90 Pounds of Cocaine Seized Aboard Cargo Ship in Colombia Owned by Mitch McConnell’s In-Laws

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro
Sen. Mitch McConnell R-Kentucky

Sen. Mitch McConnell
R-Kentucky

By Elaine Magliaro

Lee Fang of The Nation reported in late October that a ship operated by the Foremost Maritime Corporation–a company owned by Mitch McConnell’s wife’s family–was stopped and searched before it departed from Colombia. Fang said that Colombian Coast Guard agents found 90 pounds of cocaine onboard the ship. He noted that an investigation was ongoing.

John Vibes (The Free Thought Project):

The drugs were found on the Ping May, which is a vessel operated by the Foremost Maritime Corporation, a company owned by Mitch McConnell’s in-laws, the Chao family. This connection is not only relevant because of the family connection, but also because the Chao family has often made large donations to McConnell’s campaigns.

Lee Fang said that “Foremost has played a pivotal role in McConnell’s life, bestowing the senator with most of his personal wealth and generating thousands in donations to his campaign committees…” Fang added that “the drug bust went unnoticed in Kentucky…” He said one reason why the story may not have made headlines was because, “like many international shipping companies, Chao’s firm is shrouded from public view, concealing its identity and limiting its legal liability through an array of tax shelters and foreign registrations. Registered through a limited liability company in the Marshall Islands, the Ping May flies the Liberian flag.”

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Posted in Government, Hypocrisy, Media, Politics, Uncategorized, United States | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Simon Hemingway: Grand Jury Should Probe the Aftermath of Michael Brown’s Shooting

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro
Michael Brown

Michael Brown

By Elaine Magliaro

Simon Hemingway has an interesting article at Salon today about the death of Michael Brown titled Ferguson police’s other sin: Why grand jury must probe Brown shooting’s aftermath. Hemingway says that while people wait to hear the grand jury’s decision in the case, “one part of the horrific episode is getting way too little attention.”

Hemingway:

A fog of war has descended on the events that led to the Mike Brown’s untimely death in Ferguson, Missouri, on Aug. 9, 2014, a fog that local, state and federal authorities have made little effort to dispel. The goalposts for what appeared initially to be a clear-cut case of either manslaughter or second degree murder are increasingly obscured while the prospect of justice for Mike Brown seems correspondingly remote.

Supporters of the police and Officer Wilson quickly sought to equate Mike Brown’s very existence with the same racially tainted doctrine of deterministic criminality that was used to undercut the prosecution of George Zimmerman. The release of a convenience store surveillance video by the Ferguson Police Department was central to a strategy of “retroactively trying to justify Brown’s death” while, at the same time, tainting potential jurors with a narrative that is likely to be inadmissible in court. Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson initially said that the “initial contact with Mike Brown was not related to the robbery,” and then backtracked later the same day.

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Posted in Media, Society, Uncategorized, United States | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments

What Remains Unsaid

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Gene Howington

dollarsignby Gene Howington

This Tuesday, a new book will be released that is sure to ruffle some feathers in the U.S. military circles. “Why We Lost” is retired U.S. Army General Dan Bolger’s attempt to address why we are still in Iraq and Afghanistan after fourteen years. According to the review, his primary focus is the use of counterinsurgency tactics and a politicized military (although he stops just short of placing the blame on either the Bush or Obama Administrations). It sounds like an interesting read and by all accounts, General Bolger is a highly respected military historian in addition to being a well respected officer.  While the book itself sounds quite interesting, what I caught my eye was the following comment by Guardian reader dallasdunlap:

The political reality in the US is that Americans favor wars early on, but turn against them as they drag on. And, Americans have a low tolerance for casualties. We don’t like seeing out young people come home brain damaged, legless, or otherwise mauled . . . particularly from a war that is only tangentially related to any national interest. Hence, US warfare has an over reliance on air power while, on the ground, the US deploys a laughably small number of troops. The result: “The War” becomes a typical government program. It goes on day after day, year after year, with no real point. As one purported goal is achieved or abandoned, we find another one to justify the ongoing combat. There is no winning or losing, just as there is no victory or defeat for the Social Security Administration. If any of these wars had more than a trivial impact on US national security, the government would propose, and the people would accept, the deployment of sufficient ground forces – hundreds of thousands of troops – to assure victory. But nobody really cares if we win. The wars involve a relatively small number of people, who are volunteers, and are fought on behalf of special interests. Hence, the Forever War has become a permanent part of the US economy.

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Posted in Afghanistan, Campaign Finance, Civil Liberties, Conservatives, Corruption, Democracy, DNC, Economic Policy, Fascism, Fascists/Corporatists, Foreign Policy, History, Hypocrisy, Imperialism, Iraq, Libertarians, Neoconservatives, Neoliberals, Oligarchy, Politics, RNC, United States | Tagged , , | 50 Comments

“Facing It”—A Poem by Yusef Komunyakaa in Honor of American Veterans

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

Yusef Komunyakaa, the author of the poem Facing It, was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana on April 29, 1947. He “served in the United States Army from 1969 to 1970 as a correspondent, and as managing editor of the Southern Cross during the Vietnam war, earning him a Bronze Star.” Komunyakaa began writing poetry in 1973.

Here is a video of Komunyakaa reading his poem Facing It, which is about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial:

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A Mark Fiore Political Cartoon Video: “The Last Campaign Ad Ever”

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Mark Fiore said last week that “we had all lost” even before the Democratic Party suffered a big loss at the polls on election day. Fiore added that “money pouring into politics from Super PACs and shady political ‘nonprofit’ organizations was stealing Democracy” from all of us. The 2014 midterm election has been reported to be the most expensive in history. Dark money from shadowy big-money sources increased this election cycle and eclipsed the campaign contributions from individual voters. Fiore said that the advertising and attacks got meaner and more repellant as nearly “a billion dollars poured in from pop-up 501(c)4s and Super PACs…” Fiore thinks that is why “people feel like checking out from the whole process.”

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Posted in Government, Politics, Propaganda, United States | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Will Climate Change Denier James Inhofe Become Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee When Republicans Take Over the Senate in January? (With a Colbert Report “I’m Not a Scientist” Climate-Change Deniers Video)

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro
Sen. James Inhofe R-California

Sen. James Inhofe
R-Oklahoma

By Elaine Magliaro

Back in March of 2012, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) appeared on Voice of Christian Youth America’s radio program Crosstalk with Vic Eliason. Inhofe was there to promote his new book The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future. He repeated his “frequent” claim that human-influenced climate change wasn’t possible because “God’s still up there.” According to Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch, “Inhofe cited Genesis 8:22 to claim that it is ‘outrageous’ and arrogant for people to believe human beings are ‘able to change what He is doing in the climate.’”

Excerpt from the radio program:

Eliason: Senator, we’re going to talk about your book for a minute, you state in your book which by the way is called The Greatest Hoax, you state in your book that one of your favorite Bible verses, Genesis 8:22, ‘while the earth remaineth seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease,’ what is the significance of these verses to this issue?

Inhofe: Well actually the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.

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Posted in Government, Media, Politics, Propaganda, Uncategorized, United States | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

From Salon: Exclusive Interview with Author Michael Lewis about His Book “Liar’s Poker,” the Culture of Wall Street, Strip Clubs, and Hypocrisy

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

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By Elaine Magliaro

Michael Lewis’s first book Liar’s Poker, originally published in 1989, has been reissued on its 25th anniversary. Scott Timberg of Salon said that Liar’s Poker “was not only the start of a major journalistic career — author Michael Lewis has gone on to numerous other triumphs — but it’s one of the key documents of how our world of casino capitalism was made. Subtitled ‘Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street,’ the book gives a close-up look at what happens when finance is radically deregulated. His scenes in Salomon Brothers’ offices in New York and the City of London are also populated by oversize characters, some of whom you can’t help liking.” Timberg noted that the 2014 edition of Lewis’s book includes a new reflection written by the author.

Timberg spoke with Michael Lewis during his recent trip to New York. It’s a fascinating  interview about Liar’s Poker, the culture/spirit on Wall Street and how it has changed over the years, deregulation, and big trends that originated at Salomon Brothers–where he worked–and then “swept over” Wall Street.

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Posted in Society, United States | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

At a Senate Banking Committee Hearing Sen. Elizabeth Warren Asks Financial Regulators How Many Wall Street Bankers Have Been Prosecuted

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

At a Senate Banking Committee hearing this past September, Elizabeth Warren–the senior senator from my state of Massachusetts–asked financial regulators why they have not criminally prosecuted senior executives at Wall Street banks that have broken the law.

 

Posted in Government, Politics, United States | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

JPMorgan Chase Whistleblower Alayne Fleischmann and Matt Taibbi Talk with Michael Eric Dyson on The Ed Show

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

Last week, Michael Eric Dyson–an author, radio host, and professor of sociology at Georgetown University–talked with Matt Taibbi and Alayne Fleiscmann, the former deal manager at JPMorgan Chase who witnessed securities fraud while she worked at the mega-bank. Taibbi called Fleischmann JPMorgan Chase’s “worst nightmare.” He said the bank paid a $9 billion fine in order to keep Fleischmann from talking.

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Posted in Government, Media, Politics, Society, United States | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Senator Bernie Sanders Interviewed on Democracy Now!…Said He Fears That the United States Is on the Verge of Becoming an Oligarchy

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Elaine Magliaro

By Elaine Magliaro

Last Wednesday, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now! interviewed Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent, Vermont) via telephone. At the end of the interview, Sanders said, “I fear that we may be on the verge of becoming an oligarchic form of society where a handful of billionaires control not just the economy, but the political life of this country. And that’s just something we’re going to have wrestle with.”

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Posted in Government, Media, Politics, Presidents, Propaganda, Society, United States | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments