{"id":24207,"date":"2019-09-28T23:00:40","date_gmt":"2019-09-29T07:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=24207"},"modified":"2019-09-28T23:00:40","modified_gmt":"2019-09-29T07:00:40","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-dogfight-in-the-ruling-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-dogfight-in-the-ruling-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: Dogfight in the Ruling Class!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><u>We Say Fight Back!<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img\" src=\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2019\/09\/27\/ap_19270430107374-ff3192d451790ed9ec1e63506dd82fea0a3266c3-s800-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Hong Kong Braces For Massive Weekend Protests<\/h1>\n<p>Hong Kong is bracing for more rallies and unrest this weekend as two important anniversaries loom, sparking fears that anti-government protests might once again boil over into violence on the streets.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday marks five years since the start of the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement that unsuccessfully sought free and open elections in Hong Kong, a former British colony that reverted to Chinese control in 1997.<\/p>\n<p>The movement got its name after activists used umbrellas to protect themselves from police who fired tear gas and pepper spray at the protesters. It is also the weekend leading up to Tuesday&#8217;s 70<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the founding of the People&#8217;s Republic of China.\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2019\/09\/27\/765016873\/hong-kong-braces-for-massive-weekend-protests\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.npr.org\/2019\/09\/27\/765016873\/hong-kong-braces-for-massive-weekend-protests<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hong Kong protests: China flag trampled in mall unrest - BBC News\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xvXFpkZX3wU?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<h1 class=\"content__headline \" style=\"text-align: center;\">Hong Kong protests: brutal undercover police tactics spark outcry<\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>Footage of helmeted protesters suddenly making arrests causes concern after weekend of intense clashes<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bloody arrest by undercover police in Hong Kong\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ekLUcW-HVMw?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><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2019\/aug\/12\/hong-kong-protests-brutal-undercover-police-tactics-spark-outcry\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.theguardian.com\/world\/2019\/aug\/12\/hong-kong-protests-brutal-undercover-police-tactics-spark-outcry<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Special Report: Hong Kong on Edge\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/POAgMKvOJHg?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<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Chicago Teachers Are Ready To Strike&#8211;No Sellout this Time!<\/h1>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img\" src=\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2019\/09\/27\/gettyimages-1170854206-6e984ce0d066e538dd3eac0a0637e5f092f46632-s800-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Chicago Teachers Union voted in overwhelming numbers to authorize a strike, union officials announced late Thursday. The union is planning to set a strike date next Wednesday. Teachers likely will walk out in mid-October if no deal is reached by then.<\/p>\n<p>CTU leaders said 94% of members had voted in favor of a strike, surpassing the 75% threshold required by law. Some 90% of the ballots had been counted Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>The union emphasized it will continue to bargain in hopes of reaching a deal. Members plan to be at the table all day Friday and have bargaining sessions planned for next week.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have to deliver better schools,&#8221; Chicago Teachers Union President (and failed ISO hack) Jesse Sharkey said Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>Sharkey has warned that if teachers strike, it could end up being a &#8220;massive labor movement&#8221; that could have ripple effects throughout the city. The CTU is timing the possible walkout with two other unions, one representing other school staff, such as security guards and custodians, and another representing Chicago Park District workers. Both of those unions already have voted to authorize a strike.\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2019\/09\/27\/764918260\/chicago-teachers-are-ready-to-strike\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.npr.org\/2019\/09\/27\/764918260\/chicago-teachers-are-ready-to-strike<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content aligncenter\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/bobcat.grahamdigital.com\/image\/upload\/view?width=320&amp;height=180&amp;method=fit&amp;url=https:\/\/media.clickondetroit.com\/photo\/2019\/09\/23\/The_latest_on_the_UAW_strike_against_GM__1569274185911_22316088_ver1.0.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 760px, 100vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bobcat.grahamdigital.com\/image\/upload\/view?width=320&amp;height=180&amp;method=fit&amp;url=https:\/\/media.clickondetroit.com\/photo\/2019\/09\/23\/The_latest_on_the_UAW_strike_against_GM__1569274185911_22316088_ver1.0.jpg 400w, https:\/\/bobcat.grahamdigital.com\/image\/upload\/view?width=420&amp;height=236&amp;method=fit&amp;url=https:\/\/media.clickondetroit.com\/photo\/2019\/09\/23\/The_latest_on_the_UAW_strike_against_GM__1569274185911_22316088_ver1.0.jpg 600w, https:\/\/bobcat.grahamdigital.com\/image\/upload\/view?width=630&amp;height=353&amp;method=fit&amp;url=https:\/\/media.clickondetroit.com\/photo\/2019\/09\/23\/The_latest_on_the_UAW_strike_against_GM__1569274185911_22316088_ver1.0.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bobcat.grahamdigital.com\/image\/upload\/view?width=420&amp;height=236&amp;method=fit&amp;url=https:\/\/media.clickondetroit.com\/photo\/2019\/09\/23\/The_latest_on_the_UAW_strike_against_GM__1569274185911_22316088_ver1.0.jpg 992w, https:\/\/bobcat.grahamdigital.com\/image\/upload\/view?width=630&amp;height=353&amp;method=fit&amp;url=https:\/\/media.clickondetroit.com\/photo\/2019\/09\/23\/The_latest_on_the_UAW_strike_against_GM__1569274185911_22316088_ver1.0.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/bobcat.grahamdigital.com\/image\/upload\/view?width=760&amp;height=428&amp;method=fit&amp;url=https:\/\/media.clickondetroit.com\/photo\/2019\/09\/23\/The_latest_on_the_UAW_strike_against_GM__1569274185911_22316088_ver1.0.jpg 1201w\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"headline\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Here&#8217;s where things stand on the UAW-GM strike<\/h1>\n<h2 class=\"sub-headline\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Saturday marks 13th day of ongoing strike<\/h2>\n<p>The picket lines will continue at<a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/topic\/GM\"> GM <\/a>U.S. facilities this morning for the 13th day.<\/p>\n<p>The rank and file now just two days away from qualifying for their $250 strike pay. It is looking quite possible they will get to that mile marker unless something dramatic changes inside the negotiating rooms in the Downtown Detroit Renaissance\u00a0Center.<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, talks have bogged down. The teams have continued to work main-table talks since last Wednesday. Yet all we hear from them is they talk late into the evening, knock off and get some sleep and then return to the table in the morning.<\/p>\n<p>Many wonder \u2018what&#8217;s taking so long?&#8217; There are many reasons. But let&#8217;s take this strike down to its bare bones to gain some insight into what&#8217;s going on and why getting over the finish line is proving so elusive.<\/p>\n<p>The national UAW-GM contract is, at its heart, an exercise in the company buying its labor for the next four years.<\/p>\n<p>Understandably, GM wants to get it as inexpensively as it can. Yes, it wants to maintain profitability, yet it also wants to try and stay competitive with the transplant plants; most notably Toyota, Honda and Nissan.<\/p>\n<p>They pay their non-union workforces about $10\u00a0an hour less. The company also wants to try and gain some control over healthcare costs, which are skyrocketing each year.<\/p>\n<p>Another massive variable is the bet GM CEO Mary Barra is making by sending the company whole hog into electric vehicles. The capital requirements for this are eye popping.<\/p>\n<p>For its part, the UAW wants to get GM to pony up much more than it budgeted because the union did take concessionary contracts during the bankruptcy and early turn around years. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/news\/here-s-where-things-stand-on-the-uaw-gm-strike?utm_content=18181934&#038;utm_source=Sailthru&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_campaign=Headlines%20%2820:00%20EST%29%202019-09-28&#038;utm_term=wdiv_2000est\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.clickondetroit.com\/news\/here-s-where-things-stand-on-the-uaw-gm-strike?utm_content=18181934&#038;utm_source=Sailthru&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_campaign=Headlines%20%2820:00%20EST%29%202019-09-28&#038;utm_term=wdiv_2000est<\/a><\/p>\n<header class=\"article_header module\">\n<div class=\"zonedModule\" data-module-id=\"20\" data-module-name=\"article.app\/lib\/module\/wsj\/articleHeadline\" data-module-zone=\"articleHeadline\">\n<div class=\"wsj-article-headline-wrap\">\n<h1 class=\"wsj-article-headline\">GM\u2019s Electric Ambitions Rattle Below the Surface of the UAW Strike<\/h1>\n<h2 class=\"sub-head\">Wanted: fewer workers, fewer components; the UAW faces a fight to stay central in the auto maker\u2019s shift to electric vehicles.