Life of Married Couple

I am at the 5th picture stage.

Another Gem from Ann Coulter

WHEN THE MSM SAY SOMEONE IS IN PRISON FOR A MINOR DRUG CRIME, THEY'RE ALWAYS LYING

July 17, 2019

If the left has its way in the next few years, there won't be anyone left in prison because, you see, they're overflowing with innocent black men locked up for "nonviolent drug crimes." All of them!

Over the weekend, NBC News investigative reporter Leigh Ann Caldwell appeared on MSNBC's "Kasie DC" to tell the story of Bill Underwood, loving parent and prison mentor, who has already spent nearly 30 years in prison for a nonviolent drug crime.

Caldwell reported:

"William Underwood, now 65 years old, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a nonviolent drug-related crime. It was his first felony, but in the middle of the tough-on-crime era, the judge showed no leniency. With no hope of ever walking free again, Underwood has made the best of his time in prison, mentoring others and staying devoted to his children and grandchildren, as (his daughter) Ebony fights for his release."

Another black body in prison for mere possession of a joint!

Actually, no one is in prison anywhere for possession of a joint, except in the pea-brain fantasies of chubby college coeds everywhere. We don't have the prison space.

NBC's Caldwell interviewed Underwood, noting how "for 30 years from inside prison walls, he still tried to be a father first." The poor man concurred, saying, "That's all I was ever taught, you know? Children first, first, foremost. That's what I try to emulate."

Can it be long before Ivanka pops up, lobbying for his release?

Despite what I'm sure was an exhaustive investigation, I was suspicious of Caldwell's characterization of Underwood's crime. My rule is: If you're not telling me why someone was sentenced to life in prison, there's probably a reason you're not telling me.

All we got from Caldwell was: Here's this great father behind bars; He just got caught up in something, we're really not sure what it was -- and here's his daughter, Ebony, to tell us what a terrific father he is.

Considering that she's arguing for Underwood's immediate release into the general public, it seems odd that Caldwell doesn't know what he's in prison for, nor does she have the slightest interest in finding out.

Maybe at NBC they don't have access to the internet. But I do! I spent a full 60 seconds doing a Nexis search on William Underwood.

Here are some excerpts from a Newsday article on Underwood's conviction, dated Jan. 10, 1990:

"A rock band manager was convicted yesterday as the head of a vicious Harlem drug gang that prosecutors said carried out six murders, including the controversial slaying of a witness in 1983."

Caldwell didn't bother to mention Underwood's SIX MURDERS?

NBC: We don't have room for everything. These stories are only so long.

"William Underwood, 36, faces up to life in prison without parole for his conviction in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on charges of racketeering and operating a continuing criminal enterprise -- the so-called federal narcotics 'kingpin' law."

It's weird that Caldwell never managed to turn up the fact that he was convicted of being the kingpin of a drug empire, distributing heroin throughout Harlem in the 1980s. "Yes, your honor, I was convicted of operating a CONTINUING CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE -- but it's my first offense."

"A federal jury found him guilty of heading the murderous and now-broken Vigilantes drug gang ... known for extraordinary violence. All told, police say, it may have killed as many as 23 people."

I feel like Caldwell may not have gone the extra mile in researching this story.

The evidence against Underwood included the testimony of 50 witnesses, undercover video-recordings and confessions of Vigilante gang members -- which is especially impressive, considering that he ordered the murder of witnesses preparing to testify against him. (I guess he couldn't kill all 50.) In addition to killing witnesses, Underwood's outfit killed customers, members of rival drug gangs and innocent passersby.

In a 1988 article titled, "Brutal Drug Gangs Wage War of Terror in Upper Manhattan," The New York Times reported that Underwood's heroin operation was "considered by law-enforcement experts to be the most dangerous drug gang in Harlem." All told, the gangs were "believed to be responsible for as many as 523 slayings in upper Manhattan in the last five years."

That's lots of black bodies.

