Meticulous Planning by Las Vegas Gunman Before He Opened Fire - The New York Times
Wednesday, October 04, 2017
Meticulous Planning by Las Vegas Gunman Before He Opened Fire - The New York Times - We cannot rule out terrorism in this shooting without knowing the shooters motive. With the degree of planning involved this was not a spur of the moment decision. I am not saying it was terror but I am saying we don't know yet.
Tuesday, October 03, 2017
Mueller Tasks an Adviser With Getting Ahead of Pre-Emptive Pardons - Bloomberg
"U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has a distinctly modern problem. The president, judging by his tweets, could try to pardon people in his circle even before prosecutors charge anyone with a crime.
Mueller’s all-star team of prosecutors, with expertise in money laundering and foreign bribery, has an answer to that. He’s Michael Dreeben, a bookish career government lawyer with more than 100 Supreme Court appearances under his belt."
(Via.). Mueller Tasks an Adviser With Getting Ahead of Pre-Emptive Pardons - Bloomberg:
Monday, October 02, 2017
Star-Spangled Bigotry: The Hidden Racist History of the National Anthem
"A few weeks later, in September of 1815, far from being a captive, Key was on a British boat begging for the release of one of his friends, a doctor named William Beanes. Key was on the boat waiting to see if the British would release his friend when he observed the bloody battle of Fort McHenry in Baltimore on Sept. 13, 1815. America lost the battle but managed to inflict heavy casualties on the British in the process. This inspired Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner” right then and there, but no one remembers that he wrote a full third stanza decrying the former slaves who were now working for the British army:
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
In other words, Key was saying that the blood of all the former slaves and “hirelings” on the battlefield will wash away the pollution of the British invaders. With Key still bitter that some black soldiers got the best of him a few weeks earlier, “The Star-Spangled Banner” is as much a patriotic song as it is a diss track to black people who had the audacity to fight for their freedom. Perhaps that’s why it took almost 100 years for the song to become the national anthem.
To hear more of the story, there is an excellent short documentary about the history of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by some students at Morgan State University. In the meantime, it might be a good idea to switch up your Fourth of July patriotic playlist."
Star-Spangled Bigotry: The Hidden Racist History of the National Anthem
Sunday, October 01, 2017
The American flag and my terror of American Patriotism
One of life's joys is that no wonder how old you are you never stop discovering and experiencing both discoveries and revelations about oneself. One occurred for me a few minutes ago. I just came from the Kroger Supermarket near home ostensibly to pick up some prescriptions and non alcoholic beverages. At the door were a couple of Cub Scouts and there father or pack leader. Every time I see scouts out and about in uniform I make sure that I salute them and recite to the the scout oath and then the scout law. I do it with pride. I even bought a $10.00 bag of popcorn from them today which blew a small whole in my budget. I spent ten years in scouting until as an Explorer I was pushed out of the Post by our leader, a member of the John Birch Society, for opposing and refusing to participate in Richard Nixon and Billy Graham's "Honor America Day" in 1970, a counter march to the many anti-Vietnam War marches of that era, many of which I participated in. I was proud of being kicked out of scouts over the Vietnam War and have never felt any anger or bitterness towards scouting. I learned many life lessons in scouting and I believe my love for nature and the woods was either born there or at least nurtured there. On the other hand I have not said the "Pledge of Allegiance" or sung the "Star Spangled Banner" since I was in the 8th grade. My former students know that I school assembly I always stood silent with my hands folded in front of me during the recitation of the "Pledge of Allegiance". I have never felt any allegiance to this country and have always been slightly frightened by people who display the flag. Growing up in all White neighborhoods and being in all White classes at school the flag was shown by people who generally were the most racist. I have always associated American patriotism and nationalism with racism. The Confederate flag has always represented an extreme form of this racism and I always seen it as a precursor to the Nazi Swastika. Today I realized why the American flag, the "Pledge of Allegiance and the Star Spangled Banner as well as other patriotic songs save for the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" have caused such a primal and visceral gut reaction from me. They represent an America that has attacked me and not protected me. They represent my enemies. Muhammad Ali expressed it best when I was a child and I have never forgotten it in describing his opposition to the "War In Vietnam. He said, "No Vietnamese had ever called him a nigger". I have always known how he felt. I was taunted with that epithet at school and in the environment around school throughout my childhood. America has never been my protector. American patriotism has always represented my tormentors. John H Armwood
‘It’s a disgraceful job’: Puerto Rican congressman slams Trump over hurricane response - The Washington Post
"Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-Ill.), one of four members of Congress born in Puerto Rico, said the Trump administration has done a ‘disgraceful job’ of helping the 3.4 million Americans on the island devastated by Hurricane Maria.
‘I think it isn’t a good job; it’s a disgraceful job. The United States of America is the most powerful, wealthiest country in the world, and this is not a response that’s demonstrative of our power and our wealth,’ Gutiérrez said, his voice breaking during an interview Friday night with CNN’s Jim Scuitto."
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