ancianita
ancianita's JournalJeremy Scahill, May, 2016: The Assassination Complex
Scahill's Seattle speech from last month, a video paraphrasing of this latest book of the same name. Click into the 10 minute point if your time is tight.
He reviews Vietnam protest history, pre-digital age, of the Berrigan brothers, their fight against the "good order" of militarism which has been the preview of our current global police state. Scahill mentions the
weak arguments against the acceptable militarist "enemy" philosophical framework of invasion and killing policies or debates.
Good ideas: " ... If we are just tethered to our electronic devices...then how are we actually going to confront any of the ills facing our society...Obama being surrounded by white guy frat boys like Ben Rhoades who have his ear on American foreign policy...all our candidates are in favor of a kill list..."
About halfway:
We have the burden of living in The Empire…in the most powerful nation on Earth… For us to decide that we just want to sort of veg out, and let it be on cruise control, or check our conscience at the door of every four years’ election -- it means that we’re a part of this problem.
If we don’t start paying attention to what’s being done in our name around the world; if we don’t take real interest in it, if we don’t defend the people that blow the whistle on it, if we don’t have the time of day to get away from our machines and our computers and our daily grind life to do a little something to try to raise these questions in society, then we’re a major part of the problem.
The moment you cede any portion of your conscience to a politician is the moment you stop participating in the struggle for any kind of democratic values…
Bernie Sanders supported regime change in Iraq…voted for the Iraq Liberation Act in 1998, authored by the neocons…supported the sanctions on Iraq…supported the longest sustained bombing campaign since Vietnam under Bill Clinton, bombing Iraq every three days, saying ‘we’re protecting the Shia and the Kurds and ended up killing more of both than Saddam’s people…
Then he says Hillary loves regime change. Okay, Bernie, I agree with you... But what’s your answer about your record in supporting regime change in Iraq before it became cool among the Republicans. You were there vocally supporting that. Now that’s not the same as voting for the invasion of Iraq, but the invasion of Iraq couldn’t have happened on a legislative level had they not passed that bill in 1998 that codified regime change as the law of the land.
Now some people blast anyone who criticizes their particular messiah. Hillary’s people are very vicious on social media and come after you, nd; anyone who criticizes Hillary becomes a sexist immediately, like BernieBros… but then when you criticize Bernie Sanders…you’ve done some vile act by pointing out facts.
Journalists are supposed to present information with no regard to who the politician is. We’re supposed to hold the politician accountable whether they’re Bernie Sanders, George W. Bush or Dick Cheney. Our job isn’t to be partisan warriors for any particular cause. And if we’re not a grown up enough society to deal with the facts and realize that our messiahs are actually not messiahs, what business do we have calling ourself a democracy or a democratic Republic. We don’t have any business doing that…
We all have to take a humility pill about where we are in this country, the state of empire, our impact in the world, the perception of our country, because of all of these wars, because the Nobel Prize winner and … Dick Cheney … ended up on the same page when it came to the legitimizing and normalizing assassination as a central component of our national identity.
Not just our national security policy, but our national identity, we have become a nation of assassins because we don’t say anything about it. We veg out. Rachel Maddow makes us all feel good. Bernie Sanders says we’re part of the revolution. That stuff is plastic. What’s real is actually assessing who you are in the country you live in and what you’re doing to change it or alter that path…”
Well worth your time from one of the best journalists we have.
Timeline of Orlando Nightclub Shooting
Eighteen photos give 'feel' to official news.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/12/us/orlando-shooting-timeline/
Orlando terror attack live updates:Omar Mateen had been on terrorist watch list, bought guns recent
Source: L.A. Times
What we know:
The gunman has been identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen, an American citizen who was born in New York.
Dozens of victims remain hospitalized, many in critical condition .
He was killed by law enforcement after he took hostages during an hours-long siege.
He used a legally purchased assault rifle and handgun , which he had bought in the last 12 days. He also had another "device" but it's not clear what that was.
Mateen lived in the area of Fort Pierce, Fla., about 120 miles south of Orlando, and worked as a private security officer .
Investigators are operating under the theory that the attack was inspired by Islamic State .
Mateen had been interviewed by the FBI twice and had once been on a terrorist watch list .
President Obama called the shooting an act of terror that was an attack on all Americans.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-orlando-nightclub-shooting-live-updates-htmlstory.html
Lifting The Veil Of The Co-optation of Social Movements
I will never be a Republican. I never value anything they value. I'm an atheist. I'm for people's movements and this is why I think this discussion on co-optation is worth watching.
It doesn't mean that frustrations and failures won't always be with humans. It doesn't mean that the Democrats are evil.
This Democratic Underground forum should accept that issues of national concern should justify constructive criticism of the party's leaders, not to mention the unregulated capitalist government they want to run.
Such parties serve the interests of world oligarchs, some of whom even criticize the morality of party priorities they benefit from. Such parties diffuse movements, negatively 'brand' them in their TV media, continue to ignore and resist the economic aspirations of people who want political democracy to be more than an "experiment" for America.
Through their Enemy Industrial Complex they distract The People with fear.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/lifting-the-veil/
Bill Maher: Let's Not Romanticize Socialism The Way Conservatives Romanticize Capitalism
The new generation and Santaism...
Clinton May Take The Nomination But Sanders Has Won The Debate
Harvard researchers found that Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 have actually become more progressive over the course of the campaign. Sanders hasn’t merely won a seat at the table, he’s started a sea change in Democratic politics that the party will have to adjust to.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/clinton-may-take-the-nomination-but-sanders-has-won-the-debate/2016/06/07/15d59474-2c1b-11e6-b5db-e9bc84a2c8e4_story.html?postshare=3011465301295580&tid=ss_mail
Unity Is Not Uniformity. We can do this.
I'm not usually a binary thinker, but in the partisan arena, either Hillers and Berners join together to get more of this
Or we'll get this
Hillary Clinton in Brooklyn: We Are All Standing Under A Glass Ceiling
(With a few glitchy seconds.)
I like the reference to the women and men of Seneca Falls.
"...We owe so much to those who came before, and tonight belongs to all of you..."
Hillary: How Will You, As Commander-In-Chief, Deal With Military Rape
Victims must first tell their units' commanders, who are also often the commanders of the alleged perpetrators. Further complicating the matter is that for these commanders to prove an assault has occurred, they must also admit a failure of their own leadership.
As Bee points out, "Commanders can't indict a rapist without indicting themselves." That might explain why servicemen and women who do report an assault are 12 times more likely to suffer some form of retaliation than to see their offender convicted of sexual offense...
So why has the bill stalled? Not just because Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested that military commanders would be replaced with lawyers, but because President Barack Obama has not endorsed it.
"If the president came out and supported this bill, it would be done," Gillibrand told Bee. "It would be over. He promised, I think now close to three years ago, that he was going to give the military one year to fix things. Well, I can show him this year's report...They have not fixed things...what happened to 'No Fucks Obama?'"
One of the most important points here is that this is not a women's issue.
CONGRATULATIONS, HILLARY AND SUPPORTERS! LET'S GO!!
There is no better time, I'm talking here and now, I'm talking here and now
Let's go!
Right now is where you shine, I'm talking here and now, I'm talking here and now
It's not about what you've done, it's about what you doing
It's all about where you going, no matter where you've been,
LET'S GO!
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Gender: Do not displayHometown: New England, The South, Midwest
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Current location: Sarasota
Member since: Sat Mar 5, 2011, 12:32 PM
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