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House Democrats Hoping to Stifle Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Are Only Hurting Themselves

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Considering how conservative our Congress has been over the last 30 years, I’m not surprised at the flack that new Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is getting. Of course she is being ridiculed by Republicans who scoff at the idea of socialism, which is a dirty word to them. Bret Baier, the host of “Special Report with Bret Baier,” on the Fox News Channel blasted Ocasio-Cortez for celebrating the canceling of Amazon’s plans to put a factory in her district. Many conservatives are livid that she was glad to have helped push Amazon away from putting their plant in New York. After all, they can’t imagine not wanting a new factory in that area, even though it is anti-union. That alone is a good reason to keep them out. Amazon had demanded a lot of tax incentives and give-aways in exchange for bringing in all of those wonderful jobs that conservatives kept harping on.
Amazon wanted 3 billion dollars in tax incentives. I have written many articles in the past with testimony from experts claiming that such tax give always don’t always pay off.
Many conservatives have accused her of being economically ignorant.
Even worse is the criticism coming from her own party. Baier was quick to point out that New York’s own Andrew Cuomo criticized her. Ocasio-Cortez has been critical of the Democratic Party and she should be. The Democrats have run terrible campaigns that ignore important issues and they have lost, until the last elections, all three branches of the government to the Republicans.Moderate Democrats have complainedabout her treatment of them, but they are guilty of attacking her as well. That is why I’m posting the following article. –SJ Otto

The 116th Congress has only been in session for a week, but some senior Democrats are already dismayed by one new kid on the block. In a Politico report published Friday, several members criticized Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the record – an unusual choice, especially when the target is a freshman who’s had little chance to establish herself as a lawmaker. “I’m sure Ms. Cortez means well, but there’s almost an outstanding rule: Don’t attack your own people,” said Representative Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat from Missouri. “We just don’t need sniping in our Democratic Caucus.” Ocasio-Cortez has publicly criticized the party, often on Twitter, for what she sees as its entrenched centrism.
Politico went on to explain that senior Democrats are put off by more than Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter account. Some Democratic representatives objected to a grassroots campaign to put the congresswoman on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, and were affronted by her opposition to new House rules that include pay-as-you-go or PAYGO restrictions. PAYGO requires the House to match any new spending with proportional cuts, and critics generally consider it an obstacle to the welfare expansions that left-wing Democrats like Ocasio-Cortez are likely to favor.
For the rest click here.



Bernie Sanders launches second presidential campaign

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Bernie is running again. I plan to support him. I'm tired of being told either not to vote at all or vote for some meaningless corporate Democrat because Democrats and liberals that I know think that is the only way to win. I've now live without the health care I need, thanks to both parties selling working people like me out. I'm tired of being told that we have to support conservative Democrats because they are the only ones who can beat Republicans. I'm voting for someone who might do this country some good. So screw it! I will not support any Democrat who does not support health care for all, and not some convoluted garbage or some plan to make sure insurance companies get their cut. If the next Democrat running for Prez’ isn't going to do me any good—screw them—I'd rather have Trump.–SJ Otto

From CNN:
After months of deliberation, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Tuesday that he is running for president again in 2020. It will be Sanders' second consecutive bid for the Democratic nomination after losing to Hillary Clinton in 2016.
"I am asking you to join me today as part of an unprecedented and historic grassroots campaign that will begin with at least a million people from across the country," he wrote in an email to supporters following an interview on Vermont Public Radio.
Sanders enters the 2020 race as one of the frontrunners  a remarkable turn for the democratic socialist who, three years ago, was viewed as a protest candidate from the political fringe. Today, Sanders is one of the most popular politicians among Democratic voters and his policy agenda  a suite of progressive proposals to expand health care, broaden the social safety net and make higher education free has been embraced by many of the Democratic party's leading figures.

For more on this click here.

Coming soon to our US Congress? –debate US Imperialism!

