Institute
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington
Helen Keller who over came her disabilities to become a leading socialist
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller
And although he was born in Atlanta, perhaps we can claim Dr. King who did so much work here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

But I'm really speaking about all those unsung heroes. The foot soldiers of the struggle. People like my mentors Cliff and Virginia Durr
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1254
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1574
And their New deal friends like Aubry Williams http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1056

I often describe Alabama as a third world state where waists are wide and minds are narrow...and there's much truth in the description. Yet there is incredible natural beauty and there are all those who have struggled to improve the fate of first nations peoples, people of color, and poor folks...the ones who seem to always bear the brunt of our inhumanity.

in the swirl.jpg

Well on to the rest of the nation and world.

So how do these tax cuts become law? Haven't we already made a big enough mess in the Middle East without provoking a war with Iran? How can a theocratic pedophile almost become a Senator? Why do we cause our biosphere degrade? Why are we so blind?

The cult of corporate media...

Instead of explaining how it reported a false story on Russiagate, CNN brought on neocon David Frum to defend it. Max Blumenthal says that's a "window into a cult created around Russiagate." (19 min or text) http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&...

How about the op-eds written by corporate interest and presented as fair and balanced?
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/14/that-net-neutrality-op-ed-in-the-wal...

Corporate media is good at...Keeping secrets
Bill Binny and Jimmy Dore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoeJeWfoSpQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv0-Lnv0d0k
If you have not seen “A Good American” about Bill Binney, it is worth your time (2 min trailer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSEvg25ROIM&feature=youtu.be
(I think it is still playing on Netflix – h/t Mark from Queens)

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The Oligarchs are celebrating the loss of Net Neutrality and tax cuts for billionaires.

Paul Jay explains you have to look at the Democratic Party and the corporate Democrats who created the conditions for the rise of Trump. There was an enormous increase in income inequality during the Obama presidency. This is wrapped in a request for donations (2 min or text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20713:From-Net-Neutrality-to-Tax-Cuts%2C...

The arrogance of the 1% is palpable. Here's a video Pai recorded with the right-wing publication the Daily Caller, in which the FCC chair and former Verizon lawyer outlines "a few of the things you will still be able to do on the Internet after these Obama-era regulations are repealed"—which include "take selfies with your pets" and "binge watch your favorite shows." (article with 2 min clip)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/12/14/fcc-chair-ajit-pai-shows-ju...

Open internet defenders are urging the public to not be swayed by the proliferation of "net neutrality is officially dead" headlines—the fight is "not over," they say.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/12/14/net-neutrality-fight-not-ov...

The FCC repeal of net neutrality is dangerous, but with court challenges and more grassroots activism on the way, it can still be stopped, says Craig Aaron of Free Press... We can hope. (10 min or text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20722:The-Fight-for-Net-Neutrality-Isn%2...

Perhaps the ruling will lead to public broadband
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/15/fcc-net-neutrality-public-broadband-...

Richard Wolff and Thom discuss the horrid tax bill as a driver of ever more inequality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdSbTPofmBg (9 min)

As Richard says, no economists think this tax plan is a good idea
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20695:Virtually-No-Economist-Believes-th...

Trump slipped up and (correctly) called the GOP plan the "biggest tax increase" in American history. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/12/15/trump-just-accidentally-tol...

Bob Reich explains the fallacy of the tax plan in simple terms. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/guide-trump-republican-tax-plan-disgra...

Max and Stacy discuss the proposal to send Erik Prince’s private army to secure the trillions of dollars of national resources in ... Afghanistan. And while the elite like Prince rig the system at the top to dole out free money for oligarchs, so too must the bottom 99% game the complex Obamacare system in order to get free healthcare. It is the collapse of the empire. (1st 15 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpbKrohmq8M

And we wonder why in the United States, one of the world’s wealthiest nations, 41 million people are living in poverty.  https://www.truthdig.com/articles/heart-poverty-united-states/

The US has become a corporatocracy (as evidenced by the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality) run by greedy oligarchs who love war (consider the tax scam). The revolution will not come to us. We must create the change we want to see. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/revolution-u-s-brewing/

got his back.jpg

Politics

In Trump’s world, myths and “alternative facts” replace verifiable truth, prudence or any sense of humility. “Believe me,” he assures us. Americans must reject this.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/an-unpatriotic-truth/

Recommendations from the DNC Unity Commission will go to the Rules and Bylaws Committee, “There are virtually no Bernie supporters on the Rules and Bylaws Committee.” says Jim Zogby (who was removed from the Executive Committee by Perez),
http://therealnews.com/t2/component/content/article/185-more-blog-posts-...

