She Started Life in Boston in 1918 as Beatrice Magaziner
Family 1948; My mother second row, second on the left between Aunt Pearl and Aunt Ray.
The family name on my mother’s side of the family is “Magazine”; there were also relatives with the last name Wychezchi (different spellings) and Burwick. During the course of her long life, my mother had five last names.
She started life as “Beatrice Magaziner”; that changed sometime in the 1920s, when after what I was told as “a long discussion” about “Americanizing” the name, the “r” was dropped and she became Beatrice Magazine. Marrying my father in 1942 (I believe that was the year) she became Beatrice Prensky. But then in 1947 when I was all of three years of age, “for business reasons (of course)” my father changed the family name from Prensky to Prince – I protested vigorously to no avail – so thus she became Beatrice Prince. My folks divorced in 1958 and then a decade later my mother married Nat Kaye and became Beatrice Kaye, and that was her name when she died at the age of 90 some seven years ago.
So, a visit to the Boston Public Library today, a world-class place. I will spend more time there. OK…so, a bit more of what was the family history comes to light from a one hour trip to the Boston Public Library. Anyhow, I remembered that my mother was born in Boston in 1918 and wondered if there might be any records I might find. Directed to the Genealogy Department the librarian suggested I look at the 1920 census and bingo! some interesting information although it took a little figuring out.
Looking at on-line information from the 1920 census – and that of 1930, sure enough, interesting and relevant information popped up. I knew my mother’s original family name was not “Magazine” but “Magaziner.” The 1920 census had her name but misspelled as “Beatrice Magazina” – the “er” changed to an “a”. I know it is the correct information as the names of her parents, siblings are all accurate.
The 1920 census has “Beatrice Magazina” born in 1919, but she was born a year earlier, in 1918 according to her birth certificate which I have in my possession. Small error. It gives her birthplace simply as “Massachusetts,” noting that at the age of one she lived in Boston’s Ward 5, Suffolk, Mass. and on “Barton Covet” street.
It gives other family information that was of interest, like the age of her parents, my grand parents and those of my sisters and cousins, Julius and Sarah “Magazina.” Some surprises, among them, that in 1920 both Julius and Sarah were 42 years of age. This is interesting because it suggests that Grandma Sarah had my mother when she was 40 or 41 years of age, the last of 14 births of which seven survived to adulthood. At that time, 1920, Mom’s brother Louis was 17, Molly (who changed her name during adulthood to Malvina) was 13, Uncle Willie (William) 11, Uncle Joe 8. Uncle Hy (misspelled as “Lyman” although in the 1930 census that was corrected to “Hyman) was 6 and Israel (who I knew as Uncle Ira) was 4. Mom was all of one.
The information from the 1930 census included a number of changes. The family had moved to Brooklyn, New York, address given 3009 Ave K. But when did they move from Massachusetts? And I know that for a certain time the family also lived in Buffalo but when was that? Concerning what is now “Beatrice Magazine”, she is all of 10 years old and according to the census, she can read, write and speak English.
Now Julius Magazine is dead and Uncle Lou has moved out and married Aunt Doris; Grandpa Julius died in 1924 after drinking poisoned prohibition-era vodka (or some kind of hard alcohol) on the job to keep warm at work. At the time he was a construction worker. He had previously worked in steel mills and did fancy cement work. Grandma Sarah was 51, a widow with seven kids. Molly (Mal) was 21, Willie (William) 20, Joe (18), Hymie (now they got his name right – Hyman) 16. Izzie (who was Israel in the 1920 census but I knew as Ira) was 13 and Beattie, as Mom was called was all of ten years of age (except she was 11 or 12).
They lived in Ave K just off Nostrand Ave. Sister Laurie and I visited there just after our mother died. I went back with niece Julie just last year. To this day it remains a very orthodox Jewish neighborhood. The synagogue where Uncle Willie and Aunt Thelma was married is a block away; I would guess this is where the family went on the high holidays.
Saudi-Led Coalition Bombs Yemen Wedding with US Weapons, Killing 131 Civilians
KGNU – November 29, 2016. Transcript. Part One
This is a partial transcript from an in-depth interview with Kazerooni and Prince looking at some of the main lines of what can be expected of President Elect, Donald Trump’s Middle East foreign policy. Part Two will follow in a few days. Jim Nelson is the program host.
Do you think you’ve hit bottom?
Do you think you’ve hit bottom?
Oh, no.
There’s a bottom below.There’s a low below the low you know.
