It seems it is the duty of Blacks to speak to Whites in power to remind them of what freedom entails in life choices. Life choice do not include the death of children who must attend public schools during a pandemic without masking. We say pandemic when what we mean is a plague. Plague is the correct term. In 1918 the father of this plague killed more people than were killed in WWI and it has killed over half a million American and forced hundreds of millions into retirement. This is partially why there is a worker shortage, no the bull shit that Red State governors tell the people. These are the Capitalist that Marx warned about. In essence know the truth and it will set you free and save our children from the evil of lies and Trumpism.
Month: September 2021
AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE OR SPEAKING TRUTH TO RED STATE RHETORIC
Roland Martin appeared on This Week with George Stephanopoulos to discuss President Joe Biden issuing a COVID vaccine mandate for large employers, federal employees and federal contractors.
During the “Powerhouse Roundtable” discussion, Roland battled former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie over Biden’s push to require vaccines for a large swath of Americans in an attempt to stop the spread of the deadly pathogen.
Video credit: ABC News
The former New Jersey governor and ABC News contributor discusses his Washington Post op-ed highlighting five key actions needed to reopen the country.
Morticians, just like medical professionals, are overwhelmed – and Covid is killing them as well. Since the start of the pandemic, about 130 black morticians have died.
Funeral directors implement safety policies to protect themselves and their staff from the virus. But just like doctors and nurses, some have become a casualty of the virus. Hari P. Close II, President of the National Funeral Directors & Morticians Association spoke with Roland Martin about the crisis that is claiming the lives of Black morticians. đź‘€ Watch the 9.10.21 edition of #RolandMartinUnfiltered https://youtu.be/dgNsGyIj4OA
THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS
This Doctor Spread False Information About COVID. She Still Kept Her Medical License
September 14, 20215:01 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition
GEOFF BRUMFIEL Facebook Twitter Instagram LISTEN· 6:146-Minute Listen Add to PLAYLIST
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Dr. Simone Gold discourages vaccination against COVID-19 and promotes alternative, unproven therapies. She has spent much of the past year speaking at events like this one held in West Palm Beach, Fla., in December. The conference was aimed at young people ages 15 to 25. Gage Skidmore
Last month, Dr. Simone Gold stood before a crowd at a conservative church in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and delivered a talk riddled with misinformation. She told people to avoid vaccination against the coronavirus. As an alternative, she pushed drugs that have not been proven effective at treating COVID-19 — drugs that she also offered to prescribe to the audience in exchange for $90 telehealth appointments.
“Don’t text me when you’ve gotten a positive test; I don’t want to hear it,” she said to the gathering. “I’ve told you ahead of time to get the medicines. It can take a week because we’re so swamped.” https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/09/14/1035915598/doctors-covid-misinformation-medical-license
HEALTH
Why It’s Hard To Gauge How Workers’ Burnout Is Affecting Patient Care
September 15, 20215:10 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition
YUKI NOGUCHI Twitter LISTEN· 6:176-Minute Listen Add to PLAYLIST
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The pandemic has left doctors, nurses and other health workers exhausted and overwhelmed. But drawing a direct line between burnout and a bad patient outcome isn’t easy to do. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/15/1037249121/why-its-hard-to-gauge-how-workers-burnout-is-affecting-patient-care
“I believed the mainstream media and the Democrats were using [COVID-19] to create panic, crash the economy and destroy Trump’s chances at reelection,” he said.
CALIFORNIA LET YOUR NO! MEAN NO–AND ONLY NO ON YOUR BALLOT DON’T BE MISLED BY TRUMP INCOGNITO
Trump is in back of the California Recall of Gavin Newsom. Democrats must be wise to the tricks of Trump and his minions as his niece Mary Trump is. People of California need to vote NO or California will be turned into the biggest Trump State in the Union. In other words like Larry Elder demands, California will be the next Texas.
CALIFORNIA LET YOUR NO! MEAN NO–AND ONLY NO ON YOUR BALLOT DON’T BE MISLED BY TRUMP INCOGNITO
INTERVIEW: Mary Trump discusses the possibility that Donald runs again in 2024 and whether we’ll see support for him drop off now that he’s been out of office for some time.
In the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid a widespread shutdown of economic and social life, a little-watched effort to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom suddenly got traction, easily gaining the number of signatures needed to trigger a special election that could remove him from office.
Join us for a special edition of the Club’s Week to Week Political Roundtable, as we focus on the high-stakes gubernatorial recall election. How did it come to this? Who is behind the recall? Who is running to replace Newsom? How has Newsom responded? Just how does a recall election happen? We’ll dig into all of that and more with our panelists who are experts in state politics.
This program is in-person in the Club’s headquarters building. Come early before the program for a members social hour (open to all attendees). And, because you’ve waited more than 16 months for this, we’ll end our program with our famous Week to Week news quiz—with chocolate prizes.
NOTES
MON, AUG 23 2021
SPEAKERS Carla Marinucci Senior Writer, Politico California Playbook; Twitter @cmarinucci Scott Shafer Senior Editor, KQED’s Politics and Government Desk; Twitter @scottshafer Dan Schnur Professor, University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications; Professor, University of California Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies; Host, “Politics in the Time of Coronavirus” Webinar; Twitter @danschnur John Zipperer Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—Host
POLITICS
Gray Davis Reflects On His Recall, As Californians Decide Gov. Newsom’s Fate
September 12, 20215:03 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered LISTEN· 6:096-Minute Listen Add to PLAYLIST
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom faces a recall election this week. NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with Gray Davis, who was removed as governor of California through a recall election in 2003. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/12/1036475253/gray-davis-reflects-on-his-recall-as-californians-decide-gov-newsoms-fate
Opponents of Governor Gavin Newsom gathered more than 1 million signatures required to recall him. Election day is Tuesday and there are several candidates running to replace him.» Subscribe to NBC News: http://nbcnews.to/SubscribeToNBC » Watch more NBC video: http://bit.ly/MoreNBCNews
In a California recall election speech by current Gov. Gavin Newsom, he contrasts his COVID-19 leadership to the pandemic crises occurring in some GOP-run states. Rep. Karen Bass, House Judiciary Committee member, and Christine Pelosi, California DNC member, join Joy Reid on the importance of getting out the vote, sharing their view that GOP candidate Larry Elder would be disastrous for America if he won. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc
HEALTH
Former Biden COVID-19 Advisor: Voluntary Vaccination Can Only Get U.S. So Far
September 12, 20215:00 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered LISTEN· 7:067-Minute Listen Add to PLAYLIST
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NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with Dr. Zeke Emanuel about President Biden’s new call for vaccine mandates and why he thinks those mandates are needed at this point in the pandemic. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/12/1036475232/former-biden-covid-19-advisor-voluntary-vaccine-mandates-can-only-get-u-s-so-far
The California gubernatorial recall election is “all about a GOP power grab” Rob Reiner tells Joy Reid. Independent journalist Jean Guerrero also explains the grave concerns many have about controversial Republican recall candidate Larry Elder, a supporter of Stephen Miller, possibly becoming the governor of California through this election. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc
FOOLS RUSH IN WHERE A WISE MAN FEARS TO DARE
I have been searching the US Constitution trying to find some grounds on which the Red State governors can sue President Biden. These governors seem to confuse treason with human rights. The Bill of Rights spell out human rights, but the threats coming out of Red States seem to state the freedom to die is paramount when suicide is against the law. If I were only a Democrat, not a democrat, I would be happy at the thought of so many Republican dying at the prime voting age of 30, or that so many future Republicans are dying if adolescence. But as a humane America, I know that each life is valuable in the scheme of things. I suppose it is because I am not blinded by Trump’s Big Lie as the Germany’s were blinded by Goebbels’s because I would have be a traitor to the human race. Peace in America and the whole world after 20 years.
FOOLS RUSH IN WHERE A WISE MAN FEARS TO DARE
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to President Biden trying to mandate COVID-19 vaccines.
More Public School Students Are Getting COVID In Texas As Fights Over Masks Ensue
September 12, 20217:57 AM ET Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday
PAUL FLAHIVE
FROM LISTEN· 4:094-Minute Listen Add to PLAYLIST
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In Texas, the number of public school students infected with the coronavirus continues to surge. This comes as state and local officials squabble over mask mandates. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/12/1036387346/more-public-school-students-are-getting-covid-in-texas-as-fights-over-masks-ensu
President Joe Biden shared a message to unvaccinated Americans as the nation continues to fight rising coronavirus cases and deaths. He implored them to get the vaccine, noting “we’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin.”