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"column at8-col8 at12-col7 at16-col9 at16-offset1\">\n<div class=\"module\">\n<div class=\"zonedModule\" data-module-id=\"18\" data-module-name=\"article.app\/lib\/module\/articleSnippet\" data-module-zone=\"article_snippet\">\n<div class=\"snippet\">\n<div id=\"share-target\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"wsj-snippet-body\">\n<p>Even as General Motors Co. and the United Auto Workers union come closer to resolving their biggest work confrontation in decades, a larger, unsettled issue is the inevitable pain for U.S. workers from GM\u2019s long-range bet on electric cars. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/gms-electric-ambitions-rattle-below-the-surface-of-the-uaw-strike-11569582003\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.wsj.com\/articles\/gms-electric-ambitions-rattle-below-the-surface-of-the-uaw-strike-11569582003<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SputnikNews\/videos\/559647021451632\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.facebook.com\/SputnikNews\/videos\/559647021451632\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Vets for peace won the end of the NAPALM wall of flame celebration in 2017<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"WALL OF FIRE @ 2012 MCAS Miramar Air Show\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F35HHXytNzI?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>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_EHGVBXf57M\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_EHGVBXf57M<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"San Diego Veterans for Peace is in the second year of a 5-year protest of the Miramar Air Show\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3lRVG8IEakA?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><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ryanne.marshall\/videos\/10219050094299734\/?t=42\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.facebook.com\/ryanne.marshall\/videos\/10219050094299734\/?t=42<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><u>The Little Red Schoolhouse<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/capitalist-school.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24212\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/capitalist-school.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"486\" height=\"260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/capitalist-school.jpg 486w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/capitalist-school-150x80.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 486px) 100vw, 486px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"ArticleHeader__hed___GPB7e\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Is Meritocracy Making Everyone Miserable? (NYorker discovers Capitalist Schooling in the Empire)<\/h1>\n<p>If the educational system is reproducing existing class and status hierarchies\u2014if most of the benefits are going to students who are privileged already\u2014then either meritocracy isn\u2019t working properly or it wasn\u2019t the right approach in the first place&#8230;. Grade inflation has been consistent across racial and socioeconomic groups. What have not been consistent are <em>SAT scores. Since 1998, the average score of students whose parents are well educated has increased by five points, while the average score of students whose parents have only an associate\u2019s (two-year college) degree has dropped by twenty-seven points. It turns out that the SAT is, in fact, the friend of privilege. .<\/em>..<\/p>\n<p>College does enable social mobility, but it\u2019s not happening at the most selective schools. According to the Harvard economist Raj Chetty, children whose parents are in the top one per cent of the income distribution\u2014roughly 1.6 million households\u2014are seventy-seven times more likely to attend an Ivy League college than children whose parents are in the bottom income quintile (about twenty-five million households).<\/p>\n<p>At what are called the Ivy Plus colleges\u2014the eight Ivies plus schools such as the University of Chicago, M.I.T., and Stanford\u2014more than two-thirds of the students are from the top quintile and less than four per cent are from the bottom. The most extreme case, according to Tough, is Princeton, where seventy-two per cent are from the top quintile and 2.2 per cent are from the bottom.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Capitalist-school-hogwash.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24213\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Capitalist-school-hogwash.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Capitalist-school-hogwash.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Capitalist-school-hogwash-150x49.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Capitalist-school-hogwash-500x162.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a>Such data suggest that higher education is not doing much to close the income gap, and that it may be helping to reproduce a class system that has grown dangerously fractured.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMerit itself is not a genuine excellence but rather\u2014like the false virtues that aristocrats trumpeted in the ancien r\u00e9gime\u2014a pretense, constructed to rationalize an unjust distribution of advantage.\u201d The successful have sold their souls to Mammon: \u201cMeritocrats gain their immense labor incomes at the cost of exploiting themselves and deforming their personalities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>&#8230;.like Marx, Markovits thinks that the whole system is a Frankenstein\u2019s monster.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2019\/09\/30\/is-meritocracy-making-everyone-miserable\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2019\/09\/30\/is-meritocracy-making-everyone-miserable<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"irc_mi aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/47\/143053448_01c0320dcd_z.jpg\" alt=\"Image result for sat swastika\" width=\"450\" height=\"310\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"ArticleHeader__hed___GPB7e\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>The Fascist Origins of the SAT Test<\/b><\/h1>\n<p><b>The frantic rush to high-stakes standardized testing in the US costs one-half billion dollars annually in direct expenditures, probably double that in indirect costs. The chief fetish of the testing movement is the SAT, long known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test but now known, on the insistence of the test&#8217;s owners, the Educational Testing Service, as just &#8220;The SAT.&#8221;\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>The SAT measures, above all else, class, sex, and race. (Fairtest, Roney). The SAT, like every similar test, is designed to divide people with razor sharp precision, to enumerate human value and to track people&#8217;s futures under a veil of objective science. The SAT is a commodity itself, for sale to every student, school, and college in the world. It also commodifies people, attaching worth to individuals, but more pointedly drawing the lines of what can only be called class warfare. The impact of the SAT is to create the logic for a more deeply stratified society, divided primarily by issues of inherited income, sexism, and racism. The fraudulent claims of the SAT to promote a more equitable and meritorious society have been thoroughly revealed elsewhere. (Lemann, Fairtest, Roney). This analysis is a brief history of the SAT, unmasking the politics of the people who designed it, and those who promote the SAT and similar exams today .<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>The genealogy of the SAT is far more authentic than the importance attached to the test&#8217;s scores. The SAT was born from the initial IQ tests, written by French psychologist Alfred Binet. In the US, Lewis Terman and Robert Yerkes promoted the IQ test and made it a popular instrument to determine who should be an officer, in a segregated military, during WWI . Their IQ test was designed to prove the genetic advantage of races they had already identified as superior. Terman and Yerkes were executives in the American Eugenics Society (Mehler).<\/b>\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/richgibson.com\/SATFascistOrigins.htm\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">richgibson.com\/SATFascistOrigins.htm<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/ceaf882\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1500x870+0+0\/resize\/840x487!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fca-times.brightspotcdn.com%2F96%2F26%2Fe6ea592a44a6a63cfebb38a515ad%2F467322-me-0926-diego-a-rcg-jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Landmark Middle School\" width=\"840\" height=\"487\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"ArticlePage-headline\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Child\u2019s death after assault at Moreno Valley school sparks outrage \u2014 and ugly memories<\/h1>\n<p>The death of a 13-year-old Moreno Valley boy who was assaulted at school has exposed deep wounds in the Inland Empire community, where parents say school officials have not addressed long-simmering issues of campus bullying.<\/p>\n<p>The student, identified publicly only as Diego, <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2019-09-25\/boy-sucker-punched-moreno-valley-school-dies-from-injuries\">died Tuesday night<\/a> of injuries he suffered in <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2019-09-18\/landmark-middle-school-assault-moreno-valley\">the Sept. 16 attack<\/a>, which was recorded on video and posted to Facebook.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Two Students Arrested In Violent Assault At Moreno Valley School Which Left Student Critically Wound\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/87iJ23xaBEY?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>Two 13-year-old<b> <\/b>boys from Landmark Middle School, about 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, have been arrested, their identities not released because of their age. Authorities are investigating <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2019-09-20\/assault-landmark-middle-school-bullying-claims\">whether Diego had been the target of bullying<\/a> before he was attacked.