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Once again the Democratic Party (most of them) stabs us in the back- over the military

August 26, 2018, 6:18 pm
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From Peace and Social Justice Center of South Central Kansas:
We were appalled to see the US Congress, including most Democrats, fail to resist Trump's shockingly bloated military budget. In the Senate they all voted yes, except for Sanders, Warren, Harris, Durbin, Merkley, Wyden, Gillibrand. Republicans Lee and Rubio also voted no, with Rand Paul not voting. In the House the vote was 351 to 66, with 139 Democrats voting yes, 49 voting no, and 5 not voting.


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Obit Omit: What the Mainstream Media Leaves Out of John McCain’s Record of Militarism and Misogyny

August 28, 2018, 5:49 am
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Somebody needs to give us a more balanced view of  these leaders after they die. McCain has some positive attributes, but he was no saint. For a more balanced look at him (and one you won't get from most of the USmainstream news media):
-SJ Otto

Obit Omit: What the Media Leaves Out of John McCain’s Record of Militarism and Misogyny

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Facebook calls it "weeding out fake news"— Let's call it what it really is — Censorship!

August 28, 2018, 5:41 pm
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Image result for facebook censorship
By SJ Otto
Is there a difference between weeding out fake news sites and just plain censorship? This question needs to come up as Facebook and Twitter are doing what they call "weeding out" sites they believe are providing fake news, mostly from Iran and Russia. As Facebook said on its own blog:

"Today we removed multiple Pages, groups and accounts for coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram. Some of this activity originated in Iran, and some originated in Russia. These were distinct campaigns and we have not identified any link or coordination between them. However, they used similar tactics by creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing."
Those two countries are presently at odds with the US government and its foreign policy. It is convenient for the US government that these two countries just happen to be the targets of Facebook's investigation.
A major question might be: "How do we tell if a site is deliberately posting miss-information or is it at odds with our foreign policy?"
What is the difference between a bad opinion and deliberate miss-information? That also leads to other questions, such as "who has a right to their opinion on Facebook?" There are all kinds of pages and sites to display opinions from the far left to the far right. There are several Marxist pages. But Facebook has a policy against any kind of hate speech. That seems to allow them to close down pages by Nazis, little doubt because such sites are ​anti-semitic.
I'm rather amazed that they have allowed the page Democratic Kampuchea-កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ. The page has been in Facebook for several years. But we have to wonder how long it will stay?
Just recently Facebook took down accounts of generals and other military leaders from Myanmar, over their opinions defending their regime over charges that they have violated human rights.
According to The Washington Post:

"For the next 24 hours, officials went back and forth on how to respond to the report’s call for Myanmar’s commander in chief — an active Facebook user — to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority.
Without consulting the Myanmargovernment, Facebook on Monday removed Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s page from its platform, along with those of other top military brass, and preemptively banned others. The U.N. report “put a deadline on what they were planning on doing anyway,” the person, who was not authorized to talk to the media, added."
The problem here is that these military leaders are not doing anything different from other Facebook members. They posted their opinions. They may be wrong in their opinions. What ever they did they have done nothing different from anyone who post an opinion on Facebook. Violating human rights is a serious crime. But writing an opinion on it is not. It may be repugnant to write such opinions. This may seem as if this is a black and white issue. Myanmar’s military is committing war crimes. No one I know supports Myanmar's military in its participation of war crimes. But maybe it is in all our interest to hear what Myanmar's military leaders have to say about those war crimes. Every person has a right to a fair trial. That is what we have been told our democratic principles have always stood for. That is what we say, as if we really believe it. But if we follow Facebook principles, certain governments and people are not allowed the right to defend themselves when they are accused of wrong doing. With such rules we are devoid of democratic principles.
Today our modern foreign policy principles seem to reflect the Facebook principles. The right to fair trials, in the court of public opinion, are not automatic. Some people and institutions have been cut out of the loop. Judgment has already been decided and there is no appeal process. The leading institutions have been prejudged. People, governments and various institutions have already been judged as guilty. It's a lot like fascism. In fact it is fascism.  
Institutions, such as Facebook and Twitterare near monopolies. There are no real institutions as them, to go to if a person is displeased with them. They are like a government established medium. They act as one government institution, even though they are private. They represent an institution that acts as a branch of the news media. They have great power. They have the ability to create a great establishment of public opinion. As individuals we need to stand up to them and oppose their use of censorship. As time goes on, some of our own blogs and similar institutions stand in danger of being censored, blocked and shut down by these private institutions.

We need to stand up for our rights now before it is too late. Let's oppose censorship!


Pix by OffGuardian.

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A Young Democratic Socialists of America Chapter forming soon at WSU

August 31, 2018, 11:26 am
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I received this letter from Maria Svart, Democratic Socialists of America National Director. There are some students at Wichita State University (WSU), who are members of DSA and they are in the process of forming a Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) Chapter. The city-wide DSA chapter has been very active in local elections and other political activities for the last few years. Usually a local DSA chapter starts out as a campus student group, and then they branch out into the community around the campus. It is only logical that a strong DSA group will have a student chapter. There are a lot of advantages to being a student organization. YDSA will be a good opportunity for DSA members to make use of WSU’s facilities. –SJ Otto

