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Charles Kenny’s book, Close the Pentagon, has an endorsement from Steven Pinker despite wanting to close something that Pinker rarely acknowledges exists.

This is a book to answer the question: What if someone who believed that war was only committed by poor, dark, distant people, and had therefore almost vanished from the earth, were to encounter the U.S. military and the U.S. military budget?

The answer is basically a proposal to move the money from militarism to human and environmental needs — and who doesn’t want to do that?

And if people who think war is almost gone and disappearing on its own can nonetheless be motivated to help end war-making by what they consider a bit player and what Dr. King correctly labeled the greatest purveyor of violence on earth, so much the better!

But a strategy to make it happen is going to need to be in greater contact with the real world than is a book that contains words like these: “If the U.S. wants to reduce the number of civil wars and their resulting spillovers . . . .”

The Anti-Blacklist/HUAC/McCarthyism community and free speech champions everywhere have lost two of our historic giants. It has been widely reported that actor/producer KIRK DOUGLAS passed away at the age of 103. It is gratifying that news reports have noted that Kirk played an important, courageous role in breaking the Hollywood Blacklist and cited 1960’s Spartacus as probably his most iconic role.

As you likely know, it was with that epic movie that Kirk helped end the Blacklist by allowing screenwriter DALTON TRUMBO, one of the HOLLYWOOD TEN - who’d been banned from (openly) making movies since 1947 - to publicly have screen credit. Just as OTTO PREMINGER bravely did that same year, for the Trumbo-scripted Exodus.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Public anger is increasing against Thailand's
military-backed government for its handling of Wuhan's deadly
coronavirus, because Bangkok's toll is among the biggest number of
infected people outside China.

"The country is now in the stage of disease transmission," said
Disease Control Department director-general Dr. Tanarak Plipat in a
warning for tourists and others.

"Since they are staying in places full of foreign visitors, tourists
are likely to be in areas of disease transmission."

As for "the degree of risk concerning the disease in Thailand, chances
of contraction remain low in this country," Dr. Tanarak said.

Twenty-five people in Bangkok had confirmed virus infections as of
February 6, the Health Ministry said.

Twenty-one of them, including a Thai woman, arrived in Bangkok from
Wuhan, the city in China believed to be the source of the outbreak of
the mysterious disease.

No coronavirus deaths were reported in Thailand, and some quarantined
victims recovered and were released.

A bad app in Iowa throws everything into a tizzy. Who won? Come on, the horse race has begun. Let’s get some numbers up on the board.

Spectator Nation stomps its feet.

Voting is the activity at the core of democracy, right? It’s a citizen’s sacred duty. While I have always believed this, questions about the nature of our democracy have been simmering in my soul over the decades with ever-increasing intensity. Is affirming our citizenship really nothing more than making a pencil mark on a ballot or a blip on a computer screen, indicating our “choice” among highly controlled options?

While journalists pick through the ashes of the Iowa caucuses meltdown, thousands of progressive activists are moving forward to make election history in New Hampshire. In sharp contrast to the prattle of mainstream punditry, the movements behind Bernie Sanders are propelled by people who engage with politics as a collective struggle because the future of humanity and the planet is at stake. As a result, the Granite State’s primary election on Feb. 11 could be a political earthquake.

Whether or not the Democratic Party’s corporate backers truly understand what progressive populism is all about, they’re determined to crush its strongest electoral manifestation in our lifetimes -- the Bernie 2020 campaign. And, since the bottom fell out of Iowa’s capacity for dramatic political impact, New Hampshire now looms larger than ever.

Monday night’s collapse of the caucus vote-counting process in Iowa has amped up the spotlight on -- and political consequences of -- what will happen in the New Hampshire primary. A clear Sanders victory would make him the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Definitions of Terms Used in this Column:

A cult of personality arises when a country's regime uses the techniques of mass media, propaganda, the big lie, spectacle, patriotism, and organized mass demonstrations and rallies to create an idealized, heroic, and worshipful image.

A cult leader is a dynamic leader whose authority is respected and unquestioned. Obedience to the leader is often required, even when it involves deviant or unhealthy activity. Usually, a cult leader is a person of tremendous charisma who makes followers feel loved and accepted. Cult leaders use brainwashing tactics to attract and keep followers.

A sociopath is a person whose behavior is antisocial, often criminally greedy, and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility, empathy or social conscience. Sociopaths never sincerely apologize nor are they capable of exhibiting remorse for wrongs that they have committed. They always lie to cover their past misdeeds or future ulterior motives.

Bases, Demilitarization, Economic Cost, Environment, North America

By Caroline Davies, February 4, 2020

Extinction Rebellion (XR) US has four Demands for our governments, local and national, the first of which is “Tell the Truth”. One truth that is not being told or spoken about openly, is the carbon footprint and other sustainability impacts of the US Military. 

BANGKOK, Thailand -- International panic over the coronavirus is hyped
mostly by social media and news reports, but the actual death rate is
the same as the flu and less people will die as the virus mutates,
according to David Mabey, a professor of communicable diseases at the
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

" I think the risk of acquiring it is pretty low," Mr. Mabey said in
an interview.

"I know there have been cases reported in Thailand, but Thailand is a
big country and there are not many cases. I think if I were in Wuhan,
I probably would be wearing a mask. But as it is, I think the risk of
getting infected is low.

"I think the infection is not particularly virulent, as far as we have
learned, about 1% mortality which is the same as flu. And I don't go
around wearing a mask all the time because I might get flu."

Mr. Mabey was visiting Thailand for a week to receive the kingdom's
Prince Mahidol Award for his career in public health.

Asked if foreign countries were correct to stop flights arriving from
China, he replied: