Freedom & Democracy => Who CAN you trust? => Topic started by: Surly1 on May 13, 2019, 10:05:35 am
Title: Creeping Police State
Post by: Surly1 on May 13, 2019, 10:05:35 am
Pay attention to this story and its repercussions. It could well be a local one-off, or the start of a troubling trend.
A reporter declined to reveal his source. Then police showed up at his front door with guns. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/11/reporter-declined-reveal-his-source-then-police-showed-up-his-front-door-with-guns/?utm_term=.8d62e57042c3)
Bryan Carmody, a freelance reporter in San Francisco, awoke Friday to the sounds of someone trying to break into his house.
About 10 officers from the San Francisco Police Department were bashing the front gate of his home in the Outer Richmond neighborhood with a sledgehammer, he said. It was just after 8 o’clock in the morning.
Carmody called out and said he would let them into the house. The officers showed him a search warrant and proceeded to go through his home — from “top to bottom” he says — with their guns drawn.
“They treated me like I was some kind of drug dealer," he said in an interview with The Washington Post.
Carmody was being raided in connection with a criminal investigation.
Two weeks before, police investigators showed up at his home to ask him, politely he says, to identify the source who provided him with a confidential police report about the February death of the city’s public defender, Jeff Adachi. Carmody, who said he worked with three local television news stations on the story, declined.
He wasn’t about to give up his source on Friday either, despite the escalation — not to the police or two FBI agents in suits who questioned him about the case, he said.
“I’m smart enough not to talk to federal agents, ever,” Carmody said. “I just kept saying ‘lawyer, lawyer, lawyer.' ”
So he stayed handcuffed for the next six hours, he says — a certificate of release from the police department that he distributed says he was in custody from 8:22 a.m. until 1:55 p.m. — as investigators searched his home, then his office, where they found the report in a safe. A search warrant filed in the case notes that it was issued as police investigated “stolen or embezzled property.”
“There’s only two people on this planet who know who leaked this report — me and the guy who leaked it,” Carmody said.
The raid on Carmody’s home and office drew wide First Amendment-related attention in the Bay Area over the weekend. And it added a new twist to the intrigue that surrounded the death of Adachi, who had built up a high profile as a public defender in the 16 years he had held the office.
The only elected public defender in California, Adachi was known as an watchdog on police misconduct. His death, on Feb. 22, at the age of 59, was attributed in early reports to a heart attack.
Then more information came to light.
On Feb. 24, ABC 7 published a story after it said it obtained a police report and photos about Adachi’s death, which included unflattering details about the public defender’s last hours. The story reported that he had been with a woman named Caterina — not his wife — and that he was found unresponsive in an apartment with “an unmade bed, empty bottles of alcohol, cannabis gummies, and two syringes that may have been left by paramedics.”
The publication of those details, which did little to illuminate the nature of Adachi’s death and more to call into question his character, prompted some to wonder if the police department was retaliating against Adachi, even after his death.
“It’s curious that we’re reading leaked details about another ‘woman,’ the renting of an apartment, and entirely unnecessary mentions of alcohol, cannabis, and syringes,” SFist noted at the time. “Certainly the incident ought to be investigated, as any death should, but the information coming out makes it seem like Adachi’s decades-old battles with law enforcement — on behalf of defendants and otherwise — may continue even after his passing.”
Tim Redmond, editor of the San Francisco news site 48 Hills, called the local coverage “repugnant,” noting how disliked Adachi was by many police officers in the city in a post he wrote at the time.
“Where do you supposed those came from? Why do you suppose they wound up with the sensation-driven TV stations?” he wrote of the provenance of the police report. “The photos have been widely publicized with no context at all. There are photos of ‘an unmade bed’ — a salacious innuendo with no relevance.”
Carmody declined to give specifics about the three outlets he had worked with on the story.
A “stringer” in the parlance of TV news, Carmody occupies the small niche in the world of broadcast journalism that was satirized in the Hollywood film “Nightcrawler.”
He works every night from about 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., when he chases news, such as car crashes, crime scenes, disasters, weather stories, the release of a new video game — “anything that happens overnight,” he says — then sells his services and materials he gathers to local stations for their morning broadcasts. His name is rarely included on the report or corresponding material, he said.
His company, North Bay Television, which is run out of an office downtown stocked with police scanners, computers, and a coffee machine, employs three or four other people, down from a onetime peak of 10.
“Like all media, we are shrinking," he said.
He said he has never paid any of his sources of information or material.
Asked about tensions between the police department and Adachi, Carmody declined to comment on the politics of the case.
“I had no beef with him, I had no beef with anyone, I’m just a journalist in the middle of this,” he said.
He said he believed he was being targeted because he was a freelancer, noting that details in the police report had appeared in other publications, such as the San Francisco Chronicle.
“I don’t think there was a police raid at the Chronicle with a sledgehammer yesterday,” he said.
A medical examiner’s report, which was released to the media in March, filled in more details about Adachi’s death. The office ruled his death an accident due to the effects of **** and alcohol combined with a preexisting heart condition it said Adachi had.
The San Francisco Police Department defended the investigation Saturday in a statement sent to local reporters.
“The citizens and leaders of the City of San Francisco have demanded a complete and thorough investigation into this leak, and this action represents a step in the process of investigating a potential case of obstruction of justice along with the illegal distribution of confidential police material," it said.
An FBI spokeswoman said that the bureau’s agents did not participate in the execution of the search warrant but confirmed that they were present to interview Carmody.
A law enforcement source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Carmody was handcuffed for procedural issues related to “multiple weapons” in the house. Carmody said that he is the lawful owner of an unspecified number of guns.
Carmody says his ability to work is now crippled by the seizure of his electronics. A search warrant and affidavit he distributed noted that police took at least at least four tablets, seven computers, 10 hard drives, a dozen phones, two cameras, reporters’ notebooks and a thumb drive from his home. He has started a GoFundMe page to raise money to buy more equipment.
Thomas R. Burke, a First Amendment lawyer in the Bay Area who represents Carmody, said that he believes the police overreached significantly.
“The appropriate thing was to issue a subpoena, not a search warrant,” he said, noting the breadth of Carmody’s material they had control over in all of this devices and notebooks. He said he wants to know whether the judges who signed the warrants were aware that they were for a reporter’s home and office.
Carmody said he had never been pressured by law enforcement to give up a source before in 29 years of reporting — mentioning as an example the leaked photographs from San Francisco’s public transportation agency he recently acquired that exposed a safety issue with some trains.
“I am shocked at how far this has gone already,” he said. “It’s already gotten way out of hand.”
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on May 13, 2019, 12:48:48 pm
Pay attention to this story and its repercussions. It could well be a local one-off, or the start of a troubling trend. 👀
A reporter declined to reveal his source. Then police showed up at his front door with guns. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/11/reporter-declined-reveal-his-source-then-police-showed-up-his-front-door-with-guns/?utm_term=.8d62e57042c3)
SNIPPET:
The appropriate thing was to issue a subpoena, not a search warrant, he said, noting the breadth of Carmody's material they had control over in all of this devices and notebooks. He said he wants to know whether the judges who signed the warrants were aware that they were for a reporter's home and office.
Carmody said he had never been pressured by law enforcement to give up a source before in 29 years of reporting — mentioning as an example the leaked photographs from San Francisco’s public transportation agency he recently acquired that exposed a safety issue with some trains.
I am shocked at how far this has gone already,&rhttp://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-190218175943.pngdquo; he said. It's already gotten way out of hand.
Title: What Mueller Missed — The Narrative No One Is Talking About
Post by: AGelbert on May 13, 2019, 03:45:15 pm
I am posting this here because it sheds a bright light on how BAD things have gotten under Trump and his Wrecking Crew:
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163123-1664600.png&hash=d609f7e4847e25e034ca7c7b11e75234ba2a0afd) Russia and the US Trump Big Oil Wrecking Crew MADE A DEAL (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) in the Mayflower Hotel (that 😈 Mueller REFUSED TO MENTION IN HIS REPORT) that involves making GIANT OIL & GAS PROFITS after the MELTING OF THE NORTH POLAR ICE CAP! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.tumblr.com%2Fc6492e4b47cfdbd50e74d285fde3c53e%2Ftumblr_inline_mm3g4yCaZc1qz4rgp.gif&hash=4b1cad5ea13f7430a0c01f3065039d21d78da398) That 's right, they want to ACCELERATE CATASTROPHIC CLIMATE CHANGE!
These Hydrocarbon Hellspawn BASTARDS LIKE what they see in the above graph.
THAT is Trump's GREATEST CRIME.
THAT is why Trump named all those bought and paid for Bg Oil Toadies to so many key government positions.
Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-270117175421.png&hash=cf39e823dd9156833bfa885808a876bf518bd0d6) does not give a CRAP about anyone but the oligarchs. His tax "reform" proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt, but putting the hydrocarbon peddle to the metal is an existential threat to ALL humanity!
What Mueller Missed — The Narrative No One Is Talking About: Daniel Sheehan 2019 Class #7
https://youtu.be/CcCjrNiRjdo
Romero Institute Published on Apr 24, 2019
Online syllabus and materials can be found at: https://danielpsheehan.com/tja2019
Donate to the Romero Institute: https://romeroinstitute.org/donate Category Education
The Fossil Fuelers 🦖 DID THE Clean Energy Inventions suppressing, Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME, but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks 🦀, they are trying to AVOID DOING THE TIME or PAYING THE FINE! Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on July 10, 2019, 03:26:31 pm
9:10 pm EDT July 8, 2019
Quote
Keenan Reese An escort who worked for Epstein testified under oath of Trump's involvement with under aged girls. The reason the media hasn't picked up on it is, because of the power these wealthy **** wield. https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/quote-epstein-trump-bite-donald/19201/
True. Furthermore, the juridical cover up of decadent, criminally perverse sexual behavior by powerful individuals, in or out of government, is one of the hallmarks of societies within Fascist governments.
If you think Epstein, Trump, Clinton, etc., et al SEXUAL PREDATORS (Congress, particularly the Senate, AND the COURTS are STUFFED FULL OF THEM) are going to pay for their crimes in the Fascist USA, you are naive, to put it mildly.
The Courts are now so crooked that an Appeals Court Judge just dismissed >:( a Constitutional Emoluments Clause Violation Lawsuit against Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-270117175421.png&hash=cf39e823dd9156833bfa885808a876bf518bd0d6) by stating in the decision, with a straight face, that (https://images.dailykos.com/images/604450/story_image/NO45-1024x1024.jpg?1540657700) courts should "only deal with real cases".
Tucker Carlson's remarks about Rep Ilhan Omar definitely indicate that America could be the first developed country to move backwards away from democracy
But into what and how can we stop the Republicans, Trump and Tucker Carlson from dragging us away from the democracy so many have built over the years?
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Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on July 12, 2019, 08:27:16 pm
Agelbert NOTE: This is a truth filled comment on an excellent article ✨ (plus many deeply thought out comments as well 👍).
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July 7, 2019 at 9:03 am JimBob says: Many years ago, Kurt Vonnegut claimed that the true American anthem was: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-200419205214.png&hash=4c5b9ca97c84607da003becdf6282716bcdf1800) F u c k you, Jack, I got mine! Apparently, the Republican party has fully adopted this anthem as it’s own.
July 6, 2019/41 Comments/in Left Theory /by Ed Walker
FREEDOM AND EQUALITY: FREEDOM FROM DOMINATION PART 1
SNIPPET:
Introduction and Index
Elizabeth Anderson wrote a chapter for The Oxford Handbook of Freedom and Equality, titled simply Freedom and Equality. She begins by acknowledging that perfect material equality would require an authoritarian state, and no one seriously argues for that position. On the other hand, Friedrich Hayek argued in The Road To Serfdom that any form of socialism would lead down the slippery slope to totalitarianism, but he was wrong. There are realistic choices short of perfect material equality, such as the societies of Western Europe with their social democratic forms of government and economy.
Anderson writes:
Quote
To make progress on the question of normative trade-offs between freedom and equality within the range of options for political economy credibly on the table, we must clarify our concepts. There are at least three conceptions of freedom — negative, positive, and republican — and three conceptions of equality—of standing, esteem, and authority.
Republican freedom is an unfortunate term, given its association with a political party with a highly … nuanced view of freedom. Philosophers use the term because it is associated with the Roman Republic of Cicero and Cato. And that is another unfortunate juxtaposition, because the leading libertarian think tank is the Cato Institute, which is heavily funded by the Charles Koch Foundation, another group not that interested in broad concepts of freedom. So I’m not going to use the term, and instead will refer to it as freedom from dominanation, or non-domination.
Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4) https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/07/06/freedom-and-equality-freedom-from-domination-part-1/
Title: Trump’s Racist Tweets Fan Hatred, Defining the Coming Election
Post by: AGelbert on July 15, 2019, 09:59:05 pm
Trump’s Racist Tweets Fan Hatred, Defining the Coming Election
July 15, 2019
Earlier today, 😈 Senator Lindsay Graham discussed (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591) Donald Trump's outrageous and racist tweets from Sunday which told representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna S. Pressley to “go back” to the countries they “originally” came from. And then he bolstered them. Live on Fox News, Graham escalated Trump's attacks calling the four congressional representatives—all women of color—“communists.”
Quote
“We all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of communists. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817122018.gif&hash=74d86c1f35e2f61ea38c9bfa392f84a92631b96e) They hate Israel. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163125-16722324.gif&hash=fd301340fefe90d81ed8826dfa0568be12a1c0d8) They hate our own country. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16181943.gif&hash=0b93e71ee5e24bbe02555e0d648a1283e0e9651d) They're calling the guards along our border, the Border Patrol agents, 'concentration camp guards.' They accuse people who support Israel of doing it for the Benjamins. They're anti-Semitic. They're anti-American,” Graham said. “Don't get down. Aim higher. We don't need to know anything about them personally. Talk about their policy.”
The Real News Network's Marc Steiner spoke to Dr. Kimberly Moffitt, an Associate Professor of the Language, Literacy and Culture PhD program and the American Studies department at the University Of Maryland Baltimore County, and Dr. Gerald Horne, John J. And Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African-American Studies at the University of Houston about ongoing and escalating racist rhetoric by the president and the GOP.
Moffitt observed that there is still a debate about whether Trump's comments are noteworthy—clearly an indication that racism remains an issue in the U.S.
“It's even a denial about the role of race in our society as a whole that we don't even believe this is something that we should be focused on because of what Trump is contributing to us, and what many believe is a very strong economy and a willingness to say the things that haven't been said by previous administrations regarding our borders and our trade deals—all that many have felt like had been a bad deal for America,” Moffitt said. “I also see this very much as about a browning of America that really frightens a lot of that 63 million that support President Trump. A lot of folks are struggling with the idea that these very vocal voices. The progressives of our House currently happen to be women, but they are also brown women, and that becomes offensive to a white male that says there is a place for all of us and they aren't maintaining the place that they're supposed to in our society.”
Horne explained that Trump's attacks have been facilitated by the Democratic Party's leaders, such as Nancy Pelosi, in much the same way that the Democrats facilitated Trump's presidential victory.
“In some ways the Democratic Party—at least some elements within the leadership—paved the way for the rise of one Donald J. Trump. I take it that your audience has been paying attention to the New York Times for the past few days,” Horne said. “And then if you look at the origins of this controversy that has brought us to your cameras today, in many ways it starts with an interview that Speaker Nancy Pelosi did with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd when she sharply rebuked, reprimanded, and criticized Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez in particular—a congresswoman who has been receiving a steady rain of death threats—and that opened up Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez to be receiving even more death threats. She of course clapped back. Speaker Pelosi, rather than taking the high road, then upped the ante and opened the door for Donald J. Trump to enter into this debate. And so once again you see leading Democrats paving the way for the rise of Donald J. Trump's racism."
Title: I Know What It’s Like to Be Told to ‘Go Back’ to My Own Country
Post by: AGelbert on July 16, 2019, 02:37:01 pm
TD ORIGINALS
JUL 15, 2019 | TD ORIGINALS
By Natasha Hakimi Zapata — As the daughter of Iranian and Mexican immigrants, the president’s racist attacks on four congresswomen of color have struck me to my core. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
I Know What It’s Like to Be Told to ‘Go Back’ to My Own Country (https://www.truthdig.com/articles/i-know-what-its-like-to-be-told-to-go-back-to-my-own-country/)
https://youtu.be/R_8uNAFfDG8
Title: The revolution in information technology will make dictatorships more efficient and capable of contr
Post by: AGelbert on July 17, 2019, 05:22:18 pm
Why fascism is so tempting -- and how your data could power it | Yuval Noah Harari
335,332 views
https://youtu.be/xHHb7R3kx40
TED
Published on Jun 8, 2018
In a profound talk about technology and power, author and historian Yuval Noah Harari explains the important difference between fascism and nationalism -- and what the consolidation of our data means for the future of democracy. Appearing as a hologram live from Tel Aviv, Harari warns that the greatest danger that now faces liberal democracy is that the revolution in information technology will make dictatorships more efficient and capable of control. "The enemies of liberal democracy hack our feelings of fear and hate and vanity, and then use these feelings to polarize and destroy," Harari says. "It is the responsibility of all of us to get to know our weaknesses and make sure they don't become weapons." (Followed by a brief conversation with TED curator Chris Anderson)
Agelbert NOTE: Excellent video by Yuval Noah Harari and excellent comment by Steve Fortuna (see below).
Quote
Steve Fortuna 👍2 days ago
Boy is this scary. America is breaking up into factions, hard right, tyrannical, oligarchical versus the middle class, and millions of us are watching the disintegration of our empire and alienation of the world due to bellicose foreign and environmental policy. Every day fewer and fewer people are proud to call themselves Americans, make sacrifice for the common good, pay taxes or join the military.
I will not allow or support my nation to imprison children, torture immigrants, kill Americans without trial or allow billionaires access to power and corruption while suppressing the dreams and opportunities of minorities, the poor and the unconnected and unlucky. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)
Russia, China and the Arab countries should be salivating to fill the power vacuum as our nation devolves into infighting, bankruptcy and civil war.
Oligarchs, no how much they gild their lily, are just fascistic narcissists for whom ALL is their only possible goal. I don't see the US or capitalism as the most beautiful thing anywhere - if we don't stem the tide of the .001% to grab every resource and hoard the last dollar, we will come apart at the seams.
Title: H.Res.489: President Donald Trump’s racist comments have legitimized fear and hatred
Post by: AGelbert on July 17, 2019, 09:06:16 pm
The U.S. House of Representatives voted almost entirely along party lines to condemn President Donald Trump's latest "racist" remarks, with the four tribal citizens in office just as divided as their colleagues on the controversy.
Native lawmakers divided over rebuke of President Trump's 'racist' tweets
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
By Acee Agoyo
SNIPPET:
While the vote on H.Res.489, Condemning President Trump's racist comments directed at Members of Congress, was almost entirely partisan, four Republicans broke ranks to support it. They were: Rep. Susan W. Brooks (R-Indiana); Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania); Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), who addressed the National Congress of American Indians for the first time earlier this year; and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Michigan).
Amash, who was among a core group of lawmakers who have been voting against Indian Country legislation in the 116th Congress, also voted in support of the rebuke resolution.
Trump's remarks about the minority women in Congress represent the latest in a long line of remarks deemed racist, offensive and riddled with stereotypes. During his days as a commercial casino operator, he frequently targeted tribes using racially charged language.
In reference to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, the owners of what was the largest casino in the world at the time, Trump famously told Congress in October 1993: "Now, they don't look like Indians to me."
Such comments, along with others that questioned the legitimacy of tribal nations as well as the integrity of the overall Indian gaming industry, motivated the late Native rights activist Frank LaMere, a longtime Democratic figure, to oppose Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, and he urged Native voters to do the same.
"We need to stand up to this bully," LaMere, who was a citizen of the Winnebago Tribe, told Indianz.Com during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia that summer.
Since taking office in January 2017, Trump has repeatedly used the name of a Native woman, Pocahontas, as a slur against Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), one of his biggest political rivals. The most glaring incident took place in front of Native war heroes during Native American Heritage Month later that year.
"That's telling of him and his administration that they are not working in any way to build relationships with Indian tribes," Haaland told Indianz.Com at the time. A year later, she won her seat in Congress, making history along Davids as the first two tribally-enrolled women on Capitol Hill.
In this House, we speak truth to power. pic.twitter.com/obQc9WqpY1
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 16, 2019
H.Res.489, Condemning President Trump's racist comments directed at Members of Congress
RESOLUTIONCondemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at Members of Congress.
Whereas the Founders conceived America as a haven of refuge for people fleeing from religious and political persecution, and Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison all emphasized that the Nation gained as it attracted new people in search of freedom and livelihood for their families;
Whereas the Declaration of Independence defined America as a covenant based on equality, the unalienable Rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and government by the consent of the people;
Whereas Benjamin Franklin said at the Constitutional convention, “When foreigners after looking about for some other Country in which they can obtain more happiness, give a preference to ours, it is a proof of attachment which ought to excite our confidence and affection”;
Whereas President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists”;
Whereas immigration of people from all over the Earth has defined every stage of American history and propelled our social, economic, political, scientific, cultural, artistic, and technological progress as a people, and all Americans, except for the descendants of Native people and enslaved African Americans, are immigrants or descendants of immigrants;
Whereas the commitment to immigration and asylum has been not a partisan cause but a powerful national value that has infused the work of many Presidents;
Whereas American patriotism is defined not by race or ethnicity but by devotion to the Constitutional ideals of equality, liberty, inclusion, and democracy and by service to our communities and struggle for the common good;
Whereas President John F. Kennedy, whose family came to the United States from Ireland, stated in his 1958 book “A Nation of Immigrants” that “The contribution of immigrants can be seen in every aspect of our national life. We see it in religion, in politics, in business, in the arts, in education, even in athletics and entertainment. There is no part of our nation that has not been touched by our immigrant background. Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life.”;
Whereas President Ronald Reagan in his last speech as President conveyed “An observation about a country which I love”;
Whereas as President Reagan observed, the torch of Lady Liberty symbolizes our freedom and represents our heritage, the compact with our parents, our grandparents, and our ancestors, and it is the Statue of Liberty and its values that give us our great and special place in the world;
Whereas other countries may seek to compete with us, but in one vital area, as “a beacon of freedom and opportunity that draws the people of the world, no country on Earth comes close”;
Whereas it is the great life force of “each generation of new Americans that guarantees that America's triumph shall continue unsurpassed” through the 21st century and beyond and is part of the “magical, intoxicating power of America”;
Whereas this is “one of the most important sources of America's greatness: we lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people -- our strength -- from every country and every corner of the world, and by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation”;
Whereas “thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we're a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge”, always leading the world to the next frontier;
Whereas this openness is vital to our future as a Nation, and “if we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost”; and
Whereas President Donald Trump’s racist comments have legitimized fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) believes that immigrants and their descendants have made America stronger, and that those who take the oath of citizenship are every bit as American as those whose families have lived in the United States for many generations;
(2) is committed to keeping America open to those lawfully seeking refuge and asylum from violence and oppression, and those who are willing to work hard to live the American Dream, no matter their race, ethnicity, faith, or country of origin; and
(3) strongly condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color by saying that our fellow Americans who are immigrants, and those who may look to the President like immigrants, should “go back” to other countries, by referring to immigrants and asylum seekers as “invaders,” and by saying that Members of Congress who are immigrants (or those of our colleagues who are wrongly assumed to be immigrants) do not belong in Congress or in the United States of America.
I have concluded that President Donald Trump should be impeached.
I do not arrive at this conclusion lightly. The power of impeachment granted to Congress by our Founding Fathers should not be casually employed. In our democracy, every deference should be given to the outcome of every election.
However, after 30 months in office, President Trump has established a clear pattern of willful disregard for our Constitution and its system of checks and balances. His presidency has wrought an unprecedented and unrelenting assault on the pillars and guardrails of our democracy, including the rule of law on which our country was founded.
Instead of embracing the fundamental responsibility of every American president to unite our country, this president has unleashed a torrent of attacks on fellow citizens based on their race, gender, religion and ethnic origin.
Instead of respecting the constitutional principle that no person, including the President of the United States, is above the law or beyond accountability, this president attacks our courts and judges and stonewalls Congress in the exercise of its Article 1 oversight responsibility.
Instead of strengthening the institutional pillars of our democracy, this president is methodically tearing them down. He fired the FBI Director and made every effort to derail the Mueller investigation. He calls for the jailing of political opponents and pardons political allies. And at every turn, he demeans, attacks and discredits the free press, dangerously labeling it as the enemy of the people.
And instead of ensuring fair elections, this president and his administration have labored to limit the fundamental right of Americans to vote and welcomed the assistance of hostile foreign powers in his campaigns.
America’s democracy is resilient, but it is also fragile. Its stability and progress depend on the consent of the governed, a respect for the rule of law, and the capacity of our leaders to inspire trust and confidence in each other and in the federal government.
On January 20, 2017, President-elect Donald Trump stood on the West Front of the United States Capitol, placed his left hand on two Bibles, raised his right hand, and swore to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” I have concluded that he has failed to honor that solemn oath which, in my view, merits impeachment under our Constitution.
Title: How the Rich Will Rewrite the Constitution If Trump is Reelected
Post by: AGelbert on July 19, 2019, 07:23:44 pm
How the (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) Rich Will Rewrite the Constitution If (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) Trump is Reelected
5,257 views
https://youtu.be/i3zw3Od-8KU
Thom Hartmann Program Published on Jul 18, 2019
The Rich are trying to rewrite the United States constitution and if Donald Trump is elected they are going to succeed.
What will happen to the rights of free speech, not to incriminate yourself and other American values?
Is this how democracy is dismantled?
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Category News & Politics
Published on Jul 19, 2019
Billionaires Want You to Prove Citizenship Before Receiving Healthcare?
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on July 20, 2019, 03:32:33 pm
July 20th, 2019 by The Beam
Female Leaders Are On The Rise — Empowered, We Are Unstoppable (https://cleantechnica.com/2019/07/20/female-leaders-are-on-the-rise-empowered-we-are-unstoppable/) 🤔
Shiggity • 10 hours ago • edited Remember what it was like before H1B1 visa competition and the billionaire immigration game? I don't, I'm a millennial. I'll remember robber baron mega millionaire and billionaire psychopaths 'explaining' how everything is my fault and I 'just need to work harder'. Women haven't achieved any kind of "equality" except the "equality" of sick personality disorders and obscene mega wealth, Murica!
Get some baby boomers in here to 'explain' the situation better lol. Maybe some completely out of context anecdotes / completely out of context macro economic comparisons?
If women think achieving obscene wealth is "equality" with men, they're fools, pathetic money hungry sociopathic fools.
agelbert Shiggity • 2 hours ago • edited Exactly right. I am a baby boomer and have railed all my life against the worship of materialism evidenced by the nearly total commitment my generation had, and still has, to greed and ambition.
That said, I don't see any evidence that the subsequent generations are, as a whole, any different.
However, you need to understand that there are elite propaganda forces in our government that have deliberately shaped this profit over people and planet world view among the masses.
"The rich executed a coup d’état that transformed the three branches of the U.S. government and nearly all institutions, including the mass media, into wholly owned subsidiaries of the corporate state." -- Chris Hedges
With the advent of social media, the worship of the self has gotten more equality destroying extreme, not less. Watch this video and you will understand what we-the-people, of all genders and ages, are up against.
Why fascism is so tempting -- and how your data could power it |😨 Yuval Noah Harari
https://youtu.be/xHHb7R3kx40
"Technical knowledge of Carrying Capacity will not save us; only a massive increase in Caring Capacity will." -- A. G. Gelbert
You know, Gene Rodenberry (creator of Star Trek) completely & totally nailed the US Corporate Government when he created the Ferenghi aliens whose only priority is Profit & Profit above ALL ELSE.
The Ferenghi Rules of Acquisition was initially intended as a tongue in cheek chuckle BUT it became serious and is actually how the USG & it's Corporate Masters actually deal with people. People & Governments around the world have finally come to see it for what it is and it doesn't look good.
REF: The Complete (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) Ferengi Rules Of Acquisition (https://projectsanctuary.com/the_complete_ferengi_rules_of_acquisition.htm)
agelbert Steve_S • 10 minutes ago 👍 Thank you. I agree the Ferengi aliens are reflections of what was a hidden reality in the US (that is now in-our-faces).
There was another Star Trek episode that reminds me of our anti-democratic situation. The plot is that some human dude (he was from Earth) had violated the Star Trek 'Prime Directive' by interfering on another planet, so the crew of the Starship Enterprise had been tasked to stop the 'interference'. The dude had set up a fascist government because it was 😈 "more efficient".
The MO of his government reminds me of the Trump 🦀 wrecking crew MO.
Sure, Trump is a symptom, not the cause. But, his cruel, arrogant abusive mindset is representative of those fascist oligarchs who put him there.
I checked out some Hitler quotes the other day. I challenge you to find any difference between Hitler's mindset in the following quotes and that of Trump:
“If you win, you need not have to explain...If you lose, you should not be there to explain!”― Adolf Hitler
“Do not compare yourself to others. If you do so, you are insulting yourself.”― Adolf Hitler
“I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.” ― Adolf Hitler
“The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.” ― Adolf Hitler, Hitler's Letters and Notes
“The receptivity of the masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan.” ― Adolf Hitler
“The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence.”― Adolf Hitler
Fascists like Trump count on public's lack of introspection. Hitler and Trump are birds of a feather.
Title: Oppressive Nations are always Fearful Nations.
Post by: AGelbert on July 21, 2019, 02:12:37 pm
Quote
Shiggity • a day ago Remember what it was like before H1B1 visa competition and the billionaire immigration game? I don't, I'm a millennial. I'll remember robber baron mega millionaire and billionaire psychopaths 'explaining' how everything is my fault and I 'just need to work harder'. Women haven't achieved any kind of "equality" except the "equality" of sick personality disorders and obscene mega wealth, Murica!
Get some baby boomers in here to 'explain' the situation better lol. Maybe some completely out of context anecdotes / completely out of context macro economic comparisons?
If women think achieving obscene wealth is "equality" with men, they're fools, pathetic money hungry sociopathic fools.
agelbert Shiggity Exactly right. I am a baby boomer and have railed all my life against the worship of materialism evidenced by the nearly total commitment my generation had, and still has, to greed and ambition.
That said, I don't see any evidence that the subsequent generations are, as a whole, any different.
However, you need to understand that there are elite propaganda forces in our government that have deliberately shaped this profit over people and planet world view among the masses.
"The rich executed a coup d’état that transformed the three branches of the U.S. government and nearly all institutions, including the mass media, into wholly owned subsidiaries of the corporate state." -- Chris Hedges
With the advent of social media, the worship of the self has gotten more equality destroying extreme, not less. Watch this video and you will understand what we-the-people, of all genders and ages, are up against.
Why fascism is so tempting -- and how your data could power it |😨 Yuval Noah Harari
https://youtu.be/xHHb7R3kx40
"Technical knowledge of Carrying Capacity will not save us; only a massive increase in Caring Capacity will." -- A. G. Gelbert
You know, Gene Rodenberry (creator of Star Trek) completely & totally nailed the US Corporate Government when he created the Ferenghi aliens whose only priority is Profit & Profit above ALL ELSE.
The Ferenghi Rules of Acquisition was initially intended as a tongue in cheek chuckle BUT it became serious and is actually how the USG & it's Corporate Masters actually deal with people. People & Governments around the world have finally come to see it for what it is and it doesn't look good.
REF: The Complete (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) Ferengi Rules Of Acquisition (https://projectsanctuary.com/the_complete_ferengi_rules_of_acquisition.htm)
agelbert Steve_S 👍 Thank you. I agree the Ferengi aliens are reflections of what was a hidden reality in the US (that is now in-our-faces).
There was another Star Trek episode that reminds me of our anti-democratic situation. The plot is that some human dude (he was from Earth) had violated the Star Trek 'Prime Directive' by interfering on another planet, so the crew of the Starship Enterprise had been tasked to stop the 'interference'. The dude had set up a fascist government because it was 😈 "more efficient".
The MO of his government reminds me of the Trump 🦀 wrecking crew MO.
Sure, Trump is a symptom, not the cause. But, his cruel, arrogant abusive mindset is representative of those fascist oligarchs who put him there.
I checked out some Hitler quotes the other day. I challenge you to find any difference between Hitler's mindset in the following quotes and that of Trump:
“If you win, you need not have to explain...If you lose, you should not be there to explain!”― Adolf Hitler
“Do not compare yourself to others. If you do so, you are insulting yourself.”― Adolf Hitler
“I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.” ― Adolf Hitler
“The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.” ― Adolf Hitler, Hitler's Letters and Notes
“The receptivity of the masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan.” ― Adolf Hitler
“The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence.”― Adolf Hitler
Fascists like Trump count on public's lack of introspection. Hitler and Trump are birds of a feather.
Steve_S agelbert Ohhh My ! Yes I know that particular episode very well. Original Series.
Regarding the Hitler Quotes. I studied Nazi history extensively and the militarism it raised (uni study) and once Trump was on the campaign trail I CAUGHT IT. He actually made statements & speeches which echo Hitler to a T. More Recent stuff from "them" continues to echo AH with 21st Century revisions. Even more disturbing is that there are Jewish Rabbis in the USA & Israel calling for the total destruction & annulation of ALL Muslims.... and a few of these characters are Survivors of Concentration Camps and THEY are calling for genocide of a religious group. And then we have the Trump to Israel Marriage which is baffling to say the least.
agelbert Steve_S 👍👍👍 I never studied Nazi history like you did. In high school I read the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer. That was pretty much the extent of what I knew about them.
I've picked up a little more over the years. Recently I ran into an outstanding book ("All Honorable Men") about the NAZI world view. You have probably read it, but if you haven't, I'm sort of doing a book report on it on my forum in a series of posts.
If you have time, please check it out and tell me what you think.
COPYRIGHT 1950, BY JAMES STEWART MARTIN
SNIPPET: Quote In this book I have tried to tell the story of an important problem and some of the things that happened when we tried to deal with it. Though many of the events occurred in Germany, before and during the military occupation, they seemed in an increasing degree to be echoes of something more fundamental that was happening back in the United States. For whatever reason, the larger pattern is a repetition of what followed after World War I; but the pace has been quicker, as though greater powers were moving more rapidly toward a more catastrophic result.
All Honorable Men (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/geopolitics/key-historical-events-that-you-may-have-never-heard-of/msg12769/#msg12769[/url)
Quote
Steve_S agelbert • 4 hours ago Ohh I got out of studying that sort of thing. Life priorities …
One thing that stands above everything else. Dictatorships are oppressive by their very nature and Oppressive Nations are always Fearful Nations. Fearful Nations become bullies and demand compliance from others or suffer consequences imposed by the bullies. At this moment in time, the single most Paranoid Nation on the planet is the USA, fearing every shadow, every opinion and seeking to find the boogeymen behind every bush. This of course happens when someone bullies, threatens, coerces others resulting in human & civil abuses. When you have a Nation that spends more on it's military than anything else, when there is no actual real wars...
Consider it this way... The USA spends more on Militarism than China, but China spends more on Wind, Solar, Hydro & Nuclear Power Generation than it's own massive 3.5 million man military.
