Marcus Garvey

http://www.africaspeaks.com/marcus_garvey/

http://www.afrobella.com/2009/08/17/remembering-old-marcus-garvey/

News during the Weekend

 

Iran and the White House had a dispute on the nuclear agreement. The nuclear agreement stands for a few months. Tehran rejected Washington's interpretation of the agreement reached by the P5+1 nations in Geneva. Iran's Foreign Ministry labeled the factsheet released by the U.S. as a "one-sided interpretation." The agreement was created in Geneva. It gives a framework for continued negotiations with Tehran. Another deal is yet to be finalized. Iran claims that the American factsheet posted a few hours after the deal was announced on the website of the White House omitted key points. Iran viewed it as misleading the public by adjusting the language of the original agreement. There is the spokeswoman for Iran's Foreign Ministry named Marziyeh Afkham. She came about with the statement published by Fars news agency on Tuesday. It read the following information: "...What has been released by the website of the White House as a factsheet is a one-sided interpretation of the agreed text in Geneva and some of the explanations and words in the sheet contradict the text of the Joint Plan of Action [the title of the Iran-powers deal], and this factsheet has unfortunately been translated and released in the name of the Geneva agreement by certain media, which is not true.”.." The spokeswoman gave no further details. Iran along with the P5+1 nations (like the five permanent members of the UN Security Council) and Germany agreed on Sunday that Iran will curb a big portion of its nuclear activities. This is to be done for six months. This time will be used for sides to finalize the conditions of the deal. There are many crippling economic sanctions against Iran. Western parties agreed to lift some of them. The lifting will deal with gold, precious minerals, the auto sector, and petrochemical exports. The American factsheet said that this is a potential for $1.5 billion in revenue for Iran. Additionally, it could also be getting an additional $4.2 billion in oil revenues. Furthermore, “$400 million in governmental tuition assistance [may also be] transferred from restricted Iranian funds directly to recognized educational institutions in third countries to defray the tuition costs of Iranian students,” DC officials told the Washington Free Beacon, which reported on the story. The ability to enrich uranium (or a key part of Iran's nuclear program) will differ in nature from the U.S. interpretation. Iran believes that the comprehensive solution will allow Iran to have its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes (under the NPT and the other obligations). The Foreign Ministry of Iran also said that: "...This comprehensive solution would involve a mutually defined enrichment program with practical limits and transparency measures to ensure the peaceful nature of the program...”  The draft stipulates that “this comprehensive solution would constitute an integrated whole where nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”

 

 

We know that waste and profiteering exists in Pentagon operations. Many news organizations are reporting that the main payroll and accounting office of the Pentagon doles out billions of dollars to contractors without any rigorous auditing or other financial controls. This fuels a system of waste and profiteering. Both Democratic and Republican parties claim that there is no money to maintain the inadequate level of social services currently provided by the federal government. That is a great lie of course. We also see that the U.S. military squanders vast sums in support of the global operations of American imperialism. Reuters and McClatchy News Service both investigated the functioning of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS). The DFAS is an agency that was created in its modern form back in 1991. That was when Dick Cheney was the Secretary of Defense in the George H. W. Bush administration. This followed the decade long buildup of military spending under Reagan and Bush. This culminated in the embarrassing reports of about $435 hammers and $37 screws among other symbols of Pentagon waste. The McClatchy account focuses mainly on a high-level overview of DFAS, noting that outside audits of its books were “shoddy,” according to internal reviews, while top officials at the Pentagon “pressured their accountants to suppress their findings, then backdated documents in what appears to have been an effort to conceal the critiques.” The Pentagon's Office of the Inspector General operated not as a watchdog, but as an accomplice, helping suppress internal criticism by its own accountants (and authorizing payment of the outside auditor whose work was being questioned). McClatchy cited emails and other documents in their report. They reported about a January 27, 2010 meeting. This is where Patricia A. Marsh, then the Pentagon’s assistant inspector general for financial management, told DFAS officials that her office was going to formally reject the 2009 outside audit. Three months later, retaliation came about. The two lead accountants for the inspector general's review of the audit received letters terminating their assignments, retroactive to the January 27, 2010. As McClatchy noted, this was “the precise point when the inspector general’s office had informed the Defense Finance and Accounting Service that it would not endorse the 2009 audit.” In its investigative report, Reuters profiles the operation of the Cleveland office of DFAS, where accountants prepared monthly reports that amounted to “inserting phony numbers in the US Department of Defense’s accounts.” Each month, the military services must square their books with accounts maintained by the U.S. Treasury. This act must balance their checkbooks. According to a December 2011 Pentagon inspector general’s report, a DFAS office in Columbus, Ohio made at least $1.59 trillion in errors, including $538 billion in plugs, in financial reports for the Air Force in 2009. The nominal amount of the accounting errors far exceeded the total Pentagon budget. The Army lost track of 5.8 billion dollars in supplies during the eight years (2003-2011) when U.S. troops were deployed in Iraq. Later, it continued to buy supplies from vendors that were already in stock and could not monitor the depletion of supplies through theft or other diversion. This mismanagement of money is not new. The Pentagon is using software and management system as a means to stop systemic problems of management and waste. Overall, more than half a trillion dollars in contracts with outside vendors are unaudited out of $3 trillion issued over the past 10 years. There is no final accounting for $8.5 trillion in total military authorizations dating as far back as 1996. Each year, top Pentagon officials, including the secretary of defense, certify the accuracy of financial reports to Congress and the Treasury that are so dubious that the CEO of a corporation would face prosecution under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Pentagon is having trouble solving the problem. It raised the threshold value for auditing contracts form 15 million dollars to $250 million. That means that a country can take a military contract for nearly a quarter of a billion dollars without being subject to an audit. This is a license to steal for Corporate America.

 

 

 

 


 

 

African culture has a very long history. It is diverse, beautiful, and interesting. From Northern Africa to Southern Africa, African culture is unique and one of a kind. African culture also impacted the whole world. From fashion, music, and to language, we are greatly influenced by African culture. In African culture, you have art, forklore and religion, clothing, cuisine, languages, and other costumes. Everyone understands the beautiful aspects of African art. Africa's history in arts and craft are rich and glorious. There are famous artworks like the Yombe sculpture in Africa. Tons of art found in Africa are made up in wood carvings, brass, and leather. African great artists have used sculpture, paintings, potter, and other images for aesthetic reasons (or for ceremonial or religious purposes).  African masks are heavily common in African art. The masks can be unique and stylized. You have the famous Yoruba bronze head sculptures too found in ca. 12th century. Abstract art is common in the Motherland as well beyond just naturalistic representation. There are a lot of three dimensional artworks too. The famous Noke terracotta created in Nigeria again outlines the creativity, genius, and ingenuity of African art. We do know that artists like Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Pal Gaugin, Modigliani, and Matisse were aware of or influenced by African art. Okwui Enwezor is a modern, famous Nigerian art critic who understands African art today. He wrote book on contemporary art as well. We know that jewelry, and other accessories are found in African art too. Back in July of 2013, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art showed its first gallery exclusively dedicated to the display of the arts of Africa. One artwork was called "Caryatid Stool" form the 19th century. The exhibition form the LACMA was called "Shaping Power: Luba Masterwoorks from the Royal Museum for Central Africa." The exhibit present ancestral figurers, medicinal bowls, regal staff, doubled sized cups, and elaborate masks. Visitors came and saw the diverse nature of the images and sculptures in the museum. The Luba believed in a semi-divine kingship. The whole exhibit was organized by Mary Nooter Roberts, LACMA’s consulting curator for African Art, and Anne-Marie Bouttiaux, head of the Ethnography division, Royal Museum for Central Africa, in Tervuren, Belgium. The exhibition is accompanied by an installation by contemporary artist Aime Mpane. His piece memorializes the victims of the ongoing violence in the Congo. His work is great and it acts a great addendum to "Luba Masterworks." We all know that African music is vital part of African culture. Recently, I have been listening to a lot of great African music. I like the music from Fatoumata Diawara with her songs like Sowa and Kele (which as the great message of inspiring to end conflicts and wars in the Motherland of Africa. Regardless of what we creed or nationality we are, we are still Africans deserving of dignity and respect). Forklore and religion are key parts of the culture of Africa. Religion and forklore are key portions of human civilization in general.

The African Diaspora in Europe is more known by blacks globally. Learning about Brothers and Sisters in Europe is like learning about a part of us. The reason is that we are one people and wherever we exist in the globe, we are still one black African people concretely. Ian Ogutu is an Afro-German and Furaha Kensmil is a black human being from the Netherlands. They talk about their experiences in the German based African Magazine. Ian Ogutu is honest to talk about the many challenges facing African ad black students in Germany. Furaha writes that she feels like a foreigner in the Netherlands. Ian Innocent Ogutu is the chairman of the Association of African Students at the University of Heidelberg. He gave honest words about the organization in the following terms: "...Other than our colourful get-togethers and VASUH meetings, we mainly work with the City of Heidelberg’s Administration (e.g Immigrations Office & Migrants Council courtesy of Allimadi) as well as the University of Heidelberg's International Office to make life on campus easier for those that may have difficulties settling down in an environment that is far from home. We attach importance to addressing all immigration issues that may have a legal effect on one's stay here. Also, networking with other members of the community has been an enriching experience. Getting to exchange views and linking up with the members of the ‘Afro-European Blog’ has really opened up my eyes to just how diverse we are as a black community. There is so much more that unites us than there is that divides us. I can only hope that VASUH contributes to the splendid diversity of the afro-community in Europe as a whole. " Fursha Kensmil is a great Sister that lives in the Netherlands. She honestly talks about her struggles. She said that it is difficult to call herself Dutch. Her parents were both born and raised Suriname. She is right to say that she loves her African-Surinamese culture. She doesn't want full assimilation into Dutch society. That is her right as a human being. She says that she associate more with Black people, which is excellent. The Dutch African Diaspora is large as compared to other nations like Russia and Poland. She said that in the 1960's, many immigrants can into the Netherlands. The Dutch at first showed a more benevolence fact. By the 1990's, reactionaries exploited the economic downturn to point the finger falsely at foreigners. The reactionaries are still powerful in the Netherlands still. She said the following words: "....But last summer, during the summer school on Black Europe organized by the NiNsee (National Institute for the Study of Dutch Slavery and its Legacy) I met some great people from Poland, England, France and the US who share experiences similar to my own. I have noticed that Black Europeans are uniting more and more, which is a very positive sign..." Also, John Pitts, who is a Afropean British writer, recently shown images of Africans in Europe. He traveled Europe for five months to do it. He is a writer, and a TV host. He traveled into the cities of London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Moscow, Berlin, Rome, Marseilles, Madrid, and Lisbon. He recorded diverse images of black people in Europe from students to the suffering poor. He took one picture of a black man near Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, Russia. He wanted to dialogue among Europeans for folks to understand the complex, dynamic, and unique experience of Africans in Europe. In the 1980's, Afro-British writer Caryl Philips wrote the "The European Tribe" that showed black humanity in Europe too. John Pitts is following in her footsteps in doing the right thing of show the world the strength of our black people.

 

So, life is a journey. It has ups and downs. Yet, I will move forward. As I get older, I am realizing much more importantly what is important. It is the bonds of family, friends, and community. It is about treating my neighbor as myself. It is also living life to improve the world and to have a love for Africa as well. I will never forget the sacrifice and the brave deeds of my ancestors. They sacrificed a lot wherefore we could live in this modern generation inside of the world. As we approach 2020, we should press onward in our goal of black liberation. Pan-Africanism is a great philosophy that I wholeheartedly believe in. I believe it in my heart, in my mind, and in my spirit. Also, it is important to note that many warriors fighting for justice exist now. There are plenty of Brothers and Sisters that are fighting crime, working in real charities, organizing African-oriented bookstores, who are mentors, who are giving our people jobs, and who are just contributing their time and effort as a means to enrich the black community in general. Equality should never be earned or gradually implemented at all. Equality ought to be given by birthright ASAP. We as a people are entitled to equality and justice period without exception. Their actions ought to be acknowledged and respected too. There is nothing wrong with peace. Yet, we do not live in a totally peaceful world. That is precisely why we should be active and fight via constructive means as a means for all us to receive that prize. Our people exist across geographic boundaries and cultural borders too. We should take the time and effort to learn more about Africa and learn more about our Brothers and Sisters in the Diaspora. Once, we do that, we figure how much we have in common. We realize that our diversity in culture is an asset to our common humanity. We realize that the oppressor will be defeated and the truth will persist forever as a guiding witness of our intrinsic value (and dignity). We should continue to respect Nature and respect the poor as well. We have a responsibility too. We have to care for each other. The future is the future not only for us. It is a future meant for our children and grandchildren. It is a future for the rest of humanity. So, we should express not naiveté, but hope. Hope and faith have changed the world. Hope caused our people to be free from bondage in many lands. Hope caused the end of injustice and hope can create reconciliation and love to flourish. Our Brothers and our Sisters are our allies and our friends. We have to continue to show compassion and we have to respect the essence of our black humanity. Black Unity and Black Love are excellent concepts etched in our thinking too. At the end of the day, we are all Africans.

By Timothy

Live From Channel Zero w Ericka Blount Danois for November 8, 2013

http://imixwhatilike.org/2013/11/06/lfc0110813/

Afghanistan Declarations

http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/obama%E2%80%99s-ludicrous-afghanistan-declarations

Noam Chomsky’s 9/11 “Truther” Debunking Debunked: Yes Noam, They Were Lunatics

http://willyloman.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/noam-chomskys-911-truther-debunking-debunked-yes-noam-they-were-lunatics/

CNN’s Parade of Iran Hawks

http://www.globalresearch.ca/cnns-parade-of-iran-hawks/5359899

Dead Poppies: Militarism, False Patriotism and Remembrance Lead to a Lack of Peace

http://www.globalresearch.ca/dead-poppies-militarism-false-patriotism-and-remembrance-lead-to-a-lack-of-peace/5359904

Real History

http://www.guyanaundersiege.com/Leaders/Nkrumah1.htm

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89764

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89765

http://ibw21.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Dr.-King-A-Pan-African-Perspective-50-Years-Later-by-Ed-Brown-for-IBW.pdf

http://face2faceafrica.com/article/remembering-mlk-a-brother-a-friend-a-pan-Africanist

Beating Black Children = A SLAVE TRADITION = Racism/White Supremacy

http://racismws.com/2013/11/29/beating-black-children-a-slave-tradition-racismwhite-supremacy/

These Disturbing Fast Food Truths Will Make You Reconsider Your Lunch

http://racismws.com/2013/11/23/these-disturbing-fast-food-truths-will-make-you-reconsider-your-lunch/

http://racismws.com/2013/11/25/new-archive-page-with-all-my-published-posts/

Black Babies Are NOT Off Limits In White Supremacy War: Black Baby Boy Castrated

http://racismws.com/2013/11/15/black-babies-are-not-off-limits-in-white-supremacy-war-black-baby-boy-castrated/

The Glory of Africa Part 6

http://www.scribd.com/doc/187825897/The-Glory-of-Africa-Part-6

News on This Day

The neocons, the war hawks, and the reactionaries are so extreme that they view a moderate Iranian nuclear deal as equivalent to appeasement. They are really sick and war hungry. They lust for a regime change where a puppet regime will rule in Iran. The neo-con Daniel Pipes is wrong to compare Obama and the deal with Great Britain's onetime Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and his "peace in our time" agreement with Adolf Hitler. I think the deal doesn't go far enough, but that deal is never about appeasement at all. “Video of her dying moments went viral, and Neda became a global symbol of the Green Revolution, as the Iranian people called their movement to topple a regime capable of such bloody deeds.” Of course, nearly everything that Lane asserted as fact was not fact. Iran’s 2009 elections were clearly won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who may have lost among middle-class voters of Tehran but strongly carried the poor and working-class areas of Iran. Even the Iranian opposition was unable to prove any significant fraud. The election results were in line with opinion polls conducted both before and after the election, from inside and outside Iran. The polls never show any Green movement candidate coming anywhere close to a plurality. “These findings do not prove that there were no irregularities in the election process,” said Steven Kull, director of the University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes. “But they do not support the belief that a majority rejected Ahmadinejad.” Still, some in the mainstream U.S. news media (led by neocon outlets like the Washington Post) still advance the myth of a stolen election. That is why some Israelis, some Saudis, and some Americans want regime change in Iran. The neoconservatives are hypocrites. They talk about human rights abuses in Iran (which should be talked about. Any human rights abuses in Iran or in any nation ought to be condemned), but lust after regime change by a possible military strike, which will cause more destruction and harm of innocent human life in the region. They ignore the war crimes done by Western forces in the Middle East. Peaceful discussions are better than militarism and imperialism. That is the point that the neo cons ignore. Also, the sanctions are killing folks in Iran now. These sanctions ought to be eliminated period. Bombing civilian targets is banned under the Geneva Convention. The death of children via drone attacks is not shown by the neocons at all. The horror of the war was captured, too, in the fate of 12-year-old Ali Ismaeel Abbas, who lost his two arms when a U.S. missile struck his Baghdad home. Ali’s father, his pregnant mother and his siblings were all killed. As the armless Ali was evacuated to a Kuwaiti hospital, becoming a symbol of U.S. compassion for injured Iraqi civilians, the boy said he would rather die than live without his hands. They died under an illegal war and occupation by Western forces. The CIA orchestrated the overthrow of Iranian democracy back in 1953 including MI5. The new President of Iran Hassan Rouhani seems to be more progressive in negotiations. Also, the neocons ignore how in 2003, Iran offered to work with the U.S. after 911 as a means to reconcile. The U.S. rejected Iran's offer and called them the axis of evil. The PNAC clique is still among us spewing imperialistic plans. Even Iran signed the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty. The neocons are so extreme that even the ex-President George W. Bush said that he did not want a war with Iran. A non-belligerent, sovereign nation has no right to be invaded or bombed when they are no direct threat to other nations at all.




It is obvious that President John F. Kennedy supported numerous Third World nationalists. This is a history that many folks in the mainstream media omit. Many polls show that JFK as being much admired and his legacy is complex. When he was in office for three years, he did many things for the world. This information is known by Irving Bernstein, Donald Gibson, Richard Mahoney, John Newsman, James Bill, Philip Muehlenbeck, and Robert Rakowe. Eisenhower's foreign policy team had the Dulles Brothers and Richard Nixon (all of them being reactionary on foreign policy matters). When Kennedy was in office, there was a more progressive turn in foreign policy and a turn to the status quo ante came when LBJ was in office. The death of the great black African revolutionary leader of the Congo Patrice Lumumba on January 17, 1961 concerned JFK. Lumumba's death was linked to the approval of a plan by Eisenhower and CIA Director Allen Dulles according to the research from William Blum. Former CIA officer John Stockwell wrote in his book In Search of Enemies that he later talked to a CIA colleague who said it was his job to dispose of Lumumba’s body. (Stockwell, p. 50). Eisenhower and Dulles never criticized colonial rule by NATO allies. Under Eisenhower, the USA never voted against an European power over a colonial dispute in Africa. There were dozens of nations. Nixon made a racist statement about Africa before too. At an NSC meeting, then Vice President Nixon claimed that, “some of these peoples of Africa have been out of the trees for only about fifty years.” (Muehlenbeck, p. 6). And, of course, John Foster Dulles saw this epochal anti-colonial struggle through the magnifying glass of the Cold War. As Muehlenbeck writes, “Dulles believed that Third World nationalism was a tool of Moscow’s creation rather than a natural outgrowth of the colonial experience.” (ibid, p. 6). Therefore, to Eisenhower and his team, Lumumba was a communist. So, that liar Nixon reaped what he has sown. President John F. Kennedy viewed Lumumba as a nationalistic leader who was trying to guide his country to independence politically and economically. As his Under Secretary of State for Africa, G. Mennen Williams, succinctly stated, “What we want for the Africans is what the Africans want for themselves.” So, Kennedy policy was making European interests secondary on this issue. Lumumba was killed and the CIA suspected that Kennedy would side with Lumumba, which he did. JFK did not know that Lumumba was killed at first. JFK wanted to work with Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold at the United Nations to make Congo independent (without East-West competition, he wanted to free all political prisons, and he wanted to restore Lumumba into power). The man Kennedy chose to be his ambassador to Congo was Edmund Gullion, who was the one who had altered Kennedy’s consciousness about Third World nationalism. Edmund Gullion has realistic views on Third World nationalism. Edmund Gullion was in the State Department in the late 1930's. Gullion told JFK that the French could never win the War as the Vietnamese had too much nationalistic fervor via Ho Chi Minh to defeat French colonialism. For instance, in a speech Kennedy gave during the 1956 presidential campaign for Adlai Stevenson, the then-Massachusetts senator said: “The Afro-Asian revolution of nationalism, the revolt against colonialism, the determination of people to control their national destinies. … In my opinion, the tragic failure of both Republican and Democratic administrations since World War II to comprehend the nature of this revolution, and its potentialities for good and evil, had reaped a bitter harvest today — and it is by rights and by necessity a major foreign policy campaign issue that has nothing to do with anti-communism.” JFK was right except that this revolution is totally good. Fighting against tyranny is always right. President John F. Kennedy endorsed Algerian independence too. Kennedy wanted Indonesian independence, he was an ally of Sukarno, and he allowed the release of Pope. He gave nonmilitary aid for Indonesia. So, human beings in areas have the right to oppose colonialism and imperialism and folks should control their own natural resources wisely. We know that the Dulles brothers (with links to the CFR, David Rockefeller, and the Western establishment) love the Western imperial system. That is why true nationalism has been opposed by the elite since true nationalism gives nations the power to determine their own destinies without outside control. As author James Bill notes in his book, The Eagle and the Lion, the Kennedy brothers disdained the Shah’s monarchical rule. At one stage, they commissioned a State Department paper on the costs and liabilities of returning Mohammad Mossadegh to power. To counter the negative image held by the Kennedys, the Shah launched a series of economic and social reforms called the White Revolution but they were unsuccessful. John F. Kennedy tried to work with Nasser too. In 1961, JFK gave hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to keep the Egyptian economy afloat. This is unheard of back then. He viewed the Saudi monarch as a relic and viewed Nasser as the wave of the future. During the civil war in Yemen, Nasser backed Abdullah al-Sallal against the last Mutawakklite King of Yemen, Muhammad al-Badr. Saudi Arabia supported the king to stop the spread of Nasser’s influence and prevent the rise of nationalism. Kennedy also recognized al-Sallal when Israel and England criticized him. JFK wanted to show his alliance with Nasser. Kennedy was allied with Nasser and Algerian leader Ahmed Ben Bella. JFK wanted Liberia to be free. He wanted the Non-Aligned Movement to be strong among nations. JFK refused to fight in Laos. So, the late President John F. Kennedy was right on so many things on foreign policy and he was the most progressive President on foreign policy in the latter half of the 20th century no doubt.

 

 

 

Monsanto, the TPP, and the global food dominance agenda are interrelated. The corporate elite have nearly global food control. They want seed diversity and GMOs (or genetically modified organism) in seeds that can be distributed by only a few transnational corporations. We know that organic food is superior to GMOs. Also, this GMO agenda is bad, because GMO foods are readily not labeled. If the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the TPP passes, then the corporate elite will have more control over our food, our health, our environment, and our financial system. Many corporations put profits before populations. Genetic engineering has grown terminator genes. These genes can cause the production of sterile seeds. This is achieved with a chemical catalyst called Traitor to induce seed sterility. Farmers must buy seeds from their patent owner’s year after years. Food prices are raised to cover these costs, but the harm is greater than to our pocketbooks. According to an Acres USA interview of plant pathologist Don Huber, Professor Emeritus at Purdue University, two modified traits account for practically all of the genetically modified crops grown in the world today. One modification deals with the insensitivity to glyphosate based herbicides or plant killing chemicals. This is found in Roundup and glyphosate poisons everything in its path except plants genetically modified to resist it. These herbicides are allied with GMOs. It kills plants. Even researchers have found that surfactant POEA can kill human cells like embryonic, placental, and umbilical cord cells. These risks are ignored. There is a widespread use of GMOs and glyphosate herbicides. We still have the U.S. spending twice as much per capital on healthcare as the average developed country, but we are rated far down the scale of the world's healthiest populations. The WTO ranked the U.S. last out of the 17 developed nations for overall health. 60-70 percent of foods in the U.S. supermarkets are now genetically modified. By contrast, in at least 26 other countries—including Switzerland, Australia, Austria, China, India, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, Italy, Mexico and Russia—GMOs are totally or partially banned; and significant restrictions on GMOs exist in about sixty other countries. The health of Americans can radically improve with a ban on GMO and glyphosate. The TPP is a global trade agreement proposal, which the White House wants to pass. It can harm our society in many ways. Herbicide tolerant super weeds have toxic doses and can harm the ecosystem. Human enzymes are affected by glyphosate just as plant enzymes are: the chemical blocks the uptake of manganese and other essential minerals. Without those minerals, we cannot properly metabolize our food. That helps explain the rampant epidemic of obesity in the United States. People eat and eat in an attempt to acquire the nutrients that are simply not available in their food. According to researchers Samsell and Seneff in Biosemiotic Entropy: Disorder, Disease, and Mortality (April 2013), many parts of glyphosate can negatively harm the body (it can damage cellular system and influence gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease). We know about 40 diseases linked to glyphosate usage. More are appearing. The September 2013 National University of Rio Cuarto, Argentina published research. It found that glyphosate increases the growth of fungi that produce aflatoxin B1, one of the most carcinogenic of substances. A doctor from Chaco, Argentina, told Associated Press, “We’ve gone from a pretty healthy population to one with a high rate of cancer, birth defects and illnesses seldom seen before.” Fungi growths have increased significantly in US corn crops. The report from the Institute of Science in Society found that glyphosate can harm the environment, crops, and organisms (from livestock, amphibians, insects, etc. It can reduce soil fertility). So, why are governments in the West not doing something about this? Why do they label glyphosate as safe? It has to do with politics. To them, politics trumps science, which is silly. William Engdahl's book "Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation" from 2007 talks about this issue greatly. Even Jeffrey M. Smith or the Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology said that the FDA allows biotech companies to determine if their own foods are safe. Submission of data is voluntary. William Engdahl wrote that global food control and depopulation became US strategic policy under Rockefeller protégé Henry Kissinger (this is shown in the NSM 200 Document). The widespread use of GMO and glyphosate can cause infertility, miscarriage, birth defect, arrested sexual development, etc. in humans and other organisms. In Russian experiments, animals fed GM soy were sterile by the third generation. Vast amounts of farmland soil are also being systematically ruined by the killing of beneficial microorganisms that allow plant roots to uptake soil nutrients. These extremists wanting these poisons in the world could cause mass extinction of life in the planet. The TPP is wrong to have much of their negotiation secret from Congress. It will strip governments the power to really regulate transnational corporate activates. One chief agricultural negotiator for the TPP is a former Monsanto lobbyist named Islam Siddique. That is why there is nothing wrong with permaculture methods or gardens to grow foods. We can have organic farming. We do not need GMOs, or gimmicks to feed human beings. Our representatives should vote against the TPP as it is against our health, our finances, and our environment.

