From jbn at forestfield.org Fri Nov 1 02:29:31 2019 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2019 21:29:31 -0500 Subject: [Peace] Notes Message-ID: <80ced4fa-986c-8ac3-c12d-9f45a2c9aede@forestfield.org> A light set of notes tonight (maybe you've got enough recent older notes to add to these); I just don't have my mojo workin' due to some long work days and downtime due to illness. Have a great show guys. -J Censorship: The censors are seeking to publish on a network that won't censor them. Go figure. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50150981 -- The BBC has made its website available on Tor ("The Onion Router") sometimes called the 'dark web'. Tor-hosted websites can use a top-level domain of .onion which are reachable by anyone who uses the Tor network. To get on the Tor network, get the Tor Browser -- a modified version of Firefox that makes it easy to browse websites on the Tor network -- from torproject.org/download/. The BBC (state-funded British media) has been noteworthy for not covering stories of great importance. Recently the BBC has failed to keep up with Julian Assange stories including his eviction from the Ecuadorian embassy (RT had exclusive coverage; other networks abandoned the site), Assange being moved in a prison van for reasons unknown (again, RT had exclusive coverage), and coverage of Assange's hearing a week ago (as journalist John Pilger said to Afshin Rattansi on Rattansi's RT show "Going Underground"): > Afshin Rattansi: It didn't make Channel 4 news here. It made headlines > around the world, but not news here. > > John Pilger: No, it didn't make it-- the BBC-- deliberately, > deliberately excluded the most important case: a publisher and > journalist is brought to a court. He is convicted of nothing. Charged, > in this country, with nothing. The charges against him are not only > concocted but as his QC pointed out yesterday, the treaty -- > extradition treaty -- between Britain and the United States has a > specific section in it that says a person cannot be extradited if the > offenses are said to be political. Sixteen of the seventeen, at least, > charges against Assange in the United States are unlawful. They are > political. That's not opinion. That's not a piece of agitprop. They are, > under law, political. They're based on a 1917 law called the Espionage > Act which was used to chase down conscientious objectors. RT has had no special access to Assange's activity. RT merely did what any journalist in the area could have done but chose not to do -- keep their cameras rolling and report on what they saw and heard. The footage BBC ran of Assange's eviction was licensed from from RT's RUPTLY. What reporting the BBC carried in their article on his hearing (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50132599) left out pertinent details (such as the conflicts of interest of the people involved in the case against Assange, that Magistrate Vanessa Baraitser was reportedly elevated from being a magistrate to a judge for this case, and nothing which appears in that article was clearly sourced by a reporter in the courtroom instead of someone listening to reports from people who were there including John Pilger. Business/Economy: Restaurateur organizations got the economics of the New York City $15/hr minimum wage wrong: restaurant revenue and restaurant employment are up, not down. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-15-minimum-wage-was-supposed-to-hurt-new-york-city-restaurants-but-both-revenue-and-employment-are-up-2019-10-28 > Critics would have you believe that upping the minimum wage in > restaurants will lead to massive layoffs and closures. But since raising > the minimum wage to $15 per hour nearly a year ago, the restaurant > industry in New York City has thrived. [...] > When worker pay goes up, employers can respond in a number of different > ways. They can cut hours, lay off workers, accept smaller profits or > raise prices. > > With profits so low in the restaurant industry, averaging just 3%-5%, > employers may not have the option to accept less in profits without > going in the red. > > In many industries, increased labor costs may prompt businesses to lay > off American workers and move operations overseas where labor costs are > lower. But this isn?t a viable solution in the restaurant industry, > since most of the work is done on-site. > > That leaves restaurant owners with two options. The first is to > decrease the number of hours each employee works, which might explain > why income gains from a higher minimum wage aren?t as large as one would > predict. > > Still, massive layoffs in the restaurant industry are unlikely because > owners need a certain number of staff to operate a full-service > kitchen. > > The other option is to increase prices, which many restaurants in New > York City have done. > > Some in the restaurant industry have argued that raising menu prices > will lead to fewer people dining out and, consequentially, more > restaurant closures. > > But this hasn?t happened. > > In fact, both restaurant revenue and employment are up. The reason for > this is that restaurants don?t have to raise prices very much to pay for > a minimum-wage increase. > > In one study, for example, a $0.80 minimum wage increase equated to a > 3.2% increase of food prices in restaurants in New Jersey. This is the > amount that the New Jersey minimum wage increased in 1992. > > Even a one-time increase of 10% to 15% is unlikely to dissuade large > numbers of customers from dining out. That would amount to an extra > $1.20 on a $12 burger. > > The focus on single restaurants also ignores the larger economic impact > of raising the minimum wage. According to an analysis by the Federal > Reserve Bank of Chicago, if low-wage workers have more money in their > pockets, they will have more money to spend, potentially expanding the > number of consumers who can afford to eat out. > > In fact, some people ? including those from the Economic Policy > Institute ? have posited that a minimum-wage increase will actually lead > to an increase in employment because of the effects of giving low-wage > workers a raise. Other advantages to restaurants may include lower > turnover rates and better job performance. Russiagate/Propaganda posing as entertainment: Call of Duty (videogame) makes Russia the new enemy of the game, blames Russians for US war crimes, hides blame from Russian audience https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_Z4SeOieCY -- RT's report filled with quotes and footage from the game including how the edition for non-Russian customers makes Russia the enemy while the Russian edition makes some made-up family the enemy. The war crimes of the US are pinned on Russia, and the White Helmets (US stooges who, among many horrible choices, work with murderers and pose for fake death pictures) become the "Green Helmets" for the Russian edition. Corporate-friendly policy: US tax forms are complex and costly, and gratis tax filing not universal and hard to find because the tax preparation industry writes the IRS's rules. https://www.propublica.org/article/the-irs-tried-to-hide-emails-that-show-tax-industry-influence-over-free-file-program -- ProPublica's report on what they learned from suing the IRS > For a decade and a half, the IRS program to allow most Americans to file > their taxes for free has been floundering. > > Now, IRS emails obtained by ProPublica help show why: The agency has > allowed the tax preparation industry to write the rules. [...] > This year, as part of our coverage of the IRS and TurboTax maker Intuit, > we filed a request for correspondence between the IRS and the Free File > Alliance, an industry group. The request sought records surrounding a > public-private partnership called Free File. > > Under that program, which has long been championed by Intuit, the IRS > agrees not to create its own tax filing system that would pose a threat > to the industry?s profits. In exchange, Intuit and several other tax > prep companies agree to offer free tax filing to most Americans. But the > program has been declining for years, with less than 3% of eligible > Americans using it this year. > > The email correspondence sheds light on a pivotal moment for the future > of Free File in the fall of 2018: An expert body called the IRS Advisory > Council (IRSAC) had spent months investigating the program. It was > preparing to publish a blistering report concluding that the IRS? > ?deficient oversight and performance standards for the Free File program > put vulnerable taxpayers at risk.? Chicago Teachers fight the good fight against corporatist mayor Lori Lightfoot From Redacted Tonight at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2RORUTCo_E > Redacted Tonight's Anders Lee: New Chicago mayor [...] Lori Lightfoot > has reached a conclusion to the strike: On Tuesday her office has issued > a letter promising to continue negotiations with teachers while also > directing them to get back to work. Truly some masterful negotiation > tactics right there! Only someone with the lightfooted heels of Hermes > could maneuver such a closing offer to strike a grand bargain without > having to do any bargaining. The Teachers Union, however, didn't quite > appreciate Lightfoot's feat. No punion intended. > > [Plays a clip from CBS News] > > CBS News: Mayor sent out a letter saying that she wants students to > go back to class during the negotiations. Your thoughts on that? > > Alison Eichhor, teacher: Yeah, that's not gonna happen. I don't know if > the Mayor's familiar with what unions do but we've gotten more deals, > more tentative agreements, in these last two days than we have in ten > months. > > [end clip] > > Anders Lee: C'mon, you gotta let Mayor Lori work that lightfooted magic! > She wants to improve Chicago public schools too. She just needs some > time for you to work without a contract so she can get around to it. And > she believes all the same things you do! Just look at what she > campaigned on: From a Jacobin article titled "Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Has Become Rahm Emanuel 2.0" at https://jacobinmag.com/2019/10/lori-lightfoot-chicago-teachers-union-strike > "[...] Mayor Lori Lightfoot promised to end business as usual in > Chicago. Instead, she?s antagonizing teachers, refusing to fully fund > public schools, and giving the rich whatever they want. That agenda > didn?t end well for Rahm Emanuel. It won?t for Lightfoot, either." > > Anders Lee: Now that she's in office and none of that stuff is > happening, is exactly the time to trust her! [...] > The mayor could have easily avoided a strike by sticking to her campaign > promises. Lightfoot actually ran on many of the Chicago teachers? > longtime demands for public education: an elected representative school > board rather than one appointed by the mayor, a freeze on charter-school > expansion, strong investments in public schools. She even told the > Chicago Sun-Times, ?As mayor, I will ? provide each school with basic > educational support positions like librarians, nurses, and social > workers? ? the CTU?s own contract demands in this strike. > > Like Rahm in 2012, Mayor Lightfoot is now claiming there?s simply no > money to give students what they need. In reality, Chicago ? like the > rest of the country ? is facing a priorities crisis, not a funding > crisis. Not only is Chicago Public Schools now receiving one billion > dollars more yearly from the state, but the city recently decided to > move ahead with plans to give over a billion in public funds to build > Lincoln Yards, a luxury real-estate development project. As we?ve seen > in strike after strike since West Virginia erupted in early 2018, > politicians can be forced to find the money ? if they are compelled to > from below. From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Nov 1 12:08:26 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2019 12:08:26 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Important article related to fires in Calif. & ownership of utilities Message-ID: https://www.thenation.com/article/wildfires-california-pge/?fbclid=IwAR1qdaV3ICKuA1Ul-ZkuXUEbSxRmU_BpATRQ-fTZmUafJ7iI0ETMP46EXA4 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Nov 1 12:08:26 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2019 12:08:26 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Important article related to fires in Calif. & ownership of utilities Message-ID: https://www.thenation.com/article/wildfires-california-pge/?fbclid=IwAR1qdaV3ICKuA1Ul-ZkuXUEbSxRmU_BpATRQ-fTZmUafJ7iI0ETMP46EXA4 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Nov 1 14:46:35 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2019 14:46:35 +0000 Subject: [Peace] VDO is Chinese but translation in English appears on the screen below Message-ID: https://www.ixigua.com/i6753058603885658628/?fbclid=IwAR2_MKlBbEYybujHjcUfbjOtQUglGFJr8MraTtWROoyQLoEaIQyC-LZY030 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Nov 1 14:46:35 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2019 14:46:35 +0000 Subject: [Peace] VDO is Chinese but translation in English appears on the screen below Message-ID: https://www.ixigua.com/i6753058603885658628/?fbclid=IwAR2_MKlBbEYybujHjcUfbjOtQUglGFJr8MraTtWROoyQLoEaIQyC-LZY030 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbn at forestfield.org Fri Nov 1 22:44:59 2019 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2019 17:44:59 -0500 Subject: [Peace] News from Neptune #439 notes Message-ID: <2d2a17ba-a312-04a4-5bb1-7a77f702e784@forestfield.org> News from Neptune #439 Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf5n72rYgII A "Wrong Reason" edition A list of links to items referenced on the show. T.S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_in_the_Cathedral Challenging Nicholas Kristof?s Claim of ?Thousands More Jeffrey Epsteins? https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/10/02/challenging-nicholas-kristofs-claim-of-thousands-more-jeffrey-epsteins/ Democracy at Work shows including "Capitalism Hits Home" and "Anti-Capitalist Chronicles" and other shows https://www.democracyatwork.info/media New evidence puts Epstein 'suicide' in doubt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0_yaZ5Xgfw David Green on "Harassment study is silly propaganda" https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/letters-editor/letter-to-the-editor-harassment-study-is-silly-propaganda/article_9d4eee6b-a8fa-5d8a-8609-169c0d256af9.html Julie Wurth on "UI set to present recommendations for sexual-misconduct policies to trustees" https://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/university-illinois/ui-set-to-present-recommendations-for-sexual-misconduct-policies-to/article_281f9cf2-5c01-5808-9095-97c5c004fbd1.html Noam Chomsky on "Trump?s Actions on Syria Reflect the Foreign Policy of a Con Man" -- Chomsky in interview with C.J. Polychroniou https://truthout.org/articles/chomsky-trumps-actions-on-syria-reflect-the-foreign-policy-of-a-con-man/ Noam Chomsky's "The New Military Humanism" Complete book: http://freebookbrowser.com/english/Sociology/Noam%20Chomsky/New%20Military%20Humanism%20by%20Noam%20Chomsky.pdf "Moderate Rebels" show Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNiXhsI4QtmQaeICpT-k7BQ/videos Audio RSS feed: https://moderaterebels.libsyn.com/rss "In the NOW" show Video: https://www.youtube.com/user/InTheNowRT/videos Rania Khalek https://youtube.com/user/RaniaKhalek https://twitter.com/raniakhalek "Unauthorized Disclosure" show RSS feed: https://unauthorizeddisclosure.libsyn.com/rss S5E37 -- Rania Khalek reports on Lebanon protests https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/unauthorizeddisclosure/S6E37.mp3?dest-id=183202 Rania Khalek on "Why are US troops returning to Syria?" https://twitter.com/RaniaKhalek/status/1190039664901677057 Marxism mailing list (Louis Proyect) archives https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/ Aron Lund Century Foundation profile https://tcf.org/experts/aron-lund/ Aron Lund on "How Assad?s Enemies Gave Up on the Syrian Opposition" https://tcf.org/content/report/assads-enemies-gave-syrian-opposition/ Thanassis Cambanis Century Foundation profile https://tcf.org/experts/thanassis-cambanis/ Robert Fisk on "Fear on the Streets: Hezbollah and the Protests in Lebanon" https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/10/29/fear-on-the-streets-hezbollah-and-the-protests-in-lebanon/ "The Angry Arab" (Asad AbuKhalil) http://twitter.com/asadabukhalil https://consortiumnews.com/tag/asad-abukhalil/ https://therealnews.com/bios/asad-abukhalil Benjamin Studebaker, Aimee Terese's show "What's Left?" https://soundcloud.com/whatisleftpod/ep-1-whats-left-of-the-left -- Episode 1 https://twitter.com/whatisleftpod -- Twitter account https://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:595199712/sounds.rss -- RSS feed "The Bruenigs" show RSS feed: https://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:111880201/sounds.rss https://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/571710981-ebruenig-review-of-liz-warrens-book-the-two-income-trap.mp3 -- Review of Liz Warren's Book: The Two-Income Trap Anis Shivani on "Five Questions for Elizabeth Warren" https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/10/25/five-questions-for-elizabeth-warren/ Russiagate propaganda in "Call of Duty" videogame https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_Z4SeOieCY -- RT's report filled with quotes and excerpts from the Russian and non-Russian variants of the game Rodney Reed on death row despite evidence saying he isn't guilty, mistakes from expert witness, new evidence making it clear he must be freed https://www.innocenceproject.org/stand-with-rodney-reed-on-texas-death-row/ https://www.innocenceproject.org/expert-witnesses-admit-error-in-case-of-rodney-reed-who-has-served-22-years-on-texas-death-row-prompting-new-appeal/ https://www.gdinvestigations.com/press/2019/1/9/new-evidence-makes-clear-rodney-reed-must-be-freed Notes from J.B. Nicholson https://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/2019-November/051473.html -J From deb.pdamerica at gmail.com Sat Nov 2 12:02:54 2019 From: deb.pdamerica at gmail.com (Debra Schrishuhn) Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2019 07:02:54 -0500 Subject: [Peace] spread the news Message-ID: Smugglers Cut Through Sections of Trump?s Border Wall November 2, 2019 at 7:23 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 29 Comments ?Smuggling gangs in Mexico have repeatedly sawed through new sections of President Trump?s border wall in recent months by using commercially available power tools, opening gaps large enough for people and drug loads to pass through, according to U.S. agents and officials with knowledge of the damage,? the Washington Post reports. ?The breaches have been made using a popular cordless household tool known as a reciprocating saw that retails at hardware stores for as little as $100. When fitted with specialized blades, the saws can slice through one of the barrier?s steel-and-concrete bollards in a matter of minutes,.? ?After cutting through the base of a single bollard, smugglers can push the steel out of the way, allowing an adult to fit through the gap. Because the bollards are so tall ? and are attached only to a panel at the very top ? their length makes them easier to push aside once they have been cut and are left dangling.? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Nov 4 12:06:36 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2019 12:06:36 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: [New post] The Incredible Shrinking Overton Window References: <139971992.7335.0@wordpress.com> Message-ID: New post on Caitlin Johnstone [https://i1.wp.com/caitlinjohnstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cropped-caitlinpic1.jpg?resize=32%2C32&ssl=1] [http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/12152988a68a6d4dae7506812444c18f?s=50&d=monsterid&r=G] The Incredible Shrinking Overton Window by Caitlin Johnstone ?The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum ? even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.? ~ Noam Chomsky The plutocrat-owned narrative managers of the political/media class work constantly to shrink the Overton window, the spectrum of debate that is considered socially acceptable. They do this by framing more and more debates in terms of how the oligarchic empire should be sustained and supported, steering them away from debates about whether that empire should be permitted to exist at all. They get people debating whether there should be some moderate changes made or no meaningful changes at all, rather than the massive, sweeping changes we all know need to be made to the entire system. They get people debating whether they should elect a crook in a red hat or a crook in a blue hat, rather than whether or not they should be forced to elect crooks. They get people debating violations of government secrecy laws, not whether the government has any business keeping those secrets from its citizenry in the first place. They get people debating how internet censorship should take place and whom should be censored, rather than whether any internet censorship should occur. They get people debating how and to what extent government surveillance should occur, not whether the government has any business spying on its citizens. They get people debating how subservient and compliant someone needs to be in order to not get shot by a police officer, rather than whether a police officer should be shooting people for those reasons at all. They get people debating whether or not a group of protesters are sufficiently polite, rather than debating the thing those protesters are demonstrating against. They get people debating about whether this thing or that thing is a "conspiracy theory", rather than discussing the known fact that powerful people conspire. They get people debating whether Tulsi Gabbard is a dangerous lunatic, a Russian asset, a Republican asset gearing up for a third party run, or just a harmless Democratic Party crackpot, rather than discussing the fact that her foreign policy would have been considered perfectly normal prior to 9/11. They get people debating whether Bernie Sanders is electable or too radical, rather than discussing what it says about the status quo that his extremely modest proposals which every other major country already implements are treated as something outlandish in the United States. They get people debating whether Jeremy Corbyn has done enough to address the Labour antisemitism crisis, rather than whether that "crisis" ever existed at all outside of the imaginations of establishment smear merchants. They get people debating whether Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren would win against Trump, rather than whether either of those establishment lackeys is a worthy nominee. They get people debating whether politicians should have corporate sponsors, rather than whether corporations should be allowed to interfere in the electoral process at all. They get people debating if the US should be pursuing regime change in Iran or Syria, rather than whether the US has any business overthrowing the governments of sovereign nations to begin with. They get people debating how many US troops should be in Syria, rather than whether that illegal invasion and occupation was ever legitimate in the first place. They get people debating whether to kill people slowly by sanctions or kill them quickly with bombs, rather than whether they should be killed at all. They get people debating whether or not some other country?s leader is an evil dictator, rather than whether it?s any of your business. They get people debating the extent to which Russia and Trump were involved in the Democratic Party's 2016 email leaks, rather than the contents of those leaks. They get people debating what the response should be to Russian interference in the election, rather than whether that interference took place at all, and whether it would really matter if it did. They get people debating how much government support the poor should be allowed to have, rather than whether the rich should be allowed to keep what they've stolen from the poor. They get people debating what kind of taxes billionaires should have to pay, rather than whether it makes sense for billionaires to exist at all. They get people impotently debating the bad things other countries do, rather than the bad things their own country does which they can actually do something about. They get people debating what should be done to prevent the rise of China, rather than whether a multipolar world might be beneficial. They get people debating whether western cold war escalations against the Russian Federation are sufficient, rather than whether they want to horrors of the cold war to be resurrected in the first place. They get people debating what extent cannabis should be decriminalized, rather than whether the government should be allowed to lock anyone up for deciding to put any substance whatsoever in their own body. They get people debating whether or not US troops should be withdrawn from Afghanistan, rather than whether or not there should be any US troops outside of the US. They get people debating whether or not Julian Assange is "a real journalist", rather than whether or not they should set legal precedents that necessarily criminalize acts of journalism. They get people debating the subtle details of bail protocol, political asylum, embassy cat hygiene and leaking rather than whether it should ever be legal to imprison a publisher for exposing government war crimes. They get people debating what the punishment should be for whistleblowers, not what the punishment should be for those they blow the whistle on. They get people debating whether Fox or MSNBC is the real "fake news", rather than whether the entirety of mainstream media is oligarchic propaganda. They get people debating about how the things everyone is freaking out over Trump doing were previously done by Obama, rather than discussing why all US presidents do the same evil things regardless of their parties or campaign platforms. They get people debating what should be done with money, not whether the concept of money itself is in need of a complete overhaul. They get people debating what should be done with government, not whether the concept of government itself is in need of a complete overhaul. They get people debating whether the status quo should be reinforced or revised, rather than whether it should be flushed down the toilet where it belongs. They get people angrily debating things they can't change, rather than constructively working on the things that they can. They get people shoving against each other in opposite directions, while they swiftly build a cage around us all. ___________________________________ Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following me on Steemit, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I'm trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I?ve written) in any way they like free of charge. [https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i0.wp.com/steemitimages.com/0x0/https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/0*VDvfq6m943JQbqLO.png?w=1060&ssl=1] Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2 Caitlin Johnstone | November 4, 2019 at 2:54 am | Tags: debate, Overton window, partisanship, Politics | Categories: Article | URL: https://wp.me/p9tj6M-1Uj Comment See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Caitlin Johnstone. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/11/04/the-incredible-shrinking-overton-window/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From naiman.uiuc at gmail.com Mon Nov 4 13:30:32 2019 From: naiman.uiuc at gmail.com (Robert Naiman) Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2019 08:30:32 -0500 Subject: [Peace] video: US troops "protecting the oil" in Syria In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: May we please have an honest conversation about this now? Or do we still have to pretend that U.S. troops are in the Middle East to protect human rights? Where do we apply for permission to speak about the real reasons that U.S. troops are in the Middle East? When did Congress vote to authorize this? Where is the oil carve-out in Article I and the War Powers Resolution? https://twitter.com/jenanmoussa/status/1190625627038273536 [image: image.png] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image.png Type: image/png Size: 257939 bytes Desc: not available URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Nov 4 14:16:06 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2019 14:16:06 +0000 Subject: [Peace] What Keeps the Rich Up at Night Should Provide Inspiration to the Poor Message-ID: By Danny Haiphong Halloween in America is a time to be frightened of horror films, costumes, and the health consequences of consuming too much candy. Horror films and costumes represent a fictionalized terror, one that deeply satisfies and reminds us of our own vulnerability. U.S. imperialism is a centuries-long nightmare that goes bump in the night. The terror of U.S. imperialism is very real and much scarier than anything Halloween has to offer. At the foundation of U.S. imperialism is a broad array of contradictions between the rulers of imperialism and those who suffer from imperial rule. It is only logical, then, that what keeps the rich up at night should provide inspiration and fuel to the cause of the poor and oppressed. The ruling class in the United States, that .001 percent of the population which owns the means of production, takes on a ?god?-like stature in American life. Billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and the rest are largely hidden from public life. Instead, a host of hirelings in the corporate media and in the halls of Washington articulate their ideological and policy interests. Celebrities glorify the lifestyle of billionaires through corporate-controlled distributors of culture also known as the television, film, and music industries. Politicians further normalize the ?godliness? of the ruling class by ignoring their influence or defending their rule as a matter of democracy and ?national security.? Of course, the deification of class rule would not be possible without the repressive and white supremacist state apparatus which imposes a regime of terror on the most dispossessed and darker hued peoples of the planet. The United States, as the commander in chief of imperialist plunder, makes it as difficult as possible for poor workers and oppressed peoples to find inspiration from the maladies plaguing the rich. Corporate media and official Washington ignore or demonize those activists and journalists who fight to turn the nightmares of the rich into opportunities for social transformation. In Latin America, for example, millions are standing up to neoliberal rule. Bolivia and Argentina have elected leftist governments in recent weeks. The people of Chile have taken to the streets for over three weeks in opposition to neoliberal austerity. These developments have received little attention and zero positive coverage in the United States. The surge of leftism in Latin America is not the only nightmare keeping the U.S. ruling class up at night. Imperialism, the system of monopoly and finance capital that the ruling class presides over, is in a state of crisis on several fronts. On the military front, Syria?s resilience in the face of eight years of proxy war has left the U.S. with few options to achieve its ultimate objective of full spectrum dominance in the region. The U.S.?s regime change war in Syria has failed and the head-chopping jihadists that the CIA and the Pentagon empowered are fighting alongside Turkey in a final standoff with the Syrian Arab Army. Trump?s mere signaling toward pulling U.S. troops from occupied Northern Syria has inspired great fear in the Pentagon and the military industrial complex generally. The Pentagon has since convinced Trump to double down on its occupation of Syria to ensure that the vast oil reserves in its northern territory cannot be used for reconstruction and development. Military expansionism is often thought of a show of strength. However, in the case of the rich, reliance upon military force both at home and abroad help mask the broad decline of imperial rule. U.S. capitalism has become a short-term boon for the few and a long-term burden for the many. The U.S.? share in the world economy is a fraction of what it was when it became the imperial superpower following World War II. Overall growth is virtually frozen. Workers haven?t seen a pay raise in forty years. Poverty, debt, and precarity are the only guarantees for nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population living under dead-end capitalism. Destroying the lives of whistleblowers like Julian Assange through massive investments in military and surveillance technology helps maintain the rule of the rich in the face of mass misery. Economic decline and military expansionism are nightmares not because profits aren?t being made, but because the prospect of rebellion and unrest is the most frightening nightmare scenario for the rich. The U.S. capitalist economy is due for a periodic economic crisis on top of the 2007-2008 crash that workers have yet to recover from. Bernie Sanders and the revival of the word ?socialism? among young workers are outgrowths of dead-end capitalism. The 2020 election has placed a spotlight on the fissures within the Democratic Party, once known for its iron-clad ability to keep social movements and left politics within the safe and corporate-controlled confines of the electoral arena. Democratic Party and Republican Party lieutenants are no longer seen as legitimate representatives of working-class Americans, which is why Sanders has become the most popular politician in the country and why Donald Trump, a billionaire with no political credentials, will likely win another presidential term should the Democratic Party choose to decapitate the Sanders campaign for a second time in four years. While the many nightmarish aspects of system decline keep the rich up at night, they should inspire poor and working-class people to rise up against the system. Yet mass uprisings in the United States are not a common occurrence. Bernie Sanders is waging an electorally based movement inside of a corporate-controlled party. Labor unions such as the Chicago Teachers Union have used the weapon of the strike to unite oppressed communities to fight privatization and cutbacks to education. But this model is not the norm across the country. Despite an upsurge in labor unrest, many unions opt for a business model of organization that privileges compromises with the boss over the development of grassroots movements that threaten the entrenched power of capitalist bosses at the point of production. The UAW?s recent agreement that maintains a tiered workforce among other concessions to the bosses show the struggling occurring inside the American labor movement. This is not to say that the strikes that occurred in Chicago schools and GM plants across the U.S. were not sources of inspiration. It is important, however, to analyze why the crisis of U.S. imperialism has not led to a massive rebellion inside of the United States. The fact remains that the working class in the United States is the most alienated class in human history. White supremacy and corporate power have never been more entrenched anywhere else in the world. Workers not only contend with their bosses, but also the largest military and police-state ever known. Workers not only search for a way to live under a low-wage capitalist system, but also do so in the presence of six corporations which own ninety percent of all media in the United States. There is thus no shortage of despair and distraction to keep workers in the United States from standing up to the powerful and uniting with the powerless. Just like everything on this planet, systems are subjected to laws of scientific development. Systems rise and then fall due to their own inherent contradictions. The crises described in this article only scratch the surface of the contradictions facing U.S. imperialism at this juncture of history. Many of these contradictions are developing in a manner that should inspire workers and poor people in the U.S. to become agents of history. The people of Chile the people of Bolivia, and the people of Syria are revolting against the same system that is incarcerating, surveilling, and impoverishing workers in the United States. Their example should provide as much inspiration to U.S.-based social justice efforts as they inspire fear and dread in the rich. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From naiman.uiuc at gmail.com Mon Nov 4 17:00:12 2019 From: naiman.uiuc at gmail.com (Robert Naiman) Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2019 12:00:12 -0500 Subject: [Peace] John Nichols: duly elected Member of U.S. Congress calls out "western imperialism" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: https://www.facebook.com/robert.naiman/posts/10158796639102656 Oh dear. I fear that the American Exceptionalist concern trolls are not going to like this one little bit. Katy bar the door. One time when she was being raked over the coals by Nancy Pelosi's proxies for the *_thoughtcrime_ *of Having Opinions About U.S. Foreign Policy While Muslim, she said: "They told us to represent our districts. So I'm representing my district." https://twitter.com/NicholsUprising/status/1191168802505011200 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Nov 5 12:34:57 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2019 12:34:57 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: [New post] The Imperial Propaganda Machine: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix References: <139971992.7305.0@wordpress.com> Message-ID: New post on Caitlin Johnstone [https://i1.wp.com/caitlinjohnstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cropped-caitlinpic1.jpg?resize=32%2C32&ssl=1] [http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/12152988a68a6d4dae7506812444c18f?s=50&d=monsterid&r=G] The Imperial Propaganda Machine: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix by Caitlin Johnstone It's important to avoid fake news, Russian media or conspiracy theorists. We must only trust those reputable news outlets who tell us that neoliberalism is working fine, that US foreign policy is perfectly sane, and that protests are only happening in Hong Kong and nowhere else. The difference between state media and western media is that in state media the government controls what information the public is given about what's going on in the world in order to prevent political dissent, whereas in western media this is instead done by billionaires. Any attempt to understand the world which fails to take into account the fact that extremely powerful people are pouring massive amounts of money and resources into manipulating your understanding of the world will necessarily result in a distorted worldview. Whenever news media reports unsubstantiated assertions from anonymous sources in government agencies, just mentally insert "Here is something the government told us to tell you:" into the beginning of the report, because that's all they're doing. Russia and China haven't become any more of a threat to you than they were three years ago, yet you think about them many times more often than you did back then. That's propaganda at work, FYI. All the establishment loyalists you argue with are ever really saying is, "No! The TV would NEVER lie to me!" Sometimes all I can do is stare in awe at the power and efficiency of the imperial propaganda machine. When I first started this gig in 2016 Assange had way more support, from Berners, Greens, Trumpers, all across the spectrum. Now a large amount of that support has been eroded. For Trumpers Assange is being extradited for his own good to bring down the Deep State. For liberals he's a Russian asset. For leftists he's a rapist and fascist enabler. There's a narrative for everyone, no matter where you are on the political spectrum. It's really impressive. I love alternative media, but we're fucking idiots sometimes. You never see MSM doing our job for us, but we do their job for them all the time by attacking other alternative media figures, circulating CIA/CNN narratives about targeted nations and targeted individuals, etc. The only reason to ever do mainstream media's work for them is if you're looking for a job in MSM. If you actually want to participate in alternative media it's your job to make things harder for establishment narrative managers, not easier. They get paid enough to do their own work. Dominant power structures are corrupt beyond the possibility of salvation and humanity is driving itself toward miriad cataclysmic disasters all at once, yet many are more worried about those who share their basic ideology but have slightly different opinions. This is stupid. There's no separation between the personal struggle to free yourself from untruth and the collective struggle to free the world from untruth, in the same way there's no separation between an antibody attacking an individual pathogen and the entire body recovering from a sickness. Anyone who wants Silicon Valley oligarchs to censor the flow of information in any way is a drooling idiot. MSM's official position appears to be that there is no ideological difference whatsoever between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, other than the fact that you have permission to elect Warren but not Sanders. Apart from that, though, they're exactly the same. There's a difference between Democrats and Republicans, in the sense that there's a difference between the jab and the cross in boxing. The jab is often used to set up the more damaging cross, but they're both wielded by the same boxer, and they're both punching you in the face. The "feud" between mainstream Republican pundits and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fits perfectly within the Overton window of establishment-approved debate, and can therefore be safely ignored. Remember when voters in 2016 were like "can we please have even one major candidate who doesn't have something seriously wrong with them?", and the entire US political system was all "LOL nope," and then nobody burned that system to the ground and flushed it down the toilet? Good times. War is the worst thing in the world. It's worse than economic injustice. It's worse than the war on drugs. It's worse than racism, xenophobia, homophobia and sexism. Those things are bad. War is worse. The priorities of leftists and progressives should reflect this, as should the priorities of anyone who claims to care about their fellow humans. Trump: I am ending wars! Neocons/liberal hawks: Oh no it sure is bad and horrible that this isolationist president is ending all the wars! Wars: [continue completely unabated] Imagine someone coming up to you with a money jar saying "Excuse me, we're raising funds to build another military base in Somalia, would you care to make a donation?" No one would ever knowingly put money toward such an endeavor. Yet taxpayers do this unwittingly all the time. Nobody comes out of the womb demanding to go to war. Left unmolested it would never occur to a normal human brain that strangers on the other side of the planet need to have explosives dropped on them by overpriced airplanes. The problem isn't democracy, it's propaganda. Back when the wealthy had less wealth and ordinary citizens could support a family on a single income, the rich had a concept called "noblesse oblige" meaning their status came with obligations to society. Now the wealth gap is much greater, and the rich feel no obligation to anyone. Less contempt for imaginary "Putin apologists", more contempt for actual billionaire apologists. The narrative that Gabbard is preparing a third party run is revealing, in that there's zero evidence for it whatsoever yet they keep bringing it up. It's literally just something pundits started saying in an authoritative tone of voice, and it was magically transformed into accepted orthodoxy. It's a great illustration of how effective the establishment narrative managers are; they can create the illusion of a fact out of thin air just by saying something over and over again in an assertive tone. Here's a crazy thought: If "the troops" are constantly feeling the need to commit suicideafter doing what they've been ordered to do while deployed, maybe what they're doing over there isn't so great and noble after all. It sure is cute how we've known for years that the US and its allies armed actual, literal terrorists in Syria with the goal of effecting regime change, yet the only Syria controversy we're ever allowed to acknowledge is whether there are an adequate number of US troops there. I'm still tripping on how we've been fed all these wildly different narratives about why the US needs a military presence in Syria, from humanitarianism to Kurds to ISIS to Iran to Russia to chemical weapons to oil, yet this isn't immediately extremely suspicious to everyone. I mean, if some guy was constantly calling me up and giving me a whole range of wildly different reasons why he needs my bank account number, I'd immediately assume that what he actually wants is my bank account number, you know? So many of spiritual-type people's highest values would work fine in a world without sociopaths. Forgiveness, humility, trust, seeing people's basic innocence, etc, they work fine until you run into a manipulator with no empathy. In this world they require much more nuanced use. Things are getting stranger and stranger. Things getting stranger and stranger is what it looks like when long-fixed patterns begin to dissolve. For a species that has been on a trajectory toward self-destruction, patterns dissolving can only be a good thing. We'll win this. _________________________ Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following me on Steemit, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I'm trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I?ve written) in any way they like free of charge. [https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i0.wp.com/steemitimages.com/0x0/https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/0*VDvfq6m943JQbqLO.png?w=1060&ssl=1] Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2 Caitlin Johnstone | November 5, 2019 at 1:48 am | Tags: caitlin johnstone, media, MSM, narrative, news, propaganda, Syria, war | Categories: Article | URL: https://wp.me/p9tj6M-1TP Comment See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Caitlin Johnstone. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/11/05/the-imperial-propaganda-machine-notes-from-the-edge-of-the-narrative-matrix/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From naiman.uiuc at gmail.com Tue Nov 5 16:24:00 2019 From: naiman.uiuc at gmail.com (Robert Naiman) Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2019 11:24:00 -0500 Subject: [Peace] Antiwar.com: Tulsi Gabbard Introduces Bill to Withdraw Troops from Syria In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: This is the first ink on this I've seen. Now we're going to separate the sheep from the goats. Now we're going find out who really believes that Article I of the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution of 1973 are good law and who was only pretending. Remember what our friends said on the Senate floor when the Yemen War Powers Resolution was first being debated: if you think the U.S. military should be doing this, introduce an AUMF and call the roll. https://news.antiwar.com/2019/11/03/tulsi-gabbard-introduces-bill-to-withdraw-troops-from-syria/ Tulsi Gabbard Introduces Bill to Withdraw Troops from Syria Resolution Says Syrian Oil Belongs to Syria Dave DeCamp Posted on November 3, 2019 Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) introduced a resolution to the House of Representatives on October 31st titled, ?Directing the President pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Syrian Arab Republic that have not been authorized by Congress.? The idea of the bill is to remove any troops in Syria that do not have Congressional approval to be there, which is all of them. The resolution says, ?Congress has not declared war with respect to, or provided any specific statutory authorization for, United States military participation in any activity related to securing, guarding, possessing, profiting off of, or developing oil fields in northern Syria. All of these actions are unconstitutional.? The resolution also points out that President Trump?s new plan to stay in Syria to ?secure the oil? is a flagrant violation of international law. The resolution says, ?Oil, natural resources, and land in Syria belong to the Syrian people, not the United States.? Although the House was quick to condemn Trump?s withdrawal from northeast Syria to avoid a confrontation with Turkey, his new plan to ?secure the oil? has not come under much scrutiny. The language in Gabbard?s bill would make it tough for any member of Congress to argue against it. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbn at forestfield.org Wed Nov 6 02:14:21 2019 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2019 20:14:21 -0600 Subject: [Peace] AWARE on the Air #497 Message-ID: <03226cf0-6aa8-da91-0e55-fdff969a182d@forestfield.org> AWARE on the Air #497 Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtfZIGZzlAk A list of links to items referenced on the show. "Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization" by Nicholson Baker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Smoke ISBN: 9781416572466 T.S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_in_the_Cathedral War of Aggression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_aggression Noam Chomsky on "If the Nuremberg Laws were Applied?" https://chomsky.info/1990____-2/ Ady Barkan on "Elizabeth Warren?s Plan Is a Massive Win for the Medicare for All Movement" https://theintercept.com/2019/11/01/elizabeth-warren-medicare-for-all/ A response to Barkan's Intercept article and why we can't believe the Democrats on Medicare for All was original material written by J.B. Nicholson. Dave DeCamp on "Tulsi Gabbard Introduces Bill to Withdraw Troops from Syria" https://news.antiwar.com/2019/11/03/tulsi-gabbard-introduces-bill-to-withdraw-troops-from-syria/ Jason Ditz on "Turkish-Backed Forces Attack Kurds South of Syria Safe Zone" https://news.antiwar.com/2019/11/03/turkish-backed-forces-attack-kurds-south-of-syria-safe-zone/ Jason Ditz on "US Troops Not Sure Who They Are Supposed to Shoot At in Syria" https://news.antiwar.com/2019/11/03/us-troops-not-sure-who-they-are-supposed-to-shoot-at-in-syria/ Jason Ditz on "US B-52 Bomber Unexpectedly Approached Russian Base in Syria" https://news.antiwar.com/2019/11/03/us-b-52-bomber-unexpectedly-approached-russian-base-in-syria/ Maj. Danny Sjursen, USA (ret.) on "Send the FBI a Message: Support Antiwar.com, Support Free Speech" https://original.antiwar.com/danny_sjursen/2019/11/03/send-the-fbi-a-message-support-antiwar-com-support-free-speech/ Articles and Twitter posts from Maj. Danny Sjursen, USA (ret.) https://original.antiwar.com/author/danny_sjursen/ -- Maj. Sjursen's articles on antiwar.com https://www.huffpost.com/author/danny-sjursen -- Huffpost.com articles https://twitter.com/skepticalvet -- His Twitter account "Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge" by Maj. Danny Sjursen, USA (ret.) ISBN-10: 1611687810 ISBN-13: 978-1611687811 Ray McGovern on "First They Came for Max" https://raymcgovern.com/2019/11/01/first-they-came-for-max/ https://www.opednews.com/articles/First-They-Came-For-Max-by-Ray-McGovern-Investigations_Max-Blumenthal-Arrest_Podcast-191102-556.html https://popularresistance.org/first-they-came-for-max/ http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52483.htm https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2019/11/01/first-they-came-for-max/ Chris Hedges interview with defendants about the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP2nG5dokD4 -J From carl at newsfromneptune.com Wed Nov 6 19:14:13 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2019 13:14:13 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Ukraine In-Reply-To: <03226cf0-6aa8-da91-0e55-fdff969a182d@forestfield.org> References: <03226cf0-6aa8-da91-0e55-fdff969a182d@forestfield.org> Message-ID: https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/06/which-is-worse-trying-to-get-ukraine-into-nato-or-trying-to-use-ukraine-to-reelect-trump/ The Nazi-infested government that the Obama administration installed in Kiev has killed 13,000 Ukrainians in Donbass, which resisted the coup. ?CGE From susanroseparenti at gmail.com Wed Nov 6 19:57:04 2019 From: susanroseparenti at gmail.com (Susan Parenti) Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2019 13:57:04 -0600 Subject: [Peace] House Theater of Climate Chane Comedy (HUH??)--this Sunday, 7pm Message-ID: *at the same time * a house theatre by assemble/ensemble and the re-writing/re-righting cassandra project sunday, november 10th, 2019 doors 6:30pm / show 7:00pm at the parkhouse, 122 franklin st. free! assemble/ensemble presents At the Same Time: a series of vignettes using kitchen utensils to explain some things we wanted to understand about climate change, with irregular interruptions from our friendly yet seemingly dramatic neighbor, bill. [image: housetheatre.jpg] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: housetheatre.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 3830905 bytes Desc: not available URL: From susanroseparenti at gmail.com Wed Nov 6 19:58:28 2019 From: susanroseparenti at gmail.com (Susan Parenti) Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2019 13:58:28 -0600 Subject: [Peace] whoops---I meant climate CHANGE comedy! Message-ID: *at the same time * a house theatre by assemble/ensemble and the re-writing/re-righting cassandra project sunday, november 10th, 2019 doors 6:30pm / show 7:00pm at the parkhouse, 122 franklin st. free! assemble/ensemble presents At the Same Time: a series of vignettes using kitchen utensils to explain some things we wanted to understand about climate change, with irregular interruptions from our friendly yet seemingly dramatic neighbor, bill. [image: housetheatre.jpg] -- *Susan Parenti* *Educational Coordinator * *The School for Designing a Society *www.designingasociety.net *Like us on Facebook !* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: housetheatre.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 3830905 bytes Desc: not available URL: From naiman.uiuc at gmail.com Wed Nov 6 21:51:34 2019 From: naiman.uiuc at gmail.com (Robert Naiman) Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2019 16:51:34 -0500 Subject: [Peace] Al-Monitor: Tulsi Gabbard lays groundwork to force divisive vote on Syria withdrawal In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/11/tulsi-gabbard-groundwork-force-vote-syria-withdrawal.html Tulsi Gabbard lays groundwork to force divisive vote on Syria withdrawal Bryant Harris November 5, 2019 Presidential hopeful Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, quietly introduced a resolution last week that could force the House to vote on a US troop withdrawal from Syria, potentially dividing Democrats and anti-war activists. The resolution follows the same playbook that her presidential opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., used to force a vote on legislation intended to end US support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen earlier this year. While Sanders succeeded in getting that resolution passed, he did not have enough support to override President Donald Trump?s veto in April. As Sanders did for Yemen, Gabbard has filed her Syria resolution under the War Powers Act , which provides expedited procedures that allow any lawmaker to force a vote requiring the president to withdraw troops from any conflicts not authorized by Congress. Robert Naiman, an independent foreign policy consultant who was heavily involved in the campaign to pass the Yemen war powers resolution, praised Gabbard?s legislation as the next logical step in congressional efforts to claw back war-making authority from the White House. ?If using the War Powers Resolution to challenge unconstitutional US participation in the Saudi war in Yemen was a one-off, we haven?t set a meaningful precedent,? said Naiman, a former policy director at the anti-war activist group Just Foreign Policy. ?This opens the possibility of setting a meaningful precedent.? Although Gabbard has centered her presidential campaign around opposition to what she labels ?regime-change wars,? she curiously introduced last week?s resolution with zero publicity or fanfare. Nor did her office respond to Al-Monitor?s multiple requests for comment. Still, she did tweet about Trump?s designs on Syrian oil fields as recently as Sunday ? albeit without mentioning her resolution. ?For political reasons, Trump claims he?s against so-called ?endless wars,? but he supports [and] is carrying out 19th/20th century-style naked imperialism,? Gabbard wrote. ?This is a disgrace to our men [and] women in uniform and [a] great recruiting tool for jihadists.? The Gabbard resolution specifically takes aim at Trump?s stated goal of ?leaving soldiers to secure the oil? in northeast Syria. It aims to force Trump to abandon the mission by requiring him to withdraw all troops from Syria not authorized by Congress? 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which the White House has used as the legal basis for its fight against the Islamic State (IS) since the Barack Obama administration. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters last month that US troops would primarily guard the oil fields from IS despite the territorial defeat of the caliphate. However, Gabbard?s resolution notes that ?he confirmed that this includes denying access to the oil from Russian and Syrian forces,? which would fall outside the scope of the 2001 authorization. The resolution does not explicitly address the US troops stationed in the southern Syrian garrison of al-Tanf to counter Iran. And while Naiman called Gabbard?s resolution ?historic,? other anti-war activists who successfully lobbied Congress to pass the Yemen war powers resolution are less enthusiastic about her Syria resolution. One activist, who spoke with Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity to candidly comment, called it ?half-assed.? The activist argued that framing the resolution around the 2001 authorization creates ?a divisive argument within Congress,? noting that lawmakers otherwise supportive of withdrawing troops from Syria could vote no because they do not want to concede that the 18-year-old military authorization covers operations against IS. ?In theory we absolutely support this,? said the activist. ?We support the idea of Congress clarifying that it has not given authority and demanding that the president withdraw troops from an unauthorized mission. That?s not what this legislation does, nor was it done with those of us who have been working on this issue for years.? Still, Naiman strongly pushed back against the criticism from other activists, arguing that ?this is exactly the structure we used to go after the Saudi war in Yemen.? He added, ?Anyone who claims that this is problematic now and claims they supported what we were doing before either didn?t understand what we were doing before, or more likely just being opportunist hypocrites because they?re [too] yellow to cross Nancy Pelosi.? It remains unclear where House Democratic leaders stand on Gabbard?s Syria resolution. A spokeswoman for Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told Al-Monitor that the Foreign Affairs Committee is currently considering the legislation. But the committee?s intentions remain unclear; a spokesman for Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., did not respond to Al-Monitor?s repeated requests for comment. If the Foreign Affairs Committee refuses to advance the resolution, Gabbard could use the War Powers Act to trigger a floor vote ? whether leadership likes it or not. But Gabbard has also developed a checkered reputation on Syria due to her past statements widely viewed as supportive of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The resolution also has zero co-sponsors and lawmakers involved in the Yemen war powers push have not yet jumped on board. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who co-sponsored the Yemen war powers resolution, told Al-Monitor today that while the 2001 authorization does not cover IS, Congress should pass a new authorization to cover the anti-IS campaign. ?We should authorize military action against [IS],? said Murphy. ?In the absence of congressional authorization to do so, the president should not be taking action that he doesn?t have congressional permission for.? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Thu Nov 7 17:04:24 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2019 11:04:24 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Did you know this about the abortion pill? References: <1573143516121.4f6a4a40-99de-445c-bb1a-623114cbefea@bf10a.hubspotemail.net> Message-ID: <278B217A-7C55-4C48-A3D3-82AF13CF3A4E@newsfromneptune.com> > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Lila Rose > Subject: Did you know this about the abortion pill? > Date: November 7, 2019 at 10:33:30 AM CST > To: cgestabrook at gmail.com > Reply-To: lila.rose at liveaction.org > > > Hi C. G., > > I want to make sure you didn?t miss last week?s trending video exposing the true history behind one of the most common methods used to kill preborn children - the abortion pill. > > Did you know that the creators of the abortion pill are subsidiaries to the company that created the gas used to execute Jews during the Holocaust? > > Watch the video here:https://www.facebook.com/liveaction/videos/412132136377992/ > The roots of this deadly drug, known as RU-486, are disturbing. > > But what is horrifying are the consequences we live with today, as the abortion pill kills hundreds of thousands of preborn children every year. > > Every day, these chemical abortions are used to kill preborn children at 10 weeks or younger. > > At 10 weeks, a baby already has a face, arms, legs, and a beating heart. > > In 2017 alone, the abortion pill killed nearly 340,000 preborn children, accounting for roughly 39% of all abortions that year. > > Currently, the Food and Drug Administration requires that the pill is administered by approved providers, to ensure emergency care is available in the event of serious complications. > > However, the abortion industry is seeking to make the pill available online for so-called ?self-managed? abortions. > > That?s why it?s vital you know the history behind this drug and share this video with your friends on social media.? > Already, the abortion lobby is pushing for laws in pro-abortion states to build demand for the abortion pill and kill more preborn children for profit. > > Earlier this year, California passed legislation requiring all state universities to offer the pill in their health centers. > > Your action is critical in stopping these efforts from spreading to other states - by educating yourself and sharing this video with others - before countless more preborn lives are lost. > > Thank you for watching and sharing this important video. > > > For life, > > Lila Rose > President & Founder > Live Action > > Live Action 2200 Wilson Blvd. Suite 102 PMB 111, Arlington, VA 22201 > > You received this message because you are subscribed to General Email Updates from Live Action. > If you would rather not receive this type of email, you can update your email preferences here or unsubscribe from all future emails. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Thu Nov 7 17:14:18 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2019 11:14:18 -0600 Subject: [Peace] When was the last midterm election in which the president's party didn't lose seats? Message-ID: https://therealnews.com/stories/off-year-election-pushes-republicans-back-are-political-winds-shifting From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 7 23:39:05 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2019 23:39:05 +0000 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?German_imperialism=E2=80=99s_new_drive_for_wor?= =?utf-8?q?ld_power?= Message-ID: German imperialism?s new drive for world power By Johannes Stern 7 November 2019 For weeks, the media and establishment politicians in Germany have been denouncing criticism of right-wing extremists as an attack on freedom of expression. While right-wing terrorist networks are murdering and threatening Jews, Muslims and even Green Party politicians with death, the world of politics and the media are protecting the intellectual arsonists who have sown the seeds of right-wing terror. The hysterical campaign reached its climax when students in Hamburg protested at the end of October against the founder of the right-wing extremist Alternative for Germany (AfD), Bernd Lucke, returning to his chair at their university. AfD deputies such as the Islamic scholar Hans-Thomas Tillschneider and the AfD?s chief ideologist Marc Jongen, as well as the racist agitator Thilo Sarrazin and the right-wing extremist historian J?rg Baberowski?notorious for declaring that ?Hitler was not cruel??are also being portrayed as victims of an alleged dictatorship of opinion. Now, Wolfgang Sch?uble, president of the Bundestag (federal parliament), has delivered a speech making clear why the leading representatives of the ruling class defend the AfD and its ideologues. They need the right-wing extremist party to intimidate and break the popular resistance, deeply rooted in broad sections of the German population, to militarism, war and great power politics. Sch?uble, a member of the Christian Democratic Union, spoke on October 29 at the Haus der Geschichte in Bonn on the subject of ?Germany?s role in the globalised world.? The lecture can be read on the official website of the Bundestag. Sch?uble?s message could not be clearer: Five years after then-German President Joachim Gauck announced the end of military restraint at the 2014 Munich Security Conference, the foreign policy turn is now to be implemented with brute force. ?German politics? anticipates ?uncomfortable debates and unpopular decisions,? Sch?uble said. The issue now is ?about defining strategic interests, explaining foreign policy connections again and again and convincing the Germans of the necessity to move further in defence policy, even against resistance.? He continued: ?In other words, political leadership is needed... to impose what has been recognised as right and necessary even in the face of resistance.? Sch?uble is the longest-serving member of the Bundestag, a former interior and finance minister, architect of German reunification and instigator of the European Union?s austerity policy. Perhaps more than anyone else, he epitomises the reactionary policies of recent decades. Now he clearly states that the ruling class is returning to its most odious historical traditions. ?After the catastrophe of 1945, we almost internalised a culture of restraint,? he complained. He added that ?the pacifist attitude of most Germans? was ?historically understandable,? but ?our history cannot be a fig leaf. It must not serve as an excuse for irresponsibility.? The mere fact that Sch?uble describes 1945?not 1933 or 1939?as a ?catastrophe? is extraordinary. The year 1945 marked Germany?s defeat in World War II and the downfall of Hitler?s Third Reich. The year 1933 was the beginning of the National Socialist reign of terror and 1939 marked the onset of the war. Sch?uble?s formulation is not an oversight. The central themes of his speech evoke memories of the Nazis? methods. These include agitation against pacifism and anti-militarism, the emphasis on one?s own imperialist interests, the call for the use of military force and the assertion that this exacts a ?moral price,? i.e., the dropping all moral inhibitions and commission of crimes. ?Standing aside is not an option, at least not a viable foreign policy strategy,? Sch?uble said. ?We Europeans have to do more for our own security?and that also means for the security of the world around us.? He stressed that this included ?ultimately, the willingness to use military force,? adding, ?At the very least, we must be able to threaten this.? This also has ?a moral price,? the burden of which posed ?great challenges for the Germans in particular.? When Germany last carried this ?burden,? grabbing for world power and asserting its interests with military force, the ?moral price? was six million Jews industrially annihilated, 27 million victims of the war of annihilation against the Soviet Union, and several dozen million more dead throughout Europe and in Germany. The demand that the German people pay a ?moral price? runs throughout Sch?uble?s speech like a leitmotif. ?Let us begin by seeing the world as it is?and not as we would like it to be,? he demands, referring to Humboldt Professor Herfried M?nkler, who has now retired. M?nkler pleads ?rightly for a ?new modesty? in our ethical demands for a global order,? Sch?uble proclaims. He insists that if we want to help shape the ?globalised world? and ?make progress in solving global problems,? we must ?also negotiate with states and regimes that do not share our values.? In particular, close cooperation with dictatorships and criminal militias is necessary to ward off migrants: ?We can cope with global migration only in cooperation with states and forces in the regions of origin and transit,? he argues, ?where we have, for good reason, much to criticise.? In reality, Sch?uble?s speech underscores the fact that the German ruling class not only shares the ?values? of dictators and tyrants, but puts them in the shade when it comes to asserting its own imperialist interests. ?We should also be honest about our economic interests,? he lectures. ?Because we depend on raw materials that we do not possess ourselves, on secure trade routes, on an international division of labour and on markets. And that, of course, influences our policies. Anything else would be irresponsible.? In this context, Sch?uble said he supported the ?proposal of the federal minister of defence for an international safe zone in Northern Syria,? because it was ?beyond question that the aggravated situation in our immediate neighbouring region massively affects European and thus German security interests.? One cannot ?confine oneself to issuing warnings to the parties to the conflict from the side-lines, or merely watching Turkey and Russia jointly expand their sphere of power,? he continued. Germans have to be ?prepared to make their own contribution on the ground. Material and moral costs must be borne.? Five years ago, the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party?SGP) placed the fight against war and militarism at the centre of its work. It has systematically fought against the rise of the AfD and the transformation of universities into centres of war propaganda. In September 2014, it declared in a conference resolution: ?The same factors that drive the ruling class to war also create the objective conditions for socialist revolution? Theoretically, politically and organizationally, the [SGP] bases its struggle against militarism and war on the working class. It is the only international class and the only force that can prevent a third world war.? Sch?uble?s war speech vindicates this perspective. The ruling class is reacting to the escalation of international conflicts and the worldwide growth of the class struggle by returning to the militarist and fascist traditions of its past. Only a socialist movement of the international working class can stop it. Johannes Stern WSWS.ORG -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 7 23:55:00 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2019 23:55:00 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: [unac] UNAC Statement on the Present Situation in Syria and more References: Message-ID: [http://nepajac.org/UNACbanner1.jpg] Click here to read this email in your browser UNAC Statement on the Present Situation in Syria The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) stands in solidarity with the long-suffering people of Syria. We oppose all foreign occupation of Syrian territory. Syria belongs to the Syrians. The current Turkish incursion into northern Syria is in violation of Syrian sovereignty as has been the U.S. occupation. Turkey has been an ally of the U.S. in its regime change program in Syria. Both countries are in Syria against the wishes of the Syria government and have caused great destruction in the region. [read more] [TurkeyKurds] Below are other statements on the present situation in Syria from some UNAC leaders and groups: Interview with Ajamu Baraka From Veterans for Peace From Popular Resistance From Margaret Kimberly in Black Agenda Report From U.S. Peace Council From Sara Flounders in Workers World From Ajamu Baraka in Black Agenda Report from Jeff Mackler in Couterpunch Take Action to Stop Sanctions Sanctions (technically "unilateral coercive measures") imposed by the United States and its junior partners on countries such as Venezuela violate international laws. On November 14, the United Nations General Assembly's Second Committee (the Committee on Finances and the Economy) will vote on a resolution introduced by the Group of 77 + China that: 1. Urges the international community to adopt urgent and effective measures to eliminate the use of unilateral economic, financial or trade measures that are not authorized by relevant organs of the United Nations, that are inconsistent with the principles of international law or the Charter of the United Nations ?; 2. Calls upon the international community to condemn and reject the imposition of the use of such measures as a means of political and economic coercion against developing countries ?; To read the full text of the draft resolution click here We are delivering a letter of support for the resolution to the United Nations and will have a delegation present for the vote. Click here to learn more. * To read the letter and add the name of your organization, please CLICK HERE. * To read the letter and add your name as an individual, please CLICK HERE. Free Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning Julian Assange appeared in a London court on Monday, October 21, 2019 and appeared in a state of physical and mental deterioration. Assange defied the U.S. government and, with the help of Chelsea Manning, revealed war crimes committed by the U.S. military. According the Nils Melzer, the UN?s Special Rapporteur on torture, Assange displayed the signs of ?progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.? Although there are presently no British charges against him, he is being held by the British government for extradition to the U.S. where he faces life in prison for ?violation? of the Espionage Act, a law enacted over 100 years ago, which has never been used in this way, and certainly not directed at someone who is not a U.S. citizen. The charges against Assange and his imprisonment is another attack on the rights of the media and free speech. The U.S. tried to get information from Chelsea Manning that could be used to imprison Assange and teach a lesson to anyone who attempts to defy the United States but Manning has refused to cooperate with them and therefore been imprisoned in an attempt to get her to cooperate with their frame-up and torture of Julian Assange. Chelsea Manning has proved herself to be a real hero of our movement. Click here for an article by Craig Murray on the recent court appearance of Julian Assange https://consortiumnews.com/2019/10/22/assange-displayed-signs-of-torture-in-courtroom-farce/ We urge all supporters of civil liberties and human rights to protest the imprisonment and attacks on Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning. New York City has been holding weekly vigils. Do one in your city. Grayzone Editor Max Blumenthal Arrested Another attack on freedom of the press! Read the Grayzone report here Free the Plowshars 7 On October 21, the trial of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 began in Brunswick, Georgia. A year a half before, on April 4, 2018, this group of seven Catholic peace activists had entered the Kings Bay military facility?which stores much of the US government?s Trident nuclear arsenal?in St. Marys, Georgia. They spray-painted messages on walls and sidewalks, spilled small bottles of their own blood, and hammered on the monuments to nuclear weapons that had been erected at the base. The Kings Bay Plowshare 7 have now been found guilty and face long prison sentences. These people who put their freedom on the line for peace are found guilty but those who conduct wars, order sanctions that kill, attack other countries and order bombing that kills thousands are considered heroes by this imperialist distorted society. If you would like to help the Kings Bay Plowshare 7 please go to their web site sign the petition, see what you can do to help, and spread the word about this miscarriage of justice. https://kingsbayplowshares7.org/ Save the date UNAC's national conference will be held in New York City at the People's Forum, February 21 - 23 Rise Against Militarism, Racism and the Climate Crisis - Building Power Together To register: https://www.unacconference2020.org/registration/ To place an ad in the conference program journal: https://www.unacconference2020.org/program-ads/ for more information: UNACpeace at gmail.com Join UNAC Now more than ever we all need to unite. If your organization is not a member of UNAC, please join us by clicking here: https://www.unacpeace.org/join.html Read the UNAC Blog https://unac.notowar.net/ Some recent posts: * U.S. Anti-war Movement Should Stay Focused on Getting U.S. Out Of Syria * Sara Flounders (Workers World/International Action Center) * Trident is the Crime * Kathy Kelly (Voices for Creative NonViolence) * Assange Displayed Signs of Torture in Courtroom Farce * Craig Murray (Consortium News) * Plowshares 7 Guilty! An Account of the Trial * Ralph Hutchison (World Beyond War) * On Eve of Trial Judge Limits Plowshares? Seven Defense * Press Release, Plowshares 7 * Millions Say: Change the System, Not the Climate! * Jeff Mackler (Socialist Action) * US Has Backed 21 of the 28 ?Crazy? Militias Leading Turkey?s Brutal Invasion of Northern Syria * Max Blumenthal (Grayzone) * China Celebrates Revolution?s 70 Years * Sara Flounders (Workers World) * Behind Hong Kong?s Black Terror * Pepe Escobar (Asia Times) * The United States Air Force at Incirlik, Our National ?Black Eye? * Voices for Creative Nonviolence (Brian Terrell) * Sam Husseini: The Entire US Establishment Helped Lie Their Way into the Iraq War * Slava Dilber and Sam Husseini (American Herald Times) * U.S., NATO, Turkey out of Syria! * Sara Flounders (IAC/Workers World) * Ecuadoran President Retreats, then Arrests Political Leaders * Michael Otto, Zoila Ramirez (Workers World) * U.S. Peace Council Statement on Turkish Incursion into Syria * US Peace Council * Ecuador: Moreno?s Government Sacrifices The Poor To Satisfy The IMF * Wilma Salgado ( Council on Hemispheric Affairs) * General Strike Rocks Ecuador * Michael Otto, Zoila Ramirez (Workers World) * South Korea?s GSOMIA Withdrawal Opens the Door to a New Peace Paradigm in East Asia * Jeremiah Kim (ZoomInKorea) * Solidarity on Ending Illegal Sanctions on Zimbabwe * Amadi Ajamu (Workers World) * Venezuela?s CITGO in Danger as Maduro Seeks Debt Renegotiation * Venezuelanalysis and Lucas Koerner (Venezuelanalysis Editors) Jeff Mackler for U.S. President! Rally Launches Socialist Campaign by David Reihle Trump Shifts from Ending ?Forever Wars? to Sending Tanks into Syria?s Oil Fields by Bill VanAuken Please make a contribution to UNAC: https://www.unacpeace.org/donate.html If your organization would like to join the UNAC coalition, please click here: https://www.unacpeace.org/join.html --- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stuartnlevy at gmail.com Fri Nov 8 18:12:53 2019 From: stuartnlevy at gmail.com (Stuart Levy) Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2019 12:12:53 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Reclaim Armistice Day ! - from Vterans for Peace / United for Peace and Justice In-Reply-To: <5dc59d429478b_3ed3fb5a4ab11e044496e2@ip-10-0-0-216.mail> References: <5dc59d429478b_3ed3fb5a4ab11e044496e2@ip-10-0-0-216.mail> Message-ID: <530a2f9b-046f-3f0f-1547-a747832704b5@gmail.com> Armistice Day is this coming Monday.?? Veterans for Peace says, This year, as we celebrate the 101st Anniversary of Armistice Day we call for November 11 to be observed as ?a day dedicated to the cause of world peace," as it was celebrated at the end of World War I when the world came together to recognize the need for lasting peace. -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Reclaim Armistice Day ! Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2019 16:52:19 +0000 (UTC) From: United for Peace & Justice Reply-To: Info.ufpj at gmail.com To: slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu *A MESSAGE FROM VETERANS FOR PEACE* November 11 was proclaimed Armistice Day after World War I. But during the Korean War, the Congress rebranded it ?Veterans Day? and turned the meaning on its head. For several years now, Veterans For Peace has been working to reclaim November 11 as Armistice Day, a day when we commit ourselves to abolishing war. Gerry Condon President, Veterans For Peace Armistice Day is right around the corner, and once again, Veterans For Peace is taking the lead to #ReclaimArmisticeDay . This year, as we celebrate the 101st Anniversary of Armistice Day we call for November 11 to be observed as ?a day dedicated to the cause of world peace," as it was celebrated at the end of World War I when the world came together to recognize the need for lasting peace. Instead of celebrating militarism, we call for a celebration of peace and all of humanity. We demand an end to all forms of hate, patriarchy and white supremacy and we call for unity, fair treatment under the law and equality for all. We call for a tearing down of walls between borders and people. We call for an end to all hostilities at home and around the globe. Let's #ReclaimArmisticeDay as a day for peace.Make sure to check out our website for ideas on ways you can take action. We have compiled an amazing amount of resources from various chapters to help make your Armistice Day a success! We have sample Armistice Day proclamations that chapters have used in their cities, a Litany of Bells, sample flyers and press releases and more! Fire Drill Fridays! War and Military Inspired by urgent action needed to address climate change, Jane Fonda is upending her life and spending 4 months in Washington D.C. this fall. Every Friday she's there will be "Fire Drill Friday " to bring urgent attention to important intersectional analysis around Climate Change. Each week will feature a different theme . Funding endless war is an existential threat to human life and one of the leading causes of climate change, which is why it's urgent that we come together in Washington D.C. and make the connection between U.S. militarism and climate change. On Friday, November 8th, Fire Drill Fridays will focus on War and Military. Waging Peace in Vietnam: Book launch and Symposium on 50th Anniversary of the War on Vietnam **The week-long series of events will include commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Mobilization Demonstration against the Vietnam War, the largest antiwar protest in American history. It also includes a book launch, a peace poetry open mic, three movies, the reenactment of Cortright v Resor and a full day symposium with the morning focused on convincing historians to include the GI Movement when teaching and writing about the war. There will also be a session focused on what veterans are doing to respond to the ongoing legacies of the war. Chuck Searcy, Ho Van Lai and Nguyen Phu from Project Renew will be in Washington for the week's events and speaking on the panel Friday afternoon along with Agent Orange survivors Tran Thi Hoan and Heather Bowser. Check out the full schedule of events! Help us continue to do this critical work and more-- make a donation to UFPJ today. Sent via ActionNetwork.org . To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from United for Peace & Justice, please click here . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbn at forestfield.org Sat Nov 9 00:33:28 2019 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2019 18:33:28 -0600 Subject: [Peace] News from Neptune #440 notes Message-ID: <898b4292-4688-1c8b-96eb-5fed9fcbebec@forestfield.org> News from Neptune #440 A "Palace Coup" edition Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neZoBvVR8hg A list of links to items referenced on the show. Stephen F. Cohen on "Inconvenient Truths" http://www.unz.com/scohen/inconvenient-truths/ https://www.thenation.com/article/inconvenient-truths-2/ Sen. Frank Church (D-ID) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Church Church Committee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee Sen. William Fulbright (D-AK) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Fulbright C. G. Estabrook on News-Gazette?s feature ?Those Who Served? weekly feature in a letter to the News-Gazette https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/letters-editor/letter-to-the-editor-u-s-has-killed-millions-in/article_87b213e5-9f21-5acf-8f54-df41b18d026d.html David Green on "Harassment study is silly propaganda" in a letter to the News-Gazette https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/letters-editor/letter-to-the-editor-harassment-study-is-silly-propaganda/article_9d4eee6b-a8fa-5d8a-8609-169c0d256af9.html "Boomer" & "OK Boomer" https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Boomer https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ok%20boomer Aaron Mat? interviews on "Push Back with Aaron Mat?" https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEXR8pRTkE2vFeJePNe9UcQ/videos "Reality Asserts Itself" (RAI) series Paul Jay interviews Stephen F. Cohen Is Russian ?Meddling? an Attack on America? ? RAI with Stephen Cohen (1/5) https://therealnews.com/stories/is-russian-meddling-an-attack-on-america-rai-with-stephen-cohen Is Trump for Detente or Militarism? ? RAI with Stephen Cohen (2/5) https://therealnews.com/stories/is-trump-for-detente-or-militarism-rai-with-stephen-cohen-2-5 U.S. Hoped Putin Would be a ?Sober Yeltsin? ? RAI with Stephen Cohen (3/5) https://therealnews.com/stories/u-s-hoped-putin-would-be-a-sober-yeltsin-rai-with-stephen-cohen-3-5 From Jim Crow Kentucky to Red Square ? RAI with Stephen Cohen (4/5) https://therealnews.com/stories/from-jim-crow-kentucky-to-red-square-rai-with-stephen-cohen-4-5 Why I?m Pro-Detente with Russia ? RAI with Stephen Cohen (5/5) https://therealnews.com/stories/why-im-pro-detente-with-russia-rai-with-stephen-cohen-5-5 The Nation magazine https://www.thenation.com/ Aaron Mat? interviews his father Dr. Gabor Mat? on "Push Back with Aaron Mat?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TBBhPUwrCU David Green on "Concerns voiced about Bend the Arc" in a letter to the News-Gazette https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-concerns-voiced-about-bend-the-arc/article_99b2ac36-4279-5cad-8b60-892ca30dde6e.html CU Immigration Forum TV episodes https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiG7sxd3aTy1359M7OXX2Yzw6UTdob1Jr Julie Wurth on "UI business school dean among 50 who signed letter to Trump, Congress on visa policy" https://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/university-illinois/ui-business-school-dean-among-who-signed-letter-to-trump/article_41e30891-7403-57fa-aaf6-5914f59e7684.html Julie Wurth's News-Gazette articles https://www.news-gazette.com/users/profile/julie%20wurth/ Dean Baker articles https://truthout.org/authors/dean-baker/ -- on Truthout.org https://www.counterpunch.org/author/phuste/ -- on CounterPunch.org Leah Boyd on "Fuqua dean spearheaded open letter to Trump administration for immigration reform" https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2019/11/duke-fuqua-dean-open-letter-trump-administration-immigration-reform RT on whistleblowing, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and the hypocrisy therein https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZVb4R3OeAM Benjamin Studebaker & Aimee Terese's show "What's Left?" https://soundcloud.com/whatisleftpod/ -- list of recent episodes https://twitter.com/whatisleftpod -- Twitter account https://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:595199712/sounds.rss -- RSS feed Dean Baker sides with Elizabeth Warren on Medicare for All ("Senator Warren is Exactly Right") https://www.youtube.com/embed/yRoGyyXfSKc https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/10/26/senator-warren-exactly-right Assange: TRNN's Greg Wilpert interviewed John Pilger about Assange and Manning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekfNGMeofbM -- video https://therealnews.com/stories/julian-assange-extradition-process-charade -- transcript John Pilger's "The Coming War on China" (full movie) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDl9ecICIYg Craig Murray on "Assange in Court" https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/10/assange-in-court/ Pres. Obama's use of the Espionage Act https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/06/obama-abuse-espionage-act-mccarthyism -- from John Kiriakou https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jan/10/jake-tapper/cnns-tapper-obama-has-used-espionage-act-more-all-/ Venezuela Analysis https://venezuelanalysis.com/ Mary Schenk on "A Life Remembered | 'He was just everything you would want a judge to be'" https://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/courts-police-fire/a-life-remembered-he-was-just-everything-you-would-want/article_a7344c67-af9b-5c0f-9b66-b02b9bfe9169.html Snowden: "What do you do when the most powerful institutions in society have become the least accountable to society? I think that's the question our generation exists to answer." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1kpI-XnCOs David Green on "Challenging Nicholas Kristof?s Claim of ?Thousands More Jeffrey Epsteins?" https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/10/02/challenging-nicholas-kristofs-claim-of-thousands-more-jeffrey-epsteins/ David Rosen on "The Epstein Story Continues to Unravel" https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/08/the-epstein-story-continues-to-unravel/ John Demjanjuk (born Ivan Mykolaiovych Demianiuk) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Demjanjuk David Green on "The Deportation of Demjanjuk" https://www.counterpunch.org/2009/05/14/the-deportation-of-demjanjuk/ Jeffrey St. Clair on "Roaming Charges: Enter Sondland" https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/08/roaming-charges-enter-sondland/ David Green's articles on CounterPunch.org https://www.counterpunch.org/author/david-green/ Rodney Reed on death row despite evidence saying he isn't guilty, mistakes from expert witness, new evidence making it clear he must be freed https://www.innocenceproject.org/stand-with-rodney-reed-on-texas-death-row/ https://www.innocenceproject.org/expert-witnesses-admit-error-in-case-of-rodney-reed-who-has-served-22-years-on-texas-death-row-prompting-new-appeal/ https://www.gdinvestigations.com/press/2019/1/9/new-evidence-makes-clear-rodney-reed-must-be-freed J.B. Nicholson's notes https://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/2019-November/051489.html -J From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Nov 9 13:03:46 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 9 Nov 2019 13:03:46 +0000 Subject: [Peace] End PG&E's Reign of Error With a Hostile Takeover by Greg Palest Message-ID: * TO THE GROUND * ARTS & CULTURE * BOOK EXCERPTS * BOOK REVIEWS * FILM FEATURES & REVIEWS * A&C NEWS * VISUAL ARTS * POETRY * TD ORIGINALS * ARTICLES * OPINION * EAR TO THE GROUND * ARTS AND CULTURE * DIGS * SCRAPBOOK * TRUTHDIGGERS * GLOBAL VOICES * COUNTERING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN * MULTIMEDIA * MULTIMEDIA * VIDEOS * CARTOONS * AUDIO * PHOTO ESSAYS * DONATENOV 06, 2019OPINITD ORIGINALEnd PG&E?s Reign of Error With a Hostile Takeover COMMENTS * * * * [End PG&E?s Reign of Error With a Hostile Takeover]Fire burns near power lines in Montecito, Calif. (Mike Eliason / Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP) Power companies have two jobs: Keep the lights on and don?t kill your customers. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. of Northern California flunks on both counts. So how can California put an end to PG&E?s reign of error? The answer: Make this so-called ?public utility? into a true public system?a customer-owned power cooperative, a plan proposed by the city of San Jose. Currently, the only things ?public? about PG&E are the bills the public pays and the charred homes and bodies this bankrupt beast leaves behind. RELATED ARTICLES Utility's Role in 2017 Wildfires May Violate Its Probation, California Says BY SUDHIN THANAWALA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PG&E Lines Sparked Camp Fire That Killed 85, California Says BY JANIE HAR / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [Let's Nationalize Our Public Utilities] Let's Nationalize Our Public Utilities BY JILL RICHARDSON / OTHERWORDS But how can the public take ownership without busting government coffers? The way Gordon Gekko did it in ?Wall Street?: through a hostile takeover bid for PG&E?s stock?now bouncing on the floor at about $4 per share. It?s been done before, in New York. For decades, Long Island Lighting Co., LILCO, like PG&E, left millions of its customers in the dark, endangered their safety and emptied their pockets with monstrously high electric bills. Then, in 1998, the customers seized ownership of the renegade utility?at low cost, below its book value. In 1981, as executive director of the state legislature?s Science and Technology Commission, I was tasked with drafting a law that would allow customers to buy out this dangerous power company cheaply. Our solution was inventive. LILCO?s stock, like PG&E?s, was in the toilet, trading at a fraction of its book value?that is, way less than the cost of its lines and equipment. If corporate raiders can take over companies cheap to reap giant profits, why couldn?t the state do a hostile takeover to keep the public safe and reduce electric bills? My agency drafted, and the legislature passed, a law permitting the state to make a hostile tender offer for LILCO?s stock. To keep the utility?s stock from soaring on the takeover offer, I also drafted civil racketeering (RICO) charges that were filed by the state and local government. The complaint cited years of the company extracting billions from its captive customers on false claims. A jury awarded Long Island?s beleaguered customers $4 billion in damages. The company, now effectively bankrupted like PG&E, ultimately sold to the state?s newly created Long Island Power Authority at a cost low enough to cut power rates and rebuild the system. The result: The new publicly owned system rapidly improved reliability and safety, boosted green energy programs, reduced electric bills and even shut down and dismantled a dangerous nuclear plant. Likewise, California has a good cause to take legal action against PG&E on behalf of its customers. The still-blazing Kincade fire was, the company all but admits, caused by failure on a transmission line the company had promised for two years to fix by this April. It didn?t. When California Got Ken Lay?d In olden days, before ?deregulation,? your local gas and electric company was not allowed to burn down your house, blow it up, cut off your oxygen tank and then bill you for it. So what happened? PG&E?s transformation from a public utility into an Academy for Accidental Arsonists began 30 years ago with Ken Lay, chief executive of Enron. Enron, a criminal enterprise parading as a power company, convinced California to lead the nation in ?deregulating? its power markets. Until then, utilities were dull things, controlled like government agencies with highly detailed budgets for operation and maintenance that, when approved by regulators, had to be spent on ? maintenance and operations. If they failed to use the money as promised, regulators punished the company with a severe hit to profits already tightly capped by law. Then, deregulation allowed utilities to pocket unspent money as an efficiency incentive. In practice, deregulation became decriminalization of skimming on safety and reliability. I can only imagine what Robert ?Bat? Batinovich would have done to the company for the deadly delay which likely resulted in the Kincade fire. Batinovich, appointed chairman of the California Public Utilities Commission by Young Governor Jerry Brown, was known as the toughest regulator in America. Decades later, the Elderly Governor Brown filled the PUC with louche industry buddies dedicated to defending the company except when the TV cameras are on. What did PG&E do with the maintenance fund embedded in the bills of its captive customers? While those with lives and homes burnt are obvious victims of PG&E?s cost-shaving devil-may-care operations, all of those who pay the monthly bill deserve their day in court. As we did in New York, the state and local governments should file legal action on behalf of every customer. And that will, justly, cut the price of a takeover. The Vulture Swoops In The only thing more dangerous than leaving PG&E in the hands of its current mis-managers is the proposal to give control of PG&E to the financier known as ?The Vulture,? Paul Elliott Singer of Elliott Management. Singer has bought up a hunk of PG&E?s debt cheaply, and he?s looking to the bankruptcy court to adopt a re-organization plan that would give him a giant payday at ratepayers? expense. I?ve been tracking Singer for BBC Television for 12 years. Here?s how Singer operates. In 2009, Singer and his vulture colleagues bought control of Delphi Corp., which was once General Motors? auto parts division. Singer?s team threatened to cut off delivery of parts to GM unless the U.S. Treasury paid him billions of dollars. President Barack Obama?s auto bailout chief, Steve Rattner, called it ?extortion.? Obama had no choice but to give in because the parts cut-off would have forced GM?s liquidation, costing half a million jobs. Singer got his billion-dollar payoff, then Delphi shifted almost every union job overseas. If Singer does a ?Delphi? on PG&E, investment will be cut to the bone to hike profits. Of special concern to Californians is whether PG&E under Singer?s management would continue to fund its program to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Singer is the chairman of the Manhattan Institute, the far-right, climate-change-denying think tank behind the fake trope that the Green New Deal would cost $1 trillion and destroy the economy. Democracy Is the Solution There is an alternative for managing PG&E other than the current busload of befuddled bozos or financial vultures. San Jose has the right idea: consumer cooperative ownership. Electricity socialism is not so radical: There are 900 power co-ops in the U.S. serving 47 million Americans. And here in Los Angeles, my computer is powered by the city-owned Department of Water and Power, which, while not a stellar enterprise, limits blackouts and tends not to kill its customers?because the mayor must personally answer for the DWP?s failings. Simply put: Democracy keeps the lights on. But to keep the cost low and move quickly, local and state governments should take advantage of PG&E?s bargain-basement stock price and the discount on the trading price of its bonds. That, combined with legal action to seek compensation for financially abused ratepayers, should force this un-public utility into the public?s hands at a fair, low price. ___ Before turning to journalism, Greg Palast was a forensic economist, specializing in the investigation of power industry fraud for governments worldwide. He is principal author of the United Nations guide for utility regulators based on his lectures at the Cambridge University department of applied economics. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sun Nov 10 18:07:44 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2019 18:07:44 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Worthwhile interview by Chris Hedges with Paul Street Message-ID: Many of us have been dissatisfied with Paul Street of late, perhaps this interview sheds some light on his perspective, and maybe he is in despair as so many are. https://www.rt.com/shows/on-contact/473004-paul-street-american-left/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sun Nov 10 18:07:44 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2019 18:07:44 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Worthwhile interview by Chris Hedges with Paul Street Message-ID: Many of us have been dissatisfied with Paul Street of late, perhaps this interview sheds some light on his perspective, and maybe he is in despair as so many are. https://www.rt.com/shows/on-contact/473004-paul-street-american-left/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Mon Nov 11 01:22:25 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2019 19:22:25 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Marcuse interview Tuesday 11:30 References: Message-ID: <109F348C-8876-40AA-A92B-9C449F96E8F9@newsfromneptune.com> Herbert Marcuse American-German philosopher Herbert Marcuse was a German-American philosopher, sociologist, and political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. Born in Berlin, Marcuse studied at the Humboldt University of Berlin and then at Freiburg, where he received his PhD. Wikipedia Born: July 19, 1898, Berlin, Germany Died: July 29, 1979, Starnberg, Germany Influenced: J?rgen Habermas, Angela Davis, Douglas Kellner... Influenced by: Karl Marx, Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer... Quotes "Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves." "The people recognize themselves in their commodities; they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment." "Not every problem someone has with his girlfriend is necessarily due to the capitalist mode of production." > Begin forwarded message: > > From: "Schumacher, Jake" > Subject: Marcuse > Date: November 10, 2019 at 7:13:45 PM CST > To: 'C G Estabrook' > > Don?t know how you feel about him but I found a half-hour interview with him from 1979 (the year of his death) that I?m running in the ?Vintage Documentaries? slot this Tuesday at 11:30pm, just in case you?re interested! > > Jake Schumacher > UPTV Program Coordinator > City of Urbana > 400 S. Vine Street > Urbana, IL 61801 > (217) 384-2452 > jaschumacher at urbanaillinois.us > urbanapublictelevision.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Nov 11 10:05:32 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2019 10:05:32 +0000 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Fwd=3A_=5BNew_post=5D_MSM_Adamantly_Avoids_The?= =?utf-8?q?_Word_=E2=80=9CCoup=E2=80=9D_In_Bolivia_Reporting?= References: <139971992.7361.0@wordpress.com> Message-ID: New post on Caitlin Johnstone [https://i1.wp.com/caitlinjohnstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cropped-caitlinpic1.jpg?resize=32%2C32&ssl=1] [http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/12152988a68a6d4dae7506812444c18f?s=50&d=monsterid&r=G] MSM Adamantly Avoids The Word ?Coup? In Bolivia Reporting by Caitlin Johnstone There has been a military coup in Bolivia backed by violent right-wing rioters and the US government, but you'd hardly know this from any of the mainstream media headlines. "Bolivian President Evo Morales steps down following accusations of election fraud" proclaims CNN. "Bolivia?s Morales resigns amid scathing election report, rising protests" reports The Washington Post. "Bolivian Leader Evo Morales Steps Down" says The New York Times. "Bolivian President Evo Morales resigns amid fraud poll protests" declares the BBC. "President of Bolivia steps down amid allegations of election rigging" we are informedby Telegraph. "Bolivia's President Morales resigns after backlash to disputed election" says the Sydney Morning Herald. So there you have it. The indigenous leader of a socialist South American government which has successfully lifted masses of people out of crushing poverty, which happens to control the world's largest reserves of lithium (which may one day replace oil as a crucial energy resource due to its use in powering smartphones, laptops, hybrid and electric cars), which has an extensive and well-documented history of being targeted for regime change by the US government, simply stepped down due to some sort of scandal involving a "disputed election". Nothing to do with the fact that right-wing mobs had been terrorizing this leader's family, or the fact that the nation's military literally commanded him to step down and are now currently searching for him to arrest him, leading to ousted government officials being rounded up and held captive by soldiers wearing masks. All perfectly normal and not suspicious at all. Fully support the findings of the @OAS_official report recommending new elections in #Bolivia to ensure a truly democratic process representative of the people?s will. The credibility of the electoral system must be restored. ? Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) November 10, 2019 As is usual, mass media's reporting on this story is in full alignment with the US State Department, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also advancing the "disputed election" line in a tweet shortly before the forced resignation of Morales. Pompeo cited the evidence-free and discredited allegation of suspicious vote tallies during Morales' re-election last month from the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS). As Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic & Policy Research explains in a recent article for The Nation, the OAS receives 60 percent of its funding from Washington, which gives the US tremendous leverage over the supposedly neutral and international body. This ties in interestingly with what we discussed the other day about Washington's known history of using its disproportionate financial support for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons as leverage to force that supposedly neutral and international body to comply with US agendas. The field of narrative management keeps making more and more advances. They never did find any evidence of fraud in the October 20th election, but the media repeated the allegation so many times that it became "true," in this post-truth world. Thread: https://t.co/8oWFNKNebT ? Mark Weisbrot (@MarkWeisbrot) November 10, 2019 The US-centralized empire just keeps throwing coup attempts at unabsorbed governments until they stick. The coup in Venezuela failed in 2002 and again in 2019, but they'll just keep attempting them until one takes hold. A kickboxer throws strikes in combinations with the understanding that most attacks will miss or do minimal damage against a trained opponent, but eventually one will get through and score the knockout blow. Imperialist regime change agendas employ the same punches-in-bunches philosophy: just keep attacking and undermining at every possible turn, and eventually something will stick. And the empire can afford to do this. When you have all the power and resources, you can bide your time, knowing that if the current attempt at toppling the government in a sovereign nation fails, there's always tomorrow. At a United Nations Security Council meeting last year, President Morales summed up the true nature of America's role in the world very accurately, and, it turns out, very presciently. "I would like to say to you, frankly and openly here, that in no way is the United States interested in upholding democracy," Morales said. "If such were the case it would not have financed coups d?etat and supported dictators. It would not have threatened with military intervention democratically elected governments as it has done with Venezuela. The United States could not care less about human rights or justice. If this were the case, it would have signed the international conventions and treaties that have protected human rights.It would not have threatened the investigation mechanism of the International Criminal Court, nor would it promote the use of torture, nor would it have walked away from the Human Rights Council. And nor would it have separated migrant children from their families, nor put them in cages." [http://img.youtube.com/vi/O9rFd1RvncI/0.jpg] "The United States is not interested in multilateralism," Morales continued. "If it were interested in multilateralism it would not have withdrawn from the Paris Agreement or given the cold shoulder to the global compact on migration, it would not have launched unilateral attacks, nor have taken decisions such as illegally declaring Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. This contempt for multilateralism is motivated by the thirst of the United States for political control and for the seizing of natural resources." "Each time that the United States invades nations, launches missiles, or finances regime change, it does so behind a propaganda campaign which incessantly repeats the message that it is acting in the course of justice, freedom and democracy, in the cause of human rights or for humanitarian reasons," Morales also said. "The responsibility of our generation is to hand over a fairer and more secure world to the following generation," Morales concluded. "We will only achieve this dream if we work together to consolidate a multipolar world, a world with common rules that are respected by and defended from all the threats ranged against the United Nations." Indeed, the only reason the US is able to wage its endless campaign of regime change agendas against unabsorbed governments is because the unipolar world order it rules has allowed it the power, resources and leisure to do so. A multipolar world would enable the citizenry of this planet to have a say in what happens to them in a way that is not dictated by a few sociopaths in and around Washington, DC. A multipolar world is to democracy as a unipolar world is to monarchy. The citizens of the world should oppose this unipolarity. _______________________________ Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following me on Steemit, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I'm trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I?ve written) in any way they like free of charge. [https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i0.wp.com/steemitimages.com/0x0/https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/0*VDvfq6m943JQbqLO.png?w=1060&ssl=1] Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2 Caitlin Johnstone | November 11, 2019 at 3:22 am | Tags: Bolivia, coup, Evo, media, Morales, news, Politics | Categories: Article, News | URL: https://wp.me/p9tj6M-1UJ Comment See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Caitlin Johnstone. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/11/11/msm-adamantly-avoids-the-word-coup-in-bolivia-reporting/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Nov 11 10:06:30 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2019 10:06:30 +0000 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Fwd=3AMSM_Adamantly_Avoids_The_Word_=E2=80=9CC?= =?utf-8?q?oup=E2=80=9D_In_Bolivia_Reporting?= References: <139971992.7361.0@wordpress.com> Message-ID: New post on Caitlin Johnstone [https://i1.wp.com/caitlinjohnstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cropped-caitlinpic1.jpg?resize=32%2C32&ssl=1] [http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/12152988a68a6d4dae7506812444c18f?s=50&d=monsterid&r=G] MSM Adamantly Avoids The Word ?Coup? In Bolivia Reporting by Caitlin Johnstone There has been a military coup in Bolivia backed by violent right-wing rioters and the US government, but you'd hardly know this from any of the mainstream media headlines. "Bolivian President Evo Morales steps down following accusations of election fraud" proclaims CNN. "Bolivia?s Morales resigns amid scathing election report, rising protests" reports The Washington Post. "Bolivian Leader Evo Morales Steps Down" says The New York Times. "Bolivian President Evo Morales resigns amid fraud poll protests" declares the BBC. "President of Bolivia steps down amid allegations of election rigging" we are informedby Telegraph. "Bolivia's President Morales resigns after backlash to disputed election" says the Sydney Morning Herald. So there you have it. The indigenous leader of a socialist South American government which has successfully lifted masses of people out of crushing poverty, which happens to control the world's largest reserves of lithium (which may one day replace oil as a crucial energy resource due to its use in powering smartphones, laptops, hybrid and electric cars), which has an extensive and well-documented history of being targeted for regime change by the US government, simply stepped down due to some sort of scandal involving a "disputed election". Nothing to do with the fact that right-wing mobs had been terrorizing this leader's family, or the fact that the nation's military literally commanded him to step down and are now currently searching for him to arrest him, leading to ousted government officials being rounded up and held captive by soldiers wearing masks. All perfectly normal and not suspicious at all. Fully support the findings of the @OAS_official report recommending new elections in #Bolivia to ensure a truly democratic process representative of the people?s will. The credibility of the electoral system must be restored. ? Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) November 10, 2019 As is usual, mass media's reporting on this story is in full alignment with the US State Department, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also advancing the "disputed election" line in a tweet shortly before the forced resignation of Morales. Pompeo cited the evidence-free and discredited allegation of suspicious vote tallies during Morales' re-election last month from the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS). As Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic & Policy Research explains in a recent article for The Nation, the OAS receives 60 percent of its funding from Washington, which gives the US tremendous leverage over the supposedly neutral and international body. This ties in interestingly with what we discussed the other day about Washington's known history of using its disproportionate financial support for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons as leverage to force that supposedly neutral and international body to comply with US agendas. The field of narrative management keeps making more and more advances. They never did find any evidence of fraud in the October 20th election, but the media repeated the allegation so many times that it became "true," in this post-truth world. Thread: https://t.co/8oWFNKNebT ? Mark Weisbrot (@MarkWeisbrot) November 10, 2019 The US-centralized empire just keeps throwing coup attempts at unabsorbed governments until they stick. The coup in Venezuela failed in 2002 and again in 2019, but they'll just keep attempting them until one takes hold. A kickboxer throws strikes in combinations with the understanding that most attacks will miss or do minimal damage against a trained opponent, but eventually one will get through and score the knockout blow. Imperialist regime change agendas employ the same punches-in-bunches philosophy: just keep attacking and undermining at every possible turn, and eventually something will stick. And the empire can afford to do this. When you have all the power and resources, you can bide your time, knowing that if the current attempt at toppling the government in a sovereign nation fails, there's always tomorrow. At a United Nations Security Council meeting last year, President Morales summed up the true nature of America's role in the world very accurately, and, it turns out, very presciently. "I would like to say to you, frankly and openly here, that in no way is the United States interested in upholding democracy," Morales said. "If such were the case it would not have financed coups d?etat and supported dictators. It would not have threatened with military intervention democratically elected governments as it has done with Venezuela. The United States could not care less about human rights or justice. If this were the case, it would have signed the international conventions and treaties that have protected human rights.It would not have threatened the investigation mechanism of the International Criminal Court, nor would it promote the use of torture, nor would it have walked away from the Human Rights Council. And nor would it have separated migrant children from their families, nor put them in cages." [http://img.youtube.com/vi/O9rFd1RvncI/0.jpg] "The United States is not interested in multilateralism," Morales continued. "If it were interested in multilateralism it would not have withdrawn from the Paris Agreement or given the cold shoulder to the global compact on migration, it would not have launched unilateral attacks, nor have taken decisions such as illegally declaring Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel. This contempt for multilateralism is motivated by the thirst of the United States for political control and for the seizing of natural resources." "Each time that the United States invades nations, launches missiles, or finances regime change, it does so behind a propaganda campaign which incessantly repeats the message that it is acting in the course of justice, freedom and democracy, in the cause of human rights or for humanitarian reasons," Morales also said. "The responsibility of our generation is to hand over a fairer and more secure world to the following generation," Morales concluded. "We will only achieve this dream if we work together to consolidate a multipolar world, a world with common rules that are respected by and defended from all the threats ranged against the United Nations." Indeed, the only reason the US is able to wage its endless campaign of regime change agendas against unabsorbed governments is because the unipolar world order it rules has allowed it the power, resources and leisure to do so. A multipolar world would enable the citizenry of this planet to have a say in what happens to them in a way that is not dictated by a few sociopaths in and around Washington, DC. A multipolar world is to democracy as a unipolar world is to monarchy. The citizens of the world should oppose this unipolarity. _______________________________ Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following me on Steemit, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I'm trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I?ve written) in any way they like free of charge. [https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i0.wp.com/steemitimages.com/0x0/https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/0*VDvfq6m943JQbqLO.png?w=1060&ssl=1] Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2 Caitlin Johnstone | November 11, 2019 at 3:22 am | Tags: Bolivia, coup, Evo, media, Morales, news, Politics | Categories: Article, News | URL: https://wp.me/p9tj6M-1UJ Comment See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Caitlin Johnstone. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/11/11/msm-adamantly-avoids-the-word-coup-in-bolivia-reporting/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Nov 11 15:05:43 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2019 15:05:43 +0000 Subject: [Peace] On Bolivia Message-ID: Message from Adrian Boutureira Sansberro: I am hoping that this resignation is within the framework of his decision to accept the election be held again. In other words, he accepts holding new elections, resigns for the time being and then runs again and gets elected with hundreds of international observers to verify his victory thus eliminating a repeat of the coup attempt. wishful thinking perhaps, but we'll learn more in the next few hours.. If the military assume power as the "interim" government till the next elections, and end up postponing these for any prolong period of time, Evo will be hard pressed to protect his movement''s leadership infrastructure against the full onslaught of the army and the oligarchy and win the next elections. It's what they did in Honduras and Paraguay and more recently even in Ecuador. These supposedly voluntary conciliatory concessions have historically always been forced and only served for the enemy to destroy the movement's infrastructures and eliminate the leadership. I hope I have this all wrong... -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Nov 11 15:13:29 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2019 15:13:29 +0000 Subject: [Peace] The latest update on Bolivia Message-ID: [https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-1/p112x112/26195643_2029709790377723_7190439764865403100_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_oc=AQm60k1ZJf110ZFXATw3hsbrozaKLyv0yh1Ikb_ds3AW5nlu3_O9fqYgy8C_c12jr4c&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=50d31382a3181a5385d44c274bcd86e4&oe=5E427CC0] Adrian Boutureira Sansberro 15 mins ? As feared, and less than 24 hours into the coup, Bolivia has spiraled into chaos and total unconstitutionality. Violence against members of Evo Morales' socialist party goes unchecked in the streets, and Morales' own home has been ransacked by right wing gangs. Many party and government officials have seek refuge in the Mexican embassy fearing for their lives while Mexico extends its embassy's protection to Morales, The whole electoral commission has been arrested and the opposition's second deputy senate majority leader has assumed power. She's the first official in line for succession after the Vice President, Senate Majority Leader and First Deputy Majority Leader also "resigned". A complete and total breakdown in the country's constitutionality as I don't believe for a second that any of these resignations, serving the opposition power in a silver platter, were voluntary. In a nut shell, in less than 24 hours the whole democratically elected socialist body has been deposed, the electoral tribunal arrested, with rampant violence allowed in the streets against the socialist movement's base and community organizations... Yes. More of a playbook coup, impossible. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Nov 11 19:23:59 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2019 19:23:59 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Who is to determine what are lies? Message-ID: * * 9 November 2019 In recent weeks, the New York Times and Washington Post have published innumerable editorials and op-eds arguing that Facebook has a responsibility to carry out political censorship, or, in their words, to ?moderate? political speech online. Replying to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg?s declaration that ?people should be able to hear for themselves what politicians are saying,? New York Timescolumnist Timothy Egan mockingly declared, ?Yes, of course?let the people hear for themselves, no matter if it?s true or not. They can decide. Except, they can?t.? (?Why doesn?t Zuckerberg get it??) In an editorial published earlier this month, the Washington Post demanded that Facebook ?step up to the plate and call lies out when it sees them.? (?Free speech doesn?t mean Facebook must run dishonest ads?). In an op-ed published by the New York Times earlier this week, Columbia University law professor Tim Wu argued that Facebook should stop ?the spread of misinformation? by following Twitter in banning political advertisements. Facebook, he wrote, is ?now the outlier? for ?insisting on accepting not only political advertising, but even deliberate and malicious lies if they are in the form of paid advertisements.? (?Facebook isn?t just allowing lies, it?s prioritizing them?) [https://www.wsws.org/asset/e1b1ca0d-6aa9-46c5-a1ad-5b6e74fd983F/image.jpg?rendition=image480]Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington [Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik] The campaign in the press has been joined effectively by the entire gamut of the Democratic Party. Last week, Hillary Clinton demanded that Facebook take down ?false, deceptive or deliberately misleading content? or ?pay a price.? Her statements echoed those of presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, who condemned Facebook for allowing ?politicians to run ads with known lies?explicitly turning the platform into a disinformation-for-profit machine.? Last month, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, demanded that Facebook ?take down lies.? She was joined by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who condemned Facebook for allowing ?politicians? to make ?untruthful statements.? While couched in demagogic language accusing Facebook of ?profiting? off of ?disinformation,? the Democrats? campaign for internet censorship is devoid of any progressive content. It is a pretext for censorship. To oppose censorship is not to support Facebook as a private company. This monopoly should be taken out of private hands and run as a public utility. But the Democrats? campaign has nothing at all to do with opposing Facebook?s monopoly power or the wealth of its billionaire CEO. Rather, it is part of a protracted, years-long campaign by the US intelligence agencies to suppress left-wing, anti-war and progressive viewpoints. All the dishonesty of the campaign for internet censorship is contained in the failure to answer, much less consider, one central question: Who is to determine what is true and what is false? What constitutes ?lies,? ?deliberate and malicious lies,? ?known lies,? ?deliberately misleading content,? ?untruthful statements? and ?disinformation?? The ?authoritative? media and politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, lie constantly. They lie about the underlying motivations for their actions, dressing up imperialist crimes in the language of ?human rights? or claims about ?weapons of mass destruction.? All of bourgeois politics is, in fact, ?deliberately misleading content? in one form or another. Should Facebook side with the Washington Post, owned by the world?s richest man, when it declares the findings of the world?s leading authorities on social inequality?Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman?to be factually flawed? Or, to take another side, given that the Mueller report failed to find any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, should all of the newspapers that advocated this theory be censored, as Trump would prefer, for peddling ?fake news?? In late 2016, major US newspapers suddenly began fueling a hysteria about a supposed epidemic of ?fake news? that was allegedly overrunning the internet. WikiLeaks, Hilary Clinton said, spread ?wild tales? about the ?terrible things I must have said behind closed doors and how as president I would be forever in the pocket of the shadowy bankers who had paid my speaking fees.? But no one in the Clinton campaign ever disputed the veracity of the documents released by WikiLeaks, including the transcript of a paid speech by Clinton at Goldman Sachs where she advocated removing restrictions on wealthy people involving themselves in politics. If someone disputes the claims of Clinton, et. al., that WikiLeaks is spreading ?fake news,? are they to be censored? Is the position that Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself, broadly believed in the American population but condemned by the Times as a ?conspiracy theory,? to be branded as ?disinformation?? When the Democrats demand that Facebook adjudicate truth and lies, they are directly attacking political speech. Inevitably, the powers given to giant corporations and the state will be utilized to reinforce the conceptions and positions of the social interests that determine their actions. To arm the state?or, in this case, one of its corporate proxies?with the power to determine truth and falsehood is to provide it with the power to totally obliterate freedom of speech. The campaign by broad sections of the political establishment to destroy free speech expresses the increasingly oligarchic character of American society, which is constantly coming into conflict with democratic forms of rule. Sections of the upper-middle class, represented by the likes of Ocasio-Cortez, have moved sharply to the right, providing their own justifications and pretexts for authoritarianism and censorship. In 1938, the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky wrote: Theory, as well as historic experience, testify that any restriction to democracy in bourgeois society is eventually directed against the proletariat. Bourgeois democracy is usable by the proletariat only insofar as it opens the way for the development of the class struggle. Consequently, any workers ?leader? who arms the bourgeois state with special means to control public opinion in general, and the press in particular, is a traitor. As Trotsky understood, the real target of censorship is the working class. Underlying all the demands for greater control of the internet and the spread of information through platforms like Facebook is the fear of the growth of the class struggle and the ability of workers to share information outside of the control of the establishment media, the trade unions, and the parties of the ruling class. Andre Damon WSWS.ORG -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Nov 11 23:14:52 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2019 23:14:52 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Facebook and YouTube remove posts naming CIA impeachment whistleblower Message-ID: Facebook and YouTube remove posts naming CIA impeachment whistleblower By Kevin Reed 11 November 2019 Multiple media sources reported on Friday that the social media platforms Facebook and YouTube were removing posts that identified by name the CIA whistleblower behind the Congressional impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. In an email statement, Facebook said, ?Any mention of the potential whistleblower?s name violates our coordinating harm policy, which prohibits content ?outing of witness, informant or activist?,? adding, ?We are removing any and all mentions of the potential whistleblower?s name and will revisit this decision should their name be widely published in the media or used by public figures in debate.? CNN also reported that YouTube issued a statement saying that it was using a combination of artificial intelligence software and human monitors to find and delete videos with the name of the ?Ukrainegate? whistleblower. ?The removals, the spokesperson added, would affect the titles and descriptions of videos as well as the video?s actual content,? the CNN report said. [https://www.wsws.org/asset/cb838208-f112-48f0-90c2-b6ef46f4b04L/image.jpg?rendition=image480]Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr shakes hands with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (Andre Damon/World Socialist Web Site) The World Socialist Web Site has independently confirmed that Facebook is deleting posts containing the name of alleged CIA whistleblower Eric Ciaramella. Facebook?s claim that any content posted on its platform naming Ciaramella constitutes ?outing? the whistleblower is absurd. The alleged identity of the career CIA analyst who filed a complaint regarding the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been known since October 30 when the pro-Republican Real Clear Politics website published his name. When his name was published by Real Clear Politics, the whistleblower?s attorneys?in typical CIA fashion?said they could ?neither confirm nor deny? that Ciaramella was their client. Ciaramella is a plausible candidate for being whistleblower, given his background as a registered Democrat and CIA analyst with expertise in Ukraine and Russia. He worked under both Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Trump National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. In mid-2017 he was sent back to the CIA amid accusations that he was leaking anti-Trump information to the media. While Ciaramella?s name has been widely circulated by Republican political figures, right-wing news sites and former CIA analyst and Trump aide Fred Fleitz said, ?everyone knows who he is,? the Democrats and their allies in the media at the New York Times, Washington Post and major television networks have not made his name public. Even an article in the New York Times on Friday that reported on Facebook?s censoring of posts by the right-wing website Breitbart did not include Ciaramella?s name. By taking the step of scrubbing posts mentioning allegations that are widely shared and reported, Facebook and YouTube are now joining with these corporate media organizations and blocking the public from having access to important information. The latest heavy-handed social media censorship?so obviously being carried out in the service of the Democratic Party impeachment inquiry and the CIA?actually helps the Trump administration, the Republican Party and the extreme right-wing political forces defending the White House, allowing them to adopt the false posture of advocating free flow of information, even as Trump continues to demonize the media as the ?enemies of the people.? The mass scrubbing of all social media content by Facebook and YouTube that mentions the name Eric Ciaramella is part of the broader censorship efforts by the technology monopolies, in collaboration with the intelligence state, and sets the stage for even more draconian attacks on freedom of expression. This must be seen within the context of the drive by a substantial section of the ruling establishment for the social media platforms to ?step up to the plate? and, as Hillary Clinton said last week, take down ?false, deceptive or deliberately misleading content? or ?pay a price.? Leading figures within the Democratic Party, including presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, have been campaigning for social media censorship that will block what they call ?untruthful statements.? As explained on the World Socialist Web Site, the increasing calls for censorship on social media are part of a protracted campaign by the US intelligence apparatus, under conditions of a growing movement of the working class and young people and increasing interest and support for socialism, to suppress left-wing, antiwar and progressive political viewpoints. Furthermore, the WSWS has pointed out that what is determined as ?fake? or ?real? is not to be decided by the government or giant tech monopolies: ?All the dishonesty of the campaign for internet censorship is contained in the failure to answer, much less consider, one central question: Who is to determine what is true and what is false?? The publication of the name of the CIA analyst who submitted his complaint memo to the heads of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees in August is not a crime. In fact, his identity is of substantial consequence, given that his complaint became the starting point of an effort to remove a sitting president through impeachment. WSWS.ORG -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Tue Nov 12 02:27:13 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2019 20:27:13 -0600 Subject: [Peace] WSWS on 'whistle-blower' Message-ID: <01E7E389-DD69-47BC-AECA-76BD0165CDA6@newsfromneptune.com> From carl at newsfromneptune.com Tue Nov 12 02:28:23 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2019 20:28:23 -0600 Subject: [Peace] WSWS on 'whistle-blower' In-Reply-To: <01E7E389-DD69-47BC-AECA-76BD0165CDA6@newsfromneptune.com> References: <01E7E389-DD69-47BC-AECA-76BD0165CDA6@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: <1E3F4D5B-E47A-4AB6-B8D7-7DEDBBE0BD42@newsfromneptune.com> https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/11/face-n11.html From jbn at forestfield.org Tue Nov 12 04:32:25 2019 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2019 22:32:25 -0600 Subject: [Peace] WSWS on 'whistle-blower' In-Reply-To: <1E3F4D5B-E47A-4AB6-B8D7-7DEDBBE0BD42@newsfromneptune.com> References: <01E7E389-DD69-47BC-AECA-76BD0165CDA6@newsfromneptune.com> <1E3F4D5B-E47A-4AB6-B8D7-7DEDBBE0BD42@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: C. G. Estabrook wrote: > https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/11/face-n11.html From that webpage: > In an email statement, Facebook said, ?Any mention of the potential > whistleblower?s name violates our coordinating harm policy, which > prohibits content ?outing of witness, informant or activist?,? adding, > ?We are removing any and all mentions of the potential whistleblower?s > name and will revisit this decision should their name be widely > published in the media or used by public figures in debate.? > > CNN also reported that YouTube issued a statement saying that it was > using a combination of artificial intelligence software and human > monitors to find and delete videos with the name of the ?Ukrainegate? > whistleblower. ?The removals, the spokesperson added, would affect the > titles and descriptions of videos as well as the video?s actual > content,? the CNN report said. First off: Why is the WSWS (which calls Eric Ciaramella a "career CIA analyst") not identifying him as a "spook doing spook things" as Caitlin Johnstone put it in https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/msm-defends-cias-whistleblower-ignores-actual-whistleblowers-5fbe577d988d ? Caitlin Johnstone: > In all seriousness, even to call this spook a ?whistleblower? is > ridiculous on its face. You don?t get to call someone from the US > intelligence community a whistleblower unless they are actually > whistleblowing on the US intelligence community. That?s not a thing. A > CIA officer who exposes information about government officials is an > operative performing an operation unless proven otherwise, because > that?s what the CIA does; it liberally leaks information wherever it?s > convenient for CIA agendas while withholding all other information > behind a veil of government secrecy. > > A CIA officer who exposes information about CIA wrongdoings without the > CIA?s permission is a whistleblower. A CIA officer who exposes > information about someone else is just a spook doing spook things. You > can recognize the latter by the way the mass media supports, applauds > and employs them. You can recognize the former by the way they have been > persecuted, imprisoned, and/or died under mysterious circumstances. As CrossTalk pointed out on Monday (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lelpr2m4k-s), this person's name (Eric Ciaramella) is mentioned in the Mueller Report (see page 71 as labeled in the report, which appears on page 283 of the searchable 448 page PDF at https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/searchable-mueller-report.pdf). Peter Lavelle (CrossTalk host) and panel were aware of this ongoing censorship and didn't dare mention Ciaramella by name on that show, lest it become cause for no longer publishing that video (for which I blame RT for choosing to distribute the video via the censorious YouTube instead of their own website; the copy of this show on https://www.rt.com/podcast/473010-tech-politics-johnson-brexit/ only contains audio). Disappointingly this same episode of CrossTalk goes on to lament the censorship on grounds that don't include acknowledging that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. are all private organizations; private organizations being pressured by the US government into carrying out a censorship regime that would be unlawful for the US government to carry out itself. Furthermore the real problem of the Internet these days is that it is an overwhelmingly privately-run affair -- to do anything on the Internet one needs to have multiple relationships with private organizations (domain name hosters, network providers, and more) each of which could choose not to relay one's messages. This should stir people to reconsider the fantasy promised long ago by naive libertarians who thought that a privately-run Internet would be a vehicle for freedom of expression and organization. We see that leaving important matters in private hands is a bad choice, the services people pick matter, and when most users pick the same set of services they effectively give those services power to censor them. From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Nov 13 13:58:17 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2019 13:58:17 +0000 Subject: [Peace] A simple & carefully constructed explanation of the coup in Bolivia Message-ID: https://youtu.be/R5ZPL0MCxUQ From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Nov 13 17:17:58 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2019 17:17:58 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Lithium Question Looms Large in Bolivia/Vijay Prashad References: <2af2949d-498a-4550-b854-ea2a9a9c5e51@dfw1s10mta53.xt.local> Message-ID: Can't see this email? Read Online [GLOBETROTTER] We are supported by readers who believe in independent media. Please join them. After Evo, the Lithium Question Looms Large in Bolivia By Vijay Prashad [https://go.ind.media/l/546932/2018-12-08/58mjvj/546932/65489/iconfinder_facebook_834722.png] [https://go.ind.media/l/546932/2018-12-08/58mjvl/546932/65491/iconfinder_twitter_834708.png] Bolivia?s President Evo Morales was overthrown in a military coup on November 10. He is now in Mexico. Before he left office, Morales had been involved in a long project to bring economic and social democracy to his long-exploited country. It is important to recall that Bolivia has suffered a series of coups, often conducted by the military and the oligarchy on behalf of transnational mining companies. Initially, these were tin firms, but tin is no longer the main target in Bolivia. The main target is its massive deposits of lithium, crucial for the electric car. Over the past 13 years, Morales has tried to build a different relationship between his country and its resources. He has not wanted the resources to benefit the transnational mining firms, but rather to benefit his own population. Part of that promise was met as Bolivia?s poverty rate has declined, and as Bolivia?s population was able to improve its social indicators. Nationalization of resources combined with the use of its income to fund social development has played a role. The attitude of the Morales government toward the transnational firms produced a harsh response from them, many of them taking Bolivia to court. Over the course of the past few years, Bolivia has struggled to raise investment to develop the lithium reserves in a way that brings the wealth back into the country for its people. Morales? Vice President ?lvaro Garc?a Linera had said that lithium is the ?fuel that will feed the world.? Bolivia was unable to make deals with Western transnational firms; it decided to partner with Chinese firms. This made the Morales government vulnerable. It had walked into the new Cold War between the West and China. The coup against Morales cannot be understood without a glance at this clash. Clash With the Transnational Firms When Evo Morales and the Movement for Socialism took power in 2006, the government immediately sought to undo decades of theft by transnational mining firms. Morales? government seized several of the mining operations of the most powerful firms, such as Glencore, Jindal Steel & Power, Anglo-Argentine Pan American Energy, and South American Silver (now TriMetals Mining). It sent a message that business as usual was not going to continue. Nonetheless, these large firms continued their operations?based on older contracts?in some areas of the country. For example, the Canadian transnational firm South American Silver had created a company in 2003?before Morales came to power?to mine the Malku Khota for silver and indium (a rare earth metal used in flat-screen televisions). South American Silver then began to extend its reach into its concessions. The land that it claimed was inhabited by indigenous Bolivians, who argued that the company was destroying its sacred spaces as well as promoting an atmosphere of violence. On August 1, 2012, the Morales government?by Supreme Decree no. 1308?annulled the contract with South American Silver (TriMetals Mining), which then sought international arbitration and compensation. Canada?s government of Justin Trudeau?as part of a broader push on behalf of Canadian mining companies in South America?put an immense amount of pressure on Bolivia. In August 2019, TriMetals struck a deal with the Bolivian government for $25.8 million, about a tenth of what it had earlier demanded as compensation. Jindal Steel, an Indian transnational corporation, had an old contract to mine iron ore from Bolivia?s El Mut?n, a contract that was put on hold by the Morales government in 2007. In July 2012, Jindal Steel terminated the contract and sought international arbitration and compensation for its investment. In 2014, it won $22.5 million from Bolivia in a ruling from Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce. For another case against Bolivia, Jindal Steel demanded $100 million in compensation. The Morales government seized three facilities from the Swiss-based transnational mining firm Glencore; these included a tin and zinc mine as well as two smelters. The mine?s expropriation took place after Glencore?s subsidiary clashed violently with miners. Most aggressively, Pan American sued the Bolivian government for $1.5 billion for the expropriation of the Anglo-Argentinian company?s stake in natural gas producer Chaco by the state. Bolivia settled for $357 million in 2014. The scale of these payouts is enormous. It was estimated in 2014 that the public and private payments made for nationalization of these key sectors amounted to at least $1.9 billion (Bolivia?s GDP was at that time $28 billion). In 2014, even the Financial Times agreed that Morales? strategy was not entirely inappropriate. ?Proof of the success of Morales?s economic model is that since coming to power he has tripled the size of the economy while ramping up record foreign reserves.? Lithium Bolivia?s key reserves are in lithium, which is essential for the electric car. Bolivia claims to have 70 percent of the world?s lithium reserves, mostly in the Salar de Uyuni salt flats. The complexity of the mining and processing has meant that Bolivia has not been able to develop the lithium industry on its own. It requires capital, and it requires expertise. The salt flat is about 12,000 feet (3,600 meters) above sea level, and it receives high rainfall. This makes it difficult to use sun-based evaporation. Such simpler solutions are available to Chile?s Atacama Desert and in Argentina?s Hombre Muerto. More technical solutions are needed for Bolivia, which means that more investment is needed. The nationalization policy of the Morales government and the geographical complexity of Salar de Uyuni chased away several transnational mining firms. Eramet (France), FMC (United States) and Posco (South Korea) could not make deals with Bolivia, so they now operate in Argentina. Morales made it clear that any development of the lithium had to be done with Bolivia?s Comibol?its national mining company?and Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB)?its national lithium company?as equal partners. Last year, Germany?s ACI Systems agreed to a deal with Bolivia. After protests from residents in the Salar de Uyuni region, Morales canceled that deal on November 4, 2019. Chinese firms?such as TBEA Group and China Machinery Engineering?made a deal with YLB. It was being said that China?s Tianqi Lithium Group, which operates in Argentina, was going to make a deal with YLB. Both Chinese investment and the Bolivian lithium company were experimenting with new ways to both mine the lithium and to share the profits of the lithium. The idea that there might be a new social compact for the lithium was unacceptable to the main transnational mining companies. Tesla (United States) and Pure Energy Minerals (Canada) both showed great interest in having a direct stake in Bolivian lithium. But they could not make a deal that would take into consideration the parameters set by the Morales government. Morales himself was a direct impediment to the takeover of the lithium fields by the non-Chinese transnational firms. He had to go. After the coup, Tesla?s stock rose astronomically. Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute. He is the chief editor of LeftWord Books and the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He has written more than twenty books, including The Darker Nations: A People?s History of the Third World (The New Press, 2007), The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South (Verso, 2013), The Death of the Nation and the Future of the Arab Revolution (University of California Press, 2016) and Red Star Over the Third World (LeftWord, 2017). He writes regularly for Frontline, the Hindu, Newsclick, AlterNet and BirG?n. Corporate media won?t cover stories like the one you just read. Support our work. [GLOBETROTTER] [INDEPENDENT MEDIA INSTITUTE] 18 West 21st Street, Suite 901, New York, NY 10010 ? 2019 Independent Media Institute. All Rights Reserved. [https://go.ind.media/r/546932/1/499590897/open/1] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Nov 13 18:07:35 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2019 18:07:35 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Anti-war activists might wish to attend this symposium Thursday Message-ID: I suggest anti-war activists be on hand for this one, it looks to me, like a pro-war propaganda attempt: "All are welcome to this year?s Cline Symposium keynote on November 14th. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry will help us better understand the growing militarization of US foreign policy. In nearly 400 overseas interventions, American soldiers, flyers, sailors and Marines have fought on every inhabited continent fighting a staggering array of national armies, insurgents, terrorists, and criminals. Ambassador Eikenberry will help us ask critical questions about this expenditure of blood and treasure. What has it all achieved, and to what end have we expended so many lives and resources? Have we neglected ?soft power? alternatives to military action like diplomatic, legal, and economic foreign policy tools? Prior to his service as US envoy to Afghanistan, our speaker spent more than three decades in the US Army, retiring with the rank of lieutenant general. He now directs the American Academy of Arts and Sciences study on civil wars and international responses. The event will be open to the public on November 14th at 7:30 in the Alice Campbell Ballroom, and live-streamed on Facebook." [https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/c0.15.843.444a/p843x403/72455208_1429006170595937_4825221845240250368_o.jpg?_nc_cat=109&_nc_eui2=AeGJOyEIgOG5BHQuW5S8YMR3vbzDii1el9czro9FXBg6pqzwPCOB6wZHFCpig2Yyph9B6yiY1bluHItnQtAVMDBJAEA79pP5loR-ENoJMfwwQg&_nc_oc=AQnQ7u7288s20EGIsHofFIyKlKdhbflV130Hu1R61Xs03G4J1gJ4dtda1emOSaJxxEU&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=1d3a6e4af22a53a3000f2c3ce93368cb&oe=5E5F98D3] THU, NOV 14 AT 7:30 PM CST Lecture: The Growing Militarization of US Foreign Policy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Wed Nov 13 19:10:01 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2019 13:10:01 -0600 Subject: [Peace] The impeachment pantomime Message-ID: https://consortiumnews.com/2019/11/12/patrick-lawrence-the-impeachment-pantomime/ ?...what do the past three years of incessant efforts to unseat a president tell us about the power of unelected constituencies? The CIA is now openly operating on American soil in clear breach of its charter and U.S. law. There is absolutely no way this can be questioned. We must now contemplate the frightening similarities Russiagate and Ukrainegate share with the agency?s classic coup operations abroad: Commandeering the media, stirring discontent with the leadership, pumping up the opposition, waving false flags, incessant disinformation campaigns: Maybe it was fated that what America has been doing abroad the whole of the postwar era would eventually come home.? ?CGE From davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net Wed Nov 13 19:14:49 2019 From: davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net (David Johnson) Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2019 13:14:49 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] The impeachment pantomime In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <00da01d59a56$9eefd380$dccf7a80$@comcast.net> Yes ! AS much as I hate and loathe Trump, I have said many times to people in the last year or so, that if you think what the CIA et al are doing to Trump is good, what do you think is going to happen if Bernie Sanders is elected President ? I contend it would be even worse. That idea has caused some pause in people's attitudes. David J. -----Original Message----- From: Peace-discuss [mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2019 1:10 PM To: peace-discuss at anti-war.net Cc: Peace Subject: [Peace-discuss] The impeachment pantomime https://consortiumnews.com/2019/11/12/patrick-lawrence-the-impeachment-pantomime/ ?...what do the past three years of incessant efforts to unseat a president tell us about the power of unelected constituencies? The CIA is now openly operating on American soil in clear breach of its charter and U.S. law. There is absolutely no way this can be questioned. We must now contemplate the frightening similarities Russiagate and Ukrainegate share with the agency?s classic coup operations abroad: Commandeering the media, stirring discontent with the leadership, pumping up the opposition, waving false flags, incessant disinformation campaigns: Maybe it was fated that what America has been doing abroad the whole of the postwar era would eventually come home.? ?CGE _______________________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss From carl at newsfromneptune.com Wed Nov 13 23:53:07 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2019 17:53:07 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] The impeachment pantomime In-Reply-To: <00da01d59a56$9eefd380$dccf7a80$@comcast.net> References: <00da01d59a56$9eefd380$dccf7a80$@comcast.net> Message-ID: And - except for Gabbard (and possibly Sanders) - the Democrat candidates are pro-war. ?...nothing I?ve written here should be construed as support for Donald Trump or that I believe he?s antiwar. Trump is aberration only in that his brand of Western imperialism means that the victims remain foreigners while U.S. soldiers remain out of harm?s way. He knows that boots on the ground can quickly descend into bodies in the ground and unlike his opponents, coffins returning to Dover Air Base are not worth risking his personal ambitions. This is clearly something to build upon?? ?CGE > On Nov 13, 2019, at 1:14 PM, David Johnson wrote: > > Yes ! > > AS much as I hate and loathe Trump, I have said many times to people in the last year or so, that if you think what the CIA et al are doing to Trump is good, what do you think is going to happen if Bernie Sanders is elected President ? > I contend it would be even worse. > That idea has caused some pause in people's attitudes. > > David J. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Peace-discuss [mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss > Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2019 1:10 PM > To: peace-discuss at anti-war.net > Cc: Peace > Subject: [Peace-discuss] The impeachment pantomime > > https://consortiumnews.com/2019/11/12/patrick-lawrence-the-impeachment-pantomime/ > > ?...what do the past three years of incessant efforts to unseat a president tell us about the power of unelected constituencies? The CIA is now openly operating on American soil in clear breach of its charter and U.S. law. There is absolutely no way this can be questioned. We must now contemplate the frightening similarities Russiagate and Ukrainegate share with the agency?s classic coup operations abroad: Commandeering the media, stirring discontent with the leadership, pumping up the opposition, waving false flags, incessant disinformation campaigns: Maybe it was fated that what America has been doing abroad the whole of the postwar era would eventually come home.? > > ?CGE > _______________________________________________ > Peace-discuss mailing list > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss > From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 14 12:36:20 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2019 12:36:20 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Political Disruption in Latin America References: <2cc48fb30f331d97157a65aa2.236e62457b.20191114065950.de66025746.ee253268@mail146.suw161.rsgsv.net> Message-ID: View this email in your browser [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/2cc48fb30f331d97157a65aa2/images/34ba081c-8f2e-4693-9ae9-cea33fc210c3.jpg] [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/2cc48fb30f331d97157a65aa2/images/e71b4ed1-393a-4604-b910-78ab0fa0b7e2.png] [Share] Share [Tweet] Tweet [Forward] Forward Lula Free, Bolsonaro in Rage By Danica Jorden Last Friday, November 8, 2019, former President of Brazil Luiz In?cio Lula da Silva walked out of a prison in Curitiba and was greeted by throngs of supporters, many of whom had camped out since he was sent to jail more than a year and a half ago. The next day, hoarse from the ordeal and past throat cancer surgery, Lula spoke for 45 minutes before thousands gathered in S?o Bernardo do Campo, S?o Paulo, Brazil?s automotive capital and the heart of labor activity in the country. It was a sea of red, as many wore the crimson t-shirts of the Metal Workers Union, whose offices provided the backdrop to the speech. Read more... Demands from the Workers of Chile By Trade Union Block of Social Unit The uprisings that continue in Chile began as a student protest against a proposed fare increase for public transport. It quickly evolved into a general wave of protest against the government of Sebasti?n Pi?eraand all the mounting grievances of neoliberalism ? horrible working conditions, social inequalities, privatizations, a negligible welfare state, and more. The government declared a state of emergency and curfew, deployed the military and unleashed a wave of fierce violence against the protests, killing many and detaining thousands. The Chilean national trade union movement, Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Chile (CUT-Chile), has been part of broad fronts of groups aligned against the government. Its so-called Union Bloc has produced the following set of demands. For further information see ?The Awakening of Chile? and on Facebook and Twitter. Read more... Cuba Was Never a Threat to ?National Security? By Jacob G. Hornberger Of all the ludicrous aspects of the Cold War, among the most ridiculous was the notion that Cuba posed a threat to U.S. ?national security.? For some 30 years, the U.S. deep state (i.e., the Pentagon, CIA, and NSA) maintained that Cuba was a communist ?dagger? pointed at America?s neck and, therefore, was a grave threat to ?national security.? Through it all, hardly anyone ever asked a very simple but important question: What did they mean when they said that Cuba was a threat to ?national security?? Read more... Bolivia Coup Led by Christian Fascist Paramilitary Leader and Millionaire ? with Foreign Support By Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton When Luis Fernando Camacho stormed into Bolivia?s abandoned presidential palace in the hours afterPresident Evo Morales?s sudden November 10 resignation, he revealed to the world a side of the country that stood at stark odds with the plurinational spirit its deposed socialist and Indigenous leader had put forward. With a Bible in one hand and a national flag in the other, Camacho bowed his head in prayer above the presidential seal, fulfilling his vow to purge his country?s Native heritage from government and ?return God to the burned palace.? Read more... Bolivia: The OAS and US Help Overthrow Another Latin American Government By Leonardo Flores The United States and the Organization of American States can add another coup to their scorecards, even if U.S. media refuses to recognize it as such. This time it was in Bolivia, where President Evo Morales was forced to step down on November 10, following weeks of pressure and extremist violence. Morales resigned under duress in order to avoid bloodshed, and emphasized that his ?responsibility as an indigenous president of all Bolivians is to prevent the coup-mongers from persecuting my trade unionist brothers and sisters, abusing and kidnapping their families, burning the homes of governors, of legislators, of city councilors? to prevent them from continuing to harass and persecute my indigenous brothers and sisters and the leaders and authorities? of the MAS (Movement towards Socialism, Morales? political party). Read more... Lula?s Release Will Only Reinvigorate the Pink Tide Against U.S. Hegemony in Latin America By Paul Antonopoulos The Workers Party (PT) ruled Brazil, mostly under the leadership of the charismatic Luiz In?cio Lula da Silva, or simply known as Lula, from 2003 until his successor?s impeachment in 2016. This period saw Brazil undergo major changes and advancements with an emphasis on educating the poor, providing access to healthcare for all Brazilians, poverty reduction and Latin American integration. Although the PT did not challenge the capitalist system entirely, there was an emphasis on reducing the neoliberal model that has exploited South America since Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet allowed his country to be economically ruled by this U.S.-endorsed system since the 1970?s. Read more... Released Lula in for Greatest Fight of His Life By Pepe Escobar Only two days after his release from a federal prison in Curitiba, southern Brazil, following a narrow 6?5 decision by the Supreme Court, former President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva delivered a fiery, 45-minute long speech in front of the Metal Workers Union in Sao Bernardo, outside of Sao Paulo, and drawing on his unparalleled political capital, called all Brazilians to stage nothing short of a social revolution. Read more... [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/2cc48fb30f331d97157a65aa2/images/5d629581-fa65-4649-a1eb-65715b85953b.png] [Visit our website] Visit our website [Follow us on Facebook] Follow us on Facebook [Folow us on Twitter] Folow us on Twitter [Global Research TV] Global Research TV Copyright ? 2019 Centre for Research on Globalization, All rights reserved. You are receiving this e-mail because you signed up for our newsletter Our mailing address is: Centre for Research on Globalization P.O. Box 55019 11 Notre-Dame Ouest Montreal, Qc H2Y 4A7 Canada -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 14 14:11:01 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2019 14:11:01 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Two excellent interviews Message-ID: Two excellent interviews by Aaron Mate: One with Stephen Cohen on Russia and Ukraine??the other with Gabor Mate related to anti-semitism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpASSqz1hGc https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/06/gabor-mate-on-the-misuse-of-anti-semitism-and-why-fewer-jews-identify-with-israel/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From cgestabrook at gmail.com Thu Nov 14 17:36:15 2019 From: cgestabrook at gmail.com (C G Estabrook) Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2019 11:36:15 -0600 Subject: [Peace] RAY McGOVERN: Ukraine For Dummies Message-ID: Here is the link to the article: https://consortiumnews.com/2019/11/14/ray-mcgovern-ukraine-for-dummies/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Nov 15 17:54:46 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2019 17:54:46 +0000 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Fwd=3A_I=E2=80=99m_lobbying_for_peace_-_Will_y?= =?utf-8?q?ou_reinforce_our_message_at_home=3F_From_the_FCNL?= References: <13dc7-2be6-5dcee53d@list.fcnl.org> Message-ID: Begin forwarded message: From: "Diane Randall, FCNL" > Subject: I?m lobbying for peace - Will you reinforce our message at home? Date: November 15, 2019 at 09:50:00 PST View online ? [Friends Committee on National Legislation] Dear??. Today I am joining more than 400 Quakers and friends on Capitol Hill. We will be meeting with our legislators and their staff, urging them to act for peace by repealing the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) ? the law that authorized the U.S. invasion of Iraq. I need your help to drive home our message. Will you send a letter to Rep. Davis and Sens. Durbin and Duckworth now? Write Congress We are at a critical moment. Congressional leaders are in final negotiations on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The House passed a version of this legislation that includes repeal of the 2002 Iraq AUMF, but it is not in the bill the Senate passed. Now negotiators from both chambers are meeting to resolve their differences. We hope every member of Congress will voice their support for keeping the repeal of the 2002 Iraq AUMF in the final NDAA. Passing this legislation will be an important first step by Congress in reasserting its constitutional authority over when the United States goes to war. Amid the gridlock and partisanship on Capitol Hill, with your help, we believe we can win this. [Diane Randall] Sincerely, [https://s3.amazonaws.com/fcnlactionkit/images/Diane_signature.jpg] Diane Randall Executive Secretary P.S. Want to strengthen your message? Consider following up your letter with a Tweet to your members of Congress: * Rep. Davis - RodneyDavis * Sen. Durbin - SenatorDurbin * Sen. Duckworth - SenDuckworth * As a resident of IL, I hope you will urge Senate leadership to include repeal of 2002 Iraq #AUMF in the final #NDAA. @FriendsLobby @FCNL [https://act.fcnl.org/o.gif?akid=11238.81351.3gzo1p] [Friends Committee on National Legislation] We are Quakers and friends changing public policy. Find Events | Make a Donation | More About FCNL Follow us on: [Twitter] [Facebook] [Instagram] [YouTube] 245 2nd Street NE Washington, DC 20002 | 800-630-1330 ? Friends Committee on National Legislation | Powered by ActionKit | Design by Threespot -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From naiman.uiuc at gmail.com Fri Nov 15 18:00:22 2019 From: naiman.uiuc at gmail.com (Robert Naiman) Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2019 13:00:22 -0500 Subject: [Peace] Vote on Syria "secure the oil" mission is Thursday if Tulsi calls it In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: [...] Provides that a motion to discharge House Concurrent Resolution 70 shall be in order on November 21, 2019, if offered by Representative Gabbard, with 20 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled by Representative Gabbard and an opponent. [...] https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/Rule_HR4863.pdf So: 1. It's all up to Tulsi now. There's a floor vote in the House on Thursday on withdrawing from the unauthorized "secure the oil" mission if Tulsi calls the vote. House leadership isn't standing in her way. 2. Regardless of what Tulsi decides to do on Thursday, we've set a precedent in this House that anybody could do this, any time they want, to call the question on an unauthorized war. Therefore, from now on, in this House, if any Member of the House criticizes something Trump does with the U.S. military as "unauthorized," but doesn't call the question by invoking the WPR, we'll know that they didn't do everything they could reasonably do to stop the unauthorized military action. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Nov 16 12:37:01 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2019 12:37:01 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Common Dreams by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas Davies Message-ID: Why Aren't People in the US Rising Up Like Those Elsewhere in the World? Without a mass movement continually pushing and prodding for real change and holding politicians accountable?for their policies as well as their words?our neoliberal rulers assume that they can safely ignore the concerns and interests of ordinary people. by Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J S Davies * * * * * 24 Comments [Demonstrators wave flags as they take part during the day of cultural activities 'El Derecho a Vivir en Paz' called by 'Movimiento Unidad Social' at Plaza O'Higgins on October 27, 2019 in Santiago, Chile. Unidad Social, an organization conformed by various social groups, has called society to be part of cultural activities in defence of human rights and against abuses, under the slogan #NoMasAbusos (No more abuses) people demand Sebastian Pi?era's Government attention to issues such as health care, pension] Demonstrators wave flags as they take part during the day of cultural activities 'El Derecho a Vivir en Paz' called by 'Movimiento Unidad Social' at Plaza O'Higgins on October 27, 2019 in Santiago, Chile. Unidad Social, an organization conformed by various social groups, has called society to be part of cultural activities in defence of human rights and against abuses, under the slogan #NoMasAbusos (No more abuses) people demand Sebastian Pi?era's Government attention to issues such as health care, pension system, privatization of water, public transport, education, social mobility and corruption. (Photo: Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images) The waves of protests breaking out in country after country around the world beg the question: Why aren?t Americans rising up in peaceful protest like our neighbors? We live at the very heart of this neoliberal system that is force-feeding the systemic injustice and inequality of 19th century laissez-faire capitalism to the people of the 21st century. So we are subject to many of the same abuses that have fueled mass protest movements in other countries, including high rents, stagnant wages, cradle-to-grave debt, ever-rising economic inequality, privatized healthcare, a shredded social safety net, abysmal public transportation, systemic political corruption and endless war. We also have a corrupt, racist billionaire as president, who Congress may soon impeach, but where are the masses outside the White House, banging pots and pans to drive Trump out? Why aren?t people crashing the offices of their congresspeople, demanding that they represent the people or resign? If none of these conditions has so far provoked a new American revolution, what will it take to trigger one? In the 1960s and 1970s, the senseless Vietnam War provoked a serious, well-organized antiwar movement. But today the U.S.?s endless wars just rage on in the background of our lives, as the U.S. and its allies kill and mutilate men, women and children in distant countries, day after day, year after year. Our history has also witnessed inspiring mass movements for civil rights, women?s rights and gay rights, but these movements are much tamer today. The Occupy Movement in 2011 came closest to challenging the entire neoliberal system. It awakened a new generation to the reality of government of, by, and for the corrupt 1%, and built a powerful basis for solidarity among the marginalized 99%. But Occupy lost momentum because it failed to transition from a rallying point and a decentralized, democratic forum to a cohesive movement that could impact the existing power structure. The climate movement is starting to mobilize a new generation, and groups like School Strike for the Climate and Extinction Rebellion take direct aim at this destructive economic system that prioritizes corporate growth and profits over the very survival of life on Earth. But while climate protests have shut down parts of London and other cities around the world, the scale of climate protests in the U.S. does not yet match the urgency of the crisis. So why is the American public so passive? Americans pour their energy and hopes into electoral campaigns Election campaigns in most countries last only a few months, with strict limits on financing and advertising to try to ensure fair elections. But Americans pour millions of hours and billions of dollars into multi-year election campaigns run by an ever-growing sector of the commercial advertising industry, which even awarded Barack Obama its ?Marketer of the Year? award for 2008. (The other finalists were not John McCain or the Republicans but Apple, Nike and Coors beer.) When U.S. elections are finally over, thousands of exhausted volunteers sweep up the bunting and go home, believing their work is done. While electoral politics should be a vehicle for change, this neoliberal model of corporate ?center-right? and ?center-left? politics ensures that congresspeople and presidents of both parties are primarily accountable to the ruling 1% who ?pay to play.? Millions of Americans have internalized the myth of the ?American dream,? believing they have exceptional chances for social and economic mobility compared with their peers in other countries. If they aren?t successful, it must be their own fault?either they?re not smart enough or they don?t work hard enough. Former President Jimmy Carter has bluntly described what Americans euphemistically call ?campaign finance? as a system of legalized bribery. Transparency International (TI) ranks the U.S. 22nd on its political corruption index, identifying it as more corrupt than any other wealthy, developed country. Without a mass movement continually pushing and prodding for real change and holding politicians accountable?for their policies as well as their words?our neoliberal rulers assume that they can safely ignore the concerns and interests of ordinary people as they make the critical decisions that shape the world we live in. As Frederick Douglass observed in 1857, ?Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will.? Millions of Americans have internalized the myth of the ?American dream,? believing they have exceptional chances for social and economic mobility compared with their peers in other countries. If they aren?t successful, it must be their own fault?either they?re not smart enough or they don?t work hard enough. The American Dream is not just elusive?it?s a complete fantasy. In reality, the U.S. has the greatest income inequality of any wealthy, developed country. Of the 39 developed countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), only South Africa and Costa Rica exceed the U.S.?s 18% poverty rate. The United States is an anomaly: a very wealthy country suffering from exceptional poverty. To make matters worse, children born into poor families in the U.S. are more likely to remain poor as adults than poor children in other wealthy countries. But the American dream ideology keeps people struggling and competing to improve their lives on a strictly individual basis, instead of demanding a fairer society and the healthcare, education and public services we all need and deserve. The corporate media keeps Americans uninformed and docile The U.S.?s corporate media system is also unique, both in its consolidated corporate ownership and in its limited news coverage, endlessly downsized newsrooms and narrow range of viewpoints. Its economics reporting reflects the interests of its corporate owners and advertisers; its domestic reporting and debate is strictly framed and limited by the prevailing rhetoric of Democratic and Republican leaders; its anemic foreign policy coverage is editorially dictated by the State Department and Pentagon. This closed media system wraps the public in a cocoon of myths, euphemisms and propaganda to leave us exceptionally ignorant about our own country and the world we live in. Reporters Without Borders ranks the U.S. 48th out of 180 countries on its Press Freedom Index, once again making the U.S. an exceptional outlier among wealthy countries. It?s true people can search for their own truth on social media to counter the corporate babble, but social media is itself a distraction. People spend countless hours on facebook, twitter, instagram and other platforms venting their anger and frustration without getting up off the couch to actually do something?except perhaps sign a petition. ?Clicktivism? will not change the world. Add to this the endless distractions of Hollywood, video games, sports and consumerism, and the exhaustion that comes with working several jobs to make ends meet. The resulting political passivity of Americans is not some strange accident of American culture but the intended product of a mutually reinforcing web of economic, political and media systems that keep the American public confused, distracted and convinced of our own powerlessness. The political docility of the American public does not mean that Americans are happy with the way things are, and the unique challenges this induced docility poses for American political activists and organizers surely cannot be more daunting than the life-threatening repression faced by activists in Chile, Haiti or Iraq. So how can we liberate ourselves from our assigned roles as passive spectators and mindless cheerleaders for a venal ruling class that is laughing all the way to the bank and through the halls of power as it grabs ever more concentrated wealth and power at our expense? "How can we liberate ourselves from our assigned roles as passive spectators and mindless cheerleaders for a venal ruling class that is laughing all the way to the bank and through the halls of power as it grabs ever more concentrated wealth and power at our expense?" Few expected a year ago that 2019 would be a year of global uprising against the neoliberal economic and political system that has dominated the world for forty years. Few predicted new revolutions in Chile or Iraq or Algeria. But popular uprisings have a way of confounding conventional wisdom. The catalysts for each of these uprisings have also been surprising. The protests in Chile began over an increase in subway fares. In Lebanon, the spark was a proposed tax on WhatsApp and other social media accounts. Hikes in fuel tax triggered the yellow vest protests in France, while the ending of fuel subsidies was a catalyst in both Ecuador and Sudan. The common factor in all these movements is the outrage of ordinary people at systems and laws that reward corruption, oligarchy and plutocracy at the expense of their own quality of life. In each country, these catalysts were the final straws that broke the camel?s back, but once people were in the street, protests quickly turned into more general uprisings demanding the resignation of leaders and governments. They have the guns but we have the numbers State repression and violence have only fueled greater popular demands for more fundamental change, and millions of protesters in country after country have remained committed to non-violence and peaceful protest - in stark contrast to the rampant violence of the right-wing coup in Bolivia While these uprisings seem spontaneous, in every country where ordinary people have risen up in 2019, activists have been working for years to build the movements that eventually brought large numbers of people onto the streets and into the headlines.Sanders? wildly successful first presidential campaign in 2016 pushed a new generation of American politicians to commit to real policy solutions to real problems instead of the vague promises and applause lines that serve as smokescreens for the corrupt agendas of neoliberal politicians like Trump and Biden. Erica Chenoweth?s research on the history of nonviolent protest movements found that whenever at least 3.5% of a population have taken to the streets to demand political change, governments have been unable to resist their demands. Here in the U.S., Transparency International found that the number of Americans who see ?direct action,? including street protests, as the antidote to our corrupt political system has risen from 17% to 25% since Trump took office, far more than Chenoweth?s 3.5%. Only 28% still see simply ?voting for a clean candidate? as the answer. So maybe we are just waiting for the right catalyst to strike a chord with the American public. In fact, the work of progressive activists in the U.S. is already upsetting the neoliberal status quo. Without the movement-building work of thousands of Americans, Bernie Sanders would still be a little-known Senator from Vermont, largely ignored by the corporate media and the Democratic Party. Sanders? wildly successful first presidential campaign in 2016 pushed a new generation of American politicians to commit to real policy solutions to real problems instead of the vague promises and applause lines that serve as smokescreens for the corrupt agendas of neoliberal politicians like Trump and Biden. We can?t predict exactly what catalyst will trigger a mass movement in the U.S. like the ones we are seeing overseas, but with more and more Americans, especially young people, demanding an alternative to a system that doesn?t serve their needs, the tinder for a revolutionary movement is everywhere. We just have to keep kicking up sparks until one catches fire. [Medea Benjamin] Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for Peace, is the author of the new book, Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Her previous books include: Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection; Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control; Don?t Be Afraid Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks from the Heart, and (with Jodie Evans) Stop the Next War Now (Inner Ocean Action Guide). Follow her on Twitter: @medeabenjamin [Nicolas J S Davies] Nicolas J S Davies is the author of Blood On Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq and of the chapter on "Obama At War" in Grading the 44th President: A Report Card on Barack Obama's First Term as a Progressive Leader. Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Nov 16 12:37:01 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2019 12:37:01 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Common Dreams by Medea Benjamin & Nicolas Davies Message-ID: Why Aren't People in the US Rising Up Like Those Elsewhere in the World? Without a mass movement continually pushing and prodding for real change and holding politicians accountable?for their policies as well as their words?our neoliberal rulers assume that they can safely ignore the concerns and interests of ordinary people. by Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J S Davies * * * * * 24 Comments [Demonstrators wave flags as they take part during the day of cultural activities 'El Derecho a Vivir en Paz' called by 'Movimiento Unidad Social' at Plaza O'Higgins on October 27, 2019 in Santiago, Chile. Unidad Social, an organization conformed by various social groups, has called society to be part of cultural activities in defence of human rights and against abuses, under the slogan #NoMasAbusos (No more abuses) people demand Sebastian Pi?era's Government attention to issues such as health care, pension] Demonstrators wave flags as they take part during the day of cultural activities 'El Derecho a Vivir en Paz' called by 'Movimiento Unidad Social' at Plaza O'Higgins on October 27, 2019 in Santiago, Chile. Unidad Social, an organization conformed by various social groups, has called society to be part of cultural activities in defence of human rights and against abuses, under the slogan #NoMasAbusos (No more abuses) people demand Sebastian Pi?era's Government attention to issues such as health care, pension system, privatization of water, public transport, education, social mobility and corruption. (Photo: Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images) The waves of protests breaking out in country after country around the world beg the question: Why aren?t Americans rising up in peaceful protest like our neighbors? We live at the very heart of this neoliberal system that is force-feeding the systemic injustice and inequality of 19th century laissez-faire capitalism to the people of the 21st century. So we are subject to many of the same abuses that have fueled mass protest movements in other countries, including high rents, stagnant wages, cradle-to-grave debt, ever-rising economic inequality, privatized healthcare, a shredded social safety net, abysmal public transportation, systemic political corruption and endless war. We also have a corrupt, racist billionaire as president, who Congress may soon impeach, but where are the masses outside the White House, banging pots and pans to drive Trump out? Why aren?t people crashing the offices of their congresspeople, demanding that they represent the people or resign? If none of these conditions has so far provoked a new American revolution, what will it take to trigger one? In the 1960s and 1970s, the senseless Vietnam War provoked a serious, well-organized antiwar movement. But today the U.S.?s endless wars just rage on in the background of our lives, as the U.S. and its allies kill and mutilate men, women and children in distant countries, day after day, year after year. Our history has also witnessed inspiring mass movements for civil rights, women?s rights and gay rights, but these movements are much tamer today. The Occupy Movement in 2011 came closest to challenging the entire neoliberal system. It awakened a new generation to the reality of government of, by, and for the corrupt 1%, and built a powerful basis for solidarity among the marginalized 99%. But Occupy lost momentum because it failed to transition from a rallying point and a decentralized, democratic forum to a cohesive movement that could impact the existing power structure. The climate movement is starting to mobilize a new generation, and groups like School Strike for the Climate and Extinction Rebellion take direct aim at this destructive economic system that prioritizes corporate growth and profits over the very survival of life on Earth. But while climate protests have shut down parts of London and other cities around the world, the scale of climate protests in the U.S. does not yet match the urgency of the crisis. So why is the American public so passive? Americans pour their energy and hopes into electoral campaigns Election campaigns in most countries last only a few months, with strict limits on financing and advertising to try to ensure fair elections. But Americans pour millions of hours and billions of dollars into multi-year election campaigns run by an ever-growing sector of the commercial advertising industry, which even awarded Barack Obama its ?Marketer of the Year? award for 2008. (The other finalists were not John McCain or the Republicans but Apple, Nike and Coors beer.) When U.S. elections are finally over, thousands of exhausted volunteers sweep up the bunting and go home, believing their work is done. While electoral politics should be a vehicle for change, this neoliberal model of corporate ?center-right? and ?center-left? politics ensures that congresspeople and presidents of both parties are primarily accountable to the ruling 1% who ?pay to play.? Millions of Americans have internalized the myth of the ?American dream,? believing they have exceptional chances for social and economic mobility compared with their peers in other countries. If they aren?t successful, it must be their own fault?either they?re not smart enough or they don?t work hard enough. Former President Jimmy Carter has bluntly described what Americans euphemistically call ?campaign finance? as a system of legalized bribery. Transparency International (TI) ranks the U.S. 22nd on its political corruption index, identifying it as more corrupt than any other wealthy, developed country. Without a mass movement continually pushing and prodding for real change and holding politicians accountable?for their policies as well as their words?our neoliberal rulers assume that they can safely ignore the concerns and interests of ordinary people as they make the critical decisions that shape the world we live in. As Frederick Douglass observed in 1857, ?Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will.? Millions of Americans have internalized the myth of the ?American dream,? believing they have exceptional chances for social and economic mobility compared with their peers in other countries. If they aren?t successful, it must be their own fault?either they?re not smart enough or they don?t work hard enough. The American Dream is not just elusive?it?s a complete fantasy. In reality, the U.S. has the greatest income inequality of any wealthy, developed country. Of the 39 developed countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), only South Africa and Costa Rica exceed the U.S.?s 18% poverty rate. The United States is an anomaly: a very wealthy country suffering from exceptional poverty. To make matters worse, children born into poor families in the U.S. are more likely to remain poor as adults than poor children in other wealthy countries. But the American dream ideology keeps people struggling and competing to improve their lives on a strictly individual basis, instead of demanding a fairer society and the healthcare, education and public services we all need and deserve. The corporate media keeps Americans uninformed and docile The U.S.?s corporate media system is also unique, both in its consolidated corporate ownership and in its limited news coverage, endlessly downsized newsrooms and narrow range of viewpoints. Its economics reporting reflects the interests of its corporate owners and advertisers; its domestic reporting and debate is strictly framed and limited by the prevailing rhetoric of Democratic and Republican leaders; its anemic foreign policy coverage is editorially dictated by the State Department and Pentagon. This closed media system wraps the public in a cocoon of myths, euphemisms and propaganda to leave us exceptionally ignorant about our own country and the world we live in. Reporters Without Borders ranks the U.S. 48th out of 180 countries on its Press Freedom Index, once again making the U.S. an exceptional outlier among wealthy countries. It?s true people can search for their own truth on social media to counter the corporate babble, but social media is itself a distraction. People spend countless hours on facebook, twitter, instagram and other platforms venting their anger and frustration without getting up off the couch to actually do something?except perhaps sign a petition. ?Clicktivism? will not change the world. Add to this the endless distractions of Hollywood, video games, sports and consumerism, and the exhaustion that comes with working several jobs to make ends meet. The resulting political passivity of Americans is not some strange accident of American culture but the intended product of a mutually reinforcing web of economic, political and media systems that keep the American public confused, distracted and convinced of our own powerlessness. The political docility of the American public does not mean that Americans are happy with the way things are, and the unique challenges this induced docility poses for American political activists and organizers surely cannot be more daunting than the life-threatening repression faced by activists in Chile, Haiti or Iraq. So how can we liberate ourselves from our assigned roles as passive spectators and mindless cheerleaders for a venal ruling class that is laughing all the way to the bank and through the halls of power as it grabs ever more concentrated wealth and power at our expense? "How can we liberate ourselves from our assigned roles as passive spectators and mindless cheerleaders for a venal ruling class that is laughing all the way to the bank and through the halls of power as it grabs ever more concentrated wealth and power at our expense?" Few expected a year ago that 2019 would be a year of global uprising against the neoliberal economic and political system that has dominated the world for forty years. Few predicted new revolutions in Chile or Iraq or Algeria. But popular uprisings have a way of confounding conventional wisdom. The catalysts for each of these uprisings have also been surprising. The protests in Chile began over an increase in subway fares. In Lebanon, the spark was a proposed tax on WhatsApp and other social media accounts. Hikes in fuel tax triggered the yellow vest protests in France, while the ending of fuel subsidies was a catalyst in both Ecuador and Sudan. The common factor in all these movements is the outrage of ordinary people at systems and laws that reward corruption, oligarchy and plutocracy at the expense of their own quality of life. In each country, these catalysts were the final straws that broke the camel?s back, but once people were in the street, protests quickly turned into more general uprisings demanding the resignation of leaders and governments. They have the guns but we have the numbers State repression and violence have only fueled greater popular demands for more fundamental change, and millions of protesters in country after country have remained committed to non-violence and peaceful protest - in stark contrast to the rampant violence of the right-wing coup in Bolivia While these uprisings seem spontaneous, in every country where ordinary people have risen up in 2019, activists have been working for years to build the movements that eventually brought large numbers of people onto the streets and into the headlines.Sanders? wildly successful first presidential campaign in 2016 pushed a new generation of American politicians to commit to real policy solutions to real problems instead of the vague promises and applause lines that serve as smokescreens for the corrupt agendas of neoliberal politicians like Trump and Biden. Erica Chenoweth?s research on the history of nonviolent protest movements found that whenever at least 3.5% of a population have taken to the streets to demand political change, governments have been unable to resist their demands. Here in the U.S., Transparency International found that the number of Americans who see ?direct action,? including street protests, as the antidote to our corrupt political system has risen from 17% to 25% since Trump took office, far more than Chenoweth?s 3.5%. Only 28% still see simply ?voting for a clean candidate? as the answer. So maybe we are just waiting for the right catalyst to strike a chord with the American public. In fact, the work of progressive activists in the U.S. is already upsetting the neoliberal status quo. Without the movement-building work of thousands of Americans, Bernie Sanders would still be a little-known Senator from Vermont, largely ignored by the corporate media and the Democratic Party. Sanders? wildly successful first presidential campaign in 2016 pushed a new generation of American politicians to commit to real policy solutions to real problems instead of the vague promises and applause lines that serve as smokescreens for the corrupt agendas of neoliberal politicians like Trump and Biden. We can?t predict exactly what catalyst will trigger a mass movement in the U.S. like the ones we are seeing overseas, but with more and more Americans, especially young people, demanding an alternative to a system that doesn?t serve their needs, the tinder for a revolutionary movement is everywhere. We just have to keep kicking up sparks until one catches fire. [Medea Benjamin] Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for Peace, is the author of the new book, Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Her previous books include: Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection; Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control; Don?t Be Afraid Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks from the Heart, and (with Jodie Evans) Stop the Next War Now (Inner Ocean Action Guide). Follow her on Twitter: @medeabenjamin [Nicolas J S Davies] Nicolas J S Davies is the author of Blood On Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq and of the chapter on "Obama At War" in Grading the 44th President: A Report Card on Barack Obama's First Term as a Progressive Leader. Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From naiman.uiuc at gmail.com Sat Nov 16 14:47:29 2019 From: naiman.uiuc at gmail.com (Robert Naiman) Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2019 09:47:29 -0500 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?The_=E2=80=9CAmbition_=3D=3E_Public_Interest?= =?utf-8?q?=E2=80=9D_Case_for_the_Senate_Syria_War_Powers_Resolutio?= =?utf-8?q?n?= In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: https://www.facebook.com/robert.naiman/posts/10158838767002656 The ?Ambition => Public Interest? Case for the Senate Syria War Powers Resolution James Madison, the Father of our Constitution, taught us that ?ambition must be made to serve the public interest.? A key point of having ?checks and balances? in Washington ? different independent power centers, rather than an elected dictatorship ? is that if one power center is doing something against the public interest, then another power center can serve its own private interests [such as ambitions for praise and political advancement] and the public interest at the same time by doing something good. Saagar Enjeti and Krystal Ball assert at *Hill TV* that Pelosi has set up the Senate trial on the #TemporarySuspensionOfMilitaryAidToUkraineGate article of impeachment so that Bernie and Warren are stuck in Washington for the Senate trial while JoeB and PeteB can campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire. Saagar Enjeti merely asserts that Pelosi?s actions will have this effect. Krystal Ball carries the football into the endzone for the crucial question of ascribing motivation. Watch: Saagar Enjeti: Pelosi's impeachment strategy could doom Bernie, Warren [As Enjeti notes, the underlying policy of arming Ukraine was rejected by Democratic President Barack Obama on the grounds that it would provoke Russia to retaliate. Pro-UkraineGate impeachment Dems? opportunist hypocrisy on this point is documented by Barbara Boland at *The American Conservative* .] Suppose that the Enjeti-Ball analysis is correct and that Team Bernie and Team Warren believe it to be correct. Then Team Bernie and Team Warren have ?ambition? incentives to retaliate against Pelosi by introducing a Senate Syria War Powers Resolution to repudiate Trump?s ?secure the oil? mission as unconstitutional. This would, of course, serve the public interest of reclaiming Article I war powers on behalf of Congress. ?Ambition? Incentives for Team Bernie and Team Warren to Introduce Senate Syria WPR include: 1. ?Reward your friends and punish your enemies.? Rule 1. 2. By putting military aid to Ukraine at the top of the impeachment marquee, Pelosi is changing the channel from ?U.S. imperialism in the Middle East? to ?U.S. imperialism in Eastern Europe.? On questions of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East, anti-imperialist Democrats are rising and Dem imperialists are on the defensive. On questions of U.S. imperialism in Eastern Europe, Dem imperialists are hegemonic and anti-imperialist Dems are barely on the field. Changing the channel to U.S. imperialism in Eastern Europe might have the effect of boxing in Team Bernie and Team Warren to support or acquiesce in the Dem imperialist line on Eastern Europe. This would demoralize the anti-imperialist base of Team Bernie and Team Warren and undermine their case that they represent a consistent and principled alternative to the Dem Establishment on questions of U.S. imperialism. By introducing Senate Syria WPR, Team Bernie and Team Warren would change the channel back to the terrain where Democratic anti-imperialists are ascendant and the Dem imperialists are on the defensive. 3. Whoever introduces WPR seizes the floor, like Lysistrata seizing the Acropolis. This will electrify the anti-imperialist Democratic base and mobilize them to fight the imperialist Dem Establishment. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Nov 16 14:49:15 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2019 14:49:15 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Universities across America profit from developing nuclear weapons. It's unconscionable | Opinion References: Message-ID: > > > https://www.newsweek.com/universities-funding-nuclear-weapons-research-1471572 From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Nov 16 14:49:15 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2019 14:49:15 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Universities across America profit from developing nuclear weapons. It's unconscionable | Opinion References: Message-ID: > > > https://www.newsweek.com/universities-funding-nuclear-weapons-research-1471572 From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Nov 16 14:56:51 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2019 14:56:51 +0000 Subject: [Peace] UNIVERSITIES ACROSS AMERICA PROFIT FROM DEVELOPING NUCLEAR WEAPONS. IT'S UNCONSCIONABLE Message-ID: Search * * * * * * * * * * OPINION UNIVERSITIES ACROSS AMERICA PROFIT FROM DEVELOPING NUCLEAR WEAPONS. IT'S UNCONSCIONABLE BEATRICE FIHN ON 11/13/19 AT 12:36 PM EST [Beatrice-Fihnn] Video Player is loading. Pause Unmute Current Time 0:00 Duration 0:29 Loaded: 0.00% QualityHD Fullscreen 'A Godwink Christmas: Meant For Love' - Hallmark Trailer SHARE OPINIONNUCLEAR WEAPONSRESEARCH ?Americans like a good comeback story, but the recent revitalization of the nuclear arms race is not one to be cheered. President Trump plans to charge the American taxpayer nearly $100,000 a minute to expand the nation's nuclear weapons capabilities. Other nuclear-armed countries are doing the same. A new generation of nuclear weapons requires a new generation of workers to develop and maintain these weapons of mass destruction. The National Nuclear Security Administration reported to Congress that 40 percent of its workforce will be eligible to retire in the next five years. The U.S. government and its contractors have turned to the nation's universities to provide this human capital. A new report documents formal ties between nearly 50 college campuses and the nuclear weapons complex. Ads by scrollerads.com The extent to which universities have joined this endeavor is surprising. Supporting weapons of mass destruction does not show up in any university mission statements. In fact, it's often the opposite: universities like to talk about bringing the benefits of knowledge to a global community. The dangers posed by nuclear weapons are clear. Yet universities still choose to support them anyway. Students and faculty now face a choice. They can become the next generation of weapons scientists. Or they can refuse to be complicit in this scheme, denying research partnerships or internships at nuclear weapons labs. Currently, universities across the country receive millions and in some cases billions of dollars to support nuclear weapons development. Universities directly manage nuclear weapons labs, form institutional agreements with these labs and related production sites, pursue research partnerships with nuclear weapons scientists, and provide targeted workforce development for these facilities. [X] [X] SPONSORED VIDEO SPONSORED BY LGSEEDS.COM Watch to learn more Many of the universities with more extensive connections to nuclear weapons are household names: the University of California, Texas A&M University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of New Mexico. Others, such as local technical and vocational schools, are less well-known. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction, just like chemical and biological weapons. They carry devastating humanitarian and environmental consequences that do not stop at national borders. Thousands still suffer from the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thousands more suffer from the effects of nuclear weapons testing in the 20th century, including in the U.S. One Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study estimated that radioactive fallout from nuclear tests would kill an additional 11,000 Americans due to an increase in fatal cancers. The United States has paid more than $2.3 billion in compensation to individuals affected by nuclear test fallout. Those most affected by tests around the world have been the already marginalized: indigenous and colonized peoples, women and children. Some see value in the nuclear weapons complex because it supplies thousands of jobs. These boosters fail to acknowledge the studies that demonstrate how defense spending produces fewer jobs per dollar than investment in other areas, like education, health care or infrastructure. The business of nuclear weapons does not provide jobs; it takes them away. Our choice today is between a future without nuclear weapons or no future at all. Seventy-nine nations (and counting) have signed the 2017 United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; American states and cities are voting to urge the US to join them. Universities that support nuclear weapons make the wrong choice and their communities should refuse to be complicit. Students, faculty, alumni, and community members ? who often fund these schools through their tax dollars ? can also take concrete action to help their universities join the right side of history. READ MORE * The Agreements that Slowed the Nuclear Arms Race are Collapsing * Iran's Nuclear Clock is Ticking Once Again. Here's How to Stop It * How Britain Nuked Christmas, and the Toxic Legacy That Remains They can push for transparency around any ties to the nuclear weapons complex, install ethical review processes for basic or dual-purpose research funded by the complex, and prohibit classified research. They can ask University administrations to stop direct management of nuclear weapons production sites and dissolve research contracts solely related to nuclear weapons production. University communities and administrations together can lobby the federal government to flip its funding priorities, so that nonproliferation and disarmament verification research receive more funding than weapons activities. A society can?and should?actively debate the extent to which universities are to serve explicitly national interests. But there should be no debate when it comes to supporting weapons of mass destruction. American academia must stop enabling mass murder. Beatrice Fihn is the Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize-winners. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Nov 16 14:56:51 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2019 14:56:51 +0000 Subject: [Peace] UNIVERSITIES ACROSS AMERICA PROFIT FROM DEVELOPING NUCLEAR WEAPONS. IT'S UNCONSCIONABLE Message-ID: Search * * * * * * * * * * OPINION UNIVERSITIES ACROSS AMERICA PROFIT FROM DEVELOPING NUCLEAR WEAPONS. IT'S UNCONSCIONABLE BEATRICE FIHN ON 11/13/19 AT 12:36 PM EST [Beatrice-Fihnn] Video Player is loading. Pause Unmute Current Time 0:00 Duration 0:29 Loaded: 0.00% QualityHD Fullscreen 'A Godwink Christmas: Meant For Love' - Hallmark Trailer SHARE OPINIONNUCLEAR WEAPONSRESEARCH ?Americans like a good comeback story, but the recent revitalization of the nuclear arms race is not one to be cheered. President Trump plans to charge the American taxpayer nearly $100,000 a minute to expand the nation's nuclear weapons capabilities. Other nuclear-armed countries are doing the same. A new generation of nuclear weapons requires a new generation of workers to develop and maintain these weapons of mass destruction. The National Nuclear Security Administration reported to Congress that 40 percent of its workforce will be eligible to retire in the next five years. The U.S. government and its contractors have turned to the nation's universities to provide this human capital. A new report documents formal ties between nearly 50 college campuses and the nuclear weapons complex. Ads by scrollerads.com The extent to which universities have joined this endeavor is surprising. Supporting weapons of mass destruction does not show up in any university mission statements. In fact, it's often the opposite: universities like to talk about bringing the benefits of knowledge to a global community. The dangers posed by nuclear weapons are clear. Yet universities still choose to support them anyway. Students and faculty now face a choice. They can become the next generation of weapons scientists. Or they can refuse to be complicit in this scheme, denying research partnerships or internships at nuclear weapons labs. Currently, universities across the country receive millions and in some cases billions of dollars to support nuclear weapons development. Universities directly manage nuclear weapons labs, form institutional agreements with these labs and related production sites, pursue research partnerships with nuclear weapons scientists, and provide targeted workforce development for these facilities. [X] [X] SPONSORED VIDEO SPONSORED BY LGSEEDS.COM Watch to learn more Many of the universities with more extensive connections to nuclear weapons are household names: the University of California, Texas A&M University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of New Mexico. Others, such as local technical and vocational schools, are less well-known. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction, just like chemical and biological weapons. They carry devastating humanitarian and environmental consequences that do not stop at national borders. Thousands still suffer from the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thousands more suffer from the effects of nuclear weapons testing in the 20th century, including in the U.S. One Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study estimated that radioactive fallout from nuclear tests would kill an additional 11,000 Americans due to an increase in fatal cancers. The United States has paid more than $2.3 billion in compensation to individuals affected by nuclear test fallout. Those most affected by tests around the world have been the already marginalized: indigenous and colonized peoples, women and children. Some see value in the nuclear weapons complex because it supplies thousands of jobs. These boosters fail to acknowledge the studies that demonstrate how defense spending produces fewer jobs per dollar than investment in other areas, like education, health care or infrastructure. The business of nuclear weapons does not provide jobs; it takes them away. Our choice today is between a future without nuclear weapons or no future at all. Seventy-nine nations (and counting) have signed the 2017 United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; American states and cities are voting to urge the US to join them. Universities that support nuclear weapons make the wrong choice and their communities should refuse to be complicit. Students, faculty, alumni, and community members ? who often fund these schools through their tax dollars ? can also take concrete action to help their universities join the right side of history. READ MORE * The Agreements that Slowed the Nuclear Arms Race are Collapsing * Iran's Nuclear Clock is Ticking Once Again. Here's How to Stop It * How Britain Nuked Christmas, and the Toxic Legacy That Remains They can push for transparency around any ties to the nuclear weapons complex, install ethical review processes for basic or dual-purpose research funded by the complex, and prohibit classified research. They can ask University administrations to stop direct management of nuclear weapons production sites and dissolve research contracts solely related to nuclear weapons production. University communities and administrations together can lobby the federal government to flip its funding priorities, so that nonproliferation and disarmament verification research receive more funding than weapons activities. A society can?and should?actively debate the extent to which universities are to serve explicitly national interests. But there should be no debate when it comes to supporting weapons of mass destruction. American academia must stop enabling mass murder. Beatrice Fihn is the Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize-winners. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbn at forestfield.org Sun Nov 17 20:10:25 2019 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2019 14:10:25 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Comparing drone views from two military women Message-ID: <1d3b1c86-5740-7664-b41e-25069b7426e7@forestfield.org> I recently re-watched "National Bird" a documentary from 2016 about the drone war and I came across an interesting quote that reminded me of something Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard from https://theintercept.com/2018/01/17/intercepted-podcast-white-mirror/ > So, with these terrorist cells, for example, yes, I do still believe > that the right approach to take is these quick strike forces, surgical > strikes, in and out, very quickly, no long-term deployment, no long-term > occupation to be able to get rid of the threat that exists and then get > out and the very limited use of drones in those situations where our > military is not able to get in without creating an unacceptable level of > risk, and where you can make sure that you?re not causing, you know, a > large amount of civilian casualties. Heather Linebaugh served in the United States Air Force from 2009 until March 2012. Her bio in The Guardian says she worked in intelligence as an imagery analyst and geo-spatial analyst for the drone program during the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Two years before Rep. Gabbard said that Heather Linebaugh said: > Hearing politicians speak about drones being precision weapons, being > able to make 'surgical strikes', to me it's completely ridiculous, > completely ludicrous to even make those statements. It's as flawed as it > can be with those people operating it from across the world. If they > really think they can send a bomb through a window of a compound and hit > one militant then why are we seeing so many civilians die of collateral > damage? I'd like to ask those politicians have they not been notified of > that? Do they not know what's going on in their own war that they're > controlling? Linebaugh is also the author of: "I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/29/drones-us-military From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Nov 18 13:42:19 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2019 13:42:19 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Comparing drone views from two military women In-Reply-To: <1d3b1c86-5740-7664-b41e-25069b7426e7@forestfield.org> References: <1d3b1c86-5740-7664-b41e-25069b7426e7@forestfield.org> Message-ID: Yesterdays interview of Jimmy Dore by Aaron Mate is quite good: https://youtu.be/ufduP0bLfAY > On Nov 17, 2019, at 12:10, J.B. Nicholson via Peace wrote: > > I recently re-watched "National Bird" a documentary from 2016 about the drone war and I came across an interesting quote that reminded me of something Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said. > > Rep. Tulsi Gabbard from https://theintercept.com/2018/01/17/intercepted-podcast-white-mirror/ > > > So, with these terrorist cells, for example, yes, I do still believe > > that the right approach to take is these quick strike forces, surgical > > strikes, in and out, very quickly, no long-term deployment, no long-term > > occupation to be able to get rid of the threat that exists and then get > > out and the very limited use of drones in those situations where our > > military is not able to get in without creating an unacceptable level of > > risk, and where you can make sure that you?re not causing, you know, a > > large amount of civilian casualties. > > Heather Linebaugh served in the United States Air Force from 2009 until March 2012. Her bio in The Guardian says she worked in intelligence as an imagery analyst and geo-spatial analyst for the drone program during the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. > > Two years before Rep. Gabbard said that Heather Linebaugh said: > > > Hearing politicians speak about drones being precision weapons, being > > able to make 'surgical strikes', to me it's completely ridiculous, > > completely ludicrous to even make those statements. It's as flawed as it > > can be with those people operating it from across the world. If they > > really think they can send a bomb through a window of a compound and hit > > one militant then why are we seeing so many civilians die of collateral > > damage? I'd like to ask those politicians have they not been notified of > > that? Do they not know what's going on in their own war that they're > > controlling? > > Linebaugh is also the author of: > > "I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on" > https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/29/drones-us-military > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Nov 19 00:32:10 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 00:32:10 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Indigenous Bolivians now being massacred, US media isn't covering it. Message-ID: November 18th, 2019 By Alan Macleod 0 Comments FacebookTwitterRedditEmailMore8.3K Despite having been in power for only one week, the new Bolivian coup government of Jeanine A?ez has already turned the powers of repression onto the population, using live rounds on demonstrators protesting the forceful removal of President Evo Morales from power on November 10. Morales has sought asylum in Mexico. The death toll, according to Bolivia?s national ombudsman, has risen to 23, with more than one thousand people arrested. That figure includes the victims of the Cochabamba massacre, where soldiers and police killed nine indigenous protesters Friday. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1162480813373571074/_WraGkVs_normal.jpg] Dan Cohen ?@dancohen3000 Footage emerging from Cochabamba, Bolivia shows the aftermath of a massacre of indigenous protesters carried out by coup soldiers and police. This will be ignored by western media. [Embedded video] 4,383 2:09 PM - Nov 15, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 4,537 people are talking about this The full scope of the armed forces has been unleashed on demonstrators, with security forces using live ammunition, tanks and even attack helicopters to destroy resistance to the coup. Much of Bolivia?s security state, including many of the leaders of the coup, were trained by the FBI and by the notorious School of the Americas in Fort Benning, GA, a U.S. Army installation where many of the most brutal death squads and torturers in Latin American history cut their teeth. Those skills are now on show in Cochabamba. ?Death squads unleashed in Bolivia: the coup regime has granted immunity to soldiers who shoot protesters. In just days they?ve shot hundreds of people,? announced Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein via Twitter. Images and video of the deadly events immediately began circulating on social media. The scenes of panicked protesters fleeing gunshots or desperately checking dead or dying bodies shocked many: ?We?re watching the rounding up and killing of indigenous people in Bolivia in real time by right wing forces supported by the US. This should be a top story,? said journalist Rania Khalek. But the massacre is largely being downplayed in the mainstream press, who overwhelmingly supported former President Morales? ouster, framing events not as a coup, but as Morales ?resigning? from office. When reported on at all, the events are often euphemistically referred to as a ?clash? between Morales supporters and government forces, removing all agency and culpability from their headlines. To date, no mainstream Western outlet has used the word ?massacre? or similar, in headlines to describe the events. [https://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/AP_19320459008881_edited.jpg] A woman looks at the coffin of an Evo Morales supporter killed by security forces, in Sacaba, Bolivia, Nov. 16, 2019. Juan Karita | AP Likewise, the crescendo of violence has elicited a muted response from the professional human rights industry. Indeed, as hundreds of casualties were being taken to hospital, Human Rights Watch Director Ken Roth all but came out to support the coup, declaring that A?ez?s coup was actually ?defending democracy? against the ?electoral fraud? of Morales. Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International refused to condemn the coup or the repression in their statements on the violence. Hospitals across the country have been inundated with hundreds of people injured during the crackdown, a problem made worse by the fact that the new government has attacked, detained or deported hundreds of Cuban medical personnel who constitute the backbone of Bolivia?s public health services. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1078404582856888321/4ds2uyB3_normal.jpg] ?rika Ortega Sanoja ?@ErikaOSanoja La masacre que ha estado ejecutando la fuerza p?blica desde esta tarde en Sacaba, #Cochabamba, no tiene nombre. La mayor?a, heridos de bala, sobrepasa la atenci?n de los hospitales seg?n narra la persona que grab? este video. #15Nov #GolpeDeEstadoEnBolivia contra @evoespueblo [Embedded video] 2,484 2:40 PM - Nov 15, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 5,058 people are talking about this A License to Kill for Bolivia?s Security Services A?ez ominously announced that she is committed to ?taking all measures necessary? to ?pacify the country.? This included an official order pre-exonerating all security services from any crimes committed during the ?re-establishment of order,? effectively giving the army and the police a license to kill anyone who resists the new government. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/884247168370044928/CQaN8j_p_normal.jpg] Samuel Moncada at SMoncada_VEN La banda de asesinos que asalt? el poder en Bolivia cree que firmando un papel puede salvar a militares y polic?as que salen a matar a la poblaci?n civil. Ni siquiera en las guerras se eliminan las responsabilidades de los actores. Aqu? declaran la guerra sucia contra el pueblo. [View image on Twitter][View image on Twitter][View image on Twitter] 382 3:29 PM - Nov 16, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 779 people are talking about this A?ez, a fundamentalist Christian, first arrived at the Presidential Palace in La Paz November 12 brandishing an oversized, leather-bound Bible, shouting at reporters ?the Bible is returning? to Bolivia. She has previously declared the country?s indigenous population (who make up, by most counts, almost 90% of the population) as ?satanic? and claimed that they should not be allowed to live in Bolivia?s cities, only in the desert or highlands. [Jeanine Anez Fundamentalist Christian] Jeanine A?ez holds a Bible after she declared herself the country?s interim president of Bolivia in La Paz, Nov. 12, 2019. Juan Karita | AP Morales was the country?s first indigenous ruler since the Spanish invasion five centuries previously. Security forces loyal to A?ez publicly removed and burned the indigenous Wiphala flag patches from their uniforms, a symbolic gesture showing their commitment to the re-establishment of a white supremacist state. A?ez?s party, the Democrat Social Movement, won 4% of the vote in the October elections, making it the fourth-largest party in the country. In comparison, Morales received 47%. Nevertheless, the United States government has lent its full support to A?ez, the White House ?applauding? the military overthrow. Likewise, media has presented her positively as a ?women?s activist? ?setting a conservative, religious tone?. Her colleagues in government share similar far-right backgrounds. Coup leader Luis Fernando Camacho is part of a Neo-Nazi paramilitary group that wears the Iron Cross and other fascist regalia and practices the Roman (Sieg Heil) salute. A War on the Media However, Bolivia?s indigenous population is not the only target of police and military repression; multiple journalists covering the protests have also been shot. Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera correspondent Teresa Bo was tear-gassed in the face live on air at point-blank range by riot police, as she stood alone, away from the protests, talking to camera. The new government forced Bolivia TV off the air, while one TeleSUR journalist in Bolivia found that virtually every channel was dedicated to A?ez. Her new Communications Minister, Roxanna Liz?rrage announced that she intends to persecute journalists involved in what she called ?sedition?, adding that she already has compiled a list of ?troublesome members of the media.? [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1183147986290909186/DdT_WnG7_normal.jpg] Denis Rogatyuk at DenisRogatyuk The most heartbreaking video of all... The moment when a mother discovers her son amongst the dead today in Sacaba, Cochabamba, following the massacre of the protests by the government troops. #GolpeEnBolivia [Embedded video] 2,454 6:04 PM - Nov 15, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 2,798 people are talking about this Organized resistance, from indigenous groups, trade unions and Morales? Movement to Socialism party appears to be growing. However, the new government has made it absolutely clear that it intends to stay in power by any means necessary. The following few days will decide what direction Bolivia will take. Feature photo | A backer of President Evo Morales holding an indigenous flag kneels in front of soldiers guarding a street in downtown La Paz, Bolivia, Nov. 15, 2019. Natacha Pisarenko | AP Alan MacLeod is a MintPress Staff Writer as well as an academic and writer for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. His book, Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting was published in April. [https://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-content/themes/core/images//icons/creative-commons.png]Republish our stories! MintPress News is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License. 0 Comments FacebookTwitterRedditEmailMore8.3K * BOLIVIA * COUP * EVO MORALES * INDIGENOUS PROTESTERS * JEANINE ANEZ * MEDIA You Might Also Like -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Nov 19 00:32:10 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 00:32:10 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Indigenous Bolivians now being massacred, US media isn't covering it. Message-ID: November 18th, 2019 By Alan Macleod 0 Comments FacebookTwitterRedditEmailMore8.3K Despite having been in power for only one week, the new Bolivian coup government of Jeanine A?ez has already turned the powers of repression onto the population, using live rounds on demonstrators protesting the forceful removal of President Evo Morales from power on November 10. Morales has sought asylum in Mexico. The death toll, according to Bolivia?s national ombudsman, has risen to 23, with more than one thousand people arrested. That figure includes the victims of the Cochabamba massacre, where soldiers and police killed nine indigenous protesters Friday. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1162480813373571074/_WraGkVs_normal.jpg] Dan Cohen ?@dancohen3000 Footage emerging from Cochabamba, Bolivia shows the aftermath of a massacre of indigenous protesters carried out by coup soldiers and police. This will be ignored by western media. [Embedded video] 4,383 2:09 PM - Nov 15, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 4,537 people are talking about this The full scope of the armed forces has been unleashed on demonstrators, with security forces using live ammunition, tanks and even attack helicopters to destroy resistance to the coup. Much of Bolivia?s security state, including many of the leaders of the coup, were trained by the FBI and by the notorious School of the Americas in Fort Benning, GA, a U.S. Army installation where many of the most brutal death squads and torturers in Latin American history cut their teeth. Those skills are now on show in Cochabamba. ?Death squads unleashed in Bolivia: the coup regime has granted immunity to soldiers who shoot protesters. In just days they?ve shot hundreds of people,? announced Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein via Twitter. Images and video of the deadly events immediately began circulating on social media. The scenes of panicked protesters fleeing gunshots or desperately checking dead or dying bodies shocked many: ?We?re watching the rounding up and killing of indigenous people in Bolivia in real time by right wing forces supported by the US. This should be a top story,? said journalist Rania Khalek. But the massacre is largely being downplayed in the mainstream press, who overwhelmingly supported former President Morales? ouster, framing events not as a coup, but as Morales ?resigning? from office. When reported on at all, the events are often euphemistically referred to as a ?clash? between Morales supporters and government forces, removing all agency and culpability from their headlines. To date, no mainstream Western outlet has used the word ?massacre? or similar, in headlines to describe the events. [https://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/AP_19320459008881_edited.jpg] A woman looks at the coffin of an Evo Morales supporter killed by security forces, in Sacaba, Bolivia, Nov. 16, 2019. Juan Karita | AP Likewise, the crescendo of violence has elicited a muted response from the professional human rights industry. Indeed, as hundreds of casualties were being taken to hospital, Human Rights Watch Director Ken Roth all but came out to support the coup, declaring that A?ez?s coup was actually ?defending democracy? against the ?electoral fraud? of Morales. Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International refused to condemn the coup or the repression in their statements on the violence. Hospitals across the country have been inundated with hundreds of people injured during the crackdown, a problem made worse by the fact that the new government has attacked, detained or deported hundreds of Cuban medical personnel who constitute the backbone of Bolivia?s public health services. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1078404582856888321/4ds2uyB3_normal.jpg] ?rika Ortega Sanoja ?@ErikaOSanoja La masacre que ha estado ejecutando la fuerza p?blica desde esta tarde en Sacaba, #Cochabamba, no tiene nombre. La mayor?a, heridos de bala, sobrepasa la atenci?n de los hospitales seg?n narra la persona que grab? este video. #15Nov #GolpeDeEstadoEnBolivia contra @evoespueblo [Embedded video] 2,484 2:40 PM - Nov 15, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 5,058 people are talking about this A License to Kill for Bolivia?s Security Services A?ez ominously announced that she is committed to ?taking all measures necessary? to ?pacify the country.? This included an official order pre-exonerating all security services from any crimes committed during the ?re-establishment of order,? effectively giving the army and the police a license to kill anyone who resists the new government. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/884247168370044928/CQaN8j_p_normal.jpg] Samuel Moncada at SMoncada_VEN La banda de asesinos que asalt? el poder en Bolivia cree que firmando un papel puede salvar a militares y polic?as que salen a matar a la poblaci?n civil. Ni siquiera en las guerras se eliminan las responsabilidades de los actores. Aqu? declaran la guerra sucia contra el pueblo. [View image on Twitter][View image on Twitter][View image on Twitter] 382 3:29 PM - Nov 16, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 779 people are talking about this A?ez, a fundamentalist Christian, first arrived at the Presidential Palace in La Paz November 12 brandishing an oversized, leather-bound Bible, shouting at reporters ?the Bible is returning? to Bolivia. She has previously declared the country?s indigenous population (who make up, by most counts, almost 90% of the population) as ?satanic? and claimed that they should not be allowed to live in Bolivia?s cities, only in the desert or highlands. [Jeanine Anez Fundamentalist Christian] Jeanine A?ez holds a Bible after she declared herself the country?s interim president of Bolivia in La Paz, Nov. 12, 2019. Juan Karita | AP Morales was the country?s first indigenous ruler since the Spanish invasion five centuries previously. Security forces loyal to A?ez publicly removed and burned the indigenous Wiphala flag patches from their uniforms, a symbolic gesture showing their commitment to the re-establishment of a white supremacist state. A?ez?s party, the Democrat Social Movement, won 4% of the vote in the October elections, making it the fourth-largest party in the country. In comparison, Morales received 47%. Nevertheless, the United States government has lent its full support to A?ez, the White House ?applauding? the military overthrow. Likewise, media has presented her positively as a ?women?s activist? ?setting a conservative, religious tone?. Her colleagues in government share similar far-right backgrounds. Coup leader Luis Fernando Camacho is part of a Neo-Nazi paramilitary group that wears the Iron Cross and other fascist regalia and practices the Roman (Sieg Heil) salute. A War on the Media However, Bolivia?s indigenous population is not the only target of police and military repression; multiple journalists covering the protests have also been shot. Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera correspondent Teresa Bo was tear-gassed in the face live on air at point-blank range by riot police, as she stood alone, away from the protests, talking to camera. The new government forced Bolivia TV off the air, while one TeleSUR journalist in Bolivia found that virtually every channel was dedicated to A?ez. Her new Communications Minister, Roxanna Liz?rrage announced that she intends to persecute journalists involved in what she called ?sedition?, adding that she already has compiled a list of ?troublesome members of the media.? [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1183147986290909186/DdT_WnG7_normal.jpg] Denis Rogatyuk at DenisRogatyuk The most heartbreaking video of all... The moment when a mother discovers her son amongst the dead today in Sacaba, Cochabamba, following the massacre of the protests by the government troops. #GolpeEnBolivia [Embedded video] 2,454 6:04 PM - Nov 15, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 2,798 people are talking about this Organized resistance, from indigenous groups, trade unions and Morales? Movement to Socialism party appears to be growing. However, the new government has made it absolutely clear that it intends to stay in power by any means necessary. The following few days will decide what direction Bolivia will take. Feature photo | A backer of President Evo Morales holding an indigenous flag kneels in front of soldiers guarding a street in downtown La Paz, Bolivia, Nov. 15, 2019. Natacha Pisarenko | AP Alan MacLeod is a MintPress Staff Writer as well as an academic and writer for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. His book, Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting was published in April. [https://www.mintpressnews.com/wp-content/themes/core/images//icons/creative-commons.png]Republish our stories! MintPress News is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License. 0 Comments FacebookTwitterRedditEmailMore8.3K * BOLIVIA * COUP * EVO MORALES * INDIGENOUS PROTESTERS * JEANINE ANEZ * MEDIA You Might Also Like -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Nov 19 13:22:22 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 13:22:22 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: US Sanctions and Regime Change References: <2cc48fb30f331d97157a65aa2.236e62457b.20191119065958.4106795a75.492c9a5d@mail146.suw161.rsgsv.net> Message-ID: View this email in your browser [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/2cc48fb30f331d97157a65aa2/images/34ba081c-8f2e-4693-9ae9-cea33fc210c3.jpg] [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/2cc48fb30f331d97157a65aa2/images/e71b4ed1-393a-4604-b910-78ab0fa0b7e2.png] [Share] Share [Tweet] Tweet [Forward] Forward Washington Threatens Egypt with Sanctions Over Russian Su-35 Fighter Jet Purchase By Sarah Abed Washington?s latest attempt to dissuade an ally from making arms deals with Russia came in the form of a letter sent on last Wednesday to Egyptian officials warning them that they could face sanctions if they continued with their $2 billion dollar Su-35 fighter jets contract. In addition to sanctions, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esperwarned Egyptian Defense Minister Mohamed Ahmed Zaki that ?Major new arms deals with Russia would ? at a minimum ? complicate future U.S. defense transactions with and security assistance to Egypt,? in Wednesday?s letter. The United States sends Egypt $1.3 billion annually in military assistance. Read more... Bolivia?s U.S.-backed Coup Government Has Given the Military a License to Kill Protestors By Paul Antonopoulos The de facto and unelected president of Bolivia, Jeanine ??ez, signed a decree that exempts all military personnel from being criminally responsible, even in the cases of murder, in the midst of demonstrations against the coup d?etat that ousted democratically elected first Indigenous President of Bolivia, Evo Morales. Effectively, Bolivian security forces have a license to kill now. Since the decree was signed last Thursday, it has inevitably caused controversy with demonstrators and social media users alike. And it very well should ? it is a blatant U.S.-orchestrated coup against Morales who helped his country reduce unemployment, poverty and illiteracy by at least 50% from 2006 to 2018, and liberated his country from strangling neoliberal policies of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Read more... Why Is Thailand Buying Russian Helicopters? Are They Better than ?Made in America?? By Joseph Thomas Beginning in 2011, the Kingdom of Thailand began replacing aging US helicopters not with newer US-built models, but with Russian and Italian systems instead. This includes Russian Mi-17 medium twin-turbine transport helicopters and several AgustaWestland AW149?s and AW139?s (for transporting VIPs). Read more... Bolivia ? A Color Revolution ? or a New Surge for Latin American Independence? By Peter Koenig It?s become a classic. It?s being called a Color Revolution, and it?s been taking place on all Continents. The list of victim-countries includes, but is not exhaustive ? Colombia, Honduras, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, in some ways also Uruguay (the current left-leaning government is powerless and has to remain so, otherwise it will be ?changed?? that?s the name of the game) ? and now also Bolivia. ? Then there are Georgia, Ukraine, Iraq, South Sudan, Libya, Afghanistan, Indonesia; and the lawless rulers of the universe are attempting to ?regime change? North Korea, Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua ? and on a larger scale China and Russia (I just returned from China ? where the Government and people are fully aware what Washington?s intentions are behind every move they make). Read more... Operation Northwoods. False Flag Attacks and Regime Change. US Intervention in India By Great Game India Operation Northwoods was a proposed false flag operation against the Cuban government that originated within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of the United States government in 1962. The proposals called for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or other U.S. government operatives to commit acts of terrorism against American civilians and military targets, blaming them on the Cuban government, and using it to justify a war against Cuba. Read more... The Role of Russia?s Military Police in Syria. The Deal between Russia and Turkey? By Steven Sahiounie Turkey and Russia began joint patrols in the northeast conflict zone in Syria beginning November 1. The Russian military police, formed in 2012, is tasked with convoy protection, area security, restoring law and order, and resettlement operations. Russia recently sent about 300 more military police and more than 20 armored vehicles to Syria. Russia landed attack helicopters and troops at a sprawling air base at Qamisli in northeast Syria, recently vacated by US forces. Read more... Evo Overthrown, But Bolivian Socialism Will be Victorious! By Andre Vltchek They pledged to do it, and they did ? Bolivian feudal lords, mass media magnates and other treasonous ?elites? ? they overthrew the government, broke hope and interrupted an extremely successful socialist process in what was once one of the poorest countries in South America. One day, they will be cursed by their own nation. One day they will stand trial for sedition. One day, they will have to reveal who trained them, who employed them, who turned them into spineless beasts. One day! Hopefully soon. Read more... [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/2cc48fb30f331d97157a65aa2/images/5d629581-fa65-4649-a1eb-65715b85953b.png] [Visit our website] Visit our website [Follow us on Facebook] Follow us on Facebook [Folow us on Twitter] Folow us on Twitter [Global Research TV] Global Research TV Copyright ? 2019 Centre for Research on Globalization, All rights reserved. You are receiving this e-mail because you signed up for our newsletter Our mailing address is: Centre for Research on Globalization P.O. Box 55019 11 Notre-Dame Ouest Montreal, Qc H2Y 4A7 Canada Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Nov 19 13:22:22 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 13:22:22 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: US Sanctions and Regime Change References: <2cc48fb30f331d97157a65aa2.236e62457b.20191119065958.4106795a75.492c9a5d@mail146.suw161.rsgsv.net> Message-ID: View this email in your browser [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/2cc48fb30f331d97157a65aa2/images/34ba081c-8f2e-4693-9ae9-cea33fc210c3.jpg] [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/2cc48fb30f331d97157a65aa2/images/e71b4ed1-393a-4604-b910-78ab0fa0b7e2.png] [Share] Share [Tweet] Tweet [Forward] Forward Washington Threatens Egypt with Sanctions Over Russian Su-35 Fighter Jet Purchase By Sarah Abed Washington?s latest attempt to dissuade an ally from making arms deals with Russia came in the form of a letter sent on last Wednesday to Egyptian officials warning them that they could face sanctions if they continued with their $2 billion dollar Su-35 fighter jets contract. In addition to sanctions, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esperwarned Egyptian Defense Minister Mohamed Ahmed Zaki that ?Major new arms deals with Russia would ? at a minimum ? complicate future U.S. defense transactions with and security assistance to Egypt,? in Wednesday?s letter. The United States sends Egypt $1.3 billion annually in military assistance. Read more... Bolivia?s U.S.-backed Coup Government Has Given the Military a License to Kill Protestors By Paul Antonopoulos The de facto and unelected president of Bolivia, Jeanine ??ez, signed a decree that exempts all military personnel from being criminally responsible, even in the cases of murder, in the midst of demonstrations against the coup d?etat that ousted democratically elected first Indigenous President of Bolivia, Evo Morales. Effectively, Bolivian security forces have a license to kill now. Since the decree was signed last Thursday, it has inevitably caused controversy with demonstrators and social media users alike. And it very well should ? it is a blatant U.S.-orchestrated coup against Morales who helped his country reduce unemployment, poverty and illiteracy by at least 50% from 2006 to 2018, and liberated his country from strangling neoliberal policies of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Read more... Why Is Thailand Buying Russian Helicopters? Are They Better than ?Made in America?? By Joseph Thomas Beginning in 2011, the Kingdom of Thailand began replacing aging US helicopters not with newer US-built models, but with Russian and Italian systems instead. This includes Russian Mi-17 medium twin-turbine transport helicopters and several AgustaWestland AW149?s and AW139?s (for transporting VIPs). Read more... Bolivia ? A Color Revolution ? or a New Surge for Latin American Independence? By Peter Koenig It?s become a classic. It?s being called a Color Revolution, and it?s been taking place on all Continents. The list of victim-countries includes, but is not exhaustive ? Colombia, Honduras, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, in some ways also Uruguay (the current left-leaning government is powerless and has to remain so, otherwise it will be ?changed?? that?s the name of the game) ? and now also Bolivia. ? Then there are Georgia, Ukraine, Iraq, South Sudan, Libya, Afghanistan, Indonesia; and the lawless rulers of the universe are attempting to ?regime change? North Korea, Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua ? and on a larger scale China and Russia (I just returned from China ? where the Government and people are fully aware what Washington?s intentions are behind every move they make). Read more... Operation Northwoods. False Flag Attacks and Regime Change. US Intervention in India By Great Game India Operation Northwoods was a proposed false flag operation against the Cuban government that originated within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of the United States government in 1962. The proposals called for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or other U.S. government operatives to commit acts of terrorism against American civilians and military targets, blaming them on the Cuban government, and using it to justify a war against Cuba. Read more... The Role of Russia?s Military Police in Syria. The Deal between Russia and Turkey? By Steven Sahiounie Turkey and Russia began joint patrols in the northeast conflict zone in Syria beginning November 1. The Russian military police, formed in 2012, is tasked with convoy protection, area security, restoring law and order, and resettlement operations. Russia recently sent about 300 more military police and more than 20 armored vehicles to Syria. Russia landed attack helicopters and troops at a sprawling air base at Qamisli in northeast Syria, recently vacated by US forces. Read more... Evo Overthrown, But Bolivian Socialism Will be Victorious! By Andre Vltchek They pledged to do it, and they did ? Bolivian feudal lords, mass media magnates and other treasonous ?elites? ? they overthrew the government, broke hope and interrupted an extremely successful socialist process in what was once one of the poorest countries in South America. One day, they will be cursed by their own nation. One day they will stand trial for sedition. One day, they will have to reveal who trained them, who employed them, who turned them into spineless beasts. One day! Hopefully soon. Read more... [https://gallery.mailchimp.com/2cc48fb30f331d97157a65aa2/images/5d629581-fa65-4649-a1eb-65715b85953b.png] [Visit our website] Visit our website [Follow us on Facebook] Follow us on Facebook [Folow us on Twitter] Folow us on Twitter [Global Research TV] Global Research TV Copyright ? 2019 Centre for Research on Globalization, All rights reserved. You are receiving this e-mail because you signed up for our newsletter Our mailing address is: Centre for Research on Globalization P.O. Box 55019 11 Notre-Dame Ouest Montreal, Qc H2Y 4A7 Canada Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From moboct1 at aim.com Tue Nov 19 14:04:03 2019 From: moboct1 at aim.com (Mildred O'brien) Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 14:04:03 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Comparing drone views from two military women In-Reply-To: References: <1d3b1c86-5740-7664-b41e-25069b7426e7@forestfield.org> Message-ID: <1995362996.3179590.1574172243299@mail.yahoo.com> No doubt why so many remote drone operators have/had the highest suicide rate of Middle East wars veterans... Midge? -----Original Message----- From: Karen Aram via Peace-discuss To: Peace Discuss Cc: J.B. Nicholson ; Peace Sent: Mon, Nov 18, 2019 7:43 am Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] [Peace] Comparing drone views from two military women Yesterdays interview of Jimmy Dore by Aaron Mate is quite good: https://youtu.be/ufduP0bLfAY > On Nov 17, 2019, at 12:10, J.B. Nicholson via Peace wrote: > > I recently re-watched "National Bird" a documentary from 2016 about the drone war and I came across an interesting quote that reminded me of something Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said. > > Rep. Tulsi Gabbard from https://theintercept.com/2018/01/17/intercepted-podcast-white-mirror/ > > > So, with these terrorist cells, for example, yes, I do still believe > > that the right approach to take is these quick strike forces, surgical > > strikes, in and out, very quickly, no long-term deployment, no long-term > > occupation to be able to get rid of the threat that exists and then get > > out and the very limited use of drones in those situations where our > > military is not able to get in without creating an unacceptable level of > > risk, and where you can make sure that you?re not causing, you know, a > > large amount of civilian casualties. > > Heather Linebaugh served in the United States Air Force from 2009 until March 2012. Her bio in The Guardian says she worked in intelligence as an imagery analyst and geo-spatial analyst for the drone program during the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. > > Two years before Rep. Gabbard said that Heather Linebaugh said: > > > Hearing politicians speak about drones being precision weapons, being > > able to make 'surgical strikes', to me it's completely ridiculous, > > completely ludicrous to even make those statements. It's as flawed as it > > can be with those people operating it from across the world. If they > > really think they can send a bomb through a window of a compound and hit > > one militant then why are we seeing so many civilians die of collateral > > damage? I'd like to ask those politicians have they not been notified of > > that? Do they not know what's going on in their own war that they're > > controlling? > > Linebaugh is also the author of: > > "I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on" > https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/29/drones-us-military > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace _______________________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Nov 19 15:03:06 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 15:03:06 +0000 Subject: [Peace] From Redacted Tonight/Redfish, good news as of yesterday afternoon, in relation to Bolivia Message-ID: "The resistance against the right-wing military coup in Bolivia is growing. Bolivian soldiers of the infantry division have reportedly abandoned their posts and joined Indigenous anti-coup protesters marching to La Paz.? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Nov 19 16:23:57 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 16:23:57 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Bernie Sanders' Stance on Bolivia Matters References: <1aae0940-8a84-476e-a0fc-8d466820a68e@dfw1s10mta661.xt.local> Message-ID: [Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists] TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2019 FEATURED STORY [https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/AP_19321081985957-750x500.jpg] OPINION [Share on Facebook] [Share on Twitter] Bernie Sanders' Stance on Bolivia Matters By Jacob Sugarman ? Any party even nominally opposed to imperialism should be able to identify a coup as such. It's a test Democrats have failed miserably. Read more OPINION [https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/USCIAICCAfghanistan_798.jpg] MILITARY [Share on Facebook] [Share on Twitter] Ending Endless War From the Right By Maj. Danny Sjursen ? A new generation of veterans may signal a profound change in America's post-9/11 forever wars. Read more [https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/4979252760_84ac0019db_b-850x638.jpg] ECONOMY & BUSINESS [Share on Facebook] [Share on Twitter] America's Not-So-Secret Weapon for Dominating the Middle East By William Hartung / TomDispatch ? The deadly U.S. monopoly of the Mideast arms trade has become even more dangerous under Trump. Will Congress do something about it? Read more [https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/iran-economic-blockade-and-crowd-750x422.jpg] ACTIVISM [Share on Facebook] [Share on Twitter] The U.S. Is Setting the Stage for Another Coup in Iran By Juan Cole ? Recent protests in Iran echo the social unrest that preceded the U.S.-sponsored coup of 1953. Read more EAR TO THE GROUND [https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/AP_19274209811523-749x500.jpg] ARTS AND CULTURE [Share on Facebook] [Share on Twitter] Trump Sycophant Jon Voight to Receive National Medal of Arts By Ilana Novick ? The actor is among the first honorees of the presidency. Read more CARTOON [https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/231947-729x500.jpg] Fighting Corruption Worldwide BY MONTE WOLVERTON [Share on Facebook] [Share on Twitter] [Donate Today!] [Follow Truthdig on Twitter] [Find us on Facebook] Truthdig 1158 26th Street #443 Santa Monica, CA 90403-4698 Support Truthdig | Contact Us | Unsubscribe | Update Profile [http://go.pardot.com/r/777373/1/8691739/open/1] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Nov 19 17:15:31 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 17:15:31 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Please sign the petition from Media Benjamin References: <5dd41d5739b09_5852b08f6073161@asgworker-qmb3-9.nbuild.prd.useast1.3dna.io.mail> Message-ID: From: "Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK" > Subject: I?m in Bolivia. Why isn?t the U.N? [CODEPINK.ORG] [https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/codepink/mailings/4029/attachments/original/Bolivia_Action2.jpg?1574181533] Dear ???. For the past week, I have been in Bolivia. I came at the request of local activists who are panicked about the situation in their country, afraid that things are spiraling out of control. They are engaging in peaceful protests to reverse the coup that happened November 10th, but the protests have been met with tear gas and even live ammunition. Unfortunately, mainstream media and even some progressive outlets are refusing to recognize that what happened a week ago was a coup and are not covering the coup regime?s racism and violence. Already, 24 protesters have been killed and nearly 600 have been wounded; hundreds more have been rounded up on jails, where the conditions are abysmal. People are appalled at t how racist and hateful the coup regime is. To draw more attention to this conflict we have launched a petition urgently asking the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to come here. Will you add your name? On the same day that I arrived in Bolivia, Bachelet spoke out. "I am really concerned that the situation in Bolivia could spin out of control," she said, while also voicing concern about the widespread arrests taking place. "This situation is not going to be resolved by force and repression," she said. "All sectors have the right to make their voice heard ? this is the basis for democracy." But if Bachelet really wants to be helpful, if she really wants to see the situation resolved and the people protected, why isn?t she here on the ground with me? Tell Bachelet to join me immediately. She should witness the situation with her own eyes. I am on the streets alongside thousands of Bolivians ? despite the coup regime?s violence ? demanding the resignations of the coup regime and insisting on a return to democracy. However, the coup regime appears determined to hang onto power for as long as it can. Coup leader and self-appointed interim president of Bolivia, Jeanine A?ez, appointed a whole new cabinet and already begun changing Bolivia?s foreign policy, despite having no such mandate. The coup regime?s interim Interior Minister issued a decree exempting the country?s police and military from criminal charges that would otherwise arise as a result of their treatment of the protesters. It is terribly scary, but I am proud to be among the crowds of indigenous people marching for their country. A month ago, Bolivia was a stable country with a growing economy and decreasing poverty and inequality. Now, chaos and violence have gripped the country, as racism and religious discrimination are rearing their ugly heads. The indigenous Wiphala flag has been ripped off government buildings and uniforms, while the coup regime brags about the supremacy of Christianity and the Bible over the Pachamama (the Andean goddess representing mother earth) and calls sacred indigenous traditions ?satanic.? The people of Bolivia need the international community to come here to witness--and stop--the repression and slide to a police state. Please join me in telling U.N. Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet to join me here on the ground in Bolivia. In solidarity with the Bolivian people, Medea, and the entire CODEPINK Team: P.S. CODEPINK has drafted a press release, written an article, held a webinar, made a video and started a petition describing why the events in Bolivia should be called a coup. Please check these materials out and listen to me live on CODEPINK radio on Thursday, November 21 at 11 am EST and for a CODEPINK Facebook Live webinar on Wednesday, November 20 at 12 pm EST. I have also been livestreaming everyday. [Donate Now!] [http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/themes/57bdd4fd79bffa57d0000008/attachments/original/1511733600/Twitter.png?1511733600] [http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/themes/57bdd4fd79bffa57d0000008/attachments/original/1511733600/Facebook.png?1511733600] [http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/themes/57bdd4fd79bffa57d0000008/attachments/original/1511733600/Instagram.png?1511733600] [http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/themes/57bdd4fd79bffa57d0000008/attachments/original/1511733718/YouTube.png?1511733718] [http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/themes/57bdd4fd79bffa57d0000008/attachments/original/1511733600/Flickr.png?1511733600] ? Copyright 2019 | www.codepink.org Created with NationBuilder -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Nov 19 19:58:22 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 19:58:22 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Join Movimiento Estudiantil (formerly known as MEChA) and the Party for Socialism and Liberation Teach In on Bolivia Message-ID: [ME de UIUC's photo.] NOV20 Bolivia Teach-In Public ? Hosted by ME de UIUC and Party for Socialism and Liberation - Champaign-Urbana Interested Share * clock Wednesday, November 20, 2019 at 7 PM ? 9 PM CST Tomorrow * pin Gregory Hall Room 331 * Hosted by ME de UIUC Join Movimiento Estudiantil (formerly known as MEChA) and the Party for Socialism and Liberation on Wednesday, November 20th to learn more about Bolivia's political climate, the presidency of Evo Morales and U.S. intervention! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Nov 20 12:55:48 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2019 12:55:48 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Leonard Peltier out of Lockdown Message-ID: https://www.facebook.com/PSLChicago/photos/a.10152154921019080/10156727261449080/?type=3&theater -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Nov 20 15:04:40 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2019 15:04:40 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment by Paul Street Message-ID: Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment COMMENTS * * * * [Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment]President Donald Trump addresses the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, at the White House in August. (Mike Vucci / AP) The most powerful position in the world?s most powerful nation is occupied by a demented fascist oligarch. He demonizes and scapegoats minorities and immigrants. He provides dog-whistle cover for white supremacists. He sparks racist hate crimes with his vicious nativist words. He speaks with disdain about inner-city black communities. He tells police officers not to ?be too nice? with suspects. He packs the courts with hard-right racists, classists, sexists and eco-exterminists, toxically reshaping the federal judiciary for a generation. He has cultivated and rewarded Christian fascists, one of whom (Mike Pence) is his vice president He calls African nations shithole countries. He told four nonwhite progressive U.S. Congresswomen to ?go back to ? the crime infested places from which they came.? He has absurdly threatened to ?end birthright citizenship? (the granting of U.S. citizenship to all persons born on U.S. soil under the Constitution?s 14th Amendment) with an executive order. Trump violates international asylum law and separates migrant children from their parents. He indefinitely detains tens of thousands of migrant children and families in for-profit concentration camps. He declared a fake national emergency to criminally divert taxpayer dollars to the construction of a nativist border wall that most of the citizenry hates and Congress refused to fund. Believing his dotard self ?the world?s greatest person,? he promotes an absurd cult of personality, proclaiming himself a ?stable genius.? He regularly praises dictators and despots the world over. He absurdly claims that Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution means that ?I have the power to do whatever I want as president.? Donald Trump attacks basic press freedoms. He demonizes and falsely conflates liberals and leftists. He mocks and disrespects intellectuals and science. He absurdly denies climate science and arch-criminally ramps up the eco-exterminist war on livable ecology. He refused to adequately prepare for and respond to the epic climate change-fueled Hurricanes Harvey and Maria. He absurdly blames California?s deadly climate change-driven wildfires on the state?s failure to ?sweep the forest floors.? He threatened North Korea and Iran with nuclear annihilation. He provided cover for the absolutist Saudi Arabian regime?s murderous vivisection of a dissident journalist. He funds and equips the Saudis? criminal and catastrophic war on Yemen over Congressional opposition. Last Friday he pardoned three murderous U.S. military war criminals. He has turned the U.S. Attorney General into his own personal attorney. He has conducted a corrupt foreign policy on behalf of his own economic and political self-interest. He brazenly violates the Constitution?s emoluments clause while preposterously calling that clause ?phony.? He denies and obstructs Congress? constitutional right and duty to investigate his conduct. He criminally intimidates witnesses and whistleblowers, calling them ?traitors.? He describes a constitutionally appropriate inquiry into his immoral and illegal behavior as a ?lynching? and a ?coup.? His far right-wing attorney general, William Barr, argues that his executive powers are essentially unlimited and seeks to undermine the constitutional separation of church and state. He wages a relentless Orwellian war on Truth, replete with more than 10,000 documentable false statements since his inauguration. He openly flirts with calling for the use of extra-legal political violence on his behalf by his heavily armed backers, suggesting that impeachment could spark ?Civil War.? He is the first president in American history to pose a serious threat of refusing to honor a re-election count that doesn?t go his way. This is a national, and indeed global, emergency. We need Donald Trump out of the White House. How do we make that happen? There?s no great mystery about how citizens humble and even overthrow corrupt and tyrannical governments. They take to the streets in significant numbers, engaging in mass disruption for as long as it takes. Look at Algeria, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Chile, to mention six places where mass protest and popular resistance have recently proven highly effective. Look now to Iraq, where hundreds of thousands have marched against corruption, even in the face of lethal live ammunition, and to Bolivia, where workers and peasants are facing bloody repression to resist a neofascist coup that was immediately applauded as a victory for ?freedom? and ?democracy? by Trump. It doesn?t take the whole population to change history from the bottom up. Five days of insurrection by 200,000 people forced the French government to back down on its regressive gas tax last year. Extinction Rebellion leader Roger Hallam notes that it requires dedicated resistance by just 3% of the population to overthrow a regime. If Hallam is right, then ten days of rebellion by a quantity of Americans roughly equivalent to the population of the Chicago metropwolitan area could force the U.S. ruling class to get rid of Trump. It is unthinkable that any but a few marginal voices in the mainstream ?liberal? Democrats and their media (CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, et al.) would call for peoples? power in the streets to bring down the Trump tyranny. The ?liberal? elite is fiercely committed to Fake Resistance. It may be obsessed with Trump to the exclusion of practically everything else that ought to matter in national and world events (popular rebellions from France to Chile, Beirut, Quito and Hong Kong included) but they will not embrace the most effective method of collapsing the Trump-Pence regime collapse: mass mobilization and protest. Embracing an authentic people?s resistance movement would open a popular-democratic door that the Democratic establishment prefers to keep shut. That establishment is instead advancing two tepid, deeply conservative strategies that will likely fail to get Trump out and will come with dreadful downsides?even if they succeed. Both of these strategies are designed keep the U.S. working-class majority functioning not as engaged historical agents, but as passive, system-trusting spectators who accede to a narrow definition of ?politics? as little more than the occasional, strictly time-staggered marking of ballots next to the names of candidates selected in advance by the nation?s unelected and interrelated dictatorships of money and empire. The first of these power-serving strategies is the standard quadrennial get-out-the-vote effort to rally citizens behind yet another corporate-centrist billionaire-pleasing and militaristic ?national security? Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Democratic presidential candidate like Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or the newly minted Iowa Caucus front-runner Pete Buttigieg?a silver-tongued right-winger (see Nathan Robinson?s brilliant take-down in Current Affairs last spring) wearing fake-progressive identity cloaking (like a certain technically black Wall Street-serving drone bomber-to-be in 2007). This is the same depressing neoliberal track that has so badly betrayed, divided and demobilized the nation?s working-class majority so as to grease the skids for Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Newt Gingrich?s Contract on America, George Bush Jr, the racist Tea Party and the malignant white nationalist Trump. With the usual help from the anti-democratic Electoral Collegeand racist voter suppression in battleground states, Trump will likely prevail over yet another dismal, dollar-drenched capitalist Democrat in November 2020. But even if the Democrats are able to win the Electoral College count and induce Trump to leave (with some help perhaps from constitutionalists in the U.S. military command), putting another Wall Street Democrat in the White House will just open door the for another neofascist white-nationalist Republican president in 2024?possibly someone more ideologically dedicated, less obviously corrupt and thus more dangerous than Trump. (Yes, the Democrats could prevail if they run the self-declared democratic socialist Bernie Sanders. But the Democrats? big money bankrollers and media won?t let that happen. The Democratic establishment?s dirty little secret is that it would rather lose to the right, even to a hard-right nationalist right-wing party, than lose to the mildly left wing of its own party. Even the avowedly ?capitalist to her bones? Elizabeth Warren is considered ?too far left? by top Democratic Wall Street funders). The second flawed ?liberal? strategy is, of course, impeachment, likely by the end of the year. It requires just a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, where the Democrats hold sway. But (as a remarkable number of U.S.-Americans I encounter seem not to know) removal requires a two-thirds vote in the U.S. Senate, where the nation?s most racist and right-wing regions are absurdly over-represented and the Trumpified Republican Party holds sway. The Republican-run Senate is not going to remove the demented fascist oligarch from office just because he tried to trade New Cold War arms for political dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine?not when a super-majority of Republicans ?strongly approve? of Trump?s performance no matter what he does or says. And Trump may well use ?exoneration? by the Senate to his electoral advantage next November. At the same time, the Democrats are pursuing impeachment on chillingly narrow and imperialist grounds that whitewash the crimes of U.S. foreign policy, past and present. Democratic politicos and talking heads proclaim House impeachment testifier Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. a great ?national hero? and all-around ?good guy? because Taylor was a rifle company commander ?serving? in the Quang Tri and Thua Tien provinces in the United States? beloved 101st Airborne during the so-called Vietnam War. Fellow Ukraine-Gate witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is upheld as another great patriot for ?serving? in the U.S. invasion of Iraq. How depressing: The U.S. ?crucifixion of Southeast Asia? (Noam Chomsky) murdered 2-5 millionVietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians between 1962 and 1975. The arch-criminal U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq killed one million-plus Iraqis. One need not be a fan of Vladimir Putin?s oligarchic regime to wonder what?s so great about Washington?s sponsorship of the corrupt U.S.-backed capitalist Ukraine government, which is the product of a U.S.-backed 2014 coup and contains neo-Nazis. On what grounds do top Democrats think Washington has the rightto play power politics and help fuel hot wars on Russia?s western border? ?The U.S. government,? Sheldon Richman tried to remind Americans one year ago, ?has no businesses policing relations between Ukraine and Russia. Even if that role were appropriate for some party, the U.S. government would not be the one, because it hardly has clean hands in the matter.? How would U.S.-Americans feel about Russia and/or China sending military equipment to an anti-U.S. regime in Mexico or Canada? And if Democrats are so committed to democracy around the world, why have none of them beyond Sanders and a few other progressives denounced the recent neofascist coup in Bolivia or voiced support for this year?s popular uprisings in Ecuador and Chile? Trump deserves removal not just for his crooked Ukraine shenanigans and related obstructions of justice, but for setting up concentration camps, separating babies and children from their families, inciting violence, interfering with voting rights, discriminating on the basis of religion, waging criminal war, criminally threatening nuclear war, abusing his pardon power, violating the emoluments clause, assaulting press freedoms, backing coups in Venezuela and Bolivia, unconstitutionally declaring a fake national emergency, violating campaign finance laws, illegal proliferation of nuclear technology, tax fraud, instructing Border Patrol to violate the law, stripping environmental and public lands protections, and doing everything he can to turn the planet into a giant Greenhouse Gas Chamber as soon as possible. Even if impeachment leads to removal, Trump?s defenestration merely for interjecting his personal interests into Washington?s imperialist policy in Eastern Europe could constitute both an undeserved validation of that policy and an exoneration of Trump for his much bigger transgressions. And it would put the dangerous right-evangelical troglodyte Mike Pence in the Oval Office?a chilling prospect. To make matters worse, impeachment threatens to become a great rallying point for Trump?s ugly white-nationalist base while encouraging the nation?s all-too-silent progressive majority to stay seated in front of glowing Telescreens to watch House Democrats and liberal cable news taking heads falsely claim to be collapsing the Trump regime from the top down. If we are serious about getting rid of the demented fascist oligarch and his insurance policy, Pence, then we are going to have to join and expand an authentic opposition, a real popular resistance in the streets. The effective and meaningfully democratic way to remove Trump is not through elite procedures designed by 18th century slaveholders for whom democracy was the ultimate nightmare. It is through sustained mass civil disobedience?through rebellion by and for those whom the American ruling class fears and hates the most: the working-class majority. The sooner Trump can be forced out, the better. Curiously enough, impeachment makes the need to form a grassroots movement to overthrow the Trump-Pence regime more urgent than ever. Now that he?s looking at impeachment and a Senate trial, there?s no telling what Trump and his heavily armed minions might do. He has enormous means of mass destruction and mass distraction at his neofascistic fingertips. We need Trump and Pence out now, not some time next year. The way to make that happen is with a mass movement that will not only sweep him from power but challenge the richly bipartisan racist, sexist, imperial and eco-cidal class rule system that hatched the Trump regime in the first place. Paul Street Contributor Paul Street holds a doctorate in U.S. history from Binghamton University. He is former vice president for research and planning of the Chicago Urban League. Street is also the author of numerous books,? [Paul Street] IN THIS ARTICLE: chile donald trump ecuador fascism george h w bush hong kongmike pence new york times newt gingrich twitter ukrainevladimir putin william barr -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Nov 20 15:04:40 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2019 15:04:40 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment by Paul Street Message-ID: Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment COMMENTS * * * * [Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment]President Donald Trump addresses the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, at the White House in August. (Mike Vucci / AP) The most powerful position in the world?s most powerful nation is occupied by a demented fascist oligarch. He demonizes and scapegoats minorities and immigrants. He provides dog-whistle cover for white supremacists. He sparks racist hate crimes with his vicious nativist words. He speaks with disdain about inner-city black communities. He tells police officers not to ?be too nice? with suspects. He packs the courts with hard-right racists, classists, sexists and eco-exterminists, toxically reshaping the federal judiciary for a generation. He has cultivated and rewarded Christian fascists, one of whom (Mike Pence) is his vice president He calls African nations shithole countries. He told four nonwhite progressive U.S. Congresswomen to ?go back to ? the crime infested places from which they came.? He has absurdly threatened to ?end birthright citizenship? (the granting of U.S. citizenship to all persons born on U.S. soil under the Constitution?s 14th Amendment) with an executive order. Trump violates international asylum law and separates migrant children from their parents. He indefinitely detains tens of thousands of migrant children and families in for-profit concentration camps. He declared a fake national emergency to criminally divert taxpayer dollars to the construction of a nativist border wall that most of the citizenry hates and Congress refused to fund. Believing his dotard self ?the world?s greatest person,? he promotes an absurd cult of personality, proclaiming himself a ?stable genius.? He regularly praises dictators and despots the world over. He absurdly claims that Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution means that ?I have the power to do whatever I want as president.? Donald Trump attacks basic press freedoms. He demonizes and falsely conflates liberals and leftists. He mocks and disrespects intellectuals and science. He absurdly denies climate science and arch-criminally ramps up the eco-exterminist war on livable ecology. He refused to adequately prepare for and respond to the epic climate change-fueled Hurricanes Harvey and Maria. He absurdly blames California?s deadly climate change-driven wildfires on the state?s failure to ?sweep the forest floors.? He threatened North Korea and Iran with nuclear annihilation. He provided cover for the absolutist Saudi Arabian regime?s murderous vivisection of a dissident journalist. He funds and equips the Saudis? criminal and catastrophic war on Yemen over Congressional opposition. Last Friday he pardoned three murderous U.S. military war criminals. He has turned the U.S. Attorney General into his own personal attorney. He has conducted a corrupt foreign policy on behalf of his own economic and political self-interest. He brazenly violates the Constitution?s emoluments clause while preposterously calling that clause ?phony.? He denies and obstructs Congress? constitutional right and duty to investigate his conduct. He criminally intimidates witnesses and whistleblowers, calling them ?traitors.? He describes a constitutionally appropriate inquiry into his immoral and illegal behavior as a ?lynching? and a ?coup.? His far right-wing attorney general, William Barr, argues that his executive powers are essentially unlimited and seeks to undermine the constitutional separation of church and state. He wages a relentless Orwellian war on Truth, replete with more than 10,000 documentable false statements since his inauguration. He openly flirts with calling for the use of extra-legal political violence on his behalf by his heavily armed backers, suggesting that impeachment could spark ?Civil War.? He is the first president in American history to pose a serious threat of refusing to honor a re-election count that doesn?t go his way. This is a national, and indeed global, emergency. We need Donald Trump out of the White House. How do we make that happen? There?s no great mystery about how citizens humble and even overthrow corrupt and tyrannical governments. They take to the streets in significant numbers, engaging in mass disruption for as long as it takes. Look at Algeria, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Chile, to mention six places where mass protest and popular resistance have recently proven highly effective. Look now to Iraq, where hundreds of thousands have marched against corruption, even in the face of lethal live ammunition, and to Bolivia, where workers and peasants are facing bloody repression to resist a neofascist coup that was immediately applauded as a victory for ?freedom? and ?democracy? by Trump. It doesn?t take the whole population to change history from the bottom up. Five days of insurrection by 200,000 people forced the French government to back down on its regressive gas tax last year. Extinction Rebellion leader Roger Hallam notes that it requires dedicated resistance by just 3% of the population to overthrow a regime. If Hallam is right, then ten days of rebellion by a quantity of Americans roughly equivalent to the population of the Chicago metropwolitan area could force the U.S. ruling class to get rid of Trump. It is unthinkable that any but a few marginal voices in the mainstream ?liberal? Democrats and their media (CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, et al.) would call for peoples? power in the streets to bring down the Trump tyranny. The ?liberal? elite is fiercely committed to Fake Resistance. It may be obsessed with Trump to the exclusion of practically everything else that ought to matter in national and world events (popular rebellions from France to Chile, Beirut, Quito and Hong Kong included) but they will not embrace the most effective method of collapsing the Trump-Pence regime collapse: mass mobilization and protest. Embracing an authentic people?s resistance movement would open a popular-democratic door that the Democratic establishment prefers to keep shut. That establishment is instead advancing two tepid, deeply conservative strategies that will likely fail to get Trump out and will come with dreadful downsides?even if they succeed. Both of these strategies are designed keep the U.S. working-class majority functioning not as engaged historical agents, but as passive, system-trusting spectators who accede to a narrow definition of ?politics? as little more than the occasional, strictly time-staggered marking of ballots next to the names of candidates selected in advance by the nation?s unelected and interrelated dictatorships of money and empire. The first of these power-serving strategies is the standard quadrennial get-out-the-vote effort to rally citizens behind yet another corporate-centrist billionaire-pleasing and militaristic ?national security? Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Democratic presidential candidate like Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or the newly minted Iowa Caucus front-runner Pete Buttigieg?a silver-tongued right-winger (see Nathan Robinson?s brilliant take-down in Current Affairs last spring) wearing fake-progressive identity cloaking (like a certain technically black Wall Street-serving drone bomber-to-be in 2007). This is the same depressing neoliberal track that has so badly betrayed, divided and demobilized the nation?s working-class majority so as to grease the skids for Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Newt Gingrich?s Contract on America, George Bush Jr, the racist Tea Party and the malignant white nationalist Trump. With the usual help from the anti-democratic Electoral Collegeand racist voter suppression in battleground states, Trump will likely prevail over yet another dismal, dollar-drenched capitalist Democrat in November 2020. But even if the Democrats are able to win the Electoral College count and induce Trump to leave (with some help perhaps from constitutionalists in the U.S. military command), putting another Wall Street Democrat in the White House will just open door the for another neofascist white-nationalist Republican president in 2024?possibly someone more ideologically dedicated, less obviously corrupt and thus more dangerous than Trump. (Yes, the Democrats could prevail if they run the self-declared democratic socialist Bernie Sanders. But the Democrats? big money bankrollers and media won?t let that happen. The Democratic establishment?s dirty little secret is that it would rather lose to the right, even to a hard-right nationalist right-wing party, than lose to the mildly left wing of its own party. Even the avowedly ?capitalist to her bones? Elizabeth Warren is considered ?too far left? by top Democratic Wall Street funders). The second flawed ?liberal? strategy is, of course, impeachment, likely by the end of the year. It requires just a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, where the Democrats hold sway. But (as a remarkable number of U.S.-Americans I encounter seem not to know) removal requires a two-thirds vote in the U.S. Senate, where the nation?s most racist and right-wing regions are absurdly over-represented and the Trumpified Republican Party holds sway. The Republican-run Senate is not going to remove the demented fascist oligarch from office just because he tried to trade New Cold War arms for political dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine?not when a super-majority of Republicans ?strongly approve? of Trump?s performance no matter what he does or says. And Trump may well use ?exoneration? by the Senate to his electoral advantage next November. At the same time, the Democrats are pursuing impeachment on chillingly narrow and imperialist grounds that whitewash the crimes of U.S. foreign policy, past and present. Democratic politicos and talking heads proclaim House impeachment testifier Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. a great ?national hero? and all-around ?good guy? because Taylor was a rifle company commander ?serving? in the Quang Tri and Thua Tien provinces in the United States? beloved 101st Airborne during the so-called Vietnam War. Fellow Ukraine-Gate witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is upheld as another great patriot for ?serving? in the U.S. invasion of Iraq. How depressing: The U.S. ?crucifixion of Southeast Asia? (Noam Chomsky) murdered 2-5 millionVietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians between 1962 and 1975. The arch-criminal U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq killed one million-plus Iraqis. One need not be a fan of Vladimir Putin?s oligarchic regime to wonder what?s so great about Washington?s sponsorship of the corrupt U.S.-backed capitalist Ukraine government, which is the product of a U.S.-backed 2014 coup and contains neo-Nazis. On what grounds do top Democrats think Washington has the rightto play power politics and help fuel hot wars on Russia?s western border? ?The U.S. government,? Sheldon Richman tried to remind Americans one year ago, ?has no businesses policing relations between Ukraine and Russia. Even if that role were appropriate for some party, the U.S. government would not be the one, because it hardly has clean hands in the matter.? How would U.S.-Americans feel about Russia and/or China sending military equipment to an anti-U.S. regime in Mexico or Canada? And if Democrats are so committed to democracy around the world, why have none of them beyond Sanders and a few other progressives denounced the recent neofascist coup in Bolivia or voiced support for this year?s popular uprisings in Ecuador and Chile? Trump deserves removal not just for his crooked Ukraine shenanigans and related obstructions of justice, but for setting up concentration camps, separating babies and children from their families, inciting violence, interfering with voting rights, discriminating on the basis of religion, waging criminal war, criminally threatening nuclear war, abusing his pardon power, violating the emoluments clause, assaulting press freedoms, backing coups in Venezuela and Bolivia, unconstitutionally declaring a fake national emergency, violating campaign finance laws, illegal proliferation of nuclear technology, tax fraud, instructing Border Patrol to violate the law, stripping environmental and public lands protections, and doing everything he can to turn the planet into a giant Greenhouse Gas Chamber as soon as possible. Even if impeachment leads to removal, Trump?s defenestration merely for interjecting his personal interests into Washington?s imperialist policy in Eastern Europe could constitute both an undeserved validation of that policy and an exoneration of Trump for his much bigger transgressions. And it would put the dangerous right-evangelical troglodyte Mike Pence in the Oval Office?a chilling prospect. To make matters worse, impeachment threatens to become a great rallying point for Trump?s ugly white-nationalist base while encouraging the nation?s all-too-silent progressive majority to stay seated in front of glowing Telescreens to watch House Democrats and liberal cable news taking heads falsely claim to be collapsing the Trump regime from the top down. If we are serious about getting rid of the demented fascist oligarch and his insurance policy, Pence, then we are going to have to join and expand an authentic opposition, a real popular resistance in the streets. The effective and meaningfully democratic way to remove Trump is not through elite procedures designed by 18th century slaveholders for whom democracy was the ultimate nightmare. It is through sustained mass civil disobedience?through rebellion by and for those whom the American ruling class fears and hates the most: the working-class majority. The sooner Trump can be forced out, the better. Curiously enough, impeachment makes the need to form a grassroots movement to overthrow the Trump-Pence regime more urgent than ever. Now that he?s looking at impeachment and a Senate trial, there?s no telling what Trump and his heavily armed minions might do. He has enormous means of mass destruction and mass distraction at his neofascistic fingertips. We need Trump and Pence out now, not some time next year. The way to make that happen is with a mass movement that will not only sweep him from power but challenge the richly bipartisan racist, sexist, imperial and eco-cidal class rule system that hatched the Trump regime in the first place. Paul Street Contributor Paul Street holds a doctorate in U.S. history from Binghamton University. He is former vice president for research and planning of the Chicago Urban League. Street is also the author of numerous books,? [Paul Street] IN THIS ARTICLE: chile donald trump ecuador fascism george h w bush hong kongmike pence new york times newt gingrich twitter ukrainevladimir putin william barr -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Nov 20 15:20:55 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2019 15:20:55 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment by Paul Street References: Message-ID: The most important point Paul Street makes, in addition to the futility of impeachment, is: ?If we are serious about getting rid of the demented fascist oligarch and his insurance policy, Pence, then we are going to have to join and expand an authentic opposition, a real popular resistance in the streets. The effective and meaningfully democratic way to remove Trump is not through elite procedures designed by 18th century slaveholders for whom democracy was the ultimate nightmare. It is through sustained mass civil disobedience?through rebellion by and for those whom the American ruling class fears and hates the most: the working-class majority." Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment COMMENTS * * * * [Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment]President Donald Trump addresses the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, at the White House in August. (Mike Vucci / AP) The most powerful position in the world?s most powerful nation is occupied by a demented fascist oligarch. He demonizes and scapegoats minorities and immigrants. He provides dog-whistle cover for white supremacists. He sparks racist hate crimes with his vicious nativist words. He speaks with disdain about inner-city black communities. He tells police officers not to ?be too nice? with suspects. He packs the courts with hard-right racists, classists, sexists and eco-exterminists, toxically reshaping the federal judiciary for a generation. He has cultivated and rewarded Christian fascists, one of whom (Mike Pence) is his vice president He calls African nations shithole countries. He told four nonwhite progressive U.S. Congresswomen to ?go back to ? the crime infested places from which they came.? He has absurdly threatened to ?end birthright citizenship? (the granting of U.S. citizenship to all persons born on U.S. soil under the Constitution?s 14th Amendment) with an executive order. Trump violates international asylum law and separates migrant children from their parents. He indefinitely detains tens of thousands of migrant children and families in for-profit concentration camps. He declared a fake national emergency to criminally divert taxpayer dollars to the construction of a nativist border wall that most of the citizenry hates and Congress refused to fund. Believing his dotard self ?the world?s greatest person,? he promotes an absurd cult of personality, proclaiming himself a ?stable genius.? He regularly praises dictators and despots the world over. He absurdly claims that Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution means that ?I have the power to do whatever I want as president.? Donald Trump attacks basic press freedoms. He demonizes and falsely conflates liberals and leftists. He mocks and disrespects intellectuals and science. He absurdly denies climate science and arch-criminally ramps up the eco-exterminist war on livable ecology. He refused to adequately prepare for and respond to the epic climate change-fueled Hurricanes Harvey and Maria. He absurdly blames California?s deadly climate change-driven wildfires on the state?s failure to ?sweep the forest floors.? He threatened North Korea and Iran with nuclear annihilation. He provided cover for the absolutist Saudi Arabian regime?s murderous vivisection of a dissident journalist. He funds and equips the Saudis? criminal and catastrophic war on Yemen over Congressional opposition. Last Friday he pardoned three murderous U.S. military war criminals. He has turned the U.S. Attorney General into his own personal attorney. He has conducted a corrupt foreign policy on behalf of his own economic and political self-interest. He brazenly violates the Constitution?s emoluments clause while preposterously calling that clause ?phony.? He denies and obstructs Congress? constitutional right and duty to investigate his conduct. He criminally intimidates witnesses and whistleblowers, calling them ?traitors.? He describes a constitutionally appropriate inquiry into his immoral and illegal behavior as a ?lynching? and a ?coup.? His far right-wing attorney general, William Barr, argues that his executive powers are essentially unlimited and seeks to undermine the constitutional separation of church and state. He wages a relentless Orwellian war on Truth, replete with more than 10,000 documentable false statements since his inauguration. He openly flirts with calling for the use of extra-legal political violence on his behalf by his heavily armed backers, suggesting that impeachment could spark ?Civil War.? He is the first president in American history to pose a serious threat of refusing to honor a re-election count that doesn?t go his way. This is a national, and indeed global, emergency. We need Donald Trump out of the White House. How do we make that happen? There?s no great mystery about how citizens humble and even overthrow corrupt and tyrannical governments. They take to the streets in significant numbers, engaging in mass disruption for as long as it takes. Look at Algeria, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Chile, to mention six places where mass protest and popular resistance have recently proven highly effective. Look now to Iraq, where hundreds of thousands have marched against corruption, even in the face of lethal live ammunition, and to Bolivia, where workers and peasants are facing bloody repression to resist a neofascist coup that was immediately applauded as a victory for ?freedom? and ?democracy? by Trump. It doesn?t take the whole population to change history from the bottom up. Five days of insurrection by 200,000 people forced the French government to back down on its regressive gas tax last year. Extinction Rebellion leader Roger Hallam notes that it requires dedicated resistance by just 3% of the population to overthrow a regime. If Hallam is right, then ten days of rebellion by a quantity of Americans roughly equivalent to the population of the Chicago metropwolitan area could force the U.S. ruling class to get rid of Trump. It is unthinkable that any but a few marginal voices in the mainstream ?liberal? Democrats and their media (CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, et al.) would call for peoples? power in the streets to bring down the Trump tyranny. The ?liberal? elite is fiercely committed to Fake Resistance. It may be obsessed with Trump to the exclusion of practically everything else that ought to matter in national and world events (popular rebellions from France to Chile, Beirut, Quito and Hong Kong included) but they will not embrace the most effective method of collapsing the Trump-Pence regime collapse: mass mobilization and protest. Embracing an authentic people?s resistance movement would open a popular-democratic door that the Democratic establishment prefers to keep shut. That establishment is instead advancing two tepid, deeply conservative strategies that will likely fail to get Trump out and will come with dreadful downsides?even if they succeed. Both of these strategies are designed keep the U.S. working-class majority functioning not as engaged historical agents, but as passive, system-trusting spectators who accede to a narrow definition of ?politics? as little more than the occasional, strictly time-staggered marking of ballots next to the names of candidates selected in advance by the nation?s unelected and interrelated dictatorships of money and empire. The first of these power-serving strategies is the standard quadrennial get-out-the-vote effort to rally citizens behind yet another corporate-centrist billionaire-pleasing and militaristic ?national security? Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Democratic presidential candidate like Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or the newly minted Iowa Caucus front-runner Pete Buttigieg?a silver-tongued right-winger (see Nathan Robinson?s brilliant take-down in Current Affairs last spring) wearing fake-progressive identity cloaking (like a certain technically black Wall Street-serving drone bomber-to-be in 2007). This is the same depressing neoliberal track that has so badly betrayed, divided and demobilized the nation?s working-class majority so as to grease the skids for Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Newt Gingrich?s Contract on America, George Bush Jr, the racist Tea Party and the malignant white nationalist Trump. With the usual help from the anti-democratic Electoral Collegeand racist voter suppression in battleground states, Trump will likely prevail over yet another dismal, dollar-drenched capitalist Democrat in November 2020. But even if the Democrats are able to win the Electoral College count and induce Trump to leave (with some help perhaps from constitutionalists in the U.S. military command), putting another Wall Street Democrat in the White House will just open door the for another neofascist white-nationalist Republican president in 2024?possibly someone more ideologically dedicated, less obviously corrupt and thus more dangerous than Trump. (Yes, the Democrats could prevail if they run the self-declared democratic socialist Bernie Sanders. But the Democrats? big money bankrollers and media won?t let that happen. The Democratic establishment?s dirty little secret is that it would rather lose to the right, even to a hard-right nationalist right-wing party, than lose to the mildly left wing of its own party. Even the avowedly ?capitalist to her bones? Elizabeth Warren is considered ?too far left? by top Democratic Wall Street funders). The second flawed ?liberal? strategy is, of course, impeachment, likely by the end of the year. It requires just a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, where the Democrats hold sway. But (as a remarkable number of U.S.-Americans I encounter seem not to know) removal requires a two-thirds vote in the U.S. Senate, where the nation?s most racist and right-wing regions are absurdly over-represented and the Trumpified Republican Party holds sway. The Republican-run Senate is not going to remove the demented fascist oligarch from office just because he tried to trade New Cold War arms for political dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine?not when a super-majority of Republicans ?strongly approve? of Trump?s performance no matter what he does or says. And Trump may well use ?exoneration? by the Senate to his electoral advantage next November. At the same time, the Democrats are pursuing impeachment on chillingly narrow and imperialist grounds that whitewash the crimes of U.S. foreign policy, past and present. Democratic politicos and talking heads proclaim House impeachment testifier Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. a great ?national hero? and all-around ?good guy? because Taylor was a rifle company commander ?serving? in the Quang Tri and Thua Tien provinces in the United States? beloved 101st Airborne during the so-called Vietnam War. Fellow Ukraine-Gate witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is upheld as another great patriot for ?serving? in the U.S. invasion of Iraq. How depressing: The U.S. ?crucifixion of Southeast Asia? (Noam Chomsky) murdered 2-5 millionVietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians between 1962 and 1975. The arch-criminal U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq killed one million-plus Iraqis. One need not be a fan of Vladimir Putin?s oligarchic regime to wonder what?s so great about Washington?s sponsorship of the corrupt U.S.-backed capitalist Ukraine government, which is the product of a U.S.-backed 2014 coup and contains neo-Nazis. On what grounds do top Democrats think Washington has the rightto play power politics and help fuel hot wars on Russia?s western border? ?The U.S. government,? Sheldon Richman tried to remind Americans one year ago, ?has no businesses policing relations between Ukraine and Russia. Even if that role were appropriate for some party, the U.S. government would not be the one, because it hardly has clean hands in the matter.? How would U.S.-Americans feel about Russia and/or China sending military equipment to an anti-U.S. regime in Mexico or Canada? And if Democrats are so committed to democracy around the world, why have none of them beyond Sanders and a few other progressives denounced the recent neofascist coup in Bolivia or voiced support for this year?s popular uprisings in Ecuador and Chile? Trump deserves removal not just for his crooked Ukraine shenanigans and related obstructions of justice, but for setting up concentration camps, separating babies and children from their families, inciting violence, interfering with voting rights, discriminating on the basis of religion, waging criminal war, criminally threatening nuclear war, abusing his pardon power, violating the emoluments clause, assaulting press freedoms, backing coups in Venezuela and Bolivia, unconstitutionally declaring a fake national emergency, violating campaign finance laws, illegal proliferation of nuclear technology, tax fraud, instructing Border Patrol to violate the law, stripping environmental and public lands protections, and doing everything he can to turn the planet into a giant Greenhouse Gas Chamber as soon as possible. Even if impeachment leads to removal, Trump?s defenestration merely for interjecting his personal interests into Washington?s imperialist policy in Eastern Europe could constitute both an undeserved validation of that policy and an exoneration of Trump for his much bigger transgressions. And it would put the dangerous right-evangelical troglodyte Mike Pence in the Oval Office?a chilling prospect. To make matters worse, impeachment threatens to become a great rallying point for Trump?s ugly white-nationalist base while encouraging the nation?s all-too-silent progressive majority to stay seated in front of glowing Telescreens to watch House Democrats and liberal cable news taking heads falsely claim to be collapsing the Trump regime from the top down. If we are serious about getting rid of the demented fascist oligarch and his insurance policy, Pence, then we are going to have to join and expand an authentic opposition, a real popular resistance in the streets. The effective and meaningfully democratic way to remove Trump is not through elite procedures designed by 18th century slaveholders for whom democracy was the ultimate nightmare. It is through sustained mass civil disobedience?through rebellion by and for those whom the American ruling class fears and hates the most: the working-class majority. The sooner Trump can be forced out, the better. Curiously enough, impeachment makes the need to form a grassroots movement to overthrow the Trump-Pence regime more urgent than ever. Now that he?s looking at impeachment and a Senate trial, there?s no telling what Trump and his heavily armed minions might do. He has enormous means of mass destruction and mass distraction at his neofascistic fingertips. We need Trump and Pence out now, not some time next year. The way to make that happen is with a mass movement that will not only sweep him from power but challenge the richly bipartisan racist, sexist, imperial and eco-cidal class rule system that hatched the Trump regime in the first place. Paul Street Contributor Paul Street holds a doctorate in U.S. history from Binghamton University. He is former vice president for research and planning of the Chicago Urban League. Street is also the author of numerous books,? [Paul Street] IN THIS ARTICLE: chile donald trump ecuador fascism george h w bush hong kongmike pence new york times newt gingrich twitter ukrainevladimir putin william barr _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Nov 20 15:20:55 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2019 15:20:55 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment by Paul Street References: Message-ID: The most important point Paul Street makes, in addition to the futility of impeachment, is: ?If we are serious about getting rid of the demented fascist oligarch and his insurance policy, Pence, then we are going to have to join and expand an authentic opposition, a real popular resistance in the streets. The effective and meaningfully democratic way to remove Trump is not through elite procedures designed by 18th century slaveholders for whom democracy was the ultimate nightmare. It is through sustained mass civil disobedience?through rebellion by and for those whom the American ruling class fears and hates the most: the working-class majority." Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment COMMENTS * * * * [Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment]President Donald Trump addresses the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, at the White House in August. (Mike Vucci / AP) The most powerful position in the world?s most powerful nation is occupied by a demented fascist oligarch. He demonizes and scapegoats minorities and immigrants. He provides dog-whistle cover for white supremacists. He sparks racist hate crimes with his vicious nativist words. He speaks with disdain about inner-city black communities. He tells police officers not to ?be too nice? with suspects. He packs the courts with hard-right racists, classists, sexists and eco-exterminists, toxically reshaping the federal judiciary for a generation. He has cultivated and rewarded Christian fascists, one of whom (Mike Pence) is his vice president He calls African nations shithole countries. He told four nonwhite progressive U.S. Congresswomen to ?go back to ? the crime infested places from which they came.? He has absurdly threatened to ?end birthright citizenship? (the granting of U.S. citizenship to all persons born on U.S. soil under the Constitution?s 14th Amendment) with an executive order. Trump violates international asylum law and separates migrant children from their parents. He indefinitely detains tens of thousands of migrant children and families in for-profit concentration camps. He declared a fake national emergency to criminally divert taxpayer dollars to the construction of a nativist border wall that most of the citizenry hates and Congress refused to fund. Believing his dotard self ?the world?s greatest person,? he promotes an absurd cult of personality, proclaiming himself a ?stable genius.? He regularly praises dictators and despots the world over. He absurdly claims that Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution means that ?I have the power to do whatever I want as president.? Donald Trump attacks basic press freedoms. He demonizes and falsely conflates liberals and leftists. He mocks and disrespects intellectuals and science. He absurdly denies climate science and arch-criminally ramps up the eco-exterminist war on livable ecology. He refused to adequately prepare for and respond to the epic climate change-fueled Hurricanes Harvey and Maria. He absurdly blames California?s deadly climate change-driven wildfires on the state?s failure to ?sweep the forest floors.? He threatened North Korea and Iran with nuclear annihilation. He provided cover for the absolutist Saudi Arabian regime?s murderous vivisection of a dissident journalist. He funds and equips the Saudis? criminal and catastrophic war on Yemen over Congressional opposition. Last Friday he pardoned three murderous U.S. military war criminals. He has turned the U.S. Attorney General into his own personal attorney. He has conducted a corrupt foreign policy on behalf of his own economic and political self-interest. He brazenly violates the Constitution?s emoluments clause while preposterously calling that clause ?phony.? He denies and obstructs Congress? constitutional right and duty to investigate his conduct. He criminally intimidates witnesses and whistleblowers, calling them ?traitors.? He describes a constitutionally appropriate inquiry into his immoral and illegal behavior as a ?lynching? and a ?coup.? His far right-wing attorney general, William Barr, argues that his executive powers are essentially unlimited and seeks to undermine the constitutional separation of church and state. He wages a relentless Orwellian war on Truth, replete with more than 10,000 documentable false statements since his inauguration. He openly flirts with calling for the use of extra-legal political violence on his behalf by his heavily armed backers, suggesting that impeachment could spark ?Civil War.? He is the first president in American history to pose a serious threat of refusing to honor a re-election count that doesn?t go his way. This is a national, and indeed global, emergency. We need Donald Trump out of the White House. How do we make that happen? There?s no great mystery about how citizens humble and even overthrow corrupt and tyrannical governments. They take to the streets in significant numbers, engaging in mass disruption for as long as it takes. Look at Algeria, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Chile, to mention six places where mass protest and popular resistance have recently proven highly effective. Look now to Iraq, where hundreds of thousands have marched against corruption, even in the face of lethal live ammunition, and to Bolivia, where workers and peasants are facing bloody repression to resist a neofascist coup that was immediately applauded as a victory for ?freedom? and ?democracy? by Trump. It doesn?t take the whole population to change history from the bottom up. Five days of insurrection by 200,000 people forced the French government to back down on its regressive gas tax last year. Extinction Rebellion leader Roger Hallam notes that it requires dedicated resistance by just 3% of the population to overthrow a regime. If Hallam is right, then ten days of rebellion by a quantity of Americans roughly equivalent to the population of the Chicago metropwolitan area could force the U.S. ruling class to get rid of Trump. It is unthinkable that any but a few marginal voices in the mainstream ?liberal? Democrats and their media (CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, et al.) would call for peoples? power in the streets to bring down the Trump tyranny. The ?liberal? elite is fiercely committed to Fake Resistance. It may be obsessed with Trump to the exclusion of practically everything else that ought to matter in national and world events (popular rebellions from France to Chile, Beirut, Quito and Hong Kong included) but they will not embrace the most effective method of collapsing the Trump-Pence regime collapse: mass mobilization and protest. Embracing an authentic people?s resistance movement would open a popular-democratic door that the Democratic establishment prefers to keep shut. That establishment is instead advancing two tepid, deeply conservative strategies that will likely fail to get Trump out and will come with dreadful downsides?even if they succeed. Both of these strategies are designed keep the U.S. working-class majority functioning not as engaged historical agents, but as passive, system-trusting spectators who accede to a narrow definition of ?politics? as little more than the occasional, strictly time-staggered marking of ballots next to the names of candidates selected in advance by the nation?s unelected and interrelated dictatorships of money and empire. The first of these power-serving strategies is the standard quadrennial get-out-the-vote effort to rally citizens behind yet another corporate-centrist billionaire-pleasing and militaristic ?national security? Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Democratic presidential candidate like Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or the newly minted Iowa Caucus front-runner Pete Buttigieg?a silver-tongued right-winger (see Nathan Robinson?s brilliant take-down in Current Affairs last spring) wearing fake-progressive identity cloaking (like a certain technically black Wall Street-serving drone bomber-to-be in 2007). This is the same depressing neoliberal track that has so badly betrayed, divided and demobilized the nation?s working-class majority so as to grease the skids for Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Newt Gingrich?s Contract on America, George Bush Jr, the racist Tea Party and the malignant white nationalist Trump. With the usual help from the anti-democratic Electoral Collegeand racist voter suppression in battleground states, Trump will likely prevail over yet another dismal, dollar-drenched capitalist Democrat in November 2020. But even if the Democrats are able to win the Electoral College count and induce Trump to leave (with some help perhaps from constitutionalists in the U.S. military command), putting another Wall Street Democrat in the White House will just open door the for another neofascist white-nationalist Republican president in 2024?possibly someone more ideologically dedicated, less obviously corrupt and thus more dangerous than Trump. (Yes, the Democrats could prevail if they run the self-declared democratic socialist Bernie Sanders. But the Democrats? big money bankrollers and media won?t let that happen. The Democratic establishment?s dirty little secret is that it would rather lose to the right, even to a hard-right nationalist right-wing party, than lose to the mildly left wing of its own party. Even the avowedly ?capitalist to her bones? Elizabeth Warren is considered ?too far left? by top Democratic Wall Street funders). The second flawed ?liberal? strategy is, of course, impeachment, likely by the end of the year. It requires just a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, where the Democrats hold sway. But (as a remarkable number of U.S.-Americans I encounter seem not to know) removal requires a two-thirds vote in the U.S. Senate, where the nation?s most racist and right-wing regions are absurdly over-represented and the Trumpified Republican Party holds sway. The Republican-run Senate is not going to remove the demented fascist oligarch from office just because he tried to trade New Cold War arms for political dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine?not when a super-majority of Republicans ?strongly approve? of Trump?s performance no matter what he does or says. And Trump may well use ?exoneration? by the Senate to his electoral advantage next November. At the same time, the Democrats are pursuing impeachment on chillingly narrow and imperialist grounds that whitewash the crimes of U.S. foreign policy, past and present. Democratic politicos and talking heads proclaim House impeachment testifier Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. a great ?national hero? and all-around ?good guy? because Taylor was a rifle company commander ?serving? in the Quang Tri and Thua Tien provinces in the United States? beloved 101st Airborne during the so-called Vietnam War. Fellow Ukraine-Gate witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is upheld as another great patriot for ?serving? in the U.S. invasion of Iraq. How depressing: The U.S. ?crucifixion of Southeast Asia? (Noam Chomsky) murdered 2-5 millionVietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians between 1962 and 1975. The arch-criminal U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq killed one million-plus Iraqis. One need not be a fan of Vladimir Putin?s oligarchic regime to wonder what?s so great about Washington?s sponsorship of the corrupt U.S.-backed capitalist Ukraine government, which is the product of a U.S.-backed 2014 coup and contains neo-Nazis. On what grounds do top Democrats think Washington has the rightto play power politics and help fuel hot wars on Russia?s western border? ?The U.S. government,? Sheldon Richman tried to remind Americans one year ago, ?has no businesses policing relations between Ukraine and Russia. Even if that role were appropriate for some party, the U.S. government would not be the one, because it hardly has clean hands in the matter.? How would U.S.-Americans feel about Russia and/or China sending military equipment to an anti-U.S. regime in Mexico or Canada? And if Democrats are so committed to democracy around the world, why have none of them beyond Sanders and a few other progressives denounced the recent neofascist coup in Bolivia or voiced support for this year?s popular uprisings in Ecuador and Chile? Trump deserves removal not just for his crooked Ukraine shenanigans and related obstructions of justice, but for setting up concentration camps, separating babies and children from their families, inciting violence, interfering with voting rights, discriminating on the basis of religion, waging criminal war, criminally threatening nuclear war, abusing his pardon power, violating the emoluments clause, assaulting press freedoms, backing coups in Venezuela and Bolivia, unconstitutionally declaring a fake national emergency, violating campaign finance laws, illegal proliferation of nuclear technology, tax fraud, instructing Border Patrol to violate the law, stripping environmental and public lands protections, and doing everything he can to turn the planet into a giant Greenhouse Gas Chamber as soon as possible. Even if impeachment leads to removal, Trump?s defenestration merely for interjecting his personal interests into Washington?s imperialist policy in Eastern Europe could constitute both an undeserved validation of that policy and an exoneration of Trump for his much bigger transgressions. And it would put the dangerous right-evangelical troglodyte Mike Pence in the Oval Office?a chilling prospect. To make matters worse, impeachment threatens to become a great rallying point for Trump?s ugly white-nationalist base while encouraging the nation?s all-too-silent progressive majority to stay seated in front of glowing Telescreens to watch House Democrats and liberal cable news taking heads falsely claim to be collapsing the Trump regime from the top down. If we are serious about getting rid of the demented fascist oligarch and his insurance policy, Pence, then we are going to have to join and expand an authentic opposition, a real popular resistance in the streets. The effective and meaningfully democratic way to remove Trump is not through elite procedures designed by 18th century slaveholders for whom democracy was the ultimate nightmare. It is through sustained mass civil disobedience?through rebellion by and for those whom the American ruling class fears and hates the most: the working-class majority. The sooner Trump can be forced out, the better. Curiously enough, impeachment makes the need to form a grassroots movement to overthrow the Trump-Pence regime more urgent than ever. Now that he?s looking at impeachment and a Senate trial, there?s no telling what Trump and his heavily armed minions might do. He has enormous means of mass destruction and mass distraction at his neofascistic fingertips. We need Trump and Pence out now, not some time next year. The way to make that happen is with a mass movement that will not only sweep him from power but challenge the richly bipartisan racist, sexist, imperial and eco-cidal class rule system that hatched the Trump regime in the first place. Paul Street Contributor Paul Street holds a doctorate in U.S. history from Binghamton University. He is former vice president for research and planning of the Chicago Urban League. Street is also the author of numerous books,? [Paul Street] IN THIS ARTICLE: chile donald trump ecuador fascism george h w bush hong kongmike pence new york times newt gingrich twitter ukrainevladimir putin william barr _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Wed Nov 20 17:54:21 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2019 11:54:21 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Balderdash from the pro-war political establishment Message-ID: <5EB783A2-4CBE-4766-911C-3788036D5612@newsfromneptune.com> [A mail-out from a Democratic party front group] Dear MoveOn member, We're in trouble, and it's time to wake up. In our most recent survey, 57.2% of MoveOn members said that they believe that Donald Trump will be defeated in 2020. But new polling tells a very different story that should send chills down our spines. According to a new poll from The New York Times, the presidential election in 2020, just like in 2016, will most likely be decided by a few hundred thousand votes spread across the critical swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona?as those states will tip the Electoral College to the winner. New data shows a statistical dead heat or even an advantage for Trump in every single one of these states.1 It gets worse. Even as Trump's national approval rating has cratered, his edge in the states that will likely decide the election has grown since 2016.2 And if you think that it's still too early to rely on polling data, here's the harsh truth: In the last three presidential elections, head-to-head polling one year out from Election Day has been just as close to the final result as polls taken the day before the election.3 These polls are a stark reminder that we cannot rely on impeachment?or on Trump's unpopularity, cruelty, and ineptitude?to hand us an election victory. 2020 is likely to be the most hard-fought and important election in our lifetimes, and there is not a moment to waste. MoveOn is ready to meet this moment and fight hard every day until the election, and it is why we are preparing to reveal the details of the largest election campaign in our 21-year history?] [?] 1. "One Year From Election, Trump Trails Biden but Leads Warren in Battlegrounds," The New York Times, November 4, 2019 https://act.moveon.org/go/113142?t=8&akid=250957%2E36782652%2EeVW7m3 2. "Trump's Electoral College Edge Could Grow in 2020, Rewarding Polarizing Campaign," The New York Times, July 19, 2019 https://act.moveon.org/go/113143?t=10&akid=250957%2E36782652%2EeVW7m3 3. "One Year From Election, Trump Trails Biden but Leads Warren in Battlegrounds," The New York Times, November 4, 2019 https://act.moveon.org/go/113142?t=12&akid=250957%2E36782652%2EeVW7m3 [?] PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to C. Estabrook on November 20, 2019. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. If you'd like to receive less frequent emails from MoveOn, you can click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here. From davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net Wed Nov 20 18:45:18 2019 From: davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net (David Johnson) Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2019 12:45:18 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment by Paul Street In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <009301d59fd2$a879a2b0$f96ce810$@comcast.net> Great effective tactic Paul Street is advocating. The HUGE problem is, WHO will organize it ? David J. From: Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Karen Aram via Peace Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2019 9:21 AM To: peace; Peace Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment by Paul Street The most important point Paul Street makes, in addition to the futility of impeachment, is: ?If we are serious about getting rid of the demented fascist oligarch and his insurance policy, Pence, then we are going to have to join and expand an authentic opposition, a real popular resistance in the streets. The effective and meaningfully democratic way to remove Trump is not through elite procedures designed by 18th century slaveholders for whom democracy was the ultimate nightmare. It is through sustained mass civil disobedience?through rebellion by and for those whom the American ruling class fears and hates the most: the working-class majority." Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment COMMENTS ? ? ? ? Image removed by sender. Trump's Removal Can't Wait for ImpeachmentPresident Donald Trump addresses the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, at the White House in August. (Mike Vucci / AP) The most powerful position in the world?s most powerful nation is occupied by a demented fascist oligarch. He demonizes and scapegoats minorities and immigrants. He provides dog-whistle cover for white supremacists. He sparks racist hate crimes with his vicious nativist words. He speaks with disdain about inner-city black communities. He tells police officers not to ?be too nice? with suspects. He packs the courts with hard-right racists, classists, sexists and eco-exterminists, toxically reshaping the federal judiciary for a generation. He has cultivated and rewarded Christian fascists, one of whom (Mike Pence) is his vice president He calls African nations shithole countries. He told four nonwhite progressive U.S. Congresswomen to ? go back to ? the crime infested places from which they came.? He has absurdly threatened to ? end birthright citizenship? (the granting of U.S. citizenship to all persons born on U.S. soil under the Constitution?s 14th Amendment) with an executive order. Trump violates international asylum law and separates migrant children from their parents. He indefinitely detains tens of thousands of migrant children and families in for-profit concentration camps. He declared a fake national emergency to criminally divert taxpayer dollars to the construction of a nativist border wall that most of the citizenry hates and Congress refused to fund. Believing his dotard self ? the world?s greatest person,? he promotes an absurd cult of personality, proclaiming himself a ?stable genius.? He regularly praises dictators and despots the world over. He absurdly claims that Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution means that ?I have the power to do whatever I want as president.? Donald Trump attacks basic press freedoms. He demonizes and falsely conflates liberals and leftists. He mocks and disrespects intellectuals and science. He absurdly denies climate science and arch-criminally ramps up the eco-exterminist war on livable ecology. He refused to adequately prepare for and respond to the epic climate change-fueled Hurricanes Harvey and Maria. He absurdly blames California?s deadly climate change-driven wildfires on the state?s failure to ? sweep the forest floors.? He threatened North Korea and Iran with nuclear annihilation. He provided cover for the absolutist Saudi Arabian regime?s murderous vivisection of a dissident journalist. He funds and equips the Saudis? criminal and catastrophic war on Yemen over Congressional opposition. Last Friday he pardoned three murderous U.S. military war criminals. He has turned the U.S. Attorney General into his own personal attorney. He has conducted a corrupt foreign policy on behalf of his own economic and political self-interest. He brazenly violates the Constitution?s emoluments clause while preposterously calling that clause ?phony.? He denies and obstructs Congress? constitutional right and duty to investigate his conduct. He criminally intimidates witnesses and whistleblowers, calling them ? traitors.? He describes a constitutionally appropriate inquiry into his immoral and illegal behavior as a ?lynching? and a ?coup.? His far right-wing attorney general, William Barr, argues that his executive powers are essentially unlimited and seeks to undermine the constitutional separation of church and state. He wages a relentless Orwellian war on Truth, replete with more than 10,000 documentable false statements since his inauguration. He openly flirts with calling for the use of extra-legal political violence on his behalf by his heavily armed backers, suggesting that impeachment could spark ?Civil War.? He is the first president in American history to pose a serious threat of refusing to honor a re-election count that doesn?t go his way. This is a national, and indeed global, emergency. We need Donald Trump out of the White House. How do we make that happen? There?s no great mystery about how citizens humble and even overthrow corrupt and tyrannical governments. They take to the streets in significant numbers, engaging in mass disruption for as long as it takes. Look at Algeria, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Chile, to mention six places where mass protest and popular resistance have recently proven highly effective. Look now to Iraq, where hundreds of thousands have marched against corruption, even in the face of lethal live ammunition, and to Bolivia, where workers and peasants are facing bloody repression to resist a neofascist coup that was immediately applauded as a victory for ?freedom? and ?democracy? by Trump. It doesn?t take the whole population to change history from the bottom up. Five days of insurrection by 200,000 people forced the French government to back down on its regressive gas tax last year. Extinction Rebellion leader Roger Hallam notes that it requires dedicated resistance by just 3% of the population to overthrow a regime. If Hallam is right, then ten days of rebellion by a quantity of Americans roughly equivalent to the population of the Chicago metropwolitan area could force the U.S. ruling class to get rid of Trump. It is unthinkable that any but a few marginal voices in the mainstream ?liberal? Democrats and their media (CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, et al.) would call for peoples? power in the streets to bring down the Trump tyranny. The ?liberal? elite is fiercely committed to Fake Resistance. It may be obsessed with Trump to the exclusion of practically everything else that ought to matter in national and world events (popular rebellions from France to Chile, Beirut, Quito and Hong Kong included) but they will not embrace the most effective method of collapsing the Trump-Pence regime collapse: mass mobilization and protest. Embracing an authentic people?s resistance movement would open a popular-democratic door that the Democratic establishment prefers to keep shut. That establishment is instead advancing two tepid, deeply conservative strategies that will likely fail to get Trump out and will come with dreadful downsides?even if they succeed. Both of these strategies are designed keep the U.S. working-class majority functioning not as engaged historical agents, but as passive, system-trusting spectators who accede to a narrow definition of ?politics? as little more than the occasional, strictly time-staggered marking of ballots next to the names of candidates selected in advance by the nation?s unelected and interrelated dictatorships of money and empire. The first of these power-serving strategies is the standard quadrennial get-out-the-vote effort to rally citizens behind yet another corporate-centrist billionaire-pleasing and militaristic ?national security? Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Democratic presidential candidate like Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or the newly minted Iowa Caucus front-runner Pete Buttigieg?a silver-tongued right-winger (see Nathan Robinson?s brilliant take-down in Current Affairs last spring) wearing fake-progressive identity cloaking (like a certain technically black Wall Street-serving drone bomber-to-be in 2007). This is the same depressing neoliberal track that has so badly betrayed, divided and demobilized the nation?s working-class majority so as to grease the skids for Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Newt Gingrich?s Contract on America, George Bush Jr, the racist Tea Party and the malignant white nationalist Trump. With the usual help from the anti-democratic Electoral Collegeand racist voter suppression in battleground states, Trump will likely prevail over yet another dismal, dollar-drenched capitalist Democrat in November 2020. But even if the Democrats are able to win the Electoral College count and induce Trump to leave (with some help perhaps from constitutionalists in the U.S. military command), putting another Wall Street Democrat in the White House will just open door the for another neofascist white-nationalist Republican president in 2024?possibly someone more ideologically dedicated, less obviously corrupt and thus more dangerous than Trump. (Yes, the Democrats could prevail if they run the self-declared democratic socialist Bernie Sanders. But the Democrats? big money bankrollers and media won?t let that happen. The Democratic establishment?s dirty little secret is that it would rather lose to the right, even to a hard-right nationalist right-wing party, than lose to the mildly left wing of its own party. Even the avowedly ? capitalist to her bones? Elizabeth Warren is considered ?too far left? by top Democratic Wall Street funders). The second flawed ?liberal? strategy is, of course, impeachment, likely by the end of the year. It requires just a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, where the Democrats hold sway. But (as a remarkable number of U.S.-Americans I encounter seem not to know) removal requires a two-thirds vote in the U.S. Senate, where the nation?s most racist and right-wing regions are absurdly over-represented and the Trumpified Republican Party holds sway. The Republican-run Senate is not going to remove the demented fascist oligarch from office just because he tried to trade New Cold War arms for political dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine?not when a super-majority of Republicans ?strongly approve? of Trump?s performance no matter what he does or says. And Trump may well use ?exoneration? by the Senate to his electoral advantage next November. At the same time, the Democrats are pursuing impeachment on chillingly narrow and imperialist grounds that whitewash the crimes of U.S. foreign policy, past and present. Democratic politicos and talking heads proclaim House impeachment testifier Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. a great ?national hero? and all-around ?good guy? because Taylor was a rifle company commander ?serving? in the Quang Tri and Thua Tien provinces in the United States? beloved 101st Airborne during the so-called Vietnam War. Fellow Ukraine-Gate witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is upheld as another great patriot for ?serving? in the U.S. invasion of Iraq. How depressing: The U.S. ?crucifixion of Southeast Asia? (Noam Chomsky) murdered 2-5 millionVietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians between 1962 and 1975. The arch-criminal U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq killed one million-plus Iraqis. One need not be a fan of Vladimir Putin?s oligarchic regime to wonder what?s so great about Washington?s sponsorship of the corrupt U.S.-backed capitalist Ukraine government, which is the product of a U.S.-backed 2014 coup and contains neo-Nazis. On what grounds do top Democrats think Washington has the rightto play power politics and help fuel hot wars on Russia?s western border? ?The U.S. government,? Sheldon Richman tried to remind Americans one year ago, ?has no businesses policing relations between Ukraine and Russia. Even if that role were appropriate for some party, the U.S. government would not be the one, because it hardly has clean hands in the matter.? How would U.S.-Americans feel about Russia and/or China sending military equipment to an anti-U.S. regime in Mexico or Canada? And if Democrats are so committed to democracy around the world, why have none of them beyond Sanders and a few other progressives denounced the recent neofascist coup in Bolivia or voiced support for this year?s popular uprisings in Ecuador and Chile? Trump deserves removal not just for his crooked Ukraine shenanigans and related obstructions of justice, but for setting up concentration camps, separating babies and children from their families, inciting violence, interfering with voting rights, discriminating on the basis of religion, waging criminal war, criminally threatening nuclear war, abusing his pardon power, violating the emoluments clause, assaulting press freedoms, backing coups in Venezuela and Bolivia, unconstitutionally declaring a fake national emergency, violating campaign finance laws, illegal proliferation of nuclear technology, tax fraud, instructing Border Patrol to violate the law, stripping environmental and public lands protections, and doing everything he can to turn the planet into a giant Greenhouse Gas Chamber as soon as possible. Even if impeachment leads to removal, Trump?s defenestration merely for interjecting his personal interests into Washington?s imperialist policy in Eastern Europe could constitute both an undeserved validation of that policy and an exoneration of Trump for his much bigger transgressions. And it would put the dangerous right-evangelical troglodyte Mike Pence in the Oval Office?a chilling prospect. To make matters worse, impeachment threatens to become a great rallying point for Trump?s ugly white-nationalist base while encouraging the nation?s all-too-silent progressive majority to stay seated in front of glowing Telescreens to watch House Democrats and liberal cable news taking heads falsely claim to be collapsing the Trump regime from the top down. If we are serious about getting rid of the demented fascist oligarch and his insurance policy, Pence, then we are going to have to join and expand an authentic opposition, a real popular resistance in the streets. The effective and meaningfully democratic way to remove Trump is not through elite procedures designed by 18th century slaveholders for whom democracy was the ultimate nightmare. It is through sustained mass civil disobedience?through rebellion by and for those whom the American ruling class fears and hates the most: the working-class majority. The sooner Trump can be forced out, the better. Curiously enough, impeachment makes the need to form a grassroots movement to overthrow the Trump-Pence regime more urgent than ever. Now that he?s looking at impeachment and a Senate trial, there?s no telling what Trump and his heavily armed minions might do. He has enormous means of mass destruction and mass distraction at his neofascistic fingertips. We need Trump and Pence out now, not some time next year. The way to make that happen is with a mass movement that will not only sweep him from power but challenge the richly bipartisan racist, sexist, imperial and eco-cidal class rule system that hatched the Trump regime in the first place. Paul Street Contributor Paul Street holds a doctorate in U.S. history from Binghamton University. He is former vice president for research and planning of the Chicago Urban League. Street is also the author of numerous books,? Image removed by sender. Paul Street IN THIS ARTICLE: chile donald trump ecuador fascism george h w bush hong kong mike pence new york times newt gingrich twitter ukraine vladimir putin william barr _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: ~WRD000.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 823 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 3308 bytes Desc: not available URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Nov 20 21:42:39 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2019 21:42:39 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Fwd: Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment by Paul Street References: Message-ID: True, who is going to do it. See Chris Hedges in his ?Death of the Liberal Class,? those that should be opposing the Oligarchs of power, now focus on the trivial. Trivial in comparison to the enormous challenges facing us. Some say ?we don?t need a vanguard,? I have to ask, and ?how is that working out for us?? Labor was transferred abroad for a reason, not just for low costs, and few regulations. Our mass incarceration of young African American males, coincidentally took off after the Panthers were eradicated. Our educational system doesn?t just discourage critical analysis, it penalizes teachers and instructors for promoting it. Then we have our corporate owned media, promoting trivia and propaganda. As the working class is continually oppressed, with liberals refusing to acknowledge the economic roots of racism, gender inequality, and our military interventions creating immigrants fighting for survival, there will be no solution. The poverty imposed by US imperialism upon the American working class due to our capitalist system, can only be addressed by civil disobedience, mass movements, strikes, sit downs, work stoppages etc., non stop at great sacrifice by some, but it requires leadership, planning, organization, etc. Protests and demonstrations should be taking place in Wall Street, and at the factories of Lockheed and Ratheon, the major manufacturers in this nation. So yes who is going to do it? Our children when they are jobless, on the streets, starving, when US citizens are flocking from the south to the north due to climate change, are we then going to welcome them with open arms? Remember Katrina, when Louisiana folks headed for Texas were greeted with guns, that was just a small tip of the iceberg we?re facing. Sorry if I?ve ruined anyone?s day with gloom and doom, we should all be happy and enjoy what we can, while we can, and never mind tomorrow. Unless you have grandchildren. On Wed, Nov 20, 2019 at 12:46 PM David Johnson via Peace > wrote: Great effective tactic Paul Street is advocating. The HUGE problem is, WHO will organize it ? David J. Especially since half of the so-called "working class" thinks that tRump is the greatest thing since sliced lunchmeat. :-/ From: Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Karen Aram via Peace Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2019 9:21 AM To: peace; Peace Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment by Paul Street The most important point Paul Street makes, in addition to the futility of impeachment, is: ?If we are serious about getting rid of the demented fascist oligarch and his insurance policy, Pence, then we are going to have to join and expand an authentic opposition, a real popular resistance in the streets. The effective and meaningfully democratic way to remove Trump is not through elite procedures designed by 18th century slaveholders for whom democracy was the ultimate nightmare. It is through sustained mass civil disobedience?through rebellion by and for those whom the American ruling class fears and hates the most: the working-class majority." Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment COMMENTS ? ? ? ? [Image removed by sender. Trump's Removal Can't Wait for Impeachment]President Donald Trump addresses the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, at the White House in August. (Mike Vucci / AP) The most powerful position in the world?s most powerful nation is occupied by a demented fascist oligarch. He demonizes and scapegoats minorities and immigrants. He provides dog-whistle cover for white supremacists. He sparks racist hate crimes with his vicious nativist words. He speaks with disdain about inner-city black communities. He tells police officers not to ?be too nice? with suspects. He packs the courts with hard-right racists, classists, sexists and eco-exterminists, toxically reshaping the federal judiciary for a generation. He has cultivated and rewarded Christian fascists, one of whom (Mike Pence) is his vice president He calls African nations shithole countries. He told four nonwhite progressive U.S. Congresswomen to ?go back to ? the crime infested places from which they came.? He has absurdly threatened to ?end birthright citizenship? (the granting of U.S. citizenship to all persons born on U.S. soil under the Constitution?s 14th Amendment) with an executive order. Trump violates international asylum law and separates migrant children from their parents. He indefinitely detains tens of thousands of migrant children and families in for-profit concentration camps. He declared a fake national emergency to criminally divert taxpayer dollars to the construction of a nativist border wall that most of the citizenry hates and Congress refused to fund. Believing his dotard self ?the world?s greatest person,? he promotes an absurd cult of personality, proclaiming himself a ?stable genius.? He regularly praises dictators and despots the world over. He absurdly claims that Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution means that ?I have the power to do whatever I want as president.? Donald Trump attacks basic press freedoms. He demonizes and falsely conflates liberals and leftists. He mocks and disrespects intellectuals and science. He absurdly denies climate science and arch-criminally ramps up the eco-exterminist war on livable ecology. He refused to adequately prepare for and respond to the epic climate change-fueled Hurricanes Harvey and Maria. He absurdly blames California?s deadly climate change-driven wildfires on the state?s failure to ?sweep the forest floors.? He threatened North Korea and Iran with nuclear annihilation. He provided cover for the absolutist Saudi Arabian regime?s murderous vivisection of a dissident journalist. He funds and equips the Saudis? criminal and catastrophic war on Yemen over Congressional opposition. Last Friday he pardoned three murderous U.S. military war criminals. He has turned the U.S. Attorney General into his own personal attorney. He has conducted a corrupt foreign policy on behalf of his own economic and political self-interest. He brazenly violates the Constitution?s emoluments clause while preposterously calling that clause ?phony.? He denies and obstructs Congress? constitutional right and duty to investigate his conduct. He criminally intimidates witnesses and whistleblowers, calling them ?traitors.? He describes a constitutionally appropriate inquiry into his immoral and illegal behavior as a ?lynching? and a ?coup.? His far right-wing attorney general, William Barr, argues that his executive powers are essentially unlimited and seeks to undermine the constitutional separation of church and state. He wages a relentless Orwellian war on Truth, replete with more than 10,000 documentable false statements since his inauguration. He openly flirts with calling for the use of extra-legal political violence on his behalf by his heavily armed backers, suggesting that impeachment could spark ?Civil War.? He is the first president in American history to pose a serious threat of refusing to honor a re-election count that doesn?t go his way. This is a national, and indeed global, emergency. We need Donald Trump out of the White House. How do we make that happen? There?s no great mystery about how citizens humble and even overthrow corrupt and tyrannical governments. They take to the streets in significant numbers, engaging in mass disruption for as long as it takes. Look at Algeria, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Chile, to mention six places where mass protest and popular resistance have recently proven highly effective. Look now to Iraq, where hundreds of thousands have marched against corruption, even in the face of lethal live ammunition, and to Bolivia, where workers and peasants are facing bloody repression to resist a neofascist coup that was immediately applauded as a victory for ?freedom? and ?democracy? by Trump. It doesn?t take the whole population to change history from the bottom up. Five days of insurrection by 200,000 people forced the French government to back down on its regressive gas tax last year. Extinction Rebellion leader Roger Hallam notes that it requires dedicated resistance by just 3% of the population to overthrow a regime. If Hallam is right, then ten days of rebellion by a quantity of Americans roughly equivalent to the population of the Chicago metropwolitan area could force the U.S. ruling class to get rid of Trump. It is unthinkable that any but a few marginal voices in the mainstream ?liberal? Democrats and their media (CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, et al.) would call for peoples? power in the streets to bring down the Trump tyranny. The ?liberal? elite is fiercely committed to Fake Resistance. It may be obsessed with Trump to the exclusion of practically everything else that ought to matter in national and world events (popular rebellions from France to Chile, Beirut, Quito and Hong Kong included) but they will not embrace the most effective method of collapsing the Trump-Pence regime collapse: mass mobilization and protest. Embracing an authentic people?s resistance movement would open a popular-democratic door that the Democratic establishment prefers to keep shut. That establishment is instead advancing two tepid, deeply conservative strategies that will likely fail to get Trump out and will come with dreadful downsides?even if they succeed. Both of these strategies are designed keep the U.S. working-class majority functioning not as engaged historical agents, but as passive, system-trusting spectators who accede to a narrow definition of ?politics? as little more than the occasional, strictly time-staggered marking of ballots next to the names of candidates selected in advance by the nation?s unelected and interrelated dictatorships of money and empire. The first of these power-serving strategies is the standard quadrennial get-out-the-vote effort to rally citizens behind yet another corporate-centrist billionaire-pleasing and militaristic ?national security? Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Democratic presidential candidate like Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or the newly minted Iowa Caucus front-runner Pete Buttigieg?a silver-tongued right-winger (see Nathan Robinson?s brilliant take-down in Current Affairs last spring) wearing fake-progressive identity cloaking (like a certain technically black Wall Street-serving drone bomber-to-be in 2007). This is the same depressing neoliberal track that has so badly betrayed, divided and demobilized the nation?s working-class majority so as to grease the skids for Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Newt Gingrich?s Contract on America, George Bush Jr, the racist Tea Party and the malignant white nationalist Trump. With the usual help from the anti-democratic Electoral Collegeand racist voter suppression in battleground states, Trump will likely prevail over yet another dismal, dollar-drenched capitalist Democrat in November 2020. But even if the Democrats are able to win the Electoral College count and induce Trump to leave (with some help perhaps from constitutionalists in the U.S. military command), putting another Wall Street Democrat in the White House will just open door the for another neofascist white-nationalist Republican president in 2024?possibly someone more ideologically dedicated, less obviously corrupt and thus more dangerous than Trump. (Yes, the Democrats could prevail if they run the self-declared democratic socialist Bernie Sanders. But the Democrats? big money bankrollers and media won?t let that happen. The Democratic establishment?s dirty little secret is that it would rather lose to the right, even to a hard-right nationalist right-wing party, than lose to the mildly left wing of its own party. Even the avowedly ?capitalist to her bones? Elizabeth Warren is considered ?too far left? by top Democratic Wall Street funders). The second flawed ?liberal? strategy is, of course, impeachment, likely by the end of the year. It requires just a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, where the Democrats hold sway. But (as a remarkable number of U.S.-Americans I encounter seem not to know) removal requires a two-thirds vote in the U.S. Senate, where the nation?s most racist and right-wing regions are absurdly over-represented and the Trumpified Republican Party holds sway. The Republican-run Senate is not going to remove the demented fascist oligarch from office just because he tried to trade New Cold War arms for political dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine?not when a super-majority of Republicans ?strongly approve? of Trump?s performance no matter what he does or says. And Trump may well use ?exoneration? by the Senate to his electoral advantage next November. At the same time, the Democrats are pursuing impeachment on chillingly narrow and imperialist grounds that whitewash the crimes of U.S. foreign policy, past and present. Democratic politicos and talking heads proclaim House impeachment testifier Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. a great ?national hero? and all-around ?good guy? because Taylor was a rifle company commander ?serving? in the Quang Tri and Thua Tien provinces in the United States? beloved 101st Airborne during the so-called Vietnam War. Fellow Ukraine-Gate witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is upheld as another great patriot for ?serving? in the U.S. invasion of Iraq. How depressing: The U.S. ?crucifixion of Southeast Asia? (Noam Chomsky) murdered 2-5 millionVietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians between 1962 and 1975. The arch-criminal U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq killed one million-plus Iraqis. One need not be a fan of Vladimir Putin?s oligarchic regime to wonder what?s so great about Washington?s sponsorship of the corrupt U.S.-backed capitalist Ukraine government, which is the product of a U.S.-backed 2014 coup and contains neo-Nazis. On what grounds do top Democrats think Washington has the rightto play power politics and help fuel hot wars on Russia?s western border? ?The U.S. government,? Sheldon Richman tried to remind Americans one year ago, ?has no businesses policing relations between Ukraine and Russia. Even if that role were appropriate for some party, the U.S. government would not be the one, because it hardly has clean hands in the matter.? How would U.S.-Americans feel about Russia and/or China sending military equipment to an anti-U.S. regime in Mexico or Canada? And if Democrats are so committed to democracy around the world, why have none of them beyond Sanders and a few other progressives denounced the recent neofascist coup in Bolivia or voiced support for this year?s popular uprisings in Ecuador and Chile? Trump deserves removal not just for his crooked Ukraine shenanigans and related obstructions of justice, but for setting up concentration camps, separating babies and children from their families, inciting violence, interfering with voting rights, discriminating on the basis of religion, waging criminal war, criminally threatening nuclear war, abusing his pardon power, violating the emoluments clause, assaulting press freedoms, backing coups in Venezuela and Bolivia, unconstitutionally declaring a fake national emergency, violating campaign finance laws, illegal proliferation of nuclear technology, tax fraud, instructing Border Patrol to violate the law, stripping environmental and public lands protections, and doing everything he can to turn the planet into a giant Greenhouse Gas Chamber as soon as possible. Even if impeachment leads to removal, Trump?s defenestration merely for interjecting his personal interests into Washington?s imperialist policy in Eastern Europe could constitute both an undeserved validation of that policy and an exoneration of Trump for his much bigger transgressions. And it would put the dangerous right-evangelical troglodyte Mike Pence in the Oval Office?a chilling prospect. To make matters worse, impeachment threatens to become a great rallying point for Trump?s ugly white-nationalist base while encouraging the nation?s all-too-silent progressive majority to stay seated in front of glowing Telescreens to watch House Democrats and liberal cable news taking heads falsely claim to be collapsing the Trump regime from the top down. If we are serious about getting rid of the demented fascist oligarch and his insurance policy, Pence, then we are going to have to join and expand an authentic opposition, a real popular resistance in the streets. The effective and meaningfully democratic way to remove Trump is not through elite procedures designed by 18th century slaveholders for whom democracy was the ultimate nightmare. It is through sustained mass civil disobedience?through rebellion by and for those whom the American ruling class fears and hates the most: the working-class majority. The sooner Trump can be forced out, the better. Curiously enough, impeachment makes the need to form a grassroots movement to overthrow the Trump-Pence regime more urgent than ever. Now that he?s looking at impeachment and a Senate trial, there?s no telling what Trump and his heavily armed minions might do. He has enormous means of mass destruction and mass distraction at his neofascistic fingertips. We need Trump and Pence out now, not some time next year. The way to make that happen is with a mass movement that will not only sweep him from power but challenge the richly bipartisan racist, sexist, imperial and eco-cidal class rule system that hatched the Trump regime in the first place. Paul Street Contributor Paul Street holds a doctorate in U.S. history from Binghamton University. He is former vice president for research and planning of the Chicago Urban League. Street is also the author of numerous books,? [Image removed by sender. Paul Street] IN THIS ARTICLE: chile donald trump ecuador fascism george h w bush hong kongmike pence new york times newt gingrich twitter ukrainevladimir putin william barr _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 3308 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: ~WRD000.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 823 bytes Desc: ~WRD000.jpg URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 21 01:18:24 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 01:18:24 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Lee Camp, Max Blumenthal, Margaret Kimberly and Aaron Mate Message-ID: You can?t beat the talent: https://youtu.be/rOFaok0JMJY From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 21 13:23:53 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 13:23:53 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Slides of the Teach In yesterday, related to Bolivia Message-ID: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yBMpCvpy-gVrTkaaHZGPcmiroOfAWoCQzPwGKmFkLb8/edit?fbclid=IwAR0kc5Mieq0Xa7EKr6typFWRniyFXiozkLMf -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 21 16:10:15 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 16:10:15 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Rewriting the Rules for the European Economy, by Joseph Stieglitz Message-ID: https://www.feps-europe.eu/attachments/publications/book_stiglitz-web-pp.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0Jp0oNjeuXqlOfzvgRXBsI2r_mn887mb0ZEtnOcqrOmGaDmwnXOjIRJ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 21 17:49:39 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 17:49:39 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Brian Becker of ANSWER/Loud & Clear/PSL speaking on Bolivia on Watching the Hawks Message-ID: https://www.rt.com/shows/watching-the-hawks/473946-bolivia-coup-death-toll/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbn at forestfield.org Fri Nov 22 01:08:06 2019 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 19:08:06 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Notes Message-ID: <34bc9dcf-9d78-9c12-56ca-483a0f356207@forestfield.org> Here are some additional topics for you to consider discussing. Have a good show guys. -J Democratic Party: Democracy is a "dangerous position" to leave in the hands of the electorate. https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/111819-1 -- Nancy Pelosi in a memo to Democratic Party colleagues: > The weak response to these hearings has been, ?Let the election decide.? > That dangerous position only adds to the urgency of our action, because > the President is jeopardizing the integrity of the 2020 elections. Coup news: Sadly there's enough going on in US-led coups to have a recurring segment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCY_ReFRT8o -- The Grayzone: Anya Parampil debunks media myths about the Bolivian coup (which, by the way, is only recognized as the coup it is by alternative media not mainstream corporate media) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2cHKyqaRo8 -- The Grayzone report on Jeanine ??ez. jbn: Jeanine ??ez:Bolivia::Juan Guaido:Venezuela -- both self-declared "presidents", both US stooges, both beneficiaries of US-led coup attempts and very likely both are funded by US funding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMscskEEAyw -- The Grayzone: Economic motives behind the Bolivian coup: lithium (used in batteries for our "green" future) & natural gas, and leaked recordings to back up the claims. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37XnuBIonT0 -- RT: Evo Morales urges UN to stop bloodshed in Bolivia Syria: OPCW leaks are confirming what we had good reason to believe -- the gas canisters in the Syrian so-called 'gas attack' were placed on the scene, not dropped. In other words, the alleged 'gas attack' was staged. You'll recall that this (now we know: staged attack) prompted a coordinated US/French/UK missile attack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaq2wOf2Haw -- The Grayzone: Another whistleblower inside the OPCW says the 'chemical attack' may have been staged (also includes BBC interview). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMSyLg1E49M -- The Grayzone: Whistleblower: OPCW suppressed Syria chemical evidence after US pressure. jbn: Since this involves the OPCW this has a connection to the current UK Prime Minister (Boris Johnson) and the Skripal attacks too -- Boris Johnson pushed for the OPCW to be able to make statements about the origin of that poison when the experts were unwilling to make such a statement. Johnson was clearly hoping for a real connection to Russia but the evidence just wasn't there to make that connection because information about the "novichok" (Russian for 'newcomer') poison allegedly used had been widely published years before the Skripals were poisoned. And the allegations about the lethality of that poison don't match what happened to the Skripals (father Sergey, daughter Yulia, and a policeman all survived). So far only one human has died in those poisonings, Dawn Sturgess, and one RT report suggested she might have succumbed because she was a recovering heroin addict (hence she might have been compromised). The UK government killed Skripals pets (it's not clear why) and arranged to buy his house and everything in it. It's looking more and more like the OPCW's leadership is corrupt enough to hide reports that don't favor the state's narrative but the OPCW still has a few scientists working for it that are willing to tell the truth (including leaking it). There's not a lot of mainstream coverage of either the Skripal/Sturgess poisoning incidents or the recent OPCW whistleblowers. You'll likely have to get your news on this from alternative sources. Press freedom/Assange/WikiLeaks: Protests supporting Assange continue, Craig Murray explains how the Swedish sexual misconduct allegations (never charges, as far as I know) were always bogus, and why this case ought to be of chief importance to American media but isn't portrayed that way in American corporate media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM6YDIna5ww -- Assange supporters (including his father) gather outside London court hearing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8caSQ5hlTH4 -- Swedish prosecutor announces she will "discontinue preliminary investigation on the Julian Assange case". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VfbJBxViac -- Ben Swann interview https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1196777248474517505 -- Twitter post referred to in Swann interview: > Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief: ?Let us now focus on the > threat Mr Assange has been warning about for years: the belligerent > prosecution of the United States and the threat it poses to the First > Amendment. " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOY2n2-ojrM -- ?gmundur J?nasson interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZX-AyUpf-M -- Craig Murray interview https://www.aklagare.se/en/news-and-press/press-releases/?newsId=3265699 -- press release from Swedish prosecutor https://www.aklagare.se/en/news-and-press/media/the-assange-matter/chronology/ -- chronology of Assange case from Swedish prosecutor https://www.aklagare.se/globalassets/dokument/ovriga-dokument/decision_19nov.pdf -- translation of decision to discontinue the preliminary investigation of Assange's case from the Swedish prosecutor RT has been one of the very few news outlets to properly cover the Assange case. Other news outlets showing Assange being pulled out of the Ecuadorian embassy had to license that footage from RT's RUPTLY outlet because the other news organizations decided not to keep their cameras rolling when the ejection event occurred (despite widespread notice ahead of time via Twitter that Assange was due to be ejected). Democracy Now, which has been on the decline in recent years including buying into Russiagate and offering no serious analysis of Syria (two topics Aaron Mat? cited as reasons for his leaving DN), has had no news on the Assange case since October 24 and no critical analysis of the relevance of the Swedish allegations against Assange. The RT interview with investigative journalist Ben Swann is easily the worst of these interviews because the host doesn't seem to know what she's talking about: the current WikiLeaks editor-in-chief and spokesperson, Kristinn Hrafnsson, is a man (the host refers to Hrafnsson twice as a woman), and both host and guest call the Swedish sexual misconduct allegations "charges" (see https://www.democracynow.org/2017/10/10/julian_assange_marks_55_years_inside for Assange himself mentioning this) -- as far as I know Assange has not been charged with anything by Sweden. Sweden has made many telling claims about that "preliminary investigation" along the way (they slow-walked the entire investigation for years, the Swedes made false claims about how they could interview him: only in-person not over the Internet, and not from the Ecuadorian embassy but only in their facility, but both claims were untrue) and the investigation was closed and re-opened multiple times for no reason rooted in evidence. Taken as a whole this was indistinguishable from an accusations which were baseless from the start and the corrupt Swedish prosecutors were working for the US. Craig Murray's interview makes these points clear. Ben Swann made some good points: the 50-week jail term for skipping bail has expired. Assange, therefore, shouldn't be in jail for this past that time (which he's served). Therefore what this is really about becomes more clear: the US is dictating the terms of Assange's UK imprisonment aiming for extradition to the US on a case that has no evidence (helping Manning break into computers makes no sense because Manning was given all the access necessary to copy the now leaked Iraq & Afghan war logs showing war crimes committed by American military). Assange faces no charges in the UK. So it's fair to conclude that the UK's sovereignty is subject to the US' limits: on issues of importance to the US the US sets down the allowable limits within which the UK works. Craig Murray's RT interview (with a different host than the Ben Swann interview) is far more recommendable because Murray knows what he's talking about and he reaches important and reasonable conclusions given the available evidence. > RT host: Now clearly one less legal woe for Julian Assange but is it > good news? > > Craig Murray: Well it's excellent news but it was entirely expected > because, of course, the Swedish allegations were very obviously always a > CIA fit-up and they were only ever intended to get Assange into custody > in order to pave the way for a extradition to the United States for > publishing; for publishing the truth about American war crimes. And now > that these allegations have served their purpose, and plainly there was > never a scintilla of credible evidence behind them, they're not needed > anymore. So it's entirely expected that they're dropped now. > > RT: And how much do you think this is going to affect extradition to the > US that Assange is currently facing? > > Craig Murray: Well I think the idea that anybody can be extradited to > the United States of America for publishing documents leaked to them, > documents which were also published by the New York Times, the > Washington Post, The Guardian, and thousands of other media outlets > around the world, you know this is a fundamental attack on media > freedom. I'm afraid to say that governments in the west nowadays seem to > have lost all clue when it comes to the fundamental meanings of liberty > and democracy. So it's not impossible that extradition will succeed and > will go ahead and we will be fighting very very hard to make sure that > it does not. > > RT: We here at RT have reported extensively on Assange's poor > imprisonment conditions as he continues to be held in Belmarsh prison. > What do you make of the conditions he's being held in? Are they fair? > > Craig Murray: Oh, it's absolutely horrifying! I mean there is no reason > whatsoever why a publisher who is in prison for nothing whatsoever > except for having published things the government did not want him to > publish should be kept in solitary confinement. That is simply > appalling. Plainly. I was devastated when I saw him at his last court > appearance at Westminster Magistrates Court, he was stumbling, he was > incoherent, he couldn't easily remember his own name and date of birth > and this is an extremely intelligent and articulate man. These > conditions amount to torture. Whatever is being done to him otherwise > physically or by medication, I don't know, but plainly he's being kept > in conditions which are extremely injurious to his health and absolutely > unnecessary for he has no track record of violence and doesn't need to > be treated like a terrorist. > > RT: Well at the same time Assange's legal team has claimed that their > client is struggling to prepare his defense against that extradition > because the computer he has been given is in rather poor condition. Do > you think that there's any chance of those being upgraded, his computer > being upgraded, having better resources to prepare his defense? > > Craig Murray: I think, you know, his defense has been quite deliberately > crippled at all stages. You know, the idea of giving him a virtually > unworkable computer. All his papers and documents were stolen by the > United States of America were given to the United States by the > Ecuadorian embassy perfectly illegally, the United States has no rights > to hold his documents, he has no access to prepare his defense. And, of > course, the court refused to allow time for evidence to emerge from his > Spanish court case that shows that his defense lawyers were spied upon > in the Ecuadorian embassy against all rules of legal privilege by a > security firm acting on behalf of the CIA. So everything possible is > being done; he's not having a fair court proceeding or fair defense at > all. This ought to be a scandal of the highest kind. > > RT: There's, of course, a lot of controversy around Assange, but if we > look specifically at the sexual assault allegations back in 2010 when > the allegations first arose, Assange was questioned in Sweden but then > the case was closed and he was allowed to leave the country, only to > then be re-opened again shortly after he left. What do you make of > Sweden's overall handling of the whole case? > > Craig Murray: It's absolutely ludicrous. And then he was eventually > questioned -- they could have questioned him at any time in the > Ecuadorian embassy, they waited 6 years to do so. But when they > eventually questioned him it became plain their case would not stand up, > that there was no evidence which could form a basis of a conviction. > They then closed the case again in 2017 then they opened it again in > 2019, reopened it for the second time. It was never ever more than a > preliminary investigation. To go for a European arrest warrant on the > basis of a preliminary investigation not endorsed by any court was > unprecedented. No, the case has obviously been a political fit-up from > the start. And I should say that I thought today that the prosecutor, > Eva-Marie Persson in Sweden, was an absolute disgrace. She said that the > accusers had given credible evidence. Well if the accusers had given > credible evidence why close the case? Unless it's also the case that the > defense gave credible evidence. And if the defense gave credible > evidence also why didn't you say that? I think an attempt even while > dropping the case because you have insufficient evidence to do so in a > way designed to blacken the name of somebody, while at the same time > denying them the chance to prove themselves innocent in court was > absolutely disgusting and reprehensible by Eva-Marie Persson. And I > think the Swedish people should be ashamed of her, should be ashamed of > the entire way they have been played by the CIA with these bogus cases > in order to get Julian Assange into custody. Everybody in Sweden should > be deeply deeply ashamed today. Where are the feminist organizations calling the Swedish/American allegations against Assange what they really are? Anyone fighting real rape cases ought to be outraged at the years-long government misuse of such allegations; this raises reasonable doubts that allegations are raised for political reasons rather than reasons of seeking justice. War criminality: Trump pardons war criminals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu5ZG-G4EVk -- Chris Hedges on Trump pardoning those who carry out atrocities. Protests: France, Hong Kong, Iran -- circle of economic life? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiO-CjOfRRs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evm0Hy5dcfs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjdhk1BhVao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxFbjct-Re0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_2dyQig0DE -- Multiple reports about the 1 year of Yellow Vest (Les Gillets Jaunes) protests in France. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjti7XX9bHc -- Hong Kong protest outside Polytechnic University https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJqP6SLQpS8 -- Iran government pushes for 50% petrol price increase (a petrol price increase is how the Yellow Vest protests started). Neoliberalism is still failing: Big business racks up the electoral losses in Seattle and there's no evidence to support the notion that identity politics distractions are helping. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/09/seattle-amazon-kshama-sawant-socialist-elections -- Hallie Golden wrote: > In a blow to Amazon, the socialist candidate Kshama Sawant appeared on > Saturday to have beaten the business-backed Egan Orion for a seat on > Seattle city council, despite an unprecedented financial effort from the > tech giant. > > Amazon is headquartered in the city. It ploughed $1.5m into the city > council election through a political action committee sponsored by the > Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. > > Civic Alliance For A Sound Economy dispensed about $440,000 in support > of Orion and backed six other candidates considered business-friendly. > In 2015, according to the New York Times, Amazon and its employees only > contributed about $130,000 to city council candidates. > > Sawant, a member of the Socialist Alternative party and a former tech > worker, was elected six years ago as the first socialist on the Seattle > council in almost 100 years. On election night she trailed Orion by 8%. > But as more ballots were counted she closed the gap, and by Friday > evening, with the vast majority of ballots counted, she was up by almost > 4%, or about 1,500 votes. [...] > ?All of this clarified to people that big business is not on our side,? > she said. ?This mythology that, ?Oh if only we behaved nicely and we > brought big business to the table, things would work out.? Well that?s > been blown to smithereens. They are not on our side and in fact they > will use every dollar that they can to try and crush the movement.? > > Orion, an LGBTQ community leader and advocate for small businesses who > considers himself a progressive liberal, has said he considered the > funding from Amazon unnecessary and largely a distraction. > > Four other candidates endorsed by the Civic Alliance For A Sound Economy > also seemed set to lose. Phil Tavel, Heidi Wills, Mark Solomon and Jim > Pugel trailed their opponents by at least 6%, with Solomon down by about > 20%. Two candidates endorsed by the Pac, Alex Pedersen and Debora > Juarez, had substantial leads. > > A win for Sawant would give her a third term. She has been a fierce > critic of the influence of big business on Seattle, and helped lead the > push last year for the head tax, a per-employee tax on large > corporations that was repealed a month after passing unanimously. > > On Saturday, Sawant said she planned to continue her battle for a tax on > big business. Orion does not support the head tax. jbn: Also note that Khama Sawant's opponent Egan Orion is "an LGBTQ community leader and advocate for small businesses who considers himself a progressive liberal". Not only an advocate for small businesses who thinks taking money from Amazon is right and proper, but someone who is "organizer of the city's annual LGBT pride festival" (per Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kshama_Sawant#2019_election). It's not clear what being LGBTQ or being an "LGBTQ community leader" has to do with this story other than that this is another example of how identity politics attempts to get us to focus on something less relevant -- Sawant's politics have apparently won her re-election to her third term on the Seattle city council. But identity politics are sometimes used to distract away from far more relevant political issues that affect more people's lives. Other examples of distractive identity politics include: - Ellen DeGeneres: who recently hosted former US president G.W. Bush on her TV talk show including giving him a warm and comfortable segment that didn't bring up his legacy which includes running a torture regime or launching the 2003 illegal and unethical invasion of Iraq based on lies. As is reported widely in LGBT press, G.W. Bush is also known for seeking a Constitutional amendment that would permanently ban non-heterosexual marriage such as DeGeneres' & de Rossi's marriage. After being photographed spending time with the Bushes at a football game, DeGeneres tried to distract attention from her class allegiance (she, her wife Portia de Rossi, and the Bushes are all very wealthy) and paint her friendship with the former president as something innocent. - Rep. Ayanna Pressley: in 2018 Pressley, a black woman, ran an identity politics campaign against incumbent Rep. Mike Capuano, a white man. In one debate aired on Radio Boston Pressley said "We will vote the same way, but lead differently". Her campaign was defined chiefly by who she is rather than what she stands for and how she intended to vote on bills (the latter being the things that affect people's lives): The Intercept wrote in https://theintercept.com/2018/08/18/mike-capuano-ayanna-pressley-massachusetts-primary/ > While [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez and [Nebraskan Kara] Eastman won by > sharply criticizing the moderate voting records of their primary > opponents, Pressley has demurred repeatedly when asked to point to > major policy areas in which she disagrees with her opponent. Ayanna Pressley also funded her campaign by relying on establishment money, as The Intercept pointed out: > Pressley is backed by major donors and powerful figures within the > Democratic Party?s elite. According to Politico, Pressley, a former aide > to then-Sen. John Kerry, was urged by the ?donor class? to make her run. [...] > Pressley['s] establishment [...] campaign contributors include > Boston-area megadonor Barbara Lee; Minyon Moore, a so-called Democratic > National Committee superdelegate and principal of the corporate lobbying > firm Dewey Square group; and Super PAC strategist Guy Cecil. Capuano's record of supporting progressive causes was apparently less valued than seeing someone who "look[s] like them" in the race: The Intercept wrote: > Capuano suggested in a one debate that his identity was less important > than his track record of working on behalf of a diverse community. > ?There is a majority of no one in this district,? said Capuano. ?No > race, no ethnicity, no religion, nothing. So anybody who sits in this > seat has to be able to work with people that don?t look like them, > people that don?t think like them, people that don?t worship like them ? > and has to be able to bring people together.? > > Capuano, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, blazed an > unusual path on Capitol Hill. He has championed ?Medicare for All? for > over a decade, helped establish the influential Office of Congressional > Ethics, and, as Congress has increasingly abandoned its corporate > oversight responsibilities, has made a name for himself dressing down > the chief executives of big banks, airlines, and other industries for > engaging in fraud and abuse. > > For some activists on the left who have supported Capuano?s policy > stances, the prospect of challenging the progressive stalwart is a > misguided venture. Robert Naiman, policy director of the progressive > think tank Just Foreign Policy, said he has cheered on the wave of > progressive insurgent candidates, but was surprised to see Capuano ? who > is known for his progressive foreign policy stances ? facing a > challenge. Naiman, a watchdog on foreign intervention, rattled off a > list of foreign policy stances Capuano has staked, agitating for peace > even against his own party, from leading the opposition to the war in > Yemen to maintaining a lonely battle against President Barack Obama?s > war in Libya. > > ?Taking down Capuano? That would be terrible,? Naiman said. ?He?s a > progressive champion.? Pressley won her race against Capuano and currently represents Massachusetts' 7th district. War/Technology: Microsoft funds privacy-busting facial recognition software (currently used against Palestinians) while claiming that "privacy is a fundamental human right". https://mondoweiss.net/2019/11/microsoft-revealed-to-be-funding-israeli-surveillance-on-palestinians/ -- Ramzy Baroud wrote: > Microsoft prides itself on being a leader in corporate social > responsibility (CSR), emphasizing that ?privacy (is) a fundamental human > right.? > > The Washington-State based software giant dedicates much attention, at > least on paper, to the subject of human rights. ?Microsoft is committed > to respecting human rights,? Microsoft Global Human Rights Statement > asserts. ?We do this by harnessing the beneficial power of technology to > help realize and sustain human rights everywhere.? > > In practice, however, Microsoft?s words are hardly in line with its > action, at least not when its human rights maxims are applied to > occupied and besieged Palestinians. > > This story shows that ethical principles are fundamentally meaningless > if they exist in the abstract. It boils down ot whether Microsoft > considers Palestinians to have democratic freedoms that are being > infringed by Israeli military surveillance https://t.co/pIi8zscga2 > ? Olivia Solon (@oliviasolon) October 28, 2019 > > Writing for the NBC news on October 27, Olivia Solon reported on > Microsoft funding of the Israeli firm, AnyVision, which uses facial > recognition ?to secretly watch West Bank Palestinians.? > > Through its venture capital arm M12, Microsoft has reportedly invested > $78 million in the Israeli startup company that ?uses facial recognition > to surveil Palestinians throughout the West Bank, in spite of the tech > giant?s public pledge to avoid using the technology if it encroaches on > democratic freedoms.? > > AnyVision had developed an ?advanced tactical surveillance? software > system, dubbed ?Better Tomorrow? that, according to a joint NBC-Haaretz > investigation, ?lets customers identify individuals and objects in any > live camera feed, such as a security camera or smartphone, and then > track targets as they move between different feeds.? > > As disquieting as ?Better Tomorrow?s? mission sounds, it takes on a > truly sinister objective in Palestine. ?According to five sources > familiar with the matter,? wrote Solon, ?AnyVision?s technology powers a > secret military surveillance project throughout the West Bank.? War/Occupation: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/hypocrisy-critics-slam-israeli-army-twitter-post-191109162240458.html > Social media users have called out the Israeli army for a Twitter post > celebrating two female soldiers for cutting off their hair for a good > cause. > > The Israeli army said the pair donated their hair to make wigs for > cancer patients, and described it as "a beautiful act of kindness". > > A picture of the two soldiers, identified as Noam and Inbal, shows them > smiling and holding their freshly cut hair. > > But critics pointed out the irony of the post, reminding the Israeli > army that they regularly deny thousands of cancer patients from the Gaza > Strip permission to travel for treatment. > > "Nothing says kindness like forcing cancer patients to die in an open > air prison in Gaza," Remi Kenazi, a Palestinian-American poet based in > New York, responded on Twitter. [...] > According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 39 percent of patient > applications for permits to exit Gaza for healthcare in 2018 were > unsuccessful. > > "The ability of Gaza's hospitals to provide adequate diagnosis and > treatment to cancer patients is severely limited due to chronic > shortages of medicines and lack of medical equipment," WHO said in a > report last February. > > The Palestinian Ministry of Health said in February that the number of > cancer patients in the Gaza Strip had risen to 8,515 - including 608 > children. > > Most cases are diagnosed at a late stage, leading to difficulties in > symptom control and treatment options. Other Twitter posts on the IDF ad: https://twitter.com/rooafzapapi96/status/1192863831497699329 > If you guys can also stop killing Palestinians that be super > ? braderoni https://twitter.com/aptly_engineerd/status/1192886669449383936 > Israel regularly refuses permits to cancer patients trying to leave Gaza > for treatment, something they are forced to do because the Israeli and > Egyptian enforced siege prevents them from getting treatment at home > ? Rebecca Pierce https://twitter.com/sarahleah1/status/1192868479419981824 > Hi Noam and Inbal - great that you want to help! can you please ask your > bosses at the @IDF to open the #Gaza border so that cancer patients > there can get urgently needed medical treatment? They and so many other > Palestinians urgently need medical care but are blocked by #Israel > ? Sarah Leah Whitson https://twitter.com/RonitLentin/status/1193198218592636928 > Revolting IDF boast about their female stormtroopers 'kindly' donating > their hair for wigs for Gaza children with cancer, while Sick Gazans die > because they are not permitted to access medical treatment. Genocide and > hubris in the racial colony > ? Ronit Lentin Corporate media obedience: Netflix CEO tells the world where Netflix stands on publishing the truth. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20191108/10071343348/netflix-were-not-truth-to-power-business-were-entertainment-business.shtml -- > Netflix CEO Reed Hastings recently came out and publicly washed his > company's hands of any kind of value-based stance. > > Hastings: We?re not in the truth-to-power business. We?re in the > entertainment business. > > That?s Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix Inc., defending a > decision earlier this year to pull an episode of comedian Hasan Minaj?s > ?Patriot Act,? which was critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin > Salman, keeping it from airing in Saudi Arabia. > > Hastings: We can accomplish a lot more by being entertainment and > influencing a global conversation about how people live than trying to > be another news channel,? Hastings said Wednesday in an interview at the > New York Times? Dealbook Conference. > > I can't say I know for sure exactly who is supposed to be the intended > audience for Hastings' remarks, but sure as hell hope the creative > public is listening. For content creators, Netflix has made it > abundantly clear that it will not support disruptive art in the face of > authoritarian criticism. Given how much of art and content is > specifically designed to speak truth to power, and given just how > squishy many governments legal justifications for censorship are, the > future is certain to be filled with these types of take down requests. > Do artists really want to utilize such a platform for expression? > > Making all of this even more frustrating is where Hastings decides the > lines should be drawn, which only serves to throw all of this into more > confusion. > > Hastings added a caveat on how far he would go: > > Hastings: If they can came to us and said you can?t have gay content, we > wouldn?t do that. We would not comply with that. jbn: Of course Netflix won't go against "gay content". Identity politics are how corporations signal their virtue, how corporations let us know that they're safe to do business with. Netflix thus secures its place in every liberal's heart while doing nothing to threaten the establishment that makes most of us poorer, lose our liberties, and distract us so it might appear that we're tacitly accepting killing and torturing people worldwide. It's okay to have, say, an out lesbian woman talk show host enjoy an unchallenging chat with someone who should be in irons in the Hague awaiting trial as a war criminal, which is what Ellen DeGeneres did with former President G.W. Bush. Proper liberals won't mind because Ellen DeGeneres is out and proud, and after a few selfies, some dancing, and a few jokes about Bush's trouble wearing a rain poncho at Trump's inauguration will distract us from expressing our disagreement with torture and war. Economy/Exploitation of the "gig economy": No unions to protect them from being exploited, low-cost transcription service "Rev" lowers the minimum price on their service. https://gizmodo.com/transcription-platform-rev-slashes-minimum-pay-for-work-1839784941 -- > Launched in 2010, Rev made a name for itself by charging customers who > wanted transcriptions of interviews, videos, podcasts, or whatever else > the bargain-basement price of $1 per minute of audio. That?s attracted > some notable clients, including heavyweight podcast This American Life, > according to the company. (Some teams at Gizmodo and its sister > websites have also used Rev for transcriptions.) According to one > whistleblower, a little less than half of that buck went to the > contractor, while about 50 to 55 cents on the dollar lined Rev?s > pockets. > > But in an effort to ?more fairly compensate Revvers for the effort > spent on files,? Rev announced on an internal message board on Wednesday > that its job pricing model would change?with a new minimum of 30 cents > per minute (cpm) going into effect last Friday. > > ?There was an internal forum post made two days prior, but not > everybody checks the forums,? one Revver who wished to remain anonymous > for fear of retaliation, told Gizmodo. ?A lot of people found out when > they logged on on Friday. People are still showing up in the forums > asking what?s going on!? > > In an update reviewed by Gizmodo, marked as being appended last > Wednesday, Rev sought to downplay the impact of the pay algorithm > change. ?30 cpm will be a starting price for a very small number of > jobs. On the other hand, some jobs will now start at 80 cpm,? the > company wrote, according to screenshots of the Rev?s internal message > board. ?The goal is NOT to take pay away from Revvers but to pay more > fairly for the level of effort/skill required.? > > According to the Rev worker who spoke to Gizmodo, ?People have seen cpm > start higher on a few jobs, but for the most part, it feels like the > floor has shifted downward, and rates have dropped with it.? > > Regardless of what goal Rev had in mind, the effect among some > transcribers is to see this as a way to short-change workers. They?re > right to be skeptical: After all, the gig economy has been the genesis > of some clever accounting?whether its platforms shifting their pay > algorithms or subsidizing wages with workers? own tips?that rarely > favors contractors. > > Update 11/11/19 8:43pm ET: A spokesperson from Rev provided the > following response: > > "Rev freelancers have full control over what jobs they decide to work > on. They can accept or reject any projects without consequences as well > as set preferences indicating what jobs they choose to accept, with > full control over all parameters including file types, audio length, and > pay. We informed our community of these changes on our central online > communications hub in advance of them going into effect on Friday, > 11/8. We welcome feedback on these changes and will continue to make > adjustments in order to ensure our freelancers receive fair pay." Advertising: Is your YouTube program 'no longer commercially viable'? If so, YouTube might cancel it. https://www.technewsworld.com/story/New-YouTube-Terms-of-Service-Create-Stir-86352.html > Google has published changes to YouTube's Terms of Service Agreement > that have stoked fears among some users. The new terms take effect Dec. > 10. > > One controversial provision addresses YouTube's hosting > responsibilities. > > "Content is the responsibility of the person or entity that provides it > to the Service," states the new policy. "YouTube is under no obligation > to host or serve Content." > > Another section, Terminations by YouTube for Service Changes, has > creators in an uproar. > > "YouTube may terminate your access, or your Google account's access to > all or part of the Service if YouTube believes, in its sole discretion, > that provision of the Service to you is no longer commercially viable," > the new ToSA states. jbn: Google is correct -- YouTube is not obliged to publish your videos -- any more than, say, a newspaper owes one publication of their letters to the editor. It's interesting how the YouTube terms of service are changing to focus on what YouTube finds to be "commercially viable" but YouTube apparently isn't obliged to follow any restrictions they describe in those terms of service. It's worth noting that one can publish videos on one's own website and also host videos on archive.org at no charge and embed the videos anywhere. Related: https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms -- YouTube's current terms of service. Related: https://www.youtube.com/t/terms?preview=20191210#main -- YouTube's terms of service that will take effect on December 10, 2019. War/sanctions: the anti-Nicaraguan pro-regime change law "Nicaraguan Investment and Conditionality Act" (NICA) passes Congress unanimously, signed into law by Pres. Trump and not covered by English-language media. https://thegrayzone.com/2018/12/14/congress-sanctions-nicaragua-nica-act/ -- > Every single member in both chambers of the US Congress approved > legislation that will impose sanctions and financial restrictions on > Nicaragua in an explicit effort to weaken its government. > > Known as the NICA Act, the bill is now on its way to the desk of > President Donald Trump, who will almost certainly sign it into law > [update: since the publication of this article NICA was signed into > law]. Its passage was spearheaded by neoconservative lawmakers centered > around the Miami lobby of right-wing Latin American exiles dedicated to > eradicating any iteration of socialism in the Western hemisphere. > > The United States has spent decades trying to topple Nicaragua?s > government, now led by the left-wing Sandinista movement. In April, > US-backed opposition[1] figures launched an unsuccessful and exceedingly > violent coup attempt[2] in the Central American country ? one of the > last bastions of leftist politics in an increasingly right-leaning Latin > America. > > The newly approved Nicaraguan Investment and Conditionality Act > (NICA)[3] will give the US president the authority to impose targeted > sanctions on Nicaraguan government officials, former officials, or > people purportedly ?acting on behalf of? Managua. > > The bill also seeks to prevent international financial institutions from > providing ?any loan or financial or technical assistance? to Nicaragua?s > government. > > [...] > > The NICA Act encourages the US government to increase assistance to > anti-government ?civil society in Nicaragua, including independent > media, human rights, and anti-corruption organizations? and to ?support > the protection of human rights and anti-corruption advocates in > Nicaragua.? > > The legislation also suggests that political negotiations should be > ?mediated by the Catholic Church in Nicaragua,? which has for decades > supported violent right-wing forces in the region. > > This October, leaked audio[4] revealed the Catholic Church?s auxiliary > bishop of Managua, Silvio Baez, conspiring with the opposition to oust > Nicaragua?s elected president, Daniel Ortega. > > ?The unity that we need at this moment must include everyone opposed to > the government, even if they are suspected of being opportunists, > abortionists, homosexuals, [drug] traffickers?,? Baez declared, > according to a translation of the leaked audio. > > [...] > > In lieu of a formal vote, the NICA Act was sent to the bipartisan House > Committee on Foreign Affairs for amendments[5], and these changes were > then agreed to by each chamber, without any objections. > > On November 27, amendments for the combined legislation were approved > with unanimous consent in the Senate[6]. Then on December 11, the > changes were unanimously approved in the House[7] without objection. > > [...] > > The unanimous approval of the de facto economic embargo on Nicaragua > received very little attention in the English-language media. The story > was covered by only a small handful of local[8] news[9] outlets[10], > although it received much more attention in right-wing Spanish-language > media. > > In an interview with Confidencial ? an opposition outlet funded[11] by > the US government?s National Endowment for Democracy[12] regime change > arm ? Nicaragua?s former foreign affairs minister Norman Caldera > exclaimed[13] that the ?NICA Act is a devastating blow for the regime.? > > The right-wing channel 100% Noticias[14], whose director, Miguel Mora, > stands accused[15] by family members of coup victims of inciting hatred > and violence, echoed the celebratory language. > > CNN Espa?ol reported[16] favorably[17] on the NICA Act (it even has a > tag on its website[18] devoted to the law), although its > English-language counterpart demonstrated little interest. CNN Espa?ol > referred to the democratically elected government in Managua as a > ?regime? and noted, ?The opposition of Nicaragua celebrates this > decision.? [1] https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/06/19/ned-nicaragua-protests-us-government/ [2] https://soundcloud.com/moderaterebels/nicaragua-right-wing-us-coup-managua-episode-22 [3] https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1918 [4] https://www.vivanicaragua.com.ni/2018/10/23/sociales/revelan-pruebas-de-reunion-conspirativa-de-silvio-baez-en-contra-del-gobierno-de-nicaragua/ [5] https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1918 [6] https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4767702/senate-unanimously-approves-sanctions-nicaragua [7] https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4767701/house-unanimously-approves-sanctions-nicaragua [8] https://www.insidernj.com/press-release/bi-partisan-group-lawmakers-commend-final-passage-nica-act-sending-presidents-desk/ [9] http://sunshinestatenews.com/story/ileana-ros-lehtinens-ted-cruzs-marco-rubios-nicaraguan-investment-and-conditionality-act [10] https://havanatimes.org/?p=145261 [11] https://www.ned.org/wp-content/themes/ned/search/grant-search.php?organizationName=invermeDIA®ion=&projectCountry=Nicaragua&amount=&fromDate=&toDate=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&projectFocus%5B%5D=&search=&maxCount=25&orderBy=Year&start=1&sbmt=1 [12] https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/08/20/inside-americas-meddling-machine-the-us-funded-group-that-interferes-in-elections-around-the-globe/ [13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE8Be4gewh0 [14] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMAgo_0ay7Q [15] https://www.tn8.tv/nacionales/463376-denuncian-miguel-mora-incitar-odio-violencia-nicaragua/ [16] https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/video/nicaragua-ley-nica-estados-unidos-daniel-ortega-conclusiones-kay-guerrero/ [17] https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/video/autores-ley-nica-rep-sires-objetivo-principal-intvw-dusa-cnnee/ [18] https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/tag/nica-act/ jbn: NICA, supported by the "US government?s National Endowment for Democracy regime change arm", passed the House unanimously. Sanctions have an ugly history of killing people, that's why sanctions are used; the poorest part of society suffers the effect of the sanctions the most. As more people suffer more people pressure their government to seek compliance with the power imposing the sanctions in order to end the suffering. Sanctions are a form of war. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) is often described as "anti-war" and "anti-establishment" and she objects to "regime change wars". Are supporting sanctions consistent with being "anti-war"? Jimmy Dore interviewed Rep. Tulsi Gabbard on her vote opposing BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions). This interview took place on Veteran's Day (originally known as Armistice Day) 2019 (2019-11-11). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf-dzfTpguM -- A complete transcript of the interview Jimmy Dore has titled "Tulsi Explains Her BDS Vote": > Jimmy Dore: People made a raucous [sic] out of your vote, they said was > anti-BDS, right? Tell us why you voted for that, because there's a > reason, and then you also voted for Rashid Talib's also [sic] bill that > kind of spoke to that too. Can you talk about that? > > Tulsi Gabbard: Yes, there were a few bills that came before Congress > either for co-sponsorship or actually came to the floor for a vote. I > took a vote on a bill that spoke to finding a peaceful solution to the > ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Part of that bill said -- I don't > have the exact language -- it did condemn the BDS movement, which I > didn't necessarily agree with the language but I voted on it because I > don't think that this BDS movement is the only or perhaps the best way > to achieve that peaceful outcome of stability and security for both the > Palestinian people and the Israeli people. I think that's gotta be our > focus and objective. Right along side that I co-sponsored a bill I think > was originally introduced by Ilhan Omar and Congressman John Lewis that > spoke to the protection of freedom of speech in our own country which I > wholeheartedly stand up for to protect and defend especially as a > servicemember; [I'm] willing to give my life to do so. So while I > personally disagree with the tactics of the BDS movement to achieve that > objective, I absolutely and wholeheartedly support the rights for those > who choose to be involved with that or are choosing that as their method > of protest to be able to continue to do so without fear of repercussions > either from state government or our federal government. > > Jimmy Dore: So the natural question that is if you don't support the > BDS, which is a nonviolent way to protest the occupation, what > nonviolent protest -- because when they nonviolently protest they shoot > them so this would be another -- so what would be a way that they could > protest nonviolently if you don't support BDS? > > Tulsi Gabbard: Well this is a movement that I think, especially this > legislation is specifically talking about, people here in the United > States as a way for them to lodge their positions and protesting > positions within our own government which I support their right to do > so. As we look to the negotiations ultimately that need to take place > between the Palestinian leadership and the Israeli leadership I think > that that negotiation process is ultimately what's gonna be required to > find a lasting peaceful resolution. > > Jimmy Dore: Right. But don't you think that -- I think that the way this > worked is -- again, I'm older than you so I remember the apartheid state > in South Africa and how they used divestments and that was actually a > good pressure point. So whatever is nonviolent I'm okay for. You support > a two-state solution, right? > > Tulsi Gabbard: I do. > > Jimmy Dore: Alright. Tulsi Gabbard, thanks for coming in on Veteran's > Day. Now you're off to a Town Hall tonight, right? > > Tulsi Gabbard: Thank you. Yes. We're gonna have a Town Hall this evening > focused on honoring veterans and talking about a lot of the other issues > that we face. The rest of the video is a boilerplate segment Dore attaches to all of his videos listing where he will do upcoming live shows, and thanking his audience for their support. I think it would be fair to conclude that Rep. Gabbard did herself no favors here despite Dore being in the tank for her. Dore has proven virtually every other time he's brought her up that he will lie by omission or support double-standards to make Gabbard look better than she is: he never mentions any of the evidence against calling her "anti-war" such as Gabbard's 2018 Intercept interview with Jeremy Scahill or an article from https://intpolicydigest.org/2019/07/31/how-anti-war-really-is-tulsi-gabbard/ which is sharply but rightly critical of her pro-drone views, her voting for increasing the so-called "defense" budget in 2018 (a quote from the article: "something that her [Gabbard's] supporters deemed unforgivable when Elizabeth Warren voted to do the same thing in 2017"). The intpolicydigest.org article also brings up that Gabbard accepted war profiteer money ("between 2012 and 2016 Gabbard accepted over $100,000 from the defence industry from the likes of BAE Systems, Raytheon, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin. In fact, via HuffPost[1], both Lockheed Martin and Boeing were two of her largest donors during the 2016 cycle")[2], and her pro-war voting history. [1] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tulsi-gabbard-anti-war-campaign-donations_n_5c530708e4b093663f5bfa69?source=post_page--------------------------- [2] From that Huffington Post article: "The congresswoman said in May 2017 that she had ?recently? stopped accepting money from the defense industry and would no longer accept political action committee largesse. Her total income from the arms industry by that point had hit $111,500, with weapons producers Boeing and Lockheed Martin featuring as her ninth and 12th biggest donors, respectively, in the 2016 election cycle." Dore chastised Sen. Bernie Sanders for saying that he'll support whomever wins the Democratic Party primary; Dore pointed out that Sanders will end up supporting someone who stands against Sanders' ostensible values. But Gabbard said the same thing to CBS News and Dore never brought up this interview or criticized Gabbard for exactly the same reason. In this segment ("Tulsi Gabbard Explains Her BDS Vote") Dore really tried hard to manufacture a better outcome for Gabbard but her anti-BDS vote dug her a hole she apparently can't get out of. I'm not willing to give credit for co-sponsorship because bill co-sponsorship is more about public relations than substance (see my recent comments on how the Democrats keep Medicare for All fans strung along by writing and co-sponsoring bills such as HR676 which they'll never bring to the floor for a vote even when the Democrats have a majority in the House and Senate). Related: https://71republic.com/tag/tulsi-gabbard-drone-strikes/ -- Ryan Lau wrote more which shows how Rep. Gabbard is being judged by her words instead of her deeds (including referencing the aforementioned Intercept article where she talked about how she's down with the drone war). Related: https://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/2019-November/051517.html -- my post to peace at anti-war.net and peace-discuss at anti-war.net "Comparing drone views from two military women". Democrats/Journalism: Do you want to be associated with a party that arrests those who challenge its views? And what of the corrupt police who go along with such arrests? Why is Democracy Now playing favorites? https://www.democracynow.org/2019/11/14/activist_medea_benjamin_faces_threats_of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XNPvXO2wwI -- Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL, 97th district) threatened to arrest CodePink activist Medea Benjamin after Benjamin attended a press conference where Wasserman Schultz announced the creation of a so-called "Venezuela Democracy Caucus", a bipartisan Congressional group which supports the opposition in Venezuela. Benjamin protested the Bolivian and Venezuelan coups holding up a sign reading "NO COUPS [in] Bolivia [and] Venezuela" and shouted that the US should end its sanctions in Venezuela. Benjamin was forcibly removed from the press conference. Later the police visited Benjamin's home without a warrant and did not arrest her. Democracy Now (DN) and RT each interviewed Benjamin and journalist Max Blumenthal but DN didn't interview Blumenthal: https://www.democracynow.org/2019/10/30/headlines/blogger_max_blumenthal_says_he_was_arrested_on_false_charges -- Democracy Now gives Max Blumenthal a much more skeptical reception in its coverage of his arrest. Here's the entirety of DN's coverage of Blumenthal's arrest: > Max Blumenthal, editor of the website The Grayzone, reports he was > arrested at his home in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 25 by a team of > police, in what he describes as an attack on the press. Blumenthal says > he was arrested on a five-month-old warrant for assaulting a Venezuelan > opposition member during protests at the Venezuelan embassy in March. > Blumenthal denies the charges. He says he was held in jail for two days, > shackled for five hours and denied a phone call. Every sentence of that DN report contains distancing language ("[he] reports", "what he describes as", and "he says") instead of reporting the events as facts, facts that are independently verifiable (but DN apparently chose not to verify anything). Is there cause for this language? Does DN have some reason to not trust that Blumenthal was needlessly forced out of his home and taken into custody as per his description? RT did the journalism DN apparently chose not to do. RT interviewed Blumenthal and Bill Moran, Blumenthal's attorney, and RT ran the interview with Blumenthal in multiple languages: Moran interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORE4f8pvGBE -- in English Blumenthal interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yge_QObOp3k -- in Spanish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xi9xQjyH0s -- in German https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDYNu7X5ifc -- in German RT put the story in context, giving the viewer information DN never covered. RT didn't question whether the arrest happened (RT said "He was arrested on Friday 8 hours after the publication of his latest article criticizing the US opposition in Venezuela."). RT used "claim" language about conclusions Blumenthal reached but not whether the events of Blumenthal's arrest occurred. Both Benjamin and Blumenthal said their respective assaults and interactions with police are politically motivated: > Medea Benjamin to RT: [...] It's a travesty that they [the police] came > to my house in such numbers and so intimidating and I think it's meant > to intimidate those of us who work against US intervention in countries > like Venezuela. > > Medea Benjamin to DN: [...] I guess they didn?t arrest me because they > saw that, and maybe they feel they would have to arrest the people who > assaulted me. But once again, I do feel very intimidated. And I don?t > feel like this is the end, that they could show up at my house anytime > with a warrant, just to keep me in this process, like they have done to > so many of our other comrades, to try to stop people from standing up > for this principle of nonintervention. The Grayzone on Max Blumenthal's arrest: > His arrest warrant labels him as ?armed and dangerous.? Blumenthal says > the charges are false and a retaliation against The Grayzone?s > journalism on the US-backed coup in Venezuela and corrupt members of the > right-wing Venezuelan opposition carrying it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hyGUXabDvE -- "Push Back with Aaron Mat?" interview with Max Blumenthal. Arms for kids: Royal Air Force museum has an exhibition for kids sponsored by Raytheon. What could possibly go wrong? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES1XtdRU68U -- RT's report jbn: But this kind of sponsorship is not new, particularly for Raytheon. https://www.girlscouts.org/en/about-girl-scouts/our-partners/raytheon.html -- Girl Scouts USA bragging about their "partnership" with Raytheon includes the following text: > This is the right action at the right time with the right partners. For > example, the majority of millennial women say they would?ve been more > interested in a cybersecurity career if they?d had access to more > information about and training in STEM during middle and high school, > according to a 2017 survey commissioned by Raytheon, Forcepoint, and the > National Cyber Security Alliance. jbn: Nothing says cooperation with "partners" like a company called "Forcepoint", by the way. Raytheon manufactures some of the missiles used to kill Yemeni in the US-backed Saudi war against Yemen which is considered a major humanitarian disaster with thousands dead and millions struggling to survive. What does more girls in weapons manufacturing businesses lead to? Continuing the shift of who runs the world's weapons manufacturers, of course. Related story: The US military-industrial complex is now run by women! "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" by The Gap Band (August 1982) Lyrics: > You were the girl that changed my world > You were the girl for me > You lit the fuse, I stand accused > You were the first for me > But you turned me out, baby > You dropped a bomb on me, baby Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVWERU_xY6I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FOGowwQToM -- Redacted Tonight was one of very few places to cover this as continuity of policy now adhering to identity politics (thus undermining the legitimacy of identity politics and removing doubt that if women ran more stuff we'd be more peaceful; it turns out we'll need more than a mere change of the heads of things to accomplish worthwhile change like not killing people). https://on.rt.com/9lqs -- "Girl power to kill: Women now control America?s military-industrial complex" from January 4, 2019: > Women have taken control of the US? multibillion dollar > military-industrial complex too. Who said that war is only a man?s > business? > > With the 116th Congress being hailed as the most diverse and most female > one yet, the rise of the empowered woman has left few sectors of > business and government untouched and now extends to the US? cosy-cosy > club of arms manufacturers and their government procurers. > > Politico[1] celebrated this ?watershed? moment on Wednesday, announcing > that as of January 1, the CEOs of four of the nation?s top five defense > contractors ? Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and > Boeing?s defense wing ? are now women. The latest appointment was of > Kathy Warden as CEO and president of Northrop Grumman. Read more State > Department arms secretary gives thanks to weapons industry in bizarre > tweet State Department arms secretary gives thanks to weapons industry > in bizarre tweet State Department arms secretary gives thanks to weapons > industry in bizarre tweet > > In government, the Pentagon?s top weapons buyer, the State Department?s > weapons seller, the Department of Energy?s nuclear weapons chief, and > the secretary of the Air Force are all women. [...] Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told the House Armed Services Committee: > "If I ask everyone in this room to think about the most protective person > you know in your life, someone who would do anything to keep you safe, > half the people in this room would think about their moms. We are the > protectors; that?s what the military does. We serve to protect the rest > of you, and that?s a very natural place for a woman to be." [...] > With US-made weapons responsible for thousands of deaths worldwide ? > including a conservative estimate of almost 250,000 civilians in Iraq > and Afghanistan over the last two decades and dozens of schoolchildren > in Yemen ? the irony of Wilson?s feelgood statement was not lost on some > Twitter commenters. > > ?The way intersectional feminism is going right now, we?re going to have > a very diverse group of war criminals and capitalist patriarchs,? one > wrote. [1] https://archive.fo/MHWwp -- source article https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/02/how-women-took-over-the-military-industrial-complex-1049860 requires Javascript to read. Internet: The Internet is no longer an optional nicety (and hasn't been for many years), it's a necessity. It's time to nationalize Internet access -- high-speed access to every home should be a right. At 1h48m18s into https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvFK0jqoG2I (episode 22 of George Galloway's "The Mother of All Talkshows") Jeremy Corbyn has promised free (taxpayer-funded) Internet access for all citizens. > George Galloway receives a note from 'Dave' in the audience: Dave says, > "Ironic you need the Internet to get Universal Credit but it's not a > necessity to the Tories.". [...] Now let's talk about that for a minute: > The Tories regarded it as 'Communist' [...], a kind of madness anyways, > thei idea that we should nationalize broadband and give it to people, > every person in the country, for free. "A communist crackpot"[1], that's > what it was. Now being neither a communist nor a crackpot myself, I > wondered why I felt that this was a very good idea. Why should broadband > be owned by private companies? Why should Richard Branson or Mark > Zuckerberg or any of the other plutocrats that are running these > megacorporations in the media/Internet-based companies, why should they > own the airwaves? The country, the state, the people should own these > airwaves. I really don't get why people are upset about it. Then I began > to get, once I said this, a bit of a backlash, people saying 'Well, we > don't trust the state to control our access to the Internet' but of > course the state already does. They can tell Richard Branson to cut you > off and Richard Branson will cut you off. The idea that the private > corporations are more of a guarantor of Internet freedom than the > elected government of the day in Britain would be, as I think, > fanciful. [1] See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Z_nH-fOqI for a report on this. jbn: I think Galloway is right on this, both that the state doesn't already surveil and control your access, and in pointing out the folly in thinking that small-d democratic control over net access is somehow less desirable than leaving all access to private entities. Market-based access (one pays to get on the net) doesn't even mean that those who can pay can reliably get on the net, given that government override power exists. The US government throws around its weight in those hearings on how to get YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook to carry out the government's censorious wishes (censorship that would be illegal for the government to carry out directly). Anyone who depends on any pressured firm to connect them to the Internet would be cut off precisely as Galloway described. And currently the great scam of the Internet is that one must simultaneously appeal to multiple unaccountable private actors (ISPs, domain hoster, website/blog hoster, and more) to do anything online. As YouTube recently pointed out, they don't owe anyone video hosting. They're empowered to cut anyone off at any time without even giving a reason. Thus the terms of service are vague markers of how oppressive they wish to be in order to not appear quite so capricious as they cut people off for saying the "wrong" things. -J From jbn at forestfield.org Fri Nov 22 02:31:08 2019 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 20:31:08 -0600 Subject: [Peace] One small update to the notes In-Reply-To: <34bc9dcf-9d78-9c12-56ca-483a0f356207@forestfield.org> References: <34bc9dcf-9d78-9c12-56ca-483a0f356207@forestfield.org> Message-ID: I wrote: > The RT interview with investigative journalist Ben Swann is easily the > worst of these interviews because the host doesn't seem to know what she's > talking about: [...] One small update: The RT interview host was Faran Fronczak (https://www.faranfronczak.com/), a relatively new RT host whose profile page wasn't live on RT's "On-air talent" page https://www.rt.com/onair-talent/ when I checked. Currently she hosts "In Question" on RT America. From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Nov 22 15:55:26 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2019 15:55:26 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Lee Camp & Peter Kornbluh on Crosstalk, making sense Message-ID: https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/474051-wars-foreign-military-interventions/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbn at forestfield.org Sat Nov 23 00:29:24 2019 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:29:24 -0600 Subject: [Peace] News from Neptune #441 notes Message-ID: <2df5c395-6bfd-0776-6340-15118ca223f0@forestfield.org> News from Neptune #441 A "Palace Coup" edition Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aeqYsucn6s A list of links to items referenced on the show. Jefferson Morley on "JFK: What the CIA Hides" https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/22/jfk-what-the-cia-hides/ James W. Douglass' "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters" ISBN: 9781570757556 Joseph Bauer's recent letter to the editor in the News-Gazette https://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/2019-November/051530.html Joseph Bauers on "JFK, the unspeakable and me" https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/guest-commentary/joseph-bauers-voices-jfk-the-unspeakable-and-me/article_7c01e434-b78f-5662-8161-e7ab727a5b68.html Daniel McCarthy on "Trump Is Doing Exactly What He Was Elected to Do" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/opinion/trump-impeachment.html Modern Age: A Conservative Review https://isi.org/modern-age Recent Dean Baker articles on Trump's trade war with China https://fair.org/home/dean-baker-on-trumps-trade-war-leo-fitzpatrick-on-wireless-merger/ https://truthout.org/articles/trumps-trade-war-with-china-is-waged-to-make-the-rich-richer/ Dean Baker articles https://truthout.org/authors/dean-baker/ -- on Truthout.org https://www.counterpunch.org/author/phuste/ -- on CounterPunch.org Dean Baker's blog "Beat the Press" http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/ Investigations involving Benjamin Netanyahu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016%E2%80%932018_investigations_involving_Benjamin_Netanyahu Yumna Patel on "After years of investigations, Netanyahu charged with bribery, fraud, breach of trust" https://mondoweiss.net/2019/11/after-years-of-investigations-netanyahu-charged-with-bribery-fraud-breach-of-trust/ Aaron Mat? interviews Stephen Cohen on "Why is the US Arming Ukraine?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpASSqz1hGc The Grayzone https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEXR8pRTkE2vFeJePNe9UcQ/videos Julie Wurth's News-Gazette articles https://www.news-gazette.com/users/profile/julie%20wurth/ Q&A from "Does Sex Matter?" panel including panelist Nina Paley https://player.vimeo.com/video/326585294 Urbana Free Library policy pages https://urbanafreelibrary.org/your-right-know#pol https://urbanafreelibrary.org/sites/default/files/page/attachments/2019/10/IV-C%20Meeting%20Room%20Oct%202019.pdf -- "Meeting room" policy https://urbanafreelibrary.org/sites/default/files/page/attachments/2015/02/IV-A%20Rules%20of%20Behavior%20Feb%202015.pdf -- "Rules of behavior" policy TERF -- trans-exclusionary radical feminist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terf Redline https://rdln.wordpress.com/ Marxism mailing list https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/listinfo/marxism CU Immigration Forum with Thomas Garza https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiG7sxd3aTy1359M7OXX2Yzw6UTdob1Jr Angela Nagle on "The Left Case against Open Borders" https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2018/11/the-left-case-against-open-borders/ Jacobin Radio on "The Left Knows No Borders" with Richard Seymour & Daniel Denvir https://media.blubrry.com/jacobin/content.blubrry.com/jacobin/The_Dig_-_EP_166_-_Seymour.mp3 Universal Basic Income (UBI) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income David M. Halbfinger on "Arab Thinkers Call to Abandon Boycotts and Engage With Israel" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/us/israel-arab-dialog.html James North on "?NY Times? makes up news about ?a new group of Arab thinkers? who want to end the Israel boycott" https://mondoweiss.net/2019/11/nytimes-makes-up-news-about-a-new-group-of-arab-thinkers-who-want-to-end-the-israel-boycott/ Asad Abukhalili ("The Angry Arab") twitter.com posts about this article https://twitter.com/asadabukhalil/status/1198025778824241152 https://twitter.com/asadabukhalil/status/1198025102442450944 Eddy Ram?rez on "Defendant Ignored Amnesty On Iraq Relics, Witness Says" https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/03/nyregion/defendant-ignored-amnesty-on-iraq-relics-witness-says.html David Brooks, Ross Douthat and Michelle Goldberg on "Are Public Impeachment Hearings Working? And is America?s tipping system immoral?" https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/21/opinion/the-argument-impeachment-hearings-trump.html Notes from J.B. Nicholson https://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/2019-November/051528.html -J From carl at newsfromneptune.com Sat Nov 23 22:02:13 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2019 16:02:13 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Ukrainegate Message-ID: <35EC190F-C698-4B8F-8411-D45A4689DCBC@newsfromneptune.com> Ukrainegate 13,000 Times Worse Than You Think by Joe Giambrone / November 22nd, 2019 Did you know that Donald Trump had the State Department, USAID, NED, and the CIA fund and train Neo-Nazi, fascist militias to overthrow the government of Ukraine? These riot mobs, primarily Svoboda and Right Sector, stormed the capital, firebombed and shot the police, and destroyed democracy inside Ukraine. When the legitimately elected president was forced out by the rioters, the population which had supported him in the east seceded from the country, tearing the entire nation into pieces and sparking a civil war. The Ukraine civil war has cost the lives of over 13,000 Ukrainians. There is so much blood on Donald Trump?s hands. Oh, wait a minute! That was Barack Obama. Change that paragraph, please. Since 2014, it?s been glaringly obvious to astute (and honest) observers that the Administration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden supported the most vicious street mobs in Europe, people who considered themselves proud fascists. Western media routinely censored this part of the story. Obama?s Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, made deals with their leaders and was caught on an open phone line handpicking the next unelected leader of Ukraine, someone they could sell to the US public: ?Yats is the guy.? Representative Dennis Kucinich expressed outrage on Bill O?Reilly?s TV show that the Obama Administration had aided this bloody, illegitimate coup. The head of the CIA-linked STRATFOR called Ukraine ?the most blatant coup in history.? America?s proxy terrorists burned Kiev, seized power violently, and through the power of the purse strings, Obama?s Administration installed friendly-faced fascists, who immediately set about attacking their countrymen in the east, with a policy of mass murder and indiscriminate bombings. Eastern provinces of Crimea and Donetsk, which notably had supported the ousted president, held referenda. The people there voted overwhelmingly to secede from the illegitimate, unelected, foreign-sponsored coup regime in Kiev. The above is most certainly not the reason cited this week for Impeachment hearings. Aiding and abetting fascist militias to violently siege a foreign capital is not considered a crime in Washington DC, at all. Conversely, it is business as usual, as Bolivians and Venezuelans can attest to. Woody Allen directed a film entitled ?Crimes and Misdemeanors.? That pretty much sums up the DC circus unfolding in Congress. Everything above is completely true, and yet Barack Obama is heralded as someone in the neighborhood of saints and superheroes. To the belligerent American empire, Obama was a star quarterback. Let?s not even delve into Barack?s support for Al Qaeda in Syria, and another half-million dead there, or we?ll be here all day. Donald Trump made a phone call. In his phone call, he is said to have bullied the President of Ukraine a little. He may have even delayed some weapons transfers to that country, which was engaged in a proxy war with nuclear-armed Russia and its separatist allies in the east of Ukraine. That?s a crime? A real crime? In light of over thirteen thousand slaughtered and an illegal coup in broad daylight? Trump?s telephone call is the real crime? Other Presidents haven?t bullied other client-state puppet leaders, ever? And why exactly is the President of the United States of America required to send lethal weapons to foreign fascists at all? Has anyone located that section of the Constitution? This farce is so laughable on its face and so irrelevant to the American people?s interests, that it?s difficult to overstate the insanity?and outrageous hypocrisy?of the Democrats? contrived ?Ukrainegate? case. This impeachment charge has nothing whatsoever to do with right and wrong. In 2014, Barack Obama?s White House, ?refused to include weapons in an aid package? for embattled Ukraine despite an impassioned plea by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for more military assistance.? Obama didn?t send any weapons at all, which would have provoked Russia to an even greater degree, after overthrowing their legitimately elected next-door ally and tearing Ukraine apart. It was obvious that Russia wasn?t ?invading? Ukraine, as propaganda memes claimed, but simply responding to these international crimes and to the dangerous destabilization on its border. The US had already done quite enough damage, and they didn?t need to escalate a proxy war against Russia toward nuclear Armageddon. Which brings us now to Donald Trump, who became interested in Joe Biden?s obvious corruption inside Ukraine, installing his own son on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma. Hunter Biden knew absolutely nothing about Ukraine or the natural gas industry. The nepotism was glaring. This was clear graft, payback, kickback, corruption, parasites descending after the violent seizure of the state. Biden the elder was in charge of US Ukraine policy, and specifically the big money spigot, after the illegal, US-supported coup there. Then?as Joe will be Joe?Biden bragged publicly about getting Ukraine?s top prosecutor fired to the strains of Washington insider laughter. The Ukrainian prosecutor had been investigating that same company which Biden had arranged his son Hunter onto the board of. Biden?s conflict of interest was so obvious that Trump certainly believed he was onto something. Joe Biden, and media sympathetic to his claims, has predictably tried to cloud the issue, but the corruption is too obvious not to notice. This should, and may, have ended Joe Biden?s 2020 presidential bid. What happened in Ukraine was old-timey Smash & Grab, a reckless attack right on Russia?s western border. Joe Biden arrived to grab as much loot from Ukraine?s gas sector as he possibly could through a cut-out, his son. Biden used his leverage over Ukraine?s international ?loan guarantees? (which is money the coup leaders receive but don?t have to pay back) to finance their new illegitimate junta. Biden?s own quid pro quo, in his own words: ?I?m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you?re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.? This is exactly the type of crime they now accuse Trump of perpetrating with his telephone. The hypocrisy is comical. The Obama Administration?s corruption, along with a bloody war and thirteen-thousand corpses, is what a real crime looks like. Hold onto that picture. Democrats were allegedly the good guys vis a vis Ukraine? Weren?t these international war crimes breaching the UN Charter, which demands exclusively peaceful actions between states, Article II? "All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered." ? United Nations Charter, a ratified Treaty, and the ?Supreme Law of the Land? Launching a proxy war on nuclear-armed Russia was a sane foreign policy? Sending even more arms to escalate that conflict was allegedly such a glorious idea that any delay in weapons shipments becomes an impeachable offense? This unserious charge leveled against Donald Trump distracts from all of his obvious corruption. Trump?s Emoluments violations have been impeachable for years, but the Democrats weren?t interested. Do Democrats long to cash in on the Office of the Presidency next time? Multiple deaths of refugee children in US federal custody at the southern border could be considered murders linked directly to official policies of harsh treatment and deliberate neglect. Are Democrats afraid of exposing Obama?s own caging of immigrant children? This current Ukrainegate impeachment charade appears to be motivated only by blind partisanship and the desire to insulate corrupt insiders like Joe Biden from any scrutiny of their actions. The farce has gone so over-the-top that even as Democratic partisan media heralded the testimony of Trump?s Ukraine Ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, Donald Trump?s allies have already used portions of her testimony as a video advertisement for his reelection! Yovanovitch blatantly lied in her introductory remarks and was caught admitting that Obama?s own State Department had groomed her to answer uncomfortable questions about Joe Biden?s son, Hunter, and his appointment inside Ukraine?s gas sector. This gift to Trump now undermines the entire endeavor. Are Democrats trying to hurt or to help Trump?s reelection? [Joe Giambrone has written for WhoWhatWhy, Foreign Policy Journal, International Policy Digest, Counterpunch, GlobalResearch, OpEdNews, and his fabulous new novel is DEMIGODS. This article was posted on Friday, November 22nd, 2019 at 11:13pm and is filed under Barack Obama, Democrats, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Russia, Ukraine.] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From baldwinricky at yahoo.com Sun Nov 24 19:49:50 2019 From: baldwinricky at yahoo.com (Ricky Baldwin) Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2019 19:49:50 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Ukrainegate In-Reply-To: <35EC190F-C698-4B8F-8411-D45A4689DCBC@newsfromneptune.com> References: <35EC190F-C698-4B8F-8411-D45A4689DCBC@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: <1636061961.3098616.1574624990396@mail.yahoo.com> I've read suggestions that the Obama Administration did this, which I don't necessarily doubt any more than anything else that I don't know for sure.? I certainly wouldn't put it past them.? But most sources I'm able to scrounge seem to be adamant that this version - that the Obama Admin trained and funded it all - is either obviously true or clearly false.?? If I've missed something on this list that's more probative, I apologize, but to be blunt what evidence is there?? (I'm aware of the circumstantial stuff, the hints, the signals, Biden's pressure in the former president of Ukraine to step down, but nothing definitive about this stringer claim about funding/training.) I tend to accept it to some degree, but I'd sure like more. Thanks,Ricky Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android On Sat, Nov 23, 2019 at 4:03 PM, C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss wrote: Ukrainegate 13,000 Times Worse Than You Think by Joe Giambrone / November 22nd, 2019 Did you know that Donald Trump had the State Department, USAID,?NED, and the CIA fund and train Neo-Nazi, fascist militias to overthrow the government of Ukraine? These riot mobs, primarily?Svoboda?and Right Sector, stormed the capital, firebombed and shot the police, and destroyed democracy inside Ukraine. When the legitimately elected president was forced out by the rioters, the population which had?supported him in the east seceded from the country, tearing the entire nation into pieces and sparking a civil war. The Ukraine civil war has cost the lives of?over 13,000 Ukrainians. There is so much blood on?Donald Trump?s hands. Oh, wait a minute! That was?Barack Obama. Change that paragraph, please. Since 2014, it?s been glaringly obvious to astute (and honest) observers that the Administration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden supported the most vicious street mobs in Europe, people who considered?themselves proud?fascists. Western media routinely censored this part of the story. Obama?s Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, made deals with their leaders and was?caught on an open phone line?handpicking the next?unelected?leader of Ukraine, someone they could sell to the US public:??Yats is the guy.? Representative Dennis Kucinich expressed?outrage on Bill O?Reilly?s TV show?that the Obama Administration had aided this bloody, illegitimate coup. The head of the CIA-linked STRATFOR called Ukraine ?the?most blatant coup in history.? America?s proxy terrorists burned Kiev, seized power violently, and through the power of the purse strings, Obama?s Administration installed friendly-faced fascists, who immediately set about attacking their?countrymen in the east, with a policy of mass murder and indiscriminate bombings. Eastern provinces of?Crimea?and?Donetsk, which notably had supported the ousted president, held referenda. The people?there voted overwhelmingly to secede from the illegitimate, unelected, foreign-sponsored coup regime in Kiev. The above is most certainly?not?the reason cited this week for Impeachment hearings. Aiding and abetting fascist militias to violently siege a foreign capital is not considered a crime in Washington DC, at all. Conversely, it is business as usual, as Bolivians and Venezuelans can attest to. Woody Allen directed a film entitled??Crimes and Misdemeanors.??That pretty much sums up the DC circus unfolding in Congress. Everything above is completely true, and yet Barack Obama is heralded as?someone in the neighborhood of saints and superheroes. To the belligerent American empire, Obama was a star quarterback. Let?s not even delve into Barack?s?support for Al Qaeda in Syria, and another half-million dead there, or we?ll be here all day. Donald Trump made a phone call. In his phone call, he is said to have bullied the President of Ukraine a little. He may have even delayed some weapons transfers to that country, which was engaged in a proxy?war with nuclear-armed Russia and its separatist allies in the east of Ukraine. That?s a crime? A real crime? In light of over thirteen thousand slaughtered and an illegal coup in broad daylight? Trump?s telephone call is the real crime? Other Presidents haven?t bullied other client-state puppet leaders, ever? And why exactly is the President of the United States of America?required?to send lethal weapons to?foreign fascists?at all? Has anyone located that section of the Constitution? This farce is so laughable on its face and so irrelevant to the American people?s interests, that it?s difficult to overstate the insanity?and outrageous hypocrisy?of the Democrats? contrived ?Ukrainegate? case.?This impeachment charge has nothing whatsoever to do with right and wrong. In 2014, Barack Obama?s White House, ?refused to include weapons in an aid package? for embattled Ukraine despite an impassioned plea by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for more military?assistance.? Obama didn?t send any weapons at all, which would have provoked Russia to an even greater degree, after overthrowing their legitimately elected next-door ally and tearing Ukraine apart. It was?obvious that Russia wasn?t ?invading? Ukraine, as propaganda memes claimed, but simply responding to these international crimes and to the dangerous destabilization on its border. The US had already done?quite enough damage, and they didn?t need to escalate a proxy war against Russia toward nuclear?Armageddon. Which brings us now to Donald Trump, who became interested in Joe Biden?s obvious corruption inside Ukraine, installing his own son on the board of a Ukrainian gas company,?Burisma. Hunter Biden knew?absolutely nothing about Ukraine or the natural gas industry. The nepotism was glaring. This was clear graft, payback, kickback, corruption, parasites descending after the violent seizure of the state. Biden the?elder was in charge of US Ukraine policy, and specifically the big money spigot, after the illegal, US-supported coup there. Then?as Joe will be Joe?Biden bragged publicly about?getting Ukraine?s top prosecutor fired?to the strains of Washington insider laughter. The Ukrainian prosecutor had been investigating that same company?which Biden had arranged his son Hunter onto the board of. Biden?s conflict of interest was so obvious that Trump certainly believed he was onto something. Joe Biden, and media sympathetic to his claims, has?predictably tried to cloud the issue,?but the corruption is too obvious?not to notice. This should, and may, have ended Joe Biden?s 2020 presidential bid. What happened in Ukraine was old-timey?Smash & Grab, a reckless attack right on Russia?s western border. Joe Biden arrived to grab as much loot from Ukraine?s gas sector as he possibly could through a cut-out, his son. Biden used his leverage over Ukraine?s international ?loan guarantees? (which is money the coup leaders receive but don?t have to pay back) to finance their new illegitimate junta. Biden?s own?quid pro quo, in his own words: ?I?m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you?re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.? This is exactly the type of crime they now?accuse Trump of perpetrating with his telephone. The hypocrisy is comical. The Obama Administration?s corruption, along with a bloody war and thirteen-thousand corpses, is what a real crime looks like. Hold onto that picture. Democrats were allegedly the good guys?vis a vis?Ukraine? Weren?t these international war crimes breaching the UN Charter, which demands exclusively?peaceful?actions between states, Article II? "All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered." ? United Nations Charter, a ratified Treaty, and the ?Supreme Law of the Land? Launching a proxy war on nuclear-armed Russia was a sane foreign policy? Sending even more arms to escalate that conflict was allegedly such a glorious idea that any delay in weapons shipments becomes an?impeachable offense? This?unserious charge?leveled against Donald Trump distracts from all of his obvious corruption. Trump?s?Emoluments violations?have been impeachable for years, but the Democrats weren?t interested. Do?Democrats long to cash in on the Office of the Presidency next time? Multiple deaths of refugee children?in US federal custody at the southern border could be considered?murders?linked directly to official policies of harsh treatment and deliberate neglect. Are Democrats afraid of?exposing?Obama?s own caging?of immigrant children? This current?Ukrainegate?impeachment charade appears to be motivated only by blind partisanship and the desire to insulate corrupt insiders like Joe Biden from any scrutiny of their actions. The farce has gone?so over-the-top that even as Democratic partisan media heralded the testimony of Trump?s Ukraine Ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, Donald Trump?s allies have already used portions of her testimony as a video?advertisement for his reelection! Yovanovitch blatantly lied in her introductory remarks and was caught admitting?that Obama?s own State Department had groomed her to answer uncomfortable questions about Joe Biden?s son, Hunter, and his?appointment inside Ukraine?s gas sector. This gift to Trump now undermines the entire endeavor. Are Democrats trying to hurt or to help Trump?s reelection? [Joe Giambrone has written for WhoWhatWhy, Foreign Policy Journal, International Policy Digest, Counterpunch, GlobalResearch, OpEdNews, and his fabulous new novel is DEMIGODS.?This article was posted on Friday, November 22nd, 2019 at 11:13pm and is filed under?Barack Obama,?Democrats,?Donald Trump,?Joe Biden,?Russia,?Ukraine.]_______________________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: Untitled URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Mon Nov 25 00:30:00 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2019 18:30:00 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Ukrainegate In-Reply-To: <1636061961.3098616.1574624990396@mail.yahoo.com> References: <35EC190F-C698-4B8F-8411-D45A4689DCBC@newsfromneptune.com> <1636061961.3098616.1574624990396@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <920D48DD-41B5-4D3E-8695-6EB896123727@newsfromneptune.com> That the 2014 coup against an elected president in Ukraine was engineered by the sitting US administration (notably in the person of Victoria Nuland) is hardly in doubt. (Even Wikipedia admits it: .) The result was the first government in Europe containing explict nazis since 1945 - another accomplishment of the president who said, ?Turns out I'm really good at killing people. Didn't know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine? (WaPo). The government that Obama's administration installed killed thousands in the Ukrainian region of Donbass (Donetsk and Luhansk) who wouldn?t accept the coup government. But as my quondam colleague Ron Szoke said about the contemporary MSM accounts of those casualties of Obama?s policy, ?Donetsk? Don?t tell!? It?s not surprising that people as well informed as you don?t know about Obama?s accomplishments. That?s what Giambrone is talking about - more corpses piled around the White House. See our friend Francis Boyle?s account: . ?CGE > On Nov 24, 2019, at 1:49 PM, Ricky Baldwin wrote: > > I've read suggestions that the Obama Administration did this, which I don't necessarily doubt any more than anything else that I don't know for sure. I certainly wouldn't put it past them. But most sources I'm able to scrounge seem to be adamant that this version - that the Obama Admin trained and funded it all - is either obviously true or clearly false. > > If I've missed something on this list that's more probative, I apologize, but to be blunt what evidence is there? (I'm aware of the circumstantial stuff, the hints, the signals, Biden's pressure in the former president of Ukraine to step down, but nothing definitive about this stringer claim about funding/training.) I tend to accept it to some degree, but I'd sure like more. > > Thanks, > Ricky > > Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android > > On Sat, Nov 23, 2019 at 4:03 PM, C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss > wrote: > Ukrainegate 13,000 Times Worse Than You Think > by Joe Giambrone / November 22nd, 2019 > > Did you know that Donald Trump had the State Department, USAID, NED, and the CIA fund and train Neo-Nazi, fascist militias to overthrow the government of Ukraine? These riot mobs, primarily Svoboda and Right Sector, stormed the capital, firebombed and shot the police, and destroyed democracy inside Ukraine. When the legitimately elected president was forced out by the rioters, the population which had supported him in the east seceded from the country, tearing the entire nation into pieces and sparking a civil war. The Ukraine civil war has cost the lives of over 13,000 Ukrainians. There is so much blood on Donald Trump?s hands. > > Oh, wait a minute! That was Barack Obama. Change that paragraph, please. > > Since 2014, it?s been glaringly obvious to astute (and honest) observers that the Administration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden supported the most vicious street mobs in Europe, people who considered themselves proud fascists. Western media routinely censored this part of the story. Obama?s Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, made deals with their leaders and was caught on an open phone line handpicking the next unelected leader of Ukraine, someone they could sell to the US public: ?Yats is the guy.? > > Representative Dennis Kucinich expressed outrage on Bill O?Reilly?s TV show that the Obama Administration had aided this bloody, illegitimate coup. The head of the CIA-linked STRATFOR called Ukraine ?the most blatant coup in history.? > > America?s proxy terrorists burned Kiev, seized power violently, and through the power of the purse strings, Obama?s Administration installed friendly-faced fascists, who immediately set about attacking their countrymen in the east, with a policy of mass murder and indiscriminate bombings. Eastern provinces of Crimea and Donetsk, which notably had supported the ousted president, held referenda. The people there voted overwhelmingly to secede from the illegitimate, unelected, foreign-sponsored coup regime in Kiev. > > The above is most certainly not the reason cited this week for Impeachment hearings. > > Aiding and abetting fascist militias to violently siege a foreign capital is not considered a crime in Washington DC, at all. Conversely, it is business as usual, as Bolivians and Venezuelans can attest to. > > Woody Allen directed a film entitled ?Crimes and Misdemeanors.? That pretty much sums up the DC circus unfolding in Congress. Everything above is completely true, and yet Barack Obama is heralded as someone in the neighborhood of saints and superheroes. To the belligerent American empire, Obama was a star quarterback. Let?s not even delve into Barack?s support for Al Qaeda in Syria, and another half-million dead there, or we?ll be here all day. > > Donald Trump made a phone call. In his phone call, he is said to have bullied the President of Ukraine a little. He may have even delayed some weapons transfers to that country, which was engaged in a proxy war with nuclear-armed Russia and its separatist allies in the east of Ukraine. > > That?s a crime? A real crime? In light of over thirteen thousand slaughtered and an illegal coup in broad daylight? Trump?s telephone call is the real crime? > > Other Presidents haven?t bullied other client-state puppet leaders, ever? > > And why exactly is the President of the United States of America required to send lethal weapons to foreign fascists at all? Has anyone located that section of the Constitution? > > This farce is so laughable on its face and so irrelevant to the American people?s interests, that it?s difficult to overstate the insanity?and outrageous hypocrisy?of the Democrats? contrived ?Ukrainegate? case. This impeachment charge has nothing whatsoever to do with right and wrong. > > In 2014, Barack Obama?s White House, ?refused to include weapons in an aid package? for embattled Ukraine despite an impassioned plea by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for more military assistance.? Obama didn?t send any weapons at all, which would have provoked Russia to an even greater degree, after overthrowing their legitimately elected next-door ally and tearing Ukraine apart. It was obvious that Russia wasn?t ?invading? Ukraine, as propaganda memes claimed, but simply responding to these international crimes and to the dangerous destabilization on its border. The US had already done quite enough damage, and they didn?t need to escalate a proxy war against Russia toward nuclear Armageddon. > > Which brings us now to Donald Trump, who became interested in Joe Biden?s obvious corruption inside Ukraine, installing his own son on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma. Hunter Biden knew absolutely nothing about Ukraine or the natural gas industry. The nepotism was glaring. This was clear graft, payback, kickback, corruption, parasites descending after the violent seizure of the state. Biden the elder was in charge of US Ukraine policy, and specifically the big money spigot, after the illegal, US-supported coup there. > > Then?as Joe will be Joe?Biden bragged publicly about getting Ukraine?s top prosecutor fired to the strains of Washington insider laughter. The Ukrainian prosecutor had been investigating that same company which Biden had arranged his son Hunter onto the board of. Biden?s conflict of interest was so obvious that Trump certainly believed he was onto something. Joe Biden, and media sympathetic to his claims, has predictably tried to cloud the issue, but the corruption is too obvious not to notice. This should, and may, have ended Joe Biden?s 2020 presidential bid. > > What happened in Ukraine was old-timey Smash & Grab, a reckless attack right on Russia?s western border. Joe Biden arrived to grab as much loot from Ukraine?s gas sector as he possibly could through a cut-out, his son. Biden used his leverage over Ukraine?s international ?loan guarantees? (which is money the coup leaders receive but don?t have to pay back) to finance their new illegitimate junta. > > Biden?s own quid pro quo, in his own words: ?I?m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you?re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.? This is exactly the type of crime they now accuse Trump of perpetrating with his telephone. The hypocrisy is comical. > > The Obama Administration?s corruption, along with a bloody war and thirteen-thousand corpses, is what a real crime looks like. Hold onto that picture. > > Democrats were allegedly the good guys vis a vis Ukraine? > > Weren?t these international war crimes breaching the UN Charter, which demands exclusively peaceful actions between states, Article II? > > "All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered." > ? United Nations Charter, a ratified Treaty, and the ?Supreme Law of the Land? > > Launching a proxy war on nuclear-armed Russia was a sane foreign policy? Sending even more arms to escalate that conflict was allegedly such a glorious idea that any delay in weapons shipments becomes an impeachable offense? > > This unserious charge leveled against Donald Trump distracts from all of his obvious corruption. Trump?s Emoluments violations have been impeachable for years, but the Democrats weren?t interested. Do Democrats long to cash in on the Office of the Presidency next time? > > Multiple deaths of refugee children in US federal custody at the southern border could be considered murders linked directly to official policies of harsh treatment and deliberate neglect. Are Democrats afraid of exposing Obama?s own caging of immigrant children? > > This current Ukrainegate impeachment charade appears to be motivated only by blind partisanship and the desire to insulate corrupt insiders like Joe Biden from any scrutiny of their actions. The farce has gone so over-the-top that even as Democratic partisan media heralded the testimony of Trump?s Ukraine Ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, Donald Trump?s allies have already used portions of her testimony as a video advertisement for his reelection! > > Yovanovitch blatantly lied in her introductory remarks and was caught admitting that Obama?s own State Department had groomed her to answer uncomfortable questions about Joe Biden?s son, Hunter, and his appointment inside Ukraine?s gas sector. This gift to Trump now undermines the entire endeavor. > > Are Democrats trying to hurt or to help Trump?s reelection? > > [Joe Giambrone has written for WhoWhatWhy, Foreign Policy Journal, International Policy Digest, Counterpunch, GlobalResearch, OpEdNews, and his fabulous new novel is DEMIGODS. > This article was posted on Friday, November 22nd, 2019 at 11:13pm and is filed under Barack Obama, Democrats, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Russia, Ukraine.] > _______________________________________________ > Peace-discuss mailing list > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss > From davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net Mon Nov 25 12:58:04 2019 From: davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net (David Johnson) Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 06:58:04 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Ukrainegate In-Reply-To: <1636061961.3098616.1574624990396@mail.yahoo.com> References: <35EC190F-C698-4B8F-8411-D45A4689DCBC@newsfromneptune.com> <1636061961.3098616.1574624990396@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <000901d5a38f$fa780c80$ef682580$@comcast.net> Ricky, The film maker Oliver Stone did a great documentary about this called ? Ukraine On Fire ?. David J. From: Peace-discuss [mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Ricky Baldwin via Peace-discuss Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2019 1:50 PM To: C. G. Estabrook; C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss; peace-discuss at anti-war.net Cc: Peace Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Ukrainegate I've read suggestions that the Obama Administration did this, which I don't necessarily doubt any more than anything else that I don't know for sure. I certainly wouldn't put it past them. But most sources I'm able to scrounge seem to be adamant that this version - that the Obama Admin trained and funded it all - is either obviously true or clearly false. If I've missed something on this list that's more probative, I apologize, but to be blunt what evidence is there? (I'm aware of the circumstantial stuff, the hints, the signals, Biden's pressure in the former president of Ukraine to step down, but nothing definitive about this stringer claim about funding/training.) I tend to accept it to some degree, but I'd sure like more. Thanks, Ricky Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android On Sat, Nov 23, 2019 at 4:03 PM, C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss wrote: Ukrainegate 13,000 Times Worse Than You Think by Joe Giambrone / November 22nd, 2019 Did you know that Donald Trump had the State Department, USAID, NED, and the CIA fund and train Neo-Nazi, fascist militias to overthrow the government of Ukraine? These riot mobs, primarily Svoboda and Right Sector, stormed the capital, firebombed and shot the police, and destroyed democracy inside Ukraine. When the legitimately elected president was forced out by the rioters, the population which had supported him in the east seceded from the country, tearing the entire nation into pieces and sparking a civil war. The Ukraine civil war has cost the lives of over 13,000 Ukrainians. There is so much blood on Donald Trump?s hands. Oh, wait a minute! That was Barack Obama. Change that paragraph, please. Since 2014, it?s been glaringly obvious to astute (and honest) observers that the Administration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden supported the most vicious street mobs in Europe, people who considered themselves proud fascists. Western media routinely censored this part of the story. Obama?s Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, made deals with their leaders and was caught on an open phone line handpicking the next unelected leader of Ukraine, someone they could sell to the US public: ?Yats is the guy.? Representative Dennis Kucinich expressed outrage on Bill O?Reilly?s TV show that the Obama Administration had aided this bloody, illegitimate coup. The head of the CIA-linked STRATFOR called Ukraine ?the most blatant coup in history.? America?s proxy terrorists burned Kiev, seized power violently, and through the power of the purse strings, Obama?s Administration installed friendly-faced fascists, who immediately set about attacking their countrymen in the east, with a policy of mass murder and indiscriminate bombings. Eastern provinces of Crimea and Donetsk, which notably had supported the ousted president, held referenda. The people there voted overwhelmingly to secede from the illegitimate, unelected, foreign-sponsored coup regime in Kiev. The above is most certainly not the reason cited this week for Impeachment hearings. Aiding and abetting fascist militias to violently siege a foreign capital is not considered a crime in Washington DC, at all. Conversely, it is business as usual, as Bolivians and Venezuelans can attest to. Woody Allen directed a film entitled ?Crimes and Misdemeanors.? That pretty much sums up the DC circus unfolding in Congress. Everything above is completely true, and yet Barack Obama is heralded as someone in the neighborhood of saints and superheroes. To the belligerent American empire, Obama was a star quarterback. Let?s not even delve into Barack?s support for Al Qaeda in Syria, and another half-million dead there, or we?ll be here all day. Donald Trump made a phone call. In his phone call, he is said to have bullied the President of Ukraine a little. He may have even delayed some weapons transfers to that country, which was engaged in a proxy war with nuclear-armed Russia and its separatist allies in the east of Ukraine. That?s a crime? A real crime? In light of over thirteen thousand slaughtered and an illegal coup in broad daylight? Trump?s telephone call is the real crime? Other Presidents haven?t bullied other client-state puppet leaders, ever? And why exactly is the President of the United States of America required to send lethal weapons to foreign fascists at all? Has anyone located that section of the Constitution? This farce is so laughable on its face and so irrelevant to the American people?s interests, that it?s difficult to overstate the insanity?and outrageous hypocrisy?of the Democrats? contrived ?Ukrainegate? case. This impeachment charge has nothing whatsoever to do with right and wrong. In 2014, Barack Obama?s White House, ?refused to include weapons in an aid package? for embattled Ukraine despite an impassioned plea by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for more military assistance.? Obama didn?t send any weapons at all, which would have provoked Russia to an even greater degree, after overthrowing their legitimately elected next-door ally and tearing Ukraine apart. It was obvious that Russia wasn?t ?invading? Ukraine, as propaganda memes claimed, but simply responding to these international crimes and to the dangerous destabilization on its border. The US had already done quite enough damage, and they didn?t need to escalate a proxy war against Russia toward nuclear Armageddon. Which brings us now to Donald Trump, who became interested in Joe Biden?s obvious corruption inside Ukraine, installing his own son on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma. Hunter Biden knew absolutely nothing about Ukraine or the natural gas industry. The nepotism was glaring. This was clear graft, payback, kickback, corruption, parasites descending after the violent seizure of the state. Biden the elder was in charge of US Ukraine policy, and specifically the big money spigot, after the illegal, US-supported coup there. Then?as Joe will be Joe?Biden bragged publicly about getting Ukraine?s top prosecutor fired to the strains of Washington insider laughter. The Ukrainian prosecutor had been investigating that same company which Biden had arranged his son Hunter onto the board of. Biden?s conflict of interest was so obvious that Trump certainly believed he was onto something. Joe Biden, and media sympathetic to his claims, has predictably tried to cloud the issue, but the corruption is too obvious not to notice. This should, and may, have ended Joe Biden?s 2020 presidential bid. What happened in Ukraine was old-timey Smash & Grab, a reckless attack right on Russia?s western border. Joe Biden arrived to grab as much loot from Ukraine?s gas sector as he possibly could through a cut-out, his son. Biden used his leverage over Ukraine?s international ?loan guarantees? (which is money the coup leaders receive but don?t have to pay back) to finance their new illegitimate junta. Biden?s own quid pro quo, in his own words: ?I?m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you?re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.? This is exactly the type of crime they now accuse Trump of perpetrating with his telephone. The hypocrisy is comical. The Obama Administration?s corruption, along with a bloody war and thirteen-thousand corpses, is what a real crime looks like. Hold onto that picture. Democrats were allegedly the good guys vis a vis Ukraine? Weren?t these international war crimes breaching the UN Charter, which demands exclusively peaceful actions between states, Article II? "All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered." ? United Nations Charter, a ratified Treaty, and the ?Supreme Law of the Land? Launching a proxy war on nuclear-armed Russia was a sane foreign policy? Sending even more arms to escalate that conflict was allegedly such a glorious idea that any delay in weapons shipments becomes an impeachable offense? This unserious charge leveled against Donald Trump distracts from all of his obvious corruption. Trump?s Emoluments violations have been impeachable for years, but the Democrats weren?t interested. Do Democrats long to cash in on the Office of the Presidency next time? Multiple deaths of refugee children in US federal custody at the southern border could be considered murders linked directly to official policies of harsh treatment and deliberate neglect. Are Democrats afraid of exposing Obama?s own caging of immigrant children? This current Ukrainegate impeachment charade appears to be motivated only by blind partisanship and the desire to insulate corrupt insiders like Joe Biden from any scrutiny of their actions. The farce has gone so over-the-top that even as Democratic partisan media heralded the testimony of Trump?s Ukraine Ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, Donald Trump?s allies have already used portions of her testimony as a video advertisement for his reelection! Yovanovitch blatantly lied in her introductory remarks and was caught admitting that Obama?s own State Department had groomed her to answer uncomfortable questions about Joe Biden?s son, Hunter, and his appointment inside Ukraine?s gas sector. This gift to Trump now undermines the entire endeavor. Are Democrats trying to hurt or to help Trump?s reelection? [Joe Giambrone has written for WhoWhatWhy, Foreign Policy Journal, International Policy Digest, Counterpunch, GlobalResearch, OpEdNews, and his fabulous new novel is DEMIGODS. This article was posted on Friday, November 22nd, 2019 at 11:13pm and is filed under Barack Obama, Democrats, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Russia, Ukraine.] _______________________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net Mon Nov 25 13:08:44 2019 From: davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net (David Johnson) Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 07:08:44 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Ukrainegate In-Reply-To: <920D48DD-41B5-4D3E-8695-6EB896123727@newsfromneptune.com> References: <35EC190F-C698-4B8F-8411-D45A4689DCBC@newsfromneptune.com> <1636061961.3098616.1574624990396@mail.yahoo.com> <920D48DD-41B5-4D3E-8695-6EB896123727@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: <001601d5a391$77efd750$67cf85f0$@comcast.net> Indeed ! Of course the corporate media propaganda narrative was that it was a " people's uprising ", with even a Netflix propaganda film made. Of course what the U.S. corporate media convenient omits is that the " Color " revolution ( coup ) organizing to get many people to turn out to initially protest was that they were told that the elected Ukrainian President had turned down a " wonderful economic development deal " with the IMF, the EU, and the World Bank that was going to miraculously raise the standard of living in Ukraine to the level of Germany, and that the President turned it down in favor of a Russian deal, therefore he ( President ) must have been paid off or something. Of course the reality was that the " deal " the President turned down was a typical IMF type of development plan that was going to privatize all of the public assets and resources, lower wages and pensions, raise utility rates, eliminate free public healthcare and education, etc.. To be continued, I have to get off the PC now. David J. -----Original Message----- From: Peace-discuss [mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2019 6:30 PM To: baldwinricky at yahoo.com Cc: peace-discuss at anti-war.net; C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss; Peace Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Ukrainegate That the 2014 coup against an elected president in Ukraine was engineered by the sitting US administration (notably in the person of Victoria Nuland) is hardly in doubt. (Even Wikipedia admits it: .) The result was the first government in Europe containing explict nazis since 1945 - another accomplishment of the president who said, ?Turns out I'm really good at killing people. Didn't know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine? (WaPo). The government that Obama's administration installed killed thousands in the Ukrainian region of Donbass (Donetsk and Luhansk) who wouldn?t accept the coup government. But as my quondam colleague Ron Szoke said about the contemporary MSM accounts of those casualties of Obama?s policy, ?Donetsk? Don?t tell!? It?s not surprising that people as well informed as you don?t know about Obama?s accomplishments. That?s what Giambrone is talking about - more corpses piled around the White House. See our friend Francis Boyle?s account: . ?CGE > On Nov 24, 2019, at 1:49 PM, Ricky Baldwin wrote: > > I've read suggestions that the Obama Administration did this, which I don't necessarily doubt any more than anything else that I don't know for sure. I certainly wouldn't put it past them. But most sources I'm able to scrounge seem to be adamant that this version - that the Obama Admin trained and funded it all - is either obviously true or clearly false. > > If I've missed something on this list that's more probative, I apologize, but to be blunt what evidence is there? (I'm aware of the circumstantial stuff, the hints, the signals, Biden's pressure in the former president of Ukraine to step down, but nothing definitive about this stringer claim about funding/training.) I tend to accept it to some degree, but I'd sure like more. > > Thanks, > Ricky > > Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android > > On Sat, Nov 23, 2019 at 4:03 PM, C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss > wrote: > Ukrainegate 13,000 Times Worse Than You Think > by Joe Giambrone / November 22nd, 2019 > > Did you know that Donald Trump had the State Department, USAID, NED, and the CIA fund and train Neo-Nazi, fascist militias to overthrow the government of Ukraine? These riot mobs, primarily Svoboda and Right Sector, stormed the capital, firebombed and shot the police, and destroyed democracy inside Ukraine. When the legitimately elected president was forced out by the rioters, the population which had supported him in the east seceded from the country, tearing the entire nation into pieces and sparking a civil war. The Ukraine civil war has cost the lives of over 13,000 Ukrainians. There is so much blood on Donald Trump?s hands. > > Oh, wait a minute! That was Barack Obama. Change that paragraph, please. > > Since 2014, it?s been glaringly obvious to astute (and honest) observers that the Administration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden supported the most vicious street mobs in Europe, people who considered themselves proud fascists. Western media routinely censored this part of the story. Obama?s Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, made deals with their leaders and was caught on an open phone line handpicking the next unelected leader of Ukraine, someone they could sell to the US public: ?Yats is the guy.? > > Representative Dennis Kucinich expressed outrage on Bill O?Reilly?s TV show that the Obama Administration had aided this bloody, illegitimate coup. The head of the CIA-linked STRATFOR called Ukraine ?the most blatant coup in history.? > > America?s proxy terrorists burned Kiev, seized power violently, and through the power of the purse strings, Obama?s Administration installed friendly-faced fascists, who immediately set about attacking their countrymen in the east, with a policy of mass murder and indiscriminate bombings. Eastern provinces of Crimea and Donetsk, which notably had supported the ousted president, held referenda. The people there voted overwhelmingly to secede from the illegitimate, unelected, foreign-sponsored coup regime in Kiev. > > The above is most certainly not the reason cited this week for Impeachment hearings. > > Aiding and abetting fascist militias to violently siege a foreign capital is not considered a crime in Washington DC, at all. Conversely, it is business as usual, as Bolivians and Venezuelans can attest to. > > Woody Allen directed a film entitled ?Crimes and Misdemeanors.? That pretty much sums up the DC circus unfolding in Congress. Everything above is completely true, and yet Barack Obama is heralded as someone in the neighborhood of saints and superheroes. To the belligerent American empire, Obama was a star quarterback. Let?s not even delve into Barack?s support for Al Qaeda in Syria, and another half-million dead there, or we?ll be here all day. > > Donald Trump made a phone call. In his phone call, he is said to have bullied the President of Ukraine a little. He may have even delayed some weapons transfers to that country, which was engaged in a proxy war with nuclear-armed Russia and its separatist allies in the east of Ukraine. > > That?s a crime? A real crime? In light of over thirteen thousand slaughtered and an illegal coup in broad daylight? Trump?s telephone call is the real crime? > > Other Presidents haven?t bullied other client-state puppet leaders, ever? > > And why exactly is the President of the United States of America required to send lethal weapons to foreign fascists at all? Has anyone located that section of the Constitution? > > This farce is so laughable on its face and so irrelevant to the American people?s interests, that it?s difficult to overstate the insanity?and outrageous hypocrisy?of the Democrats? contrived ?Ukrainegate? case. This impeachment charge has nothing whatsoever to do with right and wrong. > > In 2014, Barack Obama?s White House, ?refused to include weapons in an aid package? for embattled Ukraine despite an impassioned plea by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for more military assistance.? Obama didn?t send any weapons at all, which would have provoked Russia to an even greater degree, after overthrowing their legitimately elected next-door ally and tearing Ukraine apart. It was obvious that Russia wasn?t ?invading? Ukraine, as propaganda memes claimed, but simply responding to these international crimes and to the dangerous destabilization on its border. The US had already done quite enough damage, and they didn?t need to escalate a proxy war against Russia toward nuclear Armageddon. > > Which brings us now to Donald Trump, who became interested in Joe Biden?s obvious corruption inside Ukraine, installing his own son on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma. Hunter Biden knew absolutely nothing about Ukraine or the natural gas industry. The nepotism was glaring. This was clear graft, payback, kickback, corruption, parasites descending after the violent seizure of the state. Biden the elder was in charge of US Ukraine policy, and specifically the big money spigot, after the illegal, US-supported coup there. > > Then?as Joe will be Joe?Biden bragged publicly about getting Ukraine?s top prosecutor fired to the strains of Washington insider laughter. The Ukrainian prosecutor had been investigating that same company which Biden had arranged his son Hunter onto the board of. Biden?s conflict of interest was so obvious that Trump certainly believed he was onto something. Joe Biden, and media sympathetic to his claims, has predictably tried to cloud the issue, but the corruption is too obvious not to notice. This should, and may, have ended Joe Biden?s 2020 presidential bid. > > What happened in Ukraine was old-timey Smash & Grab, a reckless attack right on Russia?s western border. Joe Biden arrived to grab as much loot from Ukraine?s gas sector as he possibly could through a cut-out, his son. Biden used his leverage over Ukraine?s international ?loan guarantees? (which is money the coup leaders receive but don?t have to pay back) to finance their new illegitimate junta. > > Biden?s own quid pro quo, in his own words: ?I?m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you?re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.? This is exactly the type of crime they now accuse Trump of perpetrating with his telephone. The hypocrisy is comical. > > The Obama Administration?s corruption, along with a bloody war and thirteen-thousand corpses, is what a real crime looks like. Hold onto that picture. > > Democrats were allegedly the good guys vis a vis Ukraine? > > Weren?t these international war crimes breaching the UN Charter, which demands exclusively peaceful actions between states, Article II? > > "All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered." > ? United Nations Charter, a ratified Treaty, and the ?Supreme Law of the Land? > > Launching a proxy war on nuclear-armed Russia was a sane foreign policy? Sending even more arms to escalate that conflict was allegedly such a glorious idea that any delay in weapons shipments becomes an impeachable offense? > > This unserious charge leveled against Donald Trump distracts from all of his obvious corruption. Trump?s Emoluments violations have been impeachable for years, but the Democrats weren?t interested. Do Democrats long to cash in on the Office of the Presidency next time? > > Multiple deaths of refugee children in US federal custody at the southern border could be considered murders linked directly to official policies of harsh treatment and deliberate neglect. Are Democrats afraid of exposing Obama?s own caging of immigrant children? > > This current Ukrainegate impeachment charade appears to be motivated only by blind partisanship and the desire to insulate corrupt insiders like Joe Biden from any scrutiny of their actions. The farce has gone so over-the-top that even as Democratic partisan media heralded the testimony of Trump?s Ukraine Ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, Donald Trump?s allies have already used portions of her testimony as a video advertisement for his reelection! > > Yovanovitch blatantly lied in her introductory remarks and was caught admitting that Obama?s own State Department had groomed her to answer uncomfortable questions about Joe Biden?s son, Hunter, and his appointment inside Ukraine?s gas sector. This gift to Trump now undermines the entire endeavor. > > Are Democrats trying to hurt or to help Trump?s reelection? > > [Joe Giambrone has written for WhoWhatWhy, Foreign Policy Journal, International Policy Digest, Counterpunch, GlobalResearch, OpEdNews, and his fabulous new novel is DEMIGODS. > This article was posted on Friday, November 22nd, 2019 at 11:13pm and is filed under Barack Obama, Democrats, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Russia, Ukraine.] > _______________________________________________ > Peace-discuss mailing list > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss > _______________________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss From davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net Mon Nov 25 13:50:09 2019 From: davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net (David Johnson) Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 07:50:09 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Ukrainegate In-Reply-To: <920D48DD-41B5-4D3E-8695-6EB896123727@newsfromneptune.com> References: <35EC190F-C698-4B8F-8411-D45A4689DCBC@newsfromneptune.com> <1636061961.3098616.1574624990396@mail.yahoo.com> <920D48DD-41B5-4D3E-8695-6EB896123727@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: <002801d5a397$415b4f70$c411ee50$@comcast.net> Consortiumnews Volume 25, Number 328?Monday, November 25, 2019 Human Rights, Lost History, Media, Obama Administration, Right Wing Ukraine?s ?Dr. Strangelove? Reality May 5, 2014 Exclusive: The horrendous fire in Odessa, killing dozens of ethnic Russians protesting against the U.S.-backed coup regime in Kiev, has lurched the country closer to full-scale civil war and disrupted the American media?s efforts to deny the existence of pro-regime neo-Nazis, Robert Parry reports. By Robert Parry As much as the coup regime in Ukraine and its supporters want to project an image of Western moderation, there is a ?Dr. Strangelove? element that can?t stop the Nazism from popping up from time to time, like when the Peter Sellers character in the classic movie can?t keep his right arm from making a ?Heil Hitler? salute. This brutal Nazism surfaced again on Friday when right-wing toughs in Odessa attacked an encampment of ethnic Russian protesters driving them into a trade union building which was then set on fire with Molotov cocktails. As the building was engulfed in flames, some people who tried to flee were chased and beaten, while those trapped inside heard the Ukrainian nationalists liken them to black-and-red-striped potato beetles called Colorados, because those colors are used in pro-Russian ribbons. Peter Sellers playing Dr. Strangelove as he struggles to control his right arm from making a Nazi salute. Peter Sellers playing Dr. Strangelove as he struggles to control his right arm from making a Nazi salute. ?Burn, Colorado, burn? went the chant. As the fire worsened, those dying inside were serenaded with the taunting singing of the Ukrainian national anthem. The building also was spray-painted with Swastika-like symbols and graffiti reading ?Galician SS,? a reference to the Ukrainian nationalist army that fought alongside the German Nazi SS in World War II, killing Russians on the eastern front. The death by fire of dozens of people in Odessa recalled a World War II incident in 1944 when elements of a Galician SS police regiment took part in the massacre of the Polish village of Huta Pieniacka, which had been a refuge for Jews and was protected by Russian and Polish partisans. Attacked by a mixed force of Ukrainian police and German soldiers on Feb. 28, hundreds of townspeople were massacred, including many locked in barns that were set ablaze. The legacy of World War II especially the bitter fight between Ukrainian nationalists from the west and ethnic Russians from the east seven decades ago is never far from the surface in Ukrainian politics. One of the heroes celebrated during the Maidan protests in Kiev was Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, whose name was honored in many banners including one on a podium where Sen. John McCain voiced support for the uprising to oust elected President Viktor Yanukovych, whose political base was in eastern Ukraine. During World War II, Bandera headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists-B, a radical paramilitary movement that sought to transform Ukraine into a racially pure state. OUN-B took part in the expulsion and extermination of thousands of Jews and Poles. Though most of the Maidan protesters in 2013-14 appeared motivated by anger over political corruption and by a desire to join the European Union, neo-Nazis made up a significant number. These storm troopers from the Right Sektor and Svoboda party decked out some of the occupied government buildings with Nazi insignias and even a Confederate battle flag, the universal symbol of white supremacy. Then, as the protests turned violent from Feb. 20-22, the neo-Nazis surged to the forefront. Their well-trained militias, organized in 100-man brigades called ?the hundreds,? led the final assaults against police and forced Yanukovych and many of his officials to flee for their lives. In the days after the coup, as the neo-Nazi militias effectively controlled the government, European and U.S. diplomats scrambled to help the shaken parliament put together the semblance of a respectable regime, although four ministries, including national security, were awarded to the right-wing extremists in recognition of their crucial role in ousting Yanukovych. Seeing No Nazis Since February, virtually the entire U.S. news media has cooperated in the effort to play down the neo-Nazi role, dismissing any mention of this inconvenient truth as ?Russian propaganda.? Stories in the U.S. media delicately step around the neo-Nazi reality by keeping out relevant context, such as the background of national security chief Andriy Parubiy, who founded the Social-National Party of Ukraine in 1991, blending radical Ukrainian nationalism with neo-Nazi symbols. Parubiy was commandant of the Maidan?s ?self-defense forces.? When the neo-Nazi factor is mentioned in the mainstream U.S. press, it is usually to dismiss it as nonsense, such as an April 20 column by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof who visited his ancestral home, the western Ukrainian town of Karapchiv, and portrayed its residents as the true voice of the Ukrainian people. ?To understand why Ukrainians are risking war with Russia to try to pluck themselves from Moscow?s grip, I came to this village where my father grew up,? he wrote. ?Even here in the village, Ukrainians watch Russian television and loathe the propaganda portraying them as neo-Nazi thugs rampaging against Russian speakers. ??If you listen to them, we all carry assault rifles; we?re all beating people,? Ilya Moskal, a history teacher, said contemptuously.? In an April 17 column from Kiev, Kristof wrote that what the Ukrainians want is weapons from the West so they can to go ?bear-hunting,? i.e. killing Russians. ?People seem to feel a bit disappointed that the United States and Europe haven?t been more supportive, and they are humiliated that their own acting government hasn?t done more to confront Russian-backed militants. So, especially after a few drinks, people are ready to take down the Russian Army themselves.? Kristof also repeated the U.S. ?conventional wisdom? that the resistance to the coup regime among eastern Ukrainians was entirely the work of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, Kristof wrote, ?warns that Ukraine is on the brink of civil war. But the chaos in eastern cities is his own creation, in part by sending provocateurs across the border.? However, when the New York Times finally sent two reporters to spend time with rebels from the east, they encountered an indigenous movement motivated by hostility to the Kiev regime and showing no signs of direction from Moscow. [See Consortiumnews.com?s ?Another NYT ?Sort of? Retraction on Ukraine.?] Beyond the journalistic risk of jumping to conclusions, Kristof, who fancies himself a great humanitarian, also should recognize that the clever depiction of human beings as animals, whether as ?bears? or ?Colorado beetles,? can have horrendous human consequences as is now apparent in Odessa. Reagan?s Nazis But the problem with some western Ukrainians expressing their inconvenient love for Nazis has not been limited to the current crisis. It bedeviled Ronald Reagan?s administration when it began heating up the Cold War in the 1980s. As part of that strategy, Reagan?s United States Information Agency, under his close friend Charles Wick, hired a cast of right-wing Ukrainian exiles who began showing up on U.S.-funded Radio Liberty praising the Galician SS. These commentaries included positive depictions of Ukrainian nationalists who had sided with the Nazis in World War II as the SS waged its ?final solution? against European Jews. The propaganda broadcasts provoked outrage from Jewish organizations, such as B?nai B?rith, and individuals including conservative academic Richard Pipes. According to an internal memo dated May 4, 1984, and written by James Critchlow, a research officer at the Board of International Broadcasting, which managed Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe, one RL broadcast in particular was viewed as ?defending Ukrainians who fought in the ranks of the SS.? Critchlow wrote, ?An RL Ukrainian broadcast of Feb. 12, 1984 contains references to the Nazi-oriented Ukrainian-manned SS ?Galicia? Division of World War II which may have damaged RL?s reputation with Soviet listeners. The memoirs of a German diplomat are quoted in a way that seems to constitute endorsement by RL of praise for Ukrainian volunteers in the SS division, which during its existence fought side by side with the Germans against the Red Army.? Harvard Professor Pipes, who was an adviser to the Reagan administration, also inveighed against the Radio Liberty broadcasts, writing on Dec. 3, 1984 ?the Russian and Ukrainian services of RL have been transmitting this year blatantly anti-Semitic material to the Soviet Union which may cause the whole enterprise irreparable harm.? Though the Reagan administration publicly defended Radio Liberty against some of the public criticism, privately some senior officials agreed with the critics, according to documents in the archives of the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. For instance, in a Jan. 4, 1985, memo, Walter Raymond Jr., a top official on the National Security Council, told his boss, National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, that ?I would believe much of what Dick [Pipes] says is right.? What the Reagan administration apparently didn?t understand three decades ago and what the U.S. State Department still has not seemed to learn today is that there is a danger in stirring up the old animosities that divide Ukraine, east and west. Though clearly a minority, Ukraine?s neo-Nazis remain a potent force that is well-organized, well-motivated and prone to extreme violence, whether throwing firebombs at police in the Maidan or at ethnic Russians trapped in a building in Odessa. As vengeance now seeks vengeance across Ukraine, this Nazi imperative will be difficult to hold down, much as Dr. Strangelove struggled to stop his arm from making a ?Heil Hitler? salute. Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his new book, America?s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com). For a limited time, you also can order Robert Parry?s trilogy on the Bush Family and its connections to various right-wing operatives for only $34. The trilogy includes America?s Stolen Narrative. For details on this offer, click here. -----Original Message----- From: Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of C. G. Estabrook via Peace Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2019 6:30 PM To: baldwinricky at yahoo.com Cc: peace-discuss at anti-war.net; C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss; Peace Subject: Re: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Ukrainegate That the 2014 coup against an elected president in Ukraine was engineered by the sitting US administration (notably in the person of Victoria Nuland) is hardly in doubt. (Even Wikipedia admits it: .) The result was the first government in Europe containing explict nazis since 1945 - another accomplishment of the president who said, ?Turns out I'm really good at killing people. Didn't know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine? (WaPo). The government that Obama's administration installed killed thousands in the Ukrainian region of Donbass (Donetsk and Luhansk) who wouldn?t accept the coup government. But as my quondam colleague Ron Szoke said about the contemporary MSM accounts of those casualties of Obama?s policy, ?Donetsk? Don?t tell!? It?s not surprising that people as well informed as you don?t know about Obama?s accomplishments. That?s what Giambrone is talking about - more corpses piled around the White House. See our friend Francis Boyle?s account: . ?CGE > On Nov 24, 2019, at 1:49 PM, Ricky Baldwin wrote: > > I've read suggestions that the Obama Administration did this, which I don't necessarily doubt any more than anything else that I don't know for sure. I certainly wouldn't put it past them. But most sources I'm able to scrounge seem to be adamant that this version - that the Obama Admin trained and funded it all - is either obviously true or clearly false. > > If I've missed something on this list that's more probative, I apologize, but to be blunt what evidence is there? (I'm aware of the circumstantial stuff, the hints, the signals, Biden's pressure in the former president of Ukraine to step down, but nothing definitive about this stringer claim about funding/training.) I tend to accept it to some degree, but I'd sure like more. > > Thanks, > Ricky > > Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android > > On Sat, Nov 23, 2019 at 4:03 PM, C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss > wrote: > Ukrainegate 13,000 Times Worse Than You Think > by Joe Giambrone / November 22nd, 2019 > > Did you know that Donald Trump had the State Department, USAID, NED, and the CIA fund and train Neo-Nazi, fascist militias to overthrow the government of Ukraine? These riot mobs, primarily Svoboda and Right Sector, stormed the capital, firebombed and shot the police, and destroyed democracy inside Ukraine. When the legitimately elected president was forced out by the rioters, the population which had supported him in the east seceded from the country, tearing the entire nation into pieces and sparking a civil war. The Ukraine civil war has cost the lives of over 13,000 Ukrainians. There is so much blood on Donald Trump?s hands. > > Oh, wait a minute! That was Barack Obama. Change that paragraph, please. > > Since 2014, it?s been glaringly obvious to astute (and honest) observers that the Administration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden supported the most vicious street mobs in Europe, people who considered themselves proud fascists. Western media routinely censored this part of the story. Obama?s Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, made deals with their leaders and was caught on an open phone line handpicking the next unelected leader of Ukraine, someone they could sell to the US public: ?Yats is the guy.? > > Representative Dennis Kucinich expressed outrage on Bill O?Reilly?s TV show that the Obama Administration had aided this bloody, illegitimate coup. The head of the CIA-linked STRATFOR called Ukraine ?the most blatant coup in history.? > > America?s proxy terrorists burned Kiev, seized power violently, and through the power of the purse strings, Obama?s Administration installed friendly-faced fascists, who immediately set about attacking their countrymen in the east, with a policy of mass murder and indiscriminate bombings. Eastern provinces of Crimea and Donetsk, which notably had supported the ousted president, held referenda. The people there voted overwhelmingly to secede from the illegitimate, unelected, foreign-sponsored coup regime in Kiev. > > The above is most certainly not the reason cited this week for Impeachment hearings. > > Aiding and abetting fascist militias to violently siege a foreign capital is not considered a crime in Washington DC, at all. Conversely, it is business as usual, as Bolivians and Venezuelans can attest to. > > Woody Allen directed a film entitled ?Crimes and Misdemeanors.? That pretty much sums up the DC circus unfolding in Congress. Everything above is completely true, and yet Barack Obama is heralded as someone in the neighborhood of saints and superheroes. To the belligerent American empire, Obama was a star quarterback. Let?s not even delve into Barack?s support for Al Qaeda in Syria, and another half-million dead there, or we?ll be here all day. > > Donald Trump made a phone call. In his phone call, he is said to have bullied the President of Ukraine a little. He may have even delayed some weapons transfers to that country, which was engaged in a proxy war with nuclear-armed Russia and its separatist allies in the east of Ukraine. > > That?s a crime? A real crime? In light of over thirteen thousand slaughtered and an illegal coup in broad daylight? Trump?s telephone call is the real crime? > > Other Presidents haven?t bullied other client-state puppet leaders, ever? > > And why exactly is the President of the United States of America required to send lethal weapons to foreign fascists at all? Has anyone located that section of the Constitution? > > This farce is so laughable on its face and so irrelevant to the American people?s interests, that it?s difficult to overstate the insanity?and outrageous hypocrisy?of the Democrats? contrived ?Ukrainegate? case. This impeachment charge has nothing whatsoever to do with right and wrong. > > In 2014, Barack Obama?s White House, ?refused to include weapons in an aid package? for embattled Ukraine despite an impassioned plea by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for more military assistance.? Obama didn?t send any weapons at all, which would have provoked Russia to an even greater degree, after overthrowing their legitimately elected next-door ally and tearing Ukraine apart. It was obvious that Russia wasn?t ?invading? Ukraine, as propaganda memes claimed, but simply responding to these international crimes and to the dangerous destabilization on its border. The US had already done quite enough damage, and they didn?t need to escalate a proxy war against Russia toward nuclear Armageddon. > > Which brings us now to Donald Trump, who became interested in Joe Biden?s obvious corruption inside Ukraine, installing his own son on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma. Hunter Biden knew absolutely nothing about Ukraine or the natural gas industry. The nepotism was glaring. This was clear graft, payback, kickback, corruption, parasites descending after the violent seizure of the state. Biden the elder was in charge of US Ukraine policy, and specifically the big money spigot, after the illegal, US-supported coup there. > > Then?as Joe will be Joe?Biden bragged publicly about getting Ukraine?s top prosecutor fired to the strains of Washington insider laughter. The Ukrainian prosecutor had been investigating that same company which Biden had arranged his son Hunter onto the board of. Biden?s conflict of interest was so obvious that Trump certainly believed he was onto something. Joe Biden, and media sympathetic to his claims, has predictably tried to cloud the issue, but the corruption is too obvious not to notice. This should, and may, have ended Joe Biden?s 2020 presidential bid. > > What happened in Ukraine was old-timey Smash & Grab, a reckless attack right on Russia?s western border. Joe Biden arrived to grab as much loot from Ukraine?s gas sector as he possibly could through a cut-out, his son. Biden used his leverage over Ukraine?s international ?loan guarantees? (which is money the coup leaders receive but don?t have to pay back) to finance their new illegitimate junta. > > Biden?s own quid pro quo, in his own words: ?I?m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you?re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.? This is exactly the type of crime they now accuse Trump of perpetrating with his telephone. The hypocrisy is comical. > > The Obama Administration?s corruption, along with a bloody war and thirteen-thousand corpses, is what a real crime looks like. Hold onto that picture. > > Democrats were allegedly the good guys vis a vis Ukraine? > > Weren?t these international war crimes breaching the UN Charter, which demands exclusively peaceful actions between states, Article II? > > "All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered." > ? United Nations Charter, a ratified Treaty, and the ?Supreme Law of the Land? > > Launching a proxy war on nuclear-armed Russia was a sane foreign policy? Sending even more arms to escalate that conflict was allegedly such a glorious idea that any delay in weapons shipments becomes an impeachable offense? > > This unserious charge leveled against Donald Trump distracts from all of his obvious corruption. Trump?s Emoluments violations have been impeachable for years, but the Democrats weren?t interested. Do Democrats long to cash in on the Office of the Presidency next time? > > Multiple deaths of refugee children in US federal custody at the southern border could be considered murders linked directly to official policies of harsh treatment and deliberate neglect. Are Democrats afraid of exposing Obama?s own caging of immigrant children? > > This current Ukrainegate impeachment charade appears to be motivated only by blind partisanship and the desire to insulate corrupt insiders like Joe Biden from any scrutiny of their actions. The farce has gone so over-the-top that even as Democratic partisan media heralded the testimony of Trump?s Ukraine Ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, Donald Trump?s allies have already used portions of her testimony as a video advertisement for his reelection! > > Yovanovitch blatantly lied in her introductory remarks and was caught admitting that Obama?s own State Department had groomed her to answer uncomfortable questions about Joe Biden?s son, Hunter, and his appointment inside Ukraine?s gas sector. This gift to Trump now undermines the entire endeavor. > > Are Democrats trying to hurt or to help Trump?s reelection? > > [Joe Giambrone has written for WhoWhatWhy, Foreign Policy Journal, International Policy Digest, Counterpunch, GlobalResearch, OpEdNews, and his fabulous new novel is DEMIGODS. > This article was posted on Friday, November 22nd, 2019 at 11:13pm and is filed under Barack Obama, Democrats, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Russia, Ukraine.] > _______________________________________________ > Peace-discuss mailing list > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss > _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace From baldwinricky at yahoo.com Mon Nov 25 15:42:56 2019 From: baldwinricky at yahoo.com (Ricky Baldwin) Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 15:42:56 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Ukrainegate In-Reply-To: <002801d5a397$415b4f70$c411ee50$@comcast.net> References: <35EC190F-C698-4B8F-8411-D45A4689DCBC@newsfromneptune.com> <1636061961.3098616.1574624990396@mail.yahoo.com> <920D48DD-41B5-4D3E-8695-6EB896123727@newsfromneptune.com> <002801d5a397$415b4f70$c411ee50$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <919608653.3282664.1574696576559@mail.yahoo.com> Thanks, really.? That was quick.? I don't mean to tie up everybody answering my quibbles, especially because, again, I wouldn't put it past them.? But I was aware that the Administration jumped in there at the end - some might say eagerly - to "broker" or "midwife" the "transition" ...? I had read the Global Research piece, and Boyle's suggestion that US backing "may" already be underway in the midst of the fray.? I hadn't seen Robert Parry's article, or read Wikipedia's account (I had avoided that one, but I appreciate your suggestion to read it, since it was more informative than I had anticipated). These still don't really argue that the US was behind it from the start, do they?? I mean, aside from the hints and signals US officials often send (and sometimes later turn away from, to be honest, leaving people who seem to be following such 'orders' high and dry), how do we know they were actually funding/training the goons??? To be clear, I'm satisfied that the Obama team was happy about the coup, that it was a coup, and that it was led or co-led by fascists, at least in the traditional fascist coalitionist style - and as Wikipedia et al have made clear that USG officials were there to "help" seal the deal. Yes.? Maybe I should have said all that from the start. What I thought you might have already dug up in your research was evidence of the "funding and training" of the coup by the US under Obama.? If you do have something like that, there's obviously no urgency now, but it would seem a good time to look back at it in light of recent attention in the area and Biden's unfortunate candidacy.?? Thanks for your time, either way.? I know I'm mostly an absent presence these days, but I do appreciate the work you guys are carrying on, and I read up when I can.? (And I appreciate being called "well informed," although I feel less so these days.) Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 7:50 AM, David Johnson wrote: Consortiumnews Volume 25, Number 328?Monday, November 25, 2019 Human Rights, Lost History, Media, Obama Administration, Right Wing Ukraine?s ?Dr. Strangelove? Reality May 5, 2014 Exclusive: The horrendous fire in Odessa, killing dozens of ethnic Russians protesting against the U.S.-backed coup regime in Kiev, has lurched the country closer to full-scale civil war and disrupted the American media?s efforts to deny the existence of pro-regime neo-Nazis, Robert Parry reports. By Robert Parry As much as the coup regime in Ukraine and its supporters want to project an image of Western moderation, there is a ?Dr. Strangelove? element that can?t stop the Nazism from popping up from time to time, like when the Peter Sellers character in the classic movie can?t keep his right arm from making a ?Heil Hitler? salute. This brutal Nazism surfaced again on Friday when right-wing toughs in Odessa attacked an encampment of ethnic Russian protesters driving them into a trade union building which was then set on fire with Molotov cocktails. As the building was engulfed in flames, some people who tried to flee were chased and beaten, while those trapped inside heard the Ukrainian nationalists liken them to black-and-red-striped potato beetles called Colorados, because those colors are used in pro-Russian ribbons. Peter Sellers playing Dr. Strangelove as he struggles to control his right arm from making a Nazi salute. Peter Sellers playing Dr. Strangelove as he struggles to control his right arm from making a Nazi salute. ?Burn, Colorado, burn? went the chant. As the fire worsened, those dying inside were serenaded with the taunting singing of the Ukrainian national anthem. The building also was spray-painted with Swastika-like symbols and graffiti reading ?Galician SS,? a reference to the Ukrainian nationalist army that fought alongside the German Nazi SS in World War II, killing Russians on the eastern front. The death by fire of dozens of people in Odessa recalled a World War II incident in 1944 when elements of a Galician SS police regiment took part in the massacre of the Polish village of Huta Pieniacka, which had been a refuge for Jews and was protected by Russian and Polish partisans. Attacked by a mixed force of Ukrainian police and German soldiers on Feb. 28, hundreds of townspeople were massacred, including many locked in barns that were set ablaze. The legacy of World War II especially the bitter fight between Ukrainian nationalists from the west and ethnic Russians from the east seven decades ago is never far from the surface in Ukrainian politics. One of the heroes celebrated during the Maidan protests in Kiev was Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, whose name was honored in many banners including one on a podium where Sen. John McCain voiced support for the uprising to oust elected President Viktor Yanukovych, whose political base was in eastern Ukraine. During World War II, Bandera headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists-B, a radical paramilitary movement that sought to transform Ukraine into a racially pure state. OUN-B took part in the expulsion and extermination of thousands of Jews and Poles. Though most of the Maidan protesters in 2013-14 appeared motivated by anger over political corruption and by a desire to join the European Union, neo-Nazis made up a significant number. These storm troopers from the Right Sektor and Svoboda party decked out some of the occupied government buildings with Nazi insignias and even a Confederate battle flag, the universal symbol of white supremacy. Then, as the protests turned violent from Feb. 20-22, the neo-Nazis surged to the forefront. Their well-trained militias, organized in 100-man brigades called ?the hundreds,? led the final assaults against police and forced Yanukovych and many of his officials to flee for their lives. In the days after the coup, as the neo-Nazi militias effectively controlled the government, European and U.S. diplomats scrambled to help the shaken parliament put together the semblance of a respectable regime, although four ministries, including national security, were awarded to the right-wing extremists in recognition of their crucial role in ousting Yanukovych. Seeing No Nazis Since February, virtually the entire U.S. news media has cooperated in the effort to play down the neo-Nazi role, dismissing any mention of this inconvenient truth as ?Russian propaganda.? Stories in the U.S. media delicately step around the neo-Nazi reality by keeping out relevant context, such as the background of national security chief Andriy Parubiy, who founded the Social-National Party of Ukraine in 1991, blending radical Ukrainian nationalism with neo-Nazi symbols. Parubiy was commandant of the Maidan?s ?self-defense forces.? When the neo-Nazi factor is mentioned in the mainstream U.S. press, it is usually to dismiss it as nonsense, such as an April 20 column by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof who visited his ancestral home, the western Ukrainian town of Karapchiv, and portrayed its residents as the true voice of the Ukrainian people. ?To understand why Ukrainians are risking war with Russia to try to pluck themselves from Moscow?s grip, I came to this village where my father grew up,? he wrote. ?Even here in the village, Ukrainians watch Russian television and loathe the propaganda portraying them as neo-Nazi thugs rampaging against Russian speakers. ??If you listen to them, we all carry assault rifles; we?re all beating people,? Ilya Moskal, a history teacher, said contemptuously.? In an April 17 column from Kiev, Kristof wrote that what the Ukrainians want is weapons from the West so they can to go ?bear-hunting,? i.e. killing Russians. ?People seem to feel a bit disappointed that the United States and Europe haven?t been more supportive, and they are humiliated that their own acting government hasn?t done more to confront Russian-backed militants. So, especially after a few drinks, people are ready to take down the Russian Army themselves.? Kristof also repeated the U.S. ?conventional wisdom? that the resistance to the coup regime among eastern Ukrainians was entirely the work of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, Kristof wrote, ?warns that Ukraine is on the brink of civil war. But the chaos in eastern cities is his own creation, in part by sending provocateurs across the border.? However, when the New York Times finally sent two reporters to spend time with rebels from the east, they encountered an indigenous movement motivated by hostility to the Kiev regime and showing no signs of direction from Moscow. [See Consortiumnews.com?s ?Another NYT ?Sort of? Retraction on Ukraine.?] Beyond the journalistic risk of jumping to conclusions, Kristof, who fancies himself a great humanitarian, also should recognize that the clever depiction of human beings as animals, whether as ?bears? or ?Colorado beetles,? can have horrendous human consequences as is now apparent in Odessa. Reagan?s Nazis But the problem with some western Ukrainians expressing their inconvenient love for Nazis has not been limited to the current crisis. It bedeviled Ronald Reagan?s administration when it began heating up the Cold War in the 1980s. As part of that strategy, Reagan?s United States Information Agency, under his close friend Charles Wick, hired a cast of right-wing Ukrainian exiles who began showing up on U.S.-funded Radio Liberty praising the Galician SS. These commentaries included positive depictions of Ukrainian nationalists who had sided with the Nazis in World War II as the SS waged its ?final solution? against European Jews. The propaganda broadcasts provoked outrage from Jewish organizations, such as B?nai B?rith, and individuals including conservative academic Richard Pipes. According to an internal memo dated May 4, 1984, and written by James Critchlow, a research officer at the Board of International Broadcasting, which managed Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe, one RL broadcast in particular was viewed as ?defending Ukrainians who fought in the ranks of the SS.? Critchlow wrote, ?An RL Ukrainian broadcast of Feb. 12, 1984 contains references to the Nazi-oriented Ukrainian-manned SS ?Galicia? Division of World War II which may have damaged RL?s reputation with Soviet listeners. The memoirs of a German diplomat are quoted in a way that seems to constitute endorsement by RL of praise for Ukrainian volunteers in the SS division, which during its existence fought side by side with the Germans against the Red Army.? Harvard Professor Pipes, who was an adviser to the Reagan administration, also inveighed against the Radio Liberty broadcasts, writing on Dec. 3, 1984 ?the Russian and Ukrainian services of RL have been transmitting this year blatantly anti-Semitic material to the Soviet Union which may cause the whole enterprise irreparable harm.? Though the Reagan administration publicly defended Radio Liberty against some of the public criticism, privately some senior officials agreed with the critics, according to documents in the archives of the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. For instance, in a Jan. 4, 1985, memo, Walter Raymond Jr., a top official on the National Security Council, told his boss, National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, that ?I would believe much of what Dick [Pipes] says is right.? What the Reagan administration apparently didn?t understand three decades ago and what the U.S. State Department still has not seemed to learn today is that there is a danger in stirring up the old animosities that divide Ukraine, east and west. Though clearly a minority, Ukraine?s neo-Nazis remain a potent force that is well-organized, well-motivated and prone to extreme violence, whether throwing firebombs at police in the Maidan or at ethnic Russians trapped in a building in Odessa. As vengeance now seeks vengeance across Ukraine, this Nazi imperative will be difficult to hold down, much as Dr. Strangelove struggled to stop his arm from making a ?Heil Hitler? salute. Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his new book, America?s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com). For a limited time, you also can order Robert Parry?s trilogy on the Bush Family and its connections to various right-wing operatives for only $34. The trilogy includes America?s Stolen Narrative. For details on this offer, click here. -----Original Message----- From: Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of C. G. Estabrook via Peace Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2019 6:30 PM To: baldwinricky at yahoo.com Cc: peace-discuss at anti-war.net; C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss; Peace Subject: Re: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Ukrainegate That the 2014 coup against an elected president in Ukraine was engineered by the sitting US administration (notably in the person of Victoria Nuland) is hardly in doubt. (Even Wikipedia admits it: .) The result was the first government in Europe containing explict nazis since 1945 - another accomplishment of the president who said, ?Turns out I'm really good at killing people. Didn't know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine? (WaPo). The government that Obama's administration installed killed thousands in the Ukrainian region of Donbass (Donetsk and Luhansk) who wouldn?t accept the coup government. But as my quondam colleague Ron Szoke said about the contemporary MSM accounts of those casualties of Obama?s policy, ?Donetsk? Don?t tell!? It?s not surprising that people as well informed as you don?t know about Obama?s accomplishments. That?s what Giambrone is talking about - more corpses piled around the White House. See our friend Francis Boyle?s account: . ?CGE > On Nov 24, 2019, at 1:49 PM, Ricky Baldwin wrote: > > I've read suggestions that the Obama Administration did this, which I don't necessarily doubt any more than anything else that I don't know for sure.? I certainly wouldn't put it past them.? But most sources I'm able to scrounge seem to be adamant that this version - that the Obama Admin trained and funded it all - is either obviously true or clearly false.? > > If I've missed something on this list that's more probative, I apologize, but to be blunt what evidence is there?? (I'm aware of the circumstantial stuff, the hints, the signals, Biden's pressure in the former president of Ukraine to step down, but nothing definitive about this stringer claim about funding/training.) I tend to accept it to some degree, but I'd sure like more. > > Thanks, > Ricky > > Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android > > On Sat, Nov 23, 2019 at 4:03 PM, C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss > wrote: > Ukrainegate 13,000 Times Worse Than You Think > by Joe Giambrone / November 22nd, 2019 > > Did you know that Donald Trump had the State Department, USAID, NED, and the CIA fund and train Neo-Nazi, fascist militias to overthrow the government of Ukraine? These riot mobs, primarily Svoboda and Right Sector, stormed the capital, firebombed and shot the police, and destroyed democracy inside Ukraine. When the legitimately elected president was forced out by the rioters, the population which had supported him in the east seceded from the country, tearing the entire nation into pieces and sparking a civil war. The Ukraine civil war has cost the lives of over 13,000 Ukrainians. There is so much blood on Donald Trump?s hands. > > Oh, wait a minute! That was Barack Obama. Change that paragraph, please. > > Since 2014, it?s been glaringly obvious to astute (and honest) observers that the Administration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden supported the most vicious street mobs in Europe, people who considered themselves proud fascists. Western media routinely censored this part of the story. Obama?s Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, made deals with their leaders and was caught on an open phone line handpicking the next unelected leader of Ukraine, someone they could sell to the US public: ?Yats is the guy.? > > Representative Dennis Kucinich expressed outrage on Bill O?Reilly?s TV show that the Obama Administration had aided this bloody, illegitimate coup. The head of the CIA-linked STRATFOR called Ukraine ?the most blatant coup in history.? > > America?s proxy terrorists burned Kiev, seized power violently, and through the power of the purse strings, Obama?s Administration installed friendly-faced fascists, who immediately set about attacking their countrymen in the east, with a policy of mass murder and indiscriminate bombings. Eastern provinces of Crimea and Donetsk, which notably had supported the ousted president, held referenda. The people there voted overwhelmingly to secede from the illegitimate, unelected, foreign-sponsored coup regime in Kiev. > > The above is most certainly not the reason cited this week for Impeachment hearings. > > Aiding and abetting fascist militias to violently siege a foreign capital is not considered a crime in Washington DC, at all. Conversely, it is business as usual, as Bolivians and Venezuelans can attest to. > > Woody Allen directed a film entitled ?Crimes and Misdemeanors.? That pretty much sums up the DC circus unfolding in Congress. Everything above is completely true, and yet Barack Obama is heralded as someone in the neighborhood of saints and superheroes. To the belligerent American empire, Obama was a star quarterback. Let?s not even delve into Barack?s support for Al Qaeda in Syria, and another half-million dead there, or we?ll be here all day. > > Donald Trump made a phone call. In his phone call, he is said to have bullied the President of Ukraine a little. He may have even delayed some weapons transfers to that country, which was engaged in a proxy war with nuclear-armed Russia and its separatist allies in the east of Ukraine. > > That?s a crime? A real crime? In light of over thirteen thousand slaughtered and an illegal coup in broad daylight? Trump?s telephone call is the real crime? > > Other Presidents haven?t bullied other client-state puppet leaders, ever? > > And why exactly is the President of the United States of America required to send lethal weapons to foreign fascists at all? Has anyone located that section of the Constitution? > > This farce is so laughable on its face and so irrelevant to the American people?s interests, that it?s difficult to overstate the insanity?and outrageous hypocrisy?of the Democrats? contrived ?Ukrainegate? case. This impeachment charge has nothing whatsoever to do with right and wrong. > > In 2014, Barack Obama?s White House, ?refused to include weapons in an aid package? for embattled Ukraine despite an impassioned plea by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for more military assistance.? Obama didn?t send any weapons at all, which would have provoked Russia to an even greater degree, after overthrowing their legitimately elected next-door ally and tearing Ukraine apart. It was obvious that Russia wasn?t ?invading? Ukraine, as propaganda memes claimed, but simply responding to these international crimes and to the dangerous destabilization on its border. The US had already done quite enough damage, and they didn?t need to escalate a proxy war against Russia toward nuclear Armageddon. > > Which brings us now to Donald Trump, who became interested in Joe Biden?s obvious corruption inside Ukraine, installing his own son on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma. Hunter Biden knew absolutely nothing about Ukraine or the natural gas industry. The nepotism was glaring. This was clear graft, payback, kickback, corruption, parasites descending after the violent seizure of the state. Biden the elder was in charge of US Ukraine policy, and specifically the big money spigot, after the illegal, US-supported coup there. > > Then?as Joe will be Joe?Biden bragged publicly about getting Ukraine?s top prosecutor fired to the strains of Washington insider laughter. The Ukrainian prosecutor had been investigating that same company which Biden had arranged his son Hunter onto the board of. Biden?s conflict of interest was so obvious that Trump certainly believed he was onto something. Joe Biden, and media sympathetic to his claims, has predictably tried to cloud the issue, but the corruption is too obvious not to notice. This should, and may, have ended Joe Biden?s 2020 presidential bid. > > What happened in Ukraine was old-timey Smash & Grab, a reckless attack right on Russia?s western border. Joe Biden arrived to grab as much loot from Ukraine?s gas sector as he possibly could through a cut-out, his son. Biden used his leverage over Ukraine?s international ?loan guarantees? (which is money the coup leaders receive but don?t have to pay back) to finance their new illegitimate junta. > > Biden?s own quid pro quo, in his own words: ?I?m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you?re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.? This is exactly the type of crime they now accuse Trump of perpetrating with his telephone. The hypocrisy is comical. > > The Obama Administration?s corruption, along with a bloody war and thirteen-thousand corpses, is what a real crime looks like. Hold onto that picture. > > Democrats were allegedly the good guys vis a vis Ukraine? > > Weren?t these international war crimes breaching the UN Charter, which demands exclusively peaceful actions between states, Article II? > > "All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered." > ? United Nations Charter, a ratified Treaty, and the ?Supreme Law of the Land? > > Launching a proxy war on nuclear-armed Russia was a sane foreign policy? Sending even more arms to escalate that conflict was allegedly such a glorious idea that any delay in weapons shipments becomes an impeachable offense? > > This unserious charge leveled against Donald Trump distracts from all of his obvious corruption. Trump?s Emoluments violations have been impeachable for years, but the Democrats weren?t interested. Do Democrats long to cash in on the Office of the Presidency next time? > > Multiple deaths of refugee children in US federal custody at the southern border could be considered murders linked directly to official policies of harsh treatment and deliberate neglect. Are Democrats afraid of exposing Obama?s own caging of immigrant children? > > This current Ukrainegate impeachment charade appears to be motivated only by blind partisanship and the desire to insulate corrupt insiders like Joe Biden from any scrutiny of their actions. The farce has gone so over-the-top that even as Democratic partisan media heralded the testimony of Trump?s Ukraine Ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, Donald Trump?s allies have already used portions of her testimony as a video advertisement for his reelection! > > Yovanovitch blatantly lied in her introductory remarks and was caught admitting that Obama?s own State Department had groomed her to answer uncomfortable questions about Joe Biden?s son, Hunter, and his appointment inside Ukraine?s gas sector. This gift to Trump now undermines the entire endeavor. > > Are Democrats trying to hurt or to help Trump?s reelection? > > [Joe Giambrone has written for WhoWhatWhy, Foreign Policy Journal, International Policy Digest, Counterpunch, GlobalResearch, OpEdNews, and his fabulous new novel is DEMIGODS. > This article was posted on Friday, November 22nd, 2019 at 11:13pm and is filed under Barack Obama, Democrats, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Russia, Ukraine.] > _______________________________________________ > Peace-discuss mailing list > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss > _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Mon Nov 25 16:36:02 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 10:36:02 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Ukrainegate In-Reply-To: <919608653.3282664.1574696576559@mail.yahoo.com> References: <35EC190F-C698-4B8F-8411-D45A4689DCBC@newsfromneptune.com> <1636061961.3098616.1574624990396@mail.yahoo.com> <920D48DD-41B5-4D3E-8695-6EB896123727@newsfromneptune.com> <002801d5a397$415b4f70$c411ee50$@comcast.net> <919608653.3282664.1574696576559@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/06/03/how-why-us-government-perpetrated-2014-coup-ukraine/ > On Nov 25, 2019, at 9:42 AM, Ricky Baldwin wrote: > > Thanks, really. That was quick. I don't mean to tie up everybody answering my quibbles, especially because, again, I wouldn't put it past them. But I was aware that the Administration jumped in there at the end - some might say eagerly - to "broker" or "midwife" the "transition" ... I had read the Global Research piece, and Boyle's suggestion that US backing "may" already be underway in the midst of the fray. I hadn't seen Robert Parry's article, or read Wikipedia's account (I had avoided that one, but I appreciate your suggestion to read it, since it was more informative than I had anticipated). > > These still don't really argue that the US was behind it from the start, do they? I mean, aside from the hints and signals US officials often send (and sometimes later turn away from, to be honest, leaving people who seem to be following such 'orders' high and dry), how do we know they were actually funding/training the goons? > > To be clear, I'm satisfied that the Obama team was happy about the coup, that it was a coup, and that it was led or co-led by fascists, at least in the traditional fascist coalitionist style - and as Wikipedia et al have made clear that USG officials were there to "help" seal the deal. Yes. Maybe I should have said all that from the start. > > What I thought you might have already dug up in your research was evidence of the "funding and training" of the coup by the US under Obama. If you do have something like that, there's obviously no urgency now, but it would seem a good time to look back at it in light of recent attention in the area and Biden's unfortunate candidacy. > > Thanks for your time, either way. I know I'm mostly an absent presence these days, but I do appreciate the work you guys are carrying on, and I read up when I can. (And I appreciate being called "well informed," although I feel less so these days.) > > > > > > Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android > > On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 7:50 AM, David Johnson > wrote: > Consortiumnews > Volume 25, Number 328?Monday, November 25, 2019 > > Human Rights, Lost History, Media, Obama Administration, Right Wing > Ukraine?s ?Dr. Strangelove? Reality > May 5, 2014 > > Exclusive: The horrendous fire in Odessa, killing dozens of ethnic Russians protesting against the U.S.-backed coup regime in Kiev, has lurched the country closer to full-scale civil war and disrupted the American media?s efforts to deny the existence of pro-regime neo-Nazis, Robert Parry reports. > > By Robert Parry > > As much as the coup regime in Ukraine and its supporters want to project an image of Western moderation, there is a ?Dr. Strangelove? element that can?t stop the Nazism from popping up from time to time, like when the Peter Sellers character in the classic movie can?t keep his right arm from making a ?Heil Hitler? salute. > > This brutal Nazism surfaced again on Friday when right-wing toughs in Odessa attacked an encampment of ethnic Russian protesters driving them into a trade union building which was then set on fire with Molotov cocktails. As the building was engulfed in flames, some people who tried to flee were chased and beaten, while those trapped inside heard the Ukrainian nationalists liken them to black-and-red-striped potato beetles called Colorados, because those colors are used in pro-Russian ribbons. > Peter Sellers playing Dr. Strangelove as he struggles to control his right arm from making a Nazi salute. > > Peter Sellers playing Dr. Strangelove as he struggles to control his right arm from making a Nazi salute. > > ?Burn, Colorado, burn? went the chant. > > As the fire worsened, those dying inside were serenaded with the taunting singing of the Ukrainian national anthem. The building also was spray-painted with Swastika-like symbols and graffiti reading ?Galician SS,? a reference to the Ukrainian nationalist army that fought alongside the German Nazi SS in World War II, killing Russians on the eastern front. > > The death by fire of dozens of people in Odessa recalled a World War II incident in 1944 when elements of a Galician SS police regiment took part in the massacre of the Polish village of Huta Pieniacka, which had been a refuge for Jews and was protected by Russian and Polish partisans. Attacked by a mixed force of Ukrainian police and German soldiers on Feb. 28, hundreds of townspeople were massacred, including many locked in barns that were set ablaze. > > The legacy of World War II especially the bitter fight between Ukrainian nationalists from the west and ethnic Russians from the east seven decades ago is never far from the surface in Ukrainian politics. One of the heroes celebrated during the Maidan protests in Kiev was Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, whose name was honored in many banners including one on a podium where Sen. John McCain voiced support for the uprising to oust elected President Viktor Yanukovych, whose political base was in eastern Ukraine. > > During World War II, Bandera headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists-B, a radical paramilitary movement that sought to transform Ukraine into a racially pure state. OUN-B took part in the expulsion and extermination of thousands of Jews and Poles. > > Though most of the Maidan protesters in 2013-14 appeared motivated by anger over political corruption and by a desire to join the European Union, neo-Nazis made up a significant number. These storm troopers from the Right Sektor and Svoboda party decked out some of the occupied government buildings with Nazi insignias and even a Confederate battle flag, the universal symbol of white supremacy. > > Then, as the protests turned violent from Feb. 20-22, the neo-Nazis surged to the forefront. Their well-trained militias, organized in 100-man brigades called ?the hundreds,? led the final assaults against police and forced Yanukovych and many of his officials to flee for their lives. > > In the days after the coup, as the neo-Nazi militias effectively controlled the government, European and U.S. diplomats scrambled to help the shaken parliament put together the semblance of a respectable regime, although four ministries, including national security, were awarded to the right-wing extremists in recognition of their crucial role in ousting Yanukovych. > > Seeing No Nazis > > Since February, virtually the entire U.S. news media has cooperated in the effort to play down the neo-Nazi role, dismissing any mention of this inconvenient truth as ?Russian propaganda.? Stories in the U.S. media delicately step around the neo-Nazi reality by keeping out relevant context, such as the background of national security chief Andriy Parubiy, who founded the Social-National Party of Ukraine in 1991, blending radical Ukrainian nationalism with neo-Nazi symbols. Parubiy was commandant of the Maidan?s ?self-defense forces.? > > When the neo-Nazi factor is mentioned in the mainstream U.S. press, it is usually to dismiss it as nonsense, such as an April 20 column by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof who visited his ancestral home, the western Ukrainian town of Karapchiv, and portrayed its residents as the true voice of the Ukrainian people. > > ?To understand why Ukrainians are risking war with Russia to try to pluck themselves from Moscow?s grip, I came to this village where my father grew up,? he wrote. ?Even here in the village, Ukrainians watch Russian television and loathe the propaganda portraying them as neo-Nazi thugs rampaging against Russian speakers. > > ??If you listen to them, we all carry assault rifles; we?re all beating people,? Ilya Moskal, a history teacher, said contemptuously.? > > In an April 17 column from Kiev, Kristof wrote that what the Ukrainians want is weapons from the West so they can to go ?bear-hunting,? i.e. killing Russians. ?People seem to feel a bit disappointed that the United States and Europe haven?t been more supportive, and they are humiliated that their own acting government hasn?t done more to confront Russian-backed militants. So, especially after a few drinks, people are ready to take down the Russian Army themselves.? > > Kristof also repeated the U.S. ?conventional wisdom? that the resistance to the coup regime among eastern Ukrainians was entirely the work of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, Kristof wrote, ?warns that Ukraine is on the brink of civil war. But the chaos in eastern cities is his own creation, in part by sending provocateurs across the border.? > > However, when the New York Times finally sent two reporters to spend time with rebels from the east, they encountered an indigenous movement motivated by hostility to the Kiev regime and showing no signs of direction from Moscow. [See Consortiumnews.com?s ?Another NYT ?Sort of? Retraction on Ukraine.?] > > Beyond the journalistic risk of jumping to conclusions, Kristof, who fancies himself a great humanitarian, also should recognize that the clever depiction of human beings as animals, whether as ?bears? or ?Colorado beetles,? can have horrendous human consequences as is now apparent in Odessa. > > Reagan?s Nazis > > But the problem with some western Ukrainians expressing their inconvenient love for Nazis has not been limited to the current crisis. It bedeviled Ronald Reagan?s administration when it began heating up the Cold War in the 1980s. > > As part of that strategy, Reagan?s United States Information Agency, under his close friend Charles Wick, hired a cast of right-wing Ukrainian exiles who began showing up on U.S.-funded Radio Liberty praising the Galician SS. > > These commentaries included positive depictions of Ukrainian nationalists who had sided with the Nazis in World War II as the SS waged its ?final solution? against European Jews. The propaganda broadcasts provoked outrage from Jewish organizations, such as B?nai B?rith, and individuals including conservative academic Richard Pipes. > > According to an internal memo dated May 4, 1984, and written by James Critchlow, a research officer at the Board of International Broadcasting, which managed Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe, one RL broadcast in particular was viewed as ?defending Ukrainians who fought in the ranks of the SS.? > > Critchlow wrote, ?An RL Ukrainian broadcast of Feb. 12, 1984 contains references to the Nazi-oriented Ukrainian-manned SS ?Galicia? Division of World War II which may have damaged RL?s reputation with Soviet listeners. The memoirs of a German diplomat are quoted in a way that seems to constitute endorsement by RL of praise for Ukrainian volunteers in the SS division, which during its existence fought side by side with the Germans against the Red Army.? > > Harvard Professor Pipes, who was an adviser to the Reagan administration, also inveighed against the Radio Liberty broadcasts, writing on Dec. 3, 1984 ?the Russian and Ukrainian services of RL have been transmitting this year blatantly anti-Semitic material to the Soviet Union which may cause the whole enterprise irreparable harm.? > > Though the Reagan administration publicly defended Radio Liberty against some of the public criticism, privately some senior officials agreed with the critics, according to documents in the archives of the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. For instance, in a Jan. 4, 1985, memo, Walter Raymond Jr., a top official on the National Security Council, told his boss, National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, that ?I would believe much of what Dick [Pipes] says is right.? > > What the Reagan administration apparently didn?t understand three decades ago and what the U.S. State Department still has not seemed to learn today is that there is a danger in stirring up the old animosities that divide Ukraine, east and west. > > Though clearly a minority, Ukraine?s neo-Nazis remain a potent force that is well-organized, well-motivated and prone to extreme violence, whether throwing firebombs at police in the Maidan or at ethnic Russians trapped in a building in Odessa. > > As vengeance now seeks vengeance across Ukraine, this Nazi imperative will be difficult to hold down, much as Dr. Strangelove struggled to stop his arm from making a ?Heil Hitler? salute. > > Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his new book, America?s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com). For a limited time, you also can order Robert Parry?s trilogy on the Bush Family and its connections to various right-wing operatives for only $34. The trilogy includes America?s Stolen Narrative. For details on this offer, click here. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of C. G. Estabrook via Peace > Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2019 6:30 PM > To: baldwinricky at yahoo.com > Cc: peace-discuss at anti-war.net; C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss; Peace > Subject: Re: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Ukrainegate > > That the 2014 coup against an elected president in Ukraine was engineered by the sitting US administration (notably in the person of Victoria Nuland) is hardly in doubt. (Even Wikipedia admits it: .) > > The result was the first government in Europe containing explict nazis since 1945 - another accomplishment of the president who said, ?Turns out I'm really good at killing people. Didn't know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine? (WaPo). The government that Obama's administration installed killed thousands in the Ukrainian region of Donbass (Donetsk and Luhansk) who wouldn?t accept the coup government. > > But as my quondam colleague Ron Szoke said about the contemporary MSM accounts of those casualties of Obama?s policy, ?Donetsk? Don?t tell!? > > It?s not surprising that people as well informed as you don?t know about Obama?s accomplishments. That?s what Giambrone is talking about - more corpses piled around the White House. > > See our friend Francis Boyle?s account: . > > ?CGE > > > > On Nov 24, 2019, at 1:49 PM, Ricky Baldwin wrote: > > > > I've read suggestions that the Obama Administration did this, which I don't necessarily doubt any more than anything else that I don't know for sure. I certainly wouldn't put it past them. But most sources I'm able to scrounge seem to be adamant that this version - that the Obama Admin trained and funded it all - is either obviously true or clearly false. > > > > If I've missed something on this list that's more probative, I apologize, but to be blunt what evidence is there? (I'm aware of the circumstantial stuff, the hints, the signals, Biden's pressure in the former president of Ukraine to step down, but nothing definitive about this stringer claim about funding/training.) I tend to accept it to some degree, but I'd sure like more. > > > > Thanks, > > Ricky > > > > Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android > > > > On Sat, Nov 23, 2019 at 4:03 PM, C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss > > wrote: > > Ukrainegate 13,000 Times Worse Than You Think > > by Joe Giambrone / November 22nd, 2019 > > > > Did you know that Donald Trump had the State Department, USAID, NED, and the CIA fund and train Neo-Nazi, fascist militias to overthrow the government of Ukraine? These riot mobs, primarily Svoboda and Right Sector, stormed the capital, firebombed and shot the police, and destroyed democracy inside Ukraine. When the legitimately elected president was forced out by the rioters, the population which had supported him in the east seceded from the country, tearing the entire nation into pieces and sparking a civil war. The Ukraine civil war has cost the lives of over 13,000 Ukrainians. There is so much blood on Donald Trump?s hands. > > > > Oh, wait a minute! That was Barack Obama. Change that paragraph, please. > > > > Since 2014, it?s been glaringly obvious to astute (and honest) observers that the Administration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden supported the most vicious street mobs in Europe, people who considered themselves proud fascists. Western media routinely censored this part of the story. Obama?s Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, made deals with their leaders and was caught on an open phone line handpicking the next unelected leader of Ukraine, someone they could sell to the US public: ?Yats is the guy.? > > > > Representative Dennis Kucinich expressed outrage on Bill O?Reilly?s TV show that the Obama Administration had aided this bloody, illegitimate coup. The head of the CIA-linked STRATFOR called Ukraine ?the most blatant coup in history.? > > > > America?s proxy terrorists burned Kiev, seized power violently, and through the power of the purse strings, Obama?s Administration installed friendly-faced fascists, who immediately set about attacking their countrymen in the east, with a policy of mass murder and indiscriminate bombings. Eastern provinces of Crimea and Donetsk, which notably had supported the ousted president, held referenda. The people there voted overwhelmingly to secede from the illegitimate, unelected, foreign-sponsored coup regime in Kiev. > > > > The above is most certainly not the reason cited this week for Impeachment hearings. > > > > Aiding and abetting fascist militias to violently siege a foreign capital is not considered a crime in Washington DC, at all. Conversely, it is business as usual, as Bolivians and Venezuelans can attest to. > > > > Woody Allen directed a film entitled ?Crimes and Misdemeanors.? That pretty much sums up the DC circus unfolding in Congress. Everything above is completely true, and yet Barack Obama is heralded as someone in the neighborhood of saints and superheroes. To the belligerent American empire, Obama was a star quarterback. Let?s not even delve into Barack?s support for Al Qaeda in Syria, and another half-million dead there, or we?ll be here all day. > > > > Donald Trump made a phone call. In his phone call, he is said to have bullied the President of Ukraine a little. He may have even delayed some weapons transfers to that country, which was engaged in a proxy war with nuclear-armed Russia and its separatist allies in the east of Ukraine. > > > > That?s a crime? A real crime? In light of over thirteen thousand slaughtered and an illegal coup in broad daylight? Trump?s telephone call is the real crime? > > > > Other Presidents haven?t bullied other client-state puppet leaders, ever? > > > > And why exactly is the President of the United States of America required to send lethal weapons to foreign fascists at all? Has anyone located that section of the Constitution? > > > > This farce is so laughable on its face and so irrelevant to the American people?s interests, that it?s difficult to overstate the insanity?and outrageous hypocrisy?of the Democrats? contrived ?Ukrainegate? case. This impeachment charge has nothing whatsoever to do with right and wrong. > > > > In 2014, Barack Obama?s White House, ?refused to include weapons in an aid package? for embattled Ukraine despite an impassioned plea by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for more military assistance.? Obama didn?t send any weapons at all, which would have provoked Russia to an even greater degree, after overthrowing their legitimately elected next-door ally and tearing Ukraine apart. It was obvious that Russia wasn?t ?invading? Ukraine, as propaganda memes claimed, but simply responding to these international crimes and to the dangerous destabilization on its border. The US had already done quite enough damage, and they didn?t need to escalate a proxy war against Russia toward nuclear Armageddon. > > > > Which brings us now to Donald Trump, who became interested in Joe Biden?s obvious corruption inside Ukraine, installing his own son on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma. Hunter Biden knew absolutely nothing about Ukraine or the natural gas industry. The nepotism was glaring. This was clear graft, payback, kickback, corruption, parasites descending after the violent seizure of the state. Biden the elder was in charge of US Ukraine policy, and specifically the big money spigot, after the illegal, US-supported coup there. > > > > Then?as Joe will be Joe?Biden bragged publicly about getting Ukraine?s top prosecutor fired to the strains of Washington insider laughter. The Ukrainian prosecutor had been investigating that same company which Biden had arranged his son Hunter onto the board of. Biden?s conflict of interest was so obvious that Trump certainly believed he was onto something. Joe Biden, and media sympathetic to his claims, has predictably tried to cloud the issue, but the corruption is too obvious not to notice. This should, and may, have ended Joe Biden?s 2020 presidential bid. > > > > What happened in Ukraine was old-timey Smash & Grab, a reckless attack right on Russia?s western border. Joe Biden arrived to grab as much loot from Ukraine?s gas sector as he possibly could through a cut-out, his son. Biden used his leverage over Ukraine?s international ?loan guarantees? (which is money the coup leaders receive but don?t have to pay back) to finance their new illegitimate junta. > > > > Biden?s own quid pro quo, in his own words: ?I?m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you?re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.? This is exactly the type of crime they now accuse Trump of perpetrating with his telephone. The hypocrisy is comical. > > > > The Obama Administration?s corruption, along with a bloody war and thirteen-thousand corpses, is what a real crime looks like. Hold onto that picture. > > > > Democrats were allegedly the good guys vis a vis Ukraine? > > > > Weren?t these international war crimes breaching the UN Charter, which demands exclusively peaceful actions between states, Article II? > > > > "All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered." > > ? United Nations Charter, a ratified Treaty, and the ?Supreme Law of the Land? > > > > Launching a proxy war on nuclear-armed Russia was a sane foreign policy? Sending even more arms to escalate that conflict was allegedly such a glorious idea that any delay in weapons shipments becomes an impeachable offense? > > > > This unserious charge leveled against Donald Trump distracts from all of his obvious corruption. Trump?s Emoluments violations have been impeachable for years, but the Democrats weren?t interested. Do Democrats long to cash in on the Office of the Presidency next time? > > > > Multiple deaths of refugee children in US federal custody at the southern border could be considered murders linked directly to official policies of harsh treatment and deliberate neglect. Are Democrats afraid of exposing Obama?s own caging of immigrant children? > > > > This current Ukrainegate impeachment charade appears to be motivated only by blind partisanship and the desire to insulate corrupt insiders like Joe Biden from any scrutiny of their actions. The farce has gone so over-the-top that even as Democratic partisan media heralded the testimony of Trump?s Ukraine Ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, Donald Trump?s allies have already used portions of her testimony as a video advertisement for his reelection! > > > > Yovanovitch blatantly lied in her introductory remarks and was caught admitting that Obama?s own State Department had groomed her to answer uncomfortable questions about Joe Biden?s son, Hunter, and his appointment inside Ukraine?s gas sector. This gift to Trump now undermines the entire endeavor. > > > > Are Democrats trying to hurt or to help Trump?s reelection? > > > > [Joe Giambrone has written for WhoWhatWhy, Foreign Policy Journal, International Policy Digest, Counterpunch, GlobalResearch, OpEdNews, and his fabulous new novel is DEMIGODS. > > This article was posted on Friday, November 22nd, 2019 at 11:13pm and is filed under Barack Obama, Democrats, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Russia, Ukraine.] > > _______________________________________________ > > Peace-discuss mailing list > > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net > > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss > > > > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace From carl at newsfromneptune.com Mon Nov 25 21:50:56 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 15:50:56 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Robert Reich to MoveOn Message-ID: Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? is an absolutely mad appeal by a self-proclaimed 'liberal' to get Trump out of office as soon as possible. Why is the political establishment so desperate not just to win the next election but to remove Trump now? I think that the answer is to be found in the US grand strategy , followed by all recent US administrations. That depends on maintaining the US control of the world economy by retarding the economic development of Eurasia. (Not a new idea - see the 'Open Door Policy' of 1899.) Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote clearly of the US government's need to prevent the emergence of "peer competitors," Russia and China. Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years to attack the neoliberal and neoconservative policies of previous administrations, which were designed to do that. In office, Trump has been compelled or cajoled to acquiesce in those policies, but the political establishment can't be assured that will continue, given the rising populist wave that put him in office. The threat has to be suppressed as soon as possible, and a reliable neolib/neocon executive put in place (by a coup, if necessary, as Adm. McRaven recently argued in the NYT). The example of Obama - the first president to be at war throughout two presidential terms, who waged no less than eight wars to constrain Eurasia and protect the economic control of the US 1% and for whom stooges like Reich and McRaven are working, must be followed, insists that establishment. (Reich? McRaving? To avoid being Trumped? Do the gods of history have a sardonic sense of humor?) ?CGE ================ Dear MoveOn member, When I wrote to you last month, it seemed that?at long last, after years of us shouting it from the rooftops?Congress finally saw that Donald Trump was guilty of more than enough high crimes and misdemeanors to impeach, convict, and remove him from office. Finally, Trump looked to be in serious trouble. But I'm worried that, right now, we are falling short in our push to secure Trump's impeachment, conviction, and removal, in spite of blockbuster public testimony at the impeachment hearings and our best current efforts. I still think that we can win, but only if we turn things around?and fast. I'm going to explain why we're falling behind?and what we can do about it?below, and I will also ask you to donate to MoveOn. So if you want to donate before I launch into my explanation, here's the link to chip in $3. OK, so here's the situation: When last I wrote you, several moderate and soon-to-be-retired House Republicans had opened the door to Republicans voting for Trump's impeachment. Unfortunately, nearly a month later and even after a flurry of grassroots activity and truly damning testimony in the House, we are not a whole lot closer to breaking the Republican dam against Trump's impeachment. But I am hopeful: It's clear that Republicans in Congress know that Trump is guilty?and that they also know that they look like fools for protecting him. Every day, they are making a calculation of how far they can take their charade. And it's our job to push so hard that they have no choice but to support impeachment. Now, you may feel incredible frustration with just how immovable Republicans are. I know I do! Sometimes, it feels as through Republicans in Congress won't hold Trump accountable on anything, and we keep losing fights against them. It's true that we haven't won every fight. But we have had an impact?a big impact! We saved the Affordable Care Act by one vote in the Senate, and that happened only because of overwhelming grassroots pressure from us. I believe that without MoveOn, the Affordable Care Act would have been repealed. And we got congressional Republicans to stand up against Trump's heinous family separation policies with near unanimity, at least for a period of time. That only happened because of our grassroots energy and unprecedented protests that were all over the news. Here's my take on taking on Republicans and Trump, C.: We can't just focus on whether a fight is winnable. We can't afford to worry about winnability and back down from tough fights out of fear that we might lose. We have to fight no matter what, because what's at stake goes far beyond party politics. What's at stake is the very future of our democracy. Are we still a nation that respects the rule of law? Or, thanks to Trump and the GOP, are we so far gone that the only thing that matters is blind loyalty? That's why the impeachment fight is critical for our children's future?and for the future of our nation's democracy and the rule of law. Until the final vote is cast in the Senate, we cannot waiver. I believe if we give this fight our all, we can win. But let's say we do fall short, despite our best efforts. If the impeachment vote is bipartisan, rather than just along party lines, that will make a huge difference in the long run. Are you with me, C.? If so, please join me and chip in $3 to support MoveOn's impeachment work today. I want to be clear: It's not that Democrats are losing the public debate. And it's not that the public testimony against Trump and his administration isn't damning. We have known for years that Trump should be impeached. In their impeachment inquiry, Democrats have demonstrated clearly?again and again and again?that Trump committed bribery and extortion. The facts are indisputable. Any reasonable person realizes this. But the truth is not enough. The will to hold Trump accountable, on the Republican side, is not yet there. The political calculus does not yet force Republicans' hands. And the right-wing echo chamber is relentlessly peddling a false narrative to defend Trump. That's what we're up against. And that's why I'm asking: C., will you click this link and pitch in $3 to support MoveOn's all-hands-on-deck campaign to impeach, convict, and remove Donald Trump from office? Activists are working their tails off to push Republicans to find their backbones and take action. But we aren't yet moving the needle enough to build the overwhelming pressure on Republicans that we'll need to get Republican votes in the House and, if we play our cards right, convict Trump in the Senate. I've been following MoveOn's impeachment campaign closely the past few months. And it appears that while MoveOn has raised enough to do the most critical things to keep the campaign moving, their budget is falling short. There's not enough money to keep phones on Capitol Hill ringing off the hook every single day, and to expand billboards into more House and Senate districts, and to run TV ads in critical districts, and to follow every vulnerable lawmaker around the halls of Congress to capture their cowardice on camera, and to buy enough Facebook ads to promote protests across the country the day before the impeachment vote, and to blanket the media with ads to counteract the lies and misinformation coming from Trump's propaganda machine. The bottom line? There's a lot to do right at once right now, and MoveOn doesn't have the resources to do it all. Trump and his enablers don't have to make hard choices, because they're spending tens of millions of dollars given to them by millionaires and billionaires to spread lies and misinformation. And while we don't need to raise and spend as much as Trump's supporters do to win, we do have to raise enough to play ball. MoveOn's being forced to make hard choices right now, but $3, or whatever you can afford, will help them increase their budget and do what's needed to win the fight on impeachment. So how do we turn this around? It starts with our grassroots power. We've got to show how many people are engaged. That means we need to keep calling, and we've got to keep showing up to protest, and we've got to be louder and even more persistent than ever. And it takes money, too. Not a lot per person. But from a lot of people. If everyone receiving this email chipped in just a few bucks, MoveOn would raise more than enough to compete head-to-head with Donald Trump. But not everyone even opened this email. Fewer still have read it this far. And not everyone reading today can afford to pitch in even a little. Which is why, C., if you can afford to, then I hope you'll pitch in $3 to support MoveOn's impeachment work, so that we can go big and leave no stone unturned on impeachment?right now, when it matters most. And I hope that you'll stay in this fight, even though it's hard and upsetting. Remember, things won't be this hard forever. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. And if we fight with all our might, work really, really hard, and give this everything we've got, we can reach that light sooner. Thanks for all you do. ?Robert Reich =========== From carl at newsfromneptune.com Mon Nov 25 21:56:18 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 15:56:18 -0600 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Robert_Reich=E2=80=99s_letter_to_=E2=80=98Move?= =?utf-8?b?T27igJkgQ09SUkVDVEVE?= Message-ID: <3AF248DC-2DDA-46AB-9D70-DBE8476C7709@newsfromneptune.com> Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? is an absolutely mad appeal by a self-proclaimed 'liberal' to get Trump out of office as soon as possible. Why is the political establishment so desperate not just to win the next election but to remove Trump now? I think that the answer is to be found in the US grand strategy , followed by all recent US administrations. That depends on maintaining the US control of the world economy by retarding the economic development of Eurasia. (Not a new idea - see the 'Open Door Policy' of 1899.) Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote clearly of the US government's need to prevent the emergence of "peer competitors," Russia and China. Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years to attack the neoliberal and neoconservative policies of previous administrations, which were designed to do that. In office, Trump has been compelled or cajoled to acquiesce in those policies, but the political establishment can't be assured that will continue, given the rising populist wave that put him in office. The threat has to be suppressed as soon as possible, and a reliable neolib/neocon executive put in place (by a coup, if necessary, as Adm. McRaven recently argued in the NYT). The example of Obama - the first president to be at war throughout two presidential terms, who waged no less than eight wars to constrain Eurasia and protect the economic control of the US 1% and for whom stooges like Reich and McRaven are working, must be followed, insists that establishment. (Reich? McRaving? To avoid being Trumped? Do the gods of history have a sardonic sense of humor?) From r-szoke at illinois.edu Tue Nov 26 00:38:49 2019 From: r-szoke at illinois.edu (Szoke, Ron) Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2019 00:38:49 +0000 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] The Cult of Trump ? In-Reply-To: <00f501d5a3ef$efa50be0$ceef23a0$@comcast.net> References: , <00f501d5a3ef$efa50be0$ceef23a0$@comcast.net> Message-ID: ?Wake up!? Former Moonie says the ?Cult of Trump? needs ?deprogramming? By SHAWN LANGLOIS SOCIAL-MEDIA EDITOR WSJ Nov 25, 2019 Anthony Scaramucci said it. So did Dan Rather. Now, it?s Steve Hassan, a former Moonie who escaped the Unification Church cult in the 1970s, offering up this perspective on what he sees as a ?destructive cult? led by President Trump. ?Much of what they?re hearing is emotionally driven, loaded words, thought-stopping, and thought-terminating-type clich?s, like ?fake news,? ?build the wall,? ?make America great again.?? Hassan, who is out with a book titled, ?The Cult of Trump,? explained to CNN on Sunday why he thinks the president is using mind control as a way to build his power. [ Amazon: The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control by Steven Hassan and Simon & Schuster Audio, 3.9 out of 5 stars, 27 reviews, $16.98 ] ?We can start with the pathological lying, which is characteristic of destructive cult leaders,? Hassan told host Brian Stelter. ?The blaming others and never taking responsibility for his own failures and faults. Shunning and kicking out anyone who raises questions or concerns about his own behavior.? He also said that Trump?s use of ?fearmongering? is a ?horrible thing? that?s straight out of the cult leader?s playbook. ?Wake up! This is what?s happening,? Hassan said. ?Our Democracy is at stake here.? CNN political commentator and Trump supporter Steve Cortes took exception with the cult label being used often on his network and wrote a rebuttal on RealClearPolitics.com about the ?demonization? of the MAGA movement. The use of the word ?cult,? he explained, ?clearly represents the latest derisive narrative media elites are using to dismiss our cause as mentally disturbed.? Cortes claimed the recent ?cult? criticism flows ?directly from the inability, so far, of the Democrats to damage the president in the impeachment imbroglio.? Now, he said, with Trump?s detractors losing momentum on Capitol Hill, they have to fall back on ?dehumanizing? the president?s supporters. ?We are, according to their aspersions, a giant basket full of ?deplorables?: racists and other irredeemables. Now, it seems, we are also cult members,? Cortes wrote. ?But these smears will not work. In reality, such defamation will compel undecided voters to join up with the political outsiders...? ?? Shawn Langlois is an editor and writer for MarketWatch in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter @slangwise. > One of the biggest risks facing stocks, according to Goldman: Democrats WSJ Nov 25, 2019 # # # ________________________________________ From: David Johnson Sent: Monday, November 25, 2019 6:24 PM To: Szoke, Ron; peace-discuss at anti-war.net Subject: RE: [Peace-discuss] The Cult of Trump ? Hey Ron, This file attachment you sent doesn?t open. David J. From: Peace-discuss [mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Szoke, Ron via Peace-discuss Sent: Monday, November 25, 2019 12:46 PM To: peace-discuss at anti-war.net Cc: peace-discuss Subject: [Peace-discuss] The Cult of Trump ? From davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net Tue Nov 26 02:42:23 2019 From: davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net (David Johnson) Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 20:42:23 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] The Cult of Trump ? In-Reply-To: References: , <00f501d5a3ef$efa50be0$ceef23a0$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <013d01d5a403$2206b620$66142260$@comcast.net> Considering this is from the Wall Street Journal, the newspaper that is the media pinnacle of the U.S. capitalist class, it doesn't surprise me in the least that their " social media editor " ( along with CNN ) would promote such an absurd book. AS Ralph Nader was quoted as saying years ago ; " The Wall Street Journal is a good source of information about corporate crime ". Otherwise it works great laid out on the bottom of bird cages. David J. -----Original Message----- From: Szoke, Ron [mailto:r-szoke at illinois.edu] Sent: Monday, November 25, 2019 6:39 PM To: David Johnson; peace-discuss at anti-war.net Cc: peace Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] The Cult of Trump ? ?Wake up!? Former Moonie says the ?Cult of Trump? needs ?deprogramming? By SHAWN LANGLOIS SOCIAL-MEDIA EDITOR WSJ Nov 25, 2019 Anthony Scaramucci said it. So did Dan Rather. Now, it?s Steve Hassan, a former Moonie who escaped the Unification Church cult in the 1970s, offering up this perspective on what he sees as a ?destructive cult? led by President Trump. ?Much of what they?re hearing is emotionally driven, loaded words, thought-stopping, and thought-terminating-type clich?s, like ?fake news,? ?build the wall,? ?make America great again.?? Hassan, who is out with a book titled, ?The Cult of Trump,? explained to CNN on Sunday why he thinks the president is using mind control as a way to build his power. [ Amazon: The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control by Steven Hassan and Simon & Schuster Audio, 3.9 out of 5 stars, 27 reviews, $16.98 ] ?We can start with the pathological lying, which is characteristic of destructive cult leaders,? Hassan told host Brian Stelter. ?The blaming others and never taking responsibility for his own failures and faults. Shunning and kicking out anyone who raises questions or concerns about his own behavior.? He also said that Trump?s use of ?fearmongering? is a ?horrible thing? that?s straight out of the cult leader?s playbook. ?Wake up! This is what?s happening,? Hassan said. ?Our Democracy is at stake here.? CNN political commentator and Trump supporter Steve Cortes took exception with the cult label being used often on his network and wrote a rebuttal on RealClearPolitics.com about the ?demonization? of the MAGA movement. The use of the word ?cult,? he explained, ?clearly represents the latest derisive narrative media elites are using to dismiss our cause as mentally disturbed.? Cortes claimed the recent ?cult? criticism flows ?directly from the inability, so far, of the Democrats to damage the president in the impeachment imbroglio.? Now, he said, with Trump?s detractors losing momentum on Capitol Hill, they have to fall back on ?dehumanizing? the president?s supporters. ?We are, according to their aspersions, a giant basket full of ?deplorables?: racists and other irredeemables. Now, it seems, we are also cult members,? Cortes wrote. ?But these smears will not work. In reality, such defamation will compel undecided voters to join up with the political outsiders...? ?? Shawn Langlois is an editor and writer for MarketWatch in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter @slangwise. > One of the biggest risks facing stocks, according to Goldman: Democrats WSJ Nov 25, 2019 # # # ________________________________________ From: David Johnson Sent: Monday, November 25, 2019 6:24 PM To: Szoke, Ron; peace-discuss at anti-war.net Subject: RE: [Peace-discuss] The Cult of Trump ? Hey Ron, This file attachment you sent doesn?t open. David J. From: Peace-discuss [mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Szoke, Ron via Peace-discuss Sent: Monday, November 25, 2019 12:46 PM To: peace-discuss at anti-war.net Cc: peace-discuss Subject: [Peace-discuss] The Cult of Trump ? From naiman.uiuc at gmail.com Tue Nov 26 11:39:37 2019 From: naiman.uiuc at gmail.com (Robert Naiman) Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2019 06:39:37 -0500 Subject: [Peace] Intercept: old DC I-P consensus faces reckoning in 3 NY House races In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Let Justice Democrats roll down like waters, And righteousness like an overflowing stream. ============== https://theintercept.com/2019/11/25/democrats-israel-new-york-primaries/ WASHINGTON?S RIGHT-WING CONSENSUS ON ISRAEL FACES A RECKONING IN THREE NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL RACES Alex Kane November 25 2019, 6:00 a.m. IN MAY 2018, Ivanka Trump celebrated the U.S. embassy opening in Jerusalem against the backdrop of Israeli troops gunning down 60 Palestinians in Gaza. In some quarters of the Democratic Party, the killings were sharply condemned. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., called the shootings a ?horrific slaughter? and added, ?We are witnessing the use of unabated brutality and force against civilians to stifle civil unrest.? Other Democrats, however, reacted much differently. Among them was Rep. *Eliot Engel*, a 30-year member of Congress from New York. *He applauded President Donald Trump?s move* to break with decades of U.S. policy and effectively recognize full Israeli control of Jerusalem, *a city whose Palestinian eastern half is under military occupation*. *?This move is long overdue,? Engel said in a statement *, ?and I look forward to visiting.? He did not mention the scores of Palestinians slain by Israeli soldiers on the same day as the embassy opening. The statement, in its praise for Israel and *lack of concern for Palestinian human rights*, was *classic Engel* rhetoric. Engel, who *chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee*, is one of the most pro-Israel hawks in the House of Representatives. His alignment with the right-wing on Israel is increasingly out of step with a Democratic base that is younger, more diverse, and more willing to call out Israel for its violations of international law. U.S. military aid to Israel is no longer being accepted without question. A *Center for American Progress poll * released this year found that *71 percent of Democrats support conditioning aid to Israel* if the Jewish state continues to build illegal settlements on Palestinian land. A *Data for Progress poll * found something similar: *Sixty-four percent of Democrats support reducing aid to Israel over human rights abuses*. ?There are issues that *divide the leadership of the party from the base*, a lot of which is also generational. You see it on health care, you see it on climate, you see it on criminal justice, you see it on immigration,? said *Waleed Shahid, communications director for Justice Democrats, a group that backs primary challengers to establishment Democrats, including a challenge to Engel*. ?Over the past two years, *you?ve begun to see it on foreign policy, most specifically around Israel-Palestine*.? Now, heading into the 2020 election, Engel is one of three staunchly pro-Israel members of New York?s congressional delegation who may ? or, in one case, will definitely ? be replaced in 2021, creating an opportunity for pro-Palestinian advocates on Capitol Hill. In New York?s 16th Congressional District, which stretches from the tony suburbs of Scarsdale to the busy streets of the Bronx, Engel is facing a spirited primary challenge from two insurgent Democrats, Andom Ghebreghiorgis and Jamaal Bowman, both of whom are critical of Israel?s human rights record and Engel?s positions on Israel. Jerry Nadler, chair of the House Judiciary Committee who represents the 10th District, is also facing a primary from the left by Lindsey Boylan, a former New York state economic official. Nita Lowey, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, meanwhile, announced her retirement from her 17th District seat in October, and Mondaire Jones is running on a progressive platform to replace her. New York Democrats go to the polls for primaries on June 23, 2020. All three Jewish lawmakers have played key roles in building the Washington consensus on Israel, and Engel and Lowey, in particular, have been helped by millions of dollars in campaign contributions from pro-Israel lobby groups *and the weapons industry*. They rose to power in an age when Israel was seen principally as a post-Holocaust haven for Jews, an indispensable U.S. ally, and a democracy, and they represent districts with substantial populations of Jewish Americans who share those views. As a result, they have spent their long careers ensuring that Israel receives billions of dollars in U.S. military aid and criticizing efforts to hold Israel accountable for human rights abuses. Engel, Nadler, and Lowey?s offices did not respond to requests for comment for this article. If the members lose their seats, *Democratic leadership will likely appoint other pro-Israel Democrats as their replacements to head powerful committees like Foreign Affairs and Appropriations*. [*Really? This is a forgone conclusion?*] Still, because of the influence Engel, Nadler, and Lowey wield on congressional Israel policy, their exit from Congress would give the Palestinian rights movement a bigger opportunity to press its agenda on Capitol Hill, particularly around conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel to ensure that aid does not get used by Israel?s military to commit human rights abuses, and to beat back attacks on Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, or BDS, the nonviolent movement to pressure Israel to end its human rights violations against Palestinians. ?*A Congress without the three of them would have a big impact*,? said Beth Miller, government affairs manager for Jewish Voice for Peace Action, the electoral campaign arm of Palestine solidarity group *Jewish Voice for Peace*. ?It would open opportunities to center human rights in the conversation, *so* *when we?re talking about Israel and Palestine, we?re talking about human rights and justice*, and *not other concerns that those three insert to get away from talking about human rights*.? ENGEL IS ONE of the Democratic Party?s most powerful foreign policy voices. First elected to Congress in 1988, he has served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee since 1994. In 2012, Engel became the ranking Democratic member of that committee, and this year, after the Democrats took control of the House, Engel became chair. Though he has recently voiced support for progressive domestic policies ? he signed on to the Green New Deal and joined the newly formed Medicare for All caucus ? he has consistently advanced a right-wing agenda on Israel. *He has long said he does not believe that Israel?s settlements, built on Palestinian land in violation of international law, pose an obstacle to peace.* In 2014, as Israel?s army was in the middle of a punishing assault on Gaza that ultimately killed 500 children, Engel spoke at a New York rally boosting Israel?s operation. Pamela Geller, a vociferously anti-Muslim activist, spoke at the same rally. Earlier this year, he spoke at a Capitol Hill event sponsored by the Zionist Organization of America, a far-right group helmed by Mort Klein, who has come under fierce criticism for racist comments about black people and Arabs . ?Eliot is arguably the best friend to U.S.-Israel relations, and Israel, among the Democrats,? Klein told The Intercept. While Engel supports a two-state solution ? a Palestinian state alongside Israel as a way to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ? *in 1990, he authored legislation that would put Congress on record as endorsing Israeli control over all of Jerusalem. That precludes the possibility that Palestinians would use East Jerusalem as its capital, something that would be key to a viable Palestinian state.* In 2004, Engel led a group of congressional Democrats and Republicans in calling for a *suspension of U.S. aid to UNRWA*, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, because the agency had acknowledged that Hamas members were on its payroll. Such aid cuts ? which Trump enacted 15 years later ? *pose a serious threat to Palestinian access to health care and schooling*, which UNRWA provides to some of the most impoverished Palestinians. Among the 21 other Democratic signatories on that letter were two New York representatives who today have reputations as staunch liberals: Nita Lowey and Jerry Nadler. Lowey and Engel have teamed up on other pro-Israel initiatives. In 2015, they co-sponsored, along with Republican Reps. Ed Royce and Peter Roskam, a resolution *decrying the European Union?s efforts to accurately label Israeli products from the occupied West Bank as settlement products*. Lowey also supported Trump?s embassy move. ?Their roles cannot be understated. They?re not only supportive of Israel, but in positions of power where that support can be translated into action,? said Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. Lowey?s impact has been felt most on the House Appropriations Committee, on which she has been the ranking Democrat since 2013, and became chair of this year. Under her watch, the U.S. has appropriated billions of dollars in unconditional military aid to Israel, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in security assistance for the Palestinian Authority, which has used the money to create a police state bent on crushing dissent and crack down on Palestinian armed action against Israel. When Lowey announced that she would retire in 2020, she got a personal shoutout from the Israeli prime minister?s office on Twitter : ?On behalf of the State of Israel and the Jewish People,? Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted, ?I would like to thank you for decades of dedicated public service and for your steadfast support for Israel.? *Like Engel, Lowey voted against President Barack Obama?s nuclear deal with Iran, siding with the GOP and Netanyahu against her own party leader?s signature foreign policy effort.* Nadler has taken a somewhat different tact on foreign policy than Engel and Lowey. While he?s a staunch proponent of the U.S.-Israel relationship, he broke from his New York colleagues by voting against the Iraq War ? which Engel and Lowey supported ? and for the Iran nuclear deal. Still, Nadler has taken a hard line on efforts to condemn Israel for settlement building. *In 2016, he condemned Obama?s decision to abstain from voting on a U.N. resolution decrying Israeli settlements as illegal under international law.* And this year, he was a lead Democratic co-sponsor on a House resolution condemning BDS. That resolution, which falsely linked BDS to anti-Semitism, passed by a 398-17 margin. As Palestinian rights advocates try to push legislation on Capitol Hill, *members of Congress often cite Nadler and Lowey as reasons they cannot sponsor a particular bill*, said Brad Parker, senior adviser on policy and advocacy for Defense Children International-Palestine. He has spent the last six months advocating for members of Congress to sign on to Rep. Betty McCollum?s bill to prevent Israel from using U.S. military aid to detain Palestinian children. ?In our work, specifically, with the New York delegation, the response by most of the New York members of Congress and their staff is, *?What?s Nadler think? If you bring on Nadler, we?ll get on the bill,?*? Parker told The Intercept. ?Lowey presents that obstacle as well. They look to both Lowey and Nadler as the guideposts.? Even though many Democrats consider Engel too far to the right on Israel, *he maintains influence because he chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee*. Parker said that Democrats like Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who sits on the committee alongside Engel, *would likely co-sponsor McCollum?s bill if Engel was not the chair*. As committee chair, *Engel controls who heads subcommittees and has influence over which bills the committee takes up*. Connolly?s office did not respond to requests for comment from The Intercept. *Engel is a ?formidable obstacle to anything that?s not the decades-old establishment line,?* said Parker. *?Engel has been very hostile, aggressive, and outspoken to demonize activism targeting Israeli policies.?* ENGEL IS NOW facing the most credible challenge to his power since 2000, when state Sen. Larry Seabrook primaried him and garnered 42 percent of the vote. Since then, Engel has coasted back to Washington again and again, but a *poll released in October by Data for Progress found that 60 percent of registered Democrats in the district were not sure who they?d vote for in the primary ? a foreboding sign*. Jamaal Bowman, a Bronx middle school principal known for his education activism, is *forcing Engel to take the 2020 race seriously*. A day after the Data for Progress poll was published, Engel sent out a fundraising letter to supporters, calling his opponents ?special interests? trying to ?divide? the Democratic Party. *Bowman has been endorsed by Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress*, groups that made their names backing New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with the environmental group 350 Action, and former New York gubernatorial candidates Zephyr Teachout and Cynthia Nixon. He has raised $190,000 to Engel?s $566,000, mostly in small-dollar donations, and has rejected taking corporate PAC money. Bowman?s path to victory will require turning out new voters in a district that had about a 10 percent turnout in the 2018 primary race. He plans to do outreach in minority communities ? *which make up over half of the district?s population* ? and peel off votes in some areas that could be considered Engel territory, like *Riverdale*, the *affluent Bronx enclave* with a *large Jewish community*. Voters in Riverdale were *key to Alessandra Biaggi?s upset win* over state Sen. Jeff Klein in 2018. Biaggi supporters successfully painted Klein, who caucused with the GOP in Albany as part of the Independent Democratic Conference, as someone who advanced a right-wing agenda ? a *message that Engel?s primary opponents are echoing in pointing out his support for military intervention in the Middle East and his coziness with Netanyahu*. Bowman is running on a message of progressive change, endorsing Medicare for All and the Green New Deal and telling voters that he will fight to end the crises of poverty and opioid addiction in his district. He says that *while Engel has sat comfortable taking hundreds of thousands in campaign donations from weapons companies, his district has suffered*. Bowman has also set himself apart from Engel on the Mideast conflict. He *supports imposing human rights conditions on U.S. military funding for Israel, echoing a policy position that Sen. Bernie Sanders has repeatedly amplified on the presidential trail*, and *making sure that the U.S. is enforcing the Leahy Law*, which prohibits sending military aid to foreign security units that abuse human rights, on Israel. In an interview with Jacobin , Bowman indicated support for McCollum?s bill, saying, *?I just don?t understand why American taxpayers are subsidizing the detention of Palestinian children while Democrats are criticizing child detention at the Mexican border.?* ?Engel ? [has] not [been] calling out Netanyahu with some of his policies as they move to the right and have been more destructive in that region. *Engel hasn?t really held Netanyahu accountable*,? Bowman told The Intercept. *Bowman also said he disagrees with Congress passing any legislation that would impose penalties on supporters of the BDS movement.* Though he does not support BDS, he also considers it a form of free speech, he said. Andom Ghebreghiorgis, Engel?s second progressive challenger, is an Eritrean American who goes even further than Bowman on Israel. Ghebreghiorgis, who has spent time in the occupied West Bank teaching English, is a supporter of the BDS movement and a former member of Yale?s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, the flagship pro-Palestinian campus group. Ghebreghiorgis doesn?t see problems in Israel as reducible to Netanyahu. He told The Intercept that Israel?s policies of settlement building, expansion into Palestinian territory, and occupation are ?something that has been part of Israel?s institutional fabric.? Ghebreghiorgis, however, has raised nearly $70,000 ? $120,000 less than Bowman ? and has not garnered big-name progressive support, though he has been endorsed by the group People for Bernie. Lindsey Boylan, the former chief of staff for New York state?s economic development arm now gunning for Nadler?s seat, has staked out similar positions to Bowman as she runs in the congressional district with the most Jews in the country. In her first extensive remarks on Israel with a news outlet, Boylan told The Intercept that she supports imposing conditions on U.S. military aid to Israel, a policy Nadler called ?wrong? in early November. ?As a good friend would, we have to be able to say, ?You cannot use military aid against children, you cannot use military aid to further the cause of annexation in the West Bank.? We have to be willing and open to those conversations,? Boylan said, before adding that Israeli policy toward Gaza, ?known as an open-air prison,? is ?never going to produce safety for everyday Israelis.? Mondaire Jones, the former Obama administration lawyer whose pro-Green New Deal and Medicare for All positions have garnered the most progressive excitement in the district Lowey currently represents, has taken a far more cautious stance than the other insurgents challenging pro-Israel stalwarts. He told The Intercept that he did not get in the race to challenge Lowey?s foreign policy stances, has not studied Lowey?s record on Israel, and does not currently support imposing conditions on U.S. military aid to Israel. Asked by The Intercept about whether he believes there?s a human rights crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories, he did not give a straight answer and instead decried humanitarian conditions there. He also said he had no problem with the House condemning the BDS movement, calling the vote an exercise in free speech, much as advocating the boycotts of Israel is. Still, Jones, who would make history as the first black and openly gay member of Congress, did stake out positions to the left of Lowey?s in an interview with The Intercept. He said he supported the Iran deal from the outset ? Lowey opposed it and praised Netanyahu?s 2015 speech to Congress to torpedo Obama?s signature foreign policy achievement ? and said no U.S. taxpayer dollars should be used by Israel in any future annexation of the occupied West Bank. For pro-Israel advocates, the primary races and Lowey?s retirement are a troubling sign for the future of the Democratic Party, and pro-Israel lobby groups are now beginning to back their favored incumbents for next year?s primary race. Already this election cycle, NORPAC, one of the most well-funded Israel lobby groups in the country, has given Engel nearly $40,000 , its largest donation to any House member. ?There?s limited history between the newcomers, the new people we?re sending to power, and Jews and the state of Israel,? said Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic consultant and pro-Israel advocate. ?If you look at demographic shifts, everybody should be concerned. The loss of any of those three would be likely a tremendous loss for the pro-Israel community.? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From naiman.uiuc at gmail.com Tue Nov 26 13:40:54 2019 From: naiman.uiuc at gmail.com (Robert Naiman) Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2019 08:40:54 -0500 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Houthi-Saudi_Talks_Don=E2=80=99t_Justify_Easin?= =?utf-8?q?g_Pressure_to_End_the_Saudi_Regime=E2=80=99s_War_in_Yeme?= =?utf-8?q?n?= In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Please spread this crucial and time-sensitive idea *by any means necessary*. ?Can you patent the Sun?? https://www.facebook.com/robert.naiman/posts/10158873727172656 *Houthi-Saudi Talks Don?t Justify Easing Pressure to End the Saudi Regime?s War in Yemen* We?re very close now to ending the Saudi regime?s war in Yemen by Congressional action. We can see the summit of Mount Doom from here. Now that we?re so close, some people are claiming that the fact that we?re so close is a reason to stop pushing. These people claim that there is now no need to pass the Smith-Khanna-Schiff-Jayapal amendment on the ?must pass? ?veto proof? Pentagon spending authorization bill that?s sent to Trump, because the Saudi regime is on track to end the war now anyway. *Nothing could be further from the truth.* It's a very good thing that the Houthis and the Saudi regime are now openly talking, but the Houthis and the Saudi regime have been talking secretly for years. *The fact that they are talking openly now does not prove that they are about to end the war.* They could keep talking and killing for years. Every step of progress towards ending the Saudi regime?s war in Yemen came about as a result of external pressure on the Saudi regime, *especially Congressional pressure*. So the fact that the Saudi regime took one step towards ending the war isn't a reason to let up the pressure, just the opposite. It's a reason to *maintain and increase pressure* to reach the goal of ending the war faster. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbn at forestfield.org Wed Nov 27 04:43:27 2019 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2019 22:43:27 -0600 Subject: [Peace] AWARE on the Air #498 notes Message-ID: <402436de-8c58-9639-0a9d-bfb959921ce5@forestfield.org> AWARE on the Air #498 Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar95AX094as A list of links to items referenced on the show. "Those Who Served" series in the News-Gazette https://usveterans.news-gazette.com/ C. G. Estabrook on News-Gazette?s feature ?Those Who Served? weekly feature in a letter to the News-Gazette https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/letters-editor/letter-to-the-editor-u-s-has-killed-millions-in/article_87b213e5-9f21-5acf-8f54-df41b18d026d.html "Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization" by Nicholson Baker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Smoke ISBN: 9781416572466 T.S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_in_the_Cathedral War of Aggression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_aggression Noam Chomsky on "If the Nuremberg Laws were Applied?" https://chomsky.info/1990____-2/ Joe Giambrone on "Ukrainegate 13,000 Times Worse Than You Think" https://dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/ukrainegate-13000-times-worse-than-you-think/ https://alethonews.com/2019/11/23/ukrainegate-13000-times-worse-than-you-think/ https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Ukrainegate-13-000-Times-W-by-Joe-Giambrone-Democrats_Farce_Impeach-Trump_Impeachment-191124-505.html?f=Ukrainegate-13-000-Times-W-by-Joe-Giambrone-Democrats_Farce_Impeach-Trump_Impeachment-191124-505.html https://www.greanvillepost.com/2019/11/23/ukrainegate-13000-times-worse-than-you-think/ C.J. Hopkins on "Reclaiming Your Inner Fascist" https://dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/reclaiming-your-inner-fascist/ https://www.greanvillepost.com/2019/11/21/reclaiming-your-inner-fascist/ https://nationandstate.com/2019/11/19/c-j-hopkins-reclaiming-your-inner-fascist/ https://straightlinelogic.com/2019/11/20/reclaiming-your-inner-fascist-by-c-j-hopkins/ https://www.opednews.com/articles/Reclaiming-Your-Inner-Fasc-by-CJ-Hopkins-Fascist_Fascist-Americans-191121-65.html Stephen F. Cohen on "Inconvenient Truths: Alarming things we have learned under Trump, but not always about him." https://www.thenation.com/article/inconvenient-truths-2/ https://on.rt.com/a4xh https://www.sott.net/article/423497-Inconvenient-truths-Alarming-things-we-have-learned-under-Trump-but-not-always-about-him https://www.sgtreport.com/2019/11/inconvenient-truths/ Gary Olson on "The Empire, Trump and Intra-Ruling Class Conflict" https://dissidentvoice.org/2019/11/the-empire-trump-and-intra-ruling-class-conflict/ C. G. Estabrook on "Robert Reich to MoveOn" on peace-discuss mailing list https://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/2019-November/051552.html -J From deb.pdamerica at gmail.com Wed Nov 27 10:06:29 2019 From: deb.pdamerica at gmail.com (Debra Schrishuhn) Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 04:06:29 -0600 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Robert_Reich=E2=80=99s_letter_to_=E2=80=98Move?= =?utf-8?b?T27igJkgQ09SUkVDVEVE?= In-Reply-To: <3AF248DC-2DDA-46AB-9D70-DBE8476C7709@newsfromneptune.com> References: <3AF248DC-2DDA-46AB-9D70-DBE8476C7709@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: Or maybe it is because Trump is a lawless, bald-faced liar, cheater (in every sense of the term), underhanded, self-serving (and self-dealing), misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic racist with no core principles other than his own advancement and that of his cronies. On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 3:57 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace < peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? is an absolutely mad appeal by a > self-proclaimed 'liberal' to get Trump out of office as soon as possible. > > Why is the political establishment so desperate not just to win the next > election but to remove Trump now? > > I think that the answer is to be found in the US grand strategy , followed > by all recent US administrations. That depends on maintaining the US > control of the world economy by retarding the economic development of > Eurasia. (Not a new idea - see the 'Open Door Policy' of 1899.) Zbigniew > Brzezinski wrote clearly of the US government's need to prevent the > emergence of "peer competitors," Russia and China. > > Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years to attack the > neoliberal and neoconservative policies of previous administrations, which > were designed to do that. > > In office, Trump has been compelled or cajoled to acquiesce in those > policies, but the political establishment can't be assured that will > continue, given the rising populist wave that put him in office. The threat > has to be suppressed as soon as possible, and a reliable neolib/neocon > executive put in place (by a coup, if necessary, as Adm. McRaven recently > argued in the NYT). > > The example of Obama - the first president to be at war throughout two > presidential terms, who waged no less than eight wars to constrain Eurasia > and protect the economic control of the US 1% and for whom stooges like > Reich and McRaven are working, must be followed, insists that establishment. > > (Reich? McRaving? To avoid being Trumped? Do the gods of history have a > sardonic sense of humor?) > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Wed Nov 27 10:47:45 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 04:47:45 -0600 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Robert_Reich=E2=80=99s_letter_to_=E2=80=98Move?= =?utf-8?b?T27igJkgQ09SUkVDVEVE?= In-Reply-To: References: <3AF248DC-2DDA-46AB-9D70-DBE8476C7709@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: <6DF02DD3-441F-4248-8169-778409EB318F@newsfromneptune.com> And e.g. Kennedy and Clinton weren?t? One of the most disastrous presidencies of recent times was Carter?s - it ushered in neoliberalism - while Carter himself by all accounts is a man of decent character. The issue is US policy, not the character of the chief magistrate (as Sally Hemings might say). > On Nov 27, 2019, at 4:06 AM, Debra Schrishuhn wrote: > > Or maybe it is because Trump is a lawless, bald-faced liar, cheater (in every sense of the term), underhanded, self-serving (and self-dealing), misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic racist with no core principles other than his own advancement and that of his cronies. > > On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 3:57 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace wrote: > Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? is an absolutely mad appeal by a self-proclaimed 'liberal' to get Trump out of office as soon as possible. > > Why is the political establishment so desperate not just to win the next election but to remove Trump now? > > I think that the answer is to be found in the US grand strategy , followed by all recent US administrations. That depends on maintaining the US control of the world economy by retarding the economic development of Eurasia. (Not a new idea - see the 'Open Door Policy' of 1899.) Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote clearly of the US government's need to prevent the emergence of "peer competitors," Russia and China. > > Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years to attack the neoliberal and neoconservative policies of previous administrations, which were designed to do that. > > In office, Trump has been compelled or cajoled to acquiesce in those policies, but the political establishment can't be assured that will continue, given the rising populist wave that put him in office. The threat has to be suppressed as soon as possible, and a reliable neolib/neocon executive put in place (by a coup, if necessary, as Adm. McRaven recently argued in the NYT). > > The example of Obama - the first president to be at war throughout two presidential terms, who waged no less than eight wars to constrain Eurasia and protect the economic control of the US 1% and for whom stooges like Reich and McRaven are working, must be followed, insists that establishment. > > (Reich? McRaving? To avoid being Trumped? Do the gods of history have a sardonic sense of humor?) > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace From deb.pdamerica at gmail.com Wed Nov 27 13:15:04 2019 From: deb.pdamerica at gmail.com (Debra Schrishuhn) Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 07:15:04 -0600 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Robert_Reich=E2=80=99s_letter_to_=E2=80=98Move?= =?utf-8?b?T27igJkgQ09SUkVDVEVE?= In-Reply-To: <6DF02DD3-441F-4248-8169-778409EB318F@newsfromneptune.com> References: <3AF248DC-2DDA-46AB-9D70-DBE8476C7709@newsfromneptune.com> <6DF02DD3-441F-4248-8169-778409EB318F@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: First, I won't be drawn into a round of "whataboutism." Second, to insist that the issues of U.S. policy by and character of the chief elected officer are mutually exclusive is both naive and disingenuous. On Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 4:47 AM C. G. Estabrook wrote: > And e.g. Kennedy and Clinton weren?t? > > One of the most disastrous presidencies of recent times was Carter?s - it > ushered in neoliberalism - while Carter himself by all accounts is a man of > decent character. > > The issue is US policy, not the character of the chief magistrate (as > Sally Hemings might say). > > > > On Nov 27, 2019, at 4:06 AM, Debra Schrishuhn > wrote: > > > > Or maybe it is because Trump is a lawless, bald-faced liar, cheater (in > every sense of the term), underhanded, self-serving (and self-dealing), > misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic racist with no core principles other > than his own advancement and that of his cronies. > > > > On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 3:57 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace < > peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > > Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? is an absolutely mad appeal by a > self-proclaimed 'liberal' to get Trump out of office as soon as possible. > > > > Why is the political establishment so desperate not just to win the next > election but to remove Trump now? > > > > I think that the answer is to be found in the US grand strategy , > followed by all recent US administrations. That depends on maintaining the > US control of the world economy by retarding the economic development of > Eurasia. (Not a new idea - see the 'Open Door Policy' of 1899.) Zbigniew > Brzezinski wrote clearly of the US government's need to prevent the > emergence of "peer competitors," Russia and China. > > > > Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years to attack the > neoliberal and neoconservative policies of previous administrations, which > were designed to do that. > > > > In office, Trump has been compelled or cajoled to acquiesce in those > policies, but the political establishment can't be assured that will > continue, given the rising populist wave that put him in office. The threat > has to be suppressed as soon as possible, and a reliable neolib/neocon > executive put in place (by a coup, if necessary, as Adm. McRaven recently > argued in the NYT). > > > > The example of Obama - the first president to be at war throughout two > presidential terms, who waged no less than eight wars to constrain Eurasia > and protect the economic control of the US 1% and for whom stooges like > Reich and McRaven are working, must be followed, insists that establishment. > > > > (Reich? McRaving? To avoid being Trumped? Do the gods of history have a > sardonic sense of humor?) > > _______________________________________________ > > Peace mailing list > > Peace at lists.chambana.net > > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net Wed Nov 27 14:42:10 2019 From: davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net (David Johnson) Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 08:42:10 -0600 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Robert_Reich=E2=80=99s_letter_to_=E2=80=98Move?= =?utf-8?b?T27igJkgQ09SUkVDVEVE?= In-Reply-To: References: <3AF248DC-2DDA-46AB-9D70-DBE8476C7709@newsfromneptune.com> <6DF02DD3-441F-4248-8169-778409EB318F@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: <003b01d5a530$da2f3dc0$8e8db940$@comcast.net> Deb, The problems we have currently in this country did not begin with Trump in Jan. 2017. AS the democratically elected President of Honduras ( Manuel Zelaya ) who was deposed in a military coup by Hillary Clinton and Obama in 2009 because he was implementing increased taxes on the wealthy and foreign corporations , increasing the minimum wage , and democratizing the constitutional system of governance in Honduras, said in an interview on Democracy Now several years ago when he was asked about Obama?s foreign policies as ? boss ( Jefe ) ? of the American empire, Zelaya?s immediate response was ; ? The President of the United States is NOT the Jefe ( boss ) of the American empire. Ever wonder why nothing changes for the better regardless which political party wins the presidency ? Same bipartisan belligerent foreign policy, same focus on privatization and austerity, same expansion of corporate and police powers. Same erosion of individual rights, privacy, and freedom of speech. The problem the majority of the ruling class ( not the tiny group that helped Trump get elected ? Adelson, Mercer, etc. ) has with Trump is that they wanted Hillary Clinton to win because she has a proven track record of being a loyal and dependable servant of the ruling class. Trump on the other hand is an uncertain ? wild card ? who is a pure opportunist with no other ideology than that, and Trump was campaigning on issues ( that he had no intention of executing ) that was a threat to neo-liberal austerity and neo-conservative foreign policy. The POTUS has power, but not as much as most people think. The corporate plutocracy ( the ruling class ) is the real power. In particular ; The financial sector, the military industrial complex, The oil / gas / energy sector, and the corporate owned media. Below is a recent study that proves this point ( from the BBC ) ? The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. So concludes a recent study by Princeton University Prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Prof Benjamin I Page. This is not news, you say. Perhaps, but the two professors have conducted exhaustive research to try to present data-driven support for this conclusion. Here's how they explain it: Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. In English: the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power. Eric Zuess, writing in Counterpunch, isn't surprised by the survey's results. "American democracy is a sham, no matter how much it's pumped by the oligarchs who run the country (and who control the nation's "news" media)," he writes. "The US, in other words, is basically similar to Russia or most other dubious 'electoral' 'democratic' countries. We weren't formerly, but we clearly are now." From: Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Debra Schrishuhn via Peace Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 7:15 AM To: C. G. Estabrook Cc: Peace Discuss; Peace Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED First, I won't be drawn into a round of "whataboutism." Second, to insist that the issues of U.S. policy by and character of the chief elected officer are mutually exclusive is both naive and disingenuous. On Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 4:47 AM C. G. Estabrook wrote: And e.g. Kennedy and Clinton weren?t? One of the most disastrous presidencies of recent times was Carter?s - it ushered in neoliberalism - while Carter himself by all accounts is a man of decent character. The issue is US policy, not the character of the chief magistrate (as Sally Hemings might say). > On Nov 27, 2019, at 4:06 AM, Debra Schrishuhn wrote: > > Or maybe it is because Trump is a lawless, bald-faced liar, cheater (in every sense of the term), underhanded, self-serving (and self-dealing), misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic racist with no core principles other than his own advancement and that of his cronies. > > On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 3:57 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace wrote: > Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? is an absolutely mad appeal by a self-proclaimed 'liberal' to get Trump out of office as soon as possible. > > Why is the political establishment so desperate not just to win the next election but to remove Trump now? > > I think that the answer is to be found in the US grand strategy , followed by all recent US administrations. That depends on maintaining the US control of the world economy by retarding the economic development of Eurasia. (Not a new idea - see the 'Open Door Policy' of 1899.) Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote clearly of the US government's need to prevent the emergence of "peer competitors," Russia and China. > > Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years to attack the neoliberal and neoconservative policies of previous administrations, which were designed to do that. > > In office, Trump has been compelled or cajoled to acquiesce in those policies, but the political establishment can't be assured that will continue, given the rising populist wave that put him in office. The threat has to be suppressed as soon as possible, and a reliable neolib/neocon executive put in place (by a coup, if necessary, as Adm. McRaven recently argued in the NYT). > > The example of Obama - the first president to be at war throughout two presidential terms, who waged no less than eight wars to constrain Eurasia and protect the economic control of the US 1% and for whom stooges like Reich and McRaven are working, must be followed, insists that establishment. > > (Reich? McRaving? To avoid being Trumped? Do the gods of history have a sardonic sense of humor?) > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From deb.pdamerica at gmail.com Wed Nov 27 15:30:26 2019 From: deb.pdamerica at gmail.com (Debra Schrishuhn) Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 09:30:26 -0600 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Robert_Reich=E2=80=99s_letter_to_=E2=80=98Move?= =?utf-8?b?T27igJkgQ09SUkVDVEVE?= In-Reply-To: <003b01d5a530$da2f3dc0$8e8db940$@comcast.net> References: <3AF248DC-2DDA-46AB-9D70-DBE8476C7709@newsfromneptune.com> <6DF02DD3-441F-4248-8169-778409EB318F@newsfromneptune.com> <003b01d5a530$da2f3dc0$8e8db940$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <81F445A5-D0CD-4FDA-A8D0-4E3757C75574@gmail.com> David I understand what you are saying and generally agree with the historical context you provide. However, the entire presidential succession is not the issue here. The issue is that President Donald Trump has behaved in a number of situations badly, illegally, and unconstitutionally, and for those actions the Constitution prescribes the remedy of impeachment. Sent from my iPhone > On Nov 27, 2019, at 8:42 AM, David Johnson wrote: > > Deb, > > The problems we have currently in this country did not begin with Trump in Jan. 2017. AS the democratically elected President of Honduras ( Manuel Zelaya ) who was deposed in a military coup by Hillary Clinton and Obama in 2009 because he was implementing increased taxes on the wealthy and foreign corporations , increasing the minimum wage , and democratizing the constitutional system of governance in Honduras, said in an interview on Democracy Now several years ago when he was asked about Obama?s foreign policies as ? boss ( Jefe ) ? of the American empire, Zelaya?s immediate response was ; ? The President of the United States is NOT the Jefe ( boss ) of the American empire. > Ever wonder why nothing changes for the better regardless which political party wins the presidency ? Same bipartisan belligerent foreign policy, same focus on privatization and austerity, same expansion of corporate and police powers. Same erosion of individual rights, privacy, and freedom of speech. > > The problem the majority of the ruling class ( not the tiny group that helped Trump get elected ? Adelson, Mercer, etc. ) has with Trump is that they wanted Hillary Clinton to win because she has a proven track record of being a loyal and dependable servant of the ruling class. Trump on the other hand is an uncertain ? wild card ? who is a pure opportunist with no other ideology than that, and Trump was campaigning on issues ( that he had no intention of executing ) that was a threat to neo-liberal austerity and neo-conservative foreign policy. > > The POTUS has power, but not as much as most people think. The corporate plutocracy ( the ruling class ) is the real power. In particular ; The financial sector, the military industrial complex, The oil / gas / energy sector, and the corporate owned media. > > > Below is a recent study that proves this point ( from the BBC ) ? > > The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. > > So concludes a recent study by Princeton University Prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Prof Benjamin I Page. > > This is not news, you say. > > Perhaps, but the two professors have conducted exhaustive research to try to present data-driven support for this conclusion. Here's how they explain it: > > Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. > > In English: the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power. > > Eric Zuess, writing in Counterpunch, isn't surprised by the survey's results. > > "American democracy is a sham, no matter how much it's pumped by the oligarchs who run the country (and who control the nation's "news" media)," he writes. "The US, in other words, is basically similar to Russia or most other dubious 'electoral' 'democratic' countries. We weren't formerly, but we clearly are now." > > > > From: Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Debra Schrishuhn via Peace > Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 7:15 AM > To: C. G. Estabrook > Cc: Peace Discuss; Peace > Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED > > First, I won't be drawn into a round of "whataboutism." Second, to insist that the issues of U.S. policy by and character of the chief elected officer are mutually exclusive is both naive and disingenuous. > > On Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 4:47 AM C. G. Estabrook wrote: > And e.g. Kennedy and Clinton weren?t? > > One of the most disastrous presidencies of recent times was Carter?s - it ushered in neoliberalism - while Carter himself by all accounts is a man of decent character. > > The issue is US policy, not the character of the chief magistrate (as Sally Hemings might say). > > > > On Nov 27, 2019, at 4:06 AM, Debra Schrishuhn wrote: > > > > Or maybe it is because Trump is a lawless, bald-faced liar, cheater (in every sense of the term), underhanded, self-serving (and self-dealing), misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic racist with no core principles other than his own advancement and that of his cronies. > > > > On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 3:57 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace wrote: > > Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? is an absolutely mad appeal by a self-proclaimed 'liberal' to get Trump out of office as soon as possible. > > > > Why is the political establishment so desperate not just to win the next election but to remove Trump now? > > > > I think that the answer is to be found in the US grand strategy , followed by all recent US administrations. That depends on maintaining the US control of the world economy by retarding the economic development of Eurasia. (Not a new idea - see the 'Open Door Policy' of 1899.) Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote clearly of the US government's need to prevent the emergence of "peer competitors," Russia and China. > > > > Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years to attack the neoliberal and neoconservative policies of previous administrations, which were designed to do that. > > > > In office, Trump has been compelled or cajoled to acquiesce in those policies, but the political establishment can't be assured that will continue, given the rising populist wave that put him in office. The threat has to be suppressed as soon as possible, and a reliable neolib/neocon executive put in place (by a coup, if necessary, as Adm. McRaven recently argued in the NYT). > > > > The example of Obama - the first president to be at war throughout two presidential terms, who waged no less than eight wars to constrain Eurasia and protect the economic control of the US 1% and for whom stooges like Reich and McRaven are working, must be followed, insists that establishment. > > > > (Reich? McRaving? To avoid being Trumped? Do the gods of history have a sardonic sense of humor?) > > _______________________________________________ > > Peace mailing list > > Peace at lists.chambana.net > > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net Wed Nov 27 16:08:28 2019 From: davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net (David Johnson) Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 10:08:28 -0600 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Robert_Reich=E2=80=99s_letter_to_=E2=80=98Move?= =?utf-8?b?T27igJkgQ09SUkVDVEVE?= In-Reply-To: <81F445A5-D0CD-4FDA-A8D0-4E3757C75574@gmail.com> References: <3AF248DC-2DDA-46AB-9D70-DBE8476C7709@newsfromneptune.com> <6DF02DD3-441F-4248-8169-778409EB318F@newsfromneptune.com> <003b01d5a530$da2f3dc0$8e8db940$@comcast.net> <81F445A5-D0CD-4FDA-A8D0-4E3757C75574@gmail.com> Message-ID: <006001d5a53c$e8ba6c50$ba2f44f0$@comcast.net> Deb, As bad as Trump is, is he really worse than the Presidency of G.W. Bush ? I say nowhere near as bad as GW, who by the way if you haven?t noticed, the ruling class and their corporate owned media has been working overtime to improve his PR image, including Ellen DeGeneres?s promotion and JOE BIDEN pinning a ? Medal of Freedom ? on him at a huge public ceremony. All crimes are forgiven if it is in the service of the ruling class. After thousands of voter referendums passed across the U.S. supporting the impeachment of GW Bush in 2005 / 2006 for WAR CRIMES, including in Champaign and Urbana, what are the first words out of Nancy Pelosi?s mouth when in November 2006 it was announced that the Democrats had won both the House and Senate ?.....? Impeachment is off the table, impeachment is off the table ? ! Like the Russia gate conspiracy hoax that floundered for lack of real evidence, this latest Ukraine Gate action is also nothing but a dog and pony show distraction. Distraction away from the Democrats having to actually oppose Trump?s policies by advocating for issues that would improve the lives of the vast majority of the American people. But the DNC won?t do that because it will threaten their gravy train of corporate donations. In the meantime, if Trump is such a threat to our country, why is it the vast majority of Democrats have given him almost everything he wants and then some. They made a public spectacle of opposing Brent Kavenaugh but proceeded to approve all of his right wing judge appointments to the federal bench. They did next to nothing to oppose Trump?s tax bill, with even Chuckie Schumer saying ; ? WE agree with the principal of this bill, we just wish we were consulted. ?. Then there was Trump?s request for increased WAR budget. What did the Democrats do ? They approved it and added even more money to it. And more recently the Democrats gave Trump expanded powers under the Patriot Act, which only ; AOC, Ihlan Omar, Presley, and Talibi ( The Squad ) voted against. So if Trump is such a danger, the supposed opposition party ( Democrats ) have a funny way of opposing. To quote George Carlin Deb, ; ? It is a big club and WE are not members. ? Lastly, funny how Trump?s briefly delaying military assistance to the FASCIST government of Ukraine is a ? security threat ? to the U.S. ? Instead of NOT supplying any weapons to Ukraine, which even Obama refused to do. The best way to defeat Trump is to elect a candidate in the Democratic primary who will advocate for issues that are popular with and will benefit the American people. Like Bernie Sanders. But you watch what happens. If they don?t rig the democratic primary again with voter disenfranchisement and outright ELECTION FRAUD or the use of Super Delegates at the convention, the ruling class and the corporate owned media, who supposedly hates Trump so bad, will instantly turn their propaganda campaign against Sanders and will support the re-election of Trump. David J. From: Debra Schrishuhn [mailto:deb.pdamerica at gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 9:30 AM To: David Johnson Cc: C. G. Estabrook; Peace Discuss; Peace Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED David I understand what you are saying and generally agree with the historical context you provide. However, the entire presidential succession is not the issue here. The issue is that President Donald Trump has behaved in a number of situations badly, illegally, and unconstitutionally, and for those actions the Constitution prescribes the remedy of impeachment. Sent from my iPhone On Nov 27, 2019, at 8:42 AM, David Johnson wrote: Deb, The problems we have currently in this country did not begin with Trump in Jan. 2017. AS the democratically elected President of Honduras ( Manuel Zelaya ) who was deposed in a military coup by Hillary Clinton and Obama in 2009 because he was implementing increased taxes on the wealthy and foreign corporations , increasing the minimum wage , and democratizing the constitutional system of governance in Honduras, said in an interview on Democracy Now several years ago when he was asked about Obama?s foreign policies as ? boss ( Jefe ) ? of the American empire, Zelaya?s immediate response was ; ? The President of the United States is NOT the Jefe ( boss ) of the American empire. Ever wonder why nothing changes for the better regardless which political party wins the presidency ? Same bipartisan belligerent foreign policy, same focus on privatization and austerity, same expansion of corporate and police powers. Same erosion of individual rights, privacy, and freedom of speech. The problem the majority of the ruling class ( not the tiny group that helped Trump get elected ? Adelson, Mercer, etc. ) has with Trump is that they wanted Hillary Clinton to win because she has a proven track record of being a loyal and dependable servant of the ruling class. Trump on the other hand is an uncertain ? wild card ? who is a pure opportunist with no other ideology than that, and Trump was campaigning on issues ( that he had no intention of executing ) that was a threat to neo-liberal austerity and neo-conservative foreign policy. The POTUS has power, but not as much as most people think. The corporate plutocracy ( the ruling class ) is the real power. In particular ; The financial sector, the military industrial complex, The oil / gas / energy sector, and the corporate owned media. Below is a recent study that proves this point ( from the BBC ) ? The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. So concludes a recent study by Princeton University Prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Prof Benjamin I Page. This is not news, you say. Perhaps, but the two professors have conducted exhaustive research to try to present data-driven support for this conclusion. Here's how they explain it: Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. In English: the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power. Eric Zuess, writing in Counterpunch, isn't surprised by the survey's results. "American democracy is a sham, no matter how much it's pumped by the oligarchs who run the country (and who control the nation's "news" media)," he writes. "The US, in other words, is basically similar to Russia or most other dubious 'electoral' 'democratic' countries. We weren't formerly, but we clearly are now." From: Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Debra Schrishuhn via Peace Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 7:15 AM To: C. G. Estabrook Cc: Peace Discuss; Peace Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED First, I won't be drawn into a round of "whataboutism." Second, to insist that the issues of U.S. policy by and character of the chief elected officer are mutually exclusive is both naive and disingenuous. On Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 4:47 AM C. G. Estabrook wrote: And e.g. Kennedy and Clinton weren?t? One of the most disastrous presidencies of recent times was Carter?s - it ushered in neoliberalism - while Carter himself by all accounts is a man of decent character. The issue is US policy, not the character of the chief magistrate (as Sally Hemings might say). > On Nov 27, 2019, at 4:06 AM, Debra Schrishuhn wrote: > > Or maybe it is because Trump is a lawless, bald-faced liar, cheater (in every sense of the term), underhanded, self-serving (and self-dealing), misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic racist with no core principles other than his own advancement and that of his cronies. > > On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 3:57 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace wrote: > Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? is an absolutely mad appeal by a self-proclaimed 'liberal' to get Trump out of office as soon as possible. > > Why is the political establishment so desperate not just to win the next election but to remove Trump now? > > I think that the answer is to be found in the US grand strategy , followed by all recent US administrations. That depends on maintaining the US control of the world economy by retarding the economic development of Eurasia. (Not a new idea - see the 'Open Door Policy' of 1899.) Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote clearly of the US government's need to prevent the emergence of "peer competitors," Russia and China. > > Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years to attack the neoliberal and neoconservative policies of previous administrations, which were designed to do that. > > In office, Trump has been compelled or cajoled to acquiesce in those policies, but the political establishment can't be assured that will continue, given the rising populist wave that put him in office. The threat has to be suppressed as soon as possible, and a reliable neolib/neocon executive put in place (by a coup, if necessary, as Adm. McRaven recently argued in the NYT). > > The example of Obama - the first president to be at war throughout two presidential terms, who waged no less than eight wars to constrain Eurasia and protect the economic control of the US 1% and for whom stooges like Reich and McRaven are working, must be followed, insists that establishment. > > (Reich? McRaving? To avoid being Trumped? Do the gods of history have a sardonic sense of humor?) > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From deb.pdamerica at gmail.com Wed Nov 27 18:48:42 2019 From: deb.pdamerica at gmail.com (Debra Schrishuhn) Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 12:48:42 -0600 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Robert_Reich=E2=80=99s_letter_to_=E2=80=98Move?= =?utf-8?b?T27igJkgQ09SUkVDVEVE?= In-Reply-To: <006001d5a53c$e8ba6c50$ba2f44f0$@comcast.net> References: <3AF248DC-2DDA-46AB-9D70-DBE8476C7709@newsfromneptune.com> <6DF02DD3-441F-4248-8169-778409EB318F@newsfromneptune.com> <003b01d5a530$da2f3dc0$8e8db940$@comcast.net> <81F445A5-D0CD-4FDA-A8D0-4E3757C75574@gmail.com> <006001d5a53c$e8ba6c50$ba2f44f0$@comcast.net> Message-ID: I agree that W should have been impeached but that is irrelevant to the impeachment of Trump who has flagrantly flaunted the Constitution, ignored laws, and enriched himself and his cronies ?not to mention being responsible for a lot of deaths on our southern border and throughout the nation through bogus immigration policy and destruction of the meager protections of the ACA ?repeatedly over the past 3 years. Regardless of what other Presidents have done, he has done more than enough damage and perpetrated more than enough corruption to warrant impeachment all on his own. Sent from my iPhone > On Nov 27, 2019, at 10:08 AM, David Johnson wrote: > > Deb, > > As bad as Trump is, is he really worse than the Presidency of G.W. Bush ? > I say nowhere near as bad as GW, who by the way if you haven?t noticed, the ruling class and their corporate owned media has been working overtime to improve his PR image, including Ellen DeGeneres?s promotion and JOE BIDEN pinning a ? Medal of Freedom ? on him at a huge public ceremony. All crimes are forgiven if it is in the service of the ruling class. > > After thousands of voter referendums passed across the U.S. supporting the impeachment of GW Bush in 2005 / 2006 for WAR CRIMES, including in Champaign and Urbana, what are the first words out of Nancy Pelosi?s mouth when in November 2006 it was announced that the Democrats had won both the House and Senate ?.....? Impeachment is off the table, impeachment is off the table ? ! > > Like the Russia gate conspiracy hoax that floundered for lack of real evidence, this latest Ukraine Gate action is also nothing but a dog and pony show distraction. Distraction away from the Democrats having to actually oppose Trump?s policies by advocating for issues that would improve the lives of the vast majority of the American people. But the DNC won?t do that because it will threaten their gravy train of corporate donations. > > In the meantime, if Trump is such a threat to our country, why is it the vast majority of Democrats have given him almost everything he wants and then some. They made a public spectacle of opposing Brent Kavenaugh but proceeded to approve all of his right wing judge appointments to the federal bench. They did next to nothing to oppose Trump?s tax bill, with even Chuckie Schumer saying ; ? WE agree with the principal of this bill, we just wish we were consulted. ?. Then there was Trump?s request for increased WAR budget. What did the Democrats do ? They approved it and added even more money to it. And more recently the Democrats gave Trump expanded powers under the Patriot Act, which only ; AOC, Ihlan Omar, Presley, and Talibi ( The Squad ) voted against. > So if Trump is such a danger, the supposed opposition party ( Democrats ) have a funny way of opposing. > > To quote George Carlin Deb, ; ? It is a big club and WE are not members. ? > > Lastly, funny how Trump?s briefly delaying military assistance to the FASCIST government of Ukraine is a ? security threat ? to the U.S. ? > Instead of NOT supplying any weapons to Ukraine, which even Obama refused to do. > > The best way to defeat Trump is to elect a candidate in the Democratic primary who will advocate for issues that are popular with and will benefit the American people. Like Bernie Sanders. But you watch what happens. If they don?t rig the democratic primary again with voter disenfranchisement and outright ELECTION FRAUD or the use of Super Delegates at the convention, the ruling class and the corporate owned media, who supposedly hates Trump so bad, will instantly turn their propaganda campaign against Sanders and will support the re-election of Trump. > > David J. > > From: Debra Schrishuhn [mailto:deb.pdamerica at gmail.com] > Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 9:30 AM > To: David Johnson > Cc: C. G. Estabrook; Peace Discuss; Peace > Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED > > David > I understand what you are saying and generally agree with the historical context you provide. However, the entire presidential succession is not the issue here. The issue is that President Donald Trump has behaved in a number of situations badly, illegally, and unconstitutionally, and for those actions the Constitution prescribes the remedy of impeachment. > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Nov 27, 2019, at 8:42 AM, David Johnson wrote: > > Deb, > > The problems we have currently in this country did not begin with Trump in Jan. 2017. AS the democratically elected President of Honduras ( Manuel Zelaya ) who was deposed in a military coup by Hillary Clinton and Obama in 2009 because he was implementing increased taxes on the wealthy and foreign corporations , increasing the minimum wage , and democratizing the constitutional system of governance in Honduras, said in an interview on Democracy Now several years ago when he was asked about Obama?s foreign policies as ? boss ( Jefe ) ? of the American empire, Zelaya?s immediate response was ; ? The President of the United States is NOT the Jefe ( boss ) of the American empire. > Ever wonder why nothing changes for the better regardless which political party wins the presidency ? Same bipartisan belligerent foreign policy, same focus on privatization and austerity, same expansion of corporate and police powers. Same erosion of individual rights, privacy, and freedom of speech. > > The problem the majority of the ruling class ( not the tiny group that helped Trump get elected ? Adelson, Mercer, etc. ) has with Trump is that they wanted Hillary Clinton to win because she has a proven track record of being a loyal and dependable servant of the ruling class. Trump on the other hand is an uncertain ? wild card ? who is a pure opportunist with no other ideology than that, and Trump was campaigning on issues ( that he had no intention of executing ) that was a threat to neo-liberal austerity and neo-conservative foreign policy. > > The POTUS has power, but not as much as most people think. The corporate plutocracy ( the ruling class ) is the real power. In particular ; The financial sector, the military industrial complex, The oil / gas / energy sector, and the corporate owned media. > > > Below is a recent study that proves this point ( from the BBC ) ? > > The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. > > So concludes a recent study by Princeton University Prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Prof Benjamin I Page. > > This is not news, you say. > > Perhaps, but the two professors have conducted exhaustive research to try to present data-driven support for this conclusion. Here's how they explain it: > > Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. > > In English: the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power. > > Eric Zuess, writing in Counterpunch, isn't surprised by the survey's results. > > "American democracy is a sham, no matter how much it's pumped by the oligarchs who run the country (and who control the nation's "news" media)," he writes. "The US, in other words, is basically similar to Russia or most other dubious 'electoral' 'democratic' countries. We weren't formerly, but we clearly are now." > > > > From: Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Debra Schrishuhn via Peace > Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 7:15 AM > To: C. G. Estabrook > Cc: Peace Discuss; Peace > Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED > > First, I won't be drawn into a round of "whataboutism." Second, to insist that the issues of U.S. policy by and character of the chief elected officer are mutually exclusive is both naive and disingenuous. > > On Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 4:47 AM C. G. Estabrook wrote: > And e.g. Kennedy and Clinton weren?t? > > One of the most disastrous presidencies of recent times was Carter?s - it ushered in neoliberalism - while Carter himself by all accounts is a man of decent character. > > The issue is US policy, not the character of the chief magistrate (as Sally Hemings might say). > > > > On Nov 27, 2019, at 4:06 AM, Debra Schrishuhn wrote: > > > > Or maybe it is because Trump is a lawless, bald-faced liar, cheater (in every sense of the term), underhanded, self-serving (and self-dealing), misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic racist with no core principles other than his own advancement and that of his cronies. > > > > On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 3:57 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace wrote: > > Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? is an absolutely mad appeal by a self-proclaimed 'liberal' to get Trump out of office as soon as possible. > > > > Why is the political establishment so desperate not just to win the next election but to remove Trump now? > > > > I think that the answer is to be found in the US grand strategy , followed by all recent US administrations. That depends on maintaining the US control of the world economy by retarding the economic development of Eurasia. (Not a new idea - see the 'Open Door Policy' of 1899.) Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote clearly of the US government's need to prevent the emergence of "peer competitors," Russia and China. > > > > Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years to attack the neoliberal and neoconservative policies of previous administrations, which were designed to do that. > > > > In office, Trump has been compelled or cajoled to acquiesce in those policies, but the political establishment can't be assured that will continue, given the rising populist wave that put him in office. The threat has to be suppressed as soon as possible, and a reliable neolib/neocon executive put in place (by a coup, if necessary, as Adm. McRaven recently argued in the NYT). > > > > The example of Obama - the first president to be at war throughout two presidential terms, who waged no less than eight wars to constrain Eurasia and protect the economic control of the US 1% and for whom stooges like Reich and McRaven are working, must be followed, insists that establishment. > > > > (Reich? McRaving? To avoid being Trumped? Do the gods of history have a sardonic sense of humor?) > > _______________________________________________ > > Peace mailing list > > Peace at lists.chambana.net > > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From deb.pdamerica at gmail.com Wed Nov 27 18:49:35 2019 From: deb.pdamerica at gmail.com (Debra Schrishuhn) Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 12:49:35 -0600 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Robert_Reich=E2=80=99s_letter_to_=E2=80=98Move?= =?utf-8?b?T27igJkgQ09SUkVDVEVE?= In-Reply-To: <006001d5a53c$e8ba6c50$ba2f44f0$@comcast.net> References: <3AF248DC-2DDA-46AB-9D70-DBE8476C7709@newsfromneptune.com> <6DF02DD3-441F-4248-8169-778409EB318F@newsfromneptune.com> <003b01d5a530$da2f3dc0$8e8db940$@comcast.net> <81F445A5-D0CD-4FDA-A8D0-4E3757C75574@gmail.com> <006001d5a53c$e8ba6c50$ba2f44f0$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <763582EA-1FD9-4EF9-8D15-106DE54AA4E8@gmail.com> On the good side, Bernie is surging. Sent from my iPhone > On Nov 27, 2019, at 10:08 AM, David Johnson wrote: > > Deb, > > As bad as Trump is, is he really worse than the Presidency of G.W. Bush ? > I say nowhere near as bad as GW, who by the way if you haven?t noticed, the ruling class and their corporate owned media has been working overtime to improve his PR image, including Ellen DeGeneres?s promotion and JOE BIDEN pinning a ? Medal of Freedom ? on him at a huge public ceremony. All crimes are forgiven if it is in the service of the ruling class. > > After thousands of voter referendums passed across the U.S. supporting the impeachment of GW Bush in 2005 / 2006 for WAR CRIMES, including in Champaign and Urbana, what are the first words out of Nancy Pelosi?s mouth when in November 2006 it was announced that the Democrats had won both the House and Senate ?.....? Impeachment is off the table, impeachment is off the table ? ! > > Like the Russia gate conspiracy hoax that floundered for lack of real evidence, this latest Ukraine Gate action is also nothing but a dog and pony show distraction. Distraction away from the Democrats having to actually oppose Trump?s policies by advocating for issues that would improve the lives of the vast majority of the American people. But the DNC won?t do that because it will threaten their gravy train of corporate donations. > > In the meantime, if Trump is such a threat to our country, why is it the vast majority of Democrats have given him almost everything he wants and then some. They made a public spectacle of opposing Brent Kavenaugh but proceeded to approve all of his right wing judge appointments to the federal bench. They did next to nothing to oppose Trump?s tax bill, with even Chuckie Schumer saying ; ? WE agree with the principal of this bill, we just wish we were consulted. ?. Then there was Trump?s request for increased WAR budget. What did the Democrats do ? They approved it and added even more money to it. And more recently the Democrats gave Trump expanded powers under the Patriot Act, which only ; AOC, Ihlan Omar, Presley, and Talibi ( The Squad ) voted against. > So if Trump is such a danger, the supposed opposition party ( Democrats ) have a funny way of opposing. > > To quote George Carlin Deb, ; ? It is a big club and WE are not members. ? > > Lastly, funny how Trump?s briefly delaying military assistance to the FASCIST government of Ukraine is a ? security threat ? to the U.S. ? > Instead of NOT supplying any weapons to Ukraine, which even Obama refused to do. > > The best way to defeat Trump is to elect a candidate in the Democratic primary who will advocate for issues that are popular with and will benefit the American people. Like Bernie Sanders. But you watch what happens. If they don?t rig the democratic primary again with voter disenfranchisement and outright ELECTION FRAUD or the use of Super Delegates at the convention, the ruling class and the corporate owned media, who supposedly hates Trump so bad, will instantly turn their propaganda campaign against Sanders and will support the re-election of Trump. > > David J. > > From: Debra Schrishuhn [mailto:deb.pdamerica at gmail.com] > Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 9:30 AM > To: David Johnson > Cc: C. G. Estabrook; Peace Discuss; Peace > Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED > > David > I understand what you are saying and generally agree with the historical context you provide. However, the entire presidential succession is not the issue here. The issue is that President Donald Trump has behaved in a number of situations badly, illegally, and unconstitutionally, and for those actions the Constitution prescribes the remedy of impeachment. > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Nov 27, 2019, at 8:42 AM, David Johnson wrote: > > Deb, > > The problems we have currently in this country did not begin with Trump in Jan. 2017. AS the democratically elected President of Honduras ( Manuel Zelaya ) who was deposed in a military coup by Hillary Clinton and Obama in 2009 because he was implementing increased taxes on the wealthy and foreign corporations , increasing the minimum wage , and democratizing the constitutional system of governance in Honduras, said in an interview on Democracy Now several years ago when he was asked about Obama?s foreign policies as ? boss ( Jefe ) ? of the American empire, Zelaya?s immediate response was ; ? The President of the United States is NOT the Jefe ( boss ) of the American empire. > Ever wonder why nothing changes for the better regardless which political party wins the presidency ? Same bipartisan belligerent foreign policy, same focus on privatization and austerity, same expansion of corporate and police powers. Same erosion of individual rights, privacy, and freedom of speech. > > The problem the majority of the ruling class ( not the tiny group that helped Trump get elected ? Adelson, Mercer, etc. ) has with Trump is that they wanted Hillary Clinton to win because she has a proven track record of being a loyal and dependable servant of the ruling class. Trump on the other hand is an uncertain ? wild card ? who is a pure opportunist with no other ideology than that, and Trump was campaigning on issues ( that he had no intention of executing ) that was a threat to neo-liberal austerity and neo-conservative foreign policy. > > The POTUS has power, but not as much as most people think. The corporate plutocracy ( the ruling class ) is the real power. In particular ; The financial sector, the military industrial complex, The oil / gas / energy sector, and the corporate owned media. > > > Below is a recent study that proves this point ( from the BBC ) ? > > The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. > > So concludes a recent study by Princeton University Prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Prof Benjamin I Page. > > This is not news, you say. > > Perhaps, but the two professors have conducted exhaustive research to try to present data-driven support for this conclusion. Here's how they explain it: > > Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. > > In English: the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power. > > Eric Zuess, writing in Counterpunch, isn't surprised by the survey's results. > > "American democracy is a sham, no matter how much it's pumped by the oligarchs who run the country (and who control the nation's "news" media)," he writes. "The US, in other words, is basically similar to Russia or most other dubious 'electoral' 'democratic' countries. We weren't formerly, but we clearly are now." > > > > From: Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Debra Schrishuhn via Peace > Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 7:15 AM > To: C. G. Estabrook > Cc: Peace Discuss; Peace > Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED > > First, I won't be drawn into a round of "whataboutism." Second, to insist that the issues of U.S. policy by and character of the chief elected officer are mutually exclusive is both naive and disingenuous. > > On Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 4:47 AM C. G. Estabrook wrote: > And e.g. Kennedy and Clinton weren?t? > > One of the most disastrous presidencies of recent times was Carter?s - it ushered in neoliberalism - while Carter himself by all accounts is a man of decent character. > > The issue is US policy, not the character of the chief magistrate (as Sally Hemings might say). > > > > On Nov 27, 2019, at 4:06 AM, Debra Schrishuhn wrote: > > > > Or maybe it is because Trump is a lawless, bald-faced liar, cheater (in every sense of the term), underhanded, self-serving (and self-dealing), misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic racist with no core principles other than his own advancement and that of his cronies. > > > > On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 3:57 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace wrote: > > Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? is an absolutely mad appeal by a self-proclaimed 'liberal' to get Trump out of office as soon as possible. > > > > Why is the political establishment so desperate not just to win the next election but to remove Trump now? > > > > I think that the answer is to be found in the US grand strategy , followed by all recent US administrations. That depends on maintaining the US control of the world economy by retarding the economic development of Eurasia. (Not a new idea - see the 'Open Door Policy' of 1899.) Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote clearly of the US government's need to prevent the emergence of "peer competitors," Russia and China. > > > > Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years to attack the neoliberal and neoconservative policies of previous administrations, which were designed to do that. > > > > In office, Trump has been compelled or cajoled to acquiesce in those policies, but the political establishment can't be assured that will continue, given the rising populist wave that put him in office. The threat has to be suppressed as soon as possible, and a reliable neolib/neocon executive put in place (by a coup, if necessary, as Adm. McRaven recently argued in the NYT). > > > > The example of Obama - the first president to be at war throughout two presidential terms, who waged no less than eight wars to constrain Eurasia and protect the economic control of the US 1% and for whom stooges like Reich and McRaven are working, must be followed, insists that establishment. > > > > (Reich? McRaving? To avoid being Trumped? Do the gods of history have a sardonic sense of humor?) > > _______________________________________________ > > Peace mailing list > > Peace at lists.chambana.net > > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Nov 27 21:41:16 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 21:41:16 +0000 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Robert_Reich=E2=80=99s_letter_to_=E2=80=98Move?= =?utf-8?b?T27igJkgQ09SUkVDVEVE?= In-Reply-To: <763582EA-1FD9-4EF9-8D15-106DE54AA4E8@gmail.com> References: <3AF248DC-2DDA-46AB-9D70-DBE8476C7709@newsfromneptune.com> <6DF02DD3-441F-4248-8169-778409EB318F@newsfromneptune.com> <003b01d5a530$da2f3dc0$8e8db940$@comcast.net> <81F445A5-D0CD-4FDA-A8D0-4E3757C75574@gmail.com> <006001d5a53c$e8ba6c50$ba2f44f0$@comcast.net> <763582EA-1FD9-4EF9-8D15-106DE54AA4E8@gmail.com> Message-ID: Deb Bernie maybe surging, but so is Trump. When one is a victim, their supporters will often then provide more support than previous. The Impeachment, according to many, was nothing more than condemnation and further vilification of Putin/ Russia, and a white wash of the current fascist regime of the Ukraine that we/the US is responsible for putting in power, as our ?good? allies. I would suggest Ukraine is in good company with Israel and Saudi Arabia as one more provocation to war with Russia. To be clear, I don?t support Trump or his attempt to supply more weapons to Ukraine, but impeachment was a shot in the foot by the Democrats. Anyone doubting Carl?s assessment of US goals in respect to Russia/Eurasia and eventually China, not wishing to read Zbigniew?s ?The Grand Chessboard,? might wish to listen to the Grayzone Projects podcast ?Management of Savagery,? in which Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton, cover in detail what is in Max?s book of the same name. On Nov 27, 2019, at 10:49, Debra Schrishuhn via Peace > wrote: On the good side, Bernie is surging. Sent from my iPhone On Nov 27, 2019, at 10:08 AM, David Johnson > wrote: Deb, As bad as Trump is, is he really worse than the Presidency of G.W. Bush ? I say nowhere near as bad as GW, who by the way if you haven?t noticed, the ruling class and their corporate owned media has been working overtime to improve his PR image, including Ellen DeGeneres?s promotion and JOE BIDEN pinning a ? Medal of Freedom ? on him at a huge public ceremony. All crimes are forgiven if it is in the service of the ruling class. After thousands of voter referendums passed across the U.S. supporting the impeachment of GW Bush in 2005 / 2006 for WAR CRIMES, including in Champaign and Urbana, what are the first words out of Nancy Pelosi?s mouth when in November 2006 it was announced that the Democrats had won both the House and Senate ?.....? Impeachment is off the table, impeachment is off the table ? ! Like the Russia gate conspiracy hoax that floundered for lack of real evidence, this latest Ukraine Gate action is also nothing but a dog and pony show distraction. Distraction away from the Democrats having to actually oppose Trump?s policies by advocating for issues that would improve the lives of the vast majority of the American people. But the DNC won?t do that because it will threaten their gravy train of corporate donations. In the meantime, if Trump is such a threat to our country, why is it the vast majority of Democrats have given him almost everything he wants and then some. They made a public spectacle of opposing Brent Kavenaugh but proceeded to approve all of his right wing judge appointments to the federal bench. They did next to nothing to oppose Trump?s tax bill, with even Chuckie Schumer saying ; ? WE agree with the principal of this bill, we just wish we were consulted. ?. Then there was Trump?s request for increased WAR budget. What did the Democrats do ? They approved it and added even more money to it. And more recently the Democrats gave Trump expanded powers under the Patriot Act, which only ; AOC, Ihlan Omar, Presley, and Talibi ( The Squad ) voted against. So if Trump is such a danger, the supposed opposition party ( Democrats ) have a funny way of opposing. To quote George Carlin Deb, ; ? It is a big club and WE are not members. ? Lastly, funny how Trump?s briefly delaying military assistance to the FASCIST government of Ukraine is a ? security threat ? to the U.S. ? Instead of NOT supplying any weapons to Ukraine, which even Obama refused to do. The best way to defeat Trump is to elect a candidate in the Democratic primary who will advocate for issues that are popular with and will benefit the American people. Like Bernie Sanders. But you watch what happens. If they don?t rig the democratic primary again with voter disenfranchisement and outright ELECTION FRAUD or the use of Super Delegates at the convention, the ruling class and the corporate owned media, who supposedly hates Trump so bad, will instantly turn their propaganda campaign against Sanders and will support the re-election of Trump. David J. From: Debra Schrishuhn [mailto:deb.pdamerica at gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 9:30 AM To: David Johnson Cc: C. G. Estabrook; Peace Discuss; Peace Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED David I understand what you are saying and generally agree with the historical context you provide. However, the entire presidential succession is not the issue here. The issue is that President Donald Trump has behaved in a number of situations badly, illegally, and unconstitutionally, and for those actions the Constitution prescribes the remedy of impeachment. Sent from my iPhone On Nov 27, 2019, at 8:42 AM, David Johnson > wrote: Deb, The problems we have currently in this country did not begin with Trump in Jan. 2017. AS the democratically elected President of Honduras ( Manuel Zelaya ) who was deposed in a military coup by Hillary Clinton and Obama in 2009 because he was implementing increased taxes on the wealthy and foreign corporations , increasing the minimum wage , and democratizing the constitutional system of governance in Honduras, said in an interview on Democracy Now several years ago when he was asked about Obama?s foreign policies as ? boss ( Jefe ) ? of the American empire, Zelaya?s immediate response was ; ? The President of the United States is NOT the Jefe ( boss ) of the American empire. Ever wonder why nothing changes for the better regardless which political party wins the presidency ? Same bipartisan belligerent foreign policy, same focus on privatization and austerity, same expansion of corporate and police powers. Same erosion of individual rights, privacy, and freedom of speech. The problem the majority of the ruling class ( not the tiny group that helped Trump get elected ? Adelson, Mercer, etc. ) has with Trump is that they wanted Hillary Clinton to win because she has a proven track record of being a loyal and dependable servant of the ruling class. Trump on the other hand is an uncertain ? wild card ? who is a pure opportunist with no other ideology than that, and Trump was campaigning on issues ( that he had no intention of executing ) that was a threat to neo-liberal austerity and neo-conservative foreign policy. The POTUS has power, but not as much as most people think. The corporate plutocracy ( the ruling class ) is the real power. In particular ; The financial sector, the military industrial complex, The oil / gas / energy sector, and the corporate owned media. Below is a recent study that proves this point ( from the BBC ) ? The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. So concludes a recent study by Princeton University Prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Prof Benjamin I Page. This is not news, you say. Perhaps, but the two professors have conducted exhaustive research to try to present data-driven support for this conclusion. Here's how they explain it: Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. In English: the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power. Eric Zuess, writing in Counterpunch, isn't surprised by the survey's results. "American democracy is a sham, no matter how much it's pumped by the oligarchs who run the country (and who control the nation's "news" media)," he writes. "The US, in other words, is basically similar to Russia or most other dubious 'electoral' 'democratic' countries. We weren't formerly, but we clearly are now." From: Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Debra Schrishuhn via Peace Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 7:15 AM To: C. G. Estabrook Cc: Peace Discuss; Peace Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED First, I won't be drawn into a round of "whataboutism." Second, to insist that the issues of U.S. policy by and character of the chief elected officer are mutually exclusive is both naive and disingenuous. On Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 4:47 AM C. G. Estabrook > wrote: And e.g. Kennedy and Clinton weren?t? One of the most disastrous presidencies of recent times was Carter?s - it ushered in neoliberalism - while Carter himself by all accounts is a man of decent character. The issue is US policy, not the character of the chief magistrate (as Sally Hemings might say). > On Nov 27, 2019, at 4:06 AM, Debra Schrishuhn > wrote: > > Or maybe it is because Trump is a lawless, bald-faced liar, cheater (in every sense of the term), underhanded, self-serving (and self-dealing), misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic racist with no core principles other than his own advancement and that of his cronies. > > On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 3:57 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace > wrote: > Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? is an absolutely mad appeal by a self-proclaimed 'liberal' to get Trump out of office as soon as possible. > > Why is the political establishment so desperate not just to win the next election but to remove Trump now? > > I think that the answer is to be found in the US grand strategy , followed by all recent US administrations. That depends on maintaining the US control of the world economy by retarding the economic development of Eurasia. (Not a new idea - see the 'Open Door Policy' of 1899.) Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote clearly of the US government's need to prevent the emergence of "peer competitors," Russia and China. > > Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years to attack the neoliberal and neoconservative policies of previous administrations, which were designed to do that. > > In office, Trump has been compelled or cajoled to acquiesce in those policies, but the political establishment can't be assured that will continue, given the rising populist wave that put him in office. The threat has to be suppressed as soon as possible, and a reliable neolib/neocon executive put in place (by a coup, if necessary, as Adm. McRaven recently argued in the NYT). > > The example of Obama - the first president to be at war throughout two presidential terms, who waged no less than eight wars to constrain Eurasia and protect the economic control of the US 1% and for whom stooges like Reich and McRaven are working, must be followed, insists that establishment. > > (Reich? McRaving? To avoid being Trumped? Do the gods of history have a sardonic sense of humor?) > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Thu Nov 28 00:09:13 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 18:09:13 -0600 Subject: [Peace] IP distorts history of structural inequality Message-ID: <47C8E3F9-2428-4852-A4E4-4D984956C730@newsfromneptune.com> https://newrepublic.com/article/155704/new-deal-wasnt-intrinsically-racist From davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net Thu Nov 28 00:13:15 2019 From: davidjohnson1451 at comcast.net (David Johnson) Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 18:13:15 -0600 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Robert_Reich=E2=80=99s_letter_to_=E2=80=98Move?= =?utf-8?b?T27igJkgQ09SUkVDVEVE?= In-Reply-To: <763582EA-1FD9-4EF9-8D15-106DE54AA4E8@gmail.com> References: <3AF248DC-2DDA-46AB-9D70-DBE8476C7709@newsfromneptune.com> <6DF02DD3-441F-4248-8169-778409EB318F@newsfromneptune.com> <003b01d5a530$da2f3dc0$8e8db940$@comcast.net> <81F445A5-D0CD-4FDA-A8D0-4E3757C75574@gmail.com> <006001d5a53c$e8ba6c50$ba2f44f0$@comcast.net> <763582EA-1FD9-4EF9-8D15-106DE54AA4E8@gmail.com> Message-ID: <00f301d5a580$a1b33190$e51994b0$@comcast.net> Yes, If a person only consumes corporate media as their sole info source, then one would tend to believe that Bernie Sanders is behind in the polls and has no chance of winning. Of course polls are supposed to reflect public opinion, but in reality they are used to manipulate public opinion. The fact that Sanders has over 4-million individual donors at the average donation amount of $ 18.00, has him with not only the most money of all of the candidates but also the most donors which also includes his huge grassroots network. WE will see what happens in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. Sanders - Gabbard 2020 ! David J. From: Debra Schrishuhn [mailto:deb.pdamerica at gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 12:50 PM To: David Johnson Cc: C. G. Estabrook; Peace Discuss; Peace Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED On the good side, Bernie is surging. Sent from my iPhone On Nov 27, 2019, at 10:08 AM, David Johnson wrote: Deb, As bad as Trump is, is he really worse than the Presidency of G.W. Bush ? I say nowhere near as bad as GW, who by the way if you haven?t noticed, the ruling class and their corporate owned media has been working overtime to improve his PR image, including Ellen DeGeneres?s promotion and JOE BIDEN pinning a ? Medal of Freedom ? on him at a huge public ceremony. All crimes are forgiven if it is in the service of the ruling class. After thousands of voter referendums passed across the U.S. supporting the impeachment of GW Bush in 2005 / 2006 for WAR CRIMES, including in Champaign and Urbana, what are the first words out of Nancy Pelosi?s mouth when in November 2006 it was announced that the Democrats had won both the House and Senate ?.....? Impeachment is off the table, impeachment is off the table ? ! Like the Russia gate conspiracy hoax that floundered for lack of real evidence, this latest Ukraine Gate action is also nothing but a dog and pony show distraction. Distraction away from the Democrats having to actually oppose Trump?s policies by advocating for issues that would improve the lives of the vast majority of the American people. But the DNC won?t do that because it will threaten their gravy train of corporate donations. In the meantime, if Trump is such a threat to our country, why is it the vast majority of Democrats have given him almost everything he wants and then some. They made a public spectacle of opposing Brent Kavenaugh but proceeded to approve all of his right wing judge appointments to the federal bench. They did next to nothing to oppose Trump?s tax bill, with even Chuckie Schumer saying ; ? WE agree with the principal of this bill, we just wish we were consulted. ?. Then there was Trump?s request for increased WAR budget. What did the Democrats do ? They approved it and added even more money to it. And more recently the Democrats gave Trump expanded powers under the Patriot Act, which only ; AOC, Ihlan Omar, Presley, and Talibi ( The Squad ) voted against. So if Trump is such a danger, the supposed opposition party ( Democrats ) have a funny way of opposing. To quote George Carlin Deb, ; ? It is a big club and WE are not members. ? Lastly, funny how Trump?s briefly delaying military assistance to the FASCIST government of Ukraine is a ? security threat ? to the U.S. ? Instead of NOT supplying any weapons to Ukraine, which even Obama refused to do. The best way to defeat Trump is to elect a candidate in the Democratic primary who will advocate for issues that are popular with and will benefit the American people. Like Bernie Sanders. But you watch what happens. If they don?t rig the democratic primary again with voter disenfranchisement and outright ELECTION FRAUD or the use of Super Delegates at the convention, the ruling class and the corporate owned media, who supposedly hates Trump so bad, will instantly turn their propaganda campaign against Sanders and will support the re-election of Trump. David J. From: Debra Schrishuhn [mailto:deb.pdamerica at gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 9:30 AM To: David Johnson Cc: C. G. Estabrook; Peace Discuss; Peace Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED David I understand what you are saying and generally agree with the historical context you provide. However, the entire presidential succession is not the issue here. The issue is that President Donald Trump has behaved in a number of situations badly, illegally, and unconstitutionally, and for those actions the Constitution prescribes the remedy of impeachment. Sent from my iPhone On Nov 27, 2019, at 8:42 AM, David Johnson wrote: Deb, The problems we have currently in this country did not begin with Trump in Jan. 2017. AS the democratically elected President of Honduras ( Manuel Zelaya ) who was deposed in a military coup by Hillary Clinton and Obama in 2009 because he was implementing increased taxes on the wealthy and foreign corporations , increasing the minimum wage , and democratizing the constitutional system of governance in Honduras, said in an interview on Democracy Now several years ago when he was asked about Obama?s foreign policies as ? boss ( Jefe ) ? of the American empire, Zelaya?s immediate response was ; ? The President of the United States is NOT the Jefe ( boss ) of the American empire. Ever wonder why nothing changes for the better regardless which political party wins the presidency ? Same bipartisan belligerent foreign policy, same focus on privatization and austerity, same expansion of corporate and police powers. Same erosion of individual rights, privacy, and freedom of speech. The problem the majority of the ruling class ( not the tiny group that helped Trump get elected ? Adelson, Mercer, etc. ) has with Trump is that they wanted Hillary Clinton to win because she has a proven track record of being a loyal and dependable servant of the ruling class. Trump on the other hand is an uncertain ? wild card ? who is a pure opportunist with no other ideology than that, and Trump was campaigning on issues ( that he had no intention of executing ) that was a threat to neo-liberal austerity and neo-conservative foreign policy. The POTUS has power, but not as much as most people think. The corporate plutocracy ( the ruling class ) is the real power. In particular ; The financial sector, the military industrial complex, The oil / gas / energy sector, and the corporate owned media. Below is a recent study that proves this point ( from the BBC ) ? The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. So concludes a recent study by Princeton University Prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Prof Benjamin I Page. This is not news, you say. Perhaps, but the two professors have conducted exhaustive research to try to present data-driven support for this conclusion. Here's how they explain it: Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. In English: the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power. Eric Zuess, writing in Counterpunch, isn't surprised by the survey's results. "American democracy is a sham, no matter how much it's pumped by the oligarchs who run the country (and who control the nation's "news" media)," he writes. "The US, in other words, is basically similar to Russia or most other dubious 'electoral' 'democratic' countries. We weren't formerly, but we clearly are now." From: Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Debra Schrishuhn via Peace Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 7:15 AM To: C. G. Estabrook Cc: Peace Discuss; Peace Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED First, I won't be drawn into a round of "whataboutism." Second, to insist that the issues of U.S. policy by and character of the chief elected officer are mutually exclusive is both naive and disingenuous. On Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 4:47 AM C. G. Estabrook wrote: And e.g. Kennedy and Clinton weren?t? One of the most disastrous presidencies of recent times was Carter?s - it ushered in neoliberalism - while Carter himself by all accounts is a man of decent character. The issue is US policy, not the character of the chief magistrate (as Sally Hemings might say). > On Nov 27, 2019, at 4:06 AM, Debra Schrishuhn wrote: > > Or maybe it is because Trump is a lawless, bald-faced liar, cheater (in every sense of the term), underhanded, self-serving (and self-dealing), misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic racist with no core principles other than his own advancement and that of his cronies. > > On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 3:57 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace wrote: > Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? is an absolutely mad appeal by a self-proclaimed 'liberal' to get Trump out of office as soon as possible. > > Why is the political establishment so desperate not just to win the next election but to remove Trump now? > > I think that the answer is to be found in the US grand strategy , followed by all recent US administrations. That depends on maintaining the US control of the world economy by retarding the economic development of Eurasia. (Not a new idea - see the 'Open Door Policy' of 1899.) Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote clearly of the US government's need to prevent the emergence of "peer competitors," Russia and China. > > Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years to attack the neoliberal and neoconservative policies of previous administrations, which were designed to do that. > > In office, Trump has been compelled or cajoled to acquiesce in those policies, but the political establishment can't be assured that will continue, given the rising populist wave that put him in office. The threat has to be suppressed as soon as possible, and a reliable neolib/neocon executive put in place (by a coup, if necessary, as Adm. McRaven recently argued in the NYT). > > The example of Obama - the first president to be at war throughout two presidential terms, who waged no less than eight wars to constrain Eurasia and protect the economic control of the US 1% and for whom stooges like Reich and McRaven are working, must be followed, insists that establishment. > > (Reich? McRaving? To avoid being Trumped? Do the gods of history have a sardonic sense of humor?) > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From brussel at illinois.edu Thu Nov 28 03:39:07 2019 From: brussel at illinois.edu (Brussel, Morton K) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 03:39:07 +0000 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?=5BPeace-discuss=5D_=09_=09Robert_Reich?= =?utf-8?b?4oCZcyBsZXR0ZXIgdG8g4oCYTW92ZU9u4oCZIENPUlJFQ1RFRA==?= In-Reply-To: <006001d5a53c$e8ba6c50$ba2f44f0$@comcast.net> References: <3AF248DC-2DDA-46AB-9D70-DBE8476C7709@newsfromneptune.com> <6DF02DD3-441F-4248-8169-778409EB318F@newsfromneptune.com> <003b01d5a530$da2f3dc0$8e8db940$@comcast.net> <81F445A5-D0CD-4FDA-A8D0-4E3757C75574@gmail.com> <006001d5a53c$e8ba6c50$ba2f44f0$@comcast.net> Message-ID: My 2 bits reaction to all this: I?m mostly concerned about Trump on the issues of nuclear war, climate change and the environment. Some say that at least Trump desires agreement with Russia, but on the nuclear issue his policies have been dangerous. He continues the cold war policies of Obama, with trillion dollar upgrades to nuclear weaponry and by withdrawing from past nuclear weapons treaties. (What does he have in mind?) Moreover, incitement of proxy elements with their provocations near the borders of Russia and around the middle east can lead to unpredictable, if unintentional(?), fatal mistakes. Stephen Cohen has discussed all this [e.g., https://piirs.princeton.edu/news/historian-stephen-cohen-discusses-war-russia]. On climate change and environmental issues, his policies could hardly have been more destructive, and will be hard to remedy. It is important to get rid of him and his cohort on these existential issues alone. Yet, perhaps all this is futile argument; Trump is unlikely to be removed from office, except possibly in the 2020 election. Obviously, there are many other reasons to get rid of Trump, the most fatuoius being the "quid pro quo? Ukraine/Biden affair. On Nov 27, 2019, at 10:08 AM, David Johnson via Peace-discuss > wrote: Deb, As bad as Trump is, is he really worse than the Presidency of G.W. Bush ? I say nowhere near as bad as GW, who by the way if you haven?t noticed, the ruling class and their corporate owned media has been working overtime to improve his PR image, including Ellen DeGeneres?s promotion and JOE BIDEN pinning a ? Medal of Freedom ? on him at a huge public ceremony. All crimes are forgiven if it is in the service of the ruling class. After thousands of voter referendums passed across the U.S. supporting the impeachment of GW Bush in 2005 / 2006 for WAR CRIMES, including in Champaign and Urbana, what are the first words out of Nancy Pelosi?s mouth when in November 2006 it was announced that the Democrats had won both the House and Senate ?.....? Impeachment is off the table, impeachment is off the table ? ! Like the Russia gate conspiracy hoax that floundered for lack of real evidence, this latest Ukraine Gate action is also nothing but a dog and pony show distraction. Distraction away from the Democrats having to actually oppose Trump?s policies by advocating for issues that would improve the lives of the vast majority of the American people. But the DNC won?t do that because it will threaten their gravy train of corporate donations. In the meantime, if Trump is such a threat to our country, why is it the vast majority of Democrats have given him almost everything he wants and then some. They made a public spectacle of opposing Brent Kavenaugh but proceeded to approve all of his right wing judge appointments to the federal bench. They did next to nothing to oppose Trump?s tax bill, with even Chuckie Schumer saying ; ? WE agree with the principal of this bill, we just wish we were consulted. ?. Then there was Trump?s request for increased WAR budget. What did the Democrats do ? They approved it and added even more money to it. And more recently the Democrats gave Trump expanded powers under the Patriot Act, which only ; AOC, Ihlan Omar, Presley, and Talibi ( The Squad ) voted against. So if Trump is such a danger, the supposed opposition party ( Democrats ) have a funny way of opposing. To quote George Carlin Deb, ; ? It is a big club and WE are not members. ? Lastly, funny how Trump?s briefly delaying military assistance to the FASCIST government of Ukraine is a ? security threat ? to the U.S. ? Instead of NOT supplying any weapons to Ukraine, which even Obama refused to do. The best way to defeat Trump is to elect a candidate in the Democratic primary who will advocate for issues that are popular with and will benefit the American people. Like Bernie Sanders. But you watch what happens. If they don?t rig the democratic primary again with voter disenfranchisement and outright ELECTION FRAUD or the use of Super Delegates at the convention, the ruling class and the corporate owned media, who supposedly hates Trump so bad, will instantly turn their propaganda campaign against Sanders and will support the re-election of Trump. David J. From: Debra Schrishuhn [mailto:deb.pdamerica at gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 9:30 AM To: David Johnson Cc: C. G. Estabrook; Peace Discuss; Peace Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED David I understand what you are saying and generally agree with the historical context you provide. However, the entire presidential succession is not the issue here. The issue is that President Donald Trump has behaved in a number of situations badly, illegally, and unconstitutionally, and for those actions the Constitution prescribes the remedy of impeachment. Sent from my iPhone On Nov 27, 2019, at 8:42 AM, David Johnson > wrote: Deb, The problems we have currently in this country did not begin with Trump in Jan. 2017. AS the democratically elected President of Honduras ( Manuel Zelaya ) who was deposed in a military coup by Hillary Clinton and Obama in 2009 because he was implementing increased taxes on the wealthy and foreign corporations , increasing the minimum wage , and democratizing the constitutional system of governance in Honduras, said in an interview on Democracy Now several years ago when he was asked about Obama?s foreign policies as ? boss ( Jefe ) ? of the American empire, Zelaya?s immediate response was ; ? The President of the United States is NOT the Jefe ( boss ) of the American empire. Ever wonder why nothing changes for the better regardless which political party wins the presidency ? Same bipartisan belligerent foreign policy, same focus on privatization and austerity, same expansion of corporate and police powers. Same erosion of individual rights, privacy, and freedom of speech. The problem the majority of the ruling class ( not the tiny group that helped Trump get elected ? Adelson, Mercer, etc. ) has with Trump is that they wanted Hillary Clinton to win because she has a proven track record of being a loyal and dependable servant of the ruling class. Trump on the other hand is an uncertain ? wild card ? who is a pure opportunist with no other ideology than that, and Trump was campaigning on issues ( that he had no intention of executing ) that was a threat to neo-liberal austerity and neo-conservative foreign policy. The POTUS has power, but not as much as most people think. The corporate plutocracy ( the ruling class ) is the real power. In particular ; The financial sector, the military industrial complex, The oil / gas / energy sector, and the corporate owned media. Below is a recent study that proves this point ( from the BBC ) ? The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. So concludes a recent study by Princeton University Prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Prof Benjamin I Page. This is not news, you say. Perhaps, but the two professors have conducted exhaustive research to try to present data-driven support for this conclusion. Here's how they explain it: Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. In English: the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power. Eric Zuess, writing in Counterpunch, isn't surprised by the survey's results. "American democracy is a sham, no matter how much it's pumped by the oligarchs who run the country (and who control the nation's "news" media)," he writes. "The US, in other words, is basically similar to Russia or most other dubious 'electoral' 'democratic' countries. We weren't formerly, but we clearly are now." From: Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Debra Schrishuhn via Peace Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 7:15 AM To: C. G. Estabrook Cc: Peace Discuss; Peace Subject: Re: [Peace] Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? CORRECTED First, I won't be drawn into a round of "whataboutism." Second, to insist that the issues of U.S. policy by and character of the chief elected officer are mutually exclusive is both naive and disingenuous. On Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 4:47 AM C. G. Estabrook > wrote: And e.g. Kennedy and Clinton weren?t? One of the most disastrous presidencies of recent times was Carter?s - it ushered in neoliberalism - while Carter himself by all accounts is a man of decent character. The issue is US policy, not the character of the chief magistrate (as Sally Hemings might say). > On Nov 27, 2019, at 4:06 AM, Debra Schrishuhn > wrote: > > Or maybe it is because Trump is a lawless, bald-faced liar, cheater (in every sense of the term), underhanded, self-serving (and self-dealing), misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic racist with no core principles other than his own advancement and that of his cronies. > > On Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 3:57 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace > wrote: > Robert Reich?s letter to ?MoveOn? is an absolutely mad appeal by a self-proclaimed 'liberal' to get Trump out of office as soon as possible. > > Why is the political establishment so desperate not just to win the next election but to remove Trump now? > > I think that the answer is to be found in the US grand strategy , followed by all recent US administrations. That depends on maintaining the US control of the world economy by retarding the economic development of Eurasia. (Not a new idea - see the 'Open Door Policy' of 1899.) Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote clearly of the US government's need to prevent the emergence of "peer competitors," Russia and China. > > Trump was the first major party candidate in 40 years to attack the neoliberal and neoconservative policies of previous administrations, which were designed to do that. > > In office, Trump has been compelled or cajoled to acquiesce in those policies, but the political establishment can't be assured that will continue, given the rising populist wave that put him in office. The threat has to be suppressed as soon as possible, and a reliable neolib/neocon executive put in place (by a coup, if necessary, as Adm. McRaven recently argued in the NYT). > > The example of Obama - the first president to be at war throughout two presidential terms, who waged no less than eight wars to constrain Eurasia and protect the economic control of the US 1% and for whom stooges like Reich and McRaven are working, must be followed, insists that establishment. > > (Reich? McRaving? To avoid being Trumped? Do the gods of history have a sardonic sense of humor?) > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace _______________________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 28 13:07:04 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 13:07:04 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Operation Condor 2.0 Nicaragua then Mexico Message-ID: While we focus on Impeachment??. https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/27/operation-condor-2-coup-trump-nicaragua-mexico MEXICO, NICARAGUANovember 27, 2019 Operation Condor 2.0: After Bolivia coup, Trump dubs Nicaragua ?national security threat? and targets Mexico ShareTweet After presiding over a far-right coup in Bolivia, the US dubbed Nicaragua a ?national security threat? and announced new sanctions, while Trump designated drug cartels in Mexico as ?terrorists? and refused to rule out military intervention. By Ben Norton One successful coup against a democratically elected socialist president is not enough, it seems. . Immediately after overseeing a far-right military in Bolivia on November 10, the Trump administration set its sights once again Nicaragua, whose democratically elected Sandinista government defeated a violent right-wing coup attempt in 2018. Washington dubbed Nicaragua a threat to US national security, and announced that it will be expanding its suffocating sanctions on the tiny Central American nation. Trump is also turning up the heat on Mexico, baselessly linking the country to terrorism and even hinting at potential military intervention. The moves come as the country?s left-leaning President Andr?s Manuel L?pez Obrador warns of right-wing attempts at a coup. As Washington?s rightist allies in Colombia, Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador are desperately beating back massive grassroots uprisings against neoliberal austerity policies and yawning inequality gaps, the United States is ramping up its aggression against the region?s few remaining progressive governments. These moves have led left-wing forces in Latin America to warn of a 21st-century revival of Operation Condor, the Cold War era campaign of violent subterfuge and US support for right-wing dictatorships across the region. Trump admin declares Nicaragua a ?national security threat? A day after the US-backed far-right coup in Bolivia, the Trump White House released a statement applauding the military putsch and making it clear that two countries were next on Washington?s target list: ?These events send a strong signal to the illegitimate regimes in Venezuela and Nicaragua,? Trump declared. On November 25, the Trump White House quietly issued a statement characterizing Nicaragua as an ?unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.? This prolonged an executive order Trump had signed in 2018 declaring a state of ?national emergency? on the Central American country for an additional year. Trump?s 2018 declaration came after a failed violent right-wing coup attempt in Nicaragua. The US government funded and supported many of the opposition groups that sought to topple democratically elected Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, and cheered them on as they sought to overthrow him. Trump?s new 2019 statement spewed outlandish propaganda against Nicaragua, referring to its democratically elected government ? which for decades has been targeted for overthrow by Washington ? as a supposedly violent and corrupt ?regime.? [Trump White House Nicaragua emergency national security threat] This executive order is similar to one made by President Barack Obama in 2015, which designated Venezuela as a threat to US national security. Both orders were used to justify the unilateral imposition of suffocating economic sanctions. And Trump?s renewal of the order paves the way for an escalated economic attack on Nicaragua. The extension received negligible coverage in mainstream English-language corporate media, but right-wing Spanish-language outlets in Latin America heavily amplified it. And opposition activists are gleefully cheering on the intensification of Washington?s hybrid warfare against Managua. More aggressive US sanctions against Nicaragua Voice of America (VOA), the US government?s main foreign broadcasting service, noted that the extension of the executive order will be followed with more economic attacks. As Washington?s ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Carlos Trujillo, told VOA, ?The pressure against Nicaragua is going to continue.? The OAS representative added that Trump will be announcing new sanctions against the Nicaraguan government in the coming weeks. VOA stated clearly that ?Nicaragua, along with Cuba and Venezuela, is one of the Latin American countries whose government Trump has made a priority to put diplomatic and economic pressure on to bring about regime change.? VOA?s report quoted several right-wing Nicaraguans who called for even more US pressure against their country. Bianca Jagger, a celebrity opposition activist formerly married to Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, called on the US to impose sanctions on Nicaragua?s military in particular. ?The Nicaraguan military has not been touched because they [US officials] are hoping that the military will like act the military in Bolivia,? Jagger said, referring to the military officials who violently overthrew Bolivia?s democratically elected president. Many of these military leaders had been trained at the US government?s School of the Americas, a notorious base of subversion dating back to Operation Condor. Latin American media has been filled in recent days with reports that Bolivian soldiers were paid $50,000 and generals were paid up to $1 million to carry out the putsch. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1062787214361411596/drhhnW5d_normal.jpg] Voz de Am?rica ?@VOANoticias [??]No se ha sancionado el ej?rcito de #Nicaragua "porque tal vez tienen esperanza de que el ej?rcito se va a conducir como el de Bolivia", @BiancaJagger. https://bit.ly/35Gd97t [Embedded video] 10 9:54 AM - Nov 26, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy See Voz de Am?rica's other Tweets VOA added that ?in the case of the Central American government [of Nicaragua], the effect that sanctions can have can be greater because it is a more economically vulnerable country.? VOA quoted Roberto Courtney, a prominent exiled right-wing activist and executive director of the opposition group Ethics and Transparency, which monitors elections in Nicaragua and is supported by the US government?s regime-change arm, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Courtney, who claims to be a human rights activist, salivated over the prospects of US economic war on his country, telling VOA, ?There is a bit of a difference [between Nicaragua and Bolivia] ? the economic vulnerability makes it more likely that the sanctions will have an effect.? Courtney, who was described by VOA as an ?expert on the electoral process,? added, ?If there is a stick, there must also be a carrot.? He said the OAS could help apply diplomatic and political pressure against Nicaragua?s government. These unilateral American sanctions are illegal under international law, and considered an act of war. Iran?s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has characterized US economic warfare ?financial terrorism,? explaining that it disproportionately targets civilians in order to turn them against their government. Top right-wing Nicaraguan opposition groups applauded Trump for extending the executive order and for pledging new sanctions against their country. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1144342195564175361/olJpvNY7_normal.png] Alianza C?vica Nicaragua ?@AlianzaCivicaNi Estados Unidos ampli? por un a?o m?s la vigencia de la Declaraci?n de Emergencia Nacional con respecto a la Situaci?n en Nicaragua. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/text-notice-continuation-national-emergency-respect-situation-nicaragua/ ? [https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1197615965476798464/IpoyfWGq?format=jpg&name=600x314] Text of a Notice on the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to the Situation in... On November 27, 2018, by Executive Order 13851, I declared a national emergency pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706) to deal with the unusual and extrao... whitehouse.gov 165 11:56 AM - Nov 25, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 95 people are talking about this The Nicaraguan Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, an opposition front group that brings together numerous opposition groups, several of which are also funded by the US government?s NED, welcomed the order. Trump dubs drug cartels in Mexico ?terrorists,? refuses to rule out drone strikes While the US targeting of Nicaragua and Venezuela?s governments is nothing new, Donald Trump is setting his sights on a longtime US ally in Mexico. In 2018, Mexican voters made history when they elected Andr?s Manuel L?pez Obrador as president in a landslide. L?pez Obrador, who is often referred to with his initials AMLO, is Mexico?s first left-wing president in more than five decades. He ran on a progressive campaign pledging to boost social spending, cut poverty, combat corruption, and even decriminalize drugs. AMLO is wildly popular in Mexico. In February, he had a record-breaking 86 percent approval rating. And he has earned this widespread support by pledging to combat neoliberal capitalist orthodoxy. ?The neoliberal economic model has been a disaster, a calamity for the public life of the country,? AMLO has declared. ?The child of neoliberalism is corruption.? When he unveiled his multibillion-dollar National Development Plan, L?pez Obrador announced the end to ?the long night of neoliberalism.? AMLO?s left-wing policies have caused shockwaves in Washington, which has long relied on neoliberal Mexican leaders ensuring a steady cheap exploitable labor base and maintaining a reliable market for US goods and open borders for US capital and corporations. On November 27 ? a day after declaring Nicaragua a ?national security threat? ? Trump announced that the US government will be designated Mexican drug cartels as ?terrorist organizations.? Such a designation could pave the way for direct US military intervention in Mexico. Trump revealed this new policy in an interview with right-wing Fox News host Bill O?Reilly. ?Are you going to designate those cartels in Mexico as terror groups and start hitting them with drones and things like that?? O?Reilly asked. The US president refused to rule out drone strikes or other military action against drug cartels in Mexico. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1124085945530298370/x9EsUs56_normal.png] Bill O'Reilly ?@BillOReilly President @realDonaldTrump tells me he is 90 days into the process of designating Mexican drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations - which would give US forces more leverage in taking them out. [Embedded video] 16.8K 6:15 PM - Nov 26, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 4,897 people are talking about this Trump?s announcement seemed to surprise the Mexican government, which immediately called for a meeting with the US State Department. The designation was particularly ironic considering some top drug cartel leaders in Mexico have long-standing ties to the US government. For instance, the leaders of the notoriously brutal cartel the Zetas were originally trained in counter-insurgency tactics by the US military. Throughout the Cold War, the US government armed, trained, and funded right-wing death squads throughout Latin America, many of which were involved in drug trafficking. The CIA also used drug money to fund far-right counter-insurgency paramilitary groups in Central America. These tactics were also employed in the Middle East and South Asia. The United States armed, trained, and funded far-right Islamist extremists in Afghanistan in the 1980s in order to fight the Soviet Union. These same US-backed Salafi-jihadists then founded al-Qaeda and the Taliban. This strategy was later repeated in the US wars on Libya and Syria. ISIS commander Omar al-Shishani, for instance, had been trained by the US military and enjoyed direct support from Washington when he was fighting against Russia. The Barack Obama administration also oversaw a campaign called Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious, in which the US government helped send thousands of guns to cartels in Mexico. Mexican journalist Alina Duarte explained that, with the Trump administration?s designation of cartels as terrorists, ?They are creating the idea that Mexico represents a threat to their national security.? ?Should we start talking about the possibility of a coup against Lopez Obrador in Mexico?? Duarte asked. She noted that the US corporate media has embarked on an increasingly ferocious campaign to demonize AMLO, portraying the democratically elected president as a power-hungry aspiring dictator who is supposedly wrecking Mexico?s economy. Duarte discussed the issue of US interference in Mexican politics in an interview with The Grayzone?s Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton, on their podcast Moderate Rebels: Now, a whisper campaign over fears that the right-wing opposition may try to overthrow President Andr?s Manuel L?pez Obrador is spreading across Mexico. AMLO himself has publicly addressed the rumors, making it clear that he will not tolerate any discussion of coups. ?How wrong the conservatives and their hawks are,? L?pez Obrador tweeted on November 2. Referencing the 1913 assassination of progressive President Francisco Madero, who had been a leader of the Mexican Revolution, AMLO wrote, ?Now is different.? ?Another coup d??tat will now be allowed,? he declared. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1182076186719068162/94J_g-X2_normal.jpg] Andr?s Manuel ?@lopezobrador_ ? Nov 2, 2019 ?Qu? equivocados est?n los conservadores y sus halcones! Pudieron cometer la felon?a de derrocar y asesinar a Madero porque este hombre bueno, Ap?stol de la Democracia, no supo, o las circunstancias no se lo permitieron, apoyarse en una base social que lo protegiera y respaldara [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1182076186719068162/94J_g-X2_normal.jpg] Andr?s Manuel ?@lopezobrador_ Ahora es distinto. Aunque son otras realidades y no debe caerse en la simplicidad de las comparaciones, la transformaci?n que encabezo cuenta con el respaldo de una mayor?a libre y consciente, justa y amante de la legalidad y de la paz, que no permitir?a otro golpe de Estado. 18.4K 9:29 AM - Nov 2, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 10.1K people are talking about this In recent months, as fears of a coup intensify, L?pez Obrador has swung even further to the left, directly challenging the US government and asserting an independent foreign policy that contrasts starkly to the subservience of his predecessors. AMLO?s government has rejected US efforts to delegitimize Venezuela?s leftist government, throwing a wrench in Washington?s efforts to impose right-wing activist Juan Guaid? as coup leader. AMLO has welcomed Ecuador?s ousted socialist leader Rafael Correa and hosted Argentina?s left-leaning Alberto Fern?ndez for his first foreign trip after winning the presidency. In October, L?pez Obrador even welcomed Cuban President D?az-Canel to Mexico for a historic visit. Trump?s Operation Condor 2.0 For Washington, an independent and left-wing Mexico is intolerable. In a speech for right-wing, MAGA hat-wearing Venezuelans in Miami, Florida in February, Trump ranted against socialism for nearly an hour, threatened the remaining leftist countries in Latin America with regime change. ?The days of socialism and communism are numbered not only in Venezuela, but in Nicaragua and in Cuba as well,? he declared, adding that socialism would never be allowed to take root in heart of capitalism in the United States. While Trump has claimed he seeks to withdraw from wars in the Middle East (when he is not occupying its oil fields), he has ramped up aggressive US intervention in Latin America. Though the neoconservative war hawk John Bolton is no longer overseeing US foreign policy, Elliott Abrams remains firmly embedded in the State Department, dusting off his Iran-Contra playbook to decimate socialism in Latin America all over again. During the height of the Cold War, Operation Condor thousands of dissidents were murdered, and hundreds of thousands more were disappeared, tortured, or imprisoned with the assistance of the US intelligence apparatus. Today, as Latin America is increasingly viewed through the lens of a new Cold War, Operation Condor is being reignited with new mechanisms of sabotage and subversion in play. The mayhem has only begun. [https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/40ad4a64a080721dc49904ef8ff87138?s=100&d=blank&r=g] Ben Norton Ben Norton is a journalist, writer, and filmmaker. He is the assistant editor of The Grayzone, and the producer of the Moderate Rebels podcast, which he co-hosts with editor Max Blumenthal. His website is BenNorton.com and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton. https://bennorton.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 28 13:07:04 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 13:07:04 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Operation Condor 2.0 Nicaragua then Mexico Message-ID: While we focus on Impeachment??. https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/27/operation-condor-2-coup-trump-nicaragua-mexico MEXICO, NICARAGUANovember 27, 2019 Operation Condor 2.0: After Bolivia coup, Trump dubs Nicaragua ?national security threat? and targets Mexico ShareTweet After presiding over a far-right coup in Bolivia, the US dubbed Nicaragua a ?national security threat? and announced new sanctions, while Trump designated drug cartels in Mexico as ?terrorists? and refused to rule out military intervention. By Ben Norton One successful coup against a democratically elected socialist president is not enough, it seems. . Immediately after overseeing a far-right military in Bolivia on November 10, the Trump administration set its sights once again Nicaragua, whose democratically elected Sandinista government defeated a violent right-wing coup attempt in 2018. Washington dubbed Nicaragua a threat to US national security, and announced that it will be expanding its suffocating sanctions on the tiny Central American nation. Trump is also turning up the heat on Mexico, baselessly linking the country to terrorism and even hinting at potential military intervention. The moves come as the country?s left-leaning President Andr?s Manuel L?pez Obrador warns of right-wing attempts at a coup. As Washington?s rightist allies in Colombia, Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador are desperately beating back massive grassroots uprisings against neoliberal austerity policies and yawning inequality gaps, the United States is ramping up its aggression against the region?s few remaining progressive governments. These moves have led left-wing forces in Latin America to warn of a 21st-century revival of Operation Condor, the Cold War era campaign of violent subterfuge and US support for right-wing dictatorships across the region. Trump admin declares Nicaragua a ?national security threat? A day after the US-backed far-right coup in Bolivia, the Trump White House released a statement applauding the military putsch and making it clear that two countries were next on Washington?s target list: ?These events send a strong signal to the illegitimate regimes in Venezuela and Nicaragua,? Trump declared. On November 25, the Trump White House quietly issued a statement characterizing Nicaragua as an ?unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.? This prolonged an executive order Trump had signed in 2018 declaring a state of ?national emergency? on the Central American country for an additional year. Trump?s 2018 declaration came after a failed violent right-wing coup attempt in Nicaragua. The US government funded and supported many of the opposition groups that sought to topple democratically elected Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, and cheered them on as they sought to overthrow him. Trump?s new 2019 statement spewed outlandish propaganda against Nicaragua, referring to its democratically elected government ? which for decades has been targeted for overthrow by Washington ? as a supposedly violent and corrupt ?regime.? [Trump White House Nicaragua emergency national security threat] This executive order is similar to one made by President Barack Obama in 2015, which designated Venezuela as a threat to US national security. Both orders were used to justify the unilateral imposition of suffocating economic sanctions. And Trump?s renewal of the order paves the way for an escalated economic attack on Nicaragua. The extension received negligible coverage in mainstream English-language corporate media, but right-wing Spanish-language outlets in Latin America heavily amplified it. And opposition activists are gleefully cheering on the intensification of Washington?s hybrid warfare against Managua. More aggressive US sanctions against Nicaragua Voice of America (VOA), the US government?s main foreign broadcasting service, noted that the extension of the executive order will be followed with more economic attacks. As Washington?s ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Carlos Trujillo, told VOA, ?The pressure against Nicaragua is going to continue.? The OAS representative added that Trump will be announcing new sanctions against the Nicaraguan government in the coming weeks. VOA stated clearly that ?Nicaragua, along with Cuba and Venezuela, is one of the Latin American countries whose government Trump has made a priority to put diplomatic and economic pressure on to bring about regime change.? VOA?s report quoted several right-wing Nicaraguans who called for even more US pressure against their country. Bianca Jagger, a celebrity opposition activist formerly married to Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, called on the US to impose sanctions on Nicaragua?s military in particular. ?The Nicaraguan military has not been touched because they [US officials] are hoping that the military will like act the military in Bolivia,? Jagger said, referring to the military officials who violently overthrew Bolivia?s democratically elected president. Many of these military leaders had been trained at the US government?s School of the Americas, a notorious base of subversion dating back to Operation Condor. Latin American media has been filled in recent days with reports that Bolivian soldiers were paid $50,000 and generals were paid up to $1 million to carry out the putsch. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1062787214361411596/drhhnW5d_normal.jpg] Voz de Am?rica ?@VOANoticias [??]No se ha sancionado el ej?rcito de #Nicaragua "porque tal vez tienen esperanza de que el ej?rcito se va a conducir como el de Bolivia", @BiancaJagger. https://bit.ly/35Gd97t [Embedded video] 10 9:54 AM - Nov 26, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy See Voz de Am?rica's other Tweets VOA added that ?in the case of the Central American government [of Nicaragua], the effect that sanctions can have can be greater because it is a more economically vulnerable country.? VOA quoted Roberto Courtney, a prominent exiled right-wing activist and executive director of the opposition group Ethics and Transparency, which monitors elections in Nicaragua and is supported by the US government?s regime-change arm, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Courtney, who claims to be a human rights activist, salivated over the prospects of US economic war on his country, telling VOA, ?There is a bit of a difference [between Nicaragua and Bolivia] ? the economic vulnerability makes it more likely that the sanctions will have an effect.? Courtney, who was described by VOA as an ?expert on the electoral process,? added, ?If there is a stick, there must also be a carrot.? He said the OAS could help apply diplomatic and political pressure against Nicaragua?s government. These unilateral American sanctions are illegal under international law, and considered an act of war. Iran?s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has characterized US economic warfare ?financial terrorism,? explaining that it disproportionately targets civilians in order to turn them against their government. Top right-wing Nicaraguan opposition groups applauded Trump for extending the executive order and for pledging new sanctions against their country. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1144342195564175361/olJpvNY7_normal.png] Alianza C?vica Nicaragua ?@AlianzaCivicaNi Estados Unidos ampli? por un a?o m?s la vigencia de la Declaraci?n de Emergencia Nacional con respecto a la Situaci?n en Nicaragua. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/text-notice-continuation-national-emergency-respect-situation-nicaragua/ ? [https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1197615965476798464/IpoyfWGq?format=jpg&name=600x314] Text of a Notice on the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to the Situation in... On November 27, 2018, by Executive Order 13851, I declared a national emergency pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706) to deal with the unusual and extrao... whitehouse.gov 165 11:56 AM - Nov 25, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 95 people are talking about this The Nicaraguan Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, an opposition front group that brings together numerous opposition groups, several of which are also funded by the US government?s NED, welcomed the order. Trump dubs drug cartels in Mexico ?terrorists,? refuses to rule out drone strikes While the US targeting of Nicaragua and Venezuela?s governments is nothing new, Donald Trump is setting his sights on a longtime US ally in Mexico. In 2018, Mexican voters made history when they elected Andr?s Manuel L?pez Obrador as president in a landslide. L?pez Obrador, who is often referred to with his initials AMLO, is Mexico?s first left-wing president in more than five decades. He ran on a progressive campaign pledging to boost social spending, cut poverty, combat corruption, and even decriminalize drugs. AMLO is wildly popular in Mexico. In February, he had a record-breaking 86 percent approval rating. And he has earned this widespread support by pledging to combat neoliberal capitalist orthodoxy. ?The neoliberal economic model has been a disaster, a calamity for the public life of the country,? AMLO has declared. ?The child of neoliberalism is corruption.? When he unveiled his multibillion-dollar National Development Plan, L?pez Obrador announced the end to ?the long night of neoliberalism.? AMLO?s left-wing policies have caused shockwaves in Washington, which has long relied on neoliberal Mexican leaders ensuring a steady cheap exploitable labor base and maintaining a reliable market for US goods and open borders for US capital and corporations. On November 27 ? a day after declaring Nicaragua a ?national security threat? ? Trump announced that the US government will be designated Mexican drug cartels as ?terrorist organizations.? Such a designation could pave the way for direct US military intervention in Mexico. Trump revealed this new policy in an interview with right-wing Fox News host Bill O?Reilly. ?Are you going to designate those cartels in Mexico as terror groups and start hitting them with drones and things like that?? O?Reilly asked. The US president refused to rule out drone strikes or other military action against drug cartels in Mexico. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1124085945530298370/x9EsUs56_normal.png] Bill O'Reilly ?@BillOReilly President @realDonaldTrump tells me he is 90 days into the process of designating Mexican drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations - which would give US forces more leverage in taking them out. [Embedded video] 16.8K 6:15 PM - Nov 26, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 4,897 people are talking about this Trump?s announcement seemed to surprise the Mexican government, which immediately called for a meeting with the US State Department. The designation was particularly ironic considering some top drug cartel leaders in Mexico have long-standing ties to the US government. For instance, the leaders of the notoriously brutal cartel the Zetas were originally trained in counter-insurgency tactics by the US military. Throughout the Cold War, the US government armed, trained, and funded right-wing death squads throughout Latin America, many of which were involved in drug trafficking. The CIA also used drug money to fund far-right counter-insurgency paramilitary groups in Central America. These tactics were also employed in the Middle East and South Asia. The United States armed, trained, and funded far-right Islamist extremists in Afghanistan in the 1980s in order to fight the Soviet Union. These same US-backed Salafi-jihadists then founded al-Qaeda and the Taliban. This strategy was later repeated in the US wars on Libya and Syria. ISIS commander Omar al-Shishani, for instance, had been trained by the US military and enjoyed direct support from Washington when he was fighting against Russia. The Barack Obama administration also oversaw a campaign called Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious, in which the US government helped send thousands of guns to cartels in Mexico. Mexican journalist Alina Duarte explained that, with the Trump administration?s designation of cartels as terrorists, ?They are creating the idea that Mexico represents a threat to their national security.? ?Should we start talking about the possibility of a coup against Lopez Obrador in Mexico?? Duarte asked. She noted that the US corporate media has embarked on an increasingly ferocious campaign to demonize AMLO, portraying the democratically elected president as a power-hungry aspiring dictator who is supposedly wrecking Mexico?s economy. Duarte discussed the issue of US interference in Mexican politics in an interview with The Grayzone?s Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton, on their podcast Moderate Rebels: Now, a whisper campaign over fears that the right-wing opposition may try to overthrow President Andr?s Manuel L?pez Obrador is spreading across Mexico. AMLO himself has publicly addressed the rumors, making it clear that he will not tolerate any discussion of coups. ?How wrong the conservatives and their hawks are,? L?pez Obrador tweeted on November 2. Referencing the 1913 assassination of progressive President Francisco Madero, who had been a leader of the Mexican Revolution, AMLO wrote, ?Now is different.? ?Another coup d??tat will now be allowed,? he declared. [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1182076186719068162/94J_g-X2_normal.jpg] Andr?s Manuel ?@lopezobrador_ ? Nov 2, 2019 ?Qu? equivocados est?n los conservadores y sus halcones! Pudieron cometer la felon?a de derrocar y asesinar a Madero porque este hombre bueno, Ap?stol de la Democracia, no supo, o las circunstancias no se lo permitieron, apoyarse en una base social que lo protegiera y respaldara [https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1182076186719068162/94J_g-X2_normal.jpg] Andr?s Manuel ?@lopezobrador_ Ahora es distinto. Aunque son otras realidades y no debe caerse en la simplicidad de las comparaciones, la transformaci?n que encabezo cuenta con el respaldo de una mayor?a libre y consciente, justa y amante de la legalidad y de la paz, que no permitir?a otro golpe de Estado. 18.4K 9:29 AM - Nov 2, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 10.1K people are talking about this In recent months, as fears of a coup intensify, L?pez Obrador has swung even further to the left, directly challenging the US government and asserting an independent foreign policy that contrasts starkly to the subservience of his predecessors. AMLO?s government has rejected US efforts to delegitimize Venezuela?s leftist government, throwing a wrench in Washington?s efforts to impose right-wing activist Juan Guaid? as coup leader. AMLO has welcomed Ecuador?s ousted socialist leader Rafael Correa and hosted Argentina?s left-leaning Alberto Fern?ndez for his first foreign trip after winning the presidency. In October, L?pez Obrador even welcomed Cuban President D?az-Canel to Mexico for a historic visit. Trump?s Operation Condor 2.0 For Washington, an independent and left-wing Mexico is intolerable. In a speech for right-wing, MAGA hat-wearing Venezuelans in Miami, Florida in February, Trump ranted against socialism for nearly an hour, threatened the remaining leftist countries in Latin America with regime change. ?The days of socialism and communism are numbered not only in Venezuela, but in Nicaragua and in Cuba as well,? he declared, adding that socialism would never be allowed to take root in heart of capitalism in the United States. While Trump has claimed he seeks to withdraw from wars in the Middle East (when he is not occupying its oil fields), he has ramped up aggressive US intervention in Latin America. Though the neoconservative war hawk John Bolton is no longer overseeing US foreign policy, Elliott Abrams remains firmly embedded in the State Department, dusting off his Iran-Contra playbook to decimate socialism in Latin America all over again. During the height of the Cold War, Operation Condor thousands of dissidents were murdered, and hundreds of thousands more were disappeared, tortured, or imprisoned with the assistance of the US intelligence apparatus. Today, as Latin America is increasingly viewed through the lens of a new Cold War, Operation Condor is being reignited with new mechanisms of sabotage and subversion in play. The mayhem has only begun. [https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/40ad4a64a080721dc49904ef8ff87138?s=100&d=blank&r=g] Ben Norton Ben Norton is a journalist, writer, and filmmaker. He is the assistant editor of The Grayzone, and the producer of the Moderate Rebels podcast, which he co-hosts with editor Max Blumenthal. His website is BenNorton.com and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton. https://bennorton.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 28 13:29:13 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 13:29:13 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Climate Action CU Friday 29th Message-ID: ElizaBeth Simpson shared a link. 6 hrs Participate in the Global Climate Strike!- Forward this to 5 people. - Pledge to act (you don't have to be in town... you can act from afar!) FYI doing this means we'll send you more info about how to move forward: http://www.cuclimatecafe.com/personal-pledge-for-climate-?/? - Post this info on social media, and like/comment on the events linked below. #ClimateStrike #CUGreenFriday- Put a Climate Strike frame on your facebook profile- Show up at the climate cafe between 12-5pm at the IDEA Store (you know you wanna shop there anyway): https://www.facebook.com/events/539160593538373/ - Show up to the street parade 5:30-6:30pm: https://www.facebook.com/events/482261389053630/- DIVEST! from credit cards and bank accounts with Chase (the worst), CitiBank, Wells-Fargo, Bank of America, and Barclays. More info on how to do that here: cuclimatecafe.com- Not ready to pull out of your bank or credit card? Write to them and let them know you're intending to do it if they don't stop investing in fossil fuels. - Write to city council (for Urbana, advocate that they approve and fund a comprehensive plan), county board, and state reps and senators (advocate that they pass the IL Clean Jobs Act). CUCLIMATECAFE.COM Personal pledge for climate action ? CU Climate Cafe Personal pledge for climate action Your Name (required) Your Email (required) Your Phone for text reminders If you can participate by either contacting your bank to ask them to stop any fossil fuel investment or? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 28 13:29:13 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 13:29:13 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Climate Action CU Friday 29th Message-ID: ElizaBeth Simpson shared a link. 6 hrs Participate in the Global Climate Strike!- Forward this to 5 people. - Pledge to act (you don't have to be in town... you can act from afar!) FYI doing this means we'll send you more info about how to move forward: http://www.cuclimatecafe.com/personal-pledge-for-climate-?/? - Post this info on social media, and like/comment on the events linked below. #ClimateStrike #CUGreenFriday- Put a Climate Strike frame on your facebook profile- Show up at the climate cafe between 12-5pm at the IDEA Store (you know you wanna shop there anyway): https://www.facebook.com/events/539160593538373/ - Show up to the street parade 5:30-6:30pm: https://www.facebook.com/events/482261389053630/- DIVEST! from credit cards and bank accounts with Chase (the worst), CitiBank, Wells-Fargo, Bank of America, and Barclays. More info on how to do that here: cuclimatecafe.com- Not ready to pull out of your bank or credit card? Write to them and let them know you're intending to do it if they don't stop investing in fossil fuels. - Write to city council (for Urbana, advocate that they approve and fund a comprehensive plan), county board, and state reps and senators (advocate that they pass the IL Clean Jobs Act). CUCLIMATECAFE.COM Personal pledge for climate action ? CU Climate Cafe Personal pledge for climate action Your Name (required) Your Email (required) Your Phone for text reminders If you can participate by either contacting your bank to ask them to stop any fossil fuel investment or? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 28 15:41:46 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 15:41:46 +0000 Subject: [Peace] FACE BOOK is down today, as of 8:17 am Central time Message-ID: The world?s largest social media platform Facebook has experienced a major outage across the continental US on Thanksgiving with thousands of reports of problems flooding in to popular crowdsourcing site DownDetector. Users reported outages across both Facebook and Instagram, which are both owned by the same company, but WhatsApp appeared to be unaffected by the issue as yet. All three apps share much of the same underlying infrastructure which can often create a cascade effect when a server goes down. The Facebook platform began experiencing issues at approximately 9:17 EST. Though the majority of the reports stem from the US, there has also been reports of issues in Europe, South America and parts of Asia. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 28 15:41:46 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 15:41:46 +0000 Subject: [Peace] FACE BOOK is down today, as of 8:17 am Central time Message-ID: The world?s largest social media platform Facebook has experienced a major outage across the continental US on Thanksgiving with thousands of reports of problems flooding in to popular crowdsourcing site DownDetector. Users reported outages across both Facebook and Instagram, which are both owned by the same company, but WhatsApp appeared to be unaffected by the issue as yet. All three apps share much of the same underlying infrastructure which can often create a cascade effect when a server goes down. The Facebook platform began experiencing issues at approximately 9:17 EST. Though the majority of the reports stem from the US, there has also been reports of issues in Europe, South America and parts of Asia. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 28 17:57:30 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 17:57:30 +0000 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Fwd=3A_=5BNew_post=5D_Attacking_The_Source=3A_?= =?utf-8?q?The_Establishment_Loyalist=E2=80=99s_Favorite_Online_Tactic?= References: <139971992.7449.0@wordpress.com> Message-ID: The use of ad hominems rather than focusing on the issue under discussion is clearly an admission of one lacking a legitimate/reasonable argument. Referring to one as a ?hater,? is used by both left and right wingers, generally left wingers trained in the art of slandering opponents. Going so far as to threaten, is a sign of a deranged mind. Caitlin says it best: New post on Caitlin Johnstone [https://i1.wp.com/caitlinjohnstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cropped-caitlinpic1.jpg?resize=32%2C32&ssl=1] [http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/12152988a68a6d4dae7506812444c18f?s=50&d=monsterid&r=G] Attacking The Source: The Establishment Loyalist?s Favorite Online Tactic by Caitlin Johnstone If you're skeptical of western power structures and you've ever engaged in online political debate for any length of time, the following has definitely happened to you. You find yourself going back and forth with one of those high-confidence, low-information establishment types who's promulgating a dubious mainstream narrative, whether that be about politics, war, Julian Assange, or whatever. At some point they make an assertion which you know to be false--publicly available information invalidates the claim they're making. "I've got them now!" you think to yourself, if you're new to this sort of thing. Then you share a link to an article or video which makes a well-sourced, independently verifiable case for the point you are trying to make. Then, the inevitable happens. "LMAO! That outlet!" they scoff in response. "That outlet is propaganda/fake news/conspiracy theory trash!" Or something to that effect. You'll encounter this tactic over and over and over again if you continually engage in online political discourse with people who don't agree with you. It doesn't matter if you're literally just linking to an interview featuring some public figure saying a thing you'd claimed they said. It doesn't matter if you're linking to a WikiLeaks publication of a verified authentic document. Unless you're linking to CNN/Fox News (whichever fits the preferred ideology of the establishment loyalist you're debating), they'll bleat "fake news!" or "propaganda!" or "Russia!" as though that in and of itself magically invalidates the point you're trying to make. And of course it doesn't. What they are doing is called attacking the source, also known as an ad hominem, and it's a very basic logical fallacy. Most people are familiar with the term "ad hominem", but they usually think about it in terms of merely hurling verbal insults at people. What it actually means is attacking the source of the argument rather than attacking the argument itself in a way that avoids dealing with the question of whether or not the argument itself is true. It's a logical fallacy because it's used to deliberately obfuscate the goal of a logical conclusion to the debate. "An ad hominem is more than just an insult," explains David Ferrer for The Quad. "It?s an insult used as if it were an argument or evidence in support of a conclusion. Verbally attacking people proves nothing about the truth or falsity of their claims." This can take the form of saying "Claim X is false because the person making it is an idiot." But it can also take the form of "Claim X is false because the person making it is a propagandist," or "Claim X is false because the person making it is a conspiracy theorist." I don't think @bellingcat knows what's about to hit them now that @caitoz is on their case. Settle in for a few fun months as their entire bullshit narrative on #Syria chemical weapons comes tumbling down. Here's her opening jab: https://t.co/jvYfIBkDM2 ? Sharmine Narwani (@snarwani) November 27, 2019 Someone being an idiot, a propagandist or a conspiracy theorist is irrelevant to the question of whether or not what they're saying is true. In my last article debunking a spin job on the OPCW scandal by the narrative management firm Bellingcat, I pointed out that Bellingcat is funded by imperialist regime change operations like the National Endowment for Democracy, which was worth highlighting because it shows the readers where that organization is coming from. But if I'd left my argument there it would still be an ad hominem attack, because it wouldn't address whether or not what Bellingcat wrote about the OPCW scandal is true. It would be a logical fallacy; proving that they are propagandists doesn't prove that what they are saying in this particular instance is false. What I had to do in order to actually refute Bellingcat's spin job was show that they were making a bad argument using bad logic, which I did by highlighting the way they used pedantic wordplay to make it seem as though the explosive leaks which have been emerging from the OPCW's investigation of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria were insignificant. I had to show how Bellingcat actually never came anywhere close to addressing the actual concerns about a leaked internal OPCW email, such as extremely low chlorinated organic chemical levels on the scene and patients' symptoms not matching up with chlorine gas poisoning, as well as the fact that the OPCW investigators plainly don't feel as though their concerns were met since they're blowing the whistle on the organisation now. And, for the record, Bellingcat's lead trainer/researcher guy responded to my arguments by saying I'm a conspiracy theorist. I personally count that as a win. The correct response to someone who attacks the outlet or individual you're citing instead of attacking the actual argument being made is, "You're attacking the source instead of the argument. That's a logical fallacy, and it's only ever employed by people who can't attack the argument." The demand that you only ever use mainstream establishment media when arguing against establishment narratives is itself an inherently contradictory position, because establishment media by their very nature do not report facts against the establishment. It's saying "You're only allowed to criticise establishment power using outlets which never criticize establishment power." 2/2 No principle is worth nuclear war. This honest reporter, @caitoz, beholden to no ideology or special interest, calls it as it is, not as the #MSMwants to see -- https://t.co/miDXqmZAG7 ? Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) November 26, 2019 Good luck finding a compilation of Trump's dangerous escalations against Moscow like the one I wrote the other day anywhere in the mainstream media, for example. Neither mainstream liberals nor mainstream conservatives are interested in promoting that narrative, so it simply doesn't exist in the mainstream information bubble. Every item I listed in that article is independently verifiable and sourced from separate mainstream media reports, yet if you share that article in a debate with an establishment loyalist and they know who I am, nine times out of ten they'll say something like "LOL Caitlin Johnstone?? She's nuts!" With "nuts" of course meaning "Says things my TV doesn't say". It's possible to just click on all the hyperlinks in my article and share them separately to make your point, but you can also simply point out that they are committing a logical fallacy, and that they are doing so because they can't actually attack the argument. This will make them very upset, because for the last few years establishment loyalists have been told that it is perfectly normal and acceptable to attack the source instead of the argument. The mass hysteria about "fake news" and "Russian propaganda" has left consumers of mainstream media with the unquestioned assumption that if they ever so much as glance at an RT article their faces will begin to melt like that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. They've been trained to believe that it's perfectly logical and acceptable to simply shriek "propaganda!" at a rational argument or well-sourced article which invalidates their position, or even to proactively go around calling people Russian agents who dissent from mainstream western power-serving narratives. But it isn't logical, and it isn't acceptable. The best way to oppose their favorite logically fallacious tactic is to call it like it is, and let them deal with the cognitive dissonance that that brings up for them. Me: This link proves my claim. Empire loyalist: Eww, THAT outlet? They publish criticisms of western imperialism! Me: Yeah. That's why I'm linking to them. Empire loyalist: No. You can only criticize western imperialism linking to outlets that never criticize western imperialism. ? Caitlin Johnstone [?] (@caitoz) November 27, 2019 Of course some nuance is needed here. You can't just post a link to some Youtuber making an unsubstantiated assertion and then accuse the person you're debating of attacking the source when they dismiss it. That which has been presented without evidence may be dismissed without evidence, and if the link you're citing consists of nothing other than unproven assertions by someone they've got no reason to take on their word, they can rightly dismiss it. If however the claims in the link you're citing are logically coherent arguments or well-documented facts presented in a way that people can independently fact-check, it doesn't matter if you're citing CNN or Sputnik. The only advantage to using CNN instead would be that it allows you to skip the part where they perform the online equivalent of putting their fingers in their ears and humming. Don't allow those who are still sleeping bully those who are not into silence. Insist on facts, evidence, and intellectually honest arguments, and if they refuse to provide them call it what it is: an admission that they have lost the debate. __________________________ Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following me on Steemit, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I'm trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I?ve written) in any way they like free of charge. [https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i0.wp.com/steemitimages.com/0x0/https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/0*VDvfq6m943JQbqLO.png?w=1060&ssl=1] Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2 Caitlin Johnstone | November 28, 2019 at 3:21 am | Tags: ad hominem, attacking the source, debate, logical fallacy, Politics | Categories: Article | URL: https://wp.me/p9tj6M-1W9 Comment See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Caitlin Johnstone. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/11/28/attacking-the-source-the-establishment-loyalists-favorite-online-tactic/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 28 17:57:30 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 17:57:30 +0000 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Fwd=3A_=5BNew_post=5D_Attacking_The_Source=3A_?= =?utf-8?q?The_Establishment_Loyalist=E2=80=99s_Favorite_Online_Tactic?= References: <139971992.7449.0@wordpress.com> Message-ID: The use of ad hominems rather than focusing on the issue under discussion is clearly an admission of one lacking a legitimate/reasonable argument. Referring to one as a ?hater,? is used by both left and right wingers, generally left wingers trained in the art of slandering opponents. Going so far as to threaten, is a sign of a deranged mind. Caitlin says it best: New post on Caitlin Johnstone [https://i1.wp.com/caitlinjohnstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cropped-caitlinpic1.jpg?resize=32%2C32&ssl=1] [http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/12152988a68a6d4dae7506812444c18f?s=50&d=monsterid&r=G] Attacking The Source: The Establishment Loyalist?s Favorite Online Tactic by Caitlin Johnstone If you're skeptical of western power structures and you've ever engaged in online political debate for any length of time, the following has definitely happened to you. You find yourself going back and forth with one of those high-confidence, low-information establishment types who's promulgating a dubious mainstream narrative, whether that be about politics, war, Julian Assange, or whatever. At some point they make an assertion which you know to be false--publicly available information invalidates the claim they're making. "I've got them now!" you think to yourself, if you're new to this sort of thing. Then you share a link to an article or video which makes a well-sourced, independently verifiable case for the point you are trying to make. Then, the inevitable happens. "LMAO! That outlet!" they scoff in response. "That outlet is propaganda/fake news/conspiracy theory trash!" Or something to that effect. You'll encounter this tactic over and over and over again if you continually engage in online political discourse with people who don't agree with you. It doesn't matter if you're literally just linking to an interview featuring some public figure saying a thing you'd claimed they said. It doesn't matter if you're linking to a WikiLeaks publication of a verified authentic document. Unless you're linking to CNN/Fox News (whichever fits the preferred ideology of the establishment loyalist you're debating), they'll bleat "fake news!" or "propaganda!" or "Russia!" as though that in and of itself magically invalidates the point you're trying to make. And of course it doesn't. What they are doing is called attacking the source, also known as an ad hominem, and it's a very basic logical fallacy. Most people are familiar with the term "ad hominem", but they usually think about it in terms of merely hurling verbal insults at people. What it actually means is attacking the source of the argument rather than attacking the argument itself in a way that avoids dealing with the question of whether or not the argument itself is true. It's a logical fallacy because it's used to deliberately obfuscate the goal of a logical conclusion to the debate. "An ad hominem is more than just an insult," explains David Ferrer for The Quad. "It?s an insult used as if it were an argument or evidence in support of a conclusion. Verbally attacking people proves nothing about the truth or falsity of their claims." This can take the form of saying "Claim X is false because the person making it is an idiot." But it can also take the form of "Claim X is false because the person making it is a propagandist," or "Claim X is false because the person making it is a conspiracy theorist." I don't think @bellingcat knows what's about to hit them now that @caitoz is on their case. Settle in for a few fun months as their entire bullshit narrative on #Syria chemical weapons comes tumbling down. Here's her opening jab: https://t.co/jvYfIBkDM2 ? Sharmine Narwani (@snarwani) November 27, 2019 Someone being an idiot, a propagandist or a conspiracy theorist is irrelevant to the question of whether or not what they're saying is true. In my last article debunking a spin job on the OPCW scandal by the narrative management firm Bellingcat, I pointed out that Bellingcat is funded by imperialist regime change operations like the National Endowment for Democracy, which was worth highlighting because it shows the readers where that organization is coming from. But if I'd left my argument there it would still be an ad hominem attack, because it wouldn't address whether or not what Bellingcat wrote about the OPCW scandal is true. It would be a logical fallacy; proving that they are propagandists doesn't prove that what they are saying in this particular instance is false. What I had to do in order to actually refute Bellingcat's spin job was show that they were making a bad argument using bad logic, which I did by highlighting the way they used pedantic wordplay to make it seem as though the explosive leaks which have been emerging from the OPCW's investigation of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria were insignificant. I had to show how Bellingcat actually never came anywhere close to addressing the actual concerns about a leaked internal OPCW email, such as extremely low chlorinