Clinton’s woes 5-31-2016

31, May 2016                             Clinton’s woes  

      

Republicans are now digging into Clinton’s past when she served as first lady. They claim that she was behind the firing of seven people in the White House travel office in 1993. In 1994 the Clintons’ made a tidy sum from the smelly Whitewater Land Deal. Multiple issues continue to dog her campaign. For example, Goldman Sachs paid Clinton $675,000 in 2013 for three speeches. Bill Clinton made more than $1.5 million in paid speaking fees. Goldman Sachs has given $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation. The Clinton campaign is now being asked to reveal fund transfers between Goldman executives and the various Clinton accounts. To add to Clinton’s woes, new questions are being raised about ties between Goldman Sachs and Clinton’s son-in-law, Marc Mezvinsky. Mezvinsky worked for Goldman Sachs for eight years before quitting to form a hedge fund with help from Goldman CEO, Lloyd Blankfein who invested an undisclosed amount in the new fund, Eaglevale Partners (EP). The fund turned out to be a major disaster losing 90% of its investors’ money betting on the Greek economy. Clinton’s email server is just the latest in a long saga; the FBI ruled that her emails violated the Federal Records Act by not turning over official emails before she left office. What is even more disturbing is the haughty, autocratic manner in which she admonished two IT staffers who tried to warn her of their concerns and were told “never bring up the issue again”.

Assault on Whistleblowers 5-26-2016

26, May 2016               Assault on Whistleblowers

A former senior Pentagon official, John Crane, has spoken out about how his superiors violated the law to punish a key NSA whistleblower, Thomas Drake, for leaking information about waste, mismanagement and an illegal widespread domestic surveillance program. Crane was a long time employee for the DOD Inspector General’s Office, whose mission is to expose federal abuse. Embarrassed by Drake’s revelations, the Pentagon charged him with espionage based on information he freely provided to the Pentagon inspector general. The unmistakable message is extremely troubling; expose our dark secrets and we will destroy you.

This does not bode well for future whistleblowers who are left with no option but to go outside the system much like Snowden. Drake should have been rewarded and commended for his patriotic duty in trying to eliminate waste. Drake’s saga is documented in Mark Hertsgaard new book, "Bravehearts: Whistle-Blowing in the Age of Snowden”.

BDS Growing 5-19-2016

19, May 2016                                   BDS Growing

Recently, members of the Teaching Assistants’ Association (TAA) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution to divest from the State of Israel and corporations that profit from the illegal occupation of Palestine. 81% of its members voted to support the resolution.  In doing so, the TAA joins other graduate student unions at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of California System, and at New York University, who have stood in solidarity with Palestinian Civil Society’s call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) as a non-violent tactic to apply political and economic pressure on Israel to cease its gross violations of human rights and international law. It is time for the US to ‘walk the walk’ and prove to the world that it stands by its much touted core value - the promotion of human rights and support for the democratic aspirations of people all over the world yearning to be free -  including the Palestinians. It is time to make further U.S. aid conditional on ending the Israeli occupation and lifting the siege of Gaza. For more, go to http://callforsocialjustice.blogspot.com/

Sanders Supporters 5-18-2016

18, May 2016                         Sanders Supporters

Senator Bernie Sanders is right to assail The Democratic National Committee which has shown clear bias in favor of Hillary Clinton. Clinton has contributed to the growing hostility by her arrogance. She and the D.N.C. chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, should to try to mend fences with the Sanders camp before matters spiral out of control and gives the Trumpeters an unwelcome boost. The primary debate schedule was a clear case of blatant partiality to Clinton and a major slight to Bernie Sanders.

If the D.N.C. continues to alienate Sanders supporters it might very well tilt the electorate in favor of Trump.

For example, A WBUR poll of New Hampshire voters shows Clinton in a deadlock with Trump. A staggering 25% of Sanders supporters stated they had no plans to vote for Clinton if she is the Democratic nominee. 10% said they would vote for Trump.

Exit polls in West Virginia provided an even more alarming statistic. 44% disaffected Sanders supporters saying they would back Trump in the general election. Relishing the discord, Trump is beckoning disaffected backers of Sanders to support him, tweeting “The System is rigged against him.”

Clinton supports should not ignore this growing schism. Fortunately, this could easily be rectified if Clinton announces Bernie Sanders as her running mate if she becomes the front runner. This would create an unstoppable dynamic duo to the White House.

Military Aid to Nigeria 5-17-2016

17, May 2016                       Military Aid to Nigeria

Following record sales of military weapons to the Gulf nations who have some of the worst human rights records in the world, the US is now poised to further enrich weapons manufacturers by approving sales of 12 A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft to Nigeria.

A top Leahy aide, Tim Rieser expressed concern of the pending shipment, stating “We don’t have confidence in the Nigerians’ ability to use them in a manner that complies with the laws of war and doesn’t end up disproportionately harming civilians, nor in the capability of the U.S. government to monitor their use.” Under the prior president, Goodluck Jonathon, the Nigerian military detained and killed thousands of innocent civilians in sweeps of the Boko Haram, a practice that Amnesty International said was continuing under the new president, Muhammadu Buhari.  This year the military rounded up several hundred men and boys in arrests that Amnesty, called “arbitrary, hazardous profiling based on sex and age of the individual rather than on evidence of criminality”.

Sarah Margon, the Washington director at Human Rights Watch, was equally critical stating “indications that the U.S. is going to sell attack aircrafts to Nigeria is concerning given the absence of meaningful reform within Nigeria’s security sector; The U.S. must make clear that if the sale is to occur, critical steps, not just rhetorical commitments, on core human rights concerns must be an integral component for approving the sale.”

The Doomsday Clock 5-17-2016

17, May 2016                 The Doomsday Clock

Shortly after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists established a Doomsday Clock in 1947. Every year they estimate how close we are to midnight, the time when all species on earth cease to exist. Two prevailing threats, global warming and nuclear annihilation, moved us two minutes closer. We are currently at three minutes to midnight. A peek into the Russian archives reveals how close we actually were to MAD, mutual Assured Destruction in the 1980’s.

Recently, the U.S. has sharply increased military exercises closer to its adversaries, China and Russia. China and Russia have responded by counter measures bringing us much closer to a fateful accident. There have been several close encounters and an actual collision occurred when a Russian jet struck a Danish commercial airliner.

President Obama, contrary to his earlier pledge to promote a nuclear free world, has earmarked 1 trillion dollars to create smaller “more usable” nuclear weapons. There is little doubt our adversaries have accepted the gauntlet and are undergoing similar programs. All efforts to create a nuclear free zone in the Middle East have been vetoed by the US out of concern that Israel would have to publically reveal its possession of a large cache of nuclear weapons.

The threat of global warming is very real. Virtually all the ice masses are rapidly melting. Severe droughts have gripped much of the planet. About 300 million people in India are on the edge of starvation from severe droughts and farmer suicides are at an all-time high. The groundwater is depleted as the Himalayan glaciers melt. This will undermine the water supply for huge areas in South Asia which will trigger mass migration of people seeking safer ground. Sea levels are expected to rise 3 to 6 feet by the end of the century. Other species are being killed at unprecedented levels called the fifth extinction. On the home front we have a ‘human’ tornado threatening to occupy the White House, accelerating the movement of the Doomsday Clock. For more, go to http://callforsocialjustice.blogspot.com/