 

There has been much discussion about the Knockout games. Reactionaries and racists are using such stories as an excuse to scapegoat black humanity and especially black youth in America for the overall system of wickedness found in the system of white supremacy. Abagond made an excellent article on this issue. He wrote accurately that this action is not something new. This situation deals with a person or a group of human beings trying to knock out an innocent, unsuspecting bystander with a single blow. This was done in the 1980's. Reactionaries talk about this more since 2011. They want to talk about black on white crime when they ignore or obfuscate white on black crime. Reactionaries like Greta Van Susteren, Thomas Sowell, and others have talked about this issue. Yet, this is event is not something new, it is not spreading, it is not racially motivated totally at all, and most of those doing it are not black youths at all. It is an urban myth. Unprovoked attacks on strangers by teenagers are real, but they are extremely rare. So, folks cherry pick instances as a means to demonize black youth. This conclusion has been written by Mike Males (or a research fellow at the non-profit Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice back in 2011). The truth is that black youth crime is at a 50 year low. Assault by black youths has dropped by 59 percent over 20 years. Much of the made up lie of tons of black youths randomly attacking innocent white people have been said in the 1980's as called "wilding" by the New York City press. The media in many cases (especially neo-cons) will ignore or sugarcoat how white youth beat up minorities all of the time, white hate crimes, and white shooters (or they explain it away as a product of mental illness not for genetic reasons). These crimes by white people are never seen as a trend, but they or certain reactionaries falsely label actions as a trend for minorities. Such stories are used by reactionaries as a means to advance such SYG laws (which racists use as an excuse to kill unarmed black human beings). Black scapegoating is an old pastime in American society and it continues today. Extremists want black people to be jailed, murdered, and suffering hardships. The President was selected by the white elites and now he is blamed collectively for our own problems (which was done by the elite people in charge who act heavily behind the scenes). With events like these, the murders of Renisha McBride, Rekia Boyd, Trayvon Martin, and others, we can see that our lives are threatened. As Trojan Pam eloquently wrote: "... It is now official: it is OPEN SEASON on black men, women, and children in America — LEGALLY, and it is time for black people to get out of denial..." Ironically, most white people kill white people in shopping malls, theaters, offices, schools, and other locations. Still, the police continue to harass even innocent black Americans from Chicago to NYC. So, we should reject black scapegoating and anti-blackness. So, black human beings deserve dignity and respect without scapegoating. Black human beings deserve justice point blank period.



Henry Louis Gates has a life of accomplishment and controversy. He recently dealt with a story on African American history on PBS. In real life, distinguished Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was hassled, humiliated, and mistreated by a Cambridge cop before. We all know full well that the black oppression in the States dealt with slavery and other things. The institution of slavery in America from the 16th century to the 19th centuries was key to the development of American capitalism. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has an establishment mentality still even after his mistreatment. Even the six part PBS series of Many Rivers to Cross ignores certain things. The last part of the series was very disturbing, but most of the series has shown excellent information on the struggle of African Americans indeed. It falsely called the advent of the first black President Barack Obama as the local and inevitable outcomes of the Black Freedom Movement of the 1950's and the 1960's (including the Black Power movement). President Barack Obama should be treated with respect and dignity, but not with a coronation. We have to know about the consequences of social and historical forces in history. The last section of the documentary dealt with Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. Dr. King wanted revolution after he tried reform. Then, rebellions occurred in dozens of U.S. cities. Black people did not own even most of the infrastructure in those cities at all. Gates said that the Black Panther Party emphasized armed self-defense and coolness. Yet, the BPP wanted an end to the evil, bloody warring Vietnam where millions of Vietnamese and Americans died. The Black Panther Party believed in socialist ideals and was against the capitalist and racist empire. Henry Louis Gates Jr. made an error with allying with Ron Karenga. He is a professor and we know that his US organization was part of the FBI's COINTELPRO back decades ago. The FBI used US members to murder several Black Panthers in cold blood. Gates and Karenga share a chuckle about how FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover really didn't mean what he said about the Panther Party being the “greatest threat to the internal security of the United States.” What Hoover really feared, the guy who shot Panthers offered helpfully, was “...a united black front.” That is sick since the Black Panther Party was the real deal. That is why the FBI and local police killed and jailed many of them. The BPP created free health clinics, they helped the poor, they inspired black consciousness in the streets, they focused on developing the community, and they inspired more Black Love including Black Power. The Black Panther Party was a revolutionary organization. They wanted revolution as a means for black human beings to be liberated from oppression. Gates mentions the Black is Beautiful ideal (which is true), Don Cornelius' Soul Train, affirmative action, and the birth of the current corporate-oriented black elite. Gates cites his experience at Yale. He talks about Cosby. The reality is that most of Black America is either middle class or poor, over policed, ill housed, and ill served. Many Brothers and Sisters experience mass incarceration. He talks about Katrina, but ignores the economic exploitation by the enemy before, during, and after Katrina. He mentions Kanye West saying that George W. Bush don't like black people. From there Gates segues to Barack Obama's visit to Katrina evacuees at the Houston Astrodome, and the tears many shed at his inauguration. So, the end of the documentary seems to be a pep rally for the Democratic establishment. The reality is that Democrats, even some members of the Congressional Black Caucus, refused to convene hearings on Katrina for fear of being labeled the black folks' party doing into the 2006 election. So, Henry Louis Gates Jr. showed much interesting information. Yet, the end of his documentary refuses to outline the class and racial oppression caused by white supremacy impacting the lives of black Americans. We including Gates are still oppressed. We have a great legacy indeed. That is true, but we should fight neoliberalism and imperialism that still exists in the era of Obama (President Barack Obama was selected by the elites to be President as a means for him and blacks to be collectively scapegoated for the long history of evil existing in American society. It is as simple as that). Now, we should learn black history and black culture. That is important. We should use the struggle of our ancestors as motivation to fight for justice completely. So, never give up and keep on fighting. RBG 4 Life.

By Timothy

The End of American Thanksgivings: A Cause for Universal Rejoicing

http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/end-american-thanksgivings-cause-universal-rejoicing

Freedom Rider: The Good, Bad Deal for Iran

http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/freedom-rider-good-bad-deal-iran

Lynching as a Misdemeanor

http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/lynching-misdemeanor

IMO RE Implications of This & KILLER Z's Case & Aftermath...

Nixakliel - 11/28/2013 - 01:52

These 4 white so-called 'teens' [likely really legal +18 yr old adults- since this happened on a college dorm]- should have been charged w kidnapping, a federal offense. Compare that to OJ being charged & convicted w kidnapping because a couple of guys w him pulled some guns [which IMO he most likely did NOT even know they had- telling them immediately to put their guns away], even though he never even take anyone anywhere against their will nor even lock them up in 'confinement', as he was retrieving his OWN 'Commandeered' stuff.
A group of almost all white women [white-woman judge, lead prosecutor & nearly all white woman jury] let KILLER Z get away w murdering Trayvon in June 2013. Since then KILLER Z's threatened 2 white women [his soon to be ex wife & a couple of weeks ago, his pregnant girl-friend he's now shacking-up w]. once w the very same gun that he gunned Trayvon down w as he punch his [ex] Father in law, & the next time w a shot gun he pointed at his pregnant girl-friend. Yet the cops covered again for KILLER Z when he threatened his [ex] wife & punched her father, but finally arrested his creepy ass when he pulled that shot-gun on his pregnant girlfriend.
Yet it was known, though down-played / covered-up, by the power structure IE: the lame-stream media, the cops, the white woman Judge & lead prosecutor- that KILLER Z had prior to gunning-down Trayvon, assaulted yet another white ex-girlfriend & a [white-lady?] cop, & even sexually molested his own [white?] cousin for over 10yrs! Never-the-less all those white-women involved in the case identified w 'Poor Georgie'- NOT w Trayvon's Black mom [let alone Trayvon's girlfriend Ms Jeantel]. IMO It won't be until KILLER Z murders a white woman &/or cop, likely w the same gun he used to gun Trayvon down, till they even begin to understand why & how Black folks, especially Trayvon's mom & dad, feel about how all these mainly white-women let KILLER Z walk just away 'Scott-free' from gunning-down an unarmed / non-criminal Trayvon!!!
_________________________________________________________

A Related Topic: AlterNet last week had an excerpt from a book called: 'Women on Ice_The Surprising Rise of Methamphetamine Use Among Suburban Women' [which I renamed 'Women on Ice_Stunning Rise of Suburban {= white} Housewife Meth Addicts']. The book featured one couple- especially the wife- who's a 'soccer-mom' & under-cover meth addict who one can't tell by just looking at her, because she does NOT fit the stereotyped profile / look of a meth addict. Her husband also a so-called 'occasional' meth user. Then the article goes on to say that they in combo w their neighbors, started dealing coke out of their own home [low-key style]- to the point that so much $$$ was coming in from coke dealing, they even discussed him quitting his day job- but decided not to - to keep-up appearances & avoid attracting undue 'attention'. Obviously the coke 'clientele' of this white middle-class suburban couple ain't homeboy & home-girl from either the 'Hood' &/or Barrio.
I also know there's a similar scenario RE heroin & white middle-class suburbanites [along w meth & coke]. Yet there are over 1.5 million Black & Brown men & women [& even teens] locked up in the US' Criminalized {in}Justice System / Prison Industrial Complex, mainly for non-violent drug offenses [mainly involving simple possession of marijuana- FYI: far more whites smoke pot than do Black & Brown people]. Yet they used Trayvon's pot use to demonize him & justify KILLER Z gunning him down. PLUS Because that young sister in Detroit, Renisha McBride, had apparently been drinking before she had that non-fatal car accident, where she went to a white guy's house asking for help & he responded by taking his Shot-Gun & BLOWING HER FACE OFF- According the main-stream [= most white folks], this makes HER to BLAME for this racist northern suburbanite BLOWING HER AWAY [+85% of DUI offenders in the US are white]!!!


__________________

Lynching Misdemeanor

tvera618 - 11/27/2013 - 18:11

I like to think I'm a man of peace who also embraces the beliefs Malcolm X helped promote when he said that, as a man of peace, he would not turn his cheeck to any man's act of violence.  I also abhor gun violence but would never advocate repeal of the 2nd amendment because I may have to turn to it for defense some day in the not so distant future. The anger I suppress after reading the experiences of too many Black and Latino17 year olds victimized by racism, becomes harder to contain and constructively channel as white supremacism appears to be regaining silent acceptance through a quality of white denial ready to use language and symbols to defend their complicity.  The U.S. denial of virulent white racism is reminiscent of the willful ignorance Germans practiced so well while Jews were being trucked to concentration camps, experimented on, and methodically exterminated.  Sure, there were good Germans with a moral compass and compative response to Nazism - but they were the exception not the rule.  Since I am not willing to confront unequal force against racist oppression, and have no desire to convert a racist, or convince their enablers to think differently, collective self-defense is a viable strategy that needs to be implemented with a pre-emptive model of resistance. Just keep the Sharptons and pastors of the country out of it. 

 

Iran's Nuclear Deal

 

Iran and Western powers have reached a nuclear deal. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran and the world powers have finally agreed on a long awaited deal on Tehran's nuclear energy program. There were days of intense talks in Geneva. President Barack Obama has talked about the deal in his press conference recently. He said that this is a great step in the direction of averting disaster in the region. The reactionaries in other nations and in Congress hate the deal completely. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and European Union foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton's spokesman, Michael Mann, also announced a nuclear agreement with Iran. The Iranian foreign minister also said that the nuclear crisis is abating. The deal was announced on Saturday night. There were intense nuclear talks between Tehran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. These members are Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States (including Germany). It was originally scheduled to end on Friday entered into the fifth day. The interim deals allows for Iran to continue its activities in its nuclear sites of its cities of Arak, Fordo, and Natanz. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said that the agreement stipulates that no additional sanctions will be imposed on Iran due to its nuclear energy program. Iran gets access to 4.2 billion dollars USD in foreign exchange as part of the nuclear deal. Deputy Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi said that the agreement recognizes the country's enrichment program. Araqchi is Iran's top nuclear negotiator. Araqchi had earlier emphasized that Tehran could not accept any deal that did not recognize Iran's enrichment right. The landmark agreement was reached in Tehran's third nuclear negotiations with the world powers since Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took office in August. The agreement in summary dealt with the six month agreement slows Iran's nuclear development program in exchange for lifting some sanctions. "For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and key parts of the program will be rolled back," Obama said late Saturday night. President Vladimir Putin said that the deal was balanced and will be a positive factor in Middle East relations. He said that Russia had proposed earlier principles of gradualism and reciprocity. "The IAEA welcomes the agreement reached in Geneva, which is another important step forward following the agreement reached between the Agency and Iran on 11 November in Tehran," Yukiya Amano, director general of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said in a statement. "With the agreement of the IAEA's Board of Governors, the Agency will be ready to fulfil its role in verifying the implementation of nuclear related measures." Israel and other Sunni dominated nations (except Egypt) fear that the deal was a mistake. The reality is that the deal is better than imperialist warfare. The reactionary Republicans hate the deal as being premature and detrimental to a real solution to the Iranian issue. In the deal, the U.S., Britain and their puppet regimes across the globe have agreed to ease some of the harshest sanctions on Iran, freeing up 6 to 7 billion in oil revenues they illegally stole from the country, while Iran agreed to a 6 month freeze on nuclear enrichment and tighter inspections by the IAEA. Netanyahu is a blatantly reactionary and an extremist. He is allied with Lukidnites and he is not representative of the progressive genuine Jewish and Arabic folks in the world that want genuine peace in the globe. The Saudi-Israeli alliance could not defeat the deal. The Saudi-Israeli alliance, with its combination of wealth and oil on the Saudi side and propaganda and lobbying on the Israeli side, has represented a new pole testing out its combined strength against the more traditional powers of Washington and Moscow. This is an interim deal. Yet, the signing represents an historic achievement, the first time the United States and Iran have joined in a formal diplomatic pact since the Iranian revolution of 1979. Obama and Putin worked together on the deal. This deal is certainly better than a militaristic Shock and awe militaristic campaign against Iran. Every nation has the right to have legitimate economic development period. Iran says that they do not want to create a nuclear bomb. This deal is better than some military strike against Iran. The war hawks still think that this deal is extreme and appeasement, which is silliness. The bad news is that deal is temporary for a six month period. It doesn't go far enough (in respecting the human rights of the Iranian people) and it can be reversible. It is obvious that Iran deserves peace not war. Yet, this deal never justifies the current, criminal Western imperialism that is still going on in the world. We should always condemn imperialism, unjust wars, Africom, and other evils that relate to current Western foreign policy. We know that the CIA (and other nefarious entities) committed terrorism, coups, assassinations, and other evils for decades. We should continue to oppose imperialism in the world.


China is having sweeping free market reforms. There is a consolidating the cheap labor economy and resulting devastating social impacts. The free market actions have been going on for over three decades. The CCP or the Chinese Communist Party has unveiled the main resolution and President Xi Jinping's explanatory remarks to the third plenum of the 18th Central Committee that concluded last week. The global financial market regarded the initial communique released on November 15 as disappointing due to the lack of any concrete policy. Stock markets in mainland China and Hong Kong have been tumbling recently. “Then, on the weekend, well ahead of the usual schedule for such announcements”, the New York-based Bloomberg.com noted, “the party released a longer follow-up statement worth getting excited about,” adding that, “It’s radical stuff." The market excitement has been summed up by American billionaire investor named Jim Rogers. He was the cofounder of the Quantum Fund with George Soros. He said that he was considering migrating to China with his dollars as the most important economic event of the next 10 to 20 years is what is happening in Beijing. The “Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms” is a 60-point blueprint for the next 10 years. It stressed that “the reform of the economic system is the focus of all the efforts to deepen the all-round reform”, which will allow the market to play the “decisive” role in economic life. Some sections of the Chinese press even predicted that the state would be reduced to the status of “night watchman”—a phrase used to describe 19th century “laissez-faire” capitalism of Dickensian Britain. This blueprint is in line with the demands of Western finance capital outlined in a joint report. It was produced last year by China's State Council and the World Bank called "China 2030." This report wants to increase the exploitation of the 500 million strong Chinese workforces. They want to use production speedup, streamlining, and opening up sections of the Chinese economy previously closed to global capital. It will increase supplies of cheap labor via land reform to drive more peasants into the cities. I have no issue with banning the one child policy as that policy has harmed folks unfairly and even jailed innocent human beings. There could be a possible increase in the retirement age. Some want the financial sector to have more liberalization where private capital can be used to develop small and medium banks. Some want moves toward exchange rate flexibility and marketed determined interest rates.  This can cause tightly controlled capital account freely convertible. This will cause financial institutions to go bankrupt and to protect investors. The Big Four state owned commercial banks could lose power. Private and foreign investors could control more of the previously state dominated sectors from finance, petrochemicals, aviation, coal, shipping, electricity, and even military industries. Beijing now will not fully privatize its 100 plus largest state owned enterprises. There are concerns about national security raised by the U.S. pivot to Asia. U.S. agencies have access to telecom networks. Beijing now has begun to exclude American corporations like Cisco and IBM. This has led to sharp falls of their recent revenues. There is the new austerity imposed by Xi on the CCP bureaucracy. It has bans on drinking, dine dining, and luxury offices. These acts are done to end endemic corruption. In reality, these measures are to discipline and downsize the large state bureaucracy, turning it into a “service” government subordinate to the new Chinese elite and the operations of the “free market." More of the Chinese government will be deregulated form gas to transport. There have been cuts to spending on pensions and health care while lessen taxation on private sector firms. There has been a decline in its working age population. Couples now can have two children if one of the parents was a single child. There have been clashes between developers who are corrupt and farmers in China too. The CCP regime is deeply concerned about the prospect of social unrest. Xi announced several cosmetic changes, including the abolition of the widely hated “correction through labour” system which allows police to send minor offenders to labour camps for up to four years without due procedure. In reality, Xi is strengthening the police state apparatus with the establishment of a new powerful National Security Committee that places the military, intelligence, public security and diplomatic apparatus under his direct control. Xi is acting similar to Deng Xiaoping. Deng initiated the process of restoring capitalism in 1978. Professor Xiao Gongqian of Shanghai Normal University summed up the enthusiasm in ruling circles for “a golden age of Chinese neo-authoritarianism” to protect the interests of the wealthy elites as the social divide deepens. “It’s essential to concentrate power now. This period requires a strong man, a very powerful leader, and this powerful leader must have both prestige and also institutionally guaranteed powers,” he declared. In the final analysis, power should be given to the people and not elusively to select, wealthy elites at all.