From Maria Svart,
DSA National Director:
Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), DSA’s youth and student section, had a great convention this month. I’m happy to tell you about their organizing plans for the fall semester. We’re fighting for education for everyone!
If you’re a high school or college student, read on for more about how you can start a YDSA chapter in your school during our Fall Drive. If you’re already a YDSAer, you can use the Fall Drive resources to start your semester strong. And if you’re not a student, but know someone on campus, please share these resources with them.
The 2018 YDSA Fall Drive is underway now! The 2017 Drive made us the largest youth socialist organization in the United States. But we’re not done yet. We want to build a mass movement to enact our democratic socialist priorities at a national level. So we need to be the largest and most powerful student organization in the country, period.
We can do that through the 2018 Fall Drive. You can sign up here. If you ran a Fall Drive last year, this year’s drive is an opportunity to develop new leaders and expand your chapter’s capacity even more.
Get started with our Fall Drive Campus Kits! The kits include buttons, stickers, organizing how-to pamphlets, and a YDSA banner. And you can order YDSA t-shirts here, including bulk orders. They’re perfect for tabling and rallies!
And YDSAers overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on YDSA to lead a nationwide College for All campaign. YDSA chapters will run local campaigns for education justice, from demanding tuition freezes, to pressuring local politicians to stop education funding cuts, to registering students to vote for free college for all.
We will be having a national College for All kickoff call Sunday, 9/9 at 9PM ET/ 8PM CT/ 7PM MT/ 6PM PT. If you are interested in running a College for All campaign, or if you’re already running one, please register for the call now!
I’m excited to tell you about YDSA’s great work. And there’s more to come. I’ll keep you posted!

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Labor day and some Union Songs...

September 2, 2018, 2:57 pm
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Tomorrow is fake Labor Day...that holiday the US Government came up with to lure workers away from the real Labor Day on May 1. Here are some fun union songs to sing today and an explanation of labor day from Wikipedia:
-SJ Otto

Labor Day in the United States is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws and well-being of the country. It is the Monday of the long weekend known as Labor Day Weekend and it is considered the unofficial end of summer in the United States. The holiday is also a federal holiday.
Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and labor movements grew, trade unionists proposed that a day be set aside to celebrate labor. "Labor Day" was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, which organized the first parade in New York City. In 1887, Oregon was the first state of the United Statesto make it an official public holiday. By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty U.S. statesofficially celebrated Labor Day.[1]
Canada's Labour Day is also celebrated on the first Monday of September. More than 80 countries celebrate International Workers' Day on May 1 – the ancient European holiday of May Day – and several countries have chosen their own dates for Labour Day.

Joan Baez- Bread and roses



Joan Baez Live @ Woodstock 1969 Joe Hill


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The Republican Party fails Kansas once again

September 4, 2018, 4:23 pm
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By SJ Otto
Since Governor Sam Brownback came to office almost 8 years ago, The far-far-far-far right-wing of the Republican Party have made it clear that Kansas is trying to be the stingiest state in the union when it comes to child welfare.
The state government has cut the welfare department(Department for Children and Families) to the bone. There is little money given to ANYONE in this state and the requirements are tremendous. You have to be close to death to get any benefits and to get any cash, that only goes to women with children.
It is surprising that any funds go to people living in poverty in the state of Kansas. My guess is that there is only a welfare system so that Republicans can cut the funding for it each year and then brag at election time that they have "cut welfare funding."
When it comes to poor people, the right-wing Republicans show complete indifference to their suffering and much of what they do is just plain spite. To label them mean-spirited is more than just an opinion—it is fact.
Therefore it was no surprise when I picked up the Sunday's The Wichita Eagle and saw the headline:

 "Kansas DCF[1]failed to meet 16 standards for child safety, well-being over past year."

Kansas Republican strive to give children the worst possible care in the country and according to this article they have succeeded:

"The Department for Children and Families this week disclosed a report tracking 30 performance measurements. On more than half, the agency’s performance didn’t meet federal and state standards.
The shortfall shows the agency still needs to improve after a year of intense scrutiny that led to changes in leadership and a push forbetter performance." 

The DCF said it had implemented several initiatives to improve. For the most part the system simply hasn't put in what it takes to work. According to the article:

▪ Children had 8.9 homes for every 1,000 days they were in foster care — more than double the standard of 4.12.


▪ The agency assessed family strengths and needs within 30 days just 66 percent of the time. Standards call for timely assessments 95 percent of the time.


▪ Children were adopted in less than two years just 17.6 percent of the time. The standard is more than 26.8 percent.

The report “tells us we still have a long ways to go,” said Rep. Jarrod Ousley, a Merriam Democrat and member of a state child welfare task force. The DCF provided the report on Monday as the task force met but didn’t discuss it during the meeting.

We see that Republican's running of this system is far too inadequate to do the job. They are simply skimpy on the staff and skimpy on what it takes to run the system. We see the same lackadaisical inattention to the details of this task.
As with other systems Kansas uses to try and get things done, this one also didn't work.

Image result for ​Department for Children and Families


[1]Department for Children and Families.

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There are few real advantages to removing Trump from office

September 8, 2018, 11:59 am
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By SJ Otto
It is hard to figure out what the anonymous New York Times op-ed  writer actually thought he/she was accomplishing. Was it intended as a put down of  President Donald Trump? Was it a call for help? Was it just a warning to the country what might happen with such an unstable man as the president?
According to an article, by Jennifer Rubin, in The Washington Post:

"The president, we are repeatedly told by people close to him, is nonfunctioning, irrational and unfit to such a degree that he’s not fulfilling his job in a meaningful way." 

