There have been nationwide strikes and protests about McDonalds and the minimum wage. This issue of economic justice and workers' rights are part and parcel of the human rights movement. It has been found that if McDonalds were to double the salaries and benefits to all of its employees from the CEO down to the minimum wage cashiers; it would still only cost an extra 68 cents for a Mag Mac. This has been cited by a new report. Many fast food workers are legitimately on strike as a means to demand a livable wage. Ryan Chittum of the Columbia Journalism Review crunched the numbers and found that the price rise of 68 cents per Big Mac, or 17 percent overall, is only true for company-operated restaurants. Including franchises, which make up 80 percent of McDonalds restaurants, puts the increase at 25 percent. The University of Kansas has clarified that Morelix, an undergraduate at the school, did not vet his research with the university. The report is not part of KU’s academic studies. Low wage workers already know that it would take very little for McDonalds to vastly improve the lives of those who make the company run. Studies have shown even that minimum wage raises have been beneficial to a company's bottom line. The current wages for the lowest paid McDonalds workers are unworkable and even the company know that. A recent budget released by McDonalds told employees to get by through getting a second job and spending $0 on heating. The company's leadership had tried to frame itself as a chartable above minimum wage employer. The raising of the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $9 an hour will not involve budget outlays (if they all aligned with inflation). What folks are advocating is not creating a minimum wage of 30 dollars an hour. We want a slight increase of the minimum wage that is in line with inflation. We know that the current minimum wage is incredibly low by any standard or estimation. For the past four decades, increases in the minimum wage have fallen behind inflation. So, the minimum wage is substantially lower than it was in the 1960's while worker productivity has doubled. Many studies have shown that a slight increase of the minimum wage has little if any negative effect on employment. This increase can help low income families all throughout America. As Paul Krugman has written, "...The tax credit — which has traditionally had bipartisan support, although that may be ending — is also good policy. But it has a well-known defect: Some of its benefits end up flowing not to workers but to employers, in the form of lower wages. And guess what? An increase in the minimum wage helps correct this defect. It turns out that the tax credit and the minimum wage aren’t competing policies, they’re complementary policies that work best in tandem..." Most Americans agree with a minimum wage increase. It is known that many of the super-rich pay no income taxes. The poor pays a lot of payroll and sales taxes. A recent study by the Chicago Federal Reserve found that raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour would increase household spending by about $48 billion the following year, amounting to a .3 percent boost to GDP. And while opponents warn that a raise would hurt jobs, several studies have shown that it doesn’t have a negative effect on employment and may even help boost job growth. Another study finds that raising the minimum to $10.10 an hour would lift nearly 6 million workers out of poverty. It can decrease the gender wage gap at the state level since now women make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. A July 2013 poll shows that 80 percent of American supports a raise to $10.10 an hour. This includes more than 90 percent of Democrats and even two-thirds of Republicans, as well as 83 percent of low-income adults and nearly 80 percent of those who make more than $100,000. Voters also decided to raise the wage in three cities in November, and in fact when ballot initiatives include a raise, voters nearly always approve it by substantial majorities. We must fight for better worker conditions. I disagree strongly with the oppression of workers. Rand Paul and Tom Coburn's wicked Enumerated Powers Act of 2013 bill could effectively ban the nationwide minimum wage, the national ban on workplace discrimination, the national labor law and the overtime laws in most industries if it was passed last century. So, I will continue to endorse labor rights and human dignity.
