22 August 2013

Sometimes a great nation

Tonight's guest on Virtually Speaking with Jay Ackroyd is Kevin Murphy, speechwriter, ghostwriter, researcher, editor, and advisor to progressive campaigns and political organizations, who will talk about 1920s progressive context, thought and action and how progressives became liberals. Check out Kevin's report, Uphill All the Way: The Fortunes of Progressivism, 1919-1929.

Well, the headline news is from the UK, where the security services made all sorts of threats and oversaw the destruction of the Guardian's hard drives containing leaked material from Snowden. Of course, this was more symbolic - of life in a police state - than any actual impediment to the continuing coverage of the Snowden leaks by the paper, since, what with the interwebs and all, there are copies elsewhere, but gosh, they're not even trying to hide it anymore, are they?

Meanwhile, The Washington Post says, "U.S. had advance notice of Britain's plan to detain reporter Glenn Greenwald's partner" - but they deny orchestrating it. Not that I believe anything that comes out of the White House, of course. Glenn and David appeared on Anderson Cooper's show to respond. And Jeffrey Toobin made an ass of himself in reaction.

There is some interesting and credible speculation that all of this is a prelude to an attempt to indict Glenn Greenwald.

"'They'll Be Laughing in Moscow and Beijing.' A Former British Defence Minister Writes... [...] And what was the response of the UK to the revelation that GCHQ are hoovering up our emails and Skype calls? We arrested Greenwald's boyfriend. Are you serious?"

Well, at least it's all generated some comic relief at the Daily Mash: "Guardian ordered to destroy bourgeois lifestyle articles"

On the other hand, the climate of suppressing free speech starts at home, where Brad Friedman reports: "Scott Walker's War Against Free Speech Escalates: Elected Official, News Editor Arrested in WI."

"Bradley Manning Sentenced to 35 Years After Obama's Broken Promise to Whistleblowers" - Just another example of how much Obama's word to you is worth.
"'The force of days': Manning's 35 very long years [...] 'Every hour, every minute, every second when you're first isolated, you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel,' Stepanian said, stressing that every inmate responds differently to life in a cell. 'It's only when you get out that you can even quantify your time in there,' he told me, audibly shaken by Manning's sentencing. ('When I heard 35 years, I cried,' the former federal inmate and current social justice advocate said, noting Manning's diminutive frame. 'He looked like a 14-year-old.')"
Greg Mitchell reminds us of "What Manning Revealed".

What are SWAT teams good for? Why, to protect us from okra, of course.

"Why the White House is uneasy with picking Janet Yellen as Fed chair" - Atrios called this.

Via Suburban Guerilla, Jim Hightower explains, "The Trans-Pacific Partnership is not a trade agreement, it's corporate coup d'etat - against us!"

If you thought Radley Balko was being alarmist about the militarized mentality of the cops, here's a cop who actually thinks that mentality is the right one - and he trains other cops: "We trainers have spent the past decade trying to ingrain in our students the concept that the American police officer works a battlefield every day he patrols his sector." Not his "neighborhood"; his "sector". And he's just one of many who feel the same way. They don't think they're in American neighborhoods, they think they're in Afghanistan.

14-year-old vs. Monsanto apologist - nicely done.

Alex Pareene, "The rich, summed up: Nepotism, cronyism, narcissism"

Obama the bunny-killer: "The Latest Victim of Sequestration: Bunnies?"
"An America of the puppy, by the puppy and for the puppy" - that about sums it up.

What The Hell Is This Horned Sea Monster That Washed Ashore in Spain?

Neat paintings of scientifictional stuff in everyday settings

Benny Goodman, "If I Had You"

Terry Stafford, "Suspicion"

9 comments:

  1. "Bradley Manning Sentenced to 35 Years After Obama's Broken Promise to Whistleblowers" - Just another example of how much Obama's word to you is worth.

    If only we were plutocrats...
    ~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For sure.

      Bradley Manning forced Obama to do something he wanted to do anyway...so naturally Obama threw the book at him. What an a**hole.

      Delete
  2. About those bunnies ... Sounds like after they petted them and played with them they were going to use them for medical experiments. If I were the bunny I think I'd prefer euthanasia.

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  3. I'm not yet sure about the Bradley Manning verdict.
    Some heavy hitters were after his ass, as they've been demonstrating for the last couple of years. But the news said that he could be paroled in 8 to 10 years. In context, that strikes me as close to minimal. (Yeah, that's a big "in context".) I wonder how the judge arrived at the sentence.

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  4. The right's oft proclaimed "Clinton was responsible for the policies that led to Bush's economic collapse" gains credibitly with each passing day. If Summers, the author of those policies, is anointed head of the Fed I'll buy it.

    It was a grand notion.

    No.fear.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, how TERRIBLY CONVENIENT...huh?

    "Syrian rebels are sharing numerous videos that they claim proves the use of chemical weapons...The series of bombings began just 48 hours after a team of 10 United Nations observers arrived in Damascus. [This] after several months of negotiations with the Syrian government...observers were allowed into the country to inspect whether or not chemical weapons were being used."

    http://observers.france24.com/content/20130822-chemical-weapons-claims-syrian-activists

    So the Syrian government invites a team of 10 United Nations chemical weapons observers and after a just enough time for them to get their gear set up starts attacking rebels with chemical weapons.

    Now who in their e'ffing right mind would believe this tragic farce? So bad in fact, it reminds of these guys :

    "On the night of August 31, 1939, Nazis selected a concentration camp prisoner, dressed him in a Polish uniform, took him to the Polish /German border and then shot him. The staged scene was supposed to appear as a Polish attack against a German radio station. Hitler used the staged attack as the excuse to invade Poland."

    Please re-post, if the spooks who supported this laughable timing become widely ridiculed, perhaps, the planned bombing campaign will have to be delayed for appearances sake.

    - S Brennan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The better analogy is "9/11" as America's Reichtag...

      But history only repeats to those who pay attention.

      No.fear.

      Delete
    2. US prepares to attack Syria http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-chemical-weapons-20130825,0,4388739.story

      - S Brennan

      Delete