The Doomsday Clock 1-28-2018

 

28, January 2018                 The Doomsday Clock

The Doomsday Clock, a symbol of scientific concerns about the survival of the human race, has advanced by 30 seconds to 2 minutes. to midnight.

Of particular concern is the failure of world leaders to respond to the ominous threats of climate change and nuclear annihilation.

Saber rattling by North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un and the US response driven by juvenile tweets by a highly erratic and unstable US president is a major cause of concern. Compounding this brinkmanship are the deteriorating relations between the US and Russia and the buildup of Pakistan and India’s nuclear arsenal. Adding to the global tensions is the increasing assertive behavior of China and US threats to scuttle the Iran nuclear deal.

The safety and well-being of Americans are taking a back seat in pursuit of greater profits for US corporations. Safety regulations are being dumped into the trash can of history at an alarming pace with much glee by the Trump administration.

The pillars of democracy and the rule of law are being demolished by an increasing number of tyrannical autocratic despots supported by the Trump administration, (Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the Philippines).

Social media has been hijacked by fake news from foreign governments.

The US has become far more insular and jettisoned its former leadership role in the world. It has become far more corrupt giving sway to the dictates of its financial big money benefactors. It has learned precious little from its disastrous military adventures in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan and continues to squander billions of dollars in more failed missions intoxicated by its “superpower” status. The Republican Party is in a nose dive of moral decay refusing to rein its amoral leader.

Economic Forum 1-24-2018

24, January 2018                            Economic Forum

Brace yourselves, the tweeter-in-chief is off to be dined and wined by the world’s economic titans in Davos, Switzerland. The Swiss are certain to give him a “warm welcome”. The weather Gods are not happy, dumping 6 feet of snow in 6 days. Trump is expected to address the Forum in a speech prepared by one his intellectual superiors. The remainder of the time he is expected to wallow in comfort at US taxpayer’s expense. His current wife, Melania wisely chose not to attend still reeling from the Trump’s highly publicized liaison with porn star Stormy Daniels who was allegedly paid $130,000 in hush money. Another Adult performer Jessica Drake accused Trump of offering her $10,000 for sex in the same year. Trump seems to have a major problem curbing his erotic passions and misadventures. Perhaps cold showers and professional help are needed.

The Daniels meeting took place four months after Melania gave birth to Barron. Such a devoted husband! Do the evangelicals care if Trump has violated every tenet of Christianity? Trump is sure to start a trade war with his hasty decision to slap tariffs on solar panels and washing machines.

As a business tycoon and T-V reality star, the Forum attendees are certain to shun him but have reluctantly opened their doors with much trepidation. Trump is likely to bring his highly protectionist, “America First” baggage with him casting attendees as America’s villains refusing to open their doors to Americans goods.

“The Devil We Know” 1-23-2018

23, January 2018                             “The Devil We Know”

The Sundance Film Festival released an extremely disturbing documentary “The Devil We Know” highlighting the devastating toxic chemicals used in DuPont’s products. Former DuPont employees, residents and lawyers took on the chemical giant to expose the dangers of the chemical C8, found in Teflon nonstick pans and countless household products—from stain- and water-resistant apparel to microwave popcorn bags to dental floss. The chemical has now been linked to six diseases, including testicular and kidney cancers. One employee who worked at the plant gave birth to a son who was born with one nostril and a deformed eye and has undergone more than 30 surgeries to fix the birth defects.

DuPont scientists were well aware of c8’s toxicity but chose to remain silent. But that didn’t stop DuPont from discharging 7,000 tons of C8 into the waterways and the Ohio River around its manufacturing plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Farm animals became affected, many died with an agonizing hemorrhaging disease. Children’s teeth became blackened. DuPont has a chokehold on the town that few doctors and veterinarians wanted to investigate the devastating health impact of DuPont’s c8.

So ubiquitous is c8’s use it is estimated that it is now in the bloodstream of 99 percent of Americans, even newborn babies. And the chemical is bio-resistant, meaning it does not break down. Perhaps this might explain why we are experiencing a dramatic increase in cancer and other life-threatening diseases. 

Trump sinks into the gutter 1-16-2018

16, January 2018                      Trump sinks into the gutter

Trump’s latest disgusting racist comments disparaging Haiti and Africa as s-holes, preferring immigration of white Norwegians has sent shockwaves throughout the world. This is also an appalling reflection on Republican enablers and Trump supporters who continue to remain silent. It is shocking that there were enough Americans who ignored Trump’s narcissism, racism, misogyny and mental instability who were willing to elect him and continue to support him. This is the man who falsely claimed he would spend all his time in the White House but has spent 33% of his time on his properties at a huge cost to the US taxpayer.

It is also a sad indictment of the Democrats, other than Senator Dick Durbin, who were cowered into silence over his racist A-hole comments.  