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By SJ Otto
For most of the last 30 years, foreign policy in US Congress and the presidency has been treated less of a series of foreign policy issues and more of a set of religious tracts—policies that absolutely have not been debated or discussed in any way, shape or form. Unlike the days of Ronald Reagan when that president was challenged for his meddling in Central America, no one from either party, Democrat or Republican, have dared to challenge US imperialism. The generals have run our foreign policy and they have not had any challenges to their designs for world conquest and control—until now.
A number of new members of congress now challenge foreign policy edicts, including the really big one, criticism of Israel. That has been done by Representative Ilhan Omar. The Minnesota Democrat was accusedof anti-Semitism after asserting that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was buying lawmakers.
As I posted earlier this month: Anyone in Congress, who criticizes Israel in any way shape or form, is labeled anti-Semitic. There are those who support a boycott of Israel for its treatment of Palestinians. Supporting that position is being labeled anti-Semitic. It should come down to a position of freedom of speech. Democrats and Republicans can label anyone anti-Semitic for just criticizing or suggesting a boycott of Israel. There are lots of reasons for opposing Israel and those reasons have nothing to do with being against Jews. For years people have been debating the Palestinian issue all across the nation and in schools and colleges. But in Congress all those in office treat the nation of Israel as a sacred cow. That nation practices a form of Apartheid. Its people have been electing fascist like war mongers who seem to be OK with endless war against their neighbors and constant persecution of the Palestinian and other Arabs. But Congress listens to Jewish groups that insist that Jews need Israel as a homeland and anyone who dares criticize that sacred cow is anti-Semitic, hating Jews.
TheFox Newsarticle, that accused Omar of being anti-Semitic also accused her of having had “attended a travel delegation to a South American country sponsored by a radical anti-American and anti-Israel organization that supports countries opposed to the U.S. and calls for the return of Guantanamo Naval Base to Cuba.”
That “anti-American” group is called Witness for Peace. Fox made the accusation that group “opposed America’s actions in South America aimed at stopping the spread of communism.”  It sounds as if Witness for Peace is some kind of front for communism, but it isn’t. It is actually a religious oriented group that tried to stop Reagan and other US right-wing leaders of supporting right-wing murder squads and other acts of violence against legal protesters in various Latin American countries.  Other conservative news outlets have shared this exaggerated news story, such as Flipboard.
The big news story today is in Venezuela. As with Israel, to not support the US policy of absolute control of the Latin American governments is something no one is supposed to question, that is not in the mainstream press and not in Congress. The military establishment has decided that Nicolas Maduro is a socialist tyrant and to disagree with that is the equivalent of an act of treason. Again Fox News:

“She also grabbed headlines after first accusing the U.S. government of leading a coup against Venezuelan socialist tyrant Nicolas Maduro and then attempting to grill Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration's new special envoy for Venezuela.”

She is not the only member of Congress who has opposed the anti-Maduro bandwagon. Politicoreports that Bernie Sanders has also been Critical of the US meddling in Venezuela and much of his condemnation is from his own party, the Democrats:

“Florida Democrats are denouncing Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders for refusing to call Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro a dictator — a politically explosive issue in the nation’s biggest swing state.
Sanders also would not say whether he considered Venezuela’s assembly leader, Juan Guaidó, as the nation’s interim president, which is the position of the United States and a majority of Latin American countries European countries.”

Imperialism in Latin America is a Sacred Tenet.  Both parties have gone along with blatant meddling in the affairs of Latin America. All of Latin America is treated as if it the entire continent is just one big colony. Sovereignty means nothing to the members of either US party. There is absolutely no respect for any kind of debate on this issue. The military complex has decided that Maduro is a dictator and he must go.  
There is a positive side to this. With more minority people getting elected, there are more people holding office who can, and will, challenge our imperialistic foreign policy. We have Sanders and Omar, along with Rashida Tlaib, the freshman representative from Michigan, who was also critical of Israel. 
We hear such clap trap from such publications as The Atlantic:

 “AIPAC’s influence, which does not include payments to politicians, is only a small part of why the U.S.-Israel alliance is almost universally supported in Congress. Her comments, and the backlash they provoked, show how fractured the American debate over Israel has become. Omar is the new face of anti-Israel criticism on the left, and yet her use of anti-Semitic tropes undermines her credibility.”

In other words, it is implied that such people as her are just ignorant and hateful.
We also have Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who is challenging the greatest pillar in US conservative politics and that is capitalism itself. One thing we have to do is to support these new politicians as much as possible. Send them cards of encouragement. Donate to their campaigns. This is the first time in decades that we have had people in congress who are actually debating the issues that the right-wing and centrist politicians have avoided. This could be our time to shine. Let’s not miss this opportunity.



Trump Threatens another Embargo of Cuba

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At present, Donald Trump is treating Latin America as the US’s back yard and he is acting like an imperialist on steroids. He has gone out of his way to harass Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolás Maduro. For all we know he may have plans to send in the troops any day now. He seems to be going after all of Latin America’s socialist governments. He has sanctioned Nicaragua in an attempt to harass that country’s Sandinista leader. Now he is trying to destroy Cuba with frivolous law suits. The Barack Obama administration had softened up US treatment of Cuba only to have everything undone by this mad man in the US Whitehouse. If Trump sends troops to Venezuela, it should expose all those Latin American governments that are supporting Trumps disrespectful treatment of a sovereign Southern Neighbor as the traitors to imperialism that they are. As stated in this article:
-SJ Otto

“Coercion, whether military or economic, must never be used to seek a change in government in a sovereign state,” said Jazairy. “The use of sanctions by outside powers to overthrow an elected government is in violation of all norms of international law.” That includes the Charter of the Organization of American States and the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States.





