Jazz was the opposite of everything Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (established in 1930), believed in. It is improvised, and relaxed, and free-form. It follows its own rhythm. Worst of all, it is a mongrel music made up of European, Caribbean and African echoes, all mating on American shores.
In the dead of night, they swept in aboard V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. Landing in a remote region of one of the most volatile countries on the planet, they raided a village and soon found themselves in a life-or-death firefight.
Washington’s torture, war crimes and military industrial complex are consistently propped up by the concept of U.S. exceptionalism. These bullets and beliefs make the U.S. the biggest threat to world peace. Understanding this web of complicity is a key part of disassembling the empire from the inside out.
It is still not about Islam, even if the media and militants attacking western targets say so. Actually, it never was. But it was important for many to conflate politics with religion; partly because it is convenient and self-validating.
The attack by two brothers, Said and Cherif Kouachi, of the satiric journal Charlie Hebdo in Paris, followed by a related hostage situation in a Paris kosher supermarket was nearly unbroken TV news from January 7 to 11.
Last month Ferguson burned. Amidst the images of flames, teargas and blockages, there were as many people with cameras and cell phones as signs or molotovs. Everyone seemed to recognize the significance of these events, but there are many competing interpretations.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019