You are welcome to have an opinion one way or the other about the fact that Herschel Walker paid for a partner/lover to have an abortion, especially now he is a useful fool for the GOP Christian nationalists who’ll do … Continue reading The hypocrisy of Hershal Walker – No not abortions
As a new American, for less than a year, after working in the country on and off for nearly 40-years, I’ve been totally dumfounded that America is effectively governed by an unelected supreme court. Since the Roe vs. Wade ruling … Continue reading The Constitution
I spend much of my time working on research for jazz musicians, and associated people for my ctproduced.com website. I was looking through old magazines, especially issues of Look magazine for early pictures published by notable American photographer, Pete Turner. … Continue reading Colorado – Abortion Mecca For The Nation?
Review of Don Winslow @donwinslow article in the current issue of Vanity Fair. I know next to nothing about Mexican Drug cartels, so this was a fascinating read. Among the things I learnt was Unlike the Mafia, the Mexican cartels encourage their members who have been arrested to tell everything they know if they can cut a deal for a shorter sentence—all they are obliged to do is relay what they’ve given up to defense attorneys, who then pass the information on so the cartels can make the necessary adjustments. For more on the operation of the Sinaloa cartel; and … Continue reading El Chapo’s Downfall? It’s really not that important.
President Trump has decided, unilaterally apparently, to pull all America troops out of Syria, both surprising his Chiefs of Staff and allies. The American story with Syria is intertwined with almost everything the west has done in the Middle East since the end of the 2nd World War. American was the prime enabler of the Assad family rise to to power, and as everything post war seemed to be, all about fighting the rise of Communism and installing “democracy”. Syria gained its independence in 1946 and in 1948 engaged in the Arab-Israeli war. Later in 1949, the Americans were party, … Continue reading America and Syria – the backstory
When Texas Governor Abbott took time out of his busy schedule of subjugating his authority, to call a special session for the “part-time” Texas Legislators(1) to pass a bathroom bill and other discriminatory acts, his statements eloquently tried to trash the Capital of Texas, Austin. As Caleb points out, there are plenty of examples where Austin is screwed by Texas arbitrary regulation, and certainly some of those to be considered in the special session are also aimed at Austin. Naturally, the state-protected view of the dome under which so much anti-regulatory legislation is concocted by worthy statesman from such cultural … Continue reading Ahh Austin…
Darkus Howe was more Malcom-X than Martin Luther King Jr. I don’t expect most of my American friends have ever heard of him. In the late 1970’s and 1980’s he was the “Devil’s Advocate”. For me, as far as black civil liberties go, he was the most influential for me. This debate. argument was typical of his style. He died on Saturday. Continue reading RIP Darkus Howe
Even before the Trump administration, America has taken pitifully few refugees and asylum seekers from the crisis it started in the post 9/11 era. This is especially true when you look at it’s geographical size, and financial strength. At 20x the size of Sweden, and over 18x the GDP, America has taken just 10% of the refugees Sweden. By now anyone paying attention will have heard about the debacle of Trumps speech where he attempted to justify his Executive Order on Immigration by pointing to “what happened in Sweden last night”. If you have not, you can read the whole … Continue reading Sweden, Refugees and that Trump thing
Again, skirting around the election, whenever the topic of guns in America comes up, usually after yet-another-mass-shooting, I simply don’t understand. I have no context. I recently had the chance to hear Guardian journalist Gary Younge discuss his new book “Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives” (via @amazon), with BBC Radio London, broadcaster and journalist, Robert Elms. So much rang true. It was great hearing two people discuss guns and the bizarre attitudes towards them in the USA. Among the qoutes, and the serious discussions about 10 kids being killed by guns, the … Continue reading What’s the deal with guns?
My namesake, TOM, didn’t win the Republican primary for South Carolina district 42. As always, you get what you vote for, and the voting numbers were pretty low. The victor, Mann’s total vote district-wide was 1,245 while Cathcart’s was 770. Continue reading Commiserations are due