Intrepid Report: Week of March 27, 2017

Intrepid Report Newsletter

We cannot keep publishing without your help. We rely on you to help us pay our monthly expenses. So please Donate Monday Trump unleashes American vermin, war declared on US society By John Stanton Jefferson held that a little revolution now and then in a democratic republic was a necessary evil, not unlike severe seasonal storms that come each year. Those storms can cause extensive damage to life and property but communities rally and rebuild. Often they develop improved protocols to deal with storms ranging from disaster response to revised building codes that might withstand the next big storm. Trumpcare down but not out? By Stephen Lendman On Friday, one of Trump’s signature domestic programs was defeated, at least for now. Gorsuch shouldn’t be confirmed until we know the person who picked him is cleared of wrongdoing By Robert Reich Neil Gorsuch shouldn’t be confirmed until Trump comes clean. Let’s call it the democracy movement By Jack Balkwill At first I thought they were trying to kill me. I’d come home to find a bullet hole through my front window. Immediately I guessed who it was. ‘There’s a smell of treason in the air’ By Michael Winship Last Monday’s hearing of the House Intelligence Committee was proof positive of the absolute need for both a special prosecutor and an independent, bipartisan commission with subpoena power to conduct a full investigation of the Trump campaign’s connections with Russian intelligence—as well as Russia’s multipronged attack on our elections and Trump’s business connections with that country’s oligarchs. Tuesday Master spider David Rockefeller passes By Stephen Lendman On March 20, billionaire predatory banker David Rockefeller died in his sleep at age 101. In an era of fake news, fake security threats By Wayne Madsen Fake air travel security threats have joined the current fake news fad. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration, as well as their British counterparts, have announced a ban on laptop computers, tablets, cameras, Kindles and other e-readers, DVD players, and game consoles in carry-on baggage on the flights of certain airlines originating from or destined to a series of predominantly Muslim nations. Passengers flying from the designated airports are required to pack laptops and tablets in their check luggage. The decision has resulted in criticism from technical experts in the fields of communications, information technology, and improvised explosive devices or IEDs. Unlike the American ban, the British ban on carry-on items includes certain types of cell phones. Stealing from the citizenry: How government goons use civil asset forfeiture to rob us blind By John W. Whitehead In jolly old England, Robin Hood stole from the rich to give to the poor. Integrating Karl Marx and Abraham Maslow By Roger Copple The most important lesson that Karl Marx taught us is his surplus theory of value, which essentially says that if workers create wealth for a company, then it is only right that they should share in the increased profits. Richard Wolff is probably the most prominent Marxist economist today. Do a YouTube search of his name and you will find entertaining and educational videos of his Marxist message. Richard Wolff argues that when technology doubles the profits, it would be possible to have workers work half of the time instead of laying off half of them. What still happens is that the extra profits go to CEOs and corporate shareholders, not the workers. Postcard from the End of America: Atlanta, Georgia By Linh Dinh Knowing you can’t run from their jokes, bus drivers will crack a few, so on the endless leg from Washington to Atlanta, the driver intoned, “I don’t believe in Lost and Found, ladies and gentlemen, only eBay. If you forget something on this bus, you can find it on eBay.” Later, he chastised us all because someone had pissed on the toilet’s floor. Wednesday Republicans demand the impossible in a healthcare bill By Eric Zuesse Republicans demand a healthcare bill (or medical system) that will simultaneously (and without sacrificing quality of healthcare) reduce their total expenses on medical care—including their insurance premiums and their out-of-pocket costs—and that will also be more free-market (with less government involvement and regulations) than in existing U.S. healthcare policy (both before and after Obamacare began); they want more free-market, and less cost, and also no sacrifice on quality. No, Paul, it wasn’t because of ‘growing pains’ By Robert Reich House Speaker Paul Ryan, in his press conference following the demise of his bill to replace Obamacare, blamed Republicans who had failed to grasp that the GOP was now a “governing party.” Lost privacy rights in America By Stephen Lendman America is a total surveillance society. Big Brother is no longer fiction. ‘Decolonizing the mind’: Using Hollywood celebrities to validate Islam By Ramzy Baroud When Terry Holdbrooks Jr. converted to Islam in 2003, he was inundated with death threats and labeled a ‘race traitor.’ A couple of things about Jimmy Breslin By Michael Winship Last Wednesday, I sat down to write a piece about the late Jimmy Breslin, the newspaper columnist whose blunt yet eloquent and crafted prose captured New York and its environs as no one has since Damon Runyon. Thursday A public, non-profit healthcare system? Really? By Dave Alpert Sen. Bernie Sanders has announced to constituents at a town hall meeting this past Saturday that he’ll introduce a single-payer health care bill in Congress “within a couple of weeks.” Trump and the GOP in sickness and ill health By Bill Moyers The day after Republicans pulled the plug on Trumpcare (or was it Ryancare?), the front-page headline of the tabloid New York Post asked: “Is There a Doctor in the House?” Trump’s new plan: Govt as company, citizens as customers, Kushner as CEO Presidential son-in-law to head new innovation office tasked with reforming and privatizing federal government By Lauren McCauley Bringing President Donald Trump’s notion of government as corporate enterprise to fruition, the White House on Monday announced that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will be leading a sweeping government overhaul, leaning on business leaders to solve pressing national issues while looking to privatize key government functions.      Snow, death, and the bewildered herd By Edward Curtin As I write these words, the house is being buried in a snowstorm. Heavy flakes fall slowly and silently as a contemplative peace muffles the frenetic agitation and speed of a world gone mad. A beautiful gift like this has no price, though there are those who would like to set one, as they do on everything. In my mind’s eye I see Boris Pasternak’s Yurii Zhivago, sitting in the penumbra of an oil lamp in the snowy night stillness of Varykino, scratching out his poems in a state of inspired possession. Outside the wolves howl. Inside the bedroom, his doomed lover, Lara, and her daughter sleep peacefully. The wolves are always howling. Laptop ban is irrational and discriminatory By Linda S. Heard As you are no doubt aware, travellers flying direct to the US or the UK from a raft of Muslim-majority countries are no longer permitted to take tablets, laptops, e-readers, DVD-players and cameras into the cabin based on supposed intelligence suggesting terrorists plan to convert them into incendiary devices. The new regulation may sound like a sensible precaution until one digs deeper when it begins to look highly suspect. Friday ‘False flag,’ another weapon in the US arsenal By Dave Alpert Now hear this . . . Noam Chomsky, respected intellect and political guru of the “left,” a man that ridiculed and denounced the efforts of the 9/11 Truth Movement, has joined the ranks of the conspiracy theorists. Death at your door: Knock-and-talk police tactics rip a hole in the US Constitution By John W. Whitehead It’s 1:30 a.m., a time when most people are asleep. Rwanda indicts French generals for 1994 genocide By Thomas C. Mountain Late in 2016, the Rwandan government indicted several senior French Army generals for crimes against humanity, including genocide for their role in the 1994 Rwandan holocaust. Freedom Rider: Is Trump the DNC hacker? By Margaret Kimberley The Democratic Party is going all out with its charge of Russian involvement in the 2016 election. In doing so they achieve two very important goals. First, they distract their voters from asking why Hillary Clinton lost and why they are perennial losers at every level of government across the country. Secondly, they can wage war by other means as they attempt to exact regime change in Russia. That is the desired endgame as they attempt to crush the sovereignty and independence of that resource-rich nation which spans Eurasia. Trump’s business of government By Robert Reich The White House has announced that Trump will name his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to run a new Office of American Innovation—described as a SWAT team of strategic consultants staffed by former business executives, designed to infuse fresh thinking into Washington and help make government work more like a business.

