Dear Libertarians: The Radical Violent Revolutionaries Are Winning

Originally Posted at PopularResistance.org



This may be a shock to those who have heard me say, in some of me less than kindler, gentler moments, that Libertarians are Ayn Randian Regressives who more often that not parrot faux liberty talking points literally spoon fed them by some Koch Brothers inspired think tank, talking points that in fact serve as a pillar that upholds the empire of the ruling elite even as they espouse to tear it down. The truth is, however this view ignores the fact that on the surface, we agree on many issues- Libertarians and I.

While the two party duopoly spins a narrative that wants us to believe that we are on opposite sides of a linear spectrum, outliers, freaks, a fringe minority, the fact is that those in all 3 branches of government represent a ruling class whose worldview and means of pursuing it are in fact the minority view, the radical, fringe view. The radical violent revolutionaries are already in power. I’m not talking about Obama, or any other elected official; I’m speaking about the global corporate elite. The same force that is at work here in the US green lighting the pornographic expenditures on weapons and devices for war that make up the military industrial complex while claiming there is no money for education, health care or programs that would benefit the social good is also at work all over the world, notably right now in Brazil, where it is somehow justified to brutally displace entire poor communities in order to build multi billion dollar, FIFA quality soccer stadiums, and to pay for the armed brutal suppression of protestors outraged that in a country where 20% of people who live below the poverty line watch in horror as money is poured into the construction of a brand new soccer stadium in the Amazon that will only play host to 4 games and likely never be used again.

It is the global neoliberal agenda at work here in the US, that is responsible for the NDAA, the spying of the NSA, the threats to net neutrally, the list goes on and on. How to get free from the reign of violent radical revolutionaries who now rule our lives? My guest today, Adam Kokesh, has written a book that attempts to answer that question. Adam Kokesh did a tour in Fallujah, Iraq with the Marines in 2004 and came home to become an anti-war activist. He ran for Congress as a Republican, had a radio show, a TV show, and has gone to jail for his civil disobedience. He is the host of the ADAM VS THE MAN YouTube channel and podcast, and just released his first book, FREEDOM!

How The Supreme Court Made the U.S. Government Illegitimate

Originally Posted at PopularResistance.org



(Note: this is an episode clip. The full show will air on Monday, June 9)

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in McCutcheon V. FEC, the court struck down a limit on how much cash an individual could give to all federal candidates during an election cycle.

In the 5-4 decision, the majority of justices on the Roberts court ruled that individuals could buy elections. Or, in the words of Chief Justice Roberts,  “government regulation may not target the general gratitude a candidate may feel toward those who support him or his allies, or the political access such support may afford.”

In the dissenting opinion, Justice Stephen Bryer, did not hold back in voicing the disgust felt by an overwhelming majority of Americans (if not by a majority of Supreme Court Justices) in writing that the majority’s “legal analysis is faulty: It misconstrues the nature of the competing constitutional interests at stake. It understates the importance of protecting the political integrity of our governmental institutions. It creates a loophole that will allow a single individual to contribute millions of dollars to a political party or to a candidate’s campaign.”

Furthermore, the dissenting opinion offered up this gem:

“Taken together with Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission today’s decision eviscerates our Nation’s campaign finance laws leaving a remnantincapable of dealing with the problems of Democratic legitimacy that those laws were intended to resolve.”  (Emphasis mine)

If we don’t have laws that empower us to deal with the problems of Democratic legitimacy, is our government legitimate?

That question, among others, in one I put to my guests on this week’s Acronym TV.

Christina Tobin is the founder and chair of Free & Equal. She has a long history of supporting ballot access, having gathered and defended over 1 million signatures for the Green Party, Constitution Party, Republican Party, Democratic Party, Libertarian Party, Socialist Equality Party and independents. Free & Equal Elections Foundation is a non-partisan grassroots organization, whose mission is to shift the power back to the individual voter through education. Their motto, “More Voices, More Choices.”

Daniel Lee is a lifelong activist. He serves on the national leadership team for the group Move to Amend, which is a coalition of hundreds of organizations and hundreds of thousands of individuals committed to social and economic justice, ending corporate rule, and building a vibrant democracy; Move To Amend is calling for an amendment to the US Constitution to unequivocally state that inalienable rights belong to human beings only, and that money is not a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment and can be regulated in political campaigns.

Lee Camp Interview: “Redacted Tonight Is The Daily Show With Sharper Teeth”

Originally posted at PopularResistance.org



Lee Camp sits down for an interview with Dennis Trainor, Jr. to discuss his new 30-munite weekly comedy show on RT, Redacted Tonight.

“In my opinion, (Redacted Tonight) is The Daily Show with sharper teeth,” says Camp. “The Daily Show is incredibly funny, and I don’t deny that, and I’m a huge fan of The Daily Show, but,” Camp notes, “as Chris Hedges has said, ‘Colbert and Stewart are allowed to go after the foibles of out leaders but they can’t go after the deeper concerns. (Such as) the deeper idea that the two main political parties are completely bought by these corporations and aren’t speaking for the people.”

Lee also talks about his new stand up video special, We Are Nothing, the Liz Wahl, Abby Martin kerfuffle, and what it is like to have Vladimir Putin have editorial control over a comedy show. Ok, the thing about Putin is a joke, but Trainor forces the issue not once, but twice.
Redacted Tonight with Lee Camp airs on the RT network every Friday night at 8PM & 11:30PM EST and is published inline at RT.com.

About Reacted Tonight with Lee Camp |
With reality now seeming like a Shakespearean comedy, perhaps only comedy can truly bring truth to the people. DC-born comedian Lee Camp and a talented cast do just that with RT America’s first comedy show - Redacted Tonight with Lee Camp. This is not your grandparents’ satire program. Every week Redacted Tonight will provide comedy news with a punch. This weekly satire show tackles all the real news stories the mainstream media failed to mention and provides new angles on the ones they do.

In the premiere episode of the show (watch here) “Lee Camp takes a swipe at Monsanto, a company that makes him sick, and John F. O'Donnell gets molested by the tentacles of the billionaire Kochtopus. Obama ends the War in Afghanistan with something other than peace, while Chilean magician, Papas Fritas, makes $500 million in student debt disappear. Sam Sacks examines NSA reform - and by "reform," we mean ''business as usual." A second Deutsche Bank video against boasting bankers is mysteriously leaked, and speaking of leaks - radiation is leaking in New Mexico. Tennessee brings back a shocking punishment, and more!”

You can like Redacted Tonight on facebook and follow on twitter.

About Acronym TV with Dennis Trainor, Jr. |

Dennis Trainor, Jr. hosts Acronym TV, a weekly series of dialogue, conversation and debate with the goal of helping viewers sort through these transformative times through the insight of leading activists, artists, journalists, philosophers, scholars, and thinkers. Acronym TV is part of The Young Turks Network, the largest online news source in the world.

Acronym TV, what do you stand for?

Acronym TV also airs on Free Speech TV. FSTV is currently available in 37 million homes nationwide, airing on DISH Network (9415), DIRECTV (348), and Burlington Telecom (122) and streams all programs live at www.freespeech.org

Coming Out of The Abortion Closet

Originally Posted at PopularResistance.org


Kelly Carlin, in this clip from the full Acronym TV episode (The Catholic War On Women, watch the full episode here) decides to come out of the abortion closet:

“I’m outing myself here, I’m outing myself in my (forthcoming) book.  I had two abortions when I was a teenager. I was a reckless crazy girl… I was really privileged (and) I was lucky. I had parents who had money. I had access to access to a clinic, it was private and it was the way it has been done for rich people forever.”

Carlin describes the personal guilt and shame she has surrounding that period in her life. When asked if the guilt and shame is related to related to the abortions or the wild behavior that lead to them, Carlin was emphatic. “Absolutely the wild behavior that lead to it… it was general ‘out of control’ human being shame…. One thing I always think about that makes me feel better about this is that women, since the beginning of time, have been aiding other women and helping them deal with unwanted pregnancies.”

Katie Klabusich, a female reproductive rights advocate and clinic escort who also shares her abortion story in this segment said: “There are instructions in Deuteronomy * on how to induce an abortion.”

Episode breakdown |
In the United Sates, one out of every three women has had an abortion. If you are a women living in Texas, and a growing number of states, access to this basis, simple and safe procedure has been severely restricted with the passage of Hundreds of new laws in the last several years that strip a women's right to privacy, limit access to abortion and shame women into thinking that their choice about what to do with their bodies is wrong.

