I am fascinated by this short poem by Piet Hein: CONSOLATION GROOK Losing one gloveis certainly painful,but nothingcompared to the painof losing one,throwing away the other,and findingthe first one again. Apparently the poem was written as part of the Danish resistance during WWII, encouraging people not to throw away their
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Writings of J. Todd Ring: Big Exodus from Big Tech
Time for the exodus to begin in earnest from the now confirmed to be fascist and deeply Orwellian Big Tech giants. At the least, we need to begin the migration and the shift, by supporting and using the alternative social media, search engines, email, browsers, etc., which do not data
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Averting Fascism
Fascism is rising – here is how to avert it. A short video talk, linked below, sparked these thoughts, which I will share. May they bless us with the courage, and the presence of mind, to avert the rising of fascism once again – which, make no mistake, is indeed
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Never Surrender
I pray the more pessimistic among us, who have warned us, such as Orwell and Huxley and many others, are wrong. We must, in any event, do everything in our power to avert the darkly dystopian future that is now rapidly being created for us, and change course. Freedom and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Lance Taylor summarizes his new book documenting how and why U.S. inequality has ballooned over the past few decades. And Heather Scoffield writes about Tiff Macklem’s attention to inequality and the plight of marginalized people – as well as how it represents a
Continue readingwmtc: missing nyc: spontaneous political street art in bloom
This story in The New York Times made me miss New York City more than anything has in a very long time. All over the city, artists have created murals protest racism and police abuse. This critic surveys the murals, and compares them to the Neolithic cave art in the
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Who Are The CIA?
Who are the CIA? This will tell you everything you need to know. Here’s where things really started to go wrong: 1947, the National Security Act, which created the National Security Council and the CIA, giving the CIA sweeping, ultra-secretive, unconstitutional powers, and near limitless budget through the legalized, covert
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Global Overview 2020 – A Brief Synopsis
There are a lot of thoughtful, creative minds working on the problems we face in modern 21st century society – and we have myriads of good examples, prototypes, and functioning, proven models to work with. Mondragon and the co-op movement, crowd funding, alternative currencies, renewable energy, organic food and agriculture,
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Systems Collapse Ahead? It Is Increasingly Probable
Synopsis: First rule: Question everything. Think for yourself. Satyagraha: Gandhi’s word for truth-force, meaning also: non-violent civil disobedience, as inspired by Thoreau’s short essay, which inspired Tolstoy, Gandhi, and later MLK – this is exactly what we need. Now, to be clear: it is not only truth which we need, but
Continue readingwmtc: 11 (more) things on my mind about the protests in the u.s.
In April, I wrote a post called “11 things on my mind about the anti-police-violence and anti-racism protests“. For reasons unknown to me, it’s one of the most widely-read posts I’ve written in a long time. So here’s an updated list. 1. When governments respond to protests with violence and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Patrick Brethour, Caroline Alphonso and Dave McGinn write about the no-win situation facing parents being pushed back to work by governments who haven’t bothered to match that demand with any effort to ensure the availability of child care. And Denise Ryan discusses
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Whose Side Are You On?
What side am I on? I’m with the people. By that, I mean all of humanity, and not just one select group, or my own narrow interests. I’m with humanity and the Earth. Where do you stand? Do you stand? Or are you a mouse? There are complex issues to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Joseph Stiglitz highlights how investing in the green economy provides a viable economic and ecological path forward in recovering from the coronavirus crisis. – Mariana Mazzucato discusses the importance of socializing successes to make sure that new industries don’t exacerbate inequalities in
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Eriel Tchekwie Deranger and El Jones on #CancelCanadaDay
Migrants Rights Network hosted an online teach-in for “so called Canada Day” with two revolutionaries: Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, a Dënesųłiné (ts’ékui) member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, and Executive Director of Indigenous Climate Action, from Treaty 8 land, and El Jones, a spoken word poet, educator, journalist, co-founder of the
Continue readingwmtc: essential reading on anti-racism: "we can’t tinker around the edges. we need to dismantle systems."
During the current focus on systemic racism, this is likely the best essay I’ve read. It’s written in a US context, but it applies to Canada, both for Indigenous people and black Canadians. I hope you’ll read it and share it. * * * * * What the Courage to
Continue readingwmtc: 11 things on my mind about the anti-police-violence and anti-racism protests
1. Most violence is not being committed by protesters. What percentage of protesters are violent? Filter for police provocateurs, filter for white nationalists, filter for random thieves hiding under cover of mayhem. All of those exist at mass protests and have been proven to exist countless times. What percentage of
Continue readingwmtc: kareem abdul-jabbar: you start to wonder if it should be all black people who wear body cams, not the cops
One of the best things I’ve read about the protests rocking in the US and elsewhere is an op-ed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in the Los Angeles Times. In case you don’t know him, Abdul-Jabbar is a basketball legend. His NBA stats are off the charts (Wikipedia). He’s also a writer and
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Musings On History: Goths, the Fall of Rome, and the Future of Humanity
I love a good mystery. Who were the Goths? Where did they come from? How did they manage to sack Rome and defeat the most powerful empire the world had ever seen? What is their true cultural, mythological, spiritual, philosophical and ideological history? (Genetic history means little, since we
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Yves Engler discusses how Canadian corporations have shown a consistent pattern of pursuing profit with no consideration of the public good. – Marco Chown Oved, Kenyon Wallace and Brendan Kennedy analyze how corporate care homes have paid out massive executive compensation and
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Nostalgia For Simpler Times
I generally am not one for nostalgia, having a strong preference for living in the present, and looking to the future. Further, I rarely write in conversational colloquialisms. But I must say this, as a short note: Holy shit do I miss the ’70’s! Things were fucked up and crazy
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