A Planetary Turning Point w/Sebastian Dienst

 

17 Reasons to Tell Trump: “You’re Fired!” by Ralph Nader

Source: Common Dreams

Tyrant Trump’s favorite snarl is “You’re Fired!” That was his bellow on “The Apprentice” television program. Subsequently, he told hundreds of thousands of federal civil servants and contractors, “You’re Fired!” Shame on the pitiful Democratic Party that allowed him to regain the presidency last year.

It is long overdue for the Democrats in Congress to lay the groundwork for impeaching President Donald Trump and removing him from office. Trump provides them with the impeachable evidence openly and brazenly every day. No president in history has ever declared that “then I have Article II, where I have the right to do anything I want as president.” No president has ever dared to say, as did Trump in an interview with Reuters on January 15, 2026, that “…when you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election” and meant it.

Based on their detailed declaration against King George III in the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the congressional safeguards in the Constitution drafted in 1787, our Founders, were they members of Congress today, would unanimously vote articles of impeachment against Trump for rampant constitutional lawlessness.

Here are 17 articles of Impeachment against dictator Trump that many constitutional law scholars would endorse, drafted by constitutional law specialist and practitioner, Bruce Fein. (For the full text of the articles of Impeachment, here.)

ARTICLE 1—WAR POWER-MURDER-PIRACY

ARTICLE 2—MILITARIZATION OF DOMESTIC LAW ENFORCEMENT

ARTICLE 3—SERIAL UNCONSTITUTIONAL DETENTIONS AND DEPORTATIONS

ARTICLE 4—BRIBERY

ARTICLE 5—RETALIATION AGAINST CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED SPEECH OR ASSOCIATION

ARTICLE 6—ABUSE OF THE PARDON POWER—SABOTAGING THE RULE OF LAW

ARTICLE 7—ILLEGALLY CRIPPLING OR DEFUNDING PROGRAMS TO PROTECT CONSUMERS, THE NEEDY, WORKERS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT

ARTICLE 8—USURPATION OF THE CONGRESSIONAL POWER OF THE PURSE

ARTICLE 9—CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS—SECRET GOVERNMENT

ARTICLE 10—PERVERTING LAW ENFORCEMENT TO PERSECUTE POLITICAL OPPONENTS AND BENEFIT FRIENDS

ARTICLE 11—SUSPENDING OR DISPENSING WITH LAWS

ARTICLE 12—FLOUTING SECTION 1 OF THE 14TH AMENDMENT

ARTICLE 13—SPECIOUS NATIONAL EMERGENCY—FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION DECLARATIONS

ARTICLE 14—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN EMOLUMENTS CLAUSES

ARTICLE 15—CHRONIC DECEIT AIMING AT DICTATORSHIP

ARTICLE 16—TREASON

ARTICLE 17—MEGALOMANIA-HUBRIS

Already, a growing majority of the American people want Trump Impeached. They are feeling the impact where they live, work, and raise their families of Trump’s dictatorial, corporatist regime, which is endangering, weakening, and wrecking America! The criminal, illegal, unconstitutional war against Iran and the continuing full backing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s genocide against the Palestinians and the Israeli bombing of Lebanon’s civilian population and occupying southern Lebanon will only increase the hardships on the American people. US soldiers are also being ordered to illegally obey illegal orders. Six Members of Congress who served in the military issued a video statement that said, “You must refuse illegal orders.” Representatives said in the video, “No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”

Send these articles of Impeachment with your own thoughts and demands to your two senators and your representative by letter, email, or voicemail. (The Congressional switchboard number is 202-224-3121). You can also call local congressional offices to voice your concerns to your member of Congress. Ask them when will they exercise their constitutional duties. What further criminal outrage, program, and police state power will move them to catch up with the demands of the people back home?

Ask these lawmakers if they are waiting for Trump to use the Insurrection Act to order the military to seize the state voting machinery and repress the vote in the contested states or districts? He has already noted this limitless power in his first term and more recently.

There are only 535 members of Congress. Flood them with your demands to literally save our Republic and the Constitution for which it stands. Otherwise, WITH TRUMP AND HIS DANGEROUSLY UNSTABLE PERSONALITY, IT IS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE, MUCH WORSE, HERE AND ABROAD.

