REDEYE 1/13/16

U.S. Special Forces specialty: torture and murder

NYT, 12/17 — Three Navy SEALS stomped on the bound Afghan detainees and dropped heavy stones on their chests….They stood on the prisoners’ heads and poured bottles of water on…their faces in what …appeared to be an improvised form of waterboarding….

A…medic…said one of them “jump-kicked this guy kneeling on the ground.” Two others joined in….They beat the detainees so badly that by dusk, one would die….

The SEAL command…cleared the Team 2 members of wrongdoing….[They]…and their lieutenant have since been promoted….

Even before the beatings, some of the SEALS had…amused themselves by tossing grenades over the wall of their base, firing high-caliber weapons at passing vehicles and even aiming slingshots at children, striking them in the face….

Once Militant, Now Millionaire. Next Up: South Africa President?

Bloomberg Business, Dec, 8-- Cyril Ramaphosa is the only serving politician in South Africa who’s led both a labor union and a business empire. Now chances are rising that he’ll lead the country.

The country’s biggest labor group last month cautiously backed Ramaphosa to head the ruling African National Congress in two years...(he) still has to persuade the ruling party, some of whose leaders are suspicious of his wealth and pro-business leanings, that he’s the right man…

In 2012, he made a failed 19.5 million-rand (15 rand = $1) bid for a prize buffalo cow and calf at a game auction, a move opposition parties said was scandalous given that 22 percent of the population goes hungry....

What’s clear is that Ramaphosa doesn’t need the president’s 2.75 million rand annual salary...He keeps a cattle ranch in the eastern Mpumalanga province and is building a hillside mansion overlooking the sea in Cape Town’s exclusive Fresnaye suburb…his family trust sold its 29.6 percent stake in Shanduka Group, the investment company he founded in 2001...worth 2.6 billion rand... (he) also disclosed to Parliament that he also owns 30 townhouses, two apartments and stakes in seven other companies with a nominal value of 76.6 million rand.

Capitalist China: strikes, protests hit bosses’ layoffs, wage fraud

NYT, 12/17 — …The biggest coal company in northeastern China announced it planned to lay off 100,000 workers….40 percent of the work force at 42 mines in four cities….

In April, even before the layoffs were announced, thousands marched on the streets of Hegang…to protest delayed salaries. The organizers were arrested and jailed.

In October, company management stifled a protest by locking workers in the mines….

…The number of strikes and labor protests nationwide nearly doubled in the first 11 months of this year, to 2,354….Strikes and workers protests hit a record high of 301 incidents last month.

The Precursors to Trump’s Proposal Against Muslims

El Pais (Spain) 12/9/15—US history cannot be understood without understanding the legacy of immigration…Despite this, Donald Trump’s proposal is not unusual…in barring the entrance of Muslims to the US...laws have existed in the past that restrict the arrival of immigrants.

…in 1882…(the) Chinese Exclusion Act…prohibited Chinese citizens from entering the US…(and those) already in the US could not become citizens…

…the 1917 Immigration Act…required all immigrants to pass literacy tests—which mainly effected poor Catholics, Jews, and Asians—and excluded anyone born in the so called “Asian Exclusion Zone” from entering the US…

…(in order to) slow down the arrival of Eastern Europeans, congress approved a quota system in 1921, limiting immigrants from entering the US…In 1924…The system was further toughened…(until)…the law was revised in 1952.

Imperialist wars imperil millions of babies at birth

NYT, 12/17 — Nearly 16.6 million babies were born in conflict zones this year, Unicef said….Newborns and mothers faced particularly acute risks in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan and Syria. “Every two seconds a newborn takes its first breath in the midst of conflict, often in terrifying circumstances and without access to medical care,” said…Unicef’s executive director.

Student tuition hikes making college presidents millionaires

NYT, 12/7 — …The compensation of private college presidents continues to climb….

…Among the top 10 earners in 2013, included Columbia University’s Lee Bollinger… [whose] compensation totaled $4.6 million….

Ranking second is the University of Pennsylvania’s Amy Gutmann, who received just over $3 million….

Richard Joel, president of Yeshiva University in New York, regarded as the flagship college of Modern Orthodox Judaism… [received] $2.5 million,…notable in light of Yeshiva’s ongoing financial difficulties since 2008….

In 2009, Mr. Joel announced layoffs and a hiring and pay freeze….

In all, 32 university presidents received $1 million or more in compensation during the year….

CIA ‘advisors’ training killers in Afghanistan

NYT, 12/4 — A series of home raids by CIA-trained Afghan counterterrorism forces in the last month resulted in the deaths of at least six innocent civilians….

The deaths… [in] a Nov. 20 episode [included]…a husband and wife…killed with two American advisors present. The raids were conducted by…counterterrorism pursuit teams set up by the CIA….

…On Nov. 2…operatives…raided a home…killing a 45-year-old man and his 17-year-old nephew — both described as innocent civilians by… [the] deputy to the Khost governor.

About 1,000 people protested those killings, trying to carry the bodies of the two victims to the regional capital….They were stopped en route…and told to go back or face a possible assault by American troops….The protestors went home.