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Chris Hedges’ Address To The Peoples Party Convention Lays Out The Political Lose-Lose Reality We Face & Must Overcome

“In America you are only allowed to vote against what you hate.” Chris Hedges “We need to overthrow the system, not placate it.” Voting Green Party “I am not willing to surrender every issue I care about to become an accomplice n this moral squalor and death march to extinction. But I am also not naive enough to tell you we can win. The corporte state has built very effective mechanism of control and oppression, but these corporate forces has us by the throat and they have my children by the throat. In the end, I do not fight fascists…

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Extinction Rebellion TV Interview: Chris Hedges On Coronavirus, Climate & What Next?

  XRTV (3/28/20) A live XRTV #alonetogether interview with Chris Hedges, American journalist and author. Chris won the Pulitzer Prize while at the New York Times and has written a number of groundbreaking books on the crises we face. He will talk about the massive changes which are now upon us – why this has been coming for a long time and how it relates to the climate crisis. He will speak on what the future will look like and our responsibility to shape it into a humane outcome rather than the default of fascism which we are heading towards…


To See The Politics Clearly: Think & Talk Vertically, Not Horizontally

Thinking vertically not only has the potential to unite those who are currently divided but also empower those who are presently conquered.” “As old labels indicate, we’ve all been conditioned to think about politics horizontally, from right to left. This way of thinking needlessly divides us by magnifying our differences and glossing over our commonalities. Turn the political spectrum on its head, and think top to bottom instead of left to right, and a magical thing can happen. Picture a man and a woman. He’s white. She’s black, He’s a farmworker, she’s a childcare provider. Both are struggling to make…


New York’s Successful Socialist Slate Gives Hope & Shows The Left Needs To Think BIG

In New York, voters’ despair over Albany’s twisted politics was met with a movement of reasoned hope.  By Rachel Himes & Ansley Pentz Jacobin (8/21/20) our socialist legislators will join New York State senator Julia Salazar in Albany next year. In June, candidates backed by New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA), the nation’s largest chapter with over 5,800 dues-paying members, swept races in Brooklyn and Queens, solidifying the organization’s role as one of the most powerful forces in electoral politics in the state. In the midst of a devastating pandemic, a national uprising, and economic recession, 100,000 New…


As Congressional Republicans & Dems Dither & Dodge, A Crushing National Eviction Crisis Grows

  By Anna Bauman & Meghna Chakrabarti On Point / WBUR (8/17/20) The federal eviction moratorium has expired, yet a staggering number of Americans still can’t make rent during the pandemic. Without a safety net, are renters barreling toward an eviction crisis? Guests: Emily Benfer, law professor at Wake Forest University. Co-creator of the Eviction Lab housing policy scorecard. Chair of the American Bar Association coronavirus task force. (@emilyabenfer) Josephine Lee, organizer with El Pueblo Primero, a community-based workers’ rights group in Houston, Texas. Latisha Gonzalez, Ohio resident. Her landlord issued her an eviction notice last month. Sue Long, On Point listener. Small-scale landlord. She called…


Instead Of A Much-Needed Political Revolution, Dem’s Chose Biden’s Easy Street Fantasy

  “If the Sanders-Biden battle was perceived as a choice between Sanders’s daunting promise of an exhausting revolutionary struggle and Biden’s promise of a glide path back to normal, then it’s no mystery why Biden ultimately prevailed. Easy street was an understandably alluring vision for an electorate already tired out by Trump’s never-ending conflicts and controversies. “In reality, though, this was not a choice between two possibilities — it was a choice between honesty and fantasy, and Democratic voters picked the latter. “That’s a problem, because Sanders was giving voice to truths that we cannot keep avoiding, omitting, or rejecting at…


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‘Exact Right Message’: Ed Markey’s Must-Watch 2020 Campaign Ad Praised For Hitting Trump’s Betrayal Of Social Contract

  “Can Ed Markey just take over marketing for the DNC? This pisses all over ‘build back better.’” — Amy Westerveldt, environmental journalist. By Julia Conley Common Dreams (8/14/20) With Americans demanding a “new deal” including racial justice, Medicare for All, far-reaching climate action, and an economy that works for working people, Markey positions himself as “The Green New Dealmaker” in the ad, noting his co-sponsorship of the landmark climate legislation with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). After detailing his work in the Senate during the pandemic—securing $300 million for fishing industry disaster relief in the CARES Act and rejecting Trump’s attempt to “cheap out” by…


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Building The New World We Need To Survive

