Puerto Rico: Obama continues to ignore pleas to free political prisoner Oscar López Rivera

San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 29, 2016

BY MATT PEPPE

Two and a half months ago, asked by award-winning playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda about imprisoned Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar López Rivera – whose only crime, according to Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, is “conspiracy to free his people from the shackles of imperial justice,” President Barack Obama told the [Broadway musical] Hamilton creator that he “had [the case] on his desk.”

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Obama: We are here to extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 22 (acn) – We are here to extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people, said on Tuesday the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, at Havana’s Alicia Alonso Grand Theater. The U.S. president spoke to civil society from the emblematic building, in the presence of Army General Raul Castro, President of the Councils of State and Ministers.

We dot the I’s: Obama, CNN and political prisoners

By TONY SEED (Published March 21, slightly revised by the author on March 26) 

According to CNN, Cuban president Raul Castro “refused to answer the question,” when US president Barack Obama called on Jim Acosta, the Senior White House Correspondent for CNN, a Cuban-American, to ask the first question in a joint press conference with President Raúl Castro at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana on March 21. (After the presentations by the two heads of state in the joint press conference, the floor was opened to questions from the large number of international and Cuban journalists.) Acosta cynically asked if Cuba would release political prisoners.

President Castro immediately replied:

“Give me the list of political prisoners and I will release them immediately. Just mention a list. What political prisoners? Give me a name or names. After this meeting is over, you can give me a list of political prisoners. And if we have those political prisoners, they will be released before tonight ends.”

The program to resettle Syrian refugees in Canada (1): Canada accepts US veto

In an interview with the CBC, U.S. President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice confirmed that Canada used the U.S. biometrics system to screen each of the 25,000 Syrian refugees that came to Canada. “What we would do is share with our Canadian colleagues the info that we have uncovered and allow them to make judgments based on that,” said Rice. In this case the judgement was to automatically exclude that refugee.

Trump rally condemned, cancelled: the anti-establishment movement and the crisis for the US ruling factions

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The unprecedented rally taking place right now at the University of Illinois in Chicago against Trump and the US presidential primaries shows the strong anti-establishment, anti-racist, anti-war sentiment among voters across party lines. All major media now acknowledges this.

CNN is reporting “we are looking at thousands of protesters right now (inside the hall) . . . half the arena is anti-Trump.” (The seating capacity of the UC arena is 9,500.)

Obama’s crocodile tears – an African proverb

A picture of Obama

NEWS ITEM: “From every family who never imagined that their loved one would be taken from their lives from the bullet of a gun. Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad,” he managed. “And by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago every day.” He wiped a tear as it fell down over his cheekbone. As the president wept at the White House, gun investors were crying out for joy on Wall Street.  As has happened like clockwork anytime Obama goes near gun control, gun stocks shot through the roof on Tuesday, even as the broader market struggled through a brutal day of trading… In the three years since Sandy Hook, Smith & Wesson’s stock has leaped 213 per cent, Sturm Ruger’s nearly 39 per cent. – Vanity Fair

A picture of Obama sincerely crying

“Gun manufacturers have done very well during my presidency.” – Barack Obama, CNN Town Hall on gun control at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, January 7. 2016

The USA was the largest arms exporter for the period 2009-2013, accounting for 29 per cent of world deliveries. – Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

As of January 2015, the United States maintained a stockpile of approximately 4760 nuclear warheads. This included approximately 2080 deployed nuclear warheads, consisting of roughly 1900 strategic and 180 non-strategic warheads. In addition to this deployed arsenal, about 2680 warheads were held in reserve. Another roughly 2500 retired warheads were scheduled for dismantlement, giving a total inventory of approximately 7260 warheads. – SIPRI

A proverb from Africa may shed some light on this strange tale of the tears of the chieftain of U.S. imperialism.

* * *

IN THE OLD DAYS, when the animals could talk, Crocodile was king of the water creatures. One year, there was a drought, and the water in the river ran dry. Crocodile sent Otter to scout for a new home, and two days later, he returned to say there was a deeper river on the far side of the farmer’s fields.

When he heard this, Crocodile called upon Tortoise and Alligator, and he explained they must go see Lion, king of the land creatures.

“The veldt is dry,” he said, “and it will be a difficult journey, but we must make peace with the Lion and all his subjects, or we will die. They must help us cross the land to reach the other river.”

Tortoise and Alligator set off at once to see Lion. They carried along a peace treaty Crocodile had composed. When they arrived, they handed Lion the treaty.

Seymour Hersh and Bin Laden disinformation: killing the messenger

The credibility crisis of the US monopoly media and the role of media to disinform

It has largely been forgotten that after 9/11, the Taliban offered to supply Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind, to a third country for trial. The Bush administration refused, choosing to invade Afghanistan, a strategic country rich in natural resources, and to launch the “war on terrorism” for self-serving ends. Ten years later, the Obama administration, instead of putting him on trail, boasted that it had assassinated him, though suspiciously the body was never produced. The assassination by US special forces was the high point of Obama’s first term, and a major factor in his re-election. TREVOR TIMM* in the Columbia Journalism Review examines the media reaction to Seymour Hersh’s recent exposé challenging the credibility of the Obama White House and its narrative of the high-profile event. Hersh stated in conclusion: “High-level lying nevertheless remains the modus operandi of US policy, along with secret prisons, drone attacks, Special Forces night raids, bypassing the chain of command, and cutting out those who might say no.”

(May 15) – SEYMOUR HERSH HAS DONE THE PUBLIC a great service by breathing life into questions surrounding the official narrative of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Yet instead of trying to build off the details of his story, or to disprove his assertions with additional reporting, journalists have largely attempted to tear down the messenger.