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ghostsinthemachine

ghostsinthemachine's Journal
ghostsinthemachine's Journal
March 15, 2016

Russia suddenly leaving Syria

Source: CNN

Russia suddenly leaving Syria
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/15/world/russia-syria-withdrawal/index.html

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/15/world/russia-syria-withdrawal/index.html



Hmm. I was sure that Russia was in it all the way, like in Ukraine, a war they could not lose.Wonder what the play is here for Putin?
March 15, 2016

Bob Dylan, Trump prophecy?

Now the rovin’ gambler he was very bored
He was tryin’ to create a next world war
He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor
He said I never engaged in this kind of thing before
But yes I think it can be very easily done
We’ll just put some bleachers out in the sun
And have it on Highway 61

March 14, 2016

Inside the Rowdy, Racist Canceled Trump Rally

Fuck Donald Trump!"

I've been outside the UIC Pavilion for about ten minutes when I first hear someone shout it from a passing car. It's about 2:00 on Friday afternoon. The heckler, in a silver sedan, has come to a rolling stop to yell at the line of rally attendees — now long enough to snake along the length of the arena and a parking garage. The doors to Trump's rally won't open for another hour, and already at the south entrance, the maximum-capacity line has been shut off to any stragglers.
Ever since Trump announced he'd be coming to the University of Illinois at Chicago, it hadn't made sense to me — Chicago writ large isn't natural Trump territory, much less UIC, with its young, diverse student body. This wouldn't be one of his barn-burning romps through the Deep South; this would be a pitched drive onto enemy territory, for Trump as well as his supporters — almost uniformly suburban or out-of-staters. Worse, the Trump camp seemed to have a ready-built opposition in formation: the coalition of largely black and Latino activists who had lately rocked Rahm Emanuel's mayoralty, amidst the compelling evidence his administration had covered up the police murder of unarmed teenager Laquan McDonald.

On Friday, it doesn't seem like that force has materialized. A Trump supporter named Matt is dual-wielding signs, mocking the paltry number of protesters: "At Least You Tried, Protesters!" and "Liberals Claimed 3,000 Strong — I See 30." The count isn't that low — there are about 50 of them across the street and kitty-corner to the main entrance — but I'm still surprised by the thin ranks.

"I can't afford to go to a top-tier university, and I've been working since I was 15 years old," Matt tells me. "I've been busting my ass my entire life."




Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-rowdy-racist-canceled-trump-rally-20160313#ixzz42pxbTuZD
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

March 12, 2016

"Background Checks For Guns Could Save Many Lives: Study"

"Background Checks For Guns Could Save Many Lives: Study" - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/background-checks-gun-deaths_us_56e22db5e4b065e2e3d5776d

Yep. If I hear one more person tell me that more guns equals safety I am gonna stick this under their nose and say " you are wrong Bub" (BTW, I am old enough to call people Bub, one of the great pleasures of being old).

Yeah. Guns kill people.

March 9, 2016

Congressman from Oklahoma attacks San Francisco Mime Troupe!

From SF Mime Troupe....


Congressman from Oklahoma attacks Mime Troupe!
Rep. Steve Russell

It has come to our attention that The Lead with Jake Tapper on CNN did a bit featuring us recently. Apparently Congressman Steve Russell (R-OK) doesn't like arts funding, and wants to use our NEA grants as the poster child - even though the amount we get from the NEA is less than our military spends each year on waterboarding classes.
Clearly, we're doing something right. If this doesn't make you want to support the Mime Troupe, nothing will. If you'd like to help us survive against attacks from neo-uberconservatives like Congressman Russell, please donate to us now!



Donate here: http://www.sfmt.org/index.php

I love the Mimers. Free theater! ART FOR THE PEOPLE.
March 9, 2016

"Here's to Flint" Documentary aired on Democracy Now today....

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/3/8/heres_to_flint_the_untold_story


Love D.Now and Amy Goodman. Excellent story and audio of the documentary. I learned a lot about Flint and what really went on there. Now when someone says "Flint isn't a republican thing" (as someone did the other day) I can tell them it's 100% a Republican thing" and then tell them why, in detail. (Before I told him the basics)
March 8, 2016

Happy International Womens Day! And now for some music!



