This was my view on the proposed European Union from the beginning: I am in favour of open borders, free and fair trade, cultural exchange and international cooperation; however, I am also strongly in favour of democracy, and the proposed European Union would not likely be compatible with democracy.
Continue readingTag: freedom
Writings 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 readingThings Are Good: Defund the Police, Fund These Roles Instead
Thankfully, calls to defund the police are being heard throughout North America where police have military equipment. Despite decades of “austerity” which witnessed governments defunding social services and programs that helped the disenfranchised we’re finally seeing the police budgets on the chopping block. Why is this good? Well, the police
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Covid-19 In Perspective: An Open Letter
The following letter I wrote and sent out in response to a virtual town hall meeting this evening with our local MP and a local environmental group. I am sharing it here because I think it summarizes a contextualization of covid-19 and other major issues which is critically and urgently
Continue readingThings Are Good: Protests Work: Minneapolis Police Defunding Begins and More
Democracy happens in the streets. Every single person who has supported the Black Lives Matter movement, or has shown support for social justice in a direct way, has helped make change happen in America. The conversation about racist police and blatant police brutality is getting more attention now than ever
Continue readingThings Are Good: It’s Time to Defund the Police
For extra visual impact. pic.twitter.com/t4CMLHDzbN — Péter — BLM • austerity never works (@96fps) May 31, 2020 Militarization of police forces isn’t just an American problem, it’s a global problem, and it needs to stop. One of the many reasons police are buying tanks and high tech weaponry is because
Continue readingThings Are Good: Protesting Works
Democracy is messy and in order for it to function many voices need to be heard, when some groups can’t be heard they peacefully take to the streets. Despite a history of protesting for a good cause resulting in beneficial societal change there are people who doubt the efficacy of
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Lessons In Liberty, Democracy, and Eternal Vigilance
Here are some important lessons in liberty, democracy and civil rights: From the eloquence of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Too bad our politicians, pundits and intellectuals typically lack such uncommon common sense) On the 75th anniversary of VE Day, the day we defeated fascism in Europe, 75 years ago, we should
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: “Unprecedented” – Reality vs Delusion
Every year a tragic event happens. 300,000 to 500,000 people die globally of the flu. Most are very old, very ill, or immune compromised. In 2020 fewer people have died of a novel coronavirus (a new form within the cold and flu family of viruses) than from previous years typical
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Real Resistance: Lessons From History
It does not require a majority to defeat tyranny and defend liberty, but only a small and dedicated minority – as we saw in the American and French Revolutions, and in the defeat of the first wave of fascism, which arose in the 1930’s (and was greatly loved and
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Glenn Gould On Orwell
Yo, listen up, blokes! (He says, in order to mash and mangle and generally have fun with various voices, inflections, accents and colloquilisms, as Gould was fond of doing himself, rather playfully, but with very serious thought and musings injected into his playfulness – very much like the dark humour
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Crisis Point: Leadership Needed From…Anywhere, Now
Imagine if real leadership from the grassroots comes now from the moderate, democratic/republican right, and not the centre or the left. Considering that the centre and left, almost without exception, have their heads up their asses, this mortifying development is entirely possible. Let us hope that basic sanity, in
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Cognitive Dissonance, Mass Insanity & Covid Hysteria
Check the numbers. The disease is not ravaging us, is not unprecedented, but has killed 1/3rd the death toll of a typical year of the common flu. DOES ANYBODY FACT-CHECK ANYMORE?! If 300,000 to 700,000 deaths per year from the common annual flu, which is typical, and happens every year,
Continue readingThings Are Good: Fashionable Solutions to Thwart Invasive Surveillance
What you wear can impinge the ability of people to look at you. That’s been true for centuries, but today your fashion choices can actually make it harder for governments or private entities to track you throughout the day. The mass surveillance in our current society should concern you as
Continue readingThings Are Good: How We can Track COVID-19 and NOT Invade Your Privacy
To figure out the spread of COIV-19, or other diseases, the technique of contact tracing gets used by researchers to decipher who is likely to have been exposed. When too many people are infected then contact tracing takes too much labour and subsequently becomes less useful, which has led tech
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Social Psychology & Meditation On Death
Montaigne said of fear, “There is no emotion which more readily ravishes our judgement.” That would seem to be the best explanation of our current mass social psychology: the great majority, including most of the otherwise thoughtful, intelligent, and emminently sane, are temporarily incapable of rational thought, due to panic
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Conspiracy Theories vs The Known Facts: Fascism, Oligarchy, & Elite Rule – vs – Freedom, Democracy & Rule By The People
As Piers Robinson has said, it’s gotten to the point where questioning power (powerful states, individuals, corporations, institutions or groups) in any way gets you labelled a conspiracy theory. In other words, we’re not supposed to question the powerful. The powerful can do no wrong, and are therefore above any
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Decline, Decay, Death and Rebirth of Democracy and Freedom
The two greatest threats to democracy and freedom in the West, or to peace, justice, equality, or even a viable future for humanity, are without question, the currently reigning de facto world government of neofeudal corporate oligarchy, also known as neoliberalism, and the fascist order which it is rapidly
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Myth Of Progress – Pricking The Bubble
Again and again, I am reminded of the need for humility, as well as dignity and confidence. I am reminded not only by my own faults and errors, which are numerous enough, but also by many of the people I respect the most. Again, and again, I read an exceptionally
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Six Founding Principles Of Good Government
Or, Public Policy 101: Tax “Bads”, Not Goods Public policy, or government policy, should reflect certain basic principles. Let’s set out a few. Not everyone will agree, but polls repeatedly show the great majority, from the moderate grassroots right, across to the left, in general agree, and in general strongly
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