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Middleboro Review 2

NEW CONTENT MOVED TO MIDDLEBORO REVIEW 2

Toyota

Since the Dilly, Dally, Delay & Stall Law Firms are adding their billable hours, the Toyota U.S.A. and Route 44 Toyota posts have been separated here:

Route 44 Toyota Sold Me A Lemon



Friday, September 30, 2016

Intrepid Report: Week of September 26, 2016: Is the future a Trump-led apartheid society?, US propaganda machine now in overdrive to fight Russia in Syria,




Monday

By Linh Dinh
First, what is meant by “deep state”?

By Larry Chin
At a spring 2016 Republican debate attended by the Bushes, George H.W. “Poppy” Bush, looked directly at Donald Trump and gave him the “throat slit” gesture, the traditional threat of murder. The Bushes want the Clintons back in the White House.

Ousted President Dilma Rousseff wouldn't enact austerity roadmap, so "a process was established which culminated with me being installed as president of the republic," Temer says
By Andrea Germanos
Proponents of her ouster argued that former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was targeted and ultimately booted from office for budgetary wrongdoing or, ironically, corruption.

By Stephen Lendman
The New York Times’ editorial policy appears driven to reach new abysmal reporting and opinion lows, a deplorable laughing stock, especially on geopolitical issues, notably when America goes to war.

By Harvey Wasserman
Supporters of nuclear power like to argue that nukes are the key to combating climate change. Here’s why they are dead wrong.

Tuesday

By Emanuel E. Garcia, MD
Saturday, I woke to the welcome news that Jeremy Corbyn, who was catapulted to the leadership of the Labour Party in Britain a year ago, had won yet another leadership battle—brought on by disgruntled Members of Parliament within his own party—by extending his extraordinary mandate: he received a whopping 62% of votes to the 38% of his establishment opponent, Owen Smith.

By Stephen Lendman
Michel Temer heads Brazil’s illegitimately installed coup d’état regime, a deplorable figure, widely reviled at home, scorned by six Latin and Central American nations at the UN’s 71st General Assembly session.

By Paul Craig Roberts
The Russian government deceived itself with its fantasy belief that Russia and Washington had a common cause in fighting ISIS. The Russian government even went along with the pretense that the various ISIS groups, operating under various pen names, were “moderate rebels” who could be separated from the extremists, all the while agreeing to cease fighting on successive verges of victory so that Washington could resupply ISIS and prepare to introduce US and NATO forces into the conflict. The Russian government apparently also thought that as a result of the coup against Erdogan, which was said to implicate Washington, Turkey was going to cease supporting ISIS and cooperate with Russia.

By Walter Brasch
The New York Post, a Rupert Murdoch tabloid publication that isn’t likely to win a Pulitzer Prize anytime soon, splashed a full page picture of a smiling Jennifer Anniston on its Sept. 21 front cover. In the upper left-hand space it placed all-capitals text: “BRANGELINA 2004–2016.” Inside the Post were four full consecutive pages, and a half page and part of a column deeper in the newspaper, all devoted to one of the most critical social issues facing the country—Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are getting a divorce.

By Wayne Madsen
There is an ominous operation that will soon appear in south Chicago’s Jackson Park, one that will advance the cause of political disruption and international conflict around the world. The Barack Obama Center and Presidential Library will become a magnet for those malevolent forces wanting to advance Obama’s “existing international order” and a nightmare for nations and leaders hoping to stem the tide of globalization, free trade, open borders, and social and religious bedlam.

Wednesday

By Stephen Lendman
Monday night was more evasion, distraction and political fraud than anything resembling real debating—like all previous encounters of the same kind preceding them, demagoguery and bad theater instead of substance, failing to give voters real information on where candidates stand on major issues of our time.

Worries that Trump would bulldoze his opponent into submission were unfounded.
By Michael Winship
And so, after all the anticipation, the rampant sports metaphors and the breathless, sensationalized buildup (MSNBC’s headline in the minutes before the event was “Clinton/Trump Showdown”), the first debate is over.

By Thomas C. Mountain
The U.N. just announced that due to drought and famine over 300,000 Somali children are suffering from severe malnutrition. This means that over 100 children are already dying every day from starvation. Soon the number will reach many hundreds a day, bringing back memories of the most recent Great Horn of Africa drought in 2011–12 when the U.N. admitted that 250,000, almost entirely children, died from starvation.

By John W. Whitehead
The final countdown has begun to the 2016 presidential election, and you can expect to be treated to an earful of carefully crafted sound bites and political spin.

