'We Are Unstoppable, Another World Is Possible!': Hundreds Storm Police Lines to Shut Down Massive Coal Mine in Germany

This one absolutely makes me cry. My heart is so full, so very full, of gratitude! Look at these amazing human beings! Just look! They are doing what we all need to be doing. They are standing up to the forces which are dooming life on Earth!

One of my many heroes, Bill McKibben, spoke of how the time for sitting back is long over. We need to be hitting the streets. We need to engage in civil disobedience and be willing to be arrested. We need to put our bodies on the line. I am so inspired by the these hundreds of activists working to save our planet by putting their bodies on the line.

If there is ever a mug photo of me in my future, I'll be sure to proudly post it. We need to care. We need to be courageous. We need to do everything humanly possible to transform our nation and our world into one which cares for life rather than destroys it.

And doing deep research, speaking the truth, and doing what I can is the only way that I can face my children and tiny grandchildren. They will know in their deepest heart of hearts that their Grammie did what she could to stand in protection of them and their futures. — Molly

Activists run towards the Garzweiler open-cast mine. The protests for more climate protection in the Rhineland continue.

By Jon Queally

Hundreds of climate activists stormed a massive open-pit coal mine in Germany on Saturday, entering a standoff with police inside the mine while thousands of others maintained separate blockades of the nation's coal infrastructure as part of a week-long series of actions designed to end Europe's dependency on fossil fuels.

Coordinated by the Ende Gelände alliance, the campaigners targeting the Garzweiler mine in the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia as they evaded security forces across roads and fields before reaching the pit and descending its banks.

"We are unstoppable," the activists declared, "another world is possible!"

Die letzten Meter. We are unstoppable, another world is possible! pic.twitter.com/pCJetwZSJ7

— Ende Gelände (@Ende__Gelaende) June 22, 2019

Watch:

"This is not only about coal power," said Sina Reisch, spokeswoman of Ende Gelände, in a statement. "This is about changing a destructive system that is based on the quest for infinite economic growth and exploitation. We are fighting for a future in which people count more than profits."

Climate justice activists protect themselves from the sun with rescue blankets after they have been encased in the Garzweiler opencast mine by police officers and vehicles of employees of the opencast mine after breaking through a police blockade. The protests for more climate protection in the Rhineland continue.

Please continue this article here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/22/we-are-unstoppable-another-world-possible-hundreds-storm-police-lines-shut-down?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2YqTHwbmLlf-DbAo8USn6Z8-77RlAkToET-4D3LUqzVUQA1JOhYxVY2DQ

 

Joe Biden: An Imperial Corporatist Wrapped in the Bloody Flag of Charlottesville

This morning I heard Paul Street speak on David Barsamian's Alternative Radio — https://www.alternativeradio.org/. It was excellent! And the talk I listened to inspired me to look up more information about Paul Street. This is but one of his many illuminating and important articles. I also remain so grateful for my insatiable curiosity to know what I do not know, to peel back the layers of my illusions, and to be increasingly Conscious. With consciousness comes truth, understanding, wisdom, love, kindness, fierce compassionate action, and ever widening circles of caring. Again and again and again I bow deeply to all who help me see beyond the limits of my present awareness and to evolve. And David Barsamian is among those who have for many years introduced me to countless courageous and amazing truth-tellers and visionaries. Today it was Paul Street. Deep, deep bow of gratitude! The truth shall set us all free! May curiosity, courage, and truth-seeking and truth-telling be contagious! — Molly

 By Paul Street

Besides being a grabby old coot who needs to stop joking about complaints over his serially inappropriate touching of females, Joe Biden is a grinning neoliberal sell-out who stands well to the right of majority progressive public opinion. No elegantly crafted three-and-a-half minute campaign launch video on the horrors of Charlottesville and Donald Trump can change that essential fact.

The media trope that portrays “Lunch-Bucket Joe” Biden as a regular, down-to-earth guy who cares deeply about regular folks is pure, unadulterated bullshit. His real constituents wear pinstripe suits and works on Wall Street and in corporate headquarters. They fly around in fancy private jets. And the supposed “everyman liberal” Joe Biden is their loyal apparatchik.

“The Folks at the Top Aren’t Bad Guys”

It’s not for nothing that Biden relies on big money backers, not small and working-class donors – and that he is an especially close ally and beneficiary of Washington lobbyists. He has spent decades ripping on progressive “special interests” while joining with Republicans to advance policies harmful to the working-class.

In 1978, Biden worked for Wall Street by voting to rollback bankruptcy protections for college graduates with federal student loans. Six years later he did the same to vocational school graduates. In 2005, he worked with Republican allies to pass the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, which put traditional “clean slate” Chapter 7 bankruptcy out of reach for millions of ordinary Americans and thousands of small businesses. The bill put bankruptcy filers under far stricter Chapter 13 rules, turning countless citizens into de facto indentured servants of finance capital (including the many credit card companies headquartered in Delaware.) Biden backed an earlier version of the bill that was too corporatist even for Bill and Hillary Clinton.

He voted against a bill that would have compelled credit card companies to warn customers of the costs of only making minimum payments.

In 1979, Biden recognized campaign donations from Coca-Cola by cosponsoring a bill that permitted soft-drink producers to skirt antitrust laws. That same year he was one of just two Congressional Democrats to vote against a Judiciary Committee measure to increase consumers’ rights to sue corporations for price-fixing.

Biden strongly supported the 1999 Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, which permitted the re-merging of investment and commercial banking by repealing the Depression-era Glass–Steagall Act. This helped create the 2007-8 financial crisis and subsequent recession.

Biden naturally supported the corporate-neoliberal North American Free Trade agreement and the globalist investor rights Trans-Pacific Partnership deal.

All of this and more in Biden’s record is richly consistent with the beginning of his political career. He’s been an unapologetic corporatist from the start. 

Please continue this article here: https://www.paulstreet.org/joe-biden-an-imperial-corporatist-wrapped-in-the-bloody-flag-of-charlottesville/

For more information, please also go here:

https://www.paulstreet.org/ 

Rainer Maria Rilke: I Live My Life in Widening Circles

I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one
but I give myself to it.
I circle around God, around the primordial tower.
I've been circling for thousands of years
and I still don't know: am I a falcon,
a storm, or a great song?

— R.M. RILKE, BOOK OF HOURS - 1,2

Joanna Macy: Choosing Life

My husband and I had the incredible joy of happening upon this 2013 talk on TV the other night. WOW! What an amazing gift! Joanna Macy spoke about so many things that hold such profound wisdom and value. This includes how essential it is for humanity to take a giant leap in consciousness. This includes our need to embrace “positive disintegration,” a process of allowing the old ways of knowing and thinking to die away in order that our much, much greater Selves can emerge and embody what it is that we came here to do. Joanna also spoke of how we are all part of the very beginnings of life all the way through to all the life that is yet to be — we are all connected with and part of this greater whole. And we all possess a tremendous responsibility to those of the future. And Joanna spoke with eyes welling with tears of how hard it is to be a grandparent and to know what our grandchildren are faced with. But know we must!! Joanna Macy has long been my heroine. I love her so much. She has inspired me again and again and again to allow my heart to break open, to know what I know, to speak the truth, to care so deeply about all of life, and to do my part in healing myself and our world. I hope you will listen to Joanna here and consider sharing. Thank you. 🙏Molly

Deep Ecology extends an inalienable right to life to all beings. A systems theorist, author and lifelong activist, Joanna Macy describes how healing the world and healing your heart and soul go hand in hand. This talk took place at the 2013 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Protecting and Restoring Nature Collection, Vol. 1.

For more on Joanna Macy, please go here:

https://www.joannamacy.net/ 

 

David DeGraw: Our Economic System Is Fundamentally One Giant Extraction Scheme

This is incredibly spot on. These are the facts that we need to know. And any politician who isn’t talking about the oligarchy America has become — and the vital need to challenge and stop the immoral and extreme redistribution of wealth upwards — is part of the neoliberal corporate structure. We need to stop voting for corrupt politicians! We need to intervene on and end the propaganda that late stage corporate capitalism is good and democratic socialism is bad. Such insanity. There is a great need for us to inform ourselves by using resources of integrity and a profound commitment to truth. May we all come together to be part of the growing national and global movement to radically transform ourselves and the cultural stories and values we live by to ones which protect, honor, bless, and care for life. — Molly

 By David DeGraw

While workers w/ stagnant & declining wages take on ever-increasing debt to keep up w/ the skyrocketing cost of living "those getting nearly free money from theFederal Reserve are piling up trillions of dollars in gains."

