Friday News

The person was wrong (who threw a show near Hillary Clinton). You can easily show dissent with Hillary Clinton's policies in better ways. I definitely don't agree with Hillary Clinton on foreign policy matters. Frankly, it does the cause of real liberation no good by almost assaulting someone with a shoe. That is totally wrong. At the end of the day, we need a revolutionary transformation of society. Society needs massive restructuring. The whole socio-economic order needs to be changed and politicians like Hillary are politicians. So, the real point is that we have to continue to oppose imperialism, to fight for better health care, and to advance constructive policies that can strengthen our communities.  Hillary Clinton follows a neocon style foreign policy. She backed the Iraq War and teamed up with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the Afghan war “surge.” She has a hawkish position on Libya. Many believe that Hillary Clinton will run for the 2016 Presidential election. The current President Barack Obama is dealing with the Russians, Iranians, and the Israeli Lobby. His foreign policy has been reactionary, but to his credit, he has not invaded Iran and he has not attacked Russia. The neo cons are angry at President Barack Obama, because he will not go far enough in acting aggressive toward Russia, Iran, etc. Hillary Clinton could be more neoconservative than the President on dealing with Mideast issues and other matters. Hillary Clinton voted for the Iraq War in 2002 after President George W. Bush gave his bogus WMD case. She remained a war supporter until her position became politically untenable during the Campaign of 2008. Representing New York, Clinton rarely if ever criticized Israeli actions. In summer 2006, as Israeli warplanes pounded southern Lebanon, killing more than 1,000 Lebanese, Sen. Clinton shared a stage with Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman who had said, “While it may be true – and probably is – that not all Muslims are terrorists, it also happens to be true that nearly all terrorists are Muslim.” Gates and Clinton teamed up with Gen. David Petraeus, a neocon favorite, to maneuver the President into another 30,000-troop “surge” – to wage a counterinsurgency war across large swaths of Afghanistan. Gates wrote in “Duty” that working with Hillary Clinton was crucial to his success in getting the President Barack Obama to agree with the troop escalation and the expanded goal of counterinsurgency in Afghanistan.  Referring to Clinton, Gates wrote, “we would develop a very strong partnership, in part because it turned out we agreed on almost every important issue.” The hawkish Gates-Clinton tandem helped counter the move dovish team including Vice President Joe Biden, several members of the National Security Council staff and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, who tried to steer President Obama away from this deeper involvement. Hillary Clinton has been a hawk on Libya and even in dealing with Iran. The good news is that the sanctions bill against Iran has been stalled for now. This has been a defeat to AIPAC.

I will never agree with a reactionary like Jim DeMint. Extremists who agree with DeMint on many cases believe that the federal government can never create a good thing. The reality is that Lincoln and others were involved in the big government program called the Civil War. The end of the Civil War was influential in ending overt slavery. The Union forces were big government sanctioned military forces. That ends his argument. Also, it was a collaboration of abolitionists, other activists, and the federal government that freed the slaves ultimately. The freeing of slaves involved a diversity of human beings. Lincoln was pressured and forced by Frederick Douglas and others to sign the law that ended chattel slavery. Abraham Lincoln was initially not in support of ending slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment obviously has more weight and strength than the Emancipation Proclamation. He had to be pressured by others who wanted real social change in the world. Some use the private business/anti-CRA canard as an excuse to promote neoliberalism. If privately owned businesses are in U.S. soil, they are subject to U.S. laws. Any private business cannot do as they please. For example, a private business cannot pollute indiscriminately in public or private lands. That is illegal. True environmental laws prevent the right of private businesses to act nihilistic. Also, even private businesses are subject to numerous laws that regulate associations in dealing with workers, unions, and other functions. Not to mention that private businesses functioning in U.S. soil are subject to local, state, and federal taxes. So, not all private businesses are totally autonomous in their composition. A business owner can't act like a dictator or folks have the right to sue that owner. No owner has the right to deprive human rights either. So, private businesses in the States are interconnected indirectly or directly with the public at large. The same principles apply to the Civil Rights Act. As long as you employ American citizens (via in public or private functions), you are subject to federal and state laws. HUMAN RIGHTS TRUMPS STATES RIGHTS AS HUMAN RIGHTS ARE SUPERIOR TO ANY STATE FUNCTION OR PRIVATE BUSINESS ACTIVITIES. So, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extended human rights to black Americans and all Americans. After 50th years, we have a long way to go in seeing true liberation for humanity. Black people have every right to courageously stand up for health care, to stand up against imperialism, and to stand up for voting rights (including human rights).

I don't agree with Bill Clinton on repealing Glass Steagall, supporting NAFTA, his agreement with the War on Drugs (he expanded the prison industrial complex during his two terms), and other things, but he is correct to mention that GOP supported voter ID laws have everything to do with maintaining GOP power. Many of these laws restrict the amount of time that human beings can vote. Some of these laws restrict the type of requirements necessary for folks to vote. The goal of any real voting legislation would be to expand the time and opportunity for citizens to vote not to restrict them. Experts, lawyers, etc. have described the profound imperfections of such voter ID laws. Voting fraud has been very miniscule. Obviously, reactionary Republicans want to turn back the clock of history. Their think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, ALEC, etc. made their views right clear. Many of the recent Supreme Court decision benefit corporate power not the fundamental interests of the people. We have the right to fight for our human rights. Also, we have to be real. We have to also oppose NSA warrantless spying, Wall Street record bailouts, and other economic regressive measures. It is more than about Republican vs. Democrat. It is about freedom including justice vs. the status quo. We are 50 Years after the passing of the Civil Rights Act. This law deals with the struggle against segregation and racial discrimination. It was the poor, the workers, and other activists who shook up the apartheid system of Jim Crow in America. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and President Barack Obama spoke about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas.  We see a new era now. At the height of post WWII boon period, America was the richest nation in the world. Within the framework of the profit system, poverty was massively decreased for a temporary period of time. Five decades later in 2014, we see the growth of unheard of economic inequality. We see imperialist war mongering mixed with the dismantling of social benefits, the bankruptcy of major cities like Detroit, wage gutting done by the federal government, and police state spying on a gigantic scale. We know that mainstream capitalism has failed to meet the needs of the people. We need true, genuine democracy and equality.

