Sunday, March 15, 2015
YUP.
http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/cia-cash-ended-ip-in-al-qaida-coffers/http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/cia-cash-ended-ip-in-al-qaida-coffers/
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
MN Timberwolves Profile Fans by Race, Class
MN Timberwolves profile fans by race, class
By Rashard Zanders, Twin Cities -- A disturbing event happened last Friday at the Target Center towards the end of the MN Timberwolve's narrow victory over the Phoenix Suns that doesn't match the feel-good vibe the team is selling with the pending return of franchise builder Kevin Garnett.
I occasionally get home game tickets from a friend who is a season ticket holder. His work schedule prevents him from going to most of the games so he gives pairs of game tix away...often to me since I am the biggest hoops junkie in the coffeehouse we frequent. Last Friday night I was too unenthused, even with the news of KG's return, to go to the game. So I gave both tickets to my friends E and his rabid KG fan bud, A.
Granted, these are not the best seats in the world...upper bowl...view semi obstructed by a guard rail...but hey, free is free and I enjoy an NBA experience now and then.
Given the fact that the Timberwolves rarely sell out it is common for fans at the game to bunch in, or upgrade, to better seats that sit empty, but are closer to the action. The first time I did this I did so with the permission of a cool usher whom I had notified of my desire to upgrade seats. If the original ticket holders did eventually appear I would just go back to my assigned seat.
Of course, many upgrade without getting the nod from team reps.
Nonethess, despite KG's announced return, Friday's game was no sell-out. Thus E & A decided to upgrade to seats in the lower bowl to begin the game's second half. And as casually as that, they were presently seated amidst the higher priced seats just a few rows from the action.
And then things got ugly. I am paraphrasing as best as I can from the account E gave upon returning from the game:
E & A, both white, admittedly looked like yuppies at the game; collared shirts, slacks, dress shoes. Seated behind them were two other white keen dressed in hoodies and jeans. In front of them was a Black couple..actually, they weren't there as a couple until about five minutes remained in the game.
According to E& A they took, and enjoyed the upgraded seats without hassle, despite not being in their assigned ones in the upper bowl.
The two white men in hoodies and the black couple in front were accosted by security and ushers two and three times respectively during the second half: each time showing their ticket stubs to confirm that they were indeed in the seats they paid for.
The stubs did not satisfy them. Ushers and security returned again and again asking the same people for the same proof they had just minutes ago produced. E and A noticed that off all the folks in their section, that they were the only ones out of place, and no one said a word to them.
When the ushers returned a third time to check the black couple's tickets...E & A could remain silent no more. A decided to confront the usher and pointedly (literally) poked him in the chest several times, and informed him that they had been sitting in that section without tickets. The conversation became more heated..Authority hates being called on their hypocrisy in public. Eventually, more security types descend on the section, and proceed to escort E and A, the couple, and the two men in hoodies out of Target Center.
Folks, this is the real Minneapolis; the true face of "Minnesota Nice" is best expressed "Minnesotan Ice". As local media and civic leaders continue to spin an image of the Minneapolis as some kind of miracle, those in the know know it is a mirage, full of more racial disparities in employment, health, economics, education than almost every other state. In Minneapolis the miracles don't extend people of color, nor the poor -- mirages do however
Eventually, E & A sojourned to a nearby Scottish bar and shook it off over multiple brews and single-malt scotches, but the harm is done. KG or no KG, the Timberwolves organization has lost some fans.
Much is being written locally and nationally about the positive impact KG will bring to the 'wolves' locker room, full of young and athletic talent that could transform the long suffering franchise into a perennial championship contender in a few short years.
Hopefully, he can have an equally powerful impact on the subtly bigoted culture the team apparently wants to promote, and make it a franchise that welcomes all fans, regardless off class or race.
Rashard Zanders is a freelance writer "living" and working in the Twin Cities. He can be reached at 872.228.4179 or via email at rashard.zanders@gmail.com.
--
Rashard Zanders
http://soundcloud.com/rashard-the-invisiblemaan
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=76465828&trk=tab_pro
872-228-4179
Thursday, February 19, 2015
how to plant false evidence according to police who do it regularly
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/officer-reveals-planting-evidence-lying-part-game/http://thefreethoughtproject.com/officer-reveals-planting-evidence-lying-part-game/
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Monday, February 16, 2015
Who protects us from the bankers?
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/12/hsbc-files-swiss-bank-hid-money-for-suspected-criminalshttp://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/12/hsbc-files-swiss-bank-hid-money-for-suspected-criminals
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
JRW to remain city champs.
Editor's note: Some media in Chicago spent a disproportionate amount of time "investigating" JRW while the city itself crumbles, TIF funds are misappropriated, neighborhoods go without city services....smdh. It is a pattern of mainsteam media nationwide to tear down and vilify Black achievement...Look at the advantages white schools in the catholic league had over Mendel back in the day....kids from St. Rita, Laurence, Fenwick, had been playing and working out with those coaches since 6th, 7th grades. By the time we took the field as frosh we were going up against kids with two-three years experience on us... never any press about that.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/359465/mitchell-jackie-robinson-west-will-remain-citys-champs
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/359465/mitchell-jackie-robinson-west-will-remain-citys-champs
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
nyt: Lynching in the USA
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/us/history-of-lynchings-in-the-south-documents-nearly-4000-names.html
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/us/history-of-lynchings-in-the-south-documents-nearly-4000-names.html
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/us/history-of-lynchings-in-the-south-documents-nearly-4000-names.html
Monday, February 09, 2015
"Unfortunately, the American people are mostly OK with torture, and Christians poll consistently in favor of the same tools that crucified their Lord."
by Rev. Rich Lang
With CIA torture and militarized police, it’s time for churches to use the pulpit to demand change
Dec 31, 2014, Vol: 21, No: 53
The release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA’s unconstitutional torture campaign, the CIA’s lies to Congress and its illegal spying on Congress ought to be a moment of repentance throughout the country. Unfortunately, the American people are mostly OK with torture, and Christians poll consistently in favor of the same tools that crucified their Lord.
