WilliamCharles's Profile

Instrumentals

Jun 23, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

African Beat - Bert Kaempfert

0 comments

Taboo Island Atlantis

Jun 23, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

African Beat - Bert Kaempfert

1 comment

Politics

Jun 19, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKOpinion: Joe Biden Is The White Moderate Dr. King Warned Us About - Essence

"Later reports added that Biden also mentioned his fondness for segregationist Georgia Gov. Herman Talmadge, saying of both of the white supremacists, “At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished. But today you look at the other side and you’re the enemy. Not the opposition, the enemy. We don’t talk to each other anymore.”"

5 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 19, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKPause A Moment And Think About How Many People AREN’T Whistleblowing

"Who is going to blow the whistle on US government malfeasance after watching what’s being done to Chelsea Manning? Seriously, who? Would you? Would anyone you know? I think most people, the overwhelming majority of people, would opt out of the chance to give the empire a truth smack in exchange for years in prison, financial ruin, and seeing their name slandered and smeared around the world. Most people have too much to lose and too little to gain to take that risk already, and the war on ...

2 comments

Politics

Jun 19, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKAvedon's Sideshow: Something inside, that was always denied, for so many years

An exceptional compilation. The excerpt is one of many. Much to ponder. :-----: "Frustrated by His Own Party Franklin D. Roosevelt began his "fireside chat" on June 24, 1938, as he had begun others, recounting New Deal battles won and lost during the most recent congressional session. But he ended the broadcast with a surprise. "And now," the president intoned, "I want to say a few words about the coming political primaries." In this midterm primary season, he said, "there will be ...

0 comments

Politics

Jun 18, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKOil Tanker Attacks in the Gulf Have US Fingerprints All Over Them - Sputnik International

"It was the Spanish philosopher, poet and novelist, George Santayana (1863-1952), who warned us all: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". Watching the unfolding US promoted narrative in the Persian Gulf seas over this past few days and weeks those words should ring loudly in the ears of everyone who values peace and opposes the carnage, destruction and horrific waste of life delivered by war. If you swallow the American propaganda plastered across newspaper ...

2 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 18, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKAmerica's Dental Health Crisis: Modern Life Causes More Tooth Decay, and Care Is Increasingly Unaffordable | Common Dreams Views

"The loss of a tooth to disease may prefigure other losses in life quality. In terms of oral health, complete tooth loss, or edentulism, has been called the “final marker of disease burden.” An extraction is emblematic of defeat. The extracted tooth will not grow back. But when routine care is long deferred, when more complex procedures are out of reach or not an option, the extractions serve the urgent need of relieving infection and relieving pain."

3 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 18, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThe War Hoax Redux - Global ResearchGlobal Research - Centre for Research on Globalization

"The Trump administration has a problem: How to start another war – this time with Iran – without having a justifiable reason for one. No doubt members of Trump’s team, led by the war-thirsty and perdurable John Bolton, are working hard to solve this urgent problem. If they can’t find a justification, they may have to create one. Or perhaps they will find what they have already created. Whatever the solution, Americans should feel confident that their leaders, together with their ...

4 comments

Politics

Jun 18, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThe Belief That Trump Is a Messiah Is Rampant and Dangerous | Psychology Today

"But there is another major reason why Trump loyalists do not waver no matter how he behaves or what scandals come to light. For most evangelicals, it is not only fear that keeps them in line, but it is also faith. As a cognitive psychology researcher who has been writing about the science underlying Trump’s unshakable support since he began his presidential campaign, I have learned—through comments, emails, and discussion forums—that a significant portion of his supporters literally ...

4 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 17, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThis Assange Supporter Excoriating The Press Is The Best Thing You’ll Watch All Day – Caitlin Johnstone

"“For seven years you have smeared and slandered that man who is going to appear on video in that court in about fifteen minutes,” Dimmack told the mainstream press, right to their fucking faces. “You are all responsible for what has happened today! All of you in the media! Every one of you. You have got blood on your hands. When he released those documents that Chelsea Manning gave him, all he did was the job of a publisher. That’s it. Right now Julian Assange is going to court and put ...

1 comment

General & Hellos

Jun 17, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKDid a Coverup of Who Caused Flint Michigan’s Contaminated Water Continue During Its Investigation?

"The water problem began when Flint had to switch its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River to lower its costs and government agencies were not properly checking for lead in the water supply. Marc Edwards, a self-described conservative Republican and civil-engineering professor from Virginia Tech, saw that even though the federal law required proper inspections, “The EPA and the states work hand in hand to bury problems.” And those EPA employees who did try to protect the public, ...

