Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 1329

Living the Revolution

Solidarity4All (S4A) co-founder Christos Giovanopoulos is presently touring the US in his effort to grow the international solidarity movement supporting Greek workers. S4A is a collective that facilitates the development of grassroots solidarity structures emerging in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by Greece’s deep austerity cuts. It grew out of the Greek Indignados movement that formed alongside the Spanish Indignados* movement in July 2011. Both would serve to inspire the international Occupy movement that first formed on Wall Street in September 2011.

As of January 2015, there were self-governing 360 solidarity structures, representing 30% of the Greek population. The list includes social pharmacies, social medical clinics, social kitchens, social grocery stores, time banks,* a social collective of mental professionals, olive oil producers who share olive oil and the “potato movement,” where farmers cut out supermarkets and middlemen by trading directly with consumers.

All initiatives are non-hierarchical and hold weekly assemblies where decisions are made. The role of S4A is to serve as a centralized network for information, tools, and skills sharing and to build an international solidarity movement to support Greek workers and to inspire similar grassroots self-governing structures in other countries.

Although most S4A members support the left-wing party Syriza, the two are totally separate organizations. S4A chiefly derives its power from its ability to provide humanitarian services can’t deliver due to the Greek financial crisis. Nevertheless Syriza directly supports S4A by requiring each of their MPs (members of parliament) to donate 10% of their salary.

An International Movement

Already hundreds of international trade unions, community, environmental and immigration groups have signed on to the Solidarity4All movement. Ironically most are in Germany, whose government has been the most staunch in forcing debt repayments and austerity cuts on the Greek people. At present Giovanopoulos is seeking to build S4A chapters in New York, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland and Baltimore.

In the following video, Giovanopoulos speaks to the importance of a strong grassroots movement to counteract the pressure the EU and IMF are putting on Syriza. This is especially urgent owing to the inability of the current Greek government to address the humanitarian crisis. Thanks to Solidarity4All, the immediate needs of workers continue to be addressed. If a Grexit does occur, this will also provide a framework for Greece to look after itself – instead of relying on foreign funders.

For more information, check out the English S4A website at Greece Solidarity

Individuals and groups can join S4A at Join us

*Los Indignados is a grassroots Spanish anti-austerity movement that first captured public attention in July 2011 through massive demonstrations in which they occupied public squares and spaces. An estimated 6.5– 8 million Spaniards have participated in these events.

**A time bank is a mutual credit system in which members earn credits for helping other members and spend them for other services.

***Syriza is a left wing political party that came to power in January 2015 based on a pledge to end the austerity cuts forced on Greece (as a condition of further bailout funds) by the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

****Grexit refers to the potential exit of Greece from the eurozone monetary union, owing to its inability to repay its public debt.

With Cover-ups UN Quietly Offers DNA Tests for ‘Peacekeeper Babies’ & Sexual Abuse Claims*

stuartbramhall:

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Pretty alarming that nearly half of the paternity claims are from minors who complain of being raped.

Originally posted on Hwaairfan's Blog:

With Cover-ups UN Quietly Offers DNA Tests for ‘Peacekeeper Babies’ & Sexual Abuse Claims*

Editor’s Note: Can you imagine a one world government with these sick b*stards in charge? Nothing says peace like rape…

As one of its efforts to address allegations of sexual misconduct by UN keepers worldwide, the organization, has quietly begun running DNA tests to resolve paternity claims by victims who are left raising ‘UN babies,’ according to AP.

Some of the UN’s 125,000 peacekeeping force spanning over 16 locations across the world, have engaged in sexual relations with local populations, or have even been accused of committing sexual crimes. Such acts have result in claims that a child was conceived from a member of the UN force, including non-military staff.

Of the dozen paternity claims received last year, four were associated with alleged sexual abuse of a minor, the Associated Press reports. When asked whom the…

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Bernie Sanders Introduces Robin Hood Tax

On May 19th presidential candidate Bernie Sanders joined with National Nurses United (NNU) and the US Students Association to announce his introduction of two Senate bills, the Robin Hood Tax and the College for All Act.