Take charge, people, one by one, citizen group by citizen group! Use your sovereign power under the Constitution.

FIND YOUR STATE REP HERE & EMAIL THE 17 ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT -  FIGHTING FOR & DEFENDING OUR DEMOCRACY IS A CRITICAL NATIONAL EMERGENCY!!

The Chris Hedges Report: The Trillion Dollar War Machine

 

 

 The military-industrial-complex has grown into a monster so influential and powerful that even its earliest critics likely never foresaw its evolution. Where will it go from here, and can anything stop it? 

Susan Abulhawa: Rage Is a Responsibility, Resistance Is a Right

 

0:00 – Intro 2:05 – Why Susan went to Gaza 6:15 – Gaza as the future of humanity 10:42 – The psychology of helplessness & control 16:30 – Why rage is a responsibility 22:45 – Refusing euphemisms: naming genocide 28:10 – Roots vs. “death technology” 34:40 – Resistance and the right to fight back 42:12 – Betrayal and Arab complicity 48:25 – What sustains hope in Gaza 53:50 – Channeling rage into responsibility 1:00:20 – Susan’s upcoming books & Gaza anthology 1:05:00 – Closing reflections

Chris Hedges Report: The Media’s Capitulation to Power (w/ Ahmed Shihab-Eldin)

 

 

 Chris Hedges and Ahmed Eldin discuss the propagandistic purpose the corporate media serves in the age of the American-Israeli project of genocidal colonialism.

Musings

 

If we look for the source of the social pathologies increasingly evident in our culture, we find they have a common origin in the dominator relations of Empire that have survived largely intact in spite of the democratic reforms of the past two centuries. The sexism, racism, economic injustice, violence, and environmental destruction that have plagued human societies for 5,000 years, and have now brought us to the brink of a potential terminal crisis, all flow from this common source. Freeing ourselves from these pathologies depends on a common solution — replacing the underlying dominator cultures and institutions of Empire with the partnership cultures and institutions of Earth Community. Unfortunately, we cannot look to imperial power-holders to lead the way.

—David Korten

Don't Always Trust Your Perceptions by Thich Nhat Hanh

 

Breathing in, I see myself as still water.
Breathing out, I reflect things as they are.

Near the mountain, there is a lake with clear, still water reflecting the mountain and the sky with pristine clarity. You can do the same. If you are calm and still enough, you can reflect the mountain, the blue sky, and the moon exactly as they are. You reflect whatever you see exactly as it is, without distorting anything.

Have you ever seen yourself in a mirror that distorts the image? Your face is long, your eyes are huge, and your legs are really short. Don’t be like that mirror. It is better to be like the still water on the mountain lake.

We often do not reflect things clearly, and we suffer because of our wrong perceptions. Suppose you are walking in the twilight and see a snake. You scream and run into the house to get your friends, and all of you run outside with a flashlight. But when you shine your light on the snake, you discover that it isn’t a snake at all, just a piece of rope. This is a distorted perception.

When we see things or listen to other people, we often don’t see clearly or really listen. We see and hear our projections and our prejudices. We are not clear enough, and we have a wrong perception. Even if our friend is giving us a compliment, we may argue with him because we distort what he says.

If we are not calm, if we only listen to our hopes or our anger, we will not be able to receive the truth that is trying to reflect itself on our lake. We need to make our water still if we want to receive reality as it is. If you feel agitated, don’t do or say anything. Just breathe in and out until you are calm enough. Then ask your friend to repeat what he has said. This will avoid a lot of damage. Stillness is the foundation of understanding and insight. Stillness is strength.

Twilight Zone America: The USA Dystopia

 

 

Source: Functional Melancholic

 This video takes a psychological, philosophical, sociological and dystopian look at the human condition and human nature in an age of AI, algorithms, surveillance, and mass loneliness. Step into a post apocalyptic America where the line between sci-fi and reality has vanished. With dark humor and an existential edge, we explore how we got here, why it feels like an endless Twilight Zone episode, and how to keep your mind intact in a culture built to manipulate you.