We have to make a few obvious assumptions. This anonymous writer is working with and for the President, so he is probably a loyal Republican. He/she must have had some loyalty to Trump at least in the beginning.
Despite the public being told that Trump is immoral and irrational, the president has promoted the Republican agenda and he has accomplished a lot of what his party wanted him to do. He has nearly destroyed Obamacare (Affordable Care Act or ACA), leaving millions of Americans with out insurance or health care of any kind. He has lowered taxes for the wealthiest $millionaires and $billionaires. As with Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and just about every Republican president, he has shifted much of the tax burden to the poorest Americans. He has trashed almost every law that protects the environment and he has protected some of the worst businesses in the country, including predatory lenders.  So what ever anonymous writer is worried about, it can't be the political environment. Creepy conservatives and crooked corporations have never had it better.
In foreign affairs, there has been some inconsistencies. At times Trump has hinted at nuking(Democratic People's Republic) North Korea. Later he actually defended North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un. Trump threatened the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as obsolete, then negotiated a deal where European countries had to pay more for their share of NATO's cost. Up until then, NATO has acted a welfare system for small countries to get free or extra cheap weapons. It is possible that foreign affairs are a major concern for anonymous writer. Much of Trumps policies are just what Republicans want, such as his attacks on Venezuela(economic sanctions and CIA support to President Nicolás Maduro's opponents and enemies) and continued occupation of Iraqand Afghanistan. Ironically while former PresidentBarack Obama has been campaigning for the Democrats to win elections this fall and put some brakes on Trump, Democrat and Republican foreign affair policies are about the same. None of the things I just mentioned are policies that Obama didn't endorse when he ran the country.
The results of writing that article has been that Trump is going crazy trying to find out who is against him among his staff. He was paranoid before and now he is really paranoid. With other sources, such as the Bob Woodward book, "Fear: Trump in the White House" we have to assume there is some truth to anonymous writer's claims. Is the purpose of anonymous writer's article to suggest we remove Trump? If so, how much danger is really there and what would the results of removing Trump really be?
For those of us on the left, we have to consider that we have never been all that comfortable with past presidents. London Johnson was the last real liberal president we had and he was about the only president in the last 60 years to care at all about poor people or fighting poverty. At the same time he was an anti-communist and war hawk in foreign affairs. Jimmy Carter was the last president to have any morality or concern for human rights in US foreign policy. Carter mostly protected human rights in Latin America and he ignored the human rights abuses in Iran, under Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Ronald Reagan made a point of ignoring human rights abuses by US allies. Every president after him did the same thing.
America has never had a truly left-wing president (Franklin D. Roosevelt was an actual liberal and somewhat to the left). So how do we want a president to act? If Trump falls from power it is most likely that Vice President Mike Pence would be the new commander and chief. There is a lot of speculation as to whether Pense would be worse than Trump. In A Huffington Post article, by Neil J. Young:

"The American presidency has never been inhabited by the likes of Donald Trump. He constantly and increasingly imperils our system of democracy. His flouting of the Constitution sets hazardous precedents that weaken the rule of law. His volatile and irrational temperament, combined with his disregard for international alliances and friendliness with autocrats and dictators, jeopardizes the safety of all of us.
Pence’s politics, while thoroughly conservative, fall in line with the basic Republican orthodoxy of the last 40 years. That’s an agenda worth resisting, for sure, but it’s one that Democrats will be well equipped — even emboldened — to block, especially if they claim a majority in the House this fall, as appears likely."

Young admits that a lot of people disagree with him and believe that Pence would actually be worse than Trump. When Young writes "He constantly and increasingly imperils our system of democracy,"Some of us are thinking that our system of democracy is not all that democratic, so there isn't all that much to imperil. The "rule of law" that Young shows concern for is designed to protect the wealthy ruling classes at the expense of the poorer, less wealthy classes.
Trump is a cruel, insensitive man, who disrespects women. He has waged a class war on America's poor and working poor. While he was championed as a working class president, he has never been a part of the working class. He has provided some jobs for the working class, but that is where his championship begins and ends. Republicans are right that he lacks any moral character. He is a con man.
He was an outsider and many people who voted for him, did so because he was not part of the political establishment. He was seen as the outsider. Many Republicans would be happy to see Pence in the White House.
For those of us on the left there really isn't much of an advantage to removing Trump from the White House. Pence would certainly not be a big advantage for us. His policies would be largely the same. He would be smoother and he may even accomplish more of what Trump wants to accomplish. What Pence wants is not what most of us on the left want. It is true that there would be some satisfaction to see Trump humiliated and removed, but there are few real advantages to removing him in the long run.
For most of us on the left, removing Trump is a non-issue. Trump is dangerous to the political establishment in WashingtonDC. That establishment does not serve us, so we have little or no desire to preserve it.
Image result for ​nixon trumpPix from HuffPost.

They both broke the law. Will the both be removed from office?

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It is 9/11 Day once again!

September 11, 2018, 11:22 am
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SJ Otto
Once again it is 9/11 that horrible holiday that reminds us that we can die at anytime due to terrorist attacks. After 15 years we are not any safer than we were in 2001. We can pretend that all of the efforts our government takes to prevent such attacks are working. In reality those determined to find ways to attack us will at some time succeed. 

This is an imperialist country that is heavily involved in shaping the lives and future of others. That task is impossible without someone getting upset and trying to kill us from time to time. 

I remember the day the planes hit the twin towers in New York. I was just getting out of bed. I was not working that day. I turned on the TV as the events began to unfold. I was watching when the second tower got hit. Then they began to crumble and New York City looked like the aftermath of a volcano eruption. 

As bad as it is to see almost 3,000 die in one disaster, what happened after that was just as bad. Every wing-nut in the country was out waving flags and promoting war with just about any country or group who ever had a tiff with the US. There were flags everywhere and on everything. 
Today we have a few tributes on TV, a few flags raised and we're done with it for a year. 

Since 9/11 we as a nation now occupy Iraq and Afghanistan. We aren't finished with these countries yet. With the use of drones we kill innocent people along with alleged terrorists who have never been on trial. This country can do a lot better than that. 

One other interesting thing about 9/11 is it just happens to be the date of the military coup in Chile that brought about the end of Democracy, under the gleeful eye of our then President Richard M. Nixon. Salvador Allende, the elected president of Chile was overthrown by the military. General Augusto Pinochet took control of the country, set up military rule and banned all political parties.Democracy in Chile was illegal for the next 10 or more years.