It’s been over 40 years since the Supreme Court decided, in Roe v. Wade, that women had a constitutional right to abortion. The legal argument was based around the concept that women had a right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14^th Amendment, and that right extended to their right to have an abortion. Perhaps no time in the 40 years since Roe v Wade have female reproductive rights been so under attack. From Texas to Alabama to Congressmen saying that women can’t get pregnant when raped because their bodies have a way of shutting that down, men, usually white conservative men with ties to patriarchal religious institutions are working their balls off trying to control women; specifically a woman access to birth control and abortion

*For more on a Christian viewpoint that the Bible is pro-choice, I recommend reading Nynia Chance, Biblical Abortion: A Christian’s View, who after detailing numerous bible passages that deal with abortion, unwanted pregnancy, and crazy jealous men, concludes:
“My conclusion as a Christian is that the Bible is not anti-abortion. Rather, there is a non-Biblically-based movement that pretends to use the Bible as its justification for attacking women who do not carry a pregnancy to term (even if it was an unintended loss).”

About the Guests |
Kelly Carlin hosts a weekly podcast entitled Waking from the American Dream and her recent one woman show, A Carlin Home Companion, sold out around the country while generating rave reviews. She holds a master’s degree in Jungian Depth Psychology, but, according to her bio, her desire to be on a stage and yell the word “fuck” kept gnawing at her, and so she decided to follow the call of the stage once again. You can find out more at TheKellyCarlinSite.com

Katie Klabusich contributes regularly to a number of radio programs, podcasts and TV/internet video broadcasts. She is an award-winning social media director, fundraiser and community-builder as well as the Activism Director/Segment Writer at The Best of the Left Podcast. She is also a dedicated activist who helps establish clinic defense escort programs, providing logistical and moral support to reproductive access groups. Her website is KatieSpeak.com.

ABOUT ACRONYM TV with Dennis Trainor, Jr. 
Dennis Trainor, Jr. hosts Acronym TV, a weekly series of dialogue, conversation and debate with the goal of helping viewers sort through these transformative times through the insight of leading activists, artists, journalists, philosophers, scholars, and thinkers.

Acronym TV is available at AcronymTV.com and on Free Speech TV. 

Dennis Trainor, Jr. is a writer, host and producer. His documentary on the Occupy movement, American Autumn: an Occudoc, garnered critical praise from The New York Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and more.  He also wrote and directed Legalize Democracy, a documentary short about the Movement To Amend the Constitution.

Should Women Apologize for Abortion?

Originally posted at PopularResistance.org



Kelly Carlin and Katie Klabusich on Acronym TV discuss the war on women.

It’s been over 40 years since the Supreme Court decided, in Roe v Wade, that women have a constitutional right to abortion. The legal argument was based around the concept that women had a right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14^th Amendment, and that right extended to their right to have an abortion. Perhaps no time in the 40 years since Roe v Wade have female reproductive rights been so under attack. From Texas to Alabama to Congressmen saying that women can’t get pregnant when raped because their bodies have a way of shutting that sh*t down, men (usually white conservative men with ties to patriarchal religious institutions) are working their balls off trying to control women; specifically a woman access to birth control and abortion.

In the United Sates, one out of every three women has had an abortion. If you are a women living in Texas, and a growing number of states, access to this basic, simple, and safe procedure has been severely restricted with the passage of hundreds of new laws in the last several years that strip a women's right to privacy, limit access to abortion, and shame women into thinking that their choice about what to do with their bodies is wrong.

Joining me on the program this week to discuss the War on Women, I’m proud to welcome Kelly Carlin and Katie Klabusich.

Kelly Carlin hosts a weekly podcast “Waking from the American Dream” and her recent one woman show, A Carlin Home Companion, sold out around the country while generating rave reviews. She also holds masters in Jungian Depth Psychology, but, according to her bio, her desire to be on a stage and yell the word “fuck” kept gnawing at her, and so she decided to follow the call of the stage once again. You can find out more at TheKellyCarlinSite.com

Katie Klabusich contributes regularly to a number of radio programs, podcasts and TV/internet video broadcasts. She is an award-winning social media director, fundraiser and community-builder as well as the Activism Director/Segment Writer at The Best of the Left Podcast. She is also a dedicated activist who helps establish clinic defense escort programs, providing logistical and moral support to reproductive access groups.

