1984 in 2017. The Ministry of Truth aka the Cultural Engagement Center – when we do it, it’s not propaganda!
Conveniently signed into law on December 23rd, the benignly named Cultural Engagement Center just seeks to “recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining United States national security interests.
Or as journalist Rick Sterling put it, 160 million dollars to combat any “propaganda” that challenges Official Washington’s version of reality.” It’s certainly no wonder and no accident as to why Obama signed off on this legislation 2 days before Christmas. Tucked inside the latest $619 billion NDAA bill, our very own Ministry of Truth comes at a time when investigative journalists and alternative media sites critical of US Empire are being lambasted for peddling “fake news” and propaganda. Because of course, when Big Brother does it, it’s neither fake nor propaganda.
Save the Bees, our land and our food without leaving your backyard.
Yes, bees are dying. And for those of us who enjoy eating food, that’s bad news. 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat is thanks to pollinators. But here’s the catch: Outside of being a non-native species, honey bees are actually pretty bad pollinators. Yet they are our primary pollination source – trucked across the nation from farm to orchard to farm. Not only is that unethical for the bees, it promotes the spread of both pathogens and pesticides picked up by the bees in their many travels. Enter, the solitary bee. Not only are they much better pollinators – by a few 100 times, but they’re also native to the States and due to their hive-less nature, are most effective in radiuses of an acre or less. This means local bees pollinating local plants and crops, promoting the overall ecological health of the entire area they populate. Charlie Mohr of Crown Bees explains more about how we can save the bees, our food and our land with solitary bees.