Median Pay of Top CEOs Hits Record $14.7 Million as Workers Strike Over Starvation Wages, by Jake Johnson
Rising CEO pay stands in stark contrast to the grim economic realities that ordinary workers are facing nationwide as inflation—driven in large part by corporate profits—erodes modest wage gains and expiring pandemic aid leaves vulnerable families without a safety net.
The Chris Hedges Report: Ukraine and the Resurgence of American Militarism, with Andrew Becevich
"The insistence is upon the United States exercising global primacy of continuing to be number one, a position we've become accustomed to having ever since the end of World War II. I think that conviction remains and is taken seriously, so it's less about a mission to spread democracy [and] it's more about a conviction of history having chosen the United States uniquely to preside over the future of humankind."
Hedges: The Israeli Execution of Al Jazeera Reporter Shireen Abu Akleh
"The killing of Abu Akleh would have been treated very differently if she was killed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine. ...The 55-year-long fight for Palestinian freedom is no less just, no less worthy of our support. But Palestinians are occupied by our Israeli ally. They are not white. Most are not Christian, although Abu Akleh was Christian. They are not deemed worthy. They suffer and die alone."
American Progressives join the War Party, by James Carden
"Some leftist commentators can barely conceal their enthusiasm for American involvement in the Ukraine war."
Athens Declaration Calls for End to Ukraine War and Creation of ‘Lasting Peace,’ by Andrea Germanos
Put forth by international progressive leaders "calling the world to sanity," the document envisions a global security framework committed to de-escalating tensions in the world.
Campaign Nonviolence: Divest From Violence & Reinvest in a Just World
This special webinar is offered in support of Campaign Nonviolence Action Days' Sept 26th "Divest From Violence Day". On this day, we ask you to join us in taking action to stop money from going into industries that manufacture violence, including guns, weapons, nukes, prisons, and fossil fuels. The webinar on May 18th will cover what divestment is all about, how to research your banks and other groups, and how to take action.
Hedges: Jesus, Endless War, and the Rise of American Fascism
"The Democratic Party’s hypocrisy and duplicity is the fertilizer for Christian fascism. Its exclusive focus on the culture wars and identity politics at the expense of economic, political, and social justice fueled a right-wing backlash and stoked the bigotry, racism, and sexism it sought to curtail."
Greenwald: Biden Wanted $33B More For Ukraine. Congress Quickly Raised it to $40B. Who Benefits?
"Whatever else is true, the claim with which we are bombarded by the corporate press — the two parties agree on nothing; they are constantly at each other's throats; they have radically different views of the world — is patently untrue, at least when it comes time for the U.S. to join in new wars. Typically, what we see in such situations is what we are seeing now: the establishment wings of both parties are in complete lockstep unity, always breathlessly supporting the new proposed U.S. role in any new war, eager to empty the coffers of the U.S. Treasury and transfer it to the weapons industry while their constituents suffer."
Janine Jackson interviews Chris Lehmann: ‘The Race Crisis and the Democracy Crisis Are Inseparable’
"Our media, the mainstream media industrial complex, is sleepwalking through this moment, in part because they have institutional investment in treating politics as a game. It is not a game. This is not a drill. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for anyone who cares about the democratic future of this country."
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz: Not “A Nation of Immigrants”
"Not 'A Nation of Immigrants'” charges that it’s time to stop perpetuating simplistic and ahistorical fantasies and embrace the true, complex and often sobering history of these United States.
Ellen Brown: A Monetary Reset Where the Rich Don’t Own Everything
"Today a new sort of reset is setting off alarm bells, one that goes far beyond restoring the stability of the currency. The “Great Reset” being driven forward by the World Economic Forum would lock the world into a form of technocratic feudalism."
DN! Jan Egeland: We Need Negotiations, Not an Arms Race, to End War in Ukraine & Prevent a New Cold War
President Biden has asked the U.S. Congress to give $33 billion more. It will overwhelmingly go to military weapons, presumably, some humanitarian aid.
Noam Chomsky on the Russia-Ukraine War, The Media, Propaganda, Orwell, Newspeak and Language
We talk about Orwell, Animal Farm, Newspeak and the ministry of information. How Orwell's writings are still relevant for today. Chomsky's book Manufacturing Consent is accurate to this day. We briefly discuss the propaganda model and how the media is used in order to manufacture public consent for wars.
We are Fighting the Wrong War, by Susu Jeffrey
Take water, for example. Every life form on Earth requires H2O, animal or vegetable. We can make more people, more money, more weapons, but we can’t make more water.
Chris Hedges: The Age of Self-Delusion
The war in Ukraine is intimately linked to the real existential crisis we face – the climate crisis. The latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warns that greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025, and be nearly halved this decade, to thwart global catastrophe….Triggered by war in Ukraine, soaring energy prices have pushed the US and other countries to call on domestic oil producers to increase fossil fuel extraction and exacerbate the climate crisis. Oil and gas lobbyists are demanding the Biden administration lift prohibitions on offshore drilling and on federal lands.
Down in the River to Pray, Honor the Earth
RENOWNED SINGERS AND ACTIVISTS ADAPT 19TH CENTURY AFRICAN-AMERICAN SPIRITUAL TO 21ST CENTURY SOCIAL JUSTICE PLEA FOR A FOSSIL FUEL-FREE FUTURE WITH “DOWN IN THE RIVER TO PRAY”
The Poor People’s Campaign Pushes War Propaganda, by David Swanson
"This noble effort to put ending poverty on the same high plane with prolonging and escalating war, risking nuclear apocalypse, and destroying any chance of global cooperation on climate or homelessness or disease or hunger rings false."
The Ecology of War
Ecological effects of war in Ukraine and war in general: The overweening and unconscionable plodding response of industry will take years! We have the tools with solar panels and wind energy, but the war and gas and oil industries with inexcusable help from Washington/Congress are blocking the swift action needed. Nor is nuclear power a solution.
The US Military is Driving Environmental Collapse Across the Planet, by Sam Carliner
In the United States, we’re constantly told that there’s no money to implement any comprehensive measures for fighting the climate crisis. Public transportation, green infrastructure, solar energy, etc. are deemed “too expensive.” The truth is that the money for such projects exists, but it’s going to the Pentagon.
Chris Hedges: Alice Walker and the Price of Conscience
“Whenever I come out with a book, or anything that will take me before the public, the world, I am assailed as this person I don’t recognize,” she said when I reached her by phone. “If I tried to keep track of all the attacks over the decades, I wouldn’t be able to keep working. I am happy people are standing up. It is all of us. Not just me. They are trying to shut us down, shut us up, erase us. That reality is what is important.”