Biden dream

Right before I woke up I had a dream that I was walking down the street and Joe Biden pulled up in a sedan and offered me a ride. We made small talk and at one point I picked up his phone and tweeted something on his certified account.. More of a head-scratcher than an inflammatory prank, one of those semi-conscious mishaps of dreams, which I told him about two minutes later. He was ok about it, trying to concentrate on the road, in which he was an erratic driver, at one point so far into the left lane (not the political spectrum) that a car passed to the right (not in Britain). We passed by a large crowd of people and I made some quip to cover the awkwardness. I asked about the VP search and he mentioned Elizabeth Dole. He dropped me off at my house and I thanked him.

Economic Sanctions in 1778

(George III's) determination never to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and to punish their contumacy by the indefinite prolongation of a war which promised to be eternal, was as fixed and resolute as ever.. Aggressive hostilities against the Americans would be confined to the destruction of their coasting-trade, and the bombardment of their commercial ports; to sacking and burning their villages within a day's march of the sea-coast..  These actions.. would keep the rebels harassed, anxious, and poor, until the day when, by a natural and inevitable process, discontent and disappointment were converted into penitence and remorse... which sooner or later would bring the Revolutionary diplomatists to their knees, and, (to use the King's own words,) "would make them come into what Great Britain might decently consent to."

Kiev's water blockade of Crimea

This story has been effectively blacked out of US media:

"In 2013, the North Crimean Canal drew 1.5 million cubic meters of water. It amounted to about 85 percent of Crimea's drinking and irrigation water. But shortly after the annexation, Ukrainian authorities shut the canal with a hastily-built dam.

"From the very start of the water blockade, Ukraine knew it would bring about a humanitarian "catastrophe". Those were the words of Vasily Stashuk, Ukraine's top irrigation official at the time, who resisted the blocking of the canal.

"The blockade has nearly eliminated agriculture in Crimea." (Al-Jazeera Jan 4 17)

 Except when projected onto the adversary/ object of propaganda:

 

Glenn Beck 2009 + Maddow 2019 is the greatest crossover event in history pic.twitter.com/D1NElGBq3U

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) January 31, 2019

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/12/dam-leaves-crimea-population-chronic-water-shortage-161229092648659.html

2017 French Presidential First Round

Today's the big day. I imagine the supporters of the top four candidates in polls will stay put, if they go to the polls. Do supporters of the 5th and 6th candidates, clearly out of the running, change sides, and for whom? Mélenchon would stand to get a good chunk of Hamon's voters (the PS base), though the two pro-EU centrists could get some of those. Dupont-Aignan's supporters are anti-EU so they can choose between Le Pen or Mélenchon if that's their main issue. Mélenchon just needs a few more points to get into the runoff. He would stand to have more motivated voters, Big Mau ('momentum' in English) on his side, and a good shot at the undecideds.

2020 US Democratic Presidential Hopefuls' Statement on Syria Air Strikes Scorecard

Clear disapproval of air strikes
1. tulsi gabbard
2. chris murphy
3. liz warren

Not approving them, vague statement, no clear acceptance of Assad’s culpability
4. cory booker

Muddled reluctance to approve air strikes
5. julian castro
6. mark cuban
7. kirsten gillibrand

Approval of air strikes, further action needs congressional approval
8. jeff merkley
9. bernie sanders
10. chris coons
11. al franken
12. joe manchin
13. tammy duckworth

Approval of air strikes
14. martin o’malley
15. sherrod brown

Enthusiastic approval of air strikes
16. amy klobuchar
17. john kerry
18. bob casey

Enthusiastic approval of air strikes before they happened, calling Putin “worse than Hitler," inept candidacy and response to legitimate ethical and legal questions making Trump president
19. hillary clinton

I was surrounded last night with people, from different walks of life, who are outraged about Trump's victory, and what I heard is ultimately the hope that arises from this election. The media has done a great trashing job on Trump, albeit for the wrong reasons. America is hyper-aware of race and has their eyes open about this victory. All blacks I met were solemn, and out in low numbers. One thing I said was 'it would be great if the president did the right thing and we could all sit back, but there is unity in opposition.' That is the hope that I derive from this week.