Nevertheless, it seems to me that Christian clergy, perhaps now in our own last gasps of moral clarity, ought to see clearly that the American people are moving into a time of great moral squalor. Clergy ought to be teaching their congregations to discern the “signs of the times.” That is, we are no longer living in a democracy, but an oligarchy, where we’re ruled by a few; we’re no longer a nation of laws, but a nation of permanent war that supersedes law: we’re no longer free, but increasingly monitored.
It is my hope that clergy will address the state from the pulpit and, in its spiritual work, demand:
1. President Obama end the official “state of emergency” and “Continuity of Government” operations, which allows the government, in the face of a catastrophe, to continuing operating, procedures put into effect after 9/11
2. That we release Chelsea Manning and the dropping of all charges against Edward Snowden, and other truth-tellers who have released illegal state secrets
3. That we dismantle the CIA as a consequence of its pattern of lying to the American people
4. That we close Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and, as an act of penance, the return of the land to Cuba
5. That we end solitary confinement in domestic prisons, as a prelude to a complete overhaul of our own domestic — racist — penal system
6. That we sever the link between local policing and military armament
7. President Obama appoint an independent prosecutor, with subpoena powers, to investigate the chain of command that allowed these abuses to become policy. Given America’s disregard of the U.S. Constitution, perhaps that prosecutor should be under the protection and authority of the United Nations.
Further, it is my hope that clergy and their churches will:
8. Open our buildings for communities to congregate for the purpose of organizing resistance to and protest of the lawlessness of the state
9. Renounce American imperialism and its wars, teaching our parishes the ways of nonviolent resistance, while counseling our congregants to renounce participation in the armed forces and intelligence agencies of this lawless state
10. Use sacred story to connect the dots between imperial war and domestic repression.
The Church should teach its congregations to act as truth tellers and defenders of those who are called to protest and resistance.
All of this amounts to penance, a true remorse for becoming an unjust empire.
I think it’s time for the American church to re-read how Christians endured communism, colonialism and apartheid. (Blacklogic.blogspot editor's note: How he left out slavery is perplexing) Our task will be to endure unleashed military-capitalism. It is a time of warning, and the future will unfold through our faithfulness — or lack thereof.
Rev. Rich Lang is the pastor of University Temple United Methodist and can be contacted through http://utemple.org
Saturday, February 07, 2015
Friday, February 06, 2015
from Huffpost: Angela Davis on Policing in America
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/summer-noble/angela-davis-speaks-on-ra_b_6601260.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000047
"Why the mobilizations now?" Davis asked. Some would assume it's because so many black men and boys have been killed within a short amount of time; however, she reminded us that the issue of black men being targets of police violence is not a new occurrence, and it is important to correct the notion that it is. "There has been an unbroken line of racist police killings since the era of slavery." Davis declared."
Wednesday, February 04, 2015
HuffPost: Dick Gregory FINALLY gets star on "Walk of Fame"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/04/dick-gregory-the-walk-of-fame_n_6614396.html
Listen to him when he speaks. I have so much respect for our elders.
Listen to him when he speaks. I have so much respect for our elders.
Monday, February 02, 2015
Minneapolis's insidious policing practices exacerbate racial disparities....don't drink the MN nice kool aid!
and minneapolismn.gov.....
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@council/documents/webcontent/convert_271602.pdf
http://www.crimeandjustice.org/researchReports/Low%20Level%20Offenses%20in%20Minneapolis-%20An%20Analysis%20of%20Arrests%20and%20their%20Outcomes.pdf
"Hightlights of findings....
􀂾 For the select low level offenses in Minneapolis, the rates for receiving a citation or being
arrested in 2001 were:
o Whites: 1 in 60
o Blacks: 1 in 4
􀂾 Blacks were 15 times more likely than Whites to be either arrested or cited.
􀂾 Significant racial disparity occurs at point of contact between police and citizen.
􀂾 Disparity is not as evident as cases move forward from point of contact between police and
citizen, but is still found at some points of time in the process and is also extremely skewed
given the race of those who enter the process.
􀂾 Conviction rates for arrests are very small.
􀂾 21.9% of all people arrested were convicted (Black 19.3%, White 25.9%).
􀂾 Less than a third of the people charged have felony and/or gross misdemeanor convictions.
􀂾 Over 70% of the people charged have no prior convictions or only misdemeanor convictions.
􀂾 Multiple arrests of people who have no or few convictions occur much more frequently for
Blacks than Whites."
crimeandjustice.org
http://www.lsej.org/documents/118871Tab%20Charging.pdf
"The study compares the tab
charging mechanism to the other allowable methods by which a
criminal charge is brought against a defendant. The study then
discusses why tab charging tends to aggravate the racial
disparity endemic to the Minnesota criminal justice system."
Concerning police methods of arrest Minneapolis and how they exacerbate racial disparities.
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@council/documents/webcontent/convert_271602.pdf
http://www.crimeandjustice.org/researchReports/Low%20Level%20Offenses%20in%20Minneapolis-%20An%20Analysis%20of%20Arrests%20and%20their%20Outcomes.pdf
"Hightlights of findings....
􀂾 For the select low level offenses in Minneapolis, the rates for receiving a citation or being
arrested in 2001 were:
o Whites: 1 in 60
o Blacks: 1 in 4
􀂾 Blacks were 15 times more likely than Whites to be either arrested or cited.
􀂾 Significant racial disparity occurs at point of contact between police and citizen.
􀂾 Disparity is not as evident as cases move forward from point of contact between police and
citizen, but is still found at some points of time in the process and is also extremely skewed
given the race of those who enter the process.
􀂾 Conviction rates for arrests are very small.
􀂾 21.9% of all people arrested were convicted (Black 19.3%, White 25.9%).
􀂾 Less than a third of the people charged have felony and/or gross misdemeanor convictions.
􀂾 Over 70% of the people charged have no prior convictions or only misdemeanor convictions.
􀂾 Multiple arrests of people who have no or few convictions occur much more frequently for
Blacks than Whites."
crimeandjustice.org
http://www.lsej.org/documents/118871Tab%20Charging.pdf
"The study compares the tab
charging mechanism to the other allowable methods by which a
criminal charge is brought against a defendant. The study then
discusses why tab charging tends to aggravate the racial
disparity endemic to the Minnesota criminal justice system."
Concerning police methods of arrest Minneapolis and how they exacerbate racial disparities.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Tribute: The Thinkers who created Philosophy Born of Struggle -----------thank you!
