THE EARTHIAN FORUM — 11

THE EARTHIAN FORUM, Number Eleven, Effective Learning Publications,  http://www.effectivelearning.net/effective-learning-publications.html   32 East Main Street, Statesboro, Georgia, USA, August 24, 2019

THE EARTHIAN FORUM is a digest of articles containing facts, analyses, perspectives, and recommendations concerned about existential states of affairs affecting all species of fauna and flora around Spaceship Earth. Recent articles written and published by writers in Internet publications on ecological, economic, social, political, religious, and military states of affairs around Spaceship Earth are linked below as sources.

“ASK LESS WHAT YOUR NATION CAN DO FOR YOU—ASK MORE WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR SPACESHIP EARTH”

OR SO IT SEEMS TO ME RIGHT NOW

By Richard John Stapleton, PhD, CTA, Editor & Publisher

Kurt Vonnegut, the author of Slaughterhouse-Five, once said, “Hell is waking up one morning and realizing your senior class in high school is now running the United States.” 

Vonnegut was a staff writer for the daily newspaper of his high school where he became a relative expert on high school politics.  I can’t remember whether my high school newspaper was a weekly or monthly, but for sure it was not a daily.  I published one article in it titled “Christianity—The Key to Success,” in which I asserted if you followed the teachings of Jesus in the Bible you would go to heaven, which was guaranteed success.  I have no idea what my high school readers if any thought about the article, but my grandfather, a Methodist minister, liked the piece, telling me he was surprised that I would write an article on religion.

My idea of success in my high school Christianity article was most likely not what most students in my high school considered success.  Most likely the most desired forms of success for them were getting elected president of the senior class and being popular, being recognized in the yearly Annual for it and getting voted things such as most handsome or most beautiful, most congenial, or most likely to succeed. Things like being the class valedictorian or salutatorian counted as success but not as much as getting elected class president or most handsome or most beautiful.  Me, I got voted most athletic, a desirable form of high school success, requiring little or no political ability.

It seems to me the brightest and the best are generally not elected to high offices in high schools or in US governments, state or national. The main thing that counts is popularity, caused by reverberating the characteristics, beliefs, behaviors, and narcissistic desires of the majority of voters.  

In recent decades in the US we have had people like Truman, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and Trump elected presidents.

Instead of getting the brightest and best as class presidents of the US we have gotten some of the worst morally and ethically.

Jimmy Carter was a notable exception being one of the brightest and best intellectually and a good role model morally and ethically.

And now, the Democratic Party establishment (the DNC) and corporate media, such as CNN, want and are favoring and promoting in various ways – Joe Biden – for class president, calling him the “Frontrunner” and so on in debates, when there are other Democratic candidates who are brighter and better—Sanders, Warren, Gabbard, Yang—as anyone can see in the televised debates. 

Apparently the DNC and the Deep State, including corporate media such as CNN, consider Sanders, Warren, Gabbard, and Yang to be too intelligent, moral, and ethical to be president of the US.

Kurt Vonnegut was obviously a good student in high school, going on to Cornell, majoring in chemistry.  He learned how to write novels on his own and became famous largely because of his accidental experiences in World War II, where as a scout in the US Army he wandered into enemy territory and got captured by Germans, who sent him to Dresden where they forced him to work as a slave. 

Dresden while Vonnegut was there became a literal hell on Earth when British and USian bombers firebombed the city back into the Stone Age, killing twenty-some-odd thousand helpless civilians, leveling and burning all buildings, homes, and infrastructure of one of the most beautiful cities on Earth. 

Vonnegut survived because his German captors had accidentally assigned him to work in an underground meat storage locker.  Imagine what it was like when he got out of there into the light of day after the bombing.  That experience in Dresden is what made him famous, causing him to write Slaughterhouse-Five.

The Dresden slaughterhouse was set afire by the British and USians hoping to hasten the end of WWII, thus reducing their military casualties.  The Germans would have done the same thing to them if they could have, having tried by dropping bombs on London from airplanes, and shooting rockets over the English Channel into London, but the Germans could never develop the concentrated firepower required to ignite slaughterhouses like Dresden, or Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, destroyed by the USians for the same reason, to shorten the war and minimize US casualties.

As described in more detail in an article by Paul Street linked below the US created additional slaughterhouses similar to Dresden after WWII in North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Middle East and elsewhere, trying to bomb these cultures back into the Stone Age, a phrase published in mainstream media and widely quoted, attributed to US Air Force General Curtis LeMay. 

Hopefully there will never be another human slaughterhouse ignited, burned, and destroyed by US bombing, and USians will never experience one in the US.

The US is now the undisputed Earthian military superpower, now spending as much money per year on military personnel, equipment, and bombs (including nuclear bombs) as the next eight major countries combined, some one trillion dollars this year.

Hopefully all these military expenditures will be wasted, and no more wars will be waged, especially those with human slaughterhouses caused by bombing. 

Unfortunately the US Deep State needs enemies to justify its military revenues and expenses, and some of its members probably feel a little guilty spending as much money as they do on warfighting equipment and personnel with no serious wars being fought.  How could there be any serious enemies?  Any nation on Earth would have to be a fool to militarily attack the US in a serious war. 

Because of Russia’s geographic size they are still the best prospective enemy, and the US Deep State still tries to make Russia out to be a formidable military threat in mainstream media, which they definitely are not, if the US leaves them alone.  On the other hand, there are some other military enemy prospects out there the US Deep State can possibly use to build up business and maintain revenues, namely China, Iran, and Venezuela.

Russia’s economy is about one-tenth the size of the USian economy, not much in terms of GDP, but they are in relatively good shape financially, with a much lower debt to GDP ratio than the US, a much better trade balance, and a budget surplus; and they still have hundreds of nuclear weapons left over from their Soviet Union days; and they could, if they wanted to, bomb the US back into the Stone Age with them, creating human slaughterhouses in the US.

Nuclear slaughterhouse war is one thing; global warming and climate change is another. 

Despite having been told over and over that global warming and climate change can lead to human extinction around Spaceship Earth within twenty years, it appears about half of all voters and their elected leaders in the US are determined to ignore the possibility and do away with as many environmental protection laws, rules, and procedures as possible.  

As anyone should know overpopulation is a major cause of global warming, since breeding more humans requires producing more goods and services to feed, clothe, house, and medically treat the additional humans, which requires igniting and burning more fossil fuel that causes increased global warming. 

A logical peaceful way to reduce global warming is to reduce the human population around Earth through natural attrition, natural deaths exceeding births, and the way to make this happen is to use better birth control procedures.

Unfortunately, another way to correct the overpopulation problem would be a nuclear war, which hopefully will never happen.