Trump may give current U.S. citizens standing to sue in U.S. courts even if they were Cuban citizens when the Cuban government nationalized their property after the 1959 Revolution. They would be able to bring lawsuits against U.S. and foreign companies that allegedly profit from the nationalized properties.
In accordance with international law, the Cuban government had offered compensation to U.S. nationals for the taking of their property, as I explain below. If Trump permits myriad new lawsuits to proceed, it would unleash a tsunami of litigation that would harm U.S. companies and punish the Cuban people even more.
For 59 years, the United States has maintained a cruel embargo against Cuba. “The embargo on Cuba is the most comprehensive set of U.S. sanctions on any country, including the other countries designated by the U.S. government to be state sponsors of terrorism — Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria,” according to the U.S. government.
In 1960, the Eisenhower administration declared a partial embargo on trade with Cuba in an attempt to pressure Cuba to change its form of government. The embargo was prompted by a secret State Department memorandum that proposed “a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.”
For the rest click here.


Women’s rights under attack—Arkansas governor signs 'trigger' abortion ban bill

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Ever since Roe vs. Wade, conservative have worked hard to chip away at women’s rights and women’s health care. Their goal then and now is/was ban abortion. Abortion has been an obsession for the Republicans. That is the reason they paid no attention to all the allegations that Donald Trump’s new Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh, is actually a rapist. The Republicans were willing to overlook that in order to stack the Supreme Court with conservative anti-abortion judges. They would have approved Kavanaugh if he was a child molester or a heroin dealer. It is highly likely that abortion will not be legal in the next few years. So some Republicans are already trying to get ahead of the game and banning abortion now. –SJ Otto

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) on Tuesday signed into a law a measure that would automatically ban abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
Hutchinson’s office said the governor signed the legislation, making it the fifth state with the so-called triggered abortion ban bill, The Associated Press reported.
The bills hinge on the belief that a more conservative Supreme Court could overturn its 46-year-old decision and return authority to legalize abortion to the states.
The law bans most abortions except for medical emergencies if the country’s highest court were to overturn its previous decision. The state currently outlaws abortion 20 weeks into a pregnancy.
Exceptions would not be allowed in cases of rape or incest, KUAR reported.
The legislation was passed in the Republican-controlled state legislature last week.
Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota have similar “trigger” bans on the books. A similar measure has recently been introduced in Kentucky and Tennessee.


Unfortunately it will happen again!

Code Pink exposes the phony campaign by Abrams, Bolton, Trump, and Venezuelan puppet, Guiado

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Code Pink is joining the many progressive groups trying to expose the phony campaign against Venezuela, by mainstream politicians and the mainstream press. It is not easy to challenge the massive power of the mainstream press. When it comes to foreign affairs the mainstream press is often believed by most of America’s people, who really have little exposure to the realities found in most foreign countries. The mainstream press dominates the TV, news magazines and newspapers. They dwarf smaller media outlets such as this one. It is important that as many people, organizations and alternative news media keep spreading the truth, to counter the mainstream lies. –SJ Otto



From Code Pink:
February 23, at the Spirit Awards, while accepting Best First Feature for his film Sorry to Bother You, Boots Riley spoke out: “We should all be putting our voices out to stop regime change for oil in Venezuela.”
We agree, and we are saying clearly that what has happened in Venezuela over the last few days —the killing of two indigenous people on Friday (likely a false flag), tear gas, and two more killed at the border on Saturday — was an outright setup orchestrated by Elliott Abrams, John Bolton, Donald Trump and their Venezuelan puppet, Juan Guiado. Their goal is regime change and, in pursuit of this, they have weaponized humanitarian aid and are trying to incite violence.
Trump and his administration aren’t the only U.S. parties responsible for manufacturing and inciting violence. The New York Times, CNN, and MSNBC have all been willing participants in the Trump administration’s PR stunt, going so far as to portray Trump, Bolton and Abrams as do-good crusaders working day and night to try to bring food and medicine to the people of Venezuela.
No one in their right minds would believe that Trump, Abrams, and Bolton care about the people — rather than the oil — of Venezuela. So why are liberal mainstream media outlets like the New York Times, CNN, and MSNBC participating in the farce?
One need look no further than the U.S.’s role in creating the humanitarian crisis in Yemen to know that easing human suffering is not what motivates U.S. foreign policy. One need look no further than the past ways the U.S. has sold regime change — Iraq, Libya, Syria, just to name a few — to know what “bringing democracy to” or “helping the people of” really means. And one need look no further than the fact that both the Red Cross and United Nations are refusing to collaborate with the United State’s false pretext of humanitarian aid to know that the real aim of the “aid” is to galvanize the Venezuelan opposition and create a violent catalyst.
What Venezuela needs is dialogue — facilitated by Mexico, Uruguay, and the Vatican — not a U.S.-orchestrated coup and possible military intervention. Help us demand that the U.S. media reflect that.
Towards peace,
Medea and the entire CODEPINK team: Ann, Ariel, Carley, Caroline, Jodie, Kelly, Kirsten, Lily, Maya, Mark, Nancy, Paki, Ryan, Sarah, Tighe and Ursula
P.S. Click here if you’re interested in learning more about joining CODEPINK on our upcoming trips to Cuba or Honduras.