You can’t imagine how far you can go downMalvina Reynolds “There’s A Bottom Below“
Jim Nelson: We’re going to move on to the topic of this evening: what Trump’s Middle East policy might look like. We’re about three weeks into this transition; on January 20, 2016, Donald Trump will be inaugurated. As is the tradition, President-elect Trump is naming different people to fill his cabinet posts and named a number of his main advisors. This evening we’ll be looking at some of these appointments and how these individuals might influence U.S. Middle East policy.
Trump has announced Michael Flynn to be his national security advisor and Nikki Haley to be UN Ambassador. Michael Flynn was fired from his position as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency by Barack Obama. Nikki Haley really has no foreign policy experience. ..but it could be worse as she seems to be one of the more reasonable of Trump’s appointments.
The Secretary of State has not been chosen yet but there are a number of candidates for the job, among them, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani, former C.I.A. head and U.S. military commander, General David Petraeus.
So the question is: Where to begin?
Rob Prince: Let me briefly outline what we hope to cover tonight. I’m going to begin by looking at what is shaping up to be the Trump foreign policy in general and then what it is could look life for the Middle East with Ibrahim (Kazerooni) joining in and commenting. Then Ibrahim will address some of the specifics we see emerging in the region, how some of the different regional personalities have responded to Trump’s election and what might be in store for the region in the period ahead. Read more…
IfNotNowWhen Protest in front of the Jewish Community Center in Denver, November 29, 2016
If Not Now, When? – Background
The saying originated from the Babylonian Jewish philosopher and leader, Hillel The Elder (110 BC-10 AD). It comes from a longer quote: “If I am not for myself who is for me? And being for my own self, what am ‘I’? And if not now, when?” Part of the quote, the “If not now when?” portion became the title of one of Italian Jewish writer Primo Levi‘s semi-autobiographical novel that details his circuitous journey from Auschwitz concentration camp through East Europe back to Italy at the end of the war. The expression, shortened a bit to IfNotNow, was picked up in a timely manner as the name of a relatively new Jewish organization in the United States whose stated mission is:
During the violence of Operation Protective Edge in 2014, young Jews angered by the overwhelmingly hawkish response of American Jewish institutions came together under the banner of IfNotNow to demonstrate their resistance through the beauty of Jewish ritual. Moved to act by moral anguish and inspired by Hillel’s three questions, they organized Mourner’s Kaddish actions in nearly a dozen cities across the country and lamented the loss of both Israeli and Palestinian life. They had three demands: Stop the War on Gaza, End the Occupation, and Freedom and Dignity for All.
The demand for American Jewish institutions to end their support for the occupation has only grown more urgent and clear since that summer. While the out-of-touch establishment claims to speak for our community, we know that American Jewry is eager for change.
We are building a vibrant and inclusive movement within the American Jewish community, across generations and organizational affiliations. This movement is open to any who seek to shift the American Jewish public away from the status quo that upholds the occupation.
Trump Transition Begins With Bannon
by James M. Wall
One week after Donald Trump won the presidency, he is running his transition the way he ran his campaign, like a neophyte circus ringmaster who walks into the center ring with absolutely no idea of what to do next.
The clowns are bolting from their small crowded car, the acrobats are swinging high from their wires. The elephants are standing by quietly, perhaps recalling the plains of Africa.
Lurking over in the far edge of that circus ring is a mysterious figure, maybe a lion, or maybe another being, hungry for power. It is not a presence we expected to see at this circus. The audience pays him no attention.
What about that audience? It is now living with the consequences of the second presidential election in 16 years in which voters gave the popular vote victory to the loser of the Electoral College race, the one that counts?
The audience mourns or…
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There was a banner “Sanctuary,” and many posters. “Who Pays Your Salary?” “I.C.E In Our Raspados; Not In Our Barrios!” “Fuck Your Wall; Liberation, Not Deportation!” “AHEC: Protect Our Students!” (AHEC = Auraria Higher Education Complex) “Undocumented, Unafraid, Unapologetic! Here To Stay! Sin Papeles, Sin Miedo!”
Revisiting the Auraria Campus After Fifteen Years Where I Used To Teach
Yesterday at the rally and demonstration on the University of Denver campus in support of the Water Protectors (and in protest of a conference of national pipeline executives) I was handed a leaflet about “an action” today on the Auraria Campus organized by undocumented students calling for a student walk out at the University of Colorado – Denver. The leaflet announced that a student walkout would take place to protest President-Elect Donald Trump’s jingoist and racist comments about immigrants, both documented and non; it also called for “Sanctuary” for undocumented students on the Auraria Campus.