Regardless, voters and politicians in state after state in the US are voting for laws that could cause the human population to increase, making it harder and harder for women to have abortions, trying to force some women to birth unwanted (for any reason) children.  Advocating in effect for no birth control at all, demonstrators recently pictured on page one of our local newspaper carried signs saying that god should plan parenthood, as the crowd crowed about a new recently passed restrictive state abortion law that will reduce the freedom, dignity, and peace of mind of many thousands of women and men.

Forcing by law mothers (and fathers) to birth unwanted children—with many such parents being unable to satisfy requisite emotional, intellectual, physical, and psychological needs of a child—is cruel and inhumane—since it causes to be brought into this cold, cruel, precarious world defenseless unprotected children, who through no fault of their own will be conditioned and shaped by crippling economic, social, and psychological forces, traumas, and messages that will cause them problems as long as they live. 

So the ethical and moral thing to do is prevent unwanted human children from being birthed to parents not wanting children by making abortions and other birth control procedures readily accessible by law. 

It seems to me few Earthians are worse off than human children forced to live with parents who do not want and, worse, who do not like children, such as, for example, people depicted and represented by Jonathan Swift, W.C. Fields, and Joan Crawford.. 

And, yes, as Kurt Vonnegut pointed out, it is hell to wake up one morning and realize your senior class in high school is now running the United States—by voting into office their friends who they know will vote for things such as getting rid of environmental and social laws protecting the environment and children, as if they want all Earthians to endure short, hard, brutish, precarious lives.

Hundreds of Earthian species are now going extinct every year, largely caused by the burgeoning human species. It’s time humans took a little pity on all Earthian species of fauna and flora, a significant percentage of whom/which they are now rendering extinct, possibly including themselves.

We live in precarious times, but it will do little good to play AIN’T IT AWFUL, a psychological Game identified and labeled by transactional analysts,  https://itaaworld.org/  , in which psychological Game players collect strokes by constantly complaining about the evils and troubles of the cold cruel world, positioning themselves as Victims of obsolete economic, religious, political, and family systems manipulated and exploited by greedy self-interested power-mad sociopathic oligarchs and leaders and parents and their corrupt bought and paid for lackeys, especially lobbyists and politicians, however awful that might be in reality.

At the same time, it will do no good for Earthians to stick their heads in the sand to passively pretend everything is just hunky-dory and swell, with everything coming up roses for everyone, living in small imaginary Candide-like best of all possible worlds, playing a psychological Game labeled GREENHOUSE by transactional analysts, in which players are rewarded with plastic (fake) strokes (units of recognition) for making nonsensical positive cheerful upbeat comments about the environment and political, economic, social, and psychological states of affairs.

For at least two centuries humans have lived under the illusion that technology and labor-saving devices, new chemical applications in agriculture (fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides), and new scientific discoveries of all sorts would enable them to live happily ever after, while producing as many offspring as they wished, thereby increasing the world human population without limit, despite the admonitions of humans like Thomas Malthus, an English parson, who published in 1798 “An Essay on the Principle of Population” containing an idea that has been widely circulated in various media ever since, known as the Malthusian Concept, namely that the human population grows geometrically while the human food supply grows arithmetically, and therefore most humans were doomed to suffer food shortages, poverty, subsistence living, and premature deaths.  Up until the last few years economists have generally said that Malthus was wrong, arguing that technology, chemical agriculture, better seeds, and better irrigation would enable an ever-increasing human population to be adequately fed and housed indefinitely. Unfortunately it now appears that Malthus was right after all. World hunger, poverty and misery are increasing, even in the United States; and, even worse, some forms of technology, while improving the lives of most humans in the short run, have led them down a path to possible extinction, namely electricity and the internal combustion engine used to power billions of cars, trucks, motorcycles, riding lawn mowers, tractors, airplanes, boats, ships, houses, refrigerators, central heating and cooling systems, factories, computers, and what have you around Earth, requiring the ignition and burning of many millions of barrels, cubic feet, and tons of fossil fuel (oil, gas, and coal) every day as an energy source, the burning of which is causing global warming and climate change by putting ever more tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into Earth’s atmosphere. All forms of technology are not good things; and humans must now learn how to use good technology instead of bad technology, however addicted to bad technology they may be; and the Earthian human population should be peacefully reduced through natural attrition, natural deaths exceeding births, thereby reducing the need for humans to destroy Earthian habitats, unnecessarily deplete resources, and burn more fossil fuel to sustain the Earthian human population, in the short run, irrespective of long run consequences. Bringing that about will require many different kinds of changes not only in technologies and in the beliefs and behaviors of human individuals but especially in the behavior of large human institutions controlled and manipulated by deluded self-interested sociopaths. The situation is especially ominous when one considers that if humans were to give up all their addictions to bad technology cold turkey they would immediately cause an economic and political catastrophe of unimaginable proportions, possibly an earlier extinction than would otherwise have been the case. Humans are cornered or trapped in a Global Catch-22 or Gordian Knot—in a damned-if-they-do-and-damned-if-they-don’t situation—and there are no easy answers for getting loose.

For more information regarding the relevance of Transactional Analysis go to  https://www.itaaworld.org/  .

To create better discussion groups and democratic processes read my book Born to Learn:  A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning https://www.amazon.com/Born-Learn-Transactional-Analysis-Learning/dp/0692584331   .

For more information on how to co-construct better organizations and economic systems read my book   Business Voyages:  Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds   at https://www.amazon.com/Business-Voyages-Schemata-Discovering-Co-Constructing/dp/1413480810  .

To see what I personally think should be done to correct the US economically and politically in the short run given the current US Constitution see my platform for my own political party the FreeFairProgressParty at http://www.effectivelearning.net/freefairprogressparty.html .

See my article “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.” http://www.effectivelearning.net/spaceship-earth–inc..html    for some management science ideas on how human Earthians might eventually co-construct an economic system that is viable and satisfying for everyone.   

TO RESPOND:

It’s not easy, impossible some say, to separate relevant from irrelevant focal points in order to comprehend global cases, systems, and processes, while being inundated with fake news and true facts of states of affairs generated daily around Spaceship Earth, made public on the Internet, and elsewhere, to see what’s really going on.

If you have ideas on how to democratically discuss in Game-free ways environmental, economic, social, and political problems and opportunities in something like the Ogeechee Economic Forum http://www.effectivelearning.net/ogeechee-economic-forum.html go to the RESPONSES  http://www.effectivelearning.net/responses.html    page and let us know about them.

Feel free to respond with comments about any of the SOURCES listed below using the RESPONSES http://www.effectivelearning.net/responses.html page; but please refrain from making ad hominem attacks. Criticize the facts, data, evidence, reasoning, and conclusions in any of the articles; but please refrain from attacking the characteristics of the authors, illogically trying to prove their facts, reasoning, arguments and conclusions are wrong and yours are right because of their personal histories and characteristics.

I have no desire to sell subscriptions or advertising or solicit donations for THE EARTHIAN, but I would like to sell more books. If you feel you’ve gained value from THE EARTHIAN and would like to reciprocate go to our Effective Learning Publications http://www.effectivelearning.net/effective-learning-publications.html  page and purchase one or more copies of my books. 

FOR A FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO THE EARTHIAN FORUM: Email me at rjstapleton@bulloch.net and punch subscription into the subject line.

Best wishes, RJS

SOURCES:

August 30, 2019

Here is a reality check for you.

“’Child actorvism’ and the extinction agenda of neoliberal racists,” by Matthew Maavak, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27967.

August 30  

Say it aint so Joe.

“The New York Times’ propaganda war on Syria,” by Stephen Lendman, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27938.

August 30

Say it aint so Joe.

“Trump’s increasingly dangerous messiah complex demands his removal from office,” by Wayne Madsen, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27964.

August 30

Pathetic state of affairs.

“Breaking the media blackout on the imprisonment of Julian Assange,” by Minar Muhawesh, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/28005.

August 30

“Behand Islamophobia is a global movement of anti-Semites,” by Nafeez Mosaddeg Abmed, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/28011.

August 30

You don’t say.

“Liar-in-Chief Trump,” by Stephen Lendman, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/28022.

August 30

Say it aint so Joe.

“’Sociopathic disregard for our future’: Trump EPA set to gut restrictions on planet-warming methane emissions,” by Jake Johnson, INTREPID REPORT, https://www.facebook.com/richard.stapleton.397.

August 30

Unfortunately neither Sanders nor Warren are stellar on military problems.

“Are Sanders and Warren throwing a lifeline to the military-industrial complex?,” by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J S Davies, INTREPID REPORT, https://www.facebook.com/richard.stapleton.397.

August 30

Sounds like the queen is senile or she would not have sanctioned this.

“Boris Johnson Suspends Parliament Ahead of Brexit in Attack on UK Democracy,” by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, TROUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/video/boris-johnson-suspends-parliament-ahead-of-brexit-in-attack-on-uk-democracy/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR2_ysa4ikmbR7tuyTJgN-XNVovcXvCtcwPJEfaevxgB8qJOqnS3KjEjQ3U.

August 30

Yeah, right, what next?

“Probe of Missing Georgia Votes Finds Extreme Irregularities in Black Districts,” by Andrew O’Hehir, Salon, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/probe-of-missing-georgia-votes-finds-extreme-irregularities-in-black-districts/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR1QMWLKowH67_-6h0DOe-HyGC6418uByANhBGj59ZTgsXEGE-yuuPKNjcU.

August 30

Interesting, isn’t it?

“Bankrupt and Irrelevant:  the Presidential Debates and Four Recent Studies on Pentagon Spending,” by Pierre Sprey, Chuck Spinney, and Winslow T. Wheeler, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/30/bankrupt-and-irrelevant-the-presidential-debates-and-four-recent-studies-on-pentagon-spending/?fbclid=IwAR1MYdC9JE19rim-cgpGY7GKqykrZP-VRmYF_EOHZ1Q6Np-fG7MhiZoH6XM.

August 29

Here’s a relevant intellectual exercise for you, crafted by Paul Street.

“Real News or Fake News,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/30/real-news-or-fake-news/?fbclid=IwAR2EC2gIDmTDcHl9t2XsVJsY2pLzE3_2hDMb-Ba0Yf6nL4oiJOQSBNwIQmg.

August 29

Yeah, well, maybe, maybe not, who knows.

“Futurist Predicts Cyborgs Will Rise As ‘Our Supremacy…is Rapidly Coming To An End,” by Marc Slavo, SHTFPLAN.COM, https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/futurists-prediction-cyborgs-will-rise-as-our-supremacy-is-rapidly-coming-to-an-end_08282019.

August 29

Here’s an interesting and challenging video by James Corbett about what your eyes and ears can believe and not believe about fake news and conspiracy theories. Lying about something being fake news or a conspiracy theory when it’s not creates the worst kind of fake news or conspiracy theory.

August 24

For more detail on how a better world might come about using Artificial Intelligence read my article “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth” by clicking on the Spaceship Earth, Inc. page on the Effective Learning Report masthead..

“A.I. Is the Cause Of — And Solution to —The End of the World,” by Bryan Walsh, MEDIUM ONE ZERO, https://onezero.medium.com/a-i-is-the-cause-of-and-solution-to-the-end-of-the-world-2d247d37eccb.

August 24

As it’s happened before.

“How Human Collapse Could Really Happen,” by Phil Torres, MEDIUM ONE ZERO, https://onezero.medium.com/how-human-collapse-could-really-happen-8f26bcf0866d.

August 24

Good news and bad news in this one.

“Could Climate Change Really End the World?, by Bryan Walsh, MEDIUM ONE ZERO, https://onezero.medium.com/could-climate-change-really-end-the-world-d0e7eb7f5b09.

August 23

Right wing ideology vs biology and ecology. What will lose?.

“Brazil’s regime destroying the Amazon rainforest for profit,” by Stephen Lendman, INTREPID REPORT,  http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27954.

August 23

Pathetic.  Right on.  Excellent article.

“Amazon Fires Put the Planet at Risk,” by Tierra Curry, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/23/amazon-fires-put-the-planet-at-risk/?fbclid=IwAR3J9Cv9a_iVUkyxUYhiaOrzU8UK_E2MOK1V8UQJCx46O6BmuLLm4IpLDFE.

August 23

You know what i think the overall problem is? As much as i hate to say it, it’s overpopulation and poverty. The people are so impoverished in Brazil that they cannot resist burning down the Amazon hoping for a better life, and the new right wing Bolsonaro regime is aiding and abetting the process, just as Trump is in the US. So what if it causes human extinction in the long run they seem to think.

“The Amazon is Dying and Bolsonaro is Fanning the Flames,” by Dahr Jamail, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/the-amazon-is-dying-and-bolsonaro-is-fanning-the-flames/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR3uezkMqclT3aVHW-BGw0OJJCjs8LHAkV8SdGx1y2gH1XRB6LCQKsg6DOY.

August 19

Here’s another artful, cogent, relevant article by Courtenay Barnett.

“The Epstein Disgrace in the Earthian Internet Forum of Morals and Ethics,” by Courtenay Barnett, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/the-epstein-disgrace-in-the-earthian-internet-forum-of-morals-and-ethics-an-allegory/?fbclid=IwAR1Sf10-UJUeK3xZblZ1r9L5lbiwiP7VWsCeuMnX3MwqTQHt4AjIX3H6f6Q.

August 22

Sad but generally true.

“What globalism did was to transfer the US economy to China,” by Paul Craig Roberts, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27940.

August 22

A bad deal.

“Offering Choice But Delivering Tyranny:  The Corporate Capture of Agriculture,” by Colin Todhunter, COUNTERPUNCH, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27940.

August 22

Excellent article.

