alanjjohnstone
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Neera Tanden, Biden’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, is not a centrist Democrat but on the far right of the Democratic Party in policy. Someone you would imagine that the “progressive” Justice Democrats would vehemently oppose having any position of influence in Biden’s cabinet. Not so. They are busily defending her nomination.
A sign that real politik will always come before principle.
NLD’s repression comes back to bite them?
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, (AAPP), a Myanmar-based organization, during the NLD’s rule, journalists, critics of the military and the government, and others were charged under colonial-era laws. According to the AAPP, Myanmar had over 700 political prisoners as of Jan. 31, with hundreds being charged during the NLD’s time in power.
Though no longer British, the country retained many of its colonial-era laws, which were “designed in nature to be repressive and silence political opponents,” said Nick Cheeseman, a fellow at the Department of Political and Social Change at Australian National University.
“The National League for Democracy was comfortable leaving repressive laws on the books because in some instances they felt they might be able to take advantage of those laws themselves,” said Ronan Lee, a visiting scholar at Queen Mary University of London’s International State Crime Initiative. “It’s now clear that some of those laws are now going to be weaponized against democracy campaigners in a way that maybe the National League for Democracy didn’t foresee…What the military is trying to do is use the laws to add some legitimacy to their illegitimate grab for power and the NLD gave them an opportunity to do that by leaving old laws intact,” Lee said.
MS, You are correct in pointing out that the Latino community is not a homogenous one but has very differing cultures. It is a warning against stereotyping.
In Texas some decline to call themselves Hispanic or Latino but self-identify as Tejano. It is they who Trump got support from.
Along the Rio Grande Republicans ran up their numbers in the counties along the border.Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Zapata County’s vote in a hundred years. 95-percent Hispanic Webb County, Republicans doubled their turnout. To the south, Starr County, which is more than 96-percent Hispanic, experienced the single biggest tilt right of any place in the country; Republicans gained by 55 percentage points compared with 2016.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/11/17/trump-latinos-south-texas-tejanos-437027
“I’m too white to be Mexican, and I’m too Mexican to be white,” Villarreal says with a laugh. “No soy Mexicana, ni gringa. Soy Tejana.”
Ever since the Iraq Invasion i have been impressed with MediaLens as a website that exposes the bias in the media, particularly the BBC.
This is worth a read to explain why.
20 Years Of Media Lens: A Selection Of Remarkable Replies From Journalists
Our late comrade Peter Newell would not be surprised by the nefarious activities of the BBC as a propaganda tool of the government or the existence of ‘Counter Disinformation & Media Development’ (CDMD).
I could have posted on the Alexei Navalny thread but chose this to honour Cde Newell.
https://www.dw.com/en/the-meat-paradox-why-we-eat-animals-even-though-we-dont-want-to/a-56649802
The “meat paradox”: the psychological conflict between people’s dietary preference for meat and their moral opposition to animal suffering and death.
Is this a case of passing the buck? Denying the implication of any complicity in the chaos.
I have already considered the possibility in a previous post of deliberate sabotage of security provisions. In Message #214162 i said
“If there was a conspiracy, it was pro-Trumpers in law-enforcement who were intent upon facilitating a headline-seeking incident to embarrass the Democratic Party by purposefully employing less security than they had for last year’s BLM protests in Washington DC and a long delay in mobilising the National Guard when events got out of hand. Possibly a publicity stunt gone wrong and not the insurrection it was portrayed as by the very Biden-bias media.”
And i am called a Cassandra catastrophist …hummmfff
The climate emergency is already hitting “worst case scenario” levels that if left unchecked will lead to the collapse of ecosystems, with dire consequences for humanity, according to the chief executive of the Environment Agency.
Warning that this is not “science fiction”, Sir James Bevan said on Tuesday that in recent years several of the “reasonable worst case scenarios” had happened in the UK, with more extreme weather and flooding. And he urged politicians to take action to reduce emissions and adapt to the “inevitable” impacts of the climate emergency.
“Much higher sea levels will take out most of the world’s cities, displace millions, and make much of the rest of our land surface uninhabitable or unusable,” Bevan told the annual conference of the Association of British Insurers. “Much more extreme weather will kill more people through drought, flooding, wildfires and heatwaves than most wars have. The net effects will collapse ecosystems, slash crop yields, take out the infrastructure that our civilisation depends on, and destroy the basis of the modern economy and modern society.
“If [this] sounds like science fiction let me tell you something you need to know. This is that over the last few years the reasonable worst case for several of the flood incidents the EA has responded to has actually happened, and it’s getting larger.
if left unchecked as always is the key phrase.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56174168
“…officials said that the rioters “came prepared for war” with weapons, radios and climbing gear…
…Ex-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said he had prepared for a protest, not “a military-style coordinated assault”…”Many will view this as confirmation of the idea that this was a coup and an insurrection. I see it as officials desperate to create a conspiracy to disguise their inefficiency.
I recall another invasion of the Capitol.
It was when members of the environmentalist movement Sunrise occupied Nancy Pelosi’s office. Over 250 protesters were involved, with 50 being arrested by Capitol Police.
Another occasion about a month later 1000 Sunrise protesters showed up for a sit-in at the Capitol with 140 arrested.
No talk of it being an insurrection. No talk of AOC conducting an coup by assisting the protesters. But the intent was to pressure law-makers to succumb to the Sunrise demands.
Jonathan Cook once again revealing the unpleasant truth of Israel’s apartheid.
“You’re not Israelis, you’re Arabs, we did you a favor when we let you stay.”
Further observations.
Nearly half of Republicans would leave and join Trump if he started his own Party.
Over half of the Republican Party say they are loyal to Trump, where as only a third claim loyalty to the Republican Party
Despite total lack of evidence almost 60% of Republicans blame the Capitol riot on leftists such as Antifa
73% still say President Biden’s election win is not legitimate.
On Sunday, he addresses CPAC, the conservative organising lobby. It will be interesting to hear what he will say.
He is a populist but why is he so popular? How can he sway so many despite being revealed as a serial liar?
As socialists we have deeper questions to ask about the election.
Why did 9 million Obama voters switched to Trump in 2016.
Why, after four years of hostile mainstream media coverage, he won 10.5 million more votes in 2020.
Why in 2016, Trump won the white women vote by a margin of 9%, (even though he was running against Clinton who would have been the first woman president) and why in 2020 this vote margin increased to an 11% margin.
Why in 2016, Trump won 5% of the Black women vote; in 2020, 9%, (despite Kamala Harris being on the Democratic ticket as vice-president)
Why in 2016, he won 13% of the Black male vote; in 2020 it rose to 19%.
Why comparing 2016 and 2020, Trump’s vote share rose 3% with Latinos, and 5% with Asian Americans.
Why the LGBTQ community, gave Trump 28% of their vote, double his 2016 percent.
Why he won 35% more of the white working class vote than Biden.
In 2016, Trump won 65% of the white men vote; in 2020 it fell to 61%. So are Trump supporters all racist white men.
159.6 million Americans turned out to vote, an election turnout marked the highest percent of voter population in 120 years, 66.7%. Even leftists capitulated, dressing this up as “fighting fascism” for the “lesser evil” as they climbed aboard the Biden bandwagon.
We need answers to these questions…why is our message not resonating. Rather than being simplistically anti-Trump, what is it we are missing?
“Hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Myanmar in one of the largest demonstrations yet against the country’s military coup. Businesses closed as employees joined a general strike, despite a military statement that said protesters were risking their lives by turning out.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56150616Despite these challenges to the coup, Myanmar’s military appear still reticent about suppressing it. Perhaps now having been more fully integrated into the world economy than in previous times, the Tatmadaw, have more to lose than before.
I doubt they will ever cede full power but they may return to the status quo with some cosmetic concessions to placate foreign governments and the corporations.
The question is will the Myanmar people be satisfied with a compromise even if the NDL and Suu Kyi might accept a truce.
I think the danger of describing a riot by an unruly mob as a coup or an insurrection is the same as when members of the Establishment (for want of a better word) call for censorship of unpopular opinions. Laws are very quickly applied to the Left.
The USA has a history of swaying the public perception against working class organisations on false pretexts.
One reason for the lack of success of the IWW was its criminalisation by the introduction of anti-syndicalist legislation at federal and state levels.
And the fact is that no new anti-insurrection laws are required by the USA. It has on the statute book the 1940 Smith Act which could be re-activated.
How easy it would be to turn on Black Lives Matters as a subversive movement not protected by the First Amendment if a precedent is created by pursuing those on the Right such as the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers.
Just to remind, if the occupation of the Capitol was premeditated and not opportunistic as ALB suggests, why did none carry arms or have provisions? They dutifully obeyed Washington DC local statutes on gun-rules. They were woefully unprepared for any stand-off. They had no idea of the lay-out of the Capitol and didn’t know where they were going and were easily re-directed.
If there was a conspiracy, it was pro-Trumpers in law-enforcement who were intent upon facilitating a headline-seeking incident to embarrass the Democratic Party by purposefully employing less security than they had for last year’s BLM protests in Washington DC and a long delay in mobilising the National Guard when events got out of hand.
Possibly a publicity stunt gone wrong and not the insurrection it was portrayed as by the very Biden-bias media.
The media persists in providing Biden with friendly media coverage and a left wing has yet to fulfil its promise to push Biden left-wards. Is it the customary honey-moon period given to new presidents or signs of what is to come…kid-glove criticism?
