The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    In the News

    Venezuela sends US diplomat 'saboteurs' packing

    By Whitney Eulich, Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 1, 2013

    Over the past several months, the US government has been accused of a host of offenses by Venezuela’s leadership: Planning a death plot against President Nicolás Maduro, barring government planes from entering US airspace, causing widespread blackouts by interfering with the country’s electric grid, and even playing a role in former President Hugo Chávez’s illness and death.

    And this week, President Maduro said he's had enough. He announced it was time for three “Yankee” diplomats in Venezuela to go home – the second time he’s kicked out US officials this year. He found they had been “dedicated to meeting the far-right and to financing and encouraging acts of sabotage against the electrical system and Venezuela’s economy,” Maduro announced on TV Monday [....]

    "I have the proof here in my hands," Maduro said last night, referring to his allegations of sabotage. "Yankees go home! Get out of Venezuela! Get out of here! I don't care what actions the government of Barack Obama takes." [....]

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    A Wave of Sewing Jobs as Orders Pile Up at U.S. Factories

    By Stephanie Clifford, New York Times,  Sept. 29/30, 2013

    Time's lede: Factories are finding that years of doing business overseas has withered what once was a thriving textile and apparel work force in the United States.

    Excerpt:

    [....] The issue wasn’t poor demand for the curtains, pillows and other textiles being produced at the factory. Quite the opposite. The owner, the Airtex Design Group, had shifted an increasing amount of its production here from China because customers had been asking for more American-made goods.

    The issue was finding workers.

    “The sad truth is, we put ads in the paper and not many people show up,” said Mike Miller, Airtex’s chief executive.

    The American textile and apparel industries, like manufacturing as a whole, are experiencing a nascent turnaround as apparel and textile companies demand higher quality, more reliable scheduling and fewer safety problems than they encounter overseas. [....]

    But because the industries were decimated over the last two decades — 77 percent of the American work force has been lost since 1990 as companies moved jobs abroad — manufacturers are now scrambling to find workers to fill the specialized jobs that have not been taken over by machines.

    Wages for cut-and-sew jobs, the core of the apparel industry’s remaining work force, have been rising fast [....]

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    Qaeda Plot Leak Has Undermined U.S. Intelligence (the "conference call" leak)

    Print edition page-A1 sub-headlines:
    Militants Alter Tactic; Disclosure Caused More Damage Than Vast Snowden Trove

    By Eric Schmitt & Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times, Sept. 29/30, 2013

    [....] The communication intercepts between Mr. Zawahri and Mr. Wuhayshi revealed what American intelligence officials and lawmakers have described as one of the most serious plots against American and other Western interests since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. It prompted the closing of 19 United States Embassies and consulates for a week, when the authorities ultimately concluded that the plot focused on the embassy in Yemen.

    McClatchy Newspapers first reported on the conversations between Mr. Zawahri and Mr. Wuhayshi on Aug. 4. Two days before that, The New York Times agreed to withhold the identities of the Qaeda leaders after senior American intelligence officials said the information could jeopardize their operations. After the government became aware of the McClatchy article, it dropped its objections to The Times’s publishing the same information, and the newspaper did so on Aug. 5. [....]

    American counterterrorism officials say they believe the disclosure about the Qaeda plot has had a significant impact because it was a specific event that signaled to terrorists that a main communication network that the group’s leaders were using was being monitored. The sharpest decline in messaging has been among the Qaeda operatives in Yemen, officials said. The disclosures from Mr. Snowden have not had such specificity about terrorist communications networks that the government is monitoring, they said [....]

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    How Obamacare affects businesses – large and small

    By David Nather, Politico.com, Sept. 30, 2013

    When Congress was writing Obamacare, its biggest backers said the new law would help small businesses. Instead, they’re complaining about it.

    It was also supposed to take the cost pressure off businesses in general. Instead, they say it’s just adding more pressure.

    It’s one of the biggest political ironies of the health care law: Some of the loudest gripes are coming from the employers who were meant to benefit from it. But the reality is, from the smallest startups to the largest corporations, employers have a lot of new rules and reporting requirements to keep track of. And in some cases, there are new costs, too.

    It’s the only way to make the law work — but it’s also a headache for many employers [....]

     

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    For Journalists, More Firepower to Protect Sources and Secrets

    By David Carr, New York Times, Sept. 29/30, 2013

    [....] what appeared to be a low point in a long campaign to rein in reporters and chill their sources may turn out to be a very big blessing in disguise.

    Chastened by the outcry, the Justice Department revisited its ancient guidelines — now many decades old and codified when there was no such thing as e-mail — and made meaningful reforms. Sounding for all the world like a stalwart defender of press freedom, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said, “The Department of Justice is firmly committed to ensuring our nation’s security, and protecting the American people, while at the same time safeguarding the freedom of the press.”

    The new guidelines default toward providing advance notice to news organizations when investigators pursue news-gathering materials, except when notification would threaten continuing investigations. And the guidelines no longer let investigators portray reporters as engaged in a criminal act, in an effort to bypass restrictions in the Privacy Protection Act.

    Even more improbably, the administration has put its weight behind enacting a federal shield law [....]

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    Bloody Philippine Siege Brought to an End

    By Alan Taylor, In Focus @ theatlantic.com, Sept. 30, 3013

    In an entry earlier this month, Muslim Rebels Attack Philippine Towns, I described a siege that left 200 people held hostage in Zamboanga City, Philippines. Now, three weeks of urban warfare have come to an end in Zamboanga. Most of the hundreds of Muslim Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels who stormed into the town have now been killed or captured by Philippine forces, and the military is handing control of the area back to local police. The AFP reports that 183 rebels were killed, 292 others were detained, 23 soldiers and police were killed, and 12 civilians also lost their lives. Weeks of street battles and numerous fires destroyed more than 10,000 homes and caused more than 100,000 residents to flee, creating a humanitarian crisis that will take months to abate. [36 photos]

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    Sen. Ted Cruz (R) Wife a VP of Goldman-Sachs

    Senator Ted Cruz, latest Tea Party star, has a close connection to Wall Street. His wife is a Goldman VP. Executives at Goldman Sachs typically have 40K a year Cadillac health plans, a benefit paid for by GS. This is the type of gold plated plan taxed in part as income under ObamaCare.

    NCD 11 years 3 months ago

    Shutdown-Boehner Leads GOP Shills Out on Strike

    Reminds me of the Peter Sellers film, I'm All Right Jack, where Sellers is an incompetent bull-headed union boss who constantly makes excessive demands, resulting in walk outs, and strike after strike. That was a film, this is today's Republican Party making an ass of themselves.

    NCD 11 years 3 months ago

    Are Republicans So Frantic to Stop Obamacare Because They Fear It Will Work?

    This is by one of my favorite writers, Kurt Eichenwald.  It is in Vanity Fair.  You will really enjoy his humor as he takes apart the GOP lies about the ACA.  It is well worth the time to read it.  Enjoy!

    trkingmomoe 11 years 3 months ago

    Where the G.O.P.'s Suicide Caucus Lives

    By Ryan Lizza, Daily Comment @ newyorker.com, Sept. 26, 2012

    Go to the link for a bigger map (done by Cook Political Report) and Lizza's accompanying essay.

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    Zarif Diary on US-Iran Breakthrough (plus Obama/Rouhani phone call--in comments)

    The Iran Primer @ The U.S. Institute for Peace, Sept. 23-27, 2013

    In an all-time first for Iranian diplomacy, new Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif has been chronicling his visit to New York on his Facebook page for Iranians back home. On September 26, Secretary of State John Kerry and Zarif held their first meeting on the sideline of talks between Iran and the world’s six major powers. Zarif later wrote about the encounter and the rest of his day.

    The following is a translation by USIP's Maral Noori. [....]