“Endangerd Species Act:  A Failure Worth Fighting For?,” by Craig Collins, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/21/endangered-species-act-a-failure-worth-fighting-for/?fbclid=IwAR2r8PMfwU-6Q872qKJogrtMi4isMPep5dfqnOHVdqi5JZlNgkY8GMz3MnQ.

August 22

Sure looks that way.

“Sanders And Bezos’s Shared, Debilitating Basic Premise,” by Clark T. Scott, COUONTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/22/sanders-and-bezoss-shared-debilitating-basic-premise/?fbclid=IwAR3Gaz7eoZAjEpCgaTRdw4JLBcFHzSZUNA5GuCBNGJmoxgmLW-b-YjNL1u0.

August 22

Right on.

“Breaking the Web of Life,” by George Ochenski, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/22/breaking-the-web-of-life/?fbclid=IwAR1Z8Ja7NoiVn-NRTnRgC5Ud8Vi6ZcX_9efj42BlvlWG55gMG-0Tb0Jgezs.

August 22

Best plan I’ve seen yet.

“Sanders Unveils Plan Detailing 10-Year Mobilization to Avert Climate Catastrophe,”  by Jake Johnson, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/sanders-unveils-plan-detailing-10-year-mobilization-to-avert-climate-catastrophe/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR3kOLk_xfKtnFmAD_MASjxuaoDOTS7P4_sPQF38SwRuGVe34geEz732sRY.

August 22

Yuk.

“The ‘Lungs Of The Earth’ Are Being Burned Away As Unprecedented Wildfires Absolutely Ravage The Planet, By Michael Snyder, END OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-lungs-of-the-earth-are-literally-being-burned-away-as-unprecedented-wildfires-absolutely-ravage-our-planet.

August 22

First time I have heard anyone mention “aggregate demand” in some time, that is, putting money in the hands of consumers who will spend the money on real goods, which is the problem. Lowering taxes do not increase aggregate demand because the rich use the extra cash to buy stock or bonds and the poor do not get enough extra cash from the tax cuts to make any difference after they spend the money. Lowering interest rates will not help increase aggregate demand if lower income people are already maxed out on their credit cards and they cannot pay back other types of bank loans for lack of income, and even if lower interest rates cause the rich to borrow more they will use the proceeds to purchase stock or bonds.

“Larry Summers Comes Clean Ahead of J-Hole, Admits Central Planners Are Impotent,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-22/larry-summers-comes-clean-ahead-j-hole-admits-central-planners-are-impotent?fbclid=IwAR36Y9rIY4Js74O6ZN4lNzPErLZGeHVCAXedKzz0IyRJxNZQP7yAX50HmEs.

August 22

Say it aint so Joe.

“The Man Who Predicted The Collapse in Bond Yields Reveals What Happens Next: ‘There is a lot more to come’ ,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-22/man-who-predicted-collapse-bond-yields-reveals-what-happens-next-there-lot-more?fbclid=IwAR27EfzCaXJ4v6cdtHBxIVs0wXYpiBdcp1gsPMt2OR4gNIc-p5qwNDAjfhw.

August 22

The Russians beat the US into space with their Sputnik satellite in 1958. They’ve beat the US in space again with their robot. Using solar panels to recharge batteries in robots is about the only way I can see sentient biological creatures could examine other planets harboring biological life outside their own solar systems—using robots staying in space many years traveling scores of light years.

“Russia sends its first humanoid robot Fedor into space,” by Maria Antonova, YAHOO.COM, https://news.yahoo.com/russia-send-fedor-first-humanoid-robot-space-020751065.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=fb.

August 22

Amazing it’s not higher.

“AP-NORC poll:  62% disapprove of how Trump’s handling his job,” by Steve Peoples and Hannah Fingerhut, ASSOCIATED PRESS, https://apnews.com/1ad13f32984a4480a45738ead2b4c0d8?fbclid=IwAR1WQ04uIMvQQn7a2GkKOyrH68-i6OXYmZmON-sEooGiyGmwqViRATuip70.

August 21

Say it aint so Joe.

“American capitalism is based on plunder,” by Paul Craig Roberts, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27903.

August 21

Sounds pretty darn right on and prescient to me.

“The Real Reasons Why The Media is Suddenly Admitting To the Recession Threat,” by Brandon Smith, ALT-MARKET.COM, http://www.alt-market.com/index.php/articles/3894-the-real-reason-why-the-media-is-suddenly-admitting-to-the-recession-threat.

August 21

Pathetic.

“’Celebriphilia’ Epidemic Sweeps Across America:  Forget Knowledge & Wisdom, Listen to the Stars,” by Michael McCaffrey, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-20/celebriphilia-epidemic-sweeps-across-america-forget-knowledge-wisdom-listen-stars?fbclid=IwAR1fa-4wtyfHE1cYGKXVAhzHURgIzYGBsB29cvNia13n7zg3H_-6lvP38_0.

August 21

So much for religious freedom in the Middle East.

“The Extinction of Christians in The Middle East,” by Giulio Meotti, GATESTONE INSTITUTE, https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14691/extinction-christians-middle-east.

August 21

Agree.

“Russia-Europe Relations Should Not Be Up in The Air,” by Brian Cloughley, STRATEGIC CULTURE.ORG, https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14691/extinction-christians-middle-east.

August 21

Yuk.

“’A Generation Without A Future,’  Milennials Struggle To Survive in Modern Hong Kong,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-21/generation-without-future-millennials-struggle-survive-modern-hong-kong?fbclid=IwAR0x8zlZJkjug3-TJ7w_49q1My4LEumY7iywV4eOwa5iH1UGwGA-8tIKNLk.

August 21

What?  You mean James Bond can’t fix things?

“No Time To Die,” by Michael Every, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-21/no-time-die?fbclid=IwAR0Y-mfyFEWAG86pBICfN64Qyfs9R08wxGCn_jUq2zM3tIiPoBrYKwLGQ_s.

August 20

Sickening though the facts of this article are, Paul Street once again paints an accurate picture of what has been and is going on with the US empire.  Another great article by Paul Street.

“Uncle Sam was Born Lethal,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/16/uncle-sam-was-born-lethal/?fbclid=IwAR2xNC2e1cL6w98aQPySscwueFn71TwRoQTJEFqgaeHo-6NNKWlwvF5R6lY.

August 19

For sure, from the git go, the US was a new nation based on conquering and supplanting a native culture, designed for European immigrants, both high and low, predicated on owning, controlling, and exploiting native and African people as enslaved primary workers, a mass migration largely caused by overpopulation and poverty in Europe, leading to what now exists, apparently unsustainable social, economic and political systems around Earth, harassed and threatened by global warming and climate change, caused by bad technology and lack of planned parenthood, causing the possibility of human extinction. Not a pretty picture.

“In order to understand the brutality of American capitalism, you have to start on the plantation.” by Matthew Desmond, NEWYORKTIMES.COM, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR0rkMesUPZHYhtrvWVU87_R2DCEf8K_BjnA4bWa3DOyUepgXQvWB9AJA8E.

August 19

Quite a statement coming from a Catholic pope.  Might cut into their market share, reducing the incentive for people to pay up.  Why go to church if there is no danger of going to hell?

“Hell does not exist, says Pope,” by The Nation Newspaper, THE NATION, https://thenationonlineng.net/hell-not-exist-says-pope/?fbclid=IwAR31d5ZYnoZlSdaV_Lv-yKkRUheoo8Npphr5ZbJYK-YwYbPMuDqj2TDz8kk.

August 19

Good article/interview.

“Russia Investigation:  Jill Stein Explains Her Relationship to Putin and Hillary Clinton,” by Alexander Nazaryan, YAHOO.COM, https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-investigation-jill-stein-explains-115002063.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=fb.

August 19

About as ignorant as it gets.

“Analysis:  Scientists decry ‘ignorance’ of rolling back species protectons in the midst of a mass extinction,” by Christopher Ingraham, WASINGTONPOST.COM, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/08/16/scientists-decry-ignorance-rolling-back-species-protections-midst-mass-extinction/?fbclid=IwAR37HTRZxaJf4WD9xW10EGWvr0iMwt2n2ciO-tVmR8DLhxSJfmmdeEnIb7w.

August 18

So he’s not that mentally competent, but will voters care? After all they voted for Reagan, Bush II, and Trump in sufficient numbers to put them into office as president.

“Joe Biden has bigger problems than just gaffes,” by Post Editorial Board, NEW YORK POST, https://nypost.com/2019/08/18/joe-biden-has-bigger-problems-than-just-gaffes/?utm_source=facebook_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site+buttons&utm_campaign=site+buttons&fbclid=IwAR3UUu-EH3cspA7v_KA72e-tjgrWpdAObnTvlcfQ6G9thuR2LLah0uF6xJY.

August 18

Are they trying to get rid of paying in cash requiring all payments to be made electronically, thereby capturing a permanent record of all transactions?

“Lost Within The Rate Cut:  The Fed’s Drive To Establish A New Payment System,” by Stephen Guinness, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-17/lost-within-rate-cut-feds-drive-establish-new-payment-system?fbclid=IwAR2oFzghBHu3AVmOu_kgT8jwEEeXXlb1kx7BwXY7vr2ubi5e_QFJ50pEdZE.

August 18

Say it aint so Joe.

“America’s Benevolent Bombing Of Serbia,” by James Bovard, RON PAUL INSTITUTE FOR PEACE AND PROSPERITY, http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2019/august/17/america-s-benevolent-bombing-of-serbia/.

August 17

Not sure I agree with this.

“Why Liberal Internationalism Has Already Lost the Global Struggle for the Future,”  by Martin Sieff, STRATEGICCULTURE.ORG,  https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/08/16/why-liberal-internationalism-has-already-lost-the-global-struggle-for-the-future/?fbclid=IwAR0F0SB3at8HPKUF0EZyCIEW6INrnNgrFfWsxOrK4yxPt180C3xaUuAS8CE.

August 16

Had no idea about this kind of pollution.

“Plastic Apocalypse:  Dangerous Microplastics Invade Alps To Artic, Found In Fresh Snow,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-15/plastic-apocalypse-dangerous-microplastics-invade-alps-artic-found-fresh-snow?fbclid=IwAR3ZvgBcC8xr4J2IamZeSozUbYTutiUROnmoiiM22x239ATL84zzodH5ieA.

August 16

Say it aint so Joe.

“US Axis of Aggression in Gulf,” by Finian Cunningham, STRATEGICCULTURE.ORG, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-15/plastic-apocalypse-dangerous-microplastics-invade-alps-artic-found-fresh-snow?fbclid=IwAR3ZvgBcC8xr4J2IamZeSozUbYTutiUROnmoiiM22x239ATL84zzodH5ieA.

August 16

Unfortunately this is relevant. Basically Ayn Rand’s philosophy is a rationalization for greed and selfishness and a total lack of empathy, such as displayed by Trump and most of his Republican supporters. There is a grain of truth in it assuming you must live in a fully dog eat dog world. Philosophically she praises objectivism and logic. Anyone smart enough to figure out a suboptimum answer logically and implements it for selfish gain, regardless of its affect on others and the total system, should be praised and rewarded. Assuming free will exists is illogical since most likely it does not exist. Ask Google about this and note the arguments for and against the idea that free will exists. Rand’s entire philosophy is illogically derived from the assumption that all people have free will. This is illogical because all things are caused, including thoughts, feelings, decisions, actions, etc. Therefore it’s all a matter of luck and no one is to be blamed or praised. The rich are merely lucky because of the cause-effect chains they inherited, not smart, or willful, and the poor are merely unlucky, having been subjected to the wrong kinds of cause-effect chains throughout their lives. Most rich people were born rich one way or another, and certainly did not get rich because of their own free will. Read my article “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.” at http://www.effectivelearning.net/spaceship-earth–inc..html for an antidote to Ayn Rand’s books and philosophy, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, all illogically based on the fallacy of free will, and read the article posted here for the author’s take on the problem. Be sure and watch and listen to the embedded 1959 video interview of Ayn Rand by Mike Wallace to get a fuller understanding of the whole problem.

“The right wing love affair with Ayn Rand ties conservatives to one of the most disturbing sociopathic killers,”  by Thom Hartmann, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27886.

August 15

The Brits under Johnson seem to be headed off the proverbial cliff.

“Brexit is Not the Holy Grail Its Supporters Are Imagining,” by Sasha Abramsky, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/brexit-is-not-the-holy-grail-its-supporters-are-imagining/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR02AKurOwKMrKMjiTEM-q8rDf6pdSHNlMCOIBJLnHJojN0awoh2anPKJ4I.

August 15

Gets to the root of the matter.

“The US Has Driven Central Americans to Flee “the Northern Triangle,” by Rebecca Gordon, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/the-us-has-driven-central-americans-to-flee-the-northern-triangle/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR38Whb7mzzLw9lUeRGSVez4rNHf68YeZHRUjAzXGQ6bCJp-IgxQVngf-N0.

August 15

Good point by the Chinese on Hillary’s dismal record on regime change effects.

“China Slams Hillary’s Regime Change Record After She Praises HK ‘Democracy’ Protests,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-15/china-slams-hillarys-regime-change-record-after-she-praises-hk-protests?fbclid=IwAR1aLDG-YPgonetyev7OUfku2zfeFudR7Q4_yT8DqCTq5j5iDDff-Nw0p-8.

August 15

Seems a mite strange.

“Whopping 18 inches of hail accumulates in parts of Michigan,” by Amanda Schmidt, ACCUWEATHER, https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/whopping-18-inches-of-hail-accumulates-in-parts-of-michigan/70009085?fbclid=IwAR1xEWIndO_zBdrXCdHR_ogzMDU5S3j4i8kj6BqHBMu5uxQrfkWYZXIrE9c.