Salvador Allende's Last Speech (English translation)

Santiago de Chile, 11 September 1973, 9:10 A.M.
This will surely be my last opportunity to address you. The Air Force has bombed the antennas of Radio Magallanes. My words have neither bitterness nor deception. They should stand as a moral castigation of those who have been traitors to their oaths: Chilean soldiers, titular commanders-in-chief, Admiral Merino, who has designated himself commander of the Navy, even more señor Mendoza, the cringing general who only yesterday manifested his fidelity and loyalty to the Government, and who also has named himself Director General of the Carabineros. In the face of these deeds it only falls to me to say to the workers: I shall not resign!
Standing at a historic point, I will repay with my life the loyalty of the people. And I say to you that I am certain that the seed we have surrendered into the worthy conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans, will not be able to be reaped at one stroke. They have the power, they can make us their vassals, but not stop the social processes, neither by crime nor by force. History is ours and is made by the people.
Workers of my Nation: I want to thank you for the loyalty you have always had, the confidence you placed in a man who only was the interperter of great yearnings for justice, who pledged his word to respect the Constitution and the law, and who did so. In this final moment, the last in which I will be able to address myself to you, I want you to take advantage of the lesson: foreign capital, imperialism, united with reaction, created the climate for the Armed Forces to break their tradition, that which they were taught by general Schneider which was reaffirmed by commander Araya, victims of the same social sector that today will be be expecting with an alien hand to reconquer the power to continue defending their profits and their privileges.
I address myself to you, above all to the modest woman of our land, to the campesina who believed in us, the mother who knew of our concern for the children. I address myself to the professionals of the Nation, to the patriotic professionals who continued working against the sedition overseen by their professional academies, classist academies that also defended the advantages of a capitalist society.
I address myself to the youth, to those who sang and who brought their happiness and their spirit to the fight. I address myself to the man of Chile, to the worker, to the campesino, to the intellectual, to those who will be percecuted, because in our country fascism has now been present for several hours; in the terrorist assassinations, blowing up the bridges, cutting the railways, destroying the oil and gas pipelines, in the face of the silence of those who had the obligation to behave.
They are in jeopardy. History will judge them.
Radio Magallanes will surely be silenced and the tranquil metal of my voice will no longer reach you. It is not important. You will continue to hear it. I will always be together with you. At least my memory will be that of an upright man who was loyal to the Nation.
The people ought to defend themselves, but not sacrifice themselves. The people ought not let themselves be subdued or persecuted, but neither should they humble themselves.
Workers of my Nation, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will go beyond this gray and bitter moment when treason tries to impose itself upon us. Continue to know that, much sooner than later, we will reopen the great promenades down which free men pass, to construct a better society.
Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!
These are my last words and I have certainty that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I have certainty that, at the least, I will be a moral lesson to castigate felony, cowardice, and treason.


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Kobach wants to take us back—way back to a place no one wants to go

September 14, 2018, 8:16 am
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By SJ Otto
It is election season and the worst political candidate since Donald Trump is running lots of ads here in Kansas. In fact he was endorsed by President Donald Trump. Yes it is Kris Kobach and he is trying to promote us back to the bad ol' days of Sam Brownback. For those who thought Brownback ruined the Kansas economy and the Kansas school system, "you ain't seen nothin' yet."
They tell me that insanity is doing the same thing over and over yet expecting different results. So if Kobach wins, we can easily say that the voters of Kansas are insane. Of course they use that cliché mainly when it comes to drinking, warning alcoholics that trying to drink and control it over and over again, without success is insanity. But drinking makes more sense than voting for Kobach.
Kobach says in his ads he wants to limit all school financing to 75 percent for class room use only. Schools need buss drivers, cooks, and janitors. Do the people of Kansas really want their children to use bathrooms that aren't cleaned very often? Kobach has probably never spent much time in an actual school. I work in a school as a substitute teacher so I could see the results of Brownback’s tax cuts when he was governor. Unlike me, Kobach doesn't know how schools operate. The reality of his policies will be disaster.
Kobach wants to return to all the tax cuts that had to be curtailed after Brownback instituted them. Kobach says that Brownback didn't implement spending cuts—wrong! That is exactly what Brownback did and he destroyed much of the states infrastructure. That includes the destruction of our schools.
Now is the time to remind people that Kobach wants to finish the hatchet job that Brownback only started. We don’t need to return to the bad ol’ days—or worse.


Pix by Rolling Stone.
President Donald Trump's stooge, Kris Kobach.


Here is what others are saying about Kris Kobach:

The New York Times  

Kansas Republicans appear to have thumbed their noses at the party establishment on Tuesday in the primary for governor, failing to persuasively back the sitting governor, Jeff Colyer, and instead leaving room to elect Kris Kobach, the state’s secretary of state — and quite possibly the most pernicious public official in America.

The Manhattan, Kansas Mercury

Kobach is running for governor on a promise to “Make Kansas Great Again.” (#MKGA!) If it holds up, his primary election win, bolstered by a last-minute endorsement by Trump, will be another reminder that the political currents that delivered us this president still rage within the Republican base.

Vanity Fair

If Donald Trump has a Midwestern avatar, it is almost certainly Kris Kobach. A former George W. Bush official infamous for, among other things, toting a “shocking” fake machine gun in a city parade, Kobach made his name as an early opponent of illegal immigration, an issue he believes is closely tied to voter fraud. While G.O.P. veterans wrung their hands at the thought of Kobach becoming their gubernatorial candidate, Trump positively doted on Kobach, appointing him vice chairman of a commission to investigate the “millions of people who voted illegally” in 2016, thereby unjustly robbing him of the popular vote. The commission, of course, turned up jack squat, with several states ignoring Kobach’s (possibly illegal) demand for their voter I.D. rolls and the Social Security numbers of their residents.
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Young DSA chapter formed at WSU, Socialist Party USA members meet with DSA

September 18, 2018, 8:26 am
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By SJ Otto
We heard from a member of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, during the Wichita Democratic Socialist of America's (DSA) monthly meeting, last Sunday. We also heard from some members of the Socialist Party USA, who came there just to meet us and discuss possible activities which they may want to help out on.
I wrote a couple of week ago about some DSA students who wanted to start a chapter of Young DSA at Wichita State University (WSU). According to the WSU The Sunflower (student newspaper):

"Student Government Association introduced a bill Wednesday (Sept. 5) that would recognize a chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) at WichitaState.
YDSA is the youth and student section of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which was founded in 1982 by American author and activist Michael Harrington.
Alex Tackett, president of the current unrecognized YDSA club, spoke during the meeting.
'The goal of the organization is to help educate and organize young students on campus who like to participate in the democratization of all things, be it society, the economy, the government,' Tackett said."

The first meeting of YDSA, assuming they will be an officially recognized student organization will be this coming Friday. One of their first actions will be to canvas the dorms for a "Medicare for all" campaign.
Members of a local group of the Socialist Party USA came to the meeting to discuss some possible cooperation on various issues that the feel both parties have in common. The main difference between SP USA and DSA is that the Socialist Party does not endorse or work with the Democratic Party. The Socialist Party started as a Facebook group of local Marxist-Leninists who were interested in forming some kind of political organization to work locally. The group is interested in working on issues and campaigns here in Wichita. They will probably work with DSA on the issue of universal health care.
The group is called Socialist Party of Wichita Metropolitan.
DSA is working on a campaign they call "Break Lights," where members who are good at fixing car problems can be called on in emergency situations to help poor people who need car repairs.
DSA will have a table at this year's Pride Festival, at the Mid-AmericanIndianCenter, Sunday, September 30, from noon to 6pm.
DSA is in the planning stage of an Ice Cream social to raise money.
DSA members worked with union members who held a strike, the union was represented by an IAM, Machinist local, against Jobbers, a company on the south east of Wichita. The strike is over now. A new CEO tried to lower pay, get rid of seniority and ignored issues of working conditions. The company tried to break the strike. Some truckers would not cross the picket line and at one point the CEO was unloading and doing his own dirty work. The strike ended when the company gave in on SOME of the union's demands. It was a partial victory to the union. Many of the  union members are planning to work elsewhere, but at least the union was not broken.


 DSA members at the meeting stressed the importance of supporting unions and working with them.  



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Kickbacks, bribes, slush money—It is just not enough for Kris Kobach

September 20, 2018, 6:58 pm
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By SJ Otto

Republican Candidate for Governor Kris Kobach loves money, graft and cheating on elections in general. So he is pushing for a move to lift the limits a person can give to the candidate of their choice in Kansas. Kansans can give up to $4,000 —but he wants more.
The Republicans already have a financial edge during election time. Republican donors are rich. Most are corporate leaders and they get plenty back from their donations. They get rules that go against the common working man. And the common working man can't afford to give $4,000 or more to one candidate in an election. Wealthy heads of industry can throw $thousands, even $millions at an election and they often do—and it often helps their candidate win.
Even though it is perfectly legal to put so much money in a campaign, it isn't very fair. It is why our government is more of a oligarchy than an actual democracy. It's kind of like—one vote—one dollar. Their money doesn't always make them win, but it helps. That may be why all three branches of our government are run by Republicans. Who ever has the most money to spend on ads usually wins. It is usually Republicans.
That may explain why President Donald Trump gave a tax break to all this nation's $millionaires and $billionaires, but actually eliminated a lot of tax deductions for the working poor. Tax cuts for the rich—higher taxes for the poor. He demolished Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) which tried to give some health care to the working poor and the poor. The wealthy can afford their own insurance. But poor folks can't afford heath insurance and Republicans want to keep it that way. That is why this is a rich man's country and many of us know it.

“I would like to see some reforms regarding campaign finance contribution limits. It has been almost 30 years since the legislature last (updated) limits for statewide offices. They are very low,” Kobach said in a statement, printed in The Wichita Eagle.

So even though the Republicans, such as Kobach, spend as much as five times what their opponents spend, they want to take in and spend even more. This is going to be really important this year because Kobach is a terrible candidate and basically a terrible human being. To win this election he will need all the help he can get. He and his supporters are already spending way more than his opponent, Laura Kelly. The only way a bad candidate like Kobach can win is to raise more money and put his ads on TV, way more often than Kelly. He will also need to lie about Kelly and other things, but lying is what Republicans do best.


Pix by 10407 best AssHole &Chief( Not My President ) images.

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Estes just wants insurance companies to profit off of the sick and dying

September 23, 2018, 9:42 am
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I have sent this letter to the editor of The Wichita Eagle. I hope they publish it, but if they don't, readers can see it here. This is a rebuttal to the ridiculous article our own Representative of the 4th district, Ron Estes, the "What?! Me work?" kid, wrote and  published in The Wichita Eagle.[1]
He is President Donald Trump's personal punk.

By SJ Otto
Ron Estes took the time from his busy schedule of doing nothing to support the Republican position of making sure that some corporations can go on profiting from the sickness of their fellow Americans. That's right, to profit off of us, when many of us need health care. That seems to be where Estes' heart is.
 Estes is a follower of his president and leader, Donald Trump, who ended health care for millions of people, while promising the Republicans can come up with a better plan to insure us rather than Obamacare. Trump lied and went  back to what the Republicans always do—they kill any chance of providing health care to poor people in order to protect the corporations who profit off of the sick and dying.
This is not just a case of a bad policy. It is not some side issue. It is an outrage. Every other industrial country in the world manages to provide health care to all their citizens, either for free or very little money. This is the richest country in the world and it allows its poor citizens to die from lack of health care. In Cuba, where they have all those human rights abuses, the one right they do respect is the right of their citizens to go to a doctor when they are sick. Healthcare there is free. I for one am sick and tired of living in a country where I can't always go to the doctor when I'm sick. I'm 63 (remember how this is the very group of people Trump put most in danger when he destroyed Obamacare?). I never got sick when I was in my 20s and 30s. By my 50s I got sick a lot. I had hepatitis C and for a long time there was no cure that worked. I had insurance through my wife back then. She is now retired and I have a really bad Obamacare insurance policy that only covers me when I get some catastrophic illness. If I live to be 65 I can get Medicare. But if I get some strange illness and it doesn't get detected in time, before that age, I will die early. Republicans blather on and on about unborn babies being sacred human life, but when that life reaches 60—they just don't care.
I had a friend who, at the age of 61, got an infection. He went to a doctor but couldn't afford all the medicines prescribed to him. He avoided getting an operation he needed until it was too late. He died in the hospital. I'm convinced he would be alive today if he lived in any other industrialized country. Americakilled him.
As for all those facts and figures that Estes threatened against us if we have Medicare expansion, this is the same man who did nothing to win his first election, accept to run Misleading ads against his opponent. Estes lacks any real credibility. His real concern is the life of the insurance companies who will go out of business if they can't profit off of sick people. Obamacare's main problem is that it also tried too hard to save the insurance companies. But as people in other countries have learned, we just don't need them. It is way past time to solve the problem of health care in America and we need to do that without the help of politicians such as Estes.

