It is mid-Autumn today, and a multitude of holidays old and new. Today represents another turning of the wheel of the year. Various cultures have different takes on this time. In Mexico, the Day of the Dead is a way of maintaining a healthy and intimate relationship with the unknown and is not only an occasion for festivities but also for a profound recollection of those who died and and invitation to reflect on life and death. In the US Halloween is primarily marked by putting on a disguise and asking for candy, but Halloween really draws on two historic celebrations: the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holiday All Saints’ Day. Samhain is a Celtic word that some scholars think means “summer’s end,” and it marks the beginning of winter at the end of the harvest season. It was celebrated around November 1 when, it was believed, the dead could cross over to the land of the living for one night. The other celebration, All Saints’ Day, honors all of the Christians saints. The Roman Catholic Church sometimes refers to it as the Solemnity of All Saints. The Church has never tolerated pagan holidays and as is typical they are subsumed. Little did I understand as a kid, the great evil of the holiday was all the sugar we ate. Pretty bizarre when you think about dressing kids up as ghosts and goblins to go out and collect toxins to consume. No wonder it is a scary holiday.
This amalgam of celebrations have morphed in to today's holiday (5 min)

Samhain (October 31 – November 1)

Samhain, or best known as Halloween, is Celtic New Year’s Eve and the final harvest. It’s when the veil between the world of the living and the dead is the thinnest and when pagans believe spirits easiest roam the earth and when it is easiest to communicate with them. It is a time to honor all those who have come before, for all that was gifted to us during the year, to ask for guidance, and to set intentions as the turning of the wheel begins again.

Wiccans believe this is when the god dies and when the Goddess both reaches her highest power as the Crone and is pregnant with the god that will be born at Yule. And hence, the cycle begins again. It is, because the divide between the world’s is at is thinnest, also one of the most powerful nights to do magic.

https://www.pagangrimoire.com/wheel-of-the-year/

Here in the deciduous forest all the leaves are falling to be absorbed into the Earth and cycle all those nutrients for next years growth. Round we go on the wheel of life...

Little did I know modern culture and movies has influenced the celebration of Dia de los Muertos. (12 min)

Let's start the news today with a story of terror... A Trial of the US war OF Terror. This was a fun listen. I broke it into smaller pieces. Use the time stamps to skip around if you want. I found these folks inspiring.

Featuring:
0:00 Srecko Horvat (moderator)
8:03 Tariq Ali
14:17 Selay Ghaffar
18:17 Jeremy Corbyn
26:59 Eyal Weizman
32:36 Apsana Begum
38:50 Özlem Demirel MEP
43:36 John McDonnell MP
49:07 Yanis Varoufakis Greek MP
54:08 Heike Hänsel German MP
59:04 Richard Burgon UK MP
1:04:47 Video in evidence
1:08:10 Ewen McCaskill
1:14:14 Scott Ludlam
1:17:20 Deepa Govindarajan Driver
1:24:30 Renata Ávila
1:30:26 Stefania Maurizi
1:38:39 Rafael Correa
1:44:03 Annie Machon
1:50:15 Daniel Ellsberg
1:55:35 Stella Moris
2:03:18 Ben Wizner
2:08:54 Edward Snowden
2:18:09 Coming Events
2:20:29 Eyal Weizman
2:21:20 CLOSING – Tariq Ali.

This tribunal was being held because of Julian's trail this week. Julian's struggle is a horror story fraught and embedded in corruption. He wasn't even allowed in the courtroom nor allowed to communicate with his lawyers. The kangaroo court makes clear the injustice system we have created. If that isn't a horror I don't know what is.
Here's a few excellent analyses of the saga...
The bombshell revelations of the imprisoned journalist were arguably small potatoes compared to the criminality Assange exposed by simply standing his ground, writes Caitlin Johnstone.

The U.S. appeal of a British court ruling on the Assange extradition case has concluded, and the judges will probably not have a decision ready until at least January — a full year after the extradition was denied by a lower court. Assange, despite being convicted of no crime, will have remained in Belmarsh prison the entire time.
...
His case now goes beyond press freedom, U.S. war crimes, corrupt governments collaborating to stomp out inconvenient truth tellers and the malfeasance of U.S. alphabet agencies. It’s about the abusive nature of the U.S. prison system as well.

Chris Hedges discusses the extradition hearing of Julian Assange in London with Joe Lauria, Editor-in-Chief of Consortium News. (26 min)

Chris also speaks out...
https://scheerpost.com/2021/10/28/hedges-the-most-important-battle-for-p...

If Assange is extradited and found guilty of publishing classified material, it will set a legal precedent that will effectively end national security reporting, allowing the government to use the Espionage Act to charge any reporter who possesses classified documents, and any whistleblower who leaks classified information, under the Espionage Act.

Some argue he should be awarded a Nobel Prize in stead of a prison sentence.
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/10/29/instead-of-facing-extradition-assa...

Many more articles at consortium news.

