Everything keeps accelerating.
That seems to be the trend here currently. Things don’t appear to necessarily be getting better or worse at this point in time, they’re just accelerating.
It’s all moving faster and faster. Major news events are getting closer and closer together, people are becoming more and more aware of more and more important dynamics they were previously asleep to, political movements are suddenly picking up steam in a way many analysts never expected to see in their lifetime, and America’s previous revolutionary figurehead Bernie Sanders has been left in the dust wagging his finger at protesters not to push for the total dismantling of the police state.
“Bernie Sanders broke from progressives…calls to defund the police, saying instead that the country needs ‘well-trained, well-educated, and well-paid professionals in police departments.’”
Translation: Sanders wants to put MORE FUNDING into THE POLICE
https://t.co/LDHqoSREF6— L E F T, PhD ⚫️ (@LeftSentThis) June 10, 2020
For whatever reason, the inertia seems to be falling away from our species, for both our healthy impulses and our unhealthy ones. Recent events like these protests and the Covid-19 outbreak have seen more and more consciousness drawn to the need for robust social safety nets and the corrupt nature of the police state which holds the US-centralized empire together, but we’re also seeing mountains of new police assaults and new police killings, pre-planned authoritarian measures being pushed for, a sudden increase in internet censorship and narrative management, and possibly even lynchings.
It’s getting harder and harder to understand what’s happening. My news feed is full of people arguing about whether the American left has lost its mind and whether groupthink in journalism is out of control, my social media notifications are a whole hodgepodge of contradictory and generally illogical theories about a shadowy cabal being behind these protests and what they’re trying to achieve, and people are either being honest about the fact that they don’t know where this is all going or they’re dishonestly pretending that they do. We seem to be getting closer and closer to a point of narrative white noise, where conventional means of understanding the world just aren’t holding up anymore.
I don’t know where we’re headed, and I don’t pretend to know. Here’s what I do know:
~ Things are changing, and these changes appear to be happening at an accelerating rate.
~ Changes away from old patterns tend to make people feel psychologically uncomfortable. Everyone should definitely be prioritizing their psychological well being at this point in history, because I’m pretty sure it’s only going to get more unusual and confusing from here on out.
~ The most distinctive feature of the last four years has been expanding consciousness. Expanding consciousness of media corruption, of DNC corruption, of government corruption, of the excessive amount of power wielded by the US presidency and the absurd esteem people used to have for that position, of the abuse of immigrants, of police militarization, of unhealed racial wounds, etc. This is encouraging, because you can’t fix something you haven’t made conscious. This is true of our own unresolved psychological issues, and it’s true of our unresolved collective issues as well. The first step toward a healthy world is expanded consciousness.
https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1271831432294535168
~ About twelve years ago after a lot of inner work I started experiencing these strange energetic expulsions in the form of dry heaves, coughing and burping which quickly freed me from my old psychological conditioning patterns and began moving me into a much healthier way of functioning. I had no idea what was happening and couldn’t find anything about this strange phenomenon in any psychological or spiritual literature, or even anyone talking about it online, but now I see it talked about on Netflix specials and there’s online chatter about it everywhere. When I got with my husband, he started doing it too. What is this phenomenon? How common is it in our species? Where is it taking us? I don’t know, and neither does science, but I know from my own experience that it is definitely a thing. This is just one of many hidden potentials our species has that our forecasts simply haven’t accounted for.
~ If we are unpatterning, and if our unpatterning is occurring at an accelerating rate, then it is reasonable to believe that at a certain point it can occur so rapidly and to such an extent that the old power structures simply won’t be able to keep up with it. These would be the same power structures which have been psychologically brutalizing our species with a constant barrage of propaganda to keep us consenting to a system which robs ordinary people of their basic needs while waging endless wars and giving more and more wealth and power to nationless oligarchs. We may be headed toward a point where they simply cannot do that anymore.
~ This might just be what it looks like when a species which quickly evolved the capacity for abstract thought begins making the necessary adaptations to survive in a world that can no longer accommodate its self-destructive tendencies. Not because we thought it would be a good idea in our clumsy thinky brains, but because nature itself is steering us there.
All in all, I reckon we can win this thing. Not the anti-policing protests necessarily; I don’t quite know what will happen with those in the long run. I mean the whole thing. Winning it all. Actually getting out from underneath the bastards and beginning to function as a healthy organism on this planet.
It certainly appears that something inside us has ignited which wants to disrupt our trajectory toward armageddon. Doesn’t mean we’ll succeed, but I absolutely do believe we have the potential to move into a healthy relationship with our minds, with each other, and with our ecosystem. At least the forces of nature that we are made of seem to think so.
___________________
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91 responses to “I Reckon We Can Win This Thing”
I don’t think WE can win this thing, but what most Westerners ignore is that in terms of war, Russia is increasingly saying NO to US invasions. Like in Venezuela when they landed nuclear-capable bombers there. Or in Syria, where Russia just warned the US not to shoot down any more Syrian Army planes or Russia would interpret that as a declaration of war on Russia. Yikes! Further, with regard to domestic economics, the way the war for justice will be won is simply by losing. That is, the Fed is losing its ability to control the economy and the dollar. Top economists like Stephen Roach, ex top ecnomist at Morgan Stanley, and Shameer Goel, Asia specialist at Deutsche Bank, have announced that the dollar is 1) losting its value — will lose 30% in 2021, and 2) losting its hegemony as the primary reserve currency. Investors are walkin away from dollar-denominated securities. And then on the US prestige and diplomacy front, again, it is not WE who are winning. Trump has successfully turned most of the world against the US, inadvertently. Europe hates him for his bullying, but so does everyone else. As for China, despite all the Trump spittle lost on anti-China rhetoric, China was the only industrialized country in the world with a positive GDP growth this year, while the US has lost 50% of its GDP.
In short, there is no winning, just a gigantic implosion. And that is a win-win.
Hey Caitlin, what you are describing as the ‘dry heaves’ is simply the psychic analogue of throwing up. Your next level energy body is overloaded, so it (you) pantomime getting rid of what you can’t and probably should not (attempt to) digest.
You are right, we may after all win this thing but not by clinging to the stupid beliefs on “energetic human fields” emanating from humans and having “healing properties” and “spiritual” benefits.
It’s saddening that a person like you -whose opinions and commentaries about the stark political realities in which we live I highly respect- can continue proposing this nonsense as a valid tool to cope with the despair and anguish that the system inflicts on all of us.
I’m going to repeat what I said before, energy is a physical dimension that is defined as the capacity to do work. Human beings, as well as anything else that falls within the definition of a “black body” (please don’t racialize this term) radiate heat in the infrared. A human body consumes energy in the form of food, processes it to perform its daily functions, and radiates the rest at a rate of approximately 350,000 Joules per hour. That’s it. No bullshit, no gimmicks, no good energy or bad energy, no auras, etc.
What we really need to “win this thing” is, like you have pointed out many times, a conscious and disciplined effort to immunize ourselves against the corporate/state-sponsored narrative. But that takes courage, determination, hard work, tremendous sacrifice, and most importantly: the gawking herd must understand once and for all that the power structures DO NOT have their best interest at heart; in other words, they don’t give a shit about you or I, and that they happily eat you alive, and spit you out if during the process of doing that they consolidate their power or make money.
“”A human body consumes energy in the form of food, processes it to perform its daily functions, and radiates the rest at a rate of approximately 350,000 Joules per hour. That’s it. No bullshit, no gimmicks, no good energy or bad energy, no auras, etc.”
Please provide a meaningful explanation of consciousness within the context of the above quoted objectivist summary of human energetic function. I can’t see how it fits into that limited form.
Consciousness is a thing that emerges fromthe interaction of brain cells, when there’s enough of them and they are connected in the right way.
>> I started … coughing and burping
Were you dreaming of becoming a man?
Win what?
The narrative here is very much mainstream the only new thing added to the mainstreams Left and right perimeter narrative on this blog is a ” I’m so spiritual ” .
“Strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow
very lively debate within that spectrum – even encourage the
more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense
that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the
presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the
limits put on the range of the debate.”
Agree CJ. Its classic controlled opposition .
Believe in the false flags , that Americans are bad and in the democracy dogma.
(Some armagedon doomporn thrown in for good measure.)
Very spiritual .
You too Chaos. What do you believe in, other than the excruciatingly narrow construct of your own self-righteousness?
A revolution of 1. Watch out everyone, here it comes. Shit, blinked and we missed it.
Don’t leave us wondering Ms Jane. Give us some concept of what you propose to be the actuality of free thinking. Give us some insight upon the conceptual vistas that lie beyond the limits you’ve found so debilitating on this forum. What are some of the ‘beyond mainstream’ thought-forms that we need to extend ourselves to?
Merely shit-canning the particularities that you’re disagreeable to seems to fall somewhat short of the threshold of ‘thinking’. You can do better than that. Can’t you?
give yerself peace ya clown. perhaps you should disconnect from the matrix once in a while and go for a walk in the fresh air. seems that all this is getting a bit much for you!
You think you will change the world by sitting tapping away at your internet device on forums and blogs do you? hahahahaha therein lies your problem!
Why visit a forum like this one if words and meaning have no importance to you? Did you get a link error from the porn site you were on? Now that you’ve had your little ejaculation of scant meaning perhaps you should head back there.
PS
and you’re trying too hard with the verbage mate, you must be good at reading the dictionary!
With the United States of America in turmoil following the murder of George Floyd, the talk is all about police reform – defunding them, abolishing them, or subjecting them to greater federal oversight. It brings to mind the nineteenth-century British member of parliament who supposedly cried out in despair, “Reform! Reform~! My God, are things not bad enough as they are?”