Immigrants, foreigners of all stripes, people of color, Jews – we all find ourselves thrown into a racist cauldron which shows signs of only just beginning as bigots of all types, emboldened by Donald Trumps harsh campaign rhetoric, take their white sheets out of the closet. The increase of bigotry nationwide includes Colorado where, as elsewhere, the incidents continue to pile up. One of the main targets of Trump’s campaign, as is well known, are undocumented immigrants. Being state institutions with low tuition costs, the Auraria colleges have attracted many undocumented youth. And now their situation, and those of their families and friends have been thrown into fear and chaos. Not surprisingly, once again, it is undocumented youth, whose future is on the line, that have begun to stand up for their rights, for their future.
Being retired and curious as to see what it was all about, I went down to the campus to watch and participate. Although I rarely step foot there, it’s a place I know well having taught at what was then called Metropolitan State College of Denver (today Metropolitan State University) for about a decade. I decided to go a little early to see who was left of the vibrant world that was the Anthro-Soc-Social Work Department I taught in for most of the 1990s.
The Auraria campus hosts three higher education institutions: the Denver branch of the University of Colorado (called UCD), Metropolitan State University and Community College of Denver. The last time I looked the combined student population of “Auraria” was near 40,000. It is easily, without a doubt the most culturally, class, age, urban-rural diverse place in the state of Colorado and probably so for 600 miles in any direction. I was an adjunct teacher in Metro’s Anthropology (Anthropology, Sociology and Social Work Dept at the time) and thorough enjoyed the teaching and the students there, the diversity of the place. It was only on the Auraria Campus I had the feeling of being “back home” in New York City. Nowhere else in Colorado did I feel so comfortable and at home. But the pay was pitiful (still is for adjuncts) and when the University of Denver offered me a considerably better deal, Metro and I parted ways. It was as simple as that. Read more…
For People Interested in World Peace: Hear Great Analyst Stephen Cohen on US Russian Relations! — WiPoKuLi
In these heated times it´s wonderful to hear a clear mind speak out. Hear Professor Stephen_F._Cohen talk in an Interview about the relations between the US and Russia: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article45847.htm But he speaks in favour of peace and general human interest. Those powers in the US that (shouldn´t) be have only their own nightmares in mind. And […]
Some of the upto 1000 or so students, faculty and community members that protested the meeting of national pipeline executives that took place on the University of Denver Campus. Main theme of the demonstration – No to the Dakota Access Pipeline…although there were signs and banners about everything that matters.
Coloradans gearing up against Trump.
Yesterday in Denver there were 1000 or so protesters downtown at the Civic Center, many young people among the crowd. Good speeches, good spirit to stand up to the post Trump victory right-wing onslaught. Today there were (by my unofficial estimate) another thousand, maybe more, at the University of Denver (D.U) protesting a meeting of national pipeline executives taking place on the campus. Tomorrow the students at Metropolitan State University in downtown Denver are organizing a walk out
Dickens’ quote about the worst of times, the best of times comes to mind here in Colorado and across the nation.
Yesterday in Denver (Sunday, November 13, 2016) there were 1000 or so protesters downtown at the Civic Center, many young people among the crowd. Good speeches, good spirit to stand up to the post Trump victory right-wing onslaught. Today, only two days later, (by my unofficial estimate) another thousand, maybe more, gathered at the University of Denver (D.U) protesting a two day meeting of national pipeline executives taking place on the campus and the ongoing construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline project passing through Native sacred ground in North Dakota.
The University of Denver protest meeting was organized by a Native American student group, the Native Student Alliance, less than a week ago. Given the brief time allotted to organize the protest, the turn out at the traditionally “sleepy” University of Denver was surprising and a reflection of the national mobilization taking place across the nation and the world against the proposed policies of president-elect Donald Trump. Both people associated with the university – students, some (not many) faculty – and the broader community participated. Again good speeches, good spirit as the crowd continued to swell in the late afternoon. After the speeches a spirited and peaceful march started circling the building (the Hotel Management building) where the pipeline execs were holding court.
Later, at night, in an act of civil disobedience, protesters shut down the intersection of Evans and University Ave. chanting “Water is sacred, water is life.”
The Native Student Alliance protests will continue tomorrow(Wed, November 16, 2016). The protest program will include remarks by Iliff School of Theology Native professor, Tink Tinker and remarks by other faculty at both the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology.
I include here the comments of my former colleague Alan Gilbert, who also attended the rally and march.
