Society’s Collapse Has Already Begun, by Rainer Shea

Image by Chris Piascik via Flickr

by Rainer Shea
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rainer’s Newsletter, Mar. 10, 2023
March 20, 2023

American workers are stuck in a prison, a prison that they’re kept in through the perpetual threat of homelessness. This isn’t truly a rhetorical point, it’s an empirically proven reality. Nearly two-thirds of the country’s workers are now living paycheck to paycheck, meaning this last year’s inflation has made them easier to coerce. That’s the directly stated goal of the capitalist ruling class at this stage. A Bank of America memo from last year said decreased worker living standards will represent greater leverage for employers. The consequences of this are the destruction of these people’s mental and physical wellbeing. They’re being strained, abused, and exploited while having to choose between this and living on the streets.

How U.S. Military Spending Works, by David Swanson

Image by Daniel Lobo via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Mar. 10, 2023
March 15, 2023

Here’s how this works each year.

1) Biden proposes a massive increase in military spending — above and beyond both what he proposed the year before and what the Congress increased that to. If you look at U.S. military spending according to SIPRI in constant 2021 dollars from 1949 to now (all the years they provide, with their calculation adjusting for inflation), Obama’s 2011 record will probably fall this year. If you look at actual numbers, not adjusting for inflation, Biden has set a new record each year.

Chris Hedges: How the Media Misled Us About Russiagate

Image by
Luis Penados via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

TheRealNews on Feb 24, 2023

Veteran New York Times reporter Jeff Gerth dissects the role of the media in concocting a false narrative portraying Trump as a ‘Russian asset’ rather than a homegrown horror.

American Capitalism’s Growing Dysfunction, by Rainer Shea

Image by Bob Bob via Flickr

by Rainer Shea
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rainer’s Newsletter
February 21, 2023

The systemic breakdown that our socioeconomic system is creating has the potential to do more than worsen the suffering of the people. Capitalism has survived so long because it’s been able to exploit the crises it creates, to profit off of wars, depressions, pandemics, and environmental catastrophes. Yet in certain instances, these crises have instead produced victories for the working class. World War I made the Russian revolution possible, World War II made the Chinese revolution possible, the living standards crisis that the IMF engineered across the Global South made the formation of many anti-imperialist governments possible. When the capitalists disrupt society, they do so with the risk that the outcome will be not greater profits but an end to their rule.

Chris Hedges: Hamilton 68 and the Russiagate Hoax

Image by Stuart Rankin via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

TheRealNews on Feb 10, 2023

Matt Taibbi has published an investigation about a vast propaganda campaign called “Hamilton 68,” launched a year after Donald Trump won the presidency, to smear critics of the Democratic Party, from the left and the right, as Russian assets.

Abby Martin and Immortal Technique: On the Brink of Civil War

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin

Empire Files on Jan 29, 2023

Legendary rapper Immortal Technique joins Abby to discuss the escalating tensions of the post-Trump era, the duopoly playing Americans, right-wing cooptation of conspiracy theory and deep-state critique, teaching real history and much more.

Chris Hedges and Richard D. Wolff: It’s Just Another Debacle By The War Profiteers

Image by Felton Davis via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

Democracy At Work on Jan 30, 2023

In this week’s show, Prof. Wolff explains why capitalism does not deserve credit for improved living conditions, Home Depot billionaire blames US capitalism’s problems on US workers being “lazy, fat, and stupid,” Southwest Airlines as example of failures by both corporations and their gov’t “regulators,” George Santos as creature of capitalist advertising.

Chris Hedges: The Dangerous Bifurcation of the United States

Image by Wayne S. Grazio via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

TheRealNews on Jan 6, 2023

Democratic debate and dialogue have all but vanished in the United States. There is widespread censorship imposed by social media platforms, private corporations about which we know nothing, while they know everything about us. Mainstream news outlets champion censorship and deplatforming in the name of democracy.

Chris Hedges and Dennis Kucinich: How The Military-Industrial-Complex Has Become The Enemy From Within

Image by Cheshire County Democrats via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

TheRealNews on Dec 16, 2022

There was once a wing of the Democratic Party that stood up to the war industry. J. William Fulbright, George McGovern, Gene McCarthy, Mike Gravel, William Proxmire, and, of course, Dennis Kucinich. But that was largely decades ago.

Christians as Dangerous Good Samaritans, by Gary Olson

Painting by Charles Lock Eastlake, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

by Gary Olson
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Dec. 22, 2021
December 14, 2022

Lately, I’ve been musing about religion and politics. And more specifically, the thought that keeps recurring to me is the following: Is the idea of born agains and other Christians becoming political radicals, a far-fetched one? Or, should the question be, how could they not become politically radical Christians?

Daniel Lazare: America’s Fate: Revolution or Fascism? interviewed by Finian Cunningham

Image by Hunter Desportes via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Ireland
December 4, 2022

Finian Cunningham on Dec 1, 2022

Daniel Lazare in this interview with Finian Cunningham says that the United States of America is locked in a fateful political and economic crisis that will produce either of two outcomes. Either the country is heading towards more authoritarian rule or there will be a second American revolution.

PSL Editorial: Rail Industry Showdown: Joe Biden vs. The Right To Strike

Image by Loco Steve via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by Liberation Staff
LiberationNews.org, Nov. 29, 2022
November 30, 2022

Joe Biden has shown his true colors: he stands with corporate bosses over union workers. In a statement released last night, Biden stabbed rail workers in the back by calling on Congress to pass legislation imposing the terms of a tentative deal that was rejected by the members of key unions in the industry. Top Congressional leaders immediately announced their intention to do just that.

Ralph Nader, Medea Benjamin and David Swanson: Ukraine: Senseless Conflict

Image by Felton Davis via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Ralph Nader, Medea Benjamin and David Swanson

Ralph Nader Radio Hour on Nov 26, 2022

On this week of Thanksgiving, Ralph welcomes two distinguished anti-war activists and Nobel Peace Prize nominees, Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODE Pink to discuss her book War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict and David Swanson of World Beyond War to not only put the conflict in Ukraine in context but also to reveal the financial incentives that drive endless war.

Chris Hedges and Ralph Nader: A Postmortem on the 2022 Midterm Elections

Image by Stephen Melkisethian via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

TheRealNews on Nov 25, 2022

The midterm elections are over, and two more years of Congressional gridlock are likely in store. Republicans have taken a narrow majority in the House, while Democrats have held the Senate. What do we make of the current political landscape, where rhetoric runs so hot but so little gets done? And what can we expect from the 2024 presidential elections?

Chris Hedges and Lee Camp: War—That’s How Empires Die

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

“They going to have to negotiate in the end. It’s not about Ukraine, it’s not about democracy, it’s not about freedom, it’s about degrading Russia.” — Chris Hedges