Leid Stories – 01.13.16

Forked Tongue: Obama’s ‘The State of the Union is Great’ Address
Borrowing the oratorical framework of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address, in which he outlined four fundamental freedoms that should embody a global bill of rights (freedom of speech and worship, and freedom from want and fear) President Barack Obama in his final address to the nation yesterday outlined “four big questions” America must grapple with: How do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy; how do we make technology work for us, and not against us, especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change; how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy; and how do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman.”
Leid Stories examines Obama’s contention that, with respect to his administration’s performance on these questions “the state of the union is great.”

Valerie Brown – Why Financial Markets Won’t Solve the Climate Crisis

t may not be polite to mention Karl Marx in America, but leading thinkers on the left think that capitalism may be the cause of climate change and that to save the planet the system needs fundamental reform. According to a new book, the profit motive drives capitalism above all other considerations. It forces us to extract everything from the planet that will …

Michael Payne – Planting Seeds of Fear into the American Mind

America is entering into a most dangerous time in its history as this society and its people react to and try to cope with the specter of fear that is rapidly spreading across this nation. For many years, Americans have listened to the incessant beat of the drums of war. Now we hear the drums of fear sounding across this …

Carla Stea – The United Nations Resolution on the “Glorification of Nazism” and the Horrors of Ravensbruck

Ukraine, the UN Anti-Nazi Resolution and the Ravensbruck “Lapins” On November 19, 2015, the United Nations Third Committee Human Rights Plenary adopted Resolution A/C.3/70/L.59/Rev.1 “Combating Glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and Other Practices That Contribute to Fuelling Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.” 126 United Nations member states supported the resolution, including China, Russia, Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic …

ARUN GUPTA – What Became of Occupy Wall Street?

One of the more puzzling aspects about Occupy Wall Street is not that there was a moment when millions of people hoped or feared it might overthrow the rule of the banks, but that so little is said about it four years on. Its anniversaries come and go without comment: Occupy’s founding on September 17, 2011, the high-water mark of …

A Bowl of Soul – 08.21.15

Boot Leg – Booker T & MG’s – R&B – 1965
Spreadin’ Honey – The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band – Funk/R&B – 1967
Chi Town Theme – Cleveland Eaton – Funk/R&B – 1975
It’s All Your Fault – The Supremes – (Mosotogam – Extended Remix) R&B – 2015
Trying to Survive – Harvey Scales – R&B – 1969
Running Away – Roy Ayers – Funk/R&B – 1977
Smooth 90’s Hip Hop Instrumental – One Tone – Hip Hop/R&B – 2013
Stop On By – SounDoctrine Feat. Eric Tyus – Funk/Jazz – 2015
Not So Fast – Jonathan Hoard – R&B – 2015
K Jee – The Nite-Liters – Funk/Jazz – 1971
Changin’ – Brass Construction – Funk/R&B – 1975

Sanders Bullshit Meter Goes Off the Charts in Portland, Maine By Bruce K. Gagnon

I spent two hours yesterday holding a banner (joined by eight others with signs and a 2nd banner) outside the Bernie Sanders for President rally in Portland, Maine that reportedly drew about 9,000 people.  It was an impressive crowd for someone who once claimed he was a ‘socialist’. People began lining up before 5:00 pm for the 7:00 event and …

The Era of Dissolution – John Michael Greer

The last of the five phases of the collapse process we’ve been discussing here in recent posts is the era of dissolution. (For those that haven’t been keeping track, the first four are the eras of pretense, impact, response, and breakdown). I suppose you could call the era of dissolution the Rodney Dangerfield of collapse, though it’s not so much …

Trinity: 70 Years Later – JOSEPH MANGANO and Dr. JANETTE SHERMAN

It was 70 years ago, on July 16, 1945, that the first atomic bomb, named Trinity, was exploded at the White Sands Proving Ground, the nuclear test site near Alamagordo, NM. It was an event that changed world history forever, and created new health and security threats that still plague all life on this planet. Details of Trinity have been …

Blood Money: These Companies and People Make Billions of Dollars From War

War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it. –George Orwell The late United States Marine Corps Major GeneralSmedley D. Butler is perhaps most famous for his post-retirement speech titled “War is a Racket.” In the early 1930s, Butler presented the speech on a nationwide tour. It was so popular that he wrote …