POLITICS
Politics Chat: Biden Announces New Mandates Aimed To Mitigate Pandemic
September 12, 20217:57 AM ET Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday
MARA LIASSON Twitter LISTEN· 5:275-Minute Listen Add to PLAYLIST
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President Biden is resolute about enforcing the administration’s new, tougher plan to combat the pandemic, which includes vaccination and testing mandates. Republican governors are threatening to sue. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/12/1036387262/politics-chat-biden-announces-new-mandates-aimed-to-mitigate-pandemic
RED STATE WAR ON PRESIDENT BIDEN
Republicans across the US are infuriated by President Biden’s new vaccine mandates.
Red State governors and Republican legislators are waging war against President Biden because they believe Trump’s big lie. They are doing this in several ways, but the most salient are the Anti-Vaxer Movement and threats to sue the President on Constitution grounds. These unlawful and antisocial acts are preventing the economy from recovering fully and causing umpteen needless deaths in a younger un-vaccinated population.
These Red State electors are behaving like Third World potentates not giving a damn about their populations, but only interested in power and placing their president in the White House for his disrupted second term. They exist in a netherworld that sees President Biden as an interloper preventing the return of the true leader of the First World. So they must wage germ-warfare against Biden (and in essence similar to the Taliban) by ensuring the deaths of vulnerable young Republican true-believers and their children.
Forgetting or otherwise ignoring the fact that they are Americans, Red State governors behave like Stalinist determined to overthrow all that is America like free and fair elections; and although claiming to be devoted Christians ignore Christ’s admonishment: “You should love your neighbor as yourself,” by enacting legislative laws aimed solidly against masking in public schools and social distancing at public events; and by refusing acknowledgment that in the first quarter of 2021 portable morgues had been withdrawn from American hospitals and undertakers were no longer fully-booked-up until mid-summer when Anti-Vaxers took to social-media and Fox News talking heads admonished viewers/readers against COVID vaccination with false tales of microchip-mind-control.
Red State governors and legislators must understand: war against Biden is a treasonous act against the United States, and that a peaceful change of administration marks First World status.
BUSINESS
Biden Has Ambitious Infrastructure Plans. But A Worker Shortage Could Hinder Them
September 12, 20217:57 AM ET Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday LISTEN· 4:394-Minute Listen Add to PLAYLIST
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NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with Andy Van Kleunen, CEO of the National Skills Coalition, about the shortage of skilled workers needed to fulfill President Biden’s infrastructure plan. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/12/1036387332/biden-has-ambitious-infrastructure-plans-but-a-worker-shortage-could-hinder-them
Malcolm Nance visits with Stephanie Miller every Wednesday. Malcolm is an American author and media commentator on terrorism, intelligence, insurgency, and torture. He is a former United States Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer specializing in naval cryptology.
What Businesses Are Saying About Biden’s New Vaccine Mandate
September 12, 20217:57 AM ET Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday
ANDREA HSU Twitter LISTEN· 3:503-Minute Listen Add to PLAYLIST
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Private businesses and unions react to President Biden’s new plan to require vaccinations and testing for millions of American workers. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/12/1036387318/what-businesses-are-saying-about-bidens-new-vaccine-mandate
iGen Politics team welcomes Mary Trump, niece of former President Donald Trump, clinical psychologist, and author of “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man” and brand new book, “The Reckoning: Our Nations Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal.” We ask her how our nation can come together after the Trump presidency and what she thinks is in store for the former president.
TWENTY YEARS TOO LATE–WILL GOD OR THE AFGHANS EVER FORGIVE US
Why is it that American have to go outside of the United States to learn how to be human and how to act humane? Perhaps it is the hubris that the American myth puts into the psyche of Americans. And perhaps this is why is takes so much illicit drugs to function in our “perfect” Christian society. We seek to examine all peoples in poor and undeveloped nations to get a anthropological schema of their mental construction when we should be doing self studies of our American selves. Listening to ex-soldier opine about getting Afghan “helpers” out of Afghanistan is a lesson that these poor undeveloped peoples have turned these men and women into human beings.
TWENTY YEARS TOO LATE–WILL GOD OR THE AFGHANS EVER FORGIVE US
Congresswoman Lee cast the only vote against giving President Bush a blank check to wage war in the wake of 9/11.
The Longest War: Rep. Barbara Lee’s 20-Year Fight Against War In Afghanistan
September 09, 2021
This is Part III in our series The Longest War.
On Sept. 14, 2001, Representative Barbara Lee was the only member of Congress to vote no on the Afghanistan war resolution.
“I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States,” she said at the time.
How have the past 20 years changed her and this country?
Today, On Point: Our series The Longest War continues with a conversation with Representative Barbara Lee.
Guest
Rep. Barbara Lee, representative for California’s 13th congressional district. She’s been in Congress since 1998. (@RepBarbaraLee)
Interview Highlights
I wonder if we could start with 9/11. How well do you remember that day?
Rep. Barbara Lee: “I remember it just as if it were yesterday. I was sitting in the Capitol early, meeting with the administrator of the Small Business Administration, several members of the Congressional Black Caucus and myself. I believe the meeting started at 8 a.m. And, oh, maybe 8:15, 8:20, 8:30, I received a call from my office saying I should leave the building right away and to evacuate. And at the same time, I heard the Capitol Police shouting to get out of the building immediately.
“I asked one of our phenomenal Capitol Police officers which way to go, what was going on. And he just pointed in the direction to run. And that was in the direction of the Supreme Court. So I ran over in that direction and up Pennsylvania Avenue. And I looked around, and I saw all of the smoke. I ran into one of my colleagues, and so he said, Well, come on to my house. And as we kept running up the street, kept looking back. And lo and behold, later we learned that was the plane that had crashed into the Pentagon.”
How did you learn about al-Qaeda and what the proposed response would be?
Rep. Barbara Lee: “Let me preface this by saying, members of Congress are also human beings. And we feel the same pain that constituents feel. And that everybody feels throughout the country when attacks and … people are harmed. And so the first couple of days, we had many briefings, intelligence briefings, some classified, some not. Within 24 hours, it was determined that it more than likely was al-Qaeda. And then the response, of course, was to begin to develop a response that would bring the terrorists to justice. And that’s when the authorization to use military force was drafted.”
Did you know you would be the sole no vote against the Afghan war?
Rep. Barbara Lee: “Quite frankly, I did not know. I knew that very few would vote against it. But I was settled in voting no myself, personally, during the memorial service. And I had talked actually to my predecessor, our beloved, the late Congressman Ron Dellums, who … in the past had chaired the House Armed Services Committee. I worked for him for 11 years. I spoke with several constitutional lawyers.
“I spoke with my pastor, my family. I talked to colleagues. And I was concerned that more members weren’t saying, I’m certain that I’m going to vote yes or no. I then decided at the last minute to go to the memorial service. I was talking with Congressman Elijah Cummings in the cloakroom, in back of the chambers, and I decided to go. And once I went to the memorial services and heard Reverend Nathan Baxter, I was really settled in my no vote.”
Did you receive blowback for that vote?
Rep. Barbara Lee: “Oh, my God, I got blowback to the point where I got death threats. I had to have security round the clock, couldn’t travel. Someone actually called my home phone and shot guns into the voicemail. It was horrible. My family was in jeopardy. The blowback was devastating. And also what it taught me was that many people don’t understand that even in times of the national security crisis, the right to dissent as a Democrat is central to our democracy.
“If one believes that our government is not taking the correct position, it’s our obligation to offer a different point of view. That’s what democracy is all about. An opponent ran against me. One of my opponents, a person who actually had called me and thanked me for the vote, then turned around and ran against me. And she marched in a parade in New York with Rudy Giuliani carrying a sign with me.
“And the sign had a picture of me smiling in front of the World Trade Towers burning. And the sign said, Barbara Lee hates America. And can you imagine what that generated against me? But, I have to go back to my faith. And being a Black woman in America, as Dr. Maya Angelou said in one of her beautiful poems, ‘And still we rise.’ And so I just had to stand, and just keep my faith and keep going.”
Do you think you were an easier target because you’re a Black woman in America?
Rep. Barbara Lee: “I think so. Black women have been easy targets throughout our history here. And even now, there are many issues, which I won’t go into, that people take me on for. Where other white members they don’t take on. They take me on because I’m an easy target. And so, yes. But also, I have to share a story with you, because this is the glass half full. Many know that I supported Kamala Harris for president. I was a surrogate, and went to South Carolina on one of my visits.
