November 1986

11/1/86

US sending advanced jet fighters to Honduras, I guess to counter all those Nicaraguan helicopters

US may have quietly told Juan Ponce Enrile to tone down the rhetoric. He responded by publicly telling US to back off


11/2/86

The IRA’s pol. wing will fight elections, or rather will take up the seats it wins


11/3/86

Sup Court: states cannot cut off funds to private groups (i.e., Planned Parenthood) which fund abortions


11/5/86

Costa Rica pulled out of Contadora (under US pressure?)--accused it of not defending Costa R. & Honduras in World Court from charges that they aided Contras

Well, kids, the election yesterday didn’t turn out horribly. Cranston beat Zschau by a small margin, Gov Duke reelected (I saw Tom Bradley Monday at UCB. Not an issue in sight. Just talked about how he’s experienced every type of oppression [funny, he doesn’t look Jewish, I muttered/heckled soto voce] & how he walked 5 miles through the snow to UCLA every day on an athletic scholarship). Cal. still hasn’t met a bond measure it doesn’t like, voted overwhelmingly to make English the official language, turned down LaRouche measure to quarantine AIDS victims. Nationally, the Dems won back the Senate 55-45 & gained a few, not many, House seats, but lost 8 governorships. Was 34-16, now 26-24. Vermont turned down a state ERA. Linda Chavez lost in MD, a Joe Kennedy elected.

One said that best characteristics to win Senate election “a trace of grey to show distinction, a trace of haemorrhoids to show concern.”

Release of some Amer. prisoners in Lebanon evidently effected by shipment of arms to Iran


11/6/86

18 executed in 8 states 1985. On Dec. 31, 1,591 prisoners on death row (up 12.2% from 1984)

SA claims that among papers found in crashed plane of Mozambique’s Prez Machel showed conspiracy to overthrow Hastings Banda of Malawi

Ralph Nader editorial points out that candidates this yr were not available to press & turned down free air time for debates. Will only tailor their presentation of themselves


11/7/86

Arthur Schlesinger’s theory of cycles in Amer. history posits cycles between concern for pub interest & for concerns of a few (or self-interest).

SA closes 40 more schools

UCB is being investigated for discrim towards Asians

A frog won 1,850 votes in Kansas. Lost the race

Oliver Tambo (head ANC) in Russia for arms


11/8/86

USSR announcing, for 1st time, rules on emigration, inc time limit for gov decision (1 mo, extendable to 6), that denials must be explained

A coup in Philippines seems to have been averted

1986 voter turnout 37.3%, lowest since 1942, 3rd lowest in US hist


11/11/86

Fr just bribed Iran for 2 hostages in Lebanon, while claiming the 2 are unrelated

2 recent toxic leaks into the Rhine from Switz.

Ted Kennedy took the Labor & Human Resources Cmte rather than Judiciary, which will go to Joe Biden

State elections Hamburg: SPD lost the state 40.9%, Chist Dems bi, 41.9%, Green, sunning an all-woman slate, won 10.4%. Free Dems under 5% & out of parl

Israel announced that it is holding the missing Mordechai Vanunu, who gave nuke info to London Sunday Times. They claim not to have kidnapped him from London

China trying to reform its army & cut from 4.2m 1985 by 1m--even more in the larger militia


11/12/86

Brecht: “Our judges are so incorruptible that for no sum would they be prepared to be just.”

So arms went to Iran, via Israel, to free Lebanese hostages. Congress seems not to have been told


11/13/86

US will deploy medium-range missiles in S Korea aimed at NK alleged buildup

Israel says Vanunu left London of his own accord “in the usual way,” bringing to mind the image of the Nicaraguan found in luggage at Heathrow

RR on tv today saying it was pure coincidence we sold arms to Iran whilst 3 hostages being released. Tried to describe it as high diplomacy rather than a deal.
-RR bypassed CIA, State & Congress, worked through NSC. There is much talk of NSC coming under Congressional control.
-A reporter interviewed by BBC says that RR won’t lose popularity domestically but will lose all inf in matters terroristic internationally

Cory Aquino went to Japan & came back w/out a coup but a supporter, a head of a union, killed.


11/14/86

SA policy of bantustans continues unabated: a bill will give less power to State Prez. Nat states will be able to advise SA gov on any matter affecting its citizens in SA & “shall serve the interests of such citizens.” Sounds like an escalation in the old policy of removing SA citizenship
-KaNgwane to be enlarged

Molotov d. at 96

A group Sea Shepherd, which split from Greenpeace some time back, has sunk 2 of Iceland’s 4 whaling ships & destroyed its one whale oil processing plant

RR admin reports talks of liberal “anti-family agenda”--availability of welfare prevents formation of families--says single mothers under 21 should not be given subsidized housing if decide to live apart from their parents & AFDC should be similarly restructured

Jesse Jackson claims D. Party is excluding him


11/16/86

Nicaragua sentenced mercenary Eugene Hasenfus to 30 yrs

Russell Baker: “In President Carter’s time the Ayatollah Khomenei called the United States ‘The Great Satan.’ After dealing with President Reagan he will call it ‘El Stupido.’”


