David P. Hamilton :
The French presidential election: Does the Left have a shot?

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

The central electoral issue is, who will win the opportunity to beat Le Pen in the runoff?

Benoît Hamon may be the left’s one hope. Painted portrait by thierry ehrmann / Flickr / Creative Commons.

By David P. Hamilton | The Rag Blog | February 16, 2017

In the wake of the disastrous term in office of “Socialist” president Francois Hollande, the chances that the left could win the upcoming French presidential election are certainly not good, but also not impossible.

In French elections, there are two rounds. The first round has participants from many parties. There are currently 11 announced candidates. Each is given the same amount of television time and expenditure limits. Unless one candidate wins a majority in the first round, the second round is a runoff between the two candidates receiving the most votes in the first round.

The first round of the 2017 French presidential election will be on Sunday, April 23rd and the second on Sunday, May 7th. There will be 4-5 major candidates in the first round and several others representing minor parties who will collectively receive 10-12% of the vote. With the vote split so broadly in the first round, as little as 20% might get one into the runoff.
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Ben Hirsch :
What is Tom Brady, and why does it matter?

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

The Brady-as-an-underdog tale has got to be one of the most dubious American sports myths.

In Brady We Trust. Photo by d. thomas / Flickr / Creative Commons.

By Ben Hirsch | The Rag Blog | February 15, 2017

I was 11 years old and lived in Hull, Massachusetts, a suburb on the south shore of Boston, the first time Tom Brady – then a sort of floppy, child-like savant not so much immune but oblivious to pressure – led the Patriots to “world champion” status. I really cared; I jumped off of a family friend’s couch when Adam Vinatieri converted the field goal that beat the “Greatest Show on Turf” St. Louis Rams, and hugged my dad like it mattered.

Now, 16 years later, at the age of 39, Tom Brady — the ice-veined sex symbol version — won his fifth Super Bowl, and was awarded his fourth Super Bowl MVP award. He is universally considered the greatest quarterback of all time and is probably the most impressive athlete I have ever seen.
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James McEnteer :
VERSE | Mourning Again in America

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

Death as a Nazi soldier. Arthur Szyk, 1939.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mourning Again in America

“I could never throw roses to Hitler” *
Or shake Henry Kissinger’s hand
Or embrace a place whose bombs leave children
Bleeding to death in the sand.

I could never make nice to Dick Cheney
That merchant of torture and death
Or Putin, Duterte or Erdogan
All killers with foul lying breath.

I don’t want a trumped-up country
With freedom and justice for some
Where bankers and brokers are royalty
And everyone else is scum.
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Alan Waldman :
FILM | The 30 films I enjoyed most in 2016

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

Plus 73 TV series and 31 standup comics.

Dev Patel starred in The Man Who Knew Infinity.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | February 13, 2017

I guess 2016 was a pretty good year entertainment-wise although it was a wretched year otherwise, as Russian hackers, Breitbart liars, CIA dupe James Comey, and Cable news execs foisted Donald Trump on a gullible nation while wonderful Alan Rickman, Gary Shandling, Glen Frey, and Gary Marshall passed away. Although I considered a lot of the big-screen Hollywood fare to be excreta noxia, there were 30 films I enjoyed and that I sneakily suspect you would too.

With my Netflix subscription and DISH TV, I also really enjoyed 30 British programs (27 drama/thrillers, two comedies, one smart talk show), 23 American series (21 crime shows, one hilarious comedy written, of course, by a British genius, and a late-night talk show hosted by a multi-talented Englishman). This year I widened my net and dug 15 scintillating TV series from Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, Cuba, Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy, and Europe.
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The Rag Blog :
METRO EVENT | The Rag makes history!

Posted on February 11, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

We ‘Celebrate The Rag’ & it’s lasting impact on our city at the Austin History Center, Sunday, Feb. 19.

