Global

Last month, I attended the Ninth Annual Voting And Elections Summit in Washington, hosted by Fair Vote, The Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law, US Vote Foundation, and Overseas Vote Foundation, each a progressive organization dedicated to the betterment of elections in the United States. The summit was indeed a gathering of very bright, motivated, devoted, and patriotic individuals and organizations, whose efforts I deeply appreciate.

It was undercut, however, by a tragic, widely shared blindspot regarding the core vulnerability of the American vote counting process, both in theory and in concrete political bottom-line fact. That process, in the computerized voting era, has become and remains unobservable, offering an open invitation to targeted manipulation sweeping in its cumulative effect.

If U.S. television and politicians started saying that Saudi Arabia should be bombed because it kills and tortures innocent people, within a week many millions of Americans would demand just that. And because those voices do say that about ISIS, many millions of Americans do favor a war on ISIS.

My point is not that bombs would be worse than the problem addressed and would make the problem itself worse as well, although that's all true. Rather, my point is that most people who favor wars do so in order to blindly support a nation, and in blindly supporting that nation they allow it to dictate which wars they will favor. Although war supporters will give you reasons for the wars they favor, they actually favor whichever wars they are told to favor, and no others. And they'll give you the reasons they are told to believe in as well.

Many people all over the world watch television series based on the commercials, promotional media hype, interviews that the cast members, promoters and sponsors give and, of course, by word of mouth.  Another way that people are influenced into watching a particular show is through the television content rating systems.

With more than 50 sports and events, including 14 Olympic sports, the 2015 Arnold Sports Festival presents fitness and fun for all ages March 5-8, 2015. The festival has expanded into the world’s largest multi-sport fitness weekend since its 1989 debut.  Over 18,000 athletes will compete at Greater Columbus Convention Center, Ohio Expo Center, Hilton Columbus Downtown, LC Pavilion, Hollywood Casino, Nationwide Arena, New Albany High School and Stars Indoor Sports. See ArnoldSportsFestival.com for all times and locations.

Powerlifter John C. Downing, coach of The Ohio State University powerlifting club level team, is going for a world record in his weight class at this year’s Arnold Sports Classic. Downing is 5’6 and 181 pounds. In his weight class, the record is 617 pounds for the squat, one of three weight-lifting moves in the sport of powerlifting. Thus, he’ll be attempting to lift more than three times his bodyweight.
  Competitive powerlifting is a global sport that has nine professional organizations, and is up for review by the Olympic committee to make it a medal sport. Competitors vie for first place by achieving the largest weight total possible for three separate lifts – the squat, bench press and deadlift (where the weight is on the ground and must be lifted to hip level).
  Downing has mostly trained six days a week, several hours a day, for the last 12 years to reach this level and be a relevant contender at the Arnold, which is considered one of the sport’s most prominent events. Last year he tied for third place. This year he wants to break the record and take first place.

For most of us, gaming comes easy. Those who aren’t faced with physical, sensory or cognitive challenges can play anything without worrying whether special controllers are supported, whether the colors are clearly separated, or whether it contains patterns that could trigger an epileptic seizure. But for many, these things are serious concerns. Even something as common as carpal tunnel syndrome — which I suffer from myself — can affect a person’s ability to enjoy games that the rest of the community takes for granted. With video games such a significant part of our culture and online games specifically a vital source of social interaction for some with disabilities that limit their ability to travel, making games that can be enjoyed regardless of these challenges should be an important consideration for game designers.

  Sadly, much like matters of racial and gender representation, these issues all too often fall by the wayside in an industry that’s mostly white, male and conventionally abled.

When the young Austrian with the thick accent told Jim Lorimer he’d be back to start a bodybuilding competition in Columbus, Lorimer scoffed: “I was like, ‘Yeah, sure you will.’”

 "There are a lot of people in this room that are
on watch lists, with huge dossiers," Edward Snowden's colleague Jacob
Appelbaum warned a packed audience of international journalists and
diplomats, business executives, software experts and others here in
Bangkok at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand.

"Not just me. Probably people you wouldn't imagine," Appelbaum said.

"I think that that's a problem. To have a secret police state society,
is really scary."

Appelbaum helped create -- and appears in -- "CITIZENFOUR" which won
Best Documentary at the Oscars on February 22 for portraying former
U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) subcontractor Snowden and the
information he smuggled out, revealing America's electronic spying on
the public worldwide.

The film was directed by Laura Poitras who Appelbaum assisted during
their joint initial interviews with Snowden online, encrypting their
conversations and confirming his NSA qualifications.

Appelbaum, a Californian, is based in Berlin.

This interview was conducted in Matanzas, Cuba. Part Two will follow in next week’s issue of BAR.

“Cuba is a country that has stuck its neck out for Black liberation struggles around the world.”

I met Manolo De Los Santos during a recent trip to Cuba organized by Code Pink, a grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end US funded wars and occupations. The interview took place in the coastal city of Matanzas, one of the sites of the 16th century Euro-American Human Trafficking Trade (termed by European traders and historians as the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade) at the Matanzas Evangelical Theological Seminary.

What an honor to be in Cuba for the first celebration of One Billion Rising!

150 of us from the United States had travelled to Cuba with CODEPINK: Women for Peace in the largest delegation of Americans to visit Cuba since the December 17, 2014 announcement of opening of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

Realizing that our delegation called “To Cuba With Love” would be in Cuba on February 14, Valentine’s Day, we asked our host organization the Cuban Institute with the Peoples (ICAP) if there was a venue in Havana where we could dance in the worldwide campaign to end violence against women.

The dynamic ICAP director and member of the Cuban Parliament Kenia Serrano suggested that we have the dance at the annual Cuba International Book Fair held in the San Carlos de la Cabana fortress, the scenic fort located across the harbor from Old Havana.

Dance at a Book Fair we asked?