Bombing Hiroshima changed the world, but it didn't end WWII

President Obama's visit to Hiroshima on Friday has rekindled public debate about the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan — one largely suppressed since the Smithsonian canceled its Enola Gay exhibit in 1995. Obama, aware that his critics are ready to pounce if he casts the slightest doubt on the rectitude of President Harry S. Truman’s decision to use atomic bombs, has opted to remain silent on the issue. This is unfortunate. A national reckoning is overdue.

Most Americans have been taught that using atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 was justified because the bombings ended the war in the Pacific, thereby averting a costly U.S. invasion of Japan. This erroneous contention finds its way into high school history texts still today. More dangerously, it shapes the thinking of government officials and military planners working in a world that still contains more than 15,000 nuclear weapons.

Truman exulted in the obliteration of Hiroshima, calling it “the greatest thing in history.” America’s military leaders didn’t share his exuberance. Seven of America’s eight five-star officers in 1945 — Gens. Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur and Henry Arnold, and Adms. William Leahy, Chester Nimitz, Ernest King and William Halsey — later called the atomic bombings either militarily unnecessary, morally reprehensible, or both. Nor did the bombs succeed in their collateral purpose: cowing the Soviets.

Leahy, who was Truman’s personal chief of staff, wrote in his memoir that the “Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender…. The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan.” MacArthur went further. He told former President Hoover that if the United States had assured the Japanese that they could keep the emperor they would have gladly surrendered in late May.

It was not the atomic evisceration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended the Pacific war. Instead, it was the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and other Japanese colonies that began at midnight on Aug. 8, 1945 — between the two bombings.

More: LA Times

Once Middle Class, Millions Are Joining the Ranks of 'Disposable' Americans

Income, savings and life expectancy are in decline for broad swathes of society.

By Paul Buchheit / AlterNet 

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

Poor Americans are becoming increasingly disposable in our winner-take-all society, as often noted in the passionate writings of Henry Giroux. After 35 years of wealth redistribution to the super-rich, inequality has forced much of the middle class down to near-poverty levels, worsened by the fact that they are also blamed for their own misfortunes.

The evidence for this disposability keeps accumulating: income and wealth—and health—are all declining for middle-class America. Meanwhile, those at the top could not be less concerned. As wealth at the top grows, the super-rich feel they have little need for the rest of society.

Racism of the Right

Herr tRUMPf

Oh FFS...

RAWSTORY.COM

tRUMP's supporters talk themselves in circles trying to explain the STUPID that is tRUMP.

Top Donald Trump surrogate and attorney Michael Cohen struggled to explain Tuesday why his boss demonized those who accused Bill Clinton of rape and sexual impropriety in the 1990’s but now believes those accusations, saying that Trump was just “being a good friend” at the time.

“He defended Bill Clinton for years. He said the same allegations that you guys are talking about now were a waste of time, were wrong, were hollow, that Bill Clinton was a terrific guy. That he was a great president, that the impeachment was wrong, that it was a waste of time…” the host of CNN’s New Day Chris Cuomo rattled off.

“He was a private citizen who was friendly with the Clintons and he was trying to protect a friend,” Cohen explained. “Now, it’s a different game. It’s 2016, he is the Republican presidential nominee.”

HERE.

HERE.

It certainly is obvious that StormTrumpers don't care about any of Herr tRUMP's reversals of his campaign promises, his dishonesty, etc. They are so desperate for a strong daddy figure and they are so afraid of the big ole skeery world...

And You Worry About Transgendered Peeps In Bathrooms??

Read about it here.

Ain't Crapitalism Grand!

Texas Lt. Governor defends bathroom laws but did nothing for the 171 children who died of abuse in one year

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, who vehemently opposes transgender people using public bathrooms that they identify with, presided for over a year in which 171 children died of abuse and neglect in his state.

A federal judge declared that Texas failed neglected children by medicating them “instead of addressing their trauma.” The court also stated officials routinely ignored signs of sexual abuse for years while placing children in the care of overworked caseworkers.

According to The Star Telegram, Patrick claimed that the transgender bathroom issue is a priority of the “highest order,” and he opposes Fort Worth’s school policy that allows transgender students to use the restroom that matches their gender identity. The policy also puts into action protections that shield LGBT kids from bullying, harassment and even physical harm.

