America's War on Prevention

If America keeps failing with gun violence, that's fundamentally because she's waging war on prevention, and because the forces that feed upon these failures have faced impunity for too long.

Worse: constant mass shootings are only one of the nation's most obvious self inflicted traumas. At least, there, everybody knows the rules of the game: 

• more people die of guns in the US than anywhere else, and not just because 332M Americans own 400M of them
• implementing basic gun control laws (e.g. background checks) have always showed spectacular results, including in the States between the moment Bill Clinton signed the last batch and the moment Republicans blocked its prolongation
• even if a vast majority of Americans (including within Republicans) support these laws, the NRA and the GOP keep distorting the 2nd Amendment to push even harder against any kind of oversight or accountability. 
• the situation keeps worsening: Republicans are likely to sweep the Middterms, and the Supreme Court they reshaped against the will of the people is likely to dismantle the few remaining safeguards. This self-proclaimed 'pro-life' crew prefers to protect guns to protecting the lives of kids or pregnant teens.
  

America is not just sick, she doesn't want to heal.  

And that's exactly the same story with health in general. Even before the pandemic, America spent one third more per capita on healthcare than any other developed country, and yet saw her life expectancy plummet, the average health of her citizens being more worthy of a laggard.

Like with guns, there's a lot of money involved, but here, at least two families of lobbies are working in sinc to sink the boat: where everywhere else the focus is on prevention, Big Pharma and Big Food make sure that prevention is withdrawn from all policies, and that only the 'cures' they propose are considered. Because they couldn't gain more shares of stomachs, Big Food had the genius idea of supersizing our stomachs, and Big Pharma certainly can't complain because they make more money selling drugs that no one needs when they follow just a normal diet. And don't count on health associations to defend consumers: most of them are bankrolled by the same lobbies, and promote the very behaviors they're supposed to fight against.

The prevention of gun violence, obesity or heart diseases are national causes everywhere except in the US, where they would mean the end of the party for lobbies who need America to keep getting sicker instead of healing.

If these lobbies reach across the aisle, they've always worked in symbiosis with the Republican Party. But that party itself has given up all restraints, any ambition for common ground or common sense. And it's now waging war at all levels. 

Solutions to major problems are no-brainers? Let's dumb everybody further down, let's ban books, let's reject facts, truth, reason, and science. We want you to feel stupid, victimized, angry, we want you to replace critical thinking with systematic, blind criticism, we want you to forget about moderation and to live on a permanent conflictual mode.

The GOP not only stopped fighting racism, it's deliberately fueling it now, crushing voting rights for minorities, promoting voices that fuel hatred (exhibit A: Tucker Carson spreading the Great Replacement fallacy). The big tent has turned into a dangerous tin foil hat under which thrive the worst of the worst (Holocaust deniers and white supremacists are more welcome than ever).

Even if they know better, these guys will tell you with a straight face that the Earth is flat, that Trump won in 2020, and that arming teachers is the solution when even a squad of trained police officers are scared to face a teenager carrying assault weapons.

Pew Research on bipartisan support for gun control
NB: more data on Brady Campaign's website: bradyunited.org/resources

blogules 2022
Since 2003, nonsensical posts about noncritical issues in nonenglish (get your blogules transfusion in French)
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Trump: 'my plan to steal the elections' (fake interview, real threats)

blogules: 'Thank you President Trump for accepting this exclusive fake interview with our Agence Fausse Presse'.

Donald J. Trump: 'You're welcome. It's good to see Fake News that don't pretend, and openly define themselves as Weapons of Mass Disinformation'.

B: 'You are aware that I'm very critical of you and your administration...'

DJT: 'I can handle that, like I did so beautifully with Bob Woodward. Have you seen how he changed his mind about me, how he's flattering me in his book?'

B: 'How can you lie so blatantly? Even after being caught on tape? Can't you feel any shame?'

