People and websites revision April 2018

I've noticed over the years that "whatever you can say has been said before", and all too often said better then I could say, especially with limited time.

Before the Internet, so much knowledge just wasn't available, but now it just takes some curiosity and a few keystrokes to gain considerable enlightenment on virtually any topic. For this reason my blog is loaded with URL links to online material. This lets me stand on the shoulders of giants.

Following are links to people and websites I favor

People

Chris Hedges
Ralph Nader
Andrew Bacevich
Amy Goodman
Ron Paul

... in progress

Websites

Daily, check for articles of interest

Drudge Report
CounterPunch
Alternet
Common Dreams
Antiwar
Huffington Post
Russian Times (RT)

If time permits ...

LA Times
VICE News
Reason mag
The Guardian
Truth-Out
Truth Dig
Daily Beast
Fire dog lake
Tom Dispatch
Slate
Rolling Stone
McClatchy

Democracy Now
mondoweiss
Consortiumnews


Minor interest

Infowars

Still reeling

Still reeling from Trumps election. Now it looks more and more like the worst case scenario I mentioned back in January is becoming more plausible by the day: Trump is removed and we wind up with Pense. It looked then, and more so today, that this was the plan all along. And, as the professional con artist likes to say, there's nothing like screwing people and having them thank you for it! To coin a new phrase: we've been "deeply conned"

Please see this particularly interesting article on Counterpunch on this topic. Be sure to read what Andrew Levine has to say about the Electoral College.

Bill

I'm astonished!

I was absolutely convinced, beyond a doubt, that the oligarchs had it all setup to get Hillary into office, even going so far as to help "arrange" the election so she would run against Trump. After all, people don't like her, but they like him far less.

And then "BAM", he won.

Certainly not to defend Hillary, but to look at one glaring truth out of the gate: the Electorial COllege corrupts the democratic process. Accepted that the founders instituted this device to guard the country from the uneducated masses. But today people aren't so uneducated. Albeit subject to the propaganda machine 24x7, many people I know have risen beyond the mass media's world view, and they never lost the gut feeling that America should stand for nasic human rights.

Back to Trump ... he won. Amazing!

But amazing in a bad way. I'm still reeling from this event, but every new consideration only serves to deepen the disappointment. It just gets worse and worse. It's already like "what's next?", and it's a scary line of thinking. It's like I don't to know what's next because I know it wouldn't be good.

Maybe there's a bigger plan at work, to get Mike Pense into the office? He's a right wing favorite who couldn't have won the presidential election, but could be seated by getting Trump out (like in a chess game). I don't think I'm overstating the case when I say that Trump will be removed before long. He'll make one to many unpopular decisions, the media will turn against him (like Nixon) and trump up a case for the American people to demand his removal.

No matter how you cut it, America is not going to be served well by Trump (or Pense or Hillary for the matter). We're fucked, to put it mildly. This is shaping up to be the worst chapter in America's history. Just thinking about what that buffoon can do in short order boggles the mind. Think the war in the Middle East is going well? Watch what happens with the Orange Lizard at the helm. Certainly he will not do what needs to be done (starting with putting Bush and the Neocons on trial for war crimes; apologizing and making amends to the people at home and in the countries we've attacked; taxing the 2%; climate change; energy, etc)

If Trump fails to stop the war and turn this massive ship towards justice, there is no other useful decision. He can pull out our forces from the ME or he can double down and raise the stakes. Neither of these courses will make things better. The real question is how much worse will they make things.



Bill

The farce of an election

The basic question is not who will win – we already know that. It is how a political system that purports to be democratic, that claims to deliver what people want, could offer up Clinton-Trump choices for November.

Andrew Levine Counterpunch article

I've thought exactly the same sentiment


Bill

The End of the American Empire

Please see this article: The End of the American Empire by Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr.

Mr. Freeman summarizes American foreign policy in a way that very, very few people can. What Amb Freeman does so brilliantly is arrange and summarize the most important facts in such a way that the reader comes away feeling properly briefed and the direction we should take is perfectly clear. If only every American could read this.

As it happens, he also bolsters the case for an internet based election system that will allow us to replace the whole rotten system. It can be done


Bill

My wish list

We need to use the Internet to build a publicly funded election system that allows us to develop the list of issues important to us; allows anyone to run for office with stated positions on our list of issues; helps us match our positions on issues to candidates. I've got a design for such a system to submit, but let the best design win.

My starter list of issues for our new election system

- bust up ownership of the mass media, from 6 players to 600 or 6,000, however many it takes to bring about competition and the free flow of ideas on all subjects.
- end foreign aid to all countries currently receiving it
- contribute heavily to the Red Cross and other relief organizations to help those in need around the world
- increase Peace Corp budget to put 1 volunteer (with a PC and the Internet) in every needy village in the world
- put Bush and the neocons on trial for war crimes. Necessary if America is to be a just country. Have Bush personally visit and apologize to every family that suffered a casualty in the invasion
- withdraw all American military forces from the Middle East
- reduce the size of the Military Industrial Complex to protect America only
- help the EU solve it's problems
- support the UN as the world authority for matters that must be handled at that level.
- tell Israel to settle with Palestinians within 6 months or lose our support
- pump new life into Post Offices by allowing them to do low-level banking functions and to serve as communities centers (as they once did)
- Medicaid for everyone as a minimum standard for health care
- free community college for everyone
- Constitutional amendment guaranteeing privacy
- convert the war on drugs from criminal to medical/mental health issues. See Portugal's example
- tax the top 2% to level the playing field.

This is not a definitive list, just what I believe to be representative of the America spirit if it's voice were heard through the din of the propaganda machine.


Bill

Mass media as propaganda machine

Please see this article: How Israel's Media Propaganda Dominates the American Mind

I've been harping on this issue for years, since working in my teens for a business that provided services to small town publishers on Long Island. At the time I couldn't help but notice the degree of Jewish/Zionist control over the publications we serviced. This sparked a curiosity that took years to sort out.

The issue is Jewish/Zionist influence on our information supply, the so-called "mass media" or MSM. You probably know most of the big players since there are only six or so left and virtually all of them are either in or support the club. Do a little googling and you can read all about who the big players are.

The current focus of this groups attention is the American invasion of the Middle East. They expedited it and have no interest in putting an end to it. Quite the opposite. They (that is, we) are in it to win, nothing less.

The problem this represents is much bigger than getting people to support wars in the Middle East, it reaches into our collective psyche, making us believe we are what we aren't and that we believe things we don't. Might is right, an eye for an eye, targeted assassinations, the ends justify the means, and others. Worst case is the killing, the murderous rampage, the countless murders committed throughout the Middle East by our country, in our name, and owing to the propaganda machine, our support. Of course, unless you're in the military, our support doesn't mean much, but however much support there is, it's welcome ammunition in the hands of skilled propagandists, who whip up (puff) the support to make it look far bigger then it really is. There are well over 300 million Americans, but it only takes a few hundred for the propaganda machine to spin up support for their war and their drones.

Just one current example is our support for the use of drones. Do you think a majority of Americans support the use of these robotic killers? And if so, it certainly would not be true if the one-sided, belligerent bias (repeated a million times) didn't exist. This matter is of great concern to us because we're been duped into a "manufactured consent" to deploy the drones that are terrifying the lives of countless innocent people. Try to imagine what it's like

There is so much that isn't right in America today, and a portion of these problems exist or have been exacerbated by the influence of this propaganda machine.

What can we do? We can write. We can talk to people, and we can use repetition for our cause. Sure, one person talking is a whisper, but get a hundred million talking and it's a roar. And we need that roar now.


Bill

If you wish to understand the core thinking behind American - and consequently Western - behavior in the world today please read this article Zero-Sum in Brussels: the Savage Vision Driving a Terror-Ridden World by Chris Floyd.

As we've come to expect from the mainstream media, the attack in Brussels has set off yet another wave of the drums of fear, to remind us that we really need to be afraid.

The supreme irony with all this is that Western policymakers are the very people who have created the situations that produced the fear in the first place. And now it's a vicious circle and it's played out for so long that you'd think common sense would have gotten involved to demand an end to it with some semblance of justice. Or at least you'd think this mentality would have withered because it can't stand the test of time (an eye for an eye and we're all blind). But no, not yet anyway, it hasn't. The same mentality/mindset that suckered us into the military invasion of the Middle East in the first place is still on power. And now they are even richer, more powerful, and more determined then ever. They truly believe in the zero-sum game Chris Floyd describes so well.

As evidence look at the fear being whipped up over Brussels, which of course will lead to more tightening of 'security' (aka surveillance), and very likely an escalation of war in the Middle East.

How do we get out of this mess? I think the solution lies in revising our election system so our best people can rise to the top based on their positions on issues important to us. Such a system would first be used to develop the list of important issues. With this done, the system can collect candidates and their positions on the issues. Then it can match our individual positions on the issues to the candidates, to help us identify candidates with matching positions. In other words, we develop the list of issues - as opposed to being told what they are, so we can decide who to vote for based on a comparison of our own positions on these issues with candidates positions. Anyone can announce candidacy for any position by registering and stating their position on the issues relevant to the position. Think of it as a giant matching process, made possible by computer and Internet technologies. All it needs to work is our participation. Who would operate it? The USPS would be my choice. Like it or not they are in the "mail protection" business, and whatever they wind up doing to secure our snail mail will apply to protecting electronic messages as well.

It's a whole concept that has probably been debated since the ancient Greeks that fell into the "good idea but we can't do it" bucket. But times have changed and now we have these amazing computer and Internet capabilities that could support such a system without breaking a sweat.

I'm saying all this because I have absolutely no doubt there are many truly capable and qualified Americans out there, we just need to give them a path to governance. There is still time to start undoing the damage wrought by the fear-mongers.


Bill

The heroin epidemic in perspective

It seems we fail to appreciate the magnitude of the opiates drug problem. Reading yet another particularly good article on this problem.

I also couldn't help but notice that almost all of the articles I read on this subject neglect to connect the dots between the opiates problem and the massively flooded drug supply chain, a giant piece of it coming from Afghanistan. From here we can connect the dots back to the invasion of that country because prior to the invasion the Taliban had virtually stopped poppy production in that country. It was post invasion that the Taliban allows poppy production and so it can suck revenue from it.

When our troops are finally withdrawn from the Middle East and the true cost of the loss to this country by the invasion is calculated, let's be sure it includes a fair share of the cost of opiates addiction here at home.


Bill

What's war good for?

Because the invasion of the Middle East has been going on for so long, writers/thinkers have had ample time to study, evaluate and present on the situation.

Two articles published today stand as excellent examples

"1. We’re Never Winning These Wars: America Has Zero to Show For Its Decades of Bloodshed in the Middle East" by Tom Engelhardt


2. Failed US Policy in the Middle East by Ellen Rosser



Bill

Chris Hedges interview

Chris Hedges is one of the great thinkers of our time. If only people would take the time to listen to him.

This CSPAN interview with him seems to have been made in 2012, but it's timeless.

Why Is America in Decline? Chris Hedges on the U.S. Empire & Death of the Liberal Class (2012)



Bill

Article and song

One of the most informative articles I've seen on privacy/security re the Internet and social activities
http://www.wired.com/2012/11/ff-mat-honan-password-hacker/

Heads up on a great song that may be an oldie but I hadn't heard before
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt2PnfdqzTg


Bill

catching up

It's been a while since I've posted anything here, but as the situation in America keeps worsening I feel I have to do something. Since my means are limited, basically to what I can accomplish with writing, I've decided to revive this blog.

Some time back, I stopped writing what I thought was original material when I discovered other writers who are better equipped and more talented saying the same things I tried to say, so I turned my attention to reading what they have to say and passing on the better articles I come across.

Today's picks are:

1. "America Is Being Destroyed By Problems That Are Unaddressed" by Paul Craig Roberts

2. Why "WWIII Is On the Horizon" also by Paul Craig Roberts


Paul Craig Roberts website can be found here

Also, a link to Wikipedia's article on the Project for a New American Century, which should be required reading for anyone taking current events seriously.


Bill

Easy to understand summary of disasters in the Middle East

If you're not clear on major events in the Middle East, please read this excellent commentary "The six most disastrous inventions of the 21st century"

Gary Leupp does say the people responsible for the invasion should be prosecuted. I'll go a step further and say their punishment should be to personally visit each family who suffered a casualty at their hand to apologize and ask for forgiveness.

Bill

Chris Hedges on Jeremy Corbyn

Please see this article
Where Is Our Jeremy Corbyn? by Chris Hedges

It's very refreshing to know there are people like Jeremy Corbyn in politics, and reporters like Chris Hedges to let us know about them.

This article outlines many important current issues and common sense responses to each. It's the antithesis of the MSM.


Bill

Bill Moyers and Charles Lewis

Bill Moyers is another great man in our times. He's brilliant, articulate, brave, and a whole bunch of other great adjectives.

Please click here to view his interview with Charles Lewis, author of "935 lies", which they discuss.


Bill

Andrew Bacevich

Andrew Bacevich is an astonishing man. His grasp of American foreign policy, and his ability to explain it in words average people can understand leaves him with few peers.

Please see this too-short (22 minute) video interview, available in an article run by the Huffington Post (it's the 2nd video down on the page). Reader comments are always interesting.

It's long been my intention to talk about my favorite thinkers as I discover them. Thanks to the Internet, this learning process has accelerated beyond anything I could imagine as a kid. In those days we had the newspaper, the radio and some television. Today I can sit here, as I often do, and page through my constantly improving list of information sources. What can be learned, and the speed with which this happens, continues to amaze me on an almost daily basis.

Here, today, a perfect example occurred. After listening to Bacevich, I felt like I had been brought to yet another level of understanding because he knew the words to bring it together. To be sure, I'm not saying any of this is new information as his understandings coincide with my own, with so much unsaid that I look forward to more from him, but we'll get to that it seems.

My difficulty, once I had this information, was that I couldn't pass it on. The obstacle I kept running into was going against the grain of the MSM propaganda, who people trusted to their peril as it marched them off to war time and time again.

Andrew Bacevich does have the knowledge and he has the verbal/thinking skills to sort it out and explain it. We are lucky to have him to listen to.


Bill

Will there be justice?

Please see "International Lawyers Seek Justice for Iraqis" by Dahr Jamail

The conference represents the most powerful and most current organized attempt in the world to bring justice to those responsible for the catastrophe in Iraq ..

Their goal for the conference was to begin taking concrete steps toward international lawsuits that will bring former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US President George W. Bush, along with those responsible in their administrations, to justice for the myriad war crimes committed in Iraq.

"Adriaensens is aiming to generate one massive lawsuit that condemns former (and current) members of the US and UK governments for war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against peace for their roles in the Iraq invasion and occupation."

Many people were duped by our information supply into supporting the invasion of Iraq. But now time has gone my and people have had the time to think about it, and likely have spoken with better informed people and the "alternate news" along the way, and now have a better sense of what happened.

By now, hopefully, a majority of Americans (and Brits) have come to realize that we've been duped and the total injustice of that invasion demands these proceedings and the justice that is likely to follow. Without a belief in justice we will -deservedly - lose it all.

Bill

An Indictment of the Invisible Hand

Please see "An Indictment of the Invisible Hand" by Jeffrey Madrick, Moyers & Company

Writing about Thomas Piketty's 700-page book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, some quotes:

The only way to rectify the imbalance is more aggressive taxes on property and high incomes to reduce inequality.

some of this capital has been put to good use, but as it grows so much faster than the economy, it seems more than obvious that it is the result of monopoly, rents that are not related to real returns of investment, manipulation of markets and regulations, political influence, and so on. Free market competition has not worked.

Instead, he believes higher taxes are the only solution. But regulation of monopolists and Wall Street manipulators would be part of such a solution. More vigorous anti-trust prosecution would be another. Fairer and more strongly implemented labor laws would have given workers a fairer shake, as would more union-friendly regulations and a higher minimum wage.

Bill

Moral injury

Please read A Warrior’s Moral Dilemma

At last, a clear, comprehensive and totally compelling analysis of what serving in war and combat really does to people. Everyone in America - indeed, the world - should read this paper very carefully, digest what it's saying and learn from the very clear lessons.

I think the root problem lies in the fact that people making decisions of our behalf don't have our consent on the most urgent matters of our time. Big Money seized control of our democracy, and a relative handful of barons at the top are doing what pleases them, and they are getting away with doing it in our name. Their MSM counterpart not only sold us on their evil designs, but they got us thanking and honoring their soldiers for their service. See this article for a real life description of what that service actually looks like.

Their projection of the "hero" is now shattered, hopefully forever, by actual historical records and writers like David Wood. Now it's time for all of us to access the situation and do something about it.

The approach I believe will work is to use the Internet to provide the basic mechanics for a money-free, corruption proof, election system. It can be done, and the "open source" approach is the way to do it to insure it's efficacy in all respects. There are thousands, maybe millions, of competent programmers out there, and programmers love to think of new ideas, find holes, etc. They love the challenge, and this system will keep them busy for some time. But, over time it will improve and settle in. It can use, for example, IBM's Watson to help voters identify candidates that match their interests.

And there has to be a "recall" or "no-confidence" feature, to let us boot out fakes and liars should they get into office.


Bill