Orion Test Lab Mockup for Next Flight Finished

TBR-NASA by Rachel Kraft.

The construction of an Orion crew module and crew module adapter full-scale mockup has been completed at the Littleton, Colorado facility of Lockheed Martin, NASA’s prime contractor for Orion. This mockup was transferred to the company’s Orion Test Lab on May 13, where engineers will configure it with the exact harnessing, electrical power, sensors, avionics and flight software needed to support Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), the first flight of Orion atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. Orion’s team of engineers will use the mockup to verify the configuration of these vehicle components for EM-1, which ultimately saves assembly time and reduces risk. The mockup will then be connected to hardware emulations of the full EM-1 stack (Orion crew module, European Service Module, second stage booster and the Space Launch System) as well as ground support equipment. Once it’s connected, the team will simulate and test every aspect of the EM-1 mission from launch to splashdown. Orion will enable astronauts to explore new destinations in the solar system, including an asteroid and on toward Mars.

Rachel Kraft, NASA public affairs officer, left, Frank Culbertson, Executive Vice President

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on May 15, 2015 by Rachel Kraft.

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← NASA Announces Journey to Mars Challenge, Seeks Public Input on Establishing Sustained Human Presence on Red Planet

One-Year Mission to Station Advances NASA's Journey to Mars

TBR-NASA,  NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden


 NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden



Today we launch an American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut to live and work in space for an entire year. It’s the first time an American astronaut will have been in space for that length of time. It’s an important stepping-stone on our journey to Mars and will give us detailed medical data recorded throughout the one-year expedition. President Obama recognized this significant American space exploration milestone in his State of the Union address this year, noting: “[We’re] pushing out into the solar system not just to visit, but to stay…as part of a reenergized space program.”

This mission is part of the critical roadmap we’ve been undertaking with bipartisan support since the President challenged us five years ago to plan for a human mission to an asteroid and later to Mars.
When American astronaut Scott Kelly is in space, he’ll not only carry out the research and technology demonstrations that our astronauts have been helping us develop during the past 14 years of continuous human habitation aboard the International Space Station (ISS), he’ll also participate in a unique experiment.
Scott has an identical twin brother, Mark – also an astronaut – who will be here on Earth. We’ll compare the brothers’ vital signs and learn how space affects the human body on orbit. Throughout Scott’s mission we’ll gain new, detailed insights on ways long-duration spaceflight can affect things like bone density, muscle mass, strength, vision and other aspects of human physiology. We’ll also look at mental changes and challenges astronauts may face when they embark on longer-duration missions.

We will also get an opportunity to see how microgravity affects the human genome. This information might affect every one of us on Earth as we get a unique insight into genomic changes.
Unfortunately, Scott won’t launch on this important mission from the United States on an American spacecraft. However, that’s not for a lack of trying on the part of the Obama Administration.
Five years ago, the President laid out a plan to ensure we had an American system to transport our astronauts to the International Space Station once the Bush Administration’s plan to retire the Space Shuttle went into effect. That plan looked to the ingenuity of U.S. industry to develop private space transportation systems to get crews to the ISS. Regrettably, Congress did not fully fund this plan and delayed its implementation until 2017. It is my hope that the plan is fully funded this year, as full funding this year is critical to ending our sole dependence on the Russians as soon as possible.
Kelly’s launch is one key aspect of NASA’s efforts to meet the President’s goal of a human mission to Mars, but much work is underway throughout the agency to meet this vision. Technology drives exploration and NASA has integrated its work to focus on developing the technologies to reach deeper into space. Our Space Launch System rocket, which will be the most powerful ever built, has moved from being a concept into development. Just this month we’ve tested the booster and the rocket engines for this powerful vehicle. The Orion spacecraft, in which astronauts will travel to farther destinations in deep space, performed flawlessly on its first flight test in December. We have completed the first round of detailed reviews and are now looking even closer at the heat shield through destructive evaluation. This data review will help us improve Orion’s safety and performance as we prepare for a crewed flight.

We’re also working on the advanced technologies for propulsion, landing and radiation shielding, among many others, that humans will need to travel farther than we ever have before. While that work is rapidly advancing, our commercial partners’ innovation will make it possible for the next generation of astronauts to travel once again to space on American systems. We couldn’t be more proud of our astronaut corps, our innovative engineers and scientists and the industrial gumption of our partners. Together, they’re helping to create a whole new segment of the economy that is driving the inspiration and competitiveness of the future.
Scott Kelly’s launch is more than simply one person’s journey to the International Space Station. At the end of his mission, he will become the record holder for longest stay in space by an American. But as he works off the Earth, for the Earth, he stands on the shoulders of the great NASA achievements that made the Space Station possible. He is helping us reach higher and take those next great leaps in exploration. His historic mission is one more sign that our nation’s space program is thriving and continues to lead the world.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on March 27, 2015 by Administrator Charles Bolden.

 
 

Netanyahu: He Came, He Saw, He Conquered. The Power of Israel over the United States

TBR-Op-Ed, By Prof. James Petras,
"There is only one reason that Netanyahu is received as a Viceroy overseeing and dictating strategic policy to what clearly is a servile colonial legislature," By Prof. James Petras

"There have been times when history has played tricks with man and..has magnified the features of essentially small persons into a parody of greatness". Rabindranath Tagore (on Benito Mussolini)

Introduction

How is it that the ruler (Benjamin Netanyahu) of a puny country (Israel) of 8.2 million (6.2 million Jews) with the 37th biggest economy (GDP in current prices) in the world dictates war policy and secures the willing submission of the legislature of the largest economy and most powerful military empire in the world?
What significance does Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress have, beyond the fact that he uses it as a platform to attack the elected President of the US, to denounce US peace negotiations and to demand that Congress adopt policies designed to precipitate a war with Iran?

Netanyahu’s Dominant Presence in the US
There is only one reason that Netanyahu is received as a Viceroy overseeing and dictating strategic policy to what clearly is a servile colonial legislature: over the past quarter of a century, Israel’s proxy in the US , an entire panoply of Zionist political organizations, government officials, propaganda mills, media moguls, billionaires and millionaires, have deeply penetrated the legislature, executive and administrative centers of decision making. Netanyahu’s arrogance and “brazen” presumption (Financial Times, 3/4/15, p. 6) to dictate policy to the US Congress is rooted in the pre-existing power base created by the proxy Zionist power configuration.
Netanyahu can sneer, with a crooked smile, at the US President, because, after several decades of Zionist permeation of the US state, he knows that he comes not as an outside power but as a leader and spokesperson of an inside power.
His presence was hailed by all the mass media as a major event, as international news, for over a month in advance. With Napoleonic presumption he dared to announce in advance that he would advance a war thesis in the fashion of any head of state. He can act as an unelected dictator because the elected officials have been converted into docile and complicit subjects by his proxy power structure. Netanyahu follows the political precept of his predecessor Ariel Sharon, who faced with Israeli worry- wards criticizing his obstreperous intervention in US politics , once stated “Don’t worry.We lead the US by the nose”.
The crucial theoretical point is that the conditions that enabled Netanyahu to come, to see and to conquer, were not of his doing. His presence in the US Congress and his message is derivied from the power of his supporters, deeply embedded in the structure of political power in the US.
Otherwise, who would take serious his delusional military fantasies, his clinically paranoid vision of peaceful adversaries, conspiring to “nuke Israel” and then the world, without a single nuclear bomb!
Prominent among Netanyahu’s financial backers are a group of prominent Zionist lumpen bourgeoisie,billionaires who lent to millions of borrowers at extortionate rates(between 1400 and 4000% ) and played a leading role in the fraudulent mortgage induced crises of 2009-forward.They include Al Goldstein co-founder of AvantCredit and CashNetUSA;Sasha Orloff and Jacob Rosenberg founders of Lendup;Daniel Gilbert founder of QuickenLoans- a predator subprime lender;Ronald Arnall owner of Ameriquest….. .They used part of their ill-gotten gains to ease their consciences by donating millions to Israeli and US jewish causes.Being generous to Israel provides a sort of perverse “forgiveness” for screwing millions of Americans ..
One does not need much imagination to envision them cheering Netanyahu’s AIPAC and Congressional diatribes. It is not surprising that the lumpen bourgeoisie backs a lumpen prime minister.
The best and the brightest of the Zionist phalanx of pundits, professors, lawyers, economists and financiers have created an aura of gravity and profundity, around this vulgar beerhall brawler.
This raises a basic question: Why do upwardly mobile, prosperous and elite educated Zionist majorities, enthusiastically pledge unconditional loyalty to an authoritarian foreign ruler who humiliates their country of birth?
Why did ten thousand American born Zionist professionals, stand and cheer, as they did the day before his congressional speech, as Netanyahu dictated his rabid bellicose political line to them, at the AIPAC conference?
Is it because they believe he is their Chosen Leader of their Chosen Fatherland?
Netanyahu, with all his vulgarity and mediocrity, strikes a deep and abiding chord in the soul of his Zionist followers. They believe they are the collective geniuses of a superior species, who need not abide by the protocols of non-Zionist states and international laws which hinder his colonial rule over millions of Palestinians.
What else but that identity of superiority allows the educated and prosperous, the humane and the cruel, to bond and welcome Netanyahu, as a modern secular Moses crossing the Potomac, delivering “the Jews” (for the messianic Netanyahu claims to speak for “all Jews”) from the mortal threats (Iran) cultivated by gentile politicians. The great majority of Zionist activists are deaf, dumb and blind to those who criticize and refute his infantile and grotesque lies, the scrofulous screeds about non-existing “existential threats” which infest his speeches.Worse they will terrorize and cow any critic,demand that their employers fire them,as they have done over the past two decades. They believe that the Palestinians, who Israel bombed into the Stone Age, are threats to Israel. They believe that nuclear weaponless Iranians, facing hundreds of Israeli nuclear bombs, are a threat to Israel. They believe there is one “truth”: that all measures, speeches and actions which enhance the power and glory of Israel are virtuous. It is this “truth” that motivates hundreds of thousands of “virtuous” Zionists to donate hundreds of millions of dollars to buy and/or intimidate Presidents and Congresspeople,
Governors and Mayors, University Presidents and faculty, police informers and academic thugs. It is this Zionist power configuration which allows a political low-life like Netanyahu to enter and dominate the legislative chamber and tell US citizens where and when their next war should take place. It is for this power configuration that Congress “performs”; applauding and doing jumping jacks on cue for each and every one of Netanyahu’s emotional ejaculations.
Broad sectors of the Israeli public was immensely impressed by Netanyahu’s capacity to humiliate the President; by his willingness to dictate policy to the US: by the hyperkinetic docility and submissiveness of US Congress people. But this is not surprising. After all Israelis are used to dominating Palestinians and torturing them into submission and colonizing a whole people. Why shouldn’t they gloat, or be proud, if Netanyahu speaks and acts as a viceroy to the US? After all their leader is dominating a so-called ‘world power’!
No doubt the Israeli empire loyalists will overwhelmingly vote for Netanyahu, even if the “opposition” claims they also denounce the US-Iranian peace negotiations. Opposition leaders Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni don’t have Netanyahu’s gangster look, that crooked smile that says to the US leaders, “we lead you by the nose and you love it”.What the rest of the world thinks of a braying burro led by the nose is not hard to imagine:world leadership certainly is not foremost in their minds…
There is much idle chatter from liberals, leftists and progressives, claiming that Netanyahu’s ‘brazen intervention’ would backfire; that it would damage relations with the US; that it would weaken, undermine US-Iranian relations and allow Iran to secure nuclear weapons. Liberal zionists claim that Netanyahu’s speech would weaken support for Israel among Democratic congress people; that it would undermine US-Iranian relations and allow Iran to secure nuclear weapons. Liberal Zionists claim that Netanyahu’s speech would weaken US support for Israel (God forbid!).
These lamentations have no substance; they are mendacious concoctions of minds which lack any capacity to understand power especially the permanent power of the Zionist power configuration.
Even a cursory reading of the political facts which preceded accompanied and followed Netanyahu’s Congressional dictates, demonstrates the exact opposite.
Immediately after Netanyahu’s intervention, Congressional leaders moved ahead to fast track legislation to heighten Iranian sanctions, to veto any Executive agreement. The Republication majority and over half of the Democrats chose to back the “foreign Viceroy” on policies of war and peace.
Far from “prejudicing” relations with the Obama regime, the Administration in the person of Secretary of State John Kerry vetoed a measure passed by the UN Human Right Commission condemning Israel’s savage war crimes against Palestinians… Obama’s United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power did the usual belly crawl for Israel at the AIPAC conference following Netanyahu’s rousing diatribe. US-Iranian “negotiations” in Switzerland increasingly turned on exactly the issues Netanyahu demanded.. US Secretary of State Kerry insisted on on-going intrusive inspections of Iran’s entire nuclear and military installations; retaining most sanctions for a decade; eliminating most enriched uranium …In a word disarming Iran, increasing its military vulnerability to an Israeli nuclear attack, without any deterrence or retaliatory capacity! Iran is formally negotiating with Kerry on behalf of the 5 plus 1, but the agenda and demands are set by the raucous over-voice of Netanyahu, who is the most influential invisible presence.
In other words there is ample evidence that Netanyahu’s intervention far from ‘damaging’ US-Israeli relations, further reinforced Israel’s power over the US. By securing the Administration’s declarations of unconditional loyalty while humiliating the President and seizing executive prerogatives, Israel demonstrates to the world that it can and will dictate US strategic policy and denounce its President with total impunity.
Netanyahu is far from being ostracized. He has a global platform from which to spew his rabid chauvinist diatribes against peace and negotiations. His speech, its content and style, received front page and extended prime time coverage. His war-mongering resonated with the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and US News and World Report.
Netanyahu’s political line inspired AIPAC’s ten thousand ultra-Zionists, who stormed Capital Hall and demanded Congress people and Congressional staff to act on His message. Not a single dissenting voice emanated from the Presidents of the 52 Major American (sic) Jewish organizations whose first loyalty continued to be toward Israeli interests as defined by their Prime Minister.
The voices of dissent among the few dozen Jews on Capitol Hill, and outside the AIPAC conference hall, did not register in Congress or among the vast majority of Jewish community leaders or in the mass media.
Contrary to the lamentations and claims that Netanyahu has “weakened” Israel, the facts on the ground demonstrate that he has strengthened his “leadership” among the billionaires who buy US Congressional leaders. He has demonstrated that US officials, even ones who he insults and attacks, will continue to support Israeli war crimes in international forums; regale Israel with $3 billion a year in military aid to enhance its military supremacy in the Middle East; and incorporate its demands in any strategic negotiations with ‘Islamic’ countries like Iran, even if it undermines the bases of any negotiated agreement.