Rashard Zanders, Twin Cities, MN -- Hey just wanna wish everyone a happy, blessed and safe weekend.
Here are some other movers and shakers just as important in the struggle for civil and human rights as MLK and Malcolm, but whom are largely marginalized by western academia and media. However, I am proud to call myself a student of African Philosophy, it is the one thing that has kept me centered and balanced through the never ending drama and bs that seems to find me, and gives me faith in the Diaspora and our eventual unity.
Here are some other movers and shakers just as important in the struggle for civil and human rights as MLK and Malcolm, but whom are largely marginalized by western academia and media. However, I am proud to call myself a student of African Philosophy, it is the one thing that has kept me centered and balanced through the never ending drama and bs that seems to find me, and gives me faith in the Diaspora and our eventual unity.
In these thinkers we had the answers all the time. These people called it, warned us, taught us, about the violent and lying beast we thought we could humanize. These Philosophers stand head and shoulders above the whole of western philosophy (Marx, you're not in that indictment!) devoid of ethics, imperialist and of the sole purpose to obfuscate our awareness of the master plan -- worldwide slavery.
W.E.B. Dubois
Assata Shakur
Audrey Lorde
bell hooks
Cheik Anta Diop
Edward Wilmot Blyden
Frantz Fanon
Ida B. Wells
John Henrick Clarke
Jomo Kenyatta
Patrice Lumumba
Dr. Manning Marable
Marcus Garvey
Kwame Nkrumah
Fr l to r, Bobby Seal and Huey Newton
Paul Robeson
Philosophy borne of struggle. It trumps philosophy borne in obfuscation and deception every time.
Rashard Zanders is a writer and artist eeking out the barest modicum of an existence in the Twin Cities, MN. With his lovely cat Thrilla they continue to spread the light of truth hither and thither, kinda the way the City of Chicago slings road salt in winter time. He can be reached via email at rashard.zanders@gmail.com
whatreallyhappened.com: COINTELPRO continues to haunt and affect Black lives
Reposting because this has no expiration date. RZ
http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/COINTELPRO/COINTELPRO-FBI.docs.html
http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/COINTELPRO/COINTELPRO-FBI.docs.html
Wtw? Howard U middle school fires teachers for teaching Black History?
Apparently, the teachers fired were even escorted out the building by police....for teaching Black History.
From a HBCU (Historically Black College or University).
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153123461353140&fref=nf
From a HBCU (Historically Black College or University).
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153123461353140&fref=nf
from Medium.com: How the CIA made Google
And I suppose that would be blogger too :(
https://medium.com/@NafeezAhmed/how-the-cia-made-google-e836451a959e
https://medium.com/@NafeezAhmed/how-the-cia-made-google-e836451a959e
WTW? White House says the Taliban aren't terrorists
and if the WH says it, it must be true :/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/28/white-house-spokesman-suggests-taliban-is-not-a-te/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/28/white-house-spokesman-suggests-taliban-is-not-a-te/
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Someone They Could Count On
"No single figure of the "unpopular" civil rights movement attracted the ire of the FBI more than Martin Luther King. Several attempts were made to discredit him and to drive him to suicide so that a more "tractable" synthetic leader could be manufactured to take his place; someone who would provide a focus for the black population, but who who could be counted on not to cross certain lines (and I note that when the children of Dr. King went public with their belief that James Earl Ray was actually innocent, the most vocal criticism of them came from the Reverend Jesse Jackson)".
http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1984/1101840507_400.jpg
Read more: whatreallyhappened.com http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/ARTICLE1/overlooked.php#ixzz3QDRmbQes
http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1984/1101840507_400.jpg
Read more: whatreallyhappened.com http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/ARTICLE1/overlooked.php#ixzz3QDRmbQes
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Rashard Zanders: The African-American community suffers from Stockholm Syndrome
"Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in
which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness. "de Fabrique, Nathalie; Romano, Stephen J.; Vecchi, Gregory M.; van Hasselt, Vincent B. (July 2007). FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (Law Enforcement Communication Unit) 76 (7): 10–15. ISSN 0014-5688."
Rashard Zanders --Twin Cities, MN -- Is capture bonding, or as it is better known, Stockholm Syndrome, is it a pandemic among African Americans? Do Blacks in the United States give a damn about their own liberation or do they consider themselves already full stakeholders in the American Dream, which is less about home-ownership than empire? In light of the plethora of American police brutality and torture on our nation's behalf, why do so many of us damn everyone else (everyone else in this case being folks who still demand justice and equal rights, human rights and a strengthening of the bonds in the African Diaspora)?
Is it something worse? Can a greedy, homicidal and racist enterprise make it's subjects fall in love with it?
Unfortunately, yes. We are proof of that. I'd even say 40-80 percent of Black people hate Blacks who are about Black empowerment. Those are people who suffer from Stockholm Syndrome. Nicely played whitey (the condition, not the person!), nicely played.
"Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness. "de Fabrique, Nathalie; Romano, Stephen J.; Vecchi, Gregory M.; van Hasselt, Vincent B. (July 2007). FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (Law Enforcement Communication Unit) 76 (7): 10–15. ISSN 0014-5688."
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2784572?sid=21105725681303&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&uid=3739736
Urbanintellectuals.com:
http://urbanintellectuals.com/2013/04/01/does-the-african-american-community-suffer-from-stockholm-syndrome/
From thyblackman.com:
http://thyblackman.com/2014/05/23/most-black-folks-suffer-from-stockholm-syndrome-like-missing-california-woman%E2%80%8F/
From diaryofanegress:
http://diaryofanegress.com/2012/11/15/stockholm-syndrome-the-negro-madness-disease/#
The Final Call's reporting on the subject:
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/sisterspace/article_100779.shtml
Islandmix.com offers:
http://www.islandmix.com/backchat/f6/stockholm-syndrome-slavery-244590/
There really is a lot of research on this subject, which kinda popped into my head last night, but had been percolating for a while. I have had Black friends and family tell me that I am angry because of my own lack of material success, personal failures in work and relationships, etc. And indeed I can honestly say that yes, I have lost most of the great battles for love and wealth an happiness,career and fame. But I have gained some modicum of WISDOM, or as the our ancient ancestors in Egypt referred to it, SBA, the divine wisdom that is the gift of M'AAT.