<\/p>\n<p>In the aftermath of his death, multiple members of the school community have come forward to share their own experiences involving campus bullying and to criticize the school\u2019s handling of the attack on Diego.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2019-09-26\/landmark-middle-school-diego-bullying\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2019-09-26\/landmark-middle-school-diego-bullying<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/4f32a8d\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3000x2000+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fca-times.brightspotcdn.com%2F9a%2F81%2F6c52a599491bb1e149394cb2676c%2F467322-me-0926-diego-4-rcg-jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Landmark Middle School\" width=\"840\" height=\"560\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For example, Cruz was so dangerous he required extra security while in middle school.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They had to frisk him before he entered the school&#8230;He threatened students&#8217; lives, he wasn\u2019t arrested,&#8221; he added. At one point, those looking after him were concerned about a missing hatchet from his garage. They were concerned he was going to harm others with that hatchet.<\/p>\n<p>While at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, &#8220;the first class they put him in was JROTC where they taught him how to shoot and gave him an air rifle.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"s-image aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/71URIzAZS6L._AC_UY218_SEARCH213888_ML3_.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/71URIzAZS6L._AC_UY218_SEARCH213888_ML3_.jpg 1x, https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/71URIzAZS6L._AC_UY327_SEARCH213888_QL65_ML3_.jpg 1.5x, https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/71URIzAZS6L._AC_UY436_SEARCH213888_QL65_ML3_.jpg 2x, https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/71URIzAZS6L._AC_UY545_SEARCH213888_QL65_ML3_.jpg 2.5x, https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/71URIzAZS6L._AC_UY654_SEARCH213888_QL65_ML3_.jpg 3x\" alt=\"Why Meadow Died: The People and Policies That Created The Parkland Shooter and Endanger America's Students\" data-image-index=\"0\" data-image-load=\"\" data-image-latency=\"s-product-image\" data-image-source-density=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"ArticlePage-headline\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Inspire charter schools CEO goes on leave of absence<\/h1>\n<p>Inspire Charter Schools\u2019 founder and executive director, Herbert \u201cNick\u201d Nichols, is on temporary leave, Inspire announced this week.<\/p>\n<p>An Inspire official said the charter school network will not say why, to protect Nichols\u2019 privacy.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement comes as multiple school districts and county offices of education are looking to <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/news\/education\/story\/2019-09-18\/inspire-audit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">investigate the statewide Inspire home charter school network<\/a> for <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/news\/education\/story\/2019-08-10\/inspire-charter-schools-spread-across-california-as-critics-warn-of-performance-financial-concerns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">questionable financial and organizational practices<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Inspire gives $2,600 or more to students\u2019 families to spend on their education, using a list of thousands of vendors. In the past it <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/news\/education\/story\/2019-07-12\/inspire-charter-home-schools-narrow-family-spending-policy-as-scrutiny-grows\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">had allowed families to buy Disneyland annual passes<\/a>, dinner theater tickets and more, using public education dollars.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<strong><em>Nichols\u2019 annual salary is $380,000, Inspire\u2019s spokesman Chris Bertelli said. In 2016,<\/em> <span class=\"Link\">Nichols was paid $514,197<\/span>.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/news\/education\/story\/2019-09-26\/inspire-charter-ceo-leave-of-absence\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/news\/education\/story\/2019-09-26\/inspire-charter-ceo-leave-of-absence<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"Page-ad-margins\">\n<div class=\"ArticlePage-sticky-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"ArticlePage-content paywall\">\n<div class=\"ArticlePage-breadcrumbs\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/ca253d7\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4372x3404+0+0\/resize\/840x654!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fca-times.brightspotcdn.com%2F5c%2F4f%2F05e1d5344333a40a615dcab50706%2F465559-create-78-sax-quartet-hl-006.jpg\" alt=\"465559_CREATE_78_sax_quartet_HL\" width=\"840\" height=\"654\" \/><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"ArticlePage-headline\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Vista superintendent placed on administrative leave<\/h1>\n<p>Linda Kimble, superintendent of the Vista Unified School District for less than two years, has been placed on administrative leave, school board President Rosemary Smithfield said Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Smithfield announced the change in a letter e-mailed to parents Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn behalf of the Board of Education, I share with you the news that Dr. Linda Kimble, Superintendent, is on leave from the district, effective immediately,\u201d Smithfield wrote. \u201cWe expect to announce a long-term solution to the district\u2019s leadership transition in mid October.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During that time, Assistant Superintendent Matt Doyle will serve as interim superintendent, she wrote. Doyle, who is currently leader of the district\u2019s innovation department, also stepped in as interim superintendent after the resignation of former Superintendent Devin Vodicka in 2017.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/communities\/north-county\/story\/2019-09-25\/vista-superintendent-placed-on-administrative-leave\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/communities\/north-county\/story\/2019-09-25\/vista-superintendent-placed-on-administrative-leave<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.voiceofsandiego.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_3604-800x533.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"excerpt-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.voiceofsandiego.org\/topics\/education\/good-schools-for-all-the-problems-plaguing-porter\/\">Good Schools for All: The Problems Plaguing Porter Podcast\u00a0<\/a><\/h1>\n<div class=\"excerpt-lede\">\n<p>VOSD\u2019s Scott Lewis and Will Huntsberry take a close look at recent events at Porter Elementary after it was put on a list of the state\u2019s lowest-performing schools and parents and school employees offered troubling accounts of students whose needs were not being met.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.voiceofsandiego.org\/topics\/news\/vosd-podcast-the-problem-with-the-plan-for-porter\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.voiceofsandiego.org\/topics\/news\/vosd-podcast-the-problem-with-the-plan-for-porter\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><u>The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tiananmen Square Massacre\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/czNcMGkOCkU?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<h1 id=\"link-55e0ef2c\" class=\"css-1j5ig2m e1h9rw200\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"balancedHeadline\">Tanks, Missiles and No Pigeons: China to Celebrate 70th Birthday of the Social Fascist People\u2019s Republic<\/span><\/h1>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">As the Communist Party of China prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its rule, the state is choreographing the pomp and pageantry to exalt President Xi as the unassailable leader of a rising nation and the indispensable bulwark against an array of challenges that threaten to erode its iron grip on power.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">On Tuesday, the country\u2019s National Day, he will preside over a military parade through Tiananmen Square whose preparations appear as ambitious and, arguably, as grandiose as the leader himself. It will involve 15,000 soldiers and sailors, 160 fighter jets, bombers and other aircraft, and 580 tanks and other weapons \u2014 some of them, military commanders hinted coyly, never before seen in public.<\/p>\n<p>For Mr. Xi, the anniversary has come at an opportune, and much-needed, moment. It has given him a chance to bask in the party\u2019s achievements at a time when it is coming under increasing strain, especially from the economic drag of the trade war with the United States. It is also <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/21\/world\/asia\/china-islam-crackdown.html?module=inline\">fending off<\/a> condemnation of the government\u2019s mass detentions of Muslims in Xinjiang; battling an epidemic of African swine fever that has driven up prices for <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/10\/business\/china-pork-prices.html?module=inline\">that Chinese staple, pork<\/a>; and trying to contain months of protests in Hong Kong that have surged into <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/27\/world\/asia\/hong-kong-protests-identity.html?module=inline\">an open defiance of Beijing\u2019s rule.