"Supposed"?

Every now and then I read material online, whether it be the NY Times or Counterpunch and I'm astounded that certain statements are allowed to pass the proofreaders (assuming they exist at these places) and placed into print. I'm not talking about censorship, i'm talking about basic fact checking. I think if a piece is posted that has clearly wrong information but will be run anyway, the publisher should post a footnote about the offending information. Today's example comes from Counterpunch.

I'm at a stage in my life where whenever I see [word}+nut, I know I'm probably in for an emotional piece of work devoid of much in the way of verifiable facts. So seeing Left "gun nuts" set off my "oh boy here we go" alarm. Andrew and Darwin don't disappoint.

In the aftermath of the Isla Vista massacre, we can expect the far Right to vehemently oppose any renewed call for gun control. They will tout the supposedly Constitutional right of Americans to keep and bear arms.

Supposedly?

That's like saying citizens supposedly have the constitutional right to free speech, freedom of assembly, right to a trial by jury. It's like saying the right isn't written right there on paper. How does a professor, meaning he supposedly got through at least 6 years of "higher" education, write "supposedly" before the right to bear arms?

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

See what Andrew and Darwin are playing is the "militia" card (and they play it forthright later in the piece). People like these two attach "militia" and bear arms in such a way that only the militia (police, armed forces) have the right to bear arms and the rest of the plebes ought do whatever the state tells us we are allowed to do and hope that the police make it in time.

Never mind that throughout the history of the US, there was never even a question of whether one had the right to bear (own) a firearm. If you took the argument that only professional soldiers and police ought to be able to possess firearms to the Founders, they would have had a hearty laugh.

But forget the Founders. None other than the Supreme Court established that citizens have a constitutional right to own firearms. The District of Columbia tried to ban the ownership of guns. Supreme Court ended that quickly. You can disagree with the Supreme Court if you like (and I do often), but you cannot at this juncture in time write that the right to own a firearm is a "supposed" right.

Moving on.

The Right will summon up the specter of a tyrannical government waiting to oppress us but for our wood stocks and blued steel. We will be told yet again that gun control leaves citizens to the mercy of criminals who simply ignore the law.

Well, Lets see. What is it that happened in Waco? And what was that which happened with Cliven Bundy? Oh right Cliven is a white male. An old one at that. So the fact that the state came armed to take his property which he had been grazing on land the Fed had no jurisdiction over until it gave itself jurisdiction is not an example of the state being held at bay by armed citizens? As Occupy found out, the state has asserted a monopoly on violence and even when it abuses that monopoly the citizens have little recourse as they will be tried for crimes they did not commit. Even if they succeed against the state via the courts they will do so at great personal costs.

Now imaging an alternate universe where Occupy was armed. Either there would be a bloodbath or the NYPD (and other PD's) would have treated Occupy a lot differently.

As for the mercy of criminals:

Ex-cop kills would-be carjacker

and

EDITORIAL: Detroit police chief wants citizens to arm themselves

Chief Craig sees the results firsthand of legal gun ownership. There have been 73 “justifiable homicides” in Detroit since 2011, and only 15 in 2013. Most of these, reports The Detroit News, involved residents such as 76-year-old Willie White, who fatally shot a man who broke into his home. His house had been broken into several times before he confronted and fatally shot an 18-year-old thug who had broken in in 2012. Mr. White told The News, “… these criminals would definitely think twice if they knew more citizens were armed.”

Yeah Andrew and Darwin, you were saying?

Look, if you don't like guns then by all means do not purchase or possess one. If gun crime bothers you that much, then by all means take your constitutional right to move freely around the country and live somewhere with low crime. There are plenty of places you can do that. But the only way to eliminate gun crime is to ban guns period. Across the board banning of firearms. That would take a constitutional amendment. Andrew and Darwin should spend their time doing that if they are REALLY serious about the issue.

Lamentations

The recent Supreme Court ruling on Michigan's proposition to ban affirmative action there have been a lot of commentary, drug up from 1954 that is at it's heart both anti-black and anti-HBCU. The recent anniversary of the Brown V. Board of Ed had none other than First Lady Michelle Obama go on the record with an anti-HBCU message that apparently bothered very few people.

TOPEKA, Kan. — Sixty years after the Supreme Court outlawed “separate but equal” schools for blacks and whites, civil rights advocates say American schools are becoming increasingly segregated, while the first lady, Michelle Obama, lamented that “many young people are going to schools with kids who look just like them.”

“Lamented”? Why does this bother Mrs. Obama? Why does this bother anyone for that matter? For millenia human beings have been raised and educated with people who “look just like them”. In small villages around the world, children grow up and are educated with people who look just like them, Why does this bother anyone? In China, Japan, Singapore, India, to name but a few countries, millions (and billions) of people grow up without seeing anyone else that looks different from them. Yet it has no impact whatsoever on their education. Given that there is ZERO evidence that what the person sitting next to you looks like has anything at all to do with whether one is able to learn and WHAT one is able to learn, why is this canard still being trotted out? And why is the wife of the President making such a statement to the nation?