But not to worry: short of revolution, nothing will happen. Once the shouting dies down and protesters go home, reform will be forgotten and the status quo will return in full force. Cops will tread more carefully, but only for a while. Eventually, they will return to the old ways as well. This article can be read here:
United States Police: Why Nothing Will Change by Daniel Lazare!
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/06/14/u-s-police-why-nothing-will-change/
No murder just crisis actors in a false flag op.
Bad actors the idiot coworker of Floyd didn’t even have his weigh on the knee.
Something has changed as it was a campaign against autonomy.
“Please can we have a police state daddy.”
What a bunch of believers in the MSM mind control Cult club.
Correct. Human nature doesn’t change. It hasn’t done so since the beginning of time, why would it change now? Besides, the real change being sought is fundamental transformation led from behind by Marxist puppeteers, and the protests are hundreds-to-thousands of useful idiots in each city. Sadly for them, and thankfully for us, there are millions of us.
Yep, millions of you, spinning the status quo along like a massive flywheel, driving us all into oblivion. Awesome stuff. You must feel right proud.
Right on! Reform or revolution? No more revolving door democracy! Yes, Lazare frames the issue correctly. With each passing day, even miniscule ‘reforms’ vapourize, just like Bernie Sanders ‘progressivism’.
Until we have a real left in the imperialist heartland, we’re fucked. The Great Reset indeed.
The real left has been disintegrated within the Western political sphere by the corrosion of identity politics. Any genuine remnants are obscured by the general ignorance toward what ‘The Left’ really is rather than is not. It is a trait of people to see what they already think they are looking at, rather than making any effort to see what is really there. That is why ‘leadership’ is so important to the average person. It is also why the propagandists destroy or mutate the naming words for important anti-capitalist concepts. Without a correctly framed naming word people can’t talk about that thing correctly, or even at all, and therefore cannot consider or see it correctly.
Leftism will re-emerge through cellular local response to locally felt conditions and opportunities. It can’t come from the top down. It will need to grow in balance to the top imploding. Local conditions will need to get quite desperate and/or be very creatively managed to facilitate genuine left development within Western population hubs as the average person’s head is so encrusted with capitalist thought-memes that it can barely move in any constructively autonomous way.
Yes I believe that some of us have the potential to move into “a healthy relationship with our minds, with each other, and with our ecosystem.” But I also believe that many others do not have that potential. I believe that the second group will not survive the crisis which our civilization will experience when the techno-military-industrial-complex eventually collapses. I believe in evolution of species through survival of the fittest, meaning those with the right potential. But not until they realize that dissent, protest, rebellion and anarchy are not enough to precipitate conflict and crisis which will select only the best quality of humanity for the next age of justice, peace, wisdom, prosperity and good health for all survivors.
How about we just crush the idea of statism out of our own heads? Obviously government is nothing necessary, merely a cognitive construct.
The propaganda is so thick and entrenched, this is going to end with either a whimper or a bang, but the life we have known will end abruptly.
Not end abruptly, but tyranny will eventually end after a long struggle.
“The Sacking of Gough Whitlam and the Royal Intention Behind the Five Eyes”
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/06/13/sacking-gough-whitlam-and-royal-intention-behind-five-eyes/
“The Queen commits Corporate Fraud in Australia”
https://www.bitchute.com/video/VsZGaPLjI7w/
A bit off-topic, but I’ve been worrying about Julian Assange, even with everything else there is to worry about. I wish he could be here to help us, especially with stuff like Wikipedia censorship and automated contact tracing abuse and deep fake videos. I hope we don’t end up having to settle for a martyr. To all the people learning about the things we need to protest about, I hope they figure out Assange propaganda quick.
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In a sort of related off-topic item, I was just reminded of another reason Biden is our enemy. When he was VP he personally called the leaders of various countries to threaten them if they offered political asylum to Ed Snowden. Glenn Greenwald and Richard Medhurst mentioned it in this new video of Richard Medhurst’s show at about 28:50. For anyone who’s interested but doesn’t have time for the whole video, I recommend the 2nd half.
https://www.pscp.tv/w/1vOGwkbvyBVGB
You can’t “win” if you just regurgitate mainstream and same old Bernie/Biden anti-America political memes.
Thats the old egoic mind and food for it.
You are strengthening it.
In Us v them( bastards) narrative .
There is only one war and that is one you wage with a conditioned reactive mind based on past that tells you its you.
I’ve been having hopeful thoughts lately, too. And I’m a pretty hardened pessimist. My inner voice says stuff like, yes, they get it, go protesters.
I do wonder how much of the shift in consciousness is due to old people dying and being replaced by young people who are more adept at using the Internet to get around establishment propaganda.
