Welcome To Badlands Journal

In moments of absolute certainty

...which we seem to be experiencing as a whole society, it might be useful to remember the great Red hunts of the 50's and Edward R. Murrows' commentary.--blj

EDWARD R MURROW EDITORIAL ON JOSEPH MCCARTHY (1954)
Closing a half-hour television report on Senator Joseph McCarthy in March 1954, American journalist Edward R Murrow delivered a stinging editorial about McCarthy’s tactics and their impact:

Thom Hatrmann's reflections on the factions of our day

Yesterday (March 21, 2022) Thom Hartmann wrote a terrific essay, titled “Is America facing the ‘Doom Loop’ of democracy?” 
Is America Facing The “Doom Loop” of Democracy? (hartmannreport.com)
It is an essay about the present state of political affairs in both the US and Russia, which are both dominated by factions bought by a wealthy few, “oligarchs” or “plutocrats,” who use factions of bought-and-sold “elected” politicians to form governments for their donors/owners. 

"Clarity: It is always a fine thing, whatever the difficulties it brings."

“Rational argument can be conducted with some prospect of success only so long as the emotionality of a given situation does not exceed a certain critical degree. If the affective temperature rises above this level, the possibility of reason’s having any effect ceases and its place is taken by slogans and chimerical wish fantasies. That is to say, a sort of collective possession results which rapidly develops into a psychic epidemic.” --CG Jung

 

3-8-22
The Casualties of Empire

Welcome to the Absurd

Consortium News
Ban on Russian Cats
March 3, 2022
This is the extent of voluntary reaction to events in Ukraine.
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News

The International Federation of Felines (FIFe) on Tuesday ordered a ban on the importation of Russian-bred cats, presumably anywhere in the world. 
“No cat bred in Russia may be imported and registered in any FIFe pedigree book outside Russia, regardless of, which organization issued its pedigree,” the FIFe board said in a statement.

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