Conclusion
Clearly Netanyahu alienated a minority of US Congressional Democrat but mostly on procedural issues of protocol rather than on the more substantive issues of mongering for war and sanctions against Iran. Netanyahu’s messianic claim to speak for “all Jews” did arouse over 2,000 American Jews and non-Jews to sign a paid advertisement denying his status as the Second Coming of Moses.
But as the rousing welcome and conclusion to his speech by the Congressional majority and the unanimity of AIPAC’s thousands demonstrate, Israel’s formidable Zionist power configuration still dominates US policy in the Middle East.
The ‘debate’ over Netanyahu’s episodic presence in the US Congress and humiliation of the US President, is misplaced.What really needs to be debated is the more fundamental question of the permanent presence, power and prerogatives of the Zionist power configuration in the making of US Middle East policy.
No other visiting Prime Minister or President can be recieved with so much media attention and political fanfare, as Netanyahu because none possess the formidable, organized, well financed and disciplined political apparatus which Israel possess. An apparatus which defends and promotes US wars on behalf of Israel, Israel’s war crimes, land seizures and torture of Palestinians. That they support Netanyahu’s gross humiliation of Obama is not surprising – it merely confirms the “Law of the Return”: that for American Zionists there is only one true state of the Jews –and that is Israel; and that their only “true” leaders, are Israelis… As it happens today he is called Benjamin Netanyahu. And that any US policy, negotiations or agreements in the Middle East have to be in accord with their leader.
Congress knows that.
The “52” know that.
Only the majority of the American electorate, who still believe they live in a free and independent country are not privy to that. Even as Netanyahu’s intervention tells them otherwise.
But then we live in a peculiar sui generis ‘meritocracy in which the opinions of 2% of the chosen people counts more than that of 98% of our citizens.
The critics, Jews and non-Jews ,must realize that their problem with Netanyahu requires them to delve deeper; and that their opposition needs to become more systematic and more directly confrontational with the Zionist power configuration. Otherwise there is no basis for believing that the US can end national humiliations and regain its status as a free and democratic republic.
James Petras is the author of four volume study of US – Israeli relations. The most recent is The Politics of Empire: The US, Israel and the Middle East (Atlanta: Clarity Press 2014). Contributor-Alain/UFAA          