Having completely lied about these crimes – deliberately withholding this information is lying -- NBC then brought out Sen. Cory Booker as the lonely voice of sanity in the Kafka-esque nightmare that is Underwood's life.

Booker, who is running for president, has introduced legislation that would allow anyone in prison for more than 10 years, such as Underwood, to petition for release -- thus, requiring the state to prove its case all over again.

But sadly, Caldwell said, "Booker has an uphill battle on passing the bill."

She asked Booker the question on everyone's mind: "If you are president and this legislation has not passed before then, would you offer clemency to someone like William Underwood?"

Booker responded: "Hell yes, hell yes. I told you, it should disturb all of us that there are people like Mr. Underwood in prison."

What's disturbs all of us is that this guy is running for president and clearly -- we hope! -- hasn't looked into Underwood's case.

This is the left's famous two-step on criminal punishment:

1. Oppose the death penalty on the grounds that "life in prison without possibility of parole" is just as good;

2. Wait a few years for all the witnesses to die or move away, and then demand the convict's release on the basis of absolutely no information about his crime.

William Underwood was tried and convicted of being the kingpin of a bloody drug empire that terrorized Harlem throughout the 1980s. Thanks to federal prosecutions wrapping up operations like Underwood's, now there are coffee shops, restaurants and multi-million-dollar brownstones in Harlem.

But if you're an investigative reporter for NBC or a Democratic presidential candidate and don't check the facts, his case goes in the "life imprisonment for a single joint" file.

Just remember: Whenever you read about a guy in prison for a "nonviolent drug-related crime," they're lying.

COPYRIGHT 2019 ANN COULTER

Bloomington peace coilition

2/25/2019 in HT

This guest column was written by Bloomington resident David Keppel, who is spokesperson for Bloomington Peace Action Coalition.

Does humanity owe its survival to a television docudrama? In November 1983, President Ronald Reagan watched the film “The Day After,” a movie starring Jason Robard, which imagines the aftermath of a U.S.-Soviet nuclear war and its impact on Lawrence, Kansas. He was deeply shaken by the devastation. One reason he was receptive is that in the weeks preceding that screening, the world had come even closer to nuclear war than it had in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. NATO had just conducted Operation Able Archer, simulating a U.S. nuclear strike on Russia. Since the Russians had a war plan for an attack disguised as a mere exercise, they thought our exercise might be a real strike. Reagan, who had entered office as an ultra hawk, knew we had come to the brink of catastrophe.

Few Americans realize that the danger of nuclear war is again rising. The Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists stands at an ominous two minutes to midnight. Claiming Russian violations, President Donald Trump has renounced the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. The administration is embarking on a $1.5 trillion nuclear modernization program to build a new generation of “usable” nuclear weapons. One of these, a stealth nuclear cruise missile, could be deployed at forward sites in Europe within striking distance of Russia. At the same time, the administration is deploying a so-called “low-yield” warhead (the W76-2) for the Trident nuclear missile aboard strategic submarines. With an impact slightly short of the Hiroshima bomb, these are considered “usable.” Yet our Trident missiles will also continue to carry warheads hundreds of times more powerful. If the Russians see an incoming Trident missile, they will likely assume the worst and fire their full nuclear deterrent, engulfing the world in an all-out nuclear war. Since “The Day After” was produced in 1983, scientists have learned that nuclear war would not only cause hundreds of millions of deaths from blast, firestorms and radiation sickness; it would also unleash such severe and rapid climate change (“Nuclear Winter”) that most life on Earth would go extinct.

In 2018, former Sen. Richard Lugar, along with former Secretary of State George Shultz and former Defense Secretary William Perry, wrote to Congress in opposition to the new warhead. “Perhaps the biggest fallacy in the whole argument is the mistaken and dangerous belief that a ‘small’ nuclear war would remain small. There is no basis for the dubious theory that, if Russia used a ‘low-yield’ nuclear weapon and the United States responded in kind, the conflict could stay at that level. Indeed, it is unlikely that there is such a thing as a limited nuclear war; preparing for one is folly.”

