Friday, May 23, 2014

Message from Hell — An Interview with a Former Black Panther

Noisy Room   "This is a riveting and revealing discussion with former Black Panther Anthony Bryant, who is interviewed by G. Edward Griffin on his experience as a prisoner in Castro’s prisons in the video above.

"The late Mr. Bryant hijacked a National Airlines jetliner en route from New York to Miami and directed it to Cuba back in 1969. He was arrested in Cuba and spent 10 years in prison after being accused of being a CIA agent by Cuban authorities. Tony Bryant authored the book Hijacked and detailed his experiences as a prisoner in Castro’s Cuba."
...
" ...Informers working for the CDR watched everyone twenty-four hours a day, and marked down anyone who came into the block. If someone visited someone’s home and stayed longer than a few hours, the police would pay them a visit to see what they were doing. You cannot visit neighbors and stay as long as you like, even if you’re invited. If you do, you will be arrested, according to Bryant."

It was at this time that Bryant began to question his own belief and devotion to socialist-style revolution. Bryant asked, “Was this what they had been fighting for?” Bryant attributes his turn away from Communism to God.
One of the YouTube commenters claims he has this video interview with G. Edward Griffin and Anthony Bryant on VHS tape, and expressed displeasure with the individual who posted the video, alleging a portion of the video had been cut off at the very end … the portion where Bryant allegedly says, “Communism is humanity’s vomit; and we need to clean it up.”

Sen. Pat Roberts on free political speech and Harry Reid’s unhinged Koch addition

Bookworm Room  "It will take a little less than 15 minutes of your time and is well worth it. Roberts does a lovely job of eviscerating the opposition to the Citizens United decision as well as Harry Reid’s obsessive, disturbing, and increasingly unhinged opposition to Charles and David Koch:"
 

Poland's Walesa says the US no longer world leader

Yahoo News   "Poland's former president and Nobel Peace laureate, Lech Walesa, said Friday he plans to urge President Barack Obama to take a more active world leadership role when he visits Poland in June.
 
"Speaking to The Associated Press, Walesa said "the world is disorganized and the superpower is not taking the lead. I am displeased."
 
"The former Solidarity leader said that when he meets Obama in Warsaw, he wants to tell him that the U.S. should inspire and encourage the world into positive action." ...

Andrew Klavan: Why Democrats Call You Racist

These Photos Show WWII History Just Beneath The Surface Of Our Cities

WWII in Street View: London's Balham station civilian air raid shelter partially destroyed
On 14 October 1940, during the London blitz, a bomb partially destroyed the Balham station civilian air raid shelter     From The Guardian

More here from The Guardian

HuffPo   "Behind every wall, under every paving stone, there are layers of hidden stories that ordinarily remain confined to history books.

"Thanks to artist Halley Docherty, however, some of these hidden histories have once again been made visible. Docherty used Google Street View to map archive photos from World War II onto today's streets, reviving life during the war years. The series was published in The Guardian.

"Docherty's fascinating images bridge the distance between the gruesome war years and today's events by contrasting familiar, modern street scenes with the same locations at a darker time -- when Nazi Germany occupied France, London was under siege during the Blitz, and Japan was devastated by atomic bombs. "
guardian cities
German soldiers parade down the Champs-Elysées in Paris, June 1940. (Halley Docherty/The Guardian)

The Veterans Scandal: Socialized Medicine on Trial

Roger L. Simon
veterans_affairs_gavel_5-22-14-1
Many have wondered about Barack Obama’s prolonged silence concerning the disastrous situation at the Veterans Administration hospitals and then his odd detached demeanor (well, maybe not that odd for him) when he finally did discuss it at a press conference.

"The answer is simple.  His lifetime dream of a free public (single payer) healthcare system for all just disintegrated in front of him. Forget the wildly ambitious and pervasive “Affordable Care Act,” the government couldn’t even handle the health of our wounded servicemen, acknowledged for years to be by far the group most deserving of medical attention in our country.  With veterans dying while waiting lists are falsified, it’s hard to see government healthcare as anything but incompetent, disgraceful and quite possibly criminal.

"Government has failed utterly [1].  Does anyone have any doubt that Halliburton or even the dreaded Koch brothers could have better handled the health of our wounded warriors? Probably almost any business would have.  " ...
Political Cartoons by Gary Varvel


 

Krauthammer: Who made the pivot to Asia? Putin.

Charles Krauthammer  ...."This is huge. By indelibly linking producer and consumer — the pipeline alone is a $70 billion infrastructure project — it deflates the post-Ukraine Western threat (mostly empty, but still very loud) to cut European imports of Russian gas. Putin has just defiantly demonstrated that he has other places to go.

"The Russia-China deal also makes a mockery of U.S. boasts to have isolated Russia because of Ukraine. Not even Germany wants to risk a serious rupture with Russia (hence the absence of significant sanctions). And now Putin has just ostentatiously unveiled a signal 30-year energy partnership with the world’s second-largest economy. Some isolation."

 "The contrast with President Obama’s own vaunted pivot to Asia is embarrassing (to say nothing of the Keystone pipeline with Canada). He went to Japan last month also seeking a major trade agreement that would symbolize and cement a pivotal strategic alliance. He came home empty-handed. " ...  (Emphasis added. TD)
...
"Decline is not a condition. Decline is a choice. In this case, Obama’s choice. And it’s the one area where he can be said to be succeeding splendidly."