The Rag Blog | The Latest in News and Views from the Progressive Front

Lamar W. Hankins :
Assassination by technology: The context of America’s drone killings

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Brandon Bryant, who spent six years as a drone sensor operator, has stepped forward out of guilt and concern about the killing of American citizens.

Former drone sensor operator Brandon Bryant. Image from Poem Alley.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | February 18, 2014

This past week, thanks to Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers, whose disclosures have been reported by Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald, we have learned some of the truth about America’s use of drones to kill our perceived enemies, even when they are U.S. citizens.

Deploying drones is not necessarily (and apparently seldom) based on human intelligence, but is grounded in technological confirmations that the person we target for assassination may be where we think he (or maybe she) is. A common source of confirmation is often a cell phone signal that our government associates with the target, or the trackable SIM card of the cell phone.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged American Excepti, Arundhati Roy, Brandon Bryant, Civilian Fatalities, Counterterrorism, Drone Casualities, Drone Technology, Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, National Security Agency, Political Assassinations, Rag Bloggers, State Terrorism, Terrorism, The Intercept, Whistleblowers | Leave a comment

Ted McLaughlin :
Convicted felons and the right to vote

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Eleven states don’t restore voting rights to ex-felons, but a substantial majority of Americans believe that they should.

Image from Politic365.

By Ted McLaughlin | The Rag Blog | February 18, 2014

Attorney General Eric Holder brought up an interesting topic the other day while speaking at a criminal justice symposium at Georgetown University — the right to vote, or the denial of the right to vote for those who have committed a felony in the United States. This is important because it affects millions of potential voters in the United States.

While many voting rights are protected by the federal government and guaranteed by federal courts, there is one class of people in this country that have their right to vote determined on the state level. That is those who have been convicted of a felony crime. And the states do not agree on this issue.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Criminal Justice, Disenfranchising Felons, Eric Holder, Public Opinion, Rag Bloggers, Right to Vote, Ted McLaughlin | 5 Comments

Bob Feldman :
A People’s History of Egypt, Part 17, 1954-1962

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The Nasser regime steps up prosecution of leftists, expels Jews, implements economic reforms.

Nasser waves to crowd in Damascus, Syria, October 1960. Image from Bibliotheca Alexandrina / Wikimedia Commons.

By Bob Feldman | The Rag Blog | February 17, 2014

[With all the dramatic activity in Egypt, Bob Feldman’s Rag Blog “people’s history” series, “The Movement to Democratize Egypt,” could not be more timely. Also see Feldman’s “Hidden History of Texas” series on The Rag Blog.]

Between April 1954 and the second half of 1954, “the arrests and prosecution of communists” in Egypt “was stepped up” by Nasser’s regime and “dozens of” Egyptian leftists received “long-term jail sentences at hard labor,” according to Selma Botman’s The Rise of Egyptian Communism, 1939-1970.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Bob Feldman, Egyptian Communists, Egyptian History, Egyptian Jews, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Middle East, Muslim Brotherhood, People's History of Egypt, Rag Bloggers, Suez Canal, Suez War, United Arab Republic, World History | Leave a comment

Alan Waldman :
‘New Tricks’ is delightful British mystery series featuring older ex-cops who solve cold cases

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The first 87 episodes, airing on PBS, have been witty, dramatic, and major fun.

New Tricks: The original cast.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | February 17, 2014

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Since 2004, New Tricks has aired 87 terrific episodes over 11 seasons, switching to a fun new cast over the past two years. Created by Nigel McCrery and Roy Mitchell, it has employed 31 writers.

The series has been broadcast in more than 25 countries and has become a beloved PBS staple. England’s Guardian declared: “New Tricks is that rarity: a genuinely funny crime series, generously stuffed with throwaway jokes and pauses so perfectly timed.”
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Alan Waldman, British Television, Criticism, New Tricks, Rag Bloggers, Vintage Television | Leave a comment

Thorne Dreyer and Bob Simmons :
Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn spark lively and thoughtful exchange on Rag Radio

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Video and Podcast: Activist/scholars Ayers and Dohrn, former leaders of SDS and the Weather Underground, join Thorne Dreyer on Rag Radio.

Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn interviewed by Thorne Dreyer on Rag Radio, Friday, January 17, 2014. Video produced by Bob Simmons / The Rag Blog. To watch it at YouTube, go here.

Interview by Thorne Dreyer | Video by Bob Simmons
| The Rag Blog | February 13, 2014

Activist-scholars Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, who were preeminent — and controversial — figures in the ’60s-’70s New Left, were our guests for a very energetic and provocative hour on Rag Radio, Friday, January 17, 2014.

Rag Radio is a weekly syndicated radio program produced and hosted by long-time alternative journalist and Rag Blog editor Thorne Dreyer, himself a veteran of SDS and the ’60s New Left. Rag Radio is engineered and co-produced by Tracey Schulz and is recorded at the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM, a cooperatively-run all-volunteer community radio station in Austin, Texas.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged American Radicals, Authors, Bernardine Dohrn, Bill Ayers, Bob Simmons, Educational Reform, Fugitive Days, Interview, Memoirists, Podcast, Public Enemy, Rag Bloggers, Rag Radio, SDS, Sixties, The Rag Blog, Thorne Dreyer, Video, Weather Underground | 1 Comment

Roger Baker :
Can Austin survive the current Texas drought? / 2

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

We look at the water-blind politics of Central Texas growth planning, and the developer-friendly role of regional transportation planning group CAMPO.