Something Is Happening Here: A Month of Resistance To Stop Mass Incarceration

Originally posted at PopularResistance.org



In this clip form Acronym TV’s full show on the call for a month of resistance To Mass Incarceration, Carl Dix and Juanita Young call on people to recognize the injustice of the system of Mass Incarceration and join the resistance to put an end to it.

Watch the full episode here.
Learn more about the Call For A Month Of Resistance To Mass Incarceration, Police Terror, Repression And The Criminalization Of A Generation here.

The Cops Killed Her Son. That Did Not Stop Her.

Originally Posted at PopularResistance.org



In this clip form Acronym TV’s full show on the call for a month of resistance To Mass Incarceration, Juanita Young talks about the death of her son, Malcolm Ferguson, a 23-year old man murdered by NYPD officer Louis Rivera. In June of 2007, a jury awarded Ms. Young $10.5 million. At the time of the verdict, Young told the New York Daily News: “the award was vindication that her son, Malcolm Ferguson, 23, was wrongfully shot during a struggle in March 2000 in an apartment building at 1045 Boynton Ave. - three blocks from where Amadou Diallo was gunned down a year earlier.”

According to reporting at Revcom.us:

“The Bronx jury of six issued a resounding “yes!” to the charges that plainclothes police officer Louis Rivera had used excessive force while stopping Malcolm, that his conduct had been a substantial factor in causing Malcolm’s death, that he had handled his weapon in a negligent manner, and that this mishandling was a substantial factor in causing Malcolm’s death. The six jurors also issued a resounding “no!” to the cop's claim that Malcolm had engaged in conduct that might have contributed to his death.

The award ($7 million for punitive damages; $3 million for the pain and suffering inflicted on Malcolm) is one of the highest dollar amounts ever awarded in NYC against the police. The verdict comes with people's memories still fresh of the death of Sean Bell – murdered by the police in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day last November, and the NYPD killing last month of Fermin Arzu. And it reflects the unremitting determination of Juanita Young over seven years to struggle to expose what happened to her son, as well as the support of people who are stepping forward to resist police brutality.”

Ms. Young appeared on Acronym TV with Dennis Trainor, Jr alongside Carl Dix, the co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, to discuss plans for a month of nationwide resistance to Mass Incarceration.
The organizers call to action for October of 2014 (which is endorsed by Acronym TV) reads, in part:

“Mass incarceration has grown beside the criminalization of whole peoples; a situation in which every African-American or Latina/o is a permanent suspect—treated as guilty until proven innocent by police and racist vigilantes, if they can survive to prove their innocence. This is especially concentrated among the youth, starting with cops in schools, arresting children for things that used to mean a visit to the principal’s office at worse, putting youth on a trajectory from school to prison. Black and Latina/o youth have a target on their backs in this society. Literally tens of millions of lives have been scarred and worse—both the direct victims and their families and communities. People who heroically resisted these and other injustices have been imprisoned, some of them for decades. These political prisoners must be freed.

The malignancy of mass incarceration did not arise from a sudden epidemic of crime. Nor did it result from people making poor personal choices. Instead it arose from cold political calculations made in response to the massive and heroic struggle for the rights of Black and other minority peoples that took place in the 1960’s and 70’s, and in response to the enormous economic and social changes brought about by globalized production. This cancer of mass incarceration has been, from the beginning, nothing but a new Jim Crow in place of the old one. Like the old Jim Crow, it drew on, fed off and reinforced the deep-seated roots of the racism that grew up with slavery. Like the old Jim Crow, it has been, from the beginning, unjustifiable, utterly immoral and thoroughly illegitimate.”

Cutting off H2O to the NSA

According to OffNow.org , there are THREE steps that can be taken on a state level to make life difficult for the NSA.