The U.S. is bullying at the TPP negotiations for Big Pharma profits. There are the issues of property rights and the sale of generic drugs. We have the U.S. Trade Representative Stan McCoy on intellectual property and health. McCoy puts profits of pharmaceuticals ahead of the lives of people. We know that the lives of humanity are more important than corporate interests. There is a debate in the TPP negotiations. It deals with the patents on pharmaceutical drugs and medical procedures. Long patents inflate the profits of the pharmaceutical industry by not allowing less expensive generic drugs on the market.  That means that people globally will not be able to afford critical, often lifesaving drugs, and medical procedures. Long patents will inflate the profits of the pharmaceutical industry by not allowing less expensive generic drugs on the market. That means that human beings all over the world will not be able to afford critical, often lifesaving drugs and medical procedures. Nations like Japan, Australia, and New Zealand that have national health care systems will see the cost of healthcare rise to a breaking point, undermining some of the best health system in the world. Stanford McCoy of the U.S. Trade Rep. wants to ally with Big Pharma. He or the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Intellectual Property and Innovation is chairing the meetings on intellectual properties and medicines. He wants to force nations to agree to positions that will harm people in the countries negotiating the TPP including the U.S. The U.S. wants nations to force countries to trade away health in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement negotiations. Margaret Flowers, MD a health policy expert from the US says: “The Office of the US Trade Representative is putting the interests of trans-national health corporations before the needs of people. If the US position is forced through, the TPP will extend patents for medications, medical devices and even procedures for exorbitant lengths of times. This will inflate prices, keeping treatments out of reach for those who need them. This will cause unnecessary suffering and death, especially for the most vulnerable populations, and will undermine health systems around the world and at home.” “This is a loaded game,” Professor Kelsey said. “McCoy sets the agenda and timetable. Negotiators are working from morning until late at night and preparing to work all night, if necessary. ”This is a crucial period for New Zealand and a number of other countries,” Kelsey observed. The text published by Wikileaks last week shows they have tabled an alternative to the US proposed text that has been repeatedly rejected.”  Congress is divided on whether to pass the TPP or not. America has about twenty people in Salt Lake City for the intellectual property chapter, who can rotate. Some health negotiators, especially from poor countries, could not extend their stay. The TPP has been fully exposed. There are lists of 600 corporate advisers to the President who are crafting the TPP. The TPP is the largest ever proposed economic treaty. It deals with more than 40 percent of the world's GDP. It will deal with medicine, publishers, internet services, civil liberties and biological patents. The negotiations happening in Salt Lake City is interesting since it is the home of many Mormons. Mormonism is a Masonic-like religion that is not related to even orthodox Christianity. Utah has a new massive spying center ironically. Even in December 3, some will have a global protest against the WTO and these toxic agreements. Flushthetpp.org is an excellent website that exposes the TPP for the world to see. Much of this treaty is heavily negotiated behind the scenes of Congress and the American people. There are many protesters fighting back against the corporate TPP proposed treaty.

The murder of Renisha McBride represents the murder of black women. The murder and abuse of black women have been readily omitted by mainstream Western society. The Wayne County prosecutor in Detroit filed charges in a case that is very similar to the murder of Trayvon Martin. Renisha McBride was a 19 year old African American woman. She wanted to ask for help after a car accident came about in a predominantly white suburb of Detroit. Renisha was shot in the face with a shotgun in the early hours of November 2. Her cell phone was dead and she was bleeding from a wound on her head. She wanted help. Reports said that the 54 year old Theodore Wafer shot Renisha through the screen door of his home. Wafer never called the police until an hour later. He lied and claimed that he fired in self-defense at first. He changed his story (which makes him a liar by definition) and claimed that the shotgun went off by accident. He changed it back again when prosecutors filed murder and manslaughter charges against him. Initial reports said that Renisha's body had been "dumped," but the police later said that it was found on the porch. Wafer is using SYG self-defense laws as a means to try to escape justice. The murderer said that he felt threatened by Renisha. Her death was ruled a homicide. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy filed charges. Detroiters protested and have shown great strength in giving support to the family of the late Sister Renisha McBride. Detroit should be proud of standing firm and strong. On November 7, about 50 human beings gathered outside police department headquarters in Dearborn Heights. Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, spoke for the crowd when he asked: "Had she been a white woman and the shooter a black man, would the shooter be sitting comfortably at home watching TV today?" 2 days later, about 200 people attended a rally. It was organized by the National Action Network on the West Side of Detroit. Other protests have been done all over the Detroit area too. Wafer faces second degree murder and manslaughter charges. Many sick human beings are putting the victim on trial instead of the murderer. Some are demonizing Renisha by citing toxicology reports when Wafer was never tested for drugs or alcohol at all. Some want to justify her execution by a shotgun for seeking help, which is sick. Race can never be eliminated from the equation. Dearbon Heights is 86 percent white and Detroit is 82 percent Black. We know about the double standards in dealing with police violence and racism in the States. We know that the Detroit police murdered the 7 year old girl named Aiyana Jones. Shortly after Aiyana's death during a police raid on her home, Charles was charged with providing the gun used in another murder. Charles has been held without bail for three years as his trial has been postponed. In the case of Aiyana's killer, the prosecutor's office somehow managed to select an all-white jury from a predominantly Black area for the cop's first trial, which ended in a mistrial. This is only another example of a justice system that treats Black life as less valuable--something made gruesomely clear once every 28 hours--the rate at which African Americans are killed by police, security guards or vigilantes, according to a report by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. If a Black man killed a white woman on his porch, he would be placed into jail immediately. There are more George Zimmermans in the world, which is a threat against black men, black women, and black children.

In July, a New Orleans homeowner shot unarmed 14-year-old Marshall Coulter in the head because he thought the teen was trying to break into his house, and a pregnant woman was killed on a sidewalk in Pratt, Kan., by a man shouting racial slurs. In September, a man in Dallas shot 8-year-old D.J. Maiden in the face as he played in a parking lot. Then there's the case with the closest echoes to that of Renisha McBride. Also in September in Charlotte, N.C., 24-year-old Jonathan Ferrell was killed. Ferrell was in an accident. He begged for help and they police tasered him. They shot him three times, which killed him. The protests in Dearbon Heights and Detroit should be commended as they have expressed justifiable outrage over Renisha's killing. We should have anti-racist mobilization and organization to combat injustices like these.



I have heard about the huge child welfare issues in various states across America for years. Some CPS workers are legitimate and others are either apathetic or corrupt in their actions. Numerous real stories document the grave magnitude of the situation with child protective services nationwide. This is personal for all of us since either we all have children or we know relatives with children in real life. The safety of children should have the most vital priority. One great Sister (who wrote about Jahessye Shockley) here is correct to call for radical reforms as a means to handle this horrendous situation. There should be investigations all over the place as a means to seek not only recommendations, but accountability, and better solutions. Also, we have to recognize that not only the Brothers are suffering, but the Sisters are suffering too. Many Sisters have experienced (and still are experiencing now) police brutality, abuse, and murder (and a whole lot of their stories have been omitted or obfuscated by many in the mainstream press). Therefore, we should continue to defend Black Women and stand up against any unjustified oppression against any Black Female. Some of us who are men have not spoken up strongly enough to defend real black females and we have a responsibility to speak up against any evil done against Brothers and especially Sisters. True manhood is also defending females not to degrade them (We have to learn about the stories of Aiyana Jones, of Latasha Harlins, of Kathryn Johnston, Thalia Rebecca Mook, of Kyam Livingston, etc. When folks target the Sisters, they are targeting all of us period). We as Brothers and Sisters have the right to be active and be proactive in creating solutions not just to talk about evil. We should fight evil. Many social workers knowing about child abuse and other evils is abhorrent and disgraceful to say the least. If someone doesn't treat the youngest among us with respect, then they certainly don't respect us as grown adults. There is another wild story (about 14 More Correctional Officers Charged in Baltimore Jail Sex Scandal), but we should know about stories like these as a means to be educated on real life situations. This story shows the evils found in the prison industrial complex. The folks involved in these evil deeds should be punished. Like always, accountability and justice should be made against depraved human beings. The BGF are not real Brothers and Sisters in my eyes. They are criminals who exploit the black community as a means to do corruption. Corruption is not right. The correction officers involved in the criminal acts should be ashamed also not just the BGF members involved. That is why doing what is right reaps great benefits in the long term. When you are strong, when you treat your parents right, when you treat your neighbors right, when you love your black identity, when you are active to build in your own community, and when you become more educated on the truth, then you feel good about yourself.

