Reasons For Hope: Bernie's Town Hall, Jill Stein's Upcoming Live Discussion with Glenn Greenwald and Abby Martin, and Matt Taibbi's Surgical Takedowns of Propaganda, Lies and Distraction
As the snow now steadily falls in NYC for perhaps the last winter storm of the season (always fine by me, the storms that is), I find myself ruminating a little on the flickers of hope within the darkness of despair of this bizarre time of media and government propaganda.
I haven't much time these days and again I apologize in advance that I probably won't be around much. Just thought I'd throw these three things out there for folks to see if they haven't, and perhaps use this thread to dwell on how we can coalesce like-minded revolutionaries to break through the din of bullshit and fear-mongering accosting us in the MSM.
The first two of these are great examples of ways to circumvent the propaganda bullhorn of the MSM. Again Bernie was able to put up impressive numbers for an online event, increasing the viewership from his first one. Most impressively was the content of town hall, which was called "Inequality in America: The Rise of Oligarchy and Collapse of the Middle Class” (review by In These Times).
It would be hard to find a more succinct and more-removed from the bullshit promulgated by the MSM, the kind that purposefully throws up distraction and manufactured controversy to keep this kind of conversation from airing on the major networks, than what Bernie pulled together here (remember when Chris Hayes unwittingly brought Bernie to West Virginia for a similar town hall, MSNBC viewers got to see in full-color that he's by far the most popular politician in the country, and that so-called "Red State voters" would have voted for him in droves and love his policy platforms of free college and healthcare for all?). From the linked piece above, “It is fair to say that in the last hour and a half,” (Sanders) said in concluding the event, “that we have discussed more issues that are of vital importance to the American people than have ever been seen on a television screen in the history of this country.” Think about that. He's probably right.
Bernie masterfully pulled together such diverse voices not known to the public. Which was how FDR picked his cabinet: find the best people away from the limelight of the hermetically-sealed world of DC to do do the work of the people. Some of his guests included Catherine Coleman Flowers, a founder of the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise Community Development Corp., an anti-poverty group; Gordon Lafer, a labor policy expert at the University of Oregon; and Cindy Estrada, a vice president of the United Auto Workers labor union. They each told powerful stories from their backgrounds within the context of economic inequality and connecting all the dots. It was pretty damn impressive.
This was the kind of conversation people are practically starved from hearing on a big stage. In the reactions of the crowd that was evident. Lots of firsthand testimony too, from everyday people ground down in the merciless grinder of capitalism. Folks need the release of hearing the truth unvarnished.
He started this way:
Tonight we are going to ask some questions and have a discussion with some of the most knowledgeable people in this country on issues that are very very rarely if ever discussed in the corporate media.
Tonight we're going to take a hard look at why over the last 40 years the middle class of this country has declined while oligarchy is on the rise. And why during those 40 years over 13 trillion dollars in wealth has been transferred from the bottom 99% to the top 1%.
Tonight we're going to talk about income and wealth inequality and what it means morally and economically when three people in this country own more wealth than the bottom half of America when the top 1% when the top one-tenth of 1% now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom
90%. We're going to talk about our national priorities when in recent years we have seen an incredible growth in the number of billionaires, while 40 million Americans in our country continue to live in poverty. Why we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth.
Tonight we're going to talk about what it means for the working class of this country when over 50,000 factories have been shut down since 2001 and millions of workers have lost decent
paying jobs. We'll discuss what it means when trade union representation in the private sector has declined from about 30 percent in the late 1950s to less than 7 percent today.
In case you missed it here it is:
I found myself feeling like, while Bernie was talking, that I was back again at an Occupy activist friend's living room boiling down the issues to discuss matters at their most important levels.
I have to admit Michael Moore seems to be struggling to find himself. Just when he's reminding you that he's this great muckraking documentarian he ultimately comes right to throw out a stinker that shows he's still all about the Impeach Trump/Russian Red Herring mania on the Dem side. Disappointing. Because I think he really gets it most of the time. But he always seems to falls back in line as the Good Dem too much for my taste, rather than take a really radical stance implied by lots of his work.
