Day: April 23, 2018

Closing Thought–23Apr18

In the past I have written many articles about the crap around what is called “Charter Schools”…..these are the way that the Uber-Right has hijacked the education of our children…..I have called it education by lotto.

My friend Xena of “We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident” turn me on to a new aspect of charter schools………

It seems that a teacher in Texas gave a homework assignment of giving positive aspects of slavery……

A Texas charter school is apologizing after a teacher gave an assignment to an eighth grade American History class, asking students to list the positive aspects of slavery.

“When I first read it, I thought, this was b.s.,” said Great Hearts Monte Vista eighth-grade student Manu Livar.

Continue reading:  Homework assignment asks students to list positive aspects of slavery

I know there are many that actually think there is positive aspects to slavery….but somehow I think that are deluded or just plain racist.

This is why our educational system sucks……..revisionists teaching our children.

What Of World War One?

I am trying to help Americans understand World War One….a war that most Americans know very little about….This has been the 100 year anniversary of this devastating war.

This post will introduce Americans to ten things about the war that they are probably unaware of…..1o things….

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the armistice ending World War I, one of the bloodiest conflicts in world history. To mark it, RCH has been doing a series of articles highlighting various aspects of the Great War.

For this week, here are 10 things you didn’t know about World War I. Behold:

https://www.realclearhistory.com/articles/2018/04/04/10_things_you_didnt_know_about_ww_i_289.html

World War One has billed as the war to end all wars…..it was also one of the most deadly of wars.  About 30 million dead and wounded on both sides…these are military figures….a total of about 8 million civilian causalities…..

North Korea And The Saga Continues

Just a few short months ago there was a tremendous war of words between Pres. Trump and Kim of North Korea…….and then as quickly as it had started the dialog change 180 degrees and the two countries were making nice….it caught most of us off guard for we had bee seeing the possibility of a second Korean War brewing….the neocons were push for the “bloody nose” scenario and others were pushing for a more diplomatic solution to all the escalation.

Then like a bolt from the hands of Zeus word came down that Kim had offered to shut down his enrichment sites and South Korea rejoiced……

All this was good news and the possibility that any armed conflict could be avoided…..but now that there seems to be a real plan forming the MSM has jumped on the opposite tack……

And that’s just the start of the reasons for optimism. A hotline between North and South Korea opened last Friday. The US is considering opening an embassy in Pyongyang. President Trump will also be having his own summit with Kim in late May or early June.

North Korea has made numerous significant concessions. They’ve halted missile and nuclear testing and are in the process of closing their nuclear testing site. Most significantly, they are open to a deal to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula without demanding 30,000 US troops withdraw from South Korea.

MSM is trying to find anything that can make it into the news in opposition to these meetings…..

All the very meaningful deals and announcements of the last four months adds up to a lot. That Reuters managed to find three South Koreans and one Japanese person who were skeptical means comparatively little. That they’re going to such great lengths to put a negative spin on the talks at all, however, may be much more important.

The Washington Post is also looking for reasons to be suspicious about North Korea’s promises. The New York Times is trying to portray China as an obstacle to progress on a deal. They further cited unnamed US and South Korean officials as believing North Korea’s peace overtures were a trick to get big concessions out of them. Even the Associated Press chimed in with a list of diplomatic efforts that have failed.

(antiwar.com)

It appears that little has changed….the MSM doing all it can to generate the news and set the dialog…..if they can sabotage this diplomatic effort….what will be next…the Iranian deal?

To Stop Human Suffering

The latest round of airstrikes was in response to human suffering…..Syria’s use of CWs caused the suffering and the US had to act and act quickly.

The US has history of intervention to stop human suffering…..the Kurds in Iraq, the Yazidis in Iraq, gas attacks in Syria……

The problem is the attacks are used as an excuse to intervene in another country’s situation….

 Shortly after the missile attack on Syria, US Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump bragged in his usual pompous way that it was “mission accomplished”. In Britain, there was no such display of hubris. Prime Minister Theresa May was, instead, forced to explain to parliament why she ordered the attack without consulting MPs.

Two explanations were given during the parliamentary debate: that it was in Britain’s national interests to bomb Syria; and that it was done out of humanitarian concern for the suffering of the Syrian people.

This begs us to stop and ask where we go from here. Will the interventionists stop at Syria, or turn their attention to other areas where there is appalling human suffering?

http://theantimedia.com/military-intervention-middle-east-human-suffering/

Propaganda is a useful foreign policy tool…..sadly human suffering is just another tool for intervention…..the uninterested citizens jut shrug off the intervention if the excuse sounds plausible.

The attacks in retaliation have done nothing to stop human suffering……

The recent chlorine attack in Douma, Syria, which reportedly killed over 40 men, women and children, prompted a predictable reaction from the international community. Governments around the world issued statements condemning the attack. The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting in response. Russia dismissed reports of the attack as false and traded insults with the U.S. Doctors scrambled inside Syria to treat those afflicted, while aid workers searched homes to locate more victims.

As horrific as this attack was for the people of Syria, its global implications also require attention and action. This is no longer an aberration, it is the latest in a pattern of attacks by not only Syria, but North Korea, Russia, and ISIS. These actors have demonstrated they are willing to flout international conventions by using weapons that many have worked for decades to contain. And yet, there are no real actions underway to hold perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks accountable.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2018/04/18/a_norm_in_crisis_implications_of_persistent_chemical_weapons_use_113336.html

The government has used human suffering as a preclude to a possible attack on North Korea….the people were starving and oppressed…..the same could be said for Iran (this is the situation to watch for future lies)……..