Ralph Nader: Critical Exposés Everywhere as the Corporate State Worsens

Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his 1938 message to Congress warned that when private power becomes stronger than the democratic state itself, we have Fascism. There are many ways to witness the intensifying domination toward a corporate state. One way is to compare exposé books in the 1960s and the present. Within a span of five years, there were three… Read More Ralph Nader: Critical Exposés Everywhere as the Corporate State Worsens

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Mainstream, Dec 11, 2021

Letter to the Readers, Mainstream 11 Dec 2021 Hail To The Glories Of Corruption  Farmers’ victory helps democracy survive  Remember Babri Mosque Demolition As Violation of Law  Kashmir Youth – an Aspirational & Anxious Social category  Uttar Pradesh: The Problem of Unemployment  For Opposition Unity TMC Should Avoid Confrontation with Congress  SAARC: Regionalism and the… Read More Mainstream, Dec 11, 2021

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WILLIAM J. ASTORE: Pentagon's funding grows to $778 billion after losing the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars

Where are you going to get the money? That question haunts congressional proposals to help the poor, the unhoused, and those struggling to pay the mortgage or rent or medical bills, among so many other critical domestic matters. And yet — big surprise! — there’s always plenty of money for the Pentagon. In fiscal year 2022, in… Read More WILLIAM J. ASTORE: Pentagon's funding grows to $778 billion after losing the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars

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Adam Ramsay – Culture wars: identity politics and the fight against surveillance capitalism

Neoliberalism was the form of capitalism that came after colonialism, driving markets back into the public sectors of the former colonial powers, allowing capital to monetise and extract wealth from their soft underbellies. Surveillance capitalism, led by the data giants, is taking its place. As academic and writer Shoshana Zuboff has argued, under surveillance capitalism,… Read More Adam Ramsay – Culture wars: identity politics and the fight against surveillance capitalism

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British universities slammed for taking £90m from oil companies in four years

British universities have accepted almost £90m in funding from major oil companies since 2017, openDemocracy can reveal. Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London have been criticised for taking the most, with one MP branding the relationship between oil giants and universities “scandalous.” Imperial College London has accepted more than £54m, including £39m from Shell –… Read More British universities slammed for taking £90m from oil companies in four years

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Modern life is giving us brain fatigue. By Mary E. Williams

Reading Dr. Mark Rego’s provocative, intense Frontal Fatigue: The Impact of Modern Life and Technology on Mental Illness, I found myself thinking of David Foster Wallace’s “This Is Water.”  In it, the late author observes the need to be aware of “what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us.”  Today, we live in a culture that… Read More Modern life is giving us brain fatigue. By Mary E. Williams

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Bharat Bhushan: BJP up to old tricks in UP as assembly elections approach / Arvind Kala: Nobody's converting Hindus to Islam & Christianity

The UP election, political pundits tell us, will impact the re-election chances of Prime Minister Modi in 2024. Is this why the prime minister finds himself in the state almost every week? Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will inaugurate the Rs. 700 crore Kashi-Vishwanath Temple Corridor Project by carrying a container of “Ganga-jal” from Lalita… Read More Bharat Bhushan: BJP up to old tricks in UP as assembly elections approach / Arvind Kala: Nobody's converting Hindus to Islam & Christianity

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Will Omicron Finally End the Covid-19 Pandemic? By Stephen Londe, MD

It’s possible that the latest Covid-19 variant is actually a blessing in disguise.    In 1796 an English physician, Edward Jenner, observed that milkmaids who had gotten cowpox were immune to smallpox. He surmised, rightly, as we now know, that the disease was related. Smallpox, which has killed hundreds of millions of people dating all… Read More Will Omicron Finally End the Covid-19 Pandemic? By Stephen Londe, MD

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Patricia Mukhim: Nagaland’s people deserve neither AFSPA nor gun culture

The sight of a dozen or more coffins being laid in a row while young, helpless widows and elderly grief-stricken parents come to terms with their loss is an image that is both outrageous and painful. The dead were ordinary citizens going home to their village in Nagaland after work. In one shattering moment, their… Read More Patricia Mukhim: Nagaland’s people deserve neither AFSPA nor gun culture

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