A most creative way to protest Trump's recent visit to Scotland.

Unlearning Hopelessness

by C.A. Matthews

Seen on X: https://x.com/aashisjo/status/1947314052016824491

@DrNeenaJha Seriously what do we do?? We’ve protested, boycotted, campaigned, donated, written articles, pressured our government & institutions

@aashisjo What do we do? We organize real action, not performances. We disrupt the empire by refusing to work. We do not ask them to stop, we force them to stop.

 

While I was pruning back the dying raspberry canes in our organic garden, I contemplated just how hopeless the task was. The monsoon rains dumps this season had encouraged more raspberry canes and briers to grow than usual, then further rains drowned half of them with the excessive water around their roots. The out-of-control new brier growth was choking some of the older fruit bearing ones.

Why bother? I thought. I should give up now and avoid any more scrapes and scratches.

But I didn’t give up. I kept on until the task was finished. Why? Because I happen to like eating raspberries. I helped plant the first small canes in our garden, and they’d graciously had fed me (and others) over the years. So, I gritted my teeth and kept pruning. I vowed not to give up on them, especially when they needed my help the most.

Gardening is very much like fighting the unjust system we live in. Sometimes things go well, but most of the time it’s chaos and all hands-to-the-pumps—or pruning shears. Raspberries and other living things can be as unpredictable as the powers-that-be who control and punish us whenever we deviate from their plans. But we can’t give up on fighting back against the oligarchs no matter how tough things get. We’ve got to keep on hacking through the jungle and prune those briers. We’ve got fruit to harvest.

There’s been a lot of talk among psychologists and therapists about learned helplessness. Learned helplessness is when we believe we cannot change painful circumstances, so we stop trying and just endure what’s happening. 

This “just enduring” behavior describes the actions of the majority of humankind in the year 2025, in my opinion. We are enduring, but we’re not growing and producing fruit that will feed ourselves and others now and in the future. We’ve thrown in the towel along with our gardening secateurs, and because of that choice to give up, our circumstances will not change for the better.

Some psychologists believe that it’s actually learned hopelessness or a hopeless depression that keeps us from fighting back against painful circumstances. It’s easy to understand why and how depression sets in. Have you ever scrolled through your social media stream to check out the headlines or look at the memes?

No wonder it's called doomscrolling! 

While the odds of us succeeding in our goals to make the world a better place for all may be astronomical, we can at least try to fight the corrupt system and make some things better, right? The challenge is that we’ve heard too many horror stories and learned from others how hopeless the fight has become for them. We start to believe that it’s hopeless to even try and change things...

 

To learn more about how to unlearn hopelessness and keep up the fight against the corrupt status quo, please continue reading the rest of this article on Substack. Just copy or click on this link: 

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This article is the 531st blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another ten years. 

You can make a donation at https://paypal.me/camatthews or Buy Me a Coffee or Ko-fi. Every little bit helps since this is my only source of income. Thank you.

 

The United States of Hypocrisy

by C. A. Matthews

I went through the same indoctrination program most American children are put through. We heard the same narrative over and over again in school and in the Boy and Girl Scouts, 4-H, Junior Achievement, church and civics organizations... I learned more or less what other people in my age group did.

I know the Pledge of Allegiance and at least the first verse of the Star-Spangled Banner. I learned what the Latin phrase e pluribus unum means on our coins. Ask me how many members are in the House of Representatives (435) and how many senators there are (100). I can even recite the Preamble to the Constitution fairly well.

I know the correct way to fold a flag when you take it down from a flag pole. I can name you all fifty states’ capitals (at least I used to be able to). But none of this nonsense means a damn thing in the year 2025, and I’m sorry I wasted so much time learning it.

Why? Because the United States of America is dead.

Maybe it was never alive, but it most definitely is dead and gone today—or at least the picture I had of it in my mind growing up and even into a good portion of my adulthood. What’s left of it is the true image of the current monster that masquerades as a “beacon of democracy.” With “liberty and justice for all” it prances about like a flashy red-white-and-blue Captain America action figure as it doles out bunker busting bombs to genocidal maniacs. 

I call what remains of my birth country “The United States of Hypocrisy.”

Feel free to call it the United States of Hypocrisy (USH) if you feel the same way I do. Tell your friends and family members they can do so as well, unless that gets you into a world of hurt...

 

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This article is the 522nd blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another ten years. 

