35 Comments
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Merfy Mac's avatar

Not to be a shrill contrarian voice but...

There's a fair few excellent Substack writers who've built a loyal audience on their own terms, by sheer quality of writing. Caitlin Johnstone is one of the best examples. She's top of the tree with no compromise, no corporate bs, no precious paywalling.

And then there's the poetry...

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Grasshopper Kaplan's avatar

I can't really understand why folks like Malone And McCullough are limiting comments to paid subscribes.

Only McCullough when it ain't his co-author alone, I must say, to be honest.

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Pavanna's avatar

I was thinking the same thing awhile ago, as I was catching up on Caitlin's recent works. As a senior, who supports two adults on less than 1,000/month, I feel frustrated and shunned to have my responses, opinions and beliefs excluded, simply b/c I'm retired and living on a low, fixed income. I find it odd, hypocritical even, that Malone and McCullough do this while publicly aligning themselves with the Reignite Freedom movement and Global Walkout, which is all about the power and potential inherant in forming a diverse and inclusive global community. Just saying...

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Pavanna's avatar

Two words: Global Walkout! Join the Reignite Freedom movement. The time is NOW!

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Grasshopper Kaplan's avatar

All my posts will always be free to read, and free to comment

.

I was cancelled long before McCullough and Meryl Nass.

But I am not a doctor.

They took my business and put me in jail when I ran against Gavin 2007.

I lost everything.

ScKamala put me in jail.

Now she is vice

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Boris Petrov's avatar

ALARM about Musk’s Twitter -- https://substack.com/inbox/post/81487823

Meet the New Boss…Same as the Old Boss -- Scott Ritter on his most recent suspension from Twitter

Scott’s suspension was on Oct. 29 reinstated for his initial tweet (below):

“The Ukrainian National Police committed numerous crimes against humanity in Bucha. Biden, in seeking to shift blame for the Bucha murders to Russia, is guilty of aiding and abetting these crimes. Congratulations America…. We’ve created yet another Presidential war criminal !!”

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John Allen aka The Ol' Hippy's avatar

US Presidential war criminals; as American as the proverbial apple pie. The Who certainly nailed that one. Peace

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Boris Petrov's avatar

New -- About strange nude man attack on Pelosi: Paul Pelosi was most likely attacked by a male prostitute

An unavoidable conclusion about Paul Pelosi

1. Assailant in his underpants

2. Paul Pelosi knows his name and tells police he’s a “friend.”

3. Assailant asks “where’s Nancy?” to make sure she’s not home.

4. Pelosi takes bathroom break from spat and makes 911 call

Conclusion: This guy was a sex partner or male prostitute!

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jamenta's avatar

I

To -

As when with downcast eyes we muse and brood,

And ebb into a former life, or seem

To lapse far back in some confused dream

To states of mystical similitude,

If one but speaks or hems or stirs his chair,

Ever the wonder waxeth more and more,

So that we say, 'All this hath been before,

All this hath been, I know not when or where;'

So, friend, when first I look'd upon your face,

Our thought gave answer each to each, so true -

Opposed mirrors each reflecting each -

That, tho' I knew not in what time or place,

Methought that I had often met with you,

And either lived in either's heart and speech.

~Tennyson c.1833

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AJF's avatar

Chills and tears💖

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Ray Joseph Cormier's avatar

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

And now abides Faith, Hope, Love, these three; but the greatest of these is Love.

1 Corinthians 13

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Pauline P Schneider's avatar

Tears. Caitlin, as Kris Kristofferson once sang, you’ve been reading my mail. ❣️

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Ray's avatar

love you!

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Neil Hughes's avatar

a prattling child who will never be that age again . . . none of us will ever be that age again. Time is not redeemable. Once that day or hour has passed it can never return.

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Kevin Hester's avatar

Love in the time of apocalypse, the last love, the last chance, what better way could we spend our time, as time runs out, for the last time.

Who was it who said "At the Edge of Extinction, Only Love Remains"

It's fascinating watching the creatives navigate this, the perfect storm.

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Sofia's avatar

Yes. Beautiful beautiful

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Doris Wrench Eisler's avatar

Great poetry and philosophy. And can I add: Just say "fuck it all," like a bird, and fly off the perch

into the endless blue sky.

But only briefly, or with only one part of your mind. Because the sky destroyers never go away.

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TnDoc's avatar

Powerful and moving... Thanks for sharing the love...

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Terry Lynne Marie's avatar

Remarkable! Pure gratitude for your artistry 💜

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unwarranted's avatar

My first reaction to this is how impossible it is to use the part of the brain that is rational to stimulate the part that is hormone-dependent. We all can resolve to be civil...if we haven’t contracted to be obedient servants to power, and we can consciously use humor in our personal encounters to facilitate team work and communal outcomes. But capitalism is inherently zero-sum. So if we are to collectively put our humanity before our “needs,” those needs have to be met prior to our social interactivity. Abraham Maslow ranked love and belonging as less essential to our survival than food, shelter and safety. I guess I agree with that. So, if we put a different light on Marx, and conflate his technical objections to systemic human tier-ing, with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it seems self-evident that the needs of the individual are routinely suppressed in a power-based social construct. The latter can accommodate physiological and safety needs, but will be compromised by its own inability to offer these provisions to each and every member of the collective. That system cannot begin to address the need for each of us to be connected to others in non-transactional ways.

Paul McCartney turned the realization that romantic disconnection is an early recognition that the world is atilt into a pop song that he wrote before he became a Beatle.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdx6lLvvRyg

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Kevin's avatar

Love like a puppy. Or 10 puppies.

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John Allen aka The Ol' Hippy's avatar

Or kittens, for that matter. I love them both.

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John Chetcuti's avatar

It is such a joy to read something that is positive and spiritually moving. We are swamped with propaganda that is filled with anger and hatred, promotes violence and intolerance, and most of all manipulative in a way that makes us servile to an evil group of elites that are desperately holding on to their power, which power they intend to use to enslave us all.

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