DJT: 'Listen. I'm feeling shame all the time, but I trained my brain to translate it instantly into pride. I simply cannot be wrong, I simply cannot fail. I'm basically the most perfect being the World has ever seen. To start with, I have good genes.'

B: 'At least you don't seem to have been genetically modified: your granddad Drumpf ran a brothel in Yukon, you grab women by the p...y, and you're being sued for raping an underage girl.'

DJT: 'My new fixer will take care of that.'

B: 'William Barr is supposed to be the US Attorney General, not a mobster's personal lawyer, justice is supposed to be independent from the executive, democracy relies on checks and balances...'

DJT: 'Come on. The US are not a democracy. Not under my watch. I can't let that happen. I have to win the elections. Do you know how many lifetimes in prison I'd have to serve? First thing I do when I'm reelected is to ensure I can serve at least 6 terms like my friend Alexander Lukashenko. After that, Ivanka and Barron will continue the dynasty. Arabella Rose comes next. That one, what a looker. If she weren't my granddaughter...'.

B: 'You're a monster.'

DJT: 'I like to win no matter what, okay? And I've got all bases covered for the 2020 elections and for the next ones. We corrupted the census to facilitate further gerrymandering, but also to justify why so many ballots will disappear in the weeks to come. That's why I'm asking my base to vote twice: once by email, once in person.'

B: 'But that's totally illegal.'

DJT: 'I'm trying to explain to you that I can't win legally, and that I have to do do like I've always done: the ugly, mobster way. But in parallel, I'm also working on changing the law, justice, people who could prevent that. If I put a thug in charge of USPS, if I stuffed courts with moronic ayatollahs, that's part of my plan to steal the elections.'

B: 'So you confess that you plan to steal the elections'.

DJT: 'You're not paying attention: I've already said that several times. When I say 'get rid of the ballots', it means that we will block and remove all ballots that come from suspicious zip codes, the ones with Democratic demographics, or minorities. And if our countless voter suppression measures fail, I can count on the virus and on my militias.'

B: 'Is that why you are not fighting the virus, and encouraging extreme right supporters to patrol cities with their assault weapons?'

DJT: 'Of course! We want the virus and riots to bloom in Democratic states and cities, we know that the virus kills more among minorities, and that my base is not afraid to go out because they think that's a hoax. Besides, there's no way moderates and minorities will show up on election day if they see Nazis roam the streets. And these thugs showed they know how to shoot, but we're doing our best to steal the elections without having to resort to that kind of voter suppression. If you want my opinion, that brilliant young lad in Kenosha was a bit too quick to do well - only 17 years old, but already perfectly brainwashed with 'Birth of a Nation', 'The Camp of the Saints', and other great white supremacist books. These Trump Youth are the future of our nation, but until the elections at least, they must not communicate too openly about our Great Plan.'

B: 'You are so openly racist, and still you're trying to convince minorities to vote for you, even after all you've done to them...'

DJT: 'Yes. But I must confess that this time it's harder with black communities. In 2016, I told them 'what do you have to lose? try it', and four years later, how many died of covid or police brutality? Now I can't tell Latinos 'what do you have to lose?', because they fear #LatinoLivesMatter will trend in 2024. So I asked Vladimir to beef up the propaganda and disinformation campaigns among Latino communities, like 10 times what we did for Hillary. And it worked, we've already turned the tables in places like Florida and Arizona.'

B: 'Interesting to see QAnon conspiracy theories accuse Biden of precisely what you're accused of: threatening democracy, preparing a coup, being evil, protecting pedophiles.'

DJT: 'QAnon is a beautiful invention from our propagandists. Before, when I said 'many people think', or 'many people say', I couldn't provide any proof when asked for more details, so in order to support our fabricated stories and most outrageous claims, we created someone who doesn't exist, and use him as our mouthpiece. Bonus: I can use code words in public, and my base knows exactly what I'm talking about, but the general public doesn't get the full antisemitic, racist and fascist references. Works like a charm, including in Europe now. People are so gullible.'

B: 'Yeah. Some even believe that drinking bleach can cure coronavirus infections.'

