The Weekly Watch
2017 in the rear view mirror
2018 to unfold
2018 to unfold
We began the year with the blatant take over of the government by oligarchs without the use of the usual front men. It is a government Sachs and the generals (sounds like a band name). We end the year with the greatest shift of wealth to the upper class in history. Welcome to the era of neofuedalism. No need to panic, some serfs had it pretty good. Time to put those lights on bright and try to look out there into the future. Onward through the fog!..... Oops, better dim those lights in the fog and look as far as we can.
Perhaps the most interesting stories are the ones that have not been told....
Lee Camp covers Project Censored most neglected stories of 2017 (11 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVovtEEtJHQ
http://projectcensored.org/category/the-top-25-censored-stories-of-2016-...
Another scary story neglected in all the T-rump bashing is his effectiveness at appointing judges....literally packing the courts. Judge Shira Scheindlin, former United States district judge for the Southern District of New York, where she served for 22 years, explains. (video and text)
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/12/27/former_federal_judge_trump_is_pa...
What else have we not been told? How about the Awan brothers case? My take is these guys were probably Pakistani spies working for both the DNC and the CIA.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/12/mystery-awan-brothers-court-date...
http://dailycaller.com/2017/12/19/house-it-aides-ran-car-dealership-with...
After all CIA really is pulling the strings In our country and around the world...former agent Kevin Shipp tells you the uncomfortable truth. Perhaps the biggest untold story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHbrOg092GA (1.1 hours)
Can't you believe your own lying eyes?
I guess you have to open them first...
We do not seem able to look in the mirror and see our own issues. We're too exceptional - busy bringing democracy to the world....US poverty study by UN.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22546&L...
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/15/america-extreme-poverty-...
The Tax Scam is so obvious...in short, their appetite for plunder is limitless. For them, there is no such thing as being too rich.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/26/the-trump-tax-scam-corruption-ru...
And just look at the way we treat and have treated the citizens of Puerto Rico.
https://www.aclu.org/blog/human-rights/hurricane-maria-exposed-uss-long-...
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/22/puerto-rico-foreclosures-hurricane-m...
Oligarchs like Sheldon Adelson, Jeff Bezos, Charles Koch, David Koch, Robert Mercer and Rupert Murdoch are wielding enormous power at many levels of the political economy and social zeitgeist, while corporate America functions with expanding latitude and increasing impunity. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/pseudo-democracy-looks-like/
The oligarchs don't even try to hide their corruption. Consider this croney arrangement. Pruitt appointed a banker who has been banned from the banking industry for life to oversee the nation’s Superfund program, reports the Intercept. Pruitt has received loans from the bank of Albert “Kell” Kelly who was fined $125,000 and banned from banking this summer by the FDIC.
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/28/scott-pruitt-failed-banker-running-e...
https://www.dcreport.org/2017/12/29/pruitt-returns-a-favor-hires-a-pal-a...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj-O6QN0tok (14 min Jimmy Dore analysis)
Light and dark are a part of every moment and year....2017 brought a quick flicker of darkness during the light...
Do you have hope that we can solve these issues politically? I don't see how.
Democraps have been exposed as the corporacrats they are and many are awake...
Here's Thomas Franks on Obama and Clinton with 25 min video or text
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20814:Presidents-Clinton-and-Obama-Helpe...
and on Obama's missed opportunity
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&I...
There are challenges from the Justice Democrats. Here's one challenging Feinstein in California interviewed on Jimmy Dore's show (30 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwPLfMWZ1TQ
Instead of fighting for medicare for all, a living wage, ending war, and the other big goals of thinking people in America, the Dummycraps focus on Russia.
Russiagate... what a waste of time And if they think fighting against a tax cut will win election, they learned nothing from Reagan nor G. W. (They cleverly phase out the individual cuts years later.)
What We Don’t Talk about When We Talk about Russian Hacking Great piece by Jackson Lears
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n01/jackson-lears/what-we-dont-talk-about-when...
