Quantcast
Channel: The Idiot Factor: Corruption Folly
Viewing all 1137 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

Ocasio-Cortez Calls On Stephen Miller To Resign Amid White Nationalist Email Leak

November 13, 2019, 12:50 pm
$
0
0

we have the beginning of the impeachment hearings starting today. Since these hearings will take quite a bit of time, we ill be posting a lot of articles on this subject for the next few weeks. –SJ Otto 



Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called on senior White House adviser Stephen Miller to immediately resign amid reports that he regularly pushed white nationalist talking points and xenophobia in a series of emails sent in the months before the 2016 presidential election.
The Southern Poverty Law Center published an investigation from its Hatewatch arm Tuesday after reviewing more than 900 messages that Miller sent to the conservative news outlet Breitbart from March 2015 to June 2016. More than 80% of the missives related to “or appear on threads relating to the subjects of race or immigration,” the group found, and many sought to promote far-right extremist ideas and anti-immigration messaging.
Many of the emails were sent before he joined Trump’s campaign while Miller was working for then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).
For the rest click here.

↧
Search

Dear Hong Kong Freedom Fighter Supporters

November 15, 2019, 8:16 am
↧
↧

Live updates: Former ambassador to Ukraine appears in 2nd impeachment hearing

November 15, 2019, 12:46 pm
$
0
0

By SJ Otto
This morningI watched Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S.ambassador to Ukraine, testify against our President Donald Trump. As she explained he made virtual threats against her. The one thing that stuck out in my mind is that, as she spoke, I realized she is a Trumpite, then and now. So how can a person, who as threatened by the Trumpster, still be a Trumpite?
What I realized from her testimony is that she is 100 percent in favor of the policies Trump was pursuing. She talked about the need to protect Ukrainefrom the Russians. The Russians are our imperialistic competitors. President Vladimir Putin and his country are an imperialist power. The US is just his competing power.
Yovanovitch spoke in glowing terms of the US imperialistic role in that region and pretty much mouthed the USforeign policy party line that we constantly hear from US politicians in Congress.
So this proved for me, once and for all, that even those who hate Trump, even those who are his victims—they hate the man and not the policies. This makes a lot of difference for me over a lot of anti-Trump persons. Most of his victims and opponents are against the man, his personality, his individual actions his personal attacks, but they do not oppose his policies. They do not oppose his political agenda. They do not oppose his imperialist foreign policy.
I realize, as I watch these hearings that many of us oppose Trump, but many of us have different reasons why we oppose Trump. We are by no means united in this effort. Many of us want to bring an end to the Trump reign of terror, but we have different agendas. We must not lose site of that.



↧

Disillusionment with US foreign policy in Bolivia—deceit, treachery and just plain lying.

November 17, 2019, 8:35 pm
$
0
0

By SJ Otto
It is still hard for me to believe the way my government really operates and how our news media covers it. It’s hard for me to believe our government is as treacherous and despicable as it is today. I grew up learning to believe in the system, during grade school, middle and high school, and all the values that it insisted were true. Some things like freedom and democracy seemed so simple. I was taught to believe that I had the right to believe in anything I wanted and the government guaranteed those rights to me. As a kid, I grew up in this system believing in our independent and unbiased news media.
We were also taught about all those bad countries, such as Nazi Germany and all the countries under communism and supposedly in those countries we would not be able to make all these great choices. 
By the end of my high school days I came to realize how badly I was lied to. Today the deceit from this country and our news media is just unbelievable. The biased of our reporting is so bad that it looks like all the terrible countries we learned about in grade school.
By high school I noticed that most of South America was run by military dictatorships (in the 1970s). Then Salvador Allende tried to create a Socialist country through democratic means, President Richard Nixon was just fine with a military dictatorship to oust and replace him. That was probably the first time I realized how phony USdemocracy in South America rally was. And from that time on it just got worse.
So today I get a taste of our phony foreign policy in action. The US created a coup to oust the Bolivia’s President Evo Morales. He was an honorable president, who was very popular and did nothing wrong. But he as not a team player for the US as a part of President Donald Trump’s attempts to eradicate socialism from the western hemisphere. From The Associated Press:

“ Bolivia's interim president met with a U.N. envoy to discuss the country's crisis Saturday, a day after security forces fired on supporters of former President Evo Morales in a clash that killed eight people and raised fears that violence could escalate.
On leaving the meeting with interim leader Jeanine Áñez, U.N. envoy Jean Arnault said the United Nations is concerned about the violence in Boliviaand hopes it can contribute to an accelerated pacification process leading to elections.
U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet issued a statement earlier in the day calling the deaths "an extremely dangerous development."

The Interim leader Áñez was not elected. She and her right-wing follewers claimed Morales committed voter fraud. But he was removed before any of these charges could be made to stick.
This is the USup to its old tricks. It would be easy for everyone to just blame Trump on this fiasco, but he is only the tip of the iceberg. There is no doubt full support from nearly every member of congress, Republicans AND Democrats. There has been one exception and that is Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar:

“Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar has called on Americans to condemn the removal of leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales, who was forced to resign by the country's army following weeks of unrest over disputed elections.”