The Robin Hood Tax, a type of financial transaction tax, would enact a 0.5 percent tax on most stock transactions, and a lesser tax on bond and derivative trades. The Robin Hood Tax would raise about $300 billion per year. Sanders, NNU and the Students Association propose using these funds to provide free tuition at every public college and university in the United States and to slash interest rates on existing student loans.

The College for All Act would eliminate undergraduate tuition by requiring the federal government to cover 67% of college costs ($47 billion each year) and states to cover the remaining 33% ($23 billion). Sanders and NNU propose using the remaining funds to guarantee health coverage to all US residents by expanding Medicare. See http://www.pDoctors Group Hails Medicare For All Bill

As of 2014,  40 million Americans had student loan debt. According to USA Today, US student loan debt amounts to more than  $1.2 trillion. (See Student Loans are Forever)

More than forty countries, including Britain, Germany and China, already have a financial transaction tax on risky financial transactions.

Minnesota representative Keith Ellison (Democratic Farmer Labor Party) has introduced a similar Robin Hood Tax bill HR1464 in the House.

photo credit: Bernie Sanders considers his reply via photopin (license)

ZERO HEDGE: Our ruling and wealthy elite are suffering from the problem of all Ponzis – how to get out

stuartbramhall:

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Why we should all feel sorry for the 1% caught up in a runaway Ponzi scheme they can’t control.

Originally posted on RIELPOLITIK:

Source  – zerohedge.com

– “When in a hole, stop digging. But when in a bubble, keep blowing.  –  Not very ancient proverb”

 – I think our ruling and wealthy elite are worried that they are  stuck in their own ponzi scheme or bubble and are suffering from the general problem of all ponzis and bubbles – how to get out.

You see bubbles and Ponzi’s are fine as long as they keep going. As long as there are ever more suckers to recruit and as long as enough of those already in, remain confident and choose to stay in, there is no real reason a ponzi cannot go on and on.  A perfect example is Madoff’s scheme. The weakness of all bubbles, ponzi or otherwise, is that all it takes is a rumour that it might be time to get out,  that it might soon get difficult to get out, or…

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California’s Smart Meter Conspiracy

 

According to Josh Del Sol (Take Back Your power) writing for Activist Post, evidence has now been made public of illegal actions and collusion between former California Public Utilities Commission president Michael Peevey and utility PG&E, as criminal investigations continue.

As part of a federal and state investigation into what appears to be systemic corruption involving former senior executives at PG&E and the California Public Utilities Commission, 65,000 emails have been publicly released, revealing collusion and conspiracy.

Former commission president Michael Peevey and former PG&E Vice President Brian Cherry are wishing investigators would have been kept in the dark. The pair privately discussed problems with so-called “smart” meters, violating their own rules of procedure while admitting to health harm and overbilling problems – which several thousand Californians had been warning about since 2010.

Details continue to surface, as press and researchers continue to delve into the mountain of collusion.

It is perhaps justly ironic that we now see, made public, the private email correspondence of those who have teamed up to deploy technology which, according to a 2012 US Congressional Research report, facilitates unprecedented in-home surveillance.

Here are some highlights from their correspondence:

1) Peevey knew – since 2010 – that “smart” meters can cause physical harm.

And he believed PG&E should do something about it, albeit “quietly”. However, instead of regulating the utility to ensure public safety, he deferred his lawful duty to PG&E – the entity causing the harm. Here are some highlights from their correspondence: From a 2010 email:

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“Peevey wanted PG&E to keep it quiet,” writes Sandi Maurer, Director of the EMF Safety Network. “He didn’t want other customers, or the rest of the world to know there’s a problem with smart meters causing customers pain.”

Read more here

 

As Del Sol rightly points out, former Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey had a legal responsibility to protect California residents against the health risks of smart meters. Instead he colluded with PG&E in their determination to strong arm unsuspecting households (using local police in Naperville) into installing them.