Despite this warning, Congress approved the funds for the W76-2. In the new Congress, some senators and representatives (including Elizabeth Warren and Ted Lieu) are trying to block its actual deployment.

Citizen action is essential. The nuclear freeze movement in the 1980s called for a U.S.-Soviet halt in the testing, production and deployment of new nuclear weapons. This proposal recognized that the greatest danger lay not in sheer number of weapons but in development of first-strike weapons designed to “win” a nuclear war, bringing both sides to nuclear hair-trigger. Today, that danger has returned with a vengeance, and again the key is to stop a new generation of nuclear weapons on all sides.

The freeze campaign took its proposal to town meetings across the nation and built a huge grassroots movement that forced Congress and the president to pay attention. Today again, the future is in our hands.

My reply:

The Russian state controls media inside Russia and uses a constant stream of propaganda to convince it's citizens that the west is evil. Citizens are told that Russian military forces protect them from the nefarious schemes of western nations and the US. The dictator Putin masquerades as the strong leader needed to repel western invaders.

Russia has an economy smaller than that of Italy. Economists describe it as a kleptocracy (rule by thieves). The only thing it has to sell are gas and oil and weapons. However, Putin props up the country internationally with threats designed to instill fear in the west such as constant airspace intrusions, bragging about new nuclear super-weapons and invading teritory from neighboring countries. This is the reality the Bloomington Peace Coilition needs to confront rather than trying to disarm America.

Like · Reply · 2h

"microaggressions" are everywhere!

A guest column in the Bloomington paper by a local white activist urges the liberal white community to look deeper into themselves to find racism which is everywhere, all the time and explains everything.

My comment:

This is a ridiculous exercise by someone convinced white people are the source of all evil in the world. She examines the well-meaning white community in Bloomington with a microscope and finds "microaggressions" and racism everywhere. It is now fashionable among self-hating white liberals to rant about the meaningless phrase "white supremacy" to demonstrate their liberal credentials. Demonising whites may make Ms. Applegate feel better about herself but it will only alienate most of us.

Professor Makes Career out of Racism

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-donald-trump-racist-20171010-story.html

Civil rights advocates, social scientists and regular citizens have all called out President Donald Trump as a racist in recent weeks. The president’s supporters have countered with stories about the blacks and Latinos he has hired or befriended, and with personal testimonies: “I’ve known Donald Trump for many years. He doesn’t have a racist bone in his body.”

As a professor who researches and teaches courses on the health effects of race, racism and inequality, I can assure you that the president’s defenders are wrong. Trump is a racist. What he says and does meets the scholarly definition of the term

Scholars break racism into multiple categories:

• Structural racism: Assigning social value to human populations contingent on misperceptions of inherent differences.
• Symbolic racism: Rhetoric that delegitimizes others.
• Institutional racism: Incorporating and formalizing misperceptions of differences into society through public policy.
• Interpersonal racism: Acting on such misperceptions in direct or face-to-face interactions.
• Insidious racism: Unconscious belief in and perpetuation of these phenomena.
• Internalized racism: Among victimized populations, accepting and manifesting negative portrayals.
• Systemic racism: The influence of these phenomena at multiple levels and across multiple dimensions of society.

Trump’s insensitive, disrespectful and mean-spirited statements and actions partake of all these variations.

My comments published:

The Professor has made a career out of "racism". The advantage here is you can make up a universe of "racism" subdivisions which will provide research material for other PHDs in the social sciences. By defining so many sub-sets of "racism" he and his colleagues can find one to fit any behavior by white people. This has become a cottage industry in Academia and "Social Activist" circles. And the best part of all is that his chosen target cannot disprove the "racist" label because you cannot prove a negative (Logic 101).

