Occupy Cork, €700 Million and The Secret Millionaire

A couple of weeks back, RTE‘s inane series The Secret Millionaire came to Cork.  In the programme the so-called ‘secret millionaire’ traversed the northside of the city and reviewed different charities operating there.   Local newspaper, The Cork Independent, reported:

The marketing millionaire, Nadim Sadek, who lives on his private island Inish Turk Beg in Co. Mayo, visited Cois Tine, the Knocknaheeney Music Project, Rebel Rollers and the Penny Dinners during his eight days living off Shandon Street.

Eventually Nadim handed out about €40,000 to a number of groups – one operating a musical group for youngsters in the area; another providing basketball facilities and club organization for kids with disabilities.  The €40 K was divied up into two €5k lots and the remainder amount of €30 K went to  the ‘winner’.

The lucky local charities were uniformly over the moon with their windfalls.  Indeed in a number of cases the recipients – invariably the organisers of these groups and clubs – were personally overwhelmed by their good fortune.  Some were openly tearful about what they would be able to do with these sums of money – the doors that the monies would open for their clubs and members.  It was a salutary lesson – if one ever needed one – about how little money can sometimes make a real difference in the lives of people in this country in this year of 2011.

CONTRAST the sum of money involved above [€40K] with the fact that in the next few days, on Nov 1st to be precise, the Irish Government intends to pay over the sum of 700 million euros (OR 700,000,000 euros) to unsecured bondholders associated with the zombie Anglo Irish Bank.

This sum of money – the latest round of ‘debt re-payments’ – is gargantuan compared to the €40 K involved in The Secret Millionaire programme.  It puts into perspective  perfectly the scale of the wealth (and resource) transfer that is now being undertaken in this country under the guise of the present crisis.

 This wealth transfer is being conducted in your name and at your expense but did you agree to it happening? Were you even asked your opinion? [I recall the Government parties making vague promises in the election about this - do you? But then those promises are long ago forgotten, right?]

This is one reason – but there are many others – why we all need to take a good look at the Occupy movement.  It is a diverse movement and it incorporates many different hopes and proposals – but it is spreading and has taken up positions right around the world about this key question: who owns the wealth of the world and who should control it.

What is important is that in Cork, in Dublin and across the globe indignant groups have taken action and stood up.  They are attempting to draw attention to this daylight robbery from the public purse. They are also speaking out about this robbery on a grand scale that will take place here in Ireland on noon on November 1st – when the above monies are transferred from Government funds to the bond holders.

The question for you is do you support Occupy Cork and Occupy Dublin?  If not, then what is the alternative?  Throw our hands up in the air and say what can I do?

If you do nothing now be assured of this much: they (the Government) will come back for more money (in the next budget and the next round of cuts) and they will transfer even more wealth to these millionaire bankers and bond holders.

Then – in a time not so far from now – you will see some of those very same millionaires on some new inane RTE programme dropping coins and crumbs to local community groups and being applauded for it.  And, yes, people will be crying with gratitude too, and it will all be filmed for your enjoyment too.  That’s the future if we do nothing now ….

Don’t participate any longer in this soap opera.  Stand up and fight back!

More Information and Related Articles here:

• Details on Irish bonds due and sums of money involved
• Cork Independent Article on The Secret Millionaire
• RTE’s blurb on The Secret Millionaire Series
• Cork Penny Dinners
• Secret Millionaire at Cois Tine

Franco’s Victims and ‘culture of terror’ in Spain

I met CNT activist Manuel Garcia at this year’s Dublin Anarchist Bookfair where he was speaking about the CNT’s successes in organising workers in the Andalucía region.  The anarchist movement in Spain is now in the process of rebuilding its influence among workers and the efforts of activists such as Manuel is central to the success that they are having.  On this occasion I wanted to speak to Manuel about the legacy of  the Franco dictatorship.  (Translation for this interview was kindly provided by José Antonio Gutiérrez Danton.)

KD: The talk you gave just now was excellent.  But I want to ask you about a different, though connected, struggle that is ongoing throughout Spain at this present time.  This is what is known as the movement for the recovery of historical memory.  What can you tell me about this?

MG: As you know the situation on July 19^th 1936 was different in different areas of Spain.  In many places the people rose up and the revolution triumphed.  But in Andalucía the army had the upper hand very early on.  So, in effect, in much of Andalucía the people were free for only a very short time.  So you cannot properly speak of a civil war in the region.  Rather, from the outset, there was a massive act of repression.  When the coup happened, within one week, almost the entire region of Andalucía was in the control of the Nationalist troops – that is the Francoist troops that were coming across from Morocco.  The truth is that tens of thousands of people died immediately at their hands.