 

A Note From Sheila Bair, Americans for Financial Reform

TBR-Washington D.C., contributor Sheila Bair, Americans For Financial Reform Lisa Donner
In 2008, we learned the hard way what happens when banks take on too much risk. There has been some progress since then in limiting risk in the system, but there is still much more to do. Sheila Bair – who served as Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and witnessed the financial crisis up close – is fighting with Americans for Financial Reform to decrease risk-taking on Wall Street by making sure big banks are subject to stronger capital rules. As she explains below, she has written a petition calling on the regulators to limit excessive risk-taking by the biggest Wall Street banks.

Please join Sheila Bair and other AFR members and supporters in signing this important appeal.
Thank you,
Lisa Donner
Americans for Financial Reform

A Note from Sheila Bair
As Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from 2006 to 2011, I have front line experience with the problems and havoc that can ensue when large, interconnected financial institutions take excessive risks.  I am committed to protecting American taxpayers from any future bailout of these so-called “too big to fail” institutions.  The best way to do that is to ensure these institutions have adequate private investment to absorb the losses when they fail. That allows markets to work as they should – with private investors accepting the risks and taking the losses, rather than the "heads I win, tails the public loses" practices we saw during the financial crisis where some large banks and other “systemic” institutions were allowed to reap the profits of their risk taking, but turn to taxpayers for help when those risks turned sour.   

Big financial institutions profit by relying primarily on borrowed money – instead of shareholder equity – to fund their loans and investments. Because the market views them as implicitly backed by the government, it is cheaper for them to fund themselves with debt instead of equity. Through high levels of leverage, executives are able to increase their returns on equity - and their bonuses which are frequently tied to shareholder returns. Prior to the financial crisis, some of our biggest Wall Street banks were borrowing an incredible $30 to $40 for every dollar of hard cash they had from shareholders.

Big financial organizations have strong financial incentives to increase leverage. This is why it is essential for global and U.S. regulators to take a firm line on the amount of borrowing they are allowed to do.  U.S. banking regulators have already moved to limit big bank borrowing to less than $20 for each dollar of shareholder capital, and just last month proposed further borrowing limits for the largest U.S. banks that exceed the minimums set by international regulators. But behind the scenes, they’re facing intense resistance from many Wall Street banks, who are lobbying them to roll back and weaken their rules.

In the long run, better capitalized banks are in the interests of shareholders, creditors, and the public at large.  Though tougher capital rules may impact returns on equity in the short-term, in the long-term, thick cushions of capital protect investors against unforeseen risks and position the bank to continue lending during downturns. Numerous studies have shown that well capitalized banks do a better job of lending through cycles. This helps guarantee sustainable profits for shareholders, and reduces the risk of default for creditors. Most importantly, well-capitalized banks are in a stronger position to lend during times of economic distress when the economy needs them the most.
Can you join Americans for Financial Reform and me in calling on the Federal Reserve and other banking regulators to boost capital requirements for large, “systemic” financial institutions? Let’s show that the public wants and deserves a stable financial system that meets the needs of the real economy.

Sincerely,
Sheila Bair

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Sent by Americans for Financial Reform
1629 K Street NW, 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 - (202) 466-1885

American

Universal Black

TBR Leighton Bradford Editor-in-Chief

In my own discernment of man or humankind, there remains oppression. Oppression becomes an ever-present fact within our society, looming throughout our human existence. Without a fundamental basis of power, most who are oppressed, lack the ability to fend off this oldest of evils. The subsequent tenements of social adversity allow for nothing short of submission. This state of consciousness envelopes ethnicities and cultures. Ignorance of either your oppressed state or the nature of who is oppressing, confounds any attempt at liberation. The leadership associated with this ill, must allow for a semblance of the scientific method, that is to say, an empirical inquiry as you analyze what seems to be degradation.

Within this inquiry must reside an exact measurement of suffering or what could be described as a leading misery indicator, comprising the following: Unemployment (proportionality and the lack thereof), Land or home ownership, financial or economic stability, cultural bonds (i.e. education, faith, family), and incarceration rate. Any leader must focus on what hinders the oppressed and devise solutions logically. Many will fail to address the most basic aspects of meeting the down trodden physiological needs.

Within the framework of liberation, exists inspiration coupled with substantive progress.  Just give the people what they want, Freedom. Freedom at a quicken pace, and not mired down with the dictated pace of the status quo. The highest human endeavor is but trite, unless the social status of man is elevated. My hope is for the discontinue of “Technological Masturbation” Speech.  Release the stored warehouses of grain and feed those who need to be fed.

