A message of hope and decision for the next generation...
“We must put our hand on the rudder of history and chart a path forward, guided by the things that are certain even in uncertain times—our principles, our partners, our vision for where we want to go,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “so that, when the fog lifts, the world that emerges tilts toward freedom, toward peace, toward an international community capable of rising to the challenges of its time.” He was delivering amajor speech (Sept 14) at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
The relative geopolitical stability of the post–World War II years has given way to the rise of authoritarian powers, he said. Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is the most immediate threat to “the international order enshrined in the UN charter and its core principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence for nations, and universal indivisible human rights for individuals.” But the People’s Republic of China “poses the most significant long-term challenge,” he said, “because it not only aspires to reshape the international order, it increasingly has the economic, the diplomatic, the military, the technological power to do just that.”
As partners, “Beijing and Moscow are working together to make the world safe for autocracy,” Blinken warned.
As the competition between the two systems ramps up, many countries are hedging their bets, while the influence of nonstate actors—international corporations, public service nongovernmental organizations, international terrorists, transnational criminal organizations—is growing. At the same time, the sheer scale of global problems like climate change and mass migration is making cooperation across borders more difficult.
The international economic order of the past several decades is flawed in ways that have caused people to lose faith in it, Blinken explained. Technology and globalization have hollowed out entire industries and weakened workers, while laws protected property.
The post–Cold War order is over, Blinken said. “One era is ending, a new one is beginning, and the decisions that we make now will shape the future for decades to come.”
The U.S. is in a position of strength from which it seeks to reinforce a rules-based international order in which “goods, ideas, and individuals can flow freely and lawfully across land, sea, sky, and cyberspace, where technology is used to empower people—not to divide, surveil, and repress them,” where the global economy is defined by fair competition and widespread prosperity, and where “international law and the core principles of the UN Charter are upheld, and where universal human rights are respected.” Such a world would serve humanity’s interests, as well as our own, Blinken said; its principles are universal.
As quoted in Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from An American
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And Robert Reich's newsletter of Sept. 14 gives us this...
"The richest nation in the history of the world has chosen to impoverish millions of our children
"Poverty is a policy choice. We havechosento have a significant percentage of our population impoverished, including — especially — our nation’s children.
When I say we’ve chosen this, I mean that it doesn’t have to be this way. There is no law of nature or principle of economics or Constitutional provision that dictates such a high number of people in poverty within the richest nation in the history of the world.
Census data released Tuesday provides clear evidence of the choice we’ve made. The number of people with incomes below the poverty line in 2022 rose by 15.3 million. The poverty rate for children more than doubled — from an historic low of 5.2 percent in 2021 to 12.4 percent in 2022.
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And for something more positive:
The music collective Playing for Change is back. This time, they have Jackson Browne performing his 1970s hit, “Doctor, My Eyes,” supported by musicians from Brazil, Jamaica, India, Puerto Rico, France and beyond. Browne is also joined by Leland Sklar and Russ Kunkel, who played on the original 1972 song, and they still sound amazing
I have all these wonderful comentators who have daily emailed newsletters...as well as the big initialed people who give talking points called "Five Things You Need To Know."
So I've just deleted the political ones each day, and am gradually removing the subscriptions. Ever since the GOP took over Congress, and tRump was in court...the news just wasn't anything I had any interest in. The Democrats would evaluate the situation, come up with reasons it was not good, and go on into how they could have done better.
Local news, local politics - I pay big bucks (for me) to get streamed through YouTube TV on my streaming-only new TV. It might also be available if I had an attena still. Anyway, I filter out the local murder stories and highway mahem usually, and want to know where new construction is happening, or different non-profits have new efforts, or the actions regarding the young people arrested in December for helping the homeless. Yes, I've got my local interests!
I do also select BBC and CBS and NPR stories about international and some national news.
And sometimmes I see things when scrolling through Facebook that means something newsworthy is happening.
I have dedicated the rest of my life to serving environmental issues, so I do read about lots of those...and there are more that I don't know about yet and would love to follow! My dedication doesn't mean much actually...just talking with others mainly (here, on Facebook, in meetings).
I am overwhelmed by the many gun deaths reported.
I am overwhelmed by gory details of any violence, anywhere.
After all I'm 80 years old. I don't have most of my life ahead of me, but behind me. And in that time, the memories of any violent news has faded into a file I call "things I would rather forget."
I still have lots of items in my mental file of "Things Worth Remembering."
As some scientists, or maybe spiritual leaders have said, we only have so much room in our brains.
What happened to the ones that said we only use 50% of our brains' capacity?
Anyway, while on the subject of brains, I did try the several over-the-counter products that supposedly help with brain function. For 6 months at least. Nada.
I think having a healthy diet, getting fresh air and as much exercise as I'm able to do have been the best things for my brain health. Just my opinion. Remember this blog is where I share my opinions. But you are welcome to comment, which I will definitely read.
I have lost a bit of weight while dealing with pneumonia, and I would like to keep it off. I mentioned that to my Chronic Care Coodinator today (we talk once a month about my health goals and any new developments.) He said he had studied nutrition before his medical studies to become a Physicians Assistant...and he'd be happy to help me if I want to continue to gradually lose weight. Diet for plant based food is really hard for me. So I asked him to be my coach.
And tonight I ate a Burger King Impossible Whopper (plant based, tastes like hamburger.) Not that great since it's full of oils, but it really does taste like a hamburger. I don't usually want that sandwich anyway. I tossed out the white bread bun. Lettuce and tomato were very scant.
That's the news that my children all tried to convince me of when April 1 came around. You'd think they would come up with something more believable if they really wanted to fool me.
Rabbit rabbit (as they say around here.) I have no idea who "they" might be. But since it is to offer luck for upcoming time, the first of the month is a good enough reason to spread that news!
More news? Not from the networks who supposedly tell us what's going on in the world out there.
I'm deciding some changes that are coming about in my life this next month. Still thinking about them, so can't tell you what changes might really happen.
I do know I want to spend more time outside in nature. I've cracked the shell of my hibernating self from winter (though there is some doubt that it's really over yet.)
What would I do without parenthetical phrases? I'd be more direct. You would receive a formal outlay of my thoughts, without the personalization that my side-comments provides. At least I think so.
Living in Appalachia, I run into a few Preppers now and then. That's someone prepared to survive the Armageddon of some attack, or more likely the doomsday from environmental chaos. They speak of themselves as Preppers (which isn't in spell check yet!) But they have a web site and newsletter, as well as the magazine Survival.
They even have computers that are designed to survive an EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse.) EMP is the end of our civilization as we know it, without bombs. Of course it means all our technology stops at the same time, so I'm not sure why the Preppers have computers that could survive. No electricity, (cept your batteries for a while), no cars, no planes, (unless they are designed before computers were in them.)
Anyway, why did I bring them up? I'm watching a Netflix series from BBC called "Survivors." I had watched some of the post-apocalyptic TV shows made in the US, but not any from England before. I soon lost interest in the US mainstream TV versions. Same old soap opera or cowboy stuff just in a different environment. Not really dealing with survival issues. So far Survivors has presented some of the realistic problems, but they have some coincidences that are pretty strange. The few people who survived the epidemic somehow all come together...and all kinds of deaths seem to be so sudden people are still sitting in waiting room chairs at the hospital. Not many fires or explosions (yet) which were prevalent after Katrina in New Orleans.
Anyway, I get to turn it off whenever I get stressed. That's part of why I watch it. Much easier to deal with than the real life environmental stresses, or the way people are really treating people on the news each evening. I haven't watched a TV for a year and a month. I do watch news on the computer every once in a while, if there's something happening in which I'm interested. Otherwise, my stress level has been greatly reduced, and nothing happening in the world would have been affected one bit by my watching those gory details.