Then, opening my email this morning was this announcement from Jill Stein:
The world is at a crossroads. Floods, fires and droughts fueled by climate change are ravaging vast regions of the planet. Expanding wars are creating mass refugee migrations and failed states. Global unrest is rising against massive inequality, while the neoliberal order melts down and US empire teeters at the brink.
These global crises require global solutions. As the political establishment fails utterly to lead the way forward, it’s so exciting to share solutions for people, planet and peace over profit with trail blazers around the world.
That’s why I’m honored to announce that I’ll be joining Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept and Abby Martin, host of The Empire Files, for a live discussion on Freedom and Democracy hosted by AcTVism in Munich, Germany on May 6th.
I’m thrilled to be joining two of the leading journalists of our time to discuss pressing issues like climate change, militarism and the nuclear threat, relations between Russia and the West, civil rights and mass surveillance, independent media, the shifting landscape of US politics and how we can seize the moment for transformative change.
Previous AcTVism events have featured luminaries including Noam Chomsky, Edward Snowden, Medea Benjamin and many more, and have made a huge impact in the world of independent media.
Like it or not, believe in them or not, these former presidential candidates are using their platforms to refocus the issues away from the sensationalism and distractions to the issues the vast majority of folks are concerned about but not seeing reflected in their "news" coverage.
And finally, Taibbi's been on fire lately. Hadn't seen if it was posted here so I'm attaching that as well. "It's Too Late to Worry About 'Normalizing' Trump. Decades of Policy Did That for Him."
An excerpt:
Max Boot, the noted Washington Post columnist, and "Jeane Kilpatrick senior fellow for National Security Studies" at the Council for Foreign Relations, thinks Donald Trump is betraying American values by meeting with Kim Jong-Un.
Such a meeting, Boot says, would mean "giving the worst human-rights abuser on the planet what he most wants: international legitimacy."
Let's unpack that one for a minute. We're worried now about giving human rights abusers legitimacy?
The idea that we don't legitimize human-rights abusers is a laugh-out-loud joke everywhere outside America. You could fill a book chapter with the history of the friendly relations between American presidents and just the foreign dictators who are credibly reported to have eaten other human beings.
Here's a cheery letter from Gerald Ford inviting Central African Republic dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa (the remains of 30 people were found in his crocodile pond upon ouster) to Washington.
We helped install Idi Amin, too. He later denied rumors of cannibalism, saying human flesh was "too salty," but he had other equally upsetting hobbies. We've supported a couple of generations of Nguemas in Equatorial Guinea, both of whom – uncle Macias and nephew Teodoro Obiang – reportedly ate their political enemies.
This is in addition to the countless Batistas and Suhartos and Diems and Marcoses and Pinochets who were just murdering thieving monsters we legitimized not by sitting down with them at the negotiating table, but by making them allies we showered with things like arms and money.
The problem with Trump is that he's too stupid to be embarrassed by such relationships. He constantly makes all of Washington look bad by jumping too enthusiastically in bed with the blood-soaked juntas and anti-democratic governments we more quietly embraced in the past.
These high-profile voices deserve our enthusiastic and undying support. Jimmy Dore, Lee Camp's Redacted Tonight, Chris Hedges "On Contact, Tim Black, The Rational National, Caitlin Johnstone - these are all folks not buying the bullshit who instead are taking on the calcifying and deadly MSM propaganda.
The best way to do that is not just by watching, reading and sharing their work with others not privy to the fundamental democratic importance of dissenting voices. But for us to individually challenge ourselves to have such meaningful conversation, and then engage in forms of subversion and disruption to the status quo death machine in whatever ways we can.
Come spring, sit in your local public park or set up chairs on a street corner with a sign saying something about how you're sick and tired of unresponsive government run by the rich and for the rich; that you don't want to talk about Trump or Clinton or Dems/Reps, Red/Blue, Conserv/Lib - just the issues of why rent, taxes and cost of living keeps going up, our taxes pay for more wars an military bases but not healthcare and college education, the need for publicly-owned utilities and internet, etc. Start the revolution on your block, town square, one person at time - by avoiding divide and conquer political partisanship.