Words and Music by Peter Gabriel

Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon
We are shakin' the tree
Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon
We are shakin' the tree

Waiting your time, dreaming of a better life
Waiting your time, you're more than just a wife
You don't have to do what your mother has done
She has done, this is your life, this new life has begun

It's your day, a woman's day
It's your day, a woman's day

Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon
We are shakin' the tree
Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon
We are shakin' the tree

Turning the tide, you are on the incoming wave
Turning the tide, you know you are nobody's slave
Find your sisters or brothers who can hear all the truth in what you say
They can support you when you're on your way

It's your day, a woman's day
It's your day, a woman's day

Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon
We are shakin' the tree
Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon
We are shakin' the tree

Changing your ways, changing those surrounding you
Changing your ways, more than any man can do
Open your heart, show him the anger and pain, so you heal
Maybe he's looking for his womanly side, let him feel

You had to be so strong
And you do nothing wrong, nothing wrong at all
We're gonna break it down
We're gonna shake it down, shake it all around

[Incomprehensible]
No no no no no no
No no no no no no
No no no no no no

It's your day, a woman's day
It's your day, a woman's day
It's your day, a woman's day
It's your day, a woman's day

It's your day, a woman's day
It's your day, a woman's day
It's your day, a woman's day
It's your day, a woman's day

It's your day, a woman's day
It's your day, a woman's day
It's your day, a woman's day
It's your day, a woman's day

You had to be so strong
You do nothing wrong, nothing wrong at all
We're gonna break it down
We're gonna shake it down, shake it all around

(Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon is a Senegalese term meaning, “If we had known, if we had only known”.


March 8, 2016

"The Brainwashing of my Dad" documentary Explores the Scary Influence of Right-Wing Media


'The Brainwashing of My Dad': Documentary Explores the Scary Influence of Right-Wing Media
Filmmaker Jen Senko examines the effect of conservative media through the lens of her own father's radicalization and its impact on her family.


The new documentary The Brainwashing of My Dad explores one of the most bizarre media phenomenons in this country: the dangerous power right-wing media can have on everyday people.

As filmmaker Jen Senko tried to understand the transformation of her father from a non-political, life-long Democrat to an angry, right-wing fanatic, she uncovered the forces behind the media that changed him completely: a plan by Roger Ailes under Nixon for a media takeover by the GOP; the Powell Memo urging business leaders to influence institutions of public opinion, especially the universities, the media and the courts; and under Reagan, the dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine.

As Senko's journey continues, we discover that her father is part of a much broader demographic, and that the story is one that affects us all.

Through interviews with media luminaries, cognitive linguists and grassroots activists including Noam Chomsky, Jeff Cohen, George Lakoff and others, The Brainwashing of My Dad unravels the plan to shift the country to the right over the last 30 years, largely through media manipulation. The result has led to

MORE HERE http://www.alternet.org/media/brainwashing-effect-right-wing-media-my-dad-and-nation
March 5, 2016

The New York Times' first article about Hitler's rise is absolutely stunning (Trump parallels)

On November 21, 1922, the New York Times published its very first article about Adolf Hitler. It's an incredible read — especially its assertion that "Hitler's anti-Semitism was not so violent or genuine as it sounded." This attitude was, apparently, widespread among Germans at the time; many of them saw Hitler's anti-Semitism as a ploy for votes among the German masses.

Times correspondent Cyril Brown spends most of the piece documenting the factors behind Hitler's early rise in Bavaria, Germany, including his oratorical skills. For example: "He exerts an uncanny control over audiences, possessing the remarkable ability to not only rouse his hearers to a fighting pitch of fury, but at will turn right around and reduce the same audience to docile coolness."

But the really extraordinary part of the article is the three paragraphs on anti-Semitism. Brown acknowledges Hitler's vicious anti-Semitism as the core of Hitler's appeal — and notes the terrified Jewish community was fleeing from him — but goes on to dismiss it as a play to satiate the rubes (bolding mine):

More: http://www.vox.com/2015/2/11/8016017/ny-times-hitler

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