Police Brutality & Cover-up 11-27-2015

27, November 2015                 Police Brutality & Cover-up

The gruesome killing of 17-year-old African-American, Laquan McDonald, in a hail of 16 bullets, including multiple times in the back, occurred more than a year ago. Chicago police officer, Van Dyke, who has been charged with first-degree murder began shooting 6 seconds after arriving on the scene. Laquan’s final moments were captured on the dashboard camera.

After months of foot dragging a judge ordered the video of the killing to be released. 400 days have elapsed and every effort was made to prevent the release of the video which clearly implicates senior police officials and high government Chicago officials including Mayor Rahm Emmanuel.  Van Dyke received full pay during the 400 days.

He had at least 20 civilian complaints against him, which included excessive use of force, illegal arrest and use of racial slurs. None of these complaints resulted in any disciplinary action.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s claim that he had not seen the video seems highly unlikely given that he approved a $5 million settlement to the family earlier this year, even before the family had filed a lawsuit. The Mayor and the State’s Attorney, Anita Alvarez stated “they were saddened, outraged, disturbed when they saw the video.” It is a pity they didn’t express outrage over Van Dyke prior unprofessional conduct and failed to take remedial action. The police chief should be fired and Mayor Emanuel should be severely censored for his complicity in prolonging the course of justice.

Migrants 11-25-2015

25, November 2015                          Migrants

It’s been four long years since the people of Syria rose up to demand democratic reforms and the release of political prisoners. Bashar al-Assad’s response was to brutally repress the protesters, pushing his country into a civil war that has attracted local and foreign fighters, among them the terrorists of ISIS.

This long and bloody conflict has already resulted in the death of a quarter of a million people, displaced 8 million civilians internally, and caused another 4 million to flee. Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan have responded taking in hundreds of thousands of refugees, and while Germany opened its doors to them, the United States has accepted only 36.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, Donald Trump and the governors in 31 states have stoked up fears and called for an immediate halt to accepting any additional migrants. Largely ignored in the debate is the role the United States played in creating the crisis. The 2003 invasion of Iraq on false pretenses was the catalyst that led to the creation of ISIS from whom the refugees are fleeing.

A bill by House Republicans restricts Iraqi and Syrian refugees from resettling here. In a perfect world we should have paid billions in reparations to Iraq and Afghanistan for destabilizing their country and creating the refugee crisis. 

Jihadist infiltration is a legitimate concern but the tight vetting process should prevent them from entering. It is ironic that Americans are dying at the rate of 100 a day but an adequate vetting process for the possession of hand guns remains elusive.

The current hysteria draws historical parallels the country faced in the 1930s, when Jewish refugees sought refuge here. Case Western Reserve University history professor, Peter Schulman, recently tweeted a Fortune Magazine poll question from 1939 that asked, "Should the U.S. government permit 10,000 mostly Jewish refugee children to seek sanctuary from Germany?" A staggering 61 percent of respondents at the time said NO. Among those who were denied were Anne Frank and her family. Anne’s father, Otto Frank, made desperate attempts to enter the United States and Cuba without success.

The ordeal faced by Jewish refugees during and after World War II was portrayed in the 1976 film, "Voyage of the Damned." The film is based on the true story of the 1939 voyage of the SS St. Louis, which sailed for Havana from Hamburg Germany carrying 900 Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis. The Cuban Government denied entry to the passengers, so the ship made its way to the United States, where the Coast Guard delivered the following ominous message:

SS ST. LOUIS CREWMAN: “Attention, Captain St. Louis. You are violating U.S. territorial limits. Do not approach any closer. Do not attempt to land. You will not, repeat, not be permitted to dock at any United States port. Acknowledge”.

SS ST. LOUIS CAPTAIN: “Signal, message received and acknowledged”.

Consumed with fear and despair a number of people jumped off the sides of the ship and drowned. The remaining German Jews were shipped back to Germany and died in concentration camps.

Arguments were made at the time to keep out the Jews stoking up feelings of bigotry, racism and anti-Semitism; they were perceived to be an ideological threat and posed a danger that Nazi agents may have infiltrated among them.