Living Colour - Cult Of Personality

Conversation between John Lennon & Vietnam Vet Who Came to His Home

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I like to share things from Yoko Ono. She has a political side to her and I like to capture it from time to time. Here is this scene that Yoko shared with us.

#JohnLennon #YokoOno #Docson4

Conversation between John Lennon &Vietnam Vet Who Came to His Home | John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky


Weekend Update: Michael Cohen's Congressional Testimony - SNL

Estes uses bogus statistics to make false claims about tax cuts for all classes

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By SJ Otto
One thing I have learned to count on is The Wichita Eagle, posting the opinions of various Republican liars. This week it was our very own 4rth district Representative Ron Estes, known to me as the “what?! Me work?!” kid. He started out his career putting very little effort into getting elected and that moderate amount of effort was all he needed in a largely Republican district.
As with his other fellow Republican, when the facts don’t match his opinion, he simply lies. His article this week was “Changes in tax law put more in your pocket year-round.”

“It’s hard to ignore the left as they rail against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – the legislation that updated a decades-old, burdensome tax code with lower rates and simpler filings.
Who can forget then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calling $1,000 savings for middle-income families “crumbs” and lower tax rates “Armageddon?” Or Bernie Sanders saying that the “federal treasury is being looted” by allowing Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money?”

None of these Democrats have said exactly what Estes implied they said. Some Democrats have called for higher taxes on the wealthy. But none have complained about giving tax breaks to the middle income earners and certainly none (or at least most) have complained about giving tax breaks for the poor. That is largely because the poor never get tax breaks from the Republicans. That leads to another lie:

“The fact is, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act benefited everyday Americans, including those right here in Kansas. We doubled the child tax credit. We nearly doubled the standard deduction. We lowered tax rates for all Americans. Yes. All Americans.

He couldn’t be more wrong. First of all, there are the tax deductions eliminated that affect a lot of people at the lower end of the income scale. According to US News and World Report:

While some crucial tax breaks might return after some provisions of the tax law expire in 2025, here are 12 tax deductions that disappeared this year:
  • The standard $6,350 deduction.
  • Personal exemptions.
  • Unlimited state and local tax deductions.
  • A $1 million mortgage interest deduction.
  • An unrestricted deduction for home equity loan interest.
  • Deductions for unreimbursed employee expenses.
  • Miscellaneous itemized deductions.
  • A deduction for moving expenses.
  • Unrestricted casualty loss deduction.
  • Alimony deduction.
  • Deductions for certain school donations.
  • Deductions from tax extenders.
Another dirty trick? Many of the middle class tax cuts are only temporary. After five years, they’re gone. According to CNN:

“The Tax Institute at H&R Block provided some scenarios of people with young children, for instance, who could see their tax burden drop by roughly $2,000 or more next year.
But here's the thing: After 2025, all individual tax cuts are set to expire. At the same time, corporate rate cuts are made permanent under the bill.”

So the wealthy people get to keep their tax cuts, the middle class have to give them up after five years. Those items counter Estes’ claim that we all got a tax break. In general he tries to credit his party and president with fixing the economy. In his article he wrote:

“For the first time ever, our economy has more job openings than job seekers, while our unemployment rate of 4 percent is around the lowest level in 50 years. Unemployment rates for minorities are at their lowest levels in history.

The Republican Party has worked hard to erase benefits and keep income low for the last 30 years. One area where they have been successful is in destroying unions. Since they have broken many unions across the country, over the last 30 years, they have affected wages and benefits for all workers. Since unions have not been successful in raising wages, other non-union workers have also lost buying power. For example, “An economic study by AFL-CIO economist Greg Woodward found a sharp 10 % drop in real wages between 1980 and 1990 for US workers.”[1]That was during Ronald Reagan’s years as president, followed by the fist part of the George W. Bush’s years. For most of the next 30 years Republicans have dominated the government and their anti-union policies have had dramatic affects on the economy. So wages have not kept up with all the other great numbers, including a rise in employment. The economy is doing well, but wages have dragged behind in economic spending power.
Who knows if Estes really wrote that article or paid someone else to write it? Either way, it has the usual lies we get now a days from Republicans. Estes is just one more liar taking his cues from Donald Trump.