1. 4th Amendment Protection Act. Our signature model legislation, the 4th Amendment Protection Act, would ban a state from taking actions which provide "material support" or assistance to warrantless federal spying programs. This includes provisioning of resources, and banning the state from using data obtained without warrant in state court.
States should pass this legislation whether they have a physical NSA facility or not, banning the warrantless data in court will have an immediate effect. And, since the NSA rarely publicizes its plans in advance, it's essential to ensure that their ability to expand with more data center facilities around the country is restricted before they get off the ground. (learn more here)



2. Electronic Data Privacy Act. For those states where legislators are not yet willing or able to get the full 4th Amendment Protection Act passed, the Electronic Data Privacy Act is a powerful first step. By banning the use of warrantless data in court, this state legislation can thwart some of the practical effects of federal spying programs. (learn more here)



3. Freedom From Location Surveillance Act. A narrow, but important first step against the growing surveillance state, the Freedom From Location Surveillance Act bans state and local law enforcement from obtaining the location information of a person's electronic device without a warrant.

The NSA is tracking the physical location of people through their cellphones. In late 2013, the Washington Post reported that NSA is "gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world." This includes location data on "tens of millions" of Americans each year -- without a warrant.

Reset The Net

Originally Posted at PopularResistance.org



Fight for our Future has launched a "Reset The Net Campaign" for June 5th, 2014.

The problem, as outlined at Reset the Net, is:

"The NSA is exploiting weak links in Internet security to spy on the entire world, twisting the Internet we love into something it was never meant to be: a panopticon." It defines a solution as "We can't stop targeted hacking, but we *can* stop mass surveillance, by building proven security into the everyday Internet." 

Finally, the plan is to "First, get hundreds of sites & apps to add proven security (like SSL). Then on June 5, we'll run a splash screen *everywhere* to spread NSA-resistant privacy tools."

Shahid Buttar and Kevin Zeese examine the plan is this clip from Acronym TV (full episode here).

Shahid Buttar is the Executive Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, a 2003 graduate of Stanford Law School, and has appeared in media outlets including the Intercept, the Guardian, the Washington Post, CNN, FOX News, Al-Jazeera and the Baltimore Sun. He spoke about NSA spying at Johns Hopkins recently to a packed audience organized by the Hopkins human rights working group and the New Political Society.

Kevin Zeese is an attorney and political activist who works on peace, economic justice, criminal law reform and reviving American democracy. He co Directs It’s Our Economy, serves on the steering committees of the Chelsea Manning Support Network, and is an organizer at PopularResistance.org.

The Illegitimacy of the U.S. Government

Originally Posted at PopularResistance.org



In this episode clip (watch the full show here) Shahid Buttar outlines why he thinks the biggest enemy to the U.S. Constitution is a domestic enemy. Also, Kevin Zeese makes the point that the U.S. government is illegitimate.

“Every member of congress swears an oath of office to protect the constitution from enemies, foreign and domestic,” explains Buttar “and the principle enemy to the U.S. Constitution is a domestic one with three letters. The only debate in my mind is whether it is the NSA or the FBI.”

Kevin Zeese adds: “It’s a harsh reality for the country to face. The corporate main stream media’s job is not to give us the truth but to give us the myth that we are the greatest democracy on earth, when in fact I think the democratic legitimacy of this country is disappearing. We just had Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer make that point in his dissent to the (Supreme Court) McCutcheon decision."

Shahid Buttar is the Executive Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, a 2003 graduate of Stanford Law School, and has appeared in media outlets including the Intercept, the Guardian, the Washington Post, CNN, FOX News, Al-Jazeera and the Baltimore Sun. He spoke about NSA spying at Johns Hopkins recently to a packed audience organized by the Hopkins human rights working group and the New Political Society.

Kevin Zeese is an attorney and political activist who works on peace, economic justice, criminal law reform and reviving American democracy. He co Directs It’s Our Economy, serves on the steering committees of the Chelsea Manning Support Network, and is an organizer atPopularResistance.org.

Dennis Trainor, Jr. is a writer, filmmaker, producer, and activist. His documentary on the Occupy movement, American Autumn: an Occudoc, garnered critical praise from The New York Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and more.  He also wrote and directed Legalize Democracy, a documentary short about the Movement To Amend the Constitution.

Full Show: Disband The NSA {aTV002}

Originally Posted at PopularResistance.org

Shahid Buttar, the Executive Director of The Bill of Rights Defense Committee, and Kevin Zeese of Popular Resistance sit down with host Dennis Trainor, Jr. in this episode of Acronym TV to discuss, among other things:

The Utility of the NSA | The 4^th Amendment | Edward Snowden | The Espionage Act | Why the MSM treats Glenn Greenwald as a criminal | An update on Chelsea Manning | The Reset the Net Campaign | The Criminalization of Dissent | The Campaign to cut off Water to the NSA | and we ask the question: In what significant ways is President Obama different than the Straussian, noble liars that preceded him?



Also, you will want to stick around for part two of the show to see Shahid perform the lyrics for his new house track called The NSA Vs. The USA. 

Episode introduction:
The Pulitzer Prize for public service, among the most prestigious awards in journalism, was awarded to The Washington Post and Guardian U.S. for their articles based on National Security Agency documents leaked by the former government contractor Edward Snowden. Snowden released astatement, which read in part: (The Pulitzer decision) “is a vindication for everyone who believes that the public has a role in government. We owe it to the efforts of the brave reporters and their colleagues who kept working in the face of extraordinary intimidation, including the forced destruction of journalistic materials, the inappropriate use of terrorism laws, and so many other means of pressure to get them to stop what the world now recognizes was work of vital public importance.”

In stark contrast to the work of vital public important is the overwhelming majority of content produced by the main stream media; one that demonizes anyone who questions the right and might of the American Empire to do whatever it deems necessary to expand its imperial reach by any means necessary.

Guests on this episode of Acronym TV with Dennis Trainor, Jr.:

Shahid Buttar is the Executive Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, a 2003 graduate of Stanford Law School, and has appeared in media outlets including the Intercept, the Guardian, the Washington Post, CNN, FOX News, Al-Jazeera and the Baltimore Sun. He spoke about NSA spying at Johns Hopkins recently to a packed audience organized by the Hopkins human rights working group and the New Political Society.

Kevin Zeese is an attorney and political activist who works on peace, economic justice, criminal law reform and reviving American democracy. He co Directs It’s Our Economy, serves on the steering committees of the Chelsea Manning Support Network, and is an organizer atPopularResistance.org.
(Disclosure – Acronym TV receives partial financial support from Popular Resistance.)

Dennis Trainor, Jr. is a writer, filmmaker, producer, and activist. His documentary on the Occupy movement, American Autumn: an Occudoc, garnered critical praise from The New York Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and more.  He also wrote and directed Legalize Democracy, a documentary short about the Movement To Amend the Constitution. Trainor was an embedded YouTube personality/media advisor on the staff of Dennis Kucinich’s 2008 presidential campaign and his work is regularly published on The Huffington Post, Truth Out, The Real New Network, Popular Resistance and several others.

Coming Soon: This Planet Will No Longer Support Civilization

Originally posted at PopularResistance.org

Dr. Jill Stein on Capitalism, the most important question of the climate struggle, and just how long we have before the planet will no longer support civilization.

Days before the Earth Day to May Day Global Climate Convergence kicked off, Dr. Jill Stein talked with Dennis Trainor, Jr. of Acronym TV in a wide-ranging conversation about her hopes for the Convergence, a first response to ShowTime’s new series Years of Living Dangerously, and why the Climate Justice movement is all about jobs.

Check out these short clips below, or watch the full episode here.

Are Capitalism and Climate Justice Compatible?


The Most Important Climate Issue We Face


Coming Soon: This Planet Will No Longer Support Civilization


According the Global Climate Convergence website:

“The Global Climate Convergence is an education and direct action campaign that begins this spring, with “10 days to change course,” running from Earth Day to May Day. It builds collaboration across national borders and fronts of struggle to harness the transformative power we already possess as a thousand separate movements springing up across the planet. Earth Day-to-May Day 2014 (April 22 - May 1) will be the first in a series of expanding annual actions.

As you know, the movement for democracy and justice is sweeping the globe – from democracy revolutions to occupy protests, movements for the rights of workers, students, immigrants, women and Indigenous peoples; resistance to NSA spying, endless war, prison pipelines, tar sands, fracking, nuclear power, GMOs and more. The accelerating climate disaster – now predicted to dismantle civilization as we know it as soon as 2050 - intensifies all these struggles, and provides new urgency for collaboration and unified action. Clearly there is no time to lose.

The Convergence calls for a solution as big as the crisis barreling down on us – an emergency green economic transformation, including full employment and living wages; 100 percent clean renewable energy by 2030; universal free health care and education; food and housing security; an end to deportations and mass incarceration; economic and political democracy; demilitarization; ecosystem restoration and support for the rights of Mother Earth; and more.