Chris Hedges: "Democracy doesn’t exist in the United States"

 

"Prove Me Wrong” – Scott Ritter Says This War Could End US Power in the Middle East

 

Ritter calls this conflict a repetition of the “12-day war” — but warns it has now become an existential struggle. He argues Iran appears positioned to outlast the United States, and that Washington risks being pushed out of the Middle East. Pretty thought-provoking stuff!

Vigilantes Inc: America's New Vote Suppression Hitmen

 

 

 By August 2024, 40,000 self-proclaimed vigilante vote-fraud hunters had already challenged the rights of 852,381 voters — with a target of 2 million before the election. Did the voters decide the 2024 election, or voter suppression? Watch Greg Palast's award-winning documentary — narrated by Rosario Dawson and introduced by Martin Sheen — and decide for yourself.

Social Climate Colonialism: The Empire’s New Siege by Sammy Attoh

Invocation

The climate crisis is not a neutral storm. It is not an unfortunate accident of weather or a tragic twist of fate. It is the latest battlefield of empire — a slow, suffocating siege in which the Global South pays for the pollution of the Global North. Rising seas, burning forests, collapsing harvests, and vanishing species are not the random convulsions of nature. They are the predictable consequences of centuries of extraction, industrial greed, and colonial arrogance.

The atmosphere has become the new frontier of conquest. Climate colonialism is the silent siege of our age — a war without declarations, a violence without bullets, a domination masked as diplomacy.

Historical Grounding

The story is old, though the terrain has changed.

Once, colonial powers plundered Africa’s gold, Asia’s spices, and the Americas’ silver. They carved continents, enslaved peoples, and extracted wealth with ruthless precision. Today, they plunder the atmosphere with the same entitlement. The industrial revolution — fueled by coal, oil, and the bodies of enslaved labor — enriched Europe and North America while laying the foundations of planetary collapse.

The nations that built empires on slavery, resource extraction, and racial hierarchy now dominate climate negotiations. They dictate the terms of survival while refusing the burden of accountability. Bretton Woods institutions once imposed debt; now climate summits impose delay. The language has changed, but the logic remains: the powerful decide, the powerless endure.

^{Green rhetoric has become the new imperial dialect — polished, diplomatic, and pr5}ofoundly dishonest.⁶

Contemporary Fire

The climate crisis is global, but its burdens are violently unequal.

Pakistan’s floods displaced millions, though the nation contributes less than 1% of global emissions.⁷

The Sahel’s droughts devastate farmers who never profited from fossil fuels.⁸

Pacific island nations face rising seas that threaten their very existence, though they did not ignite the carbon fire.⁹

Mozambique, Dominica, and the Philippines rebuild again and again after storms intensified by warming oceans.¹⁰

Meanwhile, the Global North continues to burn oil, expand pipelines, and subsidize fossil corporations. Promises of “climate finance” remain unfulfilled or repackaged as loans — deepening the very debt that strangles the South.¹¹

The South is told to adapt with crumbs while the North feasts on the profits of destruction.

The Human Face

Behind every statistic is a life, a family, a nation struggling to breathe.

Children in Bangladesh wade through floodwaters that swallow their schools. Mothers in Kenya watch crops wither under relentless drought. Fishermen in the Caribbean return to empty nets as coral reefs bleach and die. Families in the Andes watch glaciers — their ancestral water towers — melt into memory.¹³

The poor do not emit the carbon that drives catastrophe, yet they inhale its consequences. Climate colonialism ensures that those least responsible suffer the most.

This is not misfortune. It is injustice.

Prophetic Polemic

Empire adapts. Its tools evolve, but its intentions remain unchanged.

Carbon markets commodify the atmosphere, turning the sky into a trading floor.Greenwashing disguises destruction as sustainability, allowing corporations to pollute while posing as saviors.

Climate debt forces nations to borrow for disasters they did not cause, deepening dependency.

Geoengineering schemes threaten to weaponize the sky, allowing powerful nations to manipulate weather under the guise of “innovation.”

Land grabs for “green energy” displace Indigenous communities, repeating the oldest colonial script.

The cycle repeats with chilling precision: extraction → pollution → catastrophe → debt → control.

Climate colonialism is not about saving the planet. It is about preserving empire’s privilege.

Headline Sparks

• “The Poor Breathe the Smoke, the Powerful Bank the Profit”
• “Rising Seas, Rising Inequality”
• “Climate Colonialism: The Empire’s New Siege”

Closing Benediction

May the climate crisis be named not as fate but as injustice. May the polluters be held accountable, and the victims restored. May the atmosphere be freed from commodification, and the earth from extraction. May every human breathe clean air, drink pure water, and eat from fertile soil. May the world awaken to the truth that climate justice is not charity — it is reparations, restoration, and the rebirth of global dignity.

Let justice roll down like waters and let the whole earth breathe again.

How Project 2025 Is Reshaping Our Country

 

Source: Mother Jones 

During the 2024 presidential campaign, a conservative playbook emerged. Created by the Heritage Foundation, this 900-plus-page document was a roadmap written for a future conservative president. And while some Republicans tried to distance themselves from Project 2025, the authors and the concepts they wrote about have been embraced by President Donald Trump.

Journalist David A. Graham did a deep dive analyzing the pages for his book, The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America. “I think at the heart of all of this is they want this Christian, conservative vision of society, and the way that they wanna achieve that is by dismantling many of the institutions of government as we know them,” he says.

The Truth About Sudan

Musings

 

“The most ominous danger we face comes from the marginalization and destruction of institutions, including the courts, academia, legislative bodies, cultural organizations, and the press that once ensured that civil discourse was rooted in reality and fact, helped us distinguish lies from truth, and facilitated justice." ~~Noam Chomsky

The Billionaire Crime Ring

 

 

The Epstein files cover-up. The environmental toxicity crisis. The cost of life crisis. Permanent war. Masked stormtroopers. Corrupt politics. One global crime syndicate. A crime so big you can't see it. Or the billionaires who run it. Learn the tools. Take back our economy. Take back our future. Let’s get to work. http://www.SurvivorsGuideToEarth.com

Confessions of the Empire Managers

 

Chris Hedges: The Last Election

 

Musings

 

Worth Re-reading: American Oligarchy (2024)

 Source: Mother Jones

The Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered an unprecedented crackdown by the United States and other Western nations on the mansions, megayachts, and bank accounts of Russia’s ultrawealthy tycoons. Yet targeting Russia’s oligarchs surfaced some uncomfortable questions about our own political and financial systems and the people who shape them. So we thought it was time for a good, long look in the mirror. For our January + February 2024 issue, Mother Jones explores the rise and power of the emerging class of billionaires—fueled by the monopolistic growth of Big Tech—who are remaking America in their own decadent and extractive image. Their bored whims and futuristic fantasies shape how and where you live and work, even as their own worlds are increasingly siloed off from the rest of us. Welcome to the American Oligarchy.

PART 1: Introduction 

* The Rise of the American Oligarchy

*It’s Time the Word “Oligarch” Lost Its Russian Veneer

PART 2: Hoarding

* How The US became a Refuge for Dirty Money

* The Dark Side of the $100 bill

* When Gilded Age Lawmakers Saved America From Plutocracy

* How the Rich Keep Their Riches Out of Reach

* Refuge for the Robber Barons

* This Is What It Costs to Be Rich

* Martha’s Vineyard Is Being Gutted by Skyrocketing Housing Costs. Yes, You Should Care.

PART 3: Influencing

* Philanthropy in America Is Broken

* Billionaires’ Giving Pledge: Part Tax Strategy, Part PR Stunt

* A Brief History of Superyachts

* How “Woke Capitalism” Became a Right-Wing Obsession

* Receipts. Proof. Timelines. Screenshots: Why We Can’t Look Away From Rich People’s Drama

* How Hollywood Learned to Eat the Rich

PART 4: Dominating

* Elon Musk’s Texas Takeover

* There Is a Very Good Reason Why Donald Trump Thinks Everything Is Rigged

* Meet the Silicon Valley CEOs Who Insist That Greed Is Good

* These Billionaires Want to Disrupt Death—and Keep Their Fortunes Forever

* Welcome to America’s Wealthiest Zip Code

* Monet Changes Everything

* Australia vs. Rupert Murdoch