Lakota Nation and their quest for justice

“lakota nation vs. the united states”

great documentary on the lakota nation and their quest for justice – quite an interesting film to view in these trying times. saw this again for the third time tonight (if you count movies seen on flights as one) available on apple tv and on youtube – well worth the watch, especially if you pay for it xx  by xy

Jim Marshall exhibit and new book : photographs of the Peace Movement in the 1960s

peace: photographs by jim marshall

“the peace symbol as we know it today was designed in 1958 by gerald holto”

haight street san francisco 1967 (© jim marshall photography)

a new exhibit with previously unseen photographs by jim marshall at the san francisco art exchange (SFAE).

almost 60 years after the creation of the CND peace symbol, marshall’s body of “peace” photographs is a “beautiful and thoughtful reflection from one of the most celebrated photographers of the twentieth century,”

no on the travel ban oakland 1965

the exhibit is in celebration of the release of marshall’s new book jim marshall: peace, released by reel art press, according to a press release. the forward is written by street artist shepard fairey, the book’s text is written by peter doggett… and joan baez, provides the book’s afterword

peace walk for nuclear disarmament golden gate park 1962

free speech rally telegraph ave. berkeley 1968

marshall was one of the most recognized photographs in the history of music. he also explored the changing times of the 1960s, photographing the creativity and celebrity. he started documenting the CND peace symbol and peace rallies as a personal project, reel art press writes. the photographs had remained in his archives until now. the photographs were taken between 1961 and 1968 across america.

new york city photographed at newport folk festival in 1963

jim marshall 1936-2010

the CND peace symbol was designed in 1958 by gerald holtom for the british campaign for nuclear disarmament, reports reel art press. the symbol then spread from the uk to the us. marshall’s photographs document the symbol’s different meanings over time, starting as a symbol for “ban the bomb”-specific protests, and ending up as an international sign for peace. by xy

peace now: some words of wisdom from charles mingus

charles mingus at a peace rally circa 1967

charles mingus – don’t let it happen here

“…one day they came and they took the communists, and i said nothing because i was not a communist.

then one day they came and they took the people of the Jewish faith, and i said nothing because i had no faith.

then one day they came and took the unionists, and i said nothing because i was not a unionist.

they burned the Catholic churches one day, and i said nothing because i was a protestant.

one day they came and they took me, and i could say nothing because i was as guilty as they were of genocide, destroying the rights of any man to live…”

some great words by charles mingus, genuine people should follow them regardless of the parties – follow them when they effects the jews and follow them when they effects the palestinians. cease fire now, free the hostages, stop the illegal settlements, demand a just peace, there is no humane alternative – by xy

Do Arab citizens of Israel have the same rights and opportunities as other Israelis?

we are all trying to sort out how we got here? the atrocities on oct 7th were hard to take in, followed by more blood and death on the other side, which is also hard to accept. let us try and understand how we got here. why cant these 2 people (palestinians and israelis) live together in peace like they did until they didn’t some 75 years ago?

let us clarify that there are two categories of arabs living there – and they are often referred to “interchangeably”.  they are those 1- the arab-citizens of israel who live in israel proper and those 2- the palestinians living in westbank and gaza who are facing much harsher set of realities such as settlements in west bank and check points across their territory. this article from “council on foreign relations” ( cfr.org ) refers to the ones living in israel proper as “citizens of israel”.

“council on foreign relations” was established in 1921 and is currently run by michael froman (president) and david rubenstein (chirman).

unedited excerpts :”israel’s declaration of independence recognizes the equality of all the country’s residents, arabs included, but equality is not explicitly enshrined in israel’s basic laws, the closest thing it has to a constitution. some rights groups argue that dozens of laws indirectly or directly discriminate against arabs.

israel’s establishment as an explicitly jewish state is a primary point of contention, with many of the state’s critics arguing that this by nature casts non-jews as second-class citizens with fewer rights. the 1950 law of return, for example, grants all jews, as well as their children, grandchildren, and spouses, the right to move to israel and automatically gain citizenship. non-jews do not have these rights. palestinians and their descendants have no legal right to return to the lands their families held before being displaced in 1948 or 1967.

another major difference is that, unlike the vast majority of jewish israelis, arab citizens do not have to serve in the israel defense forces (IDF), the country’s military. they can still enlist, and some do, especially druze and circassians, but some are stigmatized in their communities as a result. yet, not enlisting can significantly disadvantage them both socially and economically. for instance, many israelis make important and lasting personal connections with their fellow citizens through the idf, and they also receive many financial benefits, such as education assistance and discounted permits for building homes and owning land.”

