Archive for January, 2022

Cameo In Courage Award Nominee: Julian Assange (January 31, 2022)

Posted in Cameo In Courage Award, Courage, Hypocrisy, Journalism on January 31, 2022 by e-commentary.org

. . .

PROFILE IN COURAGE AWARD® – SUBMIT A NOMINATION

Award nominations are accepted on an ongoing basis. Nominations received after February 15th of each year will be rolled over for consideration the following year. Ordinarily, the award will be made to living Americans who are or were elected officials.  Individuals at all levels of government—federal, state and local—are eligible for the award.  An emphasis will be placed on contemporary acts of political courage. Please consider the Award Criteria to determine whether the person you wish to nominate would be an appropriate recipient of the Profile in Courage Award®.

Tell Us About Your Nominee for the Profile in Courage Award

Nominee First Name: Julian

Nominee Last Name: Assange

Act(s) of political courage for which your nominee is to be considered: Courageously standing up for free speech and courageously challenging illegal and immoral government action.

Enter other…

Tell Us About Yourself

First Name: e-

Last Name: commentator

Email Address:  e-ssay@gci.net

Zip / Postal Code:

All information submitted will be kept confidential by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and will be used only to communicate with you about your nomination and the Foundation’s activities.  No information on this form will be disclosed to any other person or entity.

. . .

[See the Cameo In Courage Award for Julian Assange in 2019 at Fourth Annual “Cameo In Courage” Award For 2019 (April 8, 2019) and the most recent award at Sixth Annual “Cameo In Courage” Award For 2021 (April 5, 2021).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Make courage courageous again

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A Petition to President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.:  Pardon Julian Assange

Whereas Journalist Julian Paul Assange and his media organization, Wikileaks, has in the respected tradition of American journalism obtained and published information that is classified and newsworthy, a practice shared with the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and others and

Whereas in the fifteen years of its existence the authenticity and accuracy of materials published by Wikileaks has never been questioned or disputed and

Whereas assertion by the American Intelligence Services that Julian Assange is the agent of a “Hostile Foreign State” or the Russian government are politically suspect and completely unproven and denied by Assange and

Whereas Julian Assange has consistently denied that material obtained from the Democratic National Committee and published by Wikileaks came from the Russian State and has provided unimpeachable proof to U.S. authorities and

Whereas Julian Assange, now in failing health, is being held in solitary confinement and is being extradited by British authorities to the United States for trial and

Whereas Julian Assange is an impeccably-honest, incredibly-brave, humanitarian journalist, who provides an invaluable platform for whistleblowers and concerned citizens exposing corruption and criminality infesting governments, nullifying democracy and obliterating human rights, around the world and

Whereas there are absolutely no legitimate legal grounds to prosecute Assange and, as the U.S. Department of Justice admitted in 2013, doing so would expose all U.S. journalistic and news outlets to similar criminal jeopardy.

Therefore I urge President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. to issue a full and unconditional pardon to the journalist Julian Paul Assange in the interests of justice, mercy, truth and unity.  This humanitarian act could be the most consequential and far-reaching action in your first term.

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Washington Wants War In The Worst Way:  Dust Off The IOSAT Or Return To The Status Quo Ante Bellum? (January 24, 2022)

Posted in Europe, NATO, Neoconservatives, Russia, War on January 24, 2022 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “If Trumpi says one word about the stuff [IOSAT], he will trigger the NYT, WP, NY, CNN and MSDNC.  And the PMC.  And they are desperately trying to trigger a war.  They so want to go ballistic, but they want to go ballistic on Russia.”

J          “We live in vexing times.”

. . . 

K          “The callow pencil neck chickenhawk members of the ruling class are so eager to condemn the kids of the working class to death and dismemberment for their own ends.”

J          “I don’t trust Russia.  Period.  Something needs to be done.”

. . .

K          “Even Germany – yes Germany – is even counseling caution and restraint and even-handedness.”

J          “They had their tussle with them.  They have gone mano-a-mano with the Russians.  They know.”

. . .

J          “In 1994, Ukraine signed an agreement with the U.S., U.K. and Russia known as the 1994 Budapest Memorandum of Security Assurances under which it gave up its nuclear arsenal in return for certain assurances including independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.  And that there would be no use of force or threat of force against Ukraine.”

K          “Everyone should honor that agreement.  What about U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s famous “not one inch eastward” assurance about NATO expansion in his meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990?  That was a part of a cascade of assurances about Soviet security given by Western leaders to Gorbachev and other Soviet officials.  And then the U.S. marched country by country up to Russia’s doorstep.  The U.S. would not tolerate Russia putting proxy troops in Canada and Mexico.”

J          “The agreement is not in writing.”

K          “Now you are thinking like a typical scheming American-trained lawyer.  You are actually thinking like a typical scheming American-trained American.  The allegation is so American and reflects American gamesmanship and skullduggery.  An agreement is an agreement.  Enforce the 1990 and the 1994 agreements.” 

. . .

K          “An old experienced law professor who taught comparative law in American and European law schools for over two score years shared his settled observations about the fundamental difference in training and perspective between American-trained lawyers and European-trained lawyers.  With some exceptions, an American-trained lawyer first asks:  “Can we get away with it?”  With some exceptions, an European-trained lawyer first asks:  “Is it lawful?”  Europe needs some European not American thinking.”

