Global

“I believe that for a moment I thought the explosion might set fire to the atmosphere and thus finish the Earth, even though I knew that this was not possible.”

These words of Manhattan Project physicist Emilio Segre, quoted by Richard Rhodes in his book The Making of the Atomic Bomb, refer to the Trinity blast on July 16, 1945, at Alamogordo, N.M., the first atomic explosion in history and, so it appears, a turning point for all life on this planet.

Barry Jenkins, winner of the Best Director and Best Feature Film Independent Spirit Awards for If Beale Street Could Talk, proclaimed to the media that “the industry is responding” to America’s current conditions. Jenkins urged, “See the films nominated” for 2019’s Spirit Awards, which honor features and documentaries reflecting Film Independent’s mission statement to: “champion the cause of independent film and support a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision.” Big budget studio productions, superhero, special effects-driven pictures, sequels and “A Star is Boring” remakes need not apply for the Spirit Awards, which pay homage to personal, character-driven cinema that says something about the human condition.

When the New York Times front-paged its latest anti-left polemic masquerading as a news article, the March 9 piece declared: “Should former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. enter the race, as his top advisers vow he soon will, he would have the best immediate shot at the moderate mantle.”

On the verge of relaunching, Joe Biden is poised to come to the rescue of the corporate political establishment -- at a time when, in the words of the Times, “the sharp left turn in the Democratic Party and the rise of progressive presidential candidates are unnerving moderate Democrats.” After 36 years in the Senate and eight as vice president, Biden is by far the most seasoned servant of corporate power with a prayer of becoming the next president.

Led by their fearless leader Lizzie Lightning (Tania Verafield), the Brooklyn Scallywags are rolling back into Los Angeles. But this time the all-female teammates are skating into a much larger arena, presenting Gina Femia’s rough and tumble For the Love Of (Or, The Roller Derby Play) at Culver City’s 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre. Derby is one of three 2018 L.A. plays selected for revival by the Kirk Douglas’ third annual “Block Party” and the first one being mounted on the boards during this celebration of theater, which presents encore productions from L.A.’s outstanding intimate theaters.

Last May, Derby was mounted at the diminutive Theatre of Note, which is about one sixth the Douglas’ size. But as Dr. David Rubin once shrewdly (if not lewdly) observed, “size is not important,” and it’s noteworthy that this cutting edge freewheeling feminist-themed drama is being reprised. And it will be interesting to see how this adaptation on presumably a grander scale by Rhonda Kohl, who also creatively choreographed and directed the original at the Note, compares.

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, March 7, 2019

We just returned from nine days in Iran with a 28-person peace delegation organized by CODE PINK. It is clear that people in Iran want two things:

The path to those goals requires the United States to change its policies toward Iran as the US has a long history of interference in Iranian politics with disastrous results. The US must stop its belligerence and engage in honest, respectful dialogue with the government of Iran.

By Nicolas J S Davies, World BEYOND War

The world faces many overlapping crises: regional political crises from Kashmir to Venezuela; brutal wars that rage on in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia; and the existential dangers of nuclear weapons, climate change, and mass extinction.

But beneath the surface of all these crises, human society faces an underlying, unresolved conflict about who or what governs our world and who must make the critical decisions about how to tackle all these problems — or whether we will tackle them at all.  The underlying crisis of legitimacy and authority that makes so many of our problems almost impossible to solve is the conflict between U.S. imperialism and the rule of law.

Imperialism means that one dominant government exercises sovereignty over other countries and people across the world, and makes critical decisions about how they are to be governed and under what kind of economic system they are to live.

Some people are attached to the idea that the Democratic National Committee will “rig” the presidential nomination against Bernie Sanders. The meme encourages the belief that the Bernie 2020 campaign is futile because of powerful corporate Democrats. But such fatalism should be discarded.

As Frederick Douglass said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” Of course top Democratic Party officials don’t intend to give up control. It has to be taken from them. And the conditions for doing that are now more favorable than ever.

The effects of mobilized demands for change in the Democratic presidential nominating process have been major -- not out of the goodness of any power broker’s heart, but because progressives have organized effectively during the last two years.

Ancient History Sonorously, Sensually Brought Back to Life

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Clemency of Titus (La Clemenza di Tito), dramatizes part of the life and reign of the Emperor Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, who ruled the Roman Empire from 79 to 81 A.D. This work of historically-inspired fiction with a libretto by Caterino Mazzola, based on an earlier libretto by Pietro Metastasio, vividly brings ancient Rome alive with exquisite costumes by Mattie Ullrich (which much to my sheer delight include, at long last, togas!) and stellar sets by Thaddeus Strassberger, who also expertly helms this colossal epic about the emperor who, among other things, completed the Colosseum. So let the operatic games begin!

U.S. military spending eight years ago was at $1.2 trillion per year, when one added in the nukes in the Energy Department, the Homeland Security Department, the CIA, interest on debt, veterans’ care, etc.