These goals will only be achieved by masses of people coming together in a unified movement, which is exactly what the Convergence is working towards!”

An Open Letter To The Middle Class (spoiler alert: F*ck You)

Originally posted at PopularResistance.org



Dear Middle Class:

Fuck you.

Perhaps I should back up a bit and try that again.

One of the most frustrating things for me on those occasions when I get suckered into listening to the mainstream media is the lamentation and hand wringing over the shrinking middle class.

While I don’t have any money in the bank and the only assets I have are a computer a video camera and a rusty old mountain bike, most people would look at where I live and where my children go to school and label me squarely in the middle class.

I usually accept that label.

It is easier than telling the whole world that am in my mid forties with no savings, no retirement plan, no 401K- and I live the life of a new media freelancer; check to every increasingly small check. These facts would make my middle class friends uncomfortable.

But I digress. The reason I say “fuck you” to the middle class is that holding onto the status of middle class requires a poor class.

There would be no middle, without the poor. That 1 in 5 kids in the United States live below the poverty line is both immoral and a requirement of our system. This system holds as its very center, heartbeat and myth of the American Dream the cherished “middle class.”

George Carlin frames it this way:

“The upper class keeps all of the money and pays none of the taxes. The middle class pays all of the taxes (and) does all of the work. The poor are there just to scare the shit out of the middle class… keep ‘em showing up at those jobs.”

So what is to be done? We hoist ourselves on our own petard when we allow the Koch brother fueled narrative that Wal-Mart and Fast Food workers who are struggling to attain a living wage should be grateful to have a job, any job, in this climate.

We know our elected officials are not responsive to the people, but to the ruling elite and yet we still argue over Obama or Romney or Pelosi or Boehner as if these politicians are even listening to us.

We cling, no worse, we teach our children to invest in the false American Dream that if we only work a little harder, or go into more educational debt that we would be able to grasp the brass ring and wear proudly the label of American Middle class.

That label would be made in Bangladesh, mind you, by a child working six days a week 16 hours a day and making 30 bucks a month but you would be proud to wear that middle class label just the same, and in doing so do you- we, I- not only endorse the conditions of poverty that, because of its very existence, defines the middle class, we insure that poverty will continue.

We need new language, a new system based on equity and fairness and not on exploitation and oppression and until then I say fuck the middle class.

I quit it.

Waging War on Poverty Is About Class Identity | Cheri Honkala Interview

Originally Posted at PopularResistance.org

http://youtu.be/B5QYPiqk6hg


The co- founder and national coordinator of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign and vice president of the Green Shadow Cabinet. Cheri is nationally and internationally respected for her anti-poverty work. Honoring the legacy Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign of 1967-68 Cheri inspires a new generation of leaders working to end poverty.

In this exclusive interview, Dennis Trainor, Jr. and Cheri Honkala discuss the Earth Day to May Day Climate Convergence, the U.S. Social Forum, and what motivates a life of social justice organizing.

The Hunger Games Are Real: We Are The Districts

Originally posted at AcronymTV



Donald Sutherland, who stars in the Hunger Games Franchise, wants to see a revolution that brings about the end of the American Empire, and he wants the Hunger Games movies to be a spark for that flame. Speaking to Rory Carroll of the Guardian UK, Sutherland says: "You know the young people of this society have not moved in the last 30 years." With the exception of Occupy, a minority movement, passivity reigns.” Whether Sutherland is engaging in a very clever marketing ploy or he sincerely wants to see a revolution is a question for another day.

Carl Gibson, in this exclusive for the Resistance Report, shows us just how close we are to the dystopian futuristic landscape of the Hunger games:

“Just as was described in The Hunger Games, the resistance here has been met with the cold boot heels of police, who only exist to protect and serve the 1 percent and their property. The chilling footage of the UC Davis Police pepper-spraying "Occupy UC Davis" student protesters sitting peacefully, UC Berkeley police clubbing Occupy protesters with batons, the NYPD violently assaulting and mass arresting protesters and credentialed journalists, and the Oakland police turning the streets into a war zone are clear evidence that the state does not tolerate dissent. Scott Olsen is living proof that even those who go overseas to fight the nation's wars are not immune from the state's violence against dissenters when they come home and participate in nonviolent protest.”




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Drones in Yemen, Hunger Games In America, and Corporate Espionage, Maine Moves to Amend

Originally posted at AcronymTV



On this episode of The Resistance Report:

1. Dennis Trainor, Jr. talks about the 15 innocent people in Yemen who were killed Thursday by a U.S. Drone attack. The 15 homicide victims will be called collateral damage, and yet we are not at war with Yemen. It is a country that, like Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia pose no threat to us and certainly have not declared war on us and yet, who contain within their borders members of an organization- Al-Qaeda- whose ranks will surely swell with each innocent victim whose bodies are pulverized at the click of a button from an Air Force pilot half a world away. 

2. We hear the haunting yet absurd steps taken by the NSA to monitor citizens. Unfortunately for activists, revolutionaries, and other agents of social change, that’s only the “state” prong of surveillance. The corporate arm is much more damning. Joel Northam reports. 

3. Donald Sutherland, who stars in the Hunger Games Franchise, wants to see a revolution that brings about the end of the American Empire, and he wants the Hunger Games movies to be a spark for that flame. Speaking to Rory Carroll of the Guardian UK, Sutherlandsays: "You know the young people of this society have not moved in the last 30 years." With the exception of Occupy, a minority movement, passivity reigns.” Whether Sutherland is engaging in a very clever marketing ploy or he sincerely wants to see a revolution is a question for another day. For now, Carl Gibson gives us this report that shows just how close we are to the dystopian futuristic landscape of the Hunger games. 

4. A group called We the People Maine went to the State House on Wednesday to deliver a formal request for the Legislature to apply for a Constitutional Convention of States to overturn Citizens United and establish that “corporations are not people and money is not speech.” Asher Platts was there, and files a report. 

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Taking Mandela’s Struggle To Its Logical Conclusion

Originally posted at AcronymTV

 “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”  – Mandela wrote in his memoir Long Walk to Freedom

Reflecting on the death of Nelson Mandela, Jerome Roos, writing at Roar magazine states: “The only appropriate way to honor the legacy of the iconic freedom fighter is not to beatify the man but to take his struggle to its logical conclusion.”

The finality of death, combined with the human need for a neat linear narrative, will work against placing Mandela’s impact on a continuum. For, while it may be true that the arc of the moral universe is long, but bends towards justice – that bending is still not happening for too many in South Africa, and the world over.

Watching the farcical juxtaposition of our a noble peace prize winning President who, through his drone program, commits acts of global terrorism memorializing Nelson Mandela, another noble peace prize winner, who even after earning that honor and serving as the president of South Africa, remained US terror watch list until 2008 makes one wish that clearer voices for justice emerge to shape the narrative and bend that moral arc.



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Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, World Reactions Mandela Dies, Jerome Ross, Roar, Dennis Trainor Jr, Acronym TV, Resistance Report

WikiLeaks Leaks Controversial Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Documents

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Originally posted at AcronymTV



The TPP is a Trojan horse that seeks to usher in a backroom secret sweetheart deal for the global elite, and President Barack Obama wants the deal fast-tracked through Congress. That effort was dealt a serious blow on Wednesday, when WikiLeaks released the secret negotiated draft text for the entire Trans-Pacific Partnership Intellectual Property rights chapter. According to the WikiLeaks press release:

“The WikiLeaks release of the text comes ahead of the decisive TPP Chief Negotiators summit in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 19-24 November 2013. The chapter published by WikiLeaks is perhaps the most controversial chapter of the TPP due to its wide-ranging effects on medicines, publishers, internet services, civil liberties and biological patents.”

Remember NAFTA?

Remember the concept of Corporate Personhood from the Citizens United case?

The TPP combines all of the worst elements of NAFTA and Citizens United, shoots them up with steroids, sprinkles in a speedball and codifies these principles into a trade agreement that is in fact much more than a trade agreement.



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WikiLeaks, WikiLeaks leaks, Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, WikiLeaks leaks TPP documents, Julian Assange, TPP, President Barack Obama, Fast track, Congress, Tpp fast track, NAFTA, NAFTA on steroids, TPP Summit, TPP Chief Negotiators summit, Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, Stop the TPP, Flush the TPP, Kill the TPP, Acronym TV, Dennis Trainor Jr, Margret Flowers, Public Citizen, Kevin Zeese, David Swanson,

Steven Crowder vs "Union Thug"

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Obama's Drones - Acronym TV