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    Muslim Brotherhood's website officially in exile (where, of course, there is freedom of religion)
    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    How Bad Is Violence in Chicago? Depends on Your Race

    In America's most segregated city, some communities live with security, others in constant fear of violent crime.

    By Noah Berlatsky, The Atlantic, Sept. 26, 2013

    [....] Segregation is so ingrained, and so much taken for granted, that people, or at least white people, don't even notice it. A couple months ago, for example, Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn wrote an editorial in which he argued that, based on murders by population, Chicago isn't actually all that violent a city. And he's sort of right. Chicago can be thought of as a bunch of different cities, and some of them are quite safe. Unfortunately, some of them aren't. And a lot of effort goes into making sure that the folks who have to live in the less safe parts of Chicago don't trouble the sleep of the folks in the safe areas [....]

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    The ACA Debate Gets Serious!!!!!
    Bruce Levine 11 years 3 months ago

    Deal reached on Syria UN resolution

    Five members of Security Council said to be close to agreement on dismantling Syria's chemical-weapons stockpile.

    Al Jazeera, 26 Sept., 2013

    Diplomats at the UN say the five permanent members of the divided Security Council appear to have reached agreement on a resolution to require Syria to dismantle its chemical-weapons stockpiles.

    Their comments on Thursday came a day after Sergey Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, said negotiators had overcome a major hurdle and agreed that the text of the resolution would include a reference to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which allows for military and nonmilitary actions to promote peace and security [....]

    Ryabkov said earlier that his country was ready to help guard Syrian chemical weapons sites and destroy President Bashar al-Assad's stockpiles, but it would not ship any of the chemical arms to Russia for destruction. [....]

    A team of UN chemical experts arrived in Syria on Wednesday on their second mission to the country, where they will examine some 14 alleged incidents involving the use of chemical weapons. [....]

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    Samuel L Jackson to president Barack Obama: 'Stop trying to relate'

    Django Unchained star criticises the commander-in-chief for dropping his "G"s while talking to voters and supports a Hillary Clinton run for office

    By Ben Child, theguardian.com, 26 Sept., 2013

    Samuel L Jackson has challenged Barack Obama to be "more presidential" and "stop trying to relate".

    The Pulp Fiction star said the US president should try harder to be a leader and stop dropping the "G"s at the end of words during an interview with Playboy magazine.

    "We know it ain't because of his blackness, so I say stop trying to 'relate'. Be a leader," said Jackson. "Be fucking presidential." He added: "Look, I grew up in a society where I could say 'I ain't' or 'what it be' to my friends. But when I'm out presenting myself to the world as me, who graduated from college, who had family who cared about me, who has a well-read background, I fucking conjugate."

    Jackson, a long-term Obama supporter and civil rights activist stretching back to the 1960s, said he still backed the president in his battles with Republican-controlled Congress [....]

    My comment: The only reason I posted this is because it also drives me nuts when Obama switches to "dropping g's" mode. It's so obviously phony, so obviously done according to audience, and in that, somewhat of an insult to the audience on which it is used.

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    Al-Shabab's Leader--Complex, Erudite, and Murderous Thug
    Bruce Levine 11 years 3 months ago

    Writing and Whistle-Blowing

    George Orwell was not a political thinker, exactly. Sure, he wrote books like 1984 andAnimal Farm. Those books are political. Or better put, they are political thought experiments in novel form. Orwell liked to think about totalitarianism. He created fictional scenarios like 1984 in order to think through the logic of totalitarianism, to find out how it works. Orwell’s essays, too, are often about politics. He wondered if it was possible to create a decent Socialism in the aftermath of the debacle of real-life Socialism, as it existed in the Soviet Union.

    The power of Orwell’s writing came from his honesty about the actions and motivations of human beings making decisions in a messy world. So maybe it is best to say that Orwell was thinking about politics without being a political scientist. He wasn’t good at looking at politics from a distanced, objective point of view in order to suss out general laws. That’s why one of his best political essays is a story about shooting an elephant in Burma. It is a story of Orwell himself.

