More than a little late to recognized Oscar Romero and by association, "liberation theology" (Romero was slain March 24, 1980). Had this truth be recognized in the global community sooner perhaps the insuing 38 years of US invervention rolling back and crushing authentic socialist reform in latin america resulting in the resurgence of bloodthirsty military dictatorships with American aid could have been avoided.
On Sunday in the Vatican, Pope Francis will officially make Romero a saint nearly three decades after he was martyred by an assassin’s bullet to the heart. But for many Salvadoran Roman Catholic devotees who already know him as “Saint Romero of the Americas” that will only formalize something they have long known in their hearts.
“He was a great man. He already was a saint,” said Jose David Santos, 73, in a recent interview before traveling to Rome along with 5,000 other Salvadorans to be present for the canonization.
“He was a great example of humility,” Santos added, clad in a white shirt with Romero’s face imprinted on it. “He professed love for the poor man. He denounced injustices. He defended victims. He criticized the violence of the military and of the guerrillas.”
Pussy Riot's new book by Nadya Tolokonnikova was promoted in her appearance this week in SF and I am sorry I missed it. The the interview below is well worth reading. If we remain only dis-informed by mainstream media in the United states one might perceive all Russians stereotypically as politically corrupt and culturally stultified rather than deeply divided and politically and culturally diverse as it is clear that we are here -- so as it turns out according to Nadya they are too.
The book is Read and Riot, Pussy Riot's Guide to Activism that I have got to get. In the interview when asked about feminism in Russian, she said
It’s more complicated than the media portrays it. Russia was one of the first countries who gave women the right to vote, and Russian women have access to abortion, something the U.S is still debating. That being said, the domestic responsibilities are not shared by man, by design, and as a Russian woman you’re supposed to be polished and glamorous in order to be perceived as a normative being. If you’re not taking care of yourself, no one will take you seriously; rather, you’ll be constantly asked about your poor looks. For most urban educated Russian women, feminism isn’t an interesting issue; they just live their lives and more or less have the same rights as men, and they’re happy to look feminine and glamorous. The really young generation of women, under 20, exists in the global world and goes through the same things as young girls in America. They’re closer to androgyny. Asked about media we are in for challenges.
Fact-checking and serious attitude to journalistic work will be really important in the future, as well as bloggers who have a strong moral compass. Fake news are a real deal — if you really care about truth, consider the ethics code of journalists. Social networks are also very important, but on social media there’s no responsibility, not the same level of trust.
An now for your viewing entertainment here is a video staring Nadya released by Pussy Riot two weeks before the election of Donald Trump. It is tongue in cheek but almost to close to the bone given the treatment of women during the recent Supreme Court confirmation hearing and rather graphic so viewer beware
Yes, I mean the entire planet! Before we did the Pachamama introduction to DRAWDOWN last Saturday I did pretty much feel this way. After -- I am instead "motivated". The outcome of our global circumstance may seem as this cartoon implies, preordained especially from this perspective on Wiley Coyote, but in that room I met people who are very charged up and believe a better future is possible. I look forward to working with them together with an ever increasing number of wonderful, dedicated people that know what must be done.
Kareem's headline,"Don't Just Blame Donald Trump, Blame Reality TV Too" is a bit weak but his common sense take on the rejection of reason and intellectualism is very well grounded in social science. Don't count on this turning around any time soon in a world awash with a 24/7 news cycle filtered through a siloed social media filters that help us all emotionally react to the news, feel the self righteousness or the hate that propels our gut to choose a side on every issue.
Here's how: A recent meme circulating on Facebook is a photograph of an amputee soldier in a wheelchair saluting — accompanied by the outraged message that Facebook had banned the photo as "offensive." More than 1.25 million people had viewed the photo, and there were many angry comments about patriotism, fake news, liberals, etc.
None of it was true.
Ten seconds on the internet would have proved that, but so many people are imprisoned by their confirmation bias that they can be led around by the "heart" by everyone from politicians to Russian trolls. Research, even for 10 seconds, is for losers who need evidence before being outraged. The cellphone is the greatest single educational tool in the history of the world, yet many don't use it to get smart, only to justify calling others dumb.
I wish this were going to get better but what's in store for our world looks down right dystopian. Just drink you Gatorade and don't ask stupid questions.
Hour long video. Look at 10:10 where he explains the title -- "...most comprehensive plan ever proposed" but when he says no plan has ever been proposed so making the claim is easy he is hilarious and at the same time mind blowing.
Voters in Brazil head to the polls on Sunday in an election that could reshape the political landscape of South America. Polls show the current frontrunner is the far-right Jair Bolsonaro, a former army officer who has openly praised Brazil’s military dictatorship, which lasted from 1964 to 1985.
How did this happen? Are Brazilians just that stupid? The following puts this in historical perspective. Both Chomsky and Greenwald who met in Brazil both lay the blame squarely on the corporate/right wing control of the media there as here in the US propagandizing the public.
AMY GOODMAN: Last month, the world renowned dissident, linguist, Noam Chomsky met with Brazil’s imprisoned former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his visit coming shortly after Lula officially pulled out of the presidential race. Speaking outside the prison after a visit, Noam Chomsky condemned the right-wing media in Brazil.
NOAM CHOMSKY: — just had the great privilege of spending an hour with Lula. And one of the points that he emphasized was that during his entire tenure in office, there was just a constant flood of attacks from all the media. Constant. Thousands of attacks from every direction, which of course, confuses and undermines public opinion. So, the answer to your question is, something is needed to counter the concentrated power of right-wing media, which particularly in Latin America, just overwhelms everything.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that is Noam Chomsky. Glenn Greenwald, couple questions about that. How is the media allowed to cover Noam Chomsky visiting Lula in prison, and also the significance of what’s happened to Lula and then who the person, the handpicked successor to Lula is?
GLENN GREENWALD: So, I met with Noam Chomsky after that meeting in São Paulo, and we talked a lot about the dynamics brought up to this point. This brought us to this point. The dynamics that have brought us to this point. And one of the things that we focused most on during our discussion was the fact that the dynamic is so similar to what’s happening in the US, the UK, and in Western Europe where you see the spread of extremism and this rise of right-wing fanaticism. And the media outlets and the establishment factions that have laid the groundwork for its rise refuse to take any responsibility. And that’s definitely the case here in Brazil, where a very oligarchiacal media is in the hands of a small number of very rich families, and has sewn these seeds and has kind of created the climate in which Bolsonaro’s victory is possible. Even to this very minute, even though these journalists are, themselves, afraid of a Bolsonaro win and are not supporting him, they, nonetheless, continue to endorse this narrative, that is the biggest asset for Bolsonaro, which is the idea that PT, the Workers Party and Bolsonaro are just opposite sides of the same coin. You have left dictatorship or right wing dictatorship and both are equally bad. PT ran this country for 14 years, and whatever else you might want to say about whatever mistakes they made, you certainly had a very free and open press that constantly attacked it. They impeached one of their presidents and put the other one in prison.
RE: Bernie onTrump encouraging authoritarian leaders around the world. This is of course true but let us not allow the overarching, long standing US foreign policy of prefering dictators to democracy slip from our minds. Dictators in the third world are the only way for empires to maintain access to cheap comodities and labor, laxed environmental and human rights rules for global capital. This is not Donald Trumps invention as perverse as he is. https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/52747-focus-bernie-sanders-authoritarian-leaders-around-the-world-inspired-by-trump
Violence, crime, welfare, social services, borders, national security, employment and law -- That immigrants benefit us far more than they cost us has been proven over and over again. This is just one more example from a very recent study to add to the list.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly condemned US immigration policy, arguing that many immigrants pose a threat to the nation and drain US resources. But a study released Monday about health insurance challenges the president’s portrayal.
The study in the journal Health Affairs found that immigrants covered by private health insurance and their employers contributed nearly $25 billion more in premiums in 2014 than was spent on their care. Those in the country without legal status contributed nearly $8 billion toward the surplus.
In contrast, US-born enrollees spent nearly $25 billion more than they paid for in premiums.
As US policy makers tackle immigration reform, knowing whether immigrants are a burden on the nation’s health care system can inform the debate. Previous studies have indicated that immigrants contribute more to Medicare than they receive in benefits but have not examined whether the roughly 50 percent of immigrants with private coverage provide a similar subsidy or even drain health care resources. Using nationally representative data, we found that immigrants accounted for 12.6 percent of premiums paid to private insurers in 2014, but only 9.1 percent of insurer expenditures. Immigrants’ annual premiums exceeded their care expenditures by $1,123 per enrollee (for a total of $24.7 billion), which offsets a deficit of $163 per US-born enrollee. Their net subsidy persisted even after ten years of US residence. In 2008–14, the surplus premiums of immigrants totaled $174.4 billion. These findings suggest that policies curtailing immigration could reduce the numbers of “actuarially desirable” people with private insurance, thereby weakening the risk pool.
