Racism with a capital R

Bigotry and racism on show for all to see on San Francisco buses. Freedom of speech is one thing and even the First Amendment rights in the US Constitution should not allow this sort of blatant vilification.

From CommonDreams:

"In a savage twist on First Amendment rights, buses in San Francisco are now carrying ads by right-wing hate-mongerer Pam Geller and her Islamophobic American Freedom Defense Initiative (sic) that call Israel "civilized man" and Palestinians "savages." Despite a rule banning political ads, the city approved the ads the same day a New York judge ruled that that city's MTA violated the Geller group's rights by rejecting the ads under its own rules as "demeaning" to a particular group and thus essentially hate speech. Judge Paul Engelmayer of Federal District Court said the ad was “not only protected speech — it is core political speech...afforded the highest level of protection under the First Amendment.” If this is "core political speech," we are all in big trouble."

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Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives? In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t

The NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) goes on hold.....because of one non-Treaty member (Israel)

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#1 Prize for a bizarre story.....and lying!

No comment called for in this piece from CommonDreams: Another young black man: The strange sad case of 21-year-old Chavis Carter. Police in Jonesboro, Arkansas stopped him and two friends, found some marijuana, searched put Carter, then put him handcuffed behind his back into their patrol car, where they say he shot himself in the head with a gun they failed to find. The FBI is investigating. Police Chief Michael Yates, who stands behind his officers' story, says in an interview that the death is "definitely bizarre and defies logic at first glance." You think?

Mahler's Prodigal Son

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