Category Archives: History

Catalonian Referendum

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Good Morning All! Quick update on today’s referendum, well perhaps I should say the attempt to hold a referendum, in Catalonia. The people seemed determined to vote. And the Spanish authorities are definitely not happy about it. Catalan referendum: Clashes as voters defy Madrid Catalonia’s independence referendum has descended into chaos, with clashes occurring as police attempt to prevent the vote from taking place. The Spanish government has pledged to stop a poll that was declared illegal by the country’s constitutional court. Police officers are preventing people from voting, and seizing ballot papers and boxes at polling stations. In the … Continue reading →

9/21 Bernie Sanders Speaks at Westminster College (Live Stream & blog thread)

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Bernie Sanders just delivered a major speech on progressive foreign policy at Westminster College in Fulton, MO. The event took place at 11AM CT/Noon ET.


(Westminster College Chapel, photo taken by Benny, October 2015)

Westminster College is significant as Winston Churchill gave his “Iron Curtain” speech here in the 1946. Presidents Reagan and Trump spoke here, as did the late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

The auditorium was full, about 1300 people, not counting the faculty, students, and Bernie on the platform.

Today is also International Peace Day, so another reason this speech will be significant. #PeaceDay2017 is already trending on Twitter.

Update: here’s a recording, courtesy of Dose of Dissonance.

Common Dreams has the prepared speech in its entirety, “The World’s Common Humanity & US Foreign Policy“. as does Vox.

Keep discussing though! Speech may be over, but lots of food for thought in this speech!

Why are there so few brown and black faces in ‘Dunkirk’?

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

135,000 Senegalese troops fought in Europe during World War I and over 30,000 died. De Gaulle’s Free French Army in World War II was largely composed of troops from the French colonial empire, including conscripts and volunteersfrom among the colonized populations. The Nazis executed several thousand French colonial POWs from Africa, based on their racial animus towards black peoples. Over a million Indian troops served overseas during World War I. Undivided India (most of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal) was part of the British Empire at the time. During World War II, the Indian Army expanded to include 2.5 million troops in uniform. … Continue reading →

Meet Harry Leslie Smith, 94 yr-old podcaster & Sunday Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

This guy is great. Why a 94-year-old war veteran started a podcast to save democracy Harry Leslie Smith is deeply disturbed at how democracy has become endangered. He’s convinced young people can be the planet’s salvation – and he’s reaching out to them one podcast at a time “We are at a dangerous crossroads for society and democracy,” Mr. Smith said…“I believe the world is in just as dangerous a state as it was when I was a teen, watching democracy dissolve all across Europe.” He was having a bit of trouble catching his breath, and paused before his next sentence: … Continue reading →

ISIS has captured Tora-Bora as Trump ignores US commanders in Iraq/Afghanistan.

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

  We have been at war in Afghanistan for almost 16 years now, and for much of that time, it’s been two steps forward and three steps back. This week, we went three steps back as ISIS captured the mountain fortress of Tora Bora. The ISIS forces in Afghanistan include the remnants of Al-Qaeda. Tora Bora is where Bin-Laden went immediately after 9/11. It’s a large complex with miles of tunnels, roads and caves dug into granite mountains. If you think this is only two steps back, recall that Tora Bora was originally built with funding from the CIA. The CIA helped build this … Continue reading →

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s speech on removing confederate monuments is righteous.

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Mayor Landrieu’s speech concerning the removal of Confederate monuments deserves a lot more attention because it really is quite an excellent speech. It is being compared to LBJ’s commencement address at Howard as a clear-eyed exposition on racism and white supremacy by a white politician. The soul of our beloved City is deeply rooted in a history that has evolved over thousands of years; rooted in a diverse people who have been here together every step of the way—for both good and for ill. It is a history that holds in its heart the stories of Native Americans—the Choctaw, Houma Nation, the Chitimacha. Of Hernando de … Continue reading →

9/24 Open Discussion

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Happy Weekend Everyone! How are my friends here doing on this lovely (but cool) Saturday? I have two things to contribute before getting back at chores, baking, and all that weekend stuff. I’m sure you heard that Chelsea Manning was sentenced to some solitary confinement time for attempting suicide (like that’ll be helpful to a suicidal person), but I only learned today that the other punishable offense Chelsea was dinged for was……being found in possession of an objectionable book! I read that hours ago and am still somewhat amazed. Manning also faced a Prohibited Property charge as a result of an improperly … Continue reading →