Given that info, plus the fact that the US now owes over $22 Trillion Dollars on it's National Debt, which it has absolutely no hope of ever paying off (or keeping up with the interest alone) is destined for only ONE THING and that is Conflict. What do we see being "prepped up" right now, big militarism, lot's of threats, lot's of "sanctions of one sort or another", attempts to provoke & coerce nations. Luckily Russia & China have been BLUNT that they will not be provoked or coerced into an action, that the USA will have to fire first if it wants conflict. So now Trumpy is fishing for someone else to have a War with...
agelbert Steve_S • 3 minutes ago • edited I agree with you 100%. Principle and moral fiber are absent from the US government and the fascist olicarchs that corrupt it. Scratch a fascist bully and you expose a coward.
The despicable Epstein modus vivendi is not an outlier. The elite SCUM in the USA are all part of that cesspool of sexual predators protected by the "Intelligence" (see: POLICE STATE) agencies AND the corrupted judiciary.
That was also true in NAZI Germany. Sexual abuse of minors and routine depravity is another mark of fascist societies. We are there. 😠
Quote
Steve_S agelbert • an hour ago Well, I've enough on my personal plate to deal with in the time I have left and many things to complete in that time.
My view on things are maybe a bit different (being terminal does that) as I am not looking for any deluded answers, I just see what I see and experience what I experience. Like when I worked in the arctic and return recently to shock at what changes I saw... which I should not have in my entire lifetime or possibly two. Diverse life experiences with Military, Government, High Tech Corporate and other things like advocacy for Parents & Children's Rights have shaped me because I have seen & dealt with things from a different angle than most. I've also been witness to corruption, racism, discrimination and assorted abuses throughout a lot of that. There is so much Hypocrisy and Optical Justice, I fear humanity is deep in the stew! Luckily, I only have a few (< 5) years left and I won't be here to see All Hell break loose. I'm mostly worried for my 3 surviving daughters and my girlfriend's futures in this crazy world.
Bigger issues with climate change are being totally ignored or downplayed, the entire cascading effect that ripples through the eco system. Ongoing droughts in food producing places will continue to reduce food production. Increasing storms and bad weather will force movement of people causing more migration & tensions. There is so much general anger which no one knows how to direct that Bad Actors are playing on that to focus their agendas, which will only result in conflict. Powder Keg issues such as Race & Religion are being further manipulated as well as potential triggers.
At the Major Cross Roads and which direction will humanity take, or where will it be pushed to ? Who the hell knows at this point, it really boils down to the Joe & Jane on the street to collectively stand up in unison & make change happen. Extinction Revolution ? Business will continue to make consumers for profit and pillage the world. Governments are run by business interests (with the exception of the Chinese, they saw that coming) so no help there. The Great Gazoo (Flintstones Reference) won't land in his spaceship and fix everything either. Unfortunately, there are too many who want to "Light it all up" if they can't get their way, so they'll destroy everything they can in spite.
cascade effect as I put it: Ice melts off land by tons, land uplifts, affects tectonic plates, causes plate shift / movement, resulting in quakes and increasing volcanic activity along the plates, eject more into the air and harming life in many ways. Meanwhile that melted ice flows into the seas, raising sea levels, adding all that extra tonnage of water into a moving mass also over the tectonic plates, and changing current flows in sea & air while evaporating putting more rain clouds into action, creating bigger storms and hurricanes / monsoons while modifying other air currents that result in more droughts & heat waves in other regions.... won't touch changes in animals, vegetation and all the rest....
The whole damned pile is INTERCONNECTED and the domino effect rolls through like nothing else and people, orgs, groups, cherry pick 1 or 2 and run with it... they cannot grasp (don't want to) the larger picture in it's fully horrifying glory !
BW: Do a News Search on "Arctic Heat Wave" - past month. Google would do but duckduckgo gives more & better. Records are breaking at the highest northern points and not just a bit.
Title: The 👹 Republican Party
Post by: AGelbert on July 21, 2019, 05:45:18 pm
Trump’s (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591) Racist Lies About Ilhan Omar Define the Republican Party
July 19, 2019
The Ilhan Omar quote Trump bastardized came from her conversation with John Nichols, who joins us to look at US history for inspiration and understanding
https://youtu.be/jdMul-kmw3s
Story Transcript
MARC STEINER Welcome to The Real News Network. I’m Marc Steiner. Good to have you with us.
Donald Trump’s recent attacks on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar were not only racist, but in his subsequent tweets and diatribes in North Carolina, when I watched the news clips, when I saw news clips from the 30s, are dangerously reminiscent of people like Adolf Hitler and Mussolini. For us to ignore this, we do at our own peril. Maybe I’m taking it too far. We’ll find out in this conversation.
Our political analyst today is someone who sees much of this in his writing for The Nation and other things he’s done. He wrote an incredible piece in The Nation on Ilhan Omar. We’re talking about John Nichols who is The Nation’s National Affairs Correspondent, host of the podcast “Next Left” for The Nation, author of Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse: A Field Guide to the Most Dangerous People in America and co-author with Bob McChesney of People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy. I can never get that word right, but John, welcome. Good to have you with us.
JOHN NICHOLS I think you did pretty well on “Trumpocalypse.”
MARC STEINER [laughs] It’s the “citizenless.”
JOHN NICHOLS [laughs] It’s the word for our times. Yes, yes.
MARC STEINER So it’s interesting, the two pieces you wrote in The Nation most recently about Donald Trump and racism and what is going on there. And then your conversation with Ilhan Omar and your defense of her, I think were really important and I want to talk about what you think that really is and what this means. Let me begin. I think there is a piece from Donald Trump where he accuses Ilhan Omar of hating Americans.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP Representative Ilhan Omar, [crowd boos] she looks down with contempt on the hard-working Americans, saying that “ignorance is pervasive in many parts of this country.” [crowd boos and murmurs].
MARC STEINER And then, in “Next Life” when you interviewed Ilhan Omar— as you said, your premiere guest, your first guest on your podcast— she had this to say.
CONGRESSWOMAN ILHAN OMAR And so, the only leverage you have is that you are part of this contract and you can be part of the negotiations in how many people get settled in your state. And so, it is not that they might not be knowledgeable about this, but they use it as a tool to stir up hate and division. And ignorance really is pervasive in many parts of this country. And as someone who was raised by educators, I really like to inform people about things that they might be ignorant to— willingly or unwillingly.
MARC STEINER How you can parse out one small phrase from a more lengthy answer, trying to explain a situation in Minnesota that gets contorted into this now diatribe against Ilhan Omar and the rest.
JOHN NICHOLS Well, it’s a fascinating circumstance. And I have covered Donald Trump for a very long time and seeing again and again how he distorts things and how he, you know, frankly turns an innocent statement into something that sounds very nefarious or very dangerous, but I’ve never been in the middle of it myself, so it’s kind of a fascinating circumstance this time. When I heard him say that, I knew that it had come from our interview and I was struck by the fact that it was so directly opposite of what she was talking about. She wasn’t attacking working-class Americans. She wasn’t criticizing working-class Americans. Her statement— and it’s part of a much longer discussion— had to do with politicians who seek to play on the complexity and frankly the lack of knowledge that all of us have as regards to the intricacies of immigration and refugee law, seek to play on that in order to create fear and to promote racist and frankly xenophobic thinking.
And the interesting thing was that if you listen to what she’s saying, she is saying that she wants to bring information to the process. She wants to dialogue with people. The broader context of our interview was fascinating because she talked again and again about times where she’s approached Republicans on the floor and had good conversation with them, where she’s worked with people across lines of partisanship and ideology. And so, far from condemning or attacking people she might disagree with, what Ilhan Omar was doing in our conversation was talking about how to break through the spin, how to break through the divisiveness. And for the president to turn it in the way that he did is to my mind a deeply troubling thing. Now, you make comparisons to folks in—
MARC STEINER I did.
JOHN NICHOLS Yeah. In Europe and things of that nature. I don’t necessarily go there. I will go to a long and unfortunate history within the United States of demonization of immigrants, demonization of people of color, and things that have been done—If you go back and you look at some of the rhetoric of the 1910s and 1920s in this country, and again if you look at some of what was said in the 1950s and 1960s, you see very similar patterns. And I don’t think that Ilhan Omar necessarily compares in every way to everyone throughout that history, but I do think that she is in this case a victim of something that has been very much a part of the American experience. And the attempt to make the immigrant the newcomer to the country seem to be dangerous, seem to be threatening, simply because that person may disagree with you politically. And that juxtaposition is a really unsettling and troubling one because what it suggests is something that concerned Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln talked a lot about the notion that people who had come recently— in his time: Irish immigrants, German immigrants— once they had come to this country to become part of this country, he argued that they were part of an extended conversation that went back to the founding of the republic, went back to the Declaration of Independence. And Lincoln went out of his way to say that newcomers were no less a part of that conversation, had no less a place in that conversation than the descendants of the founders. It was a very important message. And Trump seems to be openly at war with that notion, openly at war with the idea that someone who maybe came to this country 20 years ago or 30 years ago, is somehow less free to criticize the country than the rest of us, than those of us who may have deeper roots or more history. Boy, when we get into that game, we really do divide this country in the ugliest and most dangerous of ways.
MARC STEINER Well, I want to come back to two things you said. I do want to come back to the earlier thing about Mussolini and Hitler and I understand what you’re saying. I want to play in a minute here this piece from Trump that ends up in this chant and talk a bit about that. You know, I think what the difference perhaps now, John, is that we are in a world post the Civil Rights Movement, post the growth of the union movement, post the time of when we ended segregation, and a new group of— I’m going to call them— white nationalists in part have taken over the executive branch, are running rampant through our system, tearing down things. Every regulation that protects workers and the environment is just being torn asunder. And the rhetoric is fearsome against people of color and fearsome against immigrants and it’s reached fever pitch. The difference now it seems to me though is that after that long struggle, these folks are in power. And that seems to be very different than some previous moments in our history when that really wasn’t the case completely.
JOHN NICHOLS Well, look, I would caution you again to go back to some of our history. And I’ll talk about two things here. Number one, in 1924 when Robert M. La Follette ran for President of the United States with support from activists in the NAACP, W.E.B. Dubois, and others. When La Follette ran, one of the reasons that he got such traction was because the Ku Klux Klan had become so very dominant within both the Democratic and the Republican parties at their conventions. And this is an important thing to understand. I think we reflect on our own history sometimes so casually and sometimes without a lot of perspective, that we forget we had times in this country within the last century where the Ku Klux Klan was a major force not merely marching in the streets of cities, but in our politics, influencing our politics.
And again, I would suggest to you that in the early 1950s, during the height of the Red Scare, yes, that was a targeting of people who were accused of being communists or fellow travelers. But there was also so much targeting of the Civil Rights Movement, of labor organizations in that. So there’s a long history in this country of people being in power and demonizing immigrants, people of color, those who raise political challenges. So that’s one part of it, Marc, and the only other part I would suggest to you is—I’m finishing a book now on Henry Wallace who was Franklin Roosevelt’s Vice President, and in 1944, 75 years ago, Henry Wallace wrote a— I think 43′ or 44’— wrote an essay for The New York Times on what he referred to as “American fascism.”
And it’s an interesting thing that at that time, in the midst of World War II, Wallace said that it was important to understand that there could be an American fascism, that it would be very different from a lot of European fascism. It wouldn’t take the same form. And yet, it would have [inaudible] the core concern, and that is a division of people along lines of race and class and ethnicity and national origin. And that divisiveness would be used to empower economic elites. Now this is Wallace writing in the 1940s, and I really invite you. If you go back and read Henry Wallace’s essay from that time, it sounds an awfully lot like now.
MARC STEINER No, and it does.
JOHN NICHOLS So all I’ll tell you is the historical roots are there.
MARC STEINER No, no. The historic roots are there and I want to play this clip here. You know, one of things I said to you before we went on the air and I’ve said to numerous times over the years, John, is one of the reasons I love talking with you is because I can sometimes get [grunts] and get really negative saying, “this is like 1877.” And then, John, you bring up [laughs] Henry Wallace and the fight with La Follette. It’s good, which I love. That’s good. Thank you.
JOHN NICHOLS No, it’s in 1924 and 1944. Yeah. It’s a long historical discussion.
MARC STEINER So, but let’s take a quick. Before we run, let’s take a quick listen to Trump at this rally talk about Ilhan Omar and the chant that comes after this.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP When you see the four Congresswomen—Oh, isn’t that lovely? [crowd boos] Representative Ilhan Omar. [crowd boos] Omar has a history of launching vicious anti-Semitic screeds. [crowd chants “Send her back!”]
MARC STEINER All right. So. Father Coughlin, you can leave [inaudible] and laugh for a minute. [laughs] But what I see here is a dangerous sign. I mean, this is—What you’re talking about, Wallace’s essay, I know that essay you’re talking about. And we are living in a time of a huge divide in this country and it’s driven by this fear. And that fear drives what he just did in that crowd. That’s a danger zone.
JOHN NICHOLS Yeah. Oh, I think it is. And again, this notion of “send her back” or “send him back” or “send them back” is hardly new. And it’s one that we have heard at various times in our history, and we’ve heard it used in various ways. Sometimes it is used against immigrants. One of the important things to remember is that during the Red Scare, the first Red Scare of 1919-1920, and then the second Red Scare of the 1950s. In each of those cases, there was a massive targeting of immigrants and of immigrant groups that—And the interesting thing was, these were people who had come to America, who had become citizens, who were fully part of the American experiment, and yet were suddenly targeted. Why were they targeted? Because they believed in the full promise of the Constitution, their First Amendment, their Bill of Rights.
They believed they could speak up on issues, and speak out, and disagree with the government, or disagree with those in power, that they could organize unions, and they could organize civil rights groups. And these immigrants were attacked for their outspokenness, for their full embrace of the best promise of the American experiment— that we all have a voice in this discourse. And that’s what I think we’re seeing now. And I think we have to be, we have to be very focused on that. I think we have to be very conscious of it because it is important not to lose sight of what Donald Trump is really, in many ways, trying to do here. It’s a two—I think it’s a two-step thing. Number one, it is of course to demonize, to otherize the immigrant. Even in this case, people who aren’t immigrants, people who have deep roots in this country. Remember, Ilhan Omar’s been in this country for decades. And the other three members of Congress that he references were born in this country.
MARC STEINER Right.
JOHN NICHOLS And so, this is first off, sort of, an assault on immigrants. But then much more deeply, an assault on in this case women of color. And finally, finally, an assault on dissenters, an assault on those who disagree with Donald Trump, and even in some cases with their own party. And to my mind, that is—We really ought not lose sight of that. We ought not lose sight of that first off because it’s what’s happening in my view, but also because this has deep roots in America, in the American struggle, and we have beaten this before. We have taken this on, and we have said no, that is not, that is not what America is about. And I really think it’s very vital that people do so again.
And I will remind you that when Joe McCarthy, a Republican, was doing things like this in the early 1950s, it was other Republicans like Margaret Chase Smith who stepped up and really shut him down, or at least challenged him on it. And I would ask you the question, where are those Republicans today? They are needed today. They need to be stepping up in big numbers and saying, Donald Trump is wrong. And it was horrifying to me when the House of Representatives voted on condemning Donald Trump. Instead of, you know, taking that opportunity to step up and do as Margaret Chase Smith had did to say no, 98% of Republicans in the House voted not to condemn Trump. And that’s a, in many ways, to me an even more troubling thing than what Trump says.
MARC STEINER Well, I want to say, John, as we have to go now that it’s really always good to hear you because I think it’s important to have a, kind of, positive message in terms of where we take this fight and not allowing us to be “oh, woe is me” when looking at our history and our future. So John, thank you so much for all you do and your writing. And I look forward to your next book and talking to you sooner than that.
JOHN NICHOLS I’m honored to be with you, my friends. Good conversation.
MARC STEINER Take care. John Nichols, The National Correspondent for The Nation. And I’m Marc Steiner here for The Real News Network. Thank you all for joining us. Take care.
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: Surly1 on July 22, 2019, 05:50:52 am
No-one should be surprised. The Rs becoming the White Supremacy [party has been in the works since the Willie Horton dog whistle by Lee Atwater. The party has not so much become Trump's as he is their creature, their perfect embodiment.
Title: 🦍 Scalise appears to be the water boy for 🦀 Trump
Post by: AGelbert on July 22, 2019, 12:03:50 pm
No-one should be surprised. The Rs becoming the White Supremacy [party has been in the works since the Willie Horton dog whistle by Lee Atwater. The party has not so much become Trump's as he is their creature, their perfect embodiment.
True.
Donald 🦀 Trump’s pal Steve 🦍 Scalise goes off the deep end
Daniel Cotter 👍| 10:55 pm EDT July 21, 2019
Republican Congressman Steve Scalise, the House Minority Whip, was on Jeanine Pirro on Saturday night. He was defending Donald Trump and his party, and doing what all of the right appears to do without having anything else to talk about: attack “The Squad” and lie about what it is the Congresswomen believe in.
Scalise stated in part: “The Squad is the face of the Democrat Party now. They stand for socialism, open borders, the anti-Semitic BDS movement, free healthcare for illegal immigrants, & the job-killing Green New Deal. Republicans & Donald Trump won’t stop battling this radical, anti-American agenda.”
It is hard to take seriously anyone who says “Democrat Party” instead of “Democratic Party.” But that aside, Scalise is the face of the Republican Party. He attended a conference of white supremacists in the early 2000s where 😈 David Duke headlined. Scalise later claimed he was not aware that the European-American Unity and Rights Organization (or “EURO”), which was founded by Duke, had a “racist nature.” Nothing about the name of the group would suggest a group of whites banding together, and Duke being the headliner would not have been any clue to anyone in 2002. Sure.
In 2019, Scalise voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, something he was against in its original iteration in 2013. Scalise appears to be the water boy for Trump, saying this last week when Speaker Nancy Pelosi had the audacity to address the racist comments from Trump on the House Floor: “What Nancy Pelosi just did on the House floor was disgraceful. We should be spending our time on the floor of the People’s House solving actual problems- like the crisis at our southern border- not harassing Donald Trump. I’ll be addressing the chamber shortly. Tune in!”
Scalise has been a “nay” on any of a variety of actual problems that affect women or minorities in his time in Congress. In addition to the VAWA, he has opposed equal pay for gender, he voted against repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and takes a position that veterans should not be permitted to have access to medical marijuana even if in a state that permits and their doctors to prescribe it. This is a truly idiotic and “radical, anti-American agenda.”
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.
Agelbert NOTE: Republican Congressman (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718205808.gif&hash=5c451456a306c150d3555c49e31a2f47d6f369a9) Steve Scalise is an integral part of the (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) TRUMP WRECKING CREW.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DjSam9DVsAAP78B.jpg)
Title: As Ilhan Omar Said, Trump Is a Fascist -- and His Rallies Prove It
Post by: AGelbert on July 22, 2019, 07:34:51 pm
As Ilhan Omar 👍 Said, Trump Is a Fascist -- and His Rallies Prove It
HENRY A. GIROUX, TRUTHOUT
Ilhan Omar is right in calling Trump a fascist. One need look no further than his spectacles of white nationalist fear and racism that seek to turn politics into a grandiose theater of nativism, while presenting the head of state as a kind of demigod. There is also his assumption -- reinforced by the GOP and conservative media -- that citizenship is the exclusive terrain of white people.
The Proven Strategy to Beat Donald Trump in 2020! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818180844.png&hash=d74cfbba22967e53f7eb6202dffdd50b3e520fe2)
1,386 views
https://youtu.be/zXjkAc-Dc-U
Thom Hartmann Program Published on Jul 22, 2019
➡️Please Subscribe to Our Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thomhart...
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AUDIO PODCASTS ► Subscribe today: http://www.thomhartmann.com/podcast Does history have the answer for how democrats should frame opposition to Donald Trump? Tim Wise points out that David Duke lost a campaign after activists took this strategy, can we do the same for Donald Trump and get him out of office?
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Title: Mafia Mentor: Where is Roy Cohn's Pretty Boy?
Post by: AGelbert on July 23, 2019, 09:30:38 pm
Mafia 😈 Mentor: Where is Roy Cohn's (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-270117175421.png&hash=cf39e823dd9156833bfa885808a876bf518bd0d6) Pretty Boy?
8,055 views
https://youtu.be/11-2CRznoys
TruNews Streamed live 3 hours ago
Today on TRUNEWS we discuss the infamous mafia lawyer Roy Cohn and his deep connection to his protege Donald J. Trump, including a never before seen photograph which Vanity Fair alleges is the (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) President :o dressed up like a Nero-era centurion. Rick Wiles, Edward Szall, Doc Burkhart, Kerry Kinsey. Airdate: July 23, 2019
#TRUNEWS #TRUMP #RoyCohn
Title: Robert Reich: The Real Reason for Impeachment
Post by: AGelbert on July 24, 2019, 08:19:31 pm
Published on Jul 23, 2019 Robert Reich: The Real Reason for Impeachment
39,142 views
https://youtu.be/7FpTrkSN-xc
Robert Reich: The Real Reason for Impeachment 44,109 views
Robert Reich Published on Jul 23, 2019
Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich explains why Congress should impeach Donald Trump.
Watch More: How to Impeach a President ►►
https://youtu.be/h_qtRhe6zkA
Category News & Politics
Title: Dictatorship Blind Spot on Right Side: U.S. 🐵🙉🙊 Conservatives Ignoring Trump Warning Signs
Post by: AGelbert on July 25, 2019, 07:48:34 pm
Dictatorship Blind Spot on Right Side: U.S. 🐵🙉🙊 Conservatives Ignoring Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591) Warning Signs
6,538 views
https://youtu.be/N04olbDhD5g
TruNews Streamed live 2 hours ago
Today on TruNews, Rick Wiles and the team explore a disturbing trend in recent weeks as President Trump’s 🦀 words are taking on a more chilling, autocratic tone. Have Conservatives and especially 😈 Evangelicals turned a blind eye to a takeover by Zionism, being leveraged through the current administration? Rick also puts a spotlight on the apparent whitewashing of child sexual abuse underway in 🐉UK media. Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart, Matthew Skow, Kerry Kinsey. Airdate 7/25/19
Title: ... , the nation is morally, spiritually, politically and financially bankrupt.
Post by: AGelbert on July 26, 2019, 08:23:58 pm
Once "Prosperity" Falters, The Legitimacy Of The Status Quo Evaporates (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-190119153601.gif&hash=336ba78f7f18ff5829ef3722f89b4258d2315284)
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
All we're doing is waiting for the fake "prosperity" to crumble, and the resulting loss of credibility and legitimacy will follow like night follows day.
The citizenry of corrupt regimes ruled by self-serving elites tolerate this oppressive misrule for one reason and only one reason: increasing prosperity,which we can define as continual improvement in material well-being and financial security.
The legitimacy of every corrupt regime ruled by self-serving elites hangs on this single thread: once prosperity fades, the legitimacy of the regime evaporates, as the citizenry have no reason to tolerate their rapacious, predatory overlords.
A broken, unfair system will be tolerated as long as every participant feels they're getting a few shreds of improvement. This is why there is such an enormous push of propaganda touting "growth"; if the citizenry can be conned into believing that their deteriorating well-being and security are actually "prosperity," then they will continue to grant the status quo some measure of credibility and legitimacy.
When the gap between the propaganda and reality widens to the breaking point, the regime loses its credibility and legitimacy. This manifests in a number of ways:
► 1. Nobody believes anything the state or its agencies reports as "fact": since it misreported economic well-being and security to benefit the few at the expense of the many, why believe anything official?
► 2. Increased lawlessness: since the Ruling Elites get away with virtually everything, why we should we obey the laws?
► 3. Opting out: rather than become a target for the state's oppressive organs of security, the safer path is to opt out: quit supporting a parasitic and predatory Status Quo of corporations and the state with your labor, slip into the shadows of the economy, avoid debt like the plague, get by on a fraction of your former income.
► 4. Breakdown of Status Quo political parties: since all parties are bands of self-serving thieves, what's the point of even nominal membership?
► 5. Increasing reliance on anti-depression and anti-anxiety medications, more self-medication/drug use, and other manifestations of social stress and breakdown.
► 6. Those who can move away from crumbling high-tax cities, essentially giving up civic hope for fair, affordable solutions to rising inequality and social disorder.
► 7. Increasing defaults and bankruptcies as households and enterprises no longer see any other way out.
► 8. Increasing mockery of financial/corporate media parroting the propaganda that "prosperity" is real and rising-- S&P 500 hits 3,000, we're all getting better in every way, every day, etc.
Truth is the most essential form of capital, and once it has been squandered to serve insiders, vested interests and Ruling Elites, the nation is morally, spiritually, politically and financially bankrupt. All we're doing is waiting for the fake "prosperity" to crumble, and the resulting loss of credibility and legitimacy will follow like night follows day. 🌠 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)
ABOUT THE PROGRAM The Thom Hartmann Program is the leading progressive political talk radio show for political news and comments about Government politics, be it Liberal or Conservative, plus special guests and callers
#MoreFromThom
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Category News & Politics
Title: Going Beyond Impeachment to Get to Real Democracy
Post by: AGelbert on July 26, 2019, 08:45:23 pm
Going Beyond Impeachment to Get to Real Democracy
280 views
https://youtu.be/K9HGOl_QldQ
Thom Hartmann Program Published on Jul 26, 2019
Is impeachment too small a goal for the growing progressive movement in the United States?
Or should we set our sights not just at impeaching Donald Trump but fixing some of our nation's deep-rooted problems?
Jefferson Smith filling in for Thom Hartmann, thinks that our problems go further than Donald Trump, do you agree?
What would you aim for if you could lead the progressive politics of the United States?
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM The Thom Hartmann Program is the leading progressive political talk radio show for political news and comments about Government politics, be it Liberal or Conservative, plus special guests and callers
#MoreFromThom
✔ Amazon links are affiliate links
Category News & Politics
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on July 27, 2019, 06:05:53 pm
Supreme Court says Trump can proceed with plan to spend military funds for border wall construction (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/general-discussion/doomstead-diner-daily/msg13005/#msg13005)
"Justice" 👹 Kavanaugh, Sexual Predator and Corporate Fascist Enabler, is missing below, but you get the idea:
The main function of the U.S. Supreme Court is, in general, to provide fascist elite orchestrated impunity for just about any sort of injustice visited on the populace in order to continuously enrich criminal elites in particular.
I ran into an interesting quote today from the book, "All Honorable Men". It sheds a great deal of light on how the American Capitalist system aids and abets the fascist modus operandi. The quote is referring to I.G. Farben, the NAZI chemical corporation that perfected fascist cartelization for the purpose of monopolizing all industrial production and most of the profit, all over the civilized world, under German fascist control. They are more infamous for their SS Death Camp poison gas, but that was just a tiny part of their criminal activities all over the world.
In their files, discovered within days after the U.S. Army got to their main offices, was the plan for the "New World Order" after WWII. It is detailed and methodical. The parts were all mostly in place before WWII. The parts grew and prospered AFTER WWII.
We (https://images.dailykos.com/images/604450/story_image/NO45-1024x1024.jpg?1540657700) are there.
Quote
The world-wide activities of the Farben organization as part of the German war effort have been publicized so much that they have created a picture of an octopus-like monster. Actually that is not the point. Most of the individual acts which made up the spectacular geopolitical activities of I.G. Farben looked like ordinary business transactions. Partly their success was due to American acceptance of the 😈💵🎩 "business is business" philosophy. Largely relying on this easy tolerance of social irresponsibility, the Farben organization put across its entire program, capturing markets, bottling up inventions, digging out economic and industrial secrets, and financing propaganda practically without fear of reprisals or countermeasures. ALL HONORABLE MEN COPYRIGHT 1950, BY JAMES STEWART MARTIN, Chapter 5: HARE AND HOUNDS, Page 65 (https://archive.org/stream/pdfy-ZqtX7a7HbQzP4FtT/All%20Honorable%20Men_djvu.txt)
Here's another quote from that book that mirrors EXACTLY what has happened in the USA, thanks to our fascist enabling "Justice" (SEE: Orwell) System:
Quote
The I.G. Farben New Order plan was initiated by the Farben management, acting on its own, to show the German High Command how the corporate expansion of I.G, Farben as a business proposition could be geared in with the interests of the German government In establishing German power all over the world.
This close identity between the business interests of the company and the national interests of Germany was not accidental. It was the result of over twenty years of close working between the management of German industry and the German Government.
Under this working arrangement, the laws of Germany had been gradually modified to give more and more assistance to the growth of organizations like I.G. Farben. Special tax concessions favoring the growth of (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) combines, modifications of the corporation law to give (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418193910.gif&hash=633dd399cd6006279afd7efb5ef953673b96bd78) management a free hand, government subsidies for special projects, all strengthened the position of the combines in a geometric progression as their size increased. In return, the greater size and weight of the combines made them a more and more powerful instrument of German policy abroad.
Posted on July 28, 2019 by DavidSwanson, World BEYOND War, July 28, 2019
SNIPPET:
Jacobsen’s (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-080419191019.png&hash=a449294ee6fe2dfdea44c1c501f4439b9ac69c26) book on Operation Paperclip, which I reviewed here (http://davidswanson.org/operation-nazification/), told the story of how the U.S. military and CIA hired large numbers of former Nazis. The scandal that one is supposed to see in that story is, apparently, that people had been Nazis, not that they had participated in horrific atrocities, because participating in horrific atrocities is depicted as a courageous and noble service in Jacobsen’s newer book.
There is, of course, a case to be made for the existence of Nazi influence on post-WWII U.S. atrocities. As I wrote at the link above,
“The U.S. military shifted in numerous ways when former Nazis were put into prominent positions. It was Nazi rocket scientists who proposed placing nuclear bombs on rockets and began developing the intercontinental ballistic missile. It was Nazi engineers who had designed Hitler’s bunker beneath Berlin, who now designed underground fortresses for the U.S. government in the Catoctin and Blue Ridge Mountains. Known Nazi liars were employed by the U.S. military to draft classified intelligence briefs falsely hyping the Soviet menace. Nazi scientists developed U.S. chemical and biological weapons programs, bringing over their knowledge of tabun and sarin, not to mention thalidomide — and their eagerness for human experimentation, which the U.S. military and the newly created CIA readily engaged in on a major scale. Every bizarre and gruesome notion of how a person might be assassinated or an army immobilized was of interest to their research. New weapons were developed, including VX and Agent Orange. A new drive to visit and weaponize outerspace was created, and former Nazis were put in charge of a new agency called NASA.
“Permanent war thinking, limitless war thinking, and creative war thinking in which science and technology overshadowed death and suffering, all went mainstream. When a former Nazi spoke to a women’s luncheon at the Rochester Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1953, the event’s headline was ‘Buzz Bomb Mastermind to Address Jaycees Today.’ That doesn’t sound terribly odd to us, but might have shocked anyone living in the United States anytime prior to World War II. Watch this Walt Disney (https://youtu.be/Zjs3nBfyIwM) television program featuring a former Nazi who worked slaves to death in a cave building rockets.
Before long, President Dwight Eisenhower would be lamenting that ‘the total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government.’ Eisenhower was not referring to Nazism but to the power of the military-industrial complex. Yet, when asked whom he had in mind in remarking in the same speech that ‘public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite,’ Eisenhower named two scientists, one of them the former Nazi in the Disney video linked above.”
Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4) https://washingtonsblog.com/2019/07/abolish-terrorist-agencies.html
Title: Mueller Caught Lying About “Exoneration” Of Trump
Post by: AGelbert on July 28, 2019, 10:31:33 pm
Mueller (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-080419191019.png&hash=a449294ee6fe2dfdea44c1c501f4439b9ac69c26) Caught Lying About “Exoneration” Of (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) Trump
https://youtu.be/ueCE3EZuUHM
Title: a pejorative label for people without scruples that will steal anything not attached when you are no
Post by: AGelbert on July 29, 2019, 03:15:13 pm
Agelbert NOTE: The golf clubs and the money in the eagle claws are good, but the nearly exact image of the Russian double headed eagle PLUS the phrase in Spanish, "Trump (i.e. 45) is a PUPPET (of Putin)" is even better.(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185040-1659929.gif&hash=0a9ca0c1f083655b821cbf024422e55e009a6d8d)
As a Spanish speaker, I can tell you that the word "titere" (three syllables, accent on the first syllable, pronounced Tē-Tĕ-Rĕ) does not just mean "puppet"; it is used far more often as a pejorative label for people without scruples that will steal anything not attached when you are not looking. It fits.
Donald Trump’s presidential seal prank (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718204746.gif&hash=ef3006b22f07724d45868cab1dae91b1dff31327) takes an even stranger turn 8) (https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/presidential-seal-prank-stranger-turn-trump/19584/)
It's all great fun, and I got a good laugh out of it. BUT, ridicule of Trump needs to be put in the proper perspective. As a kid in the 1950's, I watched many cartoons (featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Donald Duck, etc.) made before, and during, WWII. They ridiculed Hitler to no end. It didn't help. Murderous Racist Demagogues despise ridicule but are not deterred by it. The reason for that is that those demagogues, like Hitler AND Trump, are the tiny visible tip of a cabal of rapacious oligarchs that put them there and want to keep them there.
A portion of the Oligarchic 🐍 SNAKE (https://blog.politicsmeanspolitics.com/who-are-the-american-oligarchs-8d7b42938525) -- The 🐲 HEAD of the SNAKE is probably composed of some of these plus some you will never read about, despite having far more wealth than the "richest people" shown above.
"The rich executed a coup d’état that transformed the three branches of the U.S. government and nearly all institutions, including the mass media, into wholly owned subsidiaries of the corporate state." -- Chris Hedges
"in many ways the West already observes truly 'free markets,' or economic anarchy where giant corporations are free to do anything they wish, including wage massive, global wars in pursuit of their interests. The constrictive laws and regulations many well-intentioned free-market advocates abhor, have been imposed by these unhindered, anarchical corporations, not by a 'socialist government.' What these advocates perceive as a 'socialist government' is in fact an interface created and controlled by unhindered, unregulated, unaccountable corporate-financier interests. " -- Charles Hugh Smith
"When a mystery is complicated, the French tell us to look for a woman; but in sleuthing among corporations, we found it was much better to look for the chief accountant." -- James Stewart Martin -- ALL HONORABLE MEN (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/geopolitics/key-historical-events-that-you-may-have-never-heard-of/msg12769/#msg12769)
There are three legs to the fascism stool: 1) A melding of corporate and civil governance. 2) A foreign policy predicated on an aggressive nationalistic worldview. 3) An authoritarian government. A political system that recognizes corporations as individual persons certainly provides one of those legs .Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F780_9adc777a0e08428257b76ece69d18ee52006bb5e39d60d966bb2440d29d17641.jpeg&hash=4d8f2f9ea7b952c63ad0441a4619e9b370ddcb0a) just completed the last two legs.
