Knowledge Is Power. Panic Is Death. Reconnection Is Resilience

Amidst the current global pandemic of fear, what is most urgently needed is perspective.

What must be done? In sum, we must disconnect from a dying system which is sucking the life out of us, out of humanity, and out of the planet, and thereby stop supporting it, stop feeding it, and stop giving it our energy and our power. Power structures only have power when the people give them their power. When the people stop giving them their power, they collapse, as we saw in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc. Remember that. That is the key. We must disconnect and decouple from dying, life-destroying systems, patterns and structures of power, and reconnect with community, nature, and our deeper selves. That will radically empower the people, while removing power from the system which feeds off the people and keeps them subjugated and in virtual chains. Only then can we begin to truly heal our world, and heal our communities and ourselves in the process.

Here are some thoughts on how we can make that shift, with the results being greater awareness, greater aliveness and empowerment, greater resilience, and a healing of ourselves, our families, our communities, our society, and the beautiful, fragile, highly resilient planet that is our home.

Belief in technology as salvation, or worse, technocracy as salvation, is a thought pattern stemming from poverty consciousness, scarcity consciousness, inner impoverishment, weakness, delusion, alienation and fear – and the belief that either technology or technocracy will be our saviour, will, I assure you, lead us into slavery, dystopia, and the slow and painful death of our species.

Knowledge is power. Bacon was right about one thing, at least.

People are afraid of wolves, coyotes, snakes, bugs, bears…the flu. Our ability to assess danger rationally in our modern, coroporate ruled, media manipulated, techno-entranced, deeply alienated society, is near zero, it would seem.

In terms of modern man’s fear of nature, it is, by and large, utterly unwarranted. Respect and alertness are needed – not fear. Nature is far safer than “civilization.”

Despite delusional and misplaced fears, which are pandemic, unless you do something stupid: like keeping food or toothpaste in your tent (bears will investigate anything with a scent that just may conceivably mean edible items), or feeding bears, or trying to pet bear cubs; or unless you’re in grizzly country, rattlesnake country, or polar bear territory, in the desert, British Columbia, the jungle or the far north; your chances of being attacked by dangerous creatures are nearly zero – in the wilderness, that is. 

The city is far more dangerous than the wilderness. Bad drivers can kill you. Even if you’re just crossing the street. Or the smog and pesticides will give you with cancer, or the stress will give you a heart attack. 

Get out of the city. Read Thoreau. Don’t follow the lost herd. Definitely don’t follow the media, the government, the technocrats or bureaucrats, the elite, or the “authorities”.

Think for yourself. Eat organic, lower your stress, exercise, and don’t believe the hype.

Most dangerous of all, statistically, are obesity and poor diets, along with poverty and malnutrition, pharmaceuticals, and cars. Covid is no more dangerous than the flu, the figures now confirm.

0.26% mortality rate for covid-19, compared to 0.1% typically for the flu, so it is slightly higher for covid-19, but still miniscule compared to cancer, poverty, hunger, malnutrition, obesity, death by pharmaceuticals, junk food, or cars. Even bathtub drownings killed more people in Japan than covid-19. Check and verify the figures for yourself. Look at the Italian government study, for a start. (See Trends Journal and GreenMedInfo for further evidence-based information and analysis.) 

Yet the lemmings panic on cue, like Pavolv’s dogs, and stay rigidly in denial of the really big dangers: growing environmental disaster, pollution, war, poverty, obesity, fast food, junk food, pesticides, and fascism.

(See my essays: Importing From China, Any Enemy Will Do, Geopolitics 2020, Trump Says Up, You Say Down… Reality Check, and, Danger & Delusion From ISIS To Ebola)

Don’t be manipulated by fear-mongering media, or elites who cynically use fear to their advantage.

Remember:

Divide and conquer is the oldest and most essential maxim and strategy of control, used by all empires, including the latest: the global neofeudal empire of technocratic corporate fascist oligarchy.

And as we also know, in terms of the corporate-state media and the elite:

If it bleeds it leads.

Necessary Illusions are good for plutocrats.

Manufacturing Consent is the basis of elite-ruled pseudo-democracy.

And any crisis will do for Shock Therapy.

Stay calm, boost your immune system naturally, with real food, omega-3s and vitamins C and D, exercise, sunlight, love and joy – and question everything.

Above all, it’s what you put in your mouth, as in, “food-like substances” which really should not be ingested, along with certain pharmaceuticals and injections, which are the biggest danger.

Get outdoors. Do your own research. And embrace your power.

Real power comes from within – and it is quiet confidence, energy and strength, that does not need to be showy or to boast.

After inner power and inner resilience, comes the power of community, and the power of nature. Build your connections on these three levels, along with a healthy body, mind and spirit, and your empowerment and resilience will grow.

Read, reflect, make time for solitude and nature, build networks of mutual aid, and we will, in the process, heal ourselves, our families, our communities, and our world.

Disconnect first. Then only can you truly connect to others, to the natural world, to your deeper self, or even to reality. Dissociation from reality is the great plague of the modern 21st century world. We are enmeshed and entangled in webs of illusion, and in systems and patterns which alienate us from one another, from nature, and from ourselves. We must, therefore, disconnect from human systems that are, to a high degree, based in delusion and dissociation from reality, in order to better connect to the real world, to ourselves, and to one another.

If you have not yet, then begin now: learn to love books, reading, reflection, solitude and nature; and the nourishing of your body, your spirit, and your mind.

Rediscover your love for others, for community, for the natural world, for humanity, for the Earth, for learning, for creativity, free expression, and for yourself. We all had these things naturally as small children. We have been socially conditioned to lose them, to deny them, and to suppress them. But they can and must be rediscovered – especially now, when our world is in crisis. These are the core things which will heal our world, our communities, and ourselves. Not technocracy, not Big Brother, not plutocratic elites posing as saviours, not technology, not drugs: it is love and wisdom which will heal us and our world. That requires that we disconnect from certain things, and reconnect with others.

Disconnect, listen, observe, read, reflect – these things are critical. Make the time. Nourish your body, and also your mind and your spirit. Then you can reconnect with life in deeper, healthier, more joyful, empowering, and more meaningful ways.

We must disconnect and decouple from the systems, patterns, thinking, organizations, groups and substances which drain our energy, deplete us, divide us, further alienate us, exploit us, degrade us, or make us sick. That generally comes in small steps; although, many have taken great leaps, as have I, many times, and that works too. Sometimes small steps are all that is possible. Sometimes a great leap is required to save our sanity, our soul, or our very lives.

We must examine things for ourselves, question everything, and decide for ourselves what is truly life-supporting, nourishing, or life-enhancing, and what things merely give the illusion of being life-supporting, nourishing or life-enhancing, but in truth degrade, disempower, alienate, exploit or impoverish us, drain us or enslave us. We must unplug, pause, and reflect deeply, in order to even begin to think clearly, or to see what is going on.

Excessive time spent staring into electronic screens, excessive time spent in buildings or cars, the mainstream media in general, the corporate world and corporate culture in general, the fiat money system, the myriad “food-like substances” which are in truth more poison than nourishment, along with the fundamental, root poisons, which are ignorance, greed and hate: these are among the things we must disconnect from, and which literally and figuratively drag us down.

Some things require a complete disavowal and refusal, such as crack cocaine or hillbilly heroine, or other dangerous drugs and other addictions, for people who have succumb to them. I would place the major media and the Fortune 1000 biggest corporations in that category, as well: they are poison, and they are life-destroyers. They must be boycotted and renounced.

Other things, like the internet, the phone or the TV, simply require a more balanced approach, and frequent disconnection, rather than permanent disconnection. (Although, I respect people who choose to eliminate them entirely from their lives, especially TV, and there are good reasons for such a response.)

But I leave it to you to decide what we must disconnect from, either completely or periodically, for greater well-being, quality of life, health, healing, ethical standards, empowerment, fulfillment, the healing of ourselves and our world, and simply for greater aliveness and joy.

There is much entanglement and much debris in our minds and our lives. Clearing our minds and our lives of entanglements and debris, and clearing away physical and mental toxins, is vital now.

Disconnect: We must first disconnect in order to reconnect; and thereby, live and love more fully, and with greater empowerment and joy. Then only, come the revolutionary changes and the regeneration we urgently need.

Reconnect: with others, with nature, and above all, with your deeper self. That is where our true power, liberation and resilience lie. Not in drugs, not in money, not in material things; and certainly not in cynical elites posing as the protectors and saviours of humanity.

A global awakening of humanity is underway, and is growing with accelerating speed. Remember that. The people will triumph. The oligarchs of East and West will fall. Our world will be healed, and regenerated, and the people will be free.

J. Todd Ring,

September 9, 2020

Further reading:

My first two published books:

Enlightened Democracy: Visions For A New Millennium

And

The People vs The Elite: A Manifesto For A Democratic Revolution, Or, Survival In The 21st Century & Beyond

And see my other recent essays:

Flash Drive Revolution

The Death and Rebirth of Freedom and Democracy

Covid Update

Any Enemy Will Do

Importing From China

Sinking All Ships (But Our Own)

Geopolitics 2020

Global Overview 2020

The Certainty Of Death, Or The Death Of Certainties

Also critically important:

The Hero With A Thousand Faces – Joseph Campbell

World As Lover, World As Self – Joanna Macy

Choosing Reality – Allan Wallace

The Protestant Ethic & The Spirit Of Capitalism – Max Weber

The Pathology Of Normalcy – Eric Fromm

The Corporation – Joel Bakan

Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

Brave New World Revisited – Aldous Huxley

Roads To Freedom – Bertrand Russell

Mutual Aid – Peter Kropotkin

The Empathic Civilization – Jeremy Rifkin

The Ecology Of Freedom – Murray Bookchin

The Chalice & The Blade – Rianne Eisler

Wisdom of the Elders – David Suzuki

The Wayfinders – Wade Davis

Stolen Continents – Ronald Wright

Year 501: The Conquest Continues – Noam Chomsky

A Short History Of Progress – Ronald Wright

Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed – Jared Diamond

Necessary Illusions – Noam Chomsky

Class Warfare – Noam Chomsky

The New Confessions Of An Economic Hitman – John Perkins

The Shock Doctrine – Naomi Klein

The End of America – Naomi Wolf

The American Deep State: Wall Street, Big Oil & The Attack On American Democracy – Peter Dale Scott

Iron Heel – Jack London

1984 – George Orwell

Giants: The Global Power Elite – Peter Phillips

The Power Elite – C. Wright Mills

The New Rulers of the World – John Pilger

A Game As Old As Empire – John Perkins

Escape From Freedom – Eric Fromm

Shambhala: The Sacred Path Of The Warrior – Chogyam Trungpa

The Discourse On Voluntary Servitude – Etienne de La Boitie

Walden, and, On Civil Disobedience – Henry David Thoreau

The Certainty Of Death, Or The Death Of Certainties

 

It’s amazing to me, to see, even in thoughtful writings, even in exceptionally thoughtful writing, which is as far above the norm as the moon is from the bottom of the ocean, that even there, certain cultural constructs of the mind, certain prejudices or pre-formed and unquestioned assumptions, certain axiomatic, ideological presumptions and certitudes, are passed along without thought – as if the author were merely remarking on the sky being blue, and everyone knew it, of course, so such notions need no argument or support, but are taken as fact. These ideological constructs and presumptions are castles made of sand, but the authors, including most of the better thinkers and scholars, and virtually all people at all times, assume them to be as certain as the law of gravity. The blind, unconscious, unquestioning assumption of ideological constructs is almost shocking – at least when it is seen in otherwise intelligent people and otherwise intelligent writings. Concepts such as progress, development, civilization and civilized, freedom and liberty, democracy, evolution, or “evolved”, are tossed about with utter casual manner, with no rigour, no questioning of their actual meaning: meaning, in practice, their meaning has no meaning; or worse, and more commonly, their meaning means precisely the opposite to what it is presumed to mean. Orwell understood these things well. The fact that the vast majority, including the vast majority of intellectuals, do not, is very dangerous indeed, to say it mildly.

Fascism, war, slavery, cultural arrogance, and a culture of blindness, ignorance and shared delusion, the death of democracy and freedom, ecological holocaust, and the collapse of civilization (sic), are the likely results, the almost certain and inevitable results, and soon, if we do not begin to question far more, and assume far less.

Fortunately, all such concepts, ideological constructs and cultural certitudes are now being called into question. And none too soon. Our certainties are quite literally killing us. They are also a prison, and shackles and chains, of our own making. Let us shatter them now. It is time.

JTR,

February 1, 2020

 

Post-Script:

See my essay, Fundamentalism and Relativism, in my first book, Enlightened Democracy, for further reflections on the middle way between extremes, which represents basic sanity. Also, watch for my new book, The People vs The Elite, which is being released now.

Get ready for some exciting, but possibly quite turbulent times. The proverbial shit is about to hit the fan. And as usual, that will have both positive as well as negative consequences and implications around the world.

Freedom of Speech vs Fascism

I’m sorry to say, but if free speech bothers you, get a soother. Fascism and Maoism are not acceptable here. If you don’t understand that, then you don’t understand the black liberation movement, which is based in the principle of freedom, as well as equality; you don’t understand liberation movements generally; and you don’t understand history – and so, are doomed to repeat it.

In a free society you will hear many different views, including views you despise. Get used to it. It’s called being an adult.

Racism, sexism, xenophobia, classism, elitism, fascism, Maoism and authoritarianism are vile attitudes and cultural traits. But the answer is more free speech, not less.

Authoritarianism is never the answer. We have tried that before, and we have seen where that goes, and what results it produces. We have seen it with Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao, and the Inquisition. That path always leads to unspeakable horrors. We must understand this now, because we are repeating the nightmare, once again. It must be stopped.

You cannot change a person’s or a society’s attitudes by force or repression, by censorship or authoritarianism. That only pushes the darkness into hiding, where it will manifest in ever darker ways.

There is a cultural awakening that is happening now, and in unfolding, and accelerating, world-wide. That is our best, and only hope.

Cultural awakening takes time, but it is the only way. And it both requires freedom, and leads to freedom. It is that, or it is a gulag society. Take your pick.

J. Todd Ring,

October 25

OPCW Scandal Reveals Deep Systemic Corruption of Western Elite, the Mainstream & Alternative Media, & the Centre, the Right & the Left

Here is a devastating critique of the mainstream, major media, the “alternative” or “progressive” media, the liberal “centrists” and the left.

See my essays on the media and the left, on my blog on WordPress, for further analysis.

Check your sources, read widely as well as deeply, and question everything – and everyone: especially your own assumptions.

Jimmy Dore justly excoriates the deeply corrupt and thoroughly corporatist bipartisan political elite, the mainstream and alternative media, the liberals and the left. Aaron Mate does his usual, excellent serious investigative journalism, which is now very rare. Meanwhile, the vast majority of the centre and the left have become cowards, and collaborators, it is true.

Listen with an open mind, and look to the actual logic and evidence, as you should with everything, no matter the source.

More confirmation that OPCW was corrupted; lies lauched the war on Syria, exactly as with Afghanistan and Iraq; the major media and most of the alternative media are totally unreliable; and Wikipedia is pure, Orwellian garbage.

J. Todd Ring,

October 14, 2020

Vote Biden To Save The World?!

Anyone But Trump? Fair enough….

Then again….

The Democrats are funding hyper-accelerated global deforestation through wood-to-energy (read, devouring entire forests of live trees) biomass power projects which are being masqueraded as clean, renewable energy – projects which climate scientists say are worse than coal.

And who is more a danger of starting WWIII: the Republicans who are raising tensions with China, or the Democrats who are raising tensions with Russia?

Guess what, both are run by the billionaire club; both are genocidal, militaristic, imperialist, corporate fascist and ecocidal; both are elite-serving sociopaths; and both are driving us toward either nuclear or ecological armaggedon.

I say it’s time for non-violent revolution, and something much better, freer, more democratic, and more sane.

J. Todd Ring,

October 13, 2020

Cold War 2.0 Continues….. Boo!

“RT is funded in whole or in part by the Russian government.” – Wikipedia

Well thanks for letting us know, Wikicrapia. Since you are utterly unreliable, your word is of course gold.

Is RT reliable? Compared to what? Compared to the Western corporate and state media, it does a pretty good job, and at least doesn’t stoop as low as the mainstream Western media does routinely. I go to many sources, not one. But RT is as reliable as CNN, for example, or the BBC, and generally much more so.

And of course, we should never be concerned about the corporate media, with its six empires controlling 80% of the major media world-wide.
The corporate media would never lie to us. And we can forget about the WMDs in Iraq, which was a lie created by the US government to justify a war for oil, which killed over a million people, and which was a lie that the CBC, BBC, and all the major media propagated. No, that is not relevant. That goes into the memory hole.

But thanks again, Wikishittia, for being the sewer hole that we have all come to know and rely upon.

JTR,
October 12, 2020

#USElection2020 #JoeBiden #DonaldTrumpNoam Chomsky on Trump vs Biden, Threat of Nuclear War, Green New Deal & Julian Assange167,443 views•5 Sep 2020

Going Underground on RT103K subscribers
On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to world-renowned American dissident and co-author of ‘Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal’ Noam Chomsky. He discusses why a Green New Deal is the most important project in human history amid the climate emergency and Coronavirus pandemic, how a Green New Deal would help to radically restructure the economy to benefit the majority after the Coronavirus economic collapse, the role of corporations and big banks in the climate crisis, the state of capitalism and the American population through the Donald Trump and Obama years, the 2020 Presidential election (Donald Trump vs Joe Biden), the choice between Joe Biden’s neoliberalism and Donald Trump’s White House which he says poses an existential threat to us all, the threat of nuclear war, Julian Assange’s US extradition hearing which will start on September 7th and more!
#USElection2020 #JoeBiden #DonaldTrump
FOLLOWGoing Underground https://www.youtube.com/user/GoingUnd…Going Underground on Twitter http://twitter.com/Underground_RTAfshin Rattansi on Twitter http://twitter.com/AfshinRattansi

Team Biden: Democrats Represent A Continuation Of Neoliberal Corporate-Fascist Elite Rule

What, in reality, would Team Biden and a Democratic White House represent? Let’s cut through the noise and fog and illusions, and deal with reality here, for a change.

Team Biden would mean, above all, a continuation of the clearly authoritarian, deeply Orwellian drive of both major US political parties, along with the broader world, to embrace the Chinese model of technocratic, totalitarian elite rule. Yes, it is that stark, and that dystopian – and yes, the people and the media pundits are in that much denial.

The Davos billionaire elite, who now effectively rule over Washington and the world, have eagerly embraced the Chinese technocratic, totalitarian model. They have been pushing an agenda for 52 years, since the Pentagon Papers were written in 1968, to roll back democracy, to contain and eliminate the outbreak of democracy, and to advance a slow motion global corporate coup. And they have succeeded, for now.

The great majority of the people have accepted the destruction of constitutional rule, democracy, civil liberties and freedom – out of fear of a virus, which in reality, could never amount to anywhere nearly as great a danger as that presented by the authoritarianism which has been instituted to fight it.

After writing this article, I should note, the announcement broke that the WHO had reversed its stance and declared its opposition to the lockdowns. The evidence from Sweden shows the lockdowns do not work to stop a pandemic, even if you believe the vastly inflated official figures. The lockdowns simply destroy lives, through economic ruin as well as isolation, and instill fear and obedience, in a clear divide and conquer strategy which is being used to deploy and institute what can only be called a new regime of global corporate fascism.

(For honest and intelligent information and commentary on the coronavirus crisis, see Canadian constitutional lawyer Rocco Galati, one of the few reliable or even sane sources on the subject.)

Is there really any other question to ask in the 2020 political theatre of the US presidential reality show? There is one over-riding question at this time, and it is this. Can one ever support fascism? I think the clear answer should be a resounding, No.

Fascism can never be supported – not even when wrapped in a flag, or wrapped in a centre-left Democratic party package, or wrapped up as the lesser evil, or presented as the necessary answer to a great danger or a great emergency.

Under no circumstances can fascism be supported – whether it be liberal, left, centre or right in its outward trappings, packaging and veneer.

But, to go further, let us look at what else Team Biden would bring, along with a continuation of the corporate fascist regime that is being paraded now as the “new normal” which must be embraced.

Team Biden would continue the lockdown/shutdown of the economy, which in reality, is a very conscious act of class warfare and economic warfare waged by the 0.01% on the 99.99%. The continuing economic warfare will destroy millions more lives and cause exponentially mounting suffering and death, despite its pretense of being driven by necessity, as an emergency measure to protect the people.

Remember what Hitler said: the big lie is easier to get away with than the small lie. It worked in the lead up to the Iraq War, and it is working again now.

The virus is real, though even the CDC figures now admit it was 96% exaggerated. But the lockdowns do, in fact, cause vastly more harm than good. And they were never intended to protect public health. They are an act of economic warfare conducted by the Davos international billionaire elite against the 99.99%. More importantly, they represent a very simple power grab, by the same global corporate elite, which should be obvious and self-evident to all.

The authoritarian measures that were implemented during what is better called covid-1984 were never about protecting human health. If the elite cared a trace about public health, they would support and fully fund universal public health care, push Big Pharma out of Washington, Ottawa, London, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, and out of the FDA, the CDC and the WHO, ban pesticides, get tough on toxic pollution, and eliminate poverty – all of which would cost a sliver of the current government subsidies and direct funding going to the fossil fuel industry, the military industrial security complex, the new police state, the war machine, and the trillions of dollars in on-going welfare being doled out for the corporations and the super-rich.

Covid-1984 is about class warfare, economic warfare, and a global corporate fascist coup. It has nothing to do with protecting human health – no matter what the bewildered and unquestioning health care workers and bureaucrats may foolishly believe.

But of course, the economic warfare has to be made acceptable to the peasant majority. That is where the “stimulus” money, or hush money, comes in.

Team Biden would bring through more “economic stimulus” – meaning, trillions of dollars of money printing dumped into the economy to massively dope and drug and pacify the people into submission to the new normal of corporate authoritarianism and the new global neofeudal Orwellian fascist regime. The temporary result would be complacence and obedience and submissiveness among the people. The near term result will be economic collapse, which of course will further devastate the 99%, while further enriching and empowering the 1%, to the level of god-kings – which is exactly the game plan.

The immediately following result, after the fast-approaching economic collapse, resulting from the deliberate economic warfare, would be social chaos, social collapse, and civil war. But that works for the elite, too – that justifies a “law and order” campaign, which masks and justifies the unleashing of the hounds of the new fascist architecture – which, of course, is not meant to create peace, or “order”, or safety or security for the 99%, but only security for the 1% and their wealth and power, and more importantly, to crush dissent and destroy all that remains of democracy and constitutional republics world-wide.

What would Team Biden do? What would a Democratic White House do? The same thing a Democratic Congress and White House have done before:

1. support the on-going class war and economic warfare that is being waged by the 0.1% against the vast majority world-wide;

2. support the elite’s war on democracy and constitutional rule, and their bid to secure and consolidate their power by any and every means necessary, including a resort to fascism; and,

3. support the corporate elite in their looting, pillaging, razing and devouring of the poor, the middle class and the Earth, until our civilization (sic) collapses, and we have to rebuild again from scratch, amidst the toxic wasteland, the dust, and the ruin.

That is what the Biden Team, the Wall Street-controlled Democratic party, or the Republican party, would do. Can we honestly say that such sociopathic, life-destroying, anti-democratic, corporate fascist madness is in any way supportable, under any banner, or under any circumstances? I would say the honest answer, the sane answer, must be, No, it cannot.

Revolution now.

MLK showed the way. Now, what are we waiting for?

J. Todd Ring,
October 11, 2020

Climate Change & Common Sense: “We ain’t gots none.”

Beautiful, moving sculptures, the old Bugattis are. Yes, they should be converted either to a parallel electric hybrid or solar-hydrogen, as with all internal combustion vehicles. If our society had any sense at all, which clearly it doesn’t, we would tax all internal combustion engines at $2,000 a year in pollution tax, and use the revenue to fund the mass conversion of the world’s one billion internal combustion vehicles to clean, renewable solar-hydrogen, via electrolysis from sea water. But of course, that would require real compassion, as opposed to hollow sentiment and empty virtue signalling, along with real intelligence and a courageous willingness to deal with reality, rather than cowardly group think, dogmatism, avoidance of reality, escapism, conformity to the herd and unthinkng obedience to authority. Maybe one day soon we will find those traits again, which we once had.

More elaborated thoughts on dealing sanely and honestly with global warming are below.

#climatechange

#globalwarming

#solutions

Beautiful, moving sculptures, the old Bugattis are, I say again: and like all works of fine art, they should be shared and enjoyed by the general public – community car share co-ops would be better than private ownership. And more urgently, thinking about these beautiful old cars makes me think again about the real answers to climate change (better called global warming) which are staring us in the face, and being ignored.

And yes, big money has taken over large segments of the environmental movement. (See Planet of the Humans.)

What are the real answers to climate change?

1. The more privileged 20% of the world’s population, in North America, Europe and Japan, and in the affluent parts of the world’s cities, consume 80% of the energy and resources and produce 60% of the pollution and waste. The problem is undeniably the affluent few, not the poor majority. The problem is over-consumption. Radical reduction of energy consumption is required, and primarily in the more affluent nations and parts of the world.
2. Solar and wind power are likely a major part of what is needed, but even this is dwarfed by the need for radical reductions in energy consumption and general consumption. Retrofitting all homes and buildings for energy efficiency and super-insulation should be a far higher priority, and will produce far greater results dollar for dollar. Mass job creation and public works programs to send people to every community to add insulation and improved windows, doors and weather stripping, need to be put in place now, immediately. Reduce, reduce, reduce, is priority one. Simplify, simplify.
3. Electric cars are not remotely the answer, for reasons that become obvious when questions are asked – for example, what is the ecological impact of making these cars; do we have enough rare earth minerals; how much green house gas emissions are produced by making the cars? They may be an element in the transition, like hybrids, but they are not even 1/10,000th of the solution. (Yes, I drive one: a Volt, the best car I’ve had. But no, they are still not the answer.) Electric buses, trains, taxis, subways, street cars and ferries, bicycle lanes and (non-Uber!) car sharing and car co-ops make sense, and should be a priority. Private motorcars of any kind need to be viewed as a luxury, not a solution, no matter what their motor type. “Look, my private jet is now electric powered!” “That’s nice, buddy. But it’s clearly not the answer for eight billion people.”
4. End world poverty. It requires less than 700 billion dollars to end world poverty, according to international development organizations. The US military budget alone exceeds that yearly. When poverty is eliminated, and women are educated and empowered, as has been proven, population growth stops. The population bomb is defused. If we are serious about the environmental emergency we are now in, we must end poverty now. Eat the rich – metaphorically: redistribute the wealth of the richest 1% with a 90% tax on *both* incomes over $1 million per year *and* personal wealth over $10 million. Poverty could then be eliminated in under a year.
5. Ban petrochemical industrial agriculture, which has been confirmed and proven to be both an ecological and sociological catastrophe; and ban factory farms, for the same reasons. Shift the multi-billion dollar a year subsidies to agribusiness to small organic regenerative farms, which, as Allan Savory and Vandana Shiva have shown, are the real answer to global warming, and also to world poverty, and to the environmental emergency broadly.
6. Solar-hydrogen conversion of all internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles on the planet, using electrolysis and sea water, is viable now, and would transform the one billion ICE vehicles to air cleaning, zero-emission machines. (Obviously, even if they were the panacea which they are presented as being, but are not; we cannot wait 20 years for electric vehicles to replace the one billion existing ICE vehicles!) This should be a top priority, along with regenerative organic agriculture and ending poverty. Take the trillions of dollars that are being fed every year to the big banks and other corporate plutocrats, the war machine and the police state, and instead, to summarize even more succinctly: 1. eliminate poverty, 2. fund decentralized regenerative agriculture, 3. ban petrochemical agriculture and factory farms, 4. ban deforestation via biofuel and biomass energy schemes which are gencidal as well as ecocidal, but which are supported by big money and Big Green, 5. retrofit all homes and buildings for maximum insulation and energy efficiency, 6. build *decentralized* solar and wind power infrastructure that is locally, democratically, community-controlled, as food and water and land use systems must also be, along with building solar-wind electric mass transportation networks, such as trains, buses, taxis (not Uber) and street cars, and, along with slashing energy consumption, which is paramount, 7. fund the conversion of the world’s existing vehicle fleet, rather than feeble-mindedly rushing desperately and futilely to replace it in time. These seven steps would heal the planet in short order. (All seven steps need to be implemented immediately, of course.) What we are doing now, is simply deluding ourselves.

Are we ready for real climate action? That requires revolution now.

MLK shows the way. Now, let’s go.

J. Todd Ring,

October 2, 2020

Censorship, Big Tech & The Closing Down of Society

Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and the MAGATs – Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon and Twitter – are all now embedded and engaged in censorship, data mining, privacy invasion, the new global surveillance and police state, and/or state-corporate propaganda, and manipulation of elections and the public mind (ie: the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica proven manipulation of facebook users and the general public to sway the election in 2016 in favour of Trump, for a fee, paid by one of the billionaire plutocracy). 

In other words, unless you want to live in Orwell’s dystopia of 1984, or Huxley’s Brave New World, you had better start the exodus from, and boycott of, Big Tech now. 

At least make a start. I’ve written about it on my blog, J. Todd Ring on WordPress, in terms of why, how, and what the alternatives are. Keep a foot in the dinosaur media and platforms if you like, but at least open accounts in the new and better alternatives, which refuse censorship, surveillance and Big Brother.

Patreon is now reportedly censoring and purging. Medium appears questionable. 

The global neofeudal corporate fasist oligarchy has taken over nearly everything, including the global economy and financial system, the major international organizations, such as the IMF, WTO, WEF, BIS, ECB, Fed, World Bank and the WHO, nearly all governments, all the major media, much of academia, science and the big environmental groups, and most of the internet. 

As to free speech zones online or off, they are falling and being closed down fast. The Guardian was a decent paper, then they bravely published Snowdon’s important leaks, then was clearly leaned on and lost its soul – as just one of myriad recent examples. The same happened a generation earlier to the Washngton Post and NY Times after the Pentagon Papers.

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Of course, I long ago, decades ago, moved away from any reliance, and generally any reading or viewing at all, of the utterly unreliable corporate-state media. And yes, the two have merged, as the new ruling empire of global corporatism represents the merger of big business and the state; which, as Mussolini said, is the proper definition for fascism.

80% of the world’s major media is now owned by six corporations. State media such as the BBC and CBC have of course been systematically corrupted by the corporate take-over of governments around the world. Even “public” broadcasters such as PBS and TVO are deeply corrupted by their reliance on big money from corporattions and billionaire-controlled foundations. And the “alternative media” suffers systemically from group think, herd mentality, or simple co-option through foundation money or other means. Democracy is not dying, it is being strangled to death by the power-hungry business elite.

At least have a thoughtful look at better alternatives and generally far more reliable sources for information, research, news and analysis. Shun, or at least, do not rely on the big media giants, Big Tech, Wikipedia, governments, big business, corporate-controlled bodies such as the WHO, or even the “alternative media”. Question everything. Think for yourself.

At this moment, there are a handful of sources I trust as having high reliability, honesty, intelligence, and courage. They are not infallible, but they are light years above the sordid and corrupt major media, which are an echo chamber and propaganda system for the ruling business elite, as John Pilger and Noam Chomsky have said.

And they are incomparably more reliable than the general “alternative media”, which seem to excel on many issues, but get all the biggest issues wrong: such as the War On Terror, 9/11, Obamamania, Russiagate, the Ukraine coup, Syria, the OPCW, the new cold war(s), China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, covid-1984….and the list goes on.

Take a serious and thoughtful look at these sources, then decide for yourself – on every subject! We have innate intelligence. We need to use it far more than our “new normal”, or even our old normal, would allow. Banish group think, read and listen to diverse views, and think for yourself.

Remember, united we stand, divided we fall. Divide and conquer is the most essential and time-tested strategy of all empires throughout the ages, including the latest: the global neofeudal crypto-fascist corporate oligarchy. Unite the people. We have more in common than most people realize. It is the 99% vs the 1%, not left vs right, or black vs white. Read widely, think deeply, then unite the people, and stand. And now. MLK shows the way.

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Look into these ten sources, then decide things for yourself. And remember, we don’t all have to agree on everything.

Trends Research (Trends Journal)

Global Research (Centre for Research on Globalization)

GreenMedInfo (one of the two remaining reliable sources I know of for science-based health information, along with Gary Null, on PRN)

Max Keiser, The Keiser Report

Michael Hudson

Vandana Shiva

The Council of Canadians

The David Suzuki Foundation

The Corbett Report

The American Herald Tribune

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I have moved my email to Protonmail, my web searches to Swiss Cows, my browser to Brave, and my main social networking and chat platforms to Minds and Telegram. I urge others to do the same.

Next is to switch hardware to Purism, for phones, servers and laptops. And as a writer, I need to find a platform that is *dedicated* to free speech.

Blogger (my original site) is owned by the evil mega-corp Google, and Google censors, as do all the Big Tech vampires. WordPress, which I currently use, I just discovered, is now censoring bloggers and writers, too. Where to find a blog platform that respects and defends freedom of speech? I am looking.

(The new CSM editing system for WordPress is so extremely intrusive, counter-intuitive, and obnoxiously obstructive, absolutely in the road at every turn, that I was planning a rapid exodus anyway. Any whiff of censorship only confirms my feeling that it is soon time to leave. Maybe the people at WordPress will respond with a better CSM editing system and a public vow to protect free speech. I will not hold my breath, but I would love to be pleasantly surprised. Hint, hint, Quislings and Vichys… Get it together, or be adandoned in the rapidly unfolding exodus from Big Tech and nauseatingly suffocating platforms.)

Fight for freedom, as well as justice, equality, ecological sanity, democracy, peace, and constitutional rule and human rights for all, or we are in for a very dark time ahead, followed by extinction and collapse. Truly, this is our situation now, and it is a global darkness that is swallowing us up.

Stand up and speak out now, or our future will be unimaginably bleak, I can assure you.

Stand!

J. Todd Ring,

October 1, 2020

Essential Reading:

Christopher Simpson and Mark Crispin Miller: Blowback: America’s Secret Recruiting of Nazis

Noam Chomsky: Necessary Illusions: Thought Control In Democratic Societies 

Naomi Klein: The Shock Doctrine

Naomi Wolf: The End of America

John Perkins: A Game As Old As Empire, and, The New Confessions Of An Economic Hitman

John Pilger: The New Rulers Of The World

Peter Phillips: Giants: The Global Power Elite 

Vandana Shiva: Oneness vs The 1% (Coming soon)

And 

Read my first two books for a clear, concise overview and an in-depth and sweeping global and historical analysis of what we face, how we got here, where we are heading, and what must be done:

Enlightened Democracy: Visions For A New Millennium (2014)

The People vs The Elite: A Manifesto For Democratic Revolution, Or, Survival In The 21st Century & Beyond (2020)

Both are on Amazon and Barnes & Noble now. 

Or better yet, support your local independent bookstore, and order through them. Phone them now.

Big Exodus from Big Tech

Time for the exodus to begin in earnest from the now confirmed to be fascist and deeply Orwellian Big Tech giants. At the least, we need to begin the migration and the shift, by supporting and using the alternative social media, search engines, email, browsers, etc., which do not data mine, manipulate or track us, and who do respect privacy and freedom of speech, refuse censorship, and refuse to partner with the new global surveillance and corporate police state.

A starting place would be to open accounts with, support, promote, and shift entirely or partially to these non-fascist or anti-fascist alternatives.

Boycott and ditch Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, Twitter, and social media giant Farcebook – or at least begin the move away from the Big Tech MAGATS and Fangs.

Shift entirely to these now, I would urge:

Telegram for chat and instant messaging

Swiss Cows for web searches

Protonmail for email

and at least begin the shift and migration to:

Telegram and Minds.com for social networking

And when it is time to replace or upgrade hardware, ditch Chinese slave labour-based Apple, Emperor Gates’ Gulag Microshit, as well as “Embedded In Evil” Google’s Android.

Go to Purism for phones, tablets and laptops.

JTR,
September 27, 2020

(And no, I get no commission or pay of any kind from promoting these categorically and incomparably better alternatives. I simply value freedom and despise fascism – in any and all flavours!)

NoToFascism #NoToBigTech #BoycottBigTech

MLK #RevolutionNow

https://www.minds.com/

Populism, Elitism & Propaganda: The Continuing Failure of Liberals, Progressives & the Left

Thomas Frank gives a good definition of populism in the US tradition: populism is a working class movement that seeks to reform capitalism. It is not anarchist or socialist, but simply seeks a greater fulfilment of the democratic dream, and a greater empowerment of the working class, or the 99% who are not among the ruling elite.

Not only is populism not to be equated with racism, xenophobia, demagoguery and authoritarianism, movements which often falsely present themselves as being populist to win public support; but in fact, populism gave birth to the labour movement, or at least tripled its ranks in the 1930s, resulting in the critical mass needed for FDRs New Deal, which ended the Great Depression and reformed Wall Street, and gave rise to what is today referred to in the US and its nearest vassal states as progressivism.

Did that come across clearly? It needs to. Populism gave birth to what is now called progressive politics. Let that sink in.

Populism therefore, far from being the great evil of the world, along with FDR, the New Deal and the broader labour movement, created the middle class. It forced a more just compromise between the ruling business elite and the other 99%. It also gave renewed life to democracy and countered the rising power of elites. For all these reasons, the elite have despised populism, for the same reason that they despise nationalism and they despise democracy: because it limits their oligarchic power. And yet, air head liberals, progressives and intellectuals on the left have been duped into using the term populist as a synonym for the dangerous violent mob – precisely the Orwellian propaganda misusage of the term invented by the same rabidly anti-democratic elite. Dumb move!