He and Trump don't drain the swamp—they are filling it up. 
Pix by I Agree to See.




[1] For some reason The Wichita Eagle, at this time, has not posted this article: Ron Estes, Medicare for all means security for none, The Wichita Eagle, September 23, 2018, page 19A.
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It is time for the sleazy sexist pig, Brett Kavanaugh to go away

September 26, 2018, 8:26 am
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By SJ Otto
According to NBC News Senate Republicans don’t yet have the votes to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. And they shouldn’t. This whole thing is a no-brainer. And Kavanaugh is a sleazy scumbag who disrespects women.
If just one person was making the accusation their might be some doubt as to whether or not Christine Blasey Ford is telling the truth or not. By now some people have stepped forward to collaborate her story of being sexual assaulted during their high school years. On top of that a second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, has charged that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her and shoved his penis in her face while they played a drinking game in a dorm room along with other classmates at Yale University. The first argument Kavanaugh and his supporters raised is that it was only high school, many years ago. Now he is accused of bad behavior in his college years, as a full adult.
This is not a trial to determine guilt or innocence. Kavanaugh is trying to be the next US Supreme Court Judge. The question is “does he qualify for that job?” That is a sensitive job and it affects a lot of people.
The Republicans have an agenda to put someone on the bench who can overturn Roe v. Wadeand after that, make all abortions completely illegal. That goal is important enough that they are doing anything they can to ram Kavanaugh through the process before the next round of elections. If they can’t get him on the bench before the elections they may lose some control of the Senate and that would make it impossible to get someone as conservative as Kavanaugh on the court.   
Leading the pack of die-hard Kavanaugh supporters is Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. From NBC News:

“McConnell has launched an aggressive public pressure campaign, supporting Kavanaugh at nearly every turn, declaring a “smear campaign” against him and saying the Senate will “plow right through” the confirmation process.”

President Donald Trump has the same attitude and that is not surprising since he was exposed during his own election campaign as bragging that he can grope women without permission because he is such a rich celebrity. We already know that Trump is a sexist pig. Now other Republicans are willing to take the chance that they will be perceived that way. And these are people who face elections at some point in time. The sexist pig perception may turn a lot of female voters away from voting for them.
Some Republicans may not vote for Kavanaugh. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Jeff Flake of Arizona have been the most public Republicans signaling indecision. Two of these are women. McConnell, Trump and Kavanaugh appear to be a throw-back to the perception of “good ol’ boys” who feel that boys will be boys. But women especially don’t like that attitude. And Flake may actually have a conscience. He may actually care about doing the right thing and what is fair for this country.
It is bad enough that the Republicans have found such a far-to-the-right-wing prick for such an important job. There is nothing illegal about putting such a right-wing person on the Supreme Court. But sexual assault is not legal. And swinging a man’s penis in the face of a woman against her will is certainly not the kind of behavior that we can or should tolerate from a Supreme Court Justice.
Besides being a right-wing prick, Kavanaugh is a sexist pig and he does not belong on the Supreme Court. This charade needs to go and Kavanaugh needs to go.


Ap Supreme Court Kavanaugh Ramirez AImage result for Christine Blasey Ford
Deborah Ramirez and Christine Blasey Ford both accuse Brett Kavanaug of sleazy behavior.


Picture of Ford by Fundraiser for Ford Family by Team Chri.
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Some of us are not fooled by Kavanaugh's blathering drama

September 29, 2018, 10:20 am
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By SJ Otto
There is one thing we can say about Brett Kavanaugh, the far-to-the-right, former-mean-drunk, would-be-rapist, hoping-to-be-our-next-Supreme Court judge, is that he is smart. He is slippery, smarmy, treacherous, cunning and yes—cleaver.
After Christine Blasey Ford  gave a convincing testimony at Kavanaugh's hearing Thursday afternoon, most observers seem to believe that Kavanaugh was finished. And yet Kavanaugh thundered his indignation to the point where he convinced almost all of the Republicans and others that HE was the victim. Some Republicans had insisted that the Democrats should apologies to Kavanaugh, the Republicans, the president and the American people for putting the nominee and his family through such a "sham" hearing (as in the words of Senator Lindsey Graham).
Republicans such as Graham, helped Kavanaugh stage his comeback. If there were academy awards for political drama, both Kavanaugh and Graham would be up for a nomination.
All of the drama would have been a slam dunk for Kavanaugh getting his nomination fulfilled and his dream of being on the court, ready to strike down Roe v. Wade, if it weren't for the sexual assault survivors who confronted Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona. They made it clear to him that many women across the country are not going to just lay down and let a sexual predator take a seat on the Supreme Court.
“On Monday, I stood in front of your office,” one of the women, Ana Maria Archila, forcefully told Flake,. “I told the story of my sexual assault.”
Two women blocking an elevator door, angrily demanding to be heard as the senator stood by, listening quietly, nodding and looking away. Maria Gallagher was the other woman.
Those women were just as convincing as Kavanaugh. Those two got to Flake and he called for a one week investigation by the FBI before the final vote is taken.
There are a lot of us all across the country who do not want Kavanaugh to sit on the Supreme Court. Many of us, across the country, don't want his right-wing agenda crammed down all of our collective throats. There is plenty of good reasons to oppose Kavanaugh on grounds that Ford's testimony is credible enough that we risk putting a would be rapist on the Supreme Court.
We can be thankful that there are women who have been victims of sexual assault who are not as easily fooled as a lot of other Republicans and Republican leaning voters.
We still haven't stopped Kavanaugh from getting his job. But we still have a chance. Kavanaugh is a sexist con man and a lot of us are going to do what ever we can to stop him.



