The Chris Hedges Report: Living in the Shadow of Ernest Hemingway, with Mark Kurlansky

Ernest Hemingway house in key west

Image by karlnorling via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

TheRealNews on Jul 1, 2022

Chris Hedges speaks with journalist and author Mark Kurlansky about living in the shadow of Ernest Hemingway and his new book The Importance of Not Being Ernest.

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Reflecting on the Dawn of Everything, by David Swanson

Dawn

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Nov. 30, 2021
December 1, 2021

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow is, I think, a terrific contribution to human knowledge and guide to pursuing more of the same — as well as a notable accomplishment for the Davids of the world, who have perhaps been falling a bit short lately. A few of the points it documents and persuades of are:

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A Terrible Normality by Michael Parenti (2013)

Genocide Phnom Penh

Image by LKEM via Flickr

by Michael Parenti
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Jan. 25, 2013
January 29, 2021

Through much of history the abnormal has been the norm. This is a paradox to which we should attend. Aberrations, so plentiful as to form a terrible normality of their own, descend upon us with frightful consistency.

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Words Unspoken by Gaither Stewart

24th Panzer Division in Stalingrad

Image by Cassowary Colorizations via Flickr

by Gaither Stewart
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rome, Italy
August 7, 2019

Editor’s Note:

Historical fiction is a special and important genre. It can bring history to life, but more importantly it can allow us to put ourselves in the lives of those of another time, another context. There is a strong tendency in the United States toward historical amnesia. This is perhaps one of the biggest character flaws of the country. Floating in a constant now there is a complex, but highly malleable, context that disappears in the moment. This can drain the richness from our lives, set us on paths both personally and societally destructive, and perhaps most importantly, totally erode the concept of free will replacing it with faux will.

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Leave Syria the Hell Alone by David Swanson

21

Image by Ron F. via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Sept. 11, 2018
September 13, 2018

Last weekend I was on Iranian TV being asked about the meeting in Tehran at which the presidents of Iran and Russia had refused to agree with the President of Turkey to stop bombing people in Syria. I said Iran and Russia were wrong.

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A Terrible Normality by Michael Parenti

Genocide Phnom Penh

Image by LKEM via Flickr

by Michael Parenti
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published Jan. 25, 2013
August 23, 2018

Through much of history the abnormal has been the norm. This is a paradox to which we should attend. Aberrations, so plentiful as to form a terrible normality of their own, descend upon us with frightful consistency.

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Of Fake News and History Suborned (In War and Peace) by Greg Maybury

Fake News Figure, with Lurid Background 3

Image by Stuart Rankin via Flickr

by Greg Maybury
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Perth, Western Australia
Pox Amerikana, May 25, 2018
May 28, 2018

We have blind men, one-eyed men, squint-eyed men, men with long sight, short sight, clear sight, dim sight, [and] weak sight. All that is a faithful enough image of our understanding; but we are barely acquainted with [men of] false sight. — Voltaire, The Philosophical Dictionary, Knopf, NY, 1924

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Capitalism Is Always At War by William T. Hathaway

by William T. Hathaway
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published September 9, 2012
April 27, 2018

Vicious fanatics are trying to kill us and destroy our country. They’re blowing up our soldiers overseas. They’ve infiltrated our country. We must defend ourselves against these mad-dog berserkers before it’s too late.

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Stopping War Pusher John Bolton by Ralph Nader

"War Pigs" - British politicians and business elite who support or profit from the Saudi bombing of Yemen.

Image by Alisdare Hickson via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

Updated: March 30, 2018

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
March 29, 2018

John Bolton’s career of pushing for bombing countries like Iran and North Korea, and his having played an active role in the Bush/Cheney regime’s criminal war of aggression that destroyed Iraq, makes him a clear and present danger to our country and world peace. He is about to become Donald Trump’s personal national security advisor with a staff of 400 right next to the White House. He must be stopped!

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David Swanson VS Pete Kilner: Is War Ever Justifiable?

End-War

Image by Kevin Wong via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
World Beyond War
February 14, 2018

On February 12, 2018, I debated Pete Kilner on the topic of “Is War Ever Justifiable?” (Location: Radford University; Moderator Glen Martin; videographer Zachary Lyman). Here is the video: Continue reading

War = Capitalism, Capitalism = War by William Bowles

by William Bowles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Investigating Imperialism
London, England
January 22, 2018

Before I go any further with this let me state that I’m not a Trotskyist, or a Leninist, or a Stalinist or a Maoist (but I might have been all of the above, with exception of Maoist, at one time or another). However, I might be a Zapatista, at least in spirit, but I’m definitely a Socialist Revolutionary (or is that a Revolutionary Socialist?). I’m not sure if I’m a Marxist either, but I’m definitely an admirer of the old man, he was a great artist and thinker, and possibly, along with Charles Darwin, the greatest mind of the 19th century. Whatever you call it, we need a socialist revolution and we need one now, we are running out of time!

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A Veteran Remembers by Howard Zinn + How the U.S. Poisoned its Veterans

16.DorothyDay.WhiteHouse.WDC.29December2004

Image by Elvert Barnes via Flickr

by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Previously published Nov. 13, 2011
November 10, 2017

Let’s go back to the beginning of Veterans Day. It used to be Armistice Day, because at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, World War I came to an end.

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War by Gaither Stewart

War is Money (Encourage people to consider how our socio-economic-cultural system incentivizes and rewards aggressions and other harmful behaviors/activities.)

Image by Robert F. W. Whitlock via Flickr

by Gaither Stewart
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rome, Italy
October 25, 2017

If you have you ever seen a monkey hanging from a tree by its tail and showing its red ass to onlookers, then you have seen the animal kingdom’s representation of war. According to French playwright Jean Giraudoux, the pacifist and Légion d’onore holder in WWI, war looks just like that monkey’s ass. In 1933, on the eve of WWII, Giraudoux in his famous anti-war play, The Trojan War Will Not Take Place, the imminent author penned his memorable words: “When he shows us his red bottom, all scaly and glazed, encircled by a filthy wig, that’s exactly what war looks like. That’s its real face.” (Included in my novel, The Trojan Spy). Giraudoux’s play was first published in English in 1956 as Tiger At the Gates.

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