{"id":13335,"date":"2014-05-10T23:38:07","date_gmt":"2014-05-11T07:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=13335"},"modified":"2014-05-11T13:39:18","modified_gmt":"2014-05-11T21:39:18","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-truth-is-in-the-whole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-truth-is-in-the-whole\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: Truth is in the Whole"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">We<strong> Say Fight Back!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Read Marx. Make Class War.&#8221; (E.W.R.)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Marx-thank-you.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13352\" alt=\"Marx thank you\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Marx-thank-you.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Marx-thank-you.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Marx-thank-you-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Marx-thank-you-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><em>with a very little trickery, the internet archive still works \u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marxists.org\/archive\/marx\/works\/1848\/communist-manifesto\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.marxists.org\/archive\/marx\/works\/1848\/communist-manifesto\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"HD Historic Stock Footage WWII V-E DAY - GERMANY SURRENDERS!\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m3FUdB86OG0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>Conference in Cuba<br \/>\n\u201cSocialism for the Twenty-first Century\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cThe Influence of Philosophy and the Social Science<br \/>\non the Cultural Heritage of the countries of the American Mediterranean\u201d<br \/>\nNovember 19 to November 21, 2014.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.globallearning-cuba.com\/new-political-science-2014.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.globallearning-cuba.com\/new-political-science-2014.html<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Arundhati Roy on Narendra Modi and Hindu Nationalists in Chicago\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TCb15I5-ujs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ukraine: Nationalists vs Nationalists\u00a0<\/strong>Around 20 self defense members were killed and four were captured in Mariupol during the fight at the city police department, while law enforcement authorities have one dead and five injured, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in comments delivered by Interfax. <a href=\"http:\/\/voiceofrussia.com\/news\/2014_05_09\/Ukrainian-armed-forces-enter-Mariupol-two-people-killed-eight-wounded-media-1264\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">voiceofrussia.com\/news\/2014_05_09\/Ukrainian-armed-forces-enter-Mariupol-two-people-killed-eight-wounded-media-1264\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Fredy Perlman: The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Continuing-Appeal.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13387\" alt=\"Continuing Appeal\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Continuing-Appeal.jpeg\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Continuing-Appeal.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Continuing-Appeal-150x150.jpeg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/richgibson.com\/PerlmanNationalism.htm\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">richgibson.com\/PerlmanNationalism.htm<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/perlman-fredy.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13388\" alt=\"perlman-fredy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/perlman-fredy.jpg\" width=\"171\" height=\"234\" \/><\/a>Nationalism was proclaimed dead several times during the present century:<br \/>\n&#8211; after the first world war, when the last empires of Europe, the Austrian and the Turkish, were broken up into self~determined nations, and no deprived nationalists remained, except the Zionists;<br \/>\n&#8211; after the Bolshevik coup d&#8217;etat, when it was said that the bourgeoisie&#8217;s struggles for self-determination were henceforth superseded by struggles of workingmen, who had no country;<br \/>\n&#8211; after the military defeat of Fascist Italy and National Socialist Germany, when the genocidal corollaries of nationalism had been exhibited for all to see, when it was thought that nationalism as creed and as practice was permanently discredited.<br \/>\nYet forty years after the military defeat of Fascists and National Socialists, we can see that nationalism did not only survive but was born again, underwent a revival. Nationalism has been revived not only by the so-called right, but also and primarily by the so-called left. After the national socialist war, nationalism ceased to be confined to conservatives, became the creed and practice of revolutionaries, and proved itself to be the only revolutionary creed that actually worked.<br \/>\nLeftist or revolutionary nationalists insist that their nationalism has nothing in common with the nationalism of fascists and national socialists, that theirs is a nationalism of the oppressed, that it offers personal as well as cultural liberation. The claims of the revolutionary nationalists have been broadcast to the world by the two oldest continuing hierarchic institutions surviving into our times: the Chinese State and, more recently, the Catholic Church. Currently nationalism is being touted as a strategy, science and theology of liberation, as a fulfillment of the Enlightenment&#8217;s dictum that knowledge is power, as a proven answer to the question What Is to be Done.<br \/>\nTo challenge these claims, and to see them in a context, I have to ask what nationalism is &#8211; not only the new revolutionary nationalism but also the old conservative one. I cannot start by defining the term, because nationalism is not a word with a static definition; it is a term that covers a sequence of different historical experiences. I&#8217;ll start by giving a brief sketch of some of those experiences. (more at link above)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rouger Bill Boyer on Stage:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Secret Society Of Twisted Storytellers - &quot;TIES THAT BIND&quot; - Bil Boyer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xaTdZDth3Rc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Cowardly WarMonger Rice Cancels Rutgets Speech: Protesters Win!\u00a0<\/strong>Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who had been invited to give the commencement address at Rutgers University in New Jersey this month, said on Saturday that she would no longer give the speech. Her announcement came after weeks of protests by some students and faculty members over the university\u2019s decision to invite her.<br \/>\nProtesters had argued that Ms. Rice should not have been selected as the speaker because of her involvement in the Iraq war during the Bush administration. Students staged a sit-in last week outside the office of the university\u2019s president, Robert L. Barchi, to protest the speech, scheduled for May 18th. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/04\/nyregion\/rice-backs-out-of-rutgers-speech-after-student-protests.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/04\/nyregion\/rice-backs-out-of-rutgers-speech-after-student-protests.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Rockefeller-Church.