Syrian Updates

The speech deals with many issues that must be elaborated on too. Now, we can never defend imperialism. We should hope that diplomacy can solve this crisis. We know that the U.S. mission in Syria has nothing to do with the terrible nature of chemical weapons. It has to do with Westerners trying to control the resources in Syria and form puppet pro-Western states in that region. The President talked about the goal of the U.S. to “stop children from being gassed to death and thereby make our own children safer over the long run.” Yet, there are libraries of books, decades of documentaries, and testimonies of hundreds of millions of victims of what the U.S. including the rest of the West has brought to the world. We know that the U.S. elites have not brought global security in the world for nearly seven decades. We know that the elites have been involved in the genocide of Native Americans including their theft of the lands (via the Trial of Tears and other actions). The Trial of Tears was an event where tens of thousands of Native Americans were driven off their lands in the southeastern U.S. and they were forced to march to Oklahoma (of 15,000 Cherokees, and 4,000 died on the march). Many of the folks that died were children. We know that slavery killed millions and involved the kidnapping of tons of black African human beings. Many children were ripped from their parents and sold to criminals. The foundation of the modern Western society has been built on the backs of black slaves including other oppressed human beings of the world. For the past decades, the U.S. used the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (this killed over 200,000 civilians including the firebombing of Tokyo). These attacks were mass murder. Many civilians were burned to death on the spot. Others have died via mass poisoning. General Curtis Lemay burned Korean civilian areas during the Korean War. There was the napalm used in the War including WWII (which is harmful). 5 million human beings died in the Korean War including 3 million civilians. During the Vietnam War, millions of Vietnamese were killed including children. Many villages were burned to the ground. There was the My Lai massacre and Operation Phoenix harming innocent Vietnamese human beings. We see U.S. imperialism continuing today. Even now cluster bombs have been used near populated areas. The U.S. gave Israel cluster bombs to use in an invasion of Lebanon back in 2006. The U.S. installed many brutal tyrants in the world yet Obama rails against Assad as a tyrant. The U.S. in 1965 organized a reactionary coup in Indonesia where over one million human beings were killed under the guise of anti-Communist hysteria. The fascist gangs and Islamic fundamentalists enlisted along with regular military and police to carry out these massacres used and reveled in the most depraved and sadistic means of torturing and killing people to spread widespread terror, including among children. The deaths of communists were then reported to officials at the U.S. embassy who crossed off the names of the dead from lists they had provided to the Indonesian butchers. We need real diplomacy not threats of military strikes, not sanctions, and not other reactionary actions at all. Now, the reactionary forces in the West, the Middle East, and some in Russia want to control the Middle East for their own interests when the Syrian civil war has killed over 100,000 people and made refugees of a million human beings. So, we reject the designs of the imperialists. Their interests are not our interests. We want peace and real solutions in a revolutionary age. Recently, Secretary John Kerry and Russian Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov struck a deal. The deals wants Syria to destroy all of its chemical weapons by mid 2014. Arms inspectors should come into Syria to monitor and record chemical weapons by November of 2013. If the deals fails, then sanctions and military strikes could come by the West against Syria. Time will tell what the future will hold.

 

There has been a black jihadist flag shown over the Christian town of Maaloula. Many rebels have murdered religious human beings for refusing to convert to Islam and then the rebels joked about it. The opposition militants continue to rage in the world. This information comes via a dramatic report by RT's Maria Finohina. She said that the rebels had abandoned the ancient town. The inhabitants in the town only speak the language of Jesus Christ where snipers still occupy high positions. The BBC's Jeremy Brown confirmed that the opposition militants who first attacked the town when a suicide bomber killed himself at a nearby checkpoint are from the terrorist al-Nusra Front (which killed U.S. troops in Iraq) and swore allegiance to Al-Qaeda earlier this year. FSA militants are fighting along aside Al-Nusra militants. “I’ve spoken to some local members of the National Defence Forces, a pro-government militia. They say they are fighting for their town and the fact it was a place where Christians and Muslims once lived side by side. They say they are fighting against the people they regard as terrorists,” writes Bowen, adding that residents claim rebels have desecrated Christian churches. Many Western backed militants ransacked Christians in Syria in at least two other instances. Jabhat Al-Nusra is under the control of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who “personally intervened to settle a dispute between Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Qaeda in Iraq….and declared the Syrian group to be under his direction,” according to a report released this week by the Bipartisan Policy Center. The fact that al-Nusra terrorists and Obama backed FSA militants are fighting alongside each other again illustrates what many have pointed out is the lunacy of arming rebels and the impossibility of ensuring that such weapons are reserved for so-called moderate rebels. The Washington Post today reported that opposition fighters had begun receiving weapons courtesy of the CIA. One academic Jonathan Spyer recently traveled in the rebel territory in Syria. He said that, "...When one looks at the armed rebel groups, one finds an obvious vast majority there who are adherents of Islamism of one kind or another — stretching from Muslim Brotherhood-type formations all the way across to groups openly aligned with al-Qaida central and with al-Zawahiri.” Christians in Maaloula fear that they will be targeted by extremist Muslims is if the Syrian Army pulls out. Residents who vacated the village soon after the conflict started wrote a letter to the United State Congress accusing the opposition militants of looting churches and forcing Christians to convert to Islam. The rebels looted “monasteries and churches, removing sacred images as they went on, ordering residents to abandon their religion, to convert to Islam to save their life,” states the letter.
Another woman claims her husband was murdered by the militants after he refused to convert to Islam. After the man was shot dead, the rebels apparently mocked his wife, remarking, “Jesus didn’t come to save him.” Patriarch Grégoire III (Loutfi) Laham, who has already conducted funerals of three Catholics who were murdered by jihadists in Maaloula, told Vatican Radio, “Virtually all the Christian inhabitants fled from the village,” while rebels, “threatened some Christians with death unless they converted to Islam.” Now, I do not agree with Catholicism theologically at all, but even Catholics do not deserved to be murdered in mass at all. "I saw people wearing Al-Nusra headbands who started shooting at crosses,” another resident told AFP . An Al-Nusra fighter “put a pistol to the head of my neighbor and forced him to convert to Islam by obliging him to repeat ‘there is no God but [Allah].’ Afterwards they joked, ‘He’s one of ours now.’” Now, these extremists are not true Muslims. They are extremists that exploit Islam or spirituality in general as a means to advance extremism, murder, theocracy, and other ills of the world. Syria has yet to sign a treaty on chemical, but its neighbors of Israel and Egypt (both U.S. allies) have not signed the treaty either. Yet, the Western imperialists still want Assad out of power using any means possible. That is why we should continue to oppose imperialism and resist war in Syria by the West.