Comment to editorial

Most hate and violence comes from the alt-left. You overlook this in your editorial. A lot of hate and violence comes from Black Lies Matter. You overlook this as well. You know that Nazi and KKK protestesters are tiny fringe groups but you imply President Trump and the majority of the white population are just as guilty. Your editorial is biased crap.

Bloomington homeless problem just got worse

My comments published in HT:

Attention all addicts, alcoholics and antisocials!!...Bloomington welcomes you with even more services! We are only a bus trip away! "This is a positive step for those experiencing homelessness and others in poverty, in that they will have weekend access to showers, laundry facilities, storage services, mail, breakfast and lunch. It will give people a comfortable place to be for eight hours a day, two more days a week."

Bloomington author favors North Korea

I posted this commentary in response to a letter in the Bloomington paper blaming America for the North Korean problem:

The author said: "Since 1953, the North Korean people have endured privation, hunger and Spartan militarism, to hang tough for the imminent American attack." Mr. Thom shows no understanding of the regime, just a pathological dislike of American policies. In a sense there are no "North Korean people". The "people" only exist to serve the dictator for his personal comfort and safety. To this end, the dictator will abuse, starve and sacrifice millions of his citizens. The son of the previous dictator, he uses Orwellian methods to control the people including state control of media, omnipresent propaganda, arrest of dissidents and a vast prison system of political prisoners. This is the regime Mr. Thom is enamored with and wants to protect from evil America.

Comments on Black NFL Players Protests

Comments I have posted in the Bloomington paper:

The root of the NFL protests is the lie that police are killing black people for no reason whatsoever. Statistics and investigations show this to be false but the NFL players choose to ignore facts and instead absorb the propaganda spouted by BLM (Black Lies Matter).The "harmless protest" is really an expression of hate for America by black people. It is based on lies fed to people who are eager to believe that America and white people are evil.

Trump is right! These player's actions say that they hate America and they especially hate white people whom they blame for everything. The propaganda of 'Black Lies Matter' has this effect. I have enjoyed NFL games but now that it is clear the players hate America and hate me I cannot root for a team and enjoy the sport any longer. Turn off the NFL!

IU Law Prof Lovelace sounds off: Lovelace said. "It's hypocritical for Donald Trump to devalue the First Amendment rights of the NFL's protesting players as he routinely exercises his rights to spread white supremacy. He tweets out these things that are protected by the First Amendment, but when others disagree, he wants to silence those people." 

Another flakey IU faculty member using the current propaganda slogan "white supremacy" to lie about our president. Lovelace also shows his professional incompetence by not realizing that if you are an employee and you are at work your employer has a right and a duty to limit your activitys in that workplace.

America Losing Values War

Great presentation on immigration

https://www.facebook.com/numbersusa/videos/1143224479067579/

Very informative and scary. Regardless of subject this one of the best examples of effective presentation of a data-heavy subject.

Clever tech-savvy Mom manages kids

This is how I feel when Lynda shops.

Politics of Envy

“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. 
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. 
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.”
― Abraham Lincoln

How to cheat the system

VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHY: Electric-lighted berth on a deluxe overland limite...

VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHY: Electric-lighted berth on a deluxe overland limite...: via

“The Milky Way Galaxy is one of billions, perhaps hundreds of billions of galaxies notable neither in mass nor in brightness nor in how its stars are configured and arrayed. Some modern deep sky photographs show more galaxies beyond the Milky Way than stars within the Milky Way. Every one of them is an island universe containing perhaps a hundred billion suns. Such an image is a profound sermon on humility.”

—	Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, New York: Random House, 1994, p. 21. (full text online)

The Americans With No Abilities Act (ANAA)

President Barack Obama and the Democratic Senate are considering
sweeping legislation that will provide new benefits for many more Americans. The Americans With No Abilities Act is being hailed as a major legislative goal by advocates of the millions of Americans who lack any real skills or ambition.

"Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in society," said California Sen. Barbara Boxer. "We can no longer stand by and allow People of Inability (POI) to be ridiculed and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be able to grant special favors to a small group of workers, simply because they have some idea of what they are doing."

In a Capitol Hill press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pointed to the success of the U.S. Postal Service, which has a long-standing policy of providing opportunity without regard to performance. At the state government level, the Department of Motor Vehicles also has an excellent record
of hiring Persons with No Ability (63 percent).

Under the Americans With No Abilities Act, more than 25 million mid-level positions will be created, with important-sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance.

Mandatory non-performance-based raises and promotions will be given to guarantee upward mobility for even the most unremarkable employees. The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to corporations that promote a significant number of Persons of Inability (POI) into middle-management positions, and give a tax credit to small and medium-sized businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for every two talented hires.

Finally, the Americans With No Abilities Act contains tough new measures to make it more difficult to discriminate against the non-abled, banning, for example, discriminatory interview questions such as, "Do you have any skills or experience that relate to this job?"

"As a non-abled person, I can't be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them," said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, Mich., due to her inability to remember righty tighty, lefty loosey. "This new law should be real good for people like me. I'll finally have
job security." With the passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other untalented citizens will finally see a light at the end
of the tunnel.

Said Sen. Dick Durbin,II: "As a senator with no abilities, I believe the same privileges that elected officials enjoy ought to be extended to every American with no abilities. It is our duty as lawmakers to provide each and every American citizen, regardless of his or her inadequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great
nation and a good salary for doing so." 

This message was approved by Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama.

 

Socialism and Populism failing Economics 101

President Nicolás Maduro ordered managers of electronics chain Daka to lower prices or face prosecution.

(Photo: Girish Gupta for USA TODAY)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The assault against business comes amid a severe shortage of basic goods and extreme inflation
• Televisions were the most in-demand item
• President Maduro's popularity has dropped significantly in recent months

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro intensified his perceived fight Monday against "bourgeois parasites" he accuses of an economic war against the socialist country by threatening to force more stores to sell their merchandise at cut-rate prices.

National guardsmen, some of whom had assault rifles, were positioned around outlets of an electronics chain that Maduro has ordered to lower prices or face prosecution. Thousands of people lined up at the Daka stores hoping for a bargain after the government forced the companies to charge "fair" prices.

"I want a Sony plasma television for the house," said Amanda Lisboa, 34, a business administrator who waited seven hours outside a Caracas Daka store, similar to Best Buy. "It's going to be so cheap!"

Five managers of electronic retailers including Daka are being threatened with prosecution for unjustifiable price hikes, the Venezuela government said. More stores may be at risk, as well. Government inspectors were dispatched to check prices at an array of other businesses.

"This is for the good of the nation," Maduro said, referring to the military's occupation of Daka. "Leave nothing on the shelves, nothing in the warehouses … Let nothing remain in stock!"

Maduro said his seizures are the "tip of the iceberg" and that other stores would be next if they did not comply with his orders. Maduro is expected to win decree powers in Congress in the coming days that he says will be used to take over more businesses.

The assault against business comes amid a severe shortage of basic goods and extreme inflation, which is currently at an annual rate of 54.3%. Both are tied to policies of the government, which is boosting public spending and printing money in record amounts to pay for it.

Venezuela's central bank said the country's money supply grew 70% in the past year. As a result, the value of the Venezuela bolivar continues to drop at a time when the country must import increasing amounts of basics like food and even toilet paper due to failed state schemes for running the economy.

For Venezuelans, it costs more bolivars every week to buy from stores that must pay the foreign producers of goods they order in hard currency like U.S. dollars. But Maduro blames it on greedy business and his opponents here and abroad.

Hebert García Plaza, head of the High Commission for the People's Defense of the Economy, said a new washer/dryer cost 39,000 bolivars on Nov. 1, and went up to 59,000 bolivars a week later. According to the exchange rate set by the government, that is the equivalent of a washer-dryer going from $6,190 to $9,365.