Most importantly is the takeaway here: to get people to turn away from the allure and dazzle of highly-paid MSM punditry surrounded by glitzy stage sets and quick cutaways, etc. It's all designed to keep us dumb and distracted, using fear to separate the 99% through dividing and conquering of phony partisanship - when anyone who's awake knows there's only one team in DC, the one that makes money for themselves at the expense of the citizenry.
Comments
I have not looked at my TV for > 6 months
even for Amazon or netflicks. I got bored and distracted by personal health issues but no excuse needed. I am transitioning into chronic health issues and trying to remain centered. Colonoscopy prep jug is in the car, lemon-flavored. I get and one-down, one-up simultaneously, same anesthesia.
I applaud kids who are not matched to my generational gestations. They are allowed (as did we) to have opinions.
I turn 65 today, have to go through mail (in the car, through deep snow). Bills to pay.
Lawsuit in Canada procedes. I am suing a builder who cost me $100K in invoices for an uncompleted project. He has disappeared but the lawsuit may chase him down. If not, just an expensive vengeance move.
Have a nice My Birthday.
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.
Happy Birthday, riverlover.
I hope your day turns out well.
"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
Happy Birthday riverlover
cheers and have a good day. Hope everything comes out okay in the end. Heh
Was going to ask where Bernie's Town Hall videos are archived, but realized I don't even care anymore. A cursory web search indicates he has no site and is just leaching off the advertising web, which is no different from TV if you ask me. ~shrug~ Clearly, Our Revolution will not be televised. It will be pay walled behind some garbage javascript binary, distributed in "the cloud" by "content providers". Meh.
Plutocracy is dead, long live plutocracy.
Happy B-Day, and many more!
And may every year from here on in be better than the last - not that that would take much improvement... but I'll hope for more than much! (And I also hope your driveway melts out soon without flooding or setting into a muddy morass!)
*hugs*
Edit: lol, sent you a letter-typo, but took it back, thinking that the good wishes were probably more useful.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
yeah, gotta love those
colonoscopy preps! Not.
Happy birthday!
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 ain't the prep, it's what comes after
Yurch!!!
Oh, the actual procedure
is the easy part.
take a little 25 min. nap,
fart, go home. Nuthin' to it.
After that 25 min. nap feel like a million bucks!
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.
oh, you're talkin' the
toilet hugging part.
yeah, we can all do without that.
The worst part is commencing that routine at 3am,
and taking your last diahrea purge just before heading off to the procedure.
No sleep for you! My last time, last year, I was a tad bound up and didn't think I got it all. I didn't tell the doctor, and he didn't say anything, but there may have been a "cleanup in aisle 5." Dunno, didn't ask. Went home with a clean dry butt feeling like I slept all night!
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.
Hope we've weatherd the storm
But their still at it.
The Latest: Cambridge Analytics 'helped' Bernie!!! (sheesh)
And, I guess we were all so 'programed' to stand in line for 3-4 hours to get in to see him.
I want a Pony!
Wait, when did they become Russian?
Or are the US PTB about to nuke Britain for meddling in their election?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
That damned Bernie!
If he had just
stayed out and minded his own damned business Her would have won!
But, no!
He had to meddle in Her election!
Told all the poor white folks and deplorable BernieBros to stay home.
Sonsabitches!
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.
The worst thing thing he did to Her
was that Her utter rottenness showed even more clearly by contrast with Bernie, which was mean of him. And Her knew darned well that her effort to use Bernie to 'campaign for Hillary' gave Bernie an opportunity to bring up issues of democracy Her was trying so hard to discredit! And every time he said that 'Hillary knew' something was important, obviously we all mentally completed the sentence with 'but Her'd never do it'. Her expression during this, when present, as I seem to recall Her soon stopped being, was sooooo priceless... the one bright spot, lol.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
yep. totally agree.
Her expression priceless.
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.
engage in forms of subversion and disruption to the status quo
Zinger man! This is it. Easing our neighbors back into sanity. One patient, encouraging, supportive, nourishing step at a time. It works!
question everything
Thanks for the links, Mark.
I've been wanting to read that Taibbi piece, which I saw on another site and didn't have the time and then forgot where I saw it.
Hope you and your family are well.
"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
Mark!
Thank you for making this a beautiful morning! (I've gotten to the point of being afraid to wake up and read the news.)
One thing you make me think of is that I have long wished there was a way to have cable television that you could choose the content of. I know there are mainstream media personalities and I gather their relationships to the Council on Foreign Relations and Brookings, but I never watch them. My husband and I have cable, which costs quite a lot, only in order to have Giants Baseball and the cooking, nature, science, travel, and British mystery series we watch. We never watch mainstream media. But we're paying for it.
I have a strong belief that if cable television really went free enterprise and allowed customers to customize content, the old guard would disappear. If they had to compete with actual discussions about people's lives, they would dissolve.
I watch 60 Minutes maybe twice a year, if they are reporting on something that I hope will make a difference. I have read that they gave a timely space of propaganda to the Saudi prince of murder this week as part of an effort to explain why Congress would vote to continue mass murder in Yemen. I will never watch 60 Minutes again, never. They're done. It would be like allowing Hitler's henchmen to enter my house.
You have energized me to raise this issue of customizing content. I'm sure it is just a matter of time before that option is a reality. Next, we will assert the right to customize our tax payments so that no illegal wars or covert weaponizing of terrorists will be chosen. It will happen.
Here is Mehdi Hasan's
article at The Intercept on 60 Minutes' Saudi interview:
Just cut your cable
and buy a $25 digital
antenna for local channels. Then spend the $40, $45 /mo. savings for cutting the cable on Sling + Sports for $30, $35 /mo., and you'll have at least as many channels as you had before cutting the cable for $5 or $10 /mo. less. It's the setup I have, and the picture /sound quality is as good as cable.
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.
High cost of cable
In 2005 I gave my television away to a young undergrad who moved from South Korea to study at Columbia University. At first, it was a bit weird. I mean who doesn't have a television in their house, right? But just as I was starting to adjust to my life without television, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon began dipping their toe into online content. Fast forward to 2018 and the landscape for online content has made a seismic shift. I'm now watching what I want for half the cost of what cable is charging.
So, who knows? It might be financially worth your time to investigate what is out there that might accommodate your viewing needs. Or come pretty close.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
All well and good, but there is this
Sanders owns three homes, net worth over a $1M, Michael Moore owned nine homes as of 2014 and was worth $50 million then, Warren lives in a $2.4 million home and is worth between $3.7 and $10 million herself.
Kinda hard to deliver the msg to the middle class.
I'll give Bernie a break. After all his time in congress and his wife's "work", yeah he's old enuf to have some stuff.
Why he would lower himself to this forum is confusing. It's way too easy to find the difference between public policy and personal (hidden) wealth.
Then again Nancy's Vineyard is really, really cool. Nancy Pelosi’s net worth in 2018 is estimated at a $120.0 million.
Viva La Revolution!
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
Greenwald's a multi-millionaire.
Martin and Taibbi are certainly close if not there. Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, the so called progressive left is full of one percenter and elite college journalists supposedly fighting the power.
The entire show is run by the one percenters, you won't see any teachers, bakers or candlestick makers on stage.
So, is it bad when some of the most intrepid investigative
journalists we've had in decades, in an era when the MSM basically pays blood money to the tune of people like Rachel Maddow making $30k a day to push breathless distraction, obfuscation and propaganda, are able to make comparatively a little bit of money speaking serious truth to power?
Taken to that end, does that mean any criticism made by Kurt Vonnegut, Gore Vidal, Joseph Heller, Lewis Lapham, Howard Zinn, Mark Twain, et al - all successful journalists/authors who made lots of money, isn't credible?
I put this in another comment but it applies here too. Great comedian/social critic Dave Chappelle said this about Colin Kaepernick and being a whistleblower, which I think we all agree here is in some ways one of the most important ways we get change as a society, when the ugly secrets of a corrput gov't or business are exposed for all to see (see Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning.)
Anybody willing to put him/herself at great risk to the PTB by exposing their criminality deserve more money than they'll ever get, as far as I'm concerned.