2 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 17, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKIn Defense of Purity Tests | Ted Rall's Rallblog

"Eighteen years into the losing war against Afghanistan, left-leaning Americans have good cause to question militarism and its enablers. Joe Biden voted for the Iraq War. He’s never even apologized. Bernie Sanders voted no when it was unpopular to oppose Bush. Why shouldn’t progressives conclude that Sanders is closer to them—not to mention smarter? Biden voted to kill more than a million Iraqis for no reason whatsoever; being held accountable for contributing to one of the biggest mass ...

1 comment

Politics

Jun 16, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThe Danger of Leaving a President Out of the Loop – Consortiumnews

"People rarely take time to deeply reflect on the uniquely important fact that our species came within a hair’s breadth of total annihilation during the Cuban missile crisis. We learned long after it was all over that the only reason a nuclear-armed Soviet submarine didn’t discharge its payload on the U.S. Navy and set off a full-scale nuclear exchange between the U.S. and the USSR was because one of the three men in the sub needed to authorize the weapon’s use stood against the other two ...

0 comments

Academic (e.g., Science)

Jun 14, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKHow Far Can We Go? Limits of Humanity. - YouTube

A very well done YouTube video on our local group of galaxies.

1 comment

General & Hellos

Jun 14, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKSeven Reasons To Be Highly Skeptical Of The Gulf Of Oman Incident – Caitlin Johnstone

"In a move that surprised exactly zero people, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has wasted no time scrambling to blame Iran for damage done to two sea vessels in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, citing exactly zero evidence. “This assessment is based on intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping, and the fact that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a ...

3 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 13, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKPropaganda Is The Root Of All Our Problems – Caitlin Johnstone

"As I never tire of saying, the real underlying currency in our world is not gold, nor bureaucratic fiat, nor even raw military might. The real underlying currency of our world is narrative, and the ability to control it. As soon as you really grok this dynamic, you start noticing it everywhere. George Kurtz is one clear example today of narrative control’s central role in the maintenance and expansion of existing power structures, as well as an illustration of how the empire is wired to ...

0 comments

Quotes

Jun 13, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

In light of the NYT eliminating all political cartoons. :-----: "I don't care a straw for your newspaper articles, my constituents don't know how to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures." Boss Tweed

3 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 13, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKCommencement Address at American University, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1963 | JFK Library

"What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children--not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women--not merely peace in our time but peace for all time."

0 comments

Ethical Sluts

Jun 13, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKAmerica's Forgotten Mass Imprisonment of Women Believed to Be Sexually Immoral - HISTORY

"The American Plan began during World War I, as the result of a federal push to prevent soldiers and sailors from contracting STIs. In 1917, federal officials were horrified to learn that a huge percentage of men in the military (some erroneously estimated one in three) were infected with syphilis or gonorrhea. Suddenly these diseases presented not just a health threat—but a national security threat as well. So officials passed a federal law that outlawed sex work within a five-mile “moral ...

7 comments

Singles/Mingle/Chat

Jun 12, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThe Most Popular Slang the Year You Were Born

The Most Popular Slang the Year You Were Born The word "duh" is much, much older than you think. :-----: Mine was "endsville" as in "Agnostic..com is endsville."

19 comments

Politics

Jun 11, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKAssange Is Being Persecuted for His Virtues - Chris Hedges - 06/11/2019

"We have watched over the last decade as freedom of the press and legal protection for those who expose government abuses and lies have been obliterated by wholesale government surveillance and the criminalizing of the leaking and, with Julian’s persecution, publication of these secrets. The press has been largely emasculated in the United States. The repeated use of the Espionage Act, especially under the Obama administration, to charge and sentence whistleblowers has shut down our ability to...

1 comment

Singles/Mingle/Chat

Jun 10, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

Some fun illustrations here. :-----: When Modern Love Meets Classic Comic Books… Peter Nidzgorski is the artist provocateur behind the site This Isn’t Happiness. Under the name Peteski, he blogs about art, photography, design, and ...

7 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 10, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThe Treacherous Falsification of Palestine-Israel History

"The Six-Day War: Israeli Defense or Offense? Hill peddles the myth that the Six-Day War — whose first attack was carried out by Israel — was “defensive.” This long-surviving false narrative remains a central reason by which Israel and its proponents justify its current occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territories. But what do the archival records of declassified U.S. and Israeli documents actually demonstrate?"

4 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 9, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThe Tragic, Forgotten History of Black Military Veterans | The New Yorker

"After the Armistice, black veterans returning home were greeted not with recognition of their civil rights but, instead, with an intense wave of discrimination and hostility. Whites speculated that, while stationed in Europe, black soldiers had enjoyed wartime liaisons with white French women, increasing their lust—which, in the white imagination, was already dangerously high—for sex with white American women. Many black veterans were denied the benefits and disability pay they’d been ...

1 comment

Academic (e.g., Science)

Jun 9, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKFree Fall — Part 1 by David Chandler

Sometimes I get so frustrated with the skeptic community. They could do the same type of demonstrations/experiments that they do for claims of psychic ability or communications with the dead. They'll participate in debates on evolution, or the existence of God... but 9/11? Generally, crickets. :-----: David Chandler writes: "By the way, does this sound like conspiracy theory to you? Notice that I have not theorized, or even hypothesized anything. I am observing and analyzing public ...

2 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 8, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINK15 Rare Photos of Black Rosie the Riveters | Stuff Mom Never Told You

"During World War II, 600,000 African-American women entered the wartime workforce. Previously, black women's work in the United States was largely limited to domestic service and agricultural work, and wartime industries meant new and better-paying opportunities -- if they made it through the hiring process, that is. White women were the targets of the U.S. government's propaganda efforts, as embodied in the lasting and lauded image of Rosie the Riveter.Though largely ignored in America's ...

6 comments

Politics

Jun 8, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINK52nd Anniversary of Israel’s Attack on the USS Liberty

"Two days ago, the US celebrated the 75th anniversary of D-Day with accolades to the armed forces and thanks to surviving veterans. The country stood strongly with the military. But today two days later is the 52 anniversary of a day of shame when Washington turned its back on the US Navy. It was June 8, 1967 when the USS Liberty, a surveillance ship stationed off the coast of Egypt, was attacked by Israeli fighter aircraft and torpedo boats. The Israelis were unable to sink the Liberty, but ...

6 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 7, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINK“Women Are Teachable” Booklet From 1940s

Quite an evolution, eh? :-----: “Women Are Teachable” Booklet From 1940s In this 1940s guide for how male bosses should treat female employees, men were amusingly told that “women are teachable”. The booklet shows just how much the work place has changed since World War II era.

4 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 6, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

Thou shalt not test thy God... even if making sense.

4 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 6, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

For all those who never got the chance to grow older on this day.

1 comment

Politics

Jun 6, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

What it's like anytime I see Dolt 45 as the public face of these United States. We've gone beyond farce. Truly Bizarro World.

2 comments

Quotes

Jun 5, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

"The measure of the state's success is that the word anarchy frightens people, while the word state does not." Joseph Sobran

5 comments

Politics

Jun 5, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKAfter Assange’s Espionage Act Indictment, Police Move Against More Journalists for Publishing Classified Material – Consortiumnews

"Within hours of Assange’s Espionage Act indictment on May 23, major publications and media figures, who have harshly treated Assange, began lining up in his defense out of self-interested concern that the government could apply the same prosecutions to them for also routinely publishing classified information. Their fears are beginning to be realized."

0 comments

Taboo Island Atlantis

Jun 5, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

Doop - Doop

2 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 4, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThe Ungodly Privilege of “Vote Blue No Matter Who” Go to the profile of Raegan Davis Raegan Davis Jun 2

I thought the author made some important points. :-----; "When a candidate decides to waffle in the middle of our already-conservative political spectrum, that is said candidate’s decision; “vote blue no matter who” Democrats had just better hope the ensuing lost leftist votes are accounted for in the candidate’s cost-benefit analysis. Who knows? Perhaps the Party truly will pick up two moderate Republicans when they say they want to build a different kind of wall or sign bills ...

0 comments

Politics

Jun 4, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

Jared Kushner - Palestinians Governing Themselves

Do you feel that Kushner (or anyone) making a similar statement regarding the people generally seen as abusing the Palestinians would not draw widespread condemnation before they were fired? Would you consider it "good governing" to conduct the occupation outside the boundaries using snipers to murder and maim? :-----: From Kushner's Axios interview (Bloomberg excerpt) "Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner said in an interview that the Palestinians aren’t ...

4 comments

Politics

Jun 4, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKWhy Joe Biden Was Afraid to Face California’s Democratic Party | Common Dreams Views

I really like Norman Solomon. :-----: "Joe Biden’s glaring absence from the California Democratic Party convention has thrown a national spotlight on his eagerness to detour around the party’s progressive base. While dodging an overt clash for now, Biden is on a collision course with grassroots Democrats across the country who are learning more about his actual record and don’t like it. Inside the statewide convention in San Francisco over the weekend, I spoke with hundreds of ...

1 comment

Quotes

Jun 4, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

"We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a ...

2 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 4, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKAdam Milstein Has Spent Millions to Stifle BDS and Attack Critics of Israel

"ADAM MILSTEIN, A real estate millionaire and prolific donor to right-wing, pro-Israel causes, had a busy few days on Twitter this month. In one tweet, he accused Rep. Ilhan Omar of being a “terrorist.” In another, he questioned Omar’s and Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s loyalty to the United States. He also accused Tlaib and Omar, the first two Muslim-American women elected to Congress, of having links to the Muslim Brotherhood, indulging a tired trope popular among anti-Muslim bigots. The ...

0 comments

Politics

Jun 4, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKDonald Trump Is The Most Honest US President Of All Time

"The most aggressive anti-Trumpists have no interest in real change, they just want things to go back to the way they were before Trump, which is actually just wanting to go back to the conditions which gave rise to Trump. They’re not interested in waking up, they’re interested in smoothing an uncomfortable wrinkle in their bedsheets so that they can go back to sleep. And if that happens, fine, whatever; it’s not like they were taking any meaningful action against the ugly face of ...

6 comments

Politics

Jun 4, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKIf Democrats Pull Their Punches, Donald Trump Will Knock Them Out | The Nation

"Who said: “The people don’t want a phony Democrat. If it’s a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat, and I don’t want any phony Democratic candidates in this campaign…”? These are all quotes from then–President Harry Truman, who today is generally imagined as the embodiment of a traditional mainstream ...

2 comments

General & Hellos

Jun 3, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKNoam Chomsky: In Most Of The World, Media Obsession With Trump-Russia Interference Story Is "A Joke" | Video | RealClearPolitics

"The political dissident, linguist, and professor Noam Chomsky says the rest of the world thinks the U.S. media's Trump-Russia collusion allegation is a "joke" given the history of the U.S. in the last 135 years, and that if we are worried about foreign interference, Israel already influences more of American politics than Russia could ever hope to, in this interview with Democracy Now! "Take, say, the huge issue of interference in our pristine elections. Did the Russians interfere in our ...

4 comments

Politics

Jun 3, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKLet’s Talk About the Word Progressive – Kathy Copeland Padden – Medium

PROGRESSIVE: favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in political matters: a progressive mayor. (Dictionary.com) You hear the word Progressive in its political context thrown around an awful lot these days. Mostly by those who have no right to lay claim to the title and are merely adopting it for political expediency. Hillary Clinton considers herself a Progressive, and some people elevate Liz ...

0 comments

Quotes

Jun 2, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

"Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do?" Epicurus

6 comments

Politics

Jun 2, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKNational Lawyers Guild echoes smear campaign against Julian Assange | San Francisco Bay View

"Last year the NLG refused to schedule a convention panel on Russiagate, with proposed speakers Cynthia McKinney and Ray McGovern. The Executive Committee also refused, “because of our relations with Russia,” to issue a statement condemning the requirement that RT register as a foreign agent. This year it is still not addressing the legal or McCarthyesque aspects of Russiagate at its upcoming convention.’” The Guild’s subsequent position on Julian Assange is still more troubling. ...

1 comment

Politics

Jun 1, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThe faux revolution of mindfulness McMindfulness is the new capitalist spirituality. Ronald Purser 19 May 2019

"According to its backers we’re in the midst of a “mindfulness revolution.” Jon Kabat-Zinn, recently dubbed the “father of mindfulness,” goes so far as to proclaim that we’re on the verge of a global renaissance, and that mindfulness “may actually be the only promise the species and the planet have for making it through the next couple hundred years.” Really? A revolution? A global renaissance? What exactly has been overturned or radically transformed to garner such grand ...

1 comment

General & Hellos

Jun 1, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKJoe Biden record: Iraq, banks, crime, and more - Vox

"There’s something unfair about it. Biden is a very normal senator whose worst mistakes involved getting caught up in the political norms or fads of the moment. But that’s life. Times change, and the 2020 presidential campaign will be waged in this moment. And Democrats deserve a nominee who can either plausibly claim to have been prescient on the big changes that have swept progressive politics or is new enough to elective office to simply be of the current moment."