[1]Steve Otto, War on Drugs/War on People, (Ide House, Las Colinas) 1995, p. 113.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is asked which candidate she's endorsing for 2020

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From Daily Kos:

By Walter Einenkel
As you might have heard, there is quite a selection of people throwing their hat into the ring for a chance to become the Democratic Party’s choice to run for president in 2020. One of the thoughts among pundits was that the moment Bernie Sanders entered the race, the very popular Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would quickly endorse his candidacy. Sen. Sanders was in Brooklyn, New York, this past weekend, kicking off his campaign with a set of rallies. Spectrum News NY1 spoke with 2016 Sanders supporter Rep. Ocasio-Cortez about the campaign kickoff and who she was planning on endorsing.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez: We’ve been in active conversation. I’ve been speaking with him and several other of the 2020 candidates, and I think that they have really understood and respected the fact that I think that I want to wait until we get a little bit closer. I think we need to have a conversation as a party, and I think that endorsing very earlier in this race prevents us from having that kind of conversation. People will say, ‘Oh, she’s just supporting so-and-so, that’s why she’s saying that.’ And I think it’s, you know, we have to have real conversations about income inequality, about criminal justice, about immigration, about the environment.
It’s always good to remind us all that we are still in the middle of a big conversation, with many voices and opinions on what should and should not be prioritized. You can watch Ocasio-Cortez share her thoughts on this topic in the video below.
For moreclick here.


Omar the target of Pro-Israeli bias from both the Democrats and Republicans

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By SJ Otto
Rep. Ilhan Omar has been under fire since she got elected to the US House of Representatives, mostly for her criticism of Israel and charges that she is anti-Semitic. Omar is a Muslim and she supports Palestinian rights. Some people have accused her of using anti-Jewish stereo types, in her language, in her tweets and statements she has made against Israel. Lately she has questioned why some people have an allegiance to Israel if they are Americans. Much of the charges of anti-Semitism are just splitting hairs. If anyone feels Israel is so important they should go there to live and stop putting so much support into a country they don’t live in.
According to ABC News:

“Congressional Democrats are crafting a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, in an indirect but public rebuke of one of their own, Rep. Ilhan Omar, after the latest in a series of remarksshe's made aboutIsrael and its American supporters that have generated a blitz of criticism.
Omar, who was elected alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib as the first women Muslim members of Congress in U.S.history, continues to speak out against Israel, attracting the scorn of Republicans and Democratic colleagues alike -- and competing resolutions from both parties.”
While member of her own party have attacked her for criticizing their sacred cow, Israel, she has had a taste of anti-Muslim hate from the state of West Virginia. From Fox News[1]:

“A poster displayed at the West Virginia statehouse Friday linking Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., to the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, has sparked outrage among lawmakers.
The poster, which was displayed on a table in the rotunda in the Capitol, showed a split picture of the WorldTradeCenteron fire on top of a snap of Omar.
“’Never Forget’ – You said.” the caption on the picture of the twin towers read.
Meanwhile, the caption of the picture of Omar read, “I am the proof you have forgotten.”

The poster was part of the display for “WV GOP Day,” which is when the “Republicans Take the Rotunda,” NBC News reported.
There are still a lot of people who feel perfectly justified accusing all Muslims of being terrorists. There are reports that some people at that event said that openly. Omar has stood her ground(Vox):

“I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country,” Omar said as part of a discussion about past anti-Semitism allegations lobbed at her.

The Democrats in the house were planning to pass a resolution clearly designed to punish one of their own rising stars. That resolution was delayed, but it has been passed.
According to Vox News Omar has spoken out on other issues:

“Her grilling of Venezuela envoy Elliott Abrams last month shined a spotlight on American complicity in grave human rights abuses in America, a kind of critique of the foreign policy elite rarely heard from members of Congress.”
Her stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — unapologetically pro-Palestinian — fits with this profile, broadly speaking. It has helped make her into a darling of the insurgent left, which is highly critical of the Democratic establishment’s generically pro-Israel view. Yet when Omar talks about Israel, she has a bad habit of saying things that feed into anti-Semitic stereotypes.”

But Congress[2] needs to quit feeling comfortable with USforeign policy. In Israel, that country keeps electing war mongers who want to go to war with Iran—unprovoked.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly discussed going to war with Iranand at times he seems intent on having such a war. The country keeps swinging to the far-right. It is odd that so many people who believe they are on the left, keep supporting a government that keeps moving to the far-right. Also many progressives in the Democratic Party are questioning why the US has the right to meddle in the affairs of Venezuela.
Many commentators on Congress are beginning to realize that “business as usual,” for both parties is over. We can expect the rubber stamping of the generals who run our foreign policy may now have to debate and defend their actions and intended actions. The sacred cows will now be challenged.