NSA's Bill Binney and CIA's Ray McGovern explain why it was a DNC leak not a hack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1BZD6UX3wU (11 min)
Documentary about Bill Binney “A Good American” - well worth your time (1.5 hours)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=666wsDcoNrU
President Trump has agreed to arm the Ukrainian military in its fight with Russian-backed forces in the Donbass region. Leading Russia scholar Stephen F. Cohen says it's the latest Russiagate-driven escalation of the new Cold War (15 min or text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20807:Did-Russiagate-Just-Escalate-Ukrai...
and another interesting conversation about the upcoming Russian election (17 min or text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20806:As-Russian-Election-Begins%2C-Will...
Aaron Mate and Luke Harding had a slug fest over Russiagate. Luke thinks we should beware of Boris and Natasha. (30 min or text)
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20761:Where%27s-the-%27Collusion%27%3F
If anyone is controlling US policy, it isn't Russia...it's Israel.
https://www.rt.com/usa/412150-trump-kushner-netanyahu-israel/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24yIEsC8I8A (6.5 min)
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/30/facebook-says-it-is-deleting-account...
How about the economy in 2018?
Endless war and profit...the Stock market and bitcoin. Will cryptocurrency bring down the banks? How will bitcoin influence the market?
http://fortune.com/2017/12/26/bitcoin-stocks-slump/
...of those polled most trusted the stock market more than Bitcoin - but not by a huge margin. https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogeraitken/2017/12/17/trust-in-stockmarket...
Foreign Affairs...
Honduras is a perfect example of the way we behave toward other countries...
Allan Nairn, award-winning investigative journalist just returned from Honduras. His latest story for The Intercept is headlined “U.S. Spent Weeks Pressuring Honduras Opposition to End Protests Against Election Fraud.” (video or text)
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/12/26/incumbent_honduras_president_dec...
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/22/honduras-us-pressure-opposition-nasr...
There's been a long history of US interference in Honduras.
Drugs have played a role...
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/23/honduras-election-fraud-drugs-jose-o...
An open letter to the American people from José Manuel Zelaya Rosales is the Constitutionally Legitimate President of Honduras (2005-2010), and Chief Coordinator of the Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship.
https://socialistproject.ca/2017/12/zelaya-open-letter-american-people/
Clinton admits that she used the power of her office to make sure that Zelaya would not return to office. “In the subsequent days [after the coup] I spoke with my counterparts around the hemisphere, including Secretary [Patricia] Espinosa in Mexico,” Clinton writes. “We strategized on a plan to restore order in Honduras and ensure that free and fair elections could be held quickly and legitimately, which would render the question of Zelaya moot.” But the official storyline, which was dutifully accepted by most in the media, was that the Obama administration actually opposed the coup and wanted Zelaya to return to office.
http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/9/hillary-clinton-honduraslat...
Dana Frank, is professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an expert on human rights and U.S. policy in Honduras speaks about the role of Hillary Clinton and the legacy of the 2009 coup (video or text) https://www.democracynow.org/2016/4/13/shes_baldly_lying_dana_frank_resp...
It isn't just Honduras, consider our role in destroying the Venezuelan economy and government. T-rump has reportedly deemed Venezuela one of his top three national-security priorities, alongside North Korea and Iran. Can't have a successful socialist country nearby...Cuba is bad enough. Let's do everything possible to destroy them.
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-more-us-sanctions-on-venezuela-could-...
...Or our silence as Brazil deposed their duly elected president during the Olympics.
https://theintercept.com/2017/08/03/brazils-corrupt-congress-protects-it...
Then there's our aggression in North Korea.
Russia is trying to mediate, but we keep being aggressive - good review of exchanges
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCxAupBsxCA (2.5 min)
Donald Trump sent a belligerent tweet admonishing China for exporting oil to North Korea. Peter Kuznick, director of Nuclear Studies Institute at American University, thinks it’s time to “start talking” with North Korea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkBhcxlCuwo
I hope Nepal isn't next in the sights. Both the parliamentary and provincial results show that the Communists won across the country from the countryside to the cities.
https://socialistproject.ca/2017/12/b1528/
At least there is a socialist leader in the UK. Here's Jeremy's speech in Geneva
https://socialistproject.ca/2017/12/jeremy-corbyns-geneva-speech/
Meanwhile China builds...
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/chinas-huge-one-belt-one-road-initia...
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/12/chinas-new-silk-road-europe-...
As we foment war in the Middle East and elsewhere...