1 comment

General & Hellos

Jun 1, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKSpadework | Issue 34 | n+1

"The Labor Notes manual Secrets of a Successful Organizer ends with a secret for the unsuccessful one: “One hard reality about organizing: you’re going to fail a lot. You’ll lose more often than you win.” If the secret to winning isn’t really a secret — you just keep organizing and organizing and organizing so that along with all the losses and setbacks some victories start to pile up — then maybe the question of how to win is just a question of how to keep doing it, after ...

0 comments

Quotes

Jun 1, 2019Jun 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

"Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them. There is almost no kind of outrage-torture, imprisonment without trial, assassination, the bombing of civilians-which does not change its moral color when ...

5 comments

Politics

May 31, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKGaslighting: State Mind Control and Abusive Narcissism - 21st Century Wire

"The majority of Americans accept mass murder under the pretext of the right to protect, because their ability to form rational and reasoned opinions has been engineered out of them. This is now the definition of US exceptionalism. It is their ability to manipulate the world into accepting their lawlessness and global hegemony agenda. In seeking to impose its own image upon our world the US has drifted so far from its founding principles, one wonders how they will ever return to them. They ...

1 comment

Quotes

May 31, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

"The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do." Samuel P. Huntington

8 comments

Music, Movies & Books

May 31, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

Pingu's 'The Thing' AKA THINGU by Lee Hardcastle

0 comments

Politics

May 31, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThread by @TheMittani: "if you ever wonder why i got politically 'radicalized' it's because i grew up in alabama as an athiest child of two biochemistry professors; " AlabamaAbortionBan

I found this a fascinating read. :-----: "if you ever wonder why i got politically 'radicalized' it's because i grew up in alabama as an athiest child of two biochemistry professors; at 17 i graduated and moved away forever. reminder: Alabama came within 1.7% of sending a known pedo to the senate any '13th dimensional chess' tweets about how the AL leg composed this abortion ban to provoke a court fight has never met an actual neoconfederate"

1 comment

Politics

May 31, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThe intelligence community needs a house-cleaning - Matt Taibbi

"I’m in favor of any Russiagate-related information coming out, or at least being disclosed to congress. That includes any redacted parts of the Mueller probe, along with underlying investigative materials. But transparency has to cut all ways for this three-year national fiasco to be resolved in any way that makes sense. We need all the information about the origins of the investigation as well, and it’s simply not true that opening that vault would mean a “plot to dirty up the ...

0 comments

General & Hellos

May 29, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThe Department of Energy is calling fossil fuels “molecules of freedom” and “freedom gas”

"Freedom gas. It appears that turn of phrase originated earlier this month, when Secretary of Energy Rick Perry signed an order aimed at doubling U.S. liquefied natural gas shipments to Europe. At a press briefing in Brussels, he explained that the move would help European nations diversify their energy supply away from Russia, the region’s major supplier of gas. “The United States is again delivering a form of freedom to the European continent,” he said. “And rather than in the form of ...

4 comments

Quotes

May 29, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

"We travel together, passengers on a little space ship, dependent on its vulnerable reserves of air and soil; all committed for our safety to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work, and, I will say, the love we...

5 comments

Politics

May 29, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThe Worst 2020 Election Interference Will Be Perfectly Legal

"In 2016, at the single hottest and most contested moment of the Democratic presidential primaries, the Washington Post published no less than sixteen smear pieces against Bernie Sanders in the span of sixteen hours. This campaign by a newspaper which is solely owned by the richest man in the world (who also happens to be a CIA contractor and Pentagon advisory board member) was plainly geared at manipulating the 2016 presidential primary results. And, along with similar campaigns by the rest of ...

1 comment

Religion & Spirituality

May 29, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKHere are Evangelical Christianity’s 10 biggest gaslighting tactics

"Some stuff people tell you messes with your head if you buy into it. Maybe it’s self-contradictory. Maybe it doesn’t line up with what you know about yourself or the world around you. Maybe it makes you question the evidence of your own senses or your ability to think straight. Maybe it muddles your intuitions about right and wrong, making you ashamed of doing things that don’t actually harm anyone—or, conversely, prompting you to do things you would otherwise be ashamed of. Perhaps ...

9 comments

Politics

May 29, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKAbuses show Assange case was never about law

"British journalists have had many years to get the facts straight. In an era of social media, journalists at the Guardian and the BBC have been bombarded by readers and activists with messages telling them how they are getting basic facts wrong in the Assange case. But the journalists keep doing it anyway. They are trapped in a herd-think entirely divorced from reality. Rather than listen to experts, or common sense, these “journalists” keep regurgitating the talking points of the ...