[1] https://www.foxnews.com/politics/poster-connecting-rep-ilhan-omar-to-9-11-terror-attacks-ignites-outrage-at-west-virginia-capitol

[2] Donald Trump, possibly one of the most racist presidents this country has ever has said that the freshman lawmaker should be “ashamed of herself” for the comments some have called anti-Semitic.
“I think it was a terrible statement, and I don’t think her apology was adequate,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while en route to El Paso, Texas, for a rally. When asked what Omar should have said instead, the president simply replied that “she knows what to say.”


Messages from Yoko Ono from International Women’s Day:

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Here are some messages from Yoko Ono from International Women’s Day: -SJ Otto

Inspiring Change - Songs for International Women's Day 2019 by Yoko Ono
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2019
A dream you dream alone is only a dream.
A dream you dream together is reality.
y.o.
Songs for 8 March 2019 - International Womens Day - by Yoko Ono.
internationalwomensday.com



National Holiday for voting might help more people to get out and vote

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From FightforReform.org:

Mitch McConnell wants to ruin our DREAM of getting every Democrat out to vote. So we're flooding his office with signatures to DEMAND he allow a bill to make Election Day a National Holiday! 

Sign your name with Fight for Reform to DEMAND that Election Day be made a National Holiday >> 




MITCH MCCONNELL RIPS A FEDERAL HOLIDAY FOR ELECTION DAY AS PART OF A "POWER GRAB" BY DEMOCRATS TO WIN ELECTIONS. - BLOOMBERG REPORTER
Mitch McConnell knows Republicans would lose BIG if every American could vote on Election Day. 

We won't stand for it. So we're flooding his office with signatures to DEMAND he make Election Day a National Holiday! 

Sign to DEMAND that Election Day be made a National Holiday >> 




IMPORTANT REMINDER: Democrats won the House in 2018 because MILLIONS of Americans voted! 

That's why making Election Day a National Holiday is so important -- 

When every Democrat has the chance to vote, our Blue Wave is UNSTOPPABLE! 

So if you think Election Day should be a National Holiday, tell Mitch McConnell right now:Sign your name to demand that Election Day be made a National Holiday. 


Junior Scholastic news article is misleading our students

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By SJ Otto
There is lots of room for criticism of our educational system and one thing I have found to be extremely critical are some of the so called “news magazines” designed for middle and high school students. My most recent disappointment has been with an outfit called Junior Scholastic and the article is called: “North Korea vs. the World”; with the kicker beneath: “The Communist country and its unpredictable leader continue to spark outrage around the globe by testing nuclear weapons. Can its nuclear program be stopped before it’s too late?” The article is by Rebecca Zissou.
Besides arguing the issues, Democratic People’s Republic (North) Koreais a small country trying to defend itself from a powerful super-power that has invaded two other countries, in recent years. North Korea and two other nations were called the "axis of evil" by former President George W. Bush. One of those countries was invaded and the government was overthrown, in Iraq. The kicker on Zissou’s article asked “Can its nuclear program be stopped before it’s too late?” Too late for what? What is this nation supposed to do that we are afraid of?
A blatant mistake was calling North Korea a ”Communist country.” Itis not. According to Wikipedia:

“Former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il officially authored the definitive statement on Juche in a 1982 document titled On the Juche Idea. After the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, North Korea’s greatest economic benefactor, all reference to Marxism–Leninism was dropped in the revised 1998 constitution. Kim Jong-Il incorporated the Songun (army-first) policy into Juche in 1996.”

So it is completely wrong to refer to North Korea as “communist.” The regime does use the term “socialist,” but it no longer refers to itself as communist. That was a bad mistake to make for a news magazine that is supposed to be an educational tool for class rooms.
This article gives an inaccurate look at the history of the founding of the two Koreas:

“North Korea’s troubled history with the U.S.—and its neighbors in Asia—goes back to the end of World War II. In 1945, the Korean Peninsula, which had been occupied by Japan since 1910, was divided into two zones.
The North, led by Kim Il Sung (Kim Jong Un’s grandfather), established a Communist government backed by the Soviet Union and China. (Under Communism, the government owns all land and businesses, and individual freedom is limited.) South Korea became a democracy and a key U.S. ally.”


Quite often, such articles simply state that the Soviet Union “installed” Kim Il Sung. This article didn’t say that. The truth is that Kim led a guerrilla army against the Japanese Government during World War II. The Soviet Union helped him, but he already had a present in the north.
The South had to be completely created from Scratch. There was nothing like that government at that time in the south. It was created by the US to act as a client state. In the beginning it was almost like a colony of the US. Until about the 1990s, South Korea was a dictatorship. They occasionally had elections, but the leaders tended to be strong men who did not tolerate opposition politicians. Individual freedom was limited in that country also. During the 1970s and 1980s there were riots in South Korea, with people demanding an end to the dictatorship. For example, according to Wikipedia:

“Park Chung-hee (Hangul박정희Hanja朴正熙; 14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and general who served as the President of South Korea from 1963 until his assassination in 1979, assuming that office after first ruling the country as head of a military dictatorship installed by the May 16 coup in 1961. Before his presidency, he was the chairman of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction from 1961 to 1963 after a career as a military leader in the South Korean army.
Park's coup brought an end to the interim government of the Second Republic and his election and inauguration in 1963 ushered in the Third Republic. In 1972, Park declared martial law and amended the constitution into a highly authoritarian document called the Yushin Constitution. Formally, the pretense was that the Yushin Constitution was the seventh Constitutional amendment. In actuality, its effect was tantamount to an abolishment of the former Constitution -- effectively creating a new one in an effort to legitimize the new Fourth Republic.”

Zissou’s article looks at Sanctions and the role they play in North Korea:

“In response to the latest nuclear test, the United Nations (U.N.) imposed additional sanctions against North Korea. It hopes that further weakening the country’s economy will prevent North Koreafrom being able to finance its nuclear program.”  

Zissou also writes about the food shortages in South Korea:

“The country’s state-run economy has struggled to provide enough food for its citizens. In the 1990s, droughts and floods contributed to a famine that killed tens of thousands of people. Many North Koreans, including Joseph, (a major character in the article) resorted to eating weeds.” 

What Zissou and other writers on North Korea overlook is that the sanctions actually contribute to the food shortages. The US could easily have helped North Korea with food aid, but this country was more interested in using that country’s starving people as a political tool to try and change North Korea’s behavior. So the US contributed to the starving of people in North Korea.
Some of what I have written here is just opinion. But some of the points I make are facts that student really should be exposed to. The treatment of communism in US literature and news articles for US students is extremely limited and unfactual. For example, the article says “Under Communism, the government owns all land and businesses, and individual freedom is limited.” What does that really tell anyone about communism? That statement is really an opinion. It wouldn’t hurt anyone to give students some basic information about communist theory. They might actually understand the theory behind such governments as Cuba and other past governments. Communism is a theory, not just a government or system. Americans are terribly ignorant about communist theory. That is what is unnecessary today.

WSU- New business building would house Koch-funded Institute for the Study of Economic Growth

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The Koch Brothers, David and Charles have pretty much taken over WichitaStateUniversity. Buildings, such as Koch Arena, formerly Henry Levitt, are there to remind people how much they have invested in the University and how much influence they have. They are like wild cats that pee to mark their territory. They have peed all over WSU by putting their names every where. They use their contributions to bolster their pro-business, anti-union, far-to-the right philosophy. They just can’t put up enough buildings and departments to push their agenda. –SJ Otto
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If this week’s Shock the Future referendum passes, $20 million in student fees from students across all six of WichitaState’s academic colleges will go towards Woolsey Hall, the $50 million business building set for construction on Innovation Campus.
Donors have already raised $30 million for the building, which would become the new home of the Institute for the Study of Economic Growth, currently housed in the basement of Clinton Hall. Announced in September 2017, the institute was funded through a $3.6 million grant from the Charles Koch Foundation.
Through his foundation, the billionaire Koch Industries CEO has supported the creation of centers for economic research on college campuses across the country — spurring on concerns that his conservative, free-market ideology could compromise universities’ academic research.
WSU has a Center for Economic Development and Business Research that operates independently from the institute. WSU officials have maintained that the university’s academic freedom will be preserved in the institute.
“Preserving academic freedom and following normal university processes . . . Those two principles were paramount in our decision to move forward,” Barton School of Business Dean Anand Desai said in 2017. “It was important that we preserve those things at WichitaState.
“The goal is to expose our students to a broad range of ideas and methodologies so that they will ultimately decide. We’re not forcing them to think in any particular manner. It’s their choice.”

For the rest click here.

Today is St. Patrick's Day- a day full of Irish tradition

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By SJ Otto

Today is St. Patrick's Day. While the tradition is that this is a Catholic holiday honouring a saint, many of us use this day to honour the culture and history of Ireland. The country has a long history of political rebellion. Here is a song to honour the country's culture.

Black 47 Livin in America


The Starry Plow
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And don't forget to drink an Irish Car Bomb.


Where are the ‘empty shelves’? Max Blumenthal tours Caracas supermarket

Mike Pompeo—a popular Republican and a war criminal

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By SJ Otto
Mike Pompeo has been are real rising star from my home state of Kansas. He is overwhelmingly popular with Kansas Republicans. He is also a war criminal.
According to McClatchy:


 “He’s ruled out a U.S. Senate run in 2020. But on the eve of Pompeo’s first official visit to Kansas since his meteoric rise from congressman to secretary of state, the Wichita Republican propped open the door to a political future in his home state.”