By Ramzy Baroud
Ban Ki-Moon’s second term as the Secretary General of the United Nations is ending this December. He was the most ideal man for the job as far as the United States and its allies are concerned.

Thursday

By Joachim Hagopian
Over the past weekend the Western press was blasting Russia and Syria for alleged war crimes in their assault on the terrorist controlled part of East Aleppo. A typical headline from The Washington Post read, “US accuses Russia of ‘barbarism’ and war crimes in Syria.” Meanwhile, the Long War Journal declared, “US hits another Islamic State chemical weapons facility in Iraq.” UK’s Foreign Minister Boris Johnson is crying foul that Russia should be investigated for war crimes.

By Wayne Madsen
Washington journalist sources report that there is something of a revolt taking place at The Washington Post among many of its reporters over the paper’s recent editorial that not only rejected calls for a presidential pardon for National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden but called for his return to the United States from Russia and face arrest, prosecution, and a likely long prison term. The editorial appeared in the September 17 edition of the paper.

By Michael Winship
There are a few certainties in this world: fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, John Boehner’s gotta cry. Remember how a year ago—just a year ago—the former speaker of the House wept when Pope Francis addressed a joint session of Congress? And then only a couple of days later announced he was stepping down as speaker?

By Adam Parsons
Following the first ever United Nations Summit on Refugees and Migrants last week, many civil society organisations and concerned citizens are taking stock of our government’s collective response to this unprecedented global crisis. The UN Summit was two years in the making, and gave a rare opportunity for world leaders to step up their commitments to help refugees, as well as draw up a blueprint for a more effective international plan of action. Central to these negotiations was the need to share responsibility for dealing with the crisis more equitably among member states, which was one of the key principles reaffirmed in the outcome document. Yet there is little promise for the world’s 21 million refugees that wealthy nations will be genuinely sharing—and not further shirking—their responsibilities to fulfill these vulnerable people’s basic rights.

By Philip A Farruggio
Watching Richard Attenborough’s fine 1982 film “Gandhi,” one sees just how a colony of empire operates. The Indian people were treated as not even 2nd class citizens, and with it went all the injustices one can imagine.

Friday

By Bernard Weiner
When I was growing up in the Jim-Crow/apartheid Deep South in the 1950s—in Florida, the second state to secede from the Union—a constant refrain from a good share of white citizens was “the South shall rise again.” Some of those parroting that sentiment were only half-serious; their comment was more wish-fulfillment and resentment at their side having lost the Civil War. But, for many members of the Klan and White Citizens Councils, and their more “respectable” supporters and enablers, they were deadly serious about a future rising to restore their white privileges.

By John Chuckman
The one verity going into the first presidential debate, not widely recognized, was that it did not matter how Clinton managed and what she said, although a collapse on the stage clearly would have been a decisive enough matter.

By Wayne Madsen
There is a worrying trend among America’s so-called “liberals” sweeping the country. Any computer security breach and voting irregularity is being blamed by a number of liberals who count themselves as supporters of Hillary Clinton, one-time supporters of Bernie Sanders, or neo-conservatives who abandoned the Republican Party for Clinton as being the fault of Vladimir Putin and Russia. Such fear-mongering is reminiscent of the right-wing’s “Red Scare” tactics of the late 1940s and 50s and the supporters of Wisconsin’s junior senator, the Red-baiting Joseph McCarthy.

By Paul Craig Roberts and Michael Hudson
William Engdahl recently explained how Washington used the corrupt Brazilian elite, which answers to Washington, to remove the duly elected President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, for representing the Brazilian people rather than the interests of Washington. Unable to see through the propaganda of unproven charges, Brazilians acquiesced in the removal of their protector, thereby providing the world another example of the impotence of democracy.

By Stephen Lendman
America’s reckless imperial agenda should terrify everyone, a permanent war policy targeting all nations not serving its interests, wanting pro-Western puppet regimes replacing them—willing to risk destroying planet earth to own it.





RSN: US Military Is Building a $100 Million Drone Base in Africa




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FOCUS: Nick Turse | US Military Is Building a $100 Million Drone Base in Africa 
U.S. Predator drones on the runway. (photo: Reuters) 
Nick Turse, The Intercept 
Turse writes: "This long-planned project in Niger - considered the most important U.S. military construction effort in Africa, according to formerly secret files obtained by The Intercept through the Freedom of Information Act - is slated to cost $100 million, and is just one of a number of recent American military initiatives in the impoverished nation." 
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RSN: Banksters Like Wells Fargo's CEO John Stumpf Belong in Jail




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FOCUS: Robert Reich | Banksters Like Wells Fargo's CEO John Stumpf Belong in Jail 
Robert Reich. (photo: AP) 
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page 
Reich writes: "If a gangster tells his hit men 'I don't want you to knock off anyone, but if you don't fulfill your kill target you're dead meat,' the gangster has blood on his hands. Banksters like Stumpf - who raked in $19 million last year, partly because of all the products and services his employees sold - are no less responsible for the inevitable consequences of the incentive systems they establish." 
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Progressive Breakfast: Elizabeth Warren Clarifies The Charter Schools Debate, The Federal Reserve launches poverty study. Bloomberg






Note to Progressive Breakfast Subscribers
The Campaign for America’s Future is combining its operations with People’s Action. This partnership connects our work as a strategy and communications center for the progressive movement with the nation’s largest and most effective network of community organizations, now in 30 states.
Progressive Breakfast and our analysis and commentary at OurFuture.org will continue as they are now as projects of People’s Action. Starting October 3, you will be receiving Progressive Breakfast from People’s Action, so please be sure to whitelist People’s Action and peoplesaction.org in your email inbox.
For more information, read this announcement.

MORNING MESSAGE

Jeff Bryant
Elizabeth Warren Clarifies The Charter Schools Debate
Are charter schools a “progressive” idea for education? Some progressive sources would have you think so, but other progressives have challenged that framing. This week, Massachusetts news outlets reported that the state’s most prominent politician and one of the nation’s most important progressive leaders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, threw the supposedly progressive framing of charter schools into doubt when she announced officially her opposition to a ballot initiative in November to expand the number of charters in the Bay State.

BREAK UP WELLS FARGO?

Rep. Maxine Waters calls for Wells Fargo to be broken up. AP:“The [House Financial Services Committee] senior Democrat, Rep. Maxine Waters of California, was adamant that the alleged abuses show that the second-largest U.S. bank is too big for senior executives to keep track of what’s going on.”
Another settlement for Wells Fargo. The Atlantic:“Wells Fargo has agreed to paid more than $4 million in a settlement after federal investigators found the bank illegally repossessed 413 cars owned by American servicemembers over the last seven years … A federal court must now approve the settlement, which also restores credit to the servicemembers affected.”
“Wells Fargo Crooks Stole From Customers, Reaped Obscene Rewards—and Stuck Us With the Bill” says Robert Borosage, in debut of new weekly “Insurgencies” column for The Nation:“Wells and other big banks, with few exceptions, have been allowed to settle without admitting guilt. And while the banks have paid hundreds of billions in fines, the bankers who profited got off scot-free. So long as those in the top suites are not prosecuted, the scams and the fraud will continue.”

MCCONNELL ICES TPP

Sen. Majority Leader McConnell skeptical on holding TPP vote. Morning Consult:“‘I believe if it were brought up this year it would be defeated anyway,’ said the Kentucky Republican … McConnell made it clear he does not view the likelihood of skipping a lame-duck TPP vote as a white flag … He listed trade legislation, along with comprehensive tax reform and entitlement reforms, as the top issues facing the country that he believes Congress needs to tackle next year.”
Anti-TPP Dems call for renegotiation. Morning Consult:“Twelve senators, including notable anti-TPP voices such as Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), said in a Thursday letter to Obama that the deal shouldn’t come up for a vote until a renegotiation has resolved some of their key complaints … recommended changes include the removal of the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism … They also want to improve the labor rules placed on countries such as Malaysia and Vietnam and institute an enforceable prohibition of currency manipulation.”

NEW FOCUS ON URBAN PLANNING

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx focuses on urban renewal. American Prospect:“The ambitious former mayor of Charlotte made repairing the damage caused by decades of urban highway construction a federal priority. By strategically connecting the department’s discretionary funding to its bully pulpit, Foxx has helped refocus transportation policy on issues of equity, accessibility, and justice.”
The Federal Reserve launches poverty study. Bloomberg:“The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia announced last week the launch of a new research initiative on how poverty affects the economy … they hope to learn about building more good housing near good schools and good jobs.”

BREAKFAST SIDES

Clinton to propose national service program in FL today. McClatchy:“The campaign says the Democratic presidential candidate will announce plans Friday for a new national program designed to help people under 30 engage in public service. She’ll present her proposals in a speech Friday in Port St. Lucie, Florida.”
Obama administration announces new child care regs. Mother Jones:“The new federal standards aim to raise the bar for every center that works with any of the 1.4 million low-income children currently receiving a federal subsidy to cover their child care fees … but the rules cover only a small percentage of the roughly 12 million kids younger than five in the United States … Only 1 in 5 low-income kids receive federal subsidies to cover child care costs.”
Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast is a project of the Campaign for America's Future.more »


RSN: Hundreds of Blue Collar Workers Allege They Were 'Stiffed' by Trump's Company, Inside the FBI's Plan to Infiltrate Yemenis' Mosques and Student Groups



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Paul Krugman | Progressive Family Values
Economist Paul Krugman. (photo: Forbes)
Paul Krugman, The New York Times
Krugman writes: "There really are some interesting new ideas coming from one of the campaigns, and they arguably tell us a lot about how Mrs. Clinton would govern."
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Wisconsin Lawmakers Urge Investigation of Scott Walker After 'John Doe' Papers
Ed Pilkington, Guardian UK
Pilkington writes: "Nineteen Wisconsin legislators have called for an official investigation into alleged criminal misconduct by the Republican governor Scott Walker, based on their review of court documents leaked to the Guardian."
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A Look Into the Chicago Police Department's Secret Budget
Joel Handley, Chicago Reader
Handley writes: "There are thousands of civil forfeiture cases in Chicago and Illinois - and likely tens of thousands more across the country each year."
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Hundreds of Blue Collar Workers Allege They Were 'Stiffed' by Trump's Company
Steve Reilly, USA TODAY
Reilly writes: "Donald Trump often portrays himself as a savior of the working class who will 'protect your job.' But a USA Today Network analysis found he has been involved in more than 3,500 lawsuits over the past three decades - and a large number of those involve ordinary Americans who say Trump or his companies have refused to pay them."
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Inside the FBI's Plan to Infiltrate Yemenis' Mosques and Student Groups
Cora Currier, The Intercept
Currier writes: "The FBI envisioned infiltrating mosques and Muslim student associations to look for young Yemenis to serve as informants, according to an internal presentation obtained by The Intercept."
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The Women Who Make H&M's Clothes Are Fired for Getting Pregnant
Sirin Kale, Broadly
Kale writes: "A new report from the Asia Floor Wage Alliance finds evidence of widespread exploitation in H&M supplier factories in Cambodia and India. We spoke to labor activists to find out about how much life really sucks when you're making a $5.99 tank top."
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Court Stops US Fish and Wildlife From Killing Wild Red Wolves
Defenders of Wildlife
Excerpt: "The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina today issued a preliminary injunction that orders the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to stop capturing and killing - and authorizing private landowners to capture and kill - members of the rapidly dwindling population of wild red wolves."
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CounterCurrents: Shimon Peres From The Perspective Of His Victims, Indian And Pakistani Citizens Speak Out Against War, Gandhi And The Message Of Nonviolence



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Dear Friend,

Nuclear armed neighbours, India and Pakistan are trading live ammunition and hot words on either side of the border.  Who pay the price? The people! Evacuation has started in Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab border. Helpless people are leaving their dear homes and homestead and running for safety. Who will feed the animals left behind? Who will tend the farms left behind? If only it ended there! 

It's time for saner people to step in. We the commoners have to raise the voice and say, enough is enough. Ordinary people from India and Pakistan and all around the world are signing a petition calling on the leaders  to end the tension. It's time to speak out for peace. Please come forward and sign the petition herehttp://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/30/indian-and-pakistani-citizens-speak-out-against-war/

Israeli war criminal politician Shimon Peres passed away the other day. We've two obituaries one from the point of the victims of Peres's wars of aggression and another from Dr. Ludwig Watzal of Germany. 

President Obama faced a humiliating defeat while defending the House of Sauds. US Congress overturned President Obama’s veto of legislation that would permit victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks and their families to sue Saudi Arabia. Now the action moves to US Courts where the skeletons of 9/11 will, hopefully, come tumbling down. 

"The Common Heritage Of Mankind" is a bold doctrine in International Law. It envisages that some localities belong to all humanity and that their resources are available for everyone’s use and benefit. This doctrine has been enshrined in the laws of high seas and the Moon. Why isn't it  extended to protect all our Common Heritage? CHM is a bold ethical concept, and a general concept of international law, but it's kept within strict boundaries. These boundaries must be broken to protect our common heritage for our future generations. 

And also more stories from around the world. 

If you don't mind, and if you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/news-letter/. 

