alanjjohnstone
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In defence of meat.
https://www.dw.com/en/how-to-feed-the-world-amid-covid-and-climate-crises/a-56284066
Despite the push to rein in the over-consumption of meat and dairy in the Global North, animals remain a vital and yet diminishing source of nutrition and food security in low income nations — especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Grazing animals convert low quality feed into high quality proteins with essential amino acids that are not found in plants. Pastoralists guide livestock to eat grasses, forages and unused crop by-products and waste that humans cannot eat, transforming this low nutrition food into high-quality meat and dairy proteins — often on marginal, non-arable land.
But while there is “an overconsumption of some meat products in high income countries,” there is in fact “underconsumption in low income countries,” said Claudia Ringler, deputy division director at the International Food Policy Research Institute.
…sustainable livestock farming is a fundamental part of food systems in low-income countries that needs to be harnessed and improved.
Push-back against Lopez and her song by the indigenous peoples of America.
Benny Wayne Sully, who is Sicangu Lakota and lives in Los Angeles. “But does anybody believe this land was made for you and me? Or was it made for white folks? People forget this land was made of brown people before it was colonized.”
UK’s largest ever outbreak of bird flu.
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/covid-uk-bird-flu-chickens-b1789525.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-55744967
Again negotiations have broken down with the farmers rejecting a government offer of suspending the reforms for a year and a half – seen as a ploy of disrupting the successful momentum of the protests and dividing the protesters.
Expect a show of strength from the farmers on the 26th – a public holiday to mark the adoption of India’s constitiution
Been watching some progressive commentaries on You Tube and the liberal holding Biden’s feet to the fire to push him to the left already seems a distant memory. They are suggesting a psychological strategy of ‘positive reinforcement’ for his ‘good intentions’.
They are extolling him as the modern-day FDR and he has not yet announced a substantial reform other than executive orders to undo Trumpo’s executive orders.
When he does get round to having to get Congress approval for future legislation, i’m fairly confident in making the prediction it will be a watered-down version designed to receive Republican Party support.
“Lesser evil-ism” is a very very bad argument…
Nevertheless and very importantly, it is one of the most effective arguments we face and we have been confronted with those since our foundation from the gradualists of the labourites and then the bolshevised ‘communists’. We still hear it today from the environmentalists who demand regulatory laws. The welfare statists has now had new life breathed into them with the pandemic.
The fact that hospitals were built and factories re-tooled for PPE all in a matter of days hasn’t been taken aboard by those who say socialism is utopian and a far-off aspiration. I mentioned it someplace that we have to use the lessons of the pandemic in bringing social and cooperative relationships to the forefront must be fully taken advantage of by ourselves. We must collate the messages of hope of which there are many of mutual aid and promote them. Food banks, for instance, is all about distribution according to need, and providing essential services is all about from according to ability.
Related from the experience of South Afria
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55333625
“If we adopt class as the marker for redress we will inevitably be able to benefit more black people,” he said.”Blacks are the majority in this country and they are also the majority of poor people in this country. If you say you will redress on the basis of class, a black person who has lived a life of privilege won’t qualify for economic opportunities via the government’s affirmative action policies.”
Dr Saths Cooper, a clinical psychologist who was an associate of Steve Biko during his student days in the 1970s, argues that dominance of a racial identity has prevented the forging of a truly common identity.
“We haven’t learnt we are human beings first,” he says.”We always put a colour, we put external attributes to it and then we put maybe language and maybe belief to it and that allows for further division. That narrative then perpetuates itself…”
While Biden says he will re-engage with the EU regards Iran, Venezuela is another matter. Antony Blinken, President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, told senators Tuesday that the United States will continue to recognize the coup leader Juan Guaidó as legitimate president of Venezuela.
The slow strangulation of sanctions will continue.
Capitalists discover veganism
Investors are piling into a vegan-focused venture capital fund
You Tube was very quick to delete the video of a song…Just what copyright does the ceremony of a presidential inaugeration have?
Hung, drawn and quartered and then fed to the hogs would be too good…
But i was really referring to the media, who appear to be a bit too sympathetic to the likes of Pence and Pompeo for eventually distancing themselves from Trump even though for 4 years they loyally carried out his wishes…and most probably advised him on many of the policies. It seems as the media wish to ascribe all the problems in America on to one aberration, and let their political system escape criticism.
They will all be acquiring jobs for Wall St or the think-tanks and perhaps standing for the 2024 Republican Party presidential nominations. The media has a fickle short-term memory.
I see John Bolton has not stopped his war-mongering against Iran
https://www.dw.com/en/us-john-bolton-calls-for-fall-of-iranian-regime-in-dw-interview/a-56279848
Oh, and not to mention all those tell-all book-deals.
Trump, of course, will return to reality tv, a broadcasting contract. No media organisation is going to turn down the potential of a regular 70 million audience.
An article trying to take on the two biggest topics of today
Your comment, Matt, led me to read the article again and i have to disagree with your conclusion.
In the survey of the allocation problem he does refer to Von Mises and the Nuerath and Lange/Lerner alternatives but the article goes beyond those and as far as i read, it is trying to marry the new technological capabilities with the on-the-ground older tradition of people/community decision-making processes to determine production for use (perhaps relevant to the syndicalist topic on the forum)
In free-access socialism choices will still have to be made and although the article uses the specialist term algorithms a lot (something not in my everyday vocabulary) it is trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. For instance, indicating the weakness of taking a corporation’s internal business model for one that is fully applicable to socialism despite its many useful features. I don’t think it explores it enough because farm to fork is not discussed.
For others info, the John O’Neill quoted is i believe an ex-member and who has had some favourable reviews of his work by the Party.
A homeopathic “doctor” claims the Gates Foundation plans the genocide of 3 billion, mostly in Africa.