Just as in George Orwell’s novel, the United States is now ruled by a (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) demagogue who lies with every breath he takes, punishes anyone who disagrees with him, and projects a hyper-nationalist agenda. Today’s #Fake Republicans, led by the hate-filled (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) Mitch McConnell, embrace the leader because he allows them to pursue their own agenda of consolidating one party rule through aggressive manipulation of voting districts and voter suppression tactics. McConnell, with his “winners make the rules, losers go home” attitude, is to politics today what General Sherman was to the Civil War — an implacable foe who will utilize any tool to subjugate the opposition.
There used to be Republicans like Abraham Lincoln who sought to unify the country, Teddy Roosevelt who promoted the national parks system, Dwight Eisenhower who didn’t insult the members of the Supreme Court when they made their ruling in Brown Vs. Board of Education but used the power of his office to enforce that decision, Richard Nixon who signed the Clean Water Act and created the Environmental Protection Agency. Even Ronald Reagan, the darling of Republicans, took steps to invigorate the EPA.
Until the current occupant of the Oval Office came along, every president, once inaugurated, made an effort to represent every citizen of the United States, not just those who turn out for carefully crafted adoration festivals. The present day #Fake Republican party is anti-everything except promoting the interests of unchecked business and celebrating the historical dominance of white male culture.
The current president leans heavily on an appeal to patriotism, but he is no patriot. As union organizer Eugene Debs said a hundred years ago, “Every robber or oppressor in history has wrapped himself in a cloak of patriotism or religion, or both.” Trump 🦀 has done both.
The signs that a warming planet is placing the entire planet at risk are all around us, but the fake Republicans refuse to lift a finger to address the problem.
They are too busy making corporations into super citizens while diminishing the power of the people who are the nominal holders of the nation’s sovereignty. Unable to see beyond the next quarterly report, they are literally pouring gasoline on the fire and turning a blind eye to the consequences.
Politicians used to work for the common good, or at least pretend to. No more. Today it’s all about destroying the enemy. With the help of ALEC and similar front organizations, those who speak out are threatened with felony convictions that carry prison sentences of up to 40 years. Government workers who speak out are harassed, demoted, or fired. We have a “my way or the highway” president and a coterie of sycophants who applaud his every move.
America is embracing totalitarianism by brutally suppressing voting rights for anyone who is not likely to vote for Republican candidates. Polling places in poor neighborhoods are arbitrarily closed, voting hours are shortened, and new restrictions on voter registrations are added. If the people will not get out and vote, soon they will find they have lost the ability to do so and the consolidation of power in the hands of a few super-wealthy white males will be complete.
Full EXCELLENT article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
Title: Focus on Trump's 👹 RACISM to BEAT him!
Post by: AGelbert on July 30, 2019, 07:26:57 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614221847.gif&hash=54129e3b65760aaddc6f2d7f42b34a7d839d2f27) Defeating Donald 🦀 Trump a la 😈 David Duke (w/ Tim Wise 👍)
704 views
https://youtu.be/gva7VFmdLac
Thom Hartmann Program Published on Jul 30, 2019
What is the best way to address racist in the United States?
Can the lessons from David Duke, be used to defeat Donald Trump in 2020?
Tim Wise, one of nation’s most prominent antiracist essayists and educators joined guest host Jefferson Smith to share his opinions.
📽️ WATCH NEXT: Some Still Refuse to Believe Donald Trump is Racist - How? - https://youtu.be/lvcBTG9DagM
📕 BOOK: White Lives Matter Most - http://www.amazon.com/dp/1629635405?t...
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM The Thom Hartmann Program is the leading progressive political talk radio show for political news and comments about Government politics, be it Liberal or Conservative, plus special guests and callers
#MoreFromThom
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Category News & Politics
Title: Kris Kobach releases racist video to disprove racism allegations
Post by: AGelbert on July 31, 2019, 07:59:29 pm
🦀 and 🎩: Two TOOLS of the 🦍 Deep (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) State
They (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) Are Not Going To Quit
Posted on July 25, 2019 by Fantasy Free Economics
If the stock market drops, the Deep State is out of business. So, the stock market is not going to drop. As a matter of fact priority number one in Washington is to make sure the Deep State stays in business. The Deep State only faces two dangers that I can think of. Although unlikely, the public could wake up and discover that the Deep State is a crime syndicate. The public is controllable because the Deep State owns the media. Unless given serious attention the stock market has a mind of its own. The stock market simply can’t be allowed to fall.
As this rally was starting, it was largely treated as a bear market rally. I wrote this article: Don’t Dismiss This Rally (http://quillian.net/blog/dont-dismiss-this-rally/). You can expect heroic efforts at controlling the market from now until the country is destroyed. They won’t quit. They will die first.
Agelbert NOTE: The following quotes from smart people summarize the corrosive and destructive influence of fascist oligarchs on human civilization:
Former President Obama has questioned the ideological consistency of those who champion free-market solutions — except when the free market is pointing to the wisdom of renewable energy. He singled out billionaire brothers 🦕🦖 Charles and David Koch, who are major donors to Republican political candidates. “It’s one thing if you’re consistent in being free market,” Obama said. “It’s another thing when you’re free market until it’s solar that’s working and people want to buy and suddenly you’re not for it anymore. That’s a problem.”
"In many ways the West already observes truly 'free markets,' or economic anarchy where giant corporations are free to do anything they wish, including wage massive, global wars in pursuit of their interests. The constrictive laws and regulations many well-intentioned free-market advocates abhor, have been imposed by these unhindered, anarchical corporations, not by a 'socialist government.'What these advocates perceive as a 'socialist government' is in fact an interface created and controlled by unhindered, unregulated, unaccountable corporate-financier interests." -- Charles Hugh Smith
"When a mystery is complicated, the French tell us to look for a woman; but in sleuthing among corporations, we found it was much better to look for the chief accountant." -- James Stewart Martin -- ALL HONORABLE MEN
Fascists, like termites, are able organizers, and thoroughly attached to their way of life. (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/geopolitics/key-historical-events-that-you-may-have-never-heard-of/msg12769/#msg12769)
"The rich executed a coup d’état that transformed the three branches of the U.S. government and nearly all institutions, including the mass media, into wholly owned subsidiaries of the corporate state." -- Chris Hedges
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on August 01, 2019, 04:57:57 pm
Past is (https://images.dailykos.com/images/604450/story_image/NO45-1024x1024.jpg?1540657700) PROLOGUE
Lindsey Graham introduces bill to extend detention of migrant children from 20 to 100 days (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/general-discussion/doomstead-diner-daily/msg13067/#msg13067)
Lindsey Graham (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sherv.net%2Fcm%2Femoticons%2Fsick%2Fbarfing-smiley-emoticon.gif&hash=36f6791510582d9f9f48af1d4d1a006a5681103b) continues to amaze me in a negative sort of way. I thought he could not stoop lower. I was wrong. His boylike friendly face hides a level of depravity that would make Hitler proud.
Title: George Stanton's tool for tracking this process in 8 Stages of Genocide (revised to 10)
Post by: AGelbert on August 02, 2019, 06:12:30 pm
When Trump 🦀 Calls People "Filth," He's Laying Groundwork for ☠️ Genocide 😱
NICHOLAS POWERS, TRUTHOUT
Mass killing does not happen instantly. It needs the sort of ideological groundwork that Trump is laying down with the cooperation of the Republican Party and right-wing media. From his rhetoric of "filth" about immigrants to his dehumanization of non-white people, Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591) is reviving the 🦍 ideology of genocide upon which this country was founded.
Read the Article → https://truthout.org/articles/when-trump-calls-people-filth-hes-laying-groundwork-for-genocide/
Bodycam Video Shows (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) Dallas Officers Mocking Man as He Died Pinned to Ground 😱
AMY GOODMAN, DEMOCRACY NOW!
For the past three years, the city of Dallas has fought efforts to release police bodycam footage showing what happened to Tony Timpa. After a prolonged legal battle, the disturbing footage was released today, showing officers arriving on the scene where Timpa was already handcuffed. In the video, Timpa repeatedly pleads for his life, while police officers mock him as he dies.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript → https://truthout.org/video/bodycam-video-shows-dallas-officers-mocking-man-as-he-died-pinned-to-ground/
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on August 02, 2019, 10:00:12 pm
ABOUT THE PROGRAM The Thom Hartmann Program is the leading progressive political talk radio show for political news and comments about Government politics, be it Liberal or Conservative, plus special guests and callers
#MoreFromThom
✔ Amazon links are affiliate links
Category News & Politics
Title: How Trump's Political Appointees Overruled Tougher Settlements With Big Banks
Post by: AGelbert on August 03, 2019, 04:27:49 pm
Kirkland & Ellis is the ((https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) Deep State) "Law" Firm that defended serial (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-030819164704.png) Jeffry Epstein. Trump is ALSO part of the SAME (https://images.dailykos.com/images/604450/story_image/NO45-1024x1024.jpg?1540657700) elite FASCIST happy "Family".
July 09, 2019 Kirkland Lawyers in Spotlight Amid New Epstein Criminal Case (https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2019/07/09/kirkland-lawyers-in-spotlight-amid-new-epstein-criminal-case/?slreturn=20190703165546)
Lefkowitz represented Epstein along with other (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) titans of the defense bar, such as Roy Black, Gerald Lefcourt, Alan Dershowitz and his Kirkland colleague Kenneth Starr, who had previously helped recruit Acosta to Kirkland in the 1990s. Starr was a partner at Kirkland from 1993 until 2004 and remained counsel to the firm until at least 2010. Lefkowitz, who joined Kirkland in 1993, continued to represent Epstein as recently as 2011 in a New York state court proceeding regarding his sex-offender status, court records show.
How (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) Trump's 😈 Political Appointees Overruled Tougher Settlements With Big 👹💵🎩 Banks
JESSE EISINGER, PROPUBLICA
Since Donald Trump's election, federal white-collar enforcement has taken a big hit. Fines and settlements against corporations have plummeted. Prosecutions of individuals are falling to record lows. Two settlements with giant banks over financial crisis-era misdeeds provide a window into how the Trump administration has eased up on corporate wrongdoers.
Read the Article → (https://truthout.org/articles/how-trumps-political-appointees-overruled-tougher-settlements-with-big-banks/)
Title: America Has Gulags in Its Own Backyard
Post by: AGelbert on August 03, 2019, 06:27:27 pm
TruthDig
America Has Gulags in Its Own Backyard 🤬
By Robert Scheer — In a groundbreaking series, journalist Shoshana Walter reveals the work camps operating all over the country under the guise of rehab centers.
Read more (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on August 05, 2019, 03:50:57 pm
Catherine Austin Fitts - Financial Calamity an Ongoing Process (#2)
48,160 views
https://youtu.be/HCu0mLV2ZBE
Greg Hunter Published on Aug 3, 2019 Click Here For Part #1 (https://usawatchdog.com/radical-economic-reengineering-after-2020-election-1-catherine-austin-fitts/)
Investment advisor and Former Assistant Secretary of Housing Catherine Austin Fitts says forget about the notion of a coming economic meltdown, we are already living in an unfolding financial calamity, now. Fitts explains, “The likely financial calamity is an acceleration of the ‘slow burn.’ It’s not that the stock or bond market comes apart.
It is that the stock and bond market continue to be subsidized by liquidating all sorts of people, animals and living resources. In other words, we are liquidating all of life.
To engineer central control, we are levering up the debt, and we are liquidating people and countries and things to basically keep that game going while somebody is walking off with tremendous amounts of money that they used to engineer central control. So, we have had an ongoing calamity since the mid 1990’s--serious financial calamity. If you are the people of Libya, you have already had your financial calamity. Calamity is not a big bang that we all experience together. We almost got ours in 2008 and 2009. Calamity is an ongoing process. Some are composed so others can live.”
Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with Catherine Austin Fitts, publisher of “The Solari Report,” in Part #1 of this must see interview.
Famous economist on Banking's (pernicious) Social Externality:
"There is here I think a fundamental disconnect between that what is rational for the private banker, from the point of view of their shareholders, and their solvency, from that which is rational for society" -- Adair Turner
1:02:40 mark in the following video:
https://youtu.be/LCX3qPq0JDA
Title: Mass Shootings, Militarism and Policing Are Chapters in the Same Creeping Police State Manifesto
Post by: AGelbert on August 05, 2019, 06:42:31 pm
MONDAY, AUGUST 5, 2019
"Since white supremacy, militarism and capitalism are in (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) solidarity, so must be the movements against all three." (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)
Mass Shootings, Militarism and Policing Are Chapters in the Same ☠️ Manifesto
DERECKA PURNELL, TRUTHOUT
After the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio this weekend, Rep. Steve Cohen tweeted, "You want to shoot an assault weapon? Go to Afghanistan or Iraq. Enlist!" Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, apparently merely wanted to redirect the shooter's bullets toward people of color outside of the United States. His tweet was a chilling reminder of how the U.S.'s militarism against other countries and its domestic manifestations of white supremacy replicate and reinforce each other.
Title: Re: Mass Shootings, Militarism and Policing Are Chapters in the Same Creeping Police State Manifesto
Post by: Surly1 on August 05, 2019, 08:43:12 pm
"Since white supremacy, militarism and capitalism are in (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) solidarity, so must be the movements against all three." (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)
Mass Shootings, Militarism and Policing Are Chapters in the Same ☠️ Manifesto
DERECKA PURNELL, TRUTHOUT
After the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio this weekend, Rep. Steve Cohen tweeted, "You want to shoot an assault weapon? Go to Afghanistan or Iraq. Enlist!" Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, apparently merely wanted to redirect the shooter's bullets toward people of color outside of the United States. His tweet was a chilling reminder of how the U.S.'s militarism against other countries and its domestic manifestations of white supremacy replicate and reinforce each other.
The foundation stone for this apostasy was the so-called USA PATRIOT Act, which in and of itself its proof that the real terrorists have won.
And then the next step is the transfer of military material to domestic police departments such that every Mayberry Police is fully armored and Andy and Barney have their own armored vehicle.
Of course, I get pissed at sports team wearing camouflage uniforms, and Blue Angels overflights at football games, so I come pre-loaded with an attitude.
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on August 05, 2019, 10:37:34 pm
"Since white supremacy, militarism and capitalism are in (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) solidarity, so must be the movements against all three." (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)
Mass Shootings, Militarism and Policing Are Chapters in the Same ☠️ Manifesto
DERECKA PURNELL, TRUTHOUT
After the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio this weekend, Rep. Steve Cohen tweeted, "You want to shoot an assault weapon? Go to Afghanistan or Iraq. Enlist!" Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, apparently merely wanted to redirect the shooter's bullets toward people of color outside of the United States. His tweet was a chilling reminder of how the U.S.'s militarism against other countries and its domestic manifestations of white supremacy replicate and reinforce each other.
The foundation stone for this apostasy was the so-called USA PATRIOT Act, which in and of itself its proof that the real terrorists have won.
And then the next step is the transfer of military material to domestic police departments such that every Mayberry Police is fully armored and Andy and Barney have their own armored vehicle.
Of course, I get pissed at sports team wearing camouflage uniforms, and Blue Angels overflights at football games, so I come pre-loaded with an attitude.
Your attitude is the best part of ya, sir. Those of us with that attitude know full well that the "Patriot" Act was our version of the "Enabling" Act that followed the Reichstag Fire set by you know who. 9/11, caused by you know who, was our Reichstag Fire.
I ran into an interesting quote the other day. It is not a conspiracy theory, even though you won't find it in high school (and college) history texts.
Quote
Nazi Germany TRIED EXTREMELY HARD to AVOID WW2 with the British and when forced to fight them, win WW2 from 1939-1943, and when they could not; they ESCAPED from 1943-onwards to form the 4th Reich--which exists today. 👀
The American Republican Party is run by descendents and still surviving home-grown AmeroNazis who put Hitler into power in the first place--and enabled the 3rd Reichsters to escape. http://www.combatreform.org/axisandalliedspecialoperationsaviation.htm
Standard Oil of New Jersey was palsy walsy with NAZI Germany. So much so that a top American Executive of that Rockefeller founded "loyal servant" of the USA agreed, in secret, in 1939, to return the patents that I.G. Farben had "loaned" them AFTER the war. IOW, Standard Oil appeared to own the patents, but was planning ALL ALONG to give them back to the NAZI OWNERS in Germany IF the Germans lost the war to the USA. The patents would be transferred back after the U.S. occupation forces were no longer "nosing around German business transaction files", of course. Our Courts learned all this in 1945, but nobody was accused of treason. If that was not treason, I do not know what is. This was NOT an isolated incident.
😈 Frank A. Howard of the 🦖 Standard Oil (NJ) Company (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/geopolitics/key-historical-events-that-you-may-have-never-heard-of/msg13108/#msg13108)
The hold that fascists have on this country is far more entrenched than most people are willing to accept.
All that said, I have not lost all hope for some justice from our government. Fascists are so destructive that everyone, even a lot of low level fascists ;D, get tired of the thorough unraveling of society that occurs under those arrogant, selfish, brutal, depraved, murderous bastards. Of course, a more democratic government and a few big name depraved AmeroNazis getting jailed won't help mitigate our Catastrophic Climate Change DOOM situation, but it would be a step in the correct direction, for a change.
I pray the USA overcomes entrenched Fascism here and becomes a Democracy in my lifetime.
Title: the US has officially reached shithole status.
Post by: AGelbert on August 06, 2019, 01:13:52 pm
Quote
Initech (76,491 posts) Tue Aug 6, 2019, 11:03 A.M.
Foreign countries 🔊 warn citizens about 🚩 traveling to the US because of mass ☠️ shootings
Source: USA Today
Foreign countries are issuing warnings to their citizens about traveling to the United States after a weekend of violence left 31 people dead in two separate mass shootings this weekend.
The Venezuelan government issued a statement urging its citizens to postpone trips to the U.S. after the “recent acts of violence.”
The press release advises that Venezuelans stay away from cities that have the most violence citing a 2019 Forbes article that lists the most dangerous cities in the U.S. These cities were Cleveland; Detroit; Baltimore; St. Louis; Oakland, California; Memphis, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta, Stockton, California; and Buffalo, New York.
Also in Latin America, the Uruguayan government issued a similar release that urges its citizens to take precaution when visiting the U.S. because of its “increasing indiscriminate violence” and hate crimes fueled by “racism and discrimination that cost the lives of more than 250 people in the first seven months of this year.”
The Uruguayan notice specifically advises to avoid places that have a large concentration of people such as theme parks, malls, art festivals, religious activities, food festivals, sports events and mass protests.
Great, the US has officially reached (https://emojipedia-us.s3.amazonaws.com/thumbs/240/apple/118/pile-of-poo_1f4a9.png) shithole status. Thanks Trump, the GOP, and the NRA.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142351024
Agelbert NOTE: Perhaps I should have posted the above in the "Apocalyptic Humor" topic thread. The problem with that is that it is difficult to find humor in our present situation, so I put it here. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-240718213435-14601598.gif&hash=d55f80ee79b668f6fafd534ef6d94b3c0d8992f6)
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on August 07, 2019, 02:03:04 pm
We Need to Defeat Trump's (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591) White Supremacy Virus
2,031 views
https://youtu.be/r2i51O37ucE
Thom Hartmann Program Published on Aug 5, 2019
What happened in El Paso Texas and Dayton Ohio isn't new,
The economic and political undercurrent of American culture and politics has always been one of white supremacy.
Until this poisonous thought virus is defeated, it will continue to function like a cancer in our society. We need to make it as much a criminal act to advocate white supremacy as it is to advocate for Al Qaeda or Daesh
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM The Thom Hartmann Program is the leading progressive political talk radio show for political news and comments about Government politics, be it Liberal or Conservative, plus special guests and callers
#MoreFromThom
✔ Amazon links are affiliate links
Category News & Politics
Title: He 🦀 endorsed the ☠️ racist manifesto’s worldview when he tied gun reform to immigration reform.
Post by: AGelbert on August 09, 2019, 05:26:49 pm
Quote
So for the cost of a simple act of terror, you can have a 🦀 President respond within one business day with an official policy motivated by your actions to keep out non-whites?
Great freaking deterrent to white nationalist terrorism. https://t.co/0y3fVdeVHM
— Tiffany Bond (I) 🦞🇺🇸 (@TiffanyBond) August 5, 2019
👍👍👍
The Wasington Post
August 5, 2019
Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591) just blamed the El Paso shooting victims for their own deaths (https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/08/05/trump-just-blamed-el-paso-shooting-victims-their-own-deaths/) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300115234833.gif&hash=20e82f36f361174e6f8f07e11c36330842502bab)
Title: The Kochs & the Nazis: Book Reveals Billionaires' Father Built Key Oil Refinery for the Third Reich,
Post by: AGelbert on August 09, 2019, 06:14:21 pm
The 🦕🦖 Kochs & the Nazis: Book Reveals Billionaires' Father Built Key Oil Refinery for the Third Reich, Democracy Now! (2016)
https://youtu.be/lv7_Hx9QY-Y
http://kochdocs.org/resources/films/
Title: The beginning of an even greater incursion on free speech & free association of rights of protesters
Post by: AGelbert on August 09, 2019, 07:01:44 pm
The Right Wing Is Trying to Make It a Crime to Oppose Fascism (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16181943.gif&hash=0b93e71ee5e24bbe02555e0d648a1283e0e9651d)
SHANE BURLEY, TRUTHOUT
Sen. Ted Cruz's resolution outlawing antifascist activity, though non-binding, has an influential amplifier in President Trump, who is more than happy to send a clear message to law enforcement officers that the gloves are off in their treatment of protesters. Since mass social movements are made up of diverse entities, the attack on antifascist organizing makes all forms of activism, except the fascist kind, subject to suspicion.
Read the Article → https://truthout.org/articles/the-right-wing-is-trying-to-make-it-a-crime-to-oppose-fascism/
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on August 10, 2019, 01:03:09 pm
🦍 ICE Raids on Undocumented Immigrants Create Fear and Enable Exploitation
August 9, 2019
The recent ICE raids that detained 680 food workers in Mississippi not only strike fear and terror in the hearts of immigrants, but are a calculated move to enable greater exploitation of immigrants because it increases their insecurity and makes organizing more difficult
https://youtu.be/s82fDDTjQq0
Story Transcript
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: This is Jacqueline Luqman with The Real News Network.
The nation watched in horror this week as 680 allegedly undocumented workers at the Koch Foods processing plant in Morton, Mississippi, were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. While this incident might be seen on the surface as an expression of the Trump administration’s a brutal anti-immigration policies, what happened this week in Mississippi might actually be part of a long practice of companies that exploit and abuse undocumented workers using deportation as a tool of control and retaliation.
Joining me to talk about this issue from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is Cynthia Garcia. Cynthia is a Deportation Defense Hotline Coordinator with United We Dream, which is the largest immigration youth-led organization in the country, fighting for justice and dignity for all immigrants. Cynthia, thank you so much for taking the time out to talk with me today.
CYNTHIA GARCIA: Thank you for allowing us to be in this space.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: Just to quickly go over the fact, if people are not aware, Wednesday of this week, ICE agents descended upon five food processing plants in a small town in Mississippi, ultimately detaining 600 people they claimed were undocumented. ICE agents put them on five buses, took them to a nearby Air Force hangar where almost half of the people were released the next morning and more were released later.
Cynthia, of the roughly 300 people who were released Thursday morning, are they free of legal worries, and what is happening with the rest who are still being detained?
CYNTHIA GARCIA: That’s a great question. I think something that needs to be highlighted here is that, although folks may have been released, that they are probably still having a process where they will still have to return and continue a deportation proceeding process. We are still working to identify local organizations that are doing a lot of the on-the-ground work to figure out what these processes look like, what the next steps are for possible appointments.
We know that anyone who is able to be released from this detention, at times, the release and liberation is a great step, but there is a legal burden that continues to be part of the system that still is going to be needing the support so that they are able to fight for their freedom fully.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: While the people who were released still need legal support locally and nationally, while they were being detained, the children of the people who were detained were still in school, and those children did not find out that their parents had been detained until either the children went home to find nobody at home or someone, friends or family members, went to the schools to pick the children up and to tell them that their parents were not going to be coming home that day. Now, this obviously devastated and traumatized those children. How many parents are still being detained by ICE who are separated from their children still at this point?
CYNTHIA GARCIA: Yeah, so we know that it was about 300 folks that were actually released, but the total of individuals that were detained that day were 680, so we know that there’s still a large majority, 380 folks, that we have not yet been able to identify the next steps for their children. Like I said, I am not currently on the ground, but a lot of the local organizations like MIRA, El Pueblo, ACLU, Mississippi, are doing all the delegation and all the work to try to, one, provide the legal support, but also be able to identify how we’re going to provide a space to hold those families who may not have been part of that ICE activity, but are also fearful and also fear for their children.
I think that Wednesday, the images of the first day of school for so many of those kids that we saw on the videos came to a very sour ending when we were able to identify that, as we were coming back from a very horrific weekend where a shooting in two states thousands of miles apart were guided by this rhetoric of racism and hate against immigrants, and to see the children not have someone to come home, it’s another act of terror against the immigrant community, and there is the resilience of the community stepping up and finding ways to support the children who may not have a parent coming back home and then continue to come together and figure out the best possible ways to support them and to gain the liberation of the parents who are not able to stand and kiss their children good night today.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: You mentioned that this was the first day of school for those children. This is what some of the children faced when they returned home from school that first day of school that day. Please, let’s show this clip.
MAGDALENA GREGORIO, 11-YEARS-OLD : My daddy didn’t do nothing. He’s not a criminal or something. That’s why immigration took him. Please let him free. The government—Government, please put your heart. Let my parent be free with everybody else please.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: This is what a so many children had to return home to on their first day of school, coming home to find that their parents were not there, and, on the surface, we see this incident, this action that was carried out Wednesday as a part of this administration’s stated, almost hallmark, foundational campaign of terror against what they call “illegal immigrants,” their words, not ours, and certainly not mine, and not only is it the foundation of or the hallmark of this administration’s “accomplishments,” but this president has actually commented on and doubled down on this incident as we hear in this clip right now.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You have to go in. You can’t let anybody know. Otherwise, when you get there, nobody will be there. I want people to know that if they come into the United States illegally, they’re getting out. They’re going to be brought out. This serves as a very good deterrent, and when people see what they saw yesterday and like what they will see for a long time, they know that they’re not staying.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: Obviously, as you said, this is a – and I concur this is a campaign of terror against the immigrant community. In one aspect, it is working in a way because, in one school district in Morton, Mississippi, 150 students in one school alone were not present in school the next day, and school officials could not encourage parents to bring their kids to school.
The Chicago Tribune reported a local pastor, Reverend Michael O’Brien, who’s a pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Canton, nearby Canton, as quoting, as saying that he notices in his community, the people in his parish, largely Latino, that the people are all afraid. He said, “Their doors are locked, and they won’t answer their doors.” So, yes, this campaign of terror seems to be effective in making the communities it’s targeting afraid.
Cynthia, there are now reports coming out that this is more than just the latest salvo in Trump’s immigration program because, last August, an Illinois-based… I’m sorry, Koch Foods, which by the way is not related to the Koch Brothers, settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of more than 100 workers in that plant that was raided today over claims that the company knew or should have known of sexual and physical assaults against its Hispanic workers. Can you tell us more about that, that lawsuit, those complaints, and how this lawsuit is related to this raid that happened this week?
CYNTHIA GARCIA: I think, frankly, when we look at that particular component of the lawsuit, I think we also… We can concur on how this is another way to try and stop the community from organizing, from protecting themselves. It’s very clear and obvious that, while it’s been announced that these raids were scheduled prior to this past weekend’s events and while we don’t know for sure if they are particularly targeting the group of folks that were part of that lawsuit, I think it’s clear that they’re trying to send a message for the community to not organize themselves, and I think many large companies have utilized the need of the immigrant community for a workplace and the need for them to provide for families that, when they become organized and when they’re able to reclaim their humanity and their dignity by requesting and demanding a safe space at work, and this is one of the outcomes. This is how, although there is a settlement, they are trying to send a message.
I think, ultimately, the community’s fear is not just the raids. I think the reality of the community is that we’re coming from a weekend where people that look like us, people that look like our children, people that look like my community and people that look like my loved ones were shot at a Walmart for the simple reason that they look like me, and they look like the community in Mississippi, and they look like the brown communities and black communities all around the country.
To say that the raids are the only reason why our community is feeling that way is also giving a lot of power to the Trump administration. What we should be asking – for the accountability of why these attacks are increasing in the country and why is it that we no longer feel safe on the first day of school when we take our children to school, why is it that we don’t feel safe when we do grocery shopping, and we are at risk for the simple reason of being someone who isn’t white, and that is another of the main key points that this administration is not being held accountable for.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: You bring up an excellent point about the power that people are giving to the Trump administration in the face or in the wake of these recent incidents, not just the massacres that have occurred against Latino people in other states, but also against… in regard to workplace retaliation in food processing plants, because that’s not an isolated incident either. There were at least two other plants, one in Salem, Ohio, and another in Morristown, Tennessee, where ICE raids followed complaints of worker conditions, and many of those workers were Latino or undocumented, or Latino and undocumented workers.
This was before the Trump administration even came to power, and one of the largest incidences of that happening occurred in Smithfield in Tar Heel, North Carolina, in 2008, where workers, Latino and African-American workers worked together since 1998, fought against racial and sexual harassment against both Latino and African-American workers, threatened Latino workers with deportation if they spoke out and threatened them with deportation if they worked with African-American workers to unionize. And finally, in 2008, Smithfield workers, Latino and African-Americans did organize and joined the union, but that was followed with two ICE raids.
Speak more on this issue of needing to hold the entire system accountable, not just this administration, but the entire system accountable for how it treats the least among us in regard to workers, undocumented immigrant or otherwise.
CYNTHIA GARCIA: Yeah, and I think you bring a great point on how this is not the first raid at this scale. It is, in fact, one of the largest raids in a single state. It is definitely in the past 10 years the most damage that we’ve seen to our community coming from all small towns in Mississippi, but I think the accountability piece also comes from the employers. When we’re thinking that the employees don’t get to unionize or they don’t get to call out this treatment and these abuses, and when they finally do, there is a retaliation that looks like what happened on Wednesday night and on Wednesday throughout the day.
I think the community has the power to call that out as we see this, as we identify the trends and as we see the corporations that are profiting from brown and black communities, and when they are to be held accountable or they are called out about these abuses, they retaliate against their employees. I think they believe that because it’s a small area that this was going to go unnoticed, but we are at a point where we’re all against the system that continues to take advantage of the least represented and the most de-franchised communities in the country, and so we are going to stand up for each other. We are going to show up for immigrants, for black parties and for all the minorities that are struggling right now and that have been struggling for decades and even since the very origins of this country.
I think that leaves us to how can people help and holding these elected officials and holding corporations like the companies that allow their employees to be detained and to leave their children at home without anybody to care for them.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: Before I ask you this question formally and let you tell us how we can help, I also have to ask, has any official or any member of the managerial staff of Koch Foods Incorporated, have anyone in the company been detained or charged with violating any kind of employment laws in regard to hiring undocumented or, even in this case, underage workers?
CYNTHIA GARCIA: For me, I think from my knowledge, and, like I said, it doesn’t help that I’m not currently on the ground, but to my knowledge that is not something that happened. I think we have seen time after time that the attacks happened directly to the people that are trying to provide for their families, and it’s so easy to put the lens of focus in to the folks that are working, trying to provide. And so, whatever happens and however the large corporations settle their own situations with Homeland Security or however they settle their I-9 audits that they go through to be able to identify who allegedly is undocumented in their workspace, that has never been made public because that is how they protect themselves. That is also how the administration protects them, focusing on creating a narrative of how the ones breaking the law and the ones that are toxic to our community out of the folks that are just trying to have a decent place for work.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: Finally, Cynthia, how do regular people who feel that they have no power in the face of ICE in this administration and even the corporations, how do regular people help?
CYNTHIA GARCIA: Yeah. MIRA is a local organization in Mississippi that is leading a lot of the work on the ground. There is a fundraiser page already on their ActBlue that you’re able to support El Pueblo, you’re able to support ACLU, again, MIRA and other organizations that are providing the legal support, that are providing the housing and feeding the families that are currently without a breadwinner, and there’s so many other ways also. There is a link where you’re able to sign up if you have legal resources, so, for example, if you’re an attorney and you may not be able to make it down to Mississippi, but you’re able to provide any kind of support, there is a worksheet that is being posted under the MIRA website for them to be able to identify who can support.
Regular folks who may not have that legal experience are still able to support. If you’re bilingual, you’re able to support translating for the families. If you speak a native tongue from Central America or South America, like Guatemalan folks that have different native tongues, they are seeking out for folks that are able to communicate with the families because some of these families also speak their own native language, and it’s harder to communicate and go through this process with.
There is going to be continued updates as they’re able identify and as we’re able to support also the folks on the ground of how else we can mobilize resources and how else we can continue to uplift the work, but I think accountability for the elected officials that are letting these communities experience this needs to also be another of the ask, like how do we engage to make sure that we don’t continue to make a profit out of the detention of people who are trying to make a living and trying to be part of the community? These are folks that are living in our communities and these are folks who shouldn’t be part of this system that continues to profit out of their pain and the trauma.
Through United We Dream, there is a website called closethecamps.us that will allow you and guide you to find out where are the detention centers near your community and connect with other local organizations that are also doing action and demonstrations to shut down places like this one and also make the ask to protect the immigrant communities from the continuous attacks that we are experiencing currently.
We know this is not going to be the last raid, so we’re also supporting folks on the ground by providing know your rights and providing preparedness packets that allow folks to make a plan. Those are the tough conversations, but we must take steps to make sure that, in the event that we see another raid in any of the communities in the country, that we do our very best to support folks to mobilize, and make sure that we don’t see more images of children not having somewhere to go because of these attacks.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: I wish we could spend more time talking about all the different ways that we could help, but we are out of time, unfortunately, but we will continue to watch this story and continue to keep our eye on what is being done against the immigrant community, all immigrants and all marginalized people in this country. Thank you so much, Cynthia Garcia, for taking the time to come and speak with us today about this issue.
CYNTHIA GARCIA: Thank you, and I just want to remind our immigrant community, undocumented or not undocumented, that we’re here for each other and that we’re going to stand up. We’re resilient, and we have crossed too many barriers and too many borders to give up and give up our humanity and our dignity.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: With that, this is Jacqueline Luqman thanking you for watching. This is The Real News Network from Baltimore.
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on August 10, 2019, 08:12:54 pm
Why Donald Trump truly fears Antifa
Robert Harrington | 4:30 pm EDT August 9, 2019 Palmer Report » Analysis
Despite its overuse, I’m compelled nonetheless to employ the word “ironic” when contemplating the image the Republican Party has managed to fashion for itself. Preening before his mirror, the Republican sees a man’s man, or a woman’s woman, independent, courageous, battle-hardened.
Irony enters the picture when one thinks of what the Republican actually stands for politically. The Republican needs a gun to go shopping, a wall to keep out scary brown people, a supernatural deity to watch his back (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718211017.gif&hash=1b5b289486b9429bdbdcb938b21ef1a2b66d30fc). The Republican’s position on most issues is defined by fear: xenophobia, homophobia, islamophobia. The Republican believes himself the guardian of truth but consoles himself with guardians of confirmation bias, like Fox News. The Republican sees himself as brave but lacks the moral steadfastness to summon the most courageous sentiment of all, compassion. Lacking real natural enemies the Republican invents them, and invites them to be false equivalencies to the enemies his own hatred and paranoia have created.