2 comments

General & Hellos

May 27, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKMemorial Day: Remember the Victims of American Bombs When You Remember the Soldiers Who Died for Our Empire

"For me, Memorial Day is a reminder of our empire and its sordid history. Not only do I think of the millions of innocent civilian victims of our aggression, but I also remember our dead, who gave their lives—for what? Which multinational corporations profited while our boys died abroad? Honeywell, GenCorp, Halliburton, GM, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon? Did we really need to send thousands of Americans overseas to fight? Were any of our foreign wars worth the death of a ...

10 comments

General & Hellos

May 27, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThis Memorial Day, Let's Learn From Our Mistakes and End Illegal War

"Those of us who have realized the truth of war’s futility and waste, however, and have rejected the mythology of necessity and purpose, will not support the continued exploitation and commercialization of the memory of those sacrificed in war and the suffering of their families to enhance consumerism and profit. Nor will we cheer as millions of dollars of deadly aircraft deafen and electrify onlookers by feigning bombing runs that slaughter hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Nor ...

4 comments

General & Hellos

May 27, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

In Flanders Fields BY JOHN MCCRAE In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ...

5 comments

Politics

May 27, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

Military Madness - Graham Nash

1 comment

General & Hellos

May 27, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

Wage peace.

3 comments

General & Hellos

May 27, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives."

1 comment

Politics

May 26, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINK(Why) There Was No Jackpot at the End of Capitalism’s Rainbow

"There’s a simple argument that American thinking has long made when it comes to capitalism. It goes like this. Capitalism brings many ills with it, sure. It makes people immoral, foolish, vain, short-sighted, selfish. It leads to strife and division and greed. But it’s worth it. Why? Because in the end, we all get rich. In fact, it’s the only way that we all get rich in the end — and not end up poor. And being poor brings worse things with it. There’s a jackpot at the end of ...

1 comment

Politics

May 26, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKSenator Schumer’s “divine” mission to serve Israel – Redress Information & Analysis

"Back on 31 March 2019 I wrote an essay entitled “God and US foreign policy”. The central figure in that essay was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo is a Christian fundamentalist who believes that God is at work when it comes to both sustaining Israeli society as well as the US foreign policies that underpin it. There are other Christian fundamentalists in the Trump White House who agree with Pompeo, significantly Vice-President Mike Pence. Both men also appear to believe a really ...

2 comments

Politics

May 26, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKRemembering the U.S. Soldiers Who Refused Orders to Murder Native Americans at Sand Creek | Sojourners

"These were men who rejected the violence and genocide inherent in the “conquest of the West.” They did so by personally refusing to take part in the murder of peaceful people, while ordering the men under their command to stand down. Their example breaks the conventional frontier narrative that has come to define the clash between Colonial settlers and Native peoples as one of civilization versus savagery."

1 comment

Politics

May 25, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKWar is the failure of humanity

"Every war is a failure of empathy, a triumph of dehumanization: we cannot identify with our enemy. He (and, increasingly, she) is “barbaric,” “an animal,” “savage.” (“They” rape, pillage, torture, brainwash—even their kids. “We,” the techno-wizards of the centuries, would never stoop that low!) Every war represents a failure of our species to free itself from the shackles of expansionism, greed, colonization, exploitation, ignorance and violence. Every war is a failure of ...

3 comments

Politics

May 25, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThe War Prayer

“Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth into battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble...

1 comment

Politics

May 25, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

How much longer?

Will no one relieve us of this mendacious Marmalade Mountebank?

1 comment

General & Hellos

May 24, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKJeremy Scahill: New Indictment of Assange Is Part of a Broader War on Journalism & Whistleblowers | Democracy Now!

It's all about silencing your voice. :-----: "JEREMY SCAHILL: On June 16th, 1918, the prominent socialist labor leader Eugene Debs delivered a speech in Canton, Ohio. And in that speech, Debs argued against U.S. involvement in World War I, and he praised activists who had been organizing against the military draft or had been convicted of sedition. At the time, Debs was one of the most prominent socialists in the United States, and his speech came on the heels of the Russian revolution and...

1 comment

General & Hellos

May 24, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINK"I Apologize to No One" for Opposing Disastrous US Wars in Vietnam and Iraq, Says Bernie Sanders | Common Dreams News

"Following recent efforts by media outlets to paint a picture that his opposition to past U.S. wars—from the Vietnam War when he was a young man to voting against the 2003 invasion of Iraq as a member of Congress—was something he might want to apologize or account for, Bernie Sanders on Friday released a video on Friday to make clear why he opposed those "disastrous" military misadventures and will continue to fight against similar follies in the future. "I make no apologies to anybody, ...

