Donald Trump was Never the Real Problem, by Kenn Orphan

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

by Kenn Orphan
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Halifax, Nova Scotia
November 4, 2020

As I write this I await, like everyone else on planet earth, the results of this spectacle called the US elections. I await the outcome of a sham that empires throughout history have foisted on their subjects. The illusion of choice. I also await the inevitable contention. I await the speculation that will likely stretch on for weeks or more. I await the unhinged machinations and chaos making from the sitting president, as well as his unbridled fascist putsch, an expected act born in desperation from a sociopathic narcissistic megalomaniac.

Chris Hedges: How Teaching History Is Too Often A Form Of Social Control, Part I

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Aug 22, 2020

Chris Hedges discusses the teaching of history as a form of indoctrination with Professor James W. Loewen.

Chris Hedges: The Importance of Howard Zinn

Image by Truthout.org via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

Originally published Jan. 25, 2020

with Chris Hedges and Howard Zinn

RT America on Jan 25, 2020

On the show this week Chris Hedges discusses the importance of historian, Howard Zinn, for a fuller understanding of American history, with author and journalist, Ray Suarez.

US Arrogance is a Gas, by Finian Cunningham

Image by Jürgen Mangelsdorf via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from Sputnik
July 27, 2020

Washington’s arrogance is so out of control it has become impossibly absurd. It is astounding just how “exceptional” American politicians are at spouting double-think and contradictions without even the slightest shame or self-awareness.

Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley: Joe Biden’s Chances, The Uprising Against Racist Policing, and Solidarity

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Dandelion Salad

Black Agenda Report Presents: The Left Lens on Jun 27, 2020

In this debut episode of the Left Lens, Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley introduce viewers to Black Agenda Report, question neoliberal confidence in Joe Biden’s 2020 chances, discuss why community control of the police is so critical to the development of the movement against racist policing, and end with a brief analysis of internationalism and solidarity.

I’m Sick and Tired of This Thing Called “Patriotism” by William Blum

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by William Blum
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published July 5, 2010
July 4, 2020

Some thoughts on “patriotism” written on July 4

Most important thought: I’m sick and tired of this thing called “patriotism”.

The Japanese pilots who bombed Pearl Harbor were being patriotic. The German people who supported Hitler and his conquests were being patriotic, fighting for the Fatherland. All the Latin American military dictators who overthrew democratically-elected governments and routinely tortured people were being patriotic — saving their beloved country from “communism”.

Put Away The Flags by Howard Zinn

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by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published July 3, 2010
July 3, 2020

On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.

Danny Haiphong: Malcolm X on American Exceptionalism: Where Do We Go From Here?

Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

“The liberal co-optation is the genesis of repression not only in the state as we see it now with the police brutalizing protesters, killing black people, targeting journalists, all of the egregious human rights violations that we see occurring right now in the United States. That is one form of repression but then there’s the other ideological repression and war that is part of this struggle and we are seeing it pretty outwardly right now with the corporations and the local governments and the Democratic Party with the Kente cloth-kneeling all that as part of this ideological war, a war of placation, the attempts to really steer the movement into acceptable means of protests.” — Danny Haiphong

US is a Washed-up Empire + US Concocting Intel to Frame China for COVID-19 Crisis, by Finian Cunningham

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by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from Sputnik, Apr. 27, 2020
April 28, 2020

The harder they come, the harder they fall, as reggae singer Jimmy Cliff once put it. No nation has come harder than the United States with its history of relentless wars and mass destruction, nauseatingly dressed up with virtuous rhetoric about supposedly leading the free world.

Chris Hedges: The Importance of Howard Zinn

Image by Truthout.org via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges and Howard Zinn

RT America on Jan 25, 2020

On the show this week Chris Hedges discusses the importance of historian, Howard Zinn, for a fuller understanding of American history, with author and journalist, Ray Suarez.

Anya Parampil and Danny Haiphong: Busting Pro-War Propaganda: What China Is Really Like

Image by AK Rockefeller via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Anya Parampil and Danny Haiphong

The Grayzone on Jan 22, 2020

Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Danny Haiphong, a contributing editor at the Black Agenda Report, about his recent two week trip to China.

John Pilger: American Exceptionalism Driving World to War, interviewed by Finian Cunningham

Image by Babak Fakhamzadeh via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from Strategic Culture Foundation, Nov. 27, 2019
December 3, 2019

Australian-born John Pilger has worked for over five decades as a reporter and documentary film-maker covering wars and conflicts all over the world. In the following interview, the award-winning journalist says the world is arguably at a more perilous geopolitical juncture than even during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 at the height of the Cold War. This is because American “exceptionalism” – which, he points out, mirrors that of Nazi Germany – has developed into a hyper-rogue phase. The relentless denigration of Russia by American and Western media show that there are few red lines left to restrain aggression towards Moscow, as there were, at least, during the past Cold War. Russia and China’s refusal to bow down to Washington’s dictate is infuriating the would-be American hegemon and its desire for zero-sum world domination.

Uncle Sam was Born Lethal by Paul Street

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by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street, Sept. 1, 2019
September 16, 2019

“For revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.”

– Frederick Douglass, July 4, 1852

Howard Zinn: We Should Welcome the Collapse of the US Empire

Image by Danny Hammontree via Flickr

with Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally posted Sept. 16, 2018
September 12, 2019

“Some day people will look back on 9/11 and sure they will see it as you know the first terrible act of terrorism committed in the United States by some foreign group but they may also see 9/11 as the beginning of the disintegration of the American Empire. Because from 9/11 came the war on terrorism, so-called, the bombing of Afghanistan and now the war on Iraq and the bloating of the American military machine and the war budget and the deprivation of civil liberties. And I believe that there will be a victory in the short run and defeat of the American government in the long run. And that defeat should be welcomed. We need regime change in the United States.” — Howard Zinn

Chris Hedges: How The Capitalist State Uses Fear To Maintain Control

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Sep 7, 2019

Host Chris Hedges talks to Dr. Charles Derber about how the capitalist state uses fear bolstered by racism as a tool to control the people, and through their efforts to abolish civil liberties, crush dissent and extinguish democratic space. Derber is the author of a new book, Moving Beyond Fear: Upending the Security Tales in Capitalism, Fascism and Democracy, with Yale R. Magrass.