KD: In Andalucía where was the resistance successful?

MG: There was some armed resistance in the mountains of Huelva and in Seville itself but in most places thousands of people were summarily executed.  They had no guns in their hands.  In the east of Andalucía, the resistance to Franco lasted the longest – around Almeria and that region.   But here the repression when it came was even harsher.  There is a particularly infamous event that is well documented.  As people were fleeing from the Malaga area towards Almeria, after the collapse of the front there, thousands and thousand died on the roads just trying to get refuge.  They were bombed and shot down from the skies.  It was a slaughter.

KD: What happened once Franco had won the Civil War?

MG: In fact even when the Franco’s dictatorship had won they still considered the situation to be one of war and a veritable war was waged against the workers.  In political and cultural terms it was waged with the purpose of annihilating any vestige of resistance.  The 40s and the 50s were very harsh years.   In other words then we are not only talking about people who were annihilated during this mass initial repression but we are talking about the thousands who were executed later on.

KD:  What sort of numbers are we talking about?

MG:  It is very hard to know how many died.  There is no full record as such.  And many of the executions were carried out summarily.  And not just by the authorities but often just by the local boss or landowner.  This is something of interest to the movement for the recovery of historical memory now. They are trying to piece together exactly what happened.   There is a website called ‘We Want All The Names’ which is trying to get the name of each and every person who was executed.  It wants to place a short biog with each name to record the situation of all those who suffered repression.  This is a job that is being carried out in a very local way.

KD:  Is the movement led by families and relatives or by political activists?

MG:  Both.  This effort is being driven by militants of the left but also in many many cases by relatives. The most important thing for many involved is actually to recover the bodies of the victims and give them a proper dignified burial.

KD: How has the anarchist movement related to his process and movement?

MG: Anarchists are very involved with this movement.  As you know anarchism was a very big movement in the lead up to July 1936 and in particular the anarchist oriented union – the CNT – was a key organisation in the revolution.  Furthermore the unions and the union movement itself were the main targets of the repression.  And it’s fair to say that the CNT in particular was targeted.   So we are very involved with the movement to recover historical memory.   But not only in the sense of identifying the victims and what happened in this and that situation.  As anarchists we are also involved in order to bring awareness on the social structures created and fostered by the dictatorship.  What we are talking about here is specifically the culture of fear, of terror that has survived the dictatorship and that is alive in Spain today.  There is still a real fear about getting involved in struggles because of the culture of terror that the Franco regime imbedded in society. This fear is alive and it is important to challenge it.  So the movement to recovery memory also has an important role to play in addressing this big issue.

KD:  It is a very difficult process to go through but necessary?  Is that so?

MG:  Yes, that is how it is.  But it is very necessary because thirty years on from the end of the dictatorship many people who suffered repression are still afraid to speak.  And that in part is because repression became a taboo subject for many families.  This of course is what the dictatorship wanted.  The repression that occurred was very effective in the sense that whole families were criminalised and stigmatised by the regime and the authorities.  And this, in many cases, had the effect that the regime desired.

KD: Can you give an example?

MG: Well instead of opposing the regime some people reacted against the Left saying ‘My family was killed because of those ideas (i.e. the ideas of anarchism say)’. And then they often tried to rationalise the situation – the tragedies that had been visited on their families – by saying, ‘Oh look my father was not an anarchist or was not a communist. He was just a good chap and he was killed by mistake.’  So in many cases the response was what the Franco regime wanted deep down: people shied away at a very close level from some of the tragic events that happened around them.

KD: So the present upsurge in efforts to identify victims is a challenge to that?

MG: Yes, in that sense it is very good for Spanish society.  And of course it is also very good for people as individuals.  Many are finding out their family history for the first time.  For example they discover that their grandfather was a militant with the CNT.  The family lore may provided some information for example that their grandfather was ‘unusual’ and ‘had never got married but had a family’ or stuff like that.  But by looking more closely and delving into the past they discover that say this grandfather had a CNT card.  This gives people an understanding of what happened.  So they find out the politics of their own family – that they may have been anarchists, communists or republicans – and that there was a reason for those things that may have happened to their families during the time of the dictatorship.