Yemen is under assault now for a while. A drone strike killed 4 suspected Al-Qaeda members. Washington approved drone strikes that killed 4 suspected Al-Qaeda members in the Maarib Province in Yemen on Tuesday. This comes in the time of the Terror Alert proclamation issued by Washington last week. Reuters stated that “The New York Times reported on Monday that the closure of the U.S. embassies was prompted by intercepted communication between al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and Nasser al-Wuhaishi, head of Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).” The report also said that “The Yemeni tribal leaders said five missiles struck a vehicle travelling in Maarib Province in Tuesday’s strike, killing all of its occupants. State news agency Saba also said initial reports indicated that four suspected al Qaeda militants were killed in the air strike in Maarib, but gave no further details.” There is a high probability of civilians being murdered by the drone strikes. In the past, civilians were killed by drone strikes in Yemen. The Obama's war on Al-Qaeda in Yemen has been more aggressive than in the previous Bush administration. This realityis according to the New America Foundation that was based in Washington, D.C. It states the following information: "...As of August 6, 2013, U.S. drone and airstrikes had killed an estimated 610 to 849 people in Yemen, according to the New America Foundation data. Of these deaths, 99% occurred during Obama’s presidency.” The drone strike initiative began under U.S. President George W. Bush. The current administration has expanded the drone war in the Middle East and other parts of the world. In a report conducted by the ‘Alkarama Foundation’ a human rights organization based in Switzerland called ‘The United States’ War on Yemen: Drone Attacks’ clarified what impact the drone war in Yemen has on the civilian population: "...From the first air strike in November 2002 until the month of May 2013, there have been between 134 and 226 U.S. military operations in Yemen, including strikes by aircraft, drone missiles, or attacks launched from warships stationed in the Gulf of Aden...While the Bureau of Investigative Journalism counted nearly 1,150 deaths between 2002 and April 2013 due to U.S. attacks, Dennis Kucinich, a representative of the U.S. Congress, placed the number of deaths in Yemen at 1,952, in a speech to Congress. He says: “We have not declared war on any of these nations [Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia] but our weapons have killed innocent civilians there. Highly reputable research shows that the number of high-level targets killed as a percentage of total casualties is estimated at about 2 percent.” The head of national security in Yemen, Ali Hassan Al-Ahmady, announced that during 2012, a hundred members of al-Qaeda had been killed by U.S. aircraft strikes..." Some reports believe that the U.S. drone strike in Yemen can be a prelude to a military intervention can led by American and British forces if the current civil war in Syria leads to an attack on Iran in the future. The Gulf of Aden is a strategic waterway for oil exports vital to America’s interests. The Gulf is located between Yemen, Somalia, and the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula. The huge drone strike action is fueling anti-Americanism. Yemeni journalist and activist Farea al-Muslimi in a U.S. Senate hearing reported by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism last April said that the drone strikings are causing many Yemenis to depict America in a much more negative light. There are many children killed by these attacks. Many are angry over it. These actions are trying to assist Western oil shipments to the U.S. military and Western corporations. Yemen and Washington are allied. The question is whether continuous drone strikes in Yemen will only target Al-Qaeda and its leadership including Osama Bin Laden’s right hand man Ayman al-Zawahri who is affiliated with the leader of Jabhat Al-Nusra, Mohammed al-Jawlani who “is a CIA operative in the Al Nusra” according to former Al-Qaeda member Sheikh Nabil Naiim in a recent video or will it continue to kill and injure innocent civilians. Some want the U.S. to build military bases in Yemen. This is a further military occupation of Yemen. The West wants safe exports of oil from that region into the rest of the Earth. The Yemen Times reported on May 27th of this year that “In a speech delivered at the first Yemeni-Turkish forum held in Sana’a this past Saturday, oil and minerals’ minister, Ahmed Dares, confirmed that 35 international companies are currently competing to invest in 20 oil sites throughout Yemen.” The war on terror is evil and it is being strategically used a means to grow the military industrial complex at the expense of civilian deaths via drone strikes.
The bombing of the consulate in Benghazi, Libya is one of the most important foreign policy stories of our time. Now, we know a lot about the incident. We know that there were dozens of CIA assets and agents in the compound of Benghazi the night that terrorists staged the attacks. The attacks has been exploited by the elite as a means for the West to justify sending U.S. troops and drones in all of Africa (in support of an agenda that has been set out by 45 major international corporations just a few months before). The federal government has filed the first charges in the Benghazi attack. There was a sealed complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington. It was sent against an unspecified number of individuals in the September 2012 attacked that murdered Ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 other Americans. One official charged included Ahmed Abu Khattala or the lead of a Libyan militia. We know that the CIA used a consulate as an operational base without sufficient security. This and other intelligence failures have been documented by the ex-CIA analyst Melvin A. Goodman. The consulate used diplomatic cover for an intelligence operation that was known to Libyan militia groups. The CIA security team in Benghazi was slow to respond. There was a breakdown in coordination in the intelligence community. Even the CIA had to admit that the CIA was smuggling weapons from Libyan weapons depots to the Syrian rebels during the 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi. According to a report by CNN, an unnamed source has leaked that the alleged cover-up of the circumstances around the attack is to hide the reality of the smuggling, which occurred before the escalation of the Syrian civil war. This shows that the CIA has been arming the Syrian rebels since at least September 2012. The agents were running the operation out of the Benghazi “annex,” which has been reported as a secret safe house of the CIA in the city, not far from the embassy. Many in the alternative media have talked about this situation for months. There have been reports of CIA intimidation on employees and foreign ground assets. CNN’s source claims that this is a trend of intimidation that the agency is carrying out. In an exclusive communications in the CNN report, one insider writes, “You don’t jeopardize yourself; you jeopardize your family as well.” Another says, “You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation.” Some believe that there is a cover up of the role of the CIA in handling the events before, during, and after the Benghazi attacks. Christopher Stevens before he died sent a diplomatic cable from Libya in July of 2011 saying that Islamic extremism is growing in Libya (and the spotting of the Al Qaeda flag over buildings outside of the city of Benghazi). The intelligence community funded the Al-Qaeda like terrorists for decades. The intelligence services of Washington and London supplied weapons and aid to the terrorists for over 30 years. Many of these terrorists fought with the West in Afghanistan against the Soviets in the 1980's and in Kosovo in the 1990's. The bombing represents the fruit of a reckless foreign policy that spans decades filled with CIA funded terrorists (and some of these terrorists unfortunately murdered innocent Americans in 2012). The then Clinton State Department was all over the war on terror and they supported the destabilization of Libya as a means to justify the establishment of a puppet regime. Libya was named by General Wesley Clark in the plan overthrow 7 countries in 5 years plan. The State Department was warned of a lack of security at the compound and they failed to inform their personnel in the country of that warning: "...According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and “lockdown”, under which movement is severely restricted.” (Independent). Christopher Stevens was sent back to Benghazi in the middle of ongoing violence, just hours before the attack (in spite of the warnings of inadequate security and other violent attacks in the area). I do not agree with Susan Rice on foreign policy matters, but she was made a scapegoat once for this entire incident. The reality is that Susan Rice had no role in forming talking points on Benghazi. It is the reality that the system of white supremacy via the CIA and the State Department made huge errors in this affair with Susan Rice having nothing to do with it at all. Khatallah is linked to the Islamist group Ansar al-Shariah, one of the militias that has served as the de facto military within many parts of the country since the overthrow of Libyan dictator Moamar Ghadaffi. Also, the West is complicit in using policies that are extrajudicial and violate international laws.
In the aftermath of the NSA scandal, some of the NY Times editors wrote in support iof police state persecution. Many in the mainstream media love to advance the agenda of the establishment. Many of their shows and other forms of media advance misinformation. The leaders of the mainstream media have always advanced wealth, power, and privilege. There are many sincere folks in that world, but we are talking about the leadership of that media empire system. Many of them call imperial wars liberating ones. They claim that business power in love with privatization is better than government regulation and public justice. Some of them worship America instead of allowing America to be made accountable for its own actions. Some of them abhor social justice and social change. The truth is that patriotism is not about unconditionally supporting U.S. policies. It is about loving the concept of family, community, and the nation state where society is improved upon progressively not regressively. We have to have facts in the world and not fiction. Edward Snowden is neither a super hero nor a terrorist. He is a man that was in controversial straights and he lives in Russia now. Russia will not extradite him. Some in the NY Times want the lawless NSA spying to continue. On August 6, they headlined ”What’s the Point of a Summit?” Obama’s “expected to decide soon whether to proceed with a planned summit meeting with President Vladimir Putin” next month in Moscow. “At the moment, the answer should be no.” The Obama administration did not want Putin to grant Snowden asylum, but he did. This is why the White House cancelled a meeting with Putin. Swonden exposed lawless spying. He caused a national debate. The truth is that free societies do not spy on their citizens. They do not lie and claim otherwise. They don't act otherwise. They don’t conduct espionage on allies. They don’t prioritize wrong over right. Responsible journalists report accurately. They don’t support lawlessness. They don’t attack whistleblowers that expose it. They don’t want Snowden denied asylum. Some view Putin as an authoritarian, arrogant figure. Yet, Washington is waging aggressive war on Syria. They fund death squad proxies. Washington murders innocent women and children. They target the elderly and the infirm. They have used chemical weapons. They claim a divine right to kill, torture, and maim. U.S. bases encroach close to Russia's borders. So-called missile defense and tracking radar are for offense. They target Russia. They threaten war. Washington wants Russian sovereignty destroyed. It wants its main military rival neutralized. It wants unchallenged global dominance. It’s ravaging one country after another to achieve it. We have a civil liberties crisis in America. We have regular police state repression that targets regular Americans. Putin will host G20 leaders in September 5 and 6. Putin is not a saint, but he is not the worst leader in the world though. The White House has used policies that violate the rule of law, equity, justice, freedom, and democratic values. The West is having a war on humanity in the system of white supremacy. The Times is not reporting that information at all.
Bill O’Reilly once again want to scapegoat single black mothers for some of the conditions in the black community omitting that most blacks are not murderers, rapists, or imperialists. The critics of Bill O’Reilly are right. He tries to slander black people (both males and females now) as an excuse to deny the criminal nature of white supremacy. I will never ally with a man that says to blacks go back to Africa if they want reparations. I will never ally with a man that committed perversion in violation to his marriage commitments to his wife. This adulterer has no moral right to judge the black community at any circumstance. He is 6 ft. 3 and I am slightly shorter than him. So, he is no threat to anyone here. I wish that I was on his show, because I will say some words to him to his face like a man. He is a puppet of the FOX News network and the banking elite. Single mothers have nothing to do with the death of Trayvon Martin at all. Single mothers have nothing to do with the War on Drugs or mass incarceration of sometimes even innocent black human beings. Single mothers have nothing to do with racial discrimination and economic exploitation in the USA at all. This liar Bill O'Reilly has omitted that we in the black community has talked about and debated issues of family, the entertainment industry, and other likeminded issues for decades. Trayvon Martin's death has to do with a vigilante and woman beater killing an unarmed, innocent black male. I cannot mention all that I want to write here, because of censors. In private, let's just say that I have colorful words for Bill O'Reilly. O'Reilly is a piece of the work that ignores the need for economic and social justice (not just moral including ethical development) as a means to liberate black human beings. Sociologist Dr. Stephen Steinberg made an excellent article about these issues refuting Bill O'Reilly's lies called, "'Poor Reason: Culture Still Doesn't Explain Poverty." In other words, regardless if you are a single mother or not, if you lack educational, economic, and political resources including fair institutions, some (not all) will still suffer in certain circumstances. Humanity is dynamic not monolithic. The Leave it to Beaver stuff doesn't work all of the time. I do believe that any child should have male and female influences though since we are in the human family. We need comprehensive solutions not Eurocentric, theocratic, and reactionary propaganda. Our African culture has been communal. We had grandfathers, cousins, and the whole community caring for our children beyond just the nuclear family (which I have no issue with if that family loves each other and is real). Ironically, his ancestors were oppressed heavily centuries ago by the same corporate elites that dominate his network today. He follows the agenda of our oppressors. He is a bully. He disrespected Jeremy Glick (who was a grieving son), so that outlines his character. I talk with a masculine voice especially if I want to make an explicit point. If I was on his show, it will be an interesting exchange. Yet, with folks like that, we can thank God that we can never be brainwashed. We can thank God that we love truth and wisdom not dissension or ignorance. He loves torture and he tries to lecture us on morality. On economic issues, he is the like Tea Party activists. We have them beat ideologically as others have mentioned since their intemperate anger outlines insecurity and hatred of any progressive insight.
By Timothy
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