Mourn Barcelona, but don't ignore US war crimes in Yemen

The humanitarian catastrophe the US is helping Saudi Arabia carry out in neighboring Yemen dwarfs the atrocity in Barcelona. While the media wing of the war party blares 24/7 coverage of the hundred plus dead and wounded in Spain, they totally ignore the 20,000 slaughtered and millions facing starvation and cholera thanks to Uncle Sam's bombs, drones, planes and free mid air fuel for the grotesque Saudi warriors. Yemen is the dirty war that dare not speak its name. Human Rights Watch rightly asserts that by providing logistical and intelligence assistance to Saudi Arabia and its coalition forces, "the United States may have become a party to the conflict, creating obligations under the laws of war". There's no 'may be' about it; Uncle Sam should be in the dock at The Hague. And your and my tax dollars are funding this madness.

Anytime America wants to demonize or even attack another country we make up stuff about how they're committing atrocities against their own or neighboring peoples. We sure know what we're talking about.....we're the champs when it comes to such inhuman behavior.

Rauner shocked, shocked Trump enables white nationalists

Many Illinois Republicans were no doubt relieved Gov. Rauner issued the following statement on Trump's outrageous comments playing footsie with the violent white supremacists at Charlottesville:

"I vehemently disagree with the president's comments about the tragedy in Charlottesville. I vehemently disagree with the president's comments. We must stand together against hatred and racism and bigotry and violence, and we must condemn those actions in Charlottesville in the strongest terms,"

Reminded by a reporter he failed to mention Trump's name, something he's never done in public, Rauner strung together the five letters that 'dare not speak its name'. "TRUMP". There, I said it, Rauner no doubt pondered, on this the second anniversary of Trump's presidential announcement; a campaign built on a foundation of racism, Xenophobia, misogyny, vulgarity and bullying. And Rauner, like virtually every self preserving Republican officeholder and candidate, did the wrong thing; enabled the white nationalist enabler.

There is no context in which to applaud Rauner's remarks. We have Trump degrading America and its most vulnerable citizens and wannabe citizens, making America feared and reviled around the world, wondering if he will plunge the world into war to save his presidency, because of otherwise decent leaders like Bruce Rauner.