Anyone else out there ever imagine K-12 schools teaching kids how to improve their sensitivities to touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste? About the only thing efforts today would be in music & art classes (fast disappearing). How about in sex-education classes (also under attack)? 😁
For a much more eloquent "bug", see CONVERSATIONS WITH DURITO, la.utexas.edu/users/hcleav...
The SPLC is one of the best & most effective civil rights groups in the US AND, therefore, one of those most attacked by racist, misogynic fascists! If you support anyone, for anything, with donations, these folks deserve your attention & support.
Interesting! Apparently, racist, misogynic White Christian Nationalists have not yet subverted FOREIGN AFFAIRS, the oldest journal of the foreign policymaking elite in the US. Given its publication of a few articles critical of the Zionist/Trump war on Iran, it's not totally surprising.
Some folks, even some "animal-rights" folks, don't recognize how animals are sapient as well as sentient. Here's one artist's capture of a clear moment of empathy on the part of an animal. Pet owners, at least those who pay attention, know this already.
The use of generic "humanity" or "humans", instead of properly identifying those truly responsible - capitalists who exploit both humans & the rest of nature - only inculcates useless guilt in readers, This deflects attention from where it should be focused. Target those truly responsible!
In short, NEVER privatize ANY service vital to public welfare, not health care, not water, not electricity, etc., because in every case that welfare will be entirely secondary & neglected to the realization of private profits.
If I remember correctly, B&N stole the idea of providing comfortable chairs & sofas to customers from independent bookstores like the Tattered Cover in Denver. Result: clever folks (with enough time on their hands) can read overly expensive books in-store instead of buying. 😜
Because throughout US history, capitalists have controlled both mass media and schools, "free speech" has always been an ideological cover for how ideas/stories/reports/etc supportive of capitalism have gotten published & most critiques have not. Thus, critics' recurrent use of alternative media.
Very pretty! But like so much that country, what's striking are the small number of trees,the absence of forest, Nature overturned for cultivation & for centuries now managed mostly by capitalist agribusiness for profit at the expense of all wildlife.
It's only "corruption" if Trump (or family or friends) benefits. Mostly, it's just capitalism-as-usual once they get a complete toady into the White House. Remember Ronald Reagan? He also gutted the EPA at the behest of business, appointing James Watt as Secretary of the Interior.
The ONLY thing I can find good about the fascist administrations of Trump & those feeding him policies, is how he & his cronies have inspired the greatest, pithiest, & ever-growing set of memes in the history of the Internet - perhaps even in the longer history of political cartoons.
An "indictment against America"? Hardly! "America" is not a subject to be praised or indicted. The culprits are mainly racist, misogynic White Christian Nationalists trying to end pseudo-democracies & replace them with theocracies. Moreover: "Sorry_not sorry", but they're coming for you too!
There's a great sci-fi story somewhere about how whales used their massive brains (bigger than ours) to learn how to levitate, so, once airborne they could stay that way as long as they liked.
Good advice! But not only about banned books! The curriculum most students face is designed by others & almost never corresponds to the interests of students. ALWAYS "find out for yourself" what's going on in the world & why schools are mainly disciplinary edufactories, training workers for jobs.
MORE women whose contributions remain largely unknown, like Gladys West & the women in Hidden Figures. WHY? For the same reason "God" is always referred to as "he" or "him". Because the Christian church as always been a bastion of patriarchy. Worst: clearly misogynic White Christian Nationalism.
Another woman whose contribution should be well-known but is not. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladys_... Read, then watch the inspiring film Hidden Figures (2016) about some other women who have also been largely unknown.
True then; true today. For a few years, women & supporters among men made some progress in opening those doors. Result: the racist, misogynic White Christian Nationalist backlash! 😡 You doubt? Read: Katherine Stewart's MONEY, LIES & GOD (2025) that lays out the actors & money flows.
It's also anti-Zionist, because it is Zionism he represents in his repression in Palestine & Lebanon. Despite Zionist efforts, largely thanks to Jewish anti-Zionist protests, more & more folks recognize anti-Zionism does not mean antisemitism.
They've got their programmers; so too has Trump/MAGA got theirs! Even without war, neither government deserves support because of how they treat their own citizens. Support the people, not governments.
"It is worth thinking about this, dear governments and decision-makers worldwide". It is, of course, worth thinking about. But given that "decision-makers" both inside & outside of govt are generally bought & paid for by capitalists, moral suasion is unlikely to have much effect. Protest works!
There is NO "an oligarchic class"! What there is, and has been for a couple of centuries, is a CAPITALIST class, which has been doing exactly what George is complaining about ever since they took power. Attacking "billionaires" but not "capitalists" is cowardice!
The answer, of course, is because the politicians in the countries that MIGHT be able to send such armies have all been bought off by Zionist money & or fear of Zionist mobilization against their re-election. Thus, their collaboration with genocide rather than mobilization to stop it.
Good news! Should be true everywhere! Of course, it should also be true for Donald Trump, collaborator with Netanyahu in crimes against humanity, now including internationally recognized war crimes.
Another example of cross-species moral behavior. Dogs have to be taught to be hostile to cats. Left to themselves, like this one, they demonstrate sapient, i.e., moral, friendliness.
It's not only "a disgrace", it's a clear class bias in favor of the most highly paid managers of capitalism. Since ownership of capital was dispersed thru stock & bond sales, "capitalists" are what Marx called the "functionaries" of capital, those who manage the exploitation of others & the Earth.
The only way "everyone can do something about it" EFFECTIVELY is to collaborate with groups organizing actions to change the way CAPITALISTS (not "humanity") are ravaging the earth. Individual action, while morally satisfying, is marginally useless.
Twelve-year-old girls need special restrictions if they are to grow up to be the broodmares & handmaidens White Christian Nationalists want them to be. Can't have them reading fantasy about such sinful behavior as struggle for women's rights - because there are no such rights, except to be a mother.
Just another neoliberal push. That said, much of "humanitarian support" was always designed to support investment, either by making the population healthier & more exploitable to creating infrastructure that reduced costs of investment to multinational corporate investors. "Humanitarian"? Hah!
"Pickup truck DESIGN"? My ass! 20 yrs of the auto industry producing only the most profitable trucks, whose evolution has reflected the billions spent on advertising & cultivating the worship of machismo in patriarchal society! 😡