2 comments

General & Hellos

May 24, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKNew Report: Bernie Sanders Has the Democratic Establishment Shook :: Politics :: Bernie Sanders :: Paste

"The Democratic establishment—defined as senior party officials, major donors and their allies in the swamplands of D.C.—is starting to feel the heat. They know they are losing their influence over the party by the day, and Bernie is the worst possible foe for them to go up against, as any attack from the establishment on Sanders further buttresses his credibility amongst a group of voters sick of the status quo. Today’s report out of the New York Times is simply dripping with Democratic ...

0 comments

General & Hellos

May 24, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

"The idea that simply thinking something contrary to what the Party has decreed to be true is a crime—and then convincing people that its revelation was inevitable—is a chilling, terrifying idea that requires people to self-edit their thoughts. ...

1 comment

Politics

May 24, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKFacebook Bans Artist For Transforming MAGA Hats: – Noteworthy - The Journal Blog

This is truly disturbing. :-----: "When your account is disabled on Facebook, you have one opportunity to make your case through a brief form. First, you have to upload your license (an extortion that was wildly unsettling for someone who has gotten threats in the past and tries to keep her location somewhat under wraps). Not knowing that it was my last chance, I simply explained that the work that got me banned was art, not hate speech. I thought my brief explanation would be enough to ...

1 comment

Politics

May 24, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

"War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it." - George Orwell

7 comments

General & Hellos

May 24, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

The Madness of King Orange

1 comment

Instrumentals

May 22, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

Floyd Ming & His Pep Steppers Indian War Whoop VICTOR21294 ( 1928 )

1 comment

General & Hellos

May 22, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKBuilding the perfect candidate to beat Trump! / Boing Boing

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory time after time.

1 comment

General & Hellos

May 22, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKWe still don’t know the full story about the ballots destroyed in Broward County | Opinion by Tim Canova

"I was a candidate for Congress in Florida’s 23rd District in 2016. After the election ended with a loss, I had questions about the process and the result. We were surprised and disappointed since the results departed significantly from the information provided to me by seasoned pollsters and political professionals who worked for me, including our final field numbers that were based on an enormous number of voter engagements. I had concerns, as did others, and as a result, I asked to ...

2 comments

Quotes

May 21, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

"It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into ...

2 comments

General & Hellos

May 21, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThis is how Republics die - NationofChange

"There’s a lot of hand-wringing going on in the press and in D.C. about Trump’s political and legal excesses. What everybody seems to be missing is the permanent damage he’s doing to our republic by finding the loose floorboards under our republic, the loopholes and norms of political behavior that have been enforced for centuries out of good will and respect, rather than fear of the law. “What everybody seems to be missing is the permanent damage he’s doing to our republic by ...

0 comments

Quotes

May 21, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

"As I looked at the stains on the coral, I recalled some of the eloquent phrases of politicians and newsmen about how "gallant" it is for a man to "shed his blood for his country," and "to give his life's blood as a sacrifice," and so on. The words ...

8 comments

Academic (e.g., Science)

May 21, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKOne Catholic Priest Destroyed the Entire Mayan Written Language

"The New York Times described the decipherment of the Maya hieroglyphs as “one of the great stories of twentieth century scientific discovery.” Tragically, this decipherment was only necessary because of a one-man Spanish Inquisition, a deliberate, decades-long campaign by a single Catholic priest to destroy the Mayan language and culture. The priest, Diego de Landa, wiped out all knowledge of the written language, and nearly destroyed the spoken language too."

4 comments

General & Hellos

May 21, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKDemocratic Elite Could Care Less About the Life of the Party

"Trump widened the Democrats’ ideological playing field by humiliating its establishment with his victory in 2016, when it sold the candidacy of Hillary Clinton to its base by touting her supposed electability. More importantly, Trump has transformed the party by convincing its progressive base that there is no future for centrist politics in a country whose middle class is shrinking and whose working class is being pauperized. What is important to understand is that the current ...

1 comment

Instrumentals

May 19, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

A line just heard on C-SPAN (they're featuring a look at Milwaukee)... "Polka in its most simple form is about sex."

1 comment

Instrumentals

May 19, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

Zappa - Bolero

1 comment

General & Hellos

May 18, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKThe “Bible Belt” is the Porn Belt: Surprised? | Frank Schaeffer

Smut in Jesusland: Why Red-State Conservatives Are the Biggest Porn Hounds by Valerie Tarico "…studies consistently demonstrate that people in conservative religious search for adult materials online far more often than people in blue states. Ever since Freud first started publishing his theories, psychologists have had a fascination with what he called “defense mechanisms“: Denial means simply refusing to acknowledge that some event or pattern is real....

3 comments

Instrumentals

May 18, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

Figured this makes the cut with no vocals other than a scat repetition of "doop." Doop - Doop

0 comments

General & Hellos

May 17, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKCollege Democrats Protest New DCCC Vendor Policy - The Atlantic

"Another potential problem the students have expressed is keeping young people engaged. “The next generation of grassroots activists and organizers are really not happy with the way the Democratic Party is conducting itself,” Pearce says. If the party makes it harder to challenge incumbents, they’ll also make it harder for young people looking for change to feel excited about a candidate. “When we have younger voices and voices that better represent young people, they’re more likely to...

2 comments

General & Hellos

May 17, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKWhere Is the Democratic Alternative to Forever War?

Saw Maj. Sjursen on C-SPAN debate continuing to support Israel while ignoring Palestinian rights. He won the debate (he was against it). :-----: "There sure are lots to choose from. By now, more than 20 candidates have announced a run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. And with national security adviser John “Regime Change” Bolton, along with the others in the four Bs cabal—Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Zayed ...

10 comments

General & Hellos

May 17, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKA Shocking Lack of Intelligence in Our Missile Strike on Syria

"The truth is out there, waiting on the ground in Douma. There is no doubt that the OPCW fact-finding mission has the forensic investigatory capability to detect the presence of chemical agents at the scene of the alleged chemical attack of April 7. The amount of chlorine necessary to have produced the number of casualties claimed is significant, and as such the chemical residue unique to such an event would be present in large quantities, and easily detected; no amount of “sanitation” by ...

0 comments

General & Hellos

May 16, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKChris Hedges: The Issue Before Us is Death – Dandelion Salad

"The corporate forces that have commodified the natural world for profit have also commodified human beings. We are as expendable to global corporations as the Barrier Reef or the great sequoias. These corporations and ruling elites, which have orchestrated the largest transference of wealth upward in human history, with globe’s richest 1 percent owning half the world’s wealth, kneel, and force us to kneel, before the dictates of the global marketplace. They have seized control of our ...

1 comment

General & Hellos

May 16, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKDemocrats Against Impeachment Invite Autocracy and a Loss in 2020

It's dereliction of duty by Congress if not outright aiding and abetting :-----: "Long before Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report dropped, it became crystal clear that the sitting president of the United States has committed serious crimes. We need leaders in Congress who are ready and willing to rise to the occasion by checking and balancing the executive branch. Failing to impeach will only embolden our kleptocrat-in-chief. Many supporters of impeachment proceedings have ...

3 comments

General & Hellos

May 16, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKFacebook says Israeli company used fake accounts to target African elections - CNN

Russia, Russia, Russia! /s :-----: "San Francisco (CNN) Facebook has removed hundreds of fake Facebook and Instagram pages, groups, and accounts that it says were run by an Israeli firm that was targeting countries in Africa. The Israeli company Archimedes Group spent more than $800,000 running Facebook ads and their accounts had almost 3 million followers, Facebook said in a blog post announcing the removals Thursday. Archimedes Group used fake accounts and "represented ...

1 comment

General & Hellos

May 16, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

“Anything else you’re interested in is not going to happen if you can’t breathe the air and drink the water. Don’t sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our ...

2 comments

General & Hellos

May 16, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKWho Really Gains from the Gulf Ship ‘Sabotage’? by Finian Cunningham + Wilkerson: Manufactured Iranian Threat in the Persian Gulf – Dandelion Salad

"After dramatic and patently scripted warnings of “Iranian aggression” by bellicose US officials, there then follows – conveniently enough – an alleged sabotage incident in the Persian Gulf region implicating Iran. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo poses with a straight face that his country doesn’t want war with Iran. His comments warp credulity given that American forces have suddenly escalated firepower in the Persian Gulf for the purpose of “responding” to alleged...

1 comment

General & Hellos

May 16, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

LINKMoA - The Lunacy Of Waging A War On Iran From Which China And Russia Will Win

"The scare mongering about an attack on Iran continues. Bolton must be laughing his ass off how easy he can play the issue based on nothing. He simply counters any debunking of the alleged 'thread from Iran' by upping the ante. Yesterday a British general in Iraq denied that any such threat exists in the area of his responsibility: “No – there’s been no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria,” Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, deputy commander of Operation Inherent ...

0 comments

Quotes

May 16, 2019May 2019

Posted by WilliamCharles

True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us. Socrates

8 comments

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