Despite what Donald Trump says, the Antifa movement is nothing like white supremacy. That is a false equivalency, and Donald Trump hopes no one will notice. For one thing, since 2011 white supremacists have murdered at least 175 people world wide. In that time operatives of Antifa have killed exactly zero people. Yet Trump insists on lumping them together shoulder to shoulder with White Supremacy as a “hate group.” Antifa is not a hate group.
What is Antifa? The European flavor of the movement was founded in the 1920s as a group dedicated to resisting fascism, including Adolf Hitler’s fascism. The modern American Antifa movement began in the 1980s with a group called Anti-Racist Action. Its principal remit was to resist and confront neo-Nazis.
Since then the Antifa movement has remained largely dormant — until the rise of Donald Trump. It brought its history of resisting Nazism and racism and fascism to confront the greatest threat America has ever had to face, the Trump presidency.
Its remit is what it always has been, to resist hate.(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-060518153110.png&hash=39d587c31b7f7e66b30d7e59bb560e2ad0662eee)
Apologists for Donald Trump could have simply wagged their fingers and told Antifa they were barking up the wrong tree. Instead, they decided to create an Antifa bete noir, insisting that Antifa is an underground terrorist organization, possibly funded by the Deep State. If you notice an over-emphasis of Antifa among the alt right when describing “what’s wrong with the left,” it’s because their misrepresentation of what Antifa actually stands for is merely a symptom of their impoverished position. They have nothing actual to rail against, so they have created this “terrorist” bogeyman. I don’t know about you, but when I look at this John Wayne wax character Republicans have fashioned in what they presume to be their own image, I just see a bunch of cringing cowards.
Help fund Palmer Report's editorial takedown of Donald Trump!
Quote
Julee Collins As usual, I say Bravo and thank you, for another well-crafted and informative article, I take issue only with your inference that trusting in a Superlative Being is a purely Republican thing, and an unenlightened thing. The trouble is that there are thousands of Liberals who are Christians and in fact I'd propose that the Christian God "invented" Liberalism. The trouble is that Republicans have so twisted and reduced their God to fit their own agenda, deliberately turning away from the teachings of Jesus, love and compassion and service to others; gone! Their God is way too small, and weak, and stingy, and made in their own image. But I assure you that we Liberal Christians are alive and well, and working against Fascism, and hate of all stripes!
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on August 11, 2019, 05:57:49 pm
Capitalism Hits Home: 👹 Jeffrey Epstein: Literal (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/5482_label%20for%20the%20word%20rape.png) by the 😈💵🎩 1% - Part 1
23,120 views
https://youtu.be/Uy6-LQL7PYM
Democracy At Work Published on Aug 8, 2019
[S1 E25] Jeffrey Epstein: Literal (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/5482_label%20for%20the%20word%20rape.png) by the 1% - Part 1
Thank you for supporting Capitalism Hits Home on Patreon! Your support helps us compensate the staff and additional workers it takes to put an episode together. Thank you for being a part of the CHH team!
This episode discusses the seamy means by which a working class Jeffrey Epstein accumulated $550,000,000 by providing more than his tax and money market expertise to his wildly wealthy white male clients and their servants in our government, at Harvard and at other prestigious educational and scientific institutions.
Follow us ONLINE: Websites: https://www.democracyatwork.info/capi... https://www.harrietfraad.com/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DemocracyatWrk Twitter: http://twitter.com/democracyatwrk Instagram: http://instagram.com/democracyatwrk Shop our Store: http://bit.ly/2JkxIfy Prof. Wolff's latest book "Understanding Marxism" http://bit.ly/2BH0lkL
Category News & Politics
Title: William Barr has Disturbing Ties to Epstein
Post by: AGelbert on August 12, 2019, 12:56:03 pm
William 👹 Barr has Disturbing Ties to Epstein
August 12, 2019
Attorney General William Barr vows to investigate Epstein's "suicide" (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718202127.gif&hash=acc63221521ebaf3f238088fd92d1ae3a08b6e48) but he and his family have longstanding ties to the Mossad-run (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-030819164704.png), another sign that Epstein may be in Israel. And what is Epstein's connection to the rash of mass shootings that Barr predicted?
Barr said "a major incident may well occur at any time that will galvanize public opinion", and [FBI Director] Wray said, "The most persistent threats to the nation are homegrown violent extremists, domestic terrorists ..." Those 'warnings' were quickly followed by the 3 white-guy mass shootings on 28 July, 3 August, & 4 August, followed by the calls for more gun & internet controls
by Brabantian (henrymakow.com)
Never before have we seen a piece of official 'news' so instantly and widely disbelieved, as the alleged 'suicide' of Jeffrey Epstein in USA federal custody.
For example, world-leading financial site ZeroHedge, quickly ran material quoting prison professionals as to how Epstein's 'suicide' as the USA's most famous current prisoner, was virtually impossible: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-10/jeffrey-epstein-dead-apparent-suicide https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-11/former-mcc-inmate-says-its-impossible-epstein-have-killed-himself
The official 'news' seems absurd: Epstein already 'having tried to kill himself' a few days earlier, obviously being on special watch ... drawings of Epstein in court looking very little like him ...
The 'body on the gurney' seeming to have a different nose, ears, etc ... it's not even clear Epstein was ever in jail, after the fake-seeming 'arrest', with police 'breaking in the door' of a 27,000 square foot mansion with Epstein's 24/7 live-in servants, covered in the two earlier articles on 'Operation Epstein': https://www.henrymakow.com/2019/07/epstein-arrest-is-mossad-operation.html https://www.henrymakow.com/2019/07/what-behind-epstein-arrest-now.html
Those articles spoke of the likelihood Jeffrey Epstein might soon be on a beachfront in Israel enjoying himself, which is exactly what many now think.
Epstein's presumed Mossad-serving blackmail operation said to have filmed countless US and world political figures in compromising situations with underage teens, are possibly one of 😈 Mossad's most successful projects of the last quarter-century.
Israel would be not only grateful to Epstein, but eager to show current & future Mossad assets they will be protected ... hence the blatant obviousness of a 'suicide' so fake-seeming, it is unbelievable. This is a message to all Mossad collaborators ... Mossad will take care of you ... even at the point of embarrassing themselves, as 4channers meme about 'Sloppy Job, Mossad!'
Gordon Duff of Veterans Today writes, endorsing the 'en route to Tel Aviv' opinion of Robert David Steele: "Epstein is a hero in Israel and they would do anything to save him ... Epstein's personal blackmail files ... more than 2000 names are there, video, DNA, lots of DNA, the biggest "honey trap" in spy history ... his massive blackmail files on Trump, led Attorney General William Barr, working with his lifelong partners at the CIA and Israeli intelligence, to get Epstein to safety." https://www.veteranstoday.com/2019/08/11/intel-drop-the-truth-on-epstein-emerging-where-are-his-massive-blackmail-files/ https://www.veteranstoday.com/2019/08/10/epstein-short-and-sweet-an-intel-drop/
Note: Jewish-heritage US Attorney General William Barr, was a CIA officer 1973-77 ... Barr's law firm Kirkland Ellis represented Epstein ... Bill Barr's father Donald Barr was born Jewish, converting to Catholicism, and was OSS intel during WW2 ... Don Barr hired Epstein to work with him teaching teens 1973-75 ... Don Barr was as fascinated with sexual slavery as Epstein, Barr publishing a 1973 novel about it, 'Space Relations'.
Operation Epstein was launched on 28 November 2018, with the Miami Herald publishing an out-of-nowhere burst of 'investigative journalism' about Epstein's dodgy plea bargain deal 10 years earlier in 2007-08 ... This was published smack in the middle of the USA's 3rd largest state Jewish population, targeting a figure with top USA political links and with apparently deep Mossad and Jewish billionaire ties, in a major media outlet ... this media attack on Epstein obviously 'approved' at the highest levels, the Miami Herald knowing well Jewish media power https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article220097825.html
Other media picked up the baton, and strange anti-Epstein events occurred, such as Epstein's own past lawyer Alan Dershowitz suing and winning in US federal court, to have Epstein's personal documents released. It was obvious the hammer was coming down, but the sharp-and-savvy Epstein used his private jet to fly from France not to Israel, but to the USA, where a mob was baying for his scalp. And now Jeffrey Epstein has, as lady Aangirfan in the UK more accurately put it,'disappeared' (http://aanirfan.blogspot.com/2019/07/jeffrey-epstein-comments.html). (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-010519192158-2201430.jpeg&hash=e912e1f5bdc041c35e217478b14ba3f7960e2037)
The clear purpose of the nine-month spike of media and legal actions, Epstein's arrest and then quick 'suiciding' disappearance, is to ballyhoo that the US government elites have the Epstein files and likely videotapes ... on perhaps thousands of USA and world figures.Those files remain, though Epstein himself is 'gone', whether to the afterlife or the Netanya beachfront.
The exact way those files are being and will be used, is still a matter to be discovered. Those files are much more important than Epstein himself... So letting Mossad & Israel have Epstein the man, would be an understood part of a CIA-Mossad 'deal'.
Former CIA officer Robert David Steele remains one of the hopeful ones re the Trump revolution and retains optimism that white hats can and will use the Epstein files, perhaps quietly, to remove from power some of the bad guys. There are people who feel the files don't implicate Trump, but Steele's colleague at Veterans Today, Gordon Duff, says his sources tell him the Epstein files DO implicate 🦀 Trump.
Title: EPSTEIN FAKED DEATH!! WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM ACTIVATED! 🤔
Post by: AGelbert on August 12, 2019, 04:47:27 pm
EPSTEIN FAKED DEATH!! WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM ACTIVATED! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163123-16662165.gif&hash=0c278af5ea445d20e48640c4f39f951df986eed6)
https://youtu.be/kuD354XfFWo
Agelbert NOTE: Great video, but I have some quibbles about sources and methods. Remember that Eptstein is a part of the (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) "intelligence" communiity. If Epstein's death was faked, he would certainly NOT go into the Witness Protection Program. He has way too much money and influence to accept protection from the U.S. FBI.
A more likely scenario is plastic surgery and a name change. The Mossad and the CIA can easily set up a corporation, complete with "financial records" going back decades where the "BIDNESSRXECUTIVE" new Epstein 😇 identity can be quite public.
The best way to find out what the deal is with Epstein is to find out WHO handles his "estate" (i.e. all of Epstein's properties), particularly that New Mexico "breeder ranch" and that St. James Island where he, and others of this elite SCUM destroying the USA, engaged in routine sexual crimes against minors.
Title: 😈 ANYONE who is a criminal involved in the Epstein Despicable Horrors has nothing to fear
Post by: AGelbert on August 13, 2019, 02:10:29 pm
just read this interesting quote. It pretty much sums up our 🦍 Police State's MO and 😇 happy talk horseshit:
Quote
Craven Moorehead
Thank god the FBI got to Epstein's Island first, at least we know they will have secured (destroyed) any evidence they may find, so that it can be used to expose everyone of the powerful elites (not) who partook in Epstein's pedo services. It's reassuring to know that such a historically trustworthy (corrupt) Law enforcement institution is going to ensure that all the pertinent evidence is going to be applied to ensure that "All are equal in the eyes of the law" and that justice will be served, no matter who the perpetrators are.(sarcasm)
The dead (pun intended) give away that Barr is Bullshitting is his sentence structure. He uses the verb, "WAS" repeatedly before lying through his teeth about "continuing" to seek Epstein's co-criminals. It is absolutely breathtaking how skilled this Barr elite CIA SCUM is at crying crocodile tears and simultaneously sending the messsage, to ANYONE who is a criminal involved in the Eptstein Despicable Horrors, that they have nothing to fear. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16271224.gif&hash=c2a9bfbff23e2414975829eb4b3655af12eb02cc)
Title: What Happens When the President Acts like a Cult Leader?
Post by: AGelbert on August 13, 2019, 06:20:06 pm
What Happens When the President (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591)Acts like a Cult Leader?
7,162 views
https://youtu.be/Tcf5t_jD08Q
Thom Hartmann Program Published on Aug 12, 2019
Friend of the show, Deb calls in with a chilling comparison between Donald Trump and Charles Manson.
Is the caller right in comparing Donald Trump to notorious serial killer Charles Manson? What happens when the president acts like a cult leader?
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Category News & Politics
Title: "You don't have to worry. They are just going after Latinos." 👀 😱
Post by: AGelbert on August 13, 2019, 08:47:28 pm
The Trump administration has come after people from all walks of life, particularly minorities but one caller, whose father died in the Katyn Massacre reminds us that what the Trump administration is doing to the immigrants and refugees can happen to anyone.
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM The Thom Hartmann Program is the leading progressive political talk radio show for political news and comments about Government politics, be it Liberal or Conservative, plus special guests and callers
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✔ Amazon links are affiliate links Category News & Politics
Title: Grinning and giviing giving a 😈👍, he holds up a baby whose mother died shielding him from a RACIST
Post by: AGelbert on August 14, 2019, 04:01:16 pm
The atrocity that occurred in El Paso just one week ago weighs heavily on the minds of many, except for Donald Trump, who took the opportunity as a photo op to “prove” he is not a racist. If anything, he made things worse. As I often say to people who aren’t black but think we’re “whiners,” just “walk a mile in my shoes, live my life, and then, come back and tell me I’m whining.” The same is true for Latinos, Mexicans, and South Americans in this country, regardless of their legal status. They know what it was like for us in the 50s and 60s, and the pain is horrific.
Adrian Carrasquillo, who writes for Politico, has been bombarded with messages from people directly impacted by this massacre. One writer shared that she has been crying and apologizing to her white husband that because of her, their children will be targets. A Salvadorian male, who is married to a white woman, prays that their children come out white. These are issues that don’t concern most American families. Unfortunately, the stories are chillingly familiar to me as a black woman. I can honestly say that I feel their pain, and that’s not some talking point. Most are scared, and they believe the press is focused on the wrong issue. Yes, we need new gun laws, and yes, mass shootings are out of control in the U.S. Being a member of a targeted group, however, is a whole different issue.
For Nicole Chavez of CNN, this event hit especially close to home. She is from El Paso and has shopped in that Walmart numerous times. Chavez said that all she could think about was her mom buying glucose strips and sugar free snacks for her abuela or her papá, who buys Coca-Cola products in that store for his business in Juárez. One of her sisters had just bought school supplies for her kids, or she might have been in the store that day. Anyone with any empathy can imagine how frightening this must be for people of Latino and Mexican descent. Chavez shares that El Paso is a very friendly town where a handshake won’t do; people who barely know you will walk up and hug you. They share neighborhood barbecues, church, and other family activities. In other words, these people are no different from anyone else, and they deserve to be treated with respect.
The shooter in El Paso drove hundreds of miles to kill people he didn’t even know, people who live their lives very similarly to yours and mine. They sometimes speak a different language, but in every other respect, they are us. Yet, our faux president, Donald Trump, continues his hateful rhetoric as if he has done nothing wrong. He takes a baby whose leg was broken while his mother died shielding him with her body from a white supremacist and holds him up to the camera, grinning and giving a “thumbs up.” He isn’t in the least bothered by the turmoil he has caused, and will deny with his dying breath (from my fingers to God’s ear) that his words didn’t cause this. Trump, words have consequences.(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040718162655-1422241.gif&hash=c395eada6e18bf2d9b9c2c7079a45ee8fb2f2c34) We have seen those consequences manifested in El Paso. Please do the world a favor and shutyour stupid, bigoted (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591) mouth(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418201722.png&hash=5299cc10ee42beae76e4d3b7c79dbf5f4c0addac) for the remainder of your “presidency.”
Help fund Palmer Report's editorial takedown of Donald Trump!
In this neoliberal world, human beings have been reduced to consumers. Our beliefs, desires, relationships — almost every aspect of our lives is subsumed within the capitalist marketplace.
Extreme Inequality Is Driving Anxiety and Depression in the U.S.😟
ROBERT RAYMOND, TRUTHOUT
The country's growing mental health crisis isn't only caused by genetically predetermined chemical imbalances in the brain, but also by the social, economic, and political issues that are driving depression, anxiety and stress, research shows. As social relationships become more fraught with status concerns, especially in countries like the U.S. and U.K. with extreme inequality, studies show that individuals at all income levels experience chronic anxiety leading to depression. Read the Article →
Title: Corporate media freakout over Senator Bernie Sanders’ entirely legitimate accusations of BIAS
Post by: AGelbert on August 16, 2019, 04:47:14 pm
Fri, 08/16/2019 - 15:50
Authored by Caitlin Johnstone 👍👍👍
SNIPPET 1: The ridiculous corporate media freakout over Senator Bernie Sanders’ entirely legitimate accusations of pro-establishmentbias continues today, with shrill, absurd new headlines like “Sanders campaign continues attacks on journalists” and “Bernie Sanders isn’t sorry” featuring hysterical MSM drama queens rending their garments over the suggestion that plutocrat-owned media outlets could be favorable to the plutocrat-owned establishment.
In response to this cartoonish display of billionaire-sponsored performance art, The Hill‘s Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjati aired a segment on their online show Rising which is as damning an exposé on the dynamics of mass media empire propaganda as we are ever likely to witness.
With startling frankness and honesty 👍, the pair disclose their experience with the way anyone who is critical of the establishment consensus is excluded from mainstream media platforms, as well as the way access journalism, financial incentives, prestige incentives and peer pressure are used to herd 🐵 mainstream reporters into toeing the 👹🦍 establishment line once they’re 😈 in.
SNIPPET 2: As we just discussed the other day, Ken Dilanian is literally a known 🦍 CIA 🐵 asset. This is not a conspiracy theory, it’s a well-documented and historically undeniable fact, as shown in this Intercept article titled “The CIA’s Mop-Up Man”. The testimony that Dilanian’s establishment sycophancy affects not just his own reporting but those of other reporters as well via strategically placed peer pressure is highly significant.
Full article with video:
Former MSNBC Reporter Spills Details On Pro-Establishment Bias In Media (https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-16/former-msnbc-reporter-spills-details-pro-establishment-bias-media)
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on August 18, 2019, 08:06:58 pm
How The 😈 Mainstream Media Fuels America’s Income Inequality Machine
August 18, 2019
From medicare for all to neoliberal tax subsidies for major corporations the mainstream media often bolsters the notion that a more fair and equitable society is not possible
Title: There are too many of these sociopathic weeds in the garden.
Post by: AGelbert on August 19, 2019, 05:19:08 pm
The picture painted by the evidence is not that of a direct Epstein tie to a single intelligence agency, but a of a web linking key members of the Mega Group, politicians, and officials in both the U.S. and Israel, and an organized-crime network with deep business and intelligence ties in both nations.
Otto Adolf Eichmann Stephen Miller in Trump Fourth Reich Uniform
Yes, but he used to eat glue.
Stephen Miller used to eat glue, his third-grade teacher said. The school placed her on leave. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/12/stephen-miller-used-eat-glue-his-third-grade-teacher-said-school-placed-her-leave/
Quote
[Nikki] Fiske, who has taught Franklin Elementary School in Santa Monica for 30 years, painted an unflattering portrait of Miller as a third-grader in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. She said Miller was a messy kid who she was always trying to get to clean up his desk, “a strange dude” who would eat glue off of his arm.
“I remember being concerned about him — not academically,” she said. “But he had such strange personal habits. He was a loner and isolated and off by himself all the time.”
Just another garden variety sociopath.
Yep.
There are too many of these sociopathic weeds in the garden.
While it is true that all metaphors have analogy limitations, sociopaths give weeds a bad name. Weeds just do what they do; even if they take over the whole garden, they don't then proceed, in typical Nihilist fashion, to kill everything in the soil.
Thom hartmann reads from Ian Reifowitz's The Tribalization of Politics, as part of the Thom Hartmann Book Club!
How 😈 Rush Limbaugh Paved the Way for 🦀 Trump!
423 views
https://youtu.be/K0nPU27Op2c
Thom Hartmann Program Published on Aug 19, 2019
During the Obama presidency, Rush Limbaugh spend eight years claiming the administration was anti-white and Obama as a secret Muslim.
Trump listened to Limbaugh on talk radio while looking at running for president. Trump to this day takes Limbaugh opinions and spouts them as absolute truth.
Title: Male 👹 sexual predators and 😈🎩capitalist predators with their 🦍 "friends" in government.
Post by: AGelbert on August 22, 2019, 01:01:28 pm
Capitalism Hits Home: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) Jeffrey Epstein: Literal (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/5482_label%20for%20the%20word%20rape.png) by the 1% - Part 2
3,740 views
https://youtu.be/w3Dph0sePck
Democracy At Work Published on Aug 22, 2019
[S1 E26] Jeffrey Epstein: Literal R a p e by the 1% - Part 2
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This episode explores the ways that shame is transferred from rapists, corporate heads and exploiters on to the women they (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/5482_label%20for%20the%20word%20rape.png) and the people they exploit. It discovers some of the ways that shame is being shifted back on to the shoulders of male sexual predators and capitalist predators with their "friends" in government.
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Category News & Politics
Capitalism Hits Home: 👹 Jeffrey Epstein: Literal (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/5482_label%20for%20the%20word%20rape.png) by the 😈💵🎩 1% - Part 1
23,120 views
https://youtu.be/Uy6-LQL7PYM
Democracy At Work Published on Aug 8, 2019
[S1 E25] Jeffrey Epstein: Literal (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/5482_label%20for%20the%20word%20rape.png) by the 1% - Part 1
Thank you for supporting Capitalism Hits Home on Patreon! Your support helps us compensate the staff and additional workers it takes to put an episode together. Thank you for being a part of the CHH team!
This episode discusses the seamy means by which a working class Jeffrey Epstein accumulated $550,000,000 by providing more than his tax and money market expertise to his wildly wealthy white male clients and their servants in our government, at Harvard and at other prestigious educational and scientific institutions.
Follow us ONLINE: Websites: https://www.democracyatwork.info/capi... https://www.harrietfraad.com/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DemocracyatWrk Twitter: http://twitter.com/democracyatwrk Instagram: http://instagram.com/democracyatwrk Shop our Store: http://bit.ly/2JkxIfy Prof. Wolff's latest book "Understanding Marxism" http://bit.ly/2BH0lkL
Category News & Politics
Title: An Epstein (Creeping Police State) Deal Is In Place
Post by: AGelbert on August 22, 2019, 01:34:26 pm
An Epstein Deal (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) Is In Place
Posted on August 19, 2019 by Fantasy Free Economics
Every day that goes by where citizens allow the coverup the of most sinister crime in the history of the world to to be covered up and dismissed we are putting nails in the coffin of our way of life and perhaps the country as a whole. The media is already starting to shelve the Epstein story. Why? The same organization which wants the crime covered up owns the media. What do you expect the media to do? This is what the situation appears to be from the fantasy free vantage point.
The whole Epstein episode has been in the planning for a long time. The appearance is that Donald Trump, hired William Barr as attorney general for the express purpose of making sure the case doesn’t go far enough to damage any of the multitude 🐊👹💵🐍🎩😈 of the world’s elite who visited his Island.
So, what does Trump get out of it? The elite will call off the media attack dogs and stop trying to sabotage the Trump presidency. They may even support his re election now. Watch and see if it doesn’t turn out that way. If the Deep State heat picks up again, then the Trump administration has the option of implicating them. If the heat on Trump dies down, you can bet that is why.
There was such a comedy of errors in the handling of Jeffrey Epstein in jail that it is completely impossible that he wasn’t set up to be murdered and then of course murdered. The only other thing that could have happened is that it was made sure that he had opportunities to commit suicide should he want to. Another alternative is that the mob in charge convinced Epstein that committing suicide would be in his best interest to commit. However, there was no way he was going to get out of that jail alive or even talk while he had a chance to. Epstein was murdered.
So, Bill Clinton was at the Island twenty seven times. Chances are he did more than play shuffle board, drink fine wine and enjoy the company of old friends. Suppose he did exploit the young girls. What if they grew up, got away and talked? To prevent that, they some may be ☠️ dead and buried on the island? Are there any plans to dig around on the island and find out? If there are bodies on that island, you can bet there will be no effort to find them. Bill Clinton was just one elite who had the honor of indulging on that island. Certainly they all appreciate Trumps offer. Perhaps now, Trump can join the club.
I remember a while back members of congress insisting that investigations of things are warranted due to the seriousness of a charge. Is there anything not serious about charges being levied in the Epstein case? Are any lawmakers insisting on investigation?
Yes, there are ongoing investigations but all by folks who may have an interest in burying the episode. A panel of ordinary citizens needs to be organized as a means of investigating a crime like this. The same FBI that tried to rig the 2016 election has raided the island. Chances are the efforts of the FBI’s effort are more to make sure there is no significant evidence rather than to find any. How about the CIA? Earlier in history the CIA helped orchestrate the assassination of John Kennedy? How much has the CIA changed since then?
The consequences to ordinary citizens from letting anointed people live above the law and commit crimes with impunity is far greater than folks yet realize. There is no one in government who will put this system to rest. Citizens absolutely must insist on justice. I don’t mean in a small way. I mean an effort at least equal to the antiwar effort during the Vietnam War era.
Jeffrey Epstein with his fellow rapist pal, Donald Trump
RAPISTS ARE KNOWN FOR THEIR INCREASING, NOT decreasing, ZEST FOR CRUEL, SEXUALLY ABUSIVE CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR OVER TIME.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418201302.png&hash=1e849526e5e1fde614fb21346869666fd34fa3dd) Donald Trump, Rapist (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418201722.png&hash=5299cc10ee42beae76e4d3b7c79dbf5f4c0addac)
Robert Harrington | 6:04 pm EDT August 21, 2019
It is revealed as a cautionary tale in the critically acclaimed book, “Chasing Cosby: The Downfall of America’s Dad,” how thoroughly out of control the media has become. And when I say “out of control” I mean autonomous from the controlling influence of the traditional enemies of free speech and free thought: powerful men. And when I say “media” I mean social media. Social media is a phenomenon of the technological exponential curve we are currently riding. Without social media, powerful men like Bill Cosby could “catch and kill” stories. Now they can’t, at least not so easily any longer, and Bill Cosby is now in prison on that account.
I am also privileged to know the book’s author, Nicole Weisensee Egan, personally, and I know her to be a first-rate journalist with requisite world class credentials. Just as Cosby could not have been brought down without social media, the story of how he was brought down could not have been told without Nicole. Indeed, Cosby’s downfall possibly could not have happened at all without Nicole’s help in the first place, for it was she who filed story after story about Cosby the rapist (and let’s face it, that’s what he is), and how his legal problems were beginning to catch up with his criminal behavior.
But it was out of the odd phenomenon of social media that Nicole documents so well in her book, the viral video, the tipping point that flooded the world, finally, from whence came the startling realization that Bill Cosby just might be a serial rapist. I was one of the ones swept along by that tide, after a then-obscure comedian, Hannibal Buress, “just happened” to chastise Cosby in his act for raping women, and a reporter “just happened” to be in the audience making a video of Buress’ act, and the reporter then “just happened” to put the video on a media site, that “just happened” to get picked up by other sites. And it went viral. Such is the chain of happenstance that led to the downfall of one of America’s most beloved men. But for a nail, the shoe was lost. And Cosby has become the first, but by no means the last, to be justly convicted and jailed in the era of the #MeToo movement.
It is a sad legacy still, however, that when you are mugged or your home is robbed or you are swindled you are a victim, but when you are **** you are an accuser. It is so common to think of the charge of (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/5482_label%20for%20the%20word%20rape.png) in that way that it has become sadly normal to do so. When the expression “he said/she said” is applied to the formula we are almost invited to think of it as a coin toss. We shrug our shoulders and wonder aloud what the truth can be and who can know it. We do this in full possession of the knowledge of the statistics, that (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/5482_label%20for%20the%20word%20rape.png) is almost never falsely charged, and with the knowledge that false accusations are commonly absent certain elements that true charges of (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/5482_label%20for%20the%20word%20rape.png) seldom lack.
When Kellyanne Conway’s husband George Conway referred to Donald Trump as a rapist in a recent tweet, I was reminded briefly of the Hannibal Buress video, and wondered if this is likewise a moment of clarity, the viral turning point where Trump’s detractors will begin to take seriously the evidence that Donald Trump **** an underage girl in Jeffrey Epstein’s home, that he beat her savagely, that he viciously told her he would murder her and her entire family if she ever told anyone. There were at least two contemporaneous witnesses to the (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/5482_label%20for%20the%20word%20rape.png), and they have testified – under oath – to the truth of this matter. The evidence of Trump’s guilt in this matter is stunning, and every bit as credible as the ten instances of obstruction of justice from the Mueller report. That the media continues to treat it as a wild allegation ought to infuriate all (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/5482_label%20for%20the%20word%20rape.png) victims. That George Conway, a Republican, husband of one of Trump’s most vile and despicable apologists, takes the allegations very seriously, seriously enough to call the president of the United States a rapist, ought to make us all sit up and take notice.
This is a thing the media should pick up and never let go of: the president of the United States is the despicable rapist of a child. It should go viral. It should bring Trump down and send him to prison for the remainder of his life. It’s sad to think that in order for justice to be served a video of that awful crime may need to emerge from the man-years of videos that are said to be extant out of the estate of that vile monster Jeffrey Epstein. If such a video exists and if it should emerge, if by then and despite this people still defend Trump, at least then we will know that this war of ours has, from the very beginning, truly been a war between good and evil after all. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718204530.gif&hash=2e7c5022efc700a555c2e328644b7448b6dda789)
Title: Trump’s 😈 Concentration Camps for Children
Post by: AGelbert on August 24, 2019, 09:48:30 pm
Trump’s 😈 Concentration Camps for Children
August 23, 2019
This week, the Trump Administration declared that immigrant children can be detained indefinitely, and in conditions that can be described as concentration camps. We talk to Sasha Abramsky of The Nation
Title: Calling BS on the 'Bad Apples' Theory of Police Misconduct 😠
Post by: AGelbert on September 07, 2019, 04:56:53 pm
Calling BS on the 'Bad Apples' Theory of Police Misconduct 😠
10,313 views
https://youtu.be/O0Im3X_6Gk0
The Real News Network Premiered Sep 5, 2019
On this episode of The Police Accountability Report, we tell a harrowing tale of a firsthand experience with drug dealing cops reveals the long and troubling history of police selling narcotics, and calls into question the idea that police corruption is limited to a few bad actors.
Subscribe to our page and support our work at https://therealnews.com/donate. Category News & Politics
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on September 07, 2019, 08:56:56 pm
Could (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) Trump be Crueler Than We Thought?
8,014 views
https://youtu.be/xOQrp-kefFo
Thom Hartmann Program Published on Sep 6, 2019
Donald Trump may be crueler than we had all thought but the people around the world are better than we ever believed.
Thom breaks down two stories that showcase both the greatest extremes of human cruelty as brought to us by Donald Trump and the best of us, as seen in every day people.
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM The Thom Hartmann Program is the leading progressive political talk radio show for political news and comments about Government politics, be it Liberal or Conservative, plus special guests and callers
#MoreFromThom
✔ Amazon links are affiliate links Category News & Politics
Title: The Biggest Danger of the Trump Administration Revealed
Post by: AGelbert on September 09, 2019, 07:37:00 pm
The Biggest (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) Danger of the Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718205137.gif&hash=7a79df8ecf1b29d8599c26fe550e664c6c5e24bd) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718205808.gif&hash=5c451456a306c150d3555c49e31a2f47d6f369a9) Administration Revealed
1,922 views
https://youtu.be/NTUcvDy625U
Thom Hartmann Program Published on Sep 9, 2019
What is the worse thing Donald Trump and his administration have left us?
Thom Hartmann reveals the most damaging thing Donald Trump has done, one that could turn our democracy into a banana republic!
➡️Please Subscribe to Our Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thomhart...
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on September 12, 2019, 08:50:28 pm
Are Homeless People the Next Victims of (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) Trump?
https://youtu.be/FJgUil1P6S8
2,529 views•Published on Sep 11, 2019
Thom Hartmann Program 171K subscribers
Title: 🦍 Police Use Ignorance of the Law as a Defense, But You Can’t 😠
Post by: AGelbert on September 13, 2019, 02:52:43 pm
🦍 Police Use Ignorance of the Law as a Defense (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16), But You Can’t (https://media.tenor.com/images/aefc857b17366c1a4e85eefb2d502b5f/tenor.gif)
September 12, 2019
On this episode we take a critical look at the obstacles to holding police accountable, and expose how both politicians and judges defend an institution that is often at odds with communities.
https://youtu.be/xnofT3WJhsU
Story Transcript
TAYA GRAHAM: Hello. My name is Taya Graham and welcome to the Police Accountability Report.
As we said before, the show has a single purpose: holding the politically powerful institution of policing accountable. To do so, we dig deep and examine not just police misconduct, but the politics that makes it possible. And I want you watching to know that if you have evidence of police misconduct or brutality, please share it with us and we might be able to investigate. Please reach out to us either in the comments or message us at the Police Accountability Report on Facebook or @Eyesonpolice on Twitter. And of course, you can message me directly @Tayasbaltimore on Twitter or Facebook.
Now, today we’re going to actually expand on a topic we discussed last week with my co-host Stephen Janis. It’s the Bad Apples Theory. It’s the idea that police corruption is limited to a few bad actors and not emblematic of the problems with the system itself. The Bad Apples Theory, as we pointed out, fails to take into account aspects of policing that gave individual cops almost catastrophic powers. And that bad apples not only ruin hundreds if not thousands of lives, but grow and thrive in a veritable orchard of corruption, namely our criminal justice system.
But this week, there were dual developments that make this point even more resonate. Allow us to show, not tell you, why the Bad Apples Theory is simply not just false, but destructive. Just to make a finer point on the consequences of so-called bad apples, we’ll talk about a new development in the Gun Trace Task Force scandal. Now this is just a reminder, the GTTF was a group of eight Baltimore police officers, who robbed residents, dealt drugs, and stole over time. So Stephen, this week in the Baltimore State’s Attorney, they made a request. What was this request?
STEPHEN JANIS: Well, they asked for over 800 cases to be thrown out that were tied to some members of the Gun Trace Task Force. Cases have been tainted by false testimony, or planting drugs, or whatever. It’s a massive number of cases when you think about it— 800. It touches thousands of lives, so it was a pretty stunning request that there were that many cases, and there’s still this incredible fallout from the scandal involving just eight officers.
TAYA GRAHAM: And even as prosecutors tried to clean up this mess, there was a new set of indictments in the case. In fact, the latest set of charges illustrate just how ill-conceived the Bad Apples Theory is. But that in fact, the GTTF had help— and lots of it. So Stephen, can you talk about the type of help and support they received?
STEPHEN JANIS: Yeah. In fact, just as this was happening, another officer was indicted who had helped one of the ringleaders, Sargent Wayne Jenkins of the GTTF, plant a BB gun on a person he ran over. Because he was trying to criminalize him or just – he got angry and he just ran him over. So after he runs him over, he gets scared, and he calls Sergeant Gladstone, who shows up with a BB gun to plant on the guy, so they can say the guy had a gun and Sergeant Wayne Jenkins is in the clear. It turns out, another officer who was in that car lied to a Federal Grand Jury, and he has since been indicted for lying, but what that tells you is that there was nobody – everyone knew what was going on.
