War, Politics, and Life by Bruce Maulden
Stars and a mist-shrouded moon, looking like a nicely-trimmed toenail, hanging above a little section of California’s north coast, and here early Tuesday, another day in the life. In-and-out of the crazy-weird world of journalism nearly 40 years, plus as a writer, I’ve easily become a way-more-than-an-enthusiast for current events, especially in this techno-peculiar age…
Last week’s release of the mouth-full, “The Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program,” has exploded so impactful, now it’s recognizable/understood by just three words, ‘CIA Torture Report,’ or ‘Torture Report‘ for short — and all kinds of blowback side-issue shit has been regurgitated. Use of torture to create a way-false…
Bright, sunny again this Sunday morning — two days in a row with full-tilt shine, but much-colder, though. Chilling in the sun. Today also, second anniversary of the ‘shooting‘ at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. — chilling there tragically eternal Yet, since then ‘school shootings remain common across the United States‘ — 95…
Rain continues, but on this early Friday California’s north coast keeps on floating. Does anyone anywhere seem concerned about this? Between April and June 2014: ‘There were 70 suicides among service members in the active component, 14 suicides among service members in the reserves, and 20 suicides among service members in the National Guard.’ Although…
Rain still a-coming here this late afternoon on California’s drenched northern coast — seems not as windy, though. Straight-up comment off the ‘CIA Torture Report,’ this from David Simon, creator of “The Wire,” on his blog yesterday: Fuck writing reports. Fuck arguing about reports. For the very soul of the country, some people must go…
The word “blowback” was invented by the CIA to put a name on their ‘unintended’ fuck-ups — one sliver of ‘blowback’ already off the ‘CIA Torture Report’ concerns the real-big lie. From McClatchy: ‘CIA Director John Brennan, under fire over the Senate report on the CIA’s use of torture, is facing new heat over his…
A swelling interest in George Orwell, in a swelling Orwellian age of WikiLeaks and worldwide mega- surveillance — art imitating life, and life becoming a movie. Robert Butler at Intelligent Life magazine reviews the literature of a cultural, social motif for an age, “1984,” a tale of the times, from Orwell’s literary executor Bill Hamilton: ‘“We’re…
As the now-infamous ‘CIA Torture Report’ continues to wedge down the digestive tract, some upshots — one, how effective Sen. Mark Udall’s outrage speech this morning on the floor of the Senate:’““One disturbing finding: [CIA] Director Brennan and the CIA are continuing to willfully provide inaccurate information and misrepresent the efficacy of torture. In other…
Thickly-overcast and gloomy this Tuesday evening here on this little stretch of California’s north coast — rain a-coming big-time. Today is also torture-awareness day (via The Daily Beast): ‘Interrogations that lasted for days on end. Detainees forced to stand on broken legs, or go 180 hours in a row without sleep. A prison so cold,…
Rain showers this early Monday on California’s north coast — forecast for maybe some sun tomorrow, but reportedly a big-bang storm due in about mid-week — we’re scheduled perhaps for nearly 2.5 inches of rain on Wednesday, and by Friday morning, four to six inches, heavier amounts southward/landward. So, boys and girls, gird thy loins,…