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-13395\" alt=\"Rockefeller Church\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Rockefeller-Church.jpg\" width=\"558\" height=\"554\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Rockefeller-Church.jpg 698w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Rockefeller-Church-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Rockefeller-Church-300x297.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 558px) 100vw, 558px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>May 10 1914: Bouck White, pastor of the Church of the Social Revolution thrown out of Rockefellers&#8217; Calvary Baptist Church re: \u202a#\u200eLudlow\u202c protest.<br \/>\nYoung Rockefeller was well known for saying it was possible to acquire millions and not violate the Sermon on the Mount. When Rockefeller defended the company\u2019s policies and actions after Ludlow and blamed the deaths on union agitators, it was too much for White to bear.<br \/>\nWhite&#8217;s book, The Call of the Carpenter (1911) was one of the bestselling books among socialists and anarchists at the time. White portrayed Jesus\u2019 goal as founding \u201can empire of humanity\u201d in which the last would be first and the mighty would be laid low by expanding equality, liberty and democracy. All these goals were in sync with socialism; the institutional churches had distorted Jesus&#8217; mission.<br \/>\nMother Jones used the same themes in many of her speeches.<br \/>\nRather than an &#8220;invasion,&#8221; White merely sought to ask questions during the service at the time it was usually allowed. He brought along 150 of his parishioners, including members of the Industrial Workers of the World.<br \/>\nThe Rockefellers, alerted to White&#8217;s plans, stayed away from church that week amidst high security. \u00a0For more on Bouck White and the conception of Jesus among radicals at this time, see Dave Burns, The Life and Death of the Radical Historical Jesus (Oxford 2013)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>The Little Red Schoolhouse<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Librarians-Are.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13362\" alt=\"Librarians Are\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Librarians-Are.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Librarians-Are.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Librarians-Are-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Librarians-Are-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Obamagogue and LapPoodle Want Immigrant Kids to Learn Lies, Obedience, and Loyalty in Capitalist schools <\/strong>\u00a0Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and Education Secretary Arne Duncan issued a strong warning on Thursday to public school districts nationwide not to deny enrollment to immigrant students in the country illegally.<br \/>\nThe Justice and Education Departments jointly issued an update of guidelines they published three years ago, reminding districts that they \u201cmay be in violation of federal law\u201d if they turn students away because the children or their parents do not have immigration papers. The guidelines clarify what documents schools can and cannot require to prove that students live in their districts.<br \/>\n\u201cSadly too many schools and districts are still denying rights to undocumented children,\u201d Mr. Duncan said on a conference call with reporters. \u201cThat behavior is unacceptable, and it must change.\u201d He added, \u201cOur goal must be to educate, not to intimidate.\u201d<strong> \u00a0<\/strong><strong>h<\/strong><a href=\"\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Michigan&#8217;s &#8220;Choose a Capitalist School&#8221; Shell Game <\/strong>At what point does the state say enough is enough? Last summer, the Legislature paved the way to dissolve two districts that had also run out of money: Inkster and Buena Vista. That legislation was narrowly tailored to those districts, however.<br \/>\nPerhaps it\u2019s time to expand the option of closing districts in extreme fiscal distress. From The Detroit News: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/article\/20140509\/OPINION01\/305090006#ixzz31G6FITjK\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.detroitnews.com\/article\/20140509\/OPINION01\/305090006#ixzz31G6FITjK<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rY5G7seNlbA\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rY5G7seNlbA<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Resegregation, 60 Years Later<\/strong> \u00a0In the years following Brown v. Board of Education, the small town of Tuscaloosa, Ala., had quickly become a model example of school integration and reaped many of its rewards. But within a single generation, the city has managed to become one of the most rapidly resegregating school districts in the country.<br \/>\nSo what went wrong?<br \/>\nProPublica&#8217;s Nikole Hannah-Jones details in her latest report how gerrymandering of school attendance zones and, surprisingly, support from a small pocket of black elites has transformed Tuscaloosa\u2019s education system into a remnant of its former glory. Central High School today doesn\u2019t have the same caliber of teachers or curriculum as its integrated sister school, Northridge. Central is also on a state watch list and has been plagued with low graduation rates &#8212; all problems associated with segregated schools, which the Supreme Court thought it had addressed 60 years ago.\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.propublica.org\/podcast\/item\/podcast-resegregation-60-years-later\/?utm_source=et&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_campaign=dailynewsletter\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.propublica.org\/podcast\/item\/podcast-resegregation-60-years-later\/?utm_source=et&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_campaign=dailynewsletter<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>NCLB? Nothing. RaTT? Nothing. Kids? Losing. Capitalism? Just fine, thanks. <\/strong>U.S. high school seniors, whose school years have encompassed the sweeping education initiatives of two presidents, failed to demonstrate improvement in math or reading on a national exam.<br \/>\nOnly 38 percent of those tested in 2013 scored as proficient readers on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the \u201cNation\u2019s Report Card,\u201d released today by the Education Department. Three-quarters failed to show math proficiency. The scores were little changed from 2009, when the test was last given.<br \/>\n\u201cStagnation is unacceptable,\u201d David Driscoll, chairman of the board that administers the test, said in a statement. \u201cAchievement at this very critical point in a student\u2019s life must be improved to ensure success after high school.\u201d<br \/>\nThe seniors were in the first grade when President George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind into law. The program called for schools to demonstrate yearly progress and to show that all students are proficient on state standardized tests by 2014. Most states have received waivers under President Barack Obama, whose Race to the Top program has pledged $4.35 billion in state grants in four years to boost education standards. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/2014-05-07\/high-school-seniors-in-u-s-fail-to-show-reading-math-progress.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.bloomberg.com\/news\/2014-05-07\/high-school-seniors-in-u-s-fail-to-show-reading-math-progress.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/crooked-boss.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13408\" alt=\"crooked boss\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/crooked-boss.jpg\" width=\"320\" height=\"195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/crooked-boss.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/crooked-boss-300x182.