Global

Assassins, with music/lyrics by the legendary Stephen Sondheim, book by John Weidman, based on a concept by Charles Gilbert Jr., is a bold choice for the venerable East West Players to reopen with after having been shuttered due to the you-know-what for almost two years. Staged with a loose revue format, Assassins is about most of the men and women who successfully or unsuccessfully attempted to kill a sitting US president.

The über-assassin highly esteemed by the other trigger-happy members of this (as depicted) kooky club of ludicrous if deadly misfits is the granddaddy of them all, John Wilkes Booth (Trance Thompson), who literally shot Pres. Lincoln in 1865 while he was sitting (in a box seat at Ford’s Theatre watching Our American Cousin). In chronological order when they committed their crimes (although the freewheeling musical isn’t sequential per se), the other title characters are:

I left the Geffen Playhouse feeling exhilarated, not only because I saw my first play in months since the you-know-what returned, but due to the fact that Power of Sail is a very timely one-act play with a stellar cast that dramatizes an urgent issue America is grappling with. The play asks: Does hate speech have the right to free speech? Here’s playwright Paul Grellong’s story in a nutshell (and I warn you, Dear Theatergoer, there may be some plot spoilers in this critique):

WASPy Charles Nichols (Tony and Emmy award winner Bryan Cranston, who scored an Oscar nom for depicting that freedom of speech champion Dalton Trumbo in the 2015 biopic Trumbo) is a fifth generation Harvard student and/or professor, an author of arcane, obscure, unread tomes who teaches history and presents a prestigious symposium there annually. The secret list of invitees Nichols has selected for Fall 2019 has been leaked – and one of Prof. Nichols’ choices has triggered heated protests on campus.

The current split in the African Union (AU) over Israel’s Observer membership status is emblematic of a larger conflict that could potentially split the African continent’s largest political institutions. 

Africa is currently facing one of its most crucial decisions regarding Palestine and Israel. The repercussions of this decision could be as significant as the 1975 Resolution 77 (XII) by the Organization of African Unity – the precursor to the African Union – which recognized Zionism, Israel’s founding ideology, as a form of racism. This time around, however, it is Palestine, not Israel, that stands to lose. 

This story starts in June 2021 when on a premonition at the Assange event I told Victor Nieto I may be active again politically in Miami, this was while Saab was held in Cape Verde. I had been living a 6 hour drive away in Jacksonville, Florida since May 2020 at the time, where I still reside. Victor was one of my old contacts from when I lived in South Florida. We had lost touch and was happy to see him at the event. I let him know, as the left is very divided, that I wanted to mend fences with people in the movement I had differences within the community, and Victor being a man of influence said he would talk to people. I did not take his number down and did not see him again till yesterday as I engage in activism again in the community, but things have progressed. 4 months after meeting Assange’s family in Miami and seeing Victor and others, Alex Saab is deported to Miami, and in November, I go to his arraignment and shortly after, to Venezuela for the first time. The first day of his hearing was yesterday.

Russia does not want to invade Ukraine

Both Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, and its Foreign Secretary, Sergey Laverov, have repeatedly stated that Russia does not intend to invade Ukraine. Logic also tells us that if they had wished to do so, they would have done it long ago. The threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine is a western invention.

Russia fears the eastward expansion of NATO

To understand how Russians feel about having western weapons and troops poured into a position on their nation's borders, we should imagine how the United States would react if large numbers of Russian weapons and troops were stationed in Mexico or Canada.

The Monroe Doctrine

Gay rights, women’s rights — in reality, these are a nuisance to many U.S. conservatives, but purporting to protect these rights on the other side of the world is a great excuse to play war.

And you don’t need bombs to play. All you need is the will to dominate and the ability to dehumanize “the enemy,” so that their lives can be trashed if (and when) necessary.

I have to confess a stunned speechlessness as I learn about the looming fate of Afghanistan, if President Biden refuses to release $9.4 billion of its assets to the country’s central bank, which it had deposited abroad, primarily at the U.S. Federal Reserve, during the 20-year war. With the Taliban reclaiming power after the U.S. withdrawal last August, the president seized control of these assets, potentially plunging Afghanistan into economic freefall, and . . . oh God . . .

“United Nations officials are warning that millions of Afghans could run out of food before winter, with 1 million children at risk of starvation. . . .

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Hun Manet, trained by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, may become Cambodia's next leader after his pro-China father Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen recently anointed him, prompting scrutiny about how the heir apparent would deal with Washington and Beijing.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, 69, is often scathing in his criticism of the U.S.  He favors China's deepening economic and strategic relationship with Cambodia which is bordered by Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, and opens toward the South China Sea where the U.S. and Beijing compete for access.

"Cambodia is far too deep in with China to be able to rebalance quickly," if Hun Manet becomes prime minister, said Sophal Ear, an Arizona State University associate dean and professor for global development who co-authored the book, "The Hungry Dragon: How China's Resource Quest Is Reshaping the World."

We’re joined by the great BILL LUEDERS, editor of the Progressive Magazine.
Bill shares the riveting, deeply disturbing tale of the eviction of this 90-something mother from her home of many years.
The shocking greed and hard-heartedness is reflected in the Trump/Bannon assault on our elections, as told by JOEL SEGAL.
We hear from HAL GINSBURG of Our Revolution about their work banning traitors from elected office.
Folks in Philadelphia and Ohio update us about the Gerrymandering debacles ruining our government.
TATANKA BRICCA also illuminates the fight in California, where progress has been made on both democracy & renewable energy.
All-in-all, it’s yet another powerful conversation among truly great activists.  Don’t miss it!!