TAYA GRAHAM: Right.
STEPHEN JANIS: Number one, there were lots of people that knew what was going on, knew they were planting BB guns on people to criminalize them, and they didn’t say anything. And not only did they not say anything, but they lied to a Federal Grand Jury about it, and so this is just the latest fallout from showing that Sergeant Wayne Jenkins had a support system around him. He had people that would help him, and they’re willing to lie to a Federal Grand Jury for him. Even after he’d been convicted and charged with incredible crimes, these people are still lying for him.
TAYA GRAHAM: But with all these revelations of systemic corruption and hundreds if not thousands of lives destroyed, and the brazen abetting of police malfeasance by other cops, one would think there would be some sort of questioning about the unfettered power of police. That in a democracy, a community roiled by an ever burgeoning scandal would push back and hold police accountable, but in fact, the opposite has happened. Not only did the new revelations fail to elicit comment from city and state officials alike, but those same elected representatives actually doubled down with a big new dose of law enforcement. That’s right. They decided to give more power and more money to police. Stephen, how did the police department end up with more money after it was proven that they had bad actors?
STEPHEN JANIS: Well, they did one of those things that we, as a press, continually fall for. They got a bunch of cops together who were already working for the police, and gave them a whole new name, and spun it out and called it a strike force. So this new thing, that they already had all these cops, they’re already working with the police department, they try it out at a press conference, “We’re going to create a strike force.” But it wasn’t just reorganizing cops and creating alliances with federal officers and local. They also like came up with a ton of money— $17 million to rent 75,000 square feet in West Baltimore, so that they could have a headquarters for this new strike force, which is going to be empowered to do what? Militarize policing. What was the GTTF doing? Militarize policing. So it’s like – it’s just trotting out the same old thing in new clothes. Look, “Hey, don’t look here. It’s the same thing,” but the thing is that no one said, “That really hasn’t been working out, has it?” So that’s something we wanted to look at.
TAYA GRAHAM: But to delve deeper into showing what this means, we decided to take a look at one of the neighborhoods that will be the target of this new strike force. It’s an area that was the former home of our colleague, Darrell Lewis. Last week, he discussed his encounter with a group of drug-dealing cops named Antonio Murray and William King. But this week, he took us on a walking tour of what had been left in the wake of this aggressive policing, and why he thinks it will only make things worse.
STEPHEN JANIS: The reason we wanted to come out here is because we had that discussion last week about the bad apples, and now we heard they’re going to be some sort of strike force at the police department. But I wanted to come back to your old neighborhood because has anything really changed here after 30-40 years of this intense drug war? When you take us around here, what do you see? What’s changed?
DARYL LEWIS: The only thing I see changed is more poverty. More hardship, more sadness, less hope. I haven’t seen any change. Number one, if you have no job to go to in the morning when you get up and come outside, only thing you have is what you see out here. So you say to yourself, “How do I start my day? I’m not able to go to work because I don’t have a job. So now I’m forced to feed my family, feed myself, so now I have to do what I have to do.
STEPHEN JANIS: So let me ask you a question, when you were in that position, did you feel like there was any form of government or anything that was out there to help you to say, “Hey, Daryl, there’s another way?” Or was it just trapped in isolation? I mean, was there ever a point where you thought, other than the police, was there anything you saw that could have helped you?
DARYL LEWIS: No, nothing. I felt hopeless to be perfectly honest with you, Steve. I felt hopeless.
TAYA GRAHAM: But we didn’t stop there. We also visited an expert on the consequences of unlimited police powers. His name is A. Dwight Pettit, he’s the Civil Rights Attorney and Real News Board Member, who’s represented victims in hundreds of brutality cases. And the story he tell us is even more disturbing because it goes to the core idea of the show: accountability. That’s because Pettit is in the middle of a battle with city officials who’ve made a stunning argument: that the city which gave badges, guns, and arrest powers to out of control cops, are not responsible for their actions; that same government, which armed and paid them, owes nothing to the victims of their criminal behavior.
A. DWIGHT PETTIT: Their argument, in my opinion, is just so ridiculous. That the only thing that you can raise is the fact that what you’ve just raised, that he’s a police officer, he’s clothed with authority, he’s acting under color of law. Citizens are responding to him as a police officer. There’s no such thing as outside of the scope of employment. And how do you say it’s coming out now? How do you say in the cases of the Gun Trace Task Force, who operated with impunity, that the supervisors and the authorities did not know that all this was going on? How do you raise that defense?
TAYA GRAHAM: Stephen, what does Mr. Pettit’s struggle tell us about the relationship between politicians and police?
STEPHEN JANIS: It just shows us how the idea of policing can corrupt a government to the point where because you have people with badges and guns, exercising this power over the impoverished part of the city, and become part of a larger narrative of a city beset with crime, which is really beset with poverty and failing schools, but become that cover for politicians who don’t know how to fix complex problems, can infiltrate the thinking of a city government where they were literally saying, “We’re not responsible for these people.”
But you armed them. You gave them badges. You gave them guns. You gave them the color of law, to shoot, kill, arrest, detain, take away the constitutional rights, and you’re saying you’re not responsible just because they misbehaved? What did you think would happen? I mean, these cops were accused of stealing overtime. These cops were accused of robbing residents. These things were going on. As the previous case pointed out, there were other cops helping them who knew what was happening.
TAYA GRAHAM: Exactly.
STEPHEN JANIS: And you’re still saying you’re not responsible. It’s a freaking paramilitary organization, and it’s run by the mayor. So I think it just shows how difficult it’s going to be— it is— in this country to hold police accountable in any way, shape, or form.
TAYA GRAHAM: And Mr. Pettit also addresses a central theme of the show. Later in the interview, he talks about how the courts and the politicians literally conspire to hold policing harmless.
STEPHEN JANIS: Police keep getting away with it. Why can’t they be held accountable, for real? Why do you think?
A. DWIGHT PETTIT: Because the courts have protected them, the legislative bodies have protected them, and so then we have a president that comes in and tells the police, “You do what you want to do. I got your back.” Then this reinforces this and politically reinforces it throughout the spectrum, from the top all the way down.
TAYA GRAHAM: So Stephen, Mr. Pettit also told us something really shocking about how police are defending themselves in court.
STEPHEN JANIS: Well, so basically, in civil suits and even cases of wrongful death, police are making an argument that they were ignorant of the law, and therefore they can’t be held harmless, they can’t be held liable, or be held to even account criminally because he didn’t know it.
TAYA GRAHAM: Okay, wait. Let me just stop you there for one second.
STEPHEN JANIS: Yeah.
TAYA GRAHAM: You’re telling me that law enforcement officers are pleading ignorance of the law to get out of any sort of responsibility for their actions?
STEPHEN JANIS: Yeah. He actually told us in cases that he has tried or that cases he has sued or litigated, the police have said, “I didn’t know the law.” And police have been held harmless, and the Supreme Court has upheld that. Let’s just take a listen to what he had to say.
STEPHEN JANIS: Just to repeat, the police officer is saying, their defense is, “I didn’t know the law.”
A. DWIGHT PETTIT: Right. “I didn’t know the law,” and therefore, a derivative of what they call immunity— immunity from prosecution, immunity from civil liability— because of their ignorance of the law. This defense is being used and has gone all the way up to the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court has upheld that as good defense. So it’s the courts, it’s the legislators, and it’s the politicians in terms of big cities and so forth, and small cities where all this police – is being tolerated.
STEPHEN JANIS: But, the citizens can’t use it. We can’t say we were ignorant. [crosstalk]
A. DWIGHT PETTIT: No, for us, it’s no defense whatsoever, but for the police—
STEPHEN JANIS: If you had a client who stole a car and said, “I didn’t know it was illegal.”
A. DWIGHT PETTIT: Right, you’d go to jail.
TAYA GRAHAM: So let me ask a fairly pointed question. What sort of institution can not only fail at its core mission, but flagrantly wreak havoc on a community, and yet still garner unwavering support from politicians, who supposedly represent the people that they harmed? What makes policing so singular and so above reproach, that even when it destroys hundreds of lives, the institution itself does not change? Maybe there’s a larger lesson here, an example of the precarious balance between maintaining a healthy democracy and empowering people to enforce arbitrary and often destructive laws.
If we can’t hold the people who have life and death power over us to account, what does that say about the civic health of this country? If a single person, empowered by the state can literally destroy hundreds of lives and the government that gave him that power says it’s not responsible, then are we really living in a government by and for the people? These are questions that must be answered in the wake of what we reported today, and it’s incumbent upon us as journalists to keep asking these critical questions, and we hope you who are watching will continue to push even further.
I want to thank my co-host, Stephen Janis. And remember, if you have evidence of police misconduct or brutality, please share it with us and we might be able to investigate. Please reach out to us either in the comments or message us at the Police Accountability Report on Facebook or @Eyesonpolice on Twitter. And of course, you can message me directly @Tayasbaltimore on Twitter or Facebook. And of course, please like and subscribe. I will be there in the comments section.
I’m your host Taya Graham. Thank you for joining me on the Police Accountability Report.
Title: Supreme Court’s Asylum Ruling Is Incomprehensible {unless you are a Racist Fascist!)
Post by: AGelbert on September 13, 2019, 05:13:49 pm
Agelbert COMMENT: It's NOT incomprehensible; it's the CREEPING POLICE STATE ROUTINEFASCIST CRUELTY, STUPID! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163124-16672489.gif&hash=c9e9fcc8de210be9006f5fd3348145e8acef7435)
Supreme (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) Court’s Asylum Ruling Is Incomprehensible
September 12, 2019
The US Supreme Court temporarily approved President Trump's new asylum rule, which makes it almost impossible for anyone from Central America to gain asylum in the US. The court's support puts thousands of lives in grave danger and violates US law and international law
https://youtu.be/nF6brTkh-B0
Story Transcript
GREG WILPERT: Welcome to The Real News Network. I’m Greg Wilpert.
In a 7-2 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to prevent most Central American migrants from seeking asylum in the United States. This is actually a temporary ruling. The Supreme Court was responding to an emergency appeal from the Trump administration to set aside decisions that California judges had made which blocked the President’s new asylum rule. This new asylum rule, which Trump issued last July, would allow asylum applications only from immigrants who have been denied asylum in other countries or have been victims of “severe human trafficking.”
Immediately following the Supreme Court’s announcement, Trump Tweeted: “BIG United States Supreme Court WIN for the Border on Asylum!” Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were the only two dissenters. Sotomayor stated that the new asylum rule “topples decades of settled asylum practices and affects some of the most vulnerable people in the Western Hemisphere—without affording the public a chance to weigh in.”
Joining me now to discuss the implications of this court decision are Laura Carlsen and Matt Cameron. Laura is the director of the Americas Program of the Center for International Policy in Mexico City and a frequent contributor to The Real News Network. And Matt is an immigration attorney specializing in asylum and deportation defense and is the managing partner of Cameron Micheroni and Silva. Laura joins us from Mexico City and Matt from Boston. Thanks for being here today.
LAURA CARLSEN: Thanks.
MATT CAMERON: Thank you, Greg.
GREG WILPERT: Matt, I want to start with you. What’s at stake here? A final court decision has not been made, as I mentioned, but there are many who are saying that the right to asylum is in danger. What do you say? And where’s this right to asylum enshrined in the U.S. Constitution anyway?
MATT CAMERON: What is at stake is the future of asylum itself. As you said, this is a temporary decision. But politically, this could be permanent; legally, this could be permanent. Certainly the court is letting us know where they’re going. That’s what they do when they grant a stay. Even with this current composition, I think the court may very well uphold the ban and it may be very difficult to reverse at that point. Asylum itself is not in the Constitution, but it’s enshrined in international treaty and it’s enshrined in our own domestic law. And we have an obligation to offer it, most especially–I’d say–in this case, where we have a strong moral obligation to Central America.
GREG WILPERT: Just say a little bit more about that. Why is that particularly the case with Central America?
MATT CAMERON: Greg, I think if I burned your house down, I’d have an obligation to help you rebuild your house or at least give you a place to stay in the meantime. And that’s what we’re looking at. After more than a century of meddling, and most especially in the last few decades– foreign, military, economic, social policy, all of it–we have brought these countries to where they are today in many real ways. I think if this were Iraq or Afghanistan instead of Central America, Americans might understand a little better. But we have such short memories.
GREG WILPERT: I think that’s a very good point. Laura, you recently visited Tijuana for us, where you spoke to people who are trying to apply for asylum in the United States. I just wanted to run a clip briefly of what Trump said about the asylum applicants and refugees. And he said this at rally a few months ago.
DONALD TRUMP: You have people coming out. You know, they’re all met by the lawyers. And they come out, and they’re met by the lawyers. And they say, “Say the following phrase: I am very afraid for my life. I am afraid for my life.” OK. And then I look at the guy. He looks like he just got out of the ring. He’s a heavyweight champion of the world and he’s afraid for his life. It’s a big fat con job, folks. It’s a big fat con job.
GREG WILPERT: So Laura, what did you see in Tijuana? And what is your response to Trump’s comments?
LAURA CARLSEN: I… It almost brings me to tears because of the distance between the disdain, the hatred, the racism that’s behind it, that you can hear in his voice when he talks about people he’s never even met, whose stories he doesn’t know. I have talked to those people and I know that they are among the most desperate on Earth. They’re families, they’re men, they’re women, they’re children, and they’ve just left situations that are indeed life-threatening. Sometimes they’ve had 24 hours to leave everything in their homes because of threats from gangs or from repressive governments. They’ve set out on a journey that goes through Mexico, obviously, to the United States because they don’t have the funds and they can’t get the visas to take any other route. That’s very, very dangerous. That implies a huge degree of uncertainty and a lot of sacrifices; a lot of crimes committed against them on the journey.
You have cases like in El Salvador, an army soldier who was threatened by the gangs; a woman who rescued her brother from a safe house and the gangs gave her 24 hours to get out of town with her whole family; a taxi driver who’s being extorted by five different gangs, and if he ceases to pay even one of them, he’ll be dead the next day. These are the situations that they’re facing. The international law of asylum is protection. What it says is that human beings on this earth have a right to be safe no matter what the national borders are. If they’re fleeing persecution and they can make their case for fleeing persecution, they have an international right for a country to accept them. It says nothing about where they have to seek that. They have the right to seek asylum in the country where they feel safest.
This rule that says that they cannot even request asylum in the United States–where many of them have families, by the way–and says that they have to request asylum in the first country considered by the Trump administration safe. And of course it’s ridiculous because you have Hondurans coming through Guatemala, and yet Guatemala is one of the primary sending countries because of the conditions there. There’s no sense to it and it’s extremely inhumane. It’s a cruel policy and it’s very, very disappointing that the court has made this decision which effectively makes this the policy on the border even as hundreds of thousands of people–or at least thousands, because we don’t want to exaggerate the numbers either–are coming up from these countries that, as Matt said, are in a state of almost total collapse.
GREG WILPERT: As I mentioned in the introduction, the case is not over. But it will take a few months now until it winds its way through the courts again and presumably ends up again at the Supreme Court for a final decision. Matt, can you reconstruct a little bit for us what the arguments on the two sides are? particularly, what is the Trump administration saying in order to justify this denial of asylum, essentially? What is the response that you, as a lawyer, or other lawyers for the asylum seekers have?
MATT CAMERON: First of all, to get a stay like this before any court on appeal, you have to show imminent harm. You have to show that there’s something that’s really going to happen if this isn’t granted. And honestly, it’s very hard for me. Usually, I can see the other side, but I do not see imminent harm to the U.S. government. I see imminent harm to thousands and thousands of people who will die. People will die during this period and possibly going forward permanently.
That, to me, is where I see it. But essentially, the Trump administration says it has a right to impose this rule. On the other side, those of us who are more familiar with asylum law–I’m sorry to say–I think generally think that they don’t have that right because they’re essentially making this up. That’s what Justice Sotomayor said in her dissent, is that this is not really asylum law at all. This is just a completely new thing that they’ve made up. The lower court actually found this was arbitrary and capricious, and to get to that standard is not easy. That’s a difficult thing for a court to find. Sotomayor suggested that she agreed with that, and I think very, very rightly. I really don’t understand and I’m still in a state of shock, honestly, that the Supreme Court has allowed this to go.
GREG WILPERT: How do you think it will play out once it returns, basically, to the Supreme Court? What’s surprising is that the two other liberal judges–or presumably liberal judges, that is, Breyer and Kagan–voted in favor along with the majority on this case. Is that an indication that that will happen again? What do you think?
MATT CAMERON: It certainly is when you look at a stay. Obviously, they haven’t heard the full argument. We haven’t seen full oral argument briefing before them. Certainly their opinions could change. But what really concerns me is we didn’t actually get a decision in this case, which is a little unusual with a stay of this import. I think, honestly, we’re owed one. I’d really like to know where they were coming from and we never will, at least not until this gets a little further.
GREG WILPERT: Laura, the people that you saw there… I mean, what do you think about how they are going to deal with this situation? You saw people who clearly were very frustrated that they had spent already many weeks at the border, weren’t allowed to enter the United States, and presumably were forced to return, perhaps even, to Central America or stay in Mexico. What does that mean for them?
LAURA CARLSEN: As Matt said, we’re talking about deaths. We’re talking about deaths through deportation, through people who are forced to stay in dangerous situations in their countries. I also just got back from Honduras, and there’s demonstrations in the streets. The repression is killing people as well and the general rate of crime and collusion with a corrupt Narco government is making it impossible for people to live in their own neighborhoods.
The people who get returned are at risk of death. The people who stay in the border cities in Mexico are at risk of death. Some of them are the most dangerous cities in the country. What it means for them, we have to sort it out a little bit because there’s one group that’s the group that’s already gone into the United States and been sent back to await their asylum hearings. Presumably, they can’t throw those people out of asylum hearings that they’re already a part of. They could eventually go through the hearing and deny them asylum, which is what they’ll probably do, but they can’t just cut off–according to this rule–cut off their process. Those are the remaining Mexico people.
And then you have these safe third country people. And there’s something that should be said about this agreement, which is not an agreement, this rule that Trump made. Safe third country agreements exist in other parts of the world. We did a report on them. They’ve been challenged legally and repeatedly and, generally speaking, don’t hold up very well. But they’re different from what’s happening here in the sense that they are agreements. A developed country that for racist reasons or whatever reasons doesn’t want to take in its fair share of the world’s migrants–despite having contributed to the causes, which is very true–can say, “Okay, you, other country that they’re going through first, take these people. But we will contribute because we recognize the need for international protection and their right to international protection. We will contribute, usually financially, to the efforts to receive these people.”
Here, we don’t even have that. We have nothing. We have, once again, a ruling by Donald Trump, who’s been chiseling away at asylum, who’s been using immigration as an electoral issue to mobilize a racist base with a white supremacist agenda. And Mexico, because of its economic dependence, is just saying, “Well, okay, can you do something maybe about stopping arms at the border?” That’s their big stand for national sovereignty on these issues.
Who’s going to stand up for the migrants? That’s the big question now. The shelters are overwhelmed, the lawyers are overwhelmed. Every time they try to stop an illegal ruling like this, they get hit with another. And so it’s being tied up in the court and now this will be tied up again in the court. But in the meantime, by granting them the right–when we still don’t know the legality of the ruling, and it’s very likely not legal according to international law–by granting them the right to continue to do it, they’re killing people in the meantime.
GREG WILPERT: Matt, finally, I just want to know… Part of the problem, of course, that many people who are watching this probably will face, is that the Supreme Court seems very far removed from people in terms of being able to influence, that you don’t elect any high court judges. What would you say can people do who are concerned about this issue? Is there anything that can be done that is from an ordinary citizen perspective?
MATT CAMERON: Certainly. There are amazing organizations working on this right now. You can help them out; they’re pretty easy to find. And just continue to tell people this is catastrophic. This is really something that we as Americans, if we accept this now, there’s a very good chance that politically and legally, this will become the status quo. We just need to continue to tell each other that this is not normal, that this is not how it should be.
I just very quickly want to look back to your question because I’m having a little trouble actually articulating the government’s argument. I think I just want to mention that the government’s argument really is that migrants should be seeking asylum in the first country that they reach, which in the case of Central America… Really, if you’re coming from another Central American country, what you’re saying is that the fire is safer than the frying pan. Because that’s what you’re doing if you’re going from somewhere like El Salvador to Guatemala or the other way around.
There are right now 10, as I understand it, asylum officers in Guatemala, and that’s where they want to send these people. It’s a travesty. I think the safe third country agreement that Laura mentioned is illegal on both sides. I’m convinced of that, but this is even far and above beyond that. This is just another level of the war on asylum, just kicked up to another gear. It’s just been a really hard day, I think, for all of us who do this work.
LAURA CARLSEN: Yeah. And I want to mention that if we… In terms of what people can do, look what happened when Trump imposed the Muslim ban. The airports filled up with people protesting. This is essentially a ban on all asylum refugee seekers from Central America; in fact, from all of Latin America, because almost everyone has to come up by land. They can’t get a plane ticket to the United States without first going through their hearing and getting a legal status there. It’s essentially a ban on all Latin American refugees, on all African refugees who are coming through Latin America–which is a considerable proportion–and on all Caribbean refugees, practically. It’s very, very major and people should be reacting much more strongly than what we’ve seen so far.
GREG WILPERT: One last point that I also saw. Actually, I think it is quite interesting that the spokesperson for the union that represents asylum officers also came out very strongly against this ruling, saying that it’s clearly incompatible with the law. Even they are saying that this doesn’t make any sense. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to leave it there for now, but we’ll continue to cover the story as it develops. Thank you again, Laura Carlsen and Matt Cameron, for having joined us today.
LAURA CARLSEN: Thank you, Greg.
MATT CAMERON: Thank you, Greg.
GREG WILPERT: And thank you for joining The Real News Network.
Despite being the taxpayers’ greatest investment — more than $700 billion a year — the Department of Defense has remained an organizational black box throughout its history. It’s repelled generations of official inquiries, the latest being an audit three decades in the making, mainly by scrambling its accounting into such a mess that it may never be untangled. (https://media3.giphy.com/media/kHmINzGsY6xbwgSo3J/source.gif)
Quote
“Over and over again, we’ve been told we cannot afford to guarantee health care as a right, make public colleges tuition-free, or seriously address any of the needs of the working class,” Sanders says. “When it comes to the massive waste, fraud and abuse at the Pentagon, there’s a deafening silence.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)
Full article:
The 🦍 😈 Pentagon’s Bottomless Money Pit (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/pentagon-budget-mystery-807276/)
A Vermont State Police bomb squad truck is parked at the top of Church St, outside Sen. Bernie Sander’s office. Photo by Aidan Quigley/VTDigger
URLINGTON — Vermont State Police bomb squad and Burlington Police responded to a report of a suspicious package at Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office Thursday.
Sanders’ Church Street office and the building it is in was evacuated, BPD deputy chief Jon Murad said.
“Out of an abundance of caution we evacuated his offices and the building as we assess it,” Murad said.
Get all of VTDigger's daily news. You'll never miss a story with our daily headlines in your inbox.
Burlington Police received a call about the package, which came in the mail, from Sanders staff at 11:42 a.m.
Murad said at 4:15 p.m. that law enforcement was continuing to assess the package.
Murad said there were no plans to close Church Street as police deal with the situation.
Another suspicious package was delivered to Sanders’ St. Johnsbury office earlier this month, prompting a response from police, firefighters and state hazmat crews.
St. Johnsbury’s fire chief said an electronics company had sent the empty box so the senator’s staff could return something.
Agelbert NOTE: TPTB know Senator Sanders is a greater threat to them than ever before. Expect more of this, which will never be admitted as such publicly, state sponsored intimidation and terrorism. >:(
I hope they do not succeed in their despicable campaign to intimidate Sanders.
Back in 2016 TPTB tried ignoring him, then mocking him. That did not work. Sanders would have won the Democratic nomination and the presidency in 2016. That's why 😈 Hillary Clinton, a card carrying representative of TPTB, had to rig the primaries against Sanders.
2020 Presidential Candidate Sanders, though no media outlet or "official poll" will admit it, is America's favorite Candidate for POTUS. So now the jackals are being brought in. >:(
If a 'suspicious package' had been delivered to Moscow Mitch's offices, this would be all over the news. For Sanders, a champion of we-the-people and the last hope we have for JUSTICE in the (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-020818201645-1486464.jpeg&hash=bfa44b2ee2b1d6d1ea71a024b1bd6e9cf1328326) USA, all you hear is crickets. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183404.bmp&hash=dc40a133c761f80036b08ef0f6c0427aaa7e9f4b)
Title: Will Money or People Rule Our Country?
Post by: AGelbert on October 03, 2019, 09:50:29 pm
Will (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-300919160026-22862484.png) Money or People Rule Our Country?
1,300 views•Oct 3, 2019
https://youtu.be/l3_N3gCSNPA
Thom Hartmann Program 182K subscribers
Will money or the people Rule our country, Thom answers a call in a money vs. democracy showdown!
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Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on October 08, 2019, 11:02:47 pm
Is 🦀 Donald Trump Radicalizing The Police?
11,628 views•Oct 7, 2019
https://youtu.be/IPExF8rVoEg
Thom Hartmann Program 183K subscribers
Is Donald Trump radicalizing the police into his very own version of the Gestapo?
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Title: How Does America Handle a 🦀 Lawless President? 😨
Post by: AGelbert on October 09, 2019, 11:34:49 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) Trump Defies Impeachment: Could Be Worse Than Andrew Jackson (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300714025456.bmp&hash=f4e4a260bd60d3f34ca86fed93c47d5fb4117cfd)
1,680 views•Oct 9, 2019
https://youtu.be/gg_9HaCmbQ0
Thom Hartmann Program 183K subscribers
President Andrew Jackson defied the Supreme Court and now Trump is defying Congress, the impeachment inquiry and the will of the American People.
Could Trump live up to Andrew Jackson's legacy and be our next Lawless President
How Does America Handle a Lawless President?
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Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on October 10, 2019, 12:38:53 pm
As Dems Focus on Impeachment, (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) Trump Heads to “Imperial (https://images.dailykos.com/images/604450/story_image/NO45-1024x1024.jpg?1540657700) Governance“
October 10, 2019
The Trump administration is undermining our nation from immigration to the environment, while his tweets and impeachment distract us. Add it all up, says our guest, we can see how he threatens what remains of U.S. democracy.
https://youtu.be/eJLpr4r4Q90
Story Transcript
MARC STEINER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I’m Marc Steiner. Good to have you all with us.
The wars around impeachment are escalating. Trump has refused to allow State Department and other federal employees to testify in congressional committees. Just today, the headlines blared that he and his administration will not cooperate because all Democrats want to do is to overturn the 2016 election. The public is slowly turning against him. But is our democracy in danger? While all this is happening, as our guest writes, he is restructuring our country, instituting Draconian measures against immigrants, opening our lands and waters to oil exploration, aggressively trying to end a woman’s right to choose, and that’s just the beginning, all the while impeachment is capturing the headlines. And then there are his tweets. The ravings of a mad man or something more sinister? How do you resist, build a political movement with impeachment hiding the fundamental changes Trump and his minions are wreaking on our nation and our future?
We are joined by Sasha Abramsky, who is a Journalist and Author, Creator of the Abramsky Report, Writer for The Nation, whose article I read yesterday, in part inspired this conversation. It was called “As We Focus on Impeachment, Trump Is Restructuring the Country.” His latest book is Jumping at the Shadows: The Triumph of Fear and the End of the American Dream. And Sasha, welcome. Good to have you with us.
SASHA ABRAMSKY: Marc, good to be on the show.
MARC STEINER: Buddy, it’s good to talk to you. So let’s just begin with the latest we’ve seen with Trump and his headlines about not cooperating with the investigations and saying his people won’t have to cooperate because this is a witch hunt. I remember, I lived through Nixon in 1972, and that impeachment process, also what happened in Clinton’s impeachment process, or most of us did if we were around. And there was this absolute defiance, saying that, “I can do whatever I want to.” I mean, you write a bit about that, and you’ve tweeted a lot about that. Let’s start there. I mean, what this portends, what the potential dangers are we’re facing here.
SASHA ABRAMSKY: Well, the dangers are immense. And it’s a mistake to think they just started now with the impeachment hearing. Trump’s been president for nearly three years. And throughout that three-year period, he’s made it absolutely clear and his Justice Department has made it absolutely clear that by their ruling philosophy, the law does not apply to the president. They say it time and again, that the president cannot be convicted of crimes, that the president is in many ways above the law, and that the president can essentially disregard inconvenient constitutional truths if it suits him, without consequence. And what you’re seeing is the gradual building of a legal doctrine which essentially gives the president imperial powers.
Now, that’s deeply disturbing. It doesn’t matter if the president is an extremely philosophical, deep thinker, which Trump most certainly is not, any president, if they claim for themselves unlimited imperial powers, is going down a path toward tyranny, dictatorship, imperial governance, whatever you want to call it. When Trump does it, what he’s essentially doing is putting in an American context the Nazi Führerprinzip, this idea that the state and the individual who rules at that moment in time are absolutely overlapped, that there just is no difference between the will or the whim of the leader and the power and the authority of the state. And to me, when I look at what’s happening around impeachment, when I look at the flagrant disregard of constitutional process, of congressional authority, and so on, this is Trump laying out a roadmap to imperial governance. And what I tweeted yesterday is we’re now at a crossroads. And as far as I’m concerned, either Trump’s presidency survives, or constitutional government survives. But I don’t see how the two of them go hand in hand anymore.
MARC STEINER: I read that tweet before we went on the air, when I was looking at your Twitter feed. And for just a couple minutes, let’s wrestle with that for a second. I mean, when you look at history, we think that it can’t happen here. And when you look at the history of our own country, the United States, that we’re broadcasting from, when you look at any kind of Western democracy, and when you look at any nation on the planet, it can change. And it does change on a dime. You mentioned Hitler, 1932, with a small minority of the votes, 32% of the votes, he became the ruler and the fuhrer. I mean, these things can happen. And I always look at this like, when I think about 1877 and Rutherford B. Hayes becoming president of the United States with a minority of the vote but was able to destroy Reconstruction and start 90 years of terror against black people in the South of the United States. And we think that can’t happen again. Maybe not those exact things, but we need to stop and think about what history tells us about the moment we’re facing right now.
SASHA ABRAMSKY: Yeah. I mean, history never repeats itself exactly. And I’ve been writing a lot for the last three, four years now about the menace that I think that Trump represents. And it’s not necessarily because I don’t like him as an individual, though I think he’s both a buffoon and also a sadist, but it’s because he pushes policies again and again and again that are designed to instill fear and designed to instill terror in ever larger groups of the population, whether it’s immigrants, whether it’s refugees, whether it’s asylum seekers, whether it’s women whose rights are being constricted, or gay Americans whose rights are being constricted. Whenever you look at Trump’s policies, there’s a bullying, intimidating, increasingly violent undertone, and in some cases overtone, to Trump’s methodology.
And he goes before these huge and enthusiastic crowds and gins up violence against journalists, against political opponents, against anybody who dares to stand up and critique him. And he uses the presidential podium, which is the single most highly visible platform on Earth, to attack individuals, to go after private citizens, to denigrate people, to humiliate people. And when you have a governance like that, it seems to me that it becomes quite easy to ram through attacks on constitutional governments. But in a very real way, our constitutional system of checks and balances work when everybody agrees to abide by the rules. And when one player in that system essentially says, “Look, I’m walking away from the rules. What are you going to do about it,” which is what Trump’s been doing, that’s when you have an absolute threat to the survival of democratic governance.
And that’s what we saw in Germany in the 1930s, or Mussolini’s Italy. It’s what we saw in the juntas of Latin America more recently in the 1970s and 80s. It’s the kind of strong-arm governance that we see in Russia today, or in Turkey, where a nationalist demagogue takes power, and they might not necessarily officially destroy the democratic structures, but they neutralize them, they bypass them, they appeal to the mob. They essentially say, “We no longer agree to abide by the rules of the game.” And to me, that’s [inaudible 00:07:17] thought. This idea that the world’s most powerful country, but also the country that, for 80 years, has acted as something of a stabilizing influence in global affairs, the idea that this country is going down a rogue route, that it’s got an unpredictable, unstable, violent president who, in fits of rage or of pique, can change public policy on a dime, I think that’s a huge, huge risk to our future that we’re now staring down.
MARC STEINER: And so that brings me to the point of your article that you published in The Nation yesterday online, that while we focus on impeachment, Trump is restructuring the country, is what you wrote. It was the title of your article. So let’s talk a bit about that. I mean, because it goes to the heart of what you were just saying and all the things that he is fostering at the moment and pushing, from the public charge rules, which many people don’t know about, and other issues like that, how it’s tied to the Muslim ban. I mean, just talk a bit about what we’re not seeing as we’re watching the impeachment, and how that fits in.
SASHA ABRAMSKY: The first couple years of Trump’s government, it was somewhat comforting to think, “Well, he’s got horrible views, but he’s surrounded by incompetence and he’s actually not getting very much done.” The last year or so of the government, we’ve seen a tremendous amount being done in a very destructive way. So take immigration, for example. He’s using regulatory changes to entirely restructure 50 years of immigration policy. So whether it’s the regulation that now says, “If you’re an immigrant and you use any form of public assistance, whether it’s housing or nutritional or health assistance, it will subject you to deportation,” or his newest rule, which says, “If you can’t afford private health insurance, you’re not going to get a visa to come into the country in the first place,” or his attack on the asylum process, which says that anybody who transits through Mexico en route north to claim asylum is no longer eligible for asylum in this country, these aren’t regulatory tweaks. These are absolutely fundamental restructurings of the immigration process. And they’re done with no congressional input. They’re done with no serious legal input. They’re basically being done by executive fiat.
And you get a sense of the tone of Trump’s politics at the moment. Two things particularly strike me. First is there was a report last week that said that in March, Trump got together his top security and border officials, and he said, one, “Why can’t we shoot immigrants in the legs to slow them down as they’re heading North?” Two, “Why can’t we build a wall with entailing spikes on the top so that these families will be entailed if they climb the wall?” And three, if that doesn’t work, “Why can’t we build a moat along the border and fill it with alligators to attack immigrants?” Now, this isn’t the stuff of normal politics. This is the fantasy of a Charles Manson character, or a Vlad the Impaler character. And you see this backed up by increasingly erratic tweets. Just the other day, Trump put out this tweet that, in any other time in our history, would have signaled the end of a presidency. He put out a tweet that said, “In my great and unmatched wisdom,” that’s a quote, “In my great and unmatched wisdom, I will totally destroy and obliterate the economy of Turkey if they do what I don’t want in Syria.” Imagine that. Imagine the most powerful human being on quoting the Wizard of Oz.
MARC STEINER: That’s not funny, but yes, right, right.