The business school at the University of Denver held a pipeline conference with oil executives. No critical voice or conversation allowed. Police stood in the doorways. Students from outside the hospitality school could not go in, even to pee. In some places, money talks…
I and Paula Bard attended a protest gathering that grew to a thousand over several hours, snaked around the building and up again beyond Anderson Academic Commons, marched in the street. Even in the building, the determined dollar signs could not avoid hearing us. Water is sacred. Global warming is destroying the planet and all life.
An activist from Standing Rock gave a large number of us instruction on nonviolent protest, including two lines imitating demonstrators and the hostile. This is an old and admirable training procedure from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (you can find it in the segment of Eyes on the Prize on one organized by James Foreman for Mississippi Freedom Summer).
We are part of the many actions here and around the world. Bernie Sanders spoke eloquently in front of the White House, and Obama should wake up, remember himself, join in. Masters of the Pipeline and Trumpi0la, you will not succeed. The whole world is watching. And everyone, including businesses who are alive (not including those who organized this conference) know that the only future- humanity’s future – is with solar and wind…
Pipeline Politics
The pipeline execs probably had one strategy for dealing with a Hillary presidential victory and are, in their two days on the D.U. campus developing another, more aggressive one now that Donald Trump has won the presidency. Indicative of this is the title of the forum the oil and gas people have organized on the second day, “countering opposition through community engagement” – a direct reference to the opposition of pipeline construction projects of both the present Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota and the Keystone Xcel Pipeline project which was sidelined as a result of local opposition along the pipeline route.
Among Donald Trump’s campaign promises was to resurrection Keystone Xcel and push through with the Dakota Access project. There are currently several thousand – as many as seven thousand at last I heard – people at the Standing Rock site opposing the Dakota Access project spearheaded by a unified effort of some 280 indigenous nations here in the increasingly disunited United States.
As they scare rather easily, I am pretty certain, having taught there for many years, that the university administration was nervous by the demonstrators, as the latter unsparingly exposed what D.U. is all about in some detail. In any event it was a peaceful , well organized protest with a clear message: insuring the fate of the earth by opposing climate change at a time when the president to be is committed to increasing the country’s dependence on fossil fuels – just the opposite of what is needed. I appreciated the fact that several former colleagues had the courage to participate as speakers.
Elsewhere in Denver, tomorrow (Wednesday, November 16) there is a planned student walkout at the Metro State University on the Auraria Campus downtown from 3-6 in the late afternoon. Let’s see if they can match D.U. in numbers and spirit. Expect I’ll be there too. Like many social movements in the past in this country, much of the political energy is coming from the country’s youth, student population, spearheaded by non-white communities.
another one of the same event; the photo does not do justice to the size of the demonstration. ..
Trump and the Road Ahead: The Shock Doctrine
Denver’s Civic Park on Sunday, November 14, 2016; 1000+ people gather to oppose Trump’s policies (Chiara Piovani photo)
(note: part of a series – I intend to make these blog entries rather short, dealing with different aspects of what lies ahead in a Trump presidency. Today’s entry concerns the immediate program of the incoming Trump administration)
At times like these, I find myself going to the conservative parts of town and just sitting down and listening n to what people are talking about to get a sense of what is on their minds. Today I had coffee in a café in Wheatridge for a half hour or so. The café talk a week after Trump’s victory – and it was quite detailed – was about the last-minute victory of the Denver Broncos two days ago over the New Orleans Saints. That was it.
Although its population has changed some over the decades, Wheatridge and nearby Arvada are the home of the Faith Bible Chapel, one of the most right-wing, Christian fundamentalist outfits in the state. It is also the base of the longtime reactionary Coors family, whose political influence in Colorado and nationwide remains considerable. A hundred years ago these western suburbs of Denver were among the bastions of Colorado’s KKK; even today Wheatridge is still, for good reason, often referred to as “White Ridge” by some.
Meanwhile, today, for the second time in less than a year, the city of Denver, getting into the spirit of the coming Trump administration, is engaged in “lower economic cleansing” – as KGNU talk show host Shareef Aleem calls it: “sweeping” the downtown areas of homeless people forcing them once again into the suburbs and down by the Platte River and along Cherry Creek.
Trump has his shock doctrine and we have ours (which is stopping his)
Something to think about: What Obama and a number of voices here in Denver are suggesting is to “give Trump a chance”. True he was elected (although we can debate in more detail what that means and doesn’t mean). But something else for people to consider…essentially what Trump and co. are going to do is the U.S. version of the “Shock Doctrine.” (If you haven’t read the book by Naomi Klein, you might as well now). The essence of the doctrine is the following: taking advantage of political or natural crisis, while a population remains stunned and reeling, be it from the military coup that Pinochet engineered in Chile or what Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans, it is at precisely at such a moment that what I can only describe as “forces of the extreme right” – or as it is more technically known “neo-lberalism” swing into action and try to implement in a hurry as much of their program as possible. It is the political version of a “blitzkrieg,” the purpose of which is to ram through as much of the right wing Republican program through Congress as quickly as possible:
That is what is happening now in the aftermath of the Trump victory.
Although mostly what the news is reporting today is what are referred to as trial balloons, much of it will be implemented. What does that mean for the American people?
- the dismantling of what is referred as the American social net (social security, health care, what is left of the welfare state)
- the deregulation of as much of the economy as possible
- the further pummeling of the federal taxation system so as to benefit the rich at the expense of everyone else
- a roll back on civil rights, women’s’ rights, and the modest (very modest) advances the country has made in terms of climate control
But something else for people to consider…essentially what Trump and co. are going to do is the U.S. version of the “Shock Doctrine.” (If you haven’t read the book by Naomi Klein, you might as well now). The essence of the doctrine is the following: taking advantage of political or natural crisis, while a population remains stunned and reeling, be it from the military coup that Pinochet engineered in Chile or what Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans
More specifically this all out offensive will target the following:
– An administration that not only opposes climate change but will do everything possible to make the world more dependent of fossil fuels with the consequences that entails
– an attack on Social Security, perhaps its dismantling
– nothing short of a horrific attack on foreign immigrants in this country
– Obamacare, which despite its obvious problems, as extended medical care to millions is on the line
– Expect an all out attack on the Environmental Protection Agency – with the possibility that it will be dismantled
– Roe vs. Wade, one of the most significant advances in women’s rights, is threatened with reversal
– a major attack on government workers at all levels – with dramatic cuts in federal employees from all sectors
– the putting together of one of the most virulently right-wing administrations in this country’s history with names like Rudi Guiliani, Stephen Bannon, John Bolton, Sarah Palin and the rest of that cast of over-the-edge Tea Party-types all in the running
– a $25 billion cut in food stamps that will starve many, many Americans
Of course there is more and for the time being I’ll wait a few days to discuss the international aspects of the situation, which are also fast developing.
From where I’m sitting “giving Trump a chance” is precisely the wrong strategy to deal with the political blitzkrieg we are now facing as his administration will do everything in its power to ram through as much of their program as possible as quickly as possible, undoing as much of nearly a century of what is left of the American social contract. Whatever organizing, opposition to this program that can be done now, between now and the end of the first hundred days of the Trump Administration, will be critical.
As one friend put it: Trump has his shock doctrine and we have ours (which is stopping his).
So…get ready, get involved, don’t sit by the sidelines on this one. Don’t kvetch, organize (or if you have to kvetch a little, but try to get over it because there is too much to do,..and help those who can’t seem to get out of their depression).
In the next few days we (we = Nancy and I) intend to make practical suggestions. Frankly some folks don’t need them, they are already in motion and then some, but there are many others, who want to do something but have time restrictions (otherwise known as work) or are physically not able to get around much. Still there is much that can be done.
Adventure Elementary in Mapleton – Where the Stench from sewage backup was so bad that parents took their kids out of school yesterday.
Trying to cut into the sewer line at Adventure Elementary School in Mapleton (just north of Denver) to locate the source of the stench
The photo is of the east side of Adventure Elementary School in Mapleton. (Yesterday, November 10, 2016) In addition to having to deal with the national stink of a Donald Trump presidency, students and teachers at Adventure had an added more immediate bad smell of their own.
In addition to having to deal with the national stink a Donald Trump presidency, students and teachers at Adventure had an added more immediate bad smell of their own.
The stench from waste back up in the sewer system was so bad that parents came to school and took their children out of class.For others, class and lunch was held outdoors. A whole wing of the building has been shut down and classrooms forced to move elsewhere in the building.
Today as I went by and stood outside a fence to take a few pictures some one hundred feet away from the building, the smell was pretty bad; yesterday I am told it was far worse.
I am familiar with this particular school as one of my daughters, Molly, has been a teacher there. I’ve spoken in her class a number of times as have a few of her friends, something for me which was a great pleasure. The student body is heavily Latino, mostly Chicano, with some Central Americans; many speak Spanish at home. Working class and Chicano are the main cultural markers of the students.
This particular incident is not the first time I’ve heard about “the smell” but it became so overwhelming this time that many parents pulled their kids from school and a major TV news outlet, Channel 7 News, covered the story. Yesterday both parents and students on Thursday told Denver7 reporter Mark Boyle that the smell throughout the school is so strong, it was making some people sick. Nor was this the first time it’s happened. “Parents said the problem has persisted for years.” the news article said.
Yesterday both parents and students on Thursday told Denver7 reporter Mark Boyle that the smell throughout the school is so strong, it was making some people sick. Nor was this the first time it’s happened. “Parents said the problem has persisted for years.” the news article said.
“They say it stinks, it’s interfering with their learning, I mean, they can’t focus, it’s not good for their health, its natural gas, its waste, you know? It’s waste for a reason,” said Evonne Martinez, who’s a parent of a student at Adventure Academy Elementary. Students like 5th grader Jackie Morales said they’re feeling those health effects.
“It smelled so bad, I almost threw up and I get bad headaches and that makes it worse – bad,” said Morales.
The Maple district leadership, well versed in the problem, told Denver7 that a permanent fix would cost millions of dollars. The school is set to be torn down and re-built if the $150 million bond issue from Tuesday passes. But, with some outstanding ballots, the bond is 104 votes short.
“We’re doing everything we can to try to fix the problem, as I said, keeping our children safe, their children safe and healthy is the most important thing to us,” said Lynn Setzer, spokesperson for the Mapleton School District.The district said they’re going to continue to bring this bond issue before voters if in fact it fails, until they’re able to rebuild old schools like this one.
The district has been approved for a state grant of $7 million which is primarily made up of marijuana money, but in order to get the money, the district has to match.“It’s a great point for the parents to know that if this ballot doesn’t pass and we get it next year, how important it is to vote because, I mean, our kids are our future,” said Martinez. Now, all eyes are on the bond election results as parents frustrations continue to mount. School has been canceled for Friday and Monday as crews continue to repair the problem.
Regardless if the bond issue passes or not, the situation is intolerable and unsustainable in its current form. And that the district has known about it “for years” and not addressed it is irresponsible, bordering on criminal. Time for the Colorado Dept. of Health to step in I would think if they haven’t already. And one has to also ask, where is the Colorado Education Association in all this, the union to which the teachers belong? Their response appears as lack luster as the Mapleton administration to date.
Trump and the Road Ahead: There’s Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos
Youth (mostly) take the streets in Boston in response to the election of Donald Trump. Similar spontaneous demonstrations have occurred these past two days all over the country, including Denver.
1.
I decided I’m going to write about this election and what the future holds in store over the next few weeks and months. We are entering a new, a darker period in the history of country, and given then United States’ leading (if declining) role internationally, and in the world. In part I want to analyze what happened, how it was that Donald Trump, one of the sleaziest products of human evolution, could emerge as the victor in the presidential contest and as such, hold the levers of power in his hands.
I will make a few comments on the election results, although others have done so quite well, well enough so that a few general commentaries should suffice. More importantly I want to share my thoughts on what bodes ahead for the country and the world and what, in my opinion, can be done to limit the damage about to be inflicted upon us. It helps to strip away all illusions; this might sound depressing to some, but it really isn’t. It is only by knowing, understanding the world as it is, that we can change it, make it a better, more peaceful, fairer, more environmentally secure, creative and democratic place. Read more…
Syria unified. According to the Doha Protocol – the U.S. political map for dividing the country into enclaves – Syria as shown on this map would no longer exist. The northern region would be controlled by Turkey, which has long had expansionist ambitions in both Syria and Iraq; the eastern area would be dominated by ISIS-Al Nusra types and the south, near the Israeli and Jordanian borders, controlled by rebels manipulated by these two countries. “Syria” itself would be reduced to a small region around Damascus. It is this plan that the United States is intent on pursuing, come hell or high water
Part Two: Iraq and Syria: Classic Examples of Failed Policy
Rob Prince: That’s a nice segue into talking about what is going on in Syria and Iraq.
Ibrahim Kazerooni: And then the Doha Protocol and everything else came to mind. As soon as I read it, the situation became clearer, that in all these initiatives, building democracy played no part. Anybody can look at Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Bahrein, Egypt, Gaza-Occupied Palestine, Libya and the rest and see for themselves what is happening in the region.
The region is in crisis.
Jim Nelson: At this point I want to just question: what can the legacy be? The region is in extreme turmoil especially with Yemen and Syria. Then there are all the years of war in Iraq and before that the sanctions under Bill Clinton, Afghanistan. It’s been a long, long process. These are the longest wars in the history of the United States.
Rob Prince: Yes. If you look regionally, it’s nothing less than none-stop war. You can even pick your date: 1967? 1948? Since the end of World War II.
Moving on, Ibrahim, can you perhaps begin with an explanation of the wars taking place in Syria and Iraq by explaining to listeners once again, what is the Doha Protocol and why is it important?
Ibrahim Kazerooni: I think that to begin with, let’s look at Iraq. By any human measure the situation in Iraq is a U.S. made disaster of historic proportions. I’ll give you some examples. This is now 2016, thirteen years, close to fourteen years after the invasion.
1. Just last week a bomb exploded in Kirkuk first; thirty-one people killed.
2. A suicide bomber charged the gate of a security building in Baghdad killing eleven.
3. A Sunni mosque in Diala was attacked leaving sixty dead
4. A car bomb in Karbala killed twelve
5. Another car bomb killed eleven in Hella
This goes on and on… Read more…
Fallujah, Iraq, before the U.S. invasion known as the “city of mosques” for the more than 200 mosques found there and the surrounding villages; today look at it – U.S contribution to Iraqi “nation building.” In 2003, early on in the U.S.invasion of Iraq, it was bombed to smithereens so that when it was finally taken, there were only four buildings standing. Among the bombs the U.S. forces dropped on the city were white phosphorous and Mark 77 bombs. It has changed hands several times since.
Given the statements and record of the two main presidential contenders, Clinton and Trump, regardless of who wins the presidential contest in the next few weeks, it is highly doubtful there will be any major shifts in the overall goals and activities of U.S. Middle East policy. Many signs are suggesting that the pattern of unending war and military intervention will continue if not intensify giving those of us who have worked for peace in the Middle East a plate full in the period ahead
KGNU – October 25, 2016 Part One
Introduction
Jim Nelson: Good evening, I’m your host for this evening and once again thanks for tuning in to KGNU community sponsored radio at KGNU Boulder-Denver and beyond at www.kgnu.org. This is “Hemispheres” and we continue our “Middle East Dialogues” and as always joining us in these dialogues is Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince.
As many of you know Ibrahim Kazerooni is a regular contributor to KGNU’s “International Press Round Table.” Ibrahim has a phd from the joint Iliff School of Theology – University of Denver Korbel School of International Studies in Religion and Social Change. Joining me in the studio is Rob Prince. Rob is a retired Senior Lecturer of International Studies at the University of Denver’s Korbel School of International Studies. Rob is published on-line. He is a regular contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus and writes regularly for the award-winning Tunisian website “Nawaat.com” as well as for “Algeria Watch,” an Algerian human rights website published out of Berlin, Germany.
Welcome to you as well, Rob.
Rob Prince: Thank you Jim and hello Ibrahim.
Ibrahim Kazerooni: Good evening Jim and Rob
Jim Nelson: Let’s get right into it gentlemen. Later in the program we’ll be discussion the latest developments in Iraq and Syria; but first we’re going to take a look at the past eight years of Obama’s Middle East policy, his legacy so to speak.
I would just like to interject that these past eight years have been very “complicated.”
Ibrahim Kazerooni: A disaster
Jim Nelson: “a complicated disaster!” Specifically, what has stood out concerning his policy has been the use of drones. Drone technology has really exploded under Obama’s leadership – and that’s no pun intended. For the people in the region, these extra-judicial killings have not helped to decrease the jihadist threat; if anything it has increased the numbers of people who want to join. Read more…
Ethiopia: The Wild Card in the U.S. Congressional Race in Colorado’s Sixth District
Colorado’s forth “Taste of Ethiopia” in Aurora this past summer, an indication of the growing influence of Colorado’s Ethiopian Community, heavily concentrated in the State’s Sixth Congressional District, the center of which is Aurora, Colorado
(Although she is a much better candidate then her opponent, the Obama Administration’s support for the Ethiopian dictatorship and its silence on the wave of repression currently being unleashed by the government there, is hurting Morgan Carroll’s bid for the U.S. Congress in Colorado’s Sixth District)
In the midst of, issue-wise, what is probably the most vapid presidential campaign in modern American history, the Ethiopian Community of Colorado is coming alive and organizing. While the country’s two presidential candidates go blow for blow – most of it gutter talk on both sides of the Democratic-Republican fence – foreign policy issues and crises have received virtually no attention, including the current democratic explosion and government repression in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is simply a vivid example of what the campaign – and the country – is not talking about…and should be. The escalating violence in Ethiopia is nowhere mentioned in the presidential contest, or in the media. Whether it’s from the Trump camp, pickled on racist and misogynist one-liners, or from Hillary Clinton circle, when it comes to Ethiopia (or issues in general) there is silence.
Having an opponent like Donald Trump has permitted Hillary Clinton to sidestep the issues the campaign should be about: the economy, racism, particularly the epidemic of police violence against people of color, the continued escalation of CO2 levels in the atmosphere making global warming and climate change irreversible, and international crises pretty much everywhere, including in Ethiopia.
Having an opponent like Donald Trump has permitted Hillary Clinton to sidestep the issues the campaign should be about: the economy, racism, particularly the epidemic of police violence against people of color, the continued escalation of CO2 levels in the atmosphere making global warming and climate change irreversible, and international crises pretty much everywhere, including in Ethiopia
Ethiopia Explodes: The Presidential Candidates, U.S. Media and Obama Administration are silent
Unknown if one reads or watches the U.S. media, Ethiopia is exploding.
An October 2, annual celebration of the Oromo people, one of the country’s largest ethnic groups was crushed as the Ethiopian military opened fired on a crowd killing more than six hundred. Shortly thereafter a state of emergency was declared by the government and foreign journalists have been prohibited from entering the countryside outside of the country’s capitol, Addis Ababa.
Colorado’s Ethiopian Community – virtually the whole community minus a small percentage who support the government, or act as spies for it, mostly for reasons of ethnic solidarity – is coming together, trying to draw attention to the repression and war crimes taking place on an increasing level in Ethiopia. They are also, as a community, increasingly suspect and outright opposed to the role that the Ethiopian government is playing supporting U.S. strategic aims in East Africa. Read more…
Lowell Ponds New Gentrifier: The American Wigeon
American Wigeons, Lowell Ponds, October 17, 2016
October 17, 2016
Today there was a different mix on Lowell’s Pond.
While a fair number of ringneck ducks and Canadian geese were still present feeding nonstop, gone are yesterdays dramatic buffleheads, today nowhere to be seen. On the other hand, yesterday no redheads to be seen, while today a good dozen, male and female were floating back and forth across the pond, again, keeping their distance from me and swimming on the far side (east) from where I was standing. But that was not all, there were some new neighborhood gentrifiers replacing yesterday’s buffleheads, a sizable number (about a dozen) American wigeons.
It is possible that this group of wigeons arrived from further north as they spend the warmer months from northern Alaska to Montana venturing down to Colorado and points further south as the colder weather approaches. They are relatively easy to identify; note these two males with white strips extending from their beaks through the center of their heads past the eyes. Starting at the inner end of both eyes a smaller greenish strip curves backwards over the back of their necks. The beaks are white with a dark tip (hard to see on my photo, but clearly noticeable with binoculars.
Kaufman (Field Guide To Birds of North America – 2000 edition) notes that American wigeons are common (and increasingly abundant), especially in the west with flocks often grazing on land near ponds. They are known to steal food from coots or diving ducks when the latter surface. Once known as “baldpates” because of the white crown on its head, since the 1930s the American wigeon has increasingly extended its range eastward, including the northeastern states.
Not considered threatened, In 2009, an estimated 2.5 million breeding wigeon were tallied in the traditional survey area—a level just below the 1955–2009 average. In recent decades, wigeon numbers have declined in the prairie-parkland region of Canada and increased in the interior and west coast of Alaska. The American wigeon is often the fifth most commonly harvested duck in the United States, behind the mallard, green-winged teal, gadwall, and wood duck
Rednecks at Lowell Ponds
Ducks Feeding on Clear Creek
Cormorant Rookery, Clear Creek, Spring, 2016
Clear Creek, which once out of the mountains, runs from Golden through Arvada and Wheatridge before tumbling into the South Platte just north of Denver. Along the way it feeds a number of artificial lakes (near Anderson Park and Lowell Ponds) and Jim Bakker Reservoir (Between Tennyson St. and Lowell Blvd). These are wonderful places to watch bird life and there is plenty of it. Earlier this Spring there were avocets, a large cormorant nest (near Ward Rd.). Closer to Jim Bakker Reservoir and Lowell Ponds, ducks, herons. About a week ago, (Oct. 8), having noticed a large concentration of ducks feeding at a pond, I stopped along Tennyson just south of the railroad crossing and the entrance to Jim Bakker. Pretty cool. Read more…
View from the Left Bank: Rob Prince's Blog 