11/17/86

Shultz says knew little of shipments Iran. The press keeps harping on disagreements & whether he might resign, as if he would ever resign or do anything else on principle

SK: 70% of nat economy belongs to 6 comps, which are family firms. No wonder income distrib is so uneven


11/18/86

Until recently, Ch. broadcasts into Russia were played backwards. This had been going on since 1967, perhaps as an insult or a 1967 mistake, or to avoid jamming. Anyway, they just stopped


11/19/86

The people RR has been using to deal w/Iran know nothing about it. Robert McFarlane, Oliver North of NSC

Kodak pulled out of SA


11/20/86

Sec Health & Human Services proposing to expand Medicare to inc catastrophic

USSR moving towards recognition of mkt economy. That is, it wants to regulate & tax the underground economy

Gov talking of selling off its loans

Rob’t McFarlane now says missiles to Iran was a mistake. Also says Shultz did know


11/22/86

A US professor expelled from Israel for publishing a poll showing W Bank Arab support for Arafat. They 1st tried to get him to change the results

US abstained on a World Bank loan to Chile which went through anyway

At Wed.’s press conf, a reporter from Radio Martí, our propaganda station into Cuba, asked questions, wanting RR to break off relations w/Nicaragua. She has since been removed from White House

The arms to Iran represented by RR as meaningless, inc 2,000 TOW anti-tank missiles & at least 23+ Hawk anti-aircraft missiles, enough to significantly affect war

Fidel Ramos, armed forces chief Philippines, told military commanders to disregard any orders of Juan Ponce Enrile, after a coup attempt. Ramos said earlier today that last week he made a set of demands to Aquino in exchange for help on another coup attempt, inc removal of Cabinet members


11/23/86

Barclay’s cut connections to SA. Largest foreign investor. Selling its 40% share in Barclay’s SA to Anglo American

Aquino fired her cabinet. Replaced Enrile as defense minister


11/25/86

Some of that $ in arms sales to Iran was diverted to the Contras. NS adviser Poindexter quit, Col Oliver North of NSC fired
-$10-30m involved, sayeth Ed Meese
-Claims that only North really knew it was happening. Poindexter knew “something” was going on but didn’t bother to check further. Says Wm Casey knew nothing. Involved Israel


11/26/86

RR trying to ignore reporter today & talked to his turkey instead. The resemblance was amazing

Contras pretending they didn’t get the $. Israel claimed to have nothing to do with it, and it won’t do it again

A 60-dy cease-fire w/.communists declared in Philippines

SA decided not to expel Red Cross

SALT II will be broken by a B-52 Friday

In 1982, reportedly, US gave Iran names of 200 alleged Soviet agents, most of whom were killed


11/27/86

There is talk of opening a huge Arctic region of Alaska to oil drilling. Says here that Prudho Bay emits ½ as much nitrogen oxide as all 5 NY boroughs. RR vetoed a bill for efficiency standards for electrical appliances that would have saved more than a billion barrels of oil through 2000

Oliver North, before being fired, shredded files, sayeth the LAT

Justice Dept announced a pilot program to test for drug use among juveniles arrested for serious crimes in DC

How did the Israelis extract $10-30m more in their arms sales to Iran than the arms were said to be worth ($12m)? If were they worth more? Yet another Reagan lie, I guess. And shouldn’t this discrepancy be so obvious that the Admin had to know we were giving the excess cash to the contras or to someone?
-The $12m figure is what the Israelis paid us. The $10-30m excess was placed in Swiss accounts & drawn by Calero. So, assuming the Iranians weren’t cheated, the arms sold them were not worth $12m but $22-42m. Israel says it didn’t know the $ was going to the Contras & wouldn’t have done it if it had. As if that was more serious than selling arms to Iran! [see 12/4/86]

The English-language-only groups (US English) are targeting the Spanish Yellow Pages & corps that advertise in Sp.


11/28/86

Dukemeijian replaces Rose Bird w/Malcolm Lucas (a RR appointee to CA Sup Court). Has always upheld death sentences


11/30/86

RR blames press for continued detention of hostages in Lebanon. And seemed to say that everything Oliver North did was fine, if only he’d been told