Furthermore if it is “lamentable” that young people go to schools with kids who look just like them, then what does that say about those of us who attend HBCU's ? It says what is a general sentiment in the African-American community, particularly in the north and along the west coast, HBCU's are not the real world and it is better to go to a “white school”. This is, of course, pure and unadulterated self hate speech. Never mind that HBCU's have historically produced more black professionals than anywhere else, but there are millions of HBCU grads out there in the world working and creating jobs.

“Today, by some measures, our schools are as segregated as they were back when Dr. King gave his final speech,” Mrs. Obama told 1,200 graduating high school seniors Friday here in the city that gave rise to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case.

That signals a few things:

1) People have a right to live wherever they choose and therefore send their kids to whatever school they see fit (and can afford to send them to). 2) The utter failure of attempting to remedy academic performance of certain kids (cause of course the people in question are not being named) by trying to force them upon others.

, Mrs. Obama said that Brown’s advances were being reversed. “Many districts in this country have actually pulled back on efforts to integrate their schools, and many communities have become less diverse,” she said, leading to schools that are less diverse.

“And too often,” Mrs. Obama said, “those schools aren’t equal, especially ones attended by students of color which too often lag behind.”

Well, the fact is that bussing, aka forcing people to send their kids out of district was found unconstitutional. Failing that, unless you force people to live in neighborhoods against their will, there is no chance that you're going to get a diverse student body in any location. And that assumes that a “diverse” student body is needed. Remember the purpose of school is education, first and foremost. If it is true that education, the learning of facts and of critical thinking, is the antidote to discrimination, then it should not and does not matter what the student body looks like.

I am not one of those persons distratced by the “diversity” party. I certainly object to playing ambassador with my children so that folks can feel better about themselves (see! My kid plays with the black kid over there). I have been “the spot” in school. It does NOTHING at all for academic performance. Academic performance improves ONLY when there are high expectations set out by schools and parents. Period.

Today about four in 10 black and Latino students attend intensely segregated schools, the federal Department of Education reported on its official blog on Friday, adding that only 14 percent of white students attend schools that could be considered multicultural.

And we should care about that particular fact because? Again. Who they are sitting next to has no bearing on their academic performance. 99% of students at Tuskegee will be in a class without a single white person. How is that a problem? Why is that a problem?

Tuskegee Students. Apparently being robbed of the experience of sitting next to white people at school.

Hampton Students tragically missing out on white folks in the classroom.

Here in Kansas, there is intense debate over whether the state is living up to Brown’s promise. An alliance of school districts has sued the state, contending that current financing for schools is inadequate and is disproportionately hurting schools in low-income, minority districts.

Ahh a ray of sunshine. The financial issue is strong. Clearly a good school needs good funding to pay decent salaries to teachers and to have facilities that are modern (enough) to teach. Books are here or there due to technology and the fact that there is less and less a need to have a physical book, where a cheap tablet can hold many many many books in a far smaller package.

The financial argument is a sound one. Currently schools are financed via local property taxes. Clearly if you live in a poorer neighborhood then the school has less financing. The solution to this is not bussing. It is not “desegregation” or other “diversity” hat tricks. The solution to this is a fundamental change in how schools are financed. There should a flat county, city and/or statewide tax on all residents to pay for the education of all students. The money is then divided primarily by population. The more students a school serves the more money it gets. Secondly would be state of the school. That is, those schools in most need of repair, expansion, etc. gets access to money first.

This would not prevent any local town or resident from “gifting” to a local (or not local) school, But at the state level where it has a mandate to educate all children under it's authority, the equitable distribution of resources should be the law.

The State Supreme Court recently ordered the Legislature to restore special aid for poor districts. Gov. Sam Brownback said in a brief interview on Friday that he agreed with the court’s decision. “It needs to be fixed,” he said.

But Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in Washington, said Friday that funding systems like that in Kansas “are relegating millions of primarily black and brown children into schools that are separate, unequal and inadequate.”

what was ordered by the judge is in line with what I suggested. The problem is that here it is called “special aid”. It should not be “special aid” but equitable and repairative (not a word) funding based on what was discussed above. And Wade Henderson should be quiet and have a seat. The purpose is the quality of academics not who these kids sit next to every day.

Wade and his ilk who are fixated on white people like that UCSB shooter was fixated on blondes, need therapy to get over their psychological problems.

“It’s our first African-American president, something that many people involved in Brown didn’t think they would live to see,” Mrs. Brown Henderson said in an interview this week, calling the visit “a manifestation of what they worked for.”

Worked for a president? OK.

I'm aware that most of the people who make these "diversity" statements don't actually realize that they are actually making derogatory statements in regards to black people. Matter of fact it is commonplace and done at a subconscious level. It is simply normal to say these things. It doesn't register until the full weight of the commentary is brought to the attention of the speaker. We need to face these silly outburst of self hate head on. No one should be excused for these comments, not even FLOTUS.

