BREAKING NEWS RIGHT NOW
UNPRECEDENTED & PROVOCATIVE U.S. LEVANTINE MILITARY PRESENCE
As the U.S.’s most recent gargantuan annual National Defense Authorization Act is garnering greater attention to its plus-or-minus fifty-five percent of U.S. discretionary spending, a briefing from Defend Democracy Press about an easy-to-overlook provision of the regular exercise is military surfeit, a newly authorized base in the nation of Israel, the purpose of which includes enhancing the capacity to oppose Russia in the region, a perfect Christmas gift for the apocalyptically suicidal, though not necessarily fondly appreciated news by scrappy scribes or stalwart citizens who have a bent toward such mundane matters as justice and survival, altogether quite interesting in light of another NDAA provision , the prohibition of any cooperation with Russia whatsoever in the martial realm.
12.09 This Day in History
Today is International Anti-Corruption Day, and in Sweden, a lovely interlude unfolds for anyone named Anna with the celebration of Anna Day, which also serves as the beginning of the production of special holiday culinary delights; in the late, and collapsing, Roman imperial experience, fifteen hundred thirty-six years ago, the invasive leader Odoacer, Italy’s erstwhile first King, led an invasion of Dalmatia in seeking to consolidate his rule; a leader of Byzantine troops one thousand four hundred and eighty years back entered Rome at the head of an unopposed army, since the Gothic fighters had already fled the city; in a conflict that portended Khazar domination of much of Southwest Asia for a time, one hundred ninety-four years henceforth, in 730, a battle in Northern Persia at Ardabil led to the decimation of Muslim Umayyad troops and the launching of a Khazar campaign in Muslim lands; MORE HERE
A Thought for the Day
Despite a context in which those at the top of the social pyramid would rather have their eyes stabbed with dull needles than give even a smidgeon of credence to critical, skeptical, or in other words real and honest delineation of the dire and dreadful developments that their imprimatur has promoted, coming to terms with the absolute necessity to encourage communication will remain a primary requisite in establishing any sort of decent likelihood of humanity’s thriving, or even surviving, a conclusion that seems all but inescapable inasmuch as all the favorable resolutions to the extreme exigencies of the present pass depend absolutely on equal and honest discussion about dilemmas that can only resolve themselves in one catastrophic, ecocidal way or another unless people bring to bear their collective insights and mutual willingness to act, eventualities of commonality that are simply inconceivable outside of free and open-minded, open-hearted, discourse.
― John Milton, Areopagitica
inculcation OR socialization brainwashing OR schooling OR propagandizing OR manipulating OR machinations agenda OR purpose OR scheme impact OR result OR upshot contradiction OR contradictory OR dialectic OR paradox resistance OR counternarrative OR rejection analysis OR explication OR research history OR origins OR evolution marxist OR radical = 328,000 Linkages.
TODAY’S HEART, SOUL, & AWARENESS VIDEO
Nearly Naked Links
From Thursday’s and Friday’s Files
A Opium Eater’s Lit Crit Shit – http://supervert.com/elibrary/thomas_de_quincey/the_literature_of_knowledge_and_the_literature_of_power
Cashless Europe? – http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-european-union-initiates-cashless-society-project/5561048
OPPS/SUBS/CONTESTS
Binge Watching Cure – We are looking for stories within 15 percent of the following word counts, and within 20 percent for stories 10,000 words and longer. If a number has been crossed out, that story length has been filled.
JOBS
Total Beauty is looking for Temporary Freelance Assistants- LA
Candidates must have a deep knowledge of beauty products. You know the difference between an essence and a serum, a dry shampoo and a dry conditioner and a physical and chemical exfoliator…
Company: Total Beauty
Payment: $15/hour
Skills: Other
Source: ed2010
A ‘Liberal’ View of Ubiquitous Fakery
A cogent Salon look by an astute observer as to the fate of a country where little, whether in the form of media, politics, society, or democracy, is even remotely real beyond the strictures of propaganda, illusions, and fetishes: “Arguments that the so-called left should pretty much ignore the deplorables who keep on voting against their own interests, or should abandon “identity politics” in quest of some middle-road economic populism that blends Bill Clinton and FDR, are both missing the point. In a nation where a candidate who won the popular vote by roughly 2.5 million did not win the election, we are no longer dealing with reality, at least as it used to exist.”
How to Compose Subtle Critiques
A Farnam Street blog posting that provides useful techniques for writers and debaters who seek to, in the most effective and diplomatic way possible, debunk and criticise an opponent’s argument: “Just how charitable are you supposed to be when criticizing the views of an opponent? If there are obvious contradictions in the opponent’s case, then you should point them out, forcefully. If there are somewhat hidden contradictions, you should carefully expose them to view – and then dump on them. But the search for hidden contradictions often crosses the line into nitpicking, sea-lawyering and outright parody. The thrill of the chase and the conviction that your opponent has to be harbouring a confusion somewhere encourages uncharitable interpretation, which gives you an easy target to attack.”
Attacking Fake News Fraud-Mongers
A Truth Dig contextualization of the recent journalistic crisis by many reputable news sources that were either negatively affected by the hogwash or simply choose to comment: “As many of our readers know, Truthdig, along with Truthout, CounterPunch, Naked Capitalism and WikiLeaks, among 200 alternative news websites from all over the political spectrum, were named as Russian propagandists on a blacklist compiled by a shadowy site called PropOrNot that was used as a source for a chilling piece by Washington Post reporter Craig Timberg on Nov. 24. The list, which some in the media have branded “McCarthyite,” has been widely criticized, particularly because Timberg and the Post did not disclose sufficient identifying details about the accusing group, which has not released its members’ names. And neither Timberg nor Post editors have provided any insight on their reasoning in publishing PropOrNot’s findings. For its part, PropOrNot continues to offer erratic, at times childish, responses to the backlash.”
Keeping One’s Eyes Wide About Uber
An Il Manifesto look at a recent decision that will affect not just a most powerful ‘sharing economy’ player but all those who provide and partake of their services as well: “The judgment won’t come until at least March. If the court decides Uber is a transportation service, the multinational corporation, which is worth more than $60 billion, will have to comply with labor and safety laws and comply with the laws that regulate the activities of taxi companies and cooperatives. If, however, the court defines Uber as an “information technology company” or a digital platform that simply matches passenger demand with the supply of self-employed drivers, then the company can continue its “UberPop” service, which allows any driver to go into business as an unlicensed taxi.”
A Truth Dig post that contextualizes the murder attempt of a beloved reggae icon, which occurred right around the time the CIA became interested in activities in Jamaica during ongoing destabilization and imperialistic ventures in the area: “The events surrounding the “Smile Jamaica” concert make it one of the 20th century’s key moments in developing countries of the Third World. There are indications that the United States was running a destabilization program against the democratic socialist administration of Michael Manley—Manley writes about it and former CIA case officers Philip Agee and John Stockwell have said explicitly that such a program existed. Agee even named the CIA case officers stationed in the U.S. Embassy in Kingston. (My novel “Stir It Up” comprehensively summarizes in narrative form the evidence for the destabilization program, including typical CIA methods described by Agee.)”