 

Photo credit: Tom Rafferty (http://www.flickr.com/photos/traftery/4493063693/) [CC BY-SA 1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Canada Breaking News: Medical marijuana legal in all forms, Supreme Court rules

stuartbramhall:

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Exciting news from Canada.

Originally posted on Tales from the Conspiratum:

This is the cookie that cost Canadians millions of dollars in needed legal jurisprudence. It won!

Comment:

This is a great day for cannabis users and for Canada in general.  I am immensely grateful for the Canadian Supreme Court and their decision that demonstrates that we still have an independent court of last appeal in Canada.

Rona Ambrose, the current health minister, should resign in shame. Her reaction to the ruling reeks of ideology. We always knew she, and all those who think like her, are driven by ideologies that belong in churches, not the political arena.

Next battle: to remove the entire band of troglodytes that is currently running our federal government. Come on Canada, we can do better than vapid mellifluous leaders that base their politics on puritan moralities rather than science.

Here’s Ambrose’s response to the ruling: (No Rona, the only people allowed to make decisions on…

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The Smart Meter Scam

Take Back Your Power: Investigating the “Smart” Grid

Josh Del Sol (2013)

Film Review

This is a documentary about the Smart Grid and the Smart Meter scam and its effect on the US and Canadian public. The Obama administration has subsidized power companies to the tune of a billion dollars to roll out Smart Meters. The President claims they will reduce electricity demand by a whopping 4% by 2030 – despite the lack of any research regarding their safety and a World Health Organization finding that radio frequency (RF) radiation produced by Smart Meters is a class 2 potential carcinogen.

The film follows Del Sol’s extensive investigation into the amount of RF (aka microwave) radiation produced by Smart Meters; the tens of thousands of human guinea pigs made ill by them; how the Smart Meter roll out sacrifices the public interest for the benefit of power companies; the laws protecting consumers who opt out; and the growing grassroots movement seeking to ban Smart Meters altogether.

How Smart Meters Damage Health

Power companies are deceiving consumers with the claim that Smart Meters only produce radiation for sixty seconds a day. In actuality, they emit 14,000 – 90,000 millisecond radiation pulses everyday. Tens of thousands of Americans and Canadians have developed chronic conditions from Smart Meter exposure, including headaches, anxiety, insomnia, impaired memory, nausea and cancer. Scientists who expose red blood cells to Smart Meter radiation find they begin to rupture degrade after a few seconds. After six months of Smart Meter exposure, even people who appear healthy will manifest DNA damage, increases in inflammatory markers and changes in neurotransmitter and hormone levels. One study showed pregnant women sleeping in bedrooms in close proximity to Smart Meters were at increased risk of having an autistic child.

The Use of Smart Meters for Surveillance

A centralized Smart Grid is extremely vulnerable to terrorist attack, as opposed to multiple separate distributed energy systems. Even more concerning, is the rollout of “Smart” appliances that track their own power use and feed it back (via the Smart Meter) to the power company. A family’s energy use provides extensive information about their personal routine and habits. Power companies have been selling this data to other Wall Street corporations, as well as sharing it with the government for surveillance purposes.

Your Absolute Right to Opt Out

Despite the arrests a few years ago when Naperville (California) women tried to block Smart Meter installation on their homes, most city councils have been responsive to growing popular unrest over Smart Meters. A few have adopted moratoriums on new Smart Meters. Others have criminalized Smart Meter installation and fine power companies who install them without residents’ consent.

Del Sol maintains that people have an absolute right to opt out of Smart Meter installation in all US and Canadian jurisdictions. In addition, it’s considered extortion (which is illegal) for power companies to charge you for opting out. People who already have Smart Meters also have a right to replace them with safer analog meters, though they may need to pay for this themselves.

HYPED NUCLEAR THREAT–Alternative Media (Global Research) Earns Its Keep, Spreading Imperialist Disinformation

stuartbramhall:

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Excellent expose about the “alternative” media spinning a story to benefit NATO and US interests. After checking out all the pass through funding they receive from CIA-funded left gatekeeping foundations, I tend to regard “alternative” and corporate media sources as equally unreliable.