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a><strong>Philly School Cheats Join that Long Line <\/strong>The culture of cheating was so blatant at Cayuga Elementary, authorities said, that the principal broadcast orders to tamper with tests over the loudspeaker.<br \/>\nFive educators were arrested Thursday and accused of tampering with public records, forgery, conspiracy and other crimes &#8211; the first such charges brought in a Pennsylvania cheating investigation expected to yield more arrests.<br \/>\nCharged Thursday were Evelyn Cortez, 59, Cayuga&#8217;s principal until last week, and teachers Jennifer Hughes, 59, Lorraine Vicente, 41, Rita Wyszynski, 65, and Ary Sloane, 56, who had been principal of Bethune Elementary.<br \/>\nThe five were immediately suspended by the Philadelphia School District. Because they have not been convicted, they will still collect pay. \u00a0Read more at\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.philly.com\/philly\/education\/20140509_State__A__quot_culture_of_cheating_quot__at_Philadelphia_school.html#vjquBkdhA8O1V1C4.99\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.philly.com\/philly\/education\/20140509_State__A__quot_culture_of_cheating_quot__at_Philadelphia_school.html#vjquBkdhA8O1V1C4.99<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Piling on: Houston Crooks\u00a0<\/strong>The Houston school board agreed Thursday night to fire five Jefferson Elementary teachers accused of helping students cheat on state exams last year, district officials said.<br \/>\nThe trustees did not discuss the decison or name the teachers, but district spokeswoman Tiffany Davila-Dunne confirmed the terminations, which stemmed from a recent investigation into cheating allegations. Attorneys for the teachers have said they are innocent. They now can appeal their firings to the Texas Education Agency. \u00a0http:\/\/blog.chron.com\/k12zone\/2014\/05\/hisd-board-wrap-up-cheating-funding-and-books\/<\/p>\n<p><strong>Another\u00a0Former Detroit teacher gets 3 years in prison for defrauding district <\/strong>A former Detroit Public Schools teacher was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday for her conviction for defrauding the district, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade said.<br \/>\nA federal court jury found Domonique Campbell, 39, guilty of program fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and tax charges, following a five-week trial in August 2013.<br \/>\nCampbell\u2019s mother, Sandra Campbell, 60, a former DPS contract accountant and school board candidate, was sentenced in December to 70 months in federal prison for her role in the scheme.<br \/>\nBetween 2004 and 2008, prosecutors say the pair obtained more than $530,000 from DPS through a scheme in which orders were placed with the Campbells\u2019 sham company for books and educational materials that were never provided to the schools. \u00a0From The Detroit News: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/article\/20140506\/SCHOOLS\/305060101#ixzz31G7Z14We\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.detroitnews.com\/article\/20140506\/SCHOOLS\/305060101#ixzz31G7Z14We<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Russia-Wants-War.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13338\" alt=\"Russia Wants War\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Russia-Wants-War.jpg\" width=\"599\" height=\"424\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Russia-Wants-War.jpg 599w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Russia-Wants-War-300x212.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Blum: The Russians are Coming Again!\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThe Russians are coming \u2026 again \u2026 and they\u2019re still ten feet tall!\u201d<br \/>\nSo, what do we have here? In Libya, in Syria, and elsewhere the United States has been on the same side as the al-Qaeda types. But not in Ukraine. That\u2019s the good news. The bad news is that in Ukraine the United States is on the same side as the neo-Nazi types, who \u2013 taking time off from parading around with their swastika-like symbols and calling for the death of Jews, Russians and Communists \u2013 on May 2 burned down a trade-union building in Odessa, killing scores of people and sending hundreds to hospital; many of the victims were beaten or shot when they tried to flee the flames and smoke; ambulances were blocked from reaching the wounded. Try and find an American mainstream media entity that has made a serious attempt to capture the horror. 1<br \/>\nAnd how did this latest example of American foreign-policy exceptionalism come to be? One starting point that can be considered is what former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Robert Gates says in his recently published memoir: \u201cWhen the Soviet Union was collapsing in late 1991, [Defense Secretary Dick Cheney] wanted to see the dismemberment not only of the Soviet Union and the Russian empire but of Russia itself, so it could never again be a threat to the rest of the world.\u201d 2<br \/>\nThat can serve as an early marker for the new cold war while the corpse of the old one was still warm. Soon thereafter, NATO began to surround Russia with military bases, missile sites, and NATO members, while yearning for perhaps the most important part needed to complete the circle \u2013 Ukraine.<br \/>\nIn February of this year, US State Department officials, undiplomatically, joined anti-government protesters in the capital city of Kiev, handing out encouragement and food, from which emanated the infamous leaked audio tape between the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, and the State Department\u2019s Victoria Nuland, former US ambassador to NATO and former State Department spokesperson for Hillary Clinton. Their conversation dealt with who should be running the new Ukraine government after the government of Viktor Yanukovich was overthrown; their most favored for this position being one Arseniy Yatsenuk.<a href=\"http:\/\/williamblum.org\/aer\/read\/128\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">williamblum.org\/aer\/read\/128<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0My dear, and recently departed, Washington friend, John Judge, liked to say that if you want to call him a \u201cconspiracy theorist\u201d you have to call others \u201ccoincidence theorists\u201d. Thus it was by the most remarkable of coincidences that Arseniy Yatsenuk did indeed become the new prime minister.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/GhostWar.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-13355\" alt=\"GhostWar\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/GhostWar.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/GhostWar.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/GhostWar-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Thanks to Leslie Dwyer&#8211;posters and art available at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.design4peace.com\/ghosts-of-war\/ghostwar-2\/#main\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.design4peace.com\/ghosts-of-war\/ghostwar-2\/#main<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ukraine! Who are the masked men?\u00a0<\/strong>Yuri, who appears to be in his mid-50s, is in many ways an ordinary eastern Ukrainian of his generation. A military veteran, he survived the Soviet collapse to own a small construction business in Druzhkovka, about 15 miles south of here.<br \/>\nBut his rebel stature has a particular root: He is also a former Soviet special forces commander who served in Afghanistan, a background that could make him both authentically local and a capable Kremlin proxy.