DJT: 'Now THAT is science. I drink bleach all the time. They tell me that's milk, but I know better. I always know best.'

B: 'But conspiracy theories don't seem to move the black communities.'

DJT: 'Not this time. So what I did was ask my friend Kanye to be my running mate*. Even if he has become a total mental wreck and doesn't campaign, even if a fraction of his millions of followers cast a vote for him just by seeing his name on the ballots, that can be enough to flip battleground states.'

B: 'No black life matters for you. Not even your supporter Herman Cain, who died of covid because he attended your infamous Tulsa rally.'

DJT: 'I don't care, do you? I don't care if some of my supporters die because I criticized masks and social distancing measures, or because I told my staff to pack them more even when I knew the virus was lethal and airborne. I need to hold as many rallies as possible with as many people as possible, otherwise I feel insecure. I need to project artificial power, I need people to cheer at me, it's like a drug, and I'm great at it. There is no dictator who has done more in history, with the possible exception of Adolf.'

B: 'But these people believe you when you say that you're like them, that you defend their interests'.

DJT: 'I have special interest groups to defend. And first and foremost, I must defend my own interests. When I say 'Make America Great Again', I always mean 'Make Trump Great Again'. By the way, did you notice that whenever I use the words 'America' or 'Americans', I actually mean me? Because I am America. America is mine.'

B: 'You're a dangerous, delusional autocrat and psychopath.'

DJT: 'It is what it is. I always dreamed of being a mafia boss, and now I can become a lifetime dictator. No one is stopping me, and certainly not Republican lawmakers.'

B: 'They didn't even dare to show up or pretend to propose a platform for your Convention. The only program was Vote Trump.'

DJT: 'That was simply beautiful. Stephen Miller learned a lot from his model, Joseph Goebbels, and what he did in Nuremberg. But we added the Trump touch, the Trump logo. The White House is now The Trump White Supremacy House, the GOP Trump's party, and step by step, America is becoming Trump's Amerika. That's how it works: I corrupt and bankrupt everything I touch. Dad handed me his company? I went bankrupt, like all my ventures. Putin handed me America? I destroyed it. Mitch McConnell handed me the Republican Party? I raped it.'

B: 'Mitch McConnell will go down in History as your Paul von Hindenburg: he knew you were a danger for democracy, but he gave you the keys because he thought he could control you.'

DJT: 'Lindsey Graham is a master hypocrite, but Mitch is the most corrupt of them all. I wouldn't be there without him. And we're on a roll - so lucky! I had to call Vladimir to ask him if it was Novichok for Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but he said no, and this time I genuinely believe him.'

B: 'You mentioned Stephen Miller earlier, and it's interesting to see that's he's the only one who survived your toxic White House sphere.'

DJT: 'Ah, this time you're paying attention! Four years ago, I said I would only take the best...'

B: '... and all of them either quit, were fired, or turned against you.'

DJT: 'These guys don't count. When I say the best, of course I mean the Trump family.'

B: 'So Stephen Miller is part of the family.'

DJT: 'Steve is different. He is what I believe in, deep down. People think I have no values whatsoever, but I do have convictions, particularly regarding race, and genes. But even Miller is only a part of what I believe in. I'm not religious, but I'm The Chosen One. God has picked me, and I know that for sure because I am God. A God like the World has never seen before. And as a God, I give myself a A+. Can't you see the beautiful year of 2020 we're all having? And the best is yet to come!'

blogules 2020

Since 2003, nonsensical posts about noncritical issues in nonenglish (get your blogules transfusion in French)
NEW: join blogules on Facebook!!! and Twitter (@stephanemot, @blogules)
Enjoyed my neuroses? Check my prose: dragedies.com.

* see "Kanye West: a fake #BlackLivesMatter candidate to rescue a real White Supremacist"

see also "Parler vous Trump? Can you spell chaos?", "A Democratic. National. Convention. With Mender In Chief Joe Biden."

Kanye West: a fake #BlackLivesMatter candidate to rescue a real White Supremacist

On July 4th, Kanye West declared his candidacy for President. On the same day Donald Trump delivered a divisive speech defending the Confederate heritage.

The strategy is obvious: without waiting for Putin to spin a third candidate for the November elections (now his only path to victory, combined with voter suppression), DJT launches his friend Kanye as the ultimate Uncle Tom.

In other words, Joe Biden will be sandwiched between a fake #BlackLivesMatter candidate and a true White Supremacist candidate.

I need a barf bag.

ADDENDUM 20200705-07 TWITTER TIMELINE

 

 

. "Very smart: with #Kanye West, #Trump doesn't just split the #Biden vote: he triggers a divisive war within #African American voters. Don't get fooled: voting @kanyewest is voting #Donal dTrump." (2:37 PM · Jul 5, 2020twitter.com/stephanemot/status/1279650491257913346)
. "The Donald-Kanye Sandwich: 82M followers for #Trump, 29.4M for #Kanye West, only 6.5M for #Joe Biden. #VoteKanyeMeansVoteTrump #KanyeRunsForTrump" (2:40 PM · Jul 5, 2020, twitter.com/stephanemot/status/1279651420677914624)
. "... Not counting #Elon Musk (36.6M followers and like #Trump & #Kanye West, a few billions to spare - #Kim  Kardashian just reached her first bn)" (11:00 AM · Jul 6, 2020 - twitter.com/stephanemot/status/1279958385513791488)
. "Pretty sure #Kanye West will pick a left-leaning, #Putin-friendly, white female running mate. #Tulsi Gabbard a bit too obvious. Any other guess?" (2:54 PM · Jul 5, 2020 - twitter.com/stephanemot/status/1279654824938627073)



blogules 2020
Since 2003, nonsensical posts about noncritical issues in nonenglish (get your blogules transfusion in French)
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Make America Breathe Again, Vote Biden

"I Can't Breathe" could sum up Donald Trump's Amerika.

I'm not just talking about George Floyd or Eric Garner, who should be breathing as I write these lines, like Ahmaud Arbery and so many others. Racism already choked America long before Trump, Stephen Miller and Co. took over the White House.

Over 100,000 Americans can't breathe anymore because they lost their battle to COVID-19. Half of them would still be alive if the US were led by any normal human being. This POTUS will be responsible for tens of thousands more avoidable deaths.

D.C. can't breathe. Instead of draining this already unbreathable swamp, Trump made it grow faster and further than ever, corrupting even the relief effort in the worst pandemic in a century.

US democracy can't breathe. Trump, Putin, McConnell and friends are pulling all levers to accelerate voter suppression and steal yet another election. All resistance within what's left of the GOP is nipped in the bud, suffocated within hours.

A President who cares for America and every American is the least America deserves right now. Even if you didn't like the last one, even if you wish someone else than his Veep were running against DJT, you must vote for Joe Biden and whoever will help him make America breathe again.
 

Joe Biden cares, and wants you to breathe, that's precei why he's wearing a mask

blogules 2020
Since 2003, nonsensical posts about noncritical issues in nonenglish (get your blogules transfusion in French)
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We will build a firewall, or America will pay for it

Everybody knows that Donald Trump, obstructing justice in plain sight and tweets, tries to get rid of Robert Mueller and the Russia investigation he brought upon himself.

Everybody knows that Trump could fire the special counsel, but would then face a backlash tenfold more damaging than the one following James Comey's eviction. He tried to sic his lawyers on Mueller, and to have AG Rod Rosenstein recuse himself, but can't wait to have a friendly, unrecusable, and unbeleaguered successor to Jeff Sessions to stop, torpedo, or at least hack into the investigation. 

Everybody knows that Trump doesn't want to own Session's departure, and bullies him into resigning. So far, he only succeeded in drawing more support for his AG, even from his fiercest enemies.