“And I was at a rally, and there was security there. And this white guy with a child comes up to me with tears in his eyes. A very tall, husky man. And he came right up to me and he said, Look, I was one of those who sent you a letter and threatened you. I was one of those who called you a traitor and committed an act of treason over that 2001 vote, that you were the only one to vote no. … And he was crying. He said, I wanted my son to see me apologize to you. He said, I am so sorry for what I did. And I came from some rural community in South Carolina to apologize and just say, Now I know why you voted no. And thank you.”
In the 20 years since your vote, how do you think America has changed?
Rep. Barbara Lee: “I think that it has changed America in many ways. First of all, I believe more Americans are aware of our foreign and military policy, our national security strategies, and how they’re related to our domestic priorities and their daily lives. I believe Americans really understand how much money and their tax dollars go to wars. And I also believe that the public understands that the threat of terrorism is real, and that we must do something to make sure our country is safe.
“… Now, I think Americans are beginning to recognize what we’ve known for many years. … That domestic terrorism and white supremacy is the No. 1 national security threat that we have. And that’s a fact. And some people are just waking up to that, and need to be extremely concerned about January 6th, and white supremacists and white nationalism and domestic terrorism. And so I think that now there’s an additional fear that people will have if they don’t know about it, if they aren’t aware of what took place January 6th.
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“People didn’t know. It’s a very dangerous moment in terms of domestic terrorism. So you have now Afghanistan, Iraq, national security issues around international terrorism, more members of Congress, also, even those who focus only on domestic policy, now have a global and international perspective. And when I first came to Congress, let me just tell you, in 1998, there had been a survey conducted and it showed that 60% members of Congress did not have a passport. I think now we see ourselves as part of the global family. And now with COVID, what affects one affects all. And that’s extremely important.
“Also, I think that unfortunately, people are more skeptical of the government. And I specifically cite Iraq because we were told lies that there were weapons of mass destruction there. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Yet we went to war and sent our troops in harm’s way, lost thousands of troops, based on lies. Actually during that period, I would just parenthetically say, I had an amendment that said let’s just wait before we invade Iraq. And let the inspectors determine whether or not the weapons of mass destruction are there.
“I only got 72 votes for that. And had the Congress voted to wait, they would have learned. And the public would know for a fact there were no weapons of mass destruction. So I share that because I think the public is now more skeptical also. Which is really too bad, because they should be able to trust their government. But the government has lied to them too many times.”
In 2001, you quoted Rev. Nathan Baxter: ‘As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore.’
Did the United States come close to that evil? How would you evaluate how we responded to 9/11?
Rep. Barbara Lee: “Once again, let me just salute on our troops, because they did everything their country asked them to do. A lot of what I do now is to try to make sure that our young people, our troops are made whole. What happened during the invasions, and the occupations and the wars, is that Afghan civilians and Afghan refugees — and the same with Iraqi civilians and refugees — their lives were destroyed in many ways.
“Maybe 240,000 people in Afghanistan were killed, millions of refugees. And we see this still now happening. And so we can’t forget that there was collateral damage. And that’s part of the consequence of war. And it’s been very, very tragic in many respects. And so we must move forward. And I say that once again, we have to recognize that we always have the military option, that’s always on the table.
“A president can always use force in terms of our national defense. But we should not see that as the only or the first option. When, in fact, we have other tools to use in terms of diplomacy, development and humanitarian assistance. And ways to really address the issues of war and peace, before a full scale war breaks out.”
This program aired on September 9, 2021.
It’s been 20 years since the first U.S. troops set foot in Afghanistan in starting Operation Enduring Freedom. On Monday, President Joe Biden stood firm on the decision to pull troops from the war-torn country. Malcolm Nance, Counterterrorism Expert, and Author of “The Plot to Betray America: How Team Trump Embraced Our Enemies, Compromised Our Security, and How We Can Fix It” spoke with Roland Martin about the fall of Afghanistan.
THE WINNERS? MONEY AND POWER
MIDDLE EAST
How The Events Of 9/11 Still Affect The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
September 9, 20215:13 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition
DANIEL ESTRIN Instagram Twitter LISTEN· 3:553-Minute Listen Add to PLAYLIST
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The aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks affected the decisions of Israeli and Palestinian leaders during the Second Intifada in ways that still have an impact. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/09/1035418760/how-the-events-of-9-11-still-affect-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict
Karl Rove, ‘The Architect’
September 6, 200611:00 AM ET Heard on Fresh Air
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Journalist Wayne Slater has written extensively about the influence of Karl Rove on President Bush. His new book is The Architect: Karl Rove and The Master Plan for Absolute Power. Rove has been involved with the Bush family for nearly 30 years and worked with George W. Bush on every one of his campaigns.
Slater co-authored the book with James Moore, his co-writer on Bush’s Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential. Slater has covered Bush for years, and is senior political writer and an award-winning reporter for The Dallas Morning News. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5775226
The chapters that follow have not been arranged strictly by theme and subject matter, partly because Rove’s history has never been simply linear. As an example, the decidedly pro-Israel attitude of almost every senior staffer in the White House and in the vice president’s office is not simply a product of Rove and the president’s making these hiring moves after taking office. This sort of “Israel-first” ideology took root for Rove and Bush back in their political salad days in Texas.
STILL AT IT AFTER 20 YEARS
LAW
SCOTUS Ruling On Texas Abortion Law Could Foreshadow The End Of Roe V. Wade
September 9, 20211:55 PM ET Heard on Fresh Air
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Ian Millhiser covers the Supreme Court for Vox. He says the Court’s decision to uphold the law was a generational victory for abortion opponents: “They’ve spent many decades working for this moment.” https://www.npr.org/2021/09/09/1035475408/scotus-ruling-on-texas-abortion-law-could-foreshadow-the-end-of-roe-v-wade55
Malcolm Nance visits with Stephanie Miller every Wednesday. Malcolm is an American author and media commentator on terrorism, intelligence, insurgency, and torture. He is a former United States Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer specializing in naval cryptology.
VIEWS OF THE AFGHAN WAR
Read and Weep at why peoples worldwide hate Americans. Americans seem to confuse death with freedom, a cause they always accuse groups like the Taliban of. Yet our American Taliban, a combination of the GOP Senate, 18 Red States, the Religious Right, and White Nationalist, rule the US just as effectively. Power, not freedom and democracy is collective aim. Truth tellers like Malcolm Nance are ignored when it comes to foreign policy.
More to come as I vent my anger at the blood and treasure is wasted in trying to force other nations to be like US!
VIEWS OF THE AFGHAN WAR
Malcolm Nance visits with Stephanie Miller every Wednesday. Malcolm is an American author and media commentator on terrorism, intelligence, insurgency, and torture. He is a former United States Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer specializing in naval cryptology.
ASIA
The Effect 20 Years Of War Had On Women In Rural Afghanistan
September 8, 20214:31 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered
MATT OZUG Twitter LISTEN· 8:178-Minute Listen Add to PLAYLIST
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NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly speaks with journalist Anand Gopal about his latest piece, The Other Afghan Women, about the impact war had on women in the country. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/08/1035224822/what-the-last-20-years-of-war-did-to-women-in-rural-afghanistan
A Reporter at LargeSeptember 13, 2021 Issue
The Other Afghan Women
In the countryside, the endless killing of civilians turned women against the occupiers who claimed to be helping them.
By Anand Gopal September 6, 2021
More than seventy per cent of Afghans do not live in cities. In rural areas, life under the U.S.-led coalition and its Afghan allies became pure hazard; even drinking tea in a sunlit field, or driving to your sister’s wedding, was a potentially deadly gamble.
This summer, I travelled to rural Afghanistan to meet women who were already living under the Taliban, to listen to what they thought about this looming dilemma. More than seventy per cent of Afghans do not live in cities, and in the past decade the insurgent group had swallowed large swaths of the countryside. Unlike in relatively liberal Kabul, visiting women in these hinterlands is not easy: even without Taliban rule, women traditionally do not speak to unrelated men. Public and private worlds are sharply divided, and when a woman leaves her home she maintains a cocoon of seclusion through the burqa, which predates the Taliban by centuries. Girls essentially disappear into their homes at puberty, emerging only as grandmothers, if ever. It was through grandmothers—finding each by referral, and speaking to many without seeing their faces—that I was able to meet dozens of women, of all ages. Many were living in desert tents or hollowed-out storefronts, like Shakira; when the Taliban came across her family hiding at the market, the fighters advised them and others not to return home until someone could sweep for mines. I first encountered her in a safe house in Helmand. “I’ve never met a foreigner before,” she said shyly. “Well, a foreigner without a gun.”
Shakira has a knack for finding humor in pathos, and in the sheer absurdity of the men in her life: in the nineties, the Taliban had offered to supply electricity to the village, and the local graybeards had initially refused, fearing black magic. “Of course, we women knew electricity was fine,” she said, chuckling. When she laughs, she pulls her shawl over her face, leaving only her eyes exposed. I told her that she shared a name with a world-renowned pop star, and her eyes widened. “Is it true?” she asked a friend who’d accompanied her to the safe house. “Could it be?”
Shakira, like the other women I met, grew up in the Sangin Valley, a gash of green between sharp mountain outcrops. The valley is watered by the Helmand River and by a canal that Americans built in the nineteen-fifties. You can walk the width of the dale in an hour, passing dozens of tiny hamlets, creaking footbridges, and mud-brick walls. As a girl, Shakira heard stories from her mother of the old days in her village, Pan Killay, which was home to about eighty families: the children swimming in the canal under the warm sun, the women pounding grain in stone mortars. In winter, smoke wafted from clay hearths; in spring, rolling fields were blanketed with poppies.
VIDEO FROM THE NEW YORKERA First Responder Remembers the Columbine Massacre
In 1979, when Shakira was an infant, Communists seized power in Kabul and tried to launch a female-literacy program in Helmand—a province the size of West Virginia, with few girls’ schools. Tribal elders and landlords refused. In the villagers’ retelling, the traditional way of life in Sangin was smashed overnight, because outsiders insisted on bringing women’s rights to the valley. “Our culture could not accept sending their girls outside to school,” Shakira recalled. “It was this way before my father’s time, before my grandfather’s time.” When the authorities began forcing girls to attend classes at gunpoint, a rebellion erupted, led by armed men calling themselves the mujahideen. In their first operation, they kidnapped all the schoolteachers in the valley, many of whom supported girls’ education, and slit their throats. The next day, the government arrested tribal elders and landlords on the suspicion that they were bankrolling the mujahideen. These community leaders were never seen again.
The main job of the national bourgeoisie in an underdeveloped country is to reject their status as bourgeois and dedicate themselves to the peasant masses they represent. An authentic national bourgeoisie should leave their city vocation and go to the masses to learn from the people, and they should in turn teach the masses what they have learned in Western universities. This “heroic and positive path,” Fanon says, is the best way for the national bourgeoisie to remain helpful to the nation as a whole. Of course, the national bourgeoisie does not do this, because to do so would mean to abandon their cushy Westernized lives. In this way, Fanon implies that the national bourgeoisie are neither “heroic” nor “positive,” and are therefore a completely destructive part of society and serve no real, useful purpose.
AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
Pakistani Novelist Mohsin Hamid Explains What 9/11 Meant For Pakistan
September 9, 20215:13 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition LISTEN· 7:017-Minute Listen Add to PLAYLIST
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NPR’s Steve Inskeep talks to Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid about the sprawling and tragic effects of the war in Afghanistan. Hamid’s novels include: The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Exit West. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/09/1035418767/pakistani-novelist-mohsin-hamid-explains-what-9-11-meant-for-pakistan
WORLD
Former CIA Director Gen. Petraeus Discusses The Taliban’s Resurgence In Afghanistan
August 13, 20214:08 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered
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NPR’s Audie Cornish speaks with former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus, who commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan, about the resurgence of the Taliban in the country. https://www.npr.org/2021/08/13/1027537415/former-cia-director-gen-petraeus-discusses-the-talibans-resurgence-in-afghanista
iGen Politics team Jill and Victor are joined by Malcolm Nance counter-terrorism and Middle East expert, spymaster, and veteran to break down the chaos in Afghanistan, what America got wrong over the years, and what its citizens will face under the renewed rule of the Taliban. Did we make a difference there? What led to this week? And is the new generation of leaders in both countries any more likely to keep the peace?
Malcolm Nance is an MSNBC contributor, author, and media commentator on intelligence and foreign policy, terrorism, insurgency, and torture. He is also a former United States Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer and expert on jihadi radicalization, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, ISIS, as well as counterinsurgency and asymmetric warfare. Schooled in Arabic and Russian, in 2016 Malcolm wrote two books, Defeating ISIS: Who They Are, How They Fight, What They Believe, and The Plot to Hack America: How Putin’s Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election. In addition to his books and media career, he founded and is the executive director of the Hudson, New York-based think tank. #MalcolmNance#Afghanistan#Politics#iGenPolitics email us at igp@polition.com
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