In the next few days I’m sure she will find she is alone on that. Conservatives, such as those at Fox (or Faux) News, will accuse her of being anti-American, along with other nasty accusations.
As I look back at my grade school, middle school and high school education, she may be the only member of congress who I feel is pro-American. I was raised to believe that people have a right to choose their destiny. The phonies in congress just believe in their right to a system that allows them to make as much money as possible, at the expense of people who live in what has been described as the US’s back yard.
Under real democracy the people of Bolivia would have the right to elect their own leader and if it were for real, the US would respect that decision. That is not hat has happened.
Interim leader Jeanine Áñez has already made big changes and they include changing to the USside on such issues as Venezuela. Our government has what it wanted all along. Boliviais now a USteam player. Through violence and deceit this country now has what it wanted. Bolivia is now a US team player and Omar is the only person in congress who feels it as unfair of this country to do that. The UN is concerned about the violence there and we can be sure the rest of congress and our idiot president don’t care at all. Capitalism is about is about making a lot of money at the expense of others. The real lesson I learned years ago is that capitalism and real democracy are incompatible.  





Pix from Former Bolivian President Evo Morales begins exile in Mexico

↧

Even today—I keep finding reasons why I am no longer a Catholic

November 17, 2019, 11:23 pm
$
0
0

By SJ Otto
It as almost 30 years ago that I officially dropped out of the Catholic Church. I had been a member of that religion since my child hood. At times I considered myself an agnostic and still, I remained in that church. I attended mid-night mass many Christmases with my mother, in my younger day.
I’ve been a socialist almost my entire adult life. That started with Salvador Allende, in Chile. I began to follow him in my high school years. By the time I left high school he had been overthrown by the General Augusto Pinochet regime.
I was able to follow liberation theology after high school. In that way I could remain in the religion and stay a Catholic. There were liberation theology movements in both the New People’s Army of the Philippines and among the Sandinista’s government.
I really enjoyed mid-night mass with my mother in my earlier days. I liked my mother. She and I had a very close relationship. Catholicism was a major part of her life. When I finally dumped Catholicism, the worst part of that was disappointing my mother.
During the reign of Pope John Paul II, he worked really hard to destroy liberation theology. He was a very conservative pope.
There were many reasons I left the church. Most of those reasons were political. As a Catholic I as not suppose to have sex before marriage. Sex for Catholics is quite restrictive. Then there was the ban on birth control. My mother ignored that for medical reasons and her priest agreed with her decision. Those were little things compared to the politics. The church is against abortion. For a while I could live with that. But the church treated that position as if it were more important than any other. They wanted people to vote against any politician who was for abortion, even if there were other more important issues we needed to vote for.
Even though this position happened just recently, after I dropped out, this is an example of putting the lives of fetuses above the lives and needs of every day human beings:

“The four Catholic dioceses in Kansas will not support expanding Medicaid to thousands more low-income adults and children unless the state passes a constitutional amendment and new laws restricting abortion, the head of the Kansas Catholic Conference said.”

This is outrageous. They are putting out an opinion that poor and working poor people’s lives have no value. This is a real good reason to drop from the church, although I dropped out years ago. And when I did drop from the church, there were similar reasons as this one.
It seams as if I was constantly finding reasons not to be a Catholic. The church kept supporting right-wing causes. During world war II the Pope supported Nazis from Germany.[1]
It was Pope John Paul II who put the final nail in the Catholic coffin. He worked hard to destroy liberation theology:

“The case against liberation theology
The late Pope John Paul II was frequently criticised for the severity with which he dealt with the liberation movement.
His main object was to stop the highly politicised form of liberation theology prevalent in the 1980s, which could be seen as a fusion of Christianity and Marxism. He was particularly criticised for the firmness with which he closed institutions that taught Liberation Theology and with which he removed or rebuked the movement's activists, such as Leonardo Boff and Gustavo Gutierrez.
He believed that to turn the church into a secular political institution and to see salvation solely as the achievement of social justice was to rob faith in Jesus of its power to transform every life. The image of Jesus as a political revolutionary was inconsistent with the Bible and the Church's teachings.”

And he worked with President Ronald Reagan, the CIA and Solidarnosc. While I had little fondness for Poland’s communist government, I had even less fondness for the CIA or Ronald Reagan. I was no fan of the Eastern Bloc, but I was a Marxist and had no love of Reagan or the CIA. This was the final break. when this came out, I left the church and I left it for good. I had made a choice. Marxism, of any kind as a preference for a religion that seemed doomed to right-wing politics.
That brings me to an issue today—that is drug testing all high school students, at a Catholic high school in Ohio, Stephen T. Badin High School in Hamilton, about 30 miles north of Cincinnati. If this would be a public school I would complain that the students’ rights are being violated. This is a private school and public laws don’t apply. While drugs and vaping might be bad for the students, they should be taught that they have rights like all other citizens. There are too many adults who are willing to give their rights away because “they don’t use drugs.” That is hardly important. People have rights and when they just give those rights up there is no telling here that ends. A lot of workers at various factories didn’t complain about drug testing until it came to testing for nicotine. That is a substance that is legal, but the owner of such plants decided they didn’t want their people using nicotine products. Now they get mad. But it is too late because these folks sat idly by while the company drug tested them.
So fight for your rights, even if you don’t use drugs.
I want to point out that Pope Francis is a major improvement for the Catholic Church. It is unfortunate that I do not plan to go  back to the church, my decision on that was final. I love this quote from the new pope:

“It has been said many times and my response has always been that, if anything, it is the communists who think like Christians. Christ spoke of a society where the poor, the weak and the marginalized have the right to decide. Not demagogues, not Barabbas, but the people, the poor, whether they have faith in a transcendent God or not. It is they who must help to achieve equality and freedom”. -Pope Francis

As for me, today and my spiritual needs, I consider myself an Epicurean, 



↧
↧

The Conflict in Bolivia is not over yet—Sanders calls it a coup!