As social media continues to become more and more of a "necessary" evil in our lives I became aware of my friends' responses, or lack thereof, to my posts. They range from deafening silence to out and out hostility from 4/5ths of my approximately 200 Facebook friends.
Sometimes they won't even comment or respond to my posts directly, but on their own page offer a rebuttal without mentioning my name. If I post something critical of the president, because presidents should be criticized for their mistakes, I get replies such as "I stand with the president!" or "unfriend me" if I don't think like they do. But the worst is the silence, the abject numbness to current events. If I were posting pictures of my current deep-friend meal, Chicago stuffed-crust pizzas, or posts of my favorite childhood tooth-rot candy, or anything else "ratchet", I would get dozens-maybe-hundreds of hits, likes, comments and laughs. Post something about 340 plus inmates dying of unnatural causes in Florida's penal system in the span of one year...nothing...crickets.....5 minutes later some idiot or idiotess will post something akin to "I choose to be happy," essentially transmitting that denying the light of truth is a form of happiness.
As much as I hate the scourge of White supremacy, racism, favoritism, the myriad deceptions built into all of their institutions and their attendant obfuscations, I fear those sickened with this form of Stockholm Syndrome even more. Election 2016 has born this out, not that anyone should ever vote for Donald Trump, but the Clintons and the modern Democratic Party should not have a monopoly on the Black vote.Neither the Republicans. We should be birthing new parties and/or joining forces with our Green and Independent allies. At a time when we should be boycotting their parties and businesses, our votes will put either one of their worst two choices for POTUS at the theoretical head of this nation.
How does one try to educate or otherwise communicate with a population where 53 percent of them think God has favorite football teams and players?
Rashard Zanders' articles have appeared in the MN Spokesman-Recorder, The Madison-Times, The Capital Times, City Pages, DNAInfo and others spanning 25 years as a journalist. Rashard and his cat, Thrilla, may be reached via email at rashard.zanders@gmail.com
Rashard Zanders --Twin Cities, MN -- Is capture bonding, or as it is better known, Stockholm Syndrome, is it a pandemic among African Americans? Do Blacks in the United States give a damn about their own liberation or do they consider themselves already full stakeholders in the American Dream, which is less about home-ownership than empire? In light of the plethora of American police brutality and torture on our nation's behalf, why do so many of us damn everyone else (everyone else in this case being folks who still demand justice and equal rights, human rights and a strengthening of the bonds in the African Diaspora)?
Is it something worse? Can a greedy, homicidal and racist enterprise make it's subjects fall in love with it?
Unfortunately, yes. We are proof of that. I'd even say 40-80 percent of Black people hate Blacks who are about Black empowerment. Those are people who suffer from Stockholm Syndrome. Nicely played whitey (the condition, not the person!), nicely played.
"Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness. "de Fabrique, Nathalie; Romano, Stephen J.; Vecchi, Gregory M.; van Hasselt, Vincent B. (July 2007). FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (Law Enforcement Communication Unit) 76 (7): 10–15. ISSN 0014-5688."
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2784572?sid=21105725681303&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&uid=3739736
Urbanintellectuals.com:
http://urbanintellectuals.com/2013/04/01/does-the-african-american-community-suffer-from-stockholm-syndrome/
From thyblackman.com:
http://thyblackman.com/2014/05/23/most-black-folks-suffer-from-stockholm-syndrome-like-missing-california-woman%E2%80%8F/
From diaryofanegress:
http://diaryofanegress.com/2012/11/15/stockholm-syndrome-the-negro-madness-disease/#
The Final Call's reporting on the subject:
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/sisterspace/article_100779.shtml
Islandmix.com offers:
http://www.islandmix.com/backchat/f6/stockholm-syndrome-slavery-244590/
There really is a lot of research on this subject, which kinda popped into my head last night, but had been percolating for a while. I have had Black friends and family tell me that I am angry because of my own lack of material success, personal failures in work and relationships, etc. And indeed I can honestly say that yes, I have lost most of the great battles for love and wealth an happiness,career and fame. But I have gained some modicum of WISDOM, or as the our ancient ancestors in Egypt referred to it, SBA, the divine wisdom that is the gift of M'AAT.
As social media continues to become more and more of a "necessary" evil in our lives I became aware of my friends' responses, or lack thereof, to my posts. They range from deafening silence to out and out hostility from 4/5ths of my approximately 200 Facebook friends.
Sometimes they won't even comment or respond to my posts directly, but on their own page offer a rebuttal without mentioning my name. If I post something critical of the president, because presidents should be criticized for their mistakes, I get replies such as "I stand with the president!" or "unfriend me" if I don't think like they do. But the worst is the silence, the abject numbness to current events. If I were posting pictures of my current deep-friend meal, Chicago stuffed-crust pizzas, or posts of my favorite childhood tooth-rot candy, or anything else "ratchet", I would get dozens-maybe-hundreds of hits, likes, comments and laughs. Post something about 340 plus inmates dying of unnatural causes in Florida's penal system in the span of one year...nothing...crickets.....5 minutes later some idiot or idiotess will post something akin to "I choose to be happy," essentially transmitting that denying the light of truth is a form of happiness.
As much as I hate the scourge of White supremacy, racism, favoritism, the myriad deceptions built into all of their institutions and their attendant obfuscations, I fear those sickened with this form of Stockholm Syndrome even more. Election 2016 has born this out, not that anyone should ever vote for Donald Trump, but the Clintons and the modern Democratic Party should not have a monopoly on the Black vote.Neither the Republicans. We should be birthing new parties and/or joining forces with our Green and Independent allies. At a time when we should be boycotting their parties and businesses, our votes will put either one of their worst two choices for POTUS at the theoretical head of this nation.
How does one try to educate or otherwise communicate with a population where 53 percent of them think God has favorite football teams and players?
Rashard Zanders' articles have appeared in the MN Spokesman-Recorder, The Madison-Times, The Capital Times, City Pages, DNAInfo and others spanning 25 years as a journalist. Rashard and his cat, Thrilla, may be reached via email at rashard.zanders@gmail.com
Daily Kos: 340 inmates died in Florida's prisons via beatings, gassings, poison, in 2014
While God, the USA and friends are busy with pending superbowls and movie awards season, this is happening:
'tis NAZI USA:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/14/1357661/-Poisonings-beatings-gassings-Record-346-inmates-die-dozens-of-guards-fired-in-Florida-prisons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad8jHPuhiU4&spfreload=10
'tis NAZI USA:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/14/1357661/-Poisonings-beatings-gassings-Record-346-inmates-die-dozens-of-guards-fired-in-Florida-prisons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad8jHPuhiU4&spfreload=10
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Monday, January 26, 2015
Scott Walker Gets Drop-kicked -- Conscientious Band Confused about Hip Hop Though
Rashard Zanders, Twin Cities, MN – @The Dropkick Murphy's....kudos, props and huzzahs ad infinitum for smacking down Republican Gov. Scott Walker (WI) over his theft and appropriation of your song for his campaign stumps. Groups like you prove that it is okay to think and have a good time in song. For those of you who missed it, the DropKick Murphys are a Boston-based Celtic-Punk band. Upon learning that the anti -humanitarian Koch Brothers' drone had been using their song “I'm Shipping Up to Boston”. The band let the anti-union, anti-teacher, song-stealing man-brat know how they felt about him in this tweet:
“@Scott Walker @ Gov. Walker, please stop using our music in anyway...we literally hate you!!! Love, Dropkick Murphys.”
That's just dope. This is the second time, according to several sources, that republicans have stolen material from the DM's. As CrooksandLiars.com posted yesterday:
“Sadly,
this is the second time a Wisconsin conservative stole their music.
The
first time this
happened, DKM was direct about their feelings on this theft:
We just got word that Wisconsin State Rep and Speaker of the State Assembly Jeff Fitzgerald used "Shipping Up To Boston" as his walk-on song yesterday at the Wisconsin GOP Convention in Green Bay.
The stupidity and irony of this is laughable. A Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate candidate - and crony of anti-Union Governor Scott Walker - using a Dropkick Murphys song as an intro is like a white supremacist coming out to gangsta rap!
Fitzgerald: if you and your staff can't even figure out your music you might wanna give up on the politics!!!!!”Here is an observation though, and for the purpose of full disclosure I did post an abridged version of this opinion to the DM's Facebook page, and it is in no way a criticism of the band. Here is what I posted below in response to DM's assertion that republicans using their song was equivalent to the KKK opening their rallies with gangsta rap:
“Kudos for putting walker on blast...one observation though...in your statement you equated walker using your song to the kkk using gangsta rap. Actually, the kkk using gangsta rap would be very a propos as gangsta rap celebrates the destruction of Black people and families via misogyny, fratricide, hard drug dealing and basically reflects the values of cut-throat western capitalism.
“A more appropriate analogy would have been if the kkk walked out to songs by Krs-1 or Public Enemy, Dead Prez or Paris or someone like that, groups with a pro-community, un-apologetic Black unity philosophy. That was the hip hop the industry want(s, ed) to destroy...it had the potential to educate and entertain and it did. Thus we were given gangsta rap to stanch that crescendo of positivity, the "edutainment" rappers in Hip Hop. Gangsta rap doesn't represent the voice of the community nor most of the people in the inner cities from which it allegedly springs. Gangsta rap was created for the demographic that buys the most hip hop –white males – and is affirmed by the genre's infatuation with Black death.
“News of distraction, false flags: they happen whenever a movement threatens the wealthy and violent elite, i.e. 2014 ended with more people aware of police brutality and US torture. Those two events alone should have, if they weren't about to, led to a new crescendo of activism and awareness focusing on global inequality and how it is linked to inequality at home. And I believe we were about to see it, until the well-timed Paris shootings at Charlie Hebdo resurrected the current boogeymen of choice, Islamophobia to distract us, and preserve the power of the elite just a little longer. As soon as the world or a community reaches the brink of awareness, we get a false flagged. Gangsta rap, for all the millionaires it did make, helped displace many more positive artists. Believe that.”
Rashard Zanders is a freelance writer “living” in the Twin Cities, MN. He can be reached via email at rashard.zanders@gmail.com or by phone at 872-228-4179.
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Friday, January 23, 2015
The guy blaming everyone else was the guy doing the plagiarism, fyi -- I know because he got me in 2003.
Rashard Zanders, Twin Cities, MN -- Plagiarism is uncool. I remember freelancing for this weekly Black "paper" once that wasn't Insight or the MSR. My article, which included my first time meeting North-side councilwoman Natalie Johnson Lee (Mpls), sat in limbo for about a month before it ran...and when it did, there was only one change on it, and that was in the byline. Someone posted their name next to mine for a story they didn't work on. I remember warning folks at the time but I never knew what happened to the paper or the editor until his face scrolled by in the "connections" of my LinkedIn page, fraudulent sneer leering at me from my screen, it brought back some bad memories, and reminds me that many people fail to look beneath the surface. Present and slick, well-marketed lie and you're in business.
City Pages ran this piece in 2009. Smdh.http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2009/07/one_nation_news_1.php
City Pages ran this piece in 2009. Smdh.http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2009/07/one_nation_news_1.php
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Enthusiastic killer of Brown People elevated to Amerikkkan sainthood thanks to Clint Eastwood film "American Sniper"
Rashard Zanders, Twin Cities, MN -- This month, the beginning of the new year we witnessed two Hollywood productions, which by default means propaganda but that's for another story, that reflect the myriad divisions and the central dichotomy between whom white Americans perceive to be heroes, and the heroes of African Americans. African Americans aren't permitted violent, assertive masculine assassins for their cause. Maybe athletes, singers, or men of status without substance who have successfully imitated the oppressor's dress, style and values that only skin tone helps tell them apart.
What we have been spoon fed as the African America form of heroism is defined by the most passive and meek interpretations of Civil Rights warriors, many of whom were, and are bona fide radicals. However, the radical legacy has been so squeezed out of modern Civil Rights celebrations in America you have to wonder who the celebrations are actually for, in a nation that doesn't live up to Kings' Dream.
On the other (white) hand, from George Washington and Andrew Jackson, Davey Crockett and Theo Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, mainstream America has heroes who are men of bloody action, and they're bloody for good reasons. They're only bloody because they want to protect us (not "us", but you know what I mean) or establish a nation of freedom and protect little Johnny and Suzie from the hordes of non-Aryan people who just hate hate hate our (not really "our") cherished way of life.