Former Pentagon official Michael Maloof explains the reports that the US is re-training Sunni fighters, including Islamic State radicals, to return under a different name and continue to wage sectarian warfare. He expects that the US will ultimately try to partition Syria in order to impede Iranian influence in the region. (5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uaPwi8RTxQ
I suggested that the embassy move to Jerusalem is designed to create discord and promote war with Iran at the behest of Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Education the hope of our future...
Richard Wolff explains what's happening to higher education in the US (5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km_9r9tTgW8
How the tax plan encourages privatization of public schools...
http://educationopportunitynetwork.org/republican-tax-plan-opens-a-backd...
A superintendent says, "I know from experience that we need to focus on the substance of what goes on in schools, not just the formal structures in which those schools operate."
https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2017/12/19/a-former-superintendent-wo...
The Future?
Max Keiser explains the neofuedalism of our future and how we got here (first 15 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-zv5W1rgSs
The Challenges are many...
If these fundamental issues are addressed through bold and transformative solutions, they will shift the political culture and our political system in a significant way towards the people-powered future we need. They will create change at the root causes of the crises we face.
These transformative issues include economic inequality, lack of access to health care, ensuring Internet freedom and a people’s media, confronting climate change and environmental disasters, ending U.S. Empire and militarism at home, and addressing domestic human rights abuses, whether it is exploitation of workers, mass incarceration, racism or disrespect for Indigenous sovereignty. Throughout all of these issues there is a thread of racial injustice so our struggles must not just solidify around class issues, but must also solidify around the necessity of ending systemic racism.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/preparing-coming-transformation/
Rules for radicals Saul Alinsky h/t meteor man
http://www.openculture.com/2017/02/13-rules-for-radicals.html
The Environment
Big oil may be losing the anti-climate information war
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22122017/big-oil-heartland-climate-sc...
As 2017 marks a new benchmark for climate change-related U.S. disasters, FEMA's director tells Americans they will "have to take care of themselves" when disasters strike
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:20789:California-Wildfire-Becomes-Larges...
What do we tell the children?
http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/how-to-help-my-daughter-face-climate-c...
Guess we ought to look once more over our shoulder and hope we hold our memories of 2017...
Nice series of the year by Bob Scheer..here's his top ten 30 minute shows with whistleblowers, former CIA analysts and filmmakers who sparred with the veteran journalist over subjects like nuclear war, U.S.-Russia relations and science. (with transcripts...scroll to the bottom)
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/whistleblowers-cia-russia-robert-schee...
Lee Camp had a nice series of clips from his interviews with progressive folks over the year. (25 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meHlOUiIbtM
If you missed The Christmas piece by Chris Hedges, it has some insights... “once we feel the suffering of others, we will act.” https://www.truthdig.com/articles/what-christmas-means/
One more summary of the year...How about a cartoon, the year in tweet? (1 min)
https://www.truthdig.com/cartoons/year-tweet-video/
So I'll close out the last 2017 weekly. Here at year end I feel a call to be in nature, and unplug from the panic, fear driven media of today. I find myself thinking along the same lines as this piece...
http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/we-can-reimagine-and-reinvent-ou...
I think the oligarchs will be easier to undermine than overcome. Changing the economy with worker owned coops, green power projects that are personal and community based, local food production, unplugging from the big banks and big oil, and so on. However, how we can stop US war mongering, interference in countries that don't abide our extraction of their resources, and general animosity toward any country hinting at being socialist, that is beyond me. So I think I'll just take a walk.
I hope you'll share some stories you think important, forgotten, or in plain sight.
Comments
Let me wish you all a happy new year...
and a productive peaceful future. I appreciate this community and all of you. In these times it is easy to be overcome. Let's all do what we can, where we are, to make our lives and those lives around us better.
(5 min)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acxnmaVTlZA]
Peace, love, and contentment today and into our future!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Happy New Year lookout!
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I]
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
...and back atcha
What a Ukulele player! A reminder that life can be short. May be he is over the rainbow.
good to "see" you!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Great as always Lookout
Gee...It'll take me parts of two years to wade thought all of this.
Muy apreciado!
And a Happy New Year
I want a Pony!
How's the foot?