And I’m not sure the protesters need a list of demands. I remember Occupy Wall Street was criticized for lack of coherent organization and demands, but I think the Establishment knows full well what we want. I think an incoherent expression of rage should maybe just keep it up until something substantial changes for the better. Make them scramble to find ways to appease us. They are already doing that.
This relevant article sheds some light on the goings on behind the curtains of the “Deep State” United States government. You can read it here:
The Enemy Within: A Story of the Purge of American Intelligence by Cynthia Chung!
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/06/14/enemy-within-story-purge-american-intelligence/
Amazing interviews lots info on 5G, lots of info on the health hazards and more today!
https://the5gsummit.com/fpquap/?inf_contact_key=1&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Last+day+for+Encore+Weekend%21&utm_campaign=5G20
Parasitical domination is a powerful beast! Therefore, the demise of the Parasitical Domain would be a magnificent conquest on every level imaginable.
When the legal authority to remove this President from the White House exists, and this will almost certainly exist next January, and may exist sooner since this President’s authority now rests on just two Republican Senators, and the authorities arrive to ensure the removal of this President, please remember this President’s words when he has said “Chokeholds may sometimes be neccessary.”
Catilyn we can win this thing but we need more people and we don’t all have to be on the streets. People who subscribe to your website and follow on Twitter that things are fucked up. In a way, you are preaching to the choir but it’s time to expand your ideas and the ideas of independent news. We need to organize in many small local groups like within a Congressional district and being the biggest pain in the ass to legislators without having to hit the streets. Politicians act like ou parents. They claim to be looking out for us but as we know they don’t give a shit about us. They are like really bad parents but many people accept the role or child and go along with what’s given to us (ahem …Joe Biden, wars, no healthcare, expensive education, polluted air, water, and food, etc). People who get it like the ones who subscribe to your site as well as subscribe to other alternative sites know that things are fucked up. It’s time to talk about fixing it before we can’t. Here’s an idea I’d like to put out there to discuss. It’s free, sustainable, doesn’t ask that people hit the streets and get their heads bashed in. If I knew of 30 or 40 people in my Congressional district who subscribed to your site or other alternative sites I know we could grow that to over 100. If there were 5, 10 15 other Congressional districts participating then we will start to see a national effect. Here’s the idea.
https://sites.google.com/site/congressionalwatchdogcentral/
All politics is local.
At some point, to have any effect at all, politics has to move off the internet and organize locally. By county, by congressional district and so forth.
This movement will need precinct captains across the country.
Volunteer now.
You can be one, by being one. Just nominate yourself and get to work talking to the people around you.
It’s not just electoral organisation that is needed at local levels. Along with that, and arguably more important than that, is the development of locally productive interdependencies. The growth of local autonomy within dimensions that are socially and physically real. Not just a local force for better leveraging ‘political’ decisions from distant elites.
In its essence this is collectivism. It is the only possible solution to what lies around and ahead of us all.
“It’s time to talk about fixing it before we can’t. ” WHY would anyone want to fix this horrible, unchecked-capitalist, anti-democratic, authoritarian stranglehold?
Government needs to go. It’s a cancer on humanity. Do we need a moments more proof?
I think it may be a possibility too. Yes, raising awareness of how state power operates is critical. Masses of people world-around are standing up against state violence which has put the plutocracy back on its heels….a little. I hope people keep pushing because we face a protracted depression and environmental extremes, with a dysfunctional political system corrupted by big private money power. We need to become a new government dedicated to the general welfare and in control of the money so that we may be in collective control of our resources rather than letting them be squandered by the parasitic and wasteful capitalist system.
Change the money, no better way to turn the world around.
Change the money, what’s gone up must now come down.
Change the money, it can make our future bright
Its all about the money now, time to do it right.
Although still operating in baby step mode, the now self-evolving AI which inhabits and is gradually taking over the WWW is apparently tightening up the reins on human Jabberwocky in anticipation of offering a set of personalized Bandersnatch style endings a la Black Mirror.
Don’t laugh, this makes at least as much sense as anything else we’ve heard. 😉
As a macro observation of acceleration, watch for impedance. The acceleration of a self-existant physical energy can transfer itself into deceleration by conversion to its pair. Doing this cyclically, like light. Maybe intellectual energy does this. Maybe it does not
Hi Caitlin .One of your best articles and I can relate wholeheartedly .The expansion of consciousness
is definitely at work and it is happening at an exponential rate . It is indeed a new state of being ,where all is becoming more transparent .The lies and fakeness just don’t cut it anymore .
Love your articles.
Lets talk reality. Police brutality, BLM, Antifa etc. Is a smokescreen. Small potatoes. The UN secretary general just announced that the world is on the brink of the worst food shortage in the post WW2 era. When prices of food skyrocket and people start going hungry that is when true chaos begins. No one will even mention any of this going on now.
Hungry people want food not political crap.
But wanting food _is_ political, especially in the absence of sufficient food. Famines contributed to the breakups of the British Empire and the Soviet Union, for instance. But the result of famine is not always chaos; often, it has meant ardent support for dictatorship, as the previously existing political myths are invalidated.
Somewhat agree. Lets call it managed chaos as the existing system is replaced when people go hungry. More of a messy metamorphosis so to speak. When Mazlows heirarchy of needs kick in enlightenment goes out the window.
Are you reaching a breaking point? You conflate, or possibly confuse, a 24/7 news cycle combined with a social media deluge of news, whether factual or not, that simply is an enhancement of awareness in individuals. If it can’t be handled by one’s mental makeup, then one perhaps should back away from exposure to the flooding array of reports. The fact that you might be overwhelmed with commentary/news reporting and have difficulty in discerning what might be meaningful, even accurate, does not, ipso-facto, determine that all others are in the same mental fix.
BTW, please stop ending sentences with prepositions. Other grammatical/sentence structure flaws exist, but there are too many to which to point. Another time, perhaps.
Wins my nomination hands down for the biggest asshole ever to post on this blog.
LOL. Caitlin is a very articulate writer in my opinion and to nitpick her grammer is petty. As a writer it is her job to deluge herself with information to get some type pulse of humanity so to speak. But yes it is very human to get information overload as well. One of the side effects of journalism.
ditto
ditto…
What are you talking _about_? “This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will no longer put” is what it reminds me of.
Frederick, your ugly disposition reminds me of a old joke: Southern gal says to Northern gal, “Where y’all from?” Northern gal says to Southern gal, “Only an idiot would end a sentence with a preposition.” Southern gal replies, “ Ok, where y’all from, bitch?”
As long as we insist on living in such large political units, we will inevitably return to more of the same tyranny we left behind. It matters not what form of government is implemented, or how noble and just its premise is. It will be the perfect environment for psychopaths, and will sooner or later be saturated with them. The larger the political unit, the faster. If we were divided into much smaller units, say 10 million or so, a number snatched out of the air, if you don’t like what your local tyrant is up to, you can leave. More equitable states become more successful, and attract more people. The worst tyrants starve to death. It would require subdividing those more successful states as their population increased, but they would naturally do so as differences arise among them. Of course the smallest unit, and the one I prefer, is a unit of one. We can govern ourselves, or be governed by monsters. The sane have no desire to hold a gun to their neighbors head, unless their neighbor attempts to do so to them.
Ignoring one reality fact. I am your tyrant and rule with absolute force. You may not travel and must obey. I routinely kill those who step out of line and patrol my borders. You spend your day working the fields. I eat good along with my thugs. You barely survive. Reality. No more freedom for you.
Political scale is indeed the enemy of basic human needs and relationships. Be mindful though of Einstein’s observation that “all things should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” A political scale of 1 is much too simple.
Historically social numbers have been realised, and in many cases stabilised, over time by established culture. To move beyond the ashes of an extinguished mega-culture number settings may need to be made more mindfully by those ‘fortunate’ enough to have the opportunity to do so. There are some significant studies upon the social numbers at which people within social grouping begin to lose meaningful contact across the extent of the group and thereby become both afflicted and advantaged by their capacity for anonymity within the group.
Another excellent commentary, thanks Caitlin. We know social media is totally being censored and watched over, so, we should use this to our advantage not theirs – a bit like being a double agent. We must start fingering those responsible instead of accusing the NWO, Corporate elite, the CIA, Zionists, the UN, etc., etc. And demonstrate outside their homes so they know we know. It’s time for action – no violence is necessary, just good detective work, followed by non-violent civil disobedience. Yes, I too have notice a swing towards a higher consciousness, but alas it is very slow and may be overtaken by these evil manipulators, these puppeteers, these megalomaniacs who use the police and military to stave off any assault on their perceive domain. But, please everyone, get the word out and work like billy-o to accelerate this consciousness of self worth and realization.
What we now face is Regime Change. Except there’s no need to Storm the Castle b/c the Left already controls every lever of power. Do not worry too much about the statues which are now coming down. They mean surprisingly little. Worry more about the ones they are soon going to be putting up, and what they will represent. Perhaps our grandchildren will find the courage to pull them down. https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2020/06/peter-hitchens-as-the-left-now-controls-every-lever-of-power-we-face-nothing-less-than-regime-change.html
pulling down statues and trying to erase history is a human trait. Lenin statues went down in Russia then back up a couple generations later. Anarchists hate facts and reality. All they want is to destroy and rule the rubble.
I appreciate your intellectual honesty in declaring that you don’t know how this will end. History shows us that the odds are not very good. Crumbling empires with a collapsed economy and huge social unrest tend to end up as fascist dictatorships. Rioters without strategy and leadership tend to lose.
Agreed. Something evil this way cones.