RIP Elombe Brath

I remember him as Gil Noble's partner in producing Like It Is. I saw him a few times in Harlem as well. Go and greet your friend Elombe. Go and greet your friend.

No Different Than Ukraine

Amidst the stupendously stupid move to publicly charge Chinese nationals (who are also a part of the military) with cyber spying the Chinese have, of course responded with evidence of cyber spying by the US:

Now, every one of the examples of N.S.A. spying on corporations around the world is becoming Exhibit A in China’s argument that by indicting five members of the People’s Liberation Army, the Obama administration is giving new meaning to capitalistic hypocrisy. In the Chinese view, the United States has designed its own system of rules about what constitutes “legal” spying and what is illegal.

That definition, the Chinese contend, is intended to benefit an American economy built around the sanctity of intellectual property belonging to private firms. And, in their mind, it is also designed to give the N.S.A. the broadest possible rights to intercept phone calls or email messages of state-owned companies from China to Saudi Arabia, or even private firms that are involved in activities the United States considers vital to its national security, with no regard to local laws. The N.S.A. says it observes American law around the globe, but admits that local laws are no obstacle to its operations.

I don't know who allowed Holder to make his announcement but it smacks of rank amateurism. We know countries do it to each other. This kind of stuff should always be done behind closed doors. Used for leverage in negotiations on other matters...behind closed doors. You may even bring in executives from affected companies and discuss the issue....behind closed doors. But you simply do not make these kinds of things public.

But this double standard that China speaks of is clear in Ukraine where popular uprisings are OK when the beneficiaries are certain governments and institutions and are BAD when they benefit other certain governments and institutions. And folks wonder why UKIP and other "far right" parties are on the rise in various countries. The blatant hypocrisy and double dealing is evident to the masses and they are slowly waking up to it. At some point the US population will stop playing the "lesser of two evils" game and put the lot of these folks out of office (right and left). [Update]

“What we do not do, as we have said many times,” James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, said after some of the initial N.S.A. revelations last year, “is use our foreign intelligence capabilities to steal the trade secrets of foreign companies on behalf of — or give intelligence we collect to — U.S. companies to enhance their international competitiveness or increase their bottom line.”

Because of course we have other arms of government and other institutions to do the "international competitiveness" part. [Update again]

he Stuxnet computer worm, designed by the United States and Israel, was designed to attack Siemens equipment — and it has never been clear whether the company knew that its machines were under American and Israeli attack. But in that case, American officials could argue that national security, not corporate competitiveness, was the goal.

But "national security" as defined by the Wolfowitz doctrine includes dominance of the US, including economic entities attached to it.

The U.S. must show the leadership necessary to establish and protect a new order that holds the promise of convincing potential competitors that they need not aspire to a greater role or pursue a more aggressive posture to protect their legitimate interests. In non-defense areas, we must account sufficiently for the interests of the advanced industrial nations to discourage them from challenging our leadership or seeking to overturn the established political and economic order. We must maintain the mechanism for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role.

Racism Attacks on UKIP Appear to Fail

Like I said a few posts ago, the powers that be are so shook by the fact that UKIP has grown so large in the UK that they are hoping that they can use any charge of racism and xenophobia to distract from the fact that the establishment parties are failing to address the wishes of the English people.

The last issue was Fanage claiming that he wouldn't want a Romanian as a neighbor. I assume he meant Roma, who are apparently universally disliked in Europe, but he hasn't "corrected" his statement to that effect and so I won't put words in his mouth. However the point was that due to that statement he was called racist.

Now apparently this is a typical Romanian

This guy is white. So tell me, how is Farange being racist against this fellow? Farange is white. This fellow is white. It cannot be racism unless, by definition Farange is using a philosophy or ideology based on race to discuss both himself and this Romanian.

It may be ethnocentrism, but then again, I believe that folks in their own country have a right to be ethnocentric about their own country. Some people have a problem with that. That's their right. I certainly think a level of ethnocentrism in the United States would be problematic given the varied cultures that constitute it. But the natives of a land such as England? Not so much. If I don't like the ethnocentrism of England I am, of course, free to leave and return to my home country, or some other country who's ethnocentrism is of the type I find more accommodating.

In any case, the "racism' row over the Romanian comment only showed me how desperate the establishment is. If the reports that the latest charge has only served to solidify the support of UKIP, then that is even more damning for the establishment. *image from Guardian UK

David Macaray's Blind Spot

The oft told truism that people usually only care about their own is demonstrated by David Macary's latest piece as found on Counterpunch

Concerned with your “moral character” or sexual proclivities, they can retrace your steps on the Internet. Concerned with your political beliefs, they can find out if you subscribe to any left-wing magazines or belong to any lefty organizations (“Are you now or have you ever been….?”) Access to this information is for sale.[my underlines]

"left-wing magazines".