<br \/>\nIn this war, clouded by competing claims on both sides, one persistent mystery has been the identity and affiliations of the militiamen, who have pressed the confrontation between Russia and the West into its latest bitter phase.<br \/>\nMoscow says they are Ukrainians and not part of the Russian amed forces, as the so-called green men in Crimea turned out to be.<br \/>\nWestern officials and the Ukrainian government insist that Russians have led, organized and equipped the fighters.<br \/>\nA deeper look at the 12th Company \u2014 during more than a week of visiting its checkpoints, interviewing its fighters and observing them in action against a Ukrainian military advance here on Friday \u2014 shows that in its case neither portrayal captures the full story.<br \/>\nThe rebels of the 12th Company appear to be Ukrainians but, like many in the region, have deep ties to and affinity for Russia. They are veterans of the Soviet, Ukrainian or Russian Armies, and some have families on the other side of the border. Theirs is a tangled mix of identities and loyalties.<br \/>\nFurther complicating the picture, while the fighters share a passionate distrust of Ukraine\u2019s government and the Western powers that support it, they disagree among themselves about their ultimate goals \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/04\/world\/europe\/behind-the-masks-in-ukraine-many-faces-of-rebellion.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/04\/world\/europe\/behind-the-masks-in-ukraine-many-faces-of-rebellion.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Ukraine-mask.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13405\" alt=\"Ukraine mask\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Ukraine-mask.jpg\" width=\"470\" height=\"619\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Ukraine-mask.jpg 470w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Ukraine-mask-227x300.jpg 227w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 470px) 100vw, 470px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Pentagon announced Wednesday that it is dispatching a team of US military advisers to Nigeria<\/strong> to aid the government of President Goodluck Jonathan in rescuing over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram, which has threatened to sell them into slavery.<br \/>\nBritish officials told the media that the UK is prepared to send SAS Special Forces units and intelligence-gathering aircraft to the West African country if asked for assistance.<br \/>\n<em>With 174 million people, Nigeria is Africa\u2019s largest country and boasts the largest gross domestic product (GDP) on the continent. It is also Africa\u2019s largest oil producer, ranking eighth in the world in terms of petroleum exports and accounting for 5 percent of US foreign oil imports. It also ranks number four in terms of liquefied natural gas exports<\/em>.<br \/>\nThe deployment of military advisers\u2014who are to be accompanied by FBI and CIA agents and other US officials\u2014was worked out Tuesday in a discussion between President Barack Obama and President Jonathan. It marks a major advance in the steadily escalating military intervention of Washington and its allies throughout the region.<br \/>\nThere have been calls from members of Congress for a more aggressive US intervention, including from Senator Susan Collins (Republican of Maine), who demanded that US Special Forces troops be sent to rescue the girls.<br \/>\nObama, in an interview with ABC News, suggested that the US intervention against Boko Haram would expand, declaring that \u201cthis may be the event that helps to mobilize the entire international community to finally do something against this horrendous organization that perpetrated such a terrible crime.\u201d<br \/>\nTo promote such an escalation, the US administration and the corporate media have mounted a major campaign around the kidnapped girls, seeking to exploit the natural indignation and horror over their fate. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.globalresearch.ca\/washington-sends-military-personnel-to-nigeria\/5381287\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.globalresearch.ca\/washington-sends-military-personnel-to-nigeria\/5381287<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Rashid: India Risks Desatbilizing Afghanistan (Rashid) \u00a0<\/strong>India&#8217;s decision last week to pay for arms and equipment from Russia to boost the strength of the Afghan National Army (ANA) could be a dramatic game-changer in the region &#8211; as well as a step fraught with escalation in regional rivalries. Pakistan is almost certain to look critically at the deal and accuse India, its rival, of trying to outflank it. For the last few years India has tactfully declined to say yes to Afghan President Hamid Karzai&#8217;s repeated pleas for the Indian supply of heavy weapons for the ANA, such as long range artillery, tanks and aircraft. Spending billions of dollars in the past decade, the United States has rebuilt the ANA, but it has made sure that it remains a lightly armed force with defensive rather than offensive weapons. Both the US and India seemed to have been careful in not upsetting Pakistan, which has been critical of the size of the ANA and will most certainly react if the ANA receives offensive weapons. Until recently there have been high tensions between the Pakistan military and the ANA along their disputed, porous and unmarked border, with the Afghans repeatedly accusing Pakistan of wilfully allowing the Taliban to cross from their havens in Pakistan to fight the Americans and the ANA. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have no control over large parts of their common border. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ahmedrashid.com\/wp-content\/archives\/afganistan\/articles\/pdf\/indiarisksdestabilisingafghanistan.pdf\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.ahmedrashid.com\/wp-content\/archives\/afganistan\/articles\/pdf\/indiarisksdestabilisingafghanistan.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Chinese-ship-uses-water-011.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13360\" alt=\"A Chinese ship uses water cannon on a Vietnamese ship in the South China Sea\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Chinese-ship-uses-water-011.jpg\" width=\"460\" height=\"276\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Chinese-ship-uses-water-011.jpg 460w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Chinese-ship-uses-water-011-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><\/a><strong>Big Time Squirt Gun Fight\u00a0<\/strong>China has accused Vietnam of ramming its ships in a disputed part of the South China Sea amid concerns that a tense maritime standoff between the two countries could boil over into armed conflict.<br \/>\nChinese ships have been ramming into and firing water cannons at Vietnamese vessels trying to stop Beijing from putting an oil rig in the South China Sea 130 nautical miles off Vietnam&#8217;s coast, according to officials and video footage on Wednesday. Several boats have been damaged and at least six Vietnamese people on board have been injured, officials said.<br \/>\nChina is &#8220;deeply surprised and shocked&#8221; by Vietnam&#8217;s actions, Yi Xianliang, deputy director general of the foreign ministry&#8217;s department of boundary and ocean affairs, said at a press briefing on Thursday afternoon. &#8220;From 3 May to 7 May, in a short period of five days, Vietnam has dispatched 35 vessels of various kinds which rammed Chinese ships as many as 171 times,&#8221; he said.<br \/>\nYi added that China&#8217;s operations in the area were &#8220;legitimate, justified and lawful&#8221;, and had been ongoing for a decade. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think we have any reason to stop such operations,&#8221; he said.