Echoes of those arguments are heard in the present day narrative regarding the threat of terrorists infiltrating among the Syrians. What is most disturbing is not what Donald Trump said when he vehemently opposed Syrian refugees entering the United States, but the wild cheers that accompanied his racist comments. Hostility and racism has been experienced by most early immigrants - the Irish, Poles, Chinese, Catholics, Indians and many other groups. In every case such fears have proven to be completely unfounded. There is a much greater risk from home grown terrorists who have easy access to guns.

In spite of the Paris attacks, President Francois Hollande declared that France will continue to honor its commitment to take in a minimum of 20,000 Syrian refugees, over the next two years.

In the ensuing debate, it is time to remember that America is a nation of refugees and we should act with compassion and humanity to honor Emma Lazarus’s famous words, chiseled on the Statue of Liberty: “A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.”

Saudi Arabia 11-23-2015

23, November 2015         Saudi Arabia

The Obama administration has intensified its trade with Saudi Arabia ignoring warnings that it is guilty of massive war crimes and human rights violations in Yemen. The sale includes 84 new Boeing F-15 aircraft, 70 of Boeing's Apache attack helicopters and 36 of its AH-6M Little Birds. In addition, the deal will include 72 Black Hawk helicopters.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch has called for the United States to halt arm shipments to Saudi Arabia or risk being complicit in war crimes in Yemen where Saudi Arabia is continuing its intensive bombing campaign against the Houthi rebels. Thousands of civilians have died under the heavy Saudi onslaught.  

It is past time to file divorce papers and sever all connection to this xenophobic regime which exemplifies a harsh Islamic orthodoxy that is extremely misogynistic, homophobic, intolerant of other religions and excessively cruel in its archaic system of justice and punishment. Sadly, the defense contractors in Britain and the US see Saudi Arabia as a cash cow who will continue to purchase huge quantities of weapons to expand their medieval Islamic Wahhabism round the world. The U.S. has truly lost the moral high ground in its ongoing support of the Saudi monarchy. We seem to have conveniently forgotten that 15 of the 19 9/11 attackers were Saudi nationals. The lead author of the Senate’s report on 9/11 says it’s time to reveal what’s in the 28 pages that were redacted from it.

Paris Attacks 11-22-2015

22, November 2015             Paris Attacks

In the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, top U.S. officials are calling for access to encryption information on smartphones; thus far there has been no evidence that the terrorists’ communications were encrypted. In a blatant attempt to exploit the Paris attacks, the FBI and NSA reiterated their defense of mass surveillance and dismissed those who challenged it. They also used the occasion to demonize Edward Snowden ignoring the fact that Snowden never released any sensitive data directly to the general public but routed it to major media organizations for proper vetting prior to publication.

This is, in large part, an effort by the Intelligence Agencies to deflect the growing criticism of their abysmal record of preventing terrorist attacks and manufacturing false threats dating back to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In spite of receiving billions to support their activities, the bogus claims of WMD’s in Iraq foisted on a largely skeptical public, contributed mightily to the destabilization of the whole Middle East. The decision by Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, to dismiss elite Baathist soldiers aligned with Saddam Hussein, was a monumental blunder which gave rise to ISIS. With its tentacles speading far and wide, the CIA failed to detect the 2002 bombing of the nightclub in Bali, the 2004, 2005 attacks on the trains in Madrid and London, the 2008 mass shooting spree in Mumbai, the April 2013 attack on the Boston Marathon and more recently the terrorist attacks in Paris and Mali.

Terrorists have known for decades that the U.S. government is trying to read their emails and listen to their telephone calls and have used sophisticated encryption. As far back as February, 2001, before the 9/11 attack, the FBI warned Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda were using extremely sophisticated encryption in order to prevent us from listening to their conversations. For more go to, http://callforsocialjustice.blogspot.com/