I suppose David has been living under a rock of late because he apparently hasn't noticed that recently the folks who have been forced out of jobs have not been those who subscribe to "left-wing magazines" but those who have been previously known as "mainstream America" or "Christian right". Whether one agrees with the attitudes of persons' such as Duck Dynasty's Phill; Brendan Eich's political donation; Manny Paquiao's position on homosexuality or Donald Sterling's fear of a HIV positive black penis, or any number of people who have been fired or meted out some other punishment because their personal positions on various subjects offended someone in a "protected class".

All of these persons happen to be politically right of center. While I'm sure David is still harboring fears of Joe McCarthy's power trip, the fact of the matter is that the invasion of privacy and it's use to harass citizens and deny them opportunities is not currently coming from the right, it is coming from the left who conveniently excuse themselves by claiming the moral high ground. That is, their thinking is better than those they oppose and therefore the only one's worth protection.

Remember, rights and protections apply across the board. Once you allow the rights of one group to be trampled on, your own rights become endangered.

Do As We Say....

So the US Justice Department is charging Chinese officials of computer hacking.

Suspicions about extensive corporate data theft have swirled around China for years, but never before has the US formally accused the People's Liberation Army with criminal activity. Last year, a report by the information security firm Mandiant concluded that a unit of the PLA, known as Unit 61398, was likely behind data theft comprising hundreds of terabytes. It found that the scale of the espionage was unlikely to have occurred without government sponsorship

Meanwhile on the internet we have pictures of US agents intercepting and planting bugs in routers:

This year has seen so much glaring hypocrisy that even sunglasses are of no use.

Again..Can Africans Deal With Their Own Problems?

The Nigerian president is due to attend a meeting on Saturday of regional leaders, hosted by France, that is expected to discuss a joint approach to Boko Haram. Until now there has been little cooperation among Nigeria, Benin, Niger, Cameroon and Chad; members of the Islamist group move with relative freedom across the region’s porous borders. The United States, the European Union and Britain will also be represented, according to a statement from the Nigerian presidency.

Why is this being hosted by France? How is this France's business or problem? Does France invite Nigerian officials to deal with it's internal problems?

Why is the European Union, Britain and the United States being represented? How is this any of their business? Are any US nationals in the hands of Boko Haram? Are any EU nationals in the hands of Boko Haram? Are any British Nationals in the hands of Boko Haram? The answer is no to all three so why are they present? Do any of these states or organizations solicit representation from any African state when they have problems (other than to claim that the "international community" approves of us meddling in the internal affairs of today's enemy state)?

Asante and Monteiro Still Fighting....

Yeah, these two folks, apparently along with Cornel West and Marc Lamont Hill are still fighting over how best to serve Temple University.

Really.

Black Studies does not need saving and it is quite vibrant at Temple University as a result of the re-organization of the undergraduate and graduate programs; in effect, Temple has just re-asserted its leadership in Black Studies by celebrating 25 years of the first doctoral program in the nation and consequently few students in the program and none of the faculty members approved or supported the protest.

I fault each and every one of these negroes for not taking their considerable talent to any HBCU and build up THE authoritative black studies program. Seems to me that would be the "nationalistic" thing to do. Of course given that there has been no mention of Garvey in the comment made by Asante, I guess it's proof that none of the people involved are really about building anything black from the top down or bottom up. ALL of these folks are more interested in their spot in the white space.

Carry on with that. It is, at the very least, entertainment. But I'll take them more seriously if they show up, somewhat permanently in Jackson Ms.

Solar and Wind Powered Car in Nigeria

Taking a break from hammering on Africa over the dumb stuff, here's some good news:

The retrofitted Beetle comes equipped with a giant solar panel on the roof and a wind turbine under the hood that takes advantage of airflow while the car is in motion. To ensure the car doesn’t buckle under the weight of all the additional eco-friendly tech, Oyeyiola also installed a super strong suspension system.

Never, ever considered the idea of a wind turbine to charge a car while it is in motion. Interesting since the IC engine in cars have to have a place for the "nose" (air intake) to pull in air for the engine. A battery powered car doesn't need an air intake for creating motion, but why not still use the airflow to create power?

So imagine a Tesla type car with a 200+ mile range from the battery, continuously charging the battery while the car travels over the 200+ miles. Seeing as how an alternator can charge a cinderblock sized battery in a claimed 10 minutes (quick Google, have not checked), a well tuned turbine (or 2 or 3) could possibly recharge a Tesla battery pack during a single trip, particularly at high speeds.

Currently, the battery takes four to five hours to charge, which makes it less than ideal Read more: Nigerian Student Converts a VW Beetle into a $6,000 Wind- and Solar-Powered Car | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

At 65MPH, 5 hours is 325 miles. That's within the range of the top end Tesla.