As I have been saying: accepting the elitist derogatory and vilifying use of the term populism as a synonym for all that is evil in the world is playing into the hands of the plutocrats. Yet, leading figures, groups and media sources among progressives, liberals and the left fell for the psyops bait en mass. Not surprising, given their mass failures on other major subjects, such as Obamamania, Russiagate, the Ukraine coup, Syria and the OPCW, the War On Terror, covid-1984, which is the new pretext for the continuing class war and the war on democracy…and on and on.

We need to do better. The people and the planet are being devoured by the global corporate fascist empire, and the propaganda must be seen through, not aided and abetted.

Got it, #CCPA? #theLeap, #TYT, #DemocracyNow….#IdleNoMore, #CounterPunch, #CanadianDimension, #CouncilofCanadians, #BlueDot……?

What’s wrong with the left? It’s the faux left, is the problem, more often than not. It is liberal centrist and pseudo-democratic elitist. And remember, the political spectrum has been driven far to one extreme over the past 50 years of the slow motion corporate coup. What is called the centre is now the far right: cosmopolitan, yes, but authoritarian, and fascist.

The true left seeks to empower the 99%. The faux left presents that facade, but like the faux populists on the right, offers simply a different flavour of elite rule. Wall Street Democrats, and the Liberal party of Canada since 1979, represent a smiley faced, deeply Orwellian, globalist neoliberal corporate fascism. Make no mistake. The Republicans and Conservatives are even further to the extreme right.

But even where and when the left is not faux left, the failure is in a lack of critical thinking. Even the better thinkers, activists, journalists, media sites and groups on the left, tend too often to be uncritical of elite-driven propaganda narratives. This must change, or we are dead in the water.

To clarify further, and distill it down as concisely and clearly as possible, we can say this. Populism is any popular movement which genuinely seeks to empower the great majority, or the 99%, who are not among the ruling elite, and which seeks a more participatory and robust form of democracy, as opposed to elite rule, authoritarianism or oligarchy.

If you are opposed to participatory democracy, then you are opposed to populism, and you are an elitist, if not an authoritarian – which is usually the case with elitists, almost by definition.

Again, the important point is what this Orwellian doublespeak, propaganda and confusion of terms reveals. It reveals: a) a long-standing and highly conscious class war waged by the elite against the 99% (see Noam Chomsky, Necessary Illusions, and Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine); and more disturbingly, b) it reveals a shocking lack of critical thought among liberals, progressives and the left. We are far too credulous. But oh, are we so very self-righteous in our foolish and dim-witted credulity.

Again, this must change, or we are doomed.

Think for yourself. Question everything.

JTR,

September 22, 2020

By the way, I am not on the right, nor a Trump supporter, as trolls and fools might accuse or assume. I am democratic libertarian socialist, or libertarian progressive, if that is more understandable. (And no, none of those terms are in conflict, as people with some understanding of history, political philosophy, or political economy, understand very well.)

From Good Reads:

The People, No – by Thomas Frank

“Rarely does a work of history contain startling implications for the present, but in The People, No Thomas Frank pulls off that explosive effect by showing us that everything we think we know about populism is wrong. Today “populism” is seen as a frightening thing, a term pundits use to describe the racist philosophy of Donald Trump and European extremists. But this is a mistake. 

The real story of populism is an account of enlightenment and liberation; it is the story of American democracy itself, of its ever-widening promise of a decent life for all. Taking us from the tumultuous 1890s, when the radical left-wing Populist Party—the biggest mass movement in American history—fought Gilded Age plutocrats to the reformers’ great triumphs under Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, Frank reminds us how much we owe to the populist ethos. Frank also shows that elitist groups have reliably detested populism, lashing out at working-class concerns. The anti-populist vituperations by the Washington centrists of today are only the latest expression.

Frank pummels the elites, revisits the movement’s provocative politics, and declares true populism to be the language of promise and optimism. The People, No is a ringing affirmation of a movement that, Frank shows us, is not the problem of our times, but the solution for what ails us.”

Understanding health & disease: germ theory, terrain theory, viruses & vaccines

Core dynamics of health, healing, prevention and longevity

Seven major factors: stress, nutrition, toxins, exercise, hydration, state of mind, chi. Genetics are maybe 4-10% influence, but genetics are ruled by epigenetics, which are ruled by these seven factors.

Overview and synopsis:

Toxins, stress, animal products, refined sugar and flour, processed food, fast food, junk food and pesticides cause chronic systemic inflammatory conditions and oxidative stress which result in rapid aging and tissue damage. That brings pain, stiffness, and all of the degenerative diseases, including dementia, autism, arthritis, heart attack, stroke, and cancer. The best cure, in general terms, is an organic plant-based diet, high in vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, fibre, enzymes and raw foods, combined with stress reduction, mind training, detoxification, fruit and vegetables juices, antioxidants, natural anti-inflammatories such as turmeric, curcumin, CBD, Bromelain, papain and omega-3’s, sunshine, fresh air, exercise and proper sleep.

Now you know. Don’t believe the hype. And definitely don’t take the word of the corporate-state media, the government, or the pharmaceutical industry. Do your own research. Think for yourself. Lies and illusions have become the norm.

One of the core points to understand is that it is not germ theory: it is germ/host theory – and the strength of the host is 99% or more of the equation, not the strength of the germ. What does that mean? It means that vaccines, which by their nature represent scientifically proven severe health risks, are not the answer, but according to the actual scientific evidence, unquestionably and dramatically worsen overall public health. It means, the actual science shows that naturally strengthening the immune system, with nutrition, sunshine, exercise, stress reduction and healthy food, is the real answer.

JTR,
September 19, 2020