SASHA ABRAMSKY: Right there, you have the duplicity of our moment. You have this sort of character who is something of a hybrid between Charlie Chaplin’s Great Dictator, this sort of caricature of what a dictator should look like, The Wizard of Oz, this creature who sort of promises all these grandiose things but actually has nothing, and then Charles Manson, somebody who fetishizes violence and sadism, and somehow has created a cult of personality around him so that a huge number of other people will glom on to these entirely maniacal visions. And this man has access to the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. He could press a button and destroy the lives of billions of people in an instant. To me, it’s just unfathomable that somebody of this low caliber should have the power of life and death over the globe. But that’s the moment we’re in.
MARC STEINER: So that is the moment we’re in. So the question I have to close this very quickly is, so when you look at what’s going on with our impeachment process now, and we see all the people coming out who are coming out against Trump in those impeachment hearings that have agreed to testify, and the battle around that, you see what’s happening with the impeachment, but then you see all this stuff going on under the radar for most people, and also this real danger that we face that we’re not paying attention to, that becomes a political question. It becomes a question of how you organize against it. It becomes a question about how you organize for the future in a positive way, because of what we face. And that’s what I, when I was asking my earlier historical question, what I was alluding to in terms of the real fundamental dangers that we face, and how you respond to it.
SASHA ABRAMSKY: Absolutely. Because, look, this isn’t all about whether or not Trump broke some laws when it comes to the Ukraine phone call. Much more fundamentally, this is about what Trump’s doing to the country in terms of environmental policy, with this catastrophic war on the environment that he’s waging, his rolling back of climate change initiatives, his rolling back of fuel efficiency standards. It’s to do with women’s rights and the stacking of the courts with ever more conservative judges who, by all accounts, are going to just eviscerate the right to an abortion, various other very important fundamental rights. It’s to do with the rollback of regulations around workplace safety. It’s to do with rollbacks of regulations on banks and exploitative lending practices with payday lending companies.
And all of these things that, when you have a government stocked by plutocrats, when you have a cabinet of multimillionaires and billionaires, when you have a president who doesn’t have an empathic bone in his body, really, really bad things happen to the social fabric. You see this attempt, this obsessive attempt to roll back the Affordable Care Act. Well, if the Trump administration succeeds and gets the Supreme Court somehow to declare the entire Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, which they’re trying to do, tens of millions of Americans are either going to lose their access to healthcare or have to pay a whole bunch more to maintain their access. So these things have consequences.
And even if you got rid of Donald Trump tomorrow, even if Trump resigned tomorrow, or was somehow forced out of office by a senatorial revolt, we’d still be dealing with the Trumpian legacy for decades, because so many policies are being implemented that put us in a really bad place, a bad place pragmatically, a bad place morally, a bad place in terms of our global alliances, or lack of alliances, and a bad place in terms of the kinds of opportunities that we’re going to have for subsequent generations. Because if you put in place policies that favor the rich and hurt everybody else, if you put in place tax policies that redistribute wealth up the economic ladder, if you make it even harder for people at the bottom of the economic ladder to succeed, to gain education, to gain jobs that pay living wages, if you do all of these things, you’re locking into place and inegalitarian, hierarchical system of governance, a method of organizing society, that’s going to be with us for decades.
So you’re absolutely right that this isn’t just the story about whether we impeach Trump because of what he said with the president of Ukraine. This is a conversation about what Trump is doing to the fabric of our community, what he’s doing to this country, and what policies he’s unraveling that are going to take years and years and years to fix. This is going to be a healing process. If we find that we wake up tomorrow and Trump is no longer the president, we are going to be recovering and trying to heal from the Trumpian years, I suspect for many, many decades. It’s going to be the single greatest challenge of the next many cycles of American politics.
MARC STEINER: And that’s what our next generation faces, and we have to stand with them to make sure this is a better place, not a worse place. And Sasha Abramsky, thank you so much for your time with us today. I deeply appreciate it. And I look forward to seeing what you write next and getting you to join us again soon.
SASHA ABRAMSKY: Be happy to. Thanks again, Marc.
MARC STEINER: Thank you so much. And I’m Marc Steiner here for The Real News Network. Thank you all for joining us. Please go to our website, let us know what you think. Take care.
DHARNA NOORL Hey y’all, my name is Dharna Noor and I’m a climate crisis reporter here at The Real News Network. This is a crucial moment for humanity and for the planet. So if you like what we do, please, please support us by subscribing at the link below. Thank you.
Title: Money Over Democracy: 😈 Trump Sold Out Our Allies & The American People!
Post by: AGelbert on October 10, 2019, 03:20:40 pm
Money Over Democracy: 😈 Trump Sold Out Our Allies & The American People! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-300919160019-22721213.gif) 😱
3,911 views•Oct 9, 2019
Thom Hartmann Program 183K subscribers
Is Donald Trump's Only Principal Money?
It is pretty clear that Donald Trump is not working for the American people but for other oligarchs, Thom Hartmann goes through the lack of principals in the Trump administration that led to the betrayal of our Allies the Kurds
⏱️ Timestamps 0:10 Why did Trump Sell-out the Kurds? 2:49 Does Trump have any Principals at all? 5:13 What is a Sociopath? 7:00 Sociopathic World Leaders 8:30 Warren Buffet's Low Tax Rate
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Title: Chris Hedges "Fascism in the Age of Trump"
Post by: AGelbert on October 22, 2019, 11:40:06 pm
Chris Hedges "Fascism in the (https://images.dailykos.com/images/604450/story_image/NO45-1024x1024.jpg?1540657700) Age of Trump"
465,467 views•Dec 1, 2017
https://youtu.be/BMYjroVIDLA
mediasanctuary 26.1K subscribers Journalist, author and war correspondent Chris Hedges spoke at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy NY on November 10, 2017 on fascism and empire in the age of Trump.
www.mediasanctuary.org
Chris Hedges is the best-selling author of War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2003), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. A quote from the book was used as the opening title quotation in the critically-acclaimed and Academy Award-winning 2009 film, The Hurt Locker. The quote reads: "The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug."
Hedges, whose column is published Mondays on Truthdig, has written twelve books, including the New York Times bestseller Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (2012), which he co-authored with the cartoonist Joe Sacco. Some of his other books include Unspeakable (2016), Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative to Revolt (2015), Death of the Liberal Class (2010), Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (2009), I Don’t Believe in Atheists (2008) and the best selling American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (2008). In 2011, Nation Books published a collection of Hedges’ Truthdig columns called The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress.
Hedges previously spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years.
Hedges was part of the team of reporters at The New York Times awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for the paper’s coverage of global terrorism. He also received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism in 2002. The Los Angeles Press Club honored Hedges’ original columns in Truthdig by naming the author the Online Journalist of the Year in 2009 and again in 2011. The LAPC also granted him the Best Online Column award in 2010 for his Truthdig essay “One Day We’ll All Be Terrorists.”
Hedges is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City. He has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University and The University of Toronto. He currently teaches prisoners at a maximum-security prison in New Jersey. Category Nonprofits & Activism
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on October 31, 2019, 07:04:43 pm
Are We Turning Into a Police State? 1,088 views•Oct 31, 2019
https://youtu.be/TyHfa4pImAY
Thom Hartmann Program 188K subscribers
Donald Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-010718172302.jpeg&hash=fa688c0438385737f55068e7922177b741f16043) tells police they'll receive military grade weapons under his second term, meanwhile governors are tracking their citizens movements? Are we turning into a police state?
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Will Donald Trump's police surge lead us into a police state?
The Unchecked Growth of 🦍 Policing Makes Everyone a Criminal, Even Children >:(
October 31, 2019
Despite a nationwide drop in crime the number of cops continues to grow. In this episode of The Police Accountability Report we examine some of the consequences of that growth and how it leads to unnecessary arrests and increased incarceration
The Unchecked Growth of 🦍 Policing Makes Everyone a Criminal, Even Children >:(
October 31, 2019
Despite a nationwide drop in crime the number of cops continues to grow. In this episode of The Police Accountability Report we examine some of the consequences of that growth and how it leads to unnecessary arrests and increased incarceration
We've watched this escalate over the past decade or two with grants of military equipment directly to police departments, so that Barney fife now has his own tanks and weaponized drones to go with his SWAT team outfit. Symptomatic of the fear the owners of capital have that the rest of us might soigné day say, "enough."
remember the words of Jay Gould: "I can always hire half the working class to kill the other half."
Title: 🦀 Trump Thinks He Can Get Away With Murder Because 🦍 Police Do All the Time
Post by: AGelbert on November 27, 2019, 04:27:46 pm
Quote
For all the media coverage of blue-collar workers in a handful of midwestern counties, you would never know that (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591) Trump’sfirst and primary union backing came from the Fraternal Order of 🦍 Police and the National 🦍 Border Patrol Council. This is Trump’s real non-wealthy base, ...
🦀 Trump Thinks He Can Get Away With Murder Because 🦍 Police Do All the Time (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)
November 26, 2019 DANNY KATCH, TRUTHOUT
Most people are profoundly shocked that Trump has remained in office despite his many well-documented crimes and abuses of power. But one has only to look at the absolute immunity granted to police officers to commit unspeakable criminal acts against some communities to understand that bullying and gaslighting did not begin with Trump. Victims of police crimes know that Trump is not the creator but a creation of this culture.
Read the Article → (https://default.salsalabs.org/Td1d9c8c0-3ff3-49c5-acfb-bba1d614a062/ec4af639-1255-4a4c-9da9-363d3c2c7098)
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on November 27, 2019, 05:39:01 pm
Title: What Does 'Too Far Left' Really Mean?
Post by: AGelbert on November 27, 2019, 06:25:49 pm
Agelbert NOTE: With friends like Obama, we do not need enemies. Obama gave us Trump with his bankster bailout grand larceny. His latest BS is working to give Trump another term! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817134648.gif&hash=d24c66a26329a19150a175d576b631d10f631ee8)
What Does 'Too Far Left' Really Mean?
5,242 views•Nov 22, 2019
https://youtu.be/LNAftf4wAHc
Thom Hartmann Program 194K subscribers
Have billionaires pulled the country so far to the right that many, including President Obama, have complained of some of us going too far left?
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Title: How Democracy Turns to Oligarchy! 😱
Post by: AGelbert on November 27, 2019, 06:48:49 pm
How Democracy Turns to Oligarchy! 😱
4,249 views•Nov 25, 2019
https://youtu.be/Jvmog4EVk5g
Thom Hartmann Program 194K subscribers
How Billionaires took revenge and turned democracy into oligarchy and how we can bring it back!
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Do you think we can get our democracy back or have the billionaires completely won?
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Title: Will You Be Locked up If 🦀 Trump Is Reelected?
Post by: AGelbert on November 27, 2019, 07:21:57 pm
Will You Be Locked up If (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) Trump Is Reelected?
1,370 views•Nov 27, 2019
https://youtu.be/Nkq73KCGrig
Thom Hartmann Program 194K subscribers
A Trump reelection could put you and your family in danger!
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If Donald Trump is reelected we could see leftists, progressives, and Democrats locked up for bogus reasons. Thom runs trough some of those reasons.
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Title: THE FUTURE IS FASCIST
Post by: Surly1 on December 12, 2019, 06:36:57 am
Interesting article I found, which is good about the impulse to fascism, then utterly runs out of gas at the end in re what we do about it. "Hitting the brakes" on rampant consumption is easy to say, but who does without their hydrocarbons, and who dies, remains a very sticky issue. Which fascism can resolve quite efficiently. Great photo illustrations.
THE FUTURE IS FASCIST (https://abeautifulresistance.org/site/2019/2/28/jthe-future-is-fascist)
The abrupt appearance of fascist, ultranationalist, racial separatist, and authoritarian movements throughout the world in the last five years—and their success in coming to power through “democratic” electoral processes—is truly terrifying. At no time since the 1930’s have we seen not only a comfort but a deep lust for authoritarianism in so many people: closed borders, immigration raids, direct and brutal violence against political opposition, flagrant displays of racism and male chauvinism, popular referendums towards national separatism, and an almost jubilant erosion and revocation of civil protections for minorities.
Multiple theories have arisen as to precisely why this is happening. Unfortunately, none of them suffice to explain the actual causes, only assure us that what has arisen throughout the world can be fought or stopped. In general, these theories usually label these fascist impulses as “reactionary,” meaning that they are conservative at their core and wish to turn back the clock on social progress or stop an inevitable flood of civil rights expansions.
For instance, most explanations of this rise of fascism assert that the Liberal Democracies of the world have finally reached a point where equality for racial minorities, for women, for people with variant gender and sexual expressions, or others who have been “locked out” of access to wealth and political power is finally obtainable. In this view, fascism is a “reaction” to this progress by those who will lose privileged access to wealth and power as others finally get theirs. Thus, increased violence against gays, or Black people, or women in these societies is their reaction to these changes, a brutal but futile attempt to claw back democratic “Progress.”
It’s no mistake that this is the dominant theory on fascism amongst leftists and liberals in the United States and to a lesser extent in the United Kingdom. We can easily see why this is the case: it allows the election of Trump in the US and the passage of the “Brexit” referendum in the UK to be described as sudden “interruptions” to what otherwise seemed progressive nations. In the US particularly, the election of Barack Obama in 2008 and many apparent expansions of Liberal Democratic rights (gay marriage, affordable health care, proposed paths to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, amongst many others) gave the sense that things were “getting better” and would continue to do so. Donald Trump’s election thus seemed particularly shocking to those who’d been convinced of this narrative, a sudden interruption or step backward in the steady march towards eventual equality.
So in this view, Trump (and Brexit), as well as the many increasing instances of street violence by nationalists and racists and explicit hatred for trans, queer, immigrant, and other vulnerable groups are all last-ditch efforts from people who have realized they were losing. These fascists then are counter-revolutionaries attempting to stop the slow but inevitable march of progress towards liberal utopia. They are people looking backwards towards an imagined past because they refuse to learn someone’s pronouns or not sexually-harass women. They’ve seen the writing on the wall, the prophetic end to patriarchy, white supremacy, and all the other systems which privileged them over all others, and they’re trying to stop their downfall.
This is a beautiful, comforting narrative. It offers hope to those directly suffering from such violence that things will once again be better and even more so. “We are winning,” it whispers to us, “this is just a temporary setback.” And thus we organize against fascism as we if are engineers attempting to put a train back on its tracks, to move our societies again in the direction they were heading in the first place. We treat these apparent interruptions as not so much an emergency but a temporary inconvenience. Once we’ve set things right again—by which is often meant “get a Democrat in office again”—we’ll have our rights and freedoms and security and can finally be on our way again towards the future destination of equality.
The Myth of Social Progress
If this has been your view of fascism, I apologize for the rest of this essay. Yet I suspect you, as I have, possess a felt sense that the engineers don’t have the current “interruption” as under control as much as they suggest, that there is no regularly-scheduled programming to which we can return.
Fascism is the new normal.
The dominant view of fascism—that these explosions of nationalist and racist acts and political wins are mere “reactions”—relies on a highly-selective conception of the recent histories of Liberal Democracies such as the United States. This conception filters out the actual material conditions of our societies (that is, it does not look at access to wealth, stagnation of wages, accessibility of housing and other resources, nor the conditions of the environment itself) and instead narrates our lives according to what social rights we perceive ourselves to have.
To put this a simpler way, while a gay person can get married in the United States in 2019 but could not in the year 2000, that same gay person’s ability to support themselves (get housing, healthcare, eat, etc) has not gotten easier. In fact, in most places in the United States, especially for those working for minimum or low wages, their lives have gotten much harder despite receiving “rights” and “protections” from the government. The same is true for every other group that the dominant narrative claims fascists are “reacting” against.
Not convinced? Go ask a trans person, a Black mother, or undocumented immigrant friend how easy it was for them to pay their rent in the US in 2016, just before this supposed fascist “interruption” began. And if they’re old enough, ask them if it was really all that easier than it was in 2000.
Taking a longer view of history and refusing to ignore the material conditions which affect people reveals a different narrative than the one we’ve generally come to accept about fascism as interruption to progress. Looking at these conditions, over multiple nations and over a longer term, shows that the general state of Liberal Democracies has been a slow, creeping crisis. Wealth has become concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people each year, while the greater portions of these societies struggle harder to survive, work longer hours, get themselves into deeper debt, live in increasingly dense and suffocating cities, and find themselves renting out parts of their lives through “sharing economy” apps or engaging in relentless “crowd-funding” social media campaigns to pay rent, buy groceries, pay for necessary surgeries and even to afford funerals for loved-ones.
Socially, however—sure. It appears things are (or at least were) getting better. Social Justice movements, #metoo, Black Lives Matter, and many other organic movements (all facilitated by capitalist social media) definitely have given us a sense that progress is happening or is at least possible. But none of these have actually changed the material conditions of life for the people the fascists are supposedly reacting against. We have gotten better at asking people’s pronouns and policing social media posts for oppressive language, but this has not improved material conditions for anyone.
This is not to say that the rights doled out by governments or won through cultural change are irrelevant or should be abandoned. I’m a gay immigrant married to his husband: the rights against which fascists are supposedly reacting are vital to my life, as they are to many others. So when I suggest that these rights are only “aesthetic changes,” I do not mean they are irrelevant or unimportant. However, they do not change the actual material conditions of my life, only my ability to be in certain places and with certain people. They do not make me any more able to survive in a capitalist system, nor feed myself or pay rent.
It is important to underline this problem because if all these current fascisms are supposedly reactions to an increase in rights, than fascists are merely acting like spoiled children, upset that they’ve been forced by their parents to allow another child a turn with their toys. While it’s comforting to infantilize opponents this way, there’s an unseen mediator that this conception doesn’t address: the state.
The Rise of the Authoritarian Surveillance State
When the state appears in most theories about fascism, it’s seen as a passive actor. Like a parent attempting to intervene between siblings, our way of looking at the state’s role in the rise of fascism presumes it to be a neutral tool the fascists wish to seize for their own will. As with other aspects of this narrative, this view ignores the profound increase in police and surveillance powers that the governments of the world have enacted for the last several decades.
These increases have occurred as much (and sometimes more) under centrist, liberal, and even “leftist” governments as they have under conservative or right-wing governments, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany since 2000. For instance, the longest state of emergency in France was declared (and extended 6 times) by a socialist president, François Hollande. Gerhard Schröder in Germany and Tony Blair in the UK also implemented significant expansions on security and surveillance powers for their respective governments, and President Barack Obama in the United States not only failed to dismantle the massive power-grab implemented by the Patriot Act, but he expanded many of its internal and external policies ( including an increase in drone warfare and the legalization of “extra-judicial” killings of American citizens abroad).
We should note that these were all leaders generally seen as champions of civil rights. Both Hollande and Obama presided over governments that allowed same-sex marriage, for instance (while in the United Kingdom and Germany this was done during conservative governments). That is to say, that while the state appeared to be doling out freedoms, it was simultaneously taking away many more by accumulating surveillance and policing powers we usually associate with authoritarian regimes.
In fact, if we take this accumulation into account, we get a completely different picture of what has been occurring. The state which the fascists seem to want to seize is far from neutral. The governments of the world have become increasingly authoritarian and increasingly powerful, reducing the overall freedoms of the people they rule despite offering up a few new freedoms to select minorities.
Besides completely undermining the basis for the theory that fascism is a reaction to progress, this forces us to ask whether fascism is actually a “reaction” in the first place. That is, rather than being backwards and regressive, what if the demands for tougher controls on the movements of people (immigration laws, border walls, deportations, etc), the popular support for far-right political leaders, and the increase in racist, nationalist, and other identity-based violence is actually the true “progress?”
What if the pull towards the future isn’t one of equality but of increased inequality, of even more complex oppression and deeper subjugation of peoples?
At least for the previous twenty years, but arguably for the last forty, the general movement of governments and societies has been one of increased control, not of increased freedom. It has also been a movement towards increased concentration of wealth for the rich and increased debt and poverty for an ever-expanding base of the poor whose material conditions only get worse, never better.
More terrifyingly, the very resources upon which our existences rely have become increasingly scare. Catastrophic climate change isn’t stopping or even slowing—it’s accelerating. More species die each year than the previous, CO2 levels in the atmosphere continue to climb, disruptions to major weather patterns trigger increasing heat waves, storms, and floods: all this puts additional pressure upon the poor across the earth, creating food, water, and energy crises that threaten the stability of governments everywhere.
Fascism and the Climate Crisis
Therein, though, is the hint as to what is actually behind the increasing authoritarian trends, whether those be state-led or populist. Because fascism is a reaction after all, but not a reaction against an aesthetic increase in social rights for select minorities. Instead, it is a reaction to an emergency.
Fascism—by which I also mean authoritarianism—is a way of managing civilizations during emergencies. Laws against dissent or political opposition during war time, for example, are justified as necessary because the very existence of the government is under threat from foreign powers (real, or as in the cast of the “wars against terrorism,” mostly manufactured and imaginary). During both World Wars, the United States (and all other major governments involved in the war) implemented increased surveillance, incarcerated or interned entire people groups, and harshly prosecuted property crimes and other offenses by the poor. Similarly in the last two decades, authoritarian power-grabs in response to “terrorism” such as the Patriot Act in the United States were used to prosecute environmentalists, war-dissenters, and civil-rights activists, a practice that continues up to the present day.
So if this increasing trend towards authoritarianism throughout the world is a reaction to an emergency, we must ask ourselves what that emergency is. Here we need to drop all pretenses that our Liberal Democracies are marching towards some utopian future of equality, or that there is any real progress being made to better our material conditions. Instead, we are forced to look at those very material conditions themselves and realize that they actually cannot get better.
Several hundred years ago, the way most humans had lived (relatively unchanged for thousands of years) shifted abruptly with the birth of factories and the exploitation of coal and oil. This led to explosions in population growth accompanied by massive deforestation, desertification, and most of all an exponential growth in carbon dioxide expelled into the air. All of this was seen as “progress,” the factory was the future, and because the earth on which we live possesses a deep resiliency, few of the effects this destruction caused became evident until last century.
No one should be surprised that the modern-nation state and the birth of surveillance and policing technologies also occurred at the exact same time. Such an explosion of economic and population growth required new strategies for maintaining power against the poor, especially since they were promised liberation through the illusions of democracy.
But here we are now, having reached the limits of earth’s resiliency and the resources used to build our civilizations—especially oil. There are no other easily-available energy sources to maintain—let alone expand—modern society, and anyways the time to have transitioned to more sustainable methods was several decades ago. So now every people group in the world sees the certainty of impending scarcity and in some cases genocide through starvation, flooding, drought, or war.
Every government of the world is now facing the undeniable question: how do we hold on to power in the face of catastrophic climate change? China has already found its answer, through increased surveillance and management of its people through a “social credit” system. In that system, every individual will eventually be tracked according to social, financial, legal, and commercial data and scored accordingly, with a low score (including political dissent or jay-walking too often) barring you from international flights and economic assistance.
While easy to dismiss from an orientalist standpoint as a dystopian project that cannot happen in the “enlightened West,” we must remember that such a system doesn’t arise out of nothing, nor is it meant merely to punish. The purpose of the social credit system in China is to manage resource availability: people who do not conform to the system lose access to economic goods and mobility itself, and access is granted only to those who do conform.
Here we can see that China is responding to the same emergency (dwindling resources) to which Emmanuel Macron was responding when he implemented his highly unpopular diesel tax. This tax was born not from a mere desire to punish people but to avoid an impending petroleum crisis by discouraging people from driving. While the Gillets Jaunes protesters in France have many justifiable reasons to criticize Macron’s introduction of the “environmental measure,” the problem remains that France both continues to pump out absurd amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, and also faces potential fuel shortages in the next few years. These are far greater crises than an increase in diesel costs.
Similar problems are occurring everywhere. Brexit, for all its racist and nationalist rhetoric, was an understandable response for a nation finding its economic power dwindling. So too the election of Jair Bolsonoro in Brazil and Donald Trump in the United States: previous centre-left governments had failed to address any of the actual impending economic crises and instead relied on political chicanery and heavy doses of optimism to opiate the masses. Germany is also facing a similar situation, with its centre-right leader Angela Merkel barely holding on to power against threats from several proto-fascist parties.
The situation we are in can perhaps best be seen with Trump’s proposed border-wall between the United States and Mexico. As awful as Trump is and as racist as the wall will be, it’s too easy to forget the actual logic behind the thing. The point of the wall isn’t to keep people out now, it’s to keep out the millions of people fleeing drought and starvation due to catastrophic climate change later. It is not about a racist present, but about a fascist future.
With this lens we can also look at other changes in the way the United States has been governed before the current president and see that there’s been no interruption at all, only a continuation. President Obama, for all his charming aesthetics of progress, continued and expanded military occupations in the Middle East while increasing the militarization of police within the United States. The answer as to why someone supposedly so committed to equality would do such a thing should now be obvious: the military actions were necessary to ensure the United States had continued access to oil reserves, and the militarization of police was to ensure the government could withstand internal challenges to its sovereignty…including by poor Black people.
In Our Past Is Our Future
By now perhaps you’re wondering why such a longer view isn’t included in many of the dominant theories about fascism. In fact, such a view might also strike you as a little too apologetic for these authoritarian impulses. To both of these points I can only answer by invoking the legacy of two anti-fascist thinkers from the middle of last century, Georges Bataille and Walter Benjamin.
Georges Bataille was a French artist and writer who lived through the Nazi occupation of France. Walter Benjamin was a German Jewish historian and writer who fled through France into Spain, where he died (by suicide, or potentially by assassination). They were also friends, sharing a passion for mysticism and other heretical ideas that caused them both to be accused of fascism themselves.
Bataille’s primary work on the subject, The Psychological Structure of Fascism, is almost never quoted in discourse around fascism. This is unfortunate, but also unsurprising: besides being a difficult text, Bataille argues uncomfortably that fascism is a revolutionary force, one that seeks to establish order in times of political crisis in order to perpetuate the order. That is, for Bataille, fascism is a way of renewing a society, of keeping it going, uniting it and resurrecting it so it can progress into the future. From Bataille’s view, Trump’s slogan “Make American Great Again” is not so much about the real past as it about a utopian future. The rise of fascist movements now can also be seen not as attempts to return to a mythic past but to create unity to survive a tumultuous future.
Because of the way he rejected the myth of utopian socialist “progress,” Bataille’s ideas were labeled dangerous and even sympathetic to fascism by others. So, too, were the ideas of his friend Walter Benjamin, who had the unfortunate distinction of being one of the few men of that time wanted dead by both Stalinists and Nazis for his ideas.
For Benjamin, the rise of fascism was exactly the pull towards the future which I suggest we be fearful of. Highly critical of the way that industrialization had changed our conception of reality (for example, through the mechanical reproduction of art) and how it turned politics into aesthetic, Benjamin argued that “progress” was not some great destination towards which we must valiantly march, but a terrible destination over which we had no control. In his remarks about a painting in his possession (hidden from the Nazis on his behalf by Bataille), he wrote:
A Klee painting named Angelus Novus shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.
And in a footnote in that same work, he outlines a theory of revolution as anti-future:
“Marx said that revolutions are the locomotive of world history. But perhaps things are very different. It may be that revolutions are the act by which the human race traveling in the train applies the emergency brake.”
For both Benjamin and Bataille, then, fascism was not a reactionary impulse, nor an attempt by those losing power to regain it. Instead, fascism is the inevitable future of civilizations built upon capitalist exploitation of people and the earth, the final point of “progress” for industrial society. And though neither were nearly as aware of how dire the situation in the world is now, their words feel much more prophetic—and true—than the comforting yet false idea that fascism is merely reaction to social progress.
Their ideas point to an awful truth: it is no co-incidence that the authoritarian impulses of governments and people are exploding around us at the very same time that catastrophic climate change has begun manifesting itself. In fact, the racist, nationalist, and fascist movements that arise everywhere now are a response to the impending resource crises caused by that climate change.
Though this is not the future we were promised nor the progress we were hoping for, this was always the only future that was ever possible for our industrialized civilizations.
But this doesn’t mean this is the only future possible for humanity or the earth. There were other futures before, other futures still—but only for different kinds of societies, ones not dependent upon dwindling resources for their perpetual growth. It has always been possible to live without petroleum and coal, without deforestation and extinctions, without international finance capital and instant digital commerce, without immigration laws and border walls, without corporate and state surveillance and militarized police.
To get to such a future, though, we need to pull the emergency brake on this future first. Then we can do the work of remembering how to survive without all these things, the way humans have done for thousands and thousands of years. While the future of our current civilization is fascist, our past is full of other futures, other hopes, and other ways of being with each other. It’s to this past we must look, even as the wreckage of history piles up. We must resist the storm of false “progress,” awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed.
Rhyd is a druid and writer, as well as a co-founder of Gods&Radicals Press. You can learn more about him here, or support him directly on Patreon.
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on December 12, 2019, 06:37:20 pm
The Secrets of an 🦍 Elite Law Enforcement Unit Which Ran a Criminal Gang Inside a US Jail
5,695 views December 12, 2019
https://youtu.be/hNy1O507g-E
The Real News Network 372K subscribers
The police accountability report talks to a first-hand witness to the alleged crimes of a group of corrections officers charged with brutalizing inmates as part of a larger criminal scheme
Producer: Stephen Janis Taya Graham Director/Video Editor: Dwayne Gladden Audio Engineer: David Hebden Camera Operator: Taylor Hebden Will Arenas Motion Graphics Designer: Kelly McAdams
Subscribe to our page and support our work at https://therealnews.com/donate. Category News & Politics
Agelbert NOTE: With friends like Obama, we do not need enemies. Obama gave us Trump with his bankster bailout grand larceny. His latest BS is working to give Trump another term! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817134648.gif&hash=d24c66a26329a19150a175d576b631d10f631ee8)
Completely agree.
"Too far left" might involve lampposts and skeins of sturdy nylon rope.
Or maybe not.
Title: "The Brutality Abroad is Matched by a GROWING BRUTALITY At Home." -- Chris Hedges
Post by: AGelbert on December 23, 2019, 05:07:49 pm
Chris Hedges On Corporate Control Of The World
76,628 views•Dec 1, 2017
https://youtu.be/i5X3NRD00FY
trustylimbs🗺️
34.1K subscribers
Chris Hedges Addresses the corrupt oligarchy that runs and controls everything. He describes what America really is, an empire in decline and near death.
Category Nonprofits & Activism
Title: These commenters must have read my mind.
Post by: AGelbert on December 30, 2019, 11:03:31 pm
Agelbert NOTE: These commenters must have read my mind. I feel the same way as they do.
Quote
Alicia Busse One of the worst parts of the Frump era is the inescapable realization of just how many truly awful people walk among us.
Sandra Singleton Alice, I think about that alarming fact more than I should.
Randall Young Sandra Singleton Me too, and it doesn't make me feel all warm and cozy inside.
Laurie Lindeman You truly got that right i always thought for the most these people were very well hidden or defeated where they chose to keep to themselves.Yikes Trump really did open a can of rotten souls and now that they have been awakend they will not go down easily we will have to be stonger then they are so we can put them back in their cans
James Sullivan | 6:00 pm EST December 28, 2019
Palmer Report » Analysis
Things just took a particularly ugly turn for 🦀 Donald Trump (https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/things-just-took-a-particularly-ugly-turn-for-donald-trump/24055/)
Title: $71 Million for More Cops; Not A Dime for Jobs and Healthcare
Post by: AGelbert on January 08, 2020, 09:30:46 pm
$71 Million for More Cops; Not A Dime for Jobs and Healthcare (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817134648.gif&hash=d24c66a26329a19150a175d576b631d10f631ee8)
5,384 views•Jan 8, 2020
https://youtu.be/5RVcupjVrYg
The Real News Network 375K subscribers
Operation Relentless Pursuit is a Department of Justice initiative to combat crime through a "surge in federal resources.” We talked with Brandon Walker of the Ujima People's Progress Party about what's really needed to combat crime and empower neighborhoods in places like Baltimore, one of the seven cities targeted by the plan.
Title: ... the Boss man who does by manipulation, intrigue, crooked judges & business men, by the ...
Post by: AGelbert on January 14, 2020, 03:19:03 pm
WHAT A DISASTER
Isabel Stamm | 10:30 am EST January 14, 2020 Palmer Report » Analysis
This week, we will likely see the transfer of the Articles of Impeachment from the House to the Senate and the beginning of the next phase of the impeachment process. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is going to continue conducting U.S. foreign policy in a breathtakingly haphazard fashion and with no discernible long-term strategy. There is, however, one unifying feature underlying virtually all of Trump’s policy decisions, both foreign and domestic: they are purely transactional and venal. And the former real estate mogul is not exactly shy about admitting this in public.
When the Iraqi parliament voted to ask all foreign troops to leave the country in the wake of the assassination of Qassem Soleimani on Iraqi soil by the U.S. military, Donald Trump did not speak up to talk about the importance of a continued presence of American and allied troops in the fight against Daesh. Rather, he complained about an investment that could be lost in case the U.S. should have to leave Iraq: “We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that’s there. It cost billions of dollars to build. … We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it.” Then he proceeded to threaten the country with sanctions in case the Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister decides to follow the request made by the parliament.
During an interview on Fox News last Friday, the man who had campaigned on the promise of “bringing the troops back home” then talked about sending more U.S. soldiers to Saudi Arabia. The reason? “They’re paying us. They’ve already deposited $1 billion in the bank.” This rationale, given by the Commander-in-Chief for the deployment of young Americans on foreign soil, did not go down well with the general public, regardless of political affiliation. “He sells troops,” tweeted Justin Amash (I-Mich.) who until recently was a Republican. And actor and political writer Brian Tyler Cohen commented, saying that “The US military is now a mercenary army for the country that sent the majority of hijackers to do ::) 9/11.” Also, Donald Trump’s revelation that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had already deposited $1 billion “in the bank” raised a lot of questions about which bank exactly he was talking about and whether this was a reference to the U.S. Treasury (where the money should go) or Mr. Trump’s deep pockets (where the money should most definitely not go).
In the same interview, Trump also bragged to Laura Ingraham about having badgered South Korea into paying for the presence of U.S. troops in a style that is clearly reminiscent of a New York wise guy doing some good, old-fashioned racketeering: “South Korea gave us $500 million … I said, ‘You gotta help us along. We have 32,000 soldiers in South Korea protecting you from North Korea. You’ve gotta pay.’” This clearly shows that he still has not understood the vital importance of an American presence in the region – a lesson his military and strategic advisers have been trying to instill into him from the beginning of his presidency, obviously without success.