In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org




India-Pakistan Relations Remain Tensed, Evacuation In Border Districts

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/30/india-pakistan-relations-remain-tensed-evacuation-in-border-districts/

The India-Pakistan relations remain tensed after India’s surgical strikes across the Line of Control Wednesday night. People living in the border districts of Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab are being evacuated




Indian And Pakistani Citizens Speak Out Against War

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/30/indian-and-pakistani-citizens-speak-out-against-war/

There is  a petition campaign calling for peace between India-Pakistan. Please sign the petition





Congress Overrides Obama Veto Of Bill Allowing 9/11 Lawsuits
by Tom Carter 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/30/congress-overrides-obama-veto-of-bill-allowing-911-lawsuits/

On Wednesday, the US Congress overturned President Obama’s veto of legislation that would permit victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks and their families to sue Saudi Arabia. Declassified documents released this year confirm the involvement of Saudi intelligence agents in the funding, organization, and planning of the attacks—facts which were covered up for years by the Bush and Obama administrations.





Suing Saudi Arabia: Overturning Sovereign Immunity In US Courts
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/30/suing-saudi-arabia-overturning-sovereign-immunity-in-us-courts/

It was momentous on one fundamental level. Here was the President of the United States, Barack Obama, holding the torch for a wretched ally the politicians on the Hill and others have had reservations over for many years.  Saudi Arabia, ever the thorn and asset of US interests, facing the grief of families who lost members on September 11, 2001.  This, the same ally whose theocratic bent remains the most bruising of obstacles in any claims that the US is open to a global democratic experiment.





Shimon Peres From The Perspective Of His Victims
by Ilan Pappe 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/30/shimon-peres-from-the-perspective-of-his-victims/

Shimon Peres  occupied many positions in politics that had immense impact on the Palestinians wherever they are. He was director general of the Israeli defense ministry, minister of defense, minister for development of the Galilee and the Negev (Naqab), prime minister and president. In all these roles, the decisions he took and the policies he pursued contributed to the destruction of the Palestinian people and did nothing to advance the cause of peace and reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis.






Shimon Peres – Obituary Of A “Peace Politician”
by Dr Ludwig Watzal 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/30/shimon-peres-obituary-of-a-peace-politician/

In obituaries, only good and beautiful things are written about the deceased. May mine only serve to complete the picture of a man who authentically personified Zionism.






The Common Heritage Of Mankind: A Bold Doctrine Kept Within Strict Boundaries
by Prue Taylor 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/30/the-common-heritage-of-mankind-a-bold-doctrine-kept-within-strict-boundaries/

The “common heritage of mankind” is an ethical concept and a general concept of international law. It establishes that some localities belong to all humanity and that their resources are available for everyone’s use and benefit, taking into account future generations and the needs of developing countries. It is intended to achieve aspects of the sustainable development of common spaces and their resources, but may apply beyond this traditional scope.





What It’s Like To Be A Muslim Australian
by Ghali Hassan 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/30/what-its-like-to-be-a-muslim-australian/

A recent Essential Research poll had found 49 per cent of Australians support a ban on Muslim immigration, including 60 per cent of Liberal-National Coalition voters, 40 per cent of Labor voters and 34 per cent of Greens voters agreed with the proposition that Muslim Australians were not integrating (assimilating) into “Australian culture” and pose a threat to Australia. It is the result of a steady diet of fear, and xenophobia fed to Australians by openly racist politicians and the mass media.





A Simple Solution For Kashmir
by Akhter Bhat 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/30/a-simple-solution-for-kashmir/

So, don’t you think it has become imperative for India as well to look for an immediate solution for Kashmir? Then what is India waiting for? Why not start the process of solution finding now?  For Kashmiris , I think the best thing to do at the moment would be to stop fighting the forces with stones. Kashmir has lost enough of Rasheeds and Tawseefs and can’t afford losing more. Kashmir has got enough of Inshas blinded and simply can’t afford more.  They should immediately stop banging their heads into the walls so that no more heads are crushed. However, it is for the leaders of Kashmir, both from mainstream and separatist league to unite and press India for an ever lasting solution for Kashmir.





Gandhi And The Message Of Nonviolence
by Robert J Burrowes 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/30/gandhi-and-the-message-of-nonviolence/

Fortunately, there are many committed people who have identified the importance of taking action to end the violence in our world – whether it occurs in the home or on the street, in wars, as a result of economic exploitation or ecological destruction – and this includes the courageous people below. These people have identified themselves as part of the worldwide network, now with participants in 96 countries, committed to ending violence in all of its forms. I would like to share their inspirational stories and invite you to join them.