By Timothy

Iran Nuke Pact Defies the Neocons

http://consortiumnews.com/2013/11/25/iran-nuke-pact-defies-the-neocons/

JFK’s Embrace of Third World Nationalists

http://consortiumnews.com/2013/11/25/jfks-embrace-of-third-world-nationalists/

75% of United Arab Emirates Prisoners Report Police Torture

http://www.globalresearch.ca/75-of-united-arab-emirates-prisoners-report-police-torture/5359375

Iran Deal in Geneva: Hold the Cheers

http://www.globalresearch.ca/iran-deal-in-geneva-hold-the-cheers/5359245

President John F. Kennedy's Assassination: 50 Years Later

 

 

It has been over 50 years since the evil, unjust assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. JFK made mistakes and he learned from him. The JFK in 1963 was radically different from the JFK from 1961. Now, he was killed as his motorcade made its way through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. He wanted to win the election in 1964. Millions of Americans still remember the horrendous event like it was yesterday. He was the fourth American President to be assassinated Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865. Both assassinations resonate in the consciousness of Americans. The killing of JFK was caught on national TV including the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby. The evil assassination of President John F. Kennedy caused many to see the internal social contradictions of American society and the reactionary agenda of extremists (who wanted America to have an imperialist agenda). John F. Kennedy entered the White House in January 1961. That was only 16 years after the end of World War II.  When JFK was inaugurated, there was the growth of anti-imperialist movements in the world. America wanted to have containment to deal with the foreign policy issues of the day. American foreign policy even back then involved counterinsurgency operations as a means to try to prop up pro-American puppet regimes (even when those regimes had anti-democratic measures). Just days before he left office, President Eisenhower—perhaps frightened at the monster whose growth he had abetted—delivered a televised “Farewell Address” in which he warned the American people that the growth of the “military-industrial complex” posed an immense danger to the survival of American democracy. President John F. Kennedy said in his January 20, 1961 inaugural address that the “torch had been passed to a new generation of Americans” who would be willing to “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, and oppose any foe." His words inspired many Americans, especially the youth to embrace public service. Yet, he dealt with the contradiction of the democratic pretensions of the United States with American imperialism (and the denial of basic human rights of African Americans). The repression from the McCarthy era was disgraceful. John F. Kennedy was once more reactionary in terms of foreign policy and then changed to be more progressive by 1963. He had disagreements with the ruling class over international policy matters. He refused to invade Cuba, he signed a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, he refused to invade Laos, and he spoke in favor of world peace via his American University speech of 1963. New documents show that Kennedy wanted to withdrawal troops from Vietnam. The coup of Diem weighed deep on Kennedy and he wanted to fire folks over it. Lyndon Baines Johnson was the President after his assassination. He wanted Jackie Kennedy to be with him when he was sworn in as President.

The assassination on November 22, 1963 caused the military industrial complex to grow their power and to cause a reactionary foreign policy to fester. Most of the American public reject the lone gunman story completely. We know that a 1979 House of Representative special Select Committee on Assassinations. Folks have the right to agree or disagree with its conclusions. It found that scientific acoustical evidence finds a high probability that two gunmen fired at President John F. Kennedy. Other scientific evidence does not preclude the possibility of two gunmen firing at the President. Scientific evidence negates some specific conspiracy allegations. That committee believes that the evidence that they found available that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The committee was unable to identify the other gunmen or the extent of the conspiracy. We know that JFK had a continuous relationship with the CIA. The CIA was trying to kill Fidel Castro and JFK did not want this to occur. JFK wanted to disband and he hired the former head of the CIA Allen Dulles. Dulles ironically was a member of the Warren Commission, which was a conflict in interests The CIA back then was provoking WWIII with Russia. President John F. Kennedy made an agreement with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan to create a nuclear test ban treaty. The CIA feared a premature end to the Cold War as JFK wanted. The CIA was actively undermining the foreign policy of the USA. This has been called treason by some. JFK was clear about what he wanted. In his American University speech of June 10th, 1963, JFK said the following, eloquent words: "...I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived–yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace...What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children–not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women–not merely peace in our time but peace for all time." After the Cuban missile crisis, the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the rejection of Operation Northwoods plans, JFK had an epiphany. We know about the CIA coups, assassination, spying, infiltration, and their other crimes for years and decades. The crimes of the CIA include Operation MOCKINGBIRD, Operation Ajax, Operation MK-ULTRA, Operation Phoenix, etc. We should continue to investigate the information of the assassination. We have the right to develop a society that is based on the needs of the people and the general welfare of the people too.

 

One of the most controversial reports in American history was the one from Patrick Moynihan from 1965 called, "The Negro Family: The Case for National Action." The report makes the silly notion that the legacy of slavery forced black matriarchy to exist in the world, so black matriarchy (and other factors) caused unstable family structures (and black families must be modeled with Eurocentric nuclear families as a means for the survival of the black family). He blamed black matriarchs for the tangle of pathology, which is offensive. Many scholars, historians, anthropologists, and sociologists disagree with Moynihan. The report has sparked debate and it has been exploited by many reactionaries as a means to take stats out of context or try to scapegoat the black community for the evils done by evil modern power structure in the world today. The report is very slick and starts on a false premise and continues with more falsehood. The report claims that the culture of matriarchy in the black household automatically contributes to the harm of the Black family. That is false since back when the report was finished, black males were mostly in the households of African American families. The massive harm done to the black family has nothing to do with single black mothers. It has everything to do with socioeconomic factors and the system of discrimination including oppression (from the system of white supremacy). After deindustrialization, jobs being restricted from black males and from black females, the War on Drugs, mandatory sentences for non-violent drug offenses, continued discrimination, continued economic exploitation, the growth of the prison industrial complex (which caused many even innocent black men to be in prison now in 2013), etc. came about in the black community, then the Black family has been heavily harmed. These events have harmed many fathers and many mothers. Our issues have nothing to do with the essence of black culture. It has to do with oppression and economic conditions. There are still strong black human beings in nuclear families, extended families, single families, or otherwise. Also, he or Moynihan refuses to acknowledge the need of gender equality, but says that matriarchal societies relate directly to juvenile delinquency, etc. which is silliness. The report ignores the gender gap among both genders. It ignores that black women also suffer discrimination in education, employment, and political life. So, black men need respect and job opportunities, but black women also need the same as a means to fight poverty and racial inequality. Black women have always had a great role in our struggle for black liberation. Their role should be honored. Poverty is complex and it is related to structural, institutional, and economic reasons. If someone ignores the economic, structural determinants of poverty, then that person has an issue. Cultural pathology has been used by some as a coded phrase to over simplify poverty and scapegoat blacks for issues collectively. A real man can never be emasculated by a strong, independent, and intelligent Black Woman at all. A black woman having progress in schools, in the workplace, and in positions of our community are an asset not a detriment to the progress of Black Men. Black Men doing the same is also an asset in our community too. Black men and Black women should have jobs not just Black Men mostly (as the Moynihan report implies). The report have been exploited as a means to advance false stereotypes about single black women being heavily promiscuous, domineering in nature, and emasculating of black men, which are all lies. This has been proven by the historian Deborah Gray White.  Now, there is nothing wrong with gender egalitarianism. Husbands and wives sharing breadwinning and caregiving responsibilities are fine. Community groups and the government should advance employment for men and women, improve education, grow job training, etc. In other words, men and women rise and fall together. Jim Crow discrimination and the legacy of slavery have harmed many black human beings. Yet, black women collectively have nothing to do with massive poverty in the black community at all. We should look at social and economic factors that harm our community (not to mention that back then, the black community was not even mostly matriarchal at all). Also, is being a black matriarch immoral? The answer is no. Single mothers and single fathers are not monolithic at all. We still have issues in our community. They have grown since the great recession hit in 2008. Everything is not perfect, but we should confront our issues, we shouldn't sugarcoat them, and we should not scapegoat single black mothers for our problems either. That is the point. We need economic justice and real, revolutionary solutions in our community. We need justice. When both genders realize that they need each other and each gender is not the enemy, then massive progress will come about.

 

 

The Detroit bankruptcy is an important issue in our community and in the world in general. One report came about by the New York City based liberal think tank called Demos. It was a refutation of the arguments used by the Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr to throw the city of Detroit into bankruptcy. The Demos report charged that the financial numbers used by Orr and other advocates of bankruptcy were grossly inflated. They found that the real causes of Detroit's economic issues were parasitic loans and other financial schemes that were pushed on the city by the banks and other powerful creditors. The data in the report makes the case clear that the city of Detroit's July 19 Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing was not driven by economic necessity but by political considerations. The Demos findings are interesting. Orr filed for Chapter 9 as a means to use the bankruptcy courts to get the pensions of 21,000 retired municipal workers, privatize services and sell off public assets (even the artwork of the Detroit Institute of Arts). The goal of the elite is to pay off the same financial institutions clearly responsible for the city's crisis that grew after the 2008 economic crisis. U.S. Judge Steven Rhodes is expected to rule soon on whether the city is eligible for bankruptcy.  The whole political and media establishment in Detroit and nationwide have respected the view that Detroit is facing inescapable financial distress (because of pension obligations and other costs, which is inaccurate). The Demos report shows that the surge in legacy costs used by to justify the filing “was driven heavily by the city’s complex financial deals, not retiree benefits.” Detroit is facing cash flow problems, because of the conditions of deindustrialization, mass unemployment, the growth of poverty, and huge tax giveaways to corporations. This has nothing to do with the pensions and benefits owed to workers. “Contrary to widely held belief, Detroit does not have a spending problem,” the report states. “Since the onset of the Great Recession, the city’s total expenses have actually decreased by $356.3 million… although its financial expenses have gone up.” Summing up its main conclusions, Demos writes, “The City of Detroit’s bankruptcy was driven by a severe decline in revenues (and, importantly, not an increase in obligations to fund pensions.) Depopulation and long-term unemployment caused Detroit’s property and income tax revenues to plummet. The state of Michigan exacerbated the problems by slashing revenue it shared with the city. The city’s overall expenses have declined over the last five years, although its financial expenses have increased. In addition, Wall Street sold risky financial instruments to the city, which now threaten the resolution of this crisis.” The report points to the bad social conditions in the wake of the 2008 crash as a primary factor behind the collapse in city revenue. The number of employed Detroit residents fell by 53 percent from 2000 to 2012. Half of the decline occurred in the year of 2008 as the Great Recession took hold. That is a true, inescapable fact. The Great Recession harmed Detroit. Detroit lost hundreds of millions of dollars in state revenue sharing as Republican Governor Rick Snyder and his Democratic predecessor two term governor Jennifer Granholm cut more than $700 million in transfer payments from the state government in Lansing to the city. From 2008 to 2013, as the impact of the crisis hit hardest, annual revenue sharing fell 27 percent, from $249.6 million to $182.8 million. The Democratic Party aligned think tank mentions that it only tangentially, federal aid from the Obama administration (that deals with anti-poverty, public education, Head Start and other programs) has also been slashed precipitously since 2009. The White House has cut funding to cash strapped states. That is reducing funding to cities. Tax concessions to powerful corporations have depleted the city's revenue stream as well. The more than $20 million per year awards to companies included gifts to DTE Energy, Comerica Bank, Quicken Loans, Compuware, the Farbman Group, and Detroit Medical Center according to the report. The report says that the $18 billion for the city's deficit was irrelevant to a municipal bankruptcy, which is based on immediate cashflow considerations and not on speculative estimates of long term solvency. “That figure is irrelevant to an analysis of Detroit’s insolvency and bankruptcy filing, highly inflated, and in large part, simply inaccurate,” the report claimed. “In reality, the city needs to address its cash flow shortfall, which the emergency manager pegs at only $198 million, although that number too may be inflated because it is based on extraordinarily aggressive assumptions of the contributions the city needs to make to its pension funds.” Detroit experience brutal cuts as a result of the 2008 crash. The report said that:  “Between FY 2008 and FY 2013, the city drastically cut operating expenses by $419.1 million. This was accomplished in large part by laying off more than 2,350 workers, cutting worker pay, and reducing future healthcare and future benefit accruals for workers… The city reduced salary expenses by 30 percent between FY 2008 and FY 2013. Total operating expenses have been reduced by nearly 38 percent during that same time.” Operating expenditures decreased and debt servicing and other financing cost radically increased. Wall Street have benefited from interest rate swap agreement and more monetary arrangements. The creditors harmed the city even after the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates in the wake of the 2008 crash. The case of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department illustrates the scale of these losses. For fiscal years 2011 and 2012, the city took on more than $1.16 billion in debt to pay for expenses related to the DWSD. Nearly half of this debt total, $547 million, went to cover “swap termination payments” imposed on the city after its credit was downgraded. Orr is now pushing for the city to accept a proposed $350 million loan from the international finance house Barclays to pay off the debts incurred to Bank of America/ Merrill Lynch and UBS as a result of these swaps. This means that the debt burden has increased while cuts against the working class have grown (in order to pay off the criminal elements that harmed the city into swaps). “A strong case can be made that the banks that sold these swaps may have breached their ethical, and possibly legal, obligations to the city in executing these deals,” Demos reported. The Demos report has great evidence of the conspiracy behind the Detroit bankruptcy. There is a bigger issue of the assault on the working class. The New York Times and the Washington Post ignored the Demos report. So, Detroit should be defended. Its workers, its poor, its homeless, and its infrastructure should not be harmed as an excuse to advance some austerity agenda in Detroit.

 

 

The new OECD (or the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) report says that the United States is now lower than the average in the 34 countries of the OECD. The OECD report said that while life expectancy in the U.S. has been growing in the last several decades, it has grown more slowly than in other countries. This has been shown in their Health at a Glance 2013 report. The lag in U.S. life expectancy is contributed to social and economic factors. The reason is that we have a large uninsured population, poor access to physicians, poor health behavior, social inequality, and poverty. These factors have been exacerbated and no ameliorated even with the implementation of the ACA. The ACA keeps the for profit health care system intact. The OECD’s report shows that life expectancy in the US has increased by about eight years since 1970, rising to 78.7 years in 2011. Other OECD countries, however, saw an average 10-year gain over the same period. While in previous decades the US achieved better than average gains, it now stands more than a year below the OECD average life expectancy of 80.1 years. U.S. life expectancy in 2011 is ranked below that of every Western European country in the study. It hovered just above Chile, the Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, the Slovak Republic, Hungary and Turkey. It was below Greece, Portugal, South Korea and Slovenia. The US fell significantly behind Switzerland, which has a life expectancy of 82.8 years, as well as Japan and Italy, both of which have a life expectancy of 82.7 years. Mexico is the only other OECD country beside the U.S. without some form of universal or quasi-universal health care system. Mexico ranked lowest in 2011 at 74.2 years. The study also included data from Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, the Russian Federation and South Africa. The latter ranked below all of the OECD countries in life expectancy, excluding Mexico. The U.S. spends more by far on health care per capital, but it has not a greater life expectancy. Life expectancy is a key indicator of the quality of life. We have a high per capita of health care spending in America, but the issue is that higher profits for private insurers, giant hospital chains, and drug companies have not improved health care services. We have a worsening social inequality. The tiny minority control even more of the wealth while the vast majority of the people are either treading water or growing poor. We must improve our medical care as a means to improve our health care including our life expectancy. The report explains that most OECD countries have government-sponsored coverage of health care costs for a core set of services, usually including doctor consultations, tests and examinations, and surgical and other procedures. In the States, we have 53 percent of the population having coverage with private health insurance in 2011. About 32 percent receive their coverage via a government program like Medicare or Medicaid. So, that leaves a staggering 15 percent of the population uninsured. The best-case scenario under the ACA, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will still leave 31 million Americans, 10 percent of the population, without health insurance. The OECD ranked the U.S. above average for out of pocket costs. An average household spends 2.9 percent of its income on health care. The report also found that in the US “richer people are significantly more likely to visit doctors” than in other countries. Besides the US, countries showing sharp inequities in doctor visits in line with income were Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The OECD report deals with exposing the fact that a lower proportion of U.S. doctors overall are primary care physicians (in dealing with the gynecologists and psychiatrists). Many doctors in America are over 55. So, the OECD shows that our health care system has many troubles. The reason for this is income inequalities and other reasons despite the advances in medical technology. Also, medical care in the U.S. is driven by corporate profit. This profit will intensify with the advent of the ACA. The key provision of the ACA—the so-called “individual mandate”—is aimed at forcing millions of uninsured people to purchase health coverage from private insurers. There are no government-imposed restrictions on what the insurance companies can charge for their premiums, and people shopping for coverage are discovering that the cheapest policies carry huge out-of-pocket costs, including thousands of dollars in deductibles and other “cost-sharing” expenses. Many choices of doctors, hospitals, and patient services for millions of Americans are a reality now. Corporate profits and big business will grow. There has been a slashing of health care spending, reduction in access to health care and limiting treatment for decades in the States. This issue existed long before the Obama administration came into existence. So, I want to make that clear. So, we should use the OECD report as a means to inspire us to fight more for universal health care in the States and throughout the world.
 

By Timothy