Bringing Light Into Darkness - News & Analysis

A Systemic Racism Primer Pt II on or about the 157th Anniversary of Lincoln’s Assassination; Plus an Important 4/23/22 Ukraine-NATO-Russia War Update

In part II of this Systemic Racism Primer presentation we document how racial differences in income and education are important disparities but institutional racism adds much more damage to the psychological and physical health of African Americans. In addition to the quality of life deficits that arguably constitute a second class standard of living for most African Americans even those with similar education and financial standings live shorter lives.

The science based concept of ‘weathering’ is documented to help explain some of the hidden features of the oppression of systemic racism that African American population endure in a cumulative manner throughout their lifetime that results in increased susceptibility to a large number of diseases and in considerably less life expectancy here in the 21st century.

We replay a fascinating speech by Dr David R Williams in which he describes how through science ‘racism’ can be measured and quantified just as self esteem can. He shares three scales he developed including the Everyday Discrimination Scale, that captures nine items that captures experiences of discrimination in which the dignity and the respect of second class citizens is chipped away on a daily basis. He goes on to highlight how through language implicit bias is sown resulting in unconscious bias which foments unfair treatment of African Americans even by well-intentioned persons, and how medical care iniquities and other forms of iniquities are generated by institutional biases such as residential segregation.

We conclude the show with an important update on the unfolding events in the Ukraine and the pending Russian offensive in southeastern Ukraine with geopolitical expert and investigative journalist Mike Whitney.

Don’t Be Late! and siempre fieles, Pgatos 4/25/2022 [email protected]

A Systemic Racism Primer on or about the 157th Anniversary of Lincoln’s Assassination; Plus an Important 4/16/22 Ukraine-NATO-Russia War Update

On the 157th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination we review how the nature of systemic racism has reared its head though our history right up until today. We detail how slavery was followed by Reconstruction which was subverted by Jim Crow period that extended through 1964 and the passage of the Civil Rights Act. We describe how only the means and methods of racism and the subjugation of equal access to financial stability for blacks has been subjugated right up until today with Jim Crow laws transforming into Modern day Forms of Discrimination, which we detail and document empirically.

First it was slavery, then post 13th Amendment it became criminalizing black behavior though vagrancy and other subjective ill defined ‘black codes’ that promoted convict leasing into the 1930s. Slavery by another name?

We document how the 1935 Social Security Act and the 1944 GI Bill maintained and expanded the great racial wealth divide rather than closing it. We document modern day forms of discrimination including unequal incarceration rates for blacks, environmental racism, redlining, housing discrimination and subprime mortgage rates. The shocking results of which, well into the 21st find African Americans with 1/10th the median wealth of an average white household and live longer life spans if they are incarcerated than if they are free.

Listen in to learn all you need to know about the nature of racial injustice and systemic racism right up through 21st century US of A.

We conclude the show with an important update on the unfolding events in the Ukraine and the pending Russian offensive in southeastern Ukraine with geopolitical expert and investigative journalist Mike Whitney.

A Systemic Racism Primer on or about the 157th Anniversary of Lincoln’s Assassination; Plus an Important 4/16/22 Ukraine-NATO-Russia War Update

On the 157th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination we review how the nature of systemic racism has reared its head though our history right up until today. We detail how slavery was followed by Reconstruction which was subverted by Jim Crow period that extended through 1964 and the passage of the Civil Rights Act. We describe how only the means and methods of racism and the subjugation of equal access to financial stability for blacks has been subjugated right up until today with Jim Crow laws transforming into Modern day Forms of Discrimination, which we detail and document empirically.

First it was slavery, then post 13th Amendment it became criminalizing black behavior though vagrancy and other subjective ill defined ‘black codes’ that promoted convict leasing into the 1930s. Slavery by another name?

We document how the 1935 Social Security Act and the 1944 GI Bill maintained and expanded the great racial wealth divide rather than closing it. We document modern day forms of discrimination including unequal incarceration rates for blacks, environmental racism, redlining, housing discrimination and subprime mortgage rates. The shocking results of which, well into the 21st find African Americans with 1/10th the median wealth of an average white household and live longer life spans if they are incarcerated than if they are free.

Listen in to learn all you need to know about the nature of racial injustice and systemic racism right up through 21st century US of A.

We conclude the show with an important update on the unfolding events in the Ukraine and the pending Russian offensive in southeastern Ukraine with geopolitical expert and investigative journalist Mike Whitney.

Who is the Most Lawless? International Law Expert Critiques all Countries Involved in the Ukraine Crisis & Suggests it did not Start with the Russian Invasion but with the 2014 Coup

International law expert Alfredo de Zayas joins Bringing Light Into Darkness to discuss International Law and ongoing events and the context of those events connected to the Ukraine, NATO, US Russian invasion crisis. De Zayas is a law professor at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and served as a United Nations Independent Expert on International Order 2012-18.

The United Nations Charter is described as the ‘world constitution’ if you will and the violations thereof by world powers is discussed as well as the concepts of ‘preemptive self-defense’ and ‘responsibility to protect’ (R2P). Does a country have the right to attack another country and if so when does a country have that right under international law? An inalterable principle of the UN Charter is the prohibition, not only of the use of force but of the threat of the use of force. Our guest discusses its relevance in the context of the current Ukraine war crisis.

Another international law issue connected to the fact that sanctions kill and the present world context in which unilateral coercive measures in the form of sanctions in which finds today we find some one third of the world’s people under sanctions, yet he only legal sanctions are sanctions imposed by the UN under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. The UN General Assembly has condemned the unilateral sanctions repeatedly.

Our guest describes the complicity of the MSM in misleading the US public and the geopolitical forces in the world today and while condemning Russia for its ‘illegal invasion’ of Ukraine he also provides evidence to support his claim and belief that in the context of recent history, it is the US not Russia which is guilty of violating more international law than any other country.

Don’t Be Late! and siempre fieles, Pgatos 4/11/2022 [email protected]

Who is the Most Lawless? International Law Expert Critiques all Countries Involved in the Ukraine Crisis & Suggests it did not Start with the Russian Invasion but with the 2014 Coup

International law expert Alfredo de Zayas joins Bringing Light Into Darkness to discuss International Law and ongoing events and the context of those events connected to the Ukraine, NATO, US Russian invasion crisis. De Zayas is a law professor at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and served as a United Nations Independent Expert on International Order 2012-18.

The United Nations Charter is described as the ‘world constitution’ if you will and the violations thereof by world powers is discussed as well as the concepts of ‘preemptive self-defense’ and ‘responsibility to protect’ (R2P). Does a country have the right to attack another country and if so when does a country have that right under international law? An inalterable principle of the UN Charter is the prohibition, not only of the use of force but of the threat of the use of force. Our guest discusses its relevance in the context of the current Ukraine war crisis.

Another international law issue connected to the fact that sanctions kill and the present world context in which unilateral coercive measures in the form of sanctions in which finds today we find some one third of the world’s people under sanctions, yet he only legal sanctions are sanctions imposed by the UN under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. The UN General Assembly has condemned the unilateral sanctions repeatedly.

Our guest describes the complicity of the MSM in misleading the US public and the geopolitical forces in the world today and while condemning Russia for its ‘illegal invasion’ of Ukraine he also provides evidence to support his claim and belief that in the context of recent history, it is the US not Russia which is guilty of violating more international law than any other country.

Don’t Be Late! and siempre fieles, Pgatos 4/11/2022 [email protected]

Dr Charlie Clements - A Journey of Conscience: The Anniversary of Archbishop Romero Assassination, US enabled Death Squads and War Crimes Remembered

Dr Charlie Clements was radicalized into a peace justice activist through the lies he saw and was a part of in Viet Nam. On 3/7/1982 he entered FMLN controlled area on Guazapa Volcano El Salvador to provide medicine to peasant campesinos

For Charlie best example of war crimes was symbolized by Archbishop and our US nuns being raped and murdered. They like so many others were accused of being communist because they were working with the poor. US allied slogans included ‘Be Patriotic, kill a Priest!” Meanwhile fraudulent elections were put forth as proof of democracy to the US public by Dick Cheney and others.

To support unfairness most often requires repression. A thousand Salvadorans not military operatives but mainly civil society noncombatants per month were being disappeared, tortured and/or killed by US enabled death squads.

FMLN broadly supported by the people. That’s how they got food, intelligence & hid. Its very hard to defeat a movement supported by the majority population. During govt sweeps whole villages had to move often through government controlled areas. If they were caught worse than death awaited them.

Stories of a mother suffocating her child to keep from giving up positions and certain slaughter of all. Therefore, often that was the function of the FMLN to stall or distract army so civilians could flee government sweeps .

Imagine: a 1980 NYT picture of a peasant holding up a bolt action rifle from WWI, & shooting at an A-37 fighter jet with a gatling gun on board that is shooting a hundred thousand rounds per minute (the equivalent of putting a bullet in every square foot of a football field every 60 seconds).

And the question posed by our government & the MSM war promoting propagandists is:

“Where did that peasant get that rifle?”

Don’t Be Late! and siempre fieles, Pgatos 4/3/2022 [email protected]

Dr Charlie Clements - A Journey of Conscience: The Anniversary of Archbishop Romero Assassination, US enabled Death Squads and War Crimes Remembered

Dr Charlie Clements was radicalized into a peace justice activist through the lies he saw and was a part of in Viet Nam. On 3/7/1982 he entered FMLN controlled area on Guazapa Volcano El Salvador to provide medicine to peasant campesinos

For Charlie best example of war crimes was symbolized by Archbishop and our US nuns being raped and murdered. They like so many others were accused of being communist because they were working with the poor. US allied slogans included ‘Be Patriotic, kill a Priest!” Meanwhile fraudulent elections were put forth as proof of democracy to the US public by Dick Cheney and others.

To support unfairness most often requires repression. A thousand Salvadorans not military operatives but mainly civil society noncombatants per month were being disappeared, tortured and/or killed by US enabled death squads.

FMLN broadly supported by the people. That’s how they got food, intelligence & hid. Its very hard to defeat a movement supported by the majority population. During govt sweeps whole villages had to move often through government controlled areas. If they were caught worse than death awaited them.

Stories of a mother suffocating her child to keep from giving up positions and certain slaughter of all. Therefore, often that was the function of the FMLN to stall or distract army so civilians could flee government sweeps .

Imagine: a 1980 NYT picture of a peasant holding up a bolt action rifle from WWI, & shooting at an A-37 fighter jet with a gatling gun on board that is shooting a hundred thousand rounds per minute (the equivalent of putting a bullet in every square foot of a football field every 60 seconds).

And the question posed by our government & the MSM war promoting propagandists is:

“Where did that peasant get that rifle?”

Don’t Be Late! and siempre fieles, Pgatos 4/3/2022 [email protected]

Sect of State John Kerry 9/3/2013 Deceitful Testimony: Are US Government Foreign Policy Misrepresentations the Rule Rather than the Exception?

When introducing his new Environmental Czar, Joe Biden described former Secretary of State John Kerry with a number of accolades including “there is no one I trust more.” On 9/3/2013 John Kerry testified in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was arguing for the authorization of US Military action against the Syrian government because he argued that with absolute certainty the Assad government had gassed his own people on 8/21/2013.

Bringing Light Into Darkness challenged the US government claims of certainty and later were vindicated, by among other things a June 2021 finding by rootclaim.org that it was our allies fighting the Assad government and not the Assad government that wit 96 % certainty were the parties responsible for the horrific war crime. This show recounts not one, not two major, but a half dozen falsehoods that John Kerry promoted during his 9/3/13 testimony under oath.

This show presents the evidence for this claim and invites you to critically evaluate its merit. Yet Kerry and mainstream media have never publicly taken accountability for these false claims to this day. Think about it the Pentagon Papers proves we were lied to about Vietnam. The Afghan Papers prove we were lied to for 20 years in Afghanistan. You know about the Iraqi lies that took us to war there and we could go on. But tonight, we take a deep dive into government lies followed by no accountability and suggest we be careful in believing everything we think about Russia regarding the Russian invasion based on a long track record of misrepresenting the truth to the good Us public citizenry.

So, this week we switch to trying to determine who and what to believe in these informational wars. And in that vein, we visit the integrity, or the lack thereof, of what we are told by our government and what history has consistently revealed. Don’t Be Late! and siempre fieles, Pgatos 3/28/2022 [email protected]

If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. Malcolm X

Sect of State John Kerry 9/3/2013 Deceitful Testimony: Are US Government Foreign Policy Misrepresentations the Rule Rather than the Exception?

When introducing his new Environmental Czar, Joe Biden described former Secretary of State John Kerry with a number of accolades including “there is no one I trust more.” On 9/3/2013 John Kerry testified in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was arguing for the authorization of US Military action against the Syrian government because he argued that with absolute certainty the Assad government had gassed his own people on 8/21/2013.

Bringing Light Into Darkness challenged the US government claims of certainty and later were vindicated, by among other things a June 2021 finding by rootclaim.org that it was our allies fighting the Assad government and not the Assad government that wit 96 % certainty were the parties responsible for the horrific war crime. This show recounts not one, not two major, but a half dozen falsehoods that John Kerry promoted during his 9/3/13 testimony under oath.

This show presents the evidence for this claim and invites you to critically evaluate its merit. Yet Kerry and mainstream media have never publicly taken accountability for these false claims to this day. Think about it the Pentagon Papers proves we were lied to about Vietnam. The Afghan Papers prove we were lied to for 20 years in Afghanistan. You know about the Iraqi lies that took us to war there and we could go on. But tonight, we take a deep dive into government lies followed by no accountability and suggest we be careful in believing everything we think about Russia regarding the Russian invasion based on a long track record of misrepresenting the truth to the good Us public citizenry.

So, this week we switch to trying to determine who and what to believe in these informational wars. And in that vein, we visit the integrity, or the lack thereof, of what we are told by our government and what history has consistently revealed. Don’t Be Late! and siempre fieles, Pgatos 3/28/2022 [email protected]

If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. Malcolm X

Ukraine, US Foreign Policy ‘Sovereignty Busting’ Methods & Iraq War Crimes

Sovereignty is the state of being free from the control or power of another. US citizens are profoundly ignorant of the extent that the sovereignty of other nations are routinely violated as a matter of policy, not aberration, by US foreign policy. We explore the methods used therein to undermine said sovereignty, in service of profiteering for big business interests at the direct and inverse impoverishing of majority populations in the countries we intervene in. As a result of this profound ignorance of the means and methods of US foreign policy we are easily manipulated into believing Ukraine sovereignty was violated by Russia rather than the United States long before the 2/24/22 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In the limited time we have available tonight BLID shares the profile in two historical examples of how we, through our toolbox of US foreign policy techniques, are masters at ‘sovereignty busting’ and how its success is intimately connected to the public relations framing of such interventions by weaponizing the news to reframe these illegal interventions as ‘democracy building’.

You will see how the Guatemala coup in 1954 revealed the complicity between how big business owns and ultimately dictates US government policy through its incestuous relationship with those that occupy and run our government. The 1973 Chilean coup lessons are unveiled and reveal how US techniques of penetrating nearly every sector of civil society by US CIA driven monies and interest subverted Chilean sovereignty.

We show how the Ukraine subversion was executed by the evolution and influences of US government agencies and agents such as USAID and the NED.

The second half of the show features guest Alan Pogue, esteemed photo documentarist and Viet Nam medic and veteran. We juxtapose his eye witnessed US targeting of Iraq water and electrical grids during his four visits to Iraq in the lead up to the US invasion, versus the accusation that Russia is targeting civilians as a matter of policy as we speak.

Don’t Be Late! Pgatos [email protected] 3/21/2022