See Coup D'Etat When It's Available..and Hear "No More Sacrificed Cities" online

 At the Left Forum in Brooklyn NY, in the post discussion wrap up after the formal Q & C (Question and Comment section after a screening of Coup D'Etat,Ben Grosscup sung to a few of us, including the documentary producer Jeff Cohen of Coup D'Etat. Ben is also the head of the People's Music Network and has some songs on his Facebook page, so head on over to that to appreciate the 'warning to us all...that our areas and assets could be next to succumb to corporate and state takeover.

The film Coup D'etat, also produced by Fred Peabody, is worth looking up online for reviews. There were about a hundred people at the 90-minute film shown at LIU on Dekalb Ave in Brooklyn NY Friday, June 28th, 2019 at the start of a weekend of The Left Forum. I will add more as I can, but hope more people can access these important resources. Jeff Cohen, who also produced  All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone, asked that people help promote the film through independent movie screenings, then hopes to have it on television, and online. Thanks for doing what you can to tune in before it's too late.

The overall message was that the 'beginning of the end' was in the 1980s with Reagonomics, which was supposed to boost the economy in such a way that the benefits would trickle down and help business boom. Well the trickle was more of a tickle or a trick, period. That was followed by corporate green lights from Clinton signing NAFTA (5 Letters that Changed the World.)

When Hillary ran gleefully saying she'd be shutting down many coal mines, all the workers heard was 'their jobs would be sent overseas.' Then there were the American steel workers in Youngstown Ohio  who sadly supported Trump thinking he was a more regular guy who'd give them their jobs back (mainly because he promised... or mentioned that along the campaign trail.)

He did the ultimate Bait and Switch as was the pattern over the decades..say what people want to hear then Do As One Wants.

One fellow who'd knocked on many doors for real for Bernie Sanders' campaign in the mid-West shared that he felt Jeff Cohen should realize after doing this particular film that the 'swing voters' want a Bernie not another 'Hillary-type Ivy Leaguer with yet another PLAN!!

That would mean he didn't think regular hard-working low-income workers would go for Elizabeth Warren. Bennet, an audience member,  saw Bernie as our only hope. I told him I'd mention that and he appreciated me listening and even asking him to keep his TOV (tone of voice) more respectful even if he had a strong DOO (Difference of Opinion) which he did and so said he would do.

Back to  the Youngstown footage of families being interviewed (who mostly felt it was a toss but went for Trump as the boss of America..'to make it great or at least not as miserable' again.f There was a logo of the letter Y on one man's shirt in the film reminded me of Yale..but not by a long-shot. More like that Y was the target of cannon fire in terms of having 7 miles of factories demolished.

Workers were given notice 'one day to the next' that their shifts were being cut if not zapped altogether. Some had to train their 'replacements who'd come up from Mexico' and then had to help them pack things up lock, stock and barrel. On another 'Y" note, I have a post called The Big Why (and the Big Y kind of store tie-in.) Wouldn't it be nice if we had a place in every town to go over the kind of "Democracy Autopsy" that Jeff Cohen for instance did after Hillary lost to Trump for POTUS2016?

 Somebody had to try to figure things out and he spoke to that piece. He also said Sarah Jaffe wrote a piece in The New Republic that would be important and timely to read.

Again the "barrel" that was supposed to be a boon and a blessing felt more like a ka-boom 'at the end of a shotgun' and at least one person described early on in the film had ended his life due to despair with the radical changes. The family left all the furnishings when learning of the suicide note that the man was in the garage, deceased.

That kind of downward spiral, despair and disappearance echoed throughout the film..a person, a family, a home, a school, a hospital, small shops all 'falling down' like a huge Ring Around The Rosie game when the factories and mills shut down or when other big development, such as the highway from Pennsylvannia to New York plowed through part of New Jersey.

The woman depicted in a makeshift set of tents for a home since she and her husband lost their own home nine years prior was a testimony to the human spirit, something out of pioneer times. Yet her plains were filled with debris and ghost town like homes, falling apart or being given the shaft, which even her tent city likely succumbed to over time or would. She said that she 'felt that was the place for her to be, to look out for other people before herself, sharing food and lookng out for one another.' I couldn't help but think what drive she would have in a neighborhood with a few more resources.

Thankfully there were scenes of upscale food kitchens for those in need. The commentary that 'former teachers and doctors' were showng up at times, many families with children who couldn't afford food and fuel, and others who were caught in the difficulties of mental health or drug issues (or co-occuring conditions I would add) were among the 200-400 monthly visitors in a very depleted area.

We all know there are plenty of homeless peole who 'can't or won't' accept services, and I saw about five such people on my way home from the event walking near Fort Greene Park. At least it's summer, but if I get down there in time tomorrow, I will bring one woman a pair of sneakers, I am sure I have an extra pair. I did get the first question in for Jeff Cohen and thanked him and said I'd put this on my blog.

He asked me for the name of it and I'll send it to him now that I'm thinking of it. He did say independent media such as Pacifica which brings US All Democracy Now! and many other important venues is what people should look to for news over mainstream media. WBAI.org in Brooklyn was there sharing insights as well and noting that they are independent in ways many so-called liberal or public radio stations can't necessarily be.

So kudos to all doing their part. I mentioned Ralph Nader and his advocacy currently for safer planes and the American Museum  of Tort Law in Winsted CT. We are definitely getting places...so let's Keep Going and Growing a Vibrant Republic with Diligent Democracy in Action.