India’s Caste System 11-21-2018

21 November 2018                              India’s Caste System

The New York Times published the gruesome story of a low cast Dalit bludgeoned by upper-caste hoodlums who then held him down and made deep cuts in his scalp. The Dalit, Sardar Singh Jatav, suffered severe injuries ended up in a government hospital in Gwalior. His crime? Wearing a turban.

Dalits are considered to be outcastes or untouchables. 

Much like Donald Trump, Narendra Modi and the RSS have unleashed the worst excesses of caste politics.

What is even more appalling is the “laissez-faire” attitude of the diaspora and population at large who have chosen to remain in mute silence. According to the latest crime statistics, the assaults on low caste Indians are dramatically on the rise. They are humiliated tortured, disfigured and murdered in alarming numbers.  A few recent examples:

A 14-year-old Dalit Girl was beheaded by an upper-caste man in deference to his wife’s wishes.

A Dalit scavenger was gagged, bound and fatally whipped. Another Dalit was killed for riding a horse. 

Dalits are so reviled that they must drop their gaze when passing higher castes and are confined to drinking from separate drinking taps much like the Jim Crow American south.

The violence is intended to deliver a strong message that despite India’s notable progress and growing affluence, its social order remains deeply entrenched. This is a failure of law enforcement to uphold the Indian Constitution which bans caste discrimination.

A few brave voices are speaking out. Ayatthi Ramaiah, a sociology professor in Mumbai admitted that “we have a mental illness”. India may be a rising global power, but has fossilized into a spiritual God Centered midget. Surely God doesn’t condone such savagery”.  If such behavior violates God’s laws, why is such behavior, tolerated?

Dalits can expect no justice from the authorities who are usually from a higher caste. I urge readers to denounce the cancer of caste-ism in Indian society.

California Fires 11-14-2018

14, November 2018                        California Fires

After innocent lives perished and hundreds more reported missing in California’s raging infernos, President Trump responded with a nasty tweet blaming California of poor management of its forests.

Mr. Trump is clearly unaware, that most of the California fires started on federal lands which are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture. President Trump, you need to direct your ire at your own federal agency before you waggle your finger at California. Stop trying to settle political scores and send help to the victims of these devastating fires. Your stubborn denial of climate change is a contributing factor. This is yet another example of your ignorance and poor leadership.

Stop squandering our tax money by sending troops to the southern border on a mythical mission to stop a caravan of “terrorists”. Drape the “lady of liberty” – she has no relevance under your administration.

Finally, I would like to remind you that California is a ‘donor state.’ It pays far more in taxes to D.C. than it receives in federal spending.

Jim Acosta 11-12-2018

12, November 2018                             Jim Acosta                       

President Trump vented anger and racism at reporters in his recent press conference. Fuming over the loss of the House he went on to attack Jim Acosta revoking his press credentials when he was unwilling to respond to his questions. Acting like the head of a banana republic, choking with anger he insulted the intelligence and credentials of Acosta, a highly respected reporter from CNN and went on to insult African-Americans reporters with a racial tirade.

The White House then doctored a video claiming Acosta assaulted an intern to justify revocation of his White House pass. Acosta’s statement, “Pardon me, ma’am,” was not included in the video Sanders presented. White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, and her boss have consistently shown disdain for the truth. Sanders has lost all credibility with the press corps and should resign.

This is the latest example of “fake news” coming from the White House.

I urge the White House Press corps to respond in solidarity with Acosta and other reporters who were the target of the president’s insults. Members of Congress and the press must stand up to the president’s appalling abuse of power.

Election post-mortem 11-8-2018

8, November 2018                       Election post-mortem         

The Republican Party hooked their wagons to Donald Trump and took a shellacking in the House. A visibly shaken and irritable president cut-off and snarled at reporters injecting some of hackneyed expressions to boot.

Imposing massive voter suppression, gerrymandering, limiting hours of operation at polling boots and targeting Democrats with hateful racist messages won notable victories in the Senate in rural states.

Independent thinkers all but vanished from the Republican Party choosing to exit with their spines intact.

The public should now brace themselves for the presidential campaign of 2020 which will be a repeat performance of the last two years punctuated with anger, division laced with mega doses of fear and perhaps violence. A no holds barred campaign will likely continue to entertain Trump’s base and drive them into a perpetual frenzy. The black hole of Trump will draw in all his sycophants and negate independent thinkers.

Julian E. Zelizer, a historian at Princeton University, reflected on the somber mood of the nation, ““Trump’s tapped into something really powerful and really ugly in the American electorate and it’s going to be hard to put that back into the bottle.”

George Will summed up the ebb and flow of the election in his usual eloquent style, “political antibodies have strengthen the nation’s immune system.”

Strap on your seat belts it’s going to be another roller coaster ride.

Election post-mortem 11-8-2018

8, November 2018                              Election post-mortem         

The Republican Party hooked their wagons to Donald Trump and took a shellacking in the House. A visibly shaken and irritable president cut-off and snarled at reporters injecting some of hackneyed expressions to boot.

Imposing massive voter suppression, gerrymandering, limiting hours of operation at polling boots and targeting Democrats with hateful racist messages won notable victories in the Senate in rural states.

Independent thinkers all but vanished from the Republican Party choosing to exit with their spines intact.