In a speech he gave in 1910, Franklin D. Roosevelt said the following words: “I will tell you who is the real menace in American political life—not the king; he does not exist and never will; not the dictator, but the boss; the man who does by manipulation, by intrigue, by alliance with crooked judges, by crooked business men, by the assessment of judges, in every way that is contrary to the principles of good citizenship, the man who by doing all that gets enormous political power and exercises it as he chooses, that man is a menace.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591) Donald J. Trump clearly is the menace FDR was envisioning in his speech. He needs to be removed from the presidency, either through impeachment or at the ballot box.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591) Trump And The Peak Of Barbarism
By Atilio A. Boron, Atilio Boron’s blog. I just read a very interesting note by writer Peter Koenig about the renaissance and exasperation of barbarism in recent times, and I say exasperation because it has been a constant presence in history, but under capitalism, it took on new and more brutal forms. The United States is undoubtedly the homeland of barbarism. Its status as the biggest terrorist on the planet was reached in August 1945 when it dropped atomic bombs on two defenseless cities in Japan, turning several hundred thousand of their inhabitants into ashes -or condemning them to a horrific slow death-. -more- (https://popularresistance.org/trump-and-the-peak-of-barbarism/)
Title: Creeping TWO PARTY Police State
Post by: AGelbert on January 22, 2020, 02:58:15 pm
Neither political party offers a substantive challenge to the military-industrial complex, or views capitalism as the enemy of democracy, if not the planet itself. In different ways, both parties have hollowed out democratic institutions and cozied up to dictators. In addition, neither party historically used the impeachment process to indict George W. Bush for launching an illegal war in Iraq – or, for that matter, George W. Bush for illegally kidnapping, jailing and torturing what he indiscriminately labeled as “enemy combatants.” Nor was Obama charged with a war crime when he “gave the executive branch of the government the right to act as judge, jury and executioner in assassinating U. S. citizens.” There is more at work here than acts of bad faith; there is also a thread of moral hypocrisy and a flight from social responsibility on the part of both parties.
The Republican Party’s claim to stand for small government, fiscal soundness and national security is now palpably untrue. Instead, its most paranoid and racist elements now control the party. The Republican Party’s move to the right intensified in the 1990s under the influence of Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove, and later with the rise of Sarah Palin and the defeat of the centrist Mitt Romney in 2012.
Full article:
The Battle to Impeach Trump Is Part of a Global Struggle for Democracy (https://truthout.org/articles/the-battle-to-impeach-trump-is-part-of-a-global-struggle-for-democracy/)
Title: American Dissident: Noam Chomsky on the State of the Empire
Post by: AGelbert on January 22, 2020, 07:13:30 pm
American Dissident: Noam Chomsky on the State of the Empire
72,931 views•Dec 5, 2019
https://youtu.be/xXVo_zxdEBc
The Intercept 140K subscribers
Subscribe to the Intercepted podcast: https://theintercept.com/podcasts/int...
This interview originally aired on September 26, 2018.
Noam Chomsky is one of the most popular and influential political thinkers in the world, yet in the United States you will only find him on independent, alternative media outlets. Look at all of the pundits and well, criminals who are constantly on TV today. The people with long public career in mass killing or mass lying. This is part of the problem. It’s a big part of the problem in this country. How different would this country be, would the world be, if Noam Chomsky and other principled dissidents were regularly featured on major news broadcasts?
Chomsky is currently a laureate professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona. He is professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught for more than half a century. Chomsky’s recent books include, “Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy” and “Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power.” He is also the co-author, with the late Ed Herman, of the classic book, “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.
Listen to the full episode: https://interc.pt/2IhA7aE Follow Intercepted on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Intercepted Follow Intercepted on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intercepted... Subscribe to our channel: https://interc.pt/subscribe Category News & Politics
Title: Cop Charged For Shooting Handcuffed Man Seven Times
Post by: AGelbert on January 29, 2020, 07:45:41 pm
Cop Charged For Shooting Handcuffed Man Seven Times :o
6,224 views•Jan 29, 2020
https://youtu.be/34cxbL0I0VY
The Real News Network 382K subscribers
While waiting handcuffed in a police car after a traffic stop, a man was shot 7 times by a Cpl Michael Owen from Prince Georges County, MD. The officer was not wearing his body camera at the time of the shooting and the Police department has already been placed under a consent decree for unconstitutional policing and excessive use of force against residents
Subscribe to our page and support our work at https://therealnews.com/donate. Category News & Politics
Title: “💵🎩👹 America Exists Today to Make 🏴☠️ War”: Lawrence Wilkerson on Endless War & American Empire
Post by: AGelbert on February 05, 2020, 04:02:42 pm
“💵🎩👹 America Exists Today to Make 🏴☠️ War”: Lawrence Wilkerson on Endless War & American (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) Empire
176,197 views•Jan 13, 2020
https://youtu.be/JYHRlK3VYbI
Democracy Now! 626K subscribers Retired U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, says the escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Iran today is a continuation of two decades of U.S. policy disasters in the Middle East, starting with the 2003 run-up to war with Iraq under the Bush administration. “America exists today to make war. How else do we interpret 19 straight years of war and no end in sight? It’s part of who we are. It’s part of what the American Empire is,” says Wilkerson. “We are going to cheat and steal to do whatever it is we have to do to continue this war complex. That’s the truth of it. And that’s the agony of it.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-041115022304.png&hash=cd8cb8e28ab8f7fc78c1ea00d30a661bd937aed5)
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Title: The Most Appalling Moment From 🦀 Trump's State of the Union
Post by: AGelbert on February 06, 2020, 05:51:06 pm
FEB 05, 2020 NEWS
By Jake Johnson
(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/ECCqP9tiCgsOXGzTHJRV20lw8_ajhOoq5KYhOO9xzter49kUlD5612QE7T2cgJYF66Qklqee5YxvlGu_ukotFr3mcgaNry32sQPVsEKf2wmxoevUQ9Vp6eKzlnLnLxXytZEnHoc1yweTp4es0iw-=s0-d-e1-ft#https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Screen-Shot-2020-02-05-at-1.02.52-PM.png) The Most Appalling Moment From (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591) Trump's State of the Union
Progressives decry bipartisan support for regime change after both parties give Venezuelan opposition leader 😈 Juan Guaidó a standing ovation. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817134648.gif&hash=d24c66a26329a19150a175d576b631d10f631ee8) Read more (https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-most-appalling-moment-from-trumps-state-of-the-union/)
Title: Body Cam Shows Brutal Arrest of Man for Exercising 1st Amendment Rights
Post by: AGelbert on February 06, 2020, 09:16:34 pm
PREMIERE
Body Cam Shows Brutal Arrest of Man for Exercising 1st Amendment Rights
281 watching now•Premiere in progress. Started 14 minutes ago
https://youtu.be/BHsfpGzTGI8
The Real News Network 384K subscribers
A recent arrest of a man playing guitar on a public sidewalk raises deeper questions about the power of American policing and how cops have nearly lawless discretion to arrest and harm
Subscribe to our page and support our work at https://therealnews.com/donate. Category News & Politics
Title: US 🦍 Sanctions Venezuela Again to Prove Socialism Doesn't Work 😈
Post by: AGelbert on February 10, 2020, 04:53:56 pm
US 🦍 Sanctions Venezuela Again to Prove Socialism Doesn't Work (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)
5,940 views•Feb 10, 2020
https://youtu.be/l8hcJjwnQF0
The Real News Network 385K subscribers
Shortly after Venezuelan opposition leader and self-declared president Juan Guaidó got a standing ovation at Trump's State of the Union address, United States officials promised more sanctions on Venezuela. Why?
Can we still trust the Justice Department? Is there a real danger to our democracy and should we be worried?
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Thom Hartmann reveals how Trump and Bill Barr turned checks and balances into getting checks and balance sheets.
Has the corruption of our government exceeded our ability to stop it? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16271224.gif&hash=c2a9bfbff23e2414975829eb4b3655af12eb02cc)
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Title: Make No Mistake, Trump Is Test-Running Fascism To See What He Can Get Away With
Post by: Surly1 on February 12, 2020, 06:16:57 am
Make No Mistake, Trump Is Test-Running Fascism To See What He Can Get Away With (https://mavenroundtable.io/theintellectualist/news/make-no-mistake-trump-is-test-running-fascism-to-see-what-he-can-get-away-with-wctZF6LDGUyUadCvapbUXg/?fbclid=IwAR23ezaQbGepBG-mxUb1-yaT_SA3fXFLpaZSV1SCQVHNf0h1WSFKimi0GOg)
Is it possible that President Donald Trump is throwing out policy and rhetoric to test the waters? To determine just how much leash Americans will grant him?
O’Toole says we’d be foolish to think otherwise, and if we’re not careful, the leash could be altogether gone before we know it.
Fascism doesn’t arise suddenly in an existing democracy. It is not easy to get people to give up their ideas of freedom and civility. You have to do trial runs that, if they are done well, serve two purposes. They get people used to something they may initially recoil from; and they allow you to refine and calibrate. This is what is happening now and we would be fools not to see it.
The signs are clear: Election meddling, dehumanizing of a chosen outgroup, and a functioning propaganda machine are all in place.
Rigged elections, O’Toole writes, are a key component of fascism. And not once but thrice the world recently has witnessed the attempted fixing of elections results – in the election of Trump, the success of Brexit, and though less successfully, in France.
Fascism does not need a majority – it typically comes to power with about 40 per cent support and then uses control and intimidation to consolidate that power. So it doesn’t matter if most people hate you, as long as your 40 per cent is fanatically committed. That’s been tested out too. And fascism of course needs a propaganda machine so effective that it creates for its followers a universe of “alternative facts” impervious to unwanted realities. Again, the testing for this is very far advanced.
Evidence of this testing is also present in Trump’s dehumanizing language surrounding Central American immigrants, creating an outgroup for Americans to rally against – and eventually pushing the moral envelope to increasingly heinous deeds.
You have to undermine moral boundaries, inure people to the acceptance of acts of extreme cruelty. Like hounds, people have to be blooded. They have to be given the taste for savagery. Fascism does this by building up the sense of threat from a despised out-group. This allows the members of that group to be dehumanised. Once that has been achieved, you can gradually up the ante, working through the stages from breaking windows to extermination.
This is the stage the Trump administration and others are test marketing now, O’Toole says.
It is being done in Italy by the far-right leader and minister for the interior Matteo Salvini. How would it go down if we turn away boatloads of refugees? Let’s do a screening of the rough-cut of registering all the Roma and see what buttons the audience will press. And it has been trialled by Trump: let’s see how my fans feel about crying babies in cages. I wonder how it will go down with Rupert Murdoch. …
Trump’s claim last week that immigrants “infest” the US is a test-marketing of whether his fans are ready for the next step-up in language, which is of course “vermin”. And the generation of images of toddlers being dragged from their parents is a test of whether those words can be turned into sounds and pictures. It was always an experiment – it ended (but only in part) because the results were in.
And it appears to be working – the test subjects appear ripe for taking the rhetoric further, and babies in cages were apparently no big thing.
Rupert Murdoch is happy with it – his Fox News mouthpieces outdid themselves in barbaric crassness: making animal noises at the mention of a Down syndrome child, describing crying children as actors. They went the whole swinish hog: even the brown babies are liars. Those sobs of anguish are typical of the manipulative behaviour of the strangers coming to infest us – should we not fear a race whose very infants can be so devious? Second, the **** fans loved it: 58 per cent of Republicans are in favour of this brutality. Trump’s overall approval ratings are up to 42.5 per cent. …
The muscles that the propaganda machines need for defending the indefensible are being toned up. Millions and millions of Europeans and Americans are learning to think the unthinkable.
This is where we sit, according to O’Toole. Pre-fascism is well underway, and many of the people are ready for more.
They have already, in their minds, crossed the boundaries of morality. They are, like Macbeth, “yet but young in deed”. But the tests will be refined, the results analysed, the methods perfected, the messages sharpened. And then the deeds can follow.
Make No Mistake, Trump Is Test-Running Fascism To See What He Can Get Away With (https://mavenroundtable.io/theintellectualist/news/make-no-mistake-trump-is-test-running-fascism-to-see-what-he-can-get-away-with-wctZF6LDGUyUadCvapbUXg/?fbclid=IwAR23ezaQbGepBG-mxUb1-yaT_SA3fXFLpaZSV1SCQVHNf0h1WSFKimi0GOg)
Is it possible that President Donald Trump is throwing out policy and rhetoric to test the waters? To determine just how much leash Americans will grant him?
O’Toole says we’d be foolish to think otherwise, and if we’re not careful, the leash could be altogether gone before we know it.
Fascism doesn’t arise suddenly in an existing democracy. It is not easy to get people to give up their ideas of freedom and civility. You have to do trial runs that, if they are done well, serve two purposes. They get people used to something they may initially recoil from; and they allow you to refine and calibrate. This is what is happening now and we would be fools not to see it.
The signs are clear: Election meddling, dehumanizing of a chosen outgroup, and a functioning propaganda machine are all in place.
Rigged elections, O’Toole writes, are a key component of fascism. And not once but thrice the world recently has witnessed the attempted fixing of elections results – in the election of Trump, the success of Brexit, and though less successfully, in France.
Fascism does not need a majority – it typically comes to power with about 40 per cent support and then uses control and intimidation to consolidate that power. So it doesn’t matter if most people hate you, as long as your 40 per cent is fanatically committed. That’s been tested out too. And fascism of course needs a propaganda machine so effective that it creates for its followers a universe of “alternative facts” impervious to unwanted realities. Again, the testing for this is very far advanced.
Evidence of this testing is also present in Trump’s dehumanizing language surrounding Central American immigrants, creating an outgroup for Americans to rally against – and eventually pushing the moral envelope to increasingly heinous deeds.
You have to undermine moral boundaries, inure people to the acceptance of acts of extreme cruelty. Like hounds, people have to be blooded. They have to be given the taste for savagery. Fascism does this by building up the sense of threat from a despised out-group. This allows the members of that group to be dehumanised. Once that has been achieved, you can gradually up the ante, working through the stages from breaking windows to extermination.
This is the stage the Trump administration and others are test marketing now, O’Toole says.
It is being done in Italy by the far-right leader and minister for the interior Matteo Salvini. How would it go down if we turn away boatloads of refugees? Let’s do a screening of the rough-cut of registering all the Roma and see what buttons the audience will press. And it has been trialled by Trump: let’s see how my fans feel about crying babies in cages. I wonder how it will go down with Rupert Murdoch. …
Trump’s claim last week that immigrants “infest” the US is a test-marketing of whether his fans are ready for the next step-up in language, which is of course “vermin”. And the generation of images of toddlers being dragged from their parents is a test of whether those words can be turned into sounds and pictures. It was always an experiment – it ended (but only in part) because the results were in.
And it appears to be working – the test subjects appear ripe for taking the rhetoric further, and babies in cages were apparently no big thing.
Rupert Murdoch is happy with it – his Fox News mouthpieces outdid themselves in barbaric crassness: making animal noises at the mention of a Down syndrome child, describing crying children as actors. They went the whole swinish hog: even the brown babies are liars. Those sobs of anguish are typical of the manipulative behaviour of the strangers coming to infest us – should we not fear a race whose very infants can be so devious? Second, the **** fans loved it: 58 per cent of Republicans are in favour of this brutality. Trump’s overall approval ratings are up to 42.5 per cent. …
The muscles that the propaganda machines need for defending the indefensible are being toned up. Millions and millions of Europeans and Americans are learning to think the unthinkable.
This is where we sit, according to O’Toole. Pre-fascism is well underway, and many of the people are ready for more.
They have already, in their minds, crossed the boundaries of morality. They are, like Macbeth, “yet but young in deed”. But the tests will be refined, the results analysed, the methods perfected, the messages sharpened. And then the deeds can follow.
True. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) Trump and his 🏴☠️Wrecking Crew are First OrderFascists. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418201722.png&hash=5299cc10ee42beae76e4d3b7c79dbf5f4c0addac)
Title: 😈 RedShift: How The 🐘 GOP Rigged Our Elections
Post by: AGelbert on February 12, 2020, 08:52:41 pm
😈 RedShift: How The 🐘 GOP Rigged Our Elections
1,775 views•Feb 12, 2020
https://youtu.be/9O9MHYtKaEw
Thom Hartmann Program 206K subscribers
Voter Suppression has been a Republican tactic for the last 50 years! Thom reveals one particular effect of their voter suppression, Redshift!
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Donald Trump got into the white house through bad because of voter suppression and now
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Title: How Fascism Tears Down Democratic Republics and how Trump Fascism is DESTROYING ours!
Post by: AGelbert on February 15, 2020, 07:38:53 pm
How Fascism Tears Down Democratic Republics!
2,351 views•Feb 14, 2020
https://youtu.be/7YhQ7jUEIW4
Thom Hartmann Program 206K subscribers
Fascism has been known to tear down Democratic Republics from the inside, Thom Hartmann asks, is it too late for our own Democratic Republic?
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Quoting from Milton Mayer's They Thought They Were Free and combing it with recent happenings of Donald Trump, Thom Hartmann paints a grim picture about the state of American democracy.... 😱
The only question is, what is to be done about it?
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Has (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) Trump Taken Down Our Democratic Republic?
6,340 views•Feb 15, 2020
https://youtu.be/saISUXfXlks
Thom Hartmann Program 206K subscribers
Fascism has taken down democratic Republics multiple times in the past, will this happen to the United States under Trump?
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Thom Hartmann breaks down the very real possibility that we are looking at the end of the democratic experiment started in 1776.
What can we do to stop the end of our democracy? Is Donald Trump an authoritarian who wants to end democracy, is Donald Trump a fascist?
Title: Fascist 👹 Barr very much prefers that his corruption on behalf of 🦀 Trump be covert.
Post by: AGelbert on February 15, 2020, 07:59:07 pm
🐍 Barr Twists Justice Dept Into Tool Of 🦀 Trump Admin
3,561 views•Feb 14, 2020
https://youtu.be/9dUY01zu87g
Thom Hartmann Program 206K subscribers
Bill Barr wants to protect Donald Trump, using his position at the justice department to go after the President's enemies and to shield Donald Trump from accusations.
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Donald Trump's tweets are not helping Bill Barr, instead of Bill Barr being able to cover up his role, Trump's tweets are portraying him as his faithful lapdog. Could Trump's own incompetence stop Bill Barr from protecting him?
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Title: THE SIZE OF BILL BARR’S COVER-UP HINTS AT THE MAGNITUDE OF WHAT HE’S COVERING UP
Post by: AGelbert on February 16, 2020, 01:26:43 pm
THE SIZE OF (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) BILL BARR’S COVER-UP HINTS AT THE MAGNITUDE OF WHAT HE’S COVERING UP
After the Tuesday Afternoon Massacre — where four 🦅 prosecutors withdrew from the Roger Stone case rather than be party to Bill Barr interfering in the prosecution of Trump’s rat-fucker — we learned on Friday that Bill Barr had deployed a third US Attorney — Saint Louis’ 👹 Jeffrey Jensen — to the DC US Attorney’s office as part of an elaborate cover-up for Trump’s crimes. I’m going to attempt to lay out the full scope of Barr’s attempted cover-up. This post will serve as an overview and I will update it with links to the known or suspected evidence and crimes that Barr is covering up. I’m not including efforts to launch or sustain investigations into those Trump perceives to be his enemies.
The cover-up has the following aspects:
INTERIM US ATTORNEYS OVERSEE INVESTIGATIONS IMPLICATING TRUMP’S ACTIONS
Geoffrey Berman, Southern District of New York: For the most part, Berman seems to have operated independently after his appointment as US Attorney for SDNY, but there are recent concerns that investigations implicating Trump have been stymied:
► Hush payments: After getting Michael Cohen to plead guilty to covering up Trump’s past sex partners during the election and obtaining testimony from National Enquirer, the investigation closed with no further charges on or before July 17, 2019.
► Ukrainian grifters: There are conflicting stories about the scope of the investigation into Ukrainian grifters Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, particularly with regards to how seriously SDNY is considering charges against Rudy Giuliani. WaPo reported steps taken implicating Rudy’s activities on February 14, 2020. But Parnas has insinuated that his sudden arrest on October 9 was an attempt to keep him silent; Barr visited SDNY that day and subsequently visited Rupert Murdoch at his home. SDNY showed unusual concern for the privacy of third parties as Parnas tried to share more information with the House Intelligence Committee. And Bill Barr has not recused in spite of a clear conflict and a request from Parnas.
► Halkbank: Barr tried to pre-empt an indictment of Turkey’s Halkbank with a settlement.
Timothy Shea, District of Columbia: While Berman worked for several years without any show of corruption, that’s not true of Timothy Shea, a trusted Barr aide. The very first day he started work — having been installed by Barr with just a day’s notice — he started questioning the guidelines sentence of Roger Stone, who has promised to remain silent about details of Trump’s involvement in his efforts to optimize the release of emails stolen by Russian. Then, Shea worked with Bill Barr to reverse the guidelines sentence recommended by career prosecutors. In addition, Shea’s appointment coincided with the start of a “review” of other prosecutions and investigations of Trump associates in DC including, but not limited to, Mike Flynn and Erik Prince.
CONFIRMED US ATTORNEYS “REVIEW” INVESTIGATIONS INTO TRUMP AND HIS ASSOCIATES
John Durham, Connecticut: In May 2019, Barr ordered John Durham to conduct an investigation into the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation of Trump associates’ ties to Russia. He predicated the investigation, explicitly, on the absence of evidence. In clear contrast to the Mueller investigation, DOJ has produced no documentation regarding the scope of the investigation (including whether Durham could pursue crimes by Trump’s associates or even Barr himself if he found evidence of a crime), and Barr has remained personally involved, completely negating the entire point of appointing a US Attorney to conduct the investigation. Republicans have described the point of this investigation as an effort to discredit the Mueller investigation. It has included the following:
► Bill Barr’s worldwide tour chasing the hoaxes rolled out through George Papadopoulos via the right wing echo chamber
► Some disinformation likely fed via Rudy
► The legitimate criminal investigation of FBI Attorney Kevin Clinesmith, the actual venue for which should be Washington DC
► CIA’s 2016 determination — confirmed by more recent intelligence collection and reviewed approvingly by the Senate Intelligence Committee — that Russia not only wanted to hurt Hillary, but help Trump in the 2016 election
► Communications between John Brennan and Jim Comey and Andrew McCabe
Jeffrey Jensen, Eastern District of Missouri: The “review” Jeffrey Jensen is conducting of DC US Attorney cases seems to couple with Durham’s investigation. It reportedly is second-guessing decisions made by prosecutors on the Mike Flynn and Erik Prince investigation, as well as other non-public investigations. The review is almost certainly assessing rumors started by known propagandists that have already been investigated three times, including by FBI’s Inspection Division, rumors already reviewed and dismissed in a meticulous 92-page opinion from Emmet Sullivan. This “review” seems to have been part of the installment of Shea at DC and may amount to an attempt to thwart investigations that Jessie Liu let proceed without political interference.
DOJ DIVERTS DISINFORMATION FROM RUDY GIULIANI TO ANOTHER CONFIRMED US ATTORNEY
In recent weeks, Barr has appointed Scott Brady, US Attorney for Western District of Pennsylvania, to vet incoming information from Rudy’s foreign influence peddling in Ukraine. It’s unclear whether Barr did this to try to make something out of that disinformation, or to prevent evidence that might support foreign influence peddling charges against Rudy from getting to prosecutors in SDNY.
DOJ PREVENTS FULL INVESTIGATION OF UKRAINE COMPLAINT
Barr and his DOJ engaged in multiple acts of obstruction of the Ukraine complaint. First, Barr did not recuse from a complaint mentioning him by name. Then (knowing that Barr was personally implicated), DOJ did not conduct a full assessment of the whistleblower complaint, which would have identified a tie to the SDNY investigation of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. Then OLC invented an excuse not to share whistleblower complaint with Congress, which resulted in a significant delay and almost led Ukraine to make concessions to obtain aid. Then, DOJ did not share whistleblower complaint with FEC as required by Memorandum of Notification. Finally, DOJ made a comment claiming Trump was exonerated, precisely the abuse — speaking about ongoing investigations — that Jim Comey got fired for.
Tags: Andrew McCabe, Erik Prince, Geoffrey Berman, Igor Fruman, Jeffrey Jensen, Jessie Liu, Jim Comey, John Brennan, Kevin Clinesmith, Lev Parnas, Mike Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Rudy Giuliani, Scott Brady, Tim
Agelbert NOTE: I plead huilty to all the graphics in this post. Emptywheel has been steadfastly exposing the corruption in government since Scooter Libby's nefarious Cheney directed criminality. Ethical lawyers post on her web site. Unethical people and/or lawyers who try their sophistry ther are promptly taken apart, piece, by mendacious piece. To view the comments, go to the link. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-111018132401-16881856.gif&hash=ef5bd30cec7a50a81f3507f9bd328189dead7aa2) 54 REPLIES ✨👍 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
This week, 🦀 Donald Trump issued another round of presidential pardons — to 🐍 white-collar criminals, 🐀 insider traders, and 🐉 corrupt politicians.
The common thread for most of them? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) Fox News. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718205808.gif&hash=5c451456a306c150d3555c49e31a2f47d6f369a9) Anchors and 🐊 family members took to the airwaves to advocate for clemency — and Donald Trump listened.
Meanwhile, millions of Americans languish in prison for low-level drug offenses, even in states where those substances are now legal. Many sit in jail because they can’t afford cash bail and are pressured into plea deals regardless of guilt.
Title: ... turn the Department of Justice into an arm of the 🦀 Trump Coverup.
Post by: AGelbert on February 26, 2020, 03:41:32 pm
Robert Reich: 5 Ways 🦍 William Barr is Turning America Into a 🦀 Dictatorship
51,426 views•Feb 25, 2020
https://youtu.be/zAF00S7qxFQ
Robert Reich 198K subscribers
William Barr was installed as Attorney General specifically to turn the Department of Justice into an arm of the Trump Coverup. And we’ve seen him do exactly that. Barr has corrupted and politicized the Department of Justice, working hand in hand with Donald Trump to bend federal law enforcement to the president’s will. Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich breaks down the myriad ways Barr is helping Trump turn our democracy into a dictatorship.
Watch More: 🦀 Trump's Assault on the Rule of Law ►►
Title: How Trump Legally Undermines the Law
Post by: AGelbert on February 26, 2020, 07:28:17 pm
How🦀 Trump Legally Undermines the Law
2,619 views•Feb 25, 2020
https://youtu.be/inoWF8UfnAo
The Real News Network 387K subscribers
Trump's grants of clemency for his cronies and Fox News friends have almost exclusively gone to people who are themselves accused of violating the justice system.
Subscribe to our page and support our work at https://therealnews.com/donate. Category News & Politics
Title: 'They Know Who I am' Auditor Arrested Again... While Playing Video Game
Post by: AGelbert on February 27, 2020, 10:55:55 pm
'They Know Who I am' Auditor Arrested Again... While Playing Video Game (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-300919160019-22721213.gif)
2,124 views•Premiered 103 minutes ago
https://youtu.be/ooLPKcMkh3I
The Real News Network 387K subscribers
Disabled veteran and First Amendment activist Blind Justice returns to PAR, saying he and his wife were threatened with violence and arrest while playing PokemonGo in a church parking lot in Rockingham, North Carolina.
Subscribe to our page and support our work at https://therealnews.com/donate. Category News & Politics
Title: How bad can things get with 🦀 Donald Trump at the wheel? Author 🦅 Carol D. Leonnig answers 👍
Post by: AGelbert on February 28, 2020, 05:17:13 pm
Portrait Of A (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591) Very Stable Genius (w/ Carol D. Leonnig)
3,075 views•Feb 28, 2020
Thom Hartmann Program 211K subscribers
https://youtu.be/adi0h-5agJA
Donald Trump, self-described, "Very Stable Genius" is anything but. A new book by 🦅 Carol D. Leonnig 👍, examins whether Trump is stable, or unstable.
🔴 Subscribe for more clips like this: https://www.youtube.com/user/thomhartmann
How bad can things get with 🦀 Donald Trump at the wheel? Author Carol D. Leonnig joins Thom Hartmann to give us a picture of Trump we won't soon forget.
📕 BOOK: A Very Stable Genius https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/209765106/a-very-stable-genius/leonnig-carol-rucker-philip/
⭐ Join our Membership and Support the Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thomhartmann
Title: Do More Humane Prisons Exist?
Post by: AGelbert on March 16, 2020, 08:36:55 pm
Thinking Outside the Box: Do More Humane Prisons Exist? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251)
1,450 views•Mar 16, 2020
https://youtu.be/3h1pmhZ5odY
The Real News Network 390K subscribers
Two experts discuss how we can end mass incarceration by building infrastructure that addresses its root causes.
Subscribe to our page and support our work at https://therealnews.com/donate. Category News & Politics
Title: 🐍 Barr sees COVID-19 misery as an opportunity.
Post by: AGelbert on March 22, 2020, 02:10:48 pm
(https://d38hokjm2drjyk.cloudfront.net/?url=www.rollingstone.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F03%2Fshutterstock_editorial_10553038k.jpg&w=300&h=190&secure=yes&token=dd8635208fa7e379c161f1486c0f7738c0dadb05) DOJ Wants to Suspend Certain Constitutional Rights During Coronavirus Emergency (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/doj-suspend-constitutional-rights-coronavirus-970935/) rollingstone.com - The Trump Department of Justice has asked Congress to craft legislation allowing chief judges to indefinitely hold people without trial and suspend other constitutionally-protected rights during coro…
Read more Doomstead Diner Daily 3/22/20 (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/general-discussion/doomstead-diner-daily/msg15988/#msg15988) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16281948.gif&hash=bde76e8c89cdf209aecaf236a316ba025ef35835) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
I see that Mr. (Fascists 'R' US) 🐍 Barr is doing what he 🦍 does to take advantage of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
These tyrannical bastards are one 😈 trick ponies. Barr sees COVID-19 misery as an opportunity. It may be his (https://zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_desktop/public/inline-images/Pandemic-Coronavirus-Public-Domain-600x338.jpg?itok=IVskPNLT) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301014181553.gif&hash=c09667beb656b25086c168adcdaddcba59abf858) doom instead.
Coronavirus Exposes the Virulence of American Conservatism (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/advances-in-health-care/new-pandemic/msg16018/#msg16018)
Yep. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818204150.gif&hash=b0c952ab5fbcc13d8028f98c38a87513f789ab75) The CAPITALIST/FASCiST ☠️ Trump plan, fully supported by 👹 Troglodyte McConnell (and surreptitiously supported by the 🐍 Pelosi Corporate "Democrats") is to let a lot of people die so the CAPITALIST "economy" can live. The herd immunity "justification" thing is basically IN-OUR-FACES (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040718162655-14212306.gif&hash=ac1ba9a4062a66706644a3a889fa54d31c5eb4f0) SOCIAL DARWINISM. It's "might equals right". It's the ROOT of all CAPITALIST IDEOLOGY. It's the fangs of the empathy deficit disordered, cruel, exploitative, murderous, killer sociopath celebrating, altruism demonizing, money worshipping RELIGION of CRAPITALISM BEING EXPOSED.
The only good thing about this is that it gives clarity about how ideologically SIMILAR the Democratic Party is to the other wing of the US CRAPITALIST PARTY, the Republican troglodytes.
Where Does Bernie's Movement Go? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163123-16662165.gif&hash=0c278af5ea445d20e48640c4f39f951df986eed6) Trump Gets Arizona Man Killed. Dems & Rep Small Ideas
223 watching now•Started streaming 51 minutes ago
https://youtu.be/V0A4xlK_EXs
Jamarl Thomas 28K subscribers
Where Does Bernie's Movement Go? Trump Gets Arizona Man Killed. Dems & Rep Small Ideas Category News & Politics
Title: Nathan J. Robinson on Pandemic Politics
Post by: AGelbert on March 29, 2020, 10:38:23 pm
Nathan J. Robinson on Pandemic 🦍 Politics
2,043 views•Mar 29, 2020
https://youtu.be/5Psa7gfQmf4
The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow 30.8K subscribers
#TZHLockdown #CurrentAffairs #PandemicPolitics
Subscribe to The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow for more: https://www.patreon.com/thezerohour
If you liked this clip of The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow, please share it with your friends... and hit that "like" button!
Some of the music bumpers featuring Lettuce, http://lettucefunk.com. Category News & Politics
Title: U.S. Navy Captain 🦅 Brett Crozier Fired After Speaking Out About COVID-19 😠
Post by: AGelbert on April 04, 2020, 10:48:41 pm
Agelbert NOTE:🦀 Demagogues, due to the their petty and vindictive narcissistic nature, never tolerate dissent, especially when it exposes the Gross Criminal Negligence of said (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-221216141740.jpeg&hash=bc039c277ca3c552a17daf10e9598f51be5e14a0) Petty Demagogue.
U.S. Navy Captain 🦅 Brett Crozier Fired After Speaking Out About COVID-19 😠 | NowThis
36,620 views•Apr 4, 2020
https://youtu.be/iGzzzfU6WIE
NowThis News 606K subscribers
This U.S. Navy captain was removed after he spoke out about a COVID-19 outbreak on his ship. » Subscribe to NowThis: http://go.nowth.is/News_Subscribe » Sign up for our newsletter KnowThis to get the biggest stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox: https://go.nowth.is/KnowThis
In US news and current events today, this U.S. Navy captain was removed after he spoke out about a COVID-19 crisis on board his ship. More than 100 sailors on board the USS Theodore Roosevelt are sick from COVID-19. Capt. Brett Crozier, who was commanding the ship, alerted his superiors about the dangerous conditions on board. Crozier was reprimanded for not following the proper chain of command.
For the latest on coronavirus and COVID-19 updates, subscribe to NowThis News.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-020420165541.png) Supreme Court Blocks Absentee Ballot Extension in Wisconsin as COVID-19 Spreads
BY Jake Johnson, Common Dreams
PUBLISHED April 7, 2020
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority Monday night was accused of green-lighting “one of the most brazen acts of voter suppression in modern times” after the body overturned a lower court ruling that extended the absentee voting deadline in Wisconsin by six days in an effort to allow people to more safely exercise the franchise amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In a 5-4 decision (pdf) along party lines, the high court ruled that Wisconsin voters must hand-deliver their absentee ballots by the end of the day Tuesday or have them postmarked April 7 if their ballot is to be counted. The decision rewards Wisconsin Republicans and GOP groups that led the legal challenge against the extension of absentee voting until April 13.
Matthew DeFour, state politics editor at the Wisconsin State Journal, noted on Twitter following the ruling that “there is no postmark requirement in state law.”
Quote
Email name@email.com “The lower court judge changed the date, but did not add a postmark,” DeFour said. “The U.S. Supreme Court has just written a new election law in Wisconsin.”
In an unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority attempted to wash its hands of any responsibility for intensifying an ongoing public health crisis by refusing to allow Wisconsin to extend absentee voting.
Quote
“The court’s decision on the narrow question before the court should not be viewed as expressing an opinion on the broader question of whether to hold the election (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-030815183114.gif&hash=2bf1553e87e8605311feb874231953d5fb88ee9c) , or whether other reforms or modifications in election procedures in light of COVID-19 are appropriate,” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-030815183114.gif&hash=2bf1553e87e8605311feb874231953d5fb88ee9c)
the opinion stated.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg warned in a scathing dissent that the conservative majority’s ruling “will result in massive disenfranchisement”:
Because gathering at the polling place now poses dire health risks, an unprecedented number of Wisconsin voters — at the encouragement of public officials — have turned to voting absentee. About one million more voters have requested absentee ballots in this election than in 2016. Accommodating the surge of absentee ballot requests has heavily burdened election officials, resulting in a severe backlog of ballots requested but not promptly mailed to voters.
Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern wrote late Monday that the high court’s ruling “will nullify the votes of citizens who mailed in their ballots late — not because they forgot, but because they did not receive ballots until after Election Day due to the coronavirus pandemic.”