And Bernie having a relative little money doesn't trouble me at all. He's one of the few politicians in the history of the country to call out starkly and with great focus the core over and over again the core problems of capitalism, racism, and consumerism.
As far as I'm concerned anyone who uses their platform to expose truth to the citizenry deserves our praise, not condemnation. And for Bernie's part, he's always shown that he's not a typical politician in the way that he's partial and not opposed to bringing up the teacher, baker and candlestick maker to speak their truth.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
The problem with money is it keeps people in their cages.
They used to say the same things about some journalists in the corporate media. The problem is the "alternative" media has become corporate also. Just look at who funds some of these intrepid journalists, like Greenwald and Scahill with the Intercept (billionaire Omidyar) or Goodman and Gonzalez of Democracy Now. It's a well known fact that the vast majority of people will do what it takes to keep their money train going. For journalists, like in the corporate media, that means towing the company line, staying in the box, not delving into things that they shouldn't, only going so far. That in my opinion, has crept into the "alternative" media. In order to keep their salaries, they won't discuss certain things, they will not really rock the boat. The last thing we need are more "intrepid" journalists that won't rock the boat. In fact, I think the "alternative" media and the money that's crept into it in the last fifteen years is a big reason for the lack of an antiwar movement in this country.
From my perspective, what we need is a working class people's movement and I don't believe that's going to come from a bunch of one percenters and elite college liberals who pretend to be working class. It's going to have to come from the actual people being affected.
We need a working class people's movement.
Yes, and, we need someone to get the working class people riled up and connecting the dots.
Ultimately, I agree such a movement shouldn't be led by a one-percenter. Or even a ten-percenter. But most working class people are too damn tired to do much at the end of the day, let alone think too hard beyond how to get through the rest of the week. In order to get an actual movement started, someone has to cut through the noise.
Despite his obvious shortcomings/flaws, what Bernie remains good at, IMHO, is waking people up and helping them connect the dots. This is exactly what he did during his Presidential run, and it's why he galvanized the country. While I can't stand listening to his Russiagate blather and his pot-shots at Trump -- and I certainly don't support his soft stance on foreign intervention -- I am more than happy to offer him a bullhorn on domestic economic concerns. Back in 2016, he'd say, "Not me; us." I actually do think he'd prefer to step back onto the sidelines once people are sufficiently motivated to demand actual change.
(I hope this makes some sort of sense. Feeling a little brain-foggy today).
Bernie Sanders is the official Outreach Coordinator
of the democratic party. He's doing the same thing now that he did in 2016 which is rally the troops to defeat the republicans and Trump. That's his entire goal. Despite what many Bernie supporters believe, the public knows full well about the wealth inequality in this country, it's rubbed in their faces every day. And it's so far from a new situation as to be an institutional fact in this country. The vast majority of people in this country do not trust the national level government and that includes the 28% democratic party Bernie is shilling for.
Your comments
make a lot of sense to me and are really well-stated. At the same time, Big Al's point is absolutely right.
We're slaughtering children, year after year after year. We have nothing to show for it but more conflict. I have to wonder how Bernie Sanders doesn't see that, how he thinks support for the Democratic Party is any benefit to us, especially what he's been through with the Party. I think he would have won if he'd run as an Independent. I don't understand what he thinks the Party has done for him!
A million dollars doesn’t go as far as it used to. I think
we need to worry about multi millionaires and especially billionaires.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Important distinction, Lily O Lady, thanks.
That latter are the ones who are literally buying the auction house of government.
And then employing their batteries of sleazy lawyers to write up the legislation laden with superfluous bullshit to hide their true motive which is nothing but to further enrich themselves, that their bought-and-sold puppets in the legislature cheerily pass in the dead of night.
Those are our true owners, as George Carlin (another rich man) famously said in his American Dream piece.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
@EdMass
Yeah, Bernie kept his Vermont home (believe his mother lived there for some time? Edit: it's rented out, last I heard, so they can keep it until returning home) to retire to; got a mortgage on a place near work in Washington and, when they inherited a summer place, they sold it to buy one in Vermont.