: Water use chart from stateimpact.npr.
In the graphic above, one can see a dramatic shift to municipal use as the LCRA cut off the rice farmers near the Gulf, who pay far less for their water. The Highland Lakes when full, hold about 2 million acre feet but are now at 763,000 or 38% of this. At 600,000 acre feet, LCRA emergency measures kick in. In 2010, Austin by itself used about 145,000 acre feet but its coal plant demands a lot too. In 2006, Austin used 176 gallons per day per person while much more water conscious San Antonio used about 115.
When water is limited, regional growth distribution — as well as the projected population — affects water supply needs. Compact urban development uses less water, and also doesn’t require laying the long pipes that suburban sprawl development does. — R.B.

By Roger Baker | The Rag Blog | February 13, 2014

Second of three.

You can evade reality, but you cannot evade the consequences of evading reality.

In “Can Austin survive the current Texas drought? Part 1,” we looked at various symptoms of the current Texas drought, which is actually the eastern side of a mega-drought extending throughout the Southwest from Texas to California. We have seen how Texas water politics, bad water law, and climate change denial is leading to urban versus rural conflict over water, as state population grows while the state gets drier.

In Part 2, below, we take a closer look at the water-blind politics of Central Texas growth planning. CAMPO is a regional transportation planning planning group for the region around Austin. They are now drafting a federally sanctioned long range master transportation plan for Central Texas in 2040, as they are required to do every five years to get federal money. In various ways, including its federal authority, CAMPO planning has become the dominant planning force in the Austin region.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Austin City Council, Austin Water Supply, CAMPO, Central Texas, Central Texas Growth, Climate Change, Climate Denial, Gerald Daugherty, Land Development, Lee Leffingwell, Rag Bloggers, Roger Baker, Texas Drought, Texas Drought Series, Texas Politics, Transportation, TXDot, Water Politics, Will Conley | 8 Comments

Michael James :
In and out of Uptown, the ‘Appaloosa Mother,’ and meeting Dr. King, 1967

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Sonny gave me this advice: ‘Just make sure you’re not hanging out in these same bars 20 years from now.’

The Appaloosa Mother, South Dakota, August 1967. Photos by Michael James from his forthcoming book, Michael Gaylord James’ Pictures from the Long Haul.

By Michael James | The Rag Blog | February 12, 2014

[In this series, Michael James is sharing images from his rich past, accompanied by reflections about — and inspired by — those images. This photo will be included in his forthcoming book, Michael Gaylord James’ Pictures from the Long Haul.]

A treasured traveling moment forever: chasing the sun, speeding over and through the rolling hills of eastern Iowa. It was August 1966. Bob Lawson and I left Chicago, crossed Illinois and the Mississippi River, and rode into Iowa on my newly acquired 1964 Triumph TR6 motorcycle.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Bernardine Dohrn, Chicago, Community Organizing, David Meggyesy, JOIN Community Union, Martin Luther King, Memoir, Michael James, New Left, nostalgia, Peace Movement, Peggy Terry, Pictures from the Long Haul, Rag Bloggers, SDS, Sixties, Travel, Uptown Chicago, Vietnam War | 3 Comments

Steve Russell :
Pete Seeger: ‘To Everything, There Is a Season’

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Asked by HUAC if he had sung for Communists, Pete replied: ‘I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody.’

Pete Seeger, with wife, Toshi, at federal court in New York, April 4, 1961, for sentencing on contempt of Congress conviction after refusing to testify before HUAC. Photo by AP.

By Steve Russell | The Rag Blog | February 12, 2014

[Steve’s remembrance of Pete Seeger is the fourth we’ve run on The Rag Blog. Also see the contributions of Lamar Hankins, Harry Targ, and Harvey Wasserman.]

When I think about it, the idea that Pete would survive Toshi for long was pretty silly. Pete famously referred to Toshi as “the brains of the family.” She walked on last year at age 91; Pete this year at 94. It’s not rational to complain about any human life span in the nineties, but particularly when the lives were as full as those of Pete and Toshi Seeger.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged American Musicians, Cold War, Communism, Communist Party, Deaths, Folksingers, Highlander Folk School, HUAC, Joseph McCarthy, Peace Activists, Pete Seeger, Rag Bloggers, Red-Baiting, Remembrance, Steve Russell, The Weavers, Toshi Seeger | 1 Comment

Ted McLaughlin :
There is no correlation between taxes and employment

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Just allowing the rich to keep more of the money they make doesn’t mean they will spend any of that money they get to keep to create any new jobs.

Chart from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The charts show no correlation between the unemployment rate and the top tax rate.

By Ted McLaughlin | The Rag Blog | February 12, 2014

The Republican idea that lower taxes on the rich (and on corporations) is the best way to spur job creation sounds good on the surface. The problem with it is that economics just doesn’t work that way. Just allowing the rich to keep more of the money they make doesn’t mean they will spend any of that money they get to keep to create any new jobs.

