September 15, 2023

Data Mining Gold

Real shaft for democracy.

September 15, 2023

GOP is a treasonous conspiracy.

DoJ, break out the firepower.

September 15, 2023

But, in fact, he's guilty.

What’s the word for a person who steals Top Secret documents?

“Criminal.”

September 11, 2023

Remembering 9/11 and The Unseen Sacrifice of Black Firefighters

Ebony JJ Curry, Senior Reporter
September 11, 2023

The events of September 11, 2001, left an indelible mark on the hearts of all New Yorkers. For those who lost family members and friends, the pain remains devastating even after 22 years. However, it is important to acknowledge that not all heroes received equal recognition, and the sacrifices of Black firefighters that day often went unnoticed by the mainstream media.

Capt. Paul Washington, a former president of the Vulcan Society, emphasized in a New York Amsterdam News article, “As an agency of New York City, FDNY was devastated. We lost 343 good men that day. Brave men. I knew dozens of them personally. I miss them all.” Regrettably, the tragic events of September 11th also highlighted the enduring presence of racism in our country, a factor that doesn’t seem to take a break. Consequently, it came as no surprise that the 12 Black firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice that day did not receive equitable recognition compared to their white counterparts. Their absence from mainstream media coverage was strikingly disproportionate to their numbers.

An early and glaring example of the disregard for Black lives in this tragedy was exemplified by then Mayor Rudy Giuliani who appeared on a highly anticipated episode of “Saturday Night Live” alongside more than two dozen first responders, primarily New York City firefighters, all in uniform. Shockingly, not a single one of them was Black. In a time when diversity should have been celebrated, the absence of racial diversity was conspicuous.

Roughly 3,000 people were killed during the devastating terrorist attacks that unfolded on September 11th. Four commercial planes were hijacked, with two of those crashing into the iconic Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and a third plane striking the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The aftermath of this tragic day left almost 10,000 people injured but alive, thanks in part to the incredible bravery and selflessness of 343 firefighters who rushed to respond to the attacks. Among these heroes were 12 members of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY)’s Black Vulcan Society, an organization forged in 1940 to combat the discrimination faced within the department. These fallen Black firefighters, including names like Gerard Baptiste, Vernon Cherry, and Tarel Coleman, among others, made the ultimate sacrifice in their courageous response to the catastrophe. Capt. Paul Washington, former Vulcan Society president, recounted that the majority of these firefighters were inside or in close proximity to the Twin Towers when they tragically collapsed.

CONTINUES...

https://michiganchronicle.com/2023/09/11/remembering-9-11-and-the-unseen-sacrifice-of-black-firefighters/?utm_source=newsshowcase&utm_medium=gnews&utm_campaign=CDAqEAgAKgcICjDbr8kLMJvL4AMwyJ7eAQ&utm_content=rundown

September 10, 2023

Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. loved poetry.

https://allpoetry.com/General-George-S-Patton-Jnr

Through a Glass Darkly,

Perhaps I stabbed our Savior
In His sacred helpless side.
Yet I've called His name in blessing
When in after times I died.

Through the travail of the ages
Midst the pomp and toil of war
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon this star.

I have sinned and I have suffered
Played the hero and the knave
Fought for belly, shame or country
And for each have found a grave.

So as through a glass and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names — but always me.

So forever in the future
Shall I battle as of yore,
Dying to be born a fighter
But to die again once more.

September 8, 2023

Wannabe Winston Smiths

Sad. Un-democratic. And un-American.

September 7, 2023

NAZI Spies, too.

The CIA’s Worst-Kept Secret: Newly Declassified Files Confirm United States Collaboration with Nazis

Pried loose by Congress, which passed the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act three years ago, a long-hidden trove of once-classified CIA documents confirms one of the worst-kept secrets of the cold war--the CIA's use of an extensive Nazi spy network to wage a clandestine campaign against the Soviet Union.

May 1, 2001
Martin A. Lee

EXCERPT...