“[James] Baldwin came to understand that there were some white people in America who refused to give up their commitment to the value gap. For him, we could not predicate our politics on changing their minds and souls. They had to do that for themselves. In our after times, our task, then is not to save Trump voters — it isn’t to convince them to give up their views that white people ought to matter more than others. Our task is to build a world where such a view has no place or quarter to breathe. I am aware that…


At A Time Of Historic Crisis Both Political Parties Have Abandoned All But The Wealthy

By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (8/6/20) In the midst of a deadly pandemic all the false illusions, flaws and deadly foibles of the American medical industry have been stripped bare. Before the pandemic some 30 million limped along without health insurance and many millions more had over-priced, high-deductable plans that were essentially useless, leaving many families essentially uninsured. Now, in the midst of a deadly pandemic, we have millions losing their jobs, and with that … health insurance for their families. In one of the most callously cruel acts of political malpractice ever, neither party is addressing the…


Shake Down, Strangle, Extort: We Either Take On The Tech Mob Now Or Perish

Jeff Bezos’ wealth apparently grew by $11 million while he sat before Congress mumbling at his desk.  By Laura Flanders Common Dreams (8/1/20) Six months into a global pandemic, the US economy just took its most grievous hit on record, while Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook only added wealth. In just three months, April through June, so many workers were furloughed, laid off or forced to work and school from home, that the economy shriveled by 32.9% or almost a third. While the US was tanking, Amazon’s share price rose by half, and Facebook’s growth rate approached 60%. If we think inequality was…


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For Protesters To Getting Out Of Jail Requires Relinquishing Personal Constitutional Rights

  “Defendant Shall Not Attend Protests.” By Dara Lind ProPublica (7/28/20) Federal authorities are using a new tactic in their battle against protesters in Portland, Oregon: arrest them on offenses as minor as “failing to obey” an order to get off a sidewalk on federal property — and then tell them they can’t protest anymore as a condition for release from jail. Legal experts describe the move as a blatant violation of the constitutional right to free assembly, but at least 12 protesters arrested in recent weeks have been specifically barred from attending protests or demonstrations as they await trials…


Firsthand Account Of Medic Injured By Federal Goons In Portland

Despite all the violence and injuries and pain, people aren’t scared. We believe that we will win, and there is solace in that certainty. By Nate Cohen Facebook Post (7/27/20) Hey all, So update from the Portland front. Before I go any further I want to say that I’m gonna be ok and it was close but I am luckily not critically injured. And Black Lives Matter. Feel free to share this post. A little after 1 AM last night the feds decided to try and push Portland out of the park across from the courthouse (which has been the…


Unscrewing America: Mike McCabe’s Guide To Much-Needed Hope & Pathways To National Renewal

“We don’t need to worry about greatness. We do need to concentrate on goodness, now more than ever.” By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (7/27/20) After reading a firsthand account of a university professor shot in the head and a Vietnam veteran sprayed in the face with some kind of debilitating spray by government storm troopers in Portland in the past day or two,  it is a bit of a task to find something positive; something hopeful. Fortunately, Mike McCabe’s latest book “Unscrewing America: Hints And Hopes From The Heartland” is filled with examples of practical hope. McCabe, who…


EMERGENCY PODCAST SYSTEM — Report From 17 Year-Old Journalist On The Front Lines In Portland

By Michael Moore Rumble (7/23/20) What happens when a neo-fascist President and his thuggish Attorney General send armed federal agents and combat troops to one of the most progressive, politically active and creative American cities? We’re watching it take place in Portland, Oregon: citizens using leaf blowers to successfully redirect tear gas back at the Feds; a Wall of Moms “dressed like they’re going to Target” and wearing bike helmets, putting their bodies on the line to protect the protestors; a “Naked Athena” sitting nude in the middle of the street, doing a yoga pose in a show of power…


‘Black Lives Matter’ Is About Far More Than The Police

Let’s make sure that Black life matters at every stage and in every facet of society, well before a cop has his knee on a man’s neck. By Patrisse Cullors ACLU (6/23/20) Every time another Black person is murdered by the police, it’s easy to point to a single officer as the culprit. George Floyd was killed under the knee of officer Derek Chauvin — we saw it ourselves. But Chauvin is just one officer in a culture of police violence, and policing is just one of the systems responsible for taking Black lives. COVID-19 exposed a number of the…


The Truth About The Confederacy & Slavery In The United States: ‘Our history has been stolen from us.’