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Another good year for Wichita Pride

October 1, 2018, 5:17 pm
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By SJ Otto
At least a thousand of people gathered for the annual Pride Parade, Sunday afternoon, here in Wichita. There were many colorful banners at this gay pride event where people stressed they should be what they want to be.
Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, asked the crowd who were outside the Old Sedgwick County Courthouse for speeches before the parade, if they remember Stonewall.
"They were riots." he said.
Stonewallwas a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations between members of the gay community against a police raid which took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan  New York. They are widely considered to constitute the most important event leading to the gay liberation movement.
He also brought up the passing of an adoption law this year that allows faith based outfits to be involved in adopting out children and they can discriminate against gay couples (SB 284, passed by a vote of 24-15).
"We really dropped the ball on that one," Witt said.
Other speakers that where present also brought up that law, including
Liz Hamor, of  the Greater Wichita Chapter of GLSEN.
"I've known gay people who knew they were gay before they were cutting teach," she said.
In 2013, Hamor started the Greater Wichita Chapter of GLSEN, a national organization that works to ensure all students feel safe, valued, and respected in K-12 schools regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression.
"Things were much different five years ago," said Democrat Kansas Representative John Carmichael.
"Gays couldn't inherit property, they couldn't get health insurance for their mates, they couldn't visit partners in the hospital," he added. "It's not as good as it should be but things are better today."
Carmichael also talked about the potential loss of women's rights if Brett Kavanaugh gets to be on the Supreme Court.
"It's wrong and we're going to change it," he said of the adoption law.
"We need to slam the door in their face regarding the last 8 years (of Sam Brownback), said Lt. Governor Candidate Lynn Rogers.
"We've got to stop the potential hate. We need to get Kansas in the right direction."




Here is a float from Moms Demanding Action from gun violence.
There was a float by James Thompson, running against Ron Estes, the slacker representative of the Fourth District. 



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Ron Estes actually has to get off his fat ass and campaign this time

October 5, 2018, 8:30 pm
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By SJ Otto
Unlike Ron Estes’ first run for office, this time he will actually have to run a campaign and WORK for his job. Two years ago Estes skipped public forums, avoided debates, and ran a campaign that implied: “I’m a Republican in a Republican district. I will win by default.” That seemed to be his motto, so why do any more work than he needed to?
Thompson on the other hand made all the debates and forums. He was out meeting people.
Estes spent a lot of Republican slush money, from all their bribes and kick-backs, on lots and lots and lots of ads. And he went negative, telling people that Thompson was running on behalf of Nancy Pelosi, who today is no longer relevant to anything in congress. Republicans always accuse their Democratic rivals of wanting to tax the middle class to death.
Estes was late to his own victory party on election night. And the local Republicans, along with the national Republican Party ran ads for Estes. Dishonesty has never been a problem for Republicans. Playing lose with the truth and lying has never been a problem for any of them.   
This year he has actually been to debates, with his challenger, again James Thompson. He plans to make more of them. This year he actually has to get up off his fat ass and had to do something.
Estes has once again been running those misleading ads. This is a guy who just lacks any real issues or convictions.  From the beginning he has been a week candidate who lacks any real dynamics. He’s lack luster and he has been a Republican lackey who just fell ass backward into that office, Kansas’ Fourth Congressional District.
This year he actually wrote an article about health care that goes along with the national Republicans, implying that providing health care to thepoor and others who need it will bankrupt the overall health care system. His lord and master President Donald Trump did what Republicans have been doing for the last 50 years. He destroyed the Democrat plan for providing health care to thows who need it and promised he had a better plan to provide health care to all citizens. Once he got elected and once he destroyed Obamacare, he simply ignored the health care crisis and just went back the status quo. He will do nothing and just keep the lousy system we have—a system that Estes fully supports.
So even if Estes wins this election he will have had to get out and earn it. This time around he can't just sit back on his fat ass[1]and win by default.


[1]I'm just about as fat as Estes is, so the term "fat ass" is not meant to be taken literally as if his weight is really an issue. The term used here just refers to a politician being a lazy slacker.  

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Protesters great Trump in Topeka, Kansas

October 8, 2018, 7:17 am
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By SJ Otto
A lot has been said about Republicans being angry at the way the Democrats treated Judge Brett Kavanaugh this week before he was voted in to the Supreme Court, but  there are plenty of Democrats who are angry at the way the Republicans have treated women abuse victims from those hearings.
We saw that this Saturday, as anti-Kavanaugh forces protested Donald Trump and his ilk at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, KS.
President Donald Trump was in Kansas Saturday night, rallying for Governor hopeful Kris Kobach. 
The Kansas Expocentre in Topeka was filled with supporters at the Make America Great Again Rally. President Trump's 2020 campaign team says there were about 11,000 people in attendance. There were maybe 1,000 protesters outside in the rain that night, caring signs and marching outside the front of the Expocentre.
There were lots of signs at the event, including some women who chanted Trump, Kobach go away, racist, sexist anti-gay.
A protester from Lawrence, Jenna Groth, was there with two people.
"I think Trump is dishonest," she said. "He appeals to people who hate. Kris Kobach wants to suppress the vote."
The protesters had to brave cold temperatures, damp and sometimes rainy weather.

Some protesters compared Trump to Hitler.
Some People evoked the days of President Richard Nixon.
Some people from the far-right tried to argue with protesters. They got shouted down.