   

Artículo de Fidel: Triunfarán las ideas justas o triunfará el desastre

TBR Fidel Castro, President of Cuba
La sociedad mundial no conoce tregua en los últimos años, particularmente desde que la Comunidad Económica Europea, bajo la dirección férrea e incondicional de Estados Unidos, consideró que había llegado la hora de ajustar cuentas con lo que restaba de dos grandes naciones que, inspiradas en las ideas de Marx, habían llevado a cabo la proeza de poner fin al orden colonial e imperialista impuesto al mundo por Europa y Estados Unidos.
En la antigua Rusia estalló una revolución que conmovió al mundo.
Se esperaba, que la primera gran revolución socialista tendría lugar en los países más industrializados de Europa, como Inglaterra, Francia, Alemania y el Imperio Austrohúngaro. Ésta, sin embargo, tuvo lugar en Rusia, cuyo territorio se extendía por Asia, desde el norte de Europa hasta el Sur de Alaska, que había sido también territorio zarista, vendido por unos dólares al país que sería posteriormente el más interesado en atacar y destruir la revolución y al país que la engendró.
La mayor proeza del nuevo Estado fue crear una Unión capaz de agrupar sus recursos y compartir su tecnología con gran número de naciones débiles y menos desarrolladas, víctimas inevitables de la explotación colonial. ¿Sería o no conveniente en el mundo actual una verdadera sociedad de naciones que respetara los derechos, creencias, cultura, tecnologías y recursos de lugares asequibles del planeta que a tantos seres humanos les gusta visitar y conocer?¿Y no sería mucho más justo que todas las personas que hoy, en fracciones de segundo se comunican de un extremo a otro del planeta, vean en los demás un amigo o un hermano y no un enemigo dispuesto a exterminarlo con los medios que ha sido capaz de crear el conocimiento humano?
Por creer que los seres humanos podrían ser capaces de albergar tales objetivos, pienso que no hay derecho alguno a destruir ciudades, asesinar niños, pulverizar viviendas, a sembrar terror, hambre y muerte en todas partes. ¿En qué rincón del mundo se podrían justificar tales hechos? Si se recuerda que al final de la masacre de la última contienda mundial el mundo se ilusionó con la creación de las Naciones Unidas, es porque gran parte de la humanidad la imaginó con tales perspectivas, aunque no estuviesen cabalmente definidos sus objetivos. Un colosal engaño es lo que se percibe hoy cuando surgen problemas que insinúan el posible estallido de una guerra con el empleo de armas que podrían poner fin a la existencia humana.
Existen sujetos inescrupulosos, al parecer no pocos, que consideran un mérito su disposición a morir, pero sobre todo a matar para defender privilegios bochornosos.
Muchas personas se asombran al escuchar las declaraciones de algunos voceros europeos de la OTAN cuando se expresan con el estilo y el rostro de las SS nazis. En ocasiones hasta se visten con trajes oscuros en pleno verano.
Nosotros tenemos un adversario bastante poderoso como lo es nuestro vecino más próximo: Estados Unidos. Le advertimos que resistiríamos el bloqueo, aunque eso podía implicar un costo muy elevado para nuestro país. No hay peor precio que capitular frente al enemigo que sin razón ni derecho te agrede. Era el sentimiento de un pueblo pequeño y aislado. El resto de los gobiernos de este hemisferio, con raras excepciones, se habían sumado al poderoso e influyente imperio. No se trataba por nuestra parte de una actitud personal, era el sentimiento de una pequeña nación que desde inicios de siglo era una propiedad no solo política, sino también económica de Estados Unidos. España nos había cedido a ese país después de haber sufrido casi cinco siglos de coloniaje y de un incalculable número de muertos y pérdidas materiales en la lucha por la independencia.
El imperio se reservó el derecho de intervenir militarmente en Cuba en virtud de una pérfida enmienda constitucional que impuso a un Congreso impotente e incapaz de resistir. Aparte de ser los dueños de casi todo en Cuba: abundantes tierras, los mayores centrales azucareros, las minas, los bancos y hasta la prerrogativa de imprimir nuestro dinero, nos prohibía producir granos alimenticios suficientes para alimentar la población.
Cuando la URSS se desintegró y desapareció también el Campo Socialista, seguimos resistiendo, y juntos, el Estado y el pueblo revolucionarios, proseguimos nuestra marcha independiente.
No deseo, sin embargo, dramatizar esta modesta historia. Prefiero más bien recalcar que la política del imperio es tan dramáticamente ridícula que no tardará mucho en pasar al basurero de la historia. El imperio de Adolfo Hitler, inspirado en la codicia, pasó a la historia sin más gloria que el aliento aportado a los gobiernos burgueses y agresivos de la OTAN, que los convierte en el hazmerreír de Europa y el mundo, con su euro, que al igual que el dólar, no tardará en convertirse en papel mojado, llamado a depender del yuan y también de los rublos, ante la pujante economía china estrechamente unida al enorme potencial económico y técnico de Rusia.
Algo que se ha convertido en un símbolo de la política imperial es el cinismo.
Como se conoce, John McCain fue el candidato republicano a las elecciones de 2008. El personaje salió a la luz pública cuando en su condición de piloto fue derribado mientras su avión bombardeaba la populosa ciudad de Hanói. Un cohete vietnamita lo alcanzó en plena faena y nave y piloto cayeron en un lago ubicado en las inmediaciones de la capital, colindante con la ciudad.
Un antiguo soldado vietnamita ya retirado, que se ganaba la vida trabajando en las proximidades, al ver caer el avión y un piloto herido que trataba de salvarse se movió para auxiliarlo; mientras el viejo soldado prestaba esa ayuda, un grupo de la población de Hanói, que sufría los ataques de la aviación, corría para ajustar cuentas con aquel asesino. El mismo soldado persuadió a los vecinos que no lo hicieran, pues era ya un prisionero y su vida debía respetarse. Las propias autoridades yankis se comunicaron con el Gobierno rogando que no se actuara contra ese piloto.
Aparte de las normas del Gobierno vietnamita de respeto a los prisioneros, el piloto era hijo de un Almirante de la Armada de Estados Unidos que había desempeñado un papel destacado en la Segunda Guerra Mundial y estaba todavía ocupando un importante cargo.
Los vietnamitas habían capturado un pez gordo en aquel bombardeo y como es lógico, pensando en las conversaciones inevitables de paz que debían poner fin a la guerra injusta que le habían impuesto desarrollaron la amistad con él, que estaba muy feliz de sacar todo el provecho posible de aquella aventura. Esto, desde luego, no me lo contó ningún vietnamita, ni yo lo habría preguntado nunca. Lo he leído y se ajusta completamente a determinados detalles que conocí más tarde. También leí un día que Mister McCain había escrito que siendo prisionero en Vietnam, mientras era torturado, escuchó voces en español asesorando a los torturadores qué de­bían hacer y cómo hacerlo. Eran voces de cubanos, según McCain. Cuba nunca tuvo asesores en Vietnam. Sus militares conocen sobradamente cómo hacer su guerra.
El General Giap fue uno de los jefes más brillantes de nuestra época, que en Dien Bien Phu fue capaz de ubicar los cañones por selvas intrincadas y abruptas, algo que los militares yankis y europeos consideraban imposible. Con esos cañones disparaban desde un punto tan próximo que era imposible neutralizarlos sin que las bombas nucleares afectaran también a los invasores. Los demás pasos pertinentes, todos difíciles y complejos, fueron empleados para imponer a las cercadas fuerzas europeas una bochornosa rendición.
El zorro McCain sacó todo el provecho posible de las derrotas militares de los invasores yankis y europeos. Nixon no pudo persuadir a su consejero de Seguridad Nacional Henry Kissinger, de que aceptara la idea sugerida por el  propio Presidente cuando en momentos de relajamiento le decía ¿Por qué no le lanzamos una de esas bombitas Henry? La verdadera bombita llegó cuando los hombres del Presidente trataron de espiar a sus adversarios del partido opuesto ¡Eso sí que no podía tolerarse!
A pesar de eso lo más cínico del Sr. McCain ha sido su actuación en el Cercano Oriente. El senador McCain es el aliado más incondicional de Israel en las marañas del Mossad, algo que ni los peores adversarios habrían sido capaces de imaginar. McCain participó junto a ese servicio en la creación del Estado Islámico que se apoderó de una parte considerable y vital de Irak, así como según se afirma, de un tercio del territorio de Siria. Tal Estado cuenta ya con ingresos multimillonarios, y amenaza a Arabia Saudita y otros Estados de esa compleja región que suministra la parte más importante del combustible mundial.
¿No sería preferible, luchar por producir más alimentos y productos industriales, construir hospitales y escuelas para los miles de millones de seres humanos que los necesitan desesperadamente, promover el arte y la cultura, luchar contra enfermedades masivas que llevan a la muerte a más de la mitad de los enfermos, a trabajadores de la salud o tecnólogos que según se vislumbra, podrían finalmente eliminar enfermedades como el cáncer, el ébola, el paludismo, el dengue, la chikungunya, la diabetes y otras que afectan las funciones vitales de los seres humanos?
Si hoy resulta posible prolongar la vida, la salud y el tiempo útil de las personas, si es perfectamente posible planificar el desarrollo de la población en virtud de la productividad creciente, la cultura y desarrollo de los valores humanos ¿Qué esperan para hacerlo?