Big difference between that and having multiple mansions drained out of other people's lowered wages and the public purse.
Just because over Bernie's spent his life fighting for everyone to have a decent life doesn't mean that he shouldn't be able to have what everybody in his age group and time with a decent-paying job used to be able to have after decades of work - except that that was all they could find to attack him on. Oh, yeah, there was also some fuss generated over his tax returns, as though Bernie's got millions in bribes socked away and requires a complicated tax breakdown like the multi-millionaires with tons of investments/properties in government, which he's (obviously) nothing like.
Edited to remove a stray letter.
And re-edited to make the point that that estimate of a million net worth would presumably include the estimated total worth of all 3 properties accumulated over a life-time.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
For as long as Bernie's
been in office one would
think he'd have a net worth of a million! At least. I bet if you checked other congress /Senate critters with as much time as Bernie they have at least as much as he has. As for Michael Moore, he is a borderline centrist Dem at best. He has lost any cred he once had. But even progressives still drag him into "forums" like this one. Weird. Don't get it. He doesn't help.
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.
Have to admit this response had me doing a double-take
Because it's the kind of tiresome, predictable RW meme that's been used forever in attempts to denigrate any LW dissenters credibility on matters of economic inequality. (heard the same dopey shit from detractors who showed up at Occupy, a cop comes to mind who smirked about the protesters using Apple computers and such - all Fox News/RW think tank-generated "talking points" designed to shift the conversation while attempting to impugn the integrity of the protest).
This was the crap that was all over Twitter by the way. Just look up Bernie Town Hall and see how the RW trolls came like flies to shit with this same exact stuff.
Didn't expect to see it here.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
In a way, a million-dollar house isn't much
Three now sit on a double lot to the south of me, replacing seven large Douglas fir (diameter about 15-18 inches) and a massive healthy long-needle white pine, trunk about 48 inches or more wide. All these were casually cut and thrown away -- pieces hidden in excavation dirt so hauling would be cheaper -- and up went three boxes, each with a selling price of $1.3+ million. No yards except the street-side parking strip.
In same town, a block to the west, a small 1904 hillside cabin-like place that probably had some of its original hand-built charm now has a featureless interior with the standard no-character, all-white rage for cleanliness look. This is currently listed at $749,500.00.
White paint is CHEAP!
You don't have to special-mix, you don't have to worry about matching, you can buy it by the cartload for considerably less than custom-mixed paint. So we're propagandized up the yin-yang about how "clean" it makes everything look. (Also sterile and boring, but when you're cheeseparing that's not a consideration.)
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Another almost nearly but not quite hardly was Bernie's R. 54
I'm talking about SJ Res 54, the Senate’s War Powers Act challenge to the US military involvement in the Yemen War. It went down 55-44 but at least it was an effort (the first of many I hope) to slow down the madness.
https://news.antiwar.com/2018/03/20/senate-votes-to-kill-bill-challengin...
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thanks for this Mark and Happy Birthday riverlover!
Some mind-blowing stats from Bernie Town Hall
I have to re-watch it and jot down some notes. Amazing that 1/3 of manufacturing jobs are basically at or slightly above min. wage. Way back in the day I worked in a steel mill was a member of the steelworker's union. And hell yes, a young man even working in the labor pool which I did could earn a decent wage. That has all changed. Might as well work at a 7-11 as the wages seem to be identical to what steel labors make. And oh, there were sturctured apprentice-ship programs run by the union for night classes to get people skills such as a machinist, pipe-fitter, etc. make very good money.
Ahh, the good ol'
days when one could
walk out of H.S. and get a floor sweeping job at a factory for nearly double min. wage (about $13 /hr today's money)! And, on that, afford a small apartment, utilities, "basic cable" (which was all there was back then) and a used car to get back'n'forth to work! Try doing that today on $13 an hour! I worked a similar situation back then, and after 3 years and a couple raises bought a brand spankin' new Olds Gutless! Brand new! So, yeah, life was good back in the day!
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.
You are such an inspiring writer, Mark.
That's all I got.
Gotta second that emotion!
That essay really hit the spot!