The public should now brace themselves for the presidential campaign of 2020 which will be a repeat performance of the last two years punctuated with anger, division laced with mega doses of fear and perhaps violence. A no holds barred campaign will likely continue to entertain Trump’s base and drive them into a perpetual frenzy. The black hole of Trump will draw in all his sycophants and negate independent thinkers.

Julian E. Zelizer, a historian at Princeton University, reflected on the somber mood of the nation, ““Trump’s tapped into something really powerful and really ugly in the American electorate and it’s going to be hard to put that back into the bottle.”

George Will summed up the ebb and flow of the election in his usual eloquent style, “political antibodies have strengthen the nation’s immune system.”

Strap on your seat belts it’s going to be another roller coaster ride.

War Crimes in Yemen 11-6-2018

6, November 2018                War Crimes in Yemen

The United Nations and a growing number of countries in the world are calling for an immediate ceasefire in war torn Yemen.

Oxfam and other agencies are calling on the United States and European countries to end their support for the Saudi coalition. More and more Americans are reacting to the “gut-wrenching” images of starving Yemeni children.

The airports and seaports have been devastated by Saudi-US bombing and the economic collapse have pushed food prices beyond the reach for most Yeminis intensifying hunger and famine.

Images of young children reduced to flesh and bones have amplified demands for an immediate end to US and European weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Emirates.

US bomb fragments have littered the Yemeni landscape intensifying anger towards the US.     

Civilian deaths have been grossly understated to minimize opposition of arms sales. A comprehensive study conducted by the Fletcher School of International Diplomacy at Tufts University reveal the actual deaths to be about 80,000. Food supplies have been deliberately targeted intensifying shortages. The Saudis are also trying to close the port through which many supplies enter the country. The U.S. supplies the intelligence for the Saudi Air Force, which is carrying out massive atrocities making us complicit in Saudi’s war crimes. 

Turkey’s Hypocrisy 11-6-2018

                                  

6, November 2018              Turkey’s Hypocrisy

Relations between Turkey and America continue their downward spiral even after the release of American pastor, Andrew Brunson. The preacher had been detained and convicted by Turkey’s pro-government press long before he was sentenced in court. Brunson was accused of being a spy relating to the failed coup against President Erdogan.

The release of Brunson had little to do with the pursuit of justice and everything to do with Turkey’s declining economy.  The Turkish lira was already in a tailspin.

Yet that did not stop Erdogan making the audacious claim that Brunson’s release was proof of Turkey’s “independent and impartial” judiciary. What Chutzpah!

Erdogan’s non-stop drumbeat of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudis was a further effort to deflect Turkey’s appalling record on human rights abuses.

Several American nationals remain in prison in Turkey, alongside tens of thousands of people arrested on spurious grounds following the failed coup.

The crackdown on dissidents, journalists and alleged coup plotters in Turkey seems to confirm what many observers have long suspected: Turkish democracy is dead, and President Erdogan’s grip on society is tighter than ever.

Anti-Semitism & Israel 11-2-2018

2, November 2018                         Anti-Semitism & Israel

In contrast to the angry mourners shunning the arrival of President Trump at the Pittsburgh synagogue, Ron Bermer, Israel’s ambassador to the United States greeted him with open arms.

Another prominent Israeli official, Naftali Bennett, took to twitter to defend Mr. Trump and drive a wedge between the American Jewish community and Israeli hard liners.

Israel’s right-wing government has become Mr. Trump’s ardent supporter reflecting its loyalty to a president who has backed its interests but also deepened a rift with American Jews, many of whom hold Mr. Trump at least partly responsible for the rise in anti-Jewish vitriol over the last two years.

A progressive Jewish community, “Bend the Arc”, in Pittsburg denounced the president and told him he was unwelcome until he denounced white nationalism. The letter contained “84,000 signatures which excoriated the president stating, “You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities.”

Bermer, used the tragedy to score political points over Israel’s growing apartheid system condemning anti-Semitism on college compasses attempting to establish a false equivalence of growing anger over Israel’s ongoing occupation and siege of Gaza. Israel has created a repugnant new caste system, much like India, where the Brahmin Israeli Jews feel they have a divine right to exploit and punish the “untouchable” Palestinians. Shane on Israel and greater shame on the U.S. for supporting their inhumane polices.

The Caravan 11-1-2018

1, November 2018                     The Caravan

In a desperate attempt to malign the Democrats before the mid-term elections, the divider-in-chief, President Trump has reached down into his oversize bag of “dirty tricks’ and used the desperate plight of Honduran migrants to stoke fear and galvanize his base. Fearful of a blue wave, the president and the GOP are moving audaciously far from the truth and deep into the gutter.

Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, slyly accused liberal philanthropist George Soros of funding the caravan and in the process put him in mortal danger with an undetonated explosive device found outside his home.

While the president continues to demonize “the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free. . “, we seldom hear about the causes of this northern migration.

During the wars in the 1980s, the United States government spent billions of dollars supporting murderous dictators in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras creating devastation that left tens of thousands dead, millions displaced internally, more than a hundred thousand refugees in Mexico and shattered societies. The lasting legacy is violence, corruption and impunity.

Instead of rebuilding societies we destroyed, the Trump administration now threatens the little U.S. aid those countries receive, reportedly $500 million last year. Common sense would suggest Central American desperately need US economic aid, and remittances sent by immigrants to prevent social and economic collapse.