Jeremy Corbyn is having his own challenges within the Labour Party.
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20698:Fight-Within-UK-Labour-Party-Pits-...

Education

The plan is obvious. Privatize schools to control content, profit, and people.
https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2017/12/06/a-portfolio-of-schools-how...

But there's a problem with these charter and voucher schools...they teach creationism, racism and sexism. They’re also taking your tax dollars.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/school-voucher-evangelical-educatio...

Educators of all stripes... classroom teachers, principals, and district superintendents... are highly skeptical of vouchers, charter schools, and tax-credit scholarships.
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/12/13/many-educators-skeptical-o...

Studies have long shown a high correlation of harsh, zero-tolerance discipline practices and out-of-school suspensions to eventual involvement in the criminal justice system. So DeVos and T-rump plan to end the restrictions on discipline policies and to encourage out-of-school suspensions (which is disproportionally applied to black and brown school children and students with disabilities).
http://educationopportunitynetwork.org/is-betsy-devos-about-to-pump-up-t...

We know one of the best strategies is to start children (especially at-risk kids) early. Tulsa OK provides the first long-term study of a universal pre-K program that shows how kids benefit.
https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/12/12/568378251/does-preschool-pay-...

Party-Host-420x309.jpg

War and domination

Another good intercepted podcast with former Nixon White House counsel John Dean about the Mueller investigation, how the CIA and military may benefit from Trump’s presidency, and how Trump stacks up to Nixon and Reagan. Then Daniel Ellsberg talks about the classified secrets he has kept for decades. Jeremy takes on the false news report about the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks that was aggressively promoted by CNN, MSNBC, and CBS. The co-director of “American Carnage,” Farihah Zaman talks about Bannon. It concludes with Patterson Hood of the band Drive-By Truckers who talks about growing up in Alabama with the civil rights struggle and George Wallace.
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/13/intercepted-podcast-full-metal-jackass/

The United States faces a trap of its own making. For decades, this country has forcibly overthrown regimes it deemed to be hostile to US interests. North Korea fears that it is next. https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/12/16/stopping-armageddon

Mohammad Saba'aneh, Palestinian Cartoonist, discusses the Israeli occupation of Palestine through his political cartoons with Chris Hedges (26 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb2ZJjHikeE

US Ambassador Nikki Halley's speech on alleged Iranian violations was even less convincing than Colin Powell's fraudulent UN presentation on Iraqi WMDs, says Trita Parsi
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&I...

Talks aimed at transferring US nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia serve as an indicator of where the Saudi-Iranian rivalry is heading as well as the strength of the informal Saudi-Israeli alliance against Iran. http://therealnews.com/t2/component/content/article/473-james-m-dorsey/3...

And let's just have a private CIA. Sounds profitable to me.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&I...

life circles world.gif

the Environment

Hey there's some good news...The World Bank and the world's third largest insurer, AXA, just announced it will divest from coal, tar sands and tar sands pipelines. (video and text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20707:World-Bank-and-World%27s-Third-Lar...

Costa Rica, which has among the cleanest electrical grids in the world, has just passed a law promoting electric vehicles https://www.truthdig.com/articles/costa-rica-passes-law-promoting-electr...

"These changes will impact all of our lives," Mathis said. "They will mean living with more extreme weather events, paying higher food prices and dealing with the impacts of climate refugees."
http://therealnews.com/t2/component/content/article/608-sabrina-shankman...

Migration to the US is just beginning as the ravages of climate chaos strike in Central America.
https://www.alternet.org/environment/global-crisis-thats-creating-215-mi...


Circles...

cycle of knowledge.png

Well They are already circling the wagons
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/14/minimum-wage-rick-berman-democrats/

lunar cycle_NEW.jpg

But I want to focus on natural circles...the ones that hearken back to our connections. Our little revolution around the sun is about to shift light and energy back toward the northern hemisphere.
http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-dec...

I find it interesting how so many cultures think of the universe as a circle (usually incorporating four corners, directions, or sides)

... the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance.

This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.