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We Deserve Better Psyops

Or "Do Western Governments Really Care About 14,000 Babies Dying Within 48 Hours"

by C.A. Matthews

Have you ever known a person whose word you couldn’t take seriously? They’ll say they’ll mow your lawn, but they never seem to get around to it. They say they care about you, but they never return your calls. They promise to pay you back when you loan them money, but do they ever? You can’t trust a single word this person says because of what they do—or don’t do, more than likely.

That’s how I feel today about Western governments’ politicians and diplomats. They’re always trying to cover their asses when the shit hits the fan as a result of their actions. They’ll fake tears of concern, saying that they truly care about starving Palestinian babies, although hundreds of thousands of innocents in Gaza have been dying over the past 19+ months due to their direct material, financial, and “moral” support of the genocidal Israeli regime.

We can’t trust sociopathic politicos of the West to show empathy. All along they’ve been a proud part of this genocide of the Palestinian people. Whether they do what they do for money or for the power they seek in West Asia and/or the petroleum resources they’ve been promised makes no difference. They’re okay with 14,000 babies starving within 48 hours. Selfish, heartless bastards the lot of them.

I particularly distrust the genocidal state of Israel, even more than I distrust Western politicians. They’ve claimed all along that they want their hostages back, but their implementation of their Hannibal Directive on October 7, 2023, demonstrates that they’ve never really cared about their own people’s safety. Photographic evidence revealed how they shot from helicopters at their own soldiers and citizens in escaping cars in order to make it seem like a much larger incident than it was by a small, ragtag group of oppressed Palestinians.

Israelis simply want to steal the entirety of the Gaza Strip and keep it for themselves. They want the oil and natural gas reserves located just off shore. So, why would any thinking person believe the Israelis actually care about any of their victims, let alone the young and innocent...

 

To learn more about recent false flags (or psyops) possibly created by untrustworthy actors, please continue reading the rest of this article on Substack. Just copy or click on this link: 

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This article is the 521th blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another ten years. 

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Nothing To Say

by C. A. Matthews

This post will go live on November 5. I wrote it a couple of days earlier, so I have no clue about what the outcome of the US elections are, nor do I really care. I’m just glad it’s finally over so we can return to concentrating on more important tasks—such as saving our fellow humans from being butchered by the American imperialist military-industrial complex in order to steal their land and natural resources, and hastening the death of capitalism.

Having said that, I will now explain the sign on the left in my yard:

I got the “heart [love] your neighbor” sign a few months ago from a local group, Neighbor-to-Neighbor. I thought it was a nice idea to promote neighborly love, and so I said I would put one up in my front yard during the months leading up to the election. The idea behind the sign is to help smooth over the “divide” many people are feeling during this particular presidential election season. Several community events were planned, and we were given a list of things to do order to let our neighbors know that there are “no hard feelings” after the winner of the presidential election is announced. Here are some of the tips:

Intentional Acts of Kindness

Let someone go ahead of you in the checkout line

Take trash bins in for a neighbor

Pick up litter on a bike/walking path

Call an elderly neighbor

Offer someone a ride to the store

Recognize one good thing about every person you meet

Not bad ideas on the whole. I’ve done most of these things before, so they aren’t much of a stretch to continue doing , but I find that last tip a real doozy: Recognize one good thing about every person you meet. This suggestion has become particularly challenging to me after these signs popped up in our neighborhood about a half-month before the election:

Yeah… What good thing can I find to recognize in a person or family who displays a sign supporting a blatant genocide enabler such as “Holocaust Harris”? Do I recognize that they haven’t attempted to kill me (yet)? 

To find out more about my dilemma...

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Truth Is Never Out of Style

by C.A. Matthews

I enjoy listening to my friend DJ Amjad’s Deep Mix Music and More radio program while I’m writing. The other day I found myself singing along with a catchy chorus from a 1990’s rap song:

Now I know you're sayin'
Well why don't he stop beating around the bush
Well I'll get there when i get there
So there ain't no need to push!
Because the point I'm trying to make contains my whole philosophy
So listen to what I tell you and repeat it after me

Truth is out of style (out of style)
Truth is out of style (out of style) (say what?)
Truth is out of style (say what?)
Truth (say what?) (is out of style)
Truth (is out of style)
--from Truth Is Out of Style by DJ Zero & MC 900 ft. Jesus

Thirty-four years later, and the words still ring true. The “philosophy” that MC 900 sung in his rap has become the motto of many Western governments: Truth is out of style.

