Wrong and Right
Some are wrong, and some are right.
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Getting Along
“Why Vaccine Passports Are Not Going Anywhere”
If you thought Vax Passports were over — think again — they’re just getting started.
73% of the World’s Population Did Not Call for Russian Reparations to Ukraine
On November 14, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution (A/ES-11/L.6) calling for Russia to pay war reparations to Ukraine:
[The General Assembly…]
Reaffirms its commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine and its demand that the Russian Federation immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine and that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters;
Recognizes that the Russian Federation must be held to account for any …
American Democracy: Buying and Selling Elections
This was the most important election in American history, as was the previous one, the one before that, and all previous exercises of marketing that pose as democratic rule in our great example of how to fool most of the people most of the time. Of course, this election, as all others, cost more money than the previous marketing fiasco, when more than 14 billion dollars were spent on the 2020 purchase of the white house and congress which rose to more than 16 billion for this cycle of shopping center lesser evilism that cost even more just to purchase …
The Medium: An Appeal for Support
On November 15, as 90 Russian cruise missiles struck at Ukraine’s energy network, a companion US-UK propaganda blitz blamed the Russian missiles for the deaths of two workers on a farm in Poland.
This was a big deal. Poland is a member of Nato and Article 5 of Nato’s treaty reads:
‘The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all…’
The fear being, obviously, that treating a Russian attack on a Nato member …
Symbolic but Significant: Why the Decision to Investigate Abu Akleh’s Murder is Unprecedented
The recent decision by the United States Department of Justice to open an investigation into the killing last May of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is not a game-changer but important and worthy of reflection, nonetheless.
Based on the long trajectory of US military and political support of Israel, and Washington’s constant shielding of Tel Aviv from any accountability for its illegal occupation of Palestine, one can confidently conclude that there will not be any actual investigation.
A real investigation into the killing of Abu Akleh could open up a Pandora’s box of other findings pertaining to Israel’s many other illegal …
Smoothing over the Bad News
The cozy blanket and warm milk supplied by the monopoly media.
Outlaw Charter Schools: Can A Charter School Not Be A Charter School?
The Online Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “outlaw” as:
to remove from legal jurisdiction or enforcement
to deprive of the benefit and protection of law
a lawless person or a fugitive from the law
an animal (such as a horse) that is wild and unmanageable
Over the years much has been written about the chronic absence of accountability, oversight, transparency, rules, and regulations for charter schools. The record shows that these deunionized, deregulated, outsourced, oversold schools run by unelected private persons on the basis of “free market” ideology routinely operate with impunity. The failure rate of these segregated schools is staggering.
Many have …
Plymouth Rock, Juan de Onate, Orange Shirt Day
A No-Thanks Thanksgiving
Below, for the local newspaper, the Newport News Times. (without the images, etc.) Below that, more on this reprehensible genocidal black death Black Friday day!
The First No-Thanks Thanksgiving
Trigger Warning (noun): a statement at the start of a piece of writing, video, etc., alerting the reader or viewer to the fact that it contains potentially distressing material
This hoopla …
Were You Deceived?
There were more than a few people who scoffed at the COVID-19 scare pushed by governments, their compliant media, and Big Pharma. They were ridiculed as anti-vaxxers, more often than not erroneously. The virus was real, but the dangers posed to the masses, the lockdowns imposed to battle it, the useless mandated mask-wearing and the imposition of a vaccine of dubious efficacy and safety have been exposed as Establishment recklessness, a recklessness in which many billionaires made out like …
Let There Be Light (Pollution)
And God said Let there be light: and there was light./And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:3-5)
Hello darkness, my old friend. (Simon and Garfunkel)
Every now and then, I’m asked some variation of this question: When were you most awed by nature? Like most of you, I have a handful of examples to choose from… but the answer I usually settle on involves gazing at the night sky in a very rural Vermont town.
I had never witnessed that many visible …
Ethiopia: Peace Agreed, Now the Work Begins
Faced with imminent defeat, on 2 November the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front) finally agreed to stop their vicious attack on Ethiopia. They had little choice in the end, the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) had taken TPLF strongholds in Tigray, and encircled the regional capital Mekelle.
The great tragedy is that fighting could have ended months ago, saving thousands of lives, had the TPLF grasped the hand of peace repeatedly extended by the government since the conflict started. Instead of responding to an open invitation to talk “anywhere anytime”, the TPLF set impossible conditions for engagement; used ceasefire time to …
Stop COP
Fossil fuel interests have taken over climate talks. The acronym COP for “Conference of the Parties” should be changed to “Continue Oil Production.” Eighteen of the twenty companies that sponsored UN climate talks at the make-believe Egyptian resort Sharm El-Sheikh either directly support or partner with oil and gas companies. Global Witness/London identified at least 636 fossil lobbyists at COP27. What are fossil fuel lobbyists doing at a climate conference?
According to Pascoe Sabido of Corporate Europe Observatory/Brussels: “These findings underline the extent to which this COP has never been about the climate. It’s been about rehabilitating the gas industry and …
Silicon Valley Fake: Elizabeth Holmes and the Fraudster’s Motivation
It has been one noisy time for the paladins of big tech. Jobs have been shed by the thousands at Meta, Amazon and Twitter; FTX, the second largest cryptocurrency company, has collapsed. Then came the conviction of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the healthcare company Theranos, for fraud.
Pursuing the steps of the college drop-out turned billionaire, Holmes claimed that her company had remarkable technology, capable of diagnosing a number of medical conditions from a mere drop of blood. The ruse of the blood analyzer known as the Theranos Sample Processing Unit (TSPU), Edison or minilab, worked – at least for a …
Targeting Vaccinated versus Unvaccinated Study Results Counter to Government-Manipulated Narrative
There is evidence that points to the vaccinated being more likely to visit health care facilities.
“International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research” — “Taking account of the complexities of healthcare-seeking with measured covariates and outcomes, especially adverse health events, suggests that vaccination may be driving the increased need for non-routine office visits for specific health complaints.”
“Tim Robbins Apologizes to Unvaccinated for Being Wrong on Covid Policy.”
Ajamu Baraka Interview
An Objective Look at U.S. Foreign Policy
Ajamu Baraka grew up on the South Side of Chicago and served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He has taught political science at various universities and has been a guest lecturer at academic institutions in the U.S. and abroad. As a human rights defender whose experience spans four decades of domestic and international education and activism, Ajamu is a veteran grassroots organizer whose roots are in the Black Liberation Movement and anti-apartheid and Central American solidarity struggles. In 2016, he was the Green Party nominee for Vice President of the United States. He currently serves as the …
You Can’t Have Your Mule and Forty Acres, Too!
The celebration was lively: in the small town of Waldport, Oregon, a few hundred finally gathered to see the statue’s unveiling. We heard a Gulf Coast guy, Truman Price, a violinist, play music on his fiddle reminiscent of the tunes of 1880s which would have been played by the historical person cast in bronze. A sculptor showed up, Peter Helzer, and his daughter, too, who was on the banjo with Truman and another fellow playing guitar. The story is of a slave, brought to Oregon by his “owner,” James Southworth. Oh, those Oregon Black Exclusion laws initiated in 1844, stating …
President John F. Kennedy: His Life and Public Assassination by the CIA
What is the truth, and where did it go?
Ask Oswald and Ruby, they oughta know
“Shut your mouth,” said the wise old owl
Business is business, and it’s a murder most foul
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Don’t worry, Mr. President
Help’s on the way
Your brothers are coming, there’ll be hell to pay
Brothers? What brothers? What’s this …
Liberating Africa from Poverty Requires Changing Power Relations with the West
Soon after arriving in Oslo, my taxi zigzagged through the city’s well-organized streets and state-of-the-art infrastructure. Large billboards advertised the world’s leading brands in fashion, cars, and perfumes. Amid all the expressions of wealth and plenty, an electronic sign by a bus stop flashed the images of poor looking African children needing help.
Over the years, Norway has served as a relatively good model of meaningful humanitarian and medical aid. This is especially true if compared to other self-serving western countries, where aid is often linked to direct political and military interests. Still, the public humiliation of poor, hungry and diseased …
Ginger Sufferings: Gianni Infantino’s Sportswashing Performance
Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, the most famous 52-year-old brat of the world football federation, has not been much in the news of late. Such creatures of authority do their best (and worst) work in the shadows. But given that the FIFA Men’s World Cup is upon us, he thought it wise to address a few issues that had irked his pure, troubled self. They were addressed to the naysayers and critics, those critical of Qatar’s human rights record, its approach to sexual minorities, its lamentable labour safety record, its successful bribing efforts to secure the bid in the first …
Leonard Cohen in Joy and Sorrow: “Hallelujah”
There’s a blaze of light in every word
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah– Leonard Cohen. Hallelujah
The last time I was in Montreal, Leonard Cohen, who had been dead two years, was on my mind. How could it be otherwise for one who has admired his songs since his first album. My daughter is named after perhaps his greatest song – Suzanne – (a heresy to some in light of this article about “Hallelujah”), and all his work has enchanted not just me but millions of other …
Investigating Corruption
Isn’t the government investigating corruption like the fox guarding the henhouse?
Maligned in Western Media, Donbass Forces are Defending their Future from Ukrainian Shelling and Fascism
The author with Pyatnashka commanders at outpost near Avdeevka, Donetsk People’s Republic. [ Source: Photo courtesy of Eva Bartlett]
America is widely understood to be a key instigator behind conflict in Ukraine that has pitted brother against brother
Smeared, stigmatized, and lied about in Western media propaganda, the mostly Russian-speaking people of the Donbass region were being slaughtered by the thousands in a brutal war of “ethnic cleansing” launched against them by the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv, which the U.S. installed after the CIA overthrew Ukraine’s legally elected president in …
Thuggish Ways: Mike Pompeo, Punishing Leakers and Getting Assange
Poor, silly, protuberant Mike Pompeo. The stocky, irritated former CIA director and former Secretary of State is rather upset that those who worked under him dared wag their tongues about Julian Assange. The wagging so happened to relate to contemplated plans of abduction and assassination, something the US executive formally disallows though permits via various devious mechanisms.
It’s not every day that officials of the Central Intelligence Agency open up about their operations but on the occasion of the Yahoo! News report, it was clear that Assange had driven a number to sheer distraction. Had these security types caught the …
Land Back a Ploy?
“UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).”
“Urgent Call to Action: You are at Risk of Losing Your Land Rights.”
“Dan Fumano: After debate, outgoing Vancouver council approves ‘groundbreaking’ UNDRIP strategy”
Analysis: With Vancouver’s UNDRIP strategy approved, outgoing Mayor Kennedy Stewart said he looks forward to seeing how the city’s next council will handle key decisions.
China Surpasses US Top University Ranking
News on China No. 123
This week’s News on China in 2 minutes.
• Xi Jinping at the G20 summit
• Decline of Chinese billionaires
• China at COP27
• China surpasses US top university ranking
Left voices join right to attack Iran, ignore Canadian imperialism
A Rabble interview with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s Kaveh Shahrooz offers a troubling window into Canadian politics.
Last month the left-wing website, for whom I’ve written for two decades, published “Understanding the dynamics of the protests in Iran”. Everything about the article should have raised red flags.
Described as “a lawyer and human rights activist”, Shahrooz is a Senior Fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad. A hub of pro-corporate and imperialist thought, MLI is a “right-wing charity” reported the Broadbent Institute. Alongside funding from the wealthy and corporations, MLI’s pro-NATO and anti-China politics are financed …
Those Who Struggle to Change the World Know It Well
The Forty-Sixth Newsletter (2022)
K.C.S. Paniker (India), Words and Symbols, 1968
In 1845, Karl Marx jotted down some notes for The German Ideology, a book that he wrote with his close friend Friedrich Engels. Engels found these notes in 1888, five years after Marx’s death, and published them under the title Theses on Feuerbach. The eleventh thesis is the most famous: ‘philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it’.
For the past five years, we, at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, have considered this thesis with great …
The Emperor Has No Clothes!
Washington Humiliated, Cuba Lifted Up, at the 2022 United Nations Vote Against the US Blockade
For the 30th consecutive time, dating back to 1992, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has overwhelmingly voted in favor of a Cuban-sponsored Resolution on the “Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial, and Financial Embargo by the United States of America Against Cuba” [N2263517.pdf]. It was accompanied by a thorough, country-by-country damning official report by the UN Secretary General [N2128802.pdf].
International Moral and Political Shield
This 30th consecutive UNGA vote is obviously “non-binding.” That is, it carries no punitive measures of enforcement against the US government and has no counter-measures to deter or block the implementation of the illegal – by the …