Monumental Obscenity Hiding In Plain Sight: This is a memorial in Arlington National Cemetery to traitorous Confederate troops who killed American soldiers. This would be like having a Nazi memorial in Arlington. (National Park Service photo.) It is time to remove the monuments honoring murderous traitors, terrorists, rapists, torturers and war criminals. By Mark L. Taylor Commoner Call (6/29/20) My first fascination with history came in third grade when I first learned about the Civil War. I had Civil War blue and gray toy soldiers. My mother got me a book on the Civil War that I would get lost…


Ten Things Complicit Dems Could Do Right Now — If They Truly Wanted To Stop Trump’s Power Grab

In the lead up to the protests, Democratic congressional leaders had been pushing to fortify Trump’s police powers. [Editor’s Note: The author, David Sirota, is the speech writer Bernie Sanders threw overboard to pacify the DNC corporate dems. — Mark L. Taylor] By David Sirota TMI (6/2/20) Donald Trump yesterday deployed federal police to attack peaceful protesters, all to stage a photo op of himself threatening to militarily invade his own country. In response, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer issued a press release, and promised no real action to do anything, days after House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer declared that the U.S….


MLK Identified ‘America’s Triplets’ — Racism, Yes, But What About Our Militarism & Materialism?

We are now a nation of citizen-consumers, held in thrall to the extreme materialism that Dr. King decried. By Andrew Bacevich TomDispatch (6/23/20) In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Americans are finally—or is it once again?—confronting the racism that afflicts this country and extends into just about every corner of our national life. Something fundamental just might be happening. Yet to state the obvious, we’ve been here before. Mass protests in response to racial inequality and discrimination, including police brutality, have been anything but unknown in the United States. Much the same can be said of riots targeting black…


Wake Up: New Campaign Prepares Mass Mobilization Should Trump Refuse To ‘Leave Willingly’ If Defeated In November

  Be prepared. Our democracy depends upon it. By Jake Johnson Common Dreams (6/12/20) “I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election… if I win.” That was then-candidate Donald Trump’s message to his supporters and the nation just a month before his victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. Four years later, with less than five months to go until the 2020 presidential election, progressive advocacy groups are preparing to mobilize millions of people should Trump lose to presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and refuse to accept the results. On Friday, Stand Up America and Indivisible launched a…


Pipeline Protests Used As Excuse For Cynical Sneak Attack Attack On Our First Amendment Rights

By Alan Neuhauser U.S. News & World Report (6/6/20) LAWMAKERS IN TEXAS passed a bill last month that they say will speed the construction of some 11,000 miles of pipeline by 2050 that is needed to keep the state’s oil boom going: Any protester who blocks or otherwise “interferes” with the construction of an oil and gas pipeline, transmission line or other “critical infrastructure” project will face up to 10 years in prison – the same sentence given to some sex offenders, triggermen in driveby shootings and other felonies. The bill is expected to be signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. If he does,…


Forward This On To Your Activist Contacts! Your First Amendment Right To Record The Police

By Sophia Cope & Adam Schwartz Electronic Frontier Foundation (6/8/20) Like the rest of the world, we are horrified by the videos of George Floyd’s murder. Once again, police brutality was documented by brave bystanders exercising their First Amendment rights. Their videos forcefully tell a painful truth that has further fueled a movement to demand an end to racism and abuse of power by police officers. Recordings of police officers, whether by witnesses to an incident with officers, individuals who are themselves interacting with officers, or by members of the press, are an invaluable tool in the fight for police accountability. Often,…


Out Of Bizness: American Freedom Succumbs To Corporate Takeover

  Any smug assumptions that we are somehow immune to the cult of authoritarian manipulation and triumph has disappeared in a fog of pepper spray. By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (6/8/20) For Americans who like to assure themselves that somehow we are exceptional; that our supposedly democratic institutions and principles are a vaccine against the virus of authoritarianism, this past week has revealed we are as vulnerable to tyranny as any poverty-crippled third world nation. Our dank, corrupted institutions have proven to be beyond brittle. Any smug assumptions that we are somehow immune to the cult of authoritarian…


Online Database Has 426 Videos Of Police Attacking & Brutalizing George Floyd Protestors

  By Daniel Villarreal The New Civil Rights Movement (6/6/20) The nationwide protests against police violence have created numerous instances of police violence. As hundreds of thousands have non-violently protested without incident, they’re capturing police attacks against demonstrators on camera, and now there’s a database where you can watch them all. Lawyer T. Greg Doucette and mathematician Jason Miller have placed these clips into a public Google Sheet entitled “GeorgeFloyd Protest – police brutality videos on Twitter.” It contains links to at least 426 videos of police violence committed in cities across the United States. “[The videos] come in from…


