Historic Times

The recent Supreme Court made the wrong decision about the Voting Rights Act. It seems that some in the Supreme Court want to eliminate Section 4 and they hate Section 5 as well. Now, in a 5-4 split decision, the Supreme Court eliminate a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Chief Justice John Roberts announced the opinion. It eliminated Section 4. That provision said that parts of America must have changes to their voting laws cleared by the federal government or in federal court, because of the legacy of discrimination in the South. The decision didn't rule that preclearance was unconstitutional. They did rule that the particular formula used in the Voting Rights Act is or the feds can't monitor voting rights laws in a certain way was illegal. Justice Roberts was a major person in the Reagan administration that drafted memos for the top Justice Department officials (that argued for a weaker version of the law). Robert, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito believed that things have changed in the South since the Voting Rights Act was signed in 1965. The reality is that voter suppression efforts continue to persist even in the 21st century. Justice Antonin Scalia made the racist argument that black people are seeking racial entitlement by requesting that their voting rights ought to be protected in his own words: "...had the effect of requiring racially motivated gerrymandering, amounting to the ‘perpetuation of a racial entitlement’ on the part of Black legislators and constituents benefiting from the districting.” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued the dissent and noted, "The sad irony of today’s decision lies in its utter failure to grasp why the VRA has proven effective.” She also wrote, “The Court appears to believe that the VRA’s success in eliminating the specific devices extant in 1965 means that preclear­ance is no longer needed...” In the Court’s view, the very success of §5 of the Voting Rights Act demands its dormancy.” Ginsburg is right on this point, because there is always a possibility of massive voting discrimination and the VRA is a key way to prevent it. So, preclearance is not stuck down per se, but a procedure is. It was a disgraceful opinion by some in the Supreme Court. The reality is that voter suppression efforts have not ceased in America (not only in the South, but elsewhere too. During the 2012 election, human beings had to wait hours to vote and early voting was cut back in some areas) and Section 4 is a key portion of the Voting Rights Act. The case is called Shelby County v. Holder. This attack on democratic rights by the ruling class is transparently clear. Congress has continually voted to extend the Voting Rights Act as recently as 2006. Decades ago, hundreds of thousands of African Americans including others in the South fought against Jim Crow segregation via marches, sit-ins, and protests. They faced terrorists groups like the Ku Klux Klan. They or civil rights activists faced bombings, lynchings, and beatings. Some died, so we can enjoy some rights today. Now, our rights are being threatened all of the time. Once, 15 states fall under the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act. That is why human beings in North Carolina are protesting against voting suppression efforts among other issues now in 2013. Many of them (especially young human beings have been arrested for speaking truth to power. These are part of the Moral Monday movement). The reactionaries in North Carolina (where taxes are raised on the poor & middle class including the cuts to Medicaid) are livid on how human beings of numerous backgrounds are fighting for liberty and for the common good. There are those have been arrested for peacefully addressing their legitimate grievances. Ironically, Justice Clarence Thomas voted in opposition to one section of the Voting Rights Act and he was born from a poor African American family from Georgia. Thomas and Scalia are notorious reactionaries. The only good news is that this decision can mobilize more human beings to fight for voting rights (while using this wrong decision as a motivation to keep going). A legitimate check in making sure that voting rights is fair has been eliminated. It is a shame. Voting Rights is a fundamental human right and not a select privilege to be granted under huge, unwarranted obstacles. So, it is the Old South vs. the New South. In the end, the New South will prevail with equality and justice.