Someone hand this kid a Land Rover or something with a flat roof and robust suspension! And you Nigerian millionaires I wrote about earlier, You need to be funding this guy and a auto manufacturing plant! Very impressive Mr. Oyeyiola!

Shorty For Mayor -> Shorty IS Mayor

I remember purchasing Ras Baraka's CD shorty for Mayor a long time ago: Shorty For Mayor. A lot has happened since then. Now Shorty is Mayor. I wish him the best. Newark needs a lot of work. A lot of the work will be dealing with the crime. The crime keeps a lot of potential business out of Newark because it keeps a lot of people (those with regular disposable income) out of Newark after work. Baraka is not stupid so I know he knows this.

The real question is whether the people in Newark really, really, really understand the impact of the crime issue. No, Does the black population of Newark understand this. I'm not being unfair here. Check the stats and you'll know who are the vast majority of the perpetrators and victims of crime in Newark. If Baraka can get black folks in Newark to step up and deal with the violent folks in their midst, then Newark will undergo a great deal of change and I believe it can happen within one term.

When Cory Booker took office, I soon pointed out how simply having a charismatic mayor wouldn't put much of a dent in crime. It doesn't work like that. That is why I scoffed at the advertisements that attacked Baraka for allegedly saying that Newark doesn't need more cops. Baraka is RIGHT. The solution to the crime in Newark isn't more cops. It's changing the thought patterns (The +I of the sequential equation) of those who would partake in crime. That job is a group effort. Yes, city hall can do things to open up opportunities, but it cannot (and should not) be the sole repository of responsibility for proper social behavior of the citizens.

I do have ONE suggestion, which probably would involve agencies larger than the city: A infrastructure plan that has at it's center piece the training of young men in construction, electrical work, etc. That those men be put onto work crews that repair roads, etc. in their OWN communities at lower (apprentice) rates. A lot of these guys do not have work experience or trade training. If we want them to not do crime to get (or supplement) income, something has to be there for them to do that has a future. I know folks may not like to hear it, but it bothers me when I see folks from outside black communities doing the road work and the like while there are young men standing on corners holding up brick walls. There are plenty of white communities for these persons to work in. Lets train these young men (assuming they are willing) to learn skills to develop and maintain their own communities. This will undoubtedly lead to a sense of investment rather than somewhere that they dream to "escape".

That's my 2 cents.

UKIP Follow Up

This morning I saw the following in The Guardian:

The number of Romanians and Bulgarians working in Britain has gone down since border controls on them were fully lifted in January, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The first official numbers of Romanians and Bulgarians in the UK workforce undermine predictions that hundreds of thousands would flood into Britain once the doors were fully open to them. One ex-Ukip MEP even claimed 1.5 million would come looking for work....

and Bulgarians nationals working in Britain in March this year – a fall from 125,000 in December, just before the last of the seven-year transitional controls were lifted on the new EU members on 1 January.

This was 19,000 more than in March 2013, showing that the numbers increased by 20% before the controls were lifted. During that time, self-employed migrants and those working for multinational companies were able to come to work in Britain.

Anyone, UKIP member or UKIP opponent who believed or thought that immediately upon the lifting of restrictions, that 1.5 million people would suddenly appear in England is a total idiot.

Total and complete idiot. Failing a catastrophic natural (or unnatural) disaster no such human population shift has EVER occurred.

Secondly:

Barbara Roche of the Migration Matters Trust and a former Labour immigration minister, said: "Today's figures show it would take 90 years for migration from the EU to get near the 26 million figure Ukip have used in their poster campaign."

90 years is just over 2 generations. That is not a long time at all. In fact it is within the lifespan of the far right of the life expectancy bell curve for British white females. Meaning any child born as of today may in fact live long enough to see the change.

Of course the changes predicted by UKIP may never ever happen either.

Note: The Ghost is neither pro or anti UKIP. The Ghost believes the native citizens of any country has the right to decide who may enter and stay and who shan't. And that the first and overriding responsibility of the government is to it's citizens.

Can Africans Solve Their Own Problems?

Serious question.

The EU has drawn up plans to send 800 to 1,000 soldiers to Central African Republic to join 6,000 African and 2,000 French troops, who have struggled to stop the fighting that started when the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power a year ago in the majority Christian state.

Failure to launch the mission would be an embarrassment for the European Union, which has been trying to burnish its credentials as a security organization, and a setback for France, which has called for more European support for its efforts in Central African Republic.

Seriously. Can Africans solve their own problems? The increased non-African presence in CAR (and elsewhere) suggests the answer is "no".

When The Facts Are On Your Side.....

Many of you are familiar with the legal saying that if the law in on your side, pound the law. If the facts are on your side, pound the facts. If neither one are on your side, pound the table. I think this applies to the recent NY Times article about the rise of "far right" parties across Europe. Reading the piece the astute reader will notice that nowhere in the article is there a challenge to any of the base positions held by these "far right" individuals. Furthermore, given that many of these "far right" political parties such as UKIP are as popular if not more so than establishment parties, one has to wonder just how "fringe' or "far" these parties actually are relative to the population at large. When you see the establishment parties changing their tune (if only temporarily for elections) in order to staunch defection of voters from their parties to these "far right" parties you have to wonder who exactly is "far" anything.