The Rebellion: Defense Of Black Lives Is Rooted In U.S. History. So, Too, Is Trump’s Authoritarian Rule

  By Jeremy Scahill Intercepted (6/3/20) DONALD TRUMP IS threatening to escalate the violent crackdown on national protests against police killings of African Americans. This week on Intercepted: With the threat of a widespread military deployment in U.S. cities looming, the president is acting as an authoritarian dictator. Keisha Blain, author of “Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom,” discusses the history of black rebellion against police violence, the deadly “Red Summer” of 1919, and the life of journalist Ida B. Wells. Blain, a history professor at the University of Pittsburgh, also discusses the context…


Pentagon War Game Includes Military Response To Possible Domestic ‘Gen Z’ Rebellion

Plotting war against our children. [Editor’s Note: Here’s a radical idea for all those geniuses planning out warfare against our children: How about addressing the very real issues they are facing that you think could lead to rebellion? If you ever thought the military was for our defense, think again. As we saw in D.C. this past week, it is solely an instrument of the bipartisan corporatocracy. — Mark L. Taylor] By Nick Turse Intercept (6/6/20) IN THE FACE of protests composed largely of young people, the presence of America’s military on the streets of major cities has been a controversial development. But this isn’t…


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James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time”

From thepostarchive This is the full audio book of James Baldwin’s the Fire Next Time (1963) read by Jesse L. Martin. It contains two essays: “My Dungeon Shook — Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation,” ( 0:00 – 12:00 ) and “Down At The Cross — Letter from a Region of My Mind” ( 12:00 – ). Check out this playlist of other Baldwin videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list… Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair…


VIDEO: I.F. Stone’s One Weird Trick To Do Great Journalism

  By Jon Schwartz The Intercept (5/7/15) I.F. Stone was arguably the greatest investigative journalist of the last 100 years, the “Patron Saint of Bloggers” and one of the main inspirations of “Unofficial Sources.” If you already know and love Stone, check out parts one (above) and two (below) of a new video, “The Legacy of I.F. Stone.” If you don’t know Stone but want to find out why he’s so beloved, the videos describe his approach and some of his accomplishments. They also feature Michael Moore, Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill explaining why they love him. Most important is Stone’s bedrock principle: reporters should start from the presumption that powerful…


Mike McCabe: Another Sign Politics Have Failed Us All

Something’s got to give. By Mike MCabe Janesville Gazette (5/23/20) Even a simple act like wearing a face mask while out in public during a pandemic is fast being weaponized politically. Polling shows a significant and growing gap in mask usage among Republicans and Democrats as masks have begun to be seen on the right as a symbol of passively submitting to government authority, while on the left they are seen as a sign of compassion or consideration of others. Heaven help us. When the decision whether or not to take a widely recommended precaution during a public health emergency…


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Four Dead In Ohio: What The Kent State Massacre Meant For The Left

Remembrance is one thing, truth another. [Editor’s Note: A treacherous case of state murder, plain and simple. The intentional division and stirring of hate and racism by the Nixon administration is now SOP — Standard Operating Procedure — by the government. Note, one of the lessons of Kent State is to document any protest — now with cell phone video. — Mark L. Taylor] By Michael Goldfarb 1A / NPR (5/21/20) May 4th 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the Kent State massacre in Ohio. On the day the shootings occurred, Michael Goldfarb was in his second year at another university…


Chris Hedges On Biden vs. Trump, Bernie Sanders, Corporate Media, Assange & The Empty Shell Of The American Left

  “What is the response? It is to recover a new militancy where we recognize that our planet will not be saved and our democracy will not be restored through existing political systems.” acTVism Munich (5/5/20) In this interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author Chris Hedges, we discuss his past work as a foreign correspondent with the New York Times and why he chose to quit. In addition, we compare Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the context of domestic and foreign policy with a focus on Europe. Lastly we explore the importance of economic…


Building The General Strike Movement To Challenge & Change Our Brutal Political & Economic System

Constantly changing in response to new situations makes it more difficult for law enforcement, the government, and corporations to predict what the movement will do. By Kevin Zeese & Margaret Flowers Popular Resistance (5/3/20) Now that May Day is behind us, we must build the General Strike campaign. The next strike day, June 1, should be the culmination of a month of working toward the day of action.  This is the responsibility of everyone involved in the General Strike movement. Join the next Popular Resistance General Strike call on Thursday, May 28 at 7:00 pm Eastern. Register at bit.ly/MayDayMeeting. This is an ongoing campaign….