At one time, most Americans according to some polls years ago believed that Saddam Hussein was directly responsible for 9/11. That view is obviously false. So, this poll is not surprising in my estimation (because many folks have naiveté on racial matters. Some folks are deluded to embrace post racial deceptions). We have a long way to go in improving race relations. When you have reactionary talk show hosts spewing vile and bigoted comments about black people, women, and others, then we have a long way to go. When you have a black woman named Charda Gregory being assaulted and abused by crooked officers, then we witness that our people are still treated unfairly. When some try to justify degrading language against black people, then we have a long way to go. When we see that growth of hate groups since the year 2000, we fully realize that we as a people are still fighting the twin evils of bigotry and discrimination. When there has been the extrajudicial killings of innocent Brothers and Sisters nationwide (and worldwide), then we should focus on standing up for truth. The denial of institutionalized racism is a key doctrine of white racists. Even after almost 200 attempts to pass a federal anti-lynching law, the United States still does not have one in 2014. That is real. Now, to improve racial relations, we don’t have to agree with everything. We just want to discuss honestly on real issues. We are dedicated to fight any injustice. The youth is the future and efforts to educate the youth on these issues can go a long way in improving race relations in the future. The system of white supremacy has to be ended and a real system of justice must be in its replacement. It is as simple as that. Economic justice should be advanced. Economic justice means a reduction of the income inequality gap. It means that GDP improves and our standard of living improves. Economic justice means that a radical redistribution of economic and political power is necessary (as a means to assist the poor and others) since the 1 percent has stolen the wealth of the masses of the people. Rep. Bernie Sanders have made excellent proposals to address this issue like advocating: an increase to the minimum wage, reducing defense spending, allowing corporations to pay their fair share, get rid of loopholes in the tax code, create a national infrastructure program, use policies to create jobs, etc. There should be ways to address poverty as a means to have economic justice. I believe in health care for all. It (or universal health care in various forms) has worked in Norway, France, the Netherlands, Singapore, etc. We have been through this before. Universal health care can be funded by unique taxation and various funds. There are many rules in universal health care. Many experts have answered the questions about universal health care and refuted the misconceptions about it. 

I am in solidarity with the freedom loving people of Venezuela. The West is supporting the Venezuelan counterrevolution. Afro-Venezuelans and all freedom loving Venezuelans are our allies indeed. The young Venezuelan protesters (supported by the U.S. government and the corporate media) have used racism. We know that nearly all of the wealthy and bourgeois people look phenotypically European while almost all those who live in the countryside or in poor communities are Black and Brown. Arlene Eisner said that he saw white people protesting Madura in Venezuela. One of the anti-government newspapers should a racist caricature of Chavez. This cartoon made by Kiko Rodriquez documents the racist contempt that some has for people of African descent. The title is “Miko Mandante”, meaning “Ape Commander” to mock the affectionate title “Mi Comandante” used by masses of Venezuelan people. Critics of Chavez forget that he reduced poverty. There is a near total correlation between class and race in Venezuela. Some never mentioned the race of Venezuela’s poor, or the extreme poor, who in 2003 were 30% of the population and by 2011 were only 6.8%. Venezuelan society regularly scapegoat and demonize unfairly the people of African and Indigenous descent. White supremacy continues in Venezuela when conquest and slavery were foundations of modern society. Now, many Venezuelans then and now are fighting racism via revolution. The Bolivarian Revolution improved the lives of their people of color (who are the majority of the people in Venezuela). Since 2001, voter registration is 97 percent. During the days of Venezuela’s dictatorships, they served Standard Oil and the U.S. State Department. There have been many new rules that fight discrimination and advance mass participating in government. There are communes, councils, collectives and cooperatives in the nation. There are some 30,000 communal council that are creating to give once marginalized people more of a voice to promote their human dignity. A significant share of the country’s patrimony, income from oil, is no longer siphoned off to the U.S. or to the old white Venezuelan elite. Between 1997 and 2011 the portion of Venezuela’s wealth going to the richest 20% decreased from 53% to 44%. By the end of 2013, the Guardian reported that the poverty rate had dropped by 20%. This is the largest decline in poverty in the Americas for 2012 and one of the largest in the world. Oil revenues have paid for new homes for the poor, schools have free laptops, and new universities have open admission. Hugo Chavez did a lot for Venezuela. He was the first President with African and Indigenous ancestry. The female cartoonist Rayma created a racist cartoon in the  El Universal. She too wins mass circulation and international prizes for her racist caricatures. The Cartoonists for Peace, Sampsonia Way, Humanitarian News and most significantly Freedom House have supported her. A visit to the Freedom House website informs the public that the organization has an annual budget of $46 million, some of which comes from the U.S. State Department. Its Board of Directors includes a number with close ties to the State Department, USAID, AIPAC, Morgan Stanley and other imperialist entities. Now, the counter revolutionary movements have protested in the streets as a means to restore unbridled white privilege and capitalism to Venezuela. The Bolivarian government disbanded local police forces that used to racially profile, murder and harass African Descendants. Yet, the counter revolutionary protesters want to advance racial profiling. So, we will continue to be in solidarity with African descendant human people, the Indigenous people, and the Bolivarian Revolution.

By Timothy