Film review: The Young Karl Marx (2017)

Today marks the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth (1818-1883). I recently watched this film that covers the period when the young Marx became friends with Friedrich Engels, a relationship that lasted a lifetime. It deals with the period from 1843-1849, a time as Marx, his wife Jenny, and his young daughter moved from Paris to Brussels before ending up in London. The film ends with Marx and Engels publishing the Communist Manifesto.
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Why is Giuliani still around?

Rudy Giuliani happened to be mayor of New York when the attacks of 9/11 happened and that put him at the center of events and he has since milked his fame to the last drop, speaking of that event whenever he gets the chance. I was never impressed with him, seeing him as someone who was not very smart, a loudmouth who just blusters and attacks the weaker elements of society. So it baffled me that Donald Trump would hire him as his personal lawyer at a critical time.
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The lies of the Customs and Border Protection agency

The Customs and Border Protection is an agency whose members were ardent supporters of Donald Trump in the last election. So it should be no surprise that it too plays fast and loose with the facts to advance Trump’s and their agenda by trying to portray undocumented immigrants in the worst possible light in order to deflect attention from their harsh treatment of them. Debbie Nathan exposes the latest CBP attempt to further the Trump agenda of hyping hatred against undocumented immigrants by inflating statistics about the number of border patrol agents assaulted by them.
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Hitler’s American inspiration

There have been a huge number of books devoted to Adolf Hitler and the rise of the Nazis, trying to understand what drove his thinking and how he was able to win the allegiance of the nation in his monstrous plans and almost succeed. In the April 30, 2018 issue of The New Yorker Alex Ross reviews a series of books and focuses on the American sources of inspiration that Hitler drew upon to justify his policies and to believe that the world would overlook his actions. In particular he felt that American racism, with its extermination of Native Americans, subjugation of the black population, and exclusion of non-white immigrants, was pursuing the same policies of trying to create racial purity that he sought to implement. Furthermore, he was impressed with American insouciance, the ability to practice utterly racist policies while acting like it was a deeply religious nation and a beacon of freedom and equality. He felt that he too could ride out any opprobrium by simply asserting that what he was doing was actually virtuous.
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Telling the truth about politics and the media

Michelle Wolf’s scathing attack on the entire class of people in the political and media world at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner that showcases the incestuous relationships among them continues to produce ripple effects, with some speculating as to whether her performance spells the merciful end of this event. If it does, Wolf deserves our sincere gratitude.
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The magnificent Glenda Jackson

Younger generations may not have heard of Glenda Jackson, the fine British actress of stage and film who won two Academy Awards for best actress (Women in Love (1970) and A Touch of Class (1973)). She was always a fiery socialist and her outrage at what Margaret Thatcher was doing led her to give up her acting career and enter parliament as a Labour MP, serving from 1993 to 2015. After she left, she went back to the stage and this year, at the age of 81, she has been nominated for a Tony award for her role in Edward Albee’s play Three Tall Women.
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The White House physician debacle

The debacle over Donald Trump’s nomination of White House physician Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson to become head of the Veteran’s Administration has shed some light on this obscure position. During the period after his nomination, various allegations emerged that said that Jackson was not only lax in the way he ran the office but also frequently drank on the job and created a hostile work environment. After withdrawing his name from consideration for the VA position, Jackson had said that he would revert to his former position but now it appears that he will not do that either, and another navy doctor Sean Conley has taken over.
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