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.

Mack is my 8-year-old rescue dog who was diagnosed with heart worms last year. The vet told me heart worms are incurable & since Mack has some trouble breathing, this seemed like a death verdict hanging over him. The little guy hasn’t got a mean bone in his body.

Yesterday I took the two new big dogs named Bianca & Gus for primary care & both tested positive for heart worms. But this vet said heart worms are in fact curable with two series of shots. That’s a relief not just for Bianca & Gus but for little Mack. The vet techs also gave me a tutorial on heart worms for my other dogs.

I’m posting this in case anyone else has a vet with outdated notions about heart worms. It gives my little Mack, Bianca, & Gus a real chance at life since with heart worms they’re not considered for many adoptions.

CBS morning news is going all high & mighty about bad celebrity jokes at Trump’s expense. Trump: the creep who calls Mexicans rapists & criminals, Muslims terrorists, ridicules those with disability, & talks about women in porno terms.

In July I have an article coming out in Kashmir Mirage about stone pelters which includes both Kashmiri & Palestinian youth. Israel has actually criminalized it & has draconian punishment for youth who engage in it. In both Palestine & Kashmir, they are often just shot down by the occupying armies.

At first I feared the article might be rejected as a defense of hooliganism or anarchy which is ironic since in organizing protests I detest anarchistic grandstanding & vandalism. Protesting in serious business & I disdain treating protest as a chance to express infantile impulses like it was temper tantrum time & breaking windows or provoking cops are part of the deal. But stone pelting is not vandalism so much as a form of civilian defense guards because that is how they function.

Anyway, Kashmiris are way ahead of me on this issue & the article will be coming out in the July issue. I’m honored more than I can say.

Hopefully those who support the occupation of Kashmir will notice the outpouring of condolences by Kashmiris for the family of the officer who was beaten to death but who do not also make any concessions to the occupation.

Instead of joining the rabid chorus led by the Indian army & media about a lynching which apparently never took place, perhaps they can empathize with Kashmiris who have seen their leaders actually hung, their children killed, disabled & disfigured by pellets, their beloved disappeared, raped, tortured, incarcerated, murdered.

This is not to justify the crime but to put it in perspective. Kashmiris are human beings too. Human beings who want freedom.

On the killing of 22-year-old Tawseef Ahmad Wani by occupying forces who justified his murder by calling him a “chronic stone pelter.”

“A CHRONIC stone pelter!!! Is this a newly defined crime where the penalty is MURDER?”

–Sheila Bryce

Kashmiri girls grieving the death of Tawseef Ahmad Wani, a 22-year-old man killed yesterday by a tear gas shell when Indian occupying forces attacked protesters. Fifty others were also injured, some seriously.

Indian police claimed young Tawseef was a “chronic stone pelter” who had been involved in 10 stone pelting cases since 2010 & was previously booked twice under the Public Safety Act (PSA). That would mean he had been stone pelting since the age of 15. That would make him a very courageous young man & a great loss to the Kashmiri freedom struggle.

The PSA is a draconian measure to repress dissent, victimize youth, & give impunity to the occupying army. In an ugly irony, it developed out of British efforts to repress the Indian struggle for freedom from British colonialism.

There were three militants killed in the same encounter. Their faces were draped at their funeral prayers because they had sustained serious burn injuries. The funerals of Majid Mir, Shakir Ahmad, & Irshad Ahmad were attended by thousands.
May the four young men Rest In Peace.

End the occupation. Self-determination for Kashmir.

(Photo by Basit Zargar)