Success is the carrot in capitalism with competition suggested as a virtue.  What has this ideal created in our modern world?

The sadness of success as recognized among our peers may be the cloistering within a metaphorical cubical.https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/08/marxism-anarchism-and-the-dawn-of-everything/          –Because we live in a world divided into nation-states, because capitalism rules our lives, because the boss tells us what we can and cannot do – we forget that things were different before. We forget that we ever had any sort of freedom. Graeber and Wengrow identify these freedoms as
(1) the freedom to move away,
(2) the freedom to disobey, and
(3) the freedom to shape society in a way that we choose.They identify the Enlightenment as the source of many of the ways of thinking with which we are stuck. They trace how many of the good ideas that came out of the Enlightenment, particularly about freedom, were cribbed from Native Americans like Kandiaronk (a philosopher-statesman from the Wendat Confederacy, people living around the Great Lakes under French colonial rule in the late 18^th century). They describe how the conceptualization of human history as a series of material stages came about. –end of counterpunch info–
Success in 2021 has also brought Climate Change and transfer of wealth from the 100% to 1% of people.  To watch the 99% “claw themselves to the top” in an unachievable race, remembering this is their life so bought, challenges indoctrination that is accepted.

Difference of view of events is ubiquitous and generally isn’t reported as news rather than editorial.  With no assessment of this situation, one offers it in the spirit of information—-https://www.rt.com/russia/542731-ukraine-ship-kerch-strait/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=push_notifications&utm_campaign=push_notifications    –In a statement issued late on Thursday night, Russia’s FSB announced that “on December 9 at 9.12am, the command ship ‘Donbass’ of the Ukrainian Navy left the port of Mariupol and began heading for the Kerch Strait.”According to officials, the vessel did not have permission to pass through the Russian-controlled Kerch-Yenikalsky canal that divides the Black Sea from the Sea of Azov.–end of rt info–

The news that goes unreported is generally at least as important as the news reported—-https://moguldom.com/384512/after-donating-over-500k-to-joe-bidens-victory-fund-meg-whitman-is-nominated-for-ambassador-to-kenya/?utm_source=moengage&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=subscribed    –It’s not unusual for wealthy donors to get ambassadorships in Democratic and Republican administrations.But Biden is outpacing predecessors with ambassadorships for donors, political supporters. 
–end of moguldom info–
Trump does openly that which other politicians obfuscate.  Which is better and which is worse?
https://mailchi.mp/democracynow/20180813-738825?e=1aa87a4d5a —“An Outrage”: House Passes Largest Military Budget in Generations Despite End of Afghanistan War–end of democracynow info–

One reminds that in the Southern Tier of NYS we have a strange combination of law enforcement bureaucrats promoting diminished restriction on gun ownership and at the same time demanding laws to “crack-down” on “activists”.  The nuns in this instance would be the worse for following this recommendation —  https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/09/nuns-against-nuclear-weapons-plowshares-protesters-have-fought-for-disarmament-for-over-40-years-going-to-prison-for-peace/   –In July 2012 Sister Megan Rice, an 82-year-old Catholic nun, and two men walked past multiple broken security cameras and into the heart of a high-security nuclear complex. Y-12 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was the birthplace of the atomic bomb and now stores enriched uranium for nuclear warheads. Although thanked by Congress for exposing astoundingly lax contractor security, the three were also convicted and served two years in prison.Rice, who died in October 2021, was part of a protest tradition called Plowshares.Rice wasn’t the first nun to be convicted of sabotage. –end of counterpunch info–
Nuns seem to excel in getting in trouble with hierarchy.An example that it is better in the USA to be guilty and wealthy than innocent and poor—https://wildhunt.org/2021/12/stolen-antiquities-surrendered-by-billionaire-collector.html   –NEW YORK – The Manhattan District Attorney announced that a US billionaire has surrendered 180 stolen antiquities as part of a deal that ends further investigation by a grand jury into his affairs. The artwork is valued at over $70 million USD.–end of wildhunt info–             With no info as to whether anyone is or is not guilty, but the FACT is that wealth doesn’t entitle anyone to priority in presumption of rights to much, including the environment, and other people’s antiquities.

We have much work to do. 

We deserve better.      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!
Along with Climate Change, many people oppose the imperialism of the USA under control of the Republican/Democratic duopoly.  Use of the wealth of our nation should be to enhance quality of life for We The People rather than for imperialism.  Some people vote accordingly.I———————–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.