"How is the Fed's free money for financiers not commoditized, institutionalized fraud?"

"Those who can borrow outlandishly large sums at a discount are in effect being given the tools to defraud the financial system and all the other players who aren't as close to the money spigot of the central bank.”

Charles Hugh Smith breaks down how fraud has been institutionalized & normalized as Business as Usual... (link in comment section)

For one example of many…

“How is charging 20% interest on a credit card balance while financiers pay 2% not commoditized, institutionalized fraud?"

"The cover for this fraud is particularly rich: the high credit risk of the credit card holder demands a high rate of return, while the 'low-risk' financier gets 2% financing to blow up the entire financial system and get bailed out by the taxpayer."

"Normalizing and institutionalizing fraud undermines the foundations of the economy and the financial system. Calling these commoditized frauds business as usual doesn't mean they won't destroy the system from the inside."

In other words… what CHS is essentially saying, IMO, we don’t have "free-market" capitalism, our economy has devolved into a system of oligarchic extraction.

Our economic policies are blatantly systemically corrupted… our economy is fundamentally, deliberately designed to enslave the population in ever-increasing debt… this is now an easily proven undeniable reality…

All-time record-breaking debt is now exploding at a record-breaking pace across every sector of the economy... we are now in a debt death spiral... the global oligarchy has us in checkmate...

Our economic system is fundamentally one giant extraction scheme... any politician who does not make this clear to you is either in on the corruption or tragically inept.

Transforming the Media’s Coverage of the Climate Crisis

An incredibly important article and part of the transformation of our media. For years I’ve been listening to resources such as Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! cover climate change, use the words “man made climate change,” connect the dots between catastrophic climate events and human caused climate change, interview climate scientists and experts and Indigenous leaders and more about the climate crisis. This is what all of media need to do NOW! Already decades have been squandered by the corporate media’s silence and complicity with the fossil fuel industry and other huge corporate interests. This needs to end. Nothing is more important than speaking the truth about where we’re at and what we urgently need to do about it. — Molly

AT THE END OF APRIL, CJR and The Nation announced plans for a new initiative to dramatically improve the media’s coverage of the most  urgent story of our time. Since then, interest in our Covering Climate Now project has been enormous. To answer questions about it, and to outline how news outlets across the country can get involved, here’s a primer on the project and on where it goes next.

Who are we?

We are journalists, talking and working with fellow journalists, to transform our profession’s coverage of climate change. Whether you work in television or audio, print or online, for a local, regional, national, or international outlet, climate change touches every beat in every newsroom.  And at this late hour, we need journalism everywhere to treat this story with the urgency that science demands.

CJR and The Nation are leading this effort, along with partners such as The Guardian and others yet to be announced. On behalf of the Schumann Media Center, Bill Moyers pledged $1 million to support the initiative for its first year.

What are we doing?

We see ourselves as convening and informing a conversation that journalists need to have, with each other and the public we serve, about how to do justice to the climate story at this decisive historic moment.  To succeed, we need the participation and energy of as many journalists and news outlets as possible. We also need to hear from a wide range of stakeholders—scientists, advocates, government and business officials, and private citizens—about how we can do a better job of making clear what is happening, why, and what can be done about it.

We aim to bring journalists together face to face—as we did at a conference at the Columbia Journalism School in April that launched this effort, and in additional gatherings planned across the United States and abroad—and online, via a new vertical housed on the websites of CJR and The Nation. In these and other venues, we hope that journalists and others will talk about, report on, analyze, and debate how news outlets should cover the rapidly uncoiling climate crisis and its solutions.

Please continue this article here: https://www.cjr.org/watchdog/climate-crisis-media.php?fbclid=IwAR3UaOxc2oeiShz6WDHcrvP86bg6N6jWcFRYc4LJVZP2YkcHHGwBrS83xIw 

Climate Crisis And The 2020 US Elections

WOW. Spot on! Please read this and share. Thank you. — Molly

 

 By John Scales Avery    

 

Trump and his party must be defeated

There are so many things wrong with Donald Trump that one hardly knows where to begin. He is a racist, habitual liar, tax evader, cruel cager of infants, misogynist, narcissist, bully, violator of numerous laws, both national and international, a friend of rich oligarchs and enemy of the poor, to mention only a few of his faults. He has made the United States resemble Germany, Italy or Spain in the 1930’s, when fascism was on the rise.

However, most importantly for the future of human civilization and the biosphere, Trump has denied the reality of the climate emergency, encouraged the use of coal as well as exploration for new oil, sabotaged the Environmental Protection Agency, and withdrawn the United States from the Paris Agreement. Because of the climate issue alone, it is vital for the future of humanity that he and his party should be defeated in the 2020 elections.

The importance of immediate climate action

The central problem which the world faces in its attempts to avoid catastrophic climate change is a contrast of time scales. In order to save human civilization and the biosphere from the most disastrous effects of climate change we need to act immediately, But it is difficult to mobilize public opinion behind urgently needed action because the most severe disasters due to global warming belong to the long-term future.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in their October 2018 report, stated that global CO2 emissions must be reduced by 50% in just 12 years if the worst effects of climate change are to be avoided.

What happened in the disastrous 2016 election?

One is reminded of the words of Yeats: “Things fall apart. The centre cannot hold. The best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity. And what rough beast, its time come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”

When Senator Bernie Sanders began his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, few people believed that he could succeed. But as his campaign gained momentum, enormous crowds were attracted to his reformist speeches, and small individual donors supported his expenses. Although the crowds at Sanders’ speeches were at least four times the size of  those attending the rallies of other candidates, they were not reported in  the mass media. Sanders’ campaign was also sabotaged by the corporate- controlled Democratic National Committee. His huge popularity remains undimmed today, despite his loss in the 2016 primary. He advocates a social  system for the United States similar to these which have made the Scandinavian countries leaders in both human development and human happiness indices.

Against expectations, Donald Trump who, in the words of Michael Moore,  is a “wretched, ignorant, dangerous part-time clown and full-time sociopath”, was elected in 2016. What happened? Disillusioned by the way in which the immensely popular Senator Bernie Sanders was sabotaged by the media and by the Democratic National Committee, and despising Hillary Clinton for her involvement in US wars and Wall Street banks, many progressive voters, especially young ones, stayed away from the polls. In their absence, Trump won narrowly. He lost the popular vote, but won the electoral vote. Today, the White House is a morass of dissension, erratic decisions and lies.

Please continue this article here: https://countercurrents.org/2019/06/climate-crisis-and-the-2020-us-elections?fbclid=IwAR3zJLE6dmEqECB_-2S7Z-iaosfw2r77g6iphC_k9uzL2qCjsOa2gLRumuQ

Think US Media Won't Help Lead Nation Into War With Iran Based on Flimsy or False Intelligence? Looks Like They Already Are

Beware the US corporate media! — Molly

"Do U.S. reporters, anchors, and editors really want more Middle Eastern blood on their hands? If not, they need to fix their rather credulous and increasingly hawkish coverage of Iran—and fix it fast."

By

Jake Johnson

If there were any lingering hopes that the corporate media learned from its role in perpetuating the lies that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and would never again help start a Middle East war on the basis of false or flimsy evidence, the headlines that blared across the front pages of major U.S. news websites Thursday night indicated that such hopes were badly misplaced.

The U.S. military late Thursday released blurry, black-and-white video footage that it claimed—without any underlying analysis or further details—showed an Iranian patrol boat removing an unexploded limpet mine from the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous, one of the oil tankers damaged in attacks in the Gulf of Oman.

Iran has denied any involvement in the attacks, and Yutaka Katada—the owner of the Kokuka Courageous—contradicted the Trump administration's account during a press conference on Friday.

"Our crew said that the ship was attacked by a flying object," Katada said. "I do not think there was a time bomb or an object attached to the side of the ship."

Independent critics were quick to call for extreme skepticism in the face of U.S. government claims, given the quality of the "evidence" and the warmongering track records of those presenting it.

A serial liar is President.

A warmonger and a serial fabricator who helped get us into the disastrous Iraq war and who has sabotaged numerous attempts at diplomacy is the NatSec Advisor.

But go ahead, Media, treat Pompeo's accusations as "evidence"...#OilTanker#GulfOfOman

— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) June 13, 2019

But the media displayed no such caution.

For video, and to continue this article, please go here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/06/14/think-us-media-wont-help-lead-nation-war-iran-based-flimsy-or-false-intelligence