A reason one was disappointed about a news blackout locally on an important local issue, is that when We The People are legitimized by court action, this action encourages We The People to act in the interests of our local communities.  NYS has a background history of insinuating industrial development quietly before the local community is aware of the intentions, and then ‘splaining away disagreement by saying “well it’s too late now”.

Reporting locally about the good news for human rights or rights of nature is helpful to stem citizen apathy due to dictatorial governing and bureaucratic practice.  This is a reason some people rely on social media to ferret out news that should be reported but isn’t.  Case in point—–https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF18PyFFmgM     —

Cabot – Coterra Accept Responsibility for Contaminating Water in Dimock, Pa. – 11-29-22

–end of Dimock, Pa info–

Another important reason we need a Free Press is to remind We The People that justice is a journey, not a destination.  Justice takes time, in a dictatorial system.  Still, the pursuit is worthy.

And so the Southern Tier of NYS watches just another such ongoing struggle between hierarchy and local community.

https://www.responsiblevestalzoning.com/         —cause Broome County (who owns Bunn Hill Rd.) does not approve of the development, the Vestal Town Board needs 4 out of 5 Vestal Board members to vote yes.  After one board member resigned in disgust last June, it left only 3 members in favor of the proposed zoning change. Under these conditions, the project could not come to fruition. So, how does John Schaffer, Town Supervisor, fix this?  He appoints a candidate who came in last, yes LAST, in the 2021 town board election to fill the empty seat because that member will back him up with the yes vote he needs. 

Is it fair to the citizens of Vestal to assign this empty seat to a candidate who got the fewest of their votes in the town board election?  Apparently, it is legal, but is it ethical?  Is it moral?  

–end of responsiblevestalzoning info–

As one with no connection with Native Americans other than living on their traditional Homeland, one finds inspiration in a lifestyle that seems quite humane and sensible, as compared to hierarchical capitalism.  Winter Solstice is an inspiration to people.  Thanks to Rema Loeb for this reminder—

https://www.facebook.com/rema.loeb/posts/pfbid0oZHMVFazgcJv3gEHuyJA8QXVrWVBwgdeUSpSJZiRxbaT5yygvwrbZg7D6PAuE1Zpl   —

Tuŋwéya TȟokáheyaLak̇ot̄a Language Reclamation Group–end of remaloeb info–

https://thefirstscout.blogspot.com/2019/12/winter-solstice-is-sacred-time.html?fbclid=IwAR0WmhynQB9a5NlQGQhq7yjQ9kG2FvRS1rsRRJDUhy2jGEh-4-oru3g-MII  —

Sometime during the Long Night, the Fallen Star rises from the highest point of White Earth Butte. As the heavens turn, or as the earth rotates, the constellation gradually moves counter-clockwise until most of it gradually disappears past the northern horizon. Fallen Star, or Capella, dips down past the horizon, then majestically rises, bringing hope to the people. —end of thefirstscout info–

Treatment of modern-day US local communities and centuries-old treatment of Native Americans may have come to the attention of nations outside of the USA.  And so they act accordingly.  https://popularresistance.org/macron-says-security-guarantees-for-russia-needed-for-future-peace-deal/          —

“One of the essential points we must address — as President Putin has always said — is the fear that NATO comes right up to its doors, and the deployment of weapons that could threaten Russia,” Macron added.–end of popularresistance info–

Macron seems simply to speak FACTS, and propaganda shouldn’t stand in the way of peace for the people of Ukraine, as it currently does.

The USA seems to function as a dictatorial oligarchy.  —  https://popularresistance.org/tax-the-rich-we-did-that-once/                        —

Back at the tail-end of that era, in the early 1960s, America’s richest faced a 91 percent tax rate on income in the top tax bracket. That top rate had been hovering around 90 percent for the previous two decades. In the 1950s, a Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, made no move to knock it down.–end of popularresistance info–

When Republicans say they support religious freedom, the implications seems only for themselves, and the same can be suggested about Democrats and prosperity.  And so goes the duopoly.  —  https://popularresistance.org/hakeem-jeffries-and-the-railroad-workers/    —

The Black Agenda Report team is proud to have coined the phrases “Black misleadership class” and “Black political class.” These words cannot be uttered and written too often because they name and shame the people who work alongside the neoliberal and imperialist order in the United States while also pretending to act on behalf of Black people, whose needs are antithetical to those of the oligarchy.

Only eight members of the House of Representatives voted against the chicanery and Jeffries was not among them. –end of popularresistance info–

From Leecamp—

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUd-9qg7eYk       —

New Dem Leader Jeffries Controlled By Worst of The Worst

–end of leecamp info–

In the USA, is racial justice a euphemism for meritocracy?  The question arises in considering delicacy that stops at the US border, and manifests in cash.—

https://mronline.org/2022/12/07/excerpt-brussels-conference-act-of-1890/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=excerpt-brussels-conference-act-of-1890&mc_cid=bcf7d3a4ab&mc_eid=2833cdb99b        –The deceptive notion of “humanitarian intervention” as cover for Western imperial theft and hubris has a long history. In fact, if there’s anything that European nations and its white dominions (“the West”) are good for is looting the resources of the world and telling us that it’s for our own good. “Humanitarianism,” in the language of bringing Christianity to “savage” Africans, was the reason given by Belgium’s Leopold II, the unabashed “Monster of the Congo,” for the theft of Congo’s resources and the genocide of its peoples. Leopold’s hold on the Congo was solidified via the 1885 Berlin Conference, where European nations (along with the US) met to partition and continue their conquest of the African continent, through the principle of “effective occupation.” The Berlin Conference was effectively an agreement among thieves, and “effective occupation” gave European powers the right to claim areas of the African continent.

–end of mronline info–

From Leecamp  —  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf1b95SGUp0    —

Ben Norton & Lee Camp: Coup in Peru & Latin America Fights Dollar Hegemony

–end of leecamp info–

/from counterpunch  —  https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/12/07/black-robes-white-straight-christian-male-justice/          –It has been barely six months since the Supreme Court of the United States ordered women to return to their original intended role as mere dutiful chattel to cook and clean and to be subservient to the demands and “needs” of largely white Christian men under the controlling watch of the politics of a given state. Not satisfied with smashing the clock of gender equality, the Supreme Court, state legislatures, and persons of dark voice and determined malevolent agenda, have moved on in a palpable effort to bully and batter communities that do not reflect their color, faith, sexual identity or voice.

–end of counterpunch info–

Several points—-

*Republicans rejoice in control over women’s bodies but Democrats used the misogyny, to use the phrase coined by campaign strategists….especially white women, to political advantage

The US Constitution is reportedly inspired from the Haudenosaunee

*The USA seems to veer from Constitutional concepts to “running government like a business”

*Republicans are blatantly espousing minimization of concepts from the US Constitution in compliance to Trump suggestions

*Democrats function accordingly without saying the words, by “running government like a business”

These opinions are just that, and may be fodder for conversation.  One would love to be proved wrong.  

Some people believe degrowth is an answer to many of the problems afflicting nature and humanity in 2022.  Howie Hawkins says he will speak on this topic on Saturday, and many await in anticipation.  Consider what we’ve lost in so-called progress.  —

https://www.treehugger.com/why-dark-skies-matter-4861115?hid=4246be665c7c525806e26d15079d974213d256e7&did=882507-20221208&utm_campaign=treehugger-daily_n—-If you want to really see the stars in the sky, how far would you have to travel from your front door?

Up until about 100 years ago, the night sky was dark, but with the ever-increasing use of artificial light, our world is illuminated almost 24/7. The result is light pollution, defined by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) as inappropriate or excessive use of artificial light. A nonprofit with more than 60 chapters around the world, the IDA advocates for “the protection of the night sky” and is recognized as an authority on light pollution.

–end of treehugger info–

Indigenous People may be our salvation.  —

https://www.treehugger.com/new-zealand-dark-sky-nation-6836341?hid=4246be665c7c525806e26d15079d974213d256e7&did=882507-20221208&utm_campaign=treehugger-daily_newsletter&utm_source=treehugger&utm_medium=email&utm_content=120822&cid=882507&mid=103919951028&lctg=196461004  —

Already beloved and admired for its gorgeous landscapes and stunning night skies, New Zealand is taking additional steps to preserve its dark sky heritage. An unprecedented effort, led by Indigenous Māori people, is presently underway to certify the country as a “dark sky nation.” If successful, it would make the country only the second in the world and by far the largest to receive the designation from the International Dark-Sky Association (IDSA ).–end of treehugger info–

****As one who would be perfectly contented to retain the Senate if they adhered to Oaths of Office more than to Citizens United campaign donations, one is interested in a topic raised as to the reason we maintain the US Senate—-

 This is a reminder of how much we don’t know.  This brings one around to Howie Hawkins, who continues to impress with original thought.  We also could acknowledge Hawkins often speaks to censored information.
One such topic about which one would never have even considered, is whether the USA needs The Senate.  Apparently The Senate is little other than expensive window dressing, promoting hierarchical interests, and too often placed in positions of power by big-money via Citizens United.  But the public gets to fund this curiosity of pompous supremacy.  Who knew?
The Democratic Branch of the Republican/Democratic Duopoly are especially functional in voter suppression—–https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNbdkuU1edw          —#GreenSocialist Notes #76
Howie Hawkins brings up the concept of whether the USA needs the Senate.  Apparently according to some people, the Senate isn’t necessary.  This brings up the blockage from the Senate of many bills that would benefit We The People.  Combined with Citizens United that promotes big-money interest choice of Senators, in which laws are passed that benefit big-money interest rather than We The People, and that We The People support economically, the members of the Senate, this seems a good topic for discussion.
The US Constitution doesn’t seem to sanction elections run by political Parties, and to permit control of political debates by political Parties seems equally corrupt.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ7kn2-GEmM       —

Ross Perot in 1992 on NAFTA and the “Giant Sucking Sound”

Centralization is the lifeblood of the R&D duopoly.  It’s the way to enforce capitalism onto workers in 2022.———————–We can do better———-

That “we are a 2-Party system” is a fabrication of the Republican/Democratic duopoly and spread by MSM.  In FACT the majority of voters aren’t either registered Democratic or Republican.  The censorship about this info must be envied by bureaucrats of the Former USSR and their simplistic style of 1-Party elections.  

Regardless of which character sits in the Oval Office, We The People have work to do to maintain principles of our democratic (small d) Constitutional republic.  Several items to challenge—*We need the integrity of ranked-choice voting so voters won’t feel compelled to “hold your nose and vote”*Censored debates must be stopped.  The Democratic/Republican duopoly pretends to legitimate debates in what is nothing other than another campaign show.  Independent debates run by uninterested sponsors such as The League of Women Voters, must be restored.  (Access www.debates.org to understand the extent of duopoly control).  The so-called Debate Commission is a corporation to promote the Democratic corporation and Republican corporation, not to inform We The People*Challenge and stop gerrymandering that is a trick especially of the Republican branch of the duopoly.*Stop voter suppression by political Parties, and especially confront and stop Party suppression, which is the over-arching approach to voter suppression.  Party suppression seems to have been the responsibility of the Democratic corporation*Promote by law ranked-choice voting, so we won’t be told again, by D&R duopoly, to “hold your nose and vote”
If these issues are handled, our next elections can be honorable. 
*******************************************************************https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx—-Political Party affiliation of voters.
    https://www.lwv.org/newsroom/press-releases/league-refuses-help-perpetrate-fraud–LEAGUE REFUSES TO “HELP PERPETRATE A FRAUD”

WITHDRAWS SUPPORT FROM FINAL PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE–end of lwv info–Murray Bookchin, who founded social ecology, a theory that strongly influenced early Green Socialist thought, strongly advocated the discussion and study group as the first step of any revolutionary movement. A group of individuals meets to expand their knowledge of radical thought and form a radical intellectual community; through the give and take of discussion, can eventually form ideas for next steps in organizing and political activity. According to Bookchin, study groups help create solidarity and a shared language — with a shared coherent vision — for building a mass, organizing, political movement!