From left: Richard Croxdale, Alice Embree, and Thorne Dreyer, editors of Celebrating The Rag. Photo by Alan Pogue / The Rag Blog.

Event: ‘Celebrating the Rag’
What: Discussion, film screening, book signing
Who: Editors Thorne Dreyer, Alice Embree, and Richard Croxdale, and film producer Glenn Scott
When: Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017, 2-4 p.m.
Where: Austin History Center
Address: 810 Guadalupe St., Austin 78701
Phone: 512-974-7480
Cost: Free and open to the public; Refreshments

AUSTIN — The Austin History Center is “Celebrating The Rag” with a big event on Sunday, February 19, 2017, from 2-4 p.m. And everyone’s invited!

Thorne Dreyer, Alice Embree, and Richard Croxdale, editors of the acclaimed new book, Celebrating The Rag: Austin’s Iconic Underground Newspaper, will speak and lead a discussion. And they will sign copies of the book.

Glenn Scott of People’s History in Texas will sneak preview screening of the new documentary film, The Rag: Austin Underground Press 1966-1977, that tells the history of the legendary underground newspaper that helped make Austin weird.
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Dave Zirin :
SPORT | In the city known as ‘The Big Heart’: Resistance at Super Bowl LI

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

This will be a Super Bowl with political action outside the stadium and political symbolism all
over the field.

Houston Discovery Green. Photo by Texas.713 / Flickr / Creative Commons.

By Dave Zirin | The Rag Blog | February 4, 2017

HOUSTON — The New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons are heading to Houston this Sunday for Super Bowl LI, which is shaping up to be a remarkable collision of politics and play.

Over the last week Houston has been transformed by protests against Trump. In addition to its barbecue and the Space Center, Houston is known globally for being a sanctuary for refugees from all over the world. No city in the United States is more welcoming, more open, and more willing to take in those fleeing war and famine.
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Pamela Ellen Ferguson :
METRO | Showing solidarity at the border

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

Our Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera delegation visited Piedras Negras and Ciudad Acuña.

From left, Delegate Drew Messamore, joking with CFO activists Julia Quinones, Yohana Esparza, and Cristina Gonzalez, ATCF Education Coordinator and Facilitator. Photo by Pam Ferguson / The Rag Blog.

By Pamela Ellen Ferguson | The Rag Blog | February 1, 2017

AUSTIN — Nine of us associated with Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera (ATCF) bundled into a van and sped off toward the border to show solidarity mainly with the progressive CFO — the women-led grassroots Mexican workers organization (Comité Fronterizo de Obreras/os) bonded to ATCF for some 17 years. Timing was vital as this was the last delegtion prior to Trump’s inauguration.

(According to its mission statement, Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera “raises awareness about conditions of social and economic injustice along the Texas/Mexico border particularly as they affect women workers and supports community-driven alternatives through transnational solidarity and fair trade.”)
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Banafsheh Madaninejad :
METRO EVENT | Be a ‘peaceful protector’ at Muslim Capitol Day

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

Texas State Capitol. Photo by Joe Wolf / Twitter.

Action: Peacefully Protecting Muslim Capitol Day Attendees
When: Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, 9 a.m.-Noon
Where: South Steps of the Texas Capitol
Address: 603 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin TX 78703
Phone: 512-472-5050
Cost: Free and open to the public

By Banafsheh Madaninejad | The Rag Blog | January 27, 2017

Please join the peaceful protectors in supporting Muslim Texas Capitol Day, Tuesday, January 31, from 9 a.m.-noon, at the Texas State Capitol.

This is the day when around 700 Muslims gather at the Capitol for lobbying purposes — a tradition that has been happening for 23 years. Our job will be to create a human chain around the lobbyists and make sure that the press conference from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. happens with the least amount of disruption.
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Lamar W. Hankins :
How is Trump illegitimate?

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

Let me count the ways…

Is this man legitimate? Photo by Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | January 25, 2017

Since Rep. John Lewis challenged President Trump’s legitimacy, the mainstream media has stumbled over itself to declare Lewis wrong, saying that it is beyond equivocation that Trump is the legitimate president. While this is true in the most narrow constitutional sense of the term (he received a majority of the electoral college votes), Trump can be seen as illegitimate in several other ways.

Voter suppression. I remember the poll tax in Texas, a system aimed at poor blacks and Hispanics in an effort to keep them from voting by charging them to do so. This worked well both before and after it was adopted as a part of the Texas Constitution in 1902. The poll tax was usually the equivalent of one or two days of a poor person’s earnings.
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Philip L. Russell :
2016: Another bad year for Mexico’s Peña Nieto

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

His presidency has been marked by corruption, social inequality, and broken promises.

Caricature of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto
by DonkeyHotey/ Flickr.

By Philip L. Russell | The Rag Blog | January 18, 2017

Philip Russell will join Thorne Dreyer on the syndicated Rag Radio program, Friday, January 20, 2017, to discuss this article and the Peña Nieto presidency. The show first airs on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin and is streamed live here.

Philip Russell writes about Mexico for The Rag Blog. This is the third in his series about the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto.

December 1, 2015, marked the half-way point of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s six-year term. At that time his approval rating stood at 39 percent — the lowest such rating for any Mexican president this century. As reported in the paper Reforma, during the following year his approval rating sunk to 24 percent as a result of his failure to address chronic problems as well as new aggravations.

According to the government’s own statistical agency, known by its acronym as INEGI, the Mexican public considers insecurity and criminality to be their country’s gravest problem. Peña Nieto, rather than making a dent in the social and economic problems which lead young people to join drug gangs, has continued his predecessor’s failed policy of combating trafficking by taking out kingpins.
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Glenn Scott :
METRO | On Saturday, January 21, women ‘to make a mighty sound’ in Austin

Posted on January 17, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

As many as 25,000 are expected for a Women’s march and rally at the Texas State Capitol.

notes from the resistance

By Glenn Scott | The Rag Blog | January 17, 2017

AUSTIN — Leaders of the Women’s March on Austin (#MarchOnAustin) predict that, on Saturday, January 21, our state and national leaders will hear “a mighty sound from thousands of women and allies standing up for their rights.”

That prediction is from rally coordinator Melissa Fiero.

(At the time of this posting, as many as 25,000 women and their supporters are  expected to participate.)

Participants are advised to assemble on the south lawn of the Capitol grounds at 11 a.m., with the one-and-a-half-mile march starting at noon. The march will weave around downtown Austin and return to the Capitol about an hour-and-a-half later for a rally. The march will be led by dignitaries and a professional drum corps
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Harry Targ :
Foreign policy: The elephant in the room

Posted on January 10, 2017 by Thorne Dreyer

An undercurrent in the 2016 election was growing opposition to an activist United States economic/political/military role in the world.

Elephant in the room. Photo by Sam Hood, March 24, 1939. From the collection of the State Library of New South Wales.

By Harry Targ | The Rag Blog | January 11, 2017

An empire in decline

United States global hegemony is coming to an end. The United States was the country that collaborated with the Soviet Union to defeat fascism in Europe and with Great Britain to crush Japanese militarism in Asia in 1945. The Soviet Union, the first Socialist state, suffered 27 million dead in the war to defeat the Nazis. Great Britain, the last great imperial power, was near the end of its global reach because of war and the rise of anti-colonial movements in Asia and Africa.

As the beneficiary of war-driven industrial growth and the development of a military-industrial complex unparalleled in world history, the United States was in a position in 1945 to construct a post-war international political and economic order based on huge banks and corporations. The United States created the international financial and trading system, imposed the dollar as the global currency, built military alliances to challenge the Socialist Bloc, and used its massive military might and capacity for economic penetration to infiltrate, subvert, and dominate most of the economic and political regimes across the globe.
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