Let us not lose sight of the essence and the big picture. The
details and the legalese of whether what happened to Eric
Garner was or was not ``chokehold" according to New York
Law and/or according to Federal Law diminish the fact that
in this, our United States, Police officers are taking, under
various circumstances, human lives, even, as is crystal clear
in Mr. Garner's case, without responding with proportionate
force to a crime being committed or to any threat of violence
of comparable magnitute, and they are not held accountable;
in fact worse, they are not even tried for this, the crowning
offense in any well-functioning legal system. I am deeply
ashamed and I am devastated and embarrassed that while
my State and its Diplomats go around the World preaching
to ``less respectful" and ``less well governed" States how to
Respect Fundamental Human Rights and Liberties, its Civil
and other Servants fall so abominably short from upholding
domestically in Law all these same rights uniformly and
equally for all its Citizens as demanded by Public Conscience.
My humble advice to the Israeli politcians before they follow
another downward slope. Just think of what occurred when
a State declared itself an ``Aryan" State before and just think
of how disconcerting and uncomfortable for Jewish People
and other minorities it would be if, say, Italy declared itself
an Italian Catholic State of European Heritage or France
declared itself a French Catholic State of French Heritage,
or some other similar phrasings were adopted, with open or
covert intonations of discriminatory, racist and nationalistic
overtones. The Land of the Israelis should be the last State to
support such divisions in a modern World of Fraternity and
Unity and the State of Israel, where many persecuted people
found refuge, should be the last State to forgo its Right and
its Moral Standing, through its own mishandling and via
erroneous political machinations, to stand up against such
moves by any and all other States. We need a World where
every race and ethnicity would feel welcome everywhere and
where merit and equality prevail; not a World where a State
declares who is more valued and more equal than others,
based on superficial criteria and bankrupt ideologies that
have cause profound grief in the past.
Levin claims dramatic changes have taken place in
Afghanistan and I have no knowledge or reason to
doubt his statement. But what is extremely disconcerting
and bothersome is that the same people that always keep
in mind the cost-benefit balancing weights when it comes
to domestic projects and domestic spending, never tell
us what the costs have been to attain those changes and
reap the ensuing benefits and whether these costs were
really worth the changes that they tout as so significant;
not to mention the ongoing fear that these changes might
be reversible in a heartbeat, due to corruption and bad
government, when the US and NATO forces completely
pull out of the region.
Malia and Sasha are the loveliest girls anyone would
ever hope to meet. If I feel sorry about something
concerning them is that, because Barack is and will
have been President, they will, probably, never be
able to live an undisturbed life with so many media
hovering around and with so many pathetic and
idiotic and brainless facebookers and tweeters,
who criticize, insult and blurb nonsense first, and,
if they are able to think or accept advice from other
people that can think, apologize later...
France, closely following the United States, seems to be
suffering from a scarcity of young, energetic, politically
clean and enthusiastically active socially party membership
that would be dynamic, forceful and courageous enough
to make a convincing case for sidelining the dinosaurs
that have been tried and have failed to deliver. Thus,
unfortunately, both countries are witnessing the sad
recycling of tiring and depressing super old, or, in any
case, too old and too comfortable to have a stake for
a real change, guard that attempts to run again and
again or, else, tries to exercise undue influence with
the goal of squeezing in their cronies and/or their
family members and associates... There is a sign of
political decline and lack of appetite and dynamism
in politics everywhere, perhaps a sign a cynicism...
Enrique Pena Nieto is also not convincing. But, contrary
to Spain, Mexico is not a State where Law has even the
slightest pretension of existing. Corruption, illegitimacy,
crime and extortion of unprecedented proportions by
any standards, developed, developing or underdeveloped,
mean that only a revolution and a very heavy handed
approach can save Mexico of its continued plight and
its being a land of lawless exploitation of the masses
by the political, economic and trafficking cartels of
all kinds that operate in collusion, only pretending and
giving lip service to democratic ideals and the popular
sentiments.
Spain's Rajoy is not convincing any more. Of course it
is the case that not all politicians in Spain are corrupt.
But if, say, the percentage of the corrupt ones is even
10%, this is clearly, by developed world standards,
utterly unacceptable. And, of course, no one will ever
know the exact percentage, since that is, unfortunately,
the inherent nature of political and economic corruption,
but, nevertheless, the reports emanating now and again
from Spain, a State with one of the highest official
unemployment figures in Europe, and with a heavy
excruciating unemployment burden upon the youth,
are not encouraging at all. Radical solutions are
needed when the political elite does its own bidding,
regardless of the popular mandate, and when the
democratic and judicial institutions become enslaved
to the interests of the political and economic elites.
Bravo to the Greek Navy and to the Frigate ``Ydra"
and its Crew for saving hundreds of lives and to the
City of Ierapetra in Crete for taking the initiative to,
at least temporarily, welcome and provide shelter and
alleviate the pain and stress of the emigrants of ``Baris".
Humanity is not an option, but a heavy responsibility
and a duty, and the Maritime States, with Greece and
Italy at the forefront, have been, for a long time and
consistently, taking this responsibility, morally and
legally, very seriously.
You may have ``done your job right", but you can
have neither a ``clean conscience" nor be at peace
when, regardless of the circumstances or the context,
you have deprived another human being of his life,
having absolutely no right to do so, even if the
degenerate authorities that you serve assure you
that you do...
All the questions that you posed to Stephanopoulos, you
should have asked of yourself before pulling the trigger.
Moreover, we do not need gang ho cops giving seminars
to other cops on how to shed more blood and, of course,
preferably of those that do not look like them...
Of course, the jurors know much more about the individual
case than we do and it would be unwise to doubt their honesty.
How am I supposed, though, to expect peace and calm by
the people whose communities have been historically, repeatedly
and consistently, discriminated against and wronged, when the
professionals who are trained to keep peace and calm and,
allegedly, to serve and protect, choke people to death for
selling contraband and shoot to kill underage kids in play
grounds and shoppers in stores for brandishing fake guns,
and, in generally, seem, in many cities, to have a gangster
mentality and to be very poorly trained indeed for the tasks
at hand? Or how could I respect President Obama's reminder
that we are a Nation ``built on the Rule of L