But that math is distorted because the state's official exchange rate is set artificially far lower than what people get for their bolivars on the black market. In that case the washer/dryer cost $650 on Nov. 1.

Also, Venezuela's policy of restricting the reasons for which people can exchange bolivars legally has raised the exchange rate on the black market, making dollars more expensive for retailers and thus raising the cost of the goods they import.

Importers complain that there is such a shortage of dollars they are having to buy them on the black market to import inventory at a good price. If they were to charge clients based on obtaining the dollars at the official rate, they say they would make no profit.

Maduro's government has brushed aside such complaints and is trying to put an end to black market currency exchanges. The government banned websites that publish the black market dollar rate, a strategy that one prominent Venezuela blogger likened to banning the sale of thermometers to crack down on cold weather.

Nonetheless, many Venezuelans lined up for the reduced-price goods. Televisions were the most in-demand item in the line outside Daka. Also sought were refrigerators, washing machines, sewing machines and other imported appliances.

Water and snacks were being sold outside the stores by Venezuelans keen to profit from the commotion. Happy customers emerged carrying large-screen televisions and other items back to their cars.

"I would bet that the next thing to disappear from shelves are televisions," said Alberto Ramos, an analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York. "What the government is doing is aggravating the picture. There is no economic justification for this."

The government said that five people had been arrested in the country's central city of Valencia for looting. Even Venezuelans who knew the policy was unsustainable were in line for a good deal.

"I have no love for this government," said Gabriela Campo, 33, a businesswoman hoping to take home a cut-price television and fridge. "They're doing this for nothing but political reasons, in time for December's elections."

Maduro has been taking dramatic measures up to the approach of municipal elections on Dec. 8. His popularity has dropped significantly in recent months, according to some independent media polls.

Ramos and most analysts are expecting a devaluation soon after the election, likely leading to even higher inflation. This is not the first time Venezuelans have seen their government steal company assets in times of trouble.

Former president Hugo Chávez often theatrically expropriated or seized assets from more than 1,000 companies during his 14-year tenure. This, among other difficulties for foreign firms, led to a severe drop in foreign investment in the country that has hobbled its ability to produce oil despite having the world's largest estimated oil reserves.

"This is more like government-sanctioned looting," said Caracas-based engineer Carlos Rivero, 42. "What stops them going into pharmacies, supermarkets and shopping malls?"

Bill's comment: History repeats. This approach to economics and governance has failed repeatedly in third world countries. 

Update: NY Post 27Nov13

Venezuela is in a death spiral that could produce a crisis for the United States. Economic collapse, incompetent leadership and Cuban meddling may provoke a showdown among well-armed chavista rivals, with civilians caught in the crossfire. US diplomats, who’ve spent years ignoring or minimizing threats emanating from Venezuela, must act urgently to prevent a Syria scenario on our doorstep.

The late dictator Hugo Chávez left behind a mess: His divisive, illegitimate regime polarized society and devastated the economy. Inflation is running at 50 percent, while the vital oil sector is faltering. The bloated, bankrupt state can’t sustain the social spending that kept the peace; the nation already faces food shortages, power outages and rampant crime.

Chávez’s hapless successor, Nicolás Maduro, won disputed elections in April in what even he called a “Pyrrhic victory.” His mismanagement since has only hastened the country’s decline — for example, dealing with toilet-paper shortages by confiscating paper companies.

Maduro has resorted to accusing the Obama White House of plotting the collapse of the Venezuelan economy. He’s also created a “vice ministry of supreme social happiness” in an Orwellian gesture to tamp down widespread social anxiety. He even moved up Christmas celebrations up in advance of the Dec. 8 local elections.

Last week, Maduro publicly ordered retailers to lower prices on consumer goods. Security forces arrested dozens of shopkeepers and stood by as mobs emptied store shelves. Good luck seeing those shelves restocked. As he further tightens economic controls, Venezuelans will have to settle for what the government provides. Their only other choices: Flee the country, turn to crime — or oppose the regime.

Maduro is most worried about the last. He recently ordered the detention of several civic leaders who’d been mobilizing protest rallies. Regime sources say that he may even nix the upcoming elections and jail well-known opposition politicians.

Most blame these draconian measures on Maduro’s Cuban handlers, the puppeteers behind his rise to power. The destitute Castro regime’s survival depends on Venezuelan oil, so it means to keep Maduro in power by repressing popular unrest and ferreting out dissent — including within the regime.

By pushing Maduro to purge powerful chavistas — many with ties to the military — who disapprove of Havana’s heavy hand, the Cubans have likely overreached. This crackdown has stoked tension within the military between those aligned with Maduro and nationalists who’ve never been comfortable in a Cuban harness.

The regime has very little room to maneuver. Virtually every Venezuelan is infuriated by the daily fight for survival. The anti-chavistas are fed up with the harassment by an illegitimate and incompetent one-party state. All sides in the military are busy weighing their options.

Any act of repression, street brawl, electoral fraud or corruption scandal could unleash all the fury built up over the regime’s 15 years. Tragically, the sight of military units squaring off in the streets of Caracas is not a distant memory.

The United States imports about half the Venezuelan petroleum that it did when Chávez was elected in 1998, but that’s still 9 percent of our foreign oil purchases. Plus, an implosion of Venezuela’s economy — or, God forbid, prolonged civil warfare — will roil the international oil markets and destabilize the region when the US economy is sputtering.

What’s worse, in the last decade, Venezuela has become a narco-state, with dozens of senior officials and state-run enterprises complicit in the lucrative cocaine trade. The regime also is an ally of Iran and Hezbollah, which may find their own ways to exploit chaos in Venezuela.

Geography makes the bloodbath in Syria all but invisible to Americans, but Venezuela is a three-hour flight from Miami and No. 3 in the world in social networking. The US public will see photos and videos of innocent demonstrators mowed down in the street. Moreover, in the Americas, the United States will be expected to lead.

The Obama administration must work with regional partners to respond to the brewing crisis. It should invoke the Inter-American Democratic Charter as a step toward restoring democratic governance, and to warn Maduro and military leaders that they’ll be held responsible for violence against citizens.

If the administration fails to confront these events decisively, Congress should demand action and make clear to the president that leading from behind is not an option.

Roger F. Noriega was US ambassador to the OAS and assistant secretary of state under President George W. Bush. He is an American Enterprise Institute visiting fellow and managing director of Vision Americas LLC, which represents US and foreign clients.

Corruption in China...charges and counter-charges, who do you believe?

