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“Joseph McCarthy is the only major politician in the country who can be labeled “liar” without fear of libel.”– Joseph Alsop

“The State Department is infested with communists. I have here in my hand a list of 205 names that were made known to the Secretary of State (Dean Acheson)as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department.”  – Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, February 9, 1950, at a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia

“If somebody would only smuggle me aboard the Democratic campaign special with a baseball bat in my hand, I’d teach patriotism to ‘Little Adlai’.” – Joe McCarthy, mocking 1952 Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson)

"I call Marco Rubio, 'Little Marco’. That frightened little puppy couldn't be elected dog-catcher in Florida." – Donald Trump (mocking Republican rival Sen Marco Rubio during 2016 campaign)

Recording of a webinar hosted by War Industry Resisters and MA Peace action
among others on 18 January 2024 (257 attendees). Prof Mazin Qumsiyeh
addressed the subject of this era: The Israeli genocide continues and so
does Palestinian resistance in all its forms. Huge demonstrations around
the world that call for Palestinian freedom while Western corporate media
conveys an Israeli narrative that portrays the mass murder and injury of
tens of thousands of Palestinians as justified rather than as criminal.
https://www.youtube.com/live/UHUgFIEWr1g

Qumsiyeh and Haidee Clauer. 2023 Weaponizing Israeli National Parks to
ethnically cleanse Palestinians. Palestine Israel Journal. Vol 3/4

LA Phil and its Music & Art Director, Gustavo Dudamel, are taking Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold out of the opera house and into the concert hall to present Das Rheingold, the first of the ambitious librettist/composer’s mammoth, marathon 17-hour, musical/ theatrical, four-opera extravaganza known as The Ring Cycle or Der Ring des Nibelungen. Das Rheingold – which refers to the gold of the Rhine River, not to the official beer of the N.Y. Mets – is set in primeval Germany, its characters and story  derived from Northern European mythology.

Wagner’s magisterial, majestic, moody music is perfect for evoking these mythic gods, giants, dwarves, trolls, nymphs, Valkyries and other figures, plus tales, from lore that existed centuries before Christianity spread to Europe and Wagner wrought his “Bühnenfestspiel” (stage festival play) about the epic quest and struggle for a magical golden ring that endows its bearer with omnipotent powers.  

The first and the last time I met John Pilger in person was in 2018. 

 I was invited to deliver a speech at the NSW Parliament in Sydney, Australia. Among the large crowd were many that I knew and respected - a former foreign minister, socially conscientious MPs, morally driven intellectuals and activists, and so on. 

 As I stood at the podium, glancing at the crowd, I saw John Pilger. He had a big smile on his face, as if he was in great anticipation to hear me talk. 

 The reality was entirely different. I would have rather listened to John than to lecture before him. 

 As I expressed my many “thank yous”, I made a point of emphasizing that I have modeled my journalism around that of John Pilger.