Random acts of kindness (video)

Random acts of kindness: Faith in humanity restored

(Interesting Facts, Feb. 15, 2021) Firemen spotted an unconscious kitten lying lifeless on the floor of a burning house. A few moments later one fireman puts an oxygen mask around its face, while using cold water to bring the unconscious patient back to life. A Russian policeman uses his patrol car to stop a speeding car, saving the lives of the pedestrians the car was about to hit as they crossed the road. It’s a good thing that it only took him just a second to act. Even though some cars were a little banged up, no one was injured. Then there's the buzzcut. Subscribe.

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"American Zen: Fighting For Our Lives" (TV)

AZ; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, S. Auberon, Ananda (Dharma Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly

American Zen: Fighting For Our Lives TV miniseries in development (imdb.com)

.

Somewhere someone (maybe David Joseph, Andrew Dietz, or Missy Stowell) is working on something (maybe called "American Zen: Fighting For Our Lives"), which may or not make it out of production and onto the small screen as a miniseries.

Imagine it: "I was desperate, sitting on a pillow. Doing nothing was the last thing I wanted to do. We were fugitive-beat-poets, junkies, hippies, speed freaks, and generally maladjusted, too young to even know what to do with the insane experiences we'd had in the world. Zen was perfect. It asked nothing of you. Simple. Just sit down."

Boy, Hollywood is one tough town. Imagine trying to pitch this script. Will it ever make it to air?

American Tao, too?

Things never to put in a spec script (ScreenCraft)

(Wisdom Quarterly) We should work up a spec if this is all it takes. We can see it now... "American Tao: Abiding on a Cloud." We were satisfied, walking up a misty mountain, whereabouts unknown. Taking the path of least resistance was the last thing we wanted. We were poetic-writers, beaten, tricked out, freaky, and all too well adjusted to middle class norms, yet too stupid to know what to do with our vanilla dreams and milky experiences, echoing the Sixties. The Tao was just right. It spun of its own accord. Yin then yang unto yin again, one inside the other, fed by contrast. Impossible. Just going with the flow."

Sex advice from middle school teacher (video)

WARNING: The word "sex" is mentioned as well as uncomfortable situations!

Sex advice from a middle school English teacher: Rachel Mac

(Lights Out with David Spade, 11/19) Comedy Central presents stand up comedian Rachel Mac, who used to be a middle school teacher – until a perfect grammar joke got her fired.

ABOUT: Lights Out with David Spade specializes in celebrities, entertainment, and all things apolitical. The comedy legend and a panel of his comedian friends are at the roundtable and in the field to help break down the biggest headlines of the day.

• Watch more Comedy Central: youtube.com/comedycentral

Gov't to CENSOR dissent and all "wrong" info

Larry Mantle (AirTalk, scpr.org); Seth Auberon, CC Liu, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How can the Biden administration block all dis- and mis-information and inconvenient truths?

Me! I'll decide what's true and what's disinfo.

(AirTalk on KPCC, 2/25/21) "Conspiracy" theories and things the government calls hoaxes have been around for a long time, well before the advent of the internet.

In recent years it seems more and more North Americans are willing to openly embrace alternatives to government truth, particularly as high-ranking government officials, including the a president, amplify the voices of those spreading information the government dislikes.

Greg Palast investigates (gregpalast.com).

Whether it’s false claims about election fraud (which happens in every election according to investigative journalist Greg Palast), conspiracy theories like those attributed to QAnon, or evidence this coronavirus is man-made, unpopular information is having its moment in the national media.

Don't look up. There's nothing there.

But the Biden administration has said it plans to censor and stamp it out. It is taking steps to fight whatever it labels "disinformation" (excluding government propaganda and hand-selected "expert" opinions) at the federal level.

Some congressional Democrats want to get in on the effort, too: In December, members of The Congressional Task Force on Digital Citizenship sent a letter to the then-Biden transition team proposing a blueprint for how Joe's administration can combat the flow of disinformation, which includes:

• 

  Big Gov't and the Thought Police are watching.

  creating a multi agency "task force" whose job would be to better "educate" Americans [by sending them to "reeducation or labor camps" if necessary] on disinformation and ensure that centralized power federal agencies have tools to fight it.

"Expert" Joan Donovan, Harvard

But how do government agents fight information in a deeply divided society where many individuals have chosen to trust their own understanding of what's real real over what they're told by government is real?

This is a society where individuals who would most likely benefit from a centralized campaign against disinformation are the same people who distrust anything the federal government says or does. 

"Expert" Ilya Somin, George Mason

AirTalk explores some of the things the Biden administration might do to combat information the government doesn't want citizens to know.

How can Biden fight information he doesn't like at the federal level as well as the challenges, legal and policy-wise, that he might face along the way to shutting down dissent and debate. More + MP3 AUDIO

• GUESTS: Joan Donovan, adjunct lecturer in public policy and research director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard U. Tweets @BostonJoan 
• Ilya Somin, professor of law at George Mason U. (Antonin Scalia Law School). where his research areas include constitutional law, democratic theory, and federalism. Tweets @IlyaSomin

Science: Study of lucid dreaming (audio)

James Doubek (NPR, 2/27/21 via scpr.org); Pat Macpherson, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Dreams are "messages from your own mind," but what are lucid dreams? (Psychology Today)

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Scientists talked to dreamers, who answered from inside their dreams

A bed, perchance to dream (VA State Parks)

Researchers say two-way communication is possible with people who are asleep and lucid dreaming.

Specifically, people who are lucid dreaming — that is, dreaming while being aware they're dreaming — can communicate from inside their dreams.

In separate experiments, scientists in the USA, France, Germany, and the Netherlands asked people simple questions while they slept.

Sleepers were able to respond by moving their eyes or twitching their faces in certain ways to indicate their answers.

"Since the '80s, we've known that lucid dreamers can communicate out of dreams by using these signals," says researcher Karen Konkoly, a doctoral (Ph.D.) student at Northwestern University who is the first author on the study published this month in Current Biology.

"But we were wondering, can we also communicate in? Can we ask people questions that they could actually hear in their dreams that we could kind of have a more meaningful conversation?"

The Buddha's eyes of wisdom see far (Nepal).

These scientists were studying REM (rapid-eye-movement) sleep, which is the stage of sleep where people dream most vividly.

In REM sleep "every muscle in your body is completely paralyzed, except you can twitch and you can move your eyes," Konkoly tells Scott Simon on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday.

"So if you become lucid [self-aware] in a dream and you want to communicate, then when people are dreaming, they just look left-right, left-right, really dramatically. And then we know that they're communicating out."

Lucid dreaming is uncommon. So to study it, scientists recruited people who had experience with it and also trained them to try to make lucid dreaming more likely.

What about waking dreams on DMT or LSD?

Before they went to sleep, the participants were also trained how to communicate their answers. Special sensors measured people's eye movements or experts would judge their facial movements.

For example, a typical question would be to ask, "What is 8 minus 6?"

A 19-year-old American man was able to respond by moving his eyes left-right, left-right — two times — to signal "2." Researchers asked the question again, and he moved his eyes the same way two times again.

• There were 158 trials among 36 participants
• About 18% of the time lucid dreamers were able to give correct answers.
• In another 18% it was unclear if participants responded.
• They were wrong 3% of the time.
• Most often (61%) participants didn't respond at all.

For the people dreaming lucidly, they didn't always interpret the questions they were hearing as a simple question from researchers:

"Sometimes stimuli were perceived as coming from outside the dream. But other times the stimuli emanated from elements of the dream, contextualized in a way that made sense in relation to ongoing dream content," the researchers write.

In one case one participant "heard the questions transposed over their dream as though it [were] God talking to them," Konkoly says.

The researchers write that their findings present "new opportunities for gaining real-time information about dreaming, and for modifying the course of a dream" and "could usher in a new era of investigations into sleep and into the enigmatic cognitive dimensions of sleep."

Konkoly says there's the possibility of one day doing a sort of "dream therapy" for talking down people experiencing LUCID NIGHTMARES.

• [Though if lucid, they would seem not to need help, as they would be aware that they were only dreaming.]

Trump for dictator? Ahh, no! Wake me up!

And if more reliable communication methods can be worked out, it could help people with creative activities and ideas. "People often use lucid dreaming or dreaming for a kind of artistic, creative inspiration," Konkoly says.

"But in that dream state, your resources thus far are only the ones that you have in the dream." So with the help of an awake person, Konkoly says it could be possible to "combine those logical advantages of wake with the creative advantages of dreams and maybe have some more applications." More + AUDIO

• Samantha Balaban and Ed McNulty produced and edited the audio interview (visit npr.org).

The Buddha's "conversion magic" (sutra)

Ajahn Sujato (trans.), AN 4.193 (suttacentral.org); edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

193. “Discourse to Bhaddiya”

Primary translator Ajahn Sujato (Anthony Best)

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Vesālī, in the Great Wood, in the hall with the peaked roof. Then Bhaddiya the Licchavi went to the Buddha, bowed, sat respectfully to one side, and asked:

“Sir, I have heard, ‘The wandering ascetic Gautama is a magician. He knows a conversion magic and uses it to convert the disciples of those who follow other paths.’ I trust that those who say this repeat what the Buddha has said, that they do not misrepresent him with an untruth? Is their explanation in line with the Dharma (Teaching)? Are there any legitimate grounds for rebuke and criticism?”

[The power of instruction]

The Buddha, the wandering ascetic

“Bhaddiya, please do not go by oral transmission [as in the Kalama Sutra], do not go by lineage, do not go by testament, do not go by canonical authority, do not rely on logic, do not rely on inference, do not go by reasoned contemplation, do not go by the acceptance of a view after consideration, do not go by the appearance of competence, and do not go by the thought ‘This ascetic is our respected teacher.’

“But when you know for yourself, ‘These things are unskillful, blameworthy, criticized by sensible people, and when undertaken they lead to harm and suffering.’ In that case they should be given up.

“What do you think, Bhaddiya? Does greed arise in a person for that person's welfare or harm?”

“Harm, sir.”

“A greedy individual — overcome by greed — kills living creatures, steals, engages in sexual misconduct, lies, and encourages others to do so. Is that for their lasting harm and suffering?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What do you think, Bhaddiya? Does hate… does delusion… does aggression arise in a person for that person's welfare or harm?”

“Harm, sir.”

“A [hateful, deluded, aggressive] individual kills living creatures, steals, engages in sexual misconduct, lies, and encourages others to do so. Is that for their lasting harm and suffering?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What do you think, Bhaddiya, are these things skillful or unskillful?”

“Unskillful, sir.”

“Blameworthy or blameless?”

“Blameworthy, sir.”

“Criticized or praised by sensible people?”

“Criticized by sensible people, sir.”

“When undertaken, do they lead to harm and suffering or not? Or how is it?”

“When undertaken they lead to harm and suffering. That’s how it is.”

“So, Bhaddiya, when it was said, ‘Please, Bhaddiya, do not go by oral transmission, do not go by lineage...and do not go by thinking, “This ascetic is our respected teacher.” But when you know for yourself, “These things are unskillful, blameworthy, criticized by sensible people, and when undertaken they lead to harm and suffering” then they should be given up.’ That’s what I said, and this is why I said it.

“Please, Bhaddiya, do not rely on oral transmission… But when you know for yourself, ‘These things are skillful, blameless, praised by sensible people, and when undertaken, they lead to welfare and happiness’ then they should be acquired and kept.

“What do you think, Bhaddiya? Does contentment… love… understanding… benevolence arise in a person for welfare or harm?”

“Welfare, sir.”

“An individual who is benevolent — not overcome by aggression — does not kill living creatures, steal, engage in sexual misconduct, lie, or encourage others to do so. Is that for their lasting welfare and happiness?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What do you think, Bhaddiya, are these things skillful or unskillful?”

“Skillful, sir.”

“Blameworthy or blameless?”

“Blameless, sir.”

“Criticized or praised by sensible people?”

“Praised by sensible people, sir.”

“When undertaken, do they lead to welfare and happiness or not? Or how is it?”

“When undertaken, they lead to welfare and happiness. That’s how it is.”

“So, Bhaddiya, when it was said, ‘Please, Bhaddiya, do not go by oral transmission... when undertaken, they lead to welfare and happiness” then they should be acquired and kept.’ That’s what I said, and this is why I said it.

“Good people in the world encourage their disciples, ‘Please, disciple, live free of greed. Then you won’t act [accrue karma] out of greed by way of body, speech, or mind. Live free of hate… delusion… aggression. Then you won’t act out of hate… delusion… aggression by way of body, speech, or mind.”

Reaction

When the Buddha said this, Bhaddiya the Licchavi said, “Excellent, sir, excellent! …From this day forward, may the Buddha remember me as a lay follower who has gone for guidance [to the Enlightened One (the Buddha), the Enlightened Teaching (Dharma), and the Enlightened-Sangha] for life.”

"Conversion magic" would be so Disney.

“Well, Bhaddiya, did I say, ‘Please, Bhaddiya, be my disciple, and I will be your teacher’?”

“No, sir.”

“Though I speak and explain like this, certain wandering ascetics and Brahmins misrepresent me with the false, hollow, lying, untruthful claim, ‘The wandering ascetic Gautama is a magician. He knows a conversion magic and uses it to convert the disciples of those who follow other paths.’”

“Sir, this ‘conversion magic’ is excellent. This conversion magic is lovely! If my loved ones — my kith and kin — were to be ‘converted’ by this, it would be for their lasting welfare and happiness. If all the nobles, Brahmins, merchants, and workers were to be converted by this, it would be for their lasting welfare and happiness.”

“So it is, Bhaddiya! So it is, Bhaddiya! If all the nobles, Brahmins, merchants, and workers were to be converted by this, it would be for their lasting welfare and happiness. If the whole world — with its devas, māras, and brahmās, this generation with its wandering ascetics and Brahmins, devas and humans — were to be converted by this, for the giving up unskillful things and embracing skillful things, it would be for their lasting welfare and happiness.

“If these great sal trees were to be converted by this, for the giving up of unskillful things and embracing skillful things, it would be for their lasting welfare and happiness — if they were sentient beings. How much more if a human being were to do so!”

—

The Commentary (AA.ii.558) adds that at the conclusion of this discourse, Bhaddiya became a stream enterer, reaching the first stage of enlightenment (palikanon.com).

Comedy News: Gay Mr. Potato Head? (video)

Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC, 2/26/21); War Campaign (commentary); Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

Nonbinary Potato Head, Trump's taxes, Marjorie Taylor Greene, testing vax on monkeys

(Jimmy Kimmel Live, Feb. 25, 2021) Kimmel apologizes for setting off Alexa in American homes after telling a story about junky Bisquick pancakes, and since he has this newfound power, encourages everyone to try out an idea he has to sell his children's book.

How do we inject money into Big Pharma?

He also talks about the magic disappearance of the common flu this year. (Might common flu cases be labelled "Covid-19" to boost pandemic numbers and profits? You decide).

Back to the SCARY VAX NEWS: There are new mutations of the novel coronavirus (because all "variants" are novel by definition), and they're spreading around the world, butt China is developing an anal test, and to stem the aerosol spread, a school band in Washington is practicing in individual tents, and attention...

I don't want to be killed in vaccine experiments.

ANTI-VIVISECTIONISTS: There's an alarming "shortage" of monkeys used for testing toxic corona vaccines being researched and developed by Big Pharma for obscene profits that make investor Bill Gates even richer while trimming the world population.

 

Marjorie Taylor Greene is continuing her campaign as frontrunner for worst human of 2021 by working to defeat the “Equality Act” and chastising Democrats on the floor for being mean to Republicans who, she claims, never supported the Capitol Riot/Insurrection.

Ex-Pres. McDonald Trump’s tax returns were officially handed over to the Manhattan district attorney, the city's top prosecutor.

Mr. Potato Head goes non-binary?

It's not a lifestyle move. It's for popularity.

Gay Mr./Ms. Potato Head? No, he's intersex! In a major announcement from Hasbro toy corporation about "Mr. Potato Head," the "mister" is being axed from their name. S/he is going non-binary or coming out as intersex or LGBTQIA+ ("lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual, plus").

Is Mr. Potato Head GAY? Potato Head's family goes gender neutral and it feels great!

(War Campaign, 2/26/21) Time for the spud to hit the Monsanto soup in the fryer and come out a perfectly formed potatosexual. That's right, friends, Mr. Potato Head can be anything he wants to be, which is absolutely PC and wonderful.

I'm not gay. This is an ad campaign. I'm a toy!

Ya gotta be able to get down and dirty and express yourself from the inside to the outside of your spud hole. It's new branding for 2021 with a gender neutral Potato Family, where anything is possible. Imagination is the only limit. Hey, why not? Just stick the Potato Head right up... the alley? They're saying it's "SJW WOKE 2021," so War Campaign may not be as glad as they sound. But let's not judge. Everyone has a place around here and gets a voice.

• Source: goodmorningamerica.com​
• bitchute.com/channel/WARCAMP...​
• youtube.com/c/WARCAMPAIGN​
• twitter.com/warcampaignyt​
• dlive.tv/WARCAMPAIGN

"The United States vs. Billie Holiday" (film)

The United States vs. Billie Holiday

(Hulu) Billie Holiday was a famous and vastly influential American singer and a drug addict destroyed by racist police enforcing racist government policies, depriving us of one of the greats while White singers doing the same or worse at that time were left alone. The U.S. will not stand for a populist voice for change. This drama also stars Natasha Lyonne and Lee Daniels.

Tax-cheat Trump to give speech at CPAC (video)

GOP backs Trump ahead of first post-presidency paid speech at CPAC: A Closer Look

(Late Night with Seth Meyers, Feb. 25, 2021) News comedian Seth Meyers takes a closer look at Republicans continuing to rally around ex-Pres. McDonald Trump.

Don, can you assassinate Nevalny for me?

He is preparing to deliver his first speech since leaving office. It will be at CPAC 2021 (covered by CNN and other outlets) currently going on in Florida. (He has been on Fox News after being acquitted in the second impeachment trial of his tenure, interviewed by Tucker Carlson or some such suck up treating it like a rally speech).

(MSNBC) Former Pres. Trump attorney Michael Cohen blows the whistle

MAGA: Bow to the great Tax Dodger Trump before those tax filings are revealed.

• Trump's tax returns handed over to NYC prosecutors (NBC)
• CPAC: Conservative of Political Action Conference
• Late Night w/ Seth Meyers now streams on Peacock​

The Dalai Lama on police violence (video)

Empathy and Compassion in Policing

(Dalai Lama Archive, streamed live Feb. 16, 2021) The 14th Dalai Lama (dalailama.com) gave a talk on empathy and compassion (mudita and karuna) in policing at the request of the Indian Police Foundation. It is followed by questions from the group online from his residence in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India on Feb. 17, 2021.

(Mr. Kamran) US police vs. Indian police

Angry Asian Buddhist on American Buddhism

Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Angry Asian Buddhist; CC Liu, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Zendesk appropriates Budai for business.

Buddhist Peace Fellowship Board Member Funie Hsu hopped on the phone with Arun Likhati (Aaron Lee), cultural critic and creator of the Angry Asian Buddhist blog phenomenon, to ask him about Orientalism, racism, representation, and other causes and conditions for all the anger.

Asian Buddhist writers are three times less likely than white Buddhists to appear in major Western Buddhist publications.

On having “angry” in the title

Arun (Aaron J. Lee) on Twitter

There's a stereotype, not just about Buddhists, but about Asians in particular, that we are passive. We don’t really act up, and we sit on fluffy meditation cushions and gaze at our navels, and smile, and do something focused, and we’re not angry.

Just having “Angry Asian Buddhist” as the title challenges readers to think about what it means to be Asian and Buddhist. I think that’s important, having some sort of icon to counter stereotypes. “Making our way without Asians”?

On reactions to race commentary

Simply by bringing up the topic of race, some people assume that what’s being talked about is racism. And in modern Western society, that’s evil, EVIL. It’s uncomfortable, it’s taboo, but race exists. Race exists in the way people are treated. More

War Puppet: US and Biden attack Iran/Syria

Missy Ryan, Anne Gearan, Alex Horton (The Washington Post, 2/26/21, 12:13 am PST; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

War Defense Sec'y Lloyd Austin said he was confident [but not sure] the building targeted was used by a militia responsible for attacks against a friend of the U.S. and another guy (AP.org, 2/25/21).

You'll love these wars, Joe. Welcome to the...

[It's back to business as usual for the military-industrial complex and their hired hand.] The Biden administration conducted an airstrike on "Iranian-linked fighters" in Syria today, and officials hope it killed a number of alleged Iranian-linked fighters, signaling its intent to use targeted military actions to push against any violence they can tie to Tehran (the capital of Iran).

Satanic Forces? (Live from the Pentagram)

The aggressive U.S. attack on a border-crossing station in eastern Syria, the first known lethal operation ordered by the Biden administration against Iran’s network of alleged armed proxies, was “authorized in response to recent attacks against American and coalition personnel in Iraq, and to ongoing threats,” Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby claimed.

We do it for the money.

These facilities were used by Iranian-linked Iraqi militias, including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, he said. The operation follows a deadly attack on a location housing U.S. personnel in Iraq that American officials have attributed to Iranian-linked groups.

Earlier this month, rocket fire in northern Iraq led to the death of a contractor working with the U.S. military [though not actually an American] and injured a U.S. service member. More

U.S. Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler: War is a $CAM (goodreads.com)

Lactating BREASTS to be shown on US TV

I may look like a guy dressed like a cop, but I have a body hide that got me dropped (fired).

First commercial showing lactating breasts to air during Golden Globes

(Hollywood News, Feb. 25, 2021) The first commercial showing lactating breasts and nude nipples is scheduled to air during the Tanned Boobs Golden Globes. Though little advertised this year's pandemic show airs this Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021.

(Mr.JT) Boob milk on television in Buddhist Thailand (Rated O for odd)

• #advertising​, #breastfeeding, #breasts, #commercials,, #nudity, #parenting

WAR? "Confessions of an Economic Hitman"

J. Perkins; Talking Heads "Life During Wartime"; Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Featuring 15 explosive new chapters, there's a new edition of this terrifying New York Times bestseller, The New Confessions of an Economic Hitman.

It brings the revelation of EHM ("Economic Hit Men") up-to-date and, chillingly, home to the United States who started it. It also gives hope and the tools to resist and fight back.

 

Former economic hit man John Perkins exposes new details about the ways he and others cheated countries around the world out of trillions of dollars.

He then reveals how the deadly EHM cancer he helped create has spread far more widely and deeply than ever in the US and everywhere else.

It is now the dominant system of business, government, and society today. He also gives readers an insider view of what we each can do to change it.

TED Talk: Confessions of US war crimes

An Economic Hit Man confesses and calls to action

(TEDx Traverse City, 6/24/16) John Perkins describes the coercive methods he used to corrupt, bribe, and threaten heads of state of countries on four continents in order to create a global U.S. empire.

He also reveals how the brave leaders who did not “play the game" were assassinated or overthrown by the "Jackals" he sent in when they refused US offers.

He brings the world up-to-date about the way this "economic hit man system" has spread from developing countries to the US, Europe, and the rest of the world and offers a strategy for turning this around.

“Each of us," he says, “can participate in this exciting revolution. We can transform a system that is consuming itself into extinction into one that is sustainable and regenerative."

Perkins' books, including The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, have sold over a million copies, spent more than 70 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists, and are published in more than 30 languages.

As chief economist at a major consulting firm, his experiences advising the World Bank, UN, IMF, US government, Fortune 500 corporations, and heads of state convinced him to devote his life to facilitating peaceful changes to social, political, and economic systems, as well as raising the general consciousness.

He is founder and CEO of a highly successful alternative energy company and a founder and board member of Dream Change and The Pachamama Alliance, two nonprofits dedicated to creating a sustainable, just, peaceful, and thriving world.

Perkins' courage in writing these books and speaking out against his former military and bank bosses exemplifies the courage shown by our Founding Fathers and Mothers when they stood up to the British Empire. Like them, he defied threats and bribes and took action instead.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx.

Economic hit men?

EHM are the shock troops of what Perkins calls the "corporatocracy," a vast network of corporations, banks, colluding governments, and the rich and powerful people tied to them. If the EHMs can't maintain the corruption through nonviolent negotiations and coercion, the "jackal" (assassins) swoop in with state-sponsored violence.

The heart of this book is a totally new section, over 100 pages long, that exposes the fact that all the EHM and jackal tools:

• false economics
• false promises
• threats
• bribes
• extortion
• debt
• deception
• military coups
• assassinations
• unbridled military power.

All of these are used by the U.S. traditionally (our business-as-usual) and around the world exponentially, now more than during the era Perkins exposes in this book.

 

As dark as the story gets, this reformed EHM also provides hope: Perkins offers specific actions each of us can take to transform what he calls a failing Death Economy into a Life Economy that provides sustainable abundance for all. More (audio sample)