Middle East Turmoil 11-19-2015

19, November 2015             Middle East Turmoil

In the recent Democratic Presidential Debate, Bernie Sanders was right to hold Hillary Clinton’s feet to the fire for her hasty, short-sighted decision to topple Saddam Hussein of Iran and Gaddafi of Libya. Her glib response that it was ‘a mistake’ is a gross understatement. Neither Hussein nor Gaddafi were an existential threat to the US. Their removal has plunged the whole Middle East into utter chaos. Sanders was also right to condemn ‘regime change’ as a core foreign US foreign policy objective. It has been an unmitigated disaster in destabilizing so many countries in the world. Western powers, most notably the US, Canada, France, the UK and Israel have flooded the Middle East, with billions of dollars in weapons sales. The US sold Saudi Arabia over $30 billion in F-15 Boeing fighter jets and Lockheed F-16 to bomb Yemen and Syria. The Emirates will be receiving a fleet of Predator drones to run spying missions. France has just completed a $10 billion contract with Saudi Arabia.

The Emirates spent nearly $23 billion last year, more than three times what they spent in 2006.

Saudi Arabia spent more than $80 billion on weaponry last year and has become the world’s fourth-largest defense market. Our administration and defense contractors seem to be totally unconcerned that our great ‘ally’ Saudi Arabia is the epicenter of terrorism and many of the weapons will be funneled to ISIS and to wage war on Iran and Yemen.

Does trade and profits in these killing machines triumph concerns for human life? Doesn’t this conflict with our much touted “core values’? Our current polices are a prescription for mayhem where most of the victims are innocent civilians. As a first step the US and are allies should create a weapons free zone in the Middle East. We should extricate ourselves from regional proxy and sectarian wars and let the Muslim nations sort out their differences which are rooted in a profound disagreements over the rightful descendent of Prophet Mohamad.

For more go to, http://callforsocialjustice.blogspot.com/

Paris Attacks 11-15-2015

15, November 2015             Paris Attacks

As Paris reels from another barbaric atrocity, there must be wild cheers within the ranks of ISIS that their reach is wide and their thirst for revenge unfathomable. Their cowardly acts of brutality were accompanied by “Allah ah Akbar” – God is great – as though God condones such despicable behavior!

Islam does not have a monopoly on the truth. Defenders of Islam often respond by claiming that Islam is a religion of peace. But where is the evidence? Most of the current conflicts in the world, most notably in the Middle East and Africa, are being conducted by Islamic fundamentalists rooted in a deep chasm between Shias and Sunnis. 

If the Koran does indeed sanction such acts of violence then it is past time that these ‘sacred texts’ undergo a major overall and these offensive ‘kill all infidels’ passages be expunged. If Muslim scholars fail to respond there is little doubt that Islam will forever be tainted and Muslims fleeing conflict zones adversely impacted.

Host countries must protect their citizenry from Jihadists who may infiltrate within the thousands of innocent migrants seeking refuge. A probationary period (say 1 -2 years) should be imposed on all migrants seeking residence with mandatory language and job training requirements. Every effort should be made to integrate the newcomers and there should be zero-tolerance of self-styled religious fanatics spewing hatred and discord. The Paris attacks should be a stark warning that it can no longer continue “business as usual.” 

Response to Tom Elias 11-13-2015

13, November 2015           Response to Tom Elias

Tom Elias (opinion November 12) is right to condemn blatant acts of anti-Semitism on college campuses. However, it would be wrong to conflate legitimate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. Actions calling for a boycott of Israeli products are legitimate and endorsed by a growing number of European countries. Every effort should be made to end Israel’s crushing occupation, theft of Palestinian land and violations of international law aided and abetted by our tax dollars.

Perhaps Elias is not aware that a leading Jewish spokesman, Henry Siegman, the former executive director of the American Jewish Congress, stated recently that Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel is the main impediment to peace. According to Siegman, Netanyahu’s cabinet appointments expose a troubling overt racism. Consider the following:

Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, called for the “destruction of the entire Palestinian people, including its elderly women, cities, villages, property and infrastructure."

Foreign minister, Hotovely, sent out instructions to all Israeli ambassadors to advise governments that the Bible confirmed that God was in the real estate business and promised all of Palestine to the Jews.

Deputy Minister of Defense, Dahan and his boss called for separating Palestinians and Jews on separate busses.
Silvan Shalom the new chief of peace negotiations has been on record for opposing a two-state solution.

Dore Gold, the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, currently the new director of the Foreign Ministry has a lifelong record of total opposition to a Palestinian state.