What terrified me was the free pass Hillary was getting from the media and others, stifling popular opposition to her policies. Trump is in it for himself and will go down in flames like many before him. Hillary has the whole machine behind her. The most terrifying thing about Trump on policy grounds is that he and Paul Ryan will get together on deregulation, and whatever unpredictability comes with the Donald. If they go after Social Security than the Dems will make them pay. Progressives have to make the Dem establishment pay as I wrote in July.

Liberal talking heads have misunderstood Trump's rationale for establishing relations with Russia, which is a result of Michael Flynn having his ear. Flynn also opposes the Iran deal, a more negative influence on Trump. I don't idolize the guy by any means, but Hillary's foreign policy advisers were arguably more frightening than W. Bush's.

.
 

I have noted my superstition about blogging VP advice for 'the enemy,' and became nervous when Cory Booker appeared with Debbie Wasserman Schultz and was added to the short lists last week.  The reason: my last paragraph in my post-primary column, which didn't mention Sen. Booker: "Hillary defeated Sanders not only with extraordinarily unpopular favoritism by the DNC and cases of voter suppression, but by opposing the ‘pwogressive’ with a single candidate backed by Wall Street, the media, and party leaders, and with the electoral support of minorities.  It indeed would prove difficult to duplicate the feat against a progressive challenger in 2020 and thereafter if Trump wins."  Booker is a rare person who can hold together the establishment- minority coalition Hillary had in the 2016 primaries, but like many 'new Dems' doesn't inspire many, so his ability to win would require no competition in the 'establishment lane,' which could only be engineered if he was VP.  He has little to offer the ticket for 2016 General, makes lightweight arguments and criticizes Obama for criticizing Wall Street (even while Obama is writing legislation surrounded by their lobbyists).  Even if you had a Cory Booker - Tulsi Gabbard race with no one siphoning votes from either, Gabbard (pictured) might take enough of the woman vote to tip the balance, plus a lot of Hillary's voters will have discussed their votes at the pearly gates by then.  The only uncertain matter is whether Tulsi or Alice Coltrane will be the first Hindu woman on the currency.

Hillary and Bill did nothing about global warming in the 1990s (nor did Al) and, after defying Sandernistas by picking Tim Kaine, are getting an assist from the unrelenting sun that awaits the activists that have carpooled to Philly from across the country and camped out for this week's protests, with the region's worst heat wave in several years forecasted.  I was sitting outside at 8:15 just now and it was getting uncomfortably humid. The AC/ no AC divide will define the greater institutional divide being contested.

A point I neglected to make in that column is that despite Sanders' fear tactics about Trump's opposition to Obamacare, political insiders see no possibility of its positive aspects being overturned. That is, guaranteed insurance for pre-existing conditions at competitive rates and the expansion of Medicaid are here to stay.  While the system can and will be improved, even a Republican president and congress with all their rhetoric and fist pumping are not going to get a filibuster-proof majority for overturning those benefits, which constituents of all creeds and opinions have come to demand.

Dream: I was taking a course administered by Donald Trump in a long, wide hallway, about 50' by 30', with the doorway to the outside behind us and near another doorway to an amphitheater. Students ran the range of ages and backgrounds. When someone moved or twitched noticeably, they were shot and dragged out. Two were shot. On a placard the names of the people shot were listed. I decided to walk out but would cooperate of someone didn't want to let me leave. I made it out but we had left our shoes somewhere and I had no shoes to walk back to town. I saw a professor that I had met earlier and was familiar with her history book. She had just been told by the administrators that her office was untidy. I told her about the students being shot and she said, "Oh that was faked, no doubt."

The tag line for 2016 US Presidential could be:

NO ONE HERE GETS OUT WITH AN ELECTORAL MANDATE

post-Tuesday

I was offline when I saw the Philadelphia Daily News ("The People's Paper" tabloid) headline FACE IT (Trump and Hillary).  Media moguls essentially scolding their reader base, but Bernie ran in five primaries and won four of them, losing one where Hillary beat Obama by 15 points, outraising her in February by a whole lot, with a major cash in hand advantage.  Before I went online I made an infrequent visit to WalMart to look for something they didn't stock.  The store was mostly empty and the staff seemed depressed but polite and walking around the box looking for something made the headline hit home, as this Arkansas company had leaned so hard on the Clintons to railroad permanent trade relations with China so these people can stand in this box and sell junk made by command economy sweatshops.  But the more I crunched the numbers the more I realized that it's a tough fight but Bernie, his team, and his grassroots are performing exceptionally and it is not denial to say that, despite what mainstream media says, his momentum to win the whole thing is privately envied by the political class.  The media seemed to have its spin written and just changed the paragraphs about who won Colorado and Minnesota.

Trump is a businessman who thinks little of the David Duke clan but he was clearly signaling to trigger a backlash by the Republican establishment and the press and he got one. It was a calculated political move made in a year where white nationalism has been provoked internationally by the migrant crisis.  George Wallace and Hillary Clinton are/were not hardened racists but both, like Trump, use this demagoguery for their benefit at the moment it benefits them.  So does he pivot for the general election, or, as Eastern European pageant contestants would say, can he change?  Here is where I say I loathe the guy in the strongest possible terms.  El Paso has the lowest rate of rape (and crime) of any city its size or larger, and it's over 90% Mexican. & the Muslim baiting etc etc.  He is, as blue collar GOP whites who have no other anti-NAFTA choice will hopefully not have to find out, a guy who doesn't just side with the economic elites but has a particular passion for economic disparity, who retains a legal staff which enables him to rip off more construction contractors per project than any Jersey builder, notable in a state where Toll Brothers operates.

I didn't blog this ahead of time, but it kinda goes without saying that a GOP establishment that drops $150 million on Jeb Bush doesn't know where its constituents are or what hit them.  They didn't even think to back someone who could give whatever their platform is a new look and personal clean slate.  If Cruz hadn't alienated the establishment GOP, they'd realize he's the only person who can beat Trump, but then again Cruz would lose a lot of voters if he hadn't done so. The establishment can't come out and say they hate us and we deserve it.

There is overwhelming bipartisan anger over trade agreements, Citizens United, and the bailout of the financial sector. Whomever Trump faces, the general election is going to the Midwestern Rust Belt and it's going to have to deal with trade and the economy. If Hillary pulls it out, all this goes in a suggestion box she has made a career of ignoring. Donald's sincerity is what it is. That brings us to that Pwogressive...  But Trump is the first Republican to make the establishment pay for this, going, like Bernie, inside the primary structure, rather than the third party runs of the anti-NAFTA Perot and Nader.

NH preview

The main impact of Iowa on the Democratic side is that the party is digging in for a competitive race and, more importantly, the media coverage of Sanders was as infrequent as they could get away with, which has to change and has so far.  Voters nationally that haven't heard Sanders explain his positions are tuning in.  Reporters are taking dictation from Clinton propagandists in newspapers, Politico, etc, to the effect that Sanders is unelectable without noting in even the last paragraphs that head to head polls, usually unfavorable to candidates with lower name recognition, place Sanders clearly ahead of Republican rivals while Hillary is losing them.  These papers do mention in other articles Clinton's false statements about emails and some of her fundraising conflicts of interest, but rarely mention that Bill Clinton is on over a dozen captain's logs flying on a private jet with a trafficker of underage sex slaves and the slaves themselves, which perhaps they're saving for the general election.

The two Cuban exiles had a bounce from Iowa and squandered it before the week was out - Cruz, trying to win the evangelical 'lane' nationally, would I think have won the state without robocalling that Carson had dropped out, but gave his rivals a talking point against him which appears to be combining with New Hamphire's resistance to sanctimonious Iowa victors to make for low poll numbers up there.  Rubio's perf in Iowa seemed to put him much more within reach of claiming to be the figure the establishment and the victory-seeking rank and file would unite around but the debate blew the lid off the denial that he was a lightweight, as Christie and Bush began to shout that long-held belief that insiders had whispered.

I actually like what Cruz is saying about not fighting both Assad and ISUS at the same time, suggesting he thinks out his own positions instead of fronting for covert proxy wars - sometimes (!).  I oppose him for the obvious policy reasons.  He will stay in the race for a while, bankrolled by Texas oil money despite Republican insiders' hatred of him.  I believe it is possible for a conservative Cuban exile to transcend a nostalgia for the corruption of Batista-era Havana.  In Rubio's case, being a opportunist puppet of an organized crime linked casino owner (Adelson) with "some very, very curious and disturbing political bedfellows" doesn't seem to be the way to do that, and I am quite relieved by any news of his demise.  Rubio's similarities to W. Bush are also striking - a lightweight who cuts a good media figure in choreographed moments and cedes US foreign policy to the most extreme Neocons, but may actually be good on immigration.  Likewise I get relief from simple blessings like Rick Santorum dropping out - think of all the children of the world living under people like him..

Kasich seems primed for a big night, close to winning the whole thing, and Sanders' NH lead has increased in polls since Iowa. Sanders and Kasich would be a gift to the country from the Granite State - in addition to representing the left option of each party's linear spectrum, Kasich as the nominee significantly reduces the bogeyman factor compared to his GOP rivals.  Based on his past statements, it's likely he'd discourage congress from voting again to overturn Obamacare, and if they ignored him, he'd probably veto it.  His own imprint on health policy would likely follow his call for a Medicare expansion, defending Obamacare by saying "when you die.. St. Peter.. is going to ask you what you did for the poor."  He can be expected to perform better on this as president than Hillary.  Both Kasich and Hillary are Wall Street linked free traders that combine an acknowledgment of the human impact on the ozone layer with a resistance to active regulation - as the Clinton-Gore administration classified SUVs as light trucks to circumvent emissions standards.  Kasich's statements on virtually every aspect of US foreign policy have been less hawkish than Hillary's.

I have plunged into 2016 Presidential off and on and haven't decided how much to blog it. One thing I will say the night before Iowa is that Clinton and Sanders both appear to be afraid to lose tomorrow. I read somewhere that both campaigns have their resources directed at the early primaries and Hillary especially has concentrated her organization on preventing a loss in Iowa rather than developing the national organization to soften the blow of one. So a Sanders win there would be a major psychological blow for the Clinton campaign, going a long way towards leveling the organizational playing field.

I didn't begin with a preconceived notion of whom I'd support but am impressed by Bernie's organization and his ability to mobilize an electorate behind his policy positions. I intend to support this contention in more depth, but I agree strongly with those who say Bernie has the best chance in the general election, though O'Malley would also run strong there should he, with a website full of policy papers, make a longshot surge. O'Malley's so good gov that they were trying to make a big deal out of an ongoing practice of buying Maryland government furniture - Bernie's even more of a boy scout. Hillary is complaining about Sanders' "attacks" as she would do in any case disingenuously, but the Democratic challengers are doing their party a disservice by not previewing how Hillary can't bear the scrutiny of Republican attacks - as Obama had mostly done before them. Before any of that begins she starts with more than half the country knowing her and disapproving, and the elites of the majority party are running too scared to call out how that's unacceptable in their potential standardbearer.

Part of the fear is that the free trade war hawks antagonistic to financial regulation have only a small group of puppets to parade out, because in keeping with democracy, most Democratic legislators elected in the last 20 years don't support their positions, despite their timid endorsements of HRC. Obama was uniquely not antagonistic to NAFTA out of the new Senators of his freshman class, ditto Hillary. Few, if any, leading Dems are more hawkish than Hillary on war issues. A win in Iowa would lead them to say Hillary is inevitable, a loss would send them into disarray.

The polls being as close as they are in a caucus state favors the candidate with more passionate and persuasive supporters to overcome lower name recognition and brand confidence, which would seem to favor Bernie.

Today's beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero and he Pope's declaration that Romero is a martyr has brought on a historical argument as to whether the previous, conservative Pope had already 'unblocked' 'his entry into the sainthood process,' while the conservative Catholic First Things reports that Romero "stood apart from liberation theology" and "Few know that Romero received spiritual direction from an Opus Dei priest," referring to the historically conservative prelature.  The first part is patently inaccurate - for the last two years of his life he worked on his pastoral letters with liberation theologian Jon Sobrano and his homily six weeks before his murder included "Liberation will arrive only when the poor are the controllers of, and protagonists in, their own struggle and liberation."  Michael Löwy recounts "he had sympathized with Opus Dei in his youth" and "would later say to friends, he was chosen as the one most able to neutralize the 'Marxist priests.'"

What followed was a snowballing effect of radicalization in response to violence with the Archbishop in the center.  The murders of two priests in early 1977 began his "'conversion'" and he would begin to consult with Sobrano the following year.  The "liberation" sermon came a few days before he wrote an open letter to President Carter asking him "to forbid that military aid be given to the Salvadoran government." (pdf) The letter led to rumors he was in danger and he told an interviewer "if God accepts the sacrifice of my life, let my blood be a seed of freedom and the sign that hope will be reality."  The UN concluded in 1993 that Romero's assassination was carried out by Major Roberto D’Aubuisson, who once praised the Holocaust and who "worked with the CIA for years.." a fellow major told Allan Nairn.  Romero's funeral saw an estimated 250,000 convene around Plaza Gerardo Barrios, only to have the military junta open fire on them.




This scene, followed by an even larger massacre on the Sumpul River six weeks later and the National Guard's rape of four nuns seven months later, all during the end of the Carter administration, turned the apolitical like Romero into activists and activists into militants, swelling the ranks of the newly formed FMLN to wage a twelve year war.

This interview given by Leo Gabriel, an Austrian member of the EU electoral observation mission, is quite revealing and courageous.  He stated "the vast majority of the members of the mission were in strong disagreement with the preliminary report" on the election, and another EU observer told Adrienne Pine "the majority of the members on the EU observation delegation were not in agreement with the official statement claiming the elections were transparent and fair, but were afraid of losing their jobs and/or future lucrative observation opportunities if they spoke out."  Baltasar Garzón alleged to AFP "electoral fraud by different mechanisms and avenues."

Gabriel told Opera Mundi (English version here) "..We arrived at conclusions that stand in diametric opposition to the EU-EOM leadership..

"During the transmission of the results there was no possibility to find out where the tallies where being sent and we received reliable information that at least 20% of the original tally sheets were being diverted to an illegal server that they kept hidden..

"To speak of transparency after everything that happened last Sunday is a joke and I believe that, first and foremost, we observers have to be honest and portray what we have really seen..

"The 2009 Coup d’État harmed the image of Honduras around the world, slowing down progress on the Association Agreement signed by the European Union and the Central American region (EU-CA AA). Presenting [an image of] a clean and transparent electoral process helps the European Union to clean up Honduras’s image around the world and set this commercial project into motion..

"In the general evaluation meeting, the majority of my colleagues who observed the elections 'on site,' on the ground, were in agreement about the irregularities I just laid out. No one defended the content of the report or the idea that there had been transparency in the process, and that brought us up against the intransigence of the EU-EOM team leaders, who did not want to cede even one millimeter. We argued for a serious discussion of the topic, taking into account what we had witnessed and suggesting changes to the text, but they firmly refused..

"I believe the TSE pulled the results out of their sleeves according to a predefined political calculus..

"Yes ('it was all a set-up'), because these results don’t have any basis and the speed with which they came out with the early data demonstrates that."

(emphasis mine)

Fireworks going off all over Tegucigalpa, following the announcement that @XiomaraCastroZ will be the next president of #Honduras
— Adrienne Pine (@adriennepine) November 25, 2013

Update 11/25:
AMY GOODMAN: "The results are not fully in yet. At around 53%, 54% of the count, — what Honduras is saying, what the authorities are saying is the right wing candidate Juan Hernandez has beaten Xiomara Castro. Your response?
ADRIENNE PINE: Yes, that is the official story that we’re hearing from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, Amy, but it contrasts with the numbers that are coming out of the polling places themselves, which show an overwhelming lead for the candidate Xiomara Castro. So, there is real concern on the streets, there’s real concern over the social networks and we are expecting that there will probably — that these results have not been accepted by the Libre Party and we are expecting people will probably be going out on the streets to them protest today.

Guardian: "Both the US ambassador Lisa Kubiske and Ulrike Lunacek, head of the European Union observer mission, said reports from the polls indicated the vote and subsequent count so far were regular.
'We had 110 observers in almost all Honduras states, and we have seen a transparent process with all parties represented at the table,' Kubiske said, noting that there was a system in place for people to peacefully file complaints or contest the results.

This is "transparent" to Lubiske.

Amid killings, intimidation of international observers, local press, and election officials in Honduras..

The atmosphere among LIBRE activists is already one of celebration. Turnout has been massive and (they say) in the party's favor.

— Adrienne Pine (@adriennepine) November 24, 2013

Last month was the fiftieth anniversary of the October 1963 coup in Honduras when the Liberal Party, less corrupt than it was now, was assured of re-election on a platform centered around labor reforms. The coup was backed by Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza and the US-linked banana industry.

Unlike Obama, who initially spoke against the coup but was quickly persuaded to back it, in apparent deference to Hillary Clinton's State Department and others, President Kennedy withstood pressure to recognize the new government and never did so. As Peter Dale Scott (right) documents in Deep Politics and the Death of JFK (the best book I've read on the topic), the coup government was quietly recognized that December by LBJ's Undersecretary of State.

Scott is not one to push a conclusive thesis on who was the kingpin behind the killing (there are more than a few other books like that) but his working thesis for years had been that Kennedy's arraignments to pull out of Vietnam was crucial, as he notes that Nixon had a peace deal in place when Watergate broke. But he recounts the historical relation of the banana companies to organized crime in New Orleans that had a documented relationship with Oswald and other covert figures: "..in Auguest 1963 men working with the two biggest banana companies, United Fruit and Standard Fruit and Steamship, interacted with Oswald at the moments of his most suspicious activities in New Orleans.

"The banana companies preference for military client governments had by 1963 created tensions with the Kennedy's preference in the same area for governments that were democratically elected. In late 1963 the banana companies, together with Nicaraguan strongman Anastasio Somoza, plotted together against the rhetoric of social reform and political democratization which the Kennedy Alliance for Progress proposed for Latin America. In the spirit of the rhetoric, liberal president Ramon Villeda Morales of Honduras had promoted a moderate social revolution, and had become known as a 'responsible leader who cooperated closely with John Kennedy and the Alliance for Progress.' The response of the banana firms and of Somoza was to support a military coup against Villeda on October 2, 1963, which began (like so many coups) with an attack on the presidential palace by US trained army pilots."

Honduras goes to the polls on Sunday to pick a new president.. ok wait.. that line sounds like what happens in American suburbs.  Thelma Mejia reports "in the poor areas of Tegucigalpa, a city of 1.6 million, people have to make protection payments to the maras or gangs, which set curfews for entering and leaving the areas under their control.

"In some of the poor neighborhoods, the maras mark the limits of their territory by hanging dolls from the power lines, IPS saw.

"In the Nov. 24 elections, this society held hostage by soaring levels of violence crime will choose between hard-line zero tolerance and more integral approaches that take into account prevention and socioeconomic aspects, to combat the problem."

Polling is not allowed in the last month before the election although thankfully exit polls are conducted; the wife of coup-deposed President Manuel Zelaya, Xiomara Castro of the LIBRE Party (above), has a narrow lead over Juan Orlando Hernández from the center right PN that has presided over spiraling crime since replacing Zelaya in a coup-tarnished election.

"Juan Orlando Hernández, the president of Congress, which his party controls, is the architect of the recently created Military Police of Public Order (PMOP), which will carry out intelligence work to fight organized crime."

Demilitarization of Honduran police forces came in the mid-1980s while civilian leadership attempted to dismantle the military police apparatus of Battalion 3-16, which disappeared a reported 184 people: journalists, labor leaders, and activists, after receiving training from Argentinian officers of Pinochet's Operation Condor.  Since the coup, veterans from 3-16 like Billy Joya have militarized the police anew, as President Zelaya himself said: ""With a different name, [Battalion 3-16 is] already operating. The crimes being committed are torture to create fear among the population, and that's being directed by Mr. Joya."  Since the coup, "Amnesty International found over 4,000 human rights abuses, including arbitrary detentions, torture and targeted assassinations that had been carried out between the June 28th coup and August of the same year by military and police forces against coup opponents."  In addition to labor leaders and activists, 31 journalists have been murdered since the coup, predominantly critics of the government using "unmarked vehicles" the way 3-16 used to do it.

The Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras, formed in 1982, recently released a statement that Juan Orlando Hernandez' proposal constitutes a "crude resurrection of the 3-16 of the disappearances and political murders of the Dirty War." "In reality, it is a package of seemingly legal measures, 'a la Honduran,' that permits the US Southern Command, the DEA, the CIA and, in short, the Pentagon, to take complete control of Honduras’ territory and population. This military-police body that is being created, independent of the Security Ministry, instead reporting to the President, this TIGRE with its own budget, is a repressive jungle animal similar to the Battalion of Death - Battalion 3-16 - financed and trained by the United States in 1981."

Adrienne Pine reports "numerous local candidates from the LIBRE political party have been killed in targeted assassinations in recent months. As Karen Spring of Rights Action notes in a recent report analyzing an exhaustively-researched list of pre-election violence, 18 LIBRE candidates and immediate family members of candidates were murdered between May 2012 and October 19, 2013, and 15 more suffered armed attacks. Spring writes: 'According to the list...LIBRE party...pre-candidates, candidates, their families and campaign leaders have suffered more killings and armed attacks than all other political parties combined. The disproportionate number of killings of LIBRE candidates seems a clear indication that many of the killings have been politically motivated."
24 US Senators* signed a letter to Secretary of State Kerry stating: "the freedom and fairness of [the November 24] election is very much at risk, as human rights abuses under the existing government continue to threaten basic civil liberties, opposition candidates do not enjoy a level playing field, and state security forces are taking on an increasingly central, and ominous role in context of the election...  These challenges raise serious concerns over the Honduran government’s ability to conduct free and fair elections. The United States must press the Government of Honduras to ensure the right of all its citizens to peacefully assemble, campaign and vote."

Ominously, the Obama administration has yet to condemn the political killings.

This year, CEPR published a report that the bottom 90% of Honduran households saw income rise under Zelaya by 9% in three years, and since the coup they've seen their income sink 6.5% while the top 10% income grew 6.9%.  Mark Weisbrot notes "Even private investment, despite the complaints of business people who supported the coup, grew much faster under Zelaya than under the current regime."

Pine blogged earlier this week: "Among all the black humor and terror, there is an incredible amount of hope right now in Tegucigalpa. It's palpable, in the central park, in cafés, on the streets, in my classrooms. It feels to me like there are equal amounts of hope and terror, with one gaining as the other loses ground, and then reversing direction. But my interlocutors tell me I'm wrong. They tell me it's all hope (though they then often fall back into talking about their perfectly legitimate fears). Whoever came up with the LIBRE party name after Andrés Pavon stole the previous one for himself really was a genius. Because when people I know come up to me to exclaim that on Sunday they are finally going to be LIBRE/libre (as several did today), they are talking about so much more than the party.

"I'm cynical about any political party, but it's hard not to be moved by the faith people have that their struggle and sacrifices (including so many martyrs) will pay off. And I think it's likely that this movement will do a better job of holding its elected leaders accountable than Democrats have with Obama. Should they succeed in electing them, despite the fraud that will undoubtedly take place."


* Notable is the fact that the letter was written by Sen. Tim Kaine, who was passed over for Biden for VP and signed by likely presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren.  Hillary Clinton was a leading figure in defending, supporting, covering up, and lobbying for hemispheric support for the coup as Secretary of State and this issue highlights the policy differences between the two potential candidates.

"Watch: Will we ever know the truth about Kennedy's assassination?

Also in video:

* Watch: The umbrella man at Dealy Plaza
* How to make roasted turkey stock

nytimes.com 

VIDEO"