    Donal 11 years 3 months ago

    Israeli Cabinet Fighting Over Netanyahu's Posture

    Yahir Lapid is Israel's Finance Minister and a key member of the coalition that Netanyahu formed after Israel's last election, and he's publicly criticized Netanyahu for ordering Israeli diplomats to walk out on Rouhani's speech to the General Assembly:

    A dispute broke out on Tuesday between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid after Lapid criticized Netanyahu's decision to order Israel's U.N. delegation not to attend Iranian President Hasan Rouhani's General Assembly address.

    "This is a mistake," Lapid said of the walkout. "Israel should not be perceived as a serial rejecter of negotiations. U.N. walkouts and boycotts are not relevant in current diplomacy and are reminiscent of the way Arab states behaved toward Israel."

    Netanyahu responded to Lapid, saying Israel's U.N. delegation also walked out last year. "As the prime minister of Israel, the state of the Jewish people, I won't allow an Israeli delegation to be part of a cynical public relations show put on by a regime that denies the Holocaust and calls for our destruction.

    . . . .

     
    Bruce Levine 11 years 3 months ago

    Rouhani Declines Opportunity to Meet Obama--Too Complicated
    Bruce Levine 11 years 3 months ago

    Rouhani Puts US to the Test

    In the wake of several recent developments, hopes for untangling the Gordian knot between Iran and the United States that emerged with Hassan Rouhani’s election are gaining momentum.

    A Guy Called LULU 11 years 3 months ago

    If things seem better in Jerusalem, it’s because they’re worse

    My friend Adina Hoffman, whose biography of the Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali is a small treasure, has a wonderful piece in The Nation this week on the visit by the Iranian film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf to Jerusalem this past summer.  Though film buffs will read and love the entire piece, it also has a lengthy interlude on Jerusalem that should be of special interest to readers of this blog. (Adina lived in Jerusalem throughout the 90s and the aughts, and now divides her time between Jerusalem and New Haven.) The piece  is behind the paywall at The Nation, which is a shame, but the editors have liberated it for a day (today). Anyway, here’s a taste:

    A Guy Called LULU 11 years 3 months ago

    United Nations General Assembly, General Debate: 24 September - 1 October 2013

    Your window on the general debate of the 68th session of the General Assembly!

    This site offers access to the speeches of the Member States delivered from the UN Headquarters in New York. Each speaker has a dedicated page featuring the statement, a video and downloadable sound files (.mp3) in six languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish).

    The site is continuously updated and content will be searchable by date or country/entity.

    Includes the schedule for all the speakers.

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    Why the Poor Don't Work, According to the Poor

    By Jordan Weissmann, The Atlantic, Sept.23, 2013

    Few say it's because they can't find jobs. But is that a reason to take away their food stamps?

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

    The Shadow Commander (of the Quds Force of Iran, Qassem Suleimani )

    Qassem Suleimani is the Iranian operative who has been reshaping the Middle East. Now he’s directing Assad’s war in Syria.

    By Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker, available online now and in the Sept. 30, 2013 issue

    [....] Several Middle Eastern officials, some of whom I have known for a decade, stopped talking the moment I brought up Suleimani. “We don’t want to have any part of this,” a Kurdish official in Iraq said. Among spies in the West, he appears to exist in a special category, an enemy both hated and admired: a Middle Eastern equivalent of Karla, the elusive Soviet master spy in John le Carré’s novels. When I called Dagan, the former Mossad chief, and mentioned Suleimani’s name, there was a long pause on the line. “Ah,” he said, in a tone of weary irony, “a very good friend.” [....]

    This is long read (10 1/4 pages), but if you are interested in understanding current goings on in Iran, Syria and Iraq, as well as their neighbors, and the truth of U.S.'s relationship with Iran for decades, you need to read it.
     

    artappraiser 11 years 3 months ago

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