I hope you're healing quickly and well. I had a artist friend who dropped a window on her finger, and didn't think a thing about it. However it got infected and she almost lost it. So glad you were able to deal with your problem. It made me wonder about health care in Peru however.
Have a great eve and new year....Cheers!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
thank you
thank you for your time and effort compiling the weekly watch through the year. much appreciated.
best wishes for the new year.
bygorry
Hope you found something of interest
Thanks for dropping by and saying "Hi". It's no fun to put this together if no one uses the piece, so I appreciate your comment. Best of 2018 to you and yours.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Outstanding commentary and links!!
Covered many of the topics of importance.
Who are we? We are the people who knew about climate change and did not react.
It is not a crisis, it is a condition. It has changed everything.
A crisis is something that can be dealt with, taken care of, and life goes on. Puerto Rico is a crisis that has been ignored, but the last couple of hundred years Nature has been the stage of our actions. Now the earth is alive and what do we do?
As people who have read my comments, I think Bruno Latour is one of the most important thinkers in the world today. The problem is that his work is so broad and deep it is hard to know where to start and where to go next. His work, and others he has led me to, have provided insights to our modern framework which has nature vs culture, subject vs object, and other dichotomies which keep us from Facing Gaia. So many things I have learned: American exceptionalism means that we have been saved, Nature is infused with religious linkages, etc.
Have you ever heard the term ‘dis-inhibition’
I had not.
This is from a graduate student who read Bruno's book in French and posted comments on his web page. The book "Facing Gaia: Eight Lectures on The New Climate Regime"
These are just notes from part of chapter 1. He had them posted for a couple of years on his web page and they are not there now, but I found them on the web and copied them for my own use. I will not give the links at this time. If someone wants more, I can contact him and see if he will put them back up on the open web.
The book is out in an English translation a few months ago. I do not read French but did get a French English dictionary to look up things occasionally.
In the last couple of years, I find more important stuff from Europe than the US.
I continue with more from the web
The author of this is a Ph. D. candidate doing his work on religion in Latour so you can see his emphasis here. In the book in English, in the first chapter, you might even miss the importance of this one term. It is also covered in more detail later in the book.
As a reminder Latour has spent 40 years in science studies which are essential to understanding what is going on. Also the subtitle of one of his books is "The Love of Technology."
In recent years he has spent a lot of time in the arts and design trying to find a way to portray Gaia so it can be seen and faced.
After "reading" 10 books and countless articles, some many times, I am finally getting comfortable with his work and it has provided countless understanding about what I have been doing in my own life.
Thanks for teaching me about dis-inhibition
I had never heard the term. As we have discussed before, even the term climate change makes it seem normal, natural. I prefer climate chaos which neuters ignorant tweets about "global warming".
Thank you for your well thought out and informative comment. All the best into 2018!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
"Climate Chaos" would be fine with Latour
In Chapter 1 on page 25 of Facing Gaia, Bruno Latour says
... facts & values ... heads of companies knew of the threat from CO2 emissions ..and the anxiety of the public ...
Italics in the original
then BL gives a quotation by Lutz which is omitted here, and BL continues
With a background in math, I didn't realize the NORMATIVE weight of the facts. A fact can lead to a policy, to an action.
Thus, denial of science, fake news and all the rest ...
**
Next from a recent interview on Bruno's new book (it is in French. These are an automatic translation, but it gives one a flavor.) Reporterre is a FR publication.
https://reporterre.net/Bruno-Latour-Defendre-la-nature-on-baille-Defendr...
Words are important...
Climates are always changing – and the language of climate change has unintentionally caused the climate deniers to wonder why we liberals are against change all of a sudden. Climate chaos is much more accurate. (from a year ago)
http://religiondispatches.org/its-not-climate-change-its-climate-chaos-l...
Wild weather swings will be the normal for the rest of our lives....even if we were really trying to address the problem.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Bruno Latour new years resolution
ending with "it is never kept" which is what we all do ...
@DonMidwest Our greatest weakness as
Our greatest weakness as a species is our need for 'us' and 'them' and the only them any of us have is other people, putting us collectively in a constant state of conflict. I dont believe we have the power to stop this, its in our nature and only an outside influence can save us.