CounterCurrents: Trump Executive Order Seals The Fate Of The Planet, Which Was Propaganda, Which Was News Reporting?

Dear Friend,

President Donald Trump signed an executive order that may have the sealed the fate of our children and our grand children! The order instructs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to rewrite former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), which would have limited the emissions of coal-powered power plants. It also lifts the moratorium on federal coal leasing, repeals limits on methane emissions from fracking, and directs the agency to reconsider the Social Cost of Carbon and the National Environmental Policy Act guidance on greenhouse gas emissions.

Believe it or not some people in India still believe that Africans living  in India practice cannibalism! That too in the New Delhi, the national capital! The story goes like this, according to the Indian express "At 7.30 pm on Friday, the Class XII student, Manish Khari, was seen walking outside his residence at NSG Society in Greater Noida. Till 9.30 am the next day, Khari could not be found. In the meantime, his family approached police and filed a complaint alleging that five Nigerians — residing two houses away from them — had “kidnapped” and “eaten” their son. Around 7 pm, four Africans who were near Ansal Plaza in Pari Chowk area were attacked by residents while the windscreen of one of their cars was smashed." Here is the video of the attack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uxMErZhYhw

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

Trump Executive Order Seals The Fate Of The Planet

by Nika Knight 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/trump-executive-order-seals-the-fate-of-the-planet/

The order instructs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to rewrite former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), which would have limited the emissions of coal-powered power plants. It also lifts the moratorium on federal coal leasing, repeals limits on methane emissions from fracking, and directs the agency to reconsider the Social Cost of Carbon and the National Environmental Policy Act guidance on greenhouse gas emissions.

Which Was Propaganda, Which Was News Reporting?

by Eric Zuesse 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/which-was-propaganda-which-was-news-reporting/

Compare: Russian TV covered hundreds of thousands Yemenese protesting U.S.-Saud’s Bombs. U.S. TV covered 8,000 Russians protesting Vladimir Putin’s government. If they’re both propaganda, then which was more honest, more news that was really worth covering? Both were about foreign affairs, but which was more important, more worthy of being included in an evening’s news-cast?

What Cost Liberty?  Civilians In The “Liberation” Of Mosul

by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/what-cost-liberty-civilians-in-the-liberation-of-mosul/

The casualty rate amongst civilians in the Mosul operation has spiked for the obvious reason that all sides in this conflict wish to capitalise on immediate gains with minimal concern.  As Iraqi forces make the bloody advance into a city of half a million, with some 2,000 remaining Islamic State forces, US-led strikes have flattened entire blocks

War And Propaganda

by Ron Forthofer 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/war-and-propaganda/

Accuracy in reporting is especially important now since Russian and U.S./NATO forces are operating in close proximity along the Russian border and in Syria. Any small miscalculation could set off a nuclear conflict with unbelievably dire consequences for life on the planet. For example, studies by well-informed scientists have clearly demonstrated that there are no winners in a nuclear conflict. Therefore, it is past time for the mainstream U.S. media to live up to its responsibilities to the public and to carefully investigate claims instead of simply being a shameless propaganda tool of the U.S. political and military establishment.

Rwanda Indicts French Generals For 1994 Genocide

by Thomas C Mountain 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/rwanda-indicts-french-generals-for-1994-genocide/

Late in 2016 the Rwandan Government indicted several senior French Army Generals for crimes against humanity including genocide for their role in the 1994 Rwandan holocaust.

The Electronics Ban And Lessons In Futility

by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/the-electronics-ban-and-lessons-in-futility/

There was little surprise that the actions of the United States targeted eight countries, following the travel ban effort by the Trump administration which initially went for seven, then revised the number to six.  It covers flights from 10 airports in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. The UK ban is specific to tablets, laptops, games consoles and devices larger than a mobile phone.  Routes covered include inbound flights from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey.

Sing It One More Time Like That

by Richard Oxman 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/sing-it-one-more-time-like-that/

Ten years after completing his work on Patrice Lumumba, Peck got down with Jimmy. And I thank God that he did, for even though the documentary has its weak sides, anything devotes so many heartbeats to Jimmy has a good shot at letting the face of God shine through.

African Students In India Demand Protection

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/african-students-in-india-demand-protection/

The Association of African students in India is calling on the government of India to taking concrete steps to protect the lives and properties of all African students in India, and especially in Uttar Pradesh following the recent false allegations laid on five Nigerian students.

Prejudices Against Africans In India

by Vidya Bhushan Rawat

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/prejudices-against-africans-in-india/

A young boy was found dead in Noida. The family and the people alleged that it is the Africans who have drugged him so he got cardiac arrest and after that the crowd swell and become violent against them. Police as usual arrest some of the Nigerian students and found nothing incriminating against them so release them later but the people are dissatisfied. The shocking part of this violence is a rumour when the boy was missing his mother felt that these Negros must have eaten him up

The Truth About Aadhaar’s Biometrics

by Viswanath L

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/the-truth-about-aadhaars-biometrics/

The opposition to Aadhaar mostly centres on the issues of surveillance and privacy. While these are very important issues, the lofty platform on which Aadhaar stands is supported on the myth that biometric based identity is infallible, robust and safe. None of this is true, which therefore brings into question the very utility of Aadhaar, as also the unforeseen complications it may cause.

Free The Maruti13: Observe All-India & International Day of Protest On 4th/5th April

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/free-the-maruti13-observe-all-india-international-day-of-protest-on-4th5th-april/

On this 23rd March Protest program, we already appealed to all to observe 4th April as an all-India Day and International of Protest. Preparations for the same have already begun in various places. Meanwhile, recognized Central Trade Unions later issued a call to organize all-India Protest in solidarity with the Maruti Suzuki workers on 5th April. So, We appeal to all workers and pro-worker forces to observe 4th/5th April 2017 as all-India and International Days of Protest and show solidarity in whatever ways possible.

Stand Against Religious Bigotry, Defend Democratic Rights Of All Citizens Of India

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/stand-against-religious-bigotry-defend-democratic-rights-of-all-citizens-of-india/

People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) condemns the murder of rationalist H. Farook in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu on March 16, 2017. Farook was a member of Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam (Dravidian Freedom Organisation) which is inspired by the rationalist ideas of Periyar.

Kashmir: Of Resistance And Politics

by Rayees Rasool 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/kashmir-of-resistance-and-politics/

There is a high level of consensus among intelligentsia of India, Pakistan and Kashmir that the Indian State has mishandled the political imbroglio of Kashmir. The elusive notion of peace cannot be termed as concrete and a long lasting peace, but it’s based on weak foundations, does not take a long time to disband. The Indian State has to ear the genuine plea of the Kashmir public and get involved in threadbare political discussions with not only the enforced stakeholders but should take cross sections of people including the resistance forces to stop the situation from drifting into a state of complete anarchy.

Hindutva:  An Imaginary Interaction

by Vijaya Kumar Marla 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/hindutva-an-imaginary-interaction/

maginary debate with opponents is a thought process adopted since ages by thinkers such as Sankara, Madhvacharya and many others to demolish prativada (counter arguments). This samvada (debate) also follows this technique. The characters are fictitious, but the arguments are real.

University Spaces: Critical Thinking To Saffron Thinking

by T Navin  

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/university-spaces-critical-thinking-to-saffron-thinking/

A recent workshop organized by RSS affiliate Prajna Pravah only points to the same. It was attended by 700 academics and 51 Vice-Chancellors. Its supposed aims were to point to academics in building a ‘nationalist narrative’ and bringing in ‘Indianness’ in the educational system. The current education was seen as aping the west without a Bharatiya into it.

Letting The Poor Steer The Development Agenda

by Moin Qazi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/letting-the-poor-steer-the-development-agenda/

The perception that the poor do not have skills or would not be able to survive on their own is a myth. My experience with development finance has demonstrated that we have to encourage strategies that ensure wider participation of poor in schemes aimed at solving their problems. It is the unleashing of their social and mental energies and, not hackneyed government programmes and tiring lip service of politicians, which will make India’s development ambition a reality. All that the pro-villages rhetoric does is to pay lip service to the people who still live there without electricity and running water.

Silence Of The Graves !

by K P Sasi 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/silence-of-the-graves/

And when the dead bodies do not wake up

I keep telling myself

That it is safer to get drunk

On the silence of the graves.

Lynne Stewart, Our Lady Mandela

by Gary Corseri 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/03/29/lynne-stewart-our-lady-mandela/

For Lynne, October, 1939-March, 2017