If you don’t believe me, how do you explain the following?

Richard Medhurst, an independent British journalist was arrested at Heathrow airport and held for nearly 24 hours under the UK Terrorism Act because of stories he featured on his podcast.

Mary Kostakidis, known as “the face of television news in Australia,” has been accused of supporting ethnic cleansing of Jews because of two retweets about Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Sarah Wilkinson, UK activist/journalist and supporter of Palestinians, has been banned from using her phone or her laptop because of her tweets. (Yes, just for posting on the X platform!) She is effectively under house arrest.

Sharmine Narwani, who founded The Cradle, an online journal of news and comment, was permanently banned from Facebook and Instagram. Narwani now stands accused of “praising terrorist organizations” and engaging in “incitement to violence.”

Professor Danny Shaw was detained by the FBI for three hours in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport after returning from a Free Palestine film festival in London. His computing devices were seized. He had been fired from his job back in April when he was falsely called “antisemitic” for his pro-Palestine comments.

 and, of course, Julian Assange of Wikileaks fame...

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Baby-Killers Make Lousy Leaders

Baby-Killers Make Lousy Leaders

by C.A. Matthews

I can’t take it anymore. I can’t keep silent and act politely while there are sadistic madmen and inconceivably evil women roaming the face of the planet. I don’t care who I offend with my next statement, so here goes:

Baby-killers should never be allowed to become popes, priests, presidents, or prime ministers.

There. I said it. I’m glad to get that off my chest.

Many studies have shown that a particular type of personality disordered individual seems to rise to the top in business, politics, organized religion, and life in general in this sick capitalist society. This individual’s mental illness allows them to out-compete, out-manipulate, and out-evil (I made that word up for lack of finding an adjective that works in this sentence) all others in order to get ahead. This type of individual doesn’t lose sleep over screwing over others. Heck, if they have to steal, beg, borrow, prostitute themselves and/or kill to achieve power that’s exactly what they’ll do.

No pity. No remorse.

No kidding.

Most would label these merciless creatures “sociopaths,” which means a person who displays anti-social personality traits. I’m growing tired of that word myself. It doesn’t go far enough, so I’ve come up with a synonym that’s more descriptive and easier to understand: I call these creatures simply “baby-killers.”

For those who can’t quite make the connection, here is why I’ve chosen to label these creatures baby-killers…

 

To read the rest of this article, click on this link to go to our Substack page: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com  There you'll also see the related article and video links, all the images, and be able to leave comments. You can subscribe to receive the weekly blog post in your email box as well. Subscribe today! Power to the people! 

 

Scratch The Surface

 

Scratch The Surface

by C.A. Matthews

We watched a mystery program recently where the antique dealer sleuth was asked to solve the puzzle of what happened to an older woman’s inheritance that supposedly was “right in front of her.” As the old woman sat leaning on her cane, the sleuth asked if she could see the cane. The sleuth took a nail file and scratched the head of the cane, flaking off some of the paint covering it. Hidden under several layers of paint was a solid gold ornament—the woman’s inheritance. The sleuth had cracked the puzzle. Scratching the surface revealed a treasure.

If only everything was as golden underneath its surface!

If you scratch the surface of the current crop of duopoly candidates for the White House, you probably won’t like what you find underneath. It’s about as far from gold as you can get!

There’s no secret to the shallowness of Donald Trump. The whole world experienced his narcissism in his first time in office, so is there any need to rehash it? After his recent experiences in court, nobody—and I mean nobody—really wants to see what’s underneath the Trumpster Fire’s surface. We’re all agreed: It ain’t pretty.

The same could be said of Kamala “The Cackler” Harris. Harris has been compared to former president Barack Obama who in a recent biography was described as being “hollow at its core” or an empty vessel. That means there’s essentially nothing underneath those insane giggles and grins of Harris. There’s no guiding principles or firmly held beliefs. She’s held together by a willingness to do whatever the oligarchs want her to do. Mark my words, what billionaires want Harris to do for them isn’t going to be of help to any of us ordinary folks...

 

To read the rest of this article, click on this link to go to our Substack page: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com  There you'll also see the related article and video links, all the images, and be able to leave comments. You can subscribe to receive the weekly blog post in your email box as well. Subscribe today! Power to the people! 

The Quiet Part

 “...We will continue to actively engage in the hard work of direct diplomacy on the ground until we reach a final solution.” --Remarks by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield at the UN Security Council Stakeout Following a Vote on the Situation in the Middle East  

“I am happy to be a fascist!”--Israeli Minister of Culture Miri Regev  

“[Palestinians] are beasts, they are not human.” --Israeli Deputy Defense Prime Minister Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan (2013)

"There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.” — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant

Biden Repeatedly Confuses Ukraine & Russia & Iraq https://rumble.com/v4f44no-biden-repeatedly-confuses-ukraine-and-russia-and-iraq.html

The Quiet Part

by C.A. Matthews

Some days you have to pinch yourself. Did she really say that? (Yes, she did.) Did he really say those dehumanizing and racist things? (Yes, he did.) Did our president confuse Ukraine and Russia and Iraq? (Yes, he has mixed up these sorts of things on several occasions, but it has nothing to do with his cognitive decline issues we're told.)

Why are they saying  (or acting) the “quiet part” out loud?

It hit me about eight years ago that the corrupt American status quo doesn’t waste time on niceties anymore. They don’t try to hide the fact that they couldn’t care less about the working classes. They don’t care if their mindless “puppet-president” is just that obvious nowadays. Our electeds don’t even pretend to be on our side as they take yet another wad of cash from AIPAC and send billions of dollars in bombs to Israel to assist with a genocide of the Palestinian people.

The smug establishment is saying the “quiet part” out loud. For this reason alone we should take them at their word. Push all those doubts out of your mind. The US is gladly helping Israel with their “Final Solution to the Palestinian Question.” Our UN ambassador just said it out loud, didn’t she?

No doubts about it at all—the US government doesn’t care if the Israelis wipe out the entirety of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to take their land, natural gas and oil resources. And why should it? We’ve done it ourselves before, haven’t we?

Whose land do you live on, “American”? The original inhabitants’ land—not the white settlers’ stolen parcel. Don’t give me that, “I paid for it—it’s my property!” nonsense. All property is theft. You did not create the land out of thin air, did you? It belonged to someone else before you. And probably before them as well if they were of European heritage. Wiping out entire indigenous peoples and language groups and replacing them with white Anglo-Saxon culture is as American as Dutch apple pie and German frankfurters, a.k.a. hot dogs.

Don’t grieve if this makes you look complicit with genocide by association. The quiet part needs to be said out loud from time to time to keep us honest. So kudos goes out to United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield for keeping it real. Even if it was a faux pas on her part or a poorly worded statement she read without editing first, she still made it. Now the world knows exactly why the US continues to veto a ceasefire in Gaza in the UN Security Council. We’re helping the Israelis with their “Final Solution” according to a senior US official, so that makes it official.

The term “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” was a euphemism used by Nazi Germany’s leaders  according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Most of us know enough history to understand what the Nazis were up to at their concentration camps during the 1940s. They weren’t holiday camps. They didn’t expect the people who walked in through their gates to walk out ever again. “Final” meant just that. No more problems can be expected from people who aren’t breathing any longer.

“It’s all so...shocking, isn’t it?” I’ve heard this line many times over the past four months. “The US is openly supporting a genocide in Gaza and turning a blind eye to the war crimes their ally Israel is proudly committing. Who would have thought this was possible in the year 2024? I blame [insert villain of the week the duopolists are shouting about here].”

My response to this line of nonsense is this: “I don’t know where you’ve been most of your life, but what is so shocking about how the US has never learned its lesson and has decided to support white settler-colonialism on their ‘world’s largest aircraft carrier in the Middle East’? How long did legal chattel slavery of Africans exist in the US? We slaughtered Native Americans both before and after our blessed independence from Great Britain in the 18th century, did we not? Please stop trying to blame others for the war crimes Americans have done, continue to do and condone others for doing.”

When the US government spends massive amounts of their tax payer dollars on military budgets, it expects to win after all. You can’t expect the US to “win” if it doesn’t have the best in armaments and locations to launch its military strikes from, can you? Israel has been the site of many American operations in that corner of the world, operations to secure and steal petroleum resources. Iraq, Kuwait,  Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq again… We’re in it together! Why should Americans worry about brown-skinned “human animals” getting wiped out in our journey to gain control over more of the Earth’s black gold? The Israelis certainly don’t act squeamish about it.

Sure, being painted with the same brush as Adolf Hitler and friends makes our consciences (what’s left of them) twinge a bit, but this genocide is all in a good cause. What cause is that? Well, our cause, of course! Saying the quiet part out loud should be of no concern to Westerners who have come to depend upon petroleum-powered vehicles and plastics, plastics, and more plastics to maintain their high standard of living.

The choice is simple: It’s our lavish lifestyles or the lives of strangers dying under tons of rubble in an open air concentration camp called the Occupied Territories. How many Westerners are going to give up their BMWs or Cadillac Escalades for the sake of saving little children from having their bomb-damaged arms and legs amputated without anesthesia? 

Hands up all those willing to give up their lifestyle to save others? Anyone? Hmm, yeah, I thought so.

The quiet part said out loud recently in the West has been known by the vast majority of non-Western humans on this planet for decades now. They are not surprised at all. Ask a Cambodian or a Vietnamese person about how Agent Orange dropped from American aircraft in the 1970s changed their lives and the lives of their loved ones forever with its mutative effects. 

Southeast Asians understand white settler-colonialism even if the whites didn’t come and take their land away from them directly. Destroying their villages and their health with cancer-causing chemicals pretty much made the point clear: Americans didn’t and still don’t give a shit about anyone’s health and safety. It should come as no surprise to you that the Global South sympathizes wholly with the Palestinians and not at all with the Israeli occupiers and their allies.

That’s the funny thing about saying the quiet part out loud. It’s only “shocking” to those who have benefited materially, financially, and socially from not hearing the words said out loud before. To everyone else it’s just, “Oh, yeah, we knew that all along. Why didn’t you know about it?”

So, why didn’t you know? Why have you been keeping the quiet part quiet in your own conscience? What do you have to lose by admitting out loud to others that your country is taking part in a genocide? What do you have to gain by being honest and acknowledging the truth of the matter? Will others expect you to fight back against it if you admit it’s a bona fide genocide? Will they expect you to give up your white settler-colonialist privileges (even if you’re not considered officially white in your Western society) in order to bring about an end to this genocide and the occupation of an indigenous people’s land and resources?

Will you have to *gulp!* actually change the way you think, speak, and act from here on out?

Change can be scary. But so is a genocide for the innocent civilians suffering through it. Why should you be allowed to remain quiet and unchanging, uncaring while others are dying in Gaza, Congo, Sudan...?

Say the quiet part out loud and take action against it. Today.

The biggest insult to the memory of the Holocaust is not denying it but using it to commit genocide against the Palestinian people. --Norman Finkelstein

 

Rest In Power, Aaron Bushnell 

Active duty US airman Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire outside of the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC on February 25 protesting Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. He has since died from his injuries. He is the second person to have self-immolated in extreme protest to bring awareness to the genocide in Gaza. A woman on December 2, 2023, self-immolated outside an Israeli consulate in Atlanta. Aaron’s last message on social media explains why he was protesting:

His last words spoken were "Free Palestine!"

Caitlin Johnstone summed up Aaron's protest in this way: "I would never do what Bushnell did, and I would never recommend anyone else does either. That said, I also can’t deny that his action is having its intended effect: drawing attention to the horrors that are happening in Gaza." --from Aaron Bushnell Burned Himself Alive To Make You Turn Your Eyes To Gaza

Rest in power, Aaron. May your sacrifice not be in vain. #FreePalestine

Related Articles and Other Interesting Links

Remarks by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield at the UN Security Council Stakeout Following a Vote on the Situation in the Middle East https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-by-ambassador-linda-thomas-greenfield-at-the-un-security-council-stakeout-following-a-vote-on-the-situation-in-the-middle-east/

YANIS VAROUFAKIS: Here's What The West Actually Stands For  https://rumble.com/v4focxn-yanis-varoufakis-heres-what-the-west-actually-stands-for.html

 

Aaron Bushnell Burned Himself Alive To Make You Turn Your Eyes To Gaza https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/aaron-bushnell-burned-himself-alive 

 

"Free Palestine!" US Airman Self-Immolates Before Israeli Embassy

https://www.wewillbearwitness.org/p/free-palestine-us-airman-self-immolates 

 

Scott Ritter--A Reflection on Duty and Conscience: Aaron Bushnell

https://youtu.be/bWUjRDEm2bw?si=B6DDfQuPN_I3fR1B

 

The Root of All Evils https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com/p/the-root-of-all-evils

 

Rafah Attack Escalates “Most Transparent Genocide of All Time,” Scholar Says https://truthout.org/articles/rafah-attack-escalates-most-transparent-genocide-of-all-time-scholar-says/

Israel Supporters Are Some Of The Worst People In The World https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-supporters-are-some-of-the

Hitler Is Giddy About His New Buddies! https://mark192.substack.com/p/cartoon-hitler-is-giddy-about-his

While on trial for occupation, Israel is entrenching its military in Gaza – Day 137 https://israelpalestinenews.org/while-on-trial-for-occupation-israel-is-entrenching-its-military-in-gaza-day-137/

US kills 4th UN call for peace in Gaza, helping Israel violate Hague's genocide ruling https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/us-veto-un-resolution-gaza-israel-hague

As Israeli Forces Fire on Starving Palestinians, US Again Vetoes UN Cease-Fire Resolution https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-vetoes-ceasefire

Exclusive: Israeli forces fired on food convoy in Gaza, UN documents and satellite analysis reveals https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/21/middleeast/un-food-convoy-gaza-israel-strike-cmd-intl/index.html

Israel-Palestine Isn't 'Complicated', You Just Support Killing Palestinians https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-palestine-isnt-complicated

Israel Demolishing Buildings to Construct Road in Gaza to Cut the Strip Into Two  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/02/20/israel-demolishing-buildings-to-construct-road-in-gaza-to-cut-the-strip-into-two/

The Wire: Genocide is a Bad Investment https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2024/02/22/genocide-is-a-bad-investment/

Netanyahu’s Post-War Plans for Gaza Call for Military Occupation ‘Without Time Limit’  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/02/23/netanyahus-post-war-plans-for-gaza-call-for-military-occupation-without-time-limit/

Why Is the US Producing More Oil and Natural Gas Than Ever Under Biden? https://truthout.org/articles/why-is-the-us-producing-more-oil-and-natural-gas-than-ever-under-biden/

Chris Hedges: Julian Assange’s Day in Court https://scheerpost.com/2024/02/21/chris-hedges-julian-assanges-day-in-court/

Chris Hedges: Julian Assange’s Grand Inquisitor https://scheerpost.com/2024/02/22/chris-hedges-julian-assanges-grand-inquisitor/

Assange Appeal Hearing Plagued By Media Access Issues https://thedissenter.org/assange-appeal-hearing-plagued-by-media-access-issues/

UK High Court Finally Hears Assange's Request For An Appeal
https://thedissenter.org/high-court-hears-assange-request-for-appeal/

Immigrants Are Not Hurting US-Born Workers https://popularresistance.org/immigrants-are-not-hurting-us-born-workers/

Climate Cases Against Big Oil Are Merging Into One Super Suit https://popularresistance.org/climate-cases-against-big-oil-are-merging-into-one-super-suit/

Just Keep Bringing Awareness To The Depravity Of The Empire In As Many Ways As Possible  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/just-keep-bringing-awareness-to-the

Biden White House prepares Trump-style anti-immigrant executive order barring asylum claims https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/02/23/nocq-f23.html

No, Immigrants Aren’t Taking US Jobs https://scheerpost.com/2024/02/25/no-immigrants-arent-taking-us-jobs/

Ukraine’s Maidan Coup: The Evidence, 10 Years Later (w/ Ivan Katchanovski) https://scheerpost.com/2024/02/22/ukraines-maidan-coup-the-evidence-10-years-later-w-ivan-katchanovski/

Twenty-Five US Universities Face Calls To Cancel Starbucks Contracts https://popularresistance.org/twenty-five-us-universities-face-calls-to-cancel-starbucks-contracts/

The Rent Is Still Too High https://otherwords.org/the-rent-is-still-too-high

Jill Stein interview on "Arab Talk": https://youtu.be/VeEjhhEQ2Hg?si=_jgQpViWMQcnpyxY

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Taking Our First Stand

Taking Our First Stand 

(and it won't be our last)

by Cindy A. Matthews 
photos by Adrian Matthews

Mid-January in the Detroit area isn't exactly balmy.  To say it is "cold" would be putting it mildly. But, once again, my husband and I found ourselves standing outside in a line in the dead of winter in southeastern Michigan waiting for a Bernie Sanders rally to start.

After this past July, and the horrid reality of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, I never thought I'd ever say that again.

This time the rally wasn't about Bernie running for office, but about how our "Obamacare" (A.C.A.) health care programs are under attack by a hard-hearted Republican Congress. On January 15, under the hashtag #OurFirstStand, 70 official rallies, protests and related events throughout the country commenced to let these self-absorbed, bought-0ut politicians of corporate-owned Washington DC know we weren't taking this attack on our health care lying down. We were fortunate to have a variety of events in area to attend, but when we heard Bernie Sanders was heading up the bill in Warren, Michigan... 

Well, once a Berner always a Berner. Road trip!

We were fortunate it was a very pleasant winter's day, since the rally was held outside. The temperature stood around the freezing point, and the sun shone warmly upon the parking lot area where the stage and loudspeakers were set up between several large buildings of Macomb Community College. The crowd squeezed together close to the small stage, and that provided even more warmth and blocked any slight wind blowing. It wasn't until we returned home and watched the live stream video (above) that I realized just how many people were actually there--8,000 my husband estimated.  (Others have said the crowd was between 6,000 - 8,000.) Wow. 

This was truly a yuge event in the heart of blue collar, UAW union country. Senator Chuck "fighting mad" Schumer and Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow from Michigan headlined along with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, Congressman John Conyers, Congresswomen from Michigan Brenda Lawrence and Debbie Dingell and two trade union leaders. Two families shared their stories of how Obamacare helped them--including one woman who lost her leg in an accident but didn't lose her life or her life-savings because she had just received health insurance through the A.C.A.

Bernie was in fine form. He sounded a bit hoarse, but his message came across strong. He wore a forest green parka with no tie (unlike Senators Schumer and Peters dressed in suits and wool dress overcoats) and didn't feel the need for a hat and gloves. Bernie reiterated his message of how single payer health care is the best option and that we're among the millions of activists standing up and fighting back against those attempting to take health care coverage away from up to 20 - 30 million Americans. Our job is to tell the Republicans not to kick people off Medicaid, privatize Medicare, defund Planned Parenthood, and raise prescription drug prices--while giving tax breaks to the richest of the rich.

It was hard to get a clear photo of Bernie--too many tall people!

It was a exhausting day standing on the concrete in the cold, but it was worth it to see Bernie Sanders speak in person once again. We secretly wished it was just a Bernie rally without the others, but the excitement and enthusiasm was there. Bernie is cooperating well with the Senate Democratic leadership (obviously since Chuck Schumer was there). He's reminding at least some of the Dems of their progressive roots. After the recent "Pharma 13" scandal, let's keep reminding these Dems that we're holding them to their promises to put the people's needs first before their corporate donors' desire for mega-profits.

Over all, Our First Stand was a success. I think Bernie knew we all needed a little push to get us going this year. By bringing us together with a few thousand of our friends, we were able to revitalize our ardor for the progressive cause, able to reconnect with groups new and old that have actions planned for the coming days. We're that much stronger now to take on the "Tweeter in Chief" and show our fellow citizens how much better our country--and world--would be with a compassionate leader like Bernie Sanders in charge.

Senators Peters, Schumer and Sanders

"Sluffy" has shared some of his excellent photography of the Our First Stand event in Warren, Michigan. Many thanks to Sluffy for his generosity. A true Berner!

Sen. Schumer gives an animated speech.

Two graduates of James Madison High School, Brooklyn, NY

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards

Senator Stabenow of Michigan

Bernie takes the podium.

Bernie looks determined--determined we'll have Medicare for All some day soon!

***

Never forget these faces or names. These are the thirteen Democratic senators who voted against cheaper medicines being imported from Canada. They put their Big Pharma donors' profits above the best interests of their constituents. All have taken at the minimum $250,000 from the pharmaceutical industry and others have accepted almost $700,000. Their contact phone numbers and Twitter handles are below. Please contact them and tell them what you think about their actions. The following article link provides more background information on each of these senators: http://leftgear.co/2017/01/13/pharma-13/

And now, taking a stand against the corporate-owned Democrats as a whole...

Taking a Stand Against Hypocrisy...

We're not with you, Mr. Brock

by Bern Notice

Mr. Brock,

I would like to take a few moments out of my day to reply to your letter to Senator Bernie Sanders, which is referenced here:

Reference: https://medium.com/@DavidBrock/dear-senator-sanders-im-with-you-in-the-fight-ahead-ffd42ae989bb#.kj1k711p9

I could join the legions of people who are likely putting their responses to this letter in reply of a paragraph or less, but I don’t think that format would do justice to just how appalling the idea of “you” being on the same team as “us” is.

I, and countless others, already knew you were on Hillary Clinton’s campaign. There is no sin for supporting an opponent. The problem lies in how you support an opponent--or more to the point, how you treat the opposition.

Over the last year you, and the entities that you own or run, have gone to great lengths to try to discredit and undermine and demean those who supported Bernie Sanders during his presidential bid.

“If you study what’s being said in social media, the media that millennials are consuming, it is filled with misinformation and vicious lies and sexism in terms that you can’t even repeat from his supporters, from other trolls,” you have said, Mr. Brock, as well as:

“And you wonder why there’s such a gap in the millennial preference for Sanders over Hillary. I think if people took a look at what they’re seeing, that would account for some of [the deficit]—the fact that they have a misimpression of her.” --David Brock

Reference: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/david-brock-bernie-sanders-218954

This statement makes a number of assumptions. First, it makes the assumption that the reason Sanders supporters did not support Hillary in the primary was they were sexist. Supposedly those who voted for Jill Stein in the general election and the numerous women who did not support Hillary, but did support Bernie, were sexist? That’s not a smart way to make allies. I hate to break the bad news to you, but it had nothing to do with sexism.

It had everything to do with lack of focus on issues that affect the working class in this country. It had a lot to do with concern about how a person who claims to want reform Wall Street and rein in big business was constantly tied to or being funded by those same entities. See the following links:

References: https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cid=N00000019&cycle=Career

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/26/the-new-york-times-just-perfectly-explained-why-hillary-clintons-answers-on-her-paid-speeches-dont-work/

http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-clintons-complex-corporate-ties-1424403002
 

http://fortune.com/2016/05/11/clinton-greece-fund/

It had everything to do with lack of consistency, and lack of honesty. Feel free to dismiss the bit about the e-mail  if you wish, but note the rest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vczoazK1mxU

Then Brock's PAC, Correct the Record, paid people to “troll” the internet.

“This explains why my inbox turned to cancer on Tuesday,” wrote user OKarizee. “Been a member of Reddit for almost four years and never experienced anything like it. In fact, in all my years on the internet I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

Correct the Record, which has received $5 million this campaign season and has spent almost $4.5 million of it according to OpenSecrets.org, outlined its strategy against “swarms of anonymous attackers” in a press release:

Reference: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/21/hillary-pac-spends-1-million-to-correct-commenters-on-reddit-and-facebook.html?via=mobile&source=twitter

The tactics that you employed were bad enough that it made some Clinton supporters say the following: “David is well meaning but I think perhaps like a zealot. He should keep it in check a bit. I don’t think this needs to be about tearing Bernie down. …It’s getting nasty and it doesn’t need to be.”

Reference: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/269791-david-brocks-hardball-tactics-worry-clinton-supporters

Still even after everything that has transpired, you seem to think that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with how the Democratic Party has operated for the last eight or more years. You claim that the “Democratic Party isn’t suffering from an identity crisis”.

Reference: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/david-brock-democrats-are-not-facing-an-identity-crisis/2016/12/05/8c3521ba-bb1e-11e6-ae79-bec72d34f8c9_video.html

If the last election should have told you anything, it should have told you that working Americans of all stripes are tired of both parties doing “business as usual.” While you and other Washington insiders have fattened your wallet and enhanced your power base, the rest of America (the working class) has suffered under increased costs of living and decreased buying power.

At the beginning of the campaign, no one in the beltway or the media thought that Sanders or Trump had a snowball's chance in hell. They, and people like yourself, thought that it was going to be Bush or Clinton all over again until the voters told you otherwise. But somehow, you still can’t seem to accept that people want more than talk--we want action that helps us.

And you think that by penning a letter that you can simply get back in our good graces. There is a saying, "Be careful whose toes you step on today. They may be connected to the feet you have to kiss tomorrow."

What Senator Sanders chooses to do is obviously his prerogative. As a person who you and your PACs went out of your way to insult, I would like to be one of many to tell you that you may claim to be with us, but we sure as heck aren’t with you.
 

BIO: A fighter in the political revolution, Bern Notice takes a stand every time he sits down at his keyboard. You can find him on Google+ and on his new blog, Seeing Through the B.S., on Medium.com.

***

 We're still feelin' the Bern, too! There are so many good causes and issues that need our support. It's time to crawl out of our shells and put on our winter coats (if necessary) and pick up a sign or banner and get out there. Come on! Take a stand like these brave Berners are doing, and we'll be seeing you on the front lines. (Please feel free to share your photos and stories with us here at the blog, too: Email us at thebernieblog2016@gmail.com)