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WORKER STRIKES! The Only Tool Left To Resist Corporate Terrorism On American Families

  By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (5/11/20) One of the best new sources on the failing of the liberal elite and even many elected progressives will not be found on MSNBC or any of the big players in other perches in the mainstream corporate media. no, some of the best news and commentary is to be found on the Jimmy Dore Show, a daily independent, viewer-supported YouTube broadcast. A self-described “Jagoff Comedian”, Dore has a brash — and at times, yes, profane — ‘take-no-prisoners’ approach to the news honed by 30 years of being a night club entertainer…


Capitalism And The Empty Illusion Of American Democracy

Neoconservative foreign policy— support for right-wing coups abroad, stealth wars and the consolidation of power in the U.S. presidency, are matched through neoliberal support for Wall Street and austerity programs. By Rob Urie Counterpunch (4/24/20) Something to consider while suffering through the daily barrage of fabulist blather from Donald Trump is that if the Democrats thought it would benefit their cause, they would be putting Joe Biden front and center to counter this pain. That they aren’t suggests that they understand exactly how politically tenuous Mr. Biden is. In turn, that Joe Biden is their choice suggests that all isn’t…


What True Leadership In Crisis Sounds Like

Campaign button from FDR’s 1932 campaign. “Out of every crisis, every tribulation, every disaster, mankind rises with some share of greater knowledge, of higher decency, of purer purpose…. I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people. Let us all here assembled constitute ourselves prophets of a new order of competence and of courage. This is more than a political campaign; it is a call to arms. Give me your help, not to win votes alone, but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own people.” — Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s speech accepting the…


Getting Mentally Grounded For More Covid-19 Uncertainty: ‘Focus on right now’

  “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end … with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality.” — US Navy Vice Admiral James Stockdale By Adrienne Matei The Guardian (5/2/20) Time is humanity’s ultimate organizing principle, and many, myself included, have longed for a neat finale during this pandemic – a day we can patiently wait for, when this will all be over. At first, political authorities in many countries spoke of societal lockdown in terms of weeks – a challenge, yes, but a manageable one; there are even those who treated…


A Letter From Henry David Thoreau To Literature Faculties At Cushy Liberal Arts Schools

“Who’s laughing now, assholes?” By Ron Fein McSweeney’s (4/29/20) Dear Professors — It’s been a minute, right? A few months ago, you were talking smack about my year in a cabin. Now you’re trapped in your condo in Yonkers or the backside of Amherst or wherever, and you’d trade it in a heartbeat for 150 square feet and a whole forest full of owls and frogs and shit. Don’t play dumb, bruh. You’ve spent most of your short career trash talking me. Every damn fall, you tell your first-year Am Lit seminar that I’m completely full of shit. You stand…


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‘I struck a nerve’: The Comedian Whose Rant Against Bipartisan Congressional Bailouts Of Corporations & Bilionaires Went Viral

  “That video isn’t an act, that’s coming from the heart and soul. It resonated with working people because we have no voice in this country.” By Poppy Noor The Guardian (4/24/20) Vic DiBitetto is a performer, so he’s used to drawing in big crowd – but he didn’t quite expect that a recent video he made would be viewed over 10m times. The near five-minute rant about the government’s response to the coronavirus shows DiBitetto, a New Yorker, enunciating so much that spit flies around him in the car. His face is red and he barely finishes a sentence…


The Brutal Bipartisan Betrayal — If You Are Not In The 1% Or A Major Corporation Do Not Expect Any Meaningful Help From Congress

No meaningful care will come from congress or the White House. [Editor’s Note: The following is commentary I made in the April 24 broadcast of the ‘Month In Review’ on the community-supported radio station WDRT. In the face of a frightening public health emergency, both Republicans and Democrats have — for all practical purposes — abandoned the people. — Mark L. Taylor] By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (4/27/20) One positive thing the pandemic has done is it has stripped bare the inequity and corruption of  both political parties and made clear the job of the government is not…


Martin Luther King On Dithering White Liberal Centrists

“I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree…


So, Joe, If You Want My Vote, It’s Simple… Come And Get It

You have six months to understand that without our slice of the electorate, you lose. By Tom Crofton Commoner Call (4/20/20) So come and get me As a conscientious voter who started this election cycle with clear standards of whom to support, I am left with no one from the blue side who meets my criteria. As 20 some candidates threw in their hats, I said a massive program to address climate change ( the Green New Deal) and single payer health care with no private insurance (Medicare for All) were the cleavers to divide the field. The early debate…