Prisoner Strike 5-15-2016

15, May 2016                        Prisoner Strike

Severe overcrowding and poor living conditions have reached boiling point in Alabama prisons resulting in a 10-day prisoner strike. Surprisingly, the prison authorities have invoked the 13^th Amendment of the U.S. which allows “slavery and servitude” as just punishment for crimes justifying the legality of forced, unpaid prison labor. The co-founder of the “Free Alabama Movement" Kinetik Justice, an organizer of the strike, spoke out against the inherently unjust economic system. The strikers tried unsuccessfully petitioning the courts and lawmakers highlighting their living conditions. Prison officials at the Holman and Elmore Correctional Facilities retaliated against the strikers by denying them basic hygiene and starving them with “bird feeding” portions. Several exonerations have prompted legislators to create – an Innocence Inquiry Commission pushing for transparency in the courts and humanity in the prison system. A number of high profile politicians, most notably, Bernie Sanders, have criticized the current ‘broken criminal justice system’ which disproportionately targets people of color. “Correctional” facilities should live up to their name and use the European model to rehabilitate prisoners with appropriate skills to enable them to transition to society to reduce the high recidivism that currently exists.

Florida’s Guantanamo 5-14-2016

14, May 2016                      Florida’s Guantanamo

The New Yorker magazine recently published a shocking expose on the utter brutality of prison guards at the Dade Correctional Institution in Florida. Mentally ill prisoners have been subjected to savage beatings, scalding showers and severe food shortages. A blanket of silence has gripped inmates and health professionals who fear brutal reprisals for speaking out. A courageous, psychotherapist and whistleblower, George Mallinckrodt lost his job after reporting such abuses.

Lacking adequate medical care for the mentally ill, prisons have become the de facto mental health institutions. Florida is particularly prone to such abuses given that it allocates less money per capita than any other state with the exception of Idaho. Most of the health professionals violated their sworn code of ethics choosing to ignore the abuses; a few that spoke out were maligned as "hug-a-thugs," and suddenly found themselves unprotected and isolated. A near starvation diet was often imposed on inmates who complained.  One prisoner, Darren Rainey, a severely schizophrenic inmate, was locked in a shower stall and exposed to scalding water of 180 degrees which burned 90 percent of his body. No one has been charged for his brutal murder. Mallinckrodt chronicles the abuses in his recent book, ‘Getting Away with Murder’.

US Aid to Israel 5-11-2016

11, May 2016                          US Aid to Israel

In yet another gesture of capitulation to Israeli demands, the Obama administration has proposed an unprecedented military funding package that could top $40 billion over 10 years. In a stunning admission, the former Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Commander-in-Chief, Gabi Ashkenazi stated that “U.S. taxpayers have contributed more to the Israeli defense budget than Israeli taxpayers in the past three years.” According to Rand Paul, “Israel’s per capita income is greater than three-fourths of the rest of the world.” Its economy is booming and is destined for even greater prosperity from its discovery of natural gas. On the home front, there is mounting disillusionment that our country’s domestic and foreign policies have been misguided and trillions squandered with failing alliances and never ending conflicts. This anger has fueled both the Sanders and Trump campaigns. With trillions of debt accumulating for future generations of Americans, we continue to send billions of our tax money to reward Israel for its decades long occupation, demolition of Palestinian homes and the construction of hundreds of illegal settlements. More and more influential voices both in Israel and at home are calling for an end to military aid to Israel. Continuation of such aid will only embolden Israel to continue its current policies of oppression and occupation and doom any hope of a lasting peace with the Palestinians. 

Mission Creep 5-6-2016

6, May 2016                                   Mission Creep

Contrary to President Obama’s public statements, US Special Forces have been in a combat role fighting ISIS for many months. Obama has been less than forthright announcing the redeployment of 300 military advisors and assured Americans they would “not be fighting”. But according to Peshmerga fighters, US Special Forces have been fighting alongside Kurdish forces in an ever increasing role.   Film clips shown to the London Guardian confirm the presence of U.S. fighters. One such clip taken with a long range camera shows American snipers taking aim at ISIS insurgents in the south-west of the city of Kirkuk. It is evident that a covert war is being waged that will inevitably plunge us into another never ending conflict. President Obama won the election promising he would never send “American combat troops fighting in Iraq again.” Last June he reiterated his promise but in the same month the U.S. military commenced an aggressive combat role as confirmed by Guardian clips. Covert wars, especially directed at Arab nations, rarely have a positive outcome and only serve as recruitment for our enemies. The tragic death of NAVY SEAL Keating confirms our worst fears. It is time the US presents the Gulf nations with an ultimatum – police your own back yard or suffer the consequences. It is time to end the mission creep before it morphs into another bloody conflagration.

Trump & Organized Crime 5-5-2016

5, May 2016                       Trump & Organized Crime

Donald Trump, has virtually clinched the Republican presidential nomination,  after Ted Cruz and John Kasich suspended  their respective campaigns. Thus far, Trump’s connection with organized crime has received scant media attention. But that has changed with an explosive new article by an award winning investigative journalist,  Tom Robbins, who has uncovered  Trump’s long history of close ties with organized crime figures. His recent article "Trump and the Mob" appeared for The Marshall Project. In 1954 Roy Cohn, a legislative aide to the infamous Senator Joseph McCarthy left the Senate to offer his legal services to the notorious Genovese and Gambino crime families. About the same time, he took under his wing the young Donald Trump who was trying to establish a career in real estate. Trump fully acknowledges the important role Cohn and his underworld contacts,  "Fat Tony" Salerno and "Big Paul" Castellano provided in developing his successful real estate career. The partners for his Trump SoHo hotel in New York were a group of unsavory Russian mobsters.

His signature accomplishment, Trump Tower, was built using undocumented workers from Poland, paying them subsistence wages. In 1988 he teamed up another crime Colombo figure, John Staluppi, a wealthy auto dealer, to create a super luxury stretch limousine,  a kind of Trumpmobile. It’s time the media play hardball with Trump and demand answers before he is handed the keys to the White House.

Bin Laden 5-4-2016

4, May 2016                           Bin Laden

The CIA has sparked widespread outrage by marking the fifth anniversary of the U.S. killing of Osama bin Laden by live-tweeting the operation in excruciating detail as if in real time. There is little doubt the broadcast will cause more outrage in the Muslim world putting Americans lives at greater risk. The CIA replay puts the spotlight on the Obama administration which has been accused of giving a false account of the killing. It belies belief that the Pakistan military were unaware of Bin Laden’s compound located just a few miles from a major Pakistan military base.Veteran investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh, who exposed the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, claimed the official version of the Bin Laden killing was “a fairytale."  Hersh argues that Pakistani intelligence - the ISI - were holding Bin Laden prisoner for nearly six years in the garrison town of Abbottabad and just handed him over to the Americans in a staged raid. He said the tip-off to the US Embassy was delivered by a “walk in” – a retired Pakistan military intelligence officer who was paid the bulk of the $25 million bounty money. The attack on the compound was made for propaganda purposes and to bolster President Obama’s reelection prospects.  Hersh argues that knowledge of Bin Laden's whereabouts went right to the top of the Pakistan army and intelligence service. Bin Laden’s security detail was paid by our great “ally”, Saudi Arabia.

Pentagon Cover-Up? 5-4-2016

4, May 2016                                      Pentagon Cover-Up?

The official narrative of the tragic bombing of ‘Doctors Without Borders’ (MSF) trauma center in Kunduz, Afghanistan last October, is highly suspect.

MSF was right to demand an independent enquiry expressing deep concerns that the Pentagon was willing to conduct an impartial investigation.

The Pentagon claims that the missile strike was a human error completely ignoring the obvious fact that the GPS coordinates of the MSF hospital was well known. 42 innocent people died as a result of this tragedy. There will be no trial and no court-martials based on the highly improbable explanation that the errors that launched the attack were unintentional. If the hospital was a deliberate target then clearly a very serious war crime has been committed and the Pentagon must be held accountable. The Obama administration and Pentagon have often boasted of the accuracy of their missile strikes. The fatal attack on the MSF facility would render such claims to be fallacious. An independent enquiry must be conducted to dispel suspicions of a Pentagon cover-up. To add insult to injury, the families of the victims were grossly under-compensated. The credibility of the Pentagon and the Obama administration has sunk to a new low.