9/10 Open Discussion

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Happy Saturday Peeps! So let’s first address the elephant…I mean donkey, in the room – “basket of deplorables”?? I think it was a stupid thing to say if you’re trying to win an election. Last night, when I heard that at her fundraiser with Barbra Streisand, Clinton said to laughter: “To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,” Clinton said. “Right? Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it.” Nice. Insult a big chunk of voters. I thought liberals were supposed to be caring people, people who often went the … Continue reading →

US Peace Council Representatives on Syria – UN Press Conference..what you won’t hear in the US Press

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

This is long but very information and gives me hope that there are still reasonable people in this world. Published on Aug 22, 2016 Speakers: H.E. Bashar Ja’afari, Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic Alfred Marder, President of the US Peace Council Mary Compton, Member of the Executive Board of the US Peace Council Henry Lowendorf, Member of the Executive Board of the US Peace Council, Head of the Syria Delegation Joe Jamison, Member of the Executive Board of the US Peace Council, Member of the Syria Delegation Madelyn Hoffman, Executive Director of New Jersey Peace Action, Member of … Continue reading →

Remembering the Battle of Blair Mountain on Labor Day

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

From Alan Grayson today comes a reminder of the hard times and life-and-death struggles suffered by citizens in the labor movement… a recounting of the Battle of Blair Mountain. As difficult and discouraging as things can seem today, this reminds me of how far we have come, and how important it is to preserve and expand what was won with so much effort over so long. Today is Labor Day, and last week marked the 95th anniversary of the most brutal confrontation in the history of the American labor movement, the Battle of Blair Mountain. For one week during 1921, … Continue reading →

8/31 Open Discussion

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Happy last day of August my friends! I gather things didn’t go too well in Florida yesterday. 🙁 Good luck people of Florida! What’s really got my attention this morning, though, is the letter that Reps. Elijah Cummings, John Conyers, Eliot Engel, and Bennie Thompson sent to the FBI yesterday. The letter, which presents no actual evidence of wrongdoing, and which follows up the one Harry Reid sent the FBI the other day, smacks of both a desperate attempt to deflect attention away from the revealing Clinton emails and as a bald election season ploy to cast aspersions on a … Continue reading →

Drip drip drip. Clinton access for sale!

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money – either personally or through companies or groups – to the Clinton Foundation. It’s an extraordinary proportion indicating her possible ethics challenges if elected president. Link: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CAMPAIGN_2016_CLINTON_FOUNDATION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-08-23-14-35-04 Nothing to see here, move on. [The following postscript was added after 7 recommends:] P.S. To whom it may concern: I believe in being forthright and speaking up about the BS that the Clintons have engaged in and are. They are the walking definitions of dishonesty and neoliberals who … Continue reading →

Yes, in mundane but still dirty ways, the nomination WAS stolen from Bernie

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

I’m sure he regrets now taking the emails off the table in the first debate. And never touching the Foundation, which obviously was always an egregious conflict of interest for a Secretary of State, dovetailing completely with his dominant campaign theme about the role of money in politics. So, as much as I love Bernie, and will be part of Our Revolution, he blew it on one level–although for the ironic but still laudable reason of wanting to have the battle for the nomination and the general election be on the issues that directly affect the lives of Americans and … Continue reading →

The white nationalist intellectual foundation to Trumpism

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

There is an excellent article at the Guardian deconstructing Trump’s movement intellectually. I highly recommend reading it. Here’s the link: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/aug/16/secret-history-trumpism-donald-trump I saw it referenced at Daily Kos this morning, where it seems lost: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/08/16/1560623/-The-Guardian:The-Secret-History-of-Trumpism. As I wrote in a comment, I feel like I’m back in mid-60s central Mississippi these days. It is accurate and should be the basis for critique on the left rather than just occasion for idle curiosity looking at the disintegrating right (or boosterism for Hillary Clinton). Rush Limbaugh types built on Nixon to unite the forces, but the racist element that was always there … Continue reading →

The Second Amendment itself is racist – the dark, dirty secret of American history

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

So why the big silence from the NRA when two men who were legal gun owners with conceal carry permits are shot? Could it be because they are black? Thom Hartmann explains that “the dark, dirty secret of American history is that the Second Amendment itself is racist.” Thom Hartmann explains that the Second Amendment was written both to ensure no standing national army, in order to prevent the possibility of a military coup overturning democracy, AND to preserve slavery in the South — in particular, by continuing the Virginia state slave patrols, which were, in essence, a state militia. … Continue reading →