Originally posted on ThereAreNoSunglasses:

Is the Pentagon really preparing to nuke Russia? (Hint: no!)

The Internet is abuzz with articles claiming that the USA is preparing to nuke Russia.  Apparently, this all began with an article in the World Socialist Website entitled “US officials consider nuclear strikes against Russia“.  This article was then picked up by Global Research which “upgraded” the title to “Military Madness: US Officials Consider Nuclear Strikes against Russia“.  After that everybody else picked up the panic-inducing canard and ran with it.

This is all nonsense.

Here is what is really going on.

This all really began with the Associated Press posting a story about how the “US might deploy missiles in Europe to counter Russia“.  Notice that this original story speaks of “countering” not “striking”.  If you read the story, you will see that it is all really simple: some circles in the USA…

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The Psychosis Called Consumerism

Consumed: Inside the Belly of the Beast

Richard Heap (2011)

Film Review

Consumed is a British documentary about the psychological basis of what the filmmakers call the “weird mental illness called consumerism” and “a kind of collective psychosis in which people value acquiring objects more than their children, partners or friends.” The film maintains that there are unique evolutionary features in the human species that make us uniquely susceptible to pro-consumption messaging.

The documentary begins by emphasizing the grave implications of “unfettered” consumerism on humankind’s ability to survive on this planet – both from the perspective of ecosystem destruction and growing resource scarcity.

They go on to analyze the primary biological drives that underlie most human behavior: the drive to survive and the drive to reproduce. Most marketing is deliberately aimed towards the latter. People who lack confidence in their ability to attract a mate are bombarded with messaging that they can increase their prestige and status by acquiring specific products.

As people get older, they realize this thinking is delusional: a new Porsche doesn’t make someone fall in love with you as a person. People who hook up with you for your car eventually get bored and leave.

Young people, however, are incredibly susceptible to the pro-consumption delusion. This is why billions are spent on marketing to kids from the moment of birth. Getting pre-teens and teens to think about mating early is also incredibly effective in capturing more of their money (as well as their parents’).

Consumed also examines our psychological disconnection from nature and why this has allowed us to become so indifferent to the environmental devastation caused by our consumption patterns.

The behavioral scientists Heap interviews differ on whether the sustainability movement can save the human species. They all agree it’s pointless to look to politicians – the very epitome of pathological narcissism – for a solution. Several are pessimistic that Transition Towns and similar sustainability-related groups can save us without addressing the root cause of the crisis: our psychology.

Others are more optimistic. Pointing to the 200+ million years humans survived without a multitude of consumer goods, they argue that learning to understand our psychological make-up can help us be less vulnerable to constant pro-consumption messaging.

America’s Delusional Foreign Policy and the Old Polish Nazi Who Established It

stuartbramhall:

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Excellent expose on Obama’s long time mentor and foremost foreign policy adviser.

Originally posted on ThereAreNoSunglasses:

America Pivots to Brzezinski’s Delusion of Eurasian Conquest

“We are, and I don’t want to sound alarmist but I am alarmed, closer to the actual possibility of war with Russia than we have ever been since the Cuban missile crisis. That’s how bad it’s been.” (Stephen Cohen)

Paul Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Gould — Russia historian Stephen Cohen points to the neoconservative establishment for America’s latest outbreak of what can only be referred to as late-stage imperial dementia. Neocons Robert Kagan and wife Victoria Nuland have certainly done the heavy lifting to make Ukraine the staging ground for what appears to be a NATO blitzkrieg on Moscow. But whatever the determination of the neocon plot, they are only the barking dogs of master imperialist Zbigniew Brzezinski, whose grand design has been creeping over the globe since he stepped into the Oval office as National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

Brzezinski stands apart as the inspiration for the Ukraine crisis. His 1997 book The Grand Chessboard: American…

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