A Thought for the Day
Despite how impossible the prospect looks upon even the most cursory examination, Homo Sapiens survival quite likely depends on moving from a general situation in which crazes and fetishes and the utter bullshit of divide-and-conquer characterize popular awaresness to a developing dynamic in which grassroots thinking and engagement lead to a negotiated and empowering Solidarity-Forever consciousness among workers, the mass of humanity, a critical component of any capacity for organization and action from below, capabilities in turn that very plausibly, and some would say clearly, represent humankind’s only chance to finesse the imperial profiteering of plutocracy that inevitably results in conflicts that cannot help but eventually lead again to a general World War that would almost certainly spell the end, the complete annihilation, of the human project.
This painting depicts the mythical character of Danae, welcoming Zeus into her bed, and who later bore his son, Perseus. Rembrandt originally used his first wife, Saskia, as the model in the painting, but later replaced her face with the face of his mistress Geertje Dircx. In 1985, a man threw acid on the painting as it hung on display at the Hermitage Museum. He also cut the canvas twice with a knife. The most badly damaged parts of the painting were to the face and hair of Danae, her right arm, and her legs. The entire middle section of the painting was also dripping with a conglomeration of paint spots. Restoration of the painting began the same day, and was finished twelve years later. Then man who threw the acid was later declared insane.
Today is Global Wind Day, for those who favor a sustainable and eco-friendly path toward possible reductions in climate-change’s impacts, while Costa Rica celebrates Arbor Day & Italy marks this date as Engineers Day; in Assyria, present day Syria, two thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine years ago, priests and other close observers of ‘the heavens’ took careful note of a solar eclipse and thereby permitted confirmations of various conjunctions in Mesopotamian history; eight hundred and two years ahead of this moment, the various noble elites of England induced King John to sign the Magna Carta, putatively guaranteeing them their rights; MORE HERE
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Nearly Naked Links
From Wednesday’s Files
Puerto Rico – http://www.mintpressnews.com/w
Qatar – https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideas
Destabilization and Regime Change – http://mailchi.mp/globalresear
Interesting People Places Things of Note
Current Revolutionary Marxian Possibilities
An interesting Truth Out thought piece about future possibilities in the crumbling wake of this one: “As such structures progressively emerge over the next 50 and 100 years, a new kind of politics will, necessarily, evolve on their basis. The gradual, global “social revolution” will not, and cannot, be politically willed and imposed after a seizure of state power, as Lenin attempted and Friedrich Engels predicted. (“The proletariat seizes state power, and then transforms the means of production into state property.” What you have in this case is just state capitalism.) Rather, the long-drawn-out political revolutions will occur step-by-step as society, in particular the economy, gradually and organically evolves new, more democratic institutions, precisely to the degree that the old economy descends into crisis.”
A Poynter look at some actually inspiring commencement journalism speeches: “As a recent college graduate, I can attest that it’s been a busy — albeit exciting — couple of months. And some journalists and media executives have been getting in on the action.
Several prominent national journalists, editors and media executives, including Marty Baron of The Washington Post and Nikole Hannah-Jones of New York magazine, have addressed the newest batch of college graduates over the past few weeks. While the speeches vary in tone and subject, they all share a reverence for facts and responsible storytelling.”
General Media & ‘Intellectual Property’ Issues
A MEdium glimpse at the revolutionary role of the internet in media economy and consumption: “This essay contains my thoughts, analysis, and supporting links about how Internet has been evolving over the past 20 years. These ideas have been driving me over the past decade to develop a set of improved technologies, practices and standards.
Let’s come together and fulfill the dream that was at the core of Internet: to unleashing the potential of networked humanity.”
Recent Events
A Blacklisted News bit about the infamous plutocrats meeting: “A secretive group of 131 elite power brokers met last weekend at the heavily guarded Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia for the highly secretive annual Bilderberg meeting.
Established in 1954 by Polish political advisor Józef Retinger – founder of the European Movement which gave birth to the EU, the informal meeting of over 130 of the world’s top bankers, politicians, spymasters, and titans of industry has been referred to as the world’s largest lobbying event. (guest list)”
General Past & Present Issues
A useful Aeon posting that reminds people of what’s truly important about the fascist past: “To blame Nazism on otherworldly forces is to exonerate the prosaic causes that brought Hitler to power in the first place. Yet such beliefs persist because they face scarce competition; solid scholarship on the relations between the Nazi regime and occult currents is rare. Not entirely absent, however: historians have often shied away from the apparently disreputable subject of occultism, but there are several incisive assessments of its status in Nazi Germany. Though usually overshadowed by sensationalist treatments, serious works on the topic continue to appear. There is much to debate about the arguments raised in these books, but they do offer a critical examination of a neglected part of history.”