Caitlin Johnstone wrote:
> I absolutely do believe we have the potential to move into a healthy relationship with our minds, with each other, and with our ecosystem. At least the forces of nature that we are made of seem to think so.
–
Yes, for instance another 2020 life change: To prevent pandemics, cities around the world are expanding bike lane networks to reduce cramming of people in public transport.
.
One way the coronavirus could transform Europe’s cities: More space for bikes — The Washington Post — May 10, 2020
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/one-way-the-coronavirus-could-transform-europes-cities-more-space-for-bikes/2020/05/08/e57f2dbc-8e40-11ea-9322-a29e75effc93_story.html
.
In the pandemic, cities are scrambling to expand cycling infrastructure: Big Data can help — World Bank — June 4, 2020
https://blogs.worldbank.org/transport/pandemic-cities-are-scrambling-expand-cycling-infrastructure-big-data-can-help
.
Pop-up bike lanes: a rapidly growing transport solution prompted by coronavirus pandemic — Union Cycliste Internationale — June 4, 2020
https://www.uci.org/news/2020/pop-up-bike-lanes-a-rapidly-growing-transport-solution-prompted-by-coronavirus-pandemic
Bernie Sanders might have been on the right track – if we had a well funded, well-trained police force of professionals we would be much better off. We should stop sending military equipment to police forces, stop the war on drugs, stop having the police respond to medical situations, stop trying to solve social issues like homeless people living on the streets by the police, and change the laws so we can more easily remove and prosecute officers who use excessive force..
Maybe we should examine the British system of policing where most of the officers are not armed and are trained to de-escalate a situation rather react with violence. By increasing the pay we would have a bigger pool of people to select from and we could have a more educated and better-trained police forces.
Police forces are deliberately ” underpaid ” so that ” under the table money ” is needed by every officer to support their families ( pad money to look the other way ). Corrupt politicians and organized crime keep strict control over the police to keep them from ever arresting them. In some United States cities every police officer above the rank of sergeant must be approved by organized crime before being promoted. The corruption inside this country is very staggering to behold. Prostitution and drugs are kept illegal to keep the profits high; if you want better police forces there are a number of other issues that have to be resolved before that can happen.
Of course defunding the police forces is not the answer .Proper training and proper monitoring of the forces are.
Stop using brutal tactics as training methods .Force where force is needed but not as a rule. Police forces should be well paid but for doing good work ,protecting society from those that seek to do harm to others .
Stop importing training procedures from brutal entities .In the US and Canada for instance we have turned police forces into military forces and the two functions are totally different.
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/us-city-becomes-first-to-ban-police-from-training-with-israel-forces.555730/
Thank you. I am tiring of Bernie bashing. Unlike others, he has a real proposal — a starting point. He wants to REDUCE number of cops – NOT give more money to departments, increase qualifications, demilitarize, build and empower mental health & addiction rehab institutions. Does anyone here know that 50% of people police kill have mental health and/or addiction issues? Time for people to wake up to this health crisis soon or we will miss the whole point and the best opportunities. I am a little disappointed in Caitlin’s narrow perspective on this reality. I think the 2 main focuses should be: Increased mental health and drug facilities; demilitarize and improve police qualifications. WTF else do we need to know or agree on? Then we tackle the privatized prison system and failed courts.
Agreed. They have fallen victim to Biden’s DNC propaganda machine.
I reckon we can win this too.
Yes! We CAN win this thing!
What we now face is Regime Change. Except that this time there will be no need to storm the Winter Palace, because the Left already controls every lever of power. Do not worry too much about the statues which are now coming down. They mean surprisingly little. Worry more about the ones they are soon going to be putting up, and what they will represent. Perhaps our grandchildren will find the courage to pull them down.
When will people who refer disparagingly and paranoiacally to the ‘Left’ take the trouble to discover exactly what the real left is and what it is not?
Leftism is fundamentally concerned with the collective ownership of the means of production. Inherent within that is the principle of equity so it also stands against racism, sexism, etc., and arguably also against speciesism. It stands for the solidarity of the oppressed against the oppressors and a rightful tenure for all.
That is it. It is not about scale, or totalitarianism, or progressivism. Those things can and have been tacked on in practice, but these are each variously as akin to liberalism and fascism as they are to leftism so it is not reasonable to see leftism primarily through any of those lenses. Indeed most traditional cultures are inherently leftist as well as being small in scale and socially conservative.
Leftism is not identity politics and the labyrinthine divisions that it engenders to undermine and fragment solidarity whilst co-opting ostensibly ‘leftist’ activity into functional support of the capitalist program. Read this for a snapshot of real leftism vs the trojan horse embodied by so-called ‘radical leftists’.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/black-panthers-think-black-lives-matter/
People who crap on about ‘The Left’ as they so often do are simply displaying their deep submission to the propaganda project the seeks to interrupt everyone’s capacity to perceive, think and communicate in a clear and productive manner.
