Wasted Lives: The Worldwide Tragedy of Youth Suicide by Graham Peebles

Say yes to life

Image by Shashank Mhasawade via Flickr

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
September 29, 2017

The pressures of modern life are colossal; for young people — those under 25 years of age — they are perhaps greater than at any other time. Competition in virtually every aspect of contemporary life, a culture obsessed with image and material success, and the ever-increasing cost of living are creating a cocktail of anxiety and self-doubt that drives some people to take their own lives and many more to self-abuse of one kind or another.

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Big Institutions—Immunities, Impunities and Insanities by Ralph Nader

Solidarity (2 of 25)

Image by Glenn Halog via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page, Sept. 26, 2017
September 28, 2017

One of the first times I used the phrase “institutional insanity” was in 1973 to describe the behavior of scientist Dixy Lee Ray, chairperson of the presumed regulatory agency, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). I pointed out that her personal and academic roles were quite normal. But her running of the AEC—pressing for 1,000 nuclear plants in the U.S. by the year 2000 (there are 99 reactors left in operation now), and going easy on a deadly, taxpayer subsidized technology that was privately uninsurable, lacked a place to put its lethal radioactive wastes, a national security risk, replete with vast cost over-runs, immunities and impunities shielding culpable officials and executives, should a meltdown occur and take out a city or region (all to boil water to produce steam to make electricity)—was a case study in “institutional insanity.”

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Why United States Is the Fourth Reich by Finian Cunningham

World War 3 - III

Image by r2hox via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from Strategic Culture Foundation, Sept. 27, 2017
September 28, 2017

US President Trump’s declaration last week before the UN to “totally destroy” North Korea and his general ranting about American military might is on par with the Nazi Third Reich’s invocation of “Total War”.

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Quadriga by Gaither Stewart

The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

Image by jthornett via Flickr

by Gaither Stewart
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rome, Italy
September 27, 2017

A five-meter tall resplendent Quadriga sculpture tops the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the Wellington Arch in London, The Bolshoy Theater in Moscow, the Victor Emmanuel Monument in Rome, and other important structures elsewhere. Quadriga  is a Latin word (quad=square plus yoke or iugum), the name of the two-wheel chariot drawn by four horses (not three as the Russian Troika) yet harnessed abreast, one beside the other, projecting an image of unusual power. The four-horse Quadriga was used in chariot races by Greeks, Romans and Byzantines and its drivers, the charioteers, were popular heroes like Formula One race drivers today. Some were even driven by gods and the Quadriga image was used also on coins. So the Quadriga became a symbol of war, victory and also the peace following a military victory.

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Cold War Then. Cold War Now. by William Blum

CCCP USSR in Moscow

Image by J Duval via Flickr

by William Blum
Writer, Dandelion Salad
www.killinghope.org
September 26, 2017

Cold War then. Cold War now.

The anti-Russian/anti-Soviet bias in the American media appears to have no limit. You would think that they would have enough self-awareness and enough journalistic integrity -– just enough -– to be concerned about their image. But it keeps on coming, piled higher and deeper.

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Race v. Class? More Brilliant Bourgeois Bullshit from Ta-Nehesi Coates by Paul Street

DurhamWWP-0146.jpg

Image by Rodney Dunning via Flickr

by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street, Sept. 21, 2017
Previously published at Counterpunch, Sept. 15, 2017
September 25, 2017

Numerous correspondents sent me the latest lengthy Atlantic essay by the brilliant and eloquent but bourgeois Black Identitarian Ta-Nehesi Coates and asked for my reflections. I reluctantly agreed to read and comment on Coates’ long treatise.

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The Killing of History by John Pilger

My Lai Memorial Site - Vietnam - Diorama of Massacre

Image by Adam Jones via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by John Pilger
John Pilger, Sept. 21, 2017
September 24, 2017

One of the most hyped “events” of American television, The Vietnam War, has started on the PBS network. The directors are Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Acclaimed for his documentaries on the Civil War, the Great Depression and the history of jazz, Burns says of his Vietnam films, “They will inspire our country to begin to talk and think about the Vietnam war in an entirely new way”.