Black Elk (1863-1950) - Oglala Sioux

Vishnu_Mandala.jpg

Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning "circle".  It is a spiritual symbol representing the universe in Hinduism and Buddhism (although it has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos).   The basic form of most mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point. Each gate is in the general shape of a T.  Mandalas often exhibit radial balance.

circle-squared-2.jpg

Medieval alchemists used the Quadratura Circuli, or squared circle, to represent the synthesis of the four elements — earth, water, fire and air. Carl Jung says “they knew in those days that the circle meant the deity” and later that “the idea of those philosophers was that God manifested himself first in the creation of the four elements. They were symbolized by the four partitions of the circle.”

So round and round we go. Good and bad, bad and good. It is a real skill to focus on the good while being aware of the bad. The interview with Patterson Hood of the band Drive-By Truckers on intercepted this week talked a little about George Wallace, a man who seemed to haunt Patterson. He did many bad things. He also built community colleges within driving distance of everyone in the state. He also really improved the roads (of course his brother Gerald was AlaDOT chairman). May be there's even something good about T-rump? I thought for a minute he might reduce our global quest and footprint, but alas, no.

So, I hope your path is peaceful and happy - more good than bad - and your ride 'round the circle of life is fulfilling!

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Raggedy Ann's picture

Lots for me to go back and read and listen. Many thanks, as always, for the work you do to bring this to us each Sunday morning.

So much is happening in our world and at a spiritual level most are unaware. Moving into another dimension is such a big job. Just look at the upheaval it is causing. It will take us to a better place by the 2030's. In the meantime, we've got hills and valleys to navigate. We will all be taken kicking and screaming depending on the ancient issue we choose to cling to. Those who cannot take the struggle will choose to shed their earth clothes. I plan to be around for the landing. I hope it works out for me.

We celebrate the solstice instead of consumermas. It's so much more peaceful. We don't exchange gifts, just enjoy a lovely dinner of traditional (for us) foods as a family.

I'm off to breakfast with some girlfriends. A fun time will be had by us!

Have a beautiful day, everyone! Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Lookout's picture

@Raggedy Ann

You are so right...friends and family are the key to the season...not stuff!

I've recently learned this song written by Sting performed by the Duhks (3.5 min)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON0BV9Swwp4]

There is a deeper world than this...

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout And saw them with The Mammals in Greenfield, MA . . . incredible musicians, and powerful voices.

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Lookout's picture

@sorrowforhumans

they've broken up. I was in a band for 30 years. It's like a family, and you know how those are....sometimes too much.

Glad you dropped by!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Lookout's picture

As the 50th anniversary of MLK Jr.'s Poor People's Campaign approaches, organizers want to take up King's mantle to "unite the bottom of this country, to bring about real change, to shift the narrative that is demonizing people for the problems they're facing and to build power from the bottom up," says campaign co-chair Dr. Liz Theoharis
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20706:Poor-People%27s-Campaign-Revival%3...

This sounds really good to me...a new poor people's campaign. In fact it is past time.
Here's the website if you have an interest -
https://poorpeoplescampaign.org/

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Azazello's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNGtfpim0OM width:500 height:300]

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Lookout's picture

@Azazello

The Swampers and Muscle Shoals added much to the sound that goes around our song.

Funny as I wrote this piece I never thought to mention how rich Alabama is with music. Often you miss the things that are most obvious. My little corner of the state is full of music from shape note to the Group Alabama (whose kids I taught). I could go to a session (called a pickin' around here) every night of the week. My life is much richer for music, and it has opened many doors allowing for relationships that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Thanks as always for your insights and comments.

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detroitmechworks's picture

Actually made it out of the house a lot longer than usual, so thanks to all for the great time!

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXVN7QJ8m88]

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Lookout's picture

@detroitmechworks

I hope everyone is doing well. There seem to be a few of us c99ers in the SE, but we're pretty scattered. FL, GA, AL NC...would be nice to all gather, but conditions are such that electrons will have to do our speaking.

All the best and thanks for the report!

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Lookout's picture

Jimmy Dore does a great job supporting the theme of a media cult
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hok1ilVqG5c (15 min)

He reviews this article in the clip...
https://fair.org/home/russia-or-corporate-tax-cuts-which-would-comcast-r...

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divineorder's picture

Sucks when people besmirch a geographic area based on their limited knowledge and regional prejudices. Over at GOS I used to defend TX from the idiot @!ssholes who did the same. Houston had a openly gay female mayor elected for gawd's sake!

Reminds me of a story. We met a guy in Isla de Mujeres, Mexico in 1980 who told us he was from LA. Heh. Lower Alabama, Mobile to be exact. Funny guy. Hairdresser. When he retired he loaded up his carpentry tools and went to Thailand to help after the Tsunami.