The film "Selma" and the film "American Sniper", released in close proximity to each other, reflect the dichotomy apparent in what kind of hero Black children will look up to, contrasted with the paradigm of violent global domination that is apparently the birthright of civilizing white children. That is my main problem with films like Clint Eastwood's American Sniper the film bio of one of America's most lethal -- verbose killers. Even the logo for the company Kyle erected stateside references the Crusades.
A logo styled after the cross of the Knights Templar takes some premeditation. Reading some of the quotes attributed to Mr. Kyle makes you suspect he probably had no sense of irony. To hate people that much whilst someplace you don't belong....sheesh. What gave you the right to hate that deeply? Iraq wasn't responsible for 9/11 and the US were the uninvited guests anyway. And why aren't we talking about prosecuting Bush/Cheney administration officials for their myriad crimes that led us into war and economic collapse?
Amazing racial arrogance. I don't think racists even perceive that victims of racism hate racisim, and racists. What is even more frustrating is that Black people likely contributed close to half of the box-office bonanza. Another bigot elevated to sainthood. Absurd times, these.
http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/cut-her-head-shocking-death-threats-you-can-receive-mocking-eastwoods-american
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/06/real-american-sniper-hate-filled-killer-why-patriots-calling-hero-chris-kyle
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/548257524504621056/photo/1
https://willyloman.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/chris-kyle-shot-the-devil-is-dead-in-texas/
http://www.blacktalkradionetwork.com/tag/sniper/
Rashard Zanders is freelance writer living and working in these American Twin Cities, MN. He is not a sniper, but he has battled the h.pylori bacteria to a temporary draw, and been known to take the last beer at otherwise friendly gatherings. He can be reached via alex.zandersIV@gmail.com or at 872-228-4179
What we have been spoon fed as the African America form of heroism is defined by the most passive and meek interpretations of Civil Rights warriors, many of whom were, and are bona fide radicals. However, the radical legacy has been so squeezed out of modern Civil Rights celebrations in America you have to wonder who the celebrations are actually for, in a nation that doesn't live up to Kings' Dream.
On the other (white) hand, from George Washington and Andrew Jackson, Davey Crockett and Theo Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, mainstream America has heroes who are men of bloody action, and they're bloody for good reasons. They're only bloody because they want to protect us (not "us", but you know what I mean) or establish a nation of freedom and protect little Johnny and Suzie from the hordes of non-Aryan people who just hate hate hate our (not really "our") cherished way of life.
The film "Selma" and the film "American Sniper", released in close proximity to each other, reflect the dichotomy apparent in what kind of hero Black children will look up to, contrasted with the paradigm of violent global domination that is apparently the birthright of civilizing white children. That is my main problem with films like Clint Eastwood's American Sniper the film bio of one of America's most lethal -- verbose killers. Even the logo for the company Kyle erected stateside references the Crusades.
A logo styled after the cross of the Knights Templar takes some premeditation. Reading some of the quotes attributed to Mr. Kyle makes you suspect he probably had no sense of irony. To hate people that much whilst someplace you don't belong....sheesh. What gave you the right to hate that deeply? Iraq wasn't responsible for 9/11 and the US were the uninvited guests anyway. And why aren't we talking about prosecuting Bush/Cheney administration officials for their myriad crimes that led us into war and economic collapse?
Amazing racial arrogance. I don't think racists even perceive that victims of racism hate racisim, and racists. What is even more frustrating is that Black people likely contributed close to half of the box-office bonanza. Another bigot elevated to sainthood. Absurd times, these.
http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/cut-her-head-shocking-death-threats-you-can-receive-mocking-eastwoods-american
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/06/real-american-sniper-hate-filled-killer-why-patriots-calling-hero-chris-kyle
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/548257524504621056/photo/1
https://willyloman.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/chris-kyle-shot-the-devil-is-dead-in-texas/
http://www.blacktalkradionetwork.com/tag/sniper/
Rashard Zanders is freelance writer living and working in these American Twin Cities, MN. He is not a sniper, but he has battled the h.pylori bacteria to a temporary draw, and been known to take the last beer at otherwise friendly gatherings. He can be reached via alex.zandersIV@gmail.com or at 872-228-4179
Monday, January 19, 2015
You Can't Shame the Devil, but You Can Put Lipstick on a Proverbial Pig
January 19, 2015
Rashard Zanders – Twin Cities, MN – Congrats to the NFL, the nation's richest non-profit organization made canyons of money yesterday from their conference championship games. Winners yesterday were Russell Wilson, who led the Seattle Seahawks to a startling comeback against the Green Bay Packers from 12 points down with the game apparently locked away,and Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, who felled the upstart Indianapolis Colts handily.
I just hope with his continued success, Mr. Wilson, (who I predicted would get at least one title within his first three years—now has a chance to make it two) can make enough money so he doesn't have to endorse American Family Insurance his whole career. http://prospect.org/article/indelible-color-line
American Family Insurance is not alone among racially discriminating insurance companies, however, they were the most notorious in Wisconsin – Milwaukee in particular and Madison where I lived. Since Mr. Wilson did play his last year of college football there, and American Family Mutual Insurance Company is headquartered there it was inevitable the company would latch on to the young superstar's success. In two weeks Russell Wilson is playing to become the first repeat NFL Champion in over a decade, and his squeaky pure image is just what AMFMI needed. A perfect marriage putting the perfect Black athlete in the service of one of this nations most enthusiastic proponents of underwriting discrimination. According to the American Prospect article cited above:
“Real estate agents and federal housing officials long listened to sociologist and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) advisor Homer Hoyt, who concluded in 1933 that [B]lacks and Mexicans had a very detrimental effect on property values. In its 1939 Underwriting Manual the FHA warned of "inharmonious racial groups" and concluded that "if a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes." Until the 1960s the FHA insured the financing of many homes in white suburban areas while providing virtually no mortgage insurance in the urban markets where minorities lived. Similarly, until the 1950s the National Association of Realtors officially "steered" clients into certain neighborhoods according to race, advising that "a realtor should never be instrumental in introducing into a neighborhood a character of property or occupancy, members of any race or nationality whose presence will clearly be detrimental to property values in the neighborhood."
In fact, American Family Mutual Insurance faced litigation and lost according to the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) http://www.prrac.org/full_text.php?text_id=773&item_id=7802&newsletter_id=65&header=Race+%2F+Racism
“No insurance, no loan; no loan, no house; lack of insurance thus makes housing unavailable.” So said the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in NAACP v. American Family Mutual Insurance Company, a case that resulted in a 1995 settlement worth $14.5 million, including subsidized home purchase loans, greater access to insurance policies, and other forms of reinvestment for [B]lack neighborhoods in inner-city areas of Milwaukee, Wisconsin."
While I am rooting for the Seattle Seahawks over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX, it will be the first full game I'll see all year I have chosen to boycott broadcast sports, at least most of the regular season, since 2007. Between the internet, the radio, daily box scores and bars, I get my sports overload without giving them my entire Sunday anymore. And I will be the loudest to cheer if and when Russell Wilson becomes the first Black quarterback to repeat and lead his team to the championship.
Still, I hope Mr. Wilson becomes as studious with his business choices as he is with his playbook Off the field, I'd rather he weren't the lipstick on the American Family pig.
Rashard Zanders is a musician and writer from Chicago stuck in the Twin Cities, hoping each winter will be his last. He lives with Thrilla, a wonderful tortoiseshell Cat. He'll Play the Blues for You. He can be reached for comment at 872.228.4179, alex.zandersIV@gmail, or if you're in the Twin Cities he's at the cafe'.
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Economic disparities, police brutalities, torture in our prisons and abroad, police state-war economy: When do we say Enough?
Saturday, January 17, 2015 noon
http://documents.nytimes.com/confidential-report-provides-new-evidence-of-notorious-nazi-cases?ref=us#p=1
Rashard Zanders, Twin Cities, MN -- A culture that rapes and steals land from one People and enslaves another People from another land to build their Utopia -- using rape, murder, deception, mis-education and lessons from the Bible -- could be expected in it's time to achieve at best a culture of permanent disparity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/us/14nazis.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2323883/Johnny-Milanos-chilling-photos-American-Nazis-annual-National-Socialist-Movement-convention-Atlanta.html
The genocidal origins of the Land of the Free(land) and the Home of the alleged Brave would not beget an subsequent racial melting pot never had, and seems apparent that it never will. What we have inherited are: hyper violent power-and-control mechanisms via the military (this has always included the police as an occupying force), a propaganda machine believed by the masses to be innocuous entertainment (Hollywood) or reliable news (majority of Euro-centric news sources, many so-called alternatives presses and websites) participates, (under the umbrella of only 6 corporations) in a long practiced art of obfuscation, dismissal and/or outright distortions of issues facing communities of color.
http://documents.nytimes.com/confidential-report-provides-new-evidence-of-notorious-nazi-cases?ref=us#p=1
Here's to hoping 2015 witnesses a re-invigoration of the spiritual radical traditions of the ancestors we honor but whose wisdom we rarely feel the need to heed. Cable and Dish are just too damn fun I suppose. But if you've stayed with me thus far you already know we are connected to a global struggle for Human Rights, a Pan-African struggle that transcends religion, creed, gender, sexuality, but is exclusively and violently exercised against people of color. Black people, with or without our "allies" must confront this damning indictment of American history, culture and policy. It is a prism through which all American history and policies needs to be viewed. It is a prism via which Blacks must learn to profile all the beneficiaries and institutions of white privilege.
Rashard Zanders is a freelance writer and editor whose views strangely parallel those of Blacklogic.blogspot.com. He can be reached at 872.228.4179 or via email at alex.zandersIV@gmail.com
http://documents.nytimes.com/confidential-report-provides-new-evidence-of-notorious-nazi-cases?ref=us#p=1
Rashard Zanders, Twin Cities, MN -- A culture that rapes and steals land from one People and enslaves another People from another land to build their Utopia -- using rape, murder, deception, mis-education and lessons from the Bible -- could be expected in it's time to achieve at best a culture of permanent disparity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/us/14nazis.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2323883/Johnny-Milanos-chilling-photos-American-Nazis-annual-National-Socialist-Movement-convention-Atlanta.html
The genocidal origins of the Land of the Free(land) and the Home of the alleged Brave would not beget an subsequent racial melting pot never had, and seems apparent that it never will. What we have inherited are: hyper violent power-and-control mechanisms via the military (this has always included the police as an occupying force), a propaganda machine believed by the masses to be innocuous entertainment (Hollywood) or reliable news (majority of Euro-centric news sources, many so-called alternatives presses and websites) participates, (under the umbrella of only 6 corporations) in a long practiced art of obfuscation, dismissal and/or outright distortions of issues facing communities of color.
http://documents.nytimes.com/confidential-report-provides-new-evidence-of-notorious-nazi-cases?ref=us#p=1
Here's to hoping 2015 witnesses a re-invigoration of the spiritual radical traditions of the ancestors we honor but whose wisdom we rarely feel the need to heed. Cable and Dish are just too damn fun I suppose. But if you've stayed with me thus far you already know we are connected to a global struggle for Human Rights, a Pan-African struggle that transcends religion, creed, gender, sexuality, but is exclusively and violently exercised against people of color. Black people, with or without our "allies" must confront this damning indictment of American history, culture and policy. It is a prism through which all American history and policies needs to be viewed. It is a prism via which Blacks must learn to profile all the beneficiaries and institutions of white privilege.
Rashard Zanders is a freelance writer and editor whose views strangely parallel those of Blacklogic.blogspot.com. He can be reached at 872.228.4179 or via email at alex.zandersIV@gmail.com
Friday, January 16, 2015
The Escalating War on Islam. The Phony War On Terror
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-escalating-war-on-islam-the-phony-war-on-terror/5424958
Post-9/11, America declared war on Islam. Injustice triumphed. So did hate and fear. Muslims are fair game.
US targets of choice. Britain, France, Germany and other Western partners march in lockstep against them.
Waging phony war on terror. Pretext for state terror. Against targeted Muslim counties, groups and individuals.
After last week’s Paris killings, Le Monde headlined “Le 11 Septembre Francais.” Saying US history was “before (and) after 9/11.”
For France it’s “before (and) after 1/7.” An accompanying article said anti-Islamic protests erupted in Paris, Dresden and other European cities.
Muslims are vilified for their faith and ethnicity. Expect more violence to follow. Manipulated by Western interests. With dirty CIA and Mossad hands involved.
French authorities arrested dozens extrajudicially. Outrageously accused of “glorifying terrorism.” By exercising their free expression right.
Law Professor Jonathan Turley said so-called French support for freedom features crackdowns on free speech.
“If the French really wanted to honor the dead at Charlie Hebdo, they would rescind the laws” threatening free expression with “criminal prosecution.”“(N)ews (reports) indicate that the French government is doubling down on criminalizing speech in the name of free speech after the massacre.”
Only government allowed speech is OK. France and other Western countries are “falling out of faith with free speech, which is now something to be prosecuted rather than protected,” said Turley.
France’s National Assembly voted 488 to 1 to escalate air strikes on IS. Perhaps authorizing them against Syria is next. Partnered with other US-dominated NATO allies.
IS and other Takfiris are the pretext. Assad’s government the target. Regime change the objective.
France’s “11 Septembre” assures escalated imperial wars. Stepped up homeland repression. Militarized for extra harshness.
Calls for increased surveillance. Curtailed free speech, privacy and other fundamental rights.
Banned online encryption. Anything goes replacing constitutional governance. Infesting Europe.
US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson saying: “Recent world events call for increased vigilance at home.”
Code language for more congressional repressive legislation. Militarizing America more than ever.
Abolishing constitutionally protected freedoms altogether in the name of national security. Waging greater war on humanity.
Muslims more than ever are in the eye of the storm. No matter that Paris killings were less about terrorism and more about false flag deception.
State terrorism. Using Kouarchi brothers and Coulibaly as convenient patsies. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Charlie Hebdo killings “a war on civilization.”
Blaming Muslims for “barbarity.” Ignoring French involvement in US-led NATO aggression. Murdering millions of Muslims.
Mostly defenseless men, women and children. Media scoundrels marching in lockstep with imperial lawlessness.
Ignoring genocidal high crimes. Feigning concern about 17 French deaths. “(D)efending the (selective) right to offend,” said Media Lens.
Western offensiveness against Muslims. The other way around called terrorism.
“The Western tendency to act with ruthless, overwhelming violence is, of course, a key reason why” some Muslims retaliate, said Media Lens.
“(W)e live in a time when a ‘war for civilization’ is seen as something more than a grotesque contradiction in terms.”
Perhaps the bloodiest modern attack on European journalism occurred on April 23, 1999.
US-led NATO bombed Serbian state radio and television. An act of cold-blooded murder.
Killing 16. Injuring 16 others. Victims included an editor. Program director. Cameraman. Make-up artist. Three security guards. Other support staff.
Additional media outlets throughout Serbia were attacked. Amnesty International called bombing iits state media “a deliberate attack on a civilian object and as such constitutes a war crime.”
A Pentagon spokesman outrageously called it “part of Milosevic’s murder machine…right up there with security forces and the military.”
It bears repeating. When Muslims retaliate against crimes harming their lives and wellbeing, it’s called terrorism.
US-led NATO raping Yugoslavia was called liberating it. Terror bombings reflect longtime US strategy.
Willfully targeting civilians. Killing them in cold blood. In all US wars. Post-9/11, murdering millions of Muslims.
Journalists are prime targets. In November 2001, US air strikes targeted Al Jazeera’s Kabul, Afghanistan satellite TV station.
In April 2003, a US tank shelled Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel. Where many foreign journalists were based.
Striking a 14th floor balcony. Sky News journalist David Chater was in the hotel at the time.
Saw the tank aiming in his direction before firing. Asking at the time how Western journalists could continue working if US forces targeted them.
American bombs killed Al Jazeera’s cameraman Tareq Ayoub. Injured a Reuters reporter, photographer, technician and cameraman.
In July 2011, US-led NATO bombed Libyan media in Tripoli. Killing three media workers. Injuring 21 others
When US-led NATO warplanes commit cold-blooded murder, it’s called liberating oppressed people. Humanitarian intervention. Responsibility to protect.
Making the world safe for plunderers ready to take full advantage. When Muslims defend themselves, they’re called cold-blooded killers.
When Israel murders over 2,200 mostly Palestinian civilians, injures thousands more, turns large parts of Gaza to rubble, it’s called self-defense.
Including willfully targeting and murdering 17 Palestinian journalists. Preventing them from reporting Israeli atrocities.
Bad guys are them. Not us. Western reports on Charlie Hebro killings are one-sided and then some. Hypocrisy taken to a higher level.
In France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Israel, holocaust denial is criminalized.
If Western media mock or vilify Islam, it’s OK. Muslims are targets of choice.
Imperial wars rage against them. Homeland repression targets them. Expect worse ahead post-Charlie. Across Europe. In America.
Media scoundrels hype nonexistent threats. On January 14, Wall Street Journal editors headlined “France’s War on Terror.”
Instead of explaining its war OF terror. Against Muslims. Anyone legitimately against lawless state policy. Exercising their free expression right to say so.
Not according to Journal editors. Hyping the need to defend against “Islamist terror.” Applauding France’s response.
Turning the country into a militarized armed camp. Likely with orders to shoot to kill resisters. Mass arrest others.
Imprison them for exercising their democratic rights. What free societies champion.
French legislation being drafted eviscerates them. Bravo, say Journal editors. Keep “boost(ing) counterterrorism capabilities.”
Forget about longstanding rule of law principles. Ones all free societies respect. Protecting monied interests from political, economic and social justice matters more.
“To prevent future attacks, the French government should do more,” said Journal editors. Maybe they have criminalizing all Muslims in mind. Targeting them for praying to the wrong God.
“Effective counterterrorism requires some civil-liberties trade-offs,” say Journal editors. Benjamin Franklin once said sacrificing freedom for security assures losing both.
“(H)omicidal violence…is the hallmark of radical Islam, Journal editors claim. Genocidal slaughter is the “hallmark” of US-led NATO aggression.
Waging permanent wars. Against one country after another. Killing millions. Destroying nations. Turning them to rubble. Don’t expect Journal editors to explain.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” http://www.claritypress.com/
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