"Republicans and Democrats alike are all but certain to seize on the F.B.I.’s findings to bolster their cases, and some current and former agents fear that politics will drown out any truth uncovered by the investigation." Well, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty and the people's movement has to monitor and make sure the Republicans don't try and use this investigation to whitewash Kavanaugh's reputation. In any case, the whole sordid affair has discredited the confirmation process, the nomination should be withdrawn for the sake of the reputation of the Supreme Court (what remains of it) and if Kavanaugh put the interests of the Court before his own he would voluntarily step down.
The opinions, views, thoughts, and ramblings of editors of PoliticalAffairs.net – and other stuff worth reading or viewing.
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Will the FBI Whitewash Kavanaugh?
"Republicans and Democrats alike are all but certain to seize on the F.B.I.’s findings to bolster their cases, and some current and former agents fear that politics will drown out any truth uncovered by the investigation." Well, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty and the people's movement has to monitor and make sure the Republicans don't try and use this investigation to whitewash Kavanaugh's reputation. In any case, the whole sordid affair has discredited the confirmation process, the nomination should be withdrawn for the sake of the reputation of the Supreme Court (what remains of it) and if Kavanaugh put the interests of the Court before his own he would voluntarily step down.
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Truth & Light versus Propaganda
"Mr. Malkevich said he aimed to turn USAReally into a kind of digital-first version of RT or Sputnik — both Russian media organizations that broadcast pro-Kremlin views inside the United States — and a counterweight to organizations funded by the United States, like Radio Free Europe, that broadcast in Russia and other countries." Well there you have it: one side misinforms people with propaganda and the other brings truth and light. One side presents the values of a system that produced Trump, the other one that produced Putin. Diogenes with his lamp would have quite a search ahead of him.
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Kissinger Rides Again
actor as its continuing incompetence has shown to this very day (it has no generals who know how to win a war and only throws out money and death in its efforts to postpone defeat -- its the most expensive, destructive and useless organization in history and should be prevented from hoodwinking young American men and women into thinking they are somehow "serving their country" by joining it when it is merely a political extension of Republican and Democratic politicians furthering the interests of Wall Street Banks and Arms Manufacturers and the tool of fraudsters such as Kissinger.
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Russia Falls Behind on Domestic Abuse: Bring Back the USSR
Seventy years of "socialist" education and many Russian men (most?) and women still have medieval outlooks re the role of women. Women's rights have gone backward since the end of the Soviet Union as the following quote indicates: "Activists say that the idea that women in Russia are equal is a cliché left over from the constitution of the Soviet Union, particularly in the area of domestic abuse. And various organizations focused on domestic violence ... have been labeled “foreign agents,” forcing some of them to close." The US rejected the "Equal Rights Amendment" for its constitution and we also have a big problem with domestic violence but this article indicates Russian women are worse off than they were in Soviet times as under Putin the laws against domestic violence have been weakened to protect the family! Are families based on violence? Violence is the woman's fault for not obeying her husband: “A man beating his wife is less offensive than when a man is humiliated,” Yelena Mizulina, the lawmaker who led the effort to decriminalize domestic abuse, told reporters in 2016. She added that it was “mandatory” for a woman to respect her husband as the “authority” in the marriage." Sounds like some of the Republican Congressmen we read about!
Thursday, September 6, 2018
"Fear" by Bob Woodward: The Cheat Sheet"
Don't have time to read 420 pages of Woodward? Here is the "Fear" CHEAT SHEET"-- 10 points "to get" just from the NYT review -- the least you need for a nodding acquaintance!
[All points, except in brackets, are quotes from the NYT review]
1. Nothing in Bob Woodward’s sober and grainy new book, “Fear: Trump in the White House,” is especially surprising.
2. “Fear” is a typical Woodward book in that named sources for scenes, thoughts and quotations appear only sometimes.
3. Woodward dispenses in “Fear” with most of the small human details that brightened his earlier books. There is no moment like the one in “Bush at War” (2002) in which George W. Bush said to a Navy steward on
duty in the West Wing, “Ferdie, I want a hamburger.”[Do we really these brightened details?]
4. Among the primary sources for this book are clearly [Reince] Priebus; Gary D. Cohn, Trump’s former chief economic adviser; and Rob Porter, Trump’s former staff secretary'
5. Cohn is in some ways this book’s moral center. If this were a first-person novel, he would be its narrator. He is shocked at every turn by Trump’s lack of knowledge and utter lack of interest in learning anything at
all. It was pointless to prepare a presentation of any sort for him.
6. Mike Pence, the vice president, comes off as a glorified golf caddy who doesn’t want to rock the boat lest Trump tweet something mean about him.
7. About Melania Trump, [Steve] Bannon says: “Behind the scenes she’s a hammer.”
8. Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation rattles Trump to his core in “Fear.”
9. John M. Dowd, Trump’s former lawyer, does not think Trump is mentally capable of testifying to the special counsel. “Don’t testify,” he is quoted as saying. “It’s either that or an orange jump suit.”
10. If this book has a single point to drive home, it is that the president of the United States is a congenital liar.
Saturday, August 25, 2018
What the CIA "Knows" About Putin
So all the CIA, etc., knows about Putin comes from one or two informants who are "close" to him and have now "gone silent", and "American intelligence agencies have not been able to say precisely what are Mr. Putin’s intentions." In other words it's, as usual, just a lot of speculation designed to justify our rekindling the cold war. The State and Defense Departments are not left out of the CIA loop and presumably know which Russian diplomats are CIA informants and they would not be among those 60 expelled -- this part of the story was just put in as cover for them. We are also told that Putin wants to eliminate current US informants by poisoning retired ones by using a poison that points to him. He must be dumber than Trump. If Russia, with a mere pittance of the resources the US has, is able to stir up chaos over here just imagine what we are doing to Russia! And who are those "pro-Russian" politicians running for office in the midterms?
Friday, August 24, 2018
Giraffes -- not just for the Zoo anymore
Since humans of a certain class and moral disposition cannot be prevented from slaughtering animals such as whales, dolphins, elephants, rhinos and now giraffes (etc., etc.) for fun and profit, and others from buying products made out the body parts of the slain wildlife to look "cool" is it too much to ask Congress (even Republican members not known for having reliable moral compasses) to enact laws to at least protect these animals from going completely extinct. Perhaps it is better for them to so if it is the only way to save them from never-ending acts of human cruelty and greed. Half the world still eats dogs and cats and if our "best friends" are still on the menu what hope do other animals have to escape our appetites for them as food, clothing, and the thrill of killing?
Monday, August 20, 2018
R.I.P. David McReynolds
A socialist from a different era but still a comrade for all that, he mused in 2015 “The failure of the Socialist Party, its tendency to substitute a kind of left rhetoric for serious analysis, is to be regretted because if ever we needed a democratic socialist movement it is today”--- a short three years later we see DSA rising to fill that need; the roles of other left forces are yet to be determined as democratic socialism, still "new" in the US is old in Europe and has failed to get beyond the welfare state and NATO. Communism (i.e., Marxism-Leninism) is still a viable alternative despite the failure of Eastern Orthodox culture to digest it as it is apparently working in China being compatible with a modern interpretation of Confucianism and as the ultimate solution to the contradictions engendered by the now dominant world capitalist system that evolved out of European mercantilism and whose continued existence is an existential threat to humanity and the planet.
About this website
NYTIMES.COM
David McReynolds, Socialist Activist Who Ran for President, Dies at 88His pacifist work spanned decades and several wars, and he twice ran for the White House as an openly gay man on the Socialist Party USA ticket.
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Trump vs Brennan: A Spat Between Scoundrels
Well, both Trump and Brennan lied to the American people (it's SOP for the CIA to circulate disinformation in support of government policies and to engage in deceptions and dirty tricks.) Once you leave government service there is no reason for you to keep your security clearance, it's a courtesy extended for loyal service. Once you bite the hand of a serving president don't be surprised if he bites back. These two scoundrels deserve one another and the American people deserve neither. There is nothing honorable about the Hon. John Brennan or the current President, their spat is a sideshow between two imperialist marionettes whose strings have become entangled.
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
# MeToo is greater than the faux Feminists
Hypocrisy is obvious in the responses of many so-called "feminists" and in the world of sexploitation this is a human bites dog story (the human should be punished but male molesters vastly outnumber their female counterparts) nevertheless, from kindergarten through graduate school teachers should keep their hands off their own students (at least). There are moral obligations and duties with regard to trust that pertain to the student-teacher relationship and a teacher who violates that trust is unworthy of his or her position no matter how witty and scholarly they may be. It is disturbing to see so many other teachers attempting to defend this immoral behavior on the part of one their own as they disgrace the very worthy cause they ostensibly support. We all know the flesh is weak and that punishment should fit the crime and that redemption and reconciliation are always ideal, if rare, outcomes: we should try to make both victim and perpetrator whole again and I hope those at NYU (where I taught for many years) who are responsible for dealing with this sad embroglio find the wisdom to find a just solution to this situation.
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