Links of the Month: September 2024

the explosion of “vaccine hesitancy” since the start of the pandemic, per poll tabulations by YLE

I’ve added a fifth ‘regular’ section to the “Politics & Economics As Usual” category of my monthly links. I’ve called it “Industrial Disease and Malnutrition”, kind of as a sly reference to the Dire Straits song. It’s for news about how our modern food, drug and ‘health’ systems are making us progressively sicker. It’s the Fifth Horseman, I suppose, the successor to pestilence. As the politicians, the scientists, the corporations, and the economists all try to tell us ‘their’ truth, the horsemen are starting to trip over each other.

As the endless, useless wars and genocides continue to expand, and the collapse of our broken economic, political and ecological systems accelerates, it’s not looking good out there, folks.

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COLLAPSE WATCH

“Over the past twenty years, reported average annual GDP ‘growth’ of 3.5% has been made possible by borrowing at an annual average growth rate of 10.6%. Adding “real” GDP of $92tn came at a cost of $280tn in net new debt.”

Phantom “growth”: Economists continue to insist the economy is “growing” while the majority of citizens insist they are dealing with more financial and economic hardship than at any time in their lives. The citizens are right. Tim Morgan explains the smoke-and-mirrors arguments, and what they bode for our future.

Betting it all on sci-fi solutions: Three climate scientists admit that 1.5ºC — which we’ve already at least temporarily overshot — was a hopeless goal, and describe the massive and rapid changes that would be needed to avert much greater global warming. The biggest problem, they say, is that leaders are going all in on discovery of magical new, unproven and unlikely future technologies to do essentially all of the work to reduce emissions.

When the reservoirs and dams dry up: Sustained droughts have meant that across Canada, dams are unable to produce the hydro energy that energy companies banked on, and instead are substituting and importing more and more fossil fuel energy. The same is happening in other freshwater-rich countries in Scandinavia, central Europe, NZ, China and South America.

Three new kinds of refugees: Traditionally, refugee numbers have consisted mostly of people fleeing direct persecution by their country’s authorities. But now, the vast majority of refugees are of three new types: economic refugees fleeing crippling IMF austerity programs pushing them to the edge of starvation, “regime-change” refugees fleeing brutal dictatorships, often brought about by coups enabled by the CIA and corrupt large “we’ll coup who we want” corporations, and climate refugees fleeing the horrific effects of climate collapse.

“The world is coming apart, isn’t it, dad”: In an editorial by an award-winning cartoonist that the NYT surprising published, the author confesses that his son’s, and his wife’s (she grew up in Eastern Europe) profoundly pessimistic views about the inevitability of collapse, are well-founded, and his own, based on reading the mainstream western media, are not.

Blue states turn against the homeless and refugees: New York joins California in introducing draconian new laws to penalize, criminalize, evict and expel the homeless and those living in migrant shelters.

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LIVING BETTER

greeting card in their “on second thought” series, from someecards

Wait, really?: Rebecca Watson laments the loss of critical thinking skills, especially among young people passively accepting conspiracy theories and hate- and war-mongering rhetoric.

Québec moves ahead with implementing MAID as Trudeau waffles and Poilievre vows to cancel it: The province has told enforcement agencies to accept advance directives and not to interfere with doctors carrying out legal wishes for dignified death. Trudeau has postponed and postponed implementing this element of MAID, to placate the right wing and religious groups in his own party. Meanwhile, in Ontario, Dying With Dignity is suing Trudeau’s government for excluding excruciating mental illness from eligibility for MAID even after the courts ruled that exclusion was unconstitutional.

Approval voting is best: Veritasium consults with mathematicians to understand why various proportional representation systems can be almost as undemocratic as first-past-the-post, and concludes that only one voting system is actually consistent with the idea of truly democratic representation: Approval voting.

Wingnuttery, deconstructed: Lyz Lenz explains why JD Vance hates single women.

How Community Bonds and Community Land Trusts enable non-profits to provide affordable housing: Community Bonds are doing what the banks should be doing, but aren’t. Community Land Trusts can also be an important part of the solution. Watch the video on Peace Village in Oregon to see what CLT-based housing can look like. Thanks to Kavana Tree Bressen for the video link.

Why “codifying Roe” is the wrong way to establish women’s reproductive rights: Restrictions and interference with abortion rights were already rife when Roe was law; much stronger legislation is needed.

We’re not crazy: Hear Jill Stein talk about the real issues facing the US and the west, as she responds to the sham ‘presidential’ debate between the two Tweedles. Thanks to Gerry Gras for the link.

What it’s really like to live in China: A long-time businessman and former westerner gives viewers a balanced view of the pros (safety, cleanliness) and cons (lack of privacy) of living in China. And a Scandinavian traveler weighs in with his experiences in Xinjiang (the comments to this video are even more interesting than the video itself).

Small acts of sedition: Committing small acts of ‘sedition’ can help you keep your sanity, and reduce your sense of powerlessness. Caitlin Johnstone explains what these are. “Giving a receptive listener some information about what’s going on in the world. Creating dissident media online. Graffiti with a powerful message. Amplifying an inconvenient voice. Sharing a disruptive idea. Supporting an unauthorized cause. Organizing toward forbidden ends. Distributing literature. Creating literature. Having authentic conversations about real things with anyone who can hear you.” And do something every day to help de-normalize the abuses of the Empire. “Denormalize poverty. Denormalize injustice and inequality. Denormalize the ruined buildings and ruined bodies in Gaza. Denormalize the nuclear brinkmanship with Russia. Denormalize the destruction of our biosphere in the ravages of ecocidal capitalism. Denormalize the surging authoritarianism we’re experiencing as the empire works frantically to stomp out dissent. Denormalize the war machinery rolling out around the world, and the increasingly militarized police forces in our streets. Denormalize the psychopathy of the politicians and government officials who cheerfully serve the empire in facilitation of these horrors. Denormalize the way media and government institutions controlled by the powerful work to manipulate the way we think and perceive every day of our fucking lives for the benefit of the powerful.”

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POLITICS AND ECONOMICS AS USUAL

“I’m speaking”, a painting by Caitlin Johnstone

Imperialism, Militarism & Fascism: Short takes:

• By objective measures, China is actually more democratic than the US
• The real discussion of issues at the DNC convention took place in the streets; while inside, a cone of silence on the genocide prevailed; and outside, the voices of the ‘uncommitted’ Democrats voiced despair
• Kamala loves war-criminal Dick Cheney’s endorsement
• At what point are we permitted to criticize the genocide?
• Will a ‘left-conservative’ turn the tide against fascism in Germany? (thanks to Paul Heft for the link)
• Canada’s Conservatives scream that it’s “un-Canadian” to object to genocide
• If you want government to tackle climate change, how could you vote for Trump or Harris?
• The Democratic party’s totally war-hawkish platform on the Mideast, Iran, Russia, and China
• Biden selects government arms dealer to be “point person” on Israel/Palestine policy (thanks to Gerry Gras for the link)
• Canada shows its true racist stripes in both its temporary foreign student program (pay 3x the tuition to a shit private college, and then get the hell out), and in its temporary foreign worker program (work hard, do what you’re told, don’t complain about working conditions, and then get the hell out)
• Jeffrey Sachs revisits his time in the 1990s in the US diplomatic service and explains how the US administrations repeatedly rebuffed requests from the collapsed USSR for financial stabilization assistance, and rejected their overtures for closer integration with Europe. Thanks to Siyavash Abdolrahimi for the link.
• Sachs also talks about the US’s recent covert role in toppling the governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh
• BC’s Conservative leader and climate change denier cuddles up with the loony Jordan Peterson
• Nate Bear on liberals’ embrace of genocide worldwide
• The BC government thinks that civil disobedience is criminal disobedience

Propaganda, Censorship, Misinformation and Disinformation: Short takes:

• How the right-wing anti-communist Falun Gong cult deployed the Shen Yun theatre to raise millions worldwide and propagate misinformation about life in China
• How the UK’s security services “neutralised” the Guardian newspaper in 2019
• US Congress passes bill awarding $1.6B to multiple agencies to advance anti-Chinese propaganda

Corpocracy & Unregulated Capitalism: Short takes:

• The enshittification of the internet, in the interests of profit
• US allocates $5B to clean up dangerous oil and gas wells (of which there are millions); actual estimated cost: $280B
• Apple locks users in and joins the Evil Empire
• “Catholic” hospitals buy up and consolidate their properties, pay their execs millions, and then gouge patients. Thanks to Kavana Tree Bressen for the link.
• The anti-trust law that Reagan killed, thus enabling the predatory purchasing practices of Amazon and Walmart, and wiping out their competitors
• A US federal judge has thrown out an FTC ban on non-compete clauses — restrictions that tether workers for life to their current employers
• The four-step corporatist playbook for evading responsibility for their abuses: (1) insist there isn’t really a problem; (2) blame the problem on employees, customers, or anyone else; (3) claim that any proposed ‘fix’ will worsen the problem; (4) argue that the intervention is “socialism”, overreach etc.