Patrick has no direct authority over local school policies, but he is responsible for Texas’s Child Protective Services and the Department of Family and Protective Services.

The Telegram reports that Texas has more than 108,000 confirmed cases of child abuse, to which “Patrick held no press conferences. There’s no public statement on his website. He waved no banner for their well-being.”

http://deadstate.org/texas-lt-governor-defends-bathroom-laws-but-did-nothing-for-the-171-children-who-died-of-abuse-in-one-year/

This Paycheck Scheme Is Completely Screwing Low-Wage Workers

Restaurant servers are some of the most underpaid workers in America. Sure, they make tips but their pay-per-hour is usually just a couple of dollars. This means that they have to work their asses off to earn the tips that they need to support themselves. As if this weren’t shitty enough, Darden Restaurants — the company that owns Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and others — has decided that they are going to fuck over their servers so hard by paying them with debit cards.

Now, this may seem like a swell idea at first. The employees don’t have to bring their tiny paychecks to a bank or check cashing place to access money, instead it is given to them on their handy-dandy debit card. According to a study released by Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROCU):

Darden not only outsources the cost of paying its workers both to the customers, through the tipped subminimum wage, but also to the workers themselves through the use of payroll cards. The use of payroll cards is pervasive at Darden: according to a company spokesperson, 48% of Darden’s 140,000 hourly employees are compensated via payroll card. At a saving of $2.75 each pay period, Darden saves nearly $5 million a year by using payroll cards over paper checks.

YAY! So what’s wrong with this? Well, nothing for Darden, they are making out like bandits, but it’s not so great for their employees. ROCU found:

23% of employees reported not being given instructions on how to use the Darden Card.
76% of employees reported having to pay fees to access their wages at the ATM.
24% of employees reported fees at point-of-purchase.
63% reported that they were not told about all of the fees associated with the card before it was issued to them.
42% reported experiencing problems accessing their wages through the payroll card.
49% reported that they do not have access to ATMs that do not charge them a fee to access their wages.
54% of employees who used the card to fill up their gas tanks have experienced large authorization holds on their card as a result.
26% reported not being allowed to choose an alternative method of payment to the Darden payroll card.

http://leftwingnation.org/this-paycheck-scheme-is-completely-screwing-low-wage-workers/

As I See It...

I posted this rant elsewhere on the facebooks. Someone feel free to address my points and tell me where I'm wrong. In a perfect world, I would be wrong. But I'm afraid I'm right. I don't want to be right, but things what'tis seem to point in the direction of me being right...

The USA has not had pure capitalism in the 20th or 21st centuries. We've always had a modified form of capitalism. Once upon a time, it worked for us. The middle class rose in numbers and income because the massive industrial capacity of the USA already existed, thanks to WWII, and was ready to provide for the product and housing needs of all the returning GIs. Because of the high tax rates, approaching 90% for the highest earners, two things happened: investors chose to invest in manufacturing, to avoid high taxes, and the government was able to fund the GI bill, and other programs to aid those returning GIs to get education and housing. Unions helped insure that workers' labor was fairly compensated. Generally, corporations realized that it was beneficial to themselves and society to keep their employees working and fairly paid. Unfortunately, about the time Reagan came along, Our Betters™ (the wealthy class) decided that they could increase their incomes exponentially by lowering their tax burden, by paying labor much lower pay, by moving production to 3rd world countries and paying those workers slave wages, and finally, by getting politicians elected who would advance this agenda. Our Betters™ created a propaganda corps of AM radio personalities and media hacks to convince the newly underpaid working stiffs that the real reason their incomes have stagnated is because of gummit regulations and some vague plot by lib'ruls to "steal your joy" (as a local Houston AM radio hack puts it). 

It is no coincidence that since Reagan's time, middle class incomes have stagnated, the incomes of the wealthy (Our Betters™) have skyrocketed, union membership has declined, and there's no money to properly compensate teachers, police, firemen... It's all been planned by Our Betters™ in a massive redistribution of wealth from working stiffs to those at the top. This plan is what I call crapitalism. 

America needs Presidents like Eisenhower, who warned against the dangers of the military/industrial complex, and Roosevelt, who formed the New Deal, and introduced Social Security, so our seniors wouldn't starve and do without life's essentials in their (our) old age, a Congress not bought by the likes of Donald Trump, and a return to the type of hybrid capitalism that built a great America and the middle class.

Another piece of the Ben Ghazi hoax falls apart...

A central element of conservative conspiracy theories spread in the aftermath of the September 11, 2012 attack on our diplomatic facility and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, has been the myth that the military could have responded to the attack more quickly and therefore saved lives.

In the most outlandish version of this story, President Obama or Hillary Clinton ordered the military to “stand down” rather than come to the aid of the Americans who were under attack.

Earlier this week, a letter from two House Democrats to Rep. Trey Gowdy, the South Carolina Republican who is chairing the select committee investigating the Benghazi attack, revealed that the GOP’s own chief investigator acknowledged during the investigation that nothing “could have been done differently to affect the outcome in Benghazi.”

- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/trey-gowdy-concedes-military-could-not-have-gotten-benghazi-time-save-lives#sthash.yaU0G0T9.dpuf

Paul Ryan Plans To Starve Unemployed Americans With $23 Billion Food Stamp Cut

For years, ReBUBBAlicans have said that the way for workers to cope as the rich get richer by moving jobs overseas is to go back to school and/or retrain for jobs in "the new economy". Apparently, that is just so much right wing bullshit. Driving down wages only benefits rich ReBUBBAlicans.

The Republican solution to helping the long-term unemployed isn’t to make it easier for them to survive if they go back to school or enroll in a job training program. The point of Speaker Ryan’s cuts is to discourage people from going back to school or taking part in job training programs. Financial aid and job training programs have also been frequent budget cut targets for Congressional Republicans.

Ryan loves to talk in vague terms about poverty, but what his anti-poverty program is really about is the forcing down of wages by making employees take minimum wage jobs that they can’t survive on. The purpose of cutting food stamps for those who are trying to better themselves is to drive down wages.

Politicus USA

Floriduh man discovers that he'd shot himself 3 days ago

DELTONA, Fla. – The gun fired, but where did the bullet go?A man from Deltona, Florida wouldn’t learn the answer to that question for three days, when he finally discovered a bullet hole in his arm.

Michael Blevins, 37, was cleaning his .22 caliber pistol in the living room of his house on Whitewood Drive when the gun discharged, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Blevins had the firearm pressed to his chest to keep it away from his dog, and, when he stood up, a sharp pain in his back caused him to buckle forward. He heard the pistol fire and struck his face on the edge of a glass coffee table, he later told deputies.

F News

You losers don't get to see shytte...

After promising to show his tax returns, Herr tRUMP changes his mind. Because....

DONALD TRUMP WILL DESTROY AMERICA

Trump Outlines How He’ll Treat America Like A Bankrupt Business And It Is TERRIFYING

The New York Times reported that in an interview Thursday, Donald Trump talked about how he would approach the national debt. Thinking like a failed businessman, he insisted we should simply go to our creditors and ask them to take less. Yes, in one idiotic statement, Donald Trump exposed just how little he knows about the economy or how the debt works. As The Times points out, there is no credible evidence suggesting that our debtors would reduce we owe them by a nickel.

Let’s assume for a moment that our creditors would take less. The bulk of the national debt is money we owe to ourselves. Is Trump going to ask the Social Security trust fund to take pennies on the dollar because we had a couple of wars that were too expensive and some handouts to fix the mess? How much less should those people who won’t be able to retire when the fund is wiped out take? They’ve been putting 6.2 percent of their paycheck into that fund since they started working. How much less should they settle for?

As for our other creditors, We’re not defaulting on rented furniture. We owe other countries a great deal of money, plus interest, that they provided to us in cash. We use that money to fund the government. If creditors start seeing those kinds of tactics we’ll have our credit rating lowered and lose credibility as a country. There’s also a good chance the dollar would be removed as the world standard currency. Ask Donald Trump what he’ll do when we can’t just print more money.

The bottom line is, Trump has no idea what he’s talking about.

Are Americans Too Stupid To Own Guns?

http://keyetv.com/news/offbeat/driver-taking-son-to-day-care-shoots-himself-during-road-rage-incident-05-02-2016