The obvious outside influence would be sentient aliens we can call 'them', putting humanity as a whole into the us side, but im not sure the 'them' has to be other sentience. Maybe the 'them' is a global threat putting us all on the threatened side, like an asteroid that will hit in 10 years, but that may be too abstract and involve too few in the actual process to have the full effect.
Maybe global climate change is a blessing in disguise and just the global threat we need to override our tribalistic instincts, the natural disaster that saves us from our far more potentially unsurvivable never ending self created disasters, imprinting forever on our thick skulls that we are all part of the same bacterial colony living on this grain of sand.
Humanity as a whole is still too immature to learn wisdom from philosophers, mobs are poor at applying collective reason and thus we are much better taught through a good spanking needing the burning on our bottoms to think for us, which mother natural has so kindly offered to supply.
E O Wilson
clued me in on the fact that we have evolved as tribes. As you suggest escaping our tribalism is asking us to overcome our biology.
Why can some people throw off those tribal bonds, but not others? Wilson uses sports to make his point...interesting that I've always disliked sports.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
"I think the oligarchs
will be easier to undermine than overcome. Changing the economy with worker owned coops, green power projects... "
Exactly. A multi-frontal assault on the PTB oligarchy is the way to go, and needs to be started yesterday. We need workshops, teach-ins and local banks /Credit Unions for financing. 2018 should be fun! First we round up the indie farmers...
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
I wish teach-ins would make a come back
...at every college and university...as well as local high school conventions.
All I see these days are conferences where like minded folks get together like the Code pink conference last month...
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=851&...
where great thing are said to like minded people.
With the failure of mass media I think, like you, teach ins have an important role to play.
I know they played a big role in the formation of my thinking and politics.
glad you dropped by!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I have an "in" with
the local community college here (which is connected via SUNY to 4-Year schools), so I think I can get something going with the college kids. I still like Occupy 2.0 as well.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
@Wink
I dont think we need another occupy, that tactic achieved its only possible purpose.
2008 crash - Showed a problem
OWS - Defined the problem
Bernie's campaign - showed a solution
Current wave of progressive groups - defined the solution
Mobs can do nothing more than draw attention, they lack the cohesion for direct action, but OWS defined what our problem is, the 1% is milking the other 99% and ingrained it on the collective memory. That is far more than most mobs achieve it was more successful than anyone could have imagined at the time.
But that was all it could do and afterwords we were all scratching our heads going 'now what?' and I told everyone at TOS 'now we need the catalyst' that takes it all and gives it direction (that might of been on my old id fToRrEeEsSt), but nothing materialized over the following years. Then out of no where our perfect catalyst revealed himself and showed us what we needed to do by taking all the unfocused energy giving it direction and though he didnt win, we are forever in debt to Bernie for showing the way. Now we have a whole host of progressive groups and candidates across the country running on people power, often winning unlikely campaigns.
Now the ball is in motion with inertia in our favor and the main goal right now should be to get progressive candidates running everywhere for everything, that is the most important goal right now. We need trustable people across the nation at all levels and a good 2018 at the higher levels and then the table will be set for a 2020 wave election with allies already in place and new ones getting sworn in so if Bernie (or insert your progressive president of choice) wins he isnt a lone white knight in a castle of black ones, full of good intention with no means of achievement.
If Bernie had won he likely would have had little chance to affect change, so now is the time to get the pieces in place so a progressive leader has enough allies to actually force change.
Ratigan nails it.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSaK7TFBDL4]
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Is Deep State a code word for CIA?
With current fake attacks on the FBI is this just all power plays between the alphabet agencies?
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
I think of deep state as an all of the above
That is CIA, NSA, FBI, DHS (homeland security), etc.
What I wonder is the relationship with the DNC. I think the deep state and the $hill planned some sort of Russia conflict. When T-rump won the election they changed tactics to continue the anti-Russian narrative. After all it was the dems that promoted the trouble in Ukraine and expanded NATO to the Russian border. It's difficult to justify the building of multi-billion dollar aircraft carriers if your only enemies are poor people in the desert. Russia is a more profitable enemy.
Isn't it interesting how Podesta has disappeared? I wouldn't be surprised to see him re-emerge from his hole...
https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/politico-influence/2017/10/31/what-ha...
Glad you dropped by. Stay warm. Hope y'all have a nice gathering on the 5th!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
yep. Gov't officials, elected
or not, generally deeply ensconced in the bureaucracy, that have an agenda of their own.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
It is? When did this happen?