 

 

There is controversy on whether Lebanese affiliates are opening a Lebanese front in the Syrian war. It seems that the West is working in Lebanon as a means to open a new front in the Syrian civil war. Lebanon has a lax government. It has postponed its parliamentary elections. This complicates matters.  There are institutional figures and military commanders that have gone into retirement, but the caretaker government is unable to replace them. There is Hezbollah's intervention into the Syrian conflict. This has strengthened the Syrian government against the anti-government forces trying to overrun Syria. There have been rockets launched by anti-government forces from Syria. They have come from even inside Lebanon against Hezbollah's political strongholds against Shia Muslim villages. This action will inflame tensions between Shiites and Sunnis inside of Lebanon. Al-Qaeda influences have been in Lebanon for years. That is why you can see Al-Qaeda flag flown all over Lebanon. These flags are shown in Beirut, Sidon (or Saida), etc. They can be seen in Trablos or Tripoli including other locations. The U.S. and its allies ignore the fact of how the Future Party of Saad Hariri provides support to Al-Qaeda. The current head of the UN Secretariate's Department of Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, was once the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon before he was promoted in the U.S. Department of State. He took a blind eye to the support to Al-Qaeda by the Hariri family's Future Party and its March 14 Alliance. It is known that the Hariri family has had a long alliance with the takfiris and Al-Qaeda supporters. They have been allied with groups in Lebanon that openly revere Osama bin Laden as a great leader. The Hariri family and members of their Future Party imported the fighters that would later become Fatah Al-Islam into Lebanon. They did this or exploited the takfiri militias in Lebanon as an attempt to crush Hezbollah after Israel failed to do so in 2006. The Hariri family is supported by Saudi patrons and once by the Bush Jr. administration. This family wants Assad out of power in Syria. Even Seymour Hersh exposed that family. Later, Fatah Al-Islam went rogue. The Hariri alliance would blame Syria and the Palestinians for supporting the Fatah group that they aided before. Lebanon is having fighting between the Lebanese army and Fatah Al-Islam. Tripoli had seen fighting between the Alawite community of Lebanon (represented by the Arab Democratic Party) and the Hariri's family's takfiri allies. Hariri's allies openly support Al-Qaeda. They smuggle fighters into Syria and weapons across the Lebanese-Syrian border. The Future Party wants Syria's Assad to be overthrown. Lebanon’s third largest city, Sidon, has also been the scene of fighting and tensions between Ahmed Al-Assir, a Hariri ally, and Hezbollah’s supporters and allies. Al-Assir’s men have even tried to kill one of Sidon’s main Sunni Muslim clerics because he has constantly been working for Muslim and Lebanese unity and saying that there is an attempt to ignite a Shia-Sunni conflict in Lebanon and the broader region. One contingent from the Lebanese military had to stay in Sidon as a means to keep the peace. Sidon is having a battle now since Al-Assir's men attacked and killed members of the Lebanese military for no reason (in a village on the outskirts of Sidon). The Lebanese military have used heavy weapons to fight Al-Assir's group and restore peace to the Lebanese city. Now, the Lebanese state is being targeted. There are been attacks against the Lebanese military from the Syrian border since Hezbollah intervened in Syria. There are attacks in Lebanon even before Hezbollah intervened in the Syrian civil war. Lebanon's weaken government is being exploited as a means for further attacks against it. Sunni and Shia villages have been attacked in Lebanon. The attacks try to burn Sunnis and Shiites against each other. This is why Hezbollah has asked the Shiite clans in Bekaa to stay calm after they have been attacked. Protests have broken out in Lebanon too. So, the Al Assir unprovoked attacks in Lebanon is meant to exacerbate the Shia, Sunni tensions. Lebanon is being attacked as a means to force Hezbollah to pullout from Syria and turn inwards in fighting battles in Lebanon (so Syria can be conquered by the rebels). Lebanon's weakened state is being used by terrorists as a means for terrorists to advance terrorism.

Universal healthcare can be economically beneficial to human beings. It can grow economic freedom indeed. One of the greatest myths that reactionaries say, especially in the past half century, is that guaranteeing healthcare for all Americans would strike a huge economic blow to our current economic system. This claim comes in the midst of the existence of the Affordable Care Act. The reactionary Obamacare critics now continue to ramp up their predictions of doom as the implementation of the law grows. These reactionaries omit that Obamacare is filled with concessions and it is not even total universal healthcare (as Big Pharma was instrumental in writing up certain parts of the law). Robert Frank wrote in the NY Times that the lived experiences in nations like Sweden didn't bear out the fears of economic disaster. Even the more conservative Heritage Foundation's research indicates the same conclusion. The Heritage's Index of Economic Freedom shows how friendly countries are to business, investors, and property rights. The countries that rank the highest on the list are: Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Chile, Mauritius, Denmark, and the United States. Almost every one of those nations has an universal healthcare system or mandates individuals pay into medical savings accounts. Australia and Canada both have single payer systems. Denmark's system is government controlled. Switzerland's system is very similar in many ways to the ACA in the States. Among the top twenty nations on the list are Ireland, the U.K., Germany, Sweden, and Finland — other countries that also have universal healthcare systems. These systems are going for economic freedom, because as Robert Frank have noted, these system can keep down healthcare costs. He wrote the following information: "...The United States spends more than $8,000 a person per year on health care, well more than twice what Sweden spends. Yet health outcomes are far better in Sweden along virtually every dimension..." If you have lower healthcare costs, that means that businesses and individuals can channel more money into the economic via more productive means. That is why universal healthcare can cause human beings to be entrepreneurs or self-employed. Even Australians, Brits, Germans, Swedes, etc. are more likely to work for themselves than Americans (because we suffer under a harsh capitalist system for real Americans are always hardworking and strong). The ACA imposes mandates on employers and an universal healthcare system is better than even the ACA. Universal health care was brought off the table by reactionary extremists (they claim to defend economic freedom, but they really want corporate domination of society). To allow select insurance companies to profit from the sick and dying is wrong. Many populists are here in trying to save Medicare and Social Security. So, in America (where I live at), we are continually fighting for justice indeed.

A new survey said that two thirds of all Americans support the usage of unmanned spy drones for Homeland Security missions. Some critics of this action feel that such missions will include identifying gun owners and tracking of locations of individuals via their cellphones, according to government documents. The poll that conducted this situation was done by the Institute for Homeland Security Solutions or IHSS. The IHSS is a research consortium led by the RTI International. It showed that 67% of Americans support the use of unmanned spy drones for “homeland security missions,” and that 63% support their use in “fighting crime." The survey also canvassed law enforcement officers or 72% of whom supported the use of unmanned drones for surveillance purposes and 66% supported their use for emergency response. RTI International has close ties to U.S. government agencies. Yet, its results are broadly in line with previous surveys which show that around two thirds of Americans are happy with domestic drone use under the justification of fighting crime. “Within 10 years, sales of UAS are expected to grow to 160,000 units in the United States as the technology develops for public safety use and commercial purposes,” states the RTI report. Indeed, over the last 12 months, the Department of Homeland Security has been advancing plans for “public safety drones” which are currently undergoing rigorous testing as part of the Robotic Aircraft for Public Safety” (RAPS) project. There has been initial testing for robotic spy drones for public safety applications being conducted by the DHS' Science and Technology directorate at Fort Sill, Oklahoma last year. The DHS have been giving grants worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to police departments across the nation. They have enabled them to purchase unmanned surveillance drones such as the Shadowhawk drone. That is a 50 lb. mini helicopter. It can be fitted with an XREP Taser with the ability to fire four barbed electrodes that can be shot a distance of 100 feet. The DHS is testing numerous different types of drones at a scientific research facility in Oklahoma that have sensors capable of detecting whether a person is armed. There is even a promotional video for the Shadowhawk drone depicting the UAV being used to spy on a private gun sale. CNet’s Declan McCullagh also obtained government documents which show how the DHS is customizing Predator drones originally designated for overseas military operations “to carry out at-home surveillance tasks that have civil libertarians worried: identifying civilians carrying guns and tracking their cell phones.” Experts predict that there will be 30,000 surveillance drones in American skies by 2020 following a bill passed last year by Congress that permits the use of unmanned aerial spy vehicles on domestic soil. FBI director Robert Mueller told Congress that the agency was already using drones for surveillance on U.S. soil on a limited scale. Recently released FAA documents show that the FBI has received clearance to conduct surveillance drone operations inside the U.S. on at least four occasions since 2010. In the final analysis, we need economic populism. We have the right to demand justice and allow Wall Street bankers to be made accountable of their actions. The establishment exploits political issues as a means to attract human beings to go along with their agenda. In that fashion, the establishment candidates defend plutocratic privilege not the interests of the voters. We must oppose huge cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, child nutrition, food stamps, and Social Security.  The reactionaries want low wages, no unions, no unemployment insurance, and nearly no social safety net. Our standard of living has declined by two thirds since the end of the Johnson administration. We have issues of deregulation and laissez faire globalization. If we want solutions, then we have to struggle for employment, wages, education, infrastructure, jobs, science, technology, and other forms of economic development. We ought to be active in our communities locally as well.

 

This is one issue that I wanted to write about for a long time. There are those who claim to be Independent, but they are really closet reactionaries. They use or exploit the errors of the White House as a means to go beyond strong, dissent against the White House. They use emotionally charged and sometimes bigoted ad hominem attacks against not only the President Barack Obama, but his family. That is truly disgraceful and cowardly. The reality is that we can disagree with each other without unjust hatreds at all. Even some of my own people claim to be Independent (from the Internet, publicly, and in other arenas), but they love the bigotry against the poor, they believe in harming or expressing bigotry against those of another background, and they believe in an economic philosophy that enslaved humankind (and it exploited and harmed the rights of workers all over the world). Many of the so-called Independents follow well known personalities like we know his name. He is Ron Paul, whose allies and himself have been filled with racist, sexist, and classist accusations. It is true that Ron Paul believes falsely that corporate power is equivalent to people power. Ron Paul is the ideological grandfather of the Tea Party movement. Folks like Ron Paul are slick in having support from reactionaries, free market enthusiasts, and those from the left as well. He holds the view of an unrestrained market when such a market has caused disaster in our world. When these so-called Independents want to shut down all U.S. military bases, some of them do not wish to have peace in the world necessarily or form real trade (including compassionate foreign aid). Some of them are just isolationist or try exploiting those who are sincerely against U.S. imperialism as a means to crush much of the social safety net (or advance a perverse form of nationalism). They still want American hegemonic dominance in the world without using U.S. resources to be used as a world police. We have too many military bases in the world, but we should have withdrawals and disbanding excluding the militarization of the borders in the States. Why the so-called populist Independents would want to end the war on Drugs and legalize nearly about any drug, but many of them want to end all public funding for health care. If we want to solve this public health issue then we must have affordable health care here. We need funding of publicly funded emergency rooms and health clinics. When you hear a reactionary (hiding under the Independent label) talking about an end to the war on Drugs (which I have no issue with at all), some of them want only private companies to deal with heroin and meth issues (while those facing addiction problems would be left to die in the streets if they can't get private help). We never need some Gilded Age mindset where the robber barons rule the land. I also notice that some of the faux Independents have a hatred of immigrants (of wanting to end even birthright citizenship. These faux Independents lie and collectively blame immigrants for crime, disease, and other social problems in America when the system of white supremacy have caused more destruction than indigenous Americans or our black brothers and black sisters at all), and a hatred of those of certain background. Some of them hate to support love among human beings. Don Black, founder of the white supremacist group Stormfront, who donated $500 to Paul’s campaign. Folks like Paul want to eliminate any regulations on corporations. Many of them hate equality. Some want to shred the social safety net. The attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are a part of the agenda of the establishment and their Independent allies (who unknowingly follow elite talking points). The Bush tax cuts were regressive and I have the right to reject them. We also have the right to a free public education. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with being an Independent politically, but not everyone who claims to be one is one though. It is what it is.

 

 

By Timothy