If it did, we would be swimming in new jobs in the United States right now — because the rich (and the corporations) are making record-breaking income and profits (and the corporations currently have a record amount of cash on hand, trillions of dollars).
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Disposable Income, Economics, Job Creation, Productivity, Rag Bloggers, Republican Party, Tax Cuts for Rich, Tax Rates, Ted McLaughlin, Top Tax Rate, U.S. Economy, Unemployment | Leave a comment

Ron Jacobs :
Betty Medsger’s ‘The Burglary’ is extraordinary tale of historic ‘B and E’

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

In 1971, eight anti-war activists broke into the FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania, and removed confidential files about FBI surveillance against political organizations it considered anti-American.

‘The Burglary’ tells tale of historic ‘B and E.’

By Ron Jacobs | The Rag Blog | February 11, 2014

[The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI by Betty Medsger (2014: Knopf); Hardcover; 608 pp; $29.95.]

The story told in Betty Medsger’s new book The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI is a tale of a government drunk on its own power, some citizens determined to end the binge, and a time when heroes were not only made in sporting venues and the movies.

It is about people putting their lives on the line in opposition to an encroaching police state and the men determined to imprison those people for their opposition.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged American History, Anti-War Activists, Betty Medsger, Books, Civil Disobedience, Civil Liberties, COINTELPRO, Direct Action, FBI Surveillance, J. Edgar Hoover, Media PA, Peace Movement, Rag Bloggers, Ron Jacobs, The Burglary | Leave a comment

Anne Lewis :
Bridging the chasm between environmental and economic justice

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

A conversation with activists Bill Fletcher, Jr., and Bill Gallegos.

“Clean Air, Good Jobs, and Justice for All.” March on the Detroit Incenerator, U.S. Social Forum, 2010.

By Anne Lewis | The Rag Blog | February 11, 2014

Steelworkers President Leo Gerard said about the choice between a clean environment and good jobs, “You can have both, or you have neither.” A rift exists between those good trade unionists who fight for decent jobs and a just economy, and those good environmentalists who fight for a planet where all human beings can be healthy.

In the Appalachian coalfields, the same corporations who deliberately keep non-coal jobs out of the region and blast the mountains apart for greater profits lie to mining communities that the reason for layoffs is the Environmental Protection Agency’s so-called “War on Coal.” An eastern Kentucky retired miner writes, “I prefer dirty coal over ‘Christmas in Appalachia’ pity,” not recognizing greater options.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Anne Lewis, Bill Fletcher Jr., Bill Gallegos, Black Mesa Water Coalition, Climate Justice, Economic Justice, Environment, Environmental Justice, Environmental Movement, Green Economy, Green Movement, L.A. Alliance for a New Economy, Labor Movement, Labor Unions, National Nurses Union, Navajo Nation, Rag Bloggers, Social Justice | 1 Comment

Thorne Dreyer :
Workers Defense Project’s Cristina Tzintzún joins us on Rag Radio

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Tzintzún, who has been heralded as a ‘Hero of the New South,’ is featured on the Rag Radio podcast.

Cristina Tzintzún on Rag Radio, Friday, January 31. Photos by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

By Rag Radio | The Rag Blog | February 10, 2014

Cristina Tzintzún, executive director of the Workers Defense Project, was our guest on Rag Radio, Friday, January 31, 2014.

Rag Radio is a weekly syndicated radio program produced and hosted by long-time alternative journalist and Rag Blog editor Thorne Dreyer and recorded at the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM, a cooperatively-run all-volunteer community radio station in Austin, Texas.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Austin Activists, Construction Industry, Cristina Tzintzun, Immigrants' Rights, Interview, Labor Activists, Podcast, Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Worker Centers, Workers Defense Project | Leave a comment

Brandon Bryant, who spent six years as a drone sensor operator, has stepped forward out of guilt and concern about the killing of American citizens.

Eleven states don’t restore voting rights to ex-felons, but a substantial majority of Americans believe that they should.

The Nasser regime steps up prosecution of leftists, expels Jews, implements economic reforms.

The first 87 episodes, airing on PBS, have been witty, dramatic, and major fun.

Video and Podcast: Activist/scholars Ayers and Dohrn, former leaders of SDS and the Weather Underground, join Thorne Dreyer on Rag Radio.

We look at the water-blind politics of Central Texas growth planning, and the developer-friendly role of regional transportation planning group CAMPO.

Sonny gave me this advice: ‘Just make sure you’re not hanging out in these same bars 20 years from now.’

Asked by HUAC if he had sung for Communists, Pete replied: ‘I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody.’

Just allowing the rich to keep more of the money they make doesn’t mean they will spend any of that money they get to keep to create any new jobs.

In 1971, eight anti-war activists broke into the FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania, and removed confidential files about FBI surveillance against political organizations it considered anti-American.

A conversation with activists Bill Fletcher, Jr., and Bill Gallegos.

Tzintzún, who has been heralded as a ‘Hero of the New South,’ is featured on the Rag Radio podcast.

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