August 14

Very sad.

“The Average U.S. Farm is $1,300,000 in Debt, And Now The Worst Farmng Crisis in Modern History Is Upon Us,” by Michael Snyder, END OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/whopping-18-inches-of-hail-accumulates-in-parts-of-michigan/70009085?fbclid=IwAR1xEWIndO_zBdrXCdHR_ogzMDU5S3j4i8kj6BqHBMu5uxQrfkWYZXIrE9c.

August 13

Are domestic terrorists modeling military attacks?

“Bodies on the ground and the rise and rise of the economic elite,” by Phil Rockstroh, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27830.

August 13

Is China winning the war of economic models?

“Neoliberalism has met its match in China,” by Ellen Brown, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27834.

August 12

Come hell or high water.

“Sea Level Rise,” by Robert Hunziker, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/13/sea-level-rise/?fbclid=IwAR34ZQ6px2l3LsJIhyeGrgZH7WxJVmS5GvYmGRq6A3JCH9bbxIgATvkDdIM.

August 13

Goes without saying.

“Killing Plants is the Fastest Way to End the World,” By Dahr Jamail, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/killing-plants-is-the-fastest-way-to-end-the-world/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR1BHBQcTVgrlCTYN_d3D8D_dAMNzkkkK0Gzl8QbwYDdugLeHgvoQLRk2YE.

August 13

David Stockman rides again.

“Stockman Slams The Risible Myth Of the Savings Glut And The Lunacy Of Sub-Zero Yields,” by David Stockman, ZEROHEDGE, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-13/stockman-slams-risible-myth-savings-glut-and-lunacy-sub-zero-yields?fbclid=IwAR1WArQyjPJUaqmgSa6KK_-FDQYPKPPlsa2gYOk9xpUa1Vwy1PsZMALpIqw.

August 13

Eerie alright.

“Russia’s space agency releases eerie footage of human-like android,” by Peter Lloyd, DAILY MAIL, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7352321/Russias-space-agency-releases-eerie-footage-human-like-android-Fedor.html?ito=facebook_share_article-factbox&fbclid=IwAR0DbJOxdyx7yea5mF6pP8hHMTj-k5M6Pjq78vn7rZ-1XKLNt3SfffmqBvg.

August 13

So it seems.

“Noam Chomsky:  Trump’s ‘Economic Boom’ is a Sham,” by C.J. Polychroniou, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/noam-chomsky-trumps-economic-boom-is-a-sham/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR00ucNhLbmqk0Lv7qh5ggSsdNr44k5DBK6qQFjpahd8mig1xgsNczl73ZE.

August 13

Remember Mike Wallace? Here is one of his greatest interviews, with one of the smartest men ever born, Aldous Huxley.

“Aldous Huxley Interview-1958 (FULL),”YOUTUBE.COM, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TQZ-2iMUR0&t=673s&fbclid=IwAR1u7-UH2ucwBp1WhDsuZBZaUoKWj7W8DriN35PVxzgRDT4iTif38ifUn9U.

August 13

Not one of the brightest and the best, but not one of the dullest and the worst.

“Greenpeace Gives Joe Biden a D- on Climate Change Report Card,”  by Ari Natter, TIME INC, https://time.com/5598313/jo-biden-climate-change-report-card/?fbclid=IwAR1c0YKRKUqxktLL-nWF8_z19ClVCYz1SSX2Lbp-Jt_FgH27pn0ehApnLXo.

August 13

A tragic story.

“The Great Land Robbery,” by Vann R. Newkirk II, THE ATLANTIC, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/09/this-land-was-our-land/594742/?utm_source=pocket-newtab&fbclid=IwAR3JdnVEbwkKUfWUy2p9pLcxKvaT5mVYZRMMzng8g0NdEMGd9u9ZxO6C55c.

August 12

Very sad.

“Farm Rot is Eating America Alive,” by Evaggelos Valliannatos, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/12/farm-rot-is-eating-america-alive/?fbclid=IwAR2hqy4u2YB52BC3DOVZC70cauNaCAp0Hm8tP1uRhfTLGivLoaZnN0l6ZuM.

August 13

Debt and more debt.

“Debt-End: ‘Everything’s Gone Alice-In-Wonderland’,” by David Hay, EVERGREEN GAVEKAL, https://blog.evergreengavekal.com/debt-end/.  

August 12

But the establishment wants lightweight Biden.

“Bernie Sanders ‘Acing the Electability Test’ as Another Poll Shows Senator Crushing Trump in General,” by Jake Johnson, COMMON DREAMS, https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/08/12/bernie-sanders-acing-electability-test-another-poll-shows-senator-crushing-trump?fbclid=IwAR3cf5xiTsmvVoJHBQo8LjEi_wkaFI9t7f2-k1nyZFJW2Z1LmQL4e64s60c.

August 12

Say it aint so Joe.

“Noam Chomsky on why the Republican Party is the most ‘dangerous organization in human history’,” by Maya Oppenheim, THE INDEPENDENT, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/noam-chomsky-republican-party-most-dangerous-organisation-human-history-us-politics-mit-linguist-a7706026.html?fbclid=IwAR0WJ8IUYaQlTBiKIyJtz7Qdof4v0Bmg617GI3wLFuDfGdesRn5GNWks9qs.

August 12

Seems foolhardy to me, like trying to start a fight.

“Washington’s Utterly Failed Diplomacy,” STRATEGIC CULTURE.ORG, https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/08/09/washingtons-utterly-failed-diplomacy/?fbclid=IwAR22GFQEPAY_eNyFtoYSctz7oqQbftfa7VKYtwtBrqki2mB0OcI1600au2M.

August 12

If there is any single technological device that could save us from global warming this is it.

“Is This The Key To Commercial Nuclear Fusion?,” by Haley Zaremba, OILPRICE.COM, https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Is-This-The-Key-To-Commercial-Nuclear-Fusion.html.

August 11

Here’s some practical observations and suggestions on what’s involved in changing life scripts. Do not assume I advocate tattoos, something I never understood, and would never do. On the other hand I agree with most of the article. Why the publisher wanted to use the embedded photo illustrating the article escapes me. Maybe it’s because tattoos like everything else are inevitable, not a function of free will. I cannot imagine what causes someone to permanently alter his or her appearance with tattoos, but something does.

“Free Will & Willpower Are Becoming a Thing of the Past. Here’s What You Can Do About It” by Benjamin Hardy, PhD, MEDIUM, https://medium.com/better-marketing/free-will-willpower-are-becoming-a-thing-of-the-past-heres-what-you-can-do-about-it-58799091fb8a.

August 10

So it seems.

“Know-nothing Americans,” by Stephen Lendman, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27746.

August 10

I too think Gabbard is the real deal. Not only do I think that but a large number of USians also think that. The Drudge Report ran a poll right after the last debate in which I participated, one of those polls in which you hit a button for the person you think won. In this poll Tulsi Gabbard won by a landslide. She received ten thousand some odd votes of twenty eight thousand hit. Yang was second with about four thousand. Biden was a distant third with two or three thousand. The rest of the twenty eight thousand were split among the rest, including Harris. It’s obvious mainstream media such as CNN and the DNC are up to their old tricks touting Biden as the “Frontrunner”, attempting to manipulate the establishment favorite into winning, by squelching the facts about Gabbard’s approval among real people in the last DNC debate.

“The Empire is coming for Tulsi Gabbard,” BY TOM LUONGO, INTRREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27787.

August 10

Yep, it does seem what they mainly want is adapted obedient sheeple. This is the same thing the Nazi and Stalinist secret police did, the same thing any corrupt dictator has done to retain his power. More freedom down the tube.

“An open invitation to tyranny,” by Paul Craig Roberts, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27798.

August 10

But, alas, dead men tell no lies.

“Politics and pedophilia: a demonic mix,” by Wayne Madsen, INTREPID REPORT, http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/27808.

August 10

After 9/11 we got TSA and Homeland Security. What’s next?

“Biden is Doubling Down on Iraq War Lies,” by Stephen Zunes, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/biden-is-doubling-down-on-iraq-war-lies/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR3nLkvLt8VzYJYCWAuhCzs-19R7wY40XWMnnMaJ2LiIuyF7725FUVhza_M.

August 10

Absolute insanity.

“The Right Wing is Trying to Make It a Crime to Oppose Fascism,” by Shane Burley, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/biden-is-doubling-down-on-iraq-war-lies/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR3nLkvLt8VzYJYCWAuhCzs-19R7wY40XWMnnMaJ2LiIuyF7725FUVhza_M.

August 10

Dead men tell no lies.

“AOC After Jeffrey Epstein Found Dead: ‘We Need Answers. Lots of them.’,” by Jim Queally, TROUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/aoc-after-jeffrey-epstein-found-dead-we-need-answers-lots-of-them/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR1Wo9UQiAj9kOEUgDIwMXYP5Hr-HagZ33g2jOMGBDWfdxoNbcgkraAQChI.

August 10

How would we know? Its easy to see if water is rising in a glass or bathtub. You can make a mark to prove where the water level once was. But how do you do that with oceans? Do you make marks on beaches? Has anyone done this in such a way as to prove anything? Seems to me anecdotal evidence from places such as South Louisiana and the Maldives Islands make the point

“Global Sea Level Rise Began Accelerating 30 Years Earlier Than Commonly Thought,” by Ayesha Tandon, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/global-sea-level-rise-began-accelerating-30-years-earlier-than-commonly-thought/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR2RkeQnaDVKsPjBeDo73V5ofW_OP5mQtSZkl4-XqUfCuqjNqWW-OHsOKKo.

August 9

Precarious times alright.

“Climate Crisis Means the Ruling Class has Failed. Can the working Class Inherit the Earth,” by Richard Moser, COUNTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/09/climate-crisis-means-the-ruling-class-has-failed-can-the-working-class-inherit-the-earth/?fbclid=IwAR1R_zocKRR5DyuuUNBVgjp817b6JYTbP9HnZM8uHzGc4z6ZBkmazs8XezI.

August 9

Another great article by Paul Street, one of the greatest writers alive. I must say I disagree with Paul Street on his basic idea, however much I like this article, namely that only a revolution can save us. Seems to me revolutions have never really solved anything. All they did was replace one set of elite rich with another. It seems to me what we need is a truly successful peaceful evolution that gets rid of the elite rich forever. Read my article “The Evolution of Spaceship Earth, Inc.,” a page listed at the top of the Effective Learning Report masthead for more information on how this might happen.

“Nothing Less Than A Revolution Can Save Us,” by Paul Street, COUONTERPUNCH, https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/08/09/nothing-less-than-a-revolution-can-save-us/?fbclid=IwAR3E4Ns_k2bfvmfoE86DWF0Q1d4zQJoXnUrGZEY_ptTvWx0eH8CjHX4WyxM.

August 9

Very sad case.

“Judge Won’t Reconsider $1,000-Per-Day Fines for Chelsea Manning,”  by Kevin Gosztola, TRUTHOUT, https://truthout.org/articles/judge-wont-reconsider-1000-per-day-fines-for-chelsea-manning/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR0nHTrs5ZJ3Ojz8GmgYZpuj3zPRqtfWGmlvEo0j2kgD4ads4zq6txkJGIk.

August 9

True there’s no free lunch but humans can increase their chances of survival by changing what they have for lunch.

“There’s No free Lunch With Climate Change,” by Bryan Walsh, MEDIUM ONE ZERO, https://onezero.medium.com/theres-no-free-lunch-with-climate-change-4b9c1e095eaa.

August 3

Go Tulsi.  Gabbard is maybe the best candidate the Demos have.

“Tulsi:  A Living Reminder of Iraq’s Liars and Apologists,” by David Masciotra, THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE, https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/tulsi-a-living-reminder-of-iraqs-liars-and-apologists/?fbclid=IwAR3D6dUSqdV_quLw-kpX0KWNvKG94DjT38aClCsZcVw-ZV-oqv5uptCDLGw.

August 3

Let’s hope not.

“Are We Heading Toward Extinction?” by Catherine Ingram, HUFFPOST, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/facing-extinction-humans-animals-plants-species_n_5d2ddc04e4b0a873f6420bd3?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003&fbclid=IwAR0Yh1o_c6GmgXcCB1DE17Q-0GZb_HsQfk1LkZfLo5Qr6aHQV3KT0GjTawk&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADR7onc0aeU-bHdhnNCl4CVfU0-SDjk94ABB3a1igbwEXVUzBEsb-ESlu9lFgNtlmp9c9r2qxzZGY4QBgghsOImP87Etu9s8vRzSwk3cMTegZQIqD15Gm5IVx4d0OoOssjLSjW_2tvnbz576qYliNjyWM56qtSpbD6Uco3yBGEpS.

August 2

More than a little truth here.

“Federal Judge John G. Koeltl Ruled Against Criminal US Government’s Attempt to Frame Julian Assange and Destroy the First Amendment,” by Paul Craig Roberts, PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL ECONOMY, https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2019/08/02/federal-judge-john-g-koeltl-ruled-against-criminal-us-governments-attempt-to-frame-julian-assange-and-destroy-the-first-amendment/?fbclid=IwAR3CqxsGbnkYTqzr5vI03TESsBb0A6er_k4tETonUaExRTgshqOEaM2_S7Q.

August 2

Did not know there was a tree planting battle against climate change, but it sounds like a good idea.

“Ethiopia is leading the tree-planting battle against climate change,”  by Charlotte Sutherland-Hawes, HOUSE AND GARDEN, https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/article/ethiopia-is-leading-the-tree-planting-battle-against-climate-change?fbclid=IwAR2OsRhlr7ksDBVWNwvBvXazqFOq_o3yf_CbSSS5wBCOcBwOJQPsS16NCt8.

August 2

An artful cogent presentation on a significant issue, by Courtenay Barnett.

“An International Prayer for Peace,” by Courtenay Barnett, EFFECTIVE LEARING REPORT, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/an-international-prayer-for-peace/?fbclid=IwAR0M2akAF7qZk4akwjZgZZFjgbBpZO3k-q65661vEwvQftUlp5LK7zqFl8g.

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THE EPSTEIN DISGRACE IN THE EARTHIAN INTERNET FORUM OF MORALS AND ETHICS—AN ALLEGORY

By Courtenay Barnett

MY CLOSING SUBMISSIONS IN THE EPSTEIN CASE – IF ONLY.

“ Ladies and Gentlemen of the Forum – we have reached the point in this case where the Defense has to state that which is thought to support the Defenses’s case; however,  we too have to be balanced and it is ultimately His Honour who holds and weighs the scale of justice with impartiality. His Honour should remind you that you are the sole Judges of the facts.

“ I shall be brief in what I have to say – but shall first preface – then deliver as succinctly as I can.

“ No doubt – most members of this Forum are high school graduates. What a coincidence – for I too managed to graduate from High School. Now, recalling all these many years ago, I do remember two types of teachers. There were the ones who took simple theorems, concepts and formulae and chose to make them complex. Then there were those who took complex theorems, concepts and formulae and chose to make them simple. Well, if I were to be a teacher I would follow the effective path of the latter. I am a lawyer – so – let me try.

“Mr. Epstein was charged, before his death, for the offences you shall have to consider when you deliberate. Like the non-complex teacher – all that is alleged there is clear and simple – stated in equally simple language.

“But, like the complex teacher let me elaborate on what the Prosecution says is obvious and self-evident.

“There is central to this case what I shall simply call ‘Epstein Island’ where many rich and powerful men visited ( mostly men but allegedly a few women.)

“ So, if any of you are pious, religious and Godly, then you will visit on the appointed day a Church or a Mosque or a Synagogue or a Temple to worship and pray for sanctification and a cleansing subject to the God, as you conceive of and believe in.

“If a man (or woman), by parity of reasoning, visits a whore-house, then it is evident that the visit is not one for sanctification but is for sexual gratification by preying upon others for reasons of indulgences in the flesh.

 “The latter sums up this Epstein case.

“Epstein is now dead, allegedly by suicide hanging in a maximum security prison, but a coroner’s report says a broken bone in his neck is more commonly caused by choking homicide, and loud shrieks allegedly coming from his cell were allegedly heard in the prison, as guards near the cell slept, as Epstein died.

“Will we ever know the truth of this with certainty? Possibly not. No one may know (except the killers, if such existed), even the coroners, who seemingly do not know with certainty whether the death was caused by suicide or homicide, although they ruled it a suicide, and thus that for now shall be the official ‘narrative’ in public proclamations. 

“Many criminals in effect are above the law in most cultures by virtue of being rich enough, powerful enough, and clever enough to avoid prosecutions and convictions, and there may be some enmeshed in this case, including some very prominent names in at least three cultures—US, UK, and Israel—Trump, the Clintons, Prince Andrew, Wexler, Maxwell, Dershowitz, Richardson, among others, who were enticed into and/or linked to Epstein’s interests, activities and domains.

“Humans that flock together are not always of the same feather, and therefore we should not rush to judgment, or take our responsibilities lightly, being cognizant that this disgraceful nefarious episode will negatively influence human feelings and thoughts and possibly behaviors around Earth for a long time.

“ The ‘evidence’ is there before you on the Internet, easily found with a Google search.

“However, like the unnecessarily complex teacher I shall in short order explain ‘evidence’ – direct testimony, as you can hear and read on the Internet – documentary ( inclusive of air flight records) – circumstantial – corroborative – and all together similar fact evidence ( i.e. different people, who are not connected, save and except having had the same unfortunate experiences at different times – saying  very similar things as regards the modus operandi of the entire Epstein sex trafficking operation).

“Who do you believe – that is solely for you to decide based upon the facts and evidence and your application of a clean conscience duly applied to the objective of ensuring that justice ( as you may conceive it to be) is to be delivered to these several women ( then merely under age and/or compelled sex slaves) – with due regards for how you assess the facts.

“Your Honour, I promised to be brief and do apologise for extending for an unduly long time.  My complex non-effective High School teachers would truly have been proud of me.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of the Earthian Morals and Ethics Forum –  this case actually does not have to be complex based upon the facts as the Defense has led.

“I remain appreciative notwithstanding my lack of brevity.

“I have thus said as much as I intend to – and – to you also Ladies and Gentlemen of the Earthian Morals and Ethics Forum – I remain grateful.”

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* COURTENAY BARNETT is a graduate of London University. His areas of study were economics, political science and international law. He has been a practising lawyer for over thirty years, has been arrested for defending his views, has been subjected to death threats, and has argued public interest and human rights cases. He lives and works in the Caribbean.

AN INTERNATIONAL PRAYER FOR PEACE

By Courtenay Barnett

CONSTRUCT OR DESTROY.

Whatever one’s political preferences and/or ideological persuasions, there are some home truths – and when one focuses on a ‘rule based’ international order there are some possibilities and realities which must make any rational world citizen wishing for peace – worry and cringe.

CONSIDER:-

Do we construct or destroy: When fifty or so cruise missiles are launched into Syria killing civilians including children.

Do we construct or destroy: When smashing a country such as Libya with the objective of regime change?

Do we construct or destroy: When there is a tearing up of the book of rules for world governance?

Do we construct or destroy: When the US condemns the International Criminal Court ( while war criminals such as Kissinger, Bush Jr. and Blair walk free) – but perceived enemies of the US/West feel the full force of the law in war crimes tribunals? 

Do we construct or destroy: When we dismantle the INF Treaty and end the START Treaty in 2021?

Do we act on a predictable and rational basis so as not to destroy the entire planet by honoring the existing global rules of governance ( at least those established since post World War 11): or do we embrace John Bolton’s vision for America – and – by extension – the world when he says America will not cooperate in any way with the International Criminal Court?   

Maybe we all need to kneel at the Altar of Peace and pray that the neo-cons do not have their way as they obviously worship at the Altar of War and Eternal Conflict.

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* COURTENAY BARNETT is a graduate of London University. His areas of study were economics, political science and international law. He has been a practising lawyer for over thirty years, has been arrested for defending his views, has been subjected to death threats, and has argued public interest and human rights cases. He lives and works in the Caribbean.