Steven Doziger's case is also a failure of the justice system. He started his prison term this week. It is another horror story...
Lawyer Steven Donziger, Who Sued Chevron over “Amazon Chernobyl,” Ordered to Prison After House Arrest

I was not prosecuted by the U.S. government. I was prosecuted by a private law firm, Seward & Kissel, appointed by a federal judge after the U.S. government declined to prosecute me. And the judge never disclosed that the law firm had Chevron as a client. So, essentially, I’m being prosecuted by a Chevron law firm, a partner in a Chevron law firm, a private law firm, who deprived me of my liberty. I’m the only person ever charged with this offense held pretrial, at home or in prison — never happened before for even a day. It’s over 800 days. So, you know, this is the first corporate prosecution in U.S. history. I have never seen a case like this, nor have other legal experts that work with me. And, you know, we just think, you know, to restore the rule of law as regards Steve Donziger and the people of Ecuador, this case has to be stopped and taken over by the Department of Justice. I mean, they could do what they want with it. I mean, if they went to prosecute me, prosecute me, but I need to be prosecuted by a neutral prosecutor, not by Chevron.

Those two stories of injustice should scare everyone! These are cases against individuals, but US horrors go much farther. Starving entire countries which refuse to submit to US corporate control. Ben Norton in a righteous rant. (22 min)

Enough with the horror how about some blood and guts?

Lets begin with the story about chocolate industry's use of child slavery...
Blood Chocolate - the dark side of the chocolate industry (17 min)
Today there will be plenty of chocolate consumed. I wonder how many children paid the price?

By the way don't forget we still have slavery in the US...in every over crowded prison.
13TH | FULL FEATURE | Netflix is now on YouTube and is a worthwhile watch if you have not seen it.

Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay's examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country's history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.

Let's finally have a bit of good news. This week I caught Dr William Davis' talk, Bowels Gone Wild (55 min). He discusses techniques to bring our gut biome back toward the health of primitive peoples.

We are graduating from the age of probiotics and prebiotics to a time in which we are able to adopt exciting new strategies that give us enormous control over the aging process. I will talk about the power of cultivating the bacterial species, Lactobacillus reuteri, to take advantage of its ability to smooth skin and reduce wrinkles, accelerate healing, preserve bone density, restore youthful muscle and strength, increase libido, and enhance empathy. I will discuss how bowel flora has gone haywire in many people, populating parts of the gastrointestinal tract where they don’t belong and contributing to the aging process and underlying many health conditions. I will then discuss how to assess this situation, then correct it, with potential to restore and maintain many aspects of youthfulness and health. Dr. Davis is devoted to building a movement of individual self-empowerment to reduce or eliminate reliance on conventional healthcare.

Oh No, the Zombie is coming back! The russiagate zombie that is.
Steele of dossier fame has been back on the MSM spouting his BS warmongering message.
Aaron has been a real hero fight the Russiagate Zombie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p2rtZI1-UE(43 min)

As a top investigator on the House Intelligence Committee, Kash Patel helped uncover the Clinton campaign's funding of the Steele dossier and the FBI's extensive and deceptive reliance on it.

Patel joins Aaron Maté to discuss Steele's new attempt to defend his discredited work via a softball interview with ABC News.

Patel also addresses the key role of newly indicted Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann in hiring and overseeing another heavily influential Clinton campaign contractor, CrowdStrike, the cyber-firm behind the foundational allegation that Russia hacked the DNC.

"CrowdStrike is one of the biggest culprits of the Russia fraud," Patel says. "For some reason, for the only time in FBI history that I can think of, they allowed an outside non-government entity to referee. That is, to go in and seize the servers of a target of an investigation and let a third party, CrowdStrike, referee what the FBI could and could not have access to."

Guest: Kash Patel. Former senior government official in the Trump administration. Previously, Patel served as a top investigator on the GOP-led House Intelligence Committee, where he was instrumental in exposing US intelligence misconduct in the Trump-Russia investigation. Also served as a national security official in the Obama-era Justice Department and Pentagon.

With Clinton lawyer charged, the Russiagate scam is now under indictment

Coming Into Focus: Hillary's Secretive, Russiagate-Flogging Pair of Super-Lawyers

Poor dimwits won't get it when they're wiped out in the mid-terms and 2024.

So, the days continue to shorten, and the darkness will increase till the solstice. Then the story changes and the light begins to return. Have a happy Halloween! Don't eat too much candy...it really isn't good for humans. I hope you'll share your horror stories, or any story which speaks to you.

Dusk in Autumn
Sara Teasdale - 1884-1933

The moon is like a scimitar,
A little silver scimitar,
A-drifting down the sky.
And near beside it is a star,
A timid twinkling golden star,
That watches likes an eye.

And thro’ the nursery window-pane
The witches have a fire again,
Just like the ones we make,—
And now I know they’re having tea,
I wish they’d give a cup to me,
With witches’ currant cake.

Please reserve your COVID comments for the Dose, thanks.