Car Bomb in Thailand Injures 56 and Damages Peace Talks

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A devastating car bomb exploded in front of a
shopping complex on May 9 in southern Thailand, minutes after a
smaller blast lured security forces and rescuers to the site, injuring
at least 56 people in the one of the worst attacks on a civilian
target this year.
   Suspicion immediately fell on Muslim Malay-Thai insurgents fighting
for autonomy or independence from Buddhist-majority Thailand.
   The stalemate conflict has killed 6,800 people on all sides since 2004.
   Unidentified people parked the car bomb in front of a shopping
center in downtown Pattani, capital of Pattani province and exploded
it on May 9 at about 2:30 p.m. when the area was thronged with buyers
and sellers.
   Some early reports said assailants first threw "fireworks" into the
Big C Supercenter and fled.
   Other reports described the first attack as a motorcycle bomb
exploding in the entrance of Big C, causing minimal damage.
   While trying to determine what occurred, security forces, rescuers

North Korea's Cuisine: Brainwashing & No Bones

BANGKOK, Thailand -- The best way to experience North Korean cuisine
in Bangkok is at Pyongyang Okryu Restaurant where armed troops and
gleeful singers relentlessly try to brainwash you, while North Korean
women strip you of your freedom and delicately pull out your bones.
   If you like, your noodles will be cheerfully scissored.
   But be warned: the efficient staff are subject to instant mood swings.
   The polka-dot clad waitresses begin with shy smiles and tender hand
waves while greeting you.
   Suddenly however they can appear panic-stricken, drained of
emotions, or severely displeased if you stray from the menu.
   You can eat a tasty but somewhat oily and salty meal while ignoring
the bizarre behavior around your plastic-covered table amid the
restaurant's permanent Christmas decorations.
   If you are aware of North Korea's harsh regime, you may feel like
you have passed through an invisible membrane when you enter this
restaurant on trendy, upmarket Ekamai Road.
   That's because this modern, fresh, clean and intriguing eatery is

ANGEL WAGENSTEIN: ART IS A WEAPON Film Review

The USSR had Sergei Eisenstein, while Bulgaria had Angel Wagenstein. The life and work of the 94-year-old screenwriter and novelist is wonderfully depicted in Andrea Simon’s top notch documentary, Angel Wagenstein: Art is a Weapon, which had its West Coast premiere at Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills during the 12th annual South East European Film Festival.

This extremely well-directed, enlightening nonfiction biopic paints a fascinating portrait of this leftwing Jewish writer who was born 1922 in Plovdiv. The son of a Bulgarian dedicated Communist - who, the son quips, naively “expected the world revolution to take place next Tuesday” - little Angel met his father on a visit to the prison where he was confined for his role in what Weapon contends was the first armed uprising against a fascist regime. Wagenstein (alternatively spelled as “Vagenshtain”) would recount this largely overlooked 1923 rebellion in one of his first scripts, 1954’s The Heroes of September.

Thousands in U.S. send messages of friendship to Russians

As of this writing, 7,269 people in the United States, and rising steadily, have posted messages of friendship to the people of Russia.

Die-In at Stivers' Lancaster Office

People laying outside on the ground holding tombstone signs that say ACA Repeal killed me

Wednesday, May 10, 4:30-6:30pm
104 E Main St, Lancaster, OH
Join us to illustrate how Steve Stivers' vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with tax breaks for billionaires affects his constituents! Please bring headstones and chalk
 

La Myopie du Monde: Why the excitement over Macron’s victory is misguided

Young looking man with brown hair receding hairline against trees in background

I could begin by stating that the world, despite small and justified protests, is celebrating Emmanuel Macron’s recent victory in the French presidential election. On the surface, it would be an accurate statement. People across the world from Western Europe to the United States are writing and posting about Macron and his saving the continent. But the excitement is really over Marine Le Pen’s loss. The French, overall, didn’t want to be seen as racist and isolationist. The rest of the world didn’t want another Donald Trump in power. Amidst all the hubbub since the election, it would be easy to think Macron is a progressive warrior who ended racism and nationalism in one fell swoop. That description isn’t even remotely close to who he really is, and it is a shining example of the problem with people thinking about politics in relative, rather than absolute, terms.

Bill Maher and the Corporate Democrats Need to Stop Scapegoating the Grassroots Resistance

Corporate Democrats and liberal commentators love to scapegoat the activist left for their catastrophic failures. The blame game just fell to a new low with Bill Maher’s latest attack on Jill Stein.

Like Hillary branding Trump supporters as “deplorables,” Bill tells American grassroots activists to “go f*** yourselves with a locally grown organic cucumber.”

Hillary says she was “on her way to victory” when FBI Director James Comey and “the Russians” intervened. Maher and others say Stein caused her defeat, as they blamed Ralph Nader for George W. Bush in 2000.

Hillary now pledges to “resist” Trump Fascism. Maher and other liberal pundits have been relentless in their attacks on him.

And the rest of us struggle with the keys to nonviolent resistance in the Dark Age now upon us.

Save the Wayne! Franklin County Green Party Monthly Meeting

People holding banner outside of Wayne National Forest saying Up for Auction Our Wayne National Forest to the Highest Bidder

Tuesday, May 9, 7pm presentation
Northwood-High building, 2231 N. HIgh St., room 100, if you park in the rear, park in "R" spots only
Joy Adams from Keep Wayne Wild will report on the efforts to keep fracking out of the Wayne National Forest. 
fcgreenparty@gmail.com

Bill Maher and the Corporate Democrats Need to Stop Scapegoating the Grassroots Resistance

Photo of Bill Maher

Also online at Reader Supported News  

Corporate Democrats and liberal commentators love to scapegoat the activist left for their catastrophic failures. The blame game just fell to a new low with Bill Maher’s latest attack on Jill Stein.

Like Hillary branding Trump supporters as “deplorables,” Bill tells American grassroots activists to “go f*** yourselves with a locally grown organic cucumber.”

Hillary says she was “on her way to victory” when FBI Director James Comey and “the Russians” intervened. Maher and others say Stein caused her defeat, as they blamed Ralph Nader for George W. Bush in 2000.

Hillary now pledges to “resist” Trump Fascism. Maher and other liberal pundits have been relentless in their attacks on him.

And the rest of us struggle with the keys to nonviolent resistance in the Dark Age now upon us.

How Trump's Genocidal Hero Andrew Jackson Might Have "Avoided the Civil War"

 

onald Trump’s latest insane excursion into US history has been to claim that his great hero, Andrew Jackson, might have prevented the Civil War.

Given his racist, genocidal nature, our seventh president could only have done that by giving up slavery in the South, spreading it into the North or giving the Southwest back to Mexico.

Jackson, of course, would never have given up slavery, which was the cause of the war and the core of his fortune.

As a young man, like a cowboy driving cattle, Jackson personally drove slaves to market. He eventually owned more than a hundred of them, and defended America’s “peculiar institution” at every opportunity.

In addition to their authoritarian temperaments, Jackson and Trump share “accomplishments” such as trashing the Constitution, personally profiting from the presidency, and inciting imperial conquest. Jackson did stand for the Union against South Carolina’s threatened secession, but that was about tariffs, not slavery.

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