Administrative Mismanagement & Incompetence: Short takes:

• In BC, the tenancy office granted a 23% rent increase to landlords (versus the official 3.5% cap) because the landlords’ mortgage costs went up.  (Aw, how kind of them. I wonder how much the tenants’ costs have gone up?) And while it’s been shown that “vacancy controls” work, the government still refuses to employ them (It’s an election year, dontchaknow).

Industrial Disease & Malnutrition: Short takes:

• Latest CoVid-19 levels in US wastewater: Going up! Thanks to Tom Atlee and Kavana Tree Bressen for the links.
• Guide to 2024 fall vaccines: which and when  (and: your vaccine questions answered)
• Patrick Farnsworth and Nate Bear on the connection between pandemics and climate collapse
• The CoVid-19 US cases forecasting model
• The political clout of the “children’s breakfast cereal” industry

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FUN AND INSPIRATION

cartoon by Instachazz (Chaz Hutton)

How “sound illusions” work: Fun facts about how our brain processes sound. Worthy of a Pullet Surprise.

Digging towards hell: Indi relates the ‘industry’ of mining to our rapacious relationship with the earth as a whole. Sheer poetry.

“I think like you do, and it’s nice to know that I’m not alone”: Robert Jensen writes about what it’s like to always be outside the Overton window. Thanks to Gerry Gras for the link.

What would Marshall say?: A student of Marshall McLuhan speculates on how he might have responded to AI and other current technologies.

Live Nature Cams: Set 1 and Set 2

How Subarus became seen as cars for lesbians: It was all planned, kind of. Thanks to Kavana Tree Bressen for the link.

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THOUGHTS OF THE MONTH

cartoon by John Atkinson

From Shuly Xóchitl Cawood – in Something So Good It Can Never Be Enough

The Laws of Less and More

I’m still thinking about what my tio said when I was twelve:
that I was chubby and needed to watch my weight.

Until then, my body had been meant
for only me.

Even decades later I am thinking of this seed he planted,
the soil I gave it, the sun of my belief.

I am thinking of what I did not eat for so long:
milk, cheese, peanut butter, bread, mayonnaise.

I did not eat a sandwich for so many years. I only yearned for
parts of me to disappear, for other parts

to show, be admired, render me beautiful. I believed
a body could do so much more if I gave it less.

Recently when I, in middle age, told my doctor I was giving
weight despite no change in diet or exercise, she said, you need to eat

less. And now I think of all the lessons I learned when I was twelve
that I practiced for years—all the times I told myself you should not have,

you will not have, you should never, ever have. Restriction as devotion
became what others saw as disciplined, the only part of me I allowed to grow
wild.

From Lena Khalaf Tuffaha in Water & Salt (Red Hen Press, 2017). Please read these words from her, written in January of this year, entitled Against Silence. The poem that follows may make more sense with that context. 

Running Orders

They call us now,
before they drop the bombs.
The phone rings
and someone who knows my first name
calls and says in perfect Arabic
“This is David.”
And in my stupor of sonic booms and glass-shattering symphonies
still smashing around in my head
I think, Do I know any Davids in Gaza?
They call us now to say
Run.
You have 58 seconds from the end of this message.
Your house is next.
They think of it as some kind of
war-time courtesy.
It doesn’t matter that
there is nowhere to run to.
It means nothing that the borders are closed
and your papers are worthless
and mark you only for a life sentence
in this prison by the sea
and the alleyways are narrow
and there are more human lives
packed one against the other
more than any other place on earth
Just run.
We aren’t trying to kill you.
It doesn’t matter that
you can’t call us back to tell us
the people we claim to want aren’t in your house
that there’s no one here
except you and your children
who were cheering for Argentina
sharing the last loaf of bread for this week
counting candles left in case the power goes out.
It doesn’t matter that you have children.
You live in the wrong place
and now is your chance to run
to nowhere.
It doesn’t matter
that 58 seconds isn’t long enough
to find your wedding album
or your son’s favorite blanket
or your daughter’s almost completed college application
or your shoes
or to gather everyone in the house.
It doesn’t matter what you had planned.
It doesn’t matter who you are.
Prove you’re human.
Prove you stand on two legs.
Run.

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