TrMonday

#TransitionMonday Every Monday, each Monday's focus: how together we co-create flourishing societies in flourishing local ecosystems #local #4dayweek #postoil

[Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz]

It Is Freakish And Insane How Our Society Averts Its Gaze From Gaza

It’s like if we were all going around physically drenched in human blood, with blood flooding our living rooms and severed limbs strewn about our bedrooms and kitchens — but nobody was talking about it.

Reading by Tim Foley.

[🎼🌺Music Love♥️ @ThoNg676733]

The best thing is that I love that both girls are smiling while playing 🎻

[Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz]

It can make you feel like you’re going mad. How phony and superficial it all is. How we’re a year and a half into history’s first live-streamed genocide and our whole society is acting like everything’s peachy.

We’re murdering kids. We’re starving them. We’re dropping high tech military explosives on them. Blowing their limbs off. Ripping their guts out. Shooting them in the head. This isn’t just being done by “Israel”. It’s being done by the entire western empire which backs these atrocities.

And yet if you turn on a TV you’ll see famous people laughing and joking about nonsense, expressing political opinions of no more depth and significance than whether or not there should have been a female Ghostbusters movie. Go read the news and it’s dominated by empty fluff about celebrities and politicians and the latest brain fart to come out of Donald Trump’s mouth. Go to a party and everyone’s nattering about vapid gibberish, yelling “No politics!” if you try to say anything about the holocaust-shaped elephant in the room.

Newer readers might not know this, but I used to have a lot more fun on my platform. Lots of humor. Psychedelic poetry. Spirituality and philosophy. But ever since the Gaza holocaust began, that kind of writing has often felt like it would be irreverent and frivolous. Almost sacrilegious. I would feel like I’m joining in with the madness of mainstream culture by turning my back on all those emaciated bodies and mutilated children.

So for the last year and a half I’ve mostly just been doing what I feel everyone on earth ought to be doing: pointing to the genocide and saying it needs to stop.

I used to be a lot more poetical and creative in my ways of pointing to the criminality of the empire, because its depravity was often difficult for people to really grasp, so I was always seeking out new ways to help people see its monstrosity with fresh eyes. Now that they’re just butchering children right in front of us, that’s not really what’s called for anymore. What’s called for is to keep drawing everyone’s attention to the terrible thing that’s staring us all right in the face.

This task shouldn’t be falling to university activists and obscure antiwar bloggers. Every news outlet in the world should be making this their entire focus.

If we had a sane and ethical news media, this is what they would be doing. All the leading stories every single day would be about the latest evil thing Israel and its western backers have done in Gaza, clearly stating in every headline our own government’s role in making this possible. Every press conference would be completely dominated with questions asking every western official why we are participating in an active genocide and demanding answers about when it is going to stop.

Instead we get “Palestinians perish in explosion” passive-language headlines, usually coupled with “…says Hamas-run health ministry” in order to let readers disbelieve the entire story. And that’s on those rare occasions that Israel’s atrocities get reported on at all; normally Gaza is seen as a third or fourth-tier issue of far less importance than some infinitely less egregious grievance in our own country. Palestinian lives are given vastly less weight than western lives, with our own feelings and comforts emphasized far more heavily than the issue of the Palestinian people living or dying.

And it can just make you feel like you’re going crazy. It’s like if we were all going around physically drenched in human blood, with blood flooding our living rooms and severed limbs strewn about our bedrooms and kitchens — but nobody was talking about it. You try to say “What’s up with all this blood and gore?” and they shush you and tell you it’s impolite to talk about politics. A dark red deluge pours out of your minivan door when you open it to pick up your kid from soccer practice, and everyone looks away.

This is happening. We know it’s happening. It’s happening right in front of us and we’re acting like it’s not. It’s so maddening and frustrating, and it can make you feel so powerless.

But we keep pointing at Gaza, because what the hell else are we going to do? The alternative is to join the lunatics acting like it isn’t happening.

At the very least, it’s a way of preserving our sanity. Preserving our humanity. Even if they do succeed in purging Gaza of all Palestinian life, at the very least we will have prevented the bastards from warping and twisting us into psychopathic freaks like them. Even if we can’t stop them from destroying Gaza, we can at least stop them from destroying our hearts.

[Ami Dar @AmiDar]

In Jerusalem tonight, people holding photos of Palestinian children killed in Gaza. This specific form of protest is getting bigger every week now. Enough.

[Zlatti71 @Zlatti_71]

🎖 The annual "Waltz of Victory" event took place in Moscow, uniting hundreds of students from the capital’s colleges.

Young men and women dressed in 1940s-style costumes organized a flash mob near the arch of the main entrance to VDNKh.
- FRWL

[Zlatti71 @Zlatti_71]

A large-scale spectacle is taking place in Volgograd these days.
- FRWL

[Frontline Africa @frontlineafrika]

Russia didn’t just invite President Ibrahim Traoré to Moscow — they sent a state aircraft to personally pick him up from Burkina Faso. That’s not diplomacy. That’s respect.

That’s symbolism. In a world where African leaders are often summoned like subordinates, this moment flips the script. It tells a new story: of African sovereignty being recognized, of alliances built on mutual interest — not colonial residue.

While the West imposes sanctions and sends lectures, Russia sends a plane. You don’t have to agree with everything, but you can’t ignore the shift. This is not the Africa of the 1960s.

This is a continent choosing its friends, asserting its dignity, and rewriting the terms of engagement.

Whatever your stance, history will remember that on Victory Day 2025, the Sahel sent a leader — and Russia welcomed him with full honors. The balance is tilting, and the world is watching.

[Love Classical Music and Movies 🎺🎻💖🎥🎬 @AlexTran677026]

Emanne Beasha- You Won't BELIEVE The Voice That Comes From Her Tiny Body♥️

[Love Music @khnh80044]

Man in cafeteria delivers the most unexpected beautiful tuba solo (Shostakovich Waltz mini flashmob)🤗❤️

[Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz]

Been thinking about this Zappa quote a lot lately.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Photographer Daniel Biber from Hilzingen, Germany was trying to capture the murmuration of starlings for 4 days when he finally succeeded.

He just didn't realize the starlings had created a giant bird in the sky until he got home and reviewed the pictures.

[Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz]

This is a broken civilization. A warped and twisted dystopia. The waking nightmare we are witnessing in Gaza is the result of everything that we have become as a society. Those dead and mutilated children on your screen are the fruit on the tree of the western world.

I will admit to having been hopeful. I know it's illegal to express hope online, but I really did hope that by some miracle peace would find some way forward in Gaza in spite of the frenetic efforts by Trump and Netanyahu and their cohorts to sabotage it. I had hope, and now I have grief.

Now the Gaza holocaust has been reignited. And the people who rule over us are actively supporting this, while working to imprison, fire, silence and deport anyone who opposes it.

Please understand that this is personal now. This isn't only about some strangers in the middle east. It's also about you. It's about your rights. It's about your freedom to speak out against the criminality of your rulers. It's about the kind of society you want to live in. It's about the kind of future you want for your children.

We are not separate from what's happening in Gaza, as hard as we might try to make ourselves feel that way. Gaza is here. The waves of blood are lapping at your doorstep. The dead and mutilated children are strewn about your living room and kitchen. They were placed there by the powerful people who run your government and its allies.

There's no getting away from it. Gaza has been brought right to you and laid at your feet.

And it's up to you how you're going to respond to it.

[Jimmy Dore @jimmy_dore]

After living through COVID, Russiagate, the Ukraine war, the Syrian war, and 20 years of Afghanistan, I am now doubting climate change.

Especially since I found out how easily medical journals and doctors can be corrupted by Big Pharma. None of the climate predictions have come true, and all of the prominent people making them are still flying around in private jets.

[James Wood 武杰士 @commiepommie]

🇨🇳☀️🛰️ CHINA’S SOLAR SPACE STATION: A GAME-CHANGER IN RENEWABLE ENERGY 🌏🔋

China is making the once sci-fi dream of space based solar power (SBSP) a reality and leaving the West scrambling to keep up. Imagine a kilometre wide solar array orbiting Earth, harvesting limitless, uninterrupted solar energy and beaming it back home, day and night, without the interference of clouds or darkness.

The China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) is spearheading this geostationary solar power station and with a 2028-2050 roadmap, Beijing is set to redefine the global energy game.

⏩The Master Plan

🗓️ 2028: China launches a 400-km low Earth orbit (LEO) test satellite generating 10 kilowatts (kW) to trial microwave power transmission. Think DFH-4E satellite tech, on steroids.

🗓️ 2030: A 1-megawatt (MW) station is deployed in geostationary orbit (GEO) at 36,000 km, where it will be assembled in space before beaming power back to Earth.

🗓️ 2035: The system scales up to 10 MW, proving its potential for mass energy production.

🗓️ 2050: The final form, a 2-gigawatt (GW) space solar farm, rivaling nuclear power plants and capable of supplying electricity to millions of homes.

⏩How It Works

Unlike Earth based solar farms, which suffer from weather conditions and nighttime dips, a solar station in space captures continuous, unfiltered solar radiation, 10 times more efficient than anything on the ground. The energy is then converted into microwaves and beamed down to terrestrial receiving stations, where it is transformed back into electricity and integrated into the grid.

The Bishan testing facility in Chongqing, backed by $15 million in funding, is already fine tuning the radio wave transmission tech needed to transmit solar energy from orbit to Earth.

⏩Why China Is Leading This Race

This isn’t just ambition, it’s execution. China has been pumping billions into SBSP since the early 2000s, with CAST, Chongqing University and Huawei leading research efforts. The country’s state driven, centralised approach allows for massive coordination and rapid development, unlike the fragmented, slow moving private sector initiatives in the U.S.

Compare this to the U.S., where NASA’s flirtation with SBSP died post-Apollo and Google’s renewable bets (like Makani wind kites) remain Earth bound pipe dreams. China’s Long March 9 rocket will be hauling this behemoth into space, while the U.S. relies on SpaceX’s pricier, less coordinated private launches.

⏩The Stakes: More Than Just Energy

If China nails this, it’s not just a clean energy breakthrough, it’s geopolitical dominance. A functional space-based power station would:

✅ Reduce dependence on fossil fuels
✅ Secure national power grids
✅ Provide energy for space and military assets

Meanwhile, the U.S. lags behind, bogged down by private sector fragmentation, underfunded agencies and a lack of long-term vision. While China accelerates towards its 2060 carbon neutrality goal, the West is still debating the feasibility of such a project.

To be clear, challenges remain, from microwave precision to orbital assembly logistics, but China’s commitment and pace are undeniable. The West is watching and it’s nervous.

This isn’t just China making history, it’s China shaping the future. 🚀☀️

China is literally turning Science Fiction to fact and China is the most certainly not the villain of the story.

[Gail Tverberg @gailtheactuary]

Energy limits are hitting right now. The economy being forced to contract because it doesn't have the oil and coal resources it requires. The problem appears differently than people expect; it is the finances of governments that start to fail, early on. https://t.co/6CsJHyYV7q

[Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil @ivan_8848]

Stop the WARMONGERING‼️

Don't Beg to Be at the Table With the United States.

Jeffrey Sachs to European PUPPETS The Extremely Corrupt, Arrogant, Queen Warmonger #frauGENOCIDE Ursula von der Leyen, Kaja Kallas, President Costa

European Security is On The Table

I know Minister Lavrov for 30 years. I regard him as a brilliant foreign minister.

[John Gallagher @antipodeane]

Whatever anybody thinks of Presidents Trump or Putin, it'll be hard to disagree with them on this!
Huge nuclear weapons reduction initiatives foreshadowed!
Will our #NuclearFreeNZ government take a - strong - interest & ask for any briefings Washington-Moscow governments might like to provide & offer diplomatic assistance should any be desired?
@disarmamentNZ @chrisluxonmp @NewZealandMFA @chrishipkins @DavidParkerMP @HelenClarkNZ @GeoffMillerNZ

[Chay Bowes @BowesChay]

This is why they killed him.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

President Trump should pardon Edward Snowden. He is a national hero for exposing egregious violations of the Constitution by the Bush and Obama administrations.

[Raghu @IndiaTales7]

Some Funny Pictures That Are Worth Stoping Whatever You’re Doing Right Now ~ A Thread 🧵