So here's Trump's latest not-so-subtle attempt: reviving Session's sulfurous past to make him despicable enough to everyone that counts, except of course to their common white supremacist base. Asking Jeff Sessions to solve racial discrimination is like asking Scott Pruitt to solve climate change - recipe for disaster of biblical proportions (BTW tighten your Bible belt on that one).

"Obviously, #Trump tries to use #JeffSessions' #WhiteSupremacy past to put him on an even hotter seat and discard him" (CNN: "NYT: Trump administration prepares to investigate 'race-based discrimination')" (20170802 - twitter.com/stephanemot/status/892624598654701568)

In the same nauseating breath, and as usual, Trump sparks outrage in a new direction to out-do the outrage surrounding his own persona. Huffington Post's Chris York went as far as to suggest that the Anthony Scaramucci comedia del arte was part of a plot to divert attention from Bill Browder's key testimony*.

ICYMI during his hearing at the Senate, Browder exposed the Putin system that killed Sergei Magnitsky, connecting many dots in the Russiagate: Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort attended a meeting that not only aimed at helping a foreign power influence the US elections, but also at serving the wealthiest man on Earth, the capo di tutti capi, and ultimate corruptor, Vladimir Putin. Repealing and replacing the Magnitsky act is not about improving adoption, but about saving Putin's business. And we're not talking about superrich emirates bribing their way into the West to gain influence, but about an autocrat determined to destroy Western democracies.

Everybody knows that Trump, his family, and friends, are almost openly corrupting the US democracy in ways that reach far beyond money (even if, right on cue, Mueller team announced that Greg Andres, an expert in foreign bribery**, would join the investigation).

Everybody knows that the GOP sold its soul to the devil, and can't kick the can down the road endlessly. 

At least, not all GOP lawmakers remain "Speechless": Jeff Flake delivered a courageous mea culpa for his party's - and his own - shameless denials and betrayals. 

I must digress here, because Flake waited until after the failed Trumpcare vote to take a stand, and I have to say something about someone who played a pivotal role in this vote. I was sad to learn about John McCain's health, and even sadder to see this old lion disgrace himself once more by voting for the House's s..t of paper (he sank much deeper in 2008 by pledging allegiance to the Discovery Institute, and later by picking Sarah Palin). McCain's (final?) thumb down showed that he cared, and not just about his legacy. 

McCain also happens to be the strongest voice around against Putin.

If the sanctions against Russia put some important issues on paper, they're just indirect measures against enemies of the State Trump and Putin. They cowardly expose how much trust GOP lawmakers have in Trump, who reluctantly signed it while declaring it unconstitutional (ironically, by signing, he was precisely, and for a change, preserving the constitution). Impicitely, the GOP recognized a man who doesn't want the buck to stop here, but in Moscow.

These sanctions are a timid start, but America must build a much stronger wall to save itself from Trump and Putin. Indeed, we must build a firewall, or America will pay for it.

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Since 2003, nonsensical posts about noncritical issues in nonenglish (get your blogules transfusion in French)
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Follow Us

* "Bill Browder’s Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Could Explain Anthony Scaramucci’s Bizarre Behaviour" (Huffington Post UK - 20170731) 
** "Greg Andres: Latest lawyer appointed to join Robert Mueller's Russia investigation team has background in foreign bribery" (Independent - 20170802)

Six Pax Americana - Brewing the Gatesgate

President Barack Hussein Obama invited Professor Henry Louis Gates and Sergeant James Crowley for a Beer Summit at the White House, mobilising Vice President Joseph Robinette Biden Junior in the process.

Pundits keep elaborating on the level of racism reached during the incident that triggered the summit : Sgt Crowley handcuffed Pr Gates in his home. Prof had to force his own door to enter. Neighbor called the police, suspecting a theft. Sarge declined to tell his own name. POTUS said "police acted stupidly". Media spun the whole thing into some kind of a Victorian remake of "Do The Right Thing".

You have to understand the media : they were used to crispier gates, with cells, torture, waterboarding, pretzels, screams... the whole shebang and now what ? Instead of another Bush, they get Anheuser Busch !

If it weren't for healthcare / health scares, Obama's first year would be boring : the only major scandals are the Puppygate, the Flygate, and now the Gatesgate...

What next ? The Yawngate ?

Intelligence Supremacy

Yesterday, an 88 year old unrepented White Supremacist, James W. von Brunn, murdered a black guard at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Earlier this month, a "pro-life" fanatic murdered a doctor at his church (see '"Pro Life" Murderers').

Both crimes demonstrated the sad reality of "supremacy" : bullets over flesh, negation over facts, fundamentalism over intelligence.

In this country, John Kerry or Barack Obama have been criticized for respecting the intelligence of voters.

In this country, the First Amendment allows Nazis to parade and advertise.

In this country, creationist can call "Museum" an altar to revisionism and to the negation of science or education.

If they existed, Intelligence Supremacists would never - say - burn down that infamous Creation Museum. Instead, they would transparently and without any ounce of hatred expose the imposture, and make sure democracy prevents revisionism and hatred from spreading.

Unfortunately, US democracy has to survive in spite of a double edge sword Amendment.

Recent history proved that some form of intelligence could easily undermine even further this already fragile democracy. The time has come to use intelligence a more positive way.

I wish Supreme Court could come up some day (the earliest the better) with a really smart America v. Amerika case, waterproofing democracy for good instead of waterboarding it for ever.

Beyond the Iranian people, Obama is addressing Israel

NYT's Ethan Bronner is not exactly holding fire against Israel these days, and he shouldn't : investigations are proving how essential principles were deliberately abandoned during the recent invasion of the Gaza strip.

Bronner also pointed out* the obvious fact that Israel cannot stick to its darkest sides (racism, fascism, which are not a Avigdor Lieberman monopoly these days), particularily if moderates gain ground in Iran on June 12, 2009.

As a Nowruz celebration, Citizen Obama decided to cast a video ballot for the upcoming presidential elections.

The Iranian people discovered a POTUS talking directly to them with words of mutual respect, a humble admiration for the great Persian culture, and a genuine spark of intelligence and compassion in the eyes. Barack even cautioned the Islamic Republic of Iran label, tearing down a 30 year old wall between both nations.

Reaching out without touching faith, Obama's speech was actually putting as much pressure on Israel as on Iran.

Livni and Netanyahu had better come up with something fit for this new millenium.


* see "After Gaza, Israel Grapples With Crisis of Isolation" (NY Times - 20090318)

PS: Obama sent an even more direct message to Bush when he wrote to Chirac.

The Stolen Election

I'm not fully pleased by the way Obama's historic victory is being celebrated.

Don't get me wrong : I've been wishing for his election ever since I listened to his 2004 DNC speech and Tuesday night, I've welcomed my own tears of joy, relief, hope and respect... Heck, I even felt like hugging America altogether !

Yes, the ultimate race barrier has been blown away by a tidal wave embracing the US of A as a whole and as they are at their best, strong of an incredible diversity. At last, die hard outspoken racists will be silenced... and even better : unconscious racism may decrease significantly (without even noticing it, many unintentional aggressors will change their body languages - but their common and uncommon victims will more than probably notice... and hopefully feel a lighter weight on their chests).

Yet. If America electing the first African-American President is in itself History and a giant leap for mankind, this election cannot and shouldn't be summed up by this one formidable accomplishment.
The stakes went even higher.

And no, it's not the economy, stupid. I know that was the top issue for 62% of voters as well as I know that Obama will do a much better job than McCain in that field. But the situation would have improved after a while anyway and as far as History is concerned, even this titanic mess is a minor factor compared to the key issue of the 2008 Presidential Elections : the very survival of America as a democracy, and the world struggle against fundamentalism.

Everybody is celebrating the first African-American president, and of course everybody should, but it wasn't the aim of these elections, and certainly not the reason why the dangerous Bush-McCain-Palin squad failed (even if they want you to believe it)... only the most exquisite bonus to the main prize.

The aim was to elect a strong but sound leader who would not only prevent the nation's moral and political collapse but also durably put the country and the world back on the tracks of democracy and mutual respect.

When Barack Obama says "America is a place where all things are possible", he knows that this is not a one-side coin : if all things are possible, even the worst is possible. When Barack Obama says "the dream of our founders is alive", he doesn't forget that the great George Washington himself used to own slaves. And when Barack Obama finishes with "the power of our democracy", he's not only making his strongest focus on the massive turnout of this glorious day.

When Barack Obama uses the words "power", "democracy", "patriotism" and "liberty", they don't have the same deviant flavor as in the mouth of George W. Bush ; they claim their true meaning back, as the ultimate condemnation of the wrong path taken after 9/11...

"The true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms
or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals:
democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope".

... "because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America".

This change happens to be carried by an African-American, but what really matters is that it is a change in the good direction, not the irreversible change George W. Bush was only one Supreme Justice shy of triggering**.



* see "The Maverick is free again"
** see (I hope for the last time) "Change is coming" and Mac "will fight", but for whom and for what ?"


PS : All right. I just wrote yesterday* that Barack Obama's speech was not "a truly Historic one", and I didn't mention the unease I felt when John McCain (like Bush the following day) focused too much on the African-American dimension of That One's victory. But I did mention the special quality of those two parts of his speech.

John, Ben, Barack Hussein, James, Thomas, and other beautiful American names

What do McCain and Obama have in common ? Any of the two would be the 15th US President with a Semitic name*.

Yep. Barack Hussein is as American as John, Joe or Sarah.

And Barack Hussein Obama is no more un-American than such radical terrorists as Benjamin Franklin or Abraham Lincoln. Maybe President McCain would arrest Bin Yamin Franklin for inventing a weapon of mass destruction collecting energy from lightning bolts, or Abraham for sporting such a suspicious beard...

Obama never made a mystery of the nature of his relationship with Bill Ayers, and repeatedly denounced his past actions. We have yet to hear from John McCain about his relationships with John Singlaub and his presence at the board of the sulfurous U.S. Council for World Freedom (not exactly the board of a charity at that time, ask any Nicaraguan).

"Who is Barack Hussein Obama ?" We know the answer, the man is quite open about his past, present and future, about what he knows and doesn't know, about what he did wrong and right, about where he stands and whom he stands for.

"Who is John McCain ?" I'm not sure John himself wants to face the answer.

* praise Juan Cole : "Barack Hussein Obama, Omar Bradley, Benjamin Franklin and other Semitically Named American Heroes"


---
Addendum 20081019
Praise also Colin Powell for not only endorsing Barack, but also setting the record straight about US Muslims (NBC's "Meet the Press" 20081019) :

see also Barack's reaction - ABC News "Obama 'Beyond Humbled' as GOP's Powell Says He'd Be 'an Exceptional President'" 20081019)

France heart Obama

In Germany the giga rock concert given to the people of the World, in "Sarkozie" the somber threat addressed to the rulers of Iran. Hope for the doves on one hand, dope for the hawks on the other... in the process Barack Obama even manages to claim the Reagan Democrats heritage.

France's love story with Obama is first the end of a hate story with Bush. We like his balanced views and sound approach of international politics. We like the way he sets people in motion in a positive way. And yes, we wish we had such a charismatic politician making it to the top job from our own minorities.

France is a melting pot. Both a former colonial superpower and the victim of countless invasions, a crossroads where 60 million people live and 75 million people pass by every year, the place where Europe's biggest Muslim minority and Europe's biggest Jewish minority used to live peacefully together until George W. Bush decided to give fundamentalism a worldwide boost.

Race is not an issue in France since raising the issue is almost forbidden : all databases have to be declared to an independent council (the CNIL), and keeping data related to race is illegal. So there are no official statistics regarding minorities, and everyday discrimination cannot be easily exposed. Even the HALDE (a post-2005 authority against discriminations) doesn't mention "race" in its website's keywords : "physical appearance", "genetic characteristics" and "origin" (circumnavigation if I ever saw one).

Everybody knows there is a problem. The only institution reflecting France's diversity remains the national soccer team, and the media and politics are still 99.999% white. Following the 2005 riots, Chirac urged the media to change this and there has been some improvement (anyway from scratch there wasn't any other way than upwards). Sarkozy's Ministry of Justice happens to be a woman with a dual French-Moroccan nationality (Rachida Dati), but there again, a tree doesn't make a forest. Political parties are guilty too : if minority talents are not given any opportunity, France is already dramatically lagging behind most countries when it comes to giving women electable spots.

France has been waiting for a "French Kennedy" for 40 years - to no avail. But a President Obama could certainly help the self proclaimed "country of Human Rights" to be at last true to its values of "liberte, egalite, fraternite".

Red blogule to New New Orleans - the bleach blitz

The Federal authorities are in no hurry to allow Louisiana citizens back to what's left of their homes : the area is enjoying a 2/3 white supremacy very much different from the 3/4 pre-Kathrina black rule. As in neighboring Texas, pro-Bush Hispanics may get their share of the cake, were this situation to last till next elections.
They'd be right to stick around : according to many wheather forecasts, greenbacks are supposed to start pouring soon over the region. I'm not sure they will land in the pockets that most deserved them.
One could recycle the tactful words the Queen of Diplomacy Condi Rice once uttered about another massive disaster, "I do agree that the tsunami was a wonderful opportunity to show not just the US government, but the heart of the American people, and I think it has paid great dividends for us".
Praise Lord Dubya and his clerical clique ; always fighting against Evil and defending the Haves and the Haves More. Let their followers enter the kingdom of whealth. O when the Saints go marchin in...

White blogule to France's wake up call

You keep asking me what's going wrong with France these days, especially after my critics on Amerika's social collapse (ie "This is America" or "Quagmires and bayous").
My answer is : "about everything". The poor are getting poorer, the masses are getting poor and the wealthy have already left the country. The IMF can praise the government's ability to perform reforms through consensus, the country needs to go further and quicklier.
First, "social" investments are often diverted / perverted and France is paying for the so called "social peace" : I give favors to social activists in order to buy stability, but I transform them into new elites disconnected from their bases and only devoted to the protection of their own interests. The counterproductivity of this tradition of compromises becomes all the more evident than growth times are over.
Second, ethnical / racial "égalité" is a myth. The French national soccer team became the "black blanc beur" alibi for a nation of tele-spectators / non-actors. Decision makers and opinion leaders must reflect the country's diversity.
Third, the Republic kept clinging to an ideal image of itself without actually taking care of itself. It must revive its own dynamics and instead of protecting yesterday's, we must unleash the locomotives of tomorrow. Education remains to be truly reformed (beyond the content, the mindframes and inerties).
The solutions lie in both a "bottom up" and "top down" approach. Bottom up : voting, getting involved in the community beyond one's own existing circles, marketing a positive peer-pressure at the individual as well as the entrepreneurial level (I'm doing something, how about you ?). Top down : transfering investments in the socially productive hands and giving back the ability to spend to the doers and makers : saving the budget by replacing only half of the new pensionners in the civil sector, luring back the wealthy - even if unethically at the start, ie through amnisty (but with a reform of heritage in favor of productive investments and socially efficient foundations).
This crisis could prove to be the opportunity to wake the country up and to focus the energies on the right priorities.
The only positive output of this "annus horribilis" (no to Europe, no to Paris 2012, no to social exclusion...) is the existence of a genuine debate. At very last, the key issues are outspoken. To the point one could talk about a 1968 revival, with still the same idealists at one extreme and cynists at the other one, but a stronger and more mature mainstream in-between.
Let's hope France will go for the structural change instead of Sarkozy's radical reformism. One year from now, I hope we can measure the evolution in the good (if not right) direction.