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Chris Hedges: Hage Geingob, From Resistance Fighter to President of Namibia

Chris Hedges: Hage Geingob, From Resistance Fighter to President of Namibia

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Sept 24, 2017

President of the Republic of Namibia, Dr. Hage Geingob, discusses how his country, which achieved independence from neighboring apartheid South Africa in 1990, is now fighting for justice and economic emancipation from global banks, corporations and foreign governments seeking to extract the developing country’s natural resources.

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Abby Martin: Voices From People’s Congress of Resistance

Abby Martin: Voices From The Anti-Trump Resistance

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Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin

teleSUR English on Sep 23, 2017

On September 16-17 a major national gathering was held in Washington, D.C. called the People’s Congress of Resistance, a broad and diverse coalition of organizers and community leaders formed to build the class-struggle wing of the anti-Trump movement.

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Edward Snowden: #NoWar2017: Consent Is Only Meaningful If It’s Informed + Daniel Ellsberg + Ann Wright + John Kiriakou + Ray McGovern + Todd Pierce

Edward Snowden: #NoWar017: Consent Is Only Meaningful If It's Informed

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Dandelion Salad

WorldBeyondWar.org on Sep 23, 2017

Part 3

Beginning with Edward Snowden (by video) introduced by Elizabeth Murray, our friends from the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence will present an event with Elizabeth Murray, Annie Machon, Daniel Ellsberg (now by video), Thomas Drake, Ray McGovern, Ann Wright, John Kiriakou. (Note: Chelsea Manning sends regrets that she cannot attend as we had hoped, as does Seymour Hersh.)

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David Swanson: Welcome to #NoWar2017: War and the Environment with Tim DeChristopher and Jill Stein

David Swanson: Welcome to No War 2017: War and the Environment with Tim DeChristopher and Jill Stein

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
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with David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy
September 15, 2017

Remarks at #NoWar2017 conference on September 22, 2017.
[Videos below.]

Welcome to No War 2017: War and the Environment. Thank you all for being here. I’m David Swanson. I’m going to speak briefly and introduce Tim DeChristopher and Jill Stein to also speak briefly. We hope to also have time for some questions as we hope to have in every part of this conference.

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John Pilger: Propaganda and Censorship Is the Real Problem in the US

John Pilger: Propaganda and Censorship Is the Real Problem in the US

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Dandelion Salad

with John Pilger

Watching the Hawks RT on Sept 18, 2017

With all eyes on the nuclear standoff with North Korea, what is the over-arching agenda in play behind the politics of crisis? Tyrel Ventura sits down with documentary filmmaker and journalist John Pilger to learn more about the unfolding behind-the-scenes power play, and to discuss his latest documentary, “The Coming War on China.”

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From Great Wars, Come Great Consequences by Greg Maybury

by Greg Maybury
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
Pox Amerikana, Sept. 19, 2017
September 21, 2017

…[In] such trying games of conquest, results might never be expected to take shape quickly…Imperial stratagems are protracted affairs. The captains of world aggression measure their achievements…on a timescale whose unit is the generation. It’s within such a frame that the incubation of Nazism should be gauged: it was a long and elaborate plan to eliminate the possibility of German hegemony over the continent. And the stewards of the empire took their time.’ — Conjuring Hitler: How Britain and America Created the Third Reich, Guido Preparata (© 2006)

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Abby Martin: The Birth of Chavismo and Its Fight to Survive in Venezuela

Hugo Chávez saludando al pueblo

Image by Globovisión via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin

teleSUR English on Sep 20, 2017

More threats against the Maduro government from Trump at the United Nations follows nearly 20 years of the US Empire’s insistence that the popular Bolivarian movement should have no voice.

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The Censorious Vortex of the “Flash News” Barons by Ralph Nader

Breaking News

Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
September 20, 2017

For decades, the factors that decided what noteworthy stories would not find their way into print or on the air came down to the media’s ignorance, laziness or from advertising restraints. How else can one explain the many years that passed before the tobacco, auto and junk food industries became the subject of regular consumer reporting? For too long, the explosive material for good journalism in these and other areas had remained hidden in plain sight.

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