What we are seeing in England and elsewhere in western Europe is a popular backlash against the growing PC state. The natives of the various entities are tired of being told who they have to accept into their countries. They are tired of being told that they are racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and what have you when they insist that foreigners learn the languages of the countries they voluntarily move to. When they wish to see immigration into their countries controlled and limited. They do not like seeing their money taken from them and sent elsewhere by people they don't even elect. They're tired of being told what they can and cannot say in public. They are tired of their speech being criminalized. They are tired of the establishment telling them how to think and behave. They are tired of seeing the rich get off scott free when they commit all manner of economic crimes but see their taxes go up and their tax agencies hounding them with threats when they fail to live up to their bargains. In short they are tired of the hypocricy and the snobby "we know better than you so shut up and take what we dish out" attitudes of the current leadership.

If the establishment parties want to find the cause of the rise of "far right" parties they should look no further than their own actions in alienating the people they are supposed to represent (hint: they are the citizens, including the male ones). Blathering on about how racist and anti-Semitic these parties are is clearly not working. Why? Because even the ones who ARE anti-Semitic have no intentions of doing a Hitler. Seriously. The ones that do are almost universally disliked in those quarters. I know because I read much of the writings of those in that quarter so I have a very clear picture of their actual issues.

Years ago, I wrote a piece on what was likely to happen in the US as the white population became a smaller and smaller part of the citizenry. I said it would not be pretty as various non-white groups (and some white ones) attempted to write the white population off as essentially not worthy of attention or of having rights unless they were "liberal". I don't know how long that's going to take but you're seeing a form of the backlash in England and elsewhere. Fortunately it's peaceful. I still predict something similar here BUT it will likely have the effect of killing off the Republican party as we know it. I say this because a lot of the so called "dissident right" are also very much not happy with the Republican party or it's economic benefactors any more than the left is. Some of the reasons are the same (money and influence in elections) and some are different (immigration, etc.).

If a UKIP were to be able to develop in the US. A party that could really give a damn about political correctness and who could not be shamed into changing positions. Who's leadership were well spoken with a grasp on their data, it would make the current so called adversarial two party system in the US look friendly. I believe the Tea Party was an attempt at that, but because it tried to fold into the Republican party it was unable to stand on it's own like UKIP is. It will be very, very interesting to see what happens if UKIP wins a plurality of votes in England (and other similar parties in other European countries).

So expect to see more reporting that stresses how racist, anti-Semitic and the like these parties are. But pay close attention to the avoidance of the actual issues these parties address. It is a real elite vs masses struggle playing out.

Boko Haram: It's About The Security

I said yesterday that John Kerry stated the real reason for the sudden interest of the US government in the activities of Boko Haram: Security. In case the readership thinks I'm mistaken:

The Justice Department, the F.B.I., American intelligence officials and counterterrorism officials in the State Department favored the designation because of Boko Haram’s role in the growing violence in Nigeria and because of intelligence reports that some of its members had links to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

But Johnnie Carson, who was the assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 2009 to 2013, said in an interview on Thursday that he had opposed making the designation “for six or seven different reasons.”

Mr. Carson said he was concerned that the move would generate publicity for the group and help it attract support from other extremists. He said he was also worried that the designation might legitimize a heavy-handed crackdown by Nigeria’s security forces at a time when American officials were urging them to avoid human rights abuses.

The politics of terrorism. That's what this is really about.

Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s counterterrorism official from 2009 to 2012, said the delay had not impeded efforts to work with the Nigerians. “Designation was one of many tools and not the most urgently needed one in dealing with the Nigerians,” Mr. Benjamin said in a telephone interview. “What was more important was strong engagement in the areas of law enforcement and counterterrorism.”[my underlines]

Another Lesson in the Sequential Equation

I have posted on the Sequential Equation in the past. It was taught to me in 1993 while at Tuskegee University.

+I;S;E;P;M He called this the sequential equation and it reads as such: the positive intellectual transformation of society (+I) stands firmly behind the social trasnformation of society (+S). All social problems are economic (+E) and all economic problems are political (+P) and military aims presuppose politial objectives (+M)

Whenever one tries to skip over the sequence, one gets into trouble. Enter Jackson Ms.

It's hindsight of course, but maybe we should have paid attention to this piece first, and the electoral effort only afterward. Who's to say that if we'd done it that way we would not have been more successful in retaining the mayor's seat.”

Yes. Change the minds. Change the social norms. Address the economic. Then address the political. No mayor can stop any business from running as a co-op. No mayor can stop social transformation of the community. No mayor can stop the intellectual transformation of the population. You start with that which you control. Then organize and push into the political.

