Looking for Allies in the Calm Before the Storm

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You guys know what this represents? Maybe it’s the calm before the storm.
REPORTER 1: What’s the storm, Mr. President?
REPORTER 2: What does that mean?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Could be, the calm, the calm before the storm.
REPORTER 2: What storm, Mr. President?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have the world’s great military people in this room. I will tell you that. And we’re going to have a great evening. Thank you all for coming. Thank you.”
REPORTER 2: What storm, Mr. President?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You’ll find out.

Nate is heading my way...and it literally is the calm before the storm.

The disaster of capitalism has been on display this week
...and is insidious, hidden and obscured

As if it isn't obvious with our corporation-in-chief and oligarchy cabinet, our democracy has devolved to a corporate controlled society. All is geared toward making the rich ever richer at the expense of the poor and disadvantaged. It all happens so fast we get lost and numb. Think about this week alone...from the proposed tax plan that is a give away to the wealthy...to the vultures taking advantage of the destruction of Puerto Rico...to the failed T-rumpcare designed for profit and tax relief..to the privilege of the oligarchs chartering planes at tax payer expense for convenience. Yes it is obvious the system is failing.

History is Written by the Victors
and
... the microbes will have the last word

Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters.
African Proverb

Napoleon once said, "What is history, but a fable agreed upon?”
(paraphrasing ~François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694–1778), "Jeannot et Colin”)

People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them.
James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

The obscurest epoch is today.
Robert Louis Stevenson, Across the Plains

Happiness and Health as the Empire Collapses

I'm caught in a revolving door...seeing the completion of the corporate coup in almost every aspect of our lives. Although I rattle the bars, we are captured in a capitalist cage of corruption. Nowhere is it more obvious than our health care system...more concerned with profit than health or care. Last week we focused on the need for individuals and communities to act on their own to create meaningful lives. This week lets look at how we can manage our own health and health care (of course we'll look at news for the week as well). This essay was inspired in part by Bernie's “Medicare for All” bill, but was also heavily influenced by OPOL's essay (hat tip) on diet from earlier this summer.
https://caucus99percent.com/content/revolutionize-your-life-radical-self...

Clouds of Hypocrisy Surrounding the Storms and Fires

Did you hear T-rump this week in North Dakota? He's glad to have dirty tar sands oil flowing through a pipeline destined to leak. He's thrilled he got us out of the job killing Paris climate agreement. Then in the same speech admits we've had one disastrous hurricane and we're about to have another....and who knew North Dakota could have droughts? It reminds me of the tobacco execs denying that tobacco is addictive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_ZDQKq2F08 (1.5 min)

The evidence is overwhelming and undeniable that climate is becoming increasingly variable and intense, and yet the US government will not allow mention of global warming? Talk about heads in the sand. You know they know. They're lying just like the tobacco execs to save their profit (and lose our habitable planet).

Workers of the World Unite!

It's Labor Day weekend. It marks the end of the summer season for many, however we still have a few more weeks till the equinox and true Autumn. This summer was the 50th anniversary of the “Summer of Love”...a time when hopes and dreams of a better world filled many minds of my generation. At that time I thought our idealism would change the world. Sadly capitalism was a more powerful force than our aspirations. How far away we have drifted from that dream of a better world. Today's image of America in my mind includes it's militarized police, disregard for people in favor of corporate profit, massive incarceration of the poor people of color to benefit privatized prisons and probation services, large scale aggression across the world, destruction of the planet and climate for the benefit of the few, and top it off with a heapin' helpin' of our arrogance that we are exceptional (yes exceptionally evil).

Is a Weak Weekly Better than No Weekly Watch at All?

I guess that's kind of like asking if a weak cup of coffee (or tea) is better than none. So last week for the first time in about a year, I missed getting out my weekly news synopsis. I have a good excuse...I was kidnapped to play a dance last Saturday and then hauled across the state of Georgia to the NE corner to see the eclipse. Although I regret missing publication last week, I must tell you the eclipse was totally worth the loss. I hope you all got to see at least a bit of the event!

Minimalist Edition

It's been a busy week helping my 87 year old mom move to smaller easier apartment in Birmingham. So my news is a little scant. The MSM continues with the blaring Trump-it...Sabers rattling in N. Korea (and a no war game peace deal still unreported). And they all fiddle around as the planet burns. Perhaps extinction is best.

What Democracy?

Studies clearly show our government does the bidding of the 1% not the people.
Using data drawn from over 1,800 different policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, the two conclude that rich, well-connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of the country, regardless of or even against the will of the majority of voters.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/princeton-experts-say-us-no-longer...

Coups for Corporate Profit Define Our Foreign Policy

With all the distractions it is difficult for regular folks to see the steady move toward a disastrous war with Iran. We are well on the road to upsetting the social reforms and nationalized oil resources of Venezuela (as we discussed last week). Isn't it interesting how the terrorists and our existential enemies always seem to be where there is oil. Korea fired another missile...I'm sure our response will be bellicose, despite the fact the only request they have is for us to stop military exercises around their country. This week the health insurance conflict (it's not about health care) dominated the cycle. Russiagate perks along. T-rumps cabinet cleaning has been part of the media feeding frenzy too. So the firehouse sprays and the people are too overwhelmed to see what is obvious (like our idiotic Iranian policy) and what is hidden (like the arrest of Imran Awan).