A Day Late and a Dollar Short

Much of this week's news cycle makes it plain that as a species we react, but we're not very good at acting today for a better tomorrow. Give me mine NOW! It isn't just the hurricane and UN climate report that drive this lesson home to me but also the WaPo journalist slaughtered in Turkey by the Saudis - where has the outrage been about the Yemeni children whose blood is on our hands too. And how about the so called correction (crash) of the market this week "caused by the tariffs"...while ignoring the over valuation caused by corporations using their tax cuts to buy their own stock (which used to be illegal). So humans seem pretty good at jumping after they've been burned, but not so good at avoiding setting the woods on fire in the first place.

The announcement by the government of Ecuador that Julian Assange was being evicted from the embassy coincided with this important event that happened just three weeks earlier.

Tens of thousands marched in the streets of Brasilia on Wednesday in support of imprisoned former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
On Friday, the U.N. chimed in.

I did an essay the other day about how Brazil's leading presidential candidate sits in prison, without any evidence of his wrongdoing.
According to polls, he has almost twice the percentage of the 2nd and 3rd place candidates combined.

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva languishes in jail, but the average voter loves him.

Prisoners, Hostages, Tradewars,
and Weapons of Mass Distraction

Another week speeds by as spring (or fall in the really deep south) unfolds. This week it strikes me how easily we are distracted from understanding our world and situation. Some things seem so obvious. The oligarchs no longer make a secret of their domination. Just a glance at Brazil should make us aware (not to mention Venezuela nor Honduras....or even our own territory of Puerto Rico). The rush to create Russia as an enemy is obscenely obvious as diplomats are expelled across the globe without a shred of evidence. Truthsayers are silenced... Assange blocked from the internet in the embassy and Snowden is exiled to Russia. But like emerging seeds teachers are rising up across our country, students are speaking out, and movements are growing. It is time to escape the bonds of commercial corporate media and help people understand our common condition.

I have permission from Mr. Welsh to repost any of his material after a couple days have passed since he originally posted it.

Seven Rules for Running a Real Left-Wing Government

by Ian Welsh

So, we have had a right-wing coup in Brazil. In Venezuela, the left still controls the Presidency, but has lost control of parliament. In Argentina, the right has won the election.

This essay is an attempt to show how the coup in Brazil, which put USA banking interests in control of Brazil's finance and economy has resulted in a devastating increase in burning of the Amazon basin. This year number of fires spiked 81 percent over the average number of fires between 1999 to the present day. In the state of Amazonas, which typically has massive amounts of preserved forest, there was a 746 percent increase of fires over the historic average.