He has real support from a real conservative state. President Donald Trump has taken more than one of his conservative stooges from the state of Kansas. All of that promotion has made Pompeo one of Kansas Republican’s most popular politicians.
Again, according to McClatchy:

“Republicans in the state think that means one of two things — a bid for Senate or the governor’s mansion in 2022. That is, if Pompeo doesn’t decide to run for president in 2024 instead.
He’d be well placed for a run in Kansas. One internal Republican poll from January showed Pompeo beating any potential GOP rival statewide by double digits. And he’s sitting on nearly $1 million in his dormant federal campaign committee.”

While Pompeo may be one of the state’s most popular Republicans, he is also a war criminal.
According to Stars And Stripes:

“The United States will revoke or deny visas to International Criminal Court personnel seeking to investigate alleged war crimes and other abuses committed by U.S.forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere, and may do the same with those who seek action against Israel, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday.
Pompeo, acting on a threat delivered in September by U.S. national security adviser John Bolton, framed the action as necessary to prevent the international body from infringing on U.S. sovereignty by prosecuting American forces or allies for torture or other war crimes.”

WOW! Does that say a lot about US conduct in a foreign country?[1] Pompeo will not allow anyone to go into a foreign country that the US occupies and check on allegations of torture or other forms of war crimes. He also included Israel. This statement contains an amazing confession that the USsees Afghanistan as a part of the USand not a sovereign nation of its own. The USinvaded Afghanistanshortly after September 11, 2001 and has stayed there ever since. The US has installed a puppet government and has used US military troops to prop it up over all these years.
Stars And Stripes goes one to say:

"We are determined to protect the American and allied military and civilian personnel from living in fear of unjust prosecution for actions taken to defend our great nation," Pompeo said.’

Of course that means that the people who live in Afghanistan do not have the same rights and if they have been tortured or harmed in some way there isn’t anything they can do about it. We can also see some of that “America first” type policy” of Trump’s in this part of the article:

U.S.officials have long regarded the Netherlands-based ICC (International Criminal Court) with hostility, arguing that American courts are capable of handling any allegations against U.S. forces and questioning the motives of an international court.”

The UShas championed putting people from third-world countries, such as Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on trial for their alleged war crimes. All of these people are from small, poor and backward countries. No leader from any first-world industrialized country has ever been investigated or accused of any war crime. It is ironic that Trump and his people don’t trust the ICC. To claim the US can handle “any allegations against US forces” is laughable. Imagine if Gaddafi had made that argument?!  It would make as much sense.
There are a lot of Republicans and conservative Kansans who really aren’t bothered by human rights abuses in foreign affairs. They couldn’t care less about the people who are harmed in such countries as Afghanistan. But some of us find it disturbing that such a man, with such an abysmal record on US human rights wants to come back to Kansas to resume some kind of a career representing the worst that Kansashas to offer. Pompeo’s statements show an outright disrespect for any kind of sovereignty for the people of Afghanistan.
Pompeo was elected to the Fourth District House of Representatives in 2011. That is a staunchly Republican district that hasn’t had a Democrat in it since before Republican Todd Tiahrt beat long-time Democrat incumbent Dan Glickman, in 1995. Pompeo ran against Tiahrt in 2014, for that same district and I didn’t realize how much worse he could be. But Pompeo has been a blatant, all out imperialist.
For many of us, Pompeo would do best to stay out of Kansas. We don’t need nor want him here.


[1]Any leader who defends war criminals is a war criminal.


This is no time for wishy washy do-nothing Democratic Party candidates

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By SJ Otto
Very soon we will see the dog and pony shows of the Democrat candidates running for President. My first choice is Bernie Sanders. He is a powerful candidate and calls himself a socialist. He may not win, but one thing we don’t need is a moderate Democrat who plans to leave in tack all the damage that President Donald Trump has inflicted on this country.
He destroyed what little relief Obamacare (Affordable Care Act.) gave the working poor. He put people in office that are protecting the predatory lenders who where about to be taken to court. Barack Obama had plans to stop them from ripping off poor people. The list of Trump’s destructive policies goes on and on.
What we don’t need is the kind of spineless Democrats that we have seen in past election. We need health care for all and not lame excuses on why we can’t do that. We don’t need lame issues and slogans such as “we are the party of jobs” or “good government.” We need a candidate that takes on issues and will let the people know what his/her stand on the issues are.  We don’t need a candidate that avoids any issue that may offend someone. There are people in this country who need to be offended. We need a strong candidate who will go on the attack. We also don't need a candidate dedicated to sticking to the political center. It's time for a candidate to show us some guts.
Trump is unpopular with a lot of people, but some of those people would just as soon ignore his policies. His policies are destroying our way of life as well as making things in this country much worse than they were before he came to office. We need his policies reversed and repealed.

We need a strong progressive candidate!

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