The cruelty of US economic sanctions

A secret State Department memo in 1960 proposed making life so miserable for the Cuban people, they would overthrow the new Castro government. It advocated "a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of the government." After 60 years US sanctions continue to make life miserable for the Cuban people, but they will never bring hoped for regime change. Nor will crippling US sanctions bring regime change in North Korea, Russia, Iran, Venezuela or any other country so economically warred upon by America.

Good guy and bad guy with gun...both die

Derrick Gholston was one of 306,000 Illinoisans possessing a Concealed Carry License (CCL) in Illinois; one of 40,000 in Chicago. No more. Derrick chose to shoot it out with a couple of illegally armed robbers at a Roseland business Saturday. One of the robbers was killed but so was Gholston. He complied when the robbers pulled a gun and robbed him outside the business. That was a smart move. But he pulled his gun to play cop when the two entered the business for more loot. That move was fatal. Gholston becomes the third Chicago CCL holder to die defending himself in the past year. Several others have been charged with murder for unlawful use of their precious concealed piece. One was killed by police last November after he opened fire on his ex-fiance, killing three. He had a record of domestic abuse but still got his coveted CCL. More than 34,000 Illinoisans have lost their right to possess a gun but over 80% still have them.

Folks I know who carry appear obsessed walking around with an 'equalizer'. But to me carrying a gun around is a little bit like carrying around a firecracker. It's no fun unless you can shoot it off.

Time for Trib to retire 'War On Terror' moniker

In its September 20 editorial 'No, the war on terror isn’t over: In 1 week, 3 evocations of 9/11', the Trib trotted out the George W. Bush administration 'War On Terror' scare tactic used to justify 18 years of senseless, perpetual war. The 911 attacks required a criminal investigation and response, something used by every Western country that has been so attacked except the US. Our response was to concoct the 'War On Terror' holy war against any person, group or country deemed even remotely in violation of the War On Terror's corollary 'You're either with us or against us'. Eighteen years of war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia are all justified by that 'bait and switch' characterization of the 911 attacks. Yet, these wars perpetuate the blowback of possible new attacks, creating a vicious cycle of endless intervention.

Yes, the US must remain vigilant against terror attacks. But the most effective tactic would be to end America's perpetual wars, which to the peoples we're slaughtering daily, represent America's War Of Terror.

Taliban, like American revolutionaries, will prevail

It took King George III nine years to figure out Britain couldn't control its American colonies. Though his controlling military was superior in firepower and personnel, the revolutionaries had a cause, self determination, that the Brits could never match. We denigrate King George III as nutty for staying so long in a hopeless war, but US leaders make him look quite sensible, doubling his US stay with their 18 year long failed effort to subjugate Afghanistan as an outpost of US world power. The 911 attacks were a trigger used to conquer Afghanistan, install a puppet government and staff gigantic military bases; all for endless control. Tho we vanquished the Afghan Taliban government in weeks, they rose from the near dead to reclaim over half the country with no end in sight.

A majority of Americans support withdrawal of US forces, knowing full well our puppet government there will eventually fall. They have learned the lesson taught them in school about the American Revolution, that people everywhere have the right to self determination; that a government suppressing self determination can be altered, even abolished. Our leaders choose to ignore that lesson, preferring perpetual war squandering trillions while killing untold thousands, all for inevitable defeat.

We're still wondering, as Pete Seeger wrote in 1955, "When will they ever learn...oh when will they ever learn?"