Gary Z. McGee, Staff Writer
Waking Times

“When a public is stressed and confused, a big lie told repeatedly and unchallenged can become accepted truth.” ~George Orwell

The idea of slavery is one of those concepts that has the tendency to be uttered in black and white terms. But slavery is anything but black and white. There are many shades of gray that people tend to neglect, usually out of indifference, but also out of ignorance, or by side-stepping the idea as, “just the way things are.” It was a copout during the times of hard slavery and it’s a copout now, during these times of soft slavery.

Dylan Charles, Editor
Waking Times

One of the most inspiring, and most real, people to have emerged as a popular hero in recent years is asking the world for help to save a one-of-a-kind urban gardening project.

Ron Finley, affectionately known as the Gangster Gardener, changes lives with his passion for urban farming, a task he took on when one day he realized fast-food and low-quality processed foods were killing his community, South Central Los Angeles, inflicting far more damage than drugs and crime.

“The drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys.

I live in a food prison.. It’s all by design just like prisons are by designed. I just got tired of being an inmate. So I figured, let me change this paradigm, let me grown my own food. This is one thing I can do to escape this predestined life that I have unwillingly subscribed to.” – Ron Finley

Isaac Davis, Staff Writer
Waking Times

Among the many other landmark events that took place in 2016, the United States military dropped a whopping 26,171 bombs in foreign nations. This is hardly good news for those on the receiving end, and as conflict spreads in the Middle East and government pushes for all out war with Russia and China, ordinary Americans, those who foot the war bill with tax money, have some soul-searching to do.

Are the values this nation was founded on best shared with the world through violence and destruction? Has American ingenuity in all matters of science and productivity been eclipsed by out capacity to exert the will of the oligarchy though police actions and indiscriminate bombing? Is there ever a moment when enough is enough, and we admit that bombing people doesn’t create peace or achieve the aspirations of a free and moral people?

As reported by McClatchyDC:

“The U.S. dropped 26,171 bombs last year, 3,027 more than 2015.

Makia Freeman, Contributor
Waking Times

The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) is an organization that until recently you may have never heard of, but is now poised to make a powerful influence on your life. Why? The multi-billion dollar corporation and CIA data mining operation Facebook has decided to enlist the help of the International Fact-Checking Network in its quest to eliminate “fake news” (i.e. enact censorship through the backdoor). Those aware of the current psychological operations will know that the entire Russian propaganda and fake news themes are stealthy ways for the establishment to stifle dissent. They are whipping the public up into a frenzy about purported Russian hacking and Russian interference without a shred of credible evidence, all the while scaring people into thinking they need some “independent” arbiter (outside of themselves) to decipher and decide what is real and what is fake. It’s the ultimate perception grab; they want you to hand over your power and let your perception be dictated by them. Now, Facebook has announced it will be using the International Fact-Checking Network and other 3rd party fact-checking organizations to weed out all the fake news. Is the International Fact-Checking Network poised to become some kind of Ministry of Truth as Orwell wrote about? Who funds the organization and how does its check its facts?

Dylan Charles, Editor
Waking Times

With the dawn of a new year, as we move beyond the winter solstice and the days again begin to grow, reflection on life and events past offers an opportunity for course correction and for re-plotting our purpose on this priceless journey of life.

We are all bound together on this beautiful planet; the good and the wicked, the peaceful and the violent, the rulers and the ruled, the rich and those who toil for their existence. We are one and the same, all of us actors in the ever-intensifying human story taking place in the Matrix. All of us reacting and responding to the illusions of Maya, all of us carried forward by the force and persistence of perceived reality.