. . .

J          “Sort of trust but definitely verify.”

K          “Distrust but clarify.”

. . .

K          “There is one clear and obvious solution.  Go back to the status quo ante bellum.  NATO membership is restricted to the original nations.  Is it worth going nuclear for something that is a fundamental concern of Russia but not a fundamental concern of the U.S. or the West?”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at NATO: Nations Aggressively Taking Over (March 31, 2014), NATOExit? NATOExeunt? (July 4, 2016), Guitar / Drum ; Dove / Hawk ; Pax / War. Oh, And Happy Memorial Day! (May 27, 2019), Dragon < Eagle > Bruin; Dragon + Bruin > Eagle (April 19, 2021), Russian Interference; Russian Collusion.   Epilogue (March 25, 2019), Impeachment Imbroglio.  Oh, And Happy Saint Nicholas Day! (December 2, 2019), Johnnie Bolton:  The Triumph Of the Chickenhawks And Neo-Cons.  Join Fellow Patriots For The “April 14 Rally” And The Memorial Day “March For America”.  Oh, And Happy April Fool’s Day! (April 2, 2018) and Giuliani – Draft Dodger And Chickenhawk (March 2, 2015).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Give war a chance

Russia wants war: Look how close they put their country to our military bases.

There are few things more vexing than trying to encourage a human being to think independently.

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What’s In A Name?  Medical School Monikers In 2032 (January 17, 2022)

Posted in Covid / Coronavirus, Vaccine on January 17, 2022 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J          “Mostly letters.  Occasionally numbers.  Sporadically symbols.”

K          “Over the decades, those who claim to be folks of letters like to use a single letter or two letters or small letters to be clever and relevant.  What about an admixture such as ‘T. s. Eliot’ or ‘e. E. Cummings’ to add gravitas?  Or one letter cum serifs and one sans serifs?”

. . .

J          “The University of Wisconsin-Madison Moderna School of Medicine and Public Health.”

K          “The University of Wisconsin-Madison Pierre Kory School of Medicine and Public Health.”

. . .

J          “Baylor University Pfizer College of Medicine.”

K          “Baylor University Peter A. McCullough College of Medicine.”

. . .

J          “Eastern Virginia Johnson & Johnson Medical School.”

K          “Eastern Virginia Paul Marik Medical School.”

. . .

K          “The winning side decides whose moniker is slapped on the dorm, the building, and the department.”

J          “That is the way it is always decided.  Almost everything never changes.”

. . .

J          “To the victor go the spoils”

K          “They are right.  It really is a war.  They also say that if you scratch a putative progressive, you will uncover an authoritarian.”

. . .

J          “Pottersville.”

K          “Bedford Falls.”

J          “Bedford Falls.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Rerouting History (February 15, 2016)” and “Covid-19 PanICdemic/Plague:  Rioters / Protestors:  Too Much Noise / Too Little Signal (June 8, 2020)”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Smedley Butler Pentagon

Omicron = Gaia’s vaccine?

“Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad.  There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.”  George Orwell, 1984.

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“Monitoring The Masses:  The Card And The Chip (January 12, 2015)” Seven Years Later (January 10, 2022)

Posted in Our Future?, Privacy, Society on January 10, 2022 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Seven years ago, the threat seemed distant and curious and academic.”

J          “And now it is close and disturbing and real.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Monitoring The Masses:  The Card And The Chip (January 12, 2015).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

We moved a few books around.  Travel is now in the Fantasy Section.  Sci-Fi is in Current Events.  Epidemiology is in Self-Help.

There are few things more challenging in this life than encouraging another person to think independently.

MLK Day

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Careening Toward A Global Totalitarian Authoritarian Behemoth?  And Then There Is The Fed’s Self-Inflicted Great Checkmate (January 3, 2022)

Posted in Covid / Coronavirus, Federal Reserve, Vaccine on January 3, 2022 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “2021 was worse than 2020.  2022 will be worse than 2021.  2022 may be a year of consequence in the ‘Post-Consequence World’ that imposes no culpability on the culpable and no responsibility on the responsible.”

J          “Not this year.  The system will continue to trudge and trundle along.  No one will be held to account.  Everyone in power is making money fist over hand.”

. . .

K          “With inflation inflating, the Fed’s self-inflicted Great Checkmate cannot be deferred.  If the Fed were stalemated, they could sit tight, but they are in check at this time.  If the fools at the Fed had any sense of etiquette, they would resign before being publicly checkmated or at least be honest with the public.”

J          “The Fed is playing a simple-minded game of checkers in an economy that is not black and red.  They have the one overriding move that can be taken at any time and taken over and over and over again.  They are able to print unlimited dollars.”

. . .

K          “The transition from the Pandemic to the Endemic is a political and an economic challenge, not an epidemiological problem.  However, there is no money in the early treatment and prevention of the Big C-19, so it will not be treated and prevented.  That reality cannot change without much more public awareness and action.” 

J          “One word – Le Vaccine.  The Supremes will provide some guidance on Friday and in the coming week.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Twenty Sixteen (January 4, 2016)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

A pandemic of the vaccinated.

A pandemic of the unvaccinated.

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