Quote
“Because voters are rightfully afraid of COVID-19, Wisconsin has been caught off guard by a surge in requests for absentee ballots,” Stern wrote. “Election officials simply do not have time, resources, or staff to process all those requests. As a result, a large number of voters — at least tens of thousands — won’t get their ballot until after Election Day.”
Quote
Let me be very clear about this. Tens of thousands of Wisconsinites will not receive their absentee ballots by Election Day BECAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC, THOUGH NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN.
The U.S. Supreme Court's five conservatives just said: "Too bad. You (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-200419205214.png&hash=4c5b9ca97c84607da003becdf6282716bcdf1800) don't get to vote."
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) April 6, 2020
An election that forces voters to choose between protecting their health and casting a ballot is not a free and fair election. Nor should its results be treated as indisputably legitimate. This is a tragic day for democracy.
My piece: https://t.co/IlXfzkx0Bu @Slate
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) April 7, 2020
Shauntay Nelson, Wisconsin state director of advocacy group All Voting Is Local, said the Supreme Court’s decision “defies common sense and threatens to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin voters.”
“Voters deserve free and fair elections where every voice is heard and the assurance that their health and safety will be protected while our democracy remains intact,” said Nelson. “It’s shameful that Republicans have used this crisis to their political benefit, silencing voters so they can remain in power. The result has been confusion, chaos and uncertainty for voters, all amid a global health emergency. This is no way to run a democracy.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling came just after the Wisconsin state Supreme Court overturned an executive order by Gov. Tony Evers and decided that Tuesday’s elections — which include the Democratic presidential primary and nearly 4,000 down-ballot contests — must proceed as scheduled despite the dire public health threat posed by COVID-19.
Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a statement that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision “raises grave concerns” that the right-wing body is “poised to unnecessarily interject itself in voting rights battles this presidential election season.”
“Contrary to the majority opinion’s claims,” said Clarke, “this case involved more than a ‘minor, technical’ question and will likely result in the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters as 500,000 absentee ballots have not been returned as of Monday night.”
Title: Bernie Sanders Drops Out Race. The Era Of Sanders Is Over. - Political Misfits Monologue
Post by: AGelbert on April 09, 2020, 01:12:38 pm
Bernie Sanders Drops Out Race. The Era Of Sanders Is Over. - Political Misfits Monologue
783 views•Apr 9, 2020
https://youtu.be/BRviaaY3gQ0
Jamarl Thomas 28K subscribers
Support the stream: https://streamlabs.com/jamarlthomas
Bernie Sanders Drops Out Race. Biden Flip Flops. Lee Camp On Progressives After Sanders, Trump Heist
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign...
Title: System Update with Glenn Greenwald Special - Live Chat
Post by: AGelbert on April 15, 2020, 10:06:52 pm
System Update with Glenn Greenwald Special - Live Chat
14,297 views•Streamed live on Apr 14, 2020
https://youtu.be/gvuS9kVjhzg
The Intercept 174K subscribers
The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald discusses his interviews with Benjamin Dixon and former Sanders Press Secretary Briahna Joy Gray, and answers questions from viewers on a variety of other topics.
Category News & Politics
Title: Supercut: Coronavirus Questions 🦀 Trump Doesn't Like
Post by: AGelbert on April 16, 2020, 05:33:55 pm
Supercut: Coronavirus Questions 🦀 Trump Doesn't Like | NowThis
31,585 views•Apr 16, 2020
https://youtu.be/mmJAcERLGAE
NowThis News 642K subscribers
Whatever you do, DON’T ask the president one of these questions. » Subscribe to NowThis: http://go.nowth.is/News_Subscribe » Sign up for our newsletter KnowThis to get the biggest stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox: https://go.nowth.is/KnowThis
In US news and current events today, President Trump and the press go at it again in this supercut of questions that set of Trump. Watch this compilation of Trump snapping over coronavirus related questions.
For the latest coronavirus news and COVID-19 updates, subscribe to NowThis News.
#Trump #Politics #News #NowThis #NowThisNews
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NowThis is your premier news outlet providing you with all the videos you need to stay up to date on all the latest in trending news. From entertainment to politics, to viral videos and breaking news stories, we’re delivering all you need to know straight to your social feeds. We live where you live.
Title: Crisis will never end if neoliberal capitalist system isn’t replaced with a socialist model.
Post by: AGelbert on April 18, 2020, 01:42:55 pm
(https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/gKkkDYZiZr4Va_eRCZGqrYaRcrILqx9LiLIPiEcxsm36FQaLj8tOM7CHyIKOu34H0ar0LV_-skDCISVQi3Z9YuxPBj0BA-qljLvzWTOXOP8TqHRia9DNVrdQj9tUjFoXJa32nNFASA7754PMsBO02dJrjU2JQg=s0-d-e1-ft#https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/04/city-e1587049384917-150x150.jpeg) COVID-19 Is Bringing Us Into A Hyper-Surveilled, Highly Policed Fascist Dystopia By Rainer Shea, See You In 2020. We must understand that the crisis we’ve entered into will never end, at least not for as long as our neoliberal capitalist system isn’t replaced with a socialist model. In the U.S., as well as the other countries where austerity has wrecked healthcare systems, Covid-19 is going to cause societal disruptions for years as the virus partially subsides and then regrows. So will be the case for the other pandemics that are sure to emerge in the coming years due to global warming and ecological degradation. This is aside from the collapse of the economy, which is going to put the capitalist world in a general state of... -more- (https://popularresistance.org/covid-19-hyper-surveilled-state/)
(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/dvl_xbqhjyWro-JvD4H8Y7jyGOF5Yae8ttQnpPvl8kFTZyyM2Yciqjk4FvgKKOW0Ihg_Nv1Fg3Djkc5Io3_zELnbYyiGMhLxvHVr-ihPtYYnlYig9rDXxr6YIHd90FRsRuuVlbrERDl17ihElkiA5jqNzVW38g=s0-d-e1-ft#https://mcusercontent.com/33602bebba8fb7dd6e71fb413/images/95ea385e-fdaa-4bf3-aaa0-b220cfea4339.jpg) Bernie Sanders Tests the Limits Of The US Political System By Roger Harris, Popular Resistance. That Sanders was once the frontrunner and might have swept the Democratic primaries is an indicator of the neoliberal order’s decay. The coronavirus pandemic was both the final blow to the Sanders campaign and the world-historic event that proved unquestionably that his platform of universal health care and fairness to the working class was the medicine needed for an ailing nation. Shelter-in-place is Biden’s strong suit, while Sanders’ contagious ability to enthuse the youth was sequestered. And, no, Biden’s healthcare public option is not even a baby step towards universal health care. -more- (https://popularresistance.org/bernie-sanders-tests-the-limits-of-the-us-political-system/)
Title: Chris Hedges Interview: America’s Broken Political System And How We Rise Up To Overthrow It
Post by: AGelbert on April 20, 2020, 07:55:16 pm
Chris Hedges Interview: America’s Broken Political (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) System And How We Rise Up To Overthrow It
51,138 views•Apr 14, 2020
https://youtu.be/1XnLHTixGr8
actdottv 6.07K subscribers Follow on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/actdottv
Julianna sits down with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author, Chris Hedges, to discuss America’s broken political system and how we rise up to overthrow it, the current state of journalism in the US, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, the 2020 Presidential Race, and more.
You may know him from reading one of his best-selling books including American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, Death of the Liberal Class. Or perhaps you watch his weekly interview show On Contact where he interviews “dissident voices” currently missing from the mainstream media, the black sheep of the establishment, leading to discussions that are not easy to find.
Chris is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a New York Times best-selling author, a professor in the college degree program offered to New Jersey state prisoners by Rutgers University, and an ordained Presbyterian minister. He has written 12 books, including the New York Times best-seller “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt” which he co-authored with the cartoonist Joe Sacco. His latest book is "America: The Farewell Tour" (2018).
For info on Chris make sure to follow him on Twiiter at: https://twitter.com/ChrisLynnHedges For more Julianna, follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/juliannaforlano and @juliannaforlano on Instagram and Facebook! ——— act.tv is a progressive media company specializing in next generation live streaming and digital strategy. Our YouTube channel focuses on animated explainers, livestreams from protests around the country, and original political commentary. Main site: http://act.tv Facebook: http://facebook.com/actdottv Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/actdottv Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/actdottv YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/actdottv Category News & Politics
Title: On Fascism In The USA
Post by: AGelbert on May 04, 2020, 09:08:34 pm
On Fascism In The USA (https://cleantechnica.com/2020/05/03/on-fascism-in-the-usa/) (https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/304fa75d7ed32d56ae1ff3a796933cb65eac738511bb960bc4a77bb2f67c0af6.gif)
Agelbert COMMENT: Excellent article. Considering how much money is coerced from we-the-people each year to fund a massive military machine, along with the fact that many innocent people of color are murdered with impunity by the police every year, even without the less obvious fascist corporate murderous polluting violence visited 24/7 on the poor of all colors, but mostly those who are black and brown, It is difficult not to conclude that fascism is already the tyrannical status quo in the US Government. 😞
(https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/Ntkz3yB9KPPUuANMH1qy57WtJKsjZo4ldCfawtHppC5203Q8hZY8n0gsH1aGIEzqJNXNtQwlOXTM0NrErf3fYMaoimaQ78GPQuxRcQq0J-_fTQizQgl9Pb5kGz6PSfFiuJv9yqxzvs3AoGejztdl0Hh4FxXGCQ=s0-d-e1-ft#https://mcusercontent.com/33602bebba8fb7dd6e71fb413/images/67e48809-7ddb-4563-a53f-66d551d15d74.png) Live And Let Die: The Data (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) Manipulation Begins
By Marcy Wheeler, Emptywheel. From the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, various entities in the United States were always engaged in the kind of dishonesty we accuse China of to hide the extent of the virus. Trump tried to keep a cruise ship offshore so it wouldn’t count against “his” numbers. States everywhere didn’t reveal the crises in nursing homes by hiding where they were occurring. Other states refused to track known COVID-19 deaths because they didn’t occur in a hospital. But now that Trump has fully committed to reopening the economy before the shut down has its desired effect, he and allied governors are engaged in... - more - (https://popularresistance.org/live-and-let-die-the-data-manipulation-begins/)
(https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/b_5ZKW14BctkHQFqVkVbyhCOMWaa-K_g2k_nq3TUr7B06om6-ZWJn8OfAbgdmXWePcEfALhpr8ntOvnK0hEn1Tyr4udEzYHwjEwilFQtuK-YXRhA1mDqR4H9mJV2JmPnIPLV_2Ta-85X_jpHLmxuzGw65lTbUw=s0-d-e1-ft#https://mcusercontent.com/33602bebba8fb7dd6e71fb413/images/17adb34b-04b2-4680-af2a-afda82c18826.png)While Pandemic Destroys So Many Lives, The (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-020420165541.png) Surveillance State Celebrates
As we know from the historical record — (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) George W. Bush, (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) Bill Clinton, (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) Barack Obama, (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) Donald Trump, etc. — if a government acquires a tool that swells its power, it never relinquishes that tool.
By Lee Camp, Consortium News. If we don’t fight back against the secretive surveillance state growing steadily around us, your wife/husband may find out you love a Cinnabon more than you love her/him. And that might be just the beginning of it. While many of us remain quarantined — inexorably welded to our home/apartment/RV in an abandoned Walmart parking lot — the surveillance state is actually stretching its legs, brought out for a run by our friendly neighborhood oligarchs like a young golden retriever let off its leash on a nice day. Unfortunately, in this case what it’s retrieving is all of our information, movements... - more - (https://popularresistance.org/while-pandemic-destroys-so-many-lives-the-surveillance-state-celebrates/)
Quote
The chaos will eventually end but life will not be the same. A system that is inherently antagonistic to human needs is unlikely to return the few public benefits we had left. Disaster capitalism is quite real.
“The oligarchy’s rule over government is obvious and can no longer be kept hidden.”
“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” -- Frederick Douglass
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-111018132401-16881856.gif&hash=ef5bd30cec7a50a81f3507f9bd328189dead7aa2) Let’s be clear, the Pentagon is not underfunded. In fact, you may remember that just a few weeks ago, President Biden proposed an astronomical Pentagon budget — over three-quarters of a TRILLION dollars :o (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df) — for the upcoming year.
But now the arms industry and some of their backers in Congress want even MORE money (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16181943.gif&hash=0b93e71ee5e24bbe02555e0d648a1283e0e9651d) on top of that $750 billion+ for more unnecessary, dangerous weapons, and defense contractor giveaways.
This is crucial: the American Jobs Plan can’t be about Pentagon funding — it must stay focused on laying the foundation for our future by investing in people-centered solutions.
As the country reels from the crises of racism, economic inequality, unaffordable healthcare, and more — only made worse by the COVID pandemic — we must push those in power to redefine what security actually means and how they use their power to play a positive role in peoples’ lives.
Padding the Pentagon budget with billions of dollars in infrastructure and jobs funding when our communities are critically in need is not how we build the resilience necessary for people to thrive.
That’s why I’m asking you to take two minutes right now to (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300614160245.gif&hash=26cf0af4ea082bdb608bb7b2656d54ec7199969b) let Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Schumer know: No money for the Pentagon and arms dealers in the American Jobs Plan❗ (https://act.winwithoutwar.org/act/no-new-money-for-the-Pentagon)
Thank you for working for 🕊️peace,
Michael, Faith, Abbey, and the Win Without War team
P.S. For those of you eager to cut the Pentagon budget in general, don’t worry. Debates and legislation about those funds will happen through the regular defense budgeting process, just like they do every year. And just like every year, we’re ramping up our fight to cut that waste!
Title: Cops lied to put him in handcuffs, but a camera caught the truth
Post by: AGelbert on June 15, 2021, 03:44:43 pm
🦍 Cops 😈 lied to put him in handcuffs, but a camera caught the truth
A Los Angeles man says he was targeted by police after he was pulled over for crossing a line in front of a stop sign; but after placing him in handcuffs and arresting the passenger in his car, a recording cellphone caught the real reason cops pulled him over.
Title: The historical significance and political legacy of Reagan breaking the PATCO strike.
Post by: AGelbert on October 11, 2021, 03:03:28 pm
Sep 1, 2021
We are living in the hell Ronald Reagan made (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040718162656-14241872.gif&hash=6c39a3206e2b2a3d652adee626b5eee8ab5b15bf)
https://youtu.be/dUJEAD8_5uQ
The Real News Network 463K subscribers
Last month marked the grim anniversary of one of the darkest days in American labor history. Forty years ago, President Ronald Regan crushed a strike by the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), fired over 11,000 federal workers, and declared “open season” on the labor movement. In the years that followed, replacing striking workers became a commonplace practice in the private sector, union membership declined to historic lows, the wealth and power of the 1% exploded while real wages for most workers have remained stagnant, despite workers in the US being more productive than ever. The breaking of the PATCO strike was an event that played an outsized role in shaping the world we are living in today—a world in which a once-strong labor movement had its back broken, leaving working people to be systematically stripped of their individual will to exercise their rights in the workplace and their collective ability to protect themselves from being crushed into subservience by the profit-seeking prerogatives of the business class.
As part of a special collaboration with Jacobin magazine, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez joined hosts of The Jacobin Show Jen Pan and Paul Prescod for an extended episode examining the past, present, and future of the American labor movement. In this segment from the show, Alvarez breaks down the historical significance and political legacy of Reagan breaking the PATCO strike. We are sharing this segment with our TRNN audience with permission from Jacobin (https://www.youtube.com/c/JacobinMag).
I was an air raffic controller when the strike hit. The Union (i.e. PATCO) wanted a reasonable pay increase and better working hours. I was not a member of the union and did not strike. My pickup truck was vandalized and my life was threatened. But what Reagan did was much worse. Instead of negotiating, he used the strike as an excuse to push the fascist (i.e. 😈 Destroy all Unions) agenda he was a stalking horse for. Even though I wasn't fired, I feel nothing but contempt for the despicable Reagan.(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-190419235756.png&hash=ddd7a71acf6ff0420a63e797c27fdcad27734e3e) (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/40-years-back-40-years-forward/msg543/?topicseen#msg543)
Title: What would Orwell think about America’s political situation?
Post by: AGelbert on October 20, 2021, 02:44:33 pm
Agelbert NOTE: I included all the graphics below for emphasis (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838) , even though they are not part of the excellent article by Bob Stannard.
What would Orwell think about America’s political situation?
This commentary is by Bob Stannard (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf) of Manchester, an author, musician and former state legislator and lobbyist.
— “I’ve had enough of readin’ things By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians All I want is the truth Just gimme some truth” — John Lennon — “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face … forever.” — George Orwell “1984”
Has America decided that it’s finally time to literally become the country described in George Orwell’s “1984”? Sure seems like it.
In Rep. Adam Schiff’s new book, “Midnight in Washington,” he describes a meeting he had with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. They talked about what happened during the Jan. 6 insurrection. When the meeting was over, Leader McCarthy immediately went to the press to tell them about the meeting that just happened. Amazingly, McCarthy completely and thoroughly misrepresented what was said in this meeting.
Rep. Schiff confronted McCarthy on the House floor about his lying about what they talked about. McCarthy responded by saying (and I’m paraphrasing), “You know how the game is played”.
Over the past few years, the level of lying and dishonesty has evolved (or perhaps the right word is devolved) to historical lows.
People frequently say that all politicians lie and there is some truth to that. But never before have we witnessed well-funded disinformation campaigns like those we’ve seen recently.
First, we have The Big Lie saying that the 2020 election was fraudulent (it wasn’t), that it was rigged (it wasn’t) and/or that it was stolen (it wasn’t). The fact that all of these claims have been disproven over and over again has not stopped one of the two major political parties from continuing to promote these lies.
The coup de grace may have been 10 days ago, when the twice-impeached former president held yet another rally in Iowa. Joining him on stage was 89-year-old Sen. Chuck Grassley, a man who’s served in the U.S. Senate for 50 years. He is a man who would be considered old-school and definitely knows better.
What was Grassley’s response to the lies that were spewing from the mouth of the former president? He said, “I was born at night, but not last night. It would be foolish for me not to accept the endorsement of a former president who has 90% support of the Republican Party in Iowa.”
It may be politically foolish, but one has to wonder if Sen. Grassley cares one whit about his legacy. The senator has made the calculation that his chances of getting reelected would be better as long as he sold his soul. Maintaining his power has become more important than doing what’s right for our country.
On Sunday, on the way home from my next-to-last performance, my wife, Alison, and I listened to a fascinating program on VPR. The name of the program was “Hidden Brain,” There were two real life-examples on how, once people get dug in with their beliefs, it’s very hard to change their minds.
The first example was of a UFO cult that was convinced aliens were going to come and save them. Many times they would stand out in a designated field and wait. Obviously, the aliens never came, but the cult members adamantly refused to admit they were wrong.
The second example was of a lady in her late 60s who was divorced and looking for a companion. She made the mistake of going online and immediately got hooked up with a scammer who said his name was Sergio (it wasn’t) and that he was from Italy (he wasn’t). After he had convinced her that he was Sergio from Italy, there came a time when he asked her for money for his son who was in a car accident. There was no son and no accident. The relationship went on and on and the lady sent him more and more money. Her friends even showed her information totally pointing out that this guy was fake, but she refused to believe her friends. Instead, she preferred to believe in the lies.
This is where we are today in America, my friends. Tens of millions of people would rather believe in lies told by a man they see as charismatic. They would rather believe in propaganda than in the truth.
Yes, today it is difficult to sort out truth from fiction, but it’s imperative that each and every one of us work as hard as we can to determine the truth and promote it.
In 1948, George Orwell wrote “1984.” For years, we have all thought that this was nothing more than a good piece of fiction and that there is no way that it could ever come to be true. We need to ask ourselves what would Orwell think today when he sees a disgraced former president promoting lies day in and day out to throngs of people who lap it up like a dog lapping up his own vomit.
If you don’t believe that our democracy is hanging in the balance and that the America we’ve known and grown up in is in jeopardy, then maybe you should read “1984” again (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/general-discussion/audio-books-for-humor-and-proper-perspective/msg15525/#msg15525). (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
Witnessing the demise of the principles of ethics and morality in the America of today
What is happening to America and its people?
SNIPPETS:
Hey, did you follow the Kyle Rittenhouse trial in which the little punk coward who had no business carrying an AR15 military weapon took it into an area in Kenosha, WI, where protests were going on – and then killed two men and wounded another? He went on trial, the jury deliberated for 4-1/2 days, and then found him not guilty on ALL COUNTS.
America’s judicial/court system has become a sham, a national disgrace. The Rittenhouse trial is a perfect example. The judge, by his poor behavior and decisions, should be disbarred. He had 20 jurors chosen in one day, he was clearly on the side of the defense, and he castigated the prosecutor several times for no good reason.
Now, that’s what we might call upside-down justice, all wrong, but it happens regularly here in America. Are the American people enraged, are they demanding change, do they even care? Or are they mind-conditioned to remain silent? ... ...
Right now America is at one of the lowest points in its history. Its people are scared, in a state of confusion and uncertainty.
Full article: (https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/304fa75d7ed32d56ae1ff3a796933cb65eac738511bb960bc4a77bb2f67c0af6.gif) https://www.nationofchange.org/2021/12/10/witnessing-the-demise-of-the-principles-of-ethics-and-morality-in-the-america-of-today/
Agelbert COMMENT: The sad fact that America is at its lowest point in its history is the inevitable socially destructive result of its embrace of Neoliberal Ideology.
IMHO, Neoliberal 😈☠️ Ideology is essentially repackaged 😈☠️ Social Darwinism. Social theorist and geographer David Harvey explains that neoliberal ideology serves the following 😈☠️ principle:
"There shall be no serious challenge to the absolute power of money to rule absolutely. And that power is to be exercised with one objective: Those possessed of money shall not only be privileged to accumulate wealth endlessly at will, but they shall have the right to inherit the earth, taking either direct or indirect dominion, not only of the land and all the resources and productive capacities that reside therein, but also assume absolute command, directly or indirectly, over the labor and creative capacities of all those others it needs. The rest of humanity shall be deemed disposable."
David Harvey, “The Party of Wall Street Meets its Nemesis],”. Also, by David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
David Harvey asked, "Is there a way to capture what (to the detriment of human civilization) is going on now" ?
YES.
It's the SOCIAL DARWINISM, stupid!
Social Darwinists believe that ethics based principles are 'limitations pretending to be virtues'. To them, ethics are 'feel good illusions' that humans invented to pretend our species has empathy. To Social Darwinists, empathy is irrefutable evidence of inexcusable weakness. To them, all who are guided by ethics are deluded fools that should be eliminated from the human 'apex predator' gene pool for the "good" of our species.
Social Darwinism is actually based, not. on "survival of the fittest", but on fear of tomorrow, a morally bankrupt excuse for rejecting altruism and empathy and embracing a selfish greed dominated hoarding modus vivendi.
Social Darwinism spawned the profit over people and planet neoliberal ideology. Neoliberal intellectuals like Friedrich von Hayek, Ludwig von Mises and Milton Friedman were all Social Darwinists long before they renamed laissez-faire liberalism (that had been thoroughly discredited by the Great Depression) with the catchy title of "Neoliberalism".
If the morally bankrupt, socially destructive ideology which backs no serious challenge to the absolute power of money to rule absolutely, while it simultaneously deems the rest of humanity disposable, is not SOCIAL DARWINISM, I don't know what is. 😠
Title: George Monbiot (Brit) on 👿 Neoliberalism
Post by: AGelbert on December 14, 2021, 02:09:47 pm
nonclassical (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf) >agelbert (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/creeping-police-state/msg17156/#msg17156) • 2 days ago
George Monbiot (Brit) on neoliberalism:
"Inequality is recast as virtuous. The market ensures that everyone gets what they deserve. So pervasive has neoliberalism become that we seldom even recognise it as an ideology. We appear to accept the proposition that this utopian, millenarian faith describes a neutral force; a kind of biological law, like Darwin’s theory of evolution. But the philosophy arose as a conscious attempt to reshape human life and shift the locus of power.
Neoliberalism sees competition as the defining characteristic of human relations. It redefines citizens as consumers, whose democratic choices are best exercised by buying and selling, a process that rewards merit and punishes inefficiency. It maintains that “the market” delivers benefits that could never be achieved by planning.
Attempts to limit competition are treated as inimical to liberty. Tax and regulation should be minimised, public services should be privatised. The organisation of labour and collective bargaining by trade unions are portrayed as market distortions that impede the formation of a natural hierarchy of winners and losers. Inequality is recast as virtuous: a reward for utility and a generator of wealth, which trickles down to enrich everyone. Efforts to create a more equal society are both counterproductive and morally corrosive. The market ensures that everyone gets what they deserve.
We internalise and reproduce its creeds. The rich persuade themselves that they acquired their wealth through merit, ignoring the advantages — such as education, inheritance and class — that may have helped to secure it. The poor begin to blame themselves for their failures, even when they can do little to change their circumstances.
Never mind structural unemployment: if you don’t have a job it’s because you are unenterprising. Never mind the impossible costs of housing: if your credit card is maxed out, you’re feckless and improvident. Never mind that your children no longer have a school playing field: if they get fat, it’s your fault. In a world governed by competition, those who fall behind become defined and self-defined as losers.
***
("The term neoliberalism was coined at a meeting in Paris in 1938. Among the delegates were two men who came to define the ideology, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek. Both exiles from Austria, they saw social democracy, exemplified by Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and the gradual development of Britain’s welfare state, as manifestations of a collectivism that occupied the same spectrum as nazism and communism.) (absurd)
In "The Road to Serfdom", published in 1944, Hayek argued that government planning, by crushing individualism, would lead inexorably to totalitarian control. Like Mises’s book "Bureaucracy", "The Road to Serfdom" was widely read. It came to the attention of some very wealthy people, who saw in the philosophy an opportunity to free themselves from regulation and tax. When, in 1947, Hayek founded the first organisation that would spread the doctrine of neoliberalism — the Mont Pelerin Society — it was supported financially by millionaires and their foundations.
With their help, he began to create what Daniel Stedman Jones describes in "Masters of the Universe" as “a kind of neoliberal international”: a transatlantic network of academics, businessmen, journalists and activists. The movement’s rich backers funded a series of thinktanks which would refine and promote the ideology. Among them were the "American Enterprise Institute", the "Heritage Foundation", the "Cato Institute", the "Institute of Economic Affairs", the "Centre for Policy Studies" and the "Adam Smith Institute" (libertarian think tanks all). They also financed academic positions and departments, particularly at the universities of Chicago and Virginia.
As it evolved, neoliberalism became more strident. Hayek’s view that governments should regulate competition to prevent monopolies from forming gave way — among American apostles such as Milton Friedman — to the belief that monopoly power could be seen as a reward for efficiency.
In 1951, Friedman was happy to describe himself as a neoliberal. (connect Friedman to his University of Chicago economics - "Chicago Boys" - Pinochet (U.$. puppet dictator - convicted war criminal) / CIA overthrow - assassination of democratically elected Salvadore Alliende', Chile, Sept. 11, 1973. https://www.nationofchange.org/2021/12/10/witnessing-the-demise-of-the-principles-of-ethics-and-morality-in-the-america-of-today/#comment-5643211150
Title: Ralph Waldo Emerson would roll in his grave if he could see what has become of America today.
Post by: AGelbert on December 17, 2021, 02:49:08 pm
Agelbert Reality Based Sad Observation: EVERY goal integral to America's "special mission", as listed by Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1862, has been, for all practical purposes, inverted by the ruling class. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-310119164317.gif&hash=870c66e6ad21133a740ba1583280577f05ccb4ac)
"Civilization depends on morality," Emerson wrote in "American Civilization" (https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/186204/emerson-american-civilization) (April, 1862, Atlantic), and he went on to argue that America's special mission among nations, to seek "the greatest good of the greatest number," had been severely undermined by slavery.
Emerson said, 🗽 America had a special mission: "To liberate, to abolish Kingcraft, priestcraft, caste, monopoly; to pull down the gallows, to burn up the bloody statute book."
It now appears that the above, even when it was wrtitten, was wishful thinking.
“Two centuries ago, a former European colony decided to catch up with Europe. It succeeded so well that the United States of America became a monster, in which the taints, the sickness and the inhumanity of Europe have grown to appalling dimensions” ― Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth
June 29, 2020 👉 Milwaukee federal judge U.S. District Judge 🗽 Lynn Adelman tells it like it IS about the supremely UNETHICAL Roberts Supreme Court and gets charged with "ethics" violation in the Orwellian world of the US "Justice" system.
The longtime Milwaukee jurist created a bit of stir with his piece, "The Roberts Court's Assault on Democracy" in the Harvard Law & Policy Review. He identifies two key ways the court erodes democracy: by making it harder for the poor and minorities to vote, and by "reinforcing the enormous imbalance in wealth and political power" in America.
By now it is a truism that Chief Justice John Roberts’ statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee that a Supreme Court justice’s role is the passive one of a neutral baseball 'umpire who (merely) calls the balls and strikes,' was a masterpiece of disingenuousness. Roberts’ misleading testimony inevitably comes to mind when one considers the course of decision‐making by the Court over which he presides."
America’s ruling class is now visibly made of predators (https://eand.co/the-american-economy-is-imploding-and-america-is-too-e998d3cfb1d9), the kinds of men who put men in cages, or addict a whole society to painkillers, just to make more money they’ll never spend. -- Umair Haque
Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. -- 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 KJV
Title: Kemp and Perdue: Vote Suppression Hitmen
Post by: AGelbert on January 06, 2022, 05:46:56 pm
👿 Kemp and 👿 Perdue: Vote Suppression ☠️ Hitmen (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-300919160019-22721213.gif)
280 years ago, two Georgia dynasties, the forebears of Governor Brian Kemp and (defeated) Senator David Perdue, overcame George’s prohibition of slavery and convinced King George to grant them powers to bring Africans in chains to establish the plantation system.
Georgia is still a plantation state. But instead of the hanging rope, it’s lynching by laptop; though Brian Kemp has introduced much more direct means of terror, using the Georgia Bureau of investigation as a new voting KGB.
Support our new investigations and film series for 2022 that will blow open the hidden, most vicious vote suppression tactics yet: https://www.gregpalast.com/georgia-actions/
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on January 07, 2022, 12:00:30 pm
If we want to live in a society where resentments fester and plutocrats retreat ever farther into their gated communities—then we should keep doing what we’ve been doing. If we want change, however, we need to confront those who engage in “makers and takers” rhetoric—and we need to remind them that genuine democracy not only includes everyone, it’s good for everyone.
Plutocrats are Working Overtime to Cancel Democracy
SNIPPETS:
This crisis of American democracy is not by accident or by chance. (In politics, nothing is by accident or chance.) The plutocrats (https://inequality.org/research/why-rich-hate-democracy/) who hold the strings of power are working overtime (https://jacobinmag.com/2021/04/voting-rights-hr1-bill-republicans-antidemocratic) to cancel democracy. Real democracy means sharing power with the masses, and why would powerful elites want to do that? Real democracy means that the wealthy would pay their fair share of taxes, and an end to foreign wars that weaken America while enriching arms manufacturers—and they certainly don’t want that to happen. It would mean strong voting rights legislation, an end to the electoral college. ... ...
Of the two major political parties, the Democrats would seem to be the party most likely to try to preserve and strengthen American democracy by wresting power away from the plutocrats and returning it to the people. But so far they haven’t even tried. Soon the Democrats in Congress will lose what little advantage they have, and the House and Senate will be handed over to right wing extremists who are poised to deliver the death blow to democracy. Perhaps this outcome will bring some much needed clarity. When democracy is gone, Americans will no longer be able to delude themselves that they live in one.
Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F4140_Edvard%2520Munch%2520Painting%2520-%2520The%2520Scream.jpeg&hash=811c610a90eaa7b3c5127602532f33b1ef254764) https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/07/plutocrats-are-working-overtime-to-cancel-democracy/
Title: Dick Cheney in the House on the anniversary of January 6th helped identify the true villian on the scene ...
Post by: AGelbert on January 08, 2022, 01:44:20 pm
SATURDAY, JAN 08, 2022 - 11:30 AM
Authored by Matt Taibbi via TK News Substack
A Tale Of Two Authoritarians
The appearance of Dick Cheney in the House of Representatives on the anniversary of January 6th helped identify the true villain on the scene...
SNIPPET:
All those things Trump is rumored to be, Dick Cheney actually is. That’s why it’s so significant that he appeared on the floor of the House yesterday to be slobbered over by the Adam Schiffs and Nancy Pelosis of the world. Dick Cheney did more to destroy democracy in ten minutes of his Vice Presidency than Donald Trump did in four years.
Seeing leading Democrats nuzzling the man George W. Bush called “Iron Ass” summed up the essential problem of the ordinary person trying to find a political home in this landscape. Even if you find the Trump phenomenon troubling, his opposition is not only authoritarian, but organized and armed with the intellectual tools to understand and appreciate how the technological elimination of democracy might be achieved in the 21st century.
Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-310119164317.gif&hash=870c66e6ad21133a740ba1583280577f05ccb4ac) https://www.zerohedge.com/political/taibbi-tale-two-authoritarians
Reading Moby-Dick in the era of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, C. L. R. James ✨ (https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/c-l-r-james-0) sees Ahab as “the most dangerous and destructive social type that has ever appeared in Western Civilization.”
He argues that Melville’s genius was an almost-prophetic creative process, prefiguring twentieth-century totalitarians by perceiving both the disruptive world changes that would produce them and the disasters that would follow in their wake.
For James, the core of Moby-Dick revolves around the key question of “how the society of (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-291021175322.gif&hash=b75a58cc0c75ff3a7264e74c7217391d1e70d860)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418193910.gif&hash=633dd399cd6006279afd7efb5ef953673b96bd78)💰🎩(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-200419205214.png&hash=4c5b9ca97c84607da003becdf6282716bcdf1800) free 😈 individualism would give birth to 🦍(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) totalitarianism and be unable to defend itself against it.” ... ...
The catastrophes are upon us: all-consuming wildfires and rising tides, a resurgence of hard-right authoritarian political movements, and brutal inequalities that predated and have been compounded by an unrelenting pandemic.
Billionaires race to rocket off-planet to avoid the fate to which they would condemn the rest of us (although, as Melville would have noted with some jouissance, so far they have mostly edged into space).
Greater disasters loom, and we brace for each successive stormfront, afraid of losing power in a literal and figurative sense.
Title: Re: Creeping Police State
Post by: AGelbert on February 13, 2022, 12:54:18 pm
The Class Struggle
If the workers of the world want to win, all they have to do is recognize their own solidarity. They have nothing to do but fold their arms and the world will stop. The workers are more powerful with their hands in their pockets than all the property of the capitalists. --Joe Ettor (IWW labor organizer)
Climate Change, Blue Water Cargo Shipping and Predicted Ocean Wave Activity ~~ A. G. Gelbert (https://ongoingclassstruggle.blogspot.com/2022/02/climate-change-blue-water-cargo.html#more) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311017193926.png&hash=135a7bcd2093b679e425bbd2086adb8ddfd2e7b5)
