Zahid Shah, who introduced parkour to Kashmir, has introduced this beautiful piece of music to me. It seems so appropriate to the long, unremitting struggle to make this world suitable for human beings to live & love in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6Qc7eOiqtI

“… may we continue to extinguish the fires of hate wherever they burn, whoever they threaten.”

–Eid Mubarak blessing from Thamina Faiz

Brace yourselves for a pearl of wisdom. When you’re my age, you think you have the right to drop them. Which explains why so many senior activists are removed from so many guest lists:

Listening well & observing carefully are essential to the art of politics. Resist jumping on the bandwagon when you don’t understand something but take your time to study, listen, & do that elementary compare & contrast thing. Ask basic questions & stay away from conspiracy thinkers.

Hope nobody objects that Trump cancelled the “traditional” Ramadan celebration in the White House. Don’t know how traditional it is since this is the first time most of us ever heard about it. But who would want Trump making a mockery & burlesque of Ramadan?

In 2010, a 14-year-old Mexican boy named Sergio Hernandez was shot by US border patrol on the Mexican side of the border near El Paso allegedly for stone pelting, although he was shot in the back.

There wasn’t much political response in the US or in Mexico for such an outrageous crime against a young boy. There was a lilliputian protest here & I went out a few times by myself with a placard.
In my FB memories for this day, I came across this post about the shameful role El Paso media played in blunting the anger for the boy’s murder. I was so outraged by their dishonest smearing of Sergio that I sent several emails to the El Paso TV station to which I never received even a canned reply. This is one email I sent about their claim that he was involved in smuggling immigrants. Bless his heart if he was involved in helping them, but he was not.

There has never been justice for his murder. Presently, the US Supreme Court is sitting on a case deciding the right of his family to file a civil suit against the border patrol, denied by lower courts because he was shot on the Mexican side of the border. May he Rest In Peace.

“Sent email to KFOX-TV, El Paso: “You reported anonymous source saying 14-yo Sergio Hernandez was known immigrant smuggler, charged in 2009, and on most wanted list of juvenile smugglers.

Why would this information require anonymous source; is it not all a matter of public record? Where is the most wanted list posted and who posts it? What are the details of the 2009 charge? Is all this per Mexican or U.S. sources?”

Bill Cosby’s female publicist announced his tour of town hall meetings to restore his reputation. Such unmitigated hubris & lack of remorse. Despite 60 women accusing him of sexual assault, several women in his life continue to function as enablers–from the paid publicist to his wife & former co-stars. There is the same unsavory phenomenon with Trump & Clinton. For 60 women to say publicly that he doped & raped them in an indictment, regardless of what a court rules.

Hopefully, those town halls will backfire on his ass & he will face rallies of protesting women at every one.

The charred remains of Kashmiri militants: “Some killings are not condemned because they are seen as normal.” –Basharat Ali

Any questions about the character of the military occupation?

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/…/unfolding-of-ka…/253016.html

“There is no comparison between defence of the oppressed and the violence of the oppressor. Oppressor is never principled. If it tries to be principled, it’s era of tyranny will end. The struggle of the oppressed for truth, justice and freedom cannot be unprincipled, as it will only oblige the oppressor.”

–Khurram Parvez

Trump is proposing an $800 billion cut in Medicaid which is health care for the working poor, elderly, disabled. The neoliberal austerity policies imposed by the US & Europe on the rest of the world are coming home to roost.

Many are pessimistic because of the apparent, almost leaden quietism of American workers in the face of these assaults. US history shows how this can change overnight. American working people are conservative & slow to action but when they do act, they do so massively.