\u00a0\u00a0 www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/28\/world\/asia\/china-national-day-70th-anniversary.html?action=click&#038;module=Top%20Stories&#038;pgtype=Homepage<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"irc_mi aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_1%2C$multiply_1%2C$ratio_1.777778%2C$width_1992%2C$x_8%2C$y_68\/t_crop_custom\/w_375\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/5a7187669214d950de4b3038363d76735e910462\" alt=\"Image result for chinese red army\" width=\"375\" height=\"211\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"post-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Low turnout, technical glitches mark Afghan puppet presidential election<\/h1>\n<p>&#8230;Saturday&#8217;s polls saw the incumbent, President <a class=\"InternalLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/topics\/people\/ashraf-ghani.html\">Ashraf Ghani<\/a>, make a bid for a second and final five-year term in a crowded pool of more than a dozen other candidates weeks after peace talks between the Taliban and the <a class=\"InternalLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/topics\/country\/united-States.html\">United States<\/a> over ending the 18-year war <a class=\"InternalLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/09\/trump-taliban-peace-talks-dead-190909183728653.html\">broke down<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Though the voters were once again commended for their willingness to head to the polls amid violence &#8211; including bombings and rocket attacks &#8211; in the provinces of Helmand, Nangarhar, Ghor, Kandahar and Maidan Wardak, the process seemed to be plagued with logistical problems. ..&#8221;They keep saying &#8216;fraud, fraud fraud&#8217;, but if this isn&#8217;t systematic, planned fraud, I don&#8217;t know what is. It seems like the commission itself is the one trying to make fraud,&#8221; said Mohammad, trailed by several others allegedly facing the same issue.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/09\/turnout-technical-glitches-mark-afghan-presidential-election-190928134625155.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/09\/turnout-technical-glitches-mark-afghan-presidential-election-190928134625155.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"b-lazy media__image media__element b-loaded aligncenter\" title=\"5,000 small U.S. flags representing suicides of active and veteran members of the military line the National Mall, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018, in an action by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), in Washington. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)\" src=\"https:\/\/images05.military.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/full\/public\/2019-07\/Veteran%20Suicides%201800.jpeg.jpg?itok=HsuASHX7\" alt=\"5,000 small U.S. flags representing suicides of active and veteran members of the military line the National Mall, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018, in an action by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), in Washington. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)\" width=\"621\" height=\"414\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Alarming VA Report Totals Decade of Veteran Suicides<\/h1>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.military.com\/benefits\/veteran-benefits\">Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a> released an alarming report Friday showing that at least <em><strong>60,000 veterans died by suicide between 2008 and 2017,<\/strong><\/em> with little sign that the crisis is abating despite suicide prevention being the VA&#8217;s top priority.<\/p>\n<p>Although the total population of veterans declined by 18% during that span of years, more than 6,000 veterans died by suicide annually, according to the VA&#8217;s 2019 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report.\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.military.com\/daily-news\/2019\/09\/23\/alarming-va-report-totals-decade-veteran-suicides.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.military.com\/daily-news\/2019\/09\/23\/alarming-va-report-totals-decade-veteran-suicides.html<\/a><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"headline h1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"_1p6f _1p6g img\" src=\"https:\/\/scontent.fsan1-2.fna.fbcdn.net\/v\/t1.0-0\/p526x296\/71579889_2501871516539518_2738056292743512064_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&amp;_nc_oc=AQlDJFdE5JqjnDOg7Eqo2DFSHUhG6U8eKadZ01DULMtRdFiS9iWe0VMgN6_1_MasCAg&amp;_nc_ht=scontent.fsan1-2.fna&amp;oh=93d9d06b89e479196125e5e20194d159&amp;oe=5DF54FCD\" alt=\"\" width=\"495\" height=\"498\" \/><\/h1>\n<h1 class=\"headline h1\" style=\"text-align: center;\">3 sailors assigned to the USS George H.W. Bush died by suicide last week<\/h1>\n<p>Chief Electronics Technician Nuclear James Shelton and Airman Ethan Stuart were found deceased in separate incidents at off-base locations on Sept. 19, Cmdr. Jennifer Cragg, a spokeswoman with Norfolk Naval Station, told Task &amp; Purpose.<\/p>\n<p>The two deaths came just five days after Aviation Ordnanceman First Class Vincent Forline, another sailor assigned to the USS George H. W. Bush, died by suicide.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Every death of a Sailor is devastating and affects our entire Navy Family,&#8221; Cragg said. &#8220;Our thoughts and condolences are with the family, friends, and shipmates of the Sailors.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A Facebook post on Monday evening from Capt. Sean Bailey, commanding officer of the USS George H. W. Bush, confirmed that the recent deaths mark the &#8220;third, fourth, and fifth crew member suicides in the last two years.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>None of the deaths occurred aboard the aircraft carrier, which is dry-docked in Norfolk, Cragg told Task &amp; Purpose.\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/taskandpurpose.com\/uss-george-hw-bush-suicides?utm_campaign=RebelAlerts&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_source=RebelAlerts-taskandpurpose&#038;utm_source=Task+%26+Purpose+Daily&#038;utm_campaign=2fae754433-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_09_24_07_01&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_term=0_67edd998fe-2fae754433-76834115&#038;mc_cid=2fae754433&#038;mc_eid=7e099a64db\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">taskandpurpose.com\/uss-george-hw-bush-suicides?utm_campaign=RebelAlerts&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_source=RebelAlerts-taskandpurpose&#038;utm_source=Task+%26+Purpose+Daily&#038;utm_campaign=2fae754433-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_09_24_07_01&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_term=0_67edd998fe-2fae754433-76834115&#038;mc_cid=2fae754433&#038;mc_eid=7e099a64db<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-post-thumbnail wp-image-3581 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/timesofsandiego.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/marine-corps-base-camp-pendleton-e1384490357142-640x360.jpeg\" alt=\"Camp Pendleton sign\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"entry-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Marine Corps Details Human Smuggling Charges Against 13 Pendleton Lance Corporals<\/h1>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/marines.mil\">Marine Corps<\/a> officially announced charges Friday against 13 Marines for alleged misconduct, including accusations they smuggled undocumented immigrants and committed drug-related offenses.<\/p>\n<p>The Marines \u2014 detained in July \u2014 will face military court proceedings for alleged transportation of humans, as well as failure to obey an order, drunkenness, endangerment, larceny and perjury, according to a Marine Corps statement.<\/p>\n<p>Two of the Marines, Lance Cpl. Byron D. Law and Lance Cpl. David J. Salazar-Quintero, were named in the release, but the other 11 defendants\u2019 names were withheld. Law and Salazar-Quintero\u2019s names were released because they have been publicly named by the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office, which charged the men federally for alleged transportation of undocumented immigrants for financial gain. They were taken into custody on July 3.<\/p>\n<p>Seven of the unidentified lance corporals have been charged with Article 134 violations, which refer to alleged transportation and\/or conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants. One of those Marines is also charged with larceny and failure to obey an order, while another is also charged with endangerment and failure to obey an order.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofsandiego.com\/military\/2019\/09\/20\/marine-corps-details-human-smuggling-charges-against-13-pendleton-lance-corporals\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">timesofsandiego.com\/military\/2019\/09\/20\/marine-corps-details-human-smuggling-charges-against-13-pendleton-lance-corporals\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><u>The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/moneybags-shoot-not-people.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24211\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/moneybags-shoot-not-people.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"944\" height=\"612\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/moneybags-shoot-not-people.jpg 944w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/moneybags-shoot-not-people-150x97.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/moneybags-shoot-not-people-500x324.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/moneybags-shoot-not-people-768x498.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 944px) 100vw, 944px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Which 2020 Democrats get the most campaign cash from wealthy donors?<\/h1>\n<p><em>This is the second of two stories about the top donor occupations to 2020 Democrats. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\/2019\/09\/sanders-vs-warren-who-has-more-working-class-donors\/\">first story<\/a> examines the candidates getting support from working-class donors.