US-based Chinese businessman Vincent Wu faces charges for role as ruthless crime boss
(10-18 16:22)
When more than 500 policemen swooped in to arrest 40 suspected gangsters in southern China last year, the alleged kingpin was a Los Angeles businessman who had hoisted an American flag amid a crowd to welcome Xi Jinping, now China's president, to California.
Vincent Wu's (pictured with wife and daughter, waiting to greet President Xi Jinping in Los Angeles) children and lawyers say he is an upstanding, philanthropic Chinese-American entrepreneur who has been framed by business foes who want to seize his assets, including a nine-story shopping mall. But police in the southern city of Guangzhou say he was a ruthless mob boss who led gangsters with nicknames such as “Old Crab'' and “Ferocious Mouth.''
Wu is expected to stand trial within weeks in Guangzhou on charges of heading a crime gang that kidnapped rivals, threw acid at a judge, set fire to farmers' sheds, operated illegal gambling dens and committed other offenses. Wu has told his lawyers that police interrogators tortured him into confessing, AP’s Gillian Wong, reports.
In the absence of an independent legal system, the truth may never emerge. And although Wu is a naturalized US citizen, American diplomats have not been able to see him because China recognizes only his residency in Hong Kong.
The case provides a glimpse into the often murky world of business in China. Widespread corruption means entrepreneurs can cozy up with police and run roughshod over the law, but they are also vulnerable if their rivals gang up with local authorities.
When disgraced politician Bo Xilai led the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, hundreds of businesspeople were accused of involvement in organized crime; many were believed to have been tortured into confessing while authorities seized their assets. Bo was sentenced to life imprisonment last month for embezzlement, bribery and abuse of power, but allegations that the businessmen were wrongfully convicted were not aired at his trial.
Wu was detained in June last year in a pre-dawn operation involving hundreds of police across Guangdong province, which includes Guangzhou and Wu's hometown of Huizhou.
He is charged with getting an associate to throw acid at a judge who ruled against him in a lawsuit, and with ordering thugs to set fire to sheds owned by farmers who refused his offer of compensation to clear off land he wanted to develop. He's also accused of operating illegal casinos that raked in 48 million yuan (US$7.8 million), and of attacking or kidnapping people who crossed him in various disputes. About 30 other people face related charges of gang crimes.
Wu maintains his innocence, his attorney Wang Shihua said. Before his detention, Wu had been praised by local Chinese newspapers for giving more than 20 million yuan to his hometown.
“My dad is a really good person at heart, especially to the people who are farmers and have not enough money to go to school. He's donated money to the elderly and to help build a road,'' said Wu's daughter, Anna Wu, in an interview from Hong Kong, where she has based herself to try to draw attention to her father's case. “But in China, money speaks louder than law... if you want to bring someone down, you can bribe the police and certain people to make it happen.''
Huang Xiaojun, a former business partner of Wu's and one of his accusers, said it is Wu who exploited government corruption. Huang said Wu tried to kidnap him four times and sought to seize his share of their business by bribing court officials.
“He is a man with no morals and integrity,'' Huang said in a phone interview. “He's extremely good at playing or acting and confusing right and wrong.''
Wu's lawyers want to use his case to test the Chinese government's resolve to stick by its stated opposition to convictions based on evidence extracted through torture. In a written record of a December 2012 meeting with his lawyers, Wu described being beaten, kicked and deprived of food and sleep as police tried to coerce him to sign a confession.
On occasion, Wu's arms were tied behind his back with a rope that was then strung from a ceiling beam _ a torture method dubbed the “suspended airplane,'' he told his lawyers. If he fainted, he was woken with water or chemical stimulants.
“As soon as I did not cooperate, they hit me, hanged me,'' Wu told his lawyers, according to a copy of the deposition provided to The Associated Press by Wu's family.
Wu's legal adviser, Li Zhuang, said more than 20 witnesses also were tortured. During a pretrial meeting at the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court on Monday, Wu's lawyers demanded that the court keep their testimony out of Wu's trial, which they expect to begin within a month.
An official at the Huizhou police bureau's propaganda department said he “had not heard'' that interrogators might have tortured Wu.
Wu left China in the late 1970s as a stowaway to neighboring Hong Kong, where he obtained residency. He moved with his family to the U.S. in 1994, settled in Los Angeles and eventually became a US citizen.
Even as an American, Wu spent most of his time in China, tending to his businesses and visiting Los Angeles twice a year, his daughter said. But she said he was also active in Los Angeles' Chinese-American business community; photos provided by her show him hoisting an American flag as he welcomed then-Vice President Xi Jinping _ now the president _ to the city early last year.
Chinese authorities have denied Wu access to U.S. officials, saying they regard him as a Hong Kong resident because he last entered China on a Hong Kong identity card.
US officials have sent several notes to Chinese authorities about Wu's case, Wu's daughter said. U.S. Embassy spokesman Nolan Barkhouse said American officials were monitoring the case but could not comment out of privacy concerns.
Associated Press researcher Yu Bing contributed to this report. 

Bill's note: In the USA we rely on the FBI to investigate corrupt government. We trust the FBI and the courts. I hope this is the case anyway.