Category Archives: Tyranny

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A Mourning Meditation On Miserable Melancholic Multi-Millionaire Mitt

September 17, 2023 Chuck Fager Leave a comment

This map tracks the rise and fall of empires and once-great nations; it hangs on Mitt Romney’s Senate office wall.

As a Mormon, Mitt Romney presumably does not believe in Karma. But maybe, more informally, he could nod glumly at the non-theological adage that what goes around comes around.

Or, more biblically, does he acknowledge that the scripture says we reap what we sow?

I have a feeling he does, now.

Or he should, at least when his money manager passes on the invoices for the $150K+ monthly he’s paying for 24/7 security for his four houses and his family.

And what about when he ponders the fact that all his five sons have already quit the GOP.

(The figures come from published excerpts from the forthcoming book, Romney: A Reckoning,, by reporter McKay Coppins.)

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Annals of Inequality, Current Affairs, Iran, Islam & Muslims, Minority Rule, Religious Issues & Conflicts, Signs of the Times, Tyranny, Women & Girls

Iran Marks Anniversary of 1953 CIA-Backed Coup

August 27, 2023 Chuck Fager Leave a comment

AP News: A CIA-backed 1953 coup in Iran haunts the country with people still trying to make sense of it

BY NASSER KARIMI AND JON GAMBRELL

August 25, 2023

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Seventy years after a CIA–orchestrated coup toppled Iran’s prime minister, its legacy remains both contentious and complicated for the Islamic Republic as tensions stay high with the United States.

While highlighted as a symbol of Western imperialism by Iran’s theocracy, the coup unseating Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh — over America’s fears about a possible tilt toward the Soviet Union and the loss of Iranian crude oil — appeared backed at the time by the country’s leading Shiite clergy.

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Africa, Current Affairs, Minority Rule, Passing the Torch(es), Resistance, Tyranny

Dyer: Zimbabwe Election (With Updates)

August 26, 2023 Chuck Fager Leave a comment

Late Update, August 26, 2023:

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa was re–elected for a second and final five–year term late Saturday in results announced much earlier than expected following another troubled vote in the southern African country with a history of violent and disputed elections.

An opposition party spokesperson said within minutes of Mnangagwa being declared the winner that they would reject the results as “hastily assembled without proper verification.”

Mnangagwa’s victory meant the ZANU–PF party retained the governmental leadership it has held for all 43 years of Zimbabwe’s history since the nation was re–named following independence from white minority rule in 1980.

Zimbabwe has had just two leaders in that time, long–ruling autocrat Robert Mugabe and Mnangagwa.

Background: Zimbabwe and the ‘Ruling Party Syndrome’

Gwynne Dyer — August 21 2023

“No-one will stop us from ruling this country. You will be lost if you don’t vote for ZANU-PF,” said President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe. A bit more arrogant than the usual election pitch in most parts of the world, perhaps, but not unusual in Zimbabwe, one of the southern African countries suffering from ‘ruling party syndrome’. Continue reading Dyer: Zimbabwe Election (With Updates) →