<br \/>\nElsewhere in the area, the Philippines arrested 11 Chinese fishermen for catching endangered turtles, angering Beijing and further exposing regional strains.<br \/>\nChina has recently been harassing Vietnam and Philippine vessels and fishermen in the potentially oil and gas rich waters it claims almost entirely \u2013 a shaky stance to many international law experts. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2014\/may\/08\/china-accuses-vietnam-ships-south-china-sea-oil-rig\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.theguardian.com\/world\/2014\/may\/08\/china-accuses-vietnam-ships-south-china-sea-oil-rig<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>US Spies Kill &#8220;Armed Civilians&#8221; in Yemen Capital<\/strong>\u00a0 A United States Special Operations commando and a Central Intelligence Agency officer in Yemen shot and killed two armed Yemeni civilians who tried to kidnap them while the Americans were in a barbershop in the country\u2019s capital two weeks ago, American officials said on Friday.<br \/>\nThe two Americans, attached to the United States Embassy, were whisked out of the volatile Middle East nation within a few days of the shooting, with the blessing of the Yemeni government, American officials said.<br \/>\nNews of the shootings comes at a perilous moment for the government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, whose collaboration with American drone strikes against suspected members of Al Qaeda is already a subject of seething resentment in Yemen. Yemenis believe, with some evidence, that the drone strikes often kill nearby civilians as well as their targets, so any indication that Mr. Hadi\u2019s government helped conceal the killing of Yemenis by American commandos could be prolematic.<br \/>\nViolence in the country is increasing, and on Friday, militants attacked a checkpoint outside the presidential palace, apparently in retaliation for the government\u2019s roughly 10-day offensive against Qaeda strongholds.<br \/>\nExactly what the two Americans were doing at the time of the shooting on April 24 is unclear \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/10\/world\/middleeast\/us-officers-kill-armed-civilians-in-yemen-capital.html?hp&#038;_r=0\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/10\/world\/middleeast\/us-officers-kill-armed-civilians-in-yemen-capital.html?hp&#038;_r=0<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Mauldin-medical-care.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13409\" alt=\"Mauldin medical care\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Mauldin-medical-care.jpg\" width=\"233\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><strong>US Veterans Scandal: Shinseki Not Quitting \u00a0<\/strong>America&#8217;s top veterans&#8217; affairs official has said he will not resign over claims that as many as 40 people died while waiting for medical treatment in the service&#8217;s healthcare system.<br \/>\nEric Shinseki, the US Secretary for Veterans Affairs, said he is &#8220;angry&#8221; over the allegations of practices at a number of VA hospitals.<br \/>\nWhistleblowers have claimed that staff at one, in Phoenix in Arizona, created a fake waiting list to hide the true numbers of those awaiting treatment.<br \/>\nNames of those who died, it is claimed, later disappeared from the list.<br \/>\nMr Shinseki placed the hospital&#8217;s director and two other officials on indefinite leave last week while the department&#8217;s inspector general probes the claims.<br \/>\nDebbie Allen says her husband Mel, a Vietnam veteran who was a patient at the Phoenix hospital, died of bladder cancer after the tests and diagnosis were delayed for six months. \u00a0http:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/1258059\/us-veterans-scandal-shinseki-not-quitting \u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/1258059\/us-veterans-scandal-shinseki-not-quitting\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">news.sky.com\/story\/1258059\/us-veterans-scandal-shinseki-not-quitting<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>US Backed Jihadists Want Anti-Aircraft Missiles\u00a0<\/strong>The head of the Syrian opposition says that he will ask the Obama administration to provide antiaircraft missiles and will try to convince American officials that the weapons would not fall into the wrong hands.<br \/>\nIn an interview on Tuesday night, Ahmad Assi al-Jarba, president of the opposition coalition, also confirmed reports that Syrian rebels had received American TOW antitank missiles and said the shipment had enabled the opposition to demonstrate that it was able to use and maintain control of advanced American weaponry.<br \/>\nMr. Jarba, who is visiting Washington for the first time, plans to meet with a senior Pentagon official, leading members of Congress and Secretary of State John Kerry. A White House official said President Obama was expected to see him.<br \/>\nIn an effort to present a unified front to the Americans, Mr. Jarba is accompanied by Brig. Gen. Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir, the new leader of the military wing of the Syrian opposition.<br \/>\nThe trip came as President Bashar al-Assad of Syria appears to have gained the upper hand in the civil war \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/08\/world\/syria-rebel-leader-says-hell-ask-us-for-anti-aircraft-missiles.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/08\/world\/syria-rebel-leader-says-hell-ask-us-for-anti-aircraft-missiles.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Beard-Charles.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13357\" alt=\"Beard Charles\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Beard-Charles.png\" width=\"408\" height=\"479\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Beard-Charles.png 408w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Beard-Charles-255x300.png 255w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 408px) 100vw, 408px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/teachingamericanhistory.org\/library\/document\/an-economic-interpretation-of-the-constitution-of-the-united-states\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">teachingamericanhistory.org\/library\/document\/an-economic-interpretation-of-the-constitution-of-the-united-states\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Fed Chair Janet Yellen won\u2019t tell Bernie Sanders whether U.S. is democracy or oligarchy \u00a0<\/strong>She said money was often the deciding factor in which voices were heard during the political process, but she stopped short when Sanders asked if the United States had ceased to be a capitalist democracy but had instead become an oligarchy.<br \/>\n\u201cI prefer not to give labels, but there\u2019s no question we\u2019ve had the trend toward growing inequality, and I personally find it very worrisome trend that deserves the attention of policy makers,\u201d Yellen said. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rawstory.com\/rs\/2014\/05\/08\/fed-chair-janet-yellen-wont-tell-bernie-sanders-whether-u-s-is-democracy-or-oligarchy\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.rawstory.com\/rs\/2014\/05\/08\/fed-chair-janet-yellen-wont-tell-bernie-sanders-whether-u-s-is-democracy-or-oligarchy\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>So Long Empire! \u00a0China poised to pass US as world\u2019s leading economic power this year \u00a0<\/strong>High quality global journalism requires investment.<br \/>\nThe US is on the brink of losing its status as the world\u2019s largest economy, and is likely to slip behind China this year, sooner than widely anticipated, according to the world\u2019s leading statistical agencies.<br \/>\nThe US has been the global leader since overtaking the UK in 1872. Most economists previously thought China would pull ahead in 2019. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ft.com\/intl\/cms\/s\/0\/d79ffff8-cfb7-11e3-9b2b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz31CHVclQ4\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.ft.com\/intl\/cms\/s\/0\/d79ffff8-cfb7-11e3-9b2b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz31CHVclQ4<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Walmart-Obama.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13365\" alt=\"Walmart Obama\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Walmart-Obama.jpg\" width=\"867\" height=\"471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Walmart-Obama.jpg 867w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Walmart-Obama-300x162.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 867px) 100vw, 867px\" \/><\/a>demagogue pimps for Walmart<\/p>\n<p><strong>Large employers could shift nearly all workers\u2019 health coverage to marketplace by 2020<br \/>\n<\/strong>A new investor report predicts that Standard &amp; Poor&#8217;s 500 companies could shift 90 percent of their workforce from job-based health coverage to individual insurance sold on the nation&#8217;s marketplaces by 2020.<br \/>\nIf all U.S. companies with 50 or more employees followed suit, they could collectively save $3.25 trillion through 2025, according to the report by S&amp;P Capital IQ, a division of McGraw Hill Financial.<br \/>\nStandard &amp; Poor&#8217;s 500 companies could save $689 billion over the same period if they did likewise, the report found. Savings for S&amp;P 500 companies could top $800 billion if health care inflation remains at the traditional 7.5 percent rate over the next decade, the report estimates.<br \/>\nIf realized, the larger move to marketplace coverage would shift more of the cost and responsibility for employee health insurance to workers themselves.<br \/>\nRead more here: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mcclatchydc.com\/2014\/05\/01\/226155\/report-large-employers-could-shift.html#emlnl=Most_Popular_This_Week#storylink=cpy\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.mcclatchydc.com\/2014\/05\/01\/226155\/report-large-employers-could-shift.html#emlnl=Most_Popular_This_Week#storylink=cpy<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Hedge Fund Moguls\u2019 Pay Has the 1% Looking Up \u00a0<\/strong>Hedge fund managers heavily populate the so-called 1 percent in the United States. And they are getting richer.<br \/>\nThe 25 highest-earning hedge fund managers in the United States took home a total of $21.15 billion in compensation in 2013, according to an annual ranking published on Tuesday by Institutional Investor\u2019s Alpha magazine.<br \/>\nThey earned that hefty sum in a year when most hedge fund managers fell short of the market\u2019s returns. The multibillion-dollar payday is the highest since 2010, and it is 50 percent more than in 2012, according to the survey.<br \/>\nDavid A. Tepper, the 56-year-old founder of Appaloosa Management, maintained his spot atop the list, bringing in $3.5 billion last year, after earning $2.2 billion in 2012. Steven A. Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors ranked No. 2 after pocketing $2.4 billion, while John A. Paulson of Paulson &amp; Company took home $2.3 billion, ranking No. 3. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/dealbook.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/06\/hedge-fund-moguls-pay-has-the-1-looking-up\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">dealbook.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/06\/hedge-fund-moguls-pay-has-the-1-looking-up\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Buy American&#8221; Fiat Chrysler Offered Every Journalist A Free Tablet Yesterday \u00a0<\/strong>Automotive News&#8217; Nick Bunkley, who was at Fiat Chrysler&#8217;s headquarters in Auburn Hills, said via Twitter that the automaker set aside tablets for journalists to use during the presentation. And then they let them keep them afterward. As Bunkley himself said sardonically, &#8220;Ethics, schmethics,&#8221; right \u00a0 \u00a0. <a href=\"http:\/\/jalopnik.com\/fiat-chrysler-offered-every-journalist-a-free-tablet-ye-1572883681\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">jalopnik.com\/fiat-chrysler-offered-every-journalist-a-free-tablet-ye-1572883681<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Nng0GxzKeQE\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Nng0GxzKeQE<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Occupy Wall Street Protester Convicted of Elbowing a Cop Who She Says Grabbed Her Breast \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Few of the thousands of protesters arrested during the Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park ever saw the inside of a courtroom. One of the exceptions, a young woman named Cecily McMillan, was convicted Monday of elbowing police officer Grantley Bovell during demonstrations on March 17, 2012. She faces up to seven years in prison. Here&#8217;s a version of the video of the incident that the jury saw:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Barbarism Rising: The Utash Attack \u00a0<\/strong>A boy lay on the ground outside the nearby gas station, crying after a pickup hit him. The driver, Steven Utash, pulled over and got out to check on him. People gathered, upset by the child\u2019s cries, and soon someone took a swing. The next thing anyone knew, Utash was on the ground, a mob forming around him, kicking and punching. \u00a0..The neighborhood is rife with poverty and other deeply rooted problems&#8230;Wonzey Saffold is Wonzey Saffold, but he\u2019s also \u2014 according to various law enforcement and court records \u2014 Dujuan Saffold, Juan Saffold, Kwon Saffold Lewis, Kwon Lewis, El Lewis, Kjuan Lewis, Keshawn Thompson, Keshaun Thompson, Nigel Gray, Nyjuel Nyjuel Gray, Nyjuel Cummings and Low.<br \/>\nSaffold, 30, is the oldest of the five Detroiters charged in the attack on Utash, 54, of Clinton Township. Records show Saffold has maneuvered through the court system for years using different names and birth dates.<br \/>\nNow he\u2019s facing his most serious charges to date: assault with intent to murder and assault with intent to do great bodily harm.<br \/>\nUtash\u2019s head injuries were so severe from the beating, he spent a month in a hospital and was transferred only last Tuesday to a rehabilitation facility.<br \/>\nOther suspects in Utash\u2019s attack \u2014 Bruce Wimbush Jr., 17, James Davis, 24, and Latrez Cummings, 19 \u2014 are also each charged with assault with intent to murder and assault with intent to do great bodily harm. A 16-year-old, whom the Free Press is not identifying because he is charged as a juvenile, is facing counts of ethnic intimidation and assault with intent to do great bodily harm.<br \/>\nSurveillance footage shows that the accident on Morang happened in an instant: The young boy steps off of the curb and is hit by the truck.Witnesses say the child screamed as he lay in the street.<br \/>\nAccording to police, when the 16-year-old was interrogated about the assault, he said he had been hanging out with three guys, including someone named Bruce. After the child was struck by the truck, the teen asked Utash, who had stopped, whether he was going to check on the boy. Utash said yes, they went over to the child and, the juvenile told police, that\u2019s when he hit the driver twice in the head and walked away.<br \/>\nWhen the juvenile was asked why, he said: \u201cOut of anger.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freep.com\/article\/20140504\/NEWS01\/305040094\/utash-beating-detroit-neighborhood\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.freep.com\/article\/20140504\/NEWS01\/305040094\/utash-beating-detroit-neighborhood<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Texas cop shoots 93-year-old woman to death while responding to 911 call <\/strong>The Hearne Police Department officer killed elderly woman known to neighbors as &#8216;Miss Sully&#8217; while responding to emergency call about a female waving a gun. Witnesses say the policeman fired five times at Pearlie Golden.<br \/>\nRead more: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/news\/national\/texas-shoots-death-93-year-old-woman-answering-911-complaint-article-1.1783289#ixzz31Lwl9IPE\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.nydailynews.com\/news\/national\/texas-shoots-death-93-year-old-woman-answering-911-complaint-article-1.1783289#ixzz31Lwl9IPE<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Solidarity for Never<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/wolf-sheep-3.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13400\" alt=\"wolf sheep 3\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/wolf-sheep-3.jpeg\" width=\"288\" height=\"175\" \/><\/a><strong>ALL AMERICAN UNIONISM IS A PSY-OPS \u00a0<\/strong><em>State union fails to seize control of Modesto Teachers Association office \u00a0<\/em> \u00a0The California Teachers Association moved to seize control of the Modesto Teachers Association office Monday, on the eve of a vote to leave the state organization. But MTA says police rebuffed the takeover and the vote will proceed Tuesday as scheduled.<br \/>\n\u201cAll they have is a scrap of paper saying they\u2019ve imposed trusteeship,\u201d said Rafael Ruano of the law firm Goyette and Associates Inc. of Gold River, who said he was speaking for MTA leadership. \u201cThey took an internal CTA vote and said, \u2018We\u2019re taking over MTA,\u2019 and there\u2019s no legal basis for them to do it.\u201d<br \/>\nIn a phone call Monday night, Ruano said the state group\u2019s efforts to seize control of MTA bank accounts and property were unsuccessful, and that a court order would have been required to take such actions.<br \/>\nThe office drama began Monday afternoon, when CTA trustees Bill McMurray and Rhonnie Tinsley arrived to assume control of the local chapter\u2019s headquarters in the 800 block of Coffee Road.<br \/>\n\u201cWe can\u2019t allow this election to go on, because we believe it\u2019s unlawful. The results would be null and void,\u201d said Jonathan Goldman, CTA communications manager, on Monday evening from the group\u2019s Burlingame headquarters. Goldman said by state rules, disaffiliating takes a two-thirds vote of the membership, which was not the plan in Modesto.<br \/>\nRead more here: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.modbee.com\/2014\/05\/05\/3326057\/state-union-fails-to-seize-control.html#storylink=cpy\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.modbee.com\/2014\/05\/05\/3326057\/state-union-fails-to-seize-control.html#storylink=cpy<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Nevada: Unionites vs the Citizens and vs Other Unionites (unions, mainly, divide people)\u00a0<em>Nevada AFL-CIO opposes proposed margins tax to fund public<\/em><\/strong> schools&#8211; The Nevada State AFL-CIO on Friday voted to oppose the margins tax measure to fund public education that is on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.<br \/>\nAlso known as the Education Initiative, Question 3 would impose a 2 percent business \u201cmargins tax\u201d designed to raise an estimated $700 million a year for public schools.<br \/>\nThe measure is opposed by many Nevada businesses and elected officials, including Gov. Brian Sandoval. It was put on the ballot by the Nevada State Education Association, which represents teachers. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reviewjournal.com\/politics\/nevada-afl-cio-opposes-proposed-margins-tax-fund-public-schools\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.reviewjournal.com\/politics\/nevada-afl-cio-opposes-proposed-margins-tax-fund-public-schools<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sold out ANC&#8211;With about 95% of ballots counted, the ANC has 62.5% of the popular vote, putting Jacob Zuma on course to retain presidency \u00a0<\/strong>South Africans have voted resoundingly to extend the ANC&#8217;s 20-year rule, ignoring leadership scandals and economic malaise in a wholesale display of loyalty to the party once led by Nelson Mandela.<br \/>\nFinal results were expected on Friday, but with about 95% of the ballots counted the ANC had 62.5% of the popular vote, signalling a parliamentary majority big enough to hand President Jacob Zuma a second five-year term.<br \/>\nThe party looks set to fall short of the two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution, and its share of the vote will have fallen for second consecutive election, down from 66% at the last poll, in 2009. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2014\/may\/09\/anc-south-african-elections-zuma\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.theguardian.com\/world\/2014\/may\/09\/anc-south-african-elections-zuma<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>TFA grad, Liberal ISer and test resistor loses Seatle Election<br \/>\n<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.seattlewea.org\/images\/static_content\/ELECTIONS\/2014%20Seattle%20Education%20Association%20Officer%20Elections%20-%20RESULTS%20NOT%20CERTIFIED.pdf\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.seattlewea.org\/images\/static_content\/ELECTIONS\/2014%20Seattle%20Education%20Association%20Officer%20Elections%20-%20RESULTS%20NOT%20CERTIFIED.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Spy versus Spy<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/spy-eye.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13410\" alt=\"spy eye\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/spy-eye.jpg\" width=\"332\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/spy-eye.jpg 332w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/spy-eye-222x300.jpg 222w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 332px) 100vw, 332px\" \/><\/a><strong>CIA torture report won\u2019t be made public for months <\/strong>The release of the long-awaited Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA\u2019s use of waterboarding and other interrogation techniques _ widely denounced as torture _ is certain to take much longer than the 30 days sought by Senate Democrats.<br \/>\nThe panel\u2019s chairwoman, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said at the beginning of April that she hoped the CIA would complete by now the process of excising from the report information deemed harmful to national security.<br \/>\nThe procedure, however, likely will take months, several experts said. That\u2019s because it\u2019s complex and time-consuming. Not only does the CIA have to review information that came from its archives, but other U.S. intelligence agencies as well as the Pentagon and the State Department have to evaluate material that they provided, they said.<br \/>\n\u201cYou can\u2019t get this done in a month and do a serious job,\u201d said Mark Lowenthal, a former senior CIA intelligence analyst. \u201cYou only get one shot at scrubbing it.\u201d<br \/>\nAs for the inevitable charges that the CIA is dragging its feet, Lowenthal said: \u201cIt\u2019s the cost of doing business and you ignore it.\u201d<br \/>\nSome experts, however, believe that there are key portions of the report that could be quickly reviewed and released without disclosing sensitive information such as the identities of intelligence sources, which could endanger lives or compromise ongoing counterterrorism operations.