November 20, 2019, 3:15 pm
$
0
0
By SJ Otto
Just recently there as a coup in Bolivia, where US imperialist had figured that they could easily overthrow an elected socialist, just as they have in the case of democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz , in 1954 and Salvador Allende in 1973. Unlike those last two coups, in which anti-imperialist leaders simply left their offices and faded into history—supporters of President Evo Morales are not giving up. They are fighting back and they are fighting back effectively. For example, from Time magazine:

"Residents in several Bolivian cities are reporting food
and gasoline shortages because of protests by supporters of President Evo Morales, who resigned and fled to Mexico after a disputed election and nationwide unrest.
Bolivia’s interim government said Monday that its efforts to resupply La Paz faced challenges because demonstrators cut off some transport routes. The new leadership is also struggling to open dialogue with opponents, particularly after the shooting deaths of nine pro-Morales coca growers during a confrontation with security forces Friday in the central town of Sacaba."

So the supporters of Morales have fought back. They are trying to use some of the same tactics the US is trying to use in Venezuela to defeat President Nicolás Maduro.
According to Aljazeera:

“…..People across Bolivia protested in the tens of thousands, and the crisis escalated when the Organization of American States (OAS) published a report saying the vote had forged signatures and that there had been data manipulation.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Morales insisted there was no fraud in the October election and denounced the report of OAS, accusing it of being politically motivated.
"I realised that it (the preliminary report) was politically motivated. I instructed the FM to call the OAS secretary-general to suspend the report's publication because it was going to create chaos in the country and more people were going to be killed. And that's what's happening now. The OAS is also part of the military coup. I told then that the preliminary report was going to bring us more deaths and create more confrontation, but they published it anyways," Morales said.”

During a Democratic forum hosted on Saturday night by Univision, the Spanish language network, most of the Democratic Party candidates for US President, lined up behind the official US position on the over throw of Morales was being justified because, supposedly Morales was attempting to become a dictator. It turns out that most US leaders still believe that removing a democratically elected president from a Latin American country is justified if that leaders is a socialist or simply doesn’t follow US foreign policy objectives.  

"Senator Bernie Sanders said that the overthrow of Bolivian President Evo Morales was a "coup."
The moderator, Jorge Ramos—who was tossed from a news conference by presidential candidate, Donald Trump, in 2015—said others have maintained it was not a coup, and that Morales was attempting to become a dictator.
"I don't agree with that assertion," Sanders responded. "I think Morales did a very good job in alleviating poverty and giving the indigenous people of Bolivia a voice that they never had before."
"Now we can argue about his going for a fourth term, whether that was a wise thing to do... But at the end of the day, it was the military who intervened in that process and asked him to leave. When the military intervenes, Jorge, in my view, that's called a 'coup,'" said Sanders."

According to

The Bolivian people deserve free and fair elections, as soon as possible. Bolivia's interim leadership must limit itself to preparing for an early, legitimate election. Bolivia's security forces must protect demonstrators, not commit violence against them. https://www.npr.org/2019/11/16/780118421/8-killed-in-bolivia-as-protesters-call-for-return-of-ousted-president-evo-morale …

Besides Sanders, two Congress women who agree with him are Ilhan Omar
And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and they are just about the only two congress people who have the common sense to oppose what this country is doing in Latin America. Again according to Newsweek:


Ilhan Omar
✔@IlhanMN

There's a word for the President of a country being pushed out by the military. It’s called a coup.

We must unequivocally oppose political violence in Bolivia. Bolivians deserve free and fair elections.
70.4K
9:19 PM - Nov 10, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
✔@AOC


What’s happening right now in Boliviaisn’t democracy, it’s a coup.

The people of Boliviadeserve free, fair, and peaceful elections - not violent seizures of power.
80K
1:26 PM - Nov 11, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy


Sander, AOC and Omar are right. It is a coup. And the military is not protecting protesters; it is protecting an interim government, chosen by the military, not elected by anyone. The coup is clearly designed to replace Morales with a pro-US puppet. So far at least 9 people have died as of Nov. 19. Those people were killed by either the military or police, both of whom have backed the new government.
Sanders is also right that Morales has been very popular and has done a lot to fight poverty in his country. That may be why so many US leaders oppose him.
According to Aljazeera:

“During his 14 years in power, Bolivia's economy had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America and poverty almost halved……"

Most congress people of both parties have declared their support for capitalism—a system dedicated to supporting the rights of millionaires and billionaires and putting wealthier people’s wants and needs above the needs of the poor and working poor. This policy is especially noticeable in US foreign policies. Leaders who support the needs of poor people are labeled as dictators or supporters of terrorism.  
It is time for the common US people to stand up for the rights of poor and working poor. It is time to stand up against US Imperialism.

8 Killed In BoliviaAs Protesters Call For Return of Ousted President Evo Morales


↧

Rashida Tlaib: Trump is ‘scared’ of the squad

November 22, 2019, 2:40 pm
$
0
0

I don’t know if President Donald Trump is really afraid of the “Squad,”but I like what Tlaib has to say about him. Trump, and much of the conservative part of our news media are always searching for ways to try and humiliate the “Squad” and make them all look stupid. Trump and his conservative followers all seem to hate the very idea of the word socialism. If they are not afraid of the “Squad” they seem to fear that such socialist ideas may catch on. In that sense they are terrified of that idea. –SJ Otto

Rep. Rashida Tlaib came out swinging Saturday, saying President Trump was afraid of her and other members of “the squad.”
“It’s been very clear to me, especially this last week, that he’s scared of us,” Tlaib told the Guardian in her first interview since declining Israel’s invitation to visit her grandmother on humanitarian grounds.
“He’s afraid of women of color … because we’re not afraid of him and we’re not afraid to speak up and say that we have a white supremacist in the White House who has a hate agenda,” Tlaib said.
For the rest click here.

↧

Black Friday begins for another year—Ho! Ho! Ho!

November 22, 2019, 5:15 pm
$
0
0

By SJ Otto

Each year I write about Black Friday, that fabricated holiday that corporate and capitalist leaders came up with to promote an orgy of gift selling and buying. Most of this was actually written last year. I just updated it a little.
I’ve never really liked this holiday, especially since I am a member of Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) and this phenomenon is the antithesis of my beliefs. I especially dislike sitting through all those stupid television commercial. And yet I have to admit that it is almost amusing, the sheer silliness of it. Most people who take part in this orgy of consumerism wait until the day after Thanksgiving and they get up at ridiculously early hours to buy things no one really needs—really cheap at the stores who promote this holiday. I even enjoy making fun of some of the advertising, especially the TV ads.
This is a prelude to the Christmas season, two months, or more, of shopping for gifts for family members and friends. People spend a ridiculous amount of money on people who will probably never appreciate all the money, time and effort it took to buy all these gifts for this gift-giving season. This is for a holiday celebrating the birth of a poor god-man. The actual holiday was started over many thousands of years ago, to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Most of the traditions—Christmas tree, Santa Claus figure, mistletoe, gift giving was carried over through Christianity (about 2,000 years ago if we can believe the modern AD calendar).


There were some ancientgod festivals such asSaturnalia. That festival was an ancient Roman festival in honour of the god Saturn, held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 23 December. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms: gambling was permitted, and masters provided table service for their slaves as it was seen as a time of liberty for both slaves and freedmen alike. A common custom was the election of a "King of the Saturnalia", who would give orders to people, which were to be followed and preside over the merrymaking. The gifts exchanged were usually gag gifts or small figurines made of wax or pottery known as sigillaria. The poet Catullus called it "the best of days".

This is supposed to be a day to promote a religion that seems to have little to do with the actual Christmas holiday, or Black Friday.
It almost seems that venders can hardly wait for the Christmas season to begin. Christmas decorations go up in the stores the day after Halloween (AKA Samhain). Corporations can hardly wait to begin hawking their wares.
Every year I make fun of Black Friday and post satirical songs and pictures. I will have more postings for the actual real day of Black Friday. Ridiculing this holiday requires more than just one posting.



Bad News - Cashing In On Christmas




Santa Claus Used to be a spirit of generosity and gift giving. Today he represents raw capitalism. 

Uncle Bernie's Farm- Mothers




What could be more diabolical than Fred Flintstone hawking cigarettes?
I like cigarette advertising because it represents the ultimate crime of capitalism. Cigarettes were addictive, horrible for our health and they were advertised as if they were perfectly harmless. There as no concern for people’s health and that industry continues to sell their poison today. This is not a case of just one product that should have not been promoted, capitalism will sell anything that makes a buck and they don’t really care what the consequences are.


↧
Search

Trump's pardon of war criminals demonstrates his stupidity

November 27, 2019, 6:12 am
$
0
0

By SJ Otto
There are two main reasons I don’t like President Donald Trump. The first is that he has promoted a far-right agenda that has robbed working people of their rights and pushed back progressive policies in general. That is my main reason for not liking the man. But there is a second reason—he is a buffoon—an ignoramus who simply does not have the common sense needed to be a president. The second reason to dislike the man is probably the main reason most of Trump’s opponents don’t like him.
Just recently Trump pardoned three soldiers who committed war crimes. This includes killing people without any due process. One of these guys shot at unarmed civilians for no real reason at all. Not only have these people committed serious crimes, their own commanders wanted to punish them and Trump overturned their actions. According to CNN:

“President Donald Trump touted his move to intervene in the cases of three service members accused of war crimes at a campaign rally on Tuesday, framing the objections he faced from senior Pentagon officials as coming from the "deep state."
"Just this week I stuck up for three great warriors against the deep state. You know what I'm talking about," Trump said. "And so many people said, 'Sir, I don't think you should do that.'"

I could go on and on about the imperialist nature of the use of our military, but instead I will focus on the stupidity of this action. It is no surprise that military leaders feel they have been undermined and their jobs are now harder thanks to Trump’s foolish actions. From CNN:

“The comments come a day after criticism from Trump's former secretary of the Navy, Richard Spencer, who said the President's intervention in the case of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher showed the nation's troops "that you can get away with things."

It’s not hard to figure out why the military is upset with Trump. The military has its own ways of doing things. Leaders expect discipline. They have to have control of the troops under them. Imperialism aside, US troops lose the trust of those local civilians who have cooperated with the US army. Now many people will wonder if these troops can be trusted at all. They now know that if they are killed randomly by these troops, nothing will be done about it. Many in Congress also have questioned Trumps pardons. From The Hill:

Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, are pressing the Department of Justice to answer questions about President Trump’s pardons of U.S. soldiers accused of war crimes. 
The Democratic senators want to know whether the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney was involved in the decisions to pardon soldiers accused of unlawful military executions, including fatal shootings of unarmed civilians.
They also asked whether the Justice Department issued any advice or recommendations to the Whiteboard me know House and whether it coordinated at all with the Department of Defense, where senior officials were initially opposed to the pardons. 

The bottom line here is that Trumps actions are just plain stupid. It doesn’t take much common sense to see that protecting murders in the military is just plain wrong and a very foolish move. Much of what our idiotic president does defies common sense.
I object to the wars these soldiers have been sent to, but regardless, Trump’s actions are extremely foolish. This is just one more reasons that so many people want to see Trump’s presidency come to an end.  
↧
↧

Thanksgiving is tomorrow

November 27, 2019, 9:17 am
$
0
0

By SJ Otto
Each year I write something about the traditional holiday Thanksgiving. It is a holiday based on miss-information and it is truly politically incorrect. The real story behind this holiday is not as cheerful as most people make it. However, people across the country, including me, will travel to a relative’s house for a traditional turkey dinner. It’s unlikely this holiday will just go away. But the one thing we can do is to let people know that this was not the happy story it was supposed to be. The Native American Indians helped the pilgrims survive their first winter and year in the American continent. Their reward was to be massacred and moved off the land they lived in for thousands of years. The genocide of the Native American Indians and the theft of their land and cultures is one of the greatest crimes committed by white people and their capitalist system. When people try to claim that socialism has caused more deaths and suffering than any other ideology, we need to point out that capitalism killed millions of people, during the US Indian wars.
So for the rest of the story:
Thanksgiving claims to have its roots in Plymouth Rock in the 17th century. But that event has little to do with the holiday we celebrate today. Native American Indians and white settlers from Europe came together to celebrate a difficult year, where the settlers
were helped by the Native Americans, who helped them grow corn and other new world vegetables. There was three days of feasting on native plants and animals, such as fish and deer, corn and pumpkins. There were also games played. It was a real big bash. From that event until the 20th century, people found various reasons to get together and celebrate a kind of “end of the harvest” celebration.
The holiday we celebrate today was officially established in 1941. A “Thanksgiving” celebration has taken place from various days of the years and inspired by various events, such as the end of the Civil War. This took place off and on throughout US history, until the official holiday was declared, by Congress and the President, in 1941. The traditional fixings and food menu, such as turkey, came from a women’s magazine in the 1850s. Thanksgiving is a holiday dominated by Christianity, even though it is legally a secular holiday. Being Christian isn’t necessary to this celebration, but most Christians see it as a time to “give thanks to God.” While it is a nice day to get together with friends and family, it is ironic that we celebrate an event in which white settlers from Europe came together to feast and party with Native American Indians. For most of our history after that this country fought at least two Indian wars and Native American Indians didn’t enjoy all of the benefits of being American citizens until the early 20th century, when they were finally declared to be US citizens.
For a truly ghoulish look at the Thanksgiving holiday see: “American Thanksgiving: A Pure Glorification of Racist Barbarity” –from Humans are Free.
There are some groups of people who find it barbaric to celebrate a holiday by killing a bird and eating it. Some people are vegetarians and don’t take part in eating a dead bird. Some religions oppose eating and killing dead animals.

Alien Sex Fiend - Stuff The Turkey




↧

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her squad are the few US Democrats who stand between the poor, the working poor and those of us who lack political clout!

November 29, 2019, 6:17 pm
$
0
0

By SJ Otto
The New York Post provided the internet with this head line:

AOC raised most money among House Dems for reelection campaign

Then they started the article:

 

US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raked in more money for her reelection campaign in the last fundraising quarter than any other House Democrat — including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, records show.


For progressives as myself this could not be better news. For 30 years now our news media and congress have been dominated by savvy intelligent conservative Republicans who have year after year, pushed this country farther and farther to the right. I used to say, “It can’t get worse than this,” and year after year, the Republicans have proven me wrong. It can always get worse. And I have seen that proven out.
Now after all these years we had a Democrat, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, elected to office who is a member of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). There are many people, about my age, who thought this would be impossible. But it wasn’t and not only that, she has been very effective and smart. It would seem that progressive people around the country have taken notice to her and have contributed to her re-election campaign.
She also has 14.3 retweets and likes on Twitter, which is further testimony to the political power of progressive political people of all kinds. President Donald Trump has 41.88 million and his is one of the few national politicians who have more twitter activity than she does.
AOC has had a lot of negative publicity over her “New Green Deal,” and she is often ridiculed by rightwing pundits who try to claim she is stupid, dumb and doesn’t know anything about politics. But she has proven to be a real savvy and intelligent politician. There is no way that the media as a whole can seriously blow her off as just a flake. Some time back The Guardian wrote:

“The massive crowd had gathered in Queens because Ocasio-Cortez had endorsed Bernie Sanders for president. The Sanders campaign had bet on the so-called “AOC effect” buoying his candidacy, and Ocasio-Cortez’s political clout was on full display that afternoon. But the real evidence that the “AOC effect” will deliver returns for Democrats and progressives in coming years is not in Sanders’ resilience but in the power of local progressives like Cabán, who are changing expectations about what is possible in their cities and states nationwide.It goes without saying that Ocasio-Cortez is both a catalyst and result of the left’s invigoration since 2016. Nationwide, many other primary challengers have attempted to unseat Democratic incumbents they say are milquetoast or bought off by corporate donors. Unlike Ocasio-Cortez, many have lost their primary bids. If we think short-term, those candidates failed.

So politicians across the country are taking AOC very serious. Again according the New York Post:

Brendan Quinn of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks fundraising, agreed that AOC’s fundraising juggernaut is unusual for a rookie.
He called it a testament to her popularity and tremendous name recognition, saying, “She’s become iconic.”
As for the rest of the New York House delegation, Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, for example, raised $499,739 during the same period.

Along with AOC is her “squad,” fellow progressives who have also been elected. They include;
Rashida Tlaib,  Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and of course AOC. All of these women have become a symbol for progressive politics. The others are not as well known as AOC, but they all represent a big depart from the Centrist Democrats that have dominated Congress and the Democratic Party since the days of Ronald Reagan.
The New York Postexplains:

 “Her rookie sidekick, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, raised $722,212.”

For now, let’s not fall into the Republican trap of selling out our Democratic politicians. It is like the simple “let us support the left wing of the Democratic Party.” We have no reason to sell out our Democratic side of the political spectrum. Personal greed has no place in US politics, even though, such greed is a constant and obvious point in the system.

As with AOC—Resist!

Let us all fight the centrist and right-wing politicians—we can and will win!! 


↧

I’m celebrating the holidays—as with all of them, year after year—without Jesus or God

December 1, 2019, 6:50 pm
$
0
0

It is December 1 and it is time for the festivities to begin. Each year I try to post things about the so called “Christmas Holidays” (for non-Christians it is Winter Solstice or a different holiday, such as Yule). I like to post this article, not only for people in the US, but for those in other countries who may find US culture to be very different, hard to understand or just plain strange—such as Black Friday, Thanksgiving and Christmas itself.  –SJ Otto

It is December, encroaching on Christmas in this country, and as much as I love this festive season, I have to put up with those who have deemed themselves holy crusaders to try to keep Atheists and similar views out of this holiday season.
Some time ago people here realized that Jews don’t celebrate Christmas so some people began trying to include Chanukah in these holidays. In some cities, as in New Yorkthere are a lot of Jews. There are menorahs and many people say “happy Chanukah.”
There is also the newer holiday called Kwanzaa. Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966, as the first specifically African-American holiday. According to Karenga, the name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase matunda yakwanza, meaning "first fruits of the harvest", although a more conventional translation would simply be "first fruits".
A few years ago I studied Druidry and after a couple of years of hanging out with other pagans, I decided to go back to a more humanist approach to spirituality and I adapted the doctrines of Epicurus. Epicurus did not deny the existence of god(s) but decided that gods take care of gods and humans need to take care of themselves. He also told people we should learn not to blame everything on gods. ‘If your house is crushed by an earthquake it isn’t the anger of the gods, you built your house in an earthquake prone place.’ And he didn’t believe in an after-life.
But I still like the December and fall holidays, so I still celebrate Halloween or Samhain and Christmas which I call Winter Solstice. The solstice (AKA Yule or Saturnalia)
was actually the December holiday that was taken over by the early Christians. Many of the old symbols are still used—such as putting a tree in the house and decorating it.
I’m sure many atheists celebrate these holidays as well. So why then do some Christians get so angry if non-Christians want to celebrate the holiday? Why the blatant hatred against all of us by conservative Christians?
For example, a few years ago I saw an article in the Huff Post where the president of a Kentucky creationist museum told Fox News that Christmas was a “time to take on the atheists” who used their free speech rights to doubt the existence of God;
“Well, it wouldn’t be Christmas without someone complaining about Christ,” Fox & Friends host Elisabeth Hasselbeck told Creation Museum President Ken Ham, noting that atheists had put up a billboard in Time Square which suggested that Christ was not needed during Christmas.

“You know, the atheist who are a very small minority in the population have been trying to impose their religion of atheism on the culture now for quite a while,” Ham explained. “You know, getting Bible, prayer out of schools. Christian symbols out of public places.”
And the most infuriating statement from this person was;
“I mean, what’s the atheists’ message? There is no God? When you die that’s the end of you? So everything’s just meaningless and hopelessness?”

Why is it that if we don’t believe in god and a religion that focuses on god being more important than anything else we are “meaningless and hopeless?”
I am a socialist first and an Epicurean. Either way, I believe that people come first, not gods and not the afterlife. Why then are people like me accused of trying to put doubt about god in people?’ Don’t these Christians have enough faith in their own beliefs that they can stand it when some says “I don’t believe that?”
It is obvious that Ham does not really know what atheists believe, because he has raised the question ‘what do they believe in?’ I notice he didn’t bother to ask an atheist, he just assumed.  
Here in Kansas the town of Salina wanted to revive the old Mayor's Christmas Party and rename it Winter Holiday Party to be more inclusive. The town’s folks threw a hissy fit and the mayor changed the name back to Christmas.
Again the idiot from Fox said;
    
“The atheists are only a small part of the population,” Hamm said. “And really, it’s that minority, less than 2 percent of the population, that seem to be having such say in our culture, in imposing their anti-God religion.”

I’m not trying to promote anything—I’m trying to celebrate some holidays. I’m part of the culture of this country whether this fool likes it or not. He can’t erase non-Christians and atheist from this country.
I like celebrating the Winter Solstice and I get to do all the fun stuff, such as decorating a tree, putting lights on my house, toasting with wine, and giving a few gifts to close friends. My spirituality does not come from a god. It comes from within those who share my beliefs. That works for me and I plan to stick with that.
SO:

Have a Happy Winter Solstice! —Or Christmas/ Yule/ Saturnalia, etc!


The following movie clip is a great satire of TV commercials:

UHF Movie CLIP - SpatulaCityCommercial (1989)



Jethro Tull BBC Promo Vid for Solstice bells 1976



This is a classic I play each year:

The Kinks - Father Christmas




↧

Critics call out this ad for the over-priced Peloton exercising bike—sexism—snobbery—deception

December 4, 2019, 7:22 am
$
0
0
By SJ Otto
So far this season I have written about advertizing in general, even when it is not the Christmas season and I have written about Black Friday and other articles about the ridiculous advertising that clutters up our TVs and social media.
I was very glad when I found out that an ad for a Peloton exercising bike has received a shit-load of flack for peddling an extremely expensive item, in a sexist and demeaning way. I found the ad extremely annoying for a number of reasons and I was glad when I found out other people have complained about it also.
My biggest complaint against advertising is the outright deception. Sure, at times the product or service is not what it claims, but there are other types of deception. Most of these ads use actors who have nothing to do with the actual product. They use propaganda techniques that have been used to deceive people over political candidates and causes. We often see such techniques as just plain folks, the bandwagon affect, snob appeal and the stacked deck. The worst deception is in creating a desire/ need where none really exists. It is only when the deception is extra bad that people complain about ads. That is what has happened with the Peloton ad.
According to CNN:

“Social media is awash in critics who have seen the ad and are confounded by its aims, accusing Peloton of peddling negative body image, unchecked privilege, and gross marital dynamics.
This much is clear: We're living in a post-Peloton holiday ad world now.”

Another part of the article looks at, what they call “privilege.” The bike cost over $2,000, so this is not a simple gift for the average household. The ad is aimed at upper-middle to upper class households. Again CNN said:

“Past Peloton ads haven't inspired as much buzz as this one has, but critics have knocked the privileged consumers they portray and market to.
In a thread, a Twitter user who uses the handle Clue Heywood poked fun at all the Peloton ads that take place in million-dollar homes with "panoramic living rooms" and "glass-enclosed zen gardens," starring thin women and men who don't sweat as much as they shimmer.”

This is a very bourgeois ad and the deception here is that the cost of this bike is never mentioned. Critics have accused the ad of being sexist. They also criticize it for promoting unrealistic body images. Again in the CNN article:

“Critics suggested it smacked of sexism. In a biting clip, comedian Eva Victor skewered the fact that a husband bought his wife an exercise bike seemingly unprompted -- what message does that send to the wife, then?
Perhaps Grace from Bostonjust wanted an actual bike or an Instant Pot or something, but in Victor's clip, it seems her husband was nudging her toward weight loss.
About weight loss -- It's never explicitly mentioned that Grace from Bostonuses the bike to slim down, and she's already quite slender when we meet her. We know exercise benefits the body and mind, but in this ad and others, it seems Peloton bikes are used only by people who are already fit.”

And for me the part of the ad that I really find deceptive is when the woman in the ad said:

"A year ago, I didn't realize how much this would change me," she says, now a full believer.”

So what is so great about this machine that she believes the bike has changed her? This is the part, similar to most other ads, in which the actor acts as if the product is miraculous and convinces her (or him in other commercials) that she could never live without this wonderful product. It has been pointed out that, after a year, this actress looks the same. So there is no logical explanation as to why this product is so wonderful that she can no longer imagine that she or anyone else could live without this exercising bike.
I hope other ads come under the same kind of scrutiny that this one did. It may not be possible to get rid of advertising at this time, as they did in Cuba, but at least we can put advertisers under the kind of scrutiny that will promote more honesty in their work—and less deception.

Peloton’s ‘Grace From Boston’ Holiday Ad Has Angered The Internet




↧
↧

Peace and Social Justice Center, of South Central Kansas Annual Dinner

December 6, 2019, 2:22 pm
$
0
0

Save the Date! Our speakers this year will be Gretchen Eick and Michael Poage. Join us at our annual dinner to learn, eat, and hear about our plans for the future of the organization.

Details

Date:
December 6
Time:
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Cost:
$25
↧

Article 0

December 8, 2019, 3:40 pm
$
0
0

By SJ Otto
This year is a major change for the Peace and Social Justice Center, of South Central Kansas.  This year’s Annual Dinner was more or less, a water shed year. The organization is planning to sell the house that has been a major part of the center. After years of being an anchor for this organization, the house is now being sold off. That is because the house is way too expensive for the peace and social justice to keep up.
Daniel DeGroot, employee for the Peace and Social Justice Center,
discussed the intended future of the Peace and Social Justice Center.
He explained that plans fore the peace house include meeting at coffee shops, libraries, and where ever people gather. The idea is to grow and be where the people are. The monthly board meetings now meet at Dan’s house.
The crowd was not as big as many in the past. The peace and social justice center did not pull the crowds it has in the past. I can remember years in which we had over a hundred people in attendance. This year it was less than half of that. It is hard to say why exactly this year had such a big drop in attendance, but as DeGroot said, this is a year of great change. We can hope that the changes implemented will result in greater membership.
change. We can hope that the changes implemented will result in greater membership.
Music and entertainment was provided by Barbara Gingrich.
The main speaking event was by Mike Poage and Gretchen Eick, who have spent a lot of time in living in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As they explained it, it was not a civil war but attempts of ethnic cleansing.



That is it was an attempt to virtually wipe out large groups of people.
As the two explained it, Josip Broz Tito died in 1980. 127 heads of state came to his funeral.
“He was Communist, but not really a communist,” Poage said.
But as Poage explained Tito had prevented the kind of ethnic fighting that took part after he died.
As Poage and his wife Gretchen explained Serbia had the fourth largest army in the world and when the nations that had made up Yugoslaviabegan to pull away, Serbiahad decided not to tolerate that. Not only did they decide to punish those who pulled away, they decided to eradicate certain people. As the two explained, between 1992 and 1996 1/3 people in those countries died. The couple described horrible atrocities committed by members of various military factions. At one point a young man was ordered to pick up pieces of his father after he had been hacked to death into little pieces. As they both explained some of he experiences they had witnessed contributed to what we would all consider PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder).
As to the role of the US, they said many citizens were grateful for the US’s role in stopping the military onslaught, but afterwards the US allowed for the countries to be divided into three separate entities based on religion. That included the Eastern-Orthodox Christians, the Croats as Roman Catholics, and the Bosnian Muslims.
Both Poage and Eick discussed Slobodan Milošević, the former president of Serbia. They were not particularly found of him.
While it was more than generous that the US would come and try to stop the slaughter of these people, we can always expect the US to try and push for their underhanded promotion of US greed and dazzlement of our support of Technological toys. That is what US culture is really all about!
The UShad set up what they called “The American Corner program,” a program to learn English and learn American culture. And we all know what US culture is really all about.
So while I can support defending people’s lives and not loving the shear slaughter of others, I know that this country never gives anything to anyone without some kind o “quid per quo!”





↧
Search

These holidays are a disgusting binge of capitalism

December 10, 2019, 7:04 pm
$
0
0

Now we have Green Monday. Another shopping holiday brought to you by both retailers, who just can’t sell enough crap and ABC News who have acted as one big commercial for all of this garbage. I am totally sick of all of this. No matter what this holiday is supposed to be about, it can just be a capitalist smorgasbord of mindless shoppers. I am totally discussed by all of this.
Also our mainstream news media have become nothing more than pimps.

↧

Money for the poor should not be moved to the military—for our permanent and unnecessary war

December 13, 2019, 7:12 am
$
0
0




From Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
This holiday season, more than 700,000 Americans received notice that the Trump administration would be cutting their food stamps. Just weeks later, the Defense Department received notice of their holiday bonus: $738 billion in spending, a $22 billion raise over last year.
It gets worse. Not only are we spending nearly a trillion dollars on war, but Republicans in the House stripped an amendment that would have ended our support for the war in Yemen. That was our best shot at ending a conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
When we spend $738 billion on war, we rob the American people of the future they deserve. When we buy more tanks and planes, we take away money for education. When we’re paying for drone strikes, we’re not helping Black and Brown families stay in their homes as gentrification skyrockets.
Our priorities are out of line.
The Republican Party isn’t against spending, they’re against spending that would help all of us. They’re against spending to build an Americawhere every family has a right to housing, education, and dignity.

↧
↧

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Christmas At Ground Zero

December 15, 2019, 9:41 am
↧

Biden says AOC doesn’t represent views of most Democrats—but a lot of young Democrats DO support AOC!

December 15, 2019, 5:46 pm
$
0
0

By SJ Otto

These headlines say it all:
“Biden says (Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) AOC doesn’t represent views of most Democrats: You 'got it all wrong'“[1]
Yes, Biden and others have rejected AOC, Bernie Sanders and even the more moderate versions of progressivism from Rep. Elizabeth Warren.
President Donald Trump has done a lot to damage this country. He took away health care for millions of people. For the poor and working poor, he actually raised their taxes while he gave his rich  buddies a big tax break and the middle and upper-middle classes a temporary tax break (for five years). Trump pardoned war criminals, he cancelled US global warming commitments, and commitments with Iranand he has reversed changes in US relations with Cuba. So are the Democrats running for the president going to fix any of this? The answer from Sanders and Warren is yes. But for Joe Biden and such centrists as Peter Buttigieg that is far less certain. Those two definitely don’t plan on changing our health care system to a single payer program that covers all people. If they win, forget any kind of action to protect us from our predatory health care system.
So what is the point of voting the monster Trump out, if most of these Democrats are not going to fix any of this?
In my opinion, there is almost no real advantage to voting out Trump for Biden or Buttigieg. A lot of my friends like Buttigieg because they think he can beat Trump. But in my opinion there is no advantage to electing a conservative person who is not going to fix the problems Trump has created.
For myself and this site, we reject any centrist Democrat who does not plan to fix what this terrible president has broken. It is not enough to just stop hurting people—we need to reverse what this ass hole has done. To do less than that is a waist of time. It is Warren who said:

"I don't understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running to the president of the United States to talk about what we really can't do and shouldn't fight for. I don't get it. Our biggest problem in Washington is corruption. It is giant corporations that have taken our government and that are holding it by the throat, and we need to have the courage to fight back against that and until we're ready to do that, it's just more of the same.”

There is no reason to support anyone for president who does not have the courage to fight for the change that this country sorely needs.  And Biden is right that AOC does not represent all Democrats. But the young Democrats today support her for sure and they will not go out and take the time to vote if they are just going to be asked to vote for a centrist who promises not to change anything.


↧

Keep The Merry, Dump The Myth! (Official) - Peter D'Angelo

December 20, 2019, 12:01 pm
$
0
0

Today is the real day I celebrate for these holidays—Winter Solstice, Dec. 21. This is the eve of this holiday.

↧
Viewing all 1137 articles
Browse latest View live
Search