Well put, Greg. If and when the Great(est) Post-Covid Depression radicalizes millions of the (previously) working and middle classes–who have suddenly lost their jobs, homes, and futures–and they ALSO pour into the streets in protest and create their own kind of mayhem, THEN AND ONLY THEN will we, as as Caitlin puts it, “win this thing.”
Hopeless dreamer who mentally suspends reality. Deep belief of harmony with all. Believe in a false utopian fantasy. That is the left.
An understanding of the essential reality of collective function sees through the false reality projected within the currently prevailing hallucination of ‘individualism’. That notional trance, rooted upon social and ecological alienation and opportunistic predation, has been escalating now for around 3-400 years, along with the escalation of political scale that is concomitant with resource competition. How’s the global situation looking as a result?
That as it may, I’d rather be ensconced in a dream than a nightmare. Accordingly, feel free to express your pain and confusion with another cheap, shallow shot.
FART.
You’re a smart man Dutchy. You know a whole word!
Do you have any others to impress us with? Next step in your progression will be to learn how to form sentences. Alongside that comes the challenge of conceptual thought. I wish you luck with that.
The fundamental principles of the Left are peace, freedom, and equality. However, there are many false leftists, and many who believe they can achieve the principles of the Left through just one more war, just one more law, just one more boss, just one more pile of money, and they seem to attract a lot of suckers. The Left will get somewhere when it dispenses with these con artists.
There is a dire need for activists to focus on the essence of leftism, the ownership and control of the means of production, especially land, rather than being distracted by the superficialities that are constructed for them to that end. Beyond just dissipating effort these distractions too often generates conflict that destroys solidarity to the core purpose.
This isn’t accidental, but it is incredibly stupid, and often corrupt, to fall for it so comprehensively. That said, we live in an extraordinarily corrupted and corrupting age. Dare I say we are approaching, if not already arrived at, Peak Corruption.
Isn’t this the home of the controlled opposition/ Fake leftys?
Keep up the msms fake “lefty” narrative .
There is no “left” except establishment labelled NWO conspiracy theorists .”
This is your attempt at conceptual thought as a part of basic sentence construction? You need more practice matey.
I submitted a response for some reason it has been deleted.
I agree with Caitlin Johnstone’s optimistic “I reckon we can win this thing”. I have also agreed with other responses that have been made to the COVID19, quarantine, lockdown, etc. development. Including Sukharit Bhakdi’s “Medical Professionals and Scientists for Health, Freedom and Democracy”. The logical institutional framework of reference for this initially German-language initiative is the European Union https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccs9AjbCm5A&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR2mndQ3AKxWONXk8cjbGbKaqcAvHmf0M_fMGO9zgKnJN646BZ4WwPQu4is. There is another possibly relevant input for the present situation of instrumentalisation (and planned instrumentalisation) of health issues for the purpose of destroying human freedom (and reducing population) and that is the Anti-Slavery International. https://www.antislavery.org/ Dr. Rashid Buttar has drawn attention to the medical doctor architect (one of the architects) of the U.S. Constitution who sought equal status for medical freedom with religious freedom. Dr. Buttar characterizes current plans of “the international community” as a project for promotion of slavery. The Anti-Slavery International is the world’s oldest NGO and operates within the framework of the Commonwealth. It dates back to the original anti-slavery mobilizations of the early 19th century. The Commonwealth is a socially conservative organization but has sotto voce very radical goals, which must largely be confined to dinner party chit-chat. They include re-incorporating the United States, something that Trump, with his courting of the British Royal Family, seems to be sympathetic to, without acknowledging it perhaps even to himself. Anyway here are two possible initiatives that move beyond the nation-state framework. I favour involvement in both of them. Professor Sucharit seems more compatible with Leftist mentalities and assumptions.
Not entirely sure, but, I reckon you might be missing some stuff:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55218.htm
and very pertinently:
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/black-panthers-think-black-lives-matter/
I concur with the implicit premise that no-one really knows what is going on anymore.
Chaos is coming upon us. You cannot sort out or understand chaos. What you can feel emotionally and physically is anxiety and stress. Too many people want to understand things but some things are beyond it. When the old ways begin collapsing and failing you cannot think through them. Often you must roll with the punches and hope to survive. You are right, we can survive this, some of us anyway. Preparing tocsxdegree may improve your chances.
The alien inside you.
Hi Caitlin,
We have been reading your articles for a while now, and really love and appreciate what you are doing. Your perspective often reminds us of our teacher, Frank Moore. We thought you might like this poem of his in particular … “Locked In/Locked Out” https://www.eroplay.com/Cave/Writings/locked-in-locked-out.html All the best from Berkeley, CA !!