<br \/>\nRead more here: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mcclatchydc.com\/2014\/05\/07\/226831\/despite-senate-hopes-of-speedy.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.mcclatchydc.com\/2014\/05\/07\/226831\/despite-senate-hopes-of-speedy.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Arms Cache Most Likely Kept in Texas by the C.I.A. \u00a0<\/strong> In passing references scattered through once-classified documents and cryptic public comments by former intelligence officials, it is referred to as \u201cMidwest Depot,\u201d but the bland code name belies the role it has played in some of the C.I.A.\u2019s most storied operations.<br \/>\nFrom the facility, located somewhere in the United States, the C.I.A. has stockpiled and distributed untraceable weapons linked to preparations for the Bay of Pigs invasion and the arming of rebels and resistance fighters from Angola to Nicaragua to Afghanistan.<br \/>\nYet despite hints that \u201cMidwest\u201d was not actually where it was located, the secrecy surrounding the C.I.A. armory has survived generations of investigations. In a 2007 essay on the 20th anniversary of the Iran-contra affair, for example, a congressional investigator noted that the facility where the C.I.A. had handled missiles bound for Iran remained classified even as other \u201cincredible things were unveiled during the hearings.\u201d<br \/>\nBut three years ago, it became public that the C.I.A. had some kind of secret location at Camp Stanley, an Army weapons depot just north of San Antonio \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/05\/us\/arms-cache-most-likely-kept-in-texas-by-the-cia.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/05\/us\/arms-cache-most-likely-kept-in-texas-by-the-cia.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>The Magical Mystery Tour<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T-2zfTwz_aI\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T-2zfTwz_aI<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Vatican Goes After U.S. Nuns and Women<\/strong> \u00a0On Monday, the National Catholic Reporter reported that the Vatican rebuked the largest umbrella organization for U.S. nuns for planning to honor Sister Elizabeth Johnson, a theologian whose work has been criticized by U.S. bishops for containing \u201cmisrepresentations\u201d and doctrinal errors. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) was sharply criticized by the Vatican\u2019s orthodoxy watchdog, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, in a speech that was made public on Monday. He said that after this disagreement, all LCWR honorees must be pre-approved by the Vatican, a reform first proposed under Pope Benedict XVI after an investigation concluded that U.S. nuns were promoting \u201cradical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.\u201d The LCWR would only comment that Mueller\u2019s staff was \u201crespectful and engaging.\u201d\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/cheats\/2014\/05\/06\/vatican-goes-after-u-s-nuns-and-women.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.thedailybeast.com\/cheats\/2014\/05\/06\/vatican-goes-after-u-s-nuns-and-women.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Alabama-god.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13394\" alt=\"Alabama god\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Alabama-god.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Alabama-god.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Alabama-god-300x222.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>The Best and Worst Things in the History of the World<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Don&#8217;t Miss This video: Ross Sister does the damn thing&#8230; in 1944 \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?v=612829115454322&#038;set=vb.366101510127085&#038;type=2&#038;theater\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.facebook.com\/photo.php?v=612829115454322&#038;set=vb.366101510127085&#038;type=2&#038;theater<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Power of May 4 in China<\/strong> \u00a0Many of the students who occupied Tiananmen Square claimed inspiration from the May Fourth Movement of 1919, a student protest movement incited by outrage over China\u2019s poor treatment in the international settlement after the First World War. The 1919 protests came during a period of intellectual flux, called the New Culture Movement, when students and intellectuals embraced iconoclastic currents of thought from abroad, famously summed up by one of their advocates as \u201cMr. Science and Mr. Democracy.\u201dBut the Chinese Communist Party also claimed the May Fourth Movement as part of its patrimony \u2013 a patriotic campaign that paved the way for the spread of Marxism and the founding of the party in 1921. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a history professor at the University of California, Irvine, who has studied student protests in China, answers questions about why May 4 mattered in 1989: \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/01\/q-a-jeffrey-wasserstrom-on-history-dissent-and-the-power-of-may-4-in-china\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com\/2014\/05\/01\/q-a-jeffrey-wasserstrom-on-history-dissent-and-the-power-of-may-4-in-china\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Fingerbuster (Willie Lion Smith)\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.20sjazz.com\/videos\/film-archive\/fingerbuster.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.20sjazz.com\/videos\/film-archive\/fingerbuster.html<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Poverty Pimp Update&#8211;Petition worker for U.S. Rep John Conyers is a fugitive \u00a0<\/strong>A petition circulator hired by U.S. Rep. John Conyers\u2019 campaign has a criminal record and is a fugitive, the Michigan Department of Corrections confirmed Thursday evening.<br \/>\nDaniel A. Pennington, 23, is a probation absconder outof Battle Creek, according to Russ Marlan, spokesman for the Michigan Department Corrections.<br \/>\nCourt records show Pennington pleaded guilty to a second-degree home-invasion charge in 2012 in Battle Creek and did not fulfill his probation requirements. \u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freep.com\/article\/20140509\/NEWS01\/305090024\/John-Conyers-petition-circulator-wanted-fugitive\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.freep.com\/article\/20140509\/NEWS01\/305090024\/John-Conyers-petition-circulator-wanted-fugitive<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>So Long<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>a reminder<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Let My People Go - Paul Robeson\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gtLcELU1brA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We Say Fight Back! &#8220;Read Marx. Make Class War.&#8221; (E.W.R.) with a very little trickery, the internet archive still works \u00a0www.marxists.org\/archive\/marx\/works\/1848\/communist-manifesto\/ Conference in Cuba \u201cSocialism for the Twenty-first Century\u201d \u201cThe Influence of Philosophy and the Social Science on the Cultural Heritage of the countries of the American Mediterranean\u201d November 19 to November 21, 2014.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.globallearning-cuba.com\/new-political-science-2014.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.globallearning-cuba.com\/new-political-science-2014.html<\/a> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13335"}],"version-history":[{"count":61,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13415,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13335\/revisions\/13415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}