KD: How has the Spanish state reacted to this movement?

MG: There is a law of historical memory.  But it is a very restrictive and now they are not even implementing it.  So in most cases the work that has been done so far has been done by people acting as individuals.  In fact in over 90% of cases it has been down to individual efforts that the graves of victims have been found.   And a further example of the opposition in the Spanish state is the prosecution of Judge Garcon who is standing trial now.   And for us as anarchist, our view is that this opposition is proof that the current society is in many ways the direct heir of the Franco dictatorship.

KD: The process of recovery memory has accelerated over the last while.  Do you have a view as to why this is so?

MG: It’s a complicated matter.  The CNT and all sections of the revolutionary left since the democratic opening at the end of the formal dictatorship in 1975 have been fighting for a social memory in order to purge the state apparatus – the judiciary and the police, the military – of fascist elements.  But also in order to create awareness of what forty years of dictatorship has meant and what been its effect over ordinary people.  For example we have argued that it is very important to rehabilitate the memories of those who resisted not just during the Civil War but actually after.  Until recently many of those who opposed the dictatorship were considered as brigands and nothing more.   Now the process of finding out what really went on is well underway.

KD: Many thanks for time comrades and my thanks to our fine translator.

Liberty Hall, Dublin May 2010.

‘Misfit’, a new play about Captain Jack White

Review of ‘Misfit’, a new play about the life of Captain Jack White.  Written and performed by Myles Horgan.  At the Cork Arts Theatre, 16th -18th June 2010

I’ve had an interest in Captain Jack White since reading an article about him by Alan McSimoin in Workers Solidarity many years ago.  Alan’s article pointed out how White had been ‘left out’ of the official narrative of Irish history despite his role as co-founder of the Irish Citizen Army.  Later on White gravitated towards anarchism – an allegiance that also appears to have done him no favours. (In official circles that is.)

In this context, Myles Horgan’s new one man show about White entitled ‘Misfit’ was a must see, although I almost missed it but for a late tip-off from a comrade over in Solidarity Books.  Still I got to the Cork Arts Theatre last Friday just in time for the final lunch time show.  It was well worth seeing.  At €10 entry price though – pricey.

‘Misfit’ is a short one act, one man show – a biopic that for the most part is faithful to the account that White gives about his life in his autobiography of the same name.  It begins with White telling of his arrival in Barcelona in late 1936.  From there the action moves back in time with White retelling the story of his life.  The material used here is well written, well presented and well acted.  We hear of White’s experiences in the Boer War, about his troubled relationship with Mercedes Moseley, and then of his involvement in the fight for Home Rule. From his political baptism of fire in Antrim, White went to Dublin where he became involved in the 1913 Lockout and, from then on, with the Irish radical left.  We hear about White’s role in the Irish Citizen Army and then about White’s arrest and incarceration in Pentonville prison just at the time that Casement was hanged.  The play finally returns to Spain and to White’s brief but interesting comments about the situation there.  It ends with a declaration by White that any true revolution must involve the inner transformation of the human person above all else.

Myles Horgan makes a fine hand of playing White.  Dressed in a light grey suit and wearing the signature  wide-brimmed hat that White was photographed in, he cuts the sort of swaggering figure that White may well have been.  He also makes a good hand of White’s upper crust accent and this alone is enough to make one wonder what his contemporaries made of him.  In a conversation with White’s son, Derek, a number of years back, it was pointed out to me that Jack White had a pampered and spoiled upbringing and that this facet was an aspect of this life until the day he died.  Whether this is true or not, there is no denying that White was of privileged stock and in the movement of the day this undoubtedly raised more than a few eyebrows and hackles.  Indeed if memory serves me right Larkin fell out with White about such matters since Larkin was not reticent in giving his opinions about White privileged background.

However while very welcomed, this play has shortcomings too, not least its focus on White as an the individualist and as an eccentric.  It is true that this is how White’s portrayed himself in Misfit , which was published in early 1920.  However Misfit only accounts for a part of White’s life.  It was also written in the context of White trying to explain himself to the Anglo-Irish and British establishment that he had rejected.  In other words those parts of White’s life that are most noteworthy now: his prominent role in opposing Loyalism and British imperialism; his work to help the Spanish Revolution and  his important opposition to Stalinism don’t really figure in this biopic.  This is a real pity as White’s views on the need to get rid of capitalism and replace it with a society more befitting human needs have real contemporary resonance and relevance.

That said this play is to be welcomed.  It was also enjoyable and interesting to see.  Hopefully it will see further on stage exposure and make a return visit at some stage.

Irish short story about Garda brutality online

I’ve put up an audio (mp3 format) of But Your Mother, the second story from The Heavy Gang triptych of stories I wrote in the late 90s.  The story is about the ‘hidden from view’ intimidation that political activists have to face when they take a stand against injustice.  It is told from the point of view of the activist who arrives home from a protest about unemployment only to find that the Special Branch have been to his house and gone.

Take a listen … and let me know what you think.

Review: Death In El Valle and Franco’s Victims

I came across Death In El Valle while researching the work of the Association For the Recovery of Historical Memory . The ARMH has been collecting information about the victims of Franco’s Spain since its foundation in 2000.  It has played a major role in identifying many mass execution sites and has instituted legal moves to have these sites excavated and the remains of those found identified and given proper burials.  It is safe to say that their work has gone a long way towards uncovering the real horror that was Franco’s Spain.

Death In El Valle is  a documentary, in Spanish and English, by US photographer CM Hardt about the  particular circumstances of her grandfather’s death.  CM Hardt’s was born in the United States of Spanish parents.  She returned to Spain over the years with her parents to see her grandmother and her wider extended family.  It was via these visits that she heard about the death of her grandfather whom, it seems, was involved in the resistance movement that lived on in Spain well after the Civil War itself had ended.  Intrigued she made inquiries and learned that her grandfather was betrayed by a local villager and died not long after his arrest.  However she wasn’t able to find out much more than that.

The documentary is a record of her journey to uncover the truth.  Gradually she finds out exactly what happened, how and, for the most part, why.  She is particularly interested – naturally enough – in who might have betrayed her grandfather and a share of the documentary focuses on finding out more about this – to no real avail. Fingers are pointed and rumours abound but there is no definitive answer.  Instead, Hardt discovers the name of Guardia Civil officer who was present on the night her grandfather was murdered.  It emerges that it was an extra judicial execution.  Her grandfather was told to run and then shot for trying to escape.

Franco's Victims

Franco’s Spain and present, modern-day Spain collide in the meeting between Hardt and the now retired policeman.   Like many Spaniards this policeman lives in an apartment block in a busy residential area.  He could be any man that you meet anywhere in Spain except that he has an ugly past to hide.  At first, he is forthcoming about the general events of that night.  He is a bit surprised, it must be said, to be confronted by the victim’s granddaughter.   But as Hardt attempts to pry further, to find out more, he clams up.  Subsequently, he refuses to meet her again.

Death In El Valle is let down by its narrow focus.  The context of what was really at stake in Spain during the Civil War is not explored.   True, many people know about the general outline of the Civil War and why it happened, but there is no wider exploration of what forces were at play.  We are left with the very nebulous description – beloved of the middle stream – that the Spanish Civil War was about ‘saving democracy’.  In fact it was a great deal more.  See here for more.  Properly speaking the Civil War and its aftermath was about defeating a revolution – regarded by many as perhaps the most thoroughgoing social revolution ever seen on this planet.   In response Franco and his forces attempted to ‘eradicate’ the left (across the spectrum).  It was a ferocious and unforgiving assault – the after effects of which are still being felt.

Nonetheless Death In El Valle is engaging and provocative.  It is well produced and moving: the fact that it is a record of a real journey of investigation gives it an extra edge.   It is disturbing too though.  As anyone who has attempted this sort of thing will testify, unearthing the past seems like a straightforward quest until one actually goes about it.   The realities of Franco’s Spain adds a whole other dimension of difficulty to Hardt’s endeavour.  As Death In El Valle amply shows, today in Spain, there are many who are fearful of that time and what they did to survive .  There are also plenty of others who just want to forget the period and how awful it was.

For further information on both the documentary and its director, as well as information on how to acquire a copy of the DVD, see the links above.  Promotional clips from Death In El Valle are here

Anti-Shell Oil Activist in Jail … Solidarity

This video by Dave Donnellan is an excellent update on the ongoing resistance to the Shell Oil robbery currently underway off the coast of Co. Mayo.  Pat O’Donnell is now in Castlerea Prison serving a long sentence for challenging  the heavy hand of the police. What did he do?  Well, as you will see from the video clip, very little.  Take a look and find out more about Shell’s grand larceny Irish style!

Solidarity Books @ Cork

Solidarity Books is a new bookstore on Douglas Street in Cork.  Directions with a google map are here. It is an initiative by Cork anarchists to provide a bookstore in the heart of Cork – a place where you will be able to get those many and varied publications that the ‘corporates’ like Waterstones won’t stock.  In terms of books alone, the shop is a very welcome addition to the scene in Cork – which, to not put too fine a point on it, is diabolical.  Sure you can pick up the odd book on Chomsky and that’s not a bad place to start but if you are looking for anything else around town… forget it.

At one time there was two or three left leaning bookstores in Cork.  When I was growing up there was a great shop over on South Main Street which had a wide range of radical books.  You could get all the cheap editions of Marx’s works as well as a range of generally critical publications.  I got my treasured copy of ‘Ireland and the First International‘ there – although I recall being very disappointed to read in same that the Cork branch of the International Workers Association has sided with Marx rather than Bakunin on the crucial issue of how the International should be organised!  Well, let’s face it, that wouldn’t happen today.  Anyway there was a few shops in the past and the range of books was, while not huge, it was varied.

So very nice to see  new shoots of life springing up.   At the shop there’s a section on anarchist/ libertarian and socialist books.  There is a very good  current affairs and Irish politics section and there is a second-hand book section.  Expansion in the range is planned, of course, in time.  For the moment though, small steps.  Also you can get many of main left papers there and so th shop provides those groups with a very valuable outlet for their publications.  Great stuff.

One other aspect of the venue is that it also doubles as a meeting place.  It’s a roomy space with great light and the aim is to provide an affordable meeting venue for organisations and groups.  So far Shell 2 Sea, Hands Off The People Of Iran and the WSM are meeting there, but they hope to expand on this – space permitting – in time.   Other events and meetings are intended for the new venue.  So far meetings on the Haiti crisis and a political film night have been ongoing.   Best place to find out about what’s upcoming is to check Facebook

Email contact for the shop is solidaritybooks@gmail.com

Opening times are: 12-7 pm (Mon to Saturday).

Orwell on the Aragon Front

Anarchism In Huesca: CNT Poster May Day 09

George Orwell fought on the Aragon Front in the Spanish Civil War around Alcubierre and later near Huesca.   One of the front line positions he fought at has been preserved and reconstructed and is well worth a visit.

I drove south out of Huesca on the N330.  About 15 kms out there is a signpost turning for Alcubierre.   Heading east along this road it is narrow and flat.  The land on either side is under cultivation but it seems otherwise to be an arid and dry area.  There are low hills further east, to the north and south, Los Monegros.

Alcubierre is a small town.   Orwell in not very complementary to then village where he spent some days before being sent to a position at the front, to the west.  He was there in the dead of winter but it was early summer when I visited.  It is hard now to imagine what it must have been like but Orwell makes a point of telling us how cold and muddy it was there during his stay.

His period in and around Alcubierre is notable for a number of reasons though.  Firstly it was in Alcubierre that he received his first weapon for use in the war against fascism.  He said though: ‘I got a shock of dismay when I saw the thing they gave me.’  It turned  out to be a gun more than 40 years old – a German Mauser from 1896!  Indeed the reality of ‘civil war within the civil war’ that was, at this time, beginning to gain momentum on the Republican side was brought home to him starkly by this key incident.  He described the gun as follows: ‘It was rusty, the bolt was stiff, the wooden barrel-guard was split; once glance down the muzzle showed that it was corroded and past praying for’.

Alcubierre reminded me of a small market town in Ireland though it a lot dryer and hotter of course.  But there was as they say a good country smell in the air. In front of the town hall, there was a kids’ playground area.  The town hall itself was under renovation.  A small cafe was open but overall it seemed like a sleepy place.  But then I was there in and around siesta time.  There were no signs anywhere around – that I could see anyway – for La Ruta Orwell.  There were no signs anywhere around – that I could see anyway – for La Ruta Orwell.  Like so much in Spain today to do with the Civil War, there is uncertainty about what place the Civil War should occupy.  And of coure there is uncertainty – and in many cases, deep unease – about how to deal with the many scars that are there to see still to this day

Taking the road south out of Alcubierre, you veer to the west.  There is a lot of desiccated vegetation and a white-grey ground which looks generally poor and unproductive.  The road itself is good – it goes to Lecinena and then on into Zaragoza.  As it climbs into the Monegros there are good views back toward Alcubierre and Monazon.

About 12 kms out on this road there is a small sign – quite easily missed – on the left hand size of the road: La Ruta Orwell.  The sign leads onto a narrow unsealed road.  Take it slowly.  It goes uphill and winds for a bout 1.5 km.  Then you come to a fork in the road. There should be a sign for which direction to take at this point but it was missing when I was there.  Take the left hand fork in the road.  This veers around sharply in a horseshoe and goes to hill top just about visible from back where the fork in the road was.   The restored site is just at the top there.

Spanish Civil War: Trench position where Orwell fought

It is an impressive re-construction.  There are explanatory panels giving good background on the Alcubierre Front and on Orwell’s own observations.  It is possible to see clearly from the vantage point of this restored frontline position what Orwell meant when he said ‘Now that I had seen the front I was profound disgusted’.  The fascist positions were on the far off hills and the soldiers manning those position could barely be seen.  The cold and boredom occupied Orwell’s day.  There are occasional brushes with the enemy but there is a sense of no real movement.  In another important observation made at this stage by Orwell, he explains how different the army is that he is now a member of is from a ‘traditional army’ – he spent some time in the British Army of course.  He said ‘.., There was no military rank in the ordinary sense; not titles, no badges, no heel-clicking and saluting.  They had attempted to produce within the militias a sort of temporary working of the classless society.’

A good deal of information is provided at the site.  It is impressive and the general overview provided is good.   One can see clearly the lie of the land – the difficulty in the terrain.

Overall is it well worth a visit.  Armed with a copy of Homage To Catalonia you get a good feel for what it must’ve been like.  You cannot escape though the sense of betrayal that Orwell unveils in HTC.  Militias were fighting for a new society armed with outdated weapons.  Yet not so far away, behind the front lines, the police and Guardia Civil were being armed with the latest weaponry for the eventual purpose of suppressing the revolution.

See also Ruta Orwell Monegros

the hand of god …

Latest story on my web site ties in with the horrendous details revealed by the recently published Ryan Report.  I wrote the story back in the late 90s after meeting a friend of mine from school.  We both ended up taking about our school days and about the fear we felt.  I would go further now …  one of the important things about the release of the Ryan Report is that it allows us all to be more honest about that period and what we were subjected to.  It is not an easy place to go back to – that has to be said.  But what I would say now is that it was not fear that I felt but rather terror – I was scared out of my wits so much of the time.  So the story comes from that.

But now since publication of the report I think of how lucky I was.  I was in secondary school when I suffered at the hands at the Christian Brothers but at least I could get away at the end of the school day.  At least.  I shudder now to think of those who encountered the Christian Brothers and the nuns and were at their mercy 24/7.

Today so many have marched in Dublin in solidarity with those who have suffered.  It is great to see.  Something at least.

To the story…

The Obama Lie

So, we must be over a month into the Barak Obama presidency.  A lot of hope and a lot of optimism, right?

Last night I watched Obama sign into law his new ‘stimulus’ package to revive the US economy.  Heady stuff – but I won’t go into that right now. Instead I am thinking about a different matter: a short news bulletin on Friday last which reported that a drone aircraft had dropped two missiles in a remote area of Afghanistan.  It seems that the missiles, according to reports carried by CNN and others, killed at leat twenty people.

By all accounts the targets of the attack were members of the Taliban AND it was claimed that two such ‘target’ Taliban members were actually killed in the attack. Well, I’m still okay at my mathematics, so that leaves how many? Let’s see now, two from twenty leaves eighteen – that’s right 18 – doesn’t it? That is, eighteen others, who were never targets, were also killed in the attack.  I have got that right, haven’t I?  Please get back to me if I did the calculation incorrect.

So, eighteen people murdered in cold blood, by two bombs dropped from pilot-less aircraft.   Is this the new era so?  The Obama era that was supposed to make such a difference.  And this is not to even get into the rights or wrongs of the state assassination of two suspected Taliban members.  You know old adage: who gives anyone the right to be judge, jury and executioner?

No, for the moment, I am just going to focus on the eighteen people that were killed.  Were they women, men, children?  Does anyone know?  Does Barak Obama know?  Or more to the point, did he know about this attack and about the possible collateral damage?  Well, what do you think?  Did Barak say it was okay to kill 18 people/ civilians as part of the operation to get the two Taliban activists.  And when you think about it, given that there is a strong chance that he did know, then what does it say about this new era?  I ask you?