Ripple Of Action
Apparently, some kind of Worldwide Wave Of Action started last week, billed as a rekindling of the Occupy movement. Having covered at least half a dozen previous “international days of action”, my well-honed cynicism kicked into gear as I remembered how all the previous “worldwide” action days drew hundreds of thousands in cities outside the US — while inside the US, the turnouts could be generously described as pathetic.
The current “worldwide” Wave Of Action was no different, judging from what I was seeing on my Twitter feed. Cities in the UK and Europe turned out healthy numbers while in the meantime, in the US, I saw the usual sad smattering of thin, weak protests, with small veterans’ contingents and others gathering in places like the NYC Vietnam War Memorial and Zucotti Park, only to be chased off or arrested by police.
I was also somewhat less than inspired by the vagueness of their rhetoric and sloganeering. On Twitter I saw pronouncements like “movement of movements” and “bring your own goals”, with no mention of any specific issues, such as war and militarization, unemployment, state-enforced economic austerity, the destruction of civil liberties, or the US-instigated “revolution” in the Ukraine — just lots of lofty faux revolutionary hype and empty poetic slogans.
I won’t speak for the rest of the world, but in the US, the “Wave Of Action” was more like a “ripple of action”.
Oh, yeah — and, cupcakes.
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In the aftermath of a massive hydraulic fracking well explosion in Bobtown, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, Chevron Oil engaged in what had to be the silliest, most boneheaded PR gesture ever — offering free pizza to local residents near the well.
Christ, man… where the hell do you start with shit like this?
This cartoon was inspired by this tweet by Josh Fox, director of the documentary Gasland. Thanks, Josh! (Follow Josh on Twitter.)
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For the record, I own a smartphone; I have a grand total of one third-party app — Twitter — don’t let Facebook anywhere near my phone, and I sure as hell don’t waste time playing Angry Birds. So, I wasn’t exactly surprised to discover that the NSA was slurping smartphone users’ private information by taking advantage of the vulnerabilities of “leaky” apps, and that Angry Birds was apparently the worst offender of the lot.
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Happy Anniversary, President Drone!
It was five years ago this week — this past Thursday, to be exact — that President Sparkle Pony kicked off his murderous drone warfare campaign. Not even a week in office, and already we had some change — you’ve got to give him that.
So, I was reading this article over at the Bureau Of Investigative Journalism and saw this graph showing President Sparkle Pony’s massive escalation of remote-control murder compared to President Chimp, and on viewing the layout of the bars showing the figures for Obama, I couldn’t help noticing something…
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Follow the Bureau Of Investigative Journalism on Twitter.
…and, here’s some more of El Presidente’s dronetastic moments from days gone by:
“Well, Waddya Know?” December 2013
“I Have A Drone” January 2013
“I Am The Joker” July 2012
“My Little Party” February 2012
“Are You In?” April 2011
“Yes, We Can!” October 2010
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