“statistics from IDI show that arab citizens of israel continue to face structural disadvantages. for example, poorly funded schools in their localities contribute to their attaining lower levels of education and their reduced employment prospects and earning power compared to israeli jews. more than half of the country’s arab families were considered poor in 2020, compared to 40 percent of jewish families. socioeconomic disparities between israel’s jewish and arab citizens are less pronounced in mixed cities, though a government audit in july 2022 found arabs had less access to municipal services in those cities.

a good historic context in the recent history of the conflict and the rise of netanyahu, america & the road to war in gaza (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

gideon levy is an ex IDF soldier and an israeli journalist for the israeli daily haaretz

arab citizens’ concerns about inequality mounted after israel passed its nation-state law in 2018. among other provisions, the law removed arabic as an official language but gave it a “special status,” declared israel the nation-state of the jewish people, and said the jewish people have a unique “right to exercise national self-determination in the state of israel.” the language left many arabs feeling that their rights as citizens were being undermined.

to address disparities in the so-called arab sector, in 2021, the government approved a $9 billion, five-year plan to boost employment, improve health-care services and housing, and develop infrastructure, among other goals. it followed a similar initiative by the previous prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, who designated more funding for the sector than any of his predecessors, even as he frequently incited anger toward the arab community.” and then there is the west bank and gaza which is another story – the full article currently available here. by xy

wikileaks’ julian assange : what really happened? what was he? abandoned hero or russia’s useful idiot?

talent role in this love mystery: sofia wilen (the cashmere girl) also referred to as “miss w” was 27 years old at the time. she was an assange groupie. when she found out the wikiLeaks head was speaking in stockholm on august 14, she went to the event, insisted on spending the evening with assange and friends after the talk, and ended up alone with him at the cinema… they then had sex.

julian assange was 39 years old at the time. he was considered a soft spoken revolutionary cyber rockstar. he was first admired by the LEFT, for releasing the ‘truth’ about the iraq war, and having the RIGHT call for his assassination. he was then loved by the RIGHT and trump team, for releasing hillary clintons documents and ‘telling the truth to the public about hillary’ and hated by the LEFT, with hillary herself asking “cant we just take him out with a drone strike?” today he is abandoned by ALL and perishing in belmarsh prison, the gitmo of uk.

let me stop for moment for a little off-topic sidebar:

“…my pastor who graduated from brooklyn community baptist college down my street believes in god al mighty. but physicist cosmologist and cambridge graduate stephen hawking doesn’t… just this makes me atleast wanna look into it a bit more. now let me tell you who supports julian assange: they are noam chomsky, ken loach, ai weiwei, roger waters, and 338 intellectuals from 33 countries who signed a petition for his release. ok… back to sensationalism…

anna ardin was referred to as “miss a”, she was 31 at the time, and was working as an unofficial go-between for assange and journalists during his visit to stockholm. she also offered him her apt upon his arrival on august 11. they had sex several times at her one-room stockholm flat, giving details that were blocked out of the police transcript.

sex, lies and julian assange – four corners – four corners broadcasts on ABC TV: sex lies and julian assange

four corners is an award winning (Including 23 logie awards and 62 walkley awards) australian investigative journalism/current affairs documentary television program.

hero or villain julian assange – four corners

the us vs julian assange – four corners

whether you are on the left or the right or simply clueless, before you form an opinion on assange (or agree with tonight’s dinner table crowd narrative) you should watch this documentary. because if he was indeed the rapist, russian useful idiot, who helped trump… or the unpatriotic russian spy that they say he was… then all is fine, let him perish in jail. but if he was the champion of truth and the enabler of civilians holding to account the wrong doings of their powerful governments, then shame on all of us for abandoning him, and abandoning free press. by dd

make love not riots

be it the capital riots or the seattle riots or the ukraine resistance, you cant help but bring some love into it. it was che guevera who said “love is the most important quality a revolutionary must possess”. but of course not surprisingly this image is from the vancouver “hockey (?) riots” from our canadian neighbors not the angry gun toting people on this side of the pond. by dd

jarvis cocker talk about music and donald trump but with out meaning to…

another man: jarvis cocker was always good at scaring us… wasn’t he?

well finding this jarvis cocker interview on the BBC with him just reconfirms how cool documentary film maker adam curtis actually was and still is…

saw this years ago, but how relevant and true this holds today with president donald trump and the disappearance of truth and the normalization of injustice and falsehoods. definitely worth a watch again if you have already seen this. And a must if you have never seen it.

“we have become lost in a fake world”

if you can play it here, here is a << DIRECT LINK TO YOUTUBE >>

russia, donald trump, patty smith and a damn good documentary. grab a glass of your oat milk, get-off Instagram and sit your money maker down. the flash sales can wait.   by dd

Us vs. sweden: we have vloggers and so do they!

“this is my very first vlog EVER!” says alissa violet, making the world a better place one video at a time

and here’s the swedish equivalent, elin ersson, who was being trashed by haters for doing all of this for some fame and attention!! oh really? refugee deportation from gothenburg to Afghanistan the perfect topic for teenage fame.

I mean how horrible can people be to look past the brave efforts of this young girl, risking financial and physical damage to save a strangers life she believes is at risk. these horrible people consider her action to be fueled by self promotion? if this is how people do self promotion, and chase after their 5 minutes of fame, then be it… how fantastic that would be. yuuuuuge respects for swedish lioness elin ersson, so impressed with your bravery and conviction the world needs more of you. aside from the julian assange incident, i think i simply love sweden and even more now. we love you erin xx. by kt

the special AKA : some advice on your racist friend…

the special AKA – “racist friend” by jerry dammers and his coventry based band

if the recent events in charlottesville, virginia (featuring the despicable kkk left overs, the white-supremacist, and the nazi alt-right) has had a silver lining, it’s that it made us all go and re-buy the specials (and AKA) albums all over again. it’s remarkable if not insane, that we still have to deal with such none-sense in 2017! #ignorance… (if only it worked on the web) beautiful song and a great trumpet riff that just fails to become irrelevant… if you like this check out our older post on “the nelson mandela song” written by jerry dammers for mandela before his release and election to south africa’s first black president (sounds like an oxymoron – first black president in south africa!!) o.k. children, its your future not ours, good luck, and good night… by dd

mit der Liebe aus Deutschland: good friends advice from across the pond

dear-americans-germany-trump-election

us elections 2016: which guy had the loud voice? couldn’t be rand paul… maybe ben carson? naaah. jeb? sorry i meant jeb! help us out please…

donald-trump-children

one man’s promise to the great german people: “… to overturn the terrible, terrible, treaties that made germany weak, and prayed upon by other countries. to bring pride back to the humble and good people, and make deutschland great again. specifically the middle and lower classes who he was to defend from the elite. he leveraged their desperation and fears. he promised to bring stability to the german citizens who were afraid of foreign ideologies (in that case communism). the turmoil and aftermath of the stock market crash, simmered up hate for the status-que, so much so that it even prompted big business to contribute funds to help his party. he asserted that germany was weak, corrupt and in a state of immediate collapse, he deflected all such responsibility to the immigrants, with tremendously alien religions (in that case the jewish people) and promoted a new future to make germany great again.” the rest, as they say, is history.

the good news is, adolf hitler was not as orange as donald trump, and he never admitted to grabbing any fräulein by the pussy… however… he did comb his hair to one-side, screamed at the top of his lungs, used hand gestures when speaking, belittled everyone around him, and had delusional knack for “winning” battles. now go figure! by xy

boom and your in london in 3.5 hrs

concord-supersonic-passenger-jet-boom

the new supersonic jet to replace the concord for the same price as today’s business class.

meet boom. boom is a prototype for a new supersonic passenger airplane that will be able to fly new york to london in just 3.5 hours, slightly quicker than concorde used to. but here’s the best part, boom states that it is using existing technologies to keep costs low, and the business model is based on flights being about the same price as a current business class is today, that is approx $2500 each way. apparently boom is already in development and test flights are planned for late 2017. fasten your seat belts, were coming to london for dinner. read more about boom supersonic jets here. by ac