Obviously I missed that memo. Seems we've had no real problem justifying our military expenditures whenever we wanted to. I just assumed "terrorism" was getting a bit stale so they wanted to cycle in a scare (or in this case, recycle an old one). I also suspect that Russia being unwilling to just let America have it's way in the Mideast and Ukraine was relevant. They weren't being very good lapdogs.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
Surprise...it happened under Obomber
One delivered in July...and 7 more coming. We already have more aircraft carriers than all other nations combined....but hey they're just 13 billion each
https://www.cnet.com/pictures/meet-the-navys-new-13-billion-aircraft-car...
Obomber also approved the modernization or our nuclear weapons at unmpteen billions....that is after he called for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Jimmy Dore dropped this one last night.
I just watched it, it's pretty good.
YouTube (25 min.)
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Thanks
I quit using wal-mart for the most part years ago. Then all the little stores went out of business and I had to use them. Now I do use Amazon (with great disgust), but like Wal-mart only when I can't find the product locally.
Bezo's business model is effective making it so convenient for customers. They are the monster of the retail market.
Thanks again for the clip!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
As always, a great compilation
Thanks lookout. Your words have weight...
Cheers!
question everything
All we can do is what we can do...
Glad you stopped by. We'll keep on keeping on.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Although your post
is super-super great, I get really tired of people implying that everything started at day one of the Trump administration.
The oligarchs have been quite visible over the decades - even Dwight Eisenhower warned against the mic.
And Thomas Frank - what is up with him? Obama did not 'miss' an opportunity. BO did what he intended to do. Is Frank ever going to wake up to this fact?
I cannot believe I am writing the same comment I did in around 2004 at TOP: that dems need to face up to the fact that repubs took over the dem party.
dfarrah
Sorry we mis-communicated
From my view both parties are complicit in the corporate coup. I think Thomas Franks...like me...drank Obama's koolaid. First clue of my mistake was when he bailed out the banks and not the homeowners. The final straw was his pro-war speech when accepting his Nobel prize. I knew I had been scammed then.
I think what Franks is saying is that Obomber missed his opportunity with a majority in congress to enact a "New Deal" for the people. And I would agree with your assessment that he never had any intention of helping people....he was already owned by the banks and corporations.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Yes, he bailed out the plutocrats at our expense
That was after he'd appointed his Citicorp cabinet. Honestly, once I had my eyes opened even a tiny bit (thanks to some anonymous Occupy protester in New York who inconvenienced a tech writer who tossed in one sentence about it in an article about Apple's new shiny toy) then the whole sham was so stunningly obvious that I am STILL embarrassed I was ever hoodwinked.
For those of you who've been life-long activists, I encourage you to remember that that's exactly how it happens. That guy camping in front of the Apple store got my eyes open. That opened my wife's eyes so he's already propagating quite nicely. Then, of course, I managed with 3 of my friends so there's a 1:5 propagation ratio... and he never knew it.
(I'm looking at you Big Al since you served a similar role in my life regarding antiwar and you periodically get depressed that "no one cares". Well, I do... now. I'm working on others.)
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
for every action...
there's a ripple effect. I wish once awake we stayed that way, but there is so much to get "woke" about that it's a forever process. Nice to both help and be helped by others.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Popping in to thank you for your weekly watch
I rarely comment in the am because I'm not coherent enough. But I do look at many of the links that you provide and want to let you know that I appreciate your time and effort.
I also don't engage much in the am because my computer doesn't help type words like my Ipad does
Thanks, Lookout
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Glad to "see" you
I really appreciate your comments throughout the site, and your excellent links which often wind there way here. Joe and gjohn also provide us all with so many great links and information.
I hope the new year brings us all good will and cheer. Happy New Year!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
High praise, thank you
Returning well wishes back to you. I am dreading what the New Year will bring. For many of us. I am a tadpole on the totem pole and knowing what congress has in store for many of us is bringing increasing anxiety. Looking for ways to find a more secure future, unfortunately the pickings are slim, but knowing that I am am among friends is comforting.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
I like Bucky's line...think global, act local
I find growing food fulfilling. Even if it's just a lettuce window box.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/come-on-people-join-the-garden-revoluti...