 

We know that sentencing reform works. It has worked in California too. Only 2 percent of those released after California sentencing reform have been charged with a crime. It has been 10 months after Californians passed a ballot initiative to end a harsh sentencing scheme that imposed life sentences for offenses as minor as stealing socks; those released early have overwhelmingly stayed out of trouble. It has resulted with just two percent charged with new offenses, most of which are misdemeanors or other minor offenses. The recidivism rate for the 1,000 inmates released thus fair is well below the average 16 percent rate at which individuals commit crimes within the first 90 days of release from California prisons according to the report by Stanford Law School's Three Strikes Project. While the reform is in its infancy and no individual has been out of prison form more than nine months. The results dispel warning cries that Proposition 36 would lead to a spike in crime provide statistical support for the growing sentiment that being smart rather than tough on crime by jailing less of the wrong people does not sacrifice public safety. The law that existed before the November ballot initiative was thought to be the harshest of its kind in the nation. The law was a relic of a bygone era in which groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council pushed similar to three strikes legislation around the nation. It required judges to sentence third time offenders who had committed two violent or serious felonies to 25 years to life convictions for any felony, regardless of its severity, and regardless of the context including circumstance. The law was similar to the mandatory minimum sentencing now in the spotlight. The punitive law gave judges no discretion to decide when the required sentence had perverse results. Among those released early who had previously faced life behind bars are men who had been sentenced for shoplifting a pair of tennis shoes, crack cocaine possession, and joyriding; and are now in counseling programs, gainfully employed, and going to school. Anyone who is eligible for release must have committed a minor crime like petty theft or a drug conviction (and demonstrated to a judge they are not “unreasonable risk of danger to public safety"). The judges found that the vast majority of those eligible for early release under this change of the law deserved it and have been released. Since November 2012, the law is estimated to have saved California between $10 and $13 million. If courts released all eligible inmates, it would yield savings of $1 billion over the next ten years. At least 2,000 more inmates are eligible for release and hearings for these inmates have been delayed in part because of a lack of resources, particularly for overworked public defenders. Governor Jerry Brown (D) of California should have used an incentive to facilitate fast hearings for each and every one of them, with a court order calling for state to release 10,000 inmates by the end of the year over Brown's objections. The report on the ballot initiative's success came on the same day Brown announced his latest move to comply with this order. That was a compromise measure whose options include either seeking a time extension that courts have previously rejected, or contracting out of state prisons to house its inmates.

 

 

There has been a lot of debate and research about women in the New Testament. We know that there are legitimate female prophets during the NT days. There are many legitimate female religious teachers then and now. We know that the New Testament gives no qualification for an apostle involving gender at all. The goal of gender equality is always a part of the human rights movement. We know that the Greek words for bishop/elder are episkopos or presbyteros. We have no examples of women in the NT being titled by these; however, we have no MEN labeled that either, except Peter and the self-designation of the author of 2 & 3rd John. There is the title of Bishop Theodora in an early mosaic in a Roman basilica. At a burial site on the Greek island of Thera there is an epitaph for a women Epiktas, named as an presbytis in the 3rd or 4th century. A Christian inscription from 2nd or 3rd century Egypt reads: "Artemidoras...fell asleep in the Lord, her mother Paniskianes being an elder [presbytera]." There are other archaeological female Bishops too inside of early Church history. We know that Clement of Alexandria wrote about women deacons.  Pliny the Younger, in his correspondence to Trajan, reported that he had tortured two young Christian women "who were called deacons" (Epistle 10.96.8). There are many female deaconess human beings throughout Church history then and now. We know that there were female co-workers and female hard workers who worked with the apostles, Paul, and other early church leaders. These females were Euodia, Syntyche, Priscilla, Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa, and Persis. We know female leaders and workers have had a huge role in the early church. The Jerusalem Church--Mary, mother of John Mark, hosted a Hellenistic church at her home (Acts 12.12). The Church at Rome--of the 28 people addressed by Paul in the letter, some 10 of them are women, and several are called by official and semi-official titles! Plus, this all-important letter was officially carried by the women Phoebe. The Philippian church was obviously founded by Lydia (Acts 16), and two of the main leaders were the women (and Paul's "co-workers") Euodia and Syntyche. There were many female prophets all over the Scriptures. So, we see then and now leading women serving the Lord and even being martyrs of the faith. Jesus Christ allied with women and allowed women to associate with him and the apostles.  Paul was a man and he was not perfect, but one accurate statement that he did made on this issue was the following words in Galatians 3:28: "...There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus..." Paul's statement in Galatians 3.28 is extraordinary for an ex-rabbi; it is very radical. The sexes are equal in salvation. Women have the same spiritual status before God as men. They are one in Christ. Even Eudoia and Syntche (2 women) preached the Gospel as shown in the New Testament. Even Paul had to admit that that wives and husbands should submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. In other words, a husband and a wife belong to each other. Each should not oppress each other and true gender equality is maintained in the relationship. Even the OT had main women leaders who were married like Deborah the Judge and Huldah the prophetess. So, women have every right to pray and worship in any religious location. Also, when you look at verses in the NT bigots use as an excuse to advance misogyny, we see that the original Greek words outline their true meanings. These meanings described the view that we should not embrace religious heresies, we should prevent male supremacy or female supremacy (in other words, a man should not be made superior to a woman and a woman should not be made superior to a man when you look at the original Greek translations of the words in the passages), or we should outline mutual respect among males or females. These verses never said that all women in human history should never teach a male, be denied to be a deacon or a prophet, or be denied gender equality in any way whatsoever. Now, I am an independent man, so I will never use spirituality to deny the humanness of anyone of any background or gender. At the end of the day, all humans deserve dignity and respect.

 

 

 

Now, we know that white supremacy is a great enemy of black humanity and all of humanity for that matter. We know the enemy scapegoats black humanity for all ills of the world. Also, we need to realize not only about the puppets of the 1 percent. We have to know what real Power is, so we can develop ways to gain more real Power. For example, we know that many political leaders (who are black, white, and every background) do not have real global Power. They have been selected and financed by the most powerful people in the world (which is found in the 1% involved in the system of white supremacy). Regardless of title, class, income, education, or occupation, the global elites have most of the real Power on Earth. This is evident on the record economic inequality in the world, especially in the USA. Individually, we are all accountable for our voluntary deeds and actions. If someone does a good thing or a bad thing, that person is responsible for the good and the bad. Collectively, we still experience a wicked system harming the entire human race (especially human beings of color like black human beings. For example, black humanity collectively can never stop white people collectively as a group form the right to work, owning a home, vote, has a fair trial, or deny education). Money is not even necessarily related to power since global central banks spend money. The leaders behind the central, international banks have the real Power since they sign the checks, they organize the wars, and they fund the evil policies in the West (beyond even the power of President Barack Obama, who is being utilized as a scapegoat for all ills in modern society by reactionaries). Real Power is the ability to control your own wealth, property, and infrastructure by yourself without assistance (answering to no one but to God). Real Power is the control of your images and the controlling of politics, educational institutions, and financial system by yourself with total independent rule of it. Power is making your existence self-sufficient without outside help or funding. Therefore, as black human beings in the long run, we should find solutions to develop Real Power as advocated by Sister Trojan Pam, Brother Paul H, and so many other Brothers & Sisters who are down for the cause of Black African global liberation. We have to be educated on white supremacy. We should ally with likeminded human beings who want freedom and are knowledgeable about the situation that confronts our people. We should improve ourselves morally, spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, and socially. We should treat each other with dignity and respect. Showing real humor is cool and fine, but not the intentional disrespect or slurring of any human beings of any color or any background in an evil fashion at all. We have to be men and women that want justice. We have to realize that the enemy knows what they are doing. They hate us for real. So, we should love our BLACKNESS FOR REAL. Also, we should improve our health, help our families, and help our black beloved people with all legitimate means possibly. We have a common enemy and we are Brothers and Sisters under Almighty God created in his image. We should ally with independent organizations that are genuinely dedicated to results or pan-African black liberation.

 

By Timothy