Public Comment

The Top Story Isn't WWIII
On December 2, the Times of India (TOI) led its newscast with a report on tensions in Ukraine that flashed the headline: 'America's Mistake: Putin Vows Revenge on Live TV.' 

TOI quoted the Russian leader vowing how he "Will strike without fear" in Russia's escalating US-backed conflict with Ukraine. Meanwhile, back in the US, the top story on ABC, CBS, and NBC newscasts was the persistence of massive snowfall across the US. 

Other top stories leading US network news included: Continued coverage of thunderstorms and flooding; Continued coverage of holiday travelers stuck in airports; Continued coverage of holiday shopping from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. 

There was no coverage of Washington's spreading commitment to proxy wars in Ukraine, Russia and Syria. There was no alarm about the growing risk of a world-ending nuclear war. There was no mention of the continuing genocide in Gaza. 

While most Americans remained oblivious to the risking risks of a US/Russia conflict, followers of the Hindustan Times were viewing disturbing newscasts with headlines like: "Putin Speech In English. Russia's Biggest Dare To Trump's America." 

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s address to the nation after long-range Western weapons were used to strike deep within Russia was sobering. Putin declared that Moscow has the right to target military facilities in countries whose weapons were being used by Ukraine (maintained and guided by US technicians, of course) to strike deep inside Russian territory. 

Russia's Russia's Hypersonic Missile 'Turns Everything To Dust'
Russia has introduced a new "unstoppable" missile that travels ten times the speed of sound. A team of these Oreshnik hypersonic missiles aimed at a single target can produce a blast similar to a nuclear weapon. "The temperature of the striking elements reaches 4,000 degrees," Putin recently mused in a speech before an audience in Kazakhstan, "If my memory serves me right, the temperature on the surface of the Sun is 5,500-6,000 degrees." 

And meanwhile, back in the US, the news networks were busy screening images of stranded travelers lined up at LaGuardia Airport. 

The Lords of Plastic Are Laughing All the Way to the Gas Pump
Big corporations are under fire for polluting the planet with mountains of piled paper and packaging, empty metal cans, and a tsunami of plastic containers while, at the same time, tricking the public into believing in a fantasy called "recycling." 

While the public saw recycling as a "solution" and eagerly began to collect, clean, and carry out an "ecological duty" that felt like a healing ritual, the hidden truth was that entire generations were being massively scammed. 

We now know that, at best, recycling operations were only absorbing 5% of the plastics dutifully collected by shoppers. And it turned out, that slim 5% could only be "recycled" into new containers… once! 

The Carbon Corporations further managed to profit from the scam by compelling well-meaning cities and civilians to raise taxes to pay for fleets of massive recycling trucks assigned to make weekly appearances that left neighbors feeling righteous—while these 16-wheel behemoths made their rounds burning huge amounts of costly, carbon-based fuels. 

Yep, the same petroleum profiteers that created the flood of plastic packaging came up with a "solution" that depended on filling fleets of lumbering, low-mileage "recycling" trucks with expensive gasoline fuels that wound up pumping more pollution into the planet's atmosphere. Plastic recycling, a ritual that used to glow with feel-good vibes, now turns out to have been a lose-lose situation. 

Fashion Plates
Personalized license plate spotted about town.
JABEL
PREZA 1
BONZING
IBM MAP
BEESWET
RAK N ROB (A leaf thief?)
NFACOM (Football fan?)
BIN RDG (Been Riding?)
12DYLAN (One to Dylan?)
W84RN (Wait for Ron?) 

Bumper Snickers
I Used to Be Cool
Let Me Merge. I'm Special
My Driving Scares Me Too
Ask Me About My Blessings
Jai Kali Ma! (Hindu for "Hooray God!")
4 Out of 3 People Have Problems with Fractions
I Child-proofed My House But They STILL Get In
If Money Is the Root of All Evil Why Do Churches Beg for It? 

A Maori 'Haka' Disrupts NZ Parliament
This video captures the moment when several Maori members of New Zealand's Parliament rose to their feet on November 14 and staged a haka to protest a contentious bill that could reinterpret a 184-year-old treaty between the British colonizers and Indigenous Maori. The haka is a traditional Maori ritual made famous by New Zealand's rugby team. Parliament was briefly suspended as people in the gallery joined in. 

Dr. Brain-worm May Be onto Something
According to Trump Opportunist RFK Jr., the hidden chemical additives in everyday processed food are making Americans "among the sickest and most disease-prone food shoppers on Earth." 

As RFK propounds in an online-video: "The Democrats, who claim to be all about healthcare, have stood by, watching other countries ban these poisons that make our kids sick. Enough is enough. President Trump and I are going to stop the mass poisoning of American children." 

A Fairy Tail about Military Escalation
Once Upon a Time there were two neighbors—the Krains and the Rushes—who shared the same backyard. They squabbled over who had the better claim to this disputed patch of land. They began hurling insults at one another but soon the exchange escalated into hurling firecrackers. The dispute raged for months. 

Looking to get the upper hand, the Krains turned to the Amers, a prosperous family living on the other side of town. "Fireworks aren’t working," the Krains complained. "Can you give us some sticks of dynamite to throw at the Rushes?" 

The Rushes warned the Amers that supplying the Krains with dynamite would make the Amers complicit in the Krain-Rush dispute—and subject to retaliation. 

The Rushes even announced a "red line" that the Amers should not cross lest it unleash a global "Amergeddon." 

Of course, this is all a fairy tail. We have nothing to fear from disputes on the other side of the world. It's not for nothing that we are known as The Divided States of Warmerica. 

Remembering and Cherishing Holly Near"
Singer-songwriter and activist Holly Near speaks to the importance of creativity, via inspirational song, entitled "The Souls Are Coming Back." This performance was given at the Bioneers National Conference in 2003. 

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