<\/em> Wealthy donors have an abundance of options to choose from in the loaded Democratic presidential primary. But for the most part, they\u2019re sticking with a small handful of White House hopefuls.<\/p>\n<p>Three candidates consistently rank among the top recipients from those in typically high-paying jobs, according to an OpenSecrets review of campaign contributions including small amounts given through the fundraising service <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/pacs\/lookup2.php?cycle=2020&amp;strID=C00401224\">ActBlue<\/a>.\u00a0 South Bend, Ind., Mayor and top-tier fundraiser <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/2020-presidential-race\/candidate?id=N00044183\"><strong>Pete Buttigieg<\/strong><\/a> is the most popular among CEOs, consultants, realtors, accountants and physicians, among others. Former Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/2020-presidential-race\/candidate?id=N00001669\"><strong>Joe Biden<\/strong><\/a> gets the most from investors, presidents, attorneys and chiropractors. Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/2020-presidential-race\/candidate?id=N00036915\"><strong>Kamala Harris<\/strong><\/a> (D-Calif.) wins with executives and entrepreneurs.\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\/2019\/09\/which-2020-democrats-get-the-most-campaign-cash-from-wealthy-donors\/?utm_source=CRP+Mail+List&#038;utm_campaign=bb88d3fed2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_07_11_12_56_COPY_02&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_term=0_9df8578d78-bb88d3fed2-210801521\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.opensecrets.org\/news\/2019\/09\/which-2020-democrats-get-the-most-campaign-cash-from-wealthy-donors\/?utm_source=CRP+Mail+List&#038;utm_campaign=bb88d3fed2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_07_11_12_56_COPY_02&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_term=0_9df8578d78-bb88d3fed2-210801521<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"ebooksImgBlkFront\" class=\"a-dynamic-image frontImage aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41uHuPpzPzL.jpg\" alt=\"LORDS OF THE RIM: How Offshore Chinese Networks became the world's richest people over two thousand years by [Seagrave, Sterling]\" width=\"217px\" data-a-image-name=\"ebooksImageBlockFront\" data-a-dynamic-image=\"{&quot;https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41uHuPpzPzL._SY346_.jpg&quot;:[217,346],&quot;https:\/\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41uHuPpzPzL.jpg&quot;:[314,500]}\" data-a-manual-replacement=\"true\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"viz1568996467354\" class=\"tableauPlaceholder\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Study the history of guanxi!<\/div>\n<div>\n<h1 class=\"page-title article-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\">126 Countries have joined China&#8217;s imperialist &#8216;Belt &amp; Road&#8217;<\/h1>\n<p>Nicknamed the &#8220;New Silk Road,&#8221; 126 nations have signed up to the Belt and Road (B&amp;R) initiative, first proposed by China in 2013 in a bid to mobilize huge sums of capital towards boosting the infrastructure and economic connectivity of what are, in the main, fairly low-income countries. A huge number of projects have been earmarked in countries spanning Asia, Africa, Europe and North and South America.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenbiz.com\/article\/how-chinas-belt-road-initiative-could-make-or-break-paris-agreement\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.greenbiz.com\/article\/how-chinas-belt-road-initiative-could-make-or-break-paris-agreement<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"China&#039;s massive Belt and Road initiative builds global infrastructure -- and influence\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xl_kw3mNazY?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<\/div>\n<h1 id=\"link-26348e3b\" class=\"css-1j5ig2m e1h9rw200\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"balancedHeadline\">\u2018The New Berlin Wall\u2019: Why Ukraine Is Central to the Scandal<\/span><\/h1>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">His voice crackling over what he complained was a \u201cterrible\u201d sound system, Donald J. Trump in September 2015 heaped praise on the oligarch who had invited him to speak by video link from New York to a conference in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">The Ukrainian oligarch, Victor Pinchuk, had secured 20 minutes of Mr. Trump\u2019s time \u2014 and <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-BFMhvZvI9A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a heap of flattery from the future president<\/a>, who described him as \u201ca very, very special man\u201d \u2014 with <em><strong><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/09\/us\/politics\/trump-mueller-ukraine-victor-pinchuk.html?module=inline\">a donation of $150,000 to Mr. Trump\u2019s now defunct foundation<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Mr. Pinchuk, a steel magnate long enmeshed with Ukraine\u2019s business and political elite, had earlier <em><strong>donated more than $10 million to the Clinton Foundation and been invited to dine at the Washington home of Hillary and Bill Clinton.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">The equal opportunity largess of powerful Ukrainians like Mr. Pinchuk helps explain why so many of the most dimly lit and hazardous roads of American politics keep leading back to Ukraine, a poor, dysfunctional country on Europe\u2019s eastern fringe&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Paul Manafort, Rudolph Giuliani, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.\u2019s son Hunter and Hillary Clinton<\/strong> <\/em>have all, at one time or another, found their way there, escorted by Ukrainian guides with deep pockets and a keen sense of how to appeal to their vanities, ambitions and greed\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/27\/world\/europe\/ukraine-zelensky-cold-war-trump-giuliani.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/27\/world\/europe\/ukraine-zelensky-cold-war-trump-giuliani.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-lead-media__picture\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/assets\/media\/img\/mt\/2019\/09\/AP_16230546670169\/lead_720_405.jpg?mod=1569594607\" alt=\"A closeup of Hunter Biden standing with his father, Joe Biden.\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"c-article-header__hed\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Hunter Biden\u2019s Perfectly Legal, Socially Acceptable Corruption<\/h1>\n<div class=\"c-article-meta c-article-meta--ideas\">\n<p class=\"c-dek c-dek--ideas\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Donald Trump committed an impeachable offense, but prominent Americans also shouldn\u2019t be leveraging their names for payoffs from shady clients abroad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>How did <em>this<\/em> get to be standard practice?<\/p>\n<p>The whistle-blower scandal that has prompted the fourth presidential impeachment process in American history has put a spectacle from earlier this decade back on display: the jaw-smacking feast of scavengers who circled around Ukraine as Viktor Yanukovych, a Moscow-linked kleptocrat, was driven from power. Ukraine\u2019s crisis was the latest to energize a club whose culture has come to be treated as normal\u2014a culture in which top-tier lawyers, former U.S. public officials, and policy experts (and their progeny) cash in by trading on their connections and their access to insider policy information\u2014usually by providing services to kleptocrats like Yanukovych. The renewed focus on Ukraine raises jangling questions: How did dealing in influence to burnish the fortunes of repugnant world leaders for large payoffs become a business model? How could America\u2019s leading lights convince themselves\u2014and us\u2014that this is acceptable?\u00a0 &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s start with Hunter Biden. In April 2014, he became a director of <a href=\"https:\/\/burisma-group.com\/eng\/\" data-omni-click=\"r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'3',r'None'\">Burisma<\/a>, the largest natural-gas producer in Ukraine. He had no prior experience in the gas industry, nor with Ukrainian regulatory affairs, his ostensible purview at Burisma. He did have one priceless qualification: his unique position as the son of the vice president of the United States, newborn Ukraine\u2019s most crucial ally. Weeks before Biden came on, Ukraine\u2019s government had collapsed&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>And Hunter Biden was hardly the only prominent American who did well for himself during Ukraine\u2019s transition. <em><strong>Another Burisma director was <a href=\"https:\/\/burisma-group.com\/eng\/director\/joseph-cofer-black\/\" data-omni-click=\"r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'14',r'None'\">Cofer Black<\/a><u>, <\/u>George W. Bush\u2019s CIA counterterrorism chief. The Republican operative and future Trump campaign chair <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2018\/03\/paul-manafort-american-hustler\/550925\/\" data-omni-click=\"r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'15',r'None'\">Paul Manafort<\/a> worked for Yanukovych. So did Obama White House Counsel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/08\/26\/us\/politics\/gregory-craig-trial.html\" data-omni-click=\"r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'16',r'None'\">Gregory Craig<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2019\/09\/hunter-bidens-legal-socially-acceptable-corruption\/598804\/?utm_term=2019-09-27T14%3A11%3A00&#038;utm_content=edit-promo&#038;utm_campaign=the-atlantic&#038;utm_medium=social&#038;utm_source=facebook&#038;fbclid=IwAR0VjDU8ADglU_2z5M5q2jsCWW45XlOXZkiIepdeImG9mECvz4H1k_HnQIk\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2019\/09\/hunter-bidens-legal-socially-acceptable-corruption\/598804\/?utm_term=2019-09-27T14%3A11%3A00&#038;utm_content=edit-promo&#038;utm_campaign=the-atlantic&#038;utm_medium=social&#038;utm_source=facebook&#038;fbclid=IwAR0VjDU8ADglU_2z5M5q2jsCWW45XlOXZkiIepdeImG9mECvz4H1k_HnQIk<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><u>The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement and <\/u><\/strong><strong><u>The War on Reason<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Collateral Murder - Wikileaks - Iraq\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5rXPrfnU3G0?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<h2 class=\"blog-single-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Chelsea Manning Imprisoned Without Charge For Six Months<\/h2>\n<p>The courageous whistleblower Chelsea Manning has now been held in a federal detention center in Alexandria, Virginia for more than six months. Manning has not been charged with or committed any crime. She was sent to jail on March 8, 2019 for refusing to testify before a secret grand jury that has indicted persecuted WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange, who published the information she leaked exposing rampant US imperialist criminality.<\/p>\n<p>As President Donald Trump threatened Friday to launch a catastrophic war against Iran, including an implicit threat to use nuclear weapons, the historic significance of what Manning and Assange did is clear. And it is also clear why every genuine defender of democratic rights and opponent of imperialism will be energetically fighting for the freedom of Manning and Assange.<\/p>\n<p>Among the information that Manning provided to WikiLeaks in 2009-2010 was the infamous \u201cCollateral Murder\u201d video\u2014which documented the indiscriminate killing of civilians and Reuters journalists in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad. She leaked a trove of 400,000 documents that became known as the \u201cIraq War Logs\u201d and another 91,000 documents that became part of the \u201cAfghan War Logs.\u201d Over 250,000 US diplomatic cables were also published, revealing the daily intrigue and conspiracies engaged in by American embassies and consulates around the world. The revelations played a role in inspiring ordinary people in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere to rise up in revolution against dictatorship and oppression.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/popularresistance.org\/chelsea-manning-imprisoned-without-charge-for-six-months-for-refusing-to-testify-against-julian-assange\/?fbclid=IwAR2cmY4sYJapiRuibqtPDgyGXwLWjWWdJq3w4b_qgUVNHXQ0E2g7miWssbc\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">popularresistance.org\/chelsea-manning-imprisoned-without-charge-for-six-months-for-refusing-to-testify-against-julian-assange\/?fbclid=IwAR2cmY4sYJapiRuibqtPDgyGXwLWjWWdJq3w4b_qgUVNHXQ0E2g7miWssbc<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" title=\"Julian Assange arrives at Westminster Magistrates court on 11 April\" src=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/s3fs-public\/thumbnails\/image\/2019\/04\/17\/13\/julianassange-0.jpg?w968h681\" sizes=\"calc(100%)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/s3fs-public\/thumbnails\/image\/2019\/04\/17\/13\/julianassange-0.jpg?w968 968w, https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/s3fs-public\/thumbnails\/image\/2019\/04\/17\/13\/julianassange-0.jpg?w375 375w, https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/s3fs-public\/thumbnails\/image\/2019\/04\/17\/13\/julianassange-0.jpg?w768 768w\" alt=\"Julian Assange arrives at Westminster Magistrates court on 11 April\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"headline\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Julian Assange \u2018subjected to every kind of torment\u2019 in Belmarsh prison as he awaits extradition<\/h1>\n<p>The father of <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/JulianAssange\" data-vars-item-name=\"BL-9124586-\/topic\/JulianAssange\" data-vars-event-id=\"c6\">Julian Assange<\/a> has said the <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/WikiLeaks\" data-vars-item-name=\"BL-9124586-\/topic\/WikiLeaks\" data-vars-event-id=\"c6\">WikiLeaks<\/a> founder\u00a0is \u201cbeing subjected to every sort of torment\u201d at\u00a0<a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/belmarsh-prison\" data-vars-item-name=\"BL-9124586-\/topic\/belmarsh-prison\" data-vars-event-id=\"c6\">Belmarsh prison<\/a>\u00a0as he awaits the hearing that could see him extradited to the US.<\/p>\n<p>The whistleblower, who is being held alongside some of the UK\u2019s most infamous criminals ahead of his <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/extradition\" data-vars-item-name=\"BL-9124586-\/topic\/extradition\" data-vars-event-id=\"c6\">extradition<\/a> hearing in February, could face a maximum prison sentence of 175 years under charges laid down by Washington.<\/p>\n<p>Now his father John Shipton has warned his son is suffering mentally and physically in prison.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/home-news\/julian-assange-latest-extradition-hearing-belmarsh-prison-father-john-shipton-award-un-a9124586.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/home-news\/julian-assange-latest-extradition-hearing-belmarsh-prison-father-john-shipton-award-un-a9124586.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"irc_mi aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/pics.me.me\/sthe-gary-huck-huckkonopackicartoons-com-20837819.png\" alt=\"Image result for gary huck impeach trump image\" width=\"366\" height=\"367\" \/><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"ArticlePage-headline\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Democratic candidates back impeachment inquiry \u2014 and a GOP challenger accuses Trump of treason<\/h1>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s treason pure and simple, and the penalty for treason under the U.S. code is death,\u201d Weld told MSNBC. If the Senate convicts a president after impeachment by the House, he said, the penalty \u201cis removal from office, and that might look like a pretty good alternative to the president if he could work out a plea deal.\u201d\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/politics\/story\/2019-09-24\/2020-democratic-presidential-candidates-trump-impeachment\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.latimes.com\/politics\/story\/2019-09-24\/2020-democratic-presidential-candidates-trump-impeachment<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><u>Solidarity for Never<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/capitalist-Union.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24225\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/capitalist-Union.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"183\" height=\"115\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/capitalist-Union.jpg 183w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/capitalist-Union-150x94.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 183px) 100vw, 183px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"page_title\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Backgrounder: The Torment and Demise of the United Auto Workers Union as Performed by the Auto Bosses, the Labor Leaders, Counterfeit Radicals, Fictional Revolutionaries, and All Those Who Know They Are Not Innocent Either<\/h1>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"spotlight\" src=\"https:\/\/scontent.fsan1-1.fna.fbcdn.net\/v\/t1.0-9\/70938658_2859598514054746_7457697108724809728_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&amp;_nc_oc=AQnIntMIzoZU4RmJQXLl3myQA3TMPLrBNvFYfC1zJBUeO1_2ld8LRN9UtzTvmHjsgms&amp;_nc_ht=scontent.fsan1-1.fna&amp;oh=25a102827a82692c687158f2c6f576c6&amp;oe=5DEF081B\" alt=\"No photo description available.\" aria-busy=\"true\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;On June 22, 2006, (TWO YEARS PRE-BAILOUT) the New York Times national editions, delivered to most subscribers&#8217; homes by 5:00 a.m. all over the US (a feat in itself, demonstrating the potential of our era), featured a 32-page distinct color section devoted to &#8220;Luxury, the New Gilded Age of Autos.&#8221; In this section, which offers extravagance in the form of the old stand-by of chrome, metal, and wheels, there are exactly three clearly visible human beings, all men; the only one with a noticeable face being James Giordano, an aging BMW car salesman: &#8220;I came to the US 47 years ago in search of the best life quality the world had to offer.&#8221; Remarkably, the traditional slinky women who once graced car ads with the fantasy that the car would get you one, are not offered. Instead, it is just page after page of Jaguars, Hondas, Lamborghinis, with some declasse Dodge Vipers, GM and Ford SUV&#8217;s tossed in. No fantasy; no more. Buy the Beast. Rule alone.<br \/>\nOn June 26, 2006, GM announced that 33% of its workforce, 35,000 workers, had taken the bait for employment buyouts. Delphi, once a part of GM, spun off as a feeder industry, said 12,600 workers accepted buyouts, about half the work force, with many more expected to follow before a July &#8220;deadline.&#8221; And Ford happily announced that at least 10,000 workers would leave their employ. The three companies announced simultaneous management cuts. GM lost market share in the US, down from what was once 50% of the market, to about 20% and falling\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&#038;rct=j&#038;q=&#038;esrc=s&#038;source=web&#038;cd=3&#038;ved=2ahUKEwjnx-Gqn_XkAhVWs54KHXsQBgQQFjACegQIAxAC&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fojs.library.ubc.ca%2Findex.php%2Fclogic%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F191776%2F188771&#038;usg=AOvVaw08tEgv2TDLiT5pR5PRSIcx\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.google.com\/url?sa=t&#038;rct=j&#038;q=&#038;esrc=s&#038;source=web&#038;cd=3&#038;ved=2ahUKEwjnx-Gqn_XkAhVWs54KHXsQBgQQFjACegQIAxAC&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fojs.library.ubc.ca%2Findex.php%2Fclogic%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F191776%2F188771&#038;usg=AOvVaw08tEgv2TDLiT5pR5PRSIcx<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/08\/27\/PDTN\/fabfddfe-bc26-48e0-8619-48b0bb073308-tdndc5-5p40szp96fo143j6od6q_original.jpg?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Demonstrators gather outside of General Motors Plant #2 in Flint during a strike in the winter of 1937.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/08\/27\/PDTN\/fabfddfe-bc26-48e0-8619-48b0bb073308-tdndc5-5p40szp96fo143j6od6q_original.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/08\/27\/PDTN\/fabfddfe-bc26-48e0-8619-48b0bb073308-tdndc5-5p40szp96fo143j6od6q_original.jpg?width=500&amp;height=386\" \/><\/p>\n<section id=\"module-position-SITsN8mSrP4\" class=\"storytopbar-bucket story-headline-module story-story-headline-module\">\n<h1 class=\"asset-headline speakable-headline\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Opinion: Ongoing worker strike an echo from the 1930s<\/h1>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"module-position-SITsN8ntVP0\" class=\"storytopbar-bucket priority-asset-module story-priority-asset-module\"><\/section>\n<section id=\"module-position-SITsN8n1BhY\" class=\"storytopbar-bucket story-byline-module story-story-byline-module\">\n<div class=\"asset-metabar\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em><span class=\"asset-metabar-author asset-metabar-item\">Gary Jones<\/span> (Corrupt UAW President lying)<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">They sang songs, like this one, an untitled strike tune\u00a0by Walter Frost:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">We all know they are fighters<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">There isn\u2019t any doubt<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The thugs and scabs of GMC<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Can never scare us out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The cops would like to drive us out<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">But we will not back down<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">We\u2019re going to stick together \u2018til<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">We organize this town.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The takeover of Chevy #4 was the last straw for General Motors \u2014 negotiations began the next day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">As it was in 1936,\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/opinion\/columnists\/labor-voices\/2019\/09\/25\/opinion-ongoing-worker-strike-echo-1930-s\/2421936001\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.detroitnews.com\/story\/opinion\/columnists\/labor-voices\/2019\/09\/25\/opinion-ongoing-worker-strike-echo-1930-s\/2421936001\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women&#039;s Emergency Brigade (1979)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pa75V-tdBko?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<div class=\"\">\n<div class=\"UFIImageBlockContent _42ef clearfix\">\n<div class=\"_ohf rfloat\">\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><a class=\" UFICommentActorName\" dir=\"ltr\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rich.gibson.73\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rich Gibson commentary (Gibson is one of 5 people who created UAW Local 6000)<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"_3-8m\">\n<div class=\"_30o4\"><span class=\"_5mdd _1n4g\"><em><strong>It is shocking that the News would give credence to anything the corrupt and discredited Gary Jones writes, especially this rubbish<\/strong><\/em>. The heroic strikes of the 1930s, immortalized in the film &#8220;With Babies and Banners&#8221; (now on youtube), has nearly nothing to do with this strike in 2019. <\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"_30o4\"><span class=\"_5mdd _1n4g\">The strike leaders then were not crooked piecards stealing from the rank and file, taking bribes from the companies, selling labor peace in exchange for dues income off which the labor bosses lived well&#8211;until they became so greedy that the needed much more. This strike smells like the 1970 strike, detailed by Detroit reporter, and later professor, William Serrin, in &#8220;the Company and the Union.&#8221; <\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"_30o4\"><span class=\"_5mdd _1n4g\">In that book Serring shows how the Labor Bosses of the UAW conspired with the Big Auto Bosses to drag out a strike until the ranks were exhausted&#8211;to the degree that a terrible contract could be rammed through. <\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"_30o4\"><span class=\"_5mdd _1n4g\">Back in the 30s, the rank and file trusted, for good reason, the radical leadership of the UAW who knew that workers and bosses have contradictory interests. Today, and for decades, the UAW Bosses declared themselves to be &#8220;Partners in Production&#8221; with the Auto Bosses. This is the big crime that led to the smaller, but disgusting, crimes we see rolled out today.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><u>Spy versus Spy<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/assets\/media\/img\/2019\/08\/23\/China_elements\/1920.jpg?1566588628\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-cover-content-wrapper\">\n<div id=\"main-content\" class=\"article-cover-content\">\n<h1 class=\"hed\" style=\"text-align: center;\">China\u2019s Spies Are on the Offensive<\/h1>\n<p class=\"dek\" style=\"text-align: center;\">China\u2019s spies are waging an intensifying espionage offensive against the United States. Does America have what it takes to stop them?\u00a0 (and who is Mitch McConnel&#8217;s wife anyway?)<\/p>\n<section id=\"article-section-1\">\n<p class=\"dropcap\" dir=\"ltr\">In early 2017, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/former-cia-officer-sentenced-prison-espionage\" data-omni-click=\"r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'0',r'595747'\">Kevin Mallory<\/a> was struggling financially. After years of drawing a government salary as a member of the military and as a CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency officer, he was behind on his mortgage and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/national-security\/how-230-000-debt-linkedin-message-led-ex-cia-officer-n990691\" data-omni-click=\"r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'1',r'595747'\">$230,000 in debt<\/a>. Though he had, like many veteran intelligence officials, ventured into the private sector, where the pay can be considerably better, things still weren\u2019t going well; his consulting business was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/public-safety\/former-cia-officer-kevin-mallory-found-guilty-of-selling-secrets-to-china\/2018\/06\/08\/918a0b82-69ad-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html\" data-omni-click=\"r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'2',r'595747'\">floundering<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Then, prosecutors said, he received a message on LinkedIn, where he had more than 500 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kevin-mallory-9068512a\/\" data-omni-click=\"r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'3',r'595747'\">connections<\/a>. It had come from a Chinese recruiter with whom Mallory had five mutual connections. The recruiter, according to the message, worked for a think tank in China, where Mallory, who spoke fluent Mandarin, had been based for part of his career. The think tank, the recruiter said, was interested in Mallory\u2019s foreign-policy expertise. The LinkedIn message led to a phone call with a man who called himself Michael Yang. According to the FBI, the initial conversations that would lead Mallory down a path of betrayal were conducted in the bland language of professional courtesy. That February, according to a search <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.vaed.369161.1.0.pdf\" data-omni-click=\"r'article',r'',d,r'intext',r'4',r'595747'\">warrant<\/a>, Yang sent Mallory an email requesting \u201canother short phone call with you to address several points.\u201d Mallory replied, \u201cSo I can be prepared, will we be speaking via Skype or will you be calling my mobile device?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Soon after, Mallory was on a plane to meet Yang in Shanghai. He would later tell the FBI he suspected that Yang was not a think-tank employee, but a Chinese intelligence officer, which apparently was okay by him. Mallory\u2019s trip to China began an espionage relationship that saw him receive $25,000 over two months in exchange for handing over government secrets\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2019\/08\/inside-us-china-espionage-war\/595747\/\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2019\/08\/inside-us-china-espionage-war\/595747\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"MADTV - Spy vs Spy - Season 3 [1997]\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1Nqyz0a6e7s?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<div class=\"css-1vkm6nb ehdk2mb0\">\n<h1 id=\"link-20ed1e07\" class=\"css-1s4ffep e1h9rw200\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"balancedHeadline\">U.S. Intelligence Officer Who Tried to Share Secrets With China Is Sentenced to 10 Years<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-1ifw933 e1wiw3jv0\" style=\"text-align: center;\">He was expected to receive a harsher sentence. But a federal judge said he had cooperated with investigators.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">A former United States intelligence officer who tried to pass secret military information to the Chinese government was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison \u2014 a term that was five years less than expected because he provided information that could help prevent foreign agents from targeting other Americans, the authorities said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">The former officer, Ron Rockwell Hansen, 60, pleaded guilty in March to one count of attempting to gather or deliver defense information.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Mr. Hansen said he received hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for information he shared with the Chinese government. He was part of what prosecutors called a \u201ctroubling trend\u201d of American intelligence officers being recruited by China for espionage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">As part of his plea agreement, Mr. Hansen was to receive a 15-year sentence. But Judge Dee Benson of the United States District Court in Salt Lake City gave him a sentence of 10 years on Tuesday after he said Mr. Hansen cooperated with federal investigators.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/24\/us\/china-intelligence-sentence.html\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/24\/us\/china-intelligence-sentence.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><u>The Magical Mystery Tour<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Grand Inquisitor - John Gielgud\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/om6HcUUa8DI?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<div class=\"css-1vkm6nb ehdk2mb0\">\n<h1 id=\"link-725d497d\" class=\"css-1s4ffep e1h9rw200\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"balancedHeadline\">He Sued Over a Priest\u2019s Abuse. Then the Diocese Filed for Bankruptcy.<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"css-1ifw933 e1wiw3jv0\" style=\"text-align: center;\">The Rochester diocese\u2019s move has left many who were promised justice under New York\u2019s Child Victims Act feeling betrayed.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Peter Saracino was in elementary school when, he said, a priest lured him away from a swimming pool and sexually abused him inside a seminary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">He kept the secret for decades, even as his life fell apart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">\u201cWe were raised to view the priest as another Christ,\u201d Mr. Saracino said, \u201cso when you get raped by a priest, it\u2019s like being raped by God himself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">Last month, at 67 years old, Mr. Saracino filed a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester under a new law in New York that allows victims to seek justice over sexual abuse from long ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">He expected revelations. Instead, he said, came another betrayal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-exrw3m evys1bk0\">His lawsuit and dozens of others against the diocese were supposed to play out in civil court, with the expectation that victims would learn what church <a href=\"\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a> knew and did. But the diocese sidestepped all of that by declaring bankruptcy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><u>The Best and Worst Things in the History of the World<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/age-best-worst.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24218\" src=\"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/age-best-worst.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"749\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/age-best-worst.jpg 749w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/age-best-worst-117x150.jpg 117w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/age-best-worst-390x500.jpg 390w, https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/age-best-worst-500x641.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 749px) 100vw, 749px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"content__headline-standfirst-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"content__header tonal__header\">\n<div class=\"u-cf\">\n<h1 class=\"content__headline \" style=\"text-align: center;\">How we think about the term &#8216;enslaved&#8217; matters<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tonal__standfirst u-cf\">\n<div class=\"content__standfirst\" data-link-name=\"standfirst\" data-component=\"standfirst\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">400 years ago, the first Africans who came to America were not \u2018enslaved\u2019, they were indentured \u2013 and this makes a crucial difference when we think about the meanings of our past<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"drop-cap\"><span class=\"drop-cap__inner\">T<\/span><\/span>he year 1619 is momentous in American history, as a recent visit by the current US president attests. In July, Donald Trump <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2019\/jul\/30\/trump-black-leaders-virginia-race-baltimore-attack\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">visited Jamestown, Virginia<\/a>, to commemorate two events in 1619: the July creation of the colony\u2019s representative government, the House of Burgesses, and the August arrival of people he termed \u201censlaved Africans\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This phrase improves upon a commonplace in American discourse, the one-word \u201cslaves\u201d. But the term \u201censlaved\u201d, in and of itself, merits further comment, as history and as ideology. How we use these words makes a crucial difference when we think about the meanings of our past.<\/p>\n<p>People were not enslaved in Virginia in 1619, they were indentured. The 20 or so Africans were sold and bought as \u201cservants\u201d for a term of years, and they joined a population consisting largely of European indentured servants, mainly poor people from the British Isles whom the <a class=\"u-underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/virginia\" data-link-name=\"auto-linked-tag\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Virginia<\/a> Company of London had transported and sold into servitude.<\/p>\n<p>Enslavement was a process that took place step by step, after the mid-17th century. This process of turning \u201cservants\u201d from Africa into racialized workers enslaved for life occurred in the 1660s to 1680s through a succession of Virginia laws that decreed that a child\u2019s status followed that of its mother and that baptism did not automatically confer emancipation. By the end of the seventeenth century, Africans had indeed been marked off by race in law as chattel to be bought, sold, traded, inherited and serve as collateral for business and debt services. This was not already the case in 1619.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Even in 1700, Africans were hardly the only unfree colonists, for a majority of those laboring in Virginia were people bound to service. They were indentured whites.\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2019\/aug\/14\/slavery-in-america-1619-first-ships-jamestown?CMP=share_btn_fb&#038;fbclid=IwAR39T8Bl5Jwtz5zZ7WUjjGUbG2NSGb0XNkF_Z15SgwmOmqFSBb-UR5ZQRVo\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2019\/aug\/14\/slavery-in-america-1619-first-ships-jamestown?CMP=share_btn_fb&#038;fbclid=IwAR39T8Bl5Jwtz5zZ7WUjjGUbG2NSGb0XNkF_Z15SgwmOmqFSBb-UR5ZQRVo<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100010229356043\/videos\/933123857038584\/?t=121\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.facebook.com\/100010229356043\/videos\/933123857038584\/?t=121<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><u>So Long<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"img\" src=\"https:\/\/media.npr.org\/assets\/img\/2019\/09\/28\/ap_19270731826166-7875c64393fd2554fbfcd6d9db250921491bab91-s800-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa,&#8221; Bush said.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. invaded Iraq seven weeks later.<\/p>\n<p>But in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2003\/07\/06\/opinion\/what-i-didn-t-find-in-africa.html\">op-ed titled &#8220;What I Didn&#8217;t Find in Africa&#8221;<\/a> published in <em>The New York Times<\/em>, Wilson directly contradicted those 16 words. He claimed that the Bush administration was manipulating intelligence to justify the Iraq invasion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq&#8217;s nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat,&#8221; Wilson wrote&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>That op-ed set off a firestorm in Washington, D.C., as the Bush administration scrambled to justify Bush&#8217;s State of the Union claim. A week after the article was published, Wilson&#8217;s then-wife Valerie Plame&#8217;s covert identity as a CIA operative was leaked to the press and then exposed by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2005\/10\/20\/AR2005102000874.html?tid=lk_inline_manual_8\">columnist Robert Novak<\/a>. Plame had been undercover for most of her career.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It just felt like I got a sucker punch to the gut,&#8221; Plame told NPR&#8217;s <em>Fresh Air<\/em> in 2007. &#8220;And I knew, of course, my career as I knew it was over.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She was forced to resign from the CIA.\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2019\/09\/28\/765340826\/joseph-wilson-former-diplomat-who-challenged-basis-of-the-iraq-war-dies-at-69\" class=\"autohyperlink\" target=\"_blank\">www.npr.org\/2019\/09\/28\/765340826\/joseph-wilson-former-diplomat-who-challenged-basis-of-the-iraq-war-dies-at-69<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"White supremacist shot, killed in attempted racist attack on Black man at Waffle House restaurant\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D6zy6L4kdrg?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! Hong Kong Braces For Massive Weekend Protests Hong Kong is bracing for more rallies and unrest this weekend as two important anniversaries loom, sparking fears that anti-government protests might once again boil over into violence on the streets. Saturday marks five years since the start of the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement that [&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-24207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24207","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=24207"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24243,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24207\/revisions\/24243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}