Jesus Malverde
Jesus Malverde's JournalWhy America’s middle class is lost
One day in 1967, Bob Thompson sprayed foam on a hunk of metal in a cavernous factory south of Los Angeles. And then another day, not too long after, he sat at a long wood bar with a black-and-white television hanging over it, and he watched that hunk of metal land a man on the moon.
On July 20, 1969 — the day of the landing — Thompson sipped his Budweiser and thought about all the people who had ever stared at that moon. Kings and queens and Jesus Christ himself. He marveled at how when it came time to reach it, the job started in Downey. The bartender wept.
On a warm day, almost a half-century later, Thompson curled his mouth beneath a white beard and talked about the bar that fell to make way for a freeway, the space-age factory that closed down and the town that is still waiting for its next great economic rocket, its new starship to the middle class.
They’ve waited more than a decade in Downey. They’ve tried all the usual tricks to bring good-paying jobs back to the 77-acre plot of dirt where once stood a factory that made moon landers and, later, space shuttles. Nothing brought back the good jobs.
Those jobs aren’t coming back. Not at the old North American Rockwell plant, and not in thousands of similarly socked towns.
Yes, the stock market is soaring, the unemployment rate is finally retreating after the Great Recession and the economy added 321,000 jobs last month. But all that growth has done nothing to boost pay for the typical American worker. Average wages haven’t risen over the last year, after adjusting for inflation. Real household median income is still lower than it was when the recession ended.
Make no mistake: The American middle class is in trouble.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2014/12/12/why-americas-middle-class-is-lost/
White voices dominate Bay Area protests of racial inequality
The issue of black inequality has been front and center in the national dialogue for weeks as protests rolled out nightly, but now the conflict has ignited in the heart of the protest movement itself.
With each new demonstration against the killings of unarmed black men by white police in Missouri and New York, questions — and in many cases, objections — proliferate about the role of white voices in a movement that centers on African Americans’ grievances.
The issue arose out of protests in Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco where, night after night, there were more whites than blacks. Some black leaders say they are spending their energy organizing for action away from the streets. Others believe some African Americans are afraid to participate in protests in which small fringe mobs turn violent — putting black people in danger of the very thing they’re protesting, attacks by police.
“There are people who would like to participate, but they feel co-opted and don’t want to be aligned with the vandalism and with people throwing things at the police,” said Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, a black community leader who has participated in numerous social movements over the years. “It’s a small number that causes the trouble at the protests, but we just don’t know how to overcome that. The same issue co-opted the Occupy movement.”
Carson said he welcomes white voices and participation. Many African American activists say the same — but they also say blacks’ voices need to be in the forefront.
'Hand over the bullhorn’
The sentiment was forcefully articulated in a widely distributed Tumblr post this week in which an unnamed, apparently African American poster wrote: “Dear white protesters, this is NOT about you,” and urged whites to “hand over the bullhorn to a Black person (because your voice doesn’t need a bullhorn to be heard ...).”
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/White-voices-dominate-Bay-Area-protests-of-racial-5953977.php
White House: Senate ISIS measure too 'limiting'
The White House on Friday said it is concerned that a Senate measure on the use of force against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) would tie the president's hands, including restrictions on the deployment of ground troops.
The legislation, which cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committeee in a 10-8 vote with majority Democratic support, would not allow ground combat operations, except to protect or rescue U.S. soldiers and citizens. It also includes provisions allowing American troops to conduct intelligence operations, provide advice and assistance, or coordinate airstrikes from the ground.
Press secretary Josh Earnest described the language as "limiting the flexibility of the commander in chief in a way that we wouldn’t support."
snip
Earnest also said the White House was concerned by language that would put a three-year limitation on the authorization. The press secretary said the White House would support that limit if provisions for extension were built in — which could allow the bill to renew without requiring another vote.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/226959-white-house-senate-isis-bill-too-limiting
Earlier
Kerry Warns Senate Against Curbs on Fighting ISIS
Secretary of State John Kerry urged Congress on Tuesday not to preclude the use of ground forces to fight the Islamic State as lawmakers consider setting limits on the nature and extent of American involvement in the military campaign against the group.
Mr. Kerry made his request in testimony before an unusual session of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He underscored that the administration was prepared to negotiate over a measure authorizing the use of force, but he made clear that the administration believes it needs greater flexibility than many lawmakers seemed ready to allow.
“The president has been crystal clear that his policy is that U.S. military forces will not be deployed to conduct ground combat operations against ISIL,” Mr. Kerry said, using an alternate name for the group. “It doesn’t mean that we should pre-emptively bind the hands of the commander in chief or our commanders in the field in responding to scenarios and contingencies that are impossible to foresee,” he added.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/us/politics/kerry-warns-senate-against-curbs-on-fighting-isis.html
Attention Protesters: That Over-Zealous Agitator Might Be A Cop (VIDEO)
Since gathering in groups to use our right to free speech is perfectly legal, why do police infiltrate protest movements with undercover cops? Why not simply police these events in uniform?
Maybe it’s because police officers — or at least their police chiefs — are inclined to destroy all protest movements, no matter how peaceful or just they are. Seen through that lens, undercover cops are just another tool — along with police departments’ assault weapons, body armor, and SWAT vehicles — to force our compliance.
Alas, for some folks, all demands for justice pose a threat, whether you’re from No KXL or from Al Qaeda. No wonder police approach the Occupy and #BlackLivesMatter movements the same way they approach crime rings and terrorist cells: With bullets, tear gas, and infiltration by undercover cops.
How can undercover cops destroy a protest movement? In an entry on agent provocateurs, Wikipedia explains that options for these cops include: causing drama to sow discord, inciting protesters to acts that are violent and/or not legal (though framing them or setting them up works just as well), and publicly sharing information in a way that makes a protest movement look less credible.
http://reverbpress.com/features/undercover-cops-infiltrate-protest-movements/
Offline and Online.
http://www.wecopwatch.org
Tiny water district to seize PG&E power lines, transformers
For years, San Francisco progressives have dreamed of breaking free from PG&E and setting up their own electric utility.
Now a small irrigation district in the Central Valley might beat them to it.
The South San Joaquin Irrigation District won permission from a key government panel Thursday to jump into the retail electricity business, selling power to 38,000 residents of Escalon, Manteca, Ripon and the surrounding countryside. To do it, the district plans to seize every power line, transformer and pole owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. across a swath of San Joaquin County, either through a friendly sale or via eminent domain.
And PG&E, so far, shows no interest in selling.
The district, which along with another irrigation district co-owns three hydroelectric dams in the Sierra foothills, tried this once before. In 2006, the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission, which sets the boundaries of towns and districts, rejected the irrigation district’s plan, saying there wasn’t enough information to prove it would work.
But on Thursday, the panel reversed itself, voting 4-1 to let the district start retail electricity sales — provided it can meet its goal of beating PG&E’s electricity rates by 15 percent. The commission’s staff doubts the district can hit that target and recommended against approval.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Tiny-water-district-to-seize-PG-E-power-lines-5953800.php?cmpid=twitter-mobile
Senators Speak Out On The Torture Report
Torture report pits senator vs CIA chief yet again
Their disputes over who spied on whom and censoring the Senate's scathing torture report are history. But the personal feud between Sen. Dianne Feinstein and CIA Director John Brennan may only be getting worse.
Relations between the outgoing Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman and America's top spy appeared to hit a new low Thursday as Feinstein live-tweeted comments contradicting Brennan as he publicly addressed her panel's sweeping allegations of CIA wrongdoing. While Feinstein later praised Brennan for accepting many of her inquiry's conclusions, the damage was done.
"#ReadTheReport" was the refrain from Feinstein as Brennan held a rare news conference at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. She berated the CIA chief for suggesting, contrary to her report, that the agency's "enhanced interrogation techniques" were legal and may have helped lead to the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Brennan acknowledged CIA officers did "abhorrent" things and were unprepared to run a detention program after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Yet he was hardly praiseworthy of Feinstein and fellow Democrats, calling it "lamentable" they interviewed no CIA personnel to ask, "What were you thinking?" He called the investigation "flawed."
For the two main protagonists in this week's drama, bickering is nothing new.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/81f60426ec51422faa3318d61385d12a/torture-report-pits-senator-vs-cia-chief-yet-again
‘Selma’ Director Calls Sony Emails ‘Sickening and Sad’
On the same day that she became the first black woman to receive a Golden Globe nomination for best director, “Selma” filmmaker Ava DuVernay took a moment to remark on the controversial email exchange that, for some, has highlighted a dispiriting lack of progress in some of the higher echelons of Hollywood.
“I have two words: sickening and sad,” DuVernay told Variety at Thursday night’s Washington, D.C., premiere of “Selma.” “That’s really all I have to say.”
The director was referring to one of many conversations between producer Scott Rudin and Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chair Amy Pascal that were made public as a result of the massive Sony hack attack by Guardians of Peace, a group protesting the upcoming release of the studio’s North Korea-skewering satire “The Interview.” In the exchange in question, Pascal and Rudin traded quips about President Obama’s movie tastes — which, the two speculated, might run toward the likes of “Django Unchained,” “12 Years a Slave,” “The Butler” and the comedies of Kevin Hart.
A later version of that conversation might well have included mention of “Selma,” which re-creates the 1965 voting-rights marches led by Martin Luther King Jr. in heavily segregated Alabama. On Thursday morning, the much-lauded Paramount release picked up Golden Globe nominations not only for DuVernay’s direction but also for picture and best actor for David Oyelowo for his portrayal of King.
During the post-screening Q&A held at the Newseum in D.C., the first question taken from the audience concerned the Sony hacking scandal. While DuVernay was circumspect about the matter onstage, “Selma” producer Dede Gardner spoke at greater length, acknowledging that Pascal and Rudin were being judged on the basis of a private communication.
“It’s confusing because it’s obviously a private conversation that was exposed and made public to the world, and it’s hard, I think, for people who know those people,” Gardner said. “You get let into spaces that you’re not meant to be in.”
“I’d like to think that it can be a very valuable lesson in how powerful the slightest words can be, and how lasting and impactful they are,” she added. “It is no joke. There are not grades of racism. There’s racism.”
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/selma-director-calls-sony-emails-sickening-and-sad-1201377767/
Related: Major Dem donor apologizes for mocking President Obama in hacked racist email.
Rectal feeding is rape – but don’t expect the CIA to admit it
Of all the revelations made about the “enhanced interrogation methods” used by the CIA on detainees in the aftermath of 9/11, the use of waterboarding and rectal feeding have garnered the most attention. In the case of the latter in particular, this was the first time many people had even heard of such a thing.
Initially used in response to prisoner hunger strikes, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence found this allegedly “necessary” and “legitimate” medical practice – also referred to as a “nutrient enema” – was also used by the CIA as a form of torture and control.
According to the committee report “at least five CIA detainees were subjected to "rectal rehydration” or rectal feeding without documented medical necessity". The report identifies a chief of Interrogations referring to medically unnecessary rectal feeding and hydration as illustrative of the interrogator’s “total control over the detainee”.
Alongside the psychological effects of this torture, physical injuries were sustained by at least one detainee as a result of rectal feeding. The detainee was “diagnosed with chronic hemorrhoids, an anal fissure, and symptomatic rectal prolapse”.
Some of the report’s findings are reminiscent of the US-led torture, humiliation and abuse that went on at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. There, prisoners were stripped naked, forced into submissive and degrading positions – such as bending over while pulling their buttocks apart – and threatened with anal rape. In one case, a prisoner had what appeared to be a broom handle inserted into his rectum.
Both the Abu Ghraib revelations and those of the Senate committee demonstrate that the threat, simulation of, or actual penetration of male prisoners has been central to the torture and interrogation practices of the American military and intelligence services.
http://theconversation.com/rectal-feeding-is-rape-but-dont-expect-the-cia-to-admit-it-35437
Profile Information
Name: Jesus MalverdeGender: Male
Hometown: SF
Current location: Japan
Member since: Fri May 17, 2013, 11:44 PM
Number of posts: 10,274
