'…a major destabilizing influence'
The US media are in high dudgeon over the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi living in the US in self-imposed exile who among other things had been writing articles critical of the current Saudi royal leadership, and especially Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. Certainly outrage is justified. It …
Continue reading “US ‘Outrage’ over Slaying of US Residents Depends on the Nation Responsible”
It looks like Brett “I like beer” Kavanaugh will soon be the ninth member of the Supreme Court. The FBI has turned in a submissive fig leaf of a report on its cursory, rushed and presidentially circumscribed “investigation” into the claims of sexual abuse leveled against him by several women who assert that he …
Continue reading “Kavanaugh on the High Court will be a Source of Ridicule”
Why did the US military have a vertical-take-off F-35B launched from an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean make an attack on a Taliban position in Afghanistan? Let’s say one thing from the get-go: It was not because it was the right weapons system for the job. Nobody’s mentioning several things about this Pentagon-touted first-ever …
What really struck me about the contrast between Britain’s National Health System and what we have here in the US was not how I was treated during a surprise five-day stay at an NHS hospital in Oxford, where I was sent last summer after suddenly becoming acutely short of breath — though my treatment was …
Whatever your view of Brett Kavanaugh, let’s get one thing clear: While he’s hoping to become the ninth justice of the US Supreme Court, he is not on trial. He is facing a confirmation hearing by the Judicial Committee of the US Senate. Republican backers of this clearly flawed and truth-challenged candidate are insisting indignantly, …
In the preface to his remarkable three-volume History of the Russian Revolution, Leon Trotsky, writing in 1930 about earth-shaking events in which he was a key actor, explains his view of writing history. He cites reactionary French historian Louis Madelin, who wrote that “…the historian ought to stand upon the wall of a threatened city, …
Continue reading “Ron Ridenour’s ‘Pentagon on Alert: The Russian Peace Threat’”
There’s so much bald-faced lying going on among Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee that the media needs to stop accepting this condition as normal and “to penetrate that lie.” That’s the view of Lawrence O’Donnell, a self-proclaimed mainstream socialist who isn’t afraid of controversy, a man who has worked in a number of roles …
Continue reading ““Awesome Uncontrollable Male Passion” Meets Its Match”
I just had the experience of sitting on a jury in a criminal trial in the County Courthouse of Montgomery County, PA, a sprawling urban/suburban/rural region just north and west of Philadelphia. The first indication that something was amiss was when I entered the jury assembly room at 8:15 am on Monday. There were some …
Continue reading “In Montgomery County PA, It’s Often a Jury of White People”
Word is that Michael Bloomberg, the mega-billionaire former mayor of New York City who watched his wealth more than double while he sat in the mayor’s office is thinking of running for President as a Democrat in 2020.
Why does that suck?
Michael Bloomberg and the NYPD cops he ordered as mayor to attack the Wall Street Occupy movement in November 2011
Well, listen as my dear departed friend and co-founder of this site, Chuck Young, recounts (in an article written foR TCBH! published almost eight years ago) his conversation in late 2010 with a Bloomberg “push-poll” caller trying to convince Chuck to support Bloomberg in his re-election bid:
…
Pollster: Mayor Mike Bloomberg wants to close the $4-billion budget by taking control of the pension plan from the state and enacting pension reform.
Chuck Young: Didn’t you just ask that?
P: No, that’s a new statement.
CY: Well, it sounds like a statement I disapproved of with only slightly different wording.
P: So you somewhat disapprove or strongly disapprove?
CY: Strongly. Now it’s your turn to answer my question. Do you know how much Mayor Mike Bloomberg is worth?
P: No, I don’t.
CY: I’ve seen different estimates, but it’s probably about $18 billion. You can put on your survey that I strongly disapprove of that.
P: The statement is this, sir: Mayor Mike Bloomberg wants to avoid raising taxes on the middle class by taking control of the city union pension plans from the state legislature.
CY: Didn’t I already answer that?
P: No, sir.
CY: Strongly disapprove.
P: Mayor Mike Bloomberg wants to shift control of service union pensions to the city council because the city council understands the needs of the people of New York City better than the state legislature. Do you strongly approve…
CY: $18 billion. You know what Mayor Mike could do with that all that money in his wallet?
P: Sir, I just need to know: Do you strongly approve, somewhat approve…
CY: Mayor Bloomberg could cover the entire budget gap all by himself, and still have $14 billion to live on. How bad could his life be with a mere $14 billion to spend? Would his daughter have to give up even one of her dressage ponies?
This article is running on the website of RT-TV
Yet another upstart socialist-leaning candidate, Ayanna Pressley, ousts a long-time liberal Democratic House incumbent
The Democratic Party leadership, composed of centrist and conservative Democrats who covet the money donated into party coffers by big Wall Street banks, arms manufacturers and the drug and medical establishment, was upset with the surprise primary victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a young upstart Puerto Rican woman in the Bronx Queens congressional district of a 10-term House incumbent in June, as well as by victories of left and socialist candidates in various state legislative and local primaries across the country.