This is a wakeup call for all Americans to ensure that Trump is removed from office and the Democrats regain control of the House and Senate.  America is at the crossroads of good and evil as depicted in the epic Hindu drama, the Mahabharata.

It is time we recognize we have an “upstairs-downstairs caste system” society where black and brown communities” are trapped into straitjackets making social mobility virtually impossible.

What makes Trump’s racist comments even more galling is they were juxtaposed alongside his prepared speech honoring Martin Luther King’s legacy as an iconic civil rights leader. What hypocrisy!

 

Salvadorans 1-13-2018

13, January 2018                                Salvadorans  

Once again the Republicans under the leadership of their self-proclaimed “genius”, Donald Trump, has issued a fatwa to deport 200,000 Salvadorans living in the United States, many of whom have been living, working and raising families here for more than 20 years. This is excessively cruel and heartless, especially given our own dark history supporting the right-wing repressive Salvadorian military rulers who adopted a scorched earth policy against the so-called left-wing guerrillas, who were largely made up of peasants and farmers.
Despite strong evidence of mass torture and senseless murder, America stood by El Salvador´s military leaders.

The U.S. intervened in Latin American politics throughout the 20th century and supported dictatorships favorable to American business interests.
The appalling massacre in Mozote where men, women and babies were tortured did not persuade American leaders to withdraw their financial and military support.

El Salvador deserves an unconditional apology and reparations, failing which we must offer Temporary Protected Status program and a path to citizenship for Salvadorans in the US who have been pummeled by a devastating earthquake and civil war that we helped foster.

Reject Trump’s nominee for HHS 1-9-2018

9, January 2018                     Reject Trump’s nominee for HHS

Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, is slated to appear before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing today.

Azar is a former executive of the multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly.

Trump’s former cabinet appointee for secretary of HHS resigned in disgrace after his over the use of military and private charter flights, cost taxpayers up to $1 million. Politico’s investigation team made the explosive revelation that when Alex Azar was the former president of Eli Lilly’s U.S. operations, the company tested the company’s highly profitable erectile dysfunction drug Cialis on children in an effort to extend the company patent. Azar helped game the patent system by testing a sex drug on children in order to extend their profits.

This is yet another example of Trump’s atrocious vetting system that allows morally bankrupt nominees like Azar to seek high political office.    

Iran 1-6-2018

6, January 2018                                   Iran

Oh, how our political pundits love to waggle their fingers and lecture autocratic rulers on democracy that we have done so much to undermine. Like the US (Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, .) the Iranians have squandered their precious resources fighting proxy wars and impoverishing their people. 

Let’s begin to examine own dark history in Iranian affairs. In 1953-54 the CIA (and British intelligence) orchestrated the overthrow of Iran's (parliamentary elected) Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who had sought to build a true democracy. His major offense against the West was the nationalization of Iran’s oil fields, thereby denying the British (Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.) their control of Iran's chief natural resource. The CIA ushered in the demonic Shah of Iran who, as an absolute monarch, bought billions of dollars’ worth of weapons from the US, established a vicious secret police (SAVAK) that carried out torture and murder on a wide scale. In 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini led the Shia Iranian Revolution hostage taking which further fanned hatred against the US. Teflon President Reagan then generated revenue to support the Contras by selling weapons to Iran. We then enriched our defense contractors by selling weapons to Iraq in its eight war with Iran. Not much has changed. It’s a pity Mr. Trump in his latest tweet failed to express similar outrage for the people living under oppressive regimes that we support - in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt to name just a few.

Iran 1-4-2018

4, January 2018                                      Iran

It’s strange that a President who trashes the very foundations of democracy in the United States on a daily basis, freedom of the press, the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law, should be tweeting about the rights of Iranians to "express themselves".

Clearly, Mr. Trump is totally unaware of our own dark history in Iranian affairs. In 1953-54 the CIA (and British intelligence) orchestrated the overthrow of Iran's (parliamentary elected) Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who had sought to build a true democracy. His major offense against the West was the nationalization of Iran’s oil fields, thereby denying the British (Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.) their control of Iran's chief natural resource. The CIA ushered in the demonic Shah of Iran who, as an absolute monarch, bought billions of dollars’ worth of weapons from the US, established a vicious secret police (SAVAK) that carried out torture and murder on a wide scale. In 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini led the Shia Iranian Revolution hostage taking which further fanned hatred against the US. Teflon President Reagan then generated revenue to support the Contras by selling weapons to Iran. We then enriched our defense contractors by selling weapons to Iraq in its eight war with Iran. Not much has changed. It’s a pity Mr. Trump in his latest tweet failed to express similar outrage for the people living under oppressive regimes that we support - in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt to name just a few.