Category: Politics

Posted on

Disturbing: Google is promoting hatred of Jews by skewing search results

Anti-semitic statisticsI was searching for a graphic depicting the fundamental unfairness of bashing Israel for defending itself against Arab attacks and increasing, global anti-semitism. But Google wouldn’t let me find any of those images: it just let me find images of Israelis unfairly attacking Arabs.

I don’t believe that the poor Arab, ugly Israel propaganda promoted by Big Media is the real truth underlying today’s Middle East conflict. But it’s quite apparent that this is what Google wants people to believe. By skewing search results to feed anti-Israel sentiment, Google is practicing fundamental unfairness and injustice. Shame on you, Google. read more

Posted on

Share your opinion at POP election forum Mon Aug 24

POP members and communityPeople’s Organization For Progress (POP) will hold a community forum on Monday 24 August on “The Obama Years and the 2016 Election.” This event is sponsored by POP and Marlo’s Cocktail Lounge. The program is free and open to the public.

Chairman Lawrence Hamm extends his personal invitation:

This is a community speakout. There are no guest speakers. Anyone in attendance who wants to give an opinion on the topic will be given an opportunity to do so. All are invited. Please make every effort to attend. Thank you. Power to the people! read more

Posted on

Beautiful President Carter has cancer. Much love.

Jimmy Carter, Habitat for Humanity builderThe New York Times reports on 90 year old President Jimmy Carter’s announcement that he has liver cancer, “that is now in other parts of my body.”

President Obama offers these words of hope:

Our thoughts and prayers are with Rosalynn and the entire Carter family as they face this challenge with the same grace and determination that they have shown so many times before. Jimmy, you’re as resilient as they come, and along with the rest of America, we are rooting for you.” read more

Posted on

Thousands join mayor’s Occupy the City rally on Saturday to support Newark, youth & to stamp out violence

Mayor Baraka and CommonLed by Rapper-activist-actor Common joined Mayor Ras J. Baraka, the Newark Municipal Council and actor-rapper-activist Common, thousands of Newark residents united to “Occupy the City” on Saturday, August 8, meeting at a designated location in each of Newark’s five wards at 3:30 pm and marching to the City’s historic downtown “Four Corners” at Broad and Market Streets for a huge anti-violence and community support rally.

Building on the success and support from Newark residents during his “Occupy the Block events, Mayor Baraka hosted the “Occupy the City” event to unite residents against despair, violence, and crime in Newark and to promote love, hope and empowerment. “Occupy the Block” is a community engagement tool modeled after the historic “Occupy” movement, which advocates the social disruption of harmful or ineffective social constructs. Marchers wore purple t-shirts specially made for the occasion. read more

Posted on

Iran nuclear deal recognizes sovereign energy rights but creates careful bomb proliferation monitoring

obama on Iran dealOn the eve of it taking effect, Truthout shares Amy Goodman’s report on the Iran nuclear deal that has been negotiated by President Obama.

JAVAD ZARIF: Let me begin by expressing my appreciation to everybody, to those who started this process and those who have continued this process in order to reach a win-win solution on what, in our view, was an unnecessary crisis, and open new horizons for dealing with serious problems that affect our international community. I believe this is a historic moment. We are reaching an agreement that is not perfect for anybody, but it is what we could accomplish, and it is an important achievement for all of us. Today could have been the end of hope on this issue, but now we are starting a new chapter of hope. read more

Posted on

Obama at Georgetown on breaking the cycle of poverty. Real talk.

Obama at Georgetown Poverty SummitAt the Georgetown University #PovertySummit President Obama made some very real comments, tying his own background to modern society’s challenges in the areas of education and social investment; access to jobs, internet, transportation; mentoring, youth, fatherhood, families and community:

I am a black man who grew up without a father, and I know the cost that I paid for that. And I also know that I have the capacity to break that cycle, and as a consequence I think that my daughters are better off … For me to have that conversation does not negate my conversation about the need for early childhood education, or the need for job training, or the need for investment in infrastructure or jobs in low-income communities… read more

Posted on

Exploitation by the light-skinned a tradition in the Dominican Republic and Ted Cruz’ Cuba

Slaves dance on Cuban plantationSen. Ted Cruz is an elitist Cuban-American, representative of Cuban plantation owners who imported and exploited African slaves for generations. A lesson plan from PBS’ Black in Latin America feature shows that by persecuting Haitians the Dominican Republic is simply following Cuba’s tradition of persecuting dark-skinned workers once the workers have been exploited to breaking point. This is the Cuban history:

When revolution broke out in the French colony of Saint Domingue (later known as Haiti), sugar production there came to a virtual halt. This caused a sudden demand for sugar. Cuban plantation owners quickly stepped in to fill the gap created by neighboring Haiti, placing Cubans in a position to profit immensely. By the mid-1800’s, Cuba replaced Haiti as the world’s leading producer of sugar, making Cuban plantation owners very wealthy. Sugar is a very labor intensive and the increased pressure to fill market demand for this lucrative crop resulted in a high death rate among slaves. Plantation owners responded to the labor shortage by purchasing more slaves thereby reinvigorating the Transatlantic slave trade even after the British sought to curtail it. read more

Posted on

Christie’s dismal record on union/labor rights just got worse

Christie, sweeney, bookerChristie has assaulted vulnerable New Jersey residents and labor rights all the years of his governorship. Next City shares the low-down on what Christie’s gotten away with, and how he’s done it.

Take public education: having promised when he was campaigning to take care of New Jersey’s teachers, after getting into office Christie proceeded to systematically destroy public ed, along with teachers’ and students lives and the bloodshed is far from over. Newark and Camden have been among the communities hardest hit. read more

Posted on

Don’t be fooled – Christie’s still bent on destroying public ed & New Jersey

Christie IHOPIt’s more than laughable that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is suddenly trying to show the nation that he cares about public education and the teachers whose lives, finances and careers he’s been systematically destroying ever since taking office two elections ago. It should be next to impossible to show something that isn’t real, but we’re talking about a public relations genius who got elected in 2013 on the strength of mistruth whoppers, namely:

  1. Christie hugged Obama to make himself look like a moderate Republican ready to reach over the aisle to form an alliance with Democrats to care for the people of his state when tragedy struck.
  2. Christie acts like he cares about New Jersey residents hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy.

The facts are that Christie has no love for the President. He hasn’t “done a good enough job distributing the (Sandy recovery funds) New Jersey has already received” and he refuses to release $500 million of federal recovery funds to applicants that have been qualified as eligible for help. Christie’s political grandstanding also arguably cost New Jersey schools hundreds of millions of dollars. read more

Posted on

Listed: Christie’s dismal record of caring for New Jersey

bridgegateIt isn’t just the George Washington Bridge that Christie has obstructed in his home state. Here’s an excellent list from One New Jersey showing many of the ways Gov. Chris Christie has failed to do his job. Sections include:

  • Jobs Lost – NJ Falling Behind
  • New Jersey Families Falling Behind Crumbling Infrastructure & Rising Costs
  • Abusing Taxpayer Money
  • Taxpayer-Funded Corporate Bailouts
  • And No Job Gains Budget Mismanagement: Costing NJ Taxpayers
Posted on

Congressman Bill Pascrell says NO WAY to TPP at press conference

Pascrell rally against TPPAt a press conference at UFCW in Clifton, Congressman Bill Pascrell on 28 May 2015 announced his opposition to “Fast-Track authority” of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which is now headed for Congressional vote. Although the bill to Fast Track the TPP bill was recently approved by the Senate, New Jersey’s Bob Menendez and Cory Booker voted against it, and now Cong. Pascrell will have his chance to do the same.

Truthout offers an explanation of what Fast Track is and why Americans should rally against it. read more

Posted on

Feel-good social analysis fails to show how real change happens

the wire hbo image
HBO’s The Wire (Photo courtesy of HBO)
Through analyzing what’s wrong with The Wire, Dave Zirin takes a hard look at what is missing altogether from supposedly progressive TV shows that supposedly delve into the social injustices that are screaming for attention all across the US recently. Interesting read. Dave says:

I always shoved it to the back of my mind when my friends in Baltimore – I live about 45 minutes from the city – almost uniformly would tell me they either did not like or would not watch the show. People were hostile toward The Wire for a multiplicity of reasons. Some felt it was like gangster rap for a more sophisticated audience, glorifying black-on-black hyper-masculine street violence while selling itself as somehow more literate and ennobling to consume. My friend Mark once pissed me off fiercely when he told me that my favorite show was “NWA for people who read The New Yorker.” read more