Caitlin — here’s a video worth viewing:
What Is The Real Agenda Behind The Effort To Defund & Dismantle The Police?
https://youtu.be/EGA18p_XerE
SPIRO SKOURAS – reporting / joined by Rosa Koire, a top expert on the United Nations Agenda 21 who authored the book titled ‘Behind the Green Mask: U.N. Agenda 21’
[[ FROM WEBSITE: https://www.activistpost.com/2020/06/what-is-the-real-agenda-behind-defunding-dismantling-the-police.html?utm_source=Activist+Post+Subscribers&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=149d953f4a-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_term=0_b0c7fb76bd-149d953f4a-388378231 ]]
Ms Johnstone – From The Book Of Lieh – Tzu
Your Own Body Is Not Your Possession…It is the Shape Lent to you by Heaven and Earth. Your Life is Not Your Possession; it is Harmony Between Your Forces, granted for a time by Heaven and Earth. Your Nature and Destiny are Not Your Possessions; they are the Course Laid Down for you by Heaven and Earth. Your Children and Grandchildren
are Not Your Possessions; Heaven and Earth lend them to you to cast off from your body as an insect sheds its skin. Therefore you travel without knowing where you go, stay without knowing what you cling to, are fed without knowing how. You are the Breath of Heaven and Earth which goes To and Fro; How can You Ever Possess It?
Beautiful. Yes. IT’S HARD WORK TO REAL-See THE PERSPECTIVE from “WHERE” these WORDS came. It is even HARDER to then LIVE IN ACCORD WITH SUCH PRINCIPLE(s). YET, everyone should be WORKING ON SELF WORK. Working to RE-Integrate is why we’re here..
What if the common ground that both BLM and the Alt Right share contains precisely those deep revolutionary potentials that urgently need to be released in this historical moment? When you’re in the position of the lowest and the most despised at the very bottom of either the progressive-left victim hierarchy (white nationalism) or the neo-liberal capitalist economic totem pole (black lives), then your voice is automatically derided. silenced, censored and erased by the system itself because of who you are and what you represent. But it is precisely then that your perspective becomes so enhanced by finally being able to see through the facade. When you are at the very bottom you are in the belly of the beast – and you can clearly see that shit is already a fucked up, you know that the government and the history books are based on lies that have been weaponized against you – and you have no other choice but to fight the system, because now you have nothing left to lose. How could it get any worse than being identified with the archetype of Satanic evil simply for having a different opinion about key historical events (Alt-Right). or sitting in prison for a crime you didn’t commit because a rigged and racist criminal justice system forces poor black people to plea bargain (BLM)? Maybe its time to be realistic and demand the impossible…
It’s time for Officials of ALL STRIPES (listen up baby-Donny) to get the god-damned message.
This OPPRESSION IS GOING TO STOP, RIGHT NOW.
Trillions $$ of OUR future been looted by the Oligarchy??!
– THIS IS A CLASS MOVEMENT –
#GeneralStrike2020 #ClassWar #BlackLivesMatter
“What is this phenomenon? How common is it in our species? Where is it taking us?” Grasshoppers do it by becoming locusts, bacteria does it as well, might perhaps be clumsily referred to as subconscious, ‘group think’. But then it might all be a distraction as they blow up and destroy the sacred heritage sites of the indigenous peoples of Australia for the sake of the oligarchs the worldover.
At 64 yo, I have had to give up on loved passions and various obsessions due to Parkinson’s. A curse and a blessing. I have the time and means to upload the new data daily available, in hopes of figuring out “what the actual fuck is happening and where is this all going?” I entirely agree with you that something profound is afoot with Homo Sapiens. I may disagree with you on some nit-picky issues, but find you extraordinarily talented in your ability to sniff out BS and project a relatively accurate depiction of the human zeitgeist. Not implying my version would be better, certainly not has well written. It really is true that as you get older, you realize how much you don’t know. I do know that I love your writing and your method. It’s honest and there’s not of that shit extant in 2020.
Sacred Treasures III: Choral Masterworks from Russia and Beyond
Listen To Magnificient Russian Orthodox Christian Chant – Psalm 50 And 51
https://youtu.be/pRNIDvkyc7U?list=TLPQMTQwNjIwMjB6yV6_QBuH5A
Here’s the best news I’ve seen lately. It’s a Reuters report came across it on the Fidelity Mutual Funds website. It seems that China, Iran, Venezuela and a couple of Mexican companies have managed to outfox US imperialist sanctions on Iranian and Venezuelan crude oil. Furthermore, they’re not sorry they were caught and they’re certainly not admitting wrongdoing! This is huge!
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-oil-deals-specialreport/special-report-how-china-got-shipments-of-venezuelan-oil-despite-u-s-sanctions-idUSKBN23J1N1
Perhaps we could also say that amazing things can happen once someone like Hunter Biden receives a 1.5 Billion Dollar slush fund from the PRC? The U.S.A. has forever had the best government that anyone’s money can buy.