Several years ago he started his on NGO taking daypacks full of school supplies to give to kids in Cuba. From Alambama. Yuh!

Had to look at S King's piece that you excerpted. I appreciated his work reporting on police violence when he was at DK, but anytime he strayed from that look out. I thought 'good' when the Intercept hired him, but a few days ago I changed my mind.

At times SK reminds me of kos when he tries to be cool but ends up making narrow minded sophomoric pronouncements and getting his @ss in a crack. (People from Alabama might be familiar with that manner of speaking.)

You probably saw this bullshit ? https://theintercept.com/2017/12/07/atlanta-mayor-bottoms-progressives/ Man but commenters really let him have both barrels for that crap.

At any rate, jakkalbessie is losing patience so I better get moving. We are going to brave the cold weather and ride our folding bikes a few miles down the Arroyo de Chamisas urban trail to the transit center, and then up hill to the historic center to take some WildEarth Guardians Fall 2017 newsletters to the Public Library .

WildEarth Guardians are the edgy group we volunteer with and contribute to due to their work for wildlife, climate, energy, etc.

http://wildearthguardians.org/

Our Mission

Our Mission

WildEarth Guardians protects and restores the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West. We have four programs focusing on wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and climate and energy. http://wildearthguardians.org/

Our main office is located at: 516 Alto Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501 phone 505.988.9126 fax 505.213.1895

We also have physical offices in Tucson, Denver, Portland, Seattle and Missoula.


WildEarth Guardians
@wildearthguard Follows you

WildEarth Guardians protects and restores the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West.#keepitintheground #endthewaronwildlife
Santa Fe, New Mexico
wildearthguardians.org
Joined February 2011

###

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

@divineorder and Charter of Liberties, the two pillars of the Magna Carta. Protection of the commons. Used to be the law.

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divineorder's picture

@QMS Is there a link for others who want to read up on that?

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Lookout's picture

@divineorder

http://charteroftheforest800.org/

...has some good information

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@divineorder sorry, didn't think about that. Pulled the info out of a book I'm reading by Chomsky named
"Who Rules the World?". Thanks for the link Lookout!

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to us than the manufactured church / retail version. We sense the seasons more directly.
Peace

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

or at least defining the season. We'll soon be wondering in winterland.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

divineorder's picture

Wanted to alert all about a group we recently discovered working on energy issues and, like WildEarth Guardians, working with first people's pueblos to empower them to protect themselves from the pollution foisted on them for decades, and for energy independence.

New Energy Economy
@NewEnergyNM

New Energy Economy is dedicated to creating green jobs, boosting the economy, and addressing climate change with bold solutions.
New Mexico
newenergyeconomy.org
Joined August 2010

We attended a community forum which worked to bring religious, native, Los Alamos scientific, and other communities together. It was quite amazing. No time to get into it now but maybe can jb to write it up since she took notes.

This group has put solar in places that are truly inspiring, taken PNM the private utility to the supreme court numerous times. They raise some HELL !!

The group is truly visionary with the ballz to make things happen. Good stuff.

##

###

Have a great day all!

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Lookout's picture

@divineorder

Was he from UCLA? that's the upper corner of lower Alabama.

There are hopeful signs. Thanks for the links and thoughts!

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Not sure what it means

Information provided by the CIA helped Russian security services foil an attack on a St Petersburg cathedral, Russian media reports say.

The attack was allegedly planned to take place on Saturday, officials say.

In a phone call, Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Donald Trump for the CIA's intervention, the Kremlin was quoted as saying.

Mr Putin promised to alert US officials if it received any similar intelligence relating to the US, Interfax reported.

Russia's FSB security service said in a statement on Friday that it had detained seven members of a cell of Islamic State supporters and seized a significant amount of explosives, weapons and extremist literature.

The cell was planning to carry out a suicide attack at a religious institution and kill citizens on Saturday, the FSB statement said (in Russian).

The group was preparing to blow up the Kazan Cathedral and other crowded places in Russia's second city, Interfax quoted the Kremlin as saying.

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Lookout's picture

@gjohnsit

Another CIA puzzle like the sonic attack in Cuba?
https://www.livescience.com/60110-how-sonic-weapon-might-work.html

I just can't believe a thing they say. And to think they are essentially a rogue agency. We are our own worst enemy, but I am glad they prevented the bombing in Russia (unless they set it up in the first place).

Hey and while I've got on my tin foil hat how about the whole deal with Reality Winter? I think the CIA probably set up the Intercept and Winters...and to interject more fuel to the russiagate fire.

So who knows what the CIA is doing. I thought it was working toward a conflict with Russia... Thanks for the story!

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Meteor Man's picture

A couple of Alabama add ons:

But if you actually look at the exit polling, it is pretty clear that the real story of Jones’s victory was not inordinate black turnout but rather inordinate white support for the Democratic candidate.

By "real story" Bruenig intends to point out the frequently ignored observation that not all white Americans in Alabama are racist and without a large number of "reliable Republican" white voters switching to vote Democratic Jones would have lost.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/12/matt-bruenig-actually-happened-a...

Also a big push from unions:

Steelworkers mobilization in Mobile helped tip Alabama race to Jones

The Steelworkers’ campaign in Mobile was augmented by the Government Employees in central Alabama, the building trades in several areas and the teachers – the Alabama Education Association – in Birmingham.

Together, the unions made up for the absolute lack of a Democratic Party organization in the state, say Flippo and state AFL-CIO President Bren Riley, also a Steelworker from Gadsden.

https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/steelworkers-mobilization-in-mobile...

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Lookout's picture

@Meteor Man

My reliably Republican neighbor voted against Moore rather than for Jones. Shelby's comments to the Sunday talk show was robocalled to every Alabama voter Monday before the election. Whoever thought to do that was a good strategist.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

snoopydawg's picture

on every website I've visited today. Starting with the warnings that Trump is thinking of firing Mueller for......... reasons I guess. Not sure what that is based on except for maybe Trump is giving a speech at the end of the week.

Lots of nashing of teeth if he does fire Mueller though. From organizations such as Move On telling people to put together a grab bag so they can get out in the streets to protest this to make sure you sign this petition to Not Fire Mueller to another one stating that WE Stand With Mueller. How much does kos get paid when he sells people's emails? Must be a lot since almost every front page diary on ToP has an email petition.

THe other news is that Mueller got Trump's transition emails from the GSA which is an organization that Trump's transition team paid for rooms and email services.

The thing is that the whole premise of Mueller's investigation is that Trump colluded with Russia during the election, isn't it? So big deal if Trump's transition team did speak to someone in Russia after the election. This is standard procedure.

And again what the media or the breathless idjits on ToP are not covering is that Flynn spoke to Russia on behalf of Israel! Are people not covering this because whatever the hell Israel does is never wrong? Or is it something else? I don't care what the reason is because it's hypocrisy in my not so humble opinion.

This whole Russian propaganda BS started to protect the Creature for running the most hideous campaign ever against the most hideous candidate in history who She lost to.
This is also an attempt at a coup of a sitting president because he had the audacity to want to repair ties with Russia after Obama and Her have done what they could to make their dream of a war with Russia a reality. Who cares if that would have been a nightmare for the rest of the world, especially Europe, right? The US of A is exceptional baby. We can kill as many people that we want and call it self defense. YiPeeee, Go USA!

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg how about those Russian warships sailing to south America for "exercises". Haven't the link now, but came out a few weeks ago. Challenging the US control of the world is not news for the brain bleach bunch.

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snoopydawg's picture

@QMS

I suppose if we learned about them, we'd have to do something... like panic or something else.
I recently read one of native's diaries on ToP from last year about how NATO is building up troops around Russia and the few people who commented on thought that there was no chance of that happening.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg far be it for the US propaganda machine to break that bubble. Russian or Chinese warships have as much right to anchor off of Venezuela as Portuguese fishing boats. It is not up to the US imagined interests to prevent other nations from doing what the US is provicating.

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Lookout's picture

Jimmy's piece does a good job explaining
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hok1ilVqG5c (15 min)
about this article
https://fair.org/home/russia-or-corporate-tax-cuts-which-would-comcast-r...
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great ending to the article...
with that concentration on Russia comes the deprioritization of the real-world effects of the Trump presidency and active political efforts to oppose them—and that tells us all we need to know about the priorities at Rockefeller Center. MSNBC is a hopped-up Cold War cover band, and its two lead singers are Maddow and Hayes.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

I really like it.

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

Lookout's picture

@Fishtroller 02

I stole it off the internet using a search for images of "The Circle of Life" Here's another I didn't use...

circle of life.png

and one more just for fun....

life circle.jpg

Glad you liked that first graphic...it was my favorite too.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

and found this.....https://www.ceruleansam.com/

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin