The Digger

An article from one of our favorite article writers AND posters. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to 2019, or Maybe Not. Don't uncork the champagne yet. If you liked 2018, you will probably love 2019. Our national leaders  continue  to squabble. The scene in Washington often looks like a school yard at recess time. In fact, they have even orchestrated an extended recess. We are now in an indefinite shut-down. Hillary called us "Deplorables". During his recent trip to Iraq, President Trump called us "Suckers". Trump was right this time. There is a lot of evidence to support his statement. The proof is all around us. Let's consider the evidence. 1... How does the United States rank when it comes to health care? We are at the bottom of the list of industrialized countries. 2... What about infant mortality? 3... What about longevity? 4... Hunger and homelessness are increasing. The Media and the Press continue to report tha...

What, if anything, is wrong with this picture? Excerpt: "I’m English, which means I have European blood and believe that my country ‘belongs’ in Europe. And I’m interested in our history. It is a matter of record that for millennia Europeans have continually fought each other, culminating in two devastating world wars. There’s a lot wrong about the European Union; most EU citizens, including myself, want to see some reforms. But this, for me, is the most precious thing about the EU - that since its foundation we have had peace. And of course, the EU is the largest trading bloc in the world. It makes no sense for a small country (admittedly far too self-important) to leave it. The very thought frightens me. And this increases my fear: that we will be at the mercy of the rise of populism, right-wing politics and corporate bullying. I’m left-wing; I want politics that put people first. But the Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, the man who put together a Party ma...

This is an essay by Paul Graham, a venture capitalist and essayist. While I'm sure not into his politics,  from what I know of them, it is an interesting essay about, well, what you can't say. Heresies. What people think but don't dare let anyone know. In political cyberspace, saying something considered heretical by some can get you into a world of trouble. Anyone care/dare to discuss or divulge anything on this subject?  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ January 2004 Have you ever seen an old photo of yourself and been embarrassed at the way you looked?  Did we actually dress like that?  We did. And we had no idea how silly we looked. It's the nature of fashion to be invisible, in the same way the movement of the earth is invisible to all of us riding on it. What scares me is that there are moral fashions too. They're just as arbitrary, and just as invisible to most people. But they're much more dangerous. Fashion is mistaken for good design; moral fashi...

O ver two days—Jan. 8 and 9—more than 160 million workers went on strike in India. This has been one of the largest general strikes in the world. The workers, exhausted by almost three decades of neoliberal policies and by the attack on their rights, came onto the streets to make their case for better livelihoods and workplace democracy. Blockades on train tracks and on national highways closed down sections of the country. In Bengaluru, information technology workers joined the strike. In Himachal Pradesh workers gathered to demand an end to precarious employment in government service. Workers from a broad range of sectors, from manufacturing to health care, joined the strike. There has been no response from the government. Please read my   report   on the strike.  My report is written from Kerala, where almost the entire workforce went on strike. This strike comes after the powerful  Women’s Wall   that was built on Jan. 1. For a fuller sense of what brou...

Where is the call for the New Peace Deal that would free up hundreds of billions from the overblown military budget to invest in green infrastructure? by Medea Benjamin, Alice Slater I n the spirit of a new year and a new Congress, 2019 may well be our best and last opportunity to steer our ship of state away from the twin planetary perils of environmental chaos and militarism, charting a course towards an earth-affirming 21st century.  The environmental crisis was laid bare by the sobering December report of the UN Climate panel: If the world fails to mobilize within the next 12 years on the level of a moon shot, and gear up to change our energy usage from toxic fossil, nuclear and industrial biomass fuels to the already known solutions for employing solar, wind, hydro, geothermal energy and efficiency, we will destroy all life on earth as we know it. The existential question is whether our elected officials, with the reins of power, are going to sit by helplessly as our pl...

"I’m sick and tired of watching good groups fail because of the wicked people who are still being sent among us. Moreso because of our failure to respond appropriately to these wicked people. I don’t blame them so much as I blame us for not doing anything about them. But we who are intelligent people should be wise enough to know that COINTELPRO still exists, both online and in real life. Yet very rarely do I hear about people being “run from among us” nowadays. So we know that they’re here, yet we continue to let them do their work? They’re not gathering info. They’re making us fall apart. And my survey says that they’re being highly successful. So if you can use this to improve your organization, please do so. If not, I’ve said my part. Here’s some qualities to look for, when you are wondering if someone is an agent provacateur: They bring confusion and chaos with them. Everytime they come around, it’s drama. They keep discussions and productivity at a stalemate. They’d ra...

This is an excellent update (well, five days old) on the yellow jacket protests, from a much appreciated author dumped by Counterpunch. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Paris, France, 9 January 2019 French Democracy Dead or Alive? Or perhaps one should say, buried or revived? Because for the mass of ordinary people, far from the political, financial, media centers of power in Paris, democracy is already moribund, and their movement is an effort to save it. Ever since Margaret Thatcher decreed that “there is no alternative”, Western economic policy is made by technocrats for the benefit of financial markets, claiming that such benefits will trickle down to the populace. The trickle has largely dried up, and people are tired of having their needs and wishes totally ignored by an elite who “know best”. President Emmanuel Macron’s New Year’s Eve address to the nation made it perfectly clear that after one unconvincing stab at throwing a few crumbs to the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Ves...