Changing Fundamentals: Defying Biden's Promise of Business As Usual

Everything Will Fundamentally Change

by David Swanson - Lets Try Democracy

November 8, 2020

In June 2019, Joe Biden promised wealthy so-called donors that nothing would fundamentally change. At this moment hundreds of millions of people — from those shooting off fireworks to those ranting as though they will soon shoot up public places in their MAGA hats — seem convinced that everything will fundamentally change. Biden was wrong. Everybody else is right. Either everything will change for the better or one or both of the twin dangers of environmental and nuclear apocalypse will change everything for the worse.

What should someone who cares about ending war think? How can we get from the euphoria of electing a warmonger to mobilizing people to end war? How should we talk with the people who are celebrating? And how with the people who are outraged?

Why Canada Refuses to Refute Nuclear Weapons

Canadian military support for nukes must be met with popular resistance

by Yves Engler

November 7, 2020

“Why hasn’t Canada signed the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty?” is the title of an upcoming webinar featuring Liberal MP Hedy Fry, Green Party MP Elizabeth May, NDP deputy foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson, Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, as well as Setsuko Thurlow, who accepted the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

This is an important and timely question in light of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) recently reaching the threshold required to enter into law. On October 24 Honduras became the 50^th country to ratify the TPNW, meaning it will enter into force for those states in 90 days.

Gorilla Radio's Election 2020 Post Mortem Special with Chris Cook & Dave Lindorff

Gorilla Radio Election 2020 Post Mortem Special 

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

November 5, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s home edition Election 2020 Aftermath Special, recorded live-to-tape via Skype on this date, November 5th, 2020.

 

Most will be aware the US elections were and are a razor-thin affair, with vote counting continuing, despite the best efforts of one side of the contest. 

Why you may ask would anyone NOT want votes counted? 

Likely the same reason that party would want to limit the numbers of those eligible to vote in the first place; because they fear the popular political will. 

Why else?

Dave Lindorff is an award-winning journalist, author, and founding member of the media collective, ThisCantBeHappening.net. 

Listen. Hear.

Lindorff’s book titles include, ‘The Case for Impeachment: Legal Arguments for Removing President George W. Bush from Office’ and ‘This Can’t Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy.’ 

Dave lives just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the very place some believe could decide the next president, (if the Supreme Court doesn’t get there first!) and he’s following the situation there.

Today, Dave Lindorff and can this be happening, again?!

The Purged: The Vanished Voters of Trump's America

The Purged: The Vanished Voters of Trump's America

by GregPalast.com

#SaveMyVote2020 #IWillVote

 

November 7, 2020

 

Will voters choose the President—or The Purge? Investigative reporter Greg Palast warns us — with a heartbreaking tale — to save our votes and our democracy. If YOU have been purged from the rolls, you can still register on Election Day in Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada and more, and during early voting in North  Carolina.

 

 

 

Learn more: SaveMyVote2020.org Thanks to Debra Messing, Black Voters Matter, and Entertainment Weekly. #SaveMyVote2020 #IWillVote

Battle USA Over, But the War Goes On: Evading Joe's "Sleeper Hold"

The task Of ‘Sleepy Joe’ Is To Put Liberal America Right Back To Sleep

by Jonathan Cook - Popular Resistance

 

November 7, 2020

At birth, all of us begin a journey that offers opportunities either to grow – not just physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually – or to stagnate. The journey we undertake lasts a lifetime, but there are dozens of moments each day when we have a choice to make tiny incremental gains in experience, wisdom and compassion or to calcify through inertia, complacency and selfishness.

No one can be engaged and receptive all the time. But it is important to recognise these small opportunities for growth when they present themselves, even if at any particular moment we may decide to avoid grasping them.

And Tomorrow? America's Foreign Policy from 1940 Until...

In 1940, the United States Decided to Rule the World

by David Swanson - World BEYOND War

November 3, 2020

Stephen Wertheim’s Tomorrow, The World examines a shift in elite U.S. foreign-policy thinking that took place in mid-1940. Why in that moment, a year and a half before the Japanese attacks on the Philippines, Hawaii, and other outposts, did it become popular in foreign-policy circles to advocate for U.S. military domination of the globe?

In school text book mythology, the United States was full of revoltingly backward creatures called isolationists at the time of World War I and right up through December 1941, after which the rational adult internationalists took command (or we’d all be speaking German and suffering through the rigged elections of fascistic yahoos, unlike this evening).

Democratic Party Assange Inquisition Entirely Discredited

New documents show Mueller investigation unable to concoct charges against Assange and WikiLeaks

by Oscar Grenfell - WSWS

November 6, 2020

Previously redacted portions of the Mueller report into supposed Russian interference in the US, released this week, have shown that despite every effort, the Justice Department was unable to concoct evidence of any criminal wrongdoing on the part of WikiLeaks or Julian Assange in relation to their 2016 publications exposing the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton.

 Assange interviewed by CNN in August, 2016. The network had a strap beneath him reading “Political disruption” throughout most of the interview. 

(Credit: Screenshot CNN online broadcast)

The revelation is the latest proof of the fraudulent character of the entire “Russiagate” narrative, used not only to smear Assange, but also to justify expanded online censorship and to push for greater US military aggression. It is evidence that the US state had been attempting to manufacture criminal charges against Assange, before an indictment was finalised in late 2017 over WikiLeaks’ completely unrelated 2010 and 2011 publications.

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Dave Lindorff, Radhika Desai, Janine Bandcroft November 5, 2020

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

November 5, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s home edition recorded live-to-tape via Skype on this date, October 30th, 2020.

October 26th Philadelphia citizen, Walter Wallace Jr. was shot dead by police. Wallace was a black man, suffering mental problems. He was known to police, and his family had specifically asked for medical assistance WITHOUT police. Both the shooting and demonstrations have become a part of the political debate, as America nears the November 3rd presidential election.

Dave Lindorff is an award-winning journalist, author, and founding member of the media collective, ThisCantBeHappening.net. Lindorff’s book titles include, ‘The Case for Impeachment: Legal Arguments for Removing President George W. Bush from Office’ and ‘This Can’t Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy.’ 

Dave lives just outside Philadelphia and is following the situation there.

Listen. Hear.

 Dave Lindorff in the first half.

And; after more than a half year of varying public health measures, from Tennessee to Timbuktu, we’re still mired in the pandemic. And, despite the hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths attributed to the disease, Covid’s most devastating effect is on World economies, seeing millions unable to earn a living and vital global supply chains threatened with collapse.

Radhika Desai is a scholar, educator, author, editor, director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group, and professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba. Radhika’s many essays, primarily on the topics of political economy, culture and nationalism can be found at among other places, CanadianDimension.com where her article, ‘The Fate of Capitalism Hangs in the Balance of International Power,’ the fifth installment of her seven part series, WHAT IS TO BE DONE? A Manifesto for Politics Amid the Pandemic and Beyond, appears.

Radhika Desai and Capitalism’s Damoclean moment in the second half.

And; CFUV broadcaster and host of Plant Powered Radio, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things you can get up to in and around our town, and virutally too, in the coming week. But first, Dave Lindorff answering the question, “Is Philadelphia Burning?”

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

"Yes Virginia, Philadelphia is NOT Burning"

It May Not Be Sunny in Philadelphia, But the Town’s Not Burning Either

by Dave Lindorff - FAIR

October 30, 2020

I was awakened at 8 a.m. Wednesday by a worried call from a good friend, journalist and radical prairie activist Michael Caddell in Kansas. “Dave!” he said urgently, “Is Philly burning?”

I groggily asked him what he meant? Had the closed Sunoco tank farm and refinery in South Philadelphia suddenly exploded into an inferno again?

“It’s all over the news,” he said. “Even Democracy Now!. Fires burning, looting, and 30 police injured!” 

 

The Murder of Justice: Assange Travesty a Horror Story for Our Times

A horror story in two parts: Part II — A Travesty of Justice: UK Caters to the US Government’s Desire to Crush Assange

by Ron Ridenour - This Can't Be Happening

October 5, 2020 

The second indictment of alleged violations of the Espionage Act belatedly filed by the US against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange actually should not include him since there is no contention that he spied for any warring enemy, nor is he a U.S. citizen or resident, which the 1917 law targeted.

The original indictment focused on allegations that Assange had criminally aided Chelsea Manning in “hacking” into and downloading secret documents that show U.S. war crimes. That case went sour when the government prosecutors could not find any evidence. Furthermore, Manning (at that time while known as Bradley Manning) was a private in the US Army working in Iraq as an intelligence analyst and was authorized to download those documents so she had no need of assistance from Assange.

 

Hence the second indictment admitted Assange is a publisher, but claimed he had  put government informant lives in danger — a different crime. 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Kirsten Francescone, Dan Kovalik, Janine Bandcroft October 29, 2020

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

October 29, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded live-to-tape via Skype on this date, October 26th, 2020.