Triunfarán las ideas justas o triunfará el desastre.

Fidel Castro Ruz
Agosto 31 de 2014
10 y 25 p.m.

NAACP Applauds Dept. of Justice Decision to Investigate the Ferguson Police Force

TBR Michelle J. Nealy Communications Associate, NAACP
BALTIMORE, MD – United States Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. announced today that the U.S. Department of Justice will launch a broad civil rights investigation of the Ferguson, Missouri Police Department. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will conduct the investigation and follow a similar process which it uses to investigate police departments across the country. In light of this development, the NAACP has released the following statements.

From Cornell William Brooks, President and CEO:
“We at the NAACP applaud Attorney General Eric Holder for taking this important and necessary step of launching a new investigation into the Ferguson police department. The life of an unarmed 18-year-old teenager was cut short by an armed police officer whose job was to serve and protect. The NAACP Missouri State Conference filed five federal lawsuits over the last 5 years against St. Louis County police officers, claiming excessive force. Local NAACP leaders have been working closely with federal authorities and are heartened by this decision.”

From Mary Ratliff, NAACP Missouri State Conference President:                   
“The Missouri State Conference strongly supports the decision by the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a civil rights investigation of the Ferguson Police Department. A comprehensive review of policing practices across the greater St. Louis metropolitan area is sorely needed.”

From Adolphus Pruitt, President of the NAACP St. Louis City Branch/Vice President NAACP MO State Conference:
“I commend the Department of Justice for launching this investigation. We hope that it brings some resolution to the number of complaints the NAACP Missouri State Conference have in front of the Justice Department about various police departments in St. Louis County.”

###

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities. You can read more about the NAACP’s work and our five “Game Changer” issue areas here.

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Michelle J. Nealy

Communications Associate

NAACP

Office: (202) 292-3384

Cell:  (443) 562-4233

Twitter: @naacppress

www.naacp.org

 

The question is ... how badly do we want to avoid more war?

 

TBR-Jon Soltz Iraq War Veteran & Chairman/VoteVets.org 
Over the course of the past two weeks, Donald Trump has launched dozens of missiles into Syria and dropped something nicknamed the "Mother of All Bombs" on Afghanistan.

And in both instances, without much critical thought or discussion about the ramifications of those actions, the media cheered vociferously.