There's many young folks involved and want to help.
http://gardenrevolution.net/
We've met several young folks here in the last two years through gardening.
Just a thought to keep your spirits up.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
and positive we must remain
we are not defeated as long as defiance remains. The 1% can not win this war. Sure, they have more money. We have sharing and cooperation. We have value and morals. Plus we have the numbers and the backbone of production.
I think the greedy capitalists fear us as they are going to such extremes to confuse, obscure facts and cover their dirty dealings. With the help of a bought legislature, judicial and executive. Money won't buy them love. Desperate measures become unbalanced. A focused push can tumble their dreams quickly.
question everything
Hey better enjoy the ride
while we have it!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
what's that old saying?
save your brakes if you're heading downhill, you'll need the momentum to carry you up the next one (or something like that). Beware the full moon powers building tonight and peaking tomorrow as well. Peace!
question everything
Nepal? Thanks for that tidbit
I just had Nepal run across my newsfeeds as some awful problem we needed to, at least, monitor if not step into and "solve".
Now I know why.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
Why is it we can't stand it
when other countries try to help their citizens? Is it because we don't help ours?
I remember nearby Bhutan being in the news in a China/India border conflict. I think all that was settled.
Hope you have a happy new year!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
It is because if those systems were allowed to prosper
...then it'd make those living under our system difficult to control.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
I don't know
When I ask folks around here why is it European countries have a better standard of living than in the US...they want to know what I mean. The idea that in other counties there's free college, great public transportation, free medical care, support for small farms and green power is unbelievable to them. It's like they don't believe they exist. Fox news and the like don't tell those stories...rarely does PBS or NPR.
Keeping people ignorant gives you power over them.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
no country is perfectly run, but
my experience in Portugal this summer showed me that the people are happy!, helpful!, not afraid!, unlike in the US. There is an almost palpable difference in attitude and engagement. Like the US I remember 40 years ago.
question everything
I wonder what percent of Americans
Have had the opportunity to visit Europe. With 40 something percent of our people in poverty I bet it is less than 20%. We as a nation are so naive.
According to the State Department, there are 113,431,943 valid passports in circulation, which means 36% of Americans own a valid passport (and therefore 64% do not).
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thanks for the end-of-the-year
edition of The Weekly Watch, Lookout! Even if I normally can't manage to drop by in time to participate in morning OTs/threads, I very much appreciate your contribution, and obviously, hard work.
I couldn't agree more about pushing back against misinformation/disinformation. As a matter of fact, I've made it one of my 'New Year's resolutions' to do just that. While 'Fake News' (faux news, propaganda--whatever) obviously comes from the corporatist and 'right-wing' perspectives/angles, it also comes from the Third Way/DLC/No Labels/DNC/corporatist Dem crowd--sometimes infiltrating left-wing sites and publications. And, to some extent, it can be more difficult to root out than right-wing propaganda (once folks internalize it). But, hey--it's worth a try!
Happy New Year to All!
via GIPHY
CHEERS!
Mollie
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."--Lao Tzu
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
and the best of the new year to you!
Glad you dropped by, and hope you found a piece or two of interest.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Actually, I've found more than a couple articles of interest,
and there will likely be many more--it always takes me, at least, 2-3 days to take in TWW.
BTW, forgot to mention that I very much like the photo of the foggy highway.
So much so, I thought I'd screenshot it, for possible use down the road. Can't get to it until this weekend or later, so, please let me know if you object. (Hey, for all I know, it might be the road that leads to your house!)
Mollie
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."--Lao Tzu
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
The Deprivators are Everywhere
Even when and where you would least expect them. Have you tried to use Rootsweb lately? You can't - Ancestry.com imploded the whole assembly of websites on the grounds of a "security breach" which may have affected a small percentage of the whole. But in my opinion, and that of many other genealogical researchers, the real reason was that Rootsweb was doing a better job than Ancestry.com, and for free rather than for pay. So first Ancestry.com bought them up, then they started incrementally crippling them, and now they feel safe in just destroying them.
DECADES of valuable genealogical research, destroyed for pure greed.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
A good example
of how they slowly but thoroughly capture every nook and cranny for profit. Thanks for coming by!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”