 

There is jubilation in Bolivia, as the people’s representatives are again in power following the removal by force of arms last year of president Evo Morales’ MAS party. The party’s new iteration, under the leadership of Luis Arces, won an even larger majority than last time, sweeping away the coup perpetrators. 

Canada was among the first countries in 2019 to confer legitimacy on the coup, and following its lead Canada-registered mining company Orvana Minerals used the opportunity the extreme-right political shift presented to undo labour agreements already signed and sack its unionized workers.

Kirsten Francescone is the Latin America Program Coordinator at MiningWatch Canada. Kirsten lived and worked in Bolivia for five years prior to commencing her PhD in Anthropology and Political Economy at Carleton University.

Listen. Hear.

Kirsten Francescone in the first half.

And; while the landslide election victory of Evo Morales’ MAS party was and is cause for elation throughout Bolivia and the Americas for those long-suffering under the heel of El Norte, Luis Arces’ supporters can be forgiven if their celebrations are tempered with caution, considering what happened the last time it won elections there.

Dan Kovalik is a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist and author. He’s also a recipient of the David W. Mills Mentoring Fellowship from Stanford Law School, a frequent lecturer, oft sought television and radio political commentator, and his articles appear online at the Huffington Post and Counterpunch, among other places. His latest book is, ‘No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using ‘Humanitarian’ Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interests‘.

Dan Kovalik and Bolivia’s second chance in the second half.

And; CFUV Radio broadcaster and host of Plant Powered Radio, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town in the coming week.

But first, Kirsten Francescone and following the foreign corporate/government power nexus in Bolivia.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

A Tale of Two Coups: Canada's Orvana Minerals Gambles on Wrong Wing in Bolivia

Canadian Unions and Civil Society Organizations Support Bolivian Mineworkers Union Demands for Fair Treatment from Canadian Company

by MiningWatch Canada

0ctober 20, 2020

Canadian unions and civil society organizations sent a letter today to Canadian mining company Orvana Minerals, condemning the company’s actions in firing the entire workforce at its Don Mario Mine Complex in Bolivia in February of this year. 

The company is the sole owner of Empresa Minera Paititi (EMIPA), which operates the gold mine in eastern Bolivia that, up until February, supported 130 unionized mine workers and their families. 

The Endless Torment of Guantánamo's Prisoners

After Years in Secret Prisons, UAE Threatens Unsafe Repatriations to Yemen for Former Guantánamo Prisoners 

by Andy Worthington - Close Guantanamo

October 23, 2020 

Depressing but important news about life after Guantánamo was published by the Associated Press on Wednesday, focusing on the appalling treatment that former Guantánamo prisoners have received since being resettled in the United Arab Emirates between November 2015 and January 2017, when President Obama left office; specifically, 18 Yemenis (out of 23 men in total sent to the UAE), who have now been told that the UAE is preparing to repatriate them, even though their lives may well be at risk in Yemen.

16 of the 18 Yemeni prisoners sent to the United Arab Emirates between 2015 and 2017, where they have continued to be imprisoned, and are now threatened with being sent back to the dangerous situation in their home country. 

Challenging the Uyghur Congress Narrative

Inside the World Uyghur Congress: The US-Backed Right-Wing Regime Change Network Seeking the 'Fall of China'

by Ajit Singh - The GrayZone

March 5, 2020

While posing as a grassroots human rights organization, the World Uyghur Congress is a US-funded and directed separatist network that has forged alliances with far-right ethno-nationalist groups. The goal spelled out by its founders is clear: the destabilization of China and regime change in Beijing.

 

In recent years, few stories have generated as much outrage in the West as the condition of Uyghur Muslims in China. Reporting on the issue is typically represented through seemingly spontaneous leaks of information and expressions of resistance by Uyghur human rights activists struggling to be heard against a tyrannical Chinese government.

Canadian House Subcommittee Charges China with "Genocide", Recommends Invocation of R2P

STATEMENT BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNING THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION OF UYGHURS AND OTHER TURKIC MUSLIMS IN XINJIANG, CHINA

Ottawa, October 21, 2020 -

In a news release following its study on the human rights situation of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China (East Turkestan/Xinjiang) in 2018, the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (the Subcommittee) warned that:

if the international community does not condemn the human rights abuses in Xinjiang province by the Government of China, a precedent will be set, and these methods will be adopted by other regimes. Complacency is entrenched by a lack of access to Xinjiang; by the lack of free press; and through the silencing and harassment of Uyghurs living abroad.

Building on the important testimony of seven witnesses over five sessions before the Subcommittee in 2018, on 20–21 July 2020 the Subcommittee convened urgent meetings to understand the latest developments in the plight of the Uyghurs. 

The Wisdom of Receiving Tax Advise from the Rich

Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea

by Alan MacLeod - FAIR

October 21, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has greatly increased wealth inequality in the United States, a key issue in the upcoming presidential election. Polls are currently looking good for the Democrats, many of whom have been murmuring about—or even demanding—a new wealth tax.

 

Recent surveys show the idea is overwhelmingly popular with the electorate, with voters in 11 polled states more than three times as likely to support than oppose a candidate backing a tax on the assets of the wealthy. 

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Norm Farrell, Dimitri Lascaris October 22, 2020

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

October 22, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio's home edition, NOT broadcast live from CFUV Radio, but emanating live-to-tape on this date, October 16th, 2020.

 

While defending his government's continuation of Site-C in last week's leadership debate, Premier John Horgan claimed the megadam was a way to move B.C.'s "green clean energy" into the future. But what are the ecological costs of this project; and just how green is hydro power generally? 

The North American Megadam Resistance Alliance says, "These megadams destroy rivers and forests and are a climate and social justice disaster."

Norm Farrell is a writer and publisher of In-Sights.ca, a journal "covering Canadian public affairs with a focus on British Columbia..." [and] "...exploring political and economic issues." Norm attended the NAMRA sponsored, 'Canada’s Sinking Site C Megadam Webinar' Wednesday.

 

Listen. Hear.

 Norm Farrell in the first half.

And; the recent Green Party of Canada leadership race was worthy of a Rocky picture, seeing a feisty outsider taking on seemingly insurmountable odds to challenge an establishment champion. And true to the billing it was an epic contest; the campaign's eligibility opposed from the start, and when finally mounted, run against the backdrop of a global pandemic. 

Lawyer, activist, and journalist, Dimitri Lascaris was our Rocky Balboa in this tilt, entering the ring promising to, “Defy the powerful. Confront injustice. [and] Unite progressives.”  

Dimitri Lascaris on fighting from the ropes for a Green future in the second half.

 But first, Norm Farrell and the politics, impacts, and BIG money behind Site C.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Study War No More: Ending Toronto School Collaboration for Israeli Occupation Force Recruiting

Toronto schools push students to join Israeli military

by Yves Engler

October 19, 2020

Canadian law makes it illegal to recruit soldiers for a foreign state. But, the line between enticing impressionable young people to oppress Palestinians and formal recruitment is unclear.

Today an open letter signed by Noam Chomsky, Roger Waters, filmmaker Ken Loach, author Yann Martel, former MP Jim Manly, poet El Jones and more than 150 others was delivered to Justice Minister David Lametti calling on the federal government to apply charges under the Foreign Enlistment Act against those recruiting Canadians for the IDF.

El Norte Media Mum on Bolivia's Socialist Landslide

Media Responds With Apathy, Disappointment as US-Backed Coup Gov’t Concedes Defeat in Bolivia

by Alan MacLeod - MintPress News

 

October 19th, 2020

Across the spectrum, corporate media has endorsed last year’s rightwing takeover of Bolivia, refusing to label it as a coup. Coverage of Sunday’s historical elections hasn’t been much better.

Bolivia’s Movement to Socialism (MAS) party is celebrating what appears to be a crushing, landslide victory in Sunday’s elections. Although official vote counting is far from over, exit polls show an overwhelming triumph for the socialists, and a repudiation of the right-wing military government of Jeanine Añez, who has ruled since the coup last November. At the same time, the corporate press appears less than pleased about the return to democracy for the Andean country.

Food Farming System Transformation Only Hope of Feeding the World

Transforming our Food Systems Is the Only Way to Nourish the World

by Katharine Earley - Independent Science News

October 15, 2020

The way we produce our food is under pressure like never before. And with the climate crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic now posing the greatest challenges to nourishing the expanding global population, our precious and fragile food system is fast reaching breaking point.

Janet Marot (Credit: Peter Luethi/Biovision)

So do we intensify the current system of farming or is there a better way? Much criticism has been levelled at alternative approaches to conventional farming, for example – that they can’t produce enough food for 10 billion people by 2050, they’re not always climate friendly, and consumers reject the cost of sustainable food.