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The Rise of Brazil’s Far Right and What it Shows About Western Democracies

October 12, 2018, 11:49 am
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Of course it is OK to hate the Republican Party –Part 1

October 17, 2018, 11:11 am
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Kanye West sucks!



By SJ Otto
I used to like Kanye West. It seemed like he tried to make music and lyrics that had something to say. I never actually bought any of his albums and I never will—now that he is publically supporting President Donald Trump—probably one of the worst presidents this country has ever had and will ever have. Not that the Republicans haven’t tried hard in the past. Richard Nixon killed millions in Vietnam; Ronald Reagan conned the working class into accepting one of the lowest standards of living they ever experienced; and there was President George W. Bush, the brain dead idiot who got us into unnecessary wars.
I call this new series; “Why I hate the Republican Party.”
I despise the Republicans on a personal level. Donald Trump gets elected and one of the first things he does is try to destroy health care for millions of Americans. That affected me personally. And state level Republicans have also messed with my health care to the point that I have only catastrophic health care and it is real expensive and almost worthless. Kansans are among the most ripped off people when it comes to Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) and I learned all of that from the health care representative I went through to get my present health insurance. I live in one of the worst states for Obamacare and I live in the only industrialized country in which the government doesn’t care about the health of its less wealthy citizens. I got to thank the Republicans, although there are some Democrats who are no better.
I have argued with a lot Marxist and other leftists on a variety of Facebook sites, where they have argued against the Democratic Party to the point I believe they hate the Democrats more than the Republicans. I would leave statements about the Republican Party and I would get statements back such as “The Democrats do that also” or “The Democrats are just as bad.” I do agree with many of the comments about the Democrats, at least the so called “mainstream Democrats.” But I firmly believe that the Republicans are noticeably worse. And I say that because what they do affects me personally.
I see Trump fans writing into The Wichita Eagle, such as:

“There is something for everybody on that impressive list, so please look it over and register to vote by Oct. 16, for those candidates who need to go to Congress and give support to President Trump's agenda, which is really a pro-United-States-of-America agenda.” –by Carolyn Simms


People like her just ignore the fact that many of us won’t live long enough to enjoy all of those benefits on that “impressive list.” Supposedly, as I read from other supporters of Trump, the economy is doing well, so just ignore the fact that poor people die early due to a lack of health care. Trump has trashed the environment with a passion. He operates as if he hates poor people. He shifted the tax burden on the poor, when he gave out that impressive tax cut that mostly went to rich people. He trashed the agency that was planning to go after predatory lenders, some of which are charging poor folks 900 percent interest. It is mostly poor people who use their car ownership to age loans that are nearly impossible to pay back and they saddle poor folks with a lifetime of debt. Trump is defending these lenders. I could go on and on with examples of Trump’s hatred of both poor people and the environment. The saddest thing I note is that many middle class people and some poor folks actually support this enemy of the working class. One person I read about actually praised Trump as the greatest president we ever had.
Then we have such ass hole celebrities as Kanye West, Roseanne Barr and Kid Rock, all support this guy. We definitely don’t want to support these people in anyway. Don’t buy their albums, don’t watch them on TV, don’t give them anything. The Republicans are enemies of the working people and poor people. We need to fight back.
This is just the first part in this series, “Why I hate the Republican Party.”

What ass holes!

Pix by TooFab.

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Trump—the anti-journalist president who jokes about beating up journalists

October 19, 2018, 9:51 am
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By SJ Otto
Once again we are treated to the ramblings of a thug-like buffoon who pretends to be our “President” Donald Trump. Trump was at a rally to shore up support for Republicans and his words were followed with cheers from a crowd of brain dead Montanans.
Montana House Republican Greg Gianforte body slammed Ben Jacobs, of the Guardian. Trump said Gianforte is "my guy." Trump said this at a time when Saudi Arabiahas kidnapped and assassinated a journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.   .
It is one thing to go around claiming the media provides us “fake news,” but we don’t need to give politicians a green light to physically attack journalists for doing their job.[1]This seems to be a dangerous time to be a journalist.
Saudi Arabia has a terrible human rights record. The country is similar to Democratic People's Republic of (North) Koreaand has a lot of the same problems, such as being a government that uses heredity to determine its leaders. The people of Saudi Arabia are not starving, which is one of the few differences. Saudi Arabiais an oil rich kingdom and the USsells them lots of weapons. On the other hand North Korea is a cold war relic that is still considered a US enemy. The US mainstream news media makes a lot of noise over North Korea’s human rights record. The same news media completely ignores the human rights abuses of Saudi Arabia.  
Trump and his ilk have been slow to criticize Saudi Arabia. They now have to decide how they are going to deal with a staunch ally that clearly has murdered a dissident journalist and yet Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he told President Donald Trump to give Saudi Arabia "a few more days to complete" an investigation into the Khashoggi murder. According to CNBCPompeo says that Saudi officials told him during a visit to the kingdom this week that "they will conduct a complete, thorough investigation of all of the facts surrounding Mr. Khashoggi, and that they will do so in a timely fashion."
To have the government of Saudi Arabia investigate its own crimes is absurd. It’s like having a fox investigate its own crime of stealing eggs from the hen house. But the US, under Trump and war mongering leaders such as Pompeo, are forced to pretend they are dealing with a civilized nation that follows the democratic rules of a Western country.
No USpresident in modern times would have an easy time of trying to defend all the trade and military deals with such a despicable government. But Trump’s constant haranguing of the USpress has back fired on him. Trump has come out looking like an anti-press, anti-journalist thug. He can now be seen as a governing, thinned skin politician caught up in a murder cover-up.
Our idiot president has shown that he has no respect for the rules of law when it comes to those who might expose him as the buffoon that he is. I wonder if Trump would find it funny if I encouraged someone take a shot at him?
Pix from The Federalist Papers.



[1] I can add to this that I am a journalist, so this applies to me.

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