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Third that, glad u wrote this.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
@Mark from Queens - I watched the whole town meeting video
and I think there is much more to say about it, especially because so often it was to compared to conditions in Germany. I feel the urge to get into it more deeply.
I thank you for posting the video, which I wouldn't have seen otherwise. Your diary was necessary and inspiring, now it's the time to go through it - time code by time code - and discuss what Warren, Moore and the others said in detail and dig into those statements as for HOW you can influence the changes you want to see for the working class.
"Vote for us", meaning for Democratic Progressive Candidates who are supposed to present unions' demands (including strengthening unions) and the demands of the working class. That is fine, but what happens, when those candidates' promises to work for their constituents and voters' demands, but then - when in power - support legislation that does the opposite?
"Hold them accountable". Nice. How? You need to have wealth to fight legally against those you want to hold accountable and those who have flat out betrayed their own campaign promises and with it their small donor supporters and voters. We folks don't have wealth to finance those legal fights.
Oh, yes, march on the streets, of course, do it non-violently. Don't throw stones, because people like you to throw stones and get mad, so that the police has a reason to put you in prisons. So, behave, while marching. That's fine. Who cares if you march or not? Certainly not the one percent of the corproration's and bank's rich CEOs.
So, you would have to have a default system that any representative, who votes for legislation that does the opposite of what they have promised and stood up for during their campaigns, gets thrown out of office. That needs to happen without the voters and supporters of those cheating-you-out-candidates, voters who have been betrayed, needing lawyers and their own lobbyist for fighting their betrayer-representatives.
And I would like to add what can go wrong, even if you have all these nice things like free college tuition, paid sick and vacation time, right for health care for all etc. like we do have in Germany. Because there are still things that go wrong and will go wrong, it's just not hurting yet so many people as badly as in the US. But it will.
Man, this is so important to get into details.
But thanks for posting the video and your thoughts.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Just checking back for the moment that I have to do so...
Thanks for the responses.
I'm doing ok. Exhausted too much of the time. Actually a pretty intense start to the year with one thing after another, of which I don't have time to get into.
But the family's all well, thanks.
I'm rediscovering my music collection, reading more and staying offline more, especially after a couple of weeks of re-entering the zombie plague, dopamine-addicted, surveillance trap of "TheFarceBook" just to write on my band's "page" as we were wrapping up a 13.5 year residency. Bittersweet to finish that gig. Glad to be done with FB though - what a weird trap filled with people speaking in ways that seemed foreign, or at least trendy, to me.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
While I always miss your voice here
I'm glad you're spending time off line. It's always time well spent. I was off FB for almost 15 months, when I had to go back to create a page to promote a website I'm building. God, it was worse than TOP. Immediately a "friend" made multiple posts to my page "warning" people that I was not a Buddhist but a "Putin puppet" who was responsible for getting Trump elected. Granted, I didn't know this "friend" personally, but the level of blind hysteria was a bit shocking. Needless to say she was blocked and her posts deleted. But. Jeez. Get. A. Life.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
http://thehill.com/opinion
http://thehill.com/opinion/technology/379245-whats-genius-for-obama-is-s...
Obama did it too!
But - but - that's DIFFERENT when Obama does it! lol
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Heh.
If you're feeling feisty, try posting this on TOP ...
If you have the hazmat suit for it.
Sometimes even Hope, alone, is not enough...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
hazmat suits - my Vet son had to put them on and off
sometimes several times a day when stationed in Kuwait Jaber AFB when the US prepared the ground invasion of Iraq and was preparing the little guys dealing with assumed potential chemical weapons' attacks.
No fun, so sometimes even hazmat suits are not enough after all HOPE has been left behind.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Sorry about what your son had to go through...
That must be why HopeLB showed up here...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
reading a day late . . . wonderful
Thanks Mark and everyone!
Had already watched part of the town hall and got the email about Jill, Glenn, and Abby . . . but had not read the Matt article yet.
Yes . . . this all gives me hope.
I agree about engaging neighbors and local conversation, non-partisan about issues. Not sure how to do it in rural Texas. ?? Maybe on a much smaller scale?
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo