Posted on Categories News & Comment

PBC News & Comment: Does 1st Amendment Cover Woman Who Flipped Off 45?

Juli Briskman got fired after admitting she was bicyclist who flipped the bird at Trump’s motorcade…isn’t that free speech?….–labor law expert Benjamin Sachs says the law is on her side..

–NBC leads corporate media jackals in attacks on Bill Binney for “fringe “ theory about DNC leaks, smears him for appearing on Fox and RT

–Donna Brazile is massaging her comments about DNC and “rigging” of 2016 primary, but her book is pretty clear

–Trump’s speech in Seoul was less bombastic, but includes red lines that are impossible to maintain

–Trump is hoping Xi Jinping will squeeze North Korea, but doesn’t have the leverage he imagines

–Trump is also dreaming that new restrictions on American travel to Cuba will lead to “better deal”; 60 years of failed sanctions predict that Cuba will not bend

Comparative Coverage of power struggle in Saudi Arabia:

NY Times focuses on corruption angle

Haaretz says the real reason for purge is to neutralize adversaries

–and our buddy Pepe Escobar, who predicted this turmoil in July, says the power struggle started in 2014, compounded by failures in Syria and Yemen

–in the House, Democratic leaders helped scuttle privileged resolution that would force a vote on US involvement in Yemen

–Democrats win governor races in New Jersey and Virginia, where voters rejected Trump-endorsed Gillespie and elected transgender lawmaker

–in liberal Bay Area, ICE leases prison space in county jails, where conditions are so bad that some detainees beg to be deported

–Disney reverses its self-defeating ban on LA Times movie critics after boycott

–Notre Dame reverses decision to drop birth control from health insurance