Global
Hey China, quit threatening us! We’ll kick your ass.
Yeah, bad China, maybe worse than Russia, e.g.:
“The People’s Republic of China, which is increasingly challenging the United States economically, technologically, politically and militarily around the world, remains our unparalleled priority.”
The words are those of Avril Haines, director of national intelligence, addressing a Senate committee recently. As the New York Times noted, she “reinforced the message that President Biden and his top foreign policy aides have been sending on China. . . . that while Russia is a medium-term challenge, China is the greatest long-term rival of the United States and is the only nation with the power and resources to reshape the American-led international order.”
In fact, the US debacle in Iraq and the Middle East, and the humiliating retreat from Afghanistan were only signs of the decline in US power.
Our premier guest JERRY ASHTON has retired Billions of dollars in medical debt, freeing millions of American citizens from the burden of servitude to global corporate loan sharks.
Ashton’s legendary RIP Medical Debt organization uses contributions to pay off overdue bills run up in hospitals and elsewhere, but bought by predatory collection agencies and then turned against ordinary citizens.
Begun at the Occupy Wall Street actions many years ago, Ashton has used thousands of private donations to liberate many many families from unsustainable financial burdens.
Abolish Medical Debts was famously featured by John Oliver on his “Last Week Tonight” Show, in which Olver donated Big Money to liberate many many families from their overdue payments.
Jerry is a captivating, personable presenter who gives us a full hour of breakthrough brilliance that has made a very real difference in many many lives. Don’t miss his wonderful presentation!
We start our Green Grassroots Emergency Election Protection zoom #134 with RACHEL COYLE’s truly astonishing report from the Ohio Heartland.
She starts with the “Education Destruction Act” poised to decimate learning throughout the state.
She then explains the gerrymandered legislature’s attempt to gut the referendum process while assaulting women’s ability to control their own bodies.
She follows with a horrifying account of the legislature’s defiance of the state Supreme Court in defense of the illegal gerrymandered maps that keep it in power.
MARY JANE BORDEN chimes in with a mind-boggling account of the struggle to legalize marijuana in Ohio, which has made remarkable progress cutting through the fascist fog.
WENDI LEDERMAN then explains the horrible official murder of the 27-year-old activist TORTUGUITA, who was shot dead---while seated, with his hands up—with 57 cop bullets in his body.
The fight over the 85-acre Cop City police center in a public forest in Atlanta continues to spiral down into tragic violence.
The 39th annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is taking place May 4-13 at a variety of mostly Downtown LA venues (see: https://festival.vcmedia.org/2023/venues-parking/). LAAPFF is arguably America’s main gateway for Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander productions to gain access to the U.S. movie market and in particular, LA, the world’s capital of cinema. The yearly filmfest is presented by Visual Communications, an LA-based media organization whose “mission is to develop and support the voices of Asian American & Pacific Islander filmmakers and media artists who empower communities and challenge perspectives. Founded in 1970 with the understanding that media and the arts are powerful forms of storytelling, Visual Communications creates cross cultural connections between peoples and generations.”
On May 15, 2023, the Palestinian Nakba will be 75 years old.
Palestinians all over the world will commemorate the tragic occasion, known as the 'Catastrophe', when nearly 800,000 Palestinians were made refugees and nearly 500 towns and villages were ethnically cleansed of their inhabitants in historic Palestine between late 1947 and mid-1948.
Movies of the Duke, Hitch, Kurosawa, Brando, Bogie, Poitier, Bruce Lee, Bette Davis and other silver screen icons were presented April 13-16 at the 14th annual Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival. Living legends were on hand, live and in person, too. On opening night movie maestro Steven Spielberg discussed Howard Hawks’ 1959 Rio Bravo and more with co-star Angie Dickinson and helmer Paul Thomas Anderson at the Western’s screening in the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX (that renowned movie palace formerly known as Grauman’s Chinese). 60 years after its premiere, Ann-Margret introduced her 1963 musical comedy Bye Bye Birdie on TCL’s big screen.
Can we form a circle big enough to fit 330 million Americans? Do we have enough folding chairs? I don’t know, but somehow we’ve got to launch a national conversation about . . . war, security, guns, fear and, oh God, the global future.
Ultimately we need to pull the whole planet into it — this is, after all, one planet, not 193 separate entities — but a circle of Americans, citizens of the most militarized and, perhaps, fearful nation on Earth, is a good place to start. We have to reach into our collective soul, folks!