The Gehlen Org

The key figure on the German side of the CIA-Nazi tryst was General Reinhard Gehlen, who had served as Adolf Hitler’s top anti-Soviet spy. During World War II, Gehlen oversaw all German military-intelligence operations in Eastern Europe and the USSR.

As the war drew to a close, Gehlen surmised that the U.S.-Soviet alliance would soon break down. Realizing that the United States did not have a viable cloak-and-dagger apparatus in Eastern Europe, Gehlen surrendered to the Americans and pitched himself as someone who could make a vital contribution to the forthcoming struggle against the Communists. In addition to sharing his vast espionage archive on the USSR, Gehlen promised that he could resurrect an underground network of battle-hardened, anti-Communist assets who were well placed to wreak havoc throughout the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Although the Yalta Treaty stipulated that the United States must give the Soviets all captured German officers who had been involved in “eastern area activities,” Gehlen was quickly spirited off to Fort Hunt in Virginia. The image he projected during 10 months of negotiations at Fort Hunt was, to use a bit of espionage parlance, a “legend”–one that hinged on Gehlen’s false claim that he was never really a Nazi, but was dedicated, above all, to fighting Communism. Those who bit the bait included future CIA director Allen Dulles, who became Gehlen’s biggest supporter among American policy wonks.

Gehlen returned to West Germany in the summer of 1946 with a mandate to rebuild his espionage organization and resume spying on the East at the behest of American intelligence. The date is significant as it preceded the onset of the cold war, which, according to standard U.S. historical accounts, did not begin until a year later. The early courtship of Gehlen by American intelligence suggests that Washington was in a cold war mode sooner than most people realize. The Gehlen gambit also belies the prevalent Western notion that aggressive Soviet policies were primarily to blame for triggering the cold war.

Based near Munich, Gehlen proceeded to enlist thousands of Gestapo, Wehrmacht, and SS veterans. Even the vilest of the vile–the senior bureaucrats who ran the central administrative apparatus of the Holocaust–were welcome in the “Gehlen Org,” as it was called–including Alois Brunner, Adolf Eichmann’s chief deputy. SS major Emil Augsburg and gestapo captain Klaus Barbie, otherwise known as the “Butcher of Lyon,” were among those who did double duty for Gehlen and U.S. intelligence. “It seems that in the Gehlen headquarters, one SS man paved the way for the next and Himmler’s elite were having happy reunion ceremonies,” the Frankfurter Rundschau reported in the early 1950s.

CONTINUES...

https://ips-dc.org/the_cias_worst-kept_secret_newly_declassified_files_confirm_united_states_collaboration_with_nazis/

September 6, 2023

TuberFraud

You can tell a lot about a man by the company he keeps.

In those days, Tommy played for millions. As a Senator, he's fooling with trillions and Democracy.

August 31, 2023

Joe would poll at 78-Positive

Had the United States an honest news media.



Corporate McPravda

August 30, 2023

Jeffrey Epstein set up meetings with Trump allies before 2016 election

by Alex Henderson
Alternet.org, August 30, 2023

Four years have passed since wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein, facing federal sex trafficking charges involving minors, was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell. A medical examiner ruled that Epstein, on August 10, 2019, had died from suicide by hanging.

Epstein, who was 66 when he died, associated with a lot of famous people. According to the Wall Street Journal, Epstein set up meetings with some of Donald Trump's supporters before the 2016 presidential election.

Those supporters included Thomas Barrack and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel (a major donor to MAGA Republicans), WSJ journalists Khadeeja Safdar and David Benoit (not to be confused with the jazz musician) report.

Another was the late Vitaly Churkin, who was Russia's ambassador to the United Nations at the time.

Forbes reporter Sara Dorn, in a separate article on Epstein, notes, "The New York Times reported in May that e-mails from Epstein's assistant show he planned to meet with Thiel at least three times in 2014, but the paper did not confirm whether the meetings occurred and Thiel declined to comment at the time."

(Emphasis mine.) SOURCE w/links to WSJ: https://www.alternet.org/jeffrey-epstein-set-up-meetings-with-trump-allies-before-2016-election/



Well, that's nice.