Brian Williams said he was "guided by the beauty of our weapons" as MSNBC showed video of Tomahawk missiles being launched from warships in the Mediterranean Sea. CNN host Fareed Zakaria said, "I think Donald Trump became President of the United States last night." And Fox News LITERALLY played a Toby Keith track over video of the M.O.A.B. detonating in Afghanistan while a host declared "that's what freedom looks like."

Here's the truth: Donald Trump thrives off that kind of praise on cable television. He will likely make decisions about war and peace based on the reaction of pundits to foreign policy. And if cable news keeps it up, their voices will help march us to more war. That's why it's important we all speak out.

Sign our petition calling on cable news executives to take a more sober and measured tone in their reactions when Donald Trump decides to launch military strikes in the future.

It wasn't all that long ago that media cheerleading helped stifle much-needed debate in the run-up to the Iraq War. We can't let that happen again. Not with a president as reckless as Donald Trump. That's why adding your name to our petition is so important.

All my best,

Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran and Chairman
VoteVets

 

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TBR-Jon Soltz Iraq War Veteran & Chairman/VoteVets.org 

As President Obama addressed the graduating class of 2014 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he said "We must broaden our tools to include diplomacy and development." 

His words are something to consider as diplomats gather in Vienna, Austria to hammer out a long-term agreement to ensure Iran never has the ability to develop a nuclear weapon. 

They have until July 20th to work out a deal, or extend the process, but several Senators are already furiously working to derail the effort. 

They need to hear from us today: 

Join tens of thousands of veterans and military family members and sign our petition calling on the U.S. Senate to allow the diplomatic process to work with Iran. 

Sadly, it's many of the same discredited neoconservative voices pushing for harsher sanctions that will trigger a new arms race in the region. 

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, said "To a soldier, the phrase 'seeking a diplomatic solution' is sweet music." 

And if the diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran fall apart, we'll have the opportunity to talk about which sanctions to reinstate or intensity. 

But for now, we should all hope that those efforts succeed. 

Tell Congress: Give Diplomacy with Iran a Chance. 

http://action.votevets.org/iran-diplomacy 

The question is ... how badly do we want to avoid more war? 

Thanks for standing with VoteVets on this issue. 

Jon Soltz 

Iraq War Veteran & Chairman 

VoteVets.org 
  

Nearly 600,000 Americans Ask Senators to Support “21st Century Glass-Steagall Act”

TBR-Washington D.C., Public Citizen/Americans for Financial Reform


Senator Elizabeth Warren receives 21st century Glass-Steagall Act petition

At the Capitol this afternoon [July 9], Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) received petitions in which nearly 600,000 Americans call for action on the 21^st Century Glass-Steagall Act. This bipartisan bill, introduced by Senator Warren along with Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Angus King (I-Maine), would address the problem of Wall Street banks that have become too complicated, too conflicted and too powerful, as well as simply too big.
The petitions, gathered by Credo, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Public Citizen, Americans for Financial Reform, Dr. Mitchell Gershten (a private citizen), and MoveOn.org, were also delivered to the offices of all the other Senators, asking them to support the bill. The 21^st Century Glass-Steagall Act would reinstate the principle that used to separate commercial banks, which enjoy the benefits of deposit insurance and other forms of public support, from the high-risk world of investment banks and hedge funds.
“The original Glass-Steagall Act served our country well,” said Lisa Donner, Executive Director of Americans for Financial Reform. “It laid the foundation for an unprecedented half century without financial panics or crises. Just as important, it contributed to a more right-sized banking system and one more focused on serving the economy and the society as a whole, rather than on enriching itself at others’ expense.”
“When banks are allowed to continue gambling with our taxpayer-insured deposits, we are setting up our economy for another meltdown,” said Lisa Gilbert, director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division. “Real banking protections should not be a thing of the past.  Going back to a clear Glass-Steagall separation of commercial and investment banking is the easiest way to make sure greedy banksters don’t put our fragile, still recovering economy back on the rocks.”
“Not a single Wall Street banker has gone to jail for crimes that caused the financial crisis, the least Congress can do is make sure these bankers aren’t gambling with our money,” said Becky Bond, CREDO’s political director. “It’s long past time to reinstitute Glass-Steagall.”
“Across the nation, people of all ideological stripes want more Wall Street reform and accountability — not less,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “We were proud to start working with Elizabeth Warren while she was still a candidate on writing a 21st Century Glass Steagall Act. This bill is a huge down payment on the reform we need.”
“Reining in Wall Street’s recklessness and the threat it poses to the whole economy is a galvanizing cause for MoveOn members,” said Ilya Sheyman, executive director of MoveOn Political Action. “It’s an issue that has also fueled Sen. Warren’s meteoric rise as a champion of hard-working people under siege by powerful financial interests. We thank her for accepting the petitions of MoveOn members and allies, and for joining with Senators McCain, Cantwell, and King in sponsoring this bill. If lawmakers truly oppose Wall Street bailouts and ‘too big to fail’ banks, they need to walk the talk and join us to support this common sense legislation.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jim Lardner, Americans for Financial Reform, 202-466-1854 / jim@ourfinancialsecurity.org
Karilyn Gower, Public Citizen, 202-588-7779 / kgower@publicitizen.org
Tags: Glass-Steagall, press statement, TBTF

The Federalist papers and the election of 2000

TBR Leighton Bradford Editor-in-Chief
The Federalist Papers structured the discourse of a new republic. The idle rhetoric of political life haunts the corridors of true debate. Were these words reduced to parchment a precursor to the U.S. Constitution? An ideal form of government responds to the needs of the individual. The most recent Presidential election places implicit doubt, as to the parameters of appropriate checks and balances. Within Federalist paper No. 51, its continued theme, seems to focus on the powers afforded to "Supreme Executives".

The presidential election (2000) weakened the state, by allowing a branch of government, to exercise a mandate in strict violation of separating principles. Further; "In order to lay a due foundation for that separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government". Expressed eloquently and clear as to the fundamental safeguard working towards a non-abuse of power. Each department should not only perform its obvious task, however, limit the powers of the other branches. Balance does not come with vague procedure and apathetic rhetoric.

Would the framers of the Federalist Papers identify with our current government? I was intrigued with the depth of understanding, as it related to the lower echelons of control. The discussion even dealt with the division of departments beneath the initial organizational hub. Describing plans of actions, involving scenarios within these entities. A sort of sub-routine of departmental precautions. The evolution of our government has been one of partisan agenda and set precedents. The Federalist paper No. 51 gives insight into this supposed evolution.

Vice-President Al Gore's honorable acquiescing may have prevented factional turmoil. James Madison predicted the counter productive nature of men.  The Federalist Papers were a highly refined draft. Vice-President Gore refused to litigate the nefarious precepts of the 2000 election. This act may have been just as crucial as President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation. 

 Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged against provisions against danger, real or pretended from abroad. – Letter to Thomas Jefferson (1798-05-13), James Madison.  

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. – Federalist Paper No. 51 (1788-02-06), James Madison, photo courtesy federalist papers project.

The Ultimate Goal of Humanity

 

TBR Leighton Bradford Editor-in-Chief

Most agree civilization must embrace a collective initiative responding to socio-economic deprivation. Social deprivation or a system supporting poverty should not be embraced. Prosperity and parity should be the ultimate goal of humanity. Commerce and mercantilism must coincide with a healthy ecology. Human existence depends upon the maintenance of a healthy eco-system. We are, but an intricate part of the environment. The aforementioned statement will vindicate the oppressed and abused. A suggested expression to the powers that be, for many matters not. The anticipated counter is an identified Utopia! There is no such place on earth. “Am I my brothers’ keeper?” Ultimately YES!

            Free Enterprise becomes a guarded treasure when administered properly. I understand the burdens of men. There must be parity along all lines of human endeavor. An unrealistic assessment of economic globalization; embarks on economic nationalism and ethnocentrism. Excuse me for one moment scholars? War has been declared on the working man. Unless our nation's leaders adjust the financial bias within society, all else is trumped, and social degradation is accepted. Are we witnessing Pax Americana? The United States of America’s bottom line, must be the lack of jobs and opportunity? Bureaucracies of government should streamline collaborative functions.

Business owner’s world-wide; should create a trade and barter initiative! It must reflect the rights of labor. The resulting covenant would shore up a workers wage, and apply pressure, towards the Sino attack on the common man. The right to work laws should be rescinded. These laws undermine collective bargaining and the ability for the average worker to negotiate a livable wage. Labor must be realistic when negotiating contractual obligations. Labor should never price itself out of the market. The TPP trade iniative will do no more to open markets within the US, than the NAFTA measure.    

Power concedes nothing without demand. The leadership within grass roots organizations must perform an intricate part of balance and fairness.  America continues to accept the worlds humbled masses, but at what cost to the U.S. citizens already here? Outsourcing or flooding markets with cheap goods and service is an attack on our nation’s security. A bifurcated approach towards at-will employment and collective bargaining will assist all involved. Technology, efficient means of production, veteran skill set, and the multitude of displaced workers re-entry into the workforce, will promote economic growth. Purposeful lending to small business owners will stimulate the market. The WTO, the Federal Reserve, and IMF at times, supplant financial stability. Building wealth should not be for a contrived, well trained, manipulator of markets. There should be stiffer penalties associated with financial industry wrongdoing. The FTC has to fight to end the saturation of the aforementioned malice. Then ask the people to accept austerity measures. Power, wealth and opportunity, must not be concentrated within the hands of a few individuals. This effort will stave off the American bastille.



 

I'm a blind student, and I need your help

TBR-Jamie Principado, Special to TBR

As a blind high schooler, I couldn't just apply to my top colleges -- I had to make sure that classes were going to be made accessible for me, and I was excited to attend Florida State University because they had a great program for training teachers of the blind. 

But when I started classes at FSU, I quickly found out that the school didn't have the accessible tools I needed to learn and complete all my work. My online classes weren't compatible with my screen reader and I couldn't access materials in any of my math or biology classes. I struggled for three years, and eventually decided to change schools.

I sued FSU for failing to meet state and federal disability laws, but I don't want other blind students like me to experience what I had to go through. I started a petition on Change.org asking Congress to pass the TEACH Act to make sure that all students with disabilities have equal access to learning. Click here to sign my petition.

When I approached the administration at FSU about the inaccessible materials, they suggested I try an “easier” major instead of trying to help me and other students with disabilities. I felt like the school was punishing me instead of trying to help me learn. 

That's why I believe in the TEACH Act. While federal laws require colleges to only deploy accessible materials, they were written before technology became part of the classroom, so schools like FSU have no direction for how the laws apply to students like me. The TEACH Act creates much-needed guidelines illustrating how schools can provide instructional technology that is usable for students with disabilities.

I believe that public support of the TEACH Act through my petition will show members of Congress that constituents around the country believe there is an urgent need for this. But they won't do it without you. 

Sign my petition demanding that Congress pass the TEACH Act, creating guidelines for schools to protect equal access in the classroom for blind students.

Thank you for your support. 

Jamie Principado