Of course this is the lesson from Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey. Too many people are busy hating Booker T Washington to understand the foundational truth of his message. And I am certain..99% confident that the person quoted will not have even thought of Booker T. Washington when that statement was made.

Boko Haram, Afri-COM and The Girls

Whenever a government wants to get the people behind a plan it is usually best to draw attention to women and children. Girl children are even better. Indeed one of the ways that the “intervention” in Libya was sold to the public was by a false claim of Viagra fueled rapes by agents of the Ghaddafi regime. All the usual suspects fell in line and muted any left objection to what was clearly a civil war in which the US (and others) had taken sides with the rebels. Al-Qaeda be damned! We gonna get Ghaddafi for that Pan-Am flight! A similar plot is playing out in Nigeria.

Boko Haram has been acting a total fool in Nigeria for years. Prior to the kidnapping of the girls from school, they had been killing people (usually but not exclusively non-Muslims) by various means. The Nigerian state has been unable to stop their terrorist actions for some time. This of course is partially because the federal state has been weak and had allowed the northern areas to adopt Sharia law in an attempt to mollify Muslims who dominate that part of Nigeria.

Unfortunately as any student of history knows, there is no mollifying those Muslims who are determined to create a greater Caliphate and extract Jizya from those of us who refuse to submit. So not soon after the capitulation of the state, with “assurances” that non-Muslims would be exempt from Sharia laws, Boko Haram made its entrance.

Boko Haram, apparently meaning Western Education (Boko) is forbidden (Haram) is of the opinion that only Islamic education (whatever that is) is appropriate for Muslims (and supposedly non-Muslims). Never mind that these fellows run around with Kalashnikovs, a product of “western” education and invention. Never mind that the vehicles they ride around in are the product of “Western” education. Never mind that the foundations of “western” mathematics and geometry were built upon the work of Muslims who had re-discovered and improved on the work of earlier non-Muslim civilizations of north east Africa and the so called Middle East (algebra, current numbering system). I suppose it's not surprising that these kinds of things do not cause pause among the so called revolutionaries of Boko Haram.

One would think that if Boko Haram was so sure that Western Education was so plainly inferior to that of Islamic education (whatever that is) that they would not only set up schools in the areas in which they live, but they would also be building homes, paving roads, providing electricity (solar, geothermal, etc.), running businesses of all sorts and other related activities. After all, what better way to prove that one's ideology is superior to another than to actually build up your society with it? Of course the girls they kidnapped would not have to be kidnapped because the plain superiority of Boko Haram Islam would have been so plain as for them to WANT to go to Boko Haram schools, wed Boko Haram men and have babies with them. Nothing speaks louder to the failure of the ideology of Boko Haram, or any other group for that matter, than when they have to resort to force to get it's way.

So it is clear that Boko Haram is not new to Nigeria. Nor is the kidnapping of the girls from their schools the worst thing they have done (I'm of the opinion that being killed is far worse). So why is the US and it's people suddenly interested in what is going on in a remote northern corner of Nigeria? Well John Kerry was the honest one yesterday: Boko Haram is a security issue to the US.

Understand that the reason for all the interest by the US federal government in Boko Haram has everything to do with Al-Qaeda affiliates and the expansion of Afri-COM in order to secure US interests in the area. The people are being offered The Girls as a means of rallying around the continued US military expansion into Africa. After all who is against finding The Girls?

The other prong here is to make the Nigerian government look inept. Here at The Ghost we've pointed out many times that it is apparent that black folks the world over seem to need white supervision in their affairs. The IMF is needed to tell them how to run the economy. The UN is needed to tell them how to handle internal disputes. Previous colonial masters are needed to provide technical assistance and police. The Chinese needed to build stadiums.

The latest example of this being CAR, where the French are baby sitting the people and mediating that dispute. In one recent post of a video made by Vice one of the interviewers asks “where are the French when you need them?” Of course Africans of all stripes are to blame for this. If Jonathan Goodluck had a proper spine and sense of self-respect he would have called on Obama to instruct his staff to stop making negative commentary about the Nigerian government and acknowlege the difficulty in dealing with armed Jihadists. Surely the current entanglements that the US is involved in proves that.

Furthermore, Nigerians themselves would stop making public pronouncements about how bad their government is. Of course they will not because many Nigerians, like much of the world believe that their government is no good and that they need outside help. In other words we are witnessing, in full view, Nigerians admitting to the world that they are incapable of handling their own affairs.

Pretty shameful isn't it?

Boko Haram is of interest to the US because Nigeria has large oil reserves and as an OPEC member is of importance to the US (and Europe, and China). Though Boko Haram are in the north of the country which is not where the oil comes from (it's in the delta region), if Boko Haram causes enough problems then they may have an adverse impact on oil operations in that country (bombings, kidnappings, etc). So don't be fooled. It is not really about The Girls. It's about the Security. Believe Kerry when he says it.

Russia's Blogger Law

Widely known as the “bloggers law,” the new Russian measure specifies that any site with more than 3,000 visitors daily will be considered a media outlet akin to a newspaper and be responsible for the accuracy of the information published.

Besides registering, bloggers can no longer remain anonymous online, and organizations that provide platforms for their work such as search engines, social networks and other forums must maintain computer records on Russian soil of everything posted over the previous six months.[My underlines]

Pretty sad that such a thing, the underlined part, has to be told. I think not a few US outlets ought to be held to such standards. Can you imagine if the NY Times, Time Inc, etc. were held legally responsible for their mis-reporting on Ukraine?

Obama Aides Tell Executives to Skip Forum

The headline should read: Obama aides bully [allegedly] free citizens.

WASHINGTON — The White House has pressured the chief executives of some of America’s largest energy, financial and industrial corporations into canceling plans to attend an international economic forum in Russia to be hosted by President Vladimir V. Putin this month, the latest effort to isolate Moscow in retaliation for its intervention in Ukraine.

The top executives of such giants as Alcoa, Goldman Sachs, PepsiCo, Morgan Stanley, ConocoPhillips and other multinational companies with business in Russia have either pulled out of the conference or plan to do so after an intensive lobbying campaign by President Obama’s advisers. Corporate officials predicted that nearly every American C.E.O. will now skip the forum in St. Petersburg.

It is a pretty bad state of affairs when a country founded in part on the freedom of association without government interference is on record for telling it's allegedly free citizens where they can and cannot go (or should or should no go or else).

I said it before and I'll repeat it now: Time to tell Kerry and Obama to fuck off with their total nonsense about Ukraine and Russia. Really though. The blatant demonstrated lies that have been said by both parties and repeated by the press that at some point someone needs to just call these people out.

Too bad the business leaders (sic) do not have the spine to stand up to this blatant interference with their legitimate business and the blatant bullying being done by the US (and a lesser extent the EU). Ahh to only have a Hugo Chavez on the world stage again.

Town of Greece v. Galloway

Kagan's dissent is epic. In STARK contrast to the dissent given by Sotomayor in the Michigan case Kagan keeps the examples clear and relevant to the case at hand. I fully expect her argument to be used successfully in the future (assuming it was not done during arguments. It doesn't seem to have been though).

Kevin Johnson, The State and The Sterling Decision

What Sterling said and did is not all that important to me. Old man gonna die rich(er) regardless to how this plays out. He really is not going to be hurt by this. On the other hand there are a few things that are very bothersome about this. I'm going to concentrate on one such point here. The NY Times is reporting on the influence that Kevin Johnson, mayor of Sacramento had on the NBA leadership

As the weekend progressed, the person said, Johnson spoke with Silver several times, delivering the message that only decisive action that left Sterling no room to remain actively involved with the Clippers would satisfy the union.

Johnson found other ways to apply pressure. It was no coincidence that by Saturday night, before a playoff game between the Bobcats and the Miami Heat in Charlotte, N.C., James was speaking out forcefully, saying that if the audio was authentic, “there is no room for Donald Sterling in our league.”

By Sunday, the union was telling the league that the players were uncomfortable with calls for the Clippers to boycott their game that afternoon in Oakland, Calif., against the Golden State Warriors. Milder protests were formulated. Still, Johnson continued to let Silver know that he expected him to be swift and tough in punishing Sterling.

They met face to face at the game in Oakland. The next night, on the eve of Silver’s Tuesday news conference in New York, Johnson, in a Facebook post, called Silver’s decision “a defining moment” in the history of a league long associated with social change and progress. He cited Earl Lloyd, the first African-American to appear in an N.B.A. game, in 1950, and Jason Collins, who this season became the league’s first openly gay player.

Near the bottom of his post, Johnson wrote: “At a minimum, Mr. Sterling should be suspended indefinitely, banned from games, slapped with the maximum fine possible, and forced to extract himself from basketball operations. He should be required to name someone from his executive team or family to take over all duties related to the Clippers.”

How much Johnson knew what Silver’s decision was going to be — at his news conference, Silver said he did not reach it until Tuesday morning — is not known. But Silver’s announcement, which included a reference to Lloyd and other N.B.A. pioneers, went beyond the “minimum” that Johnson had advocated.

Let us be clear, as an elected official Kevin Johnson had no business conferring with the NBA on punishing a citizen exercising his first amendment rights. While the private NBA is free to punish any of it's members, no agent of the state should be so involved so long as no criminal actions are involved.

What Obama did on the subject is how an elected agent of the state ought to do. State the obvious and then be silent. Had Kevin Johnson simply stated he thought the comments were racist and that the league ought to "do something" then he would be in the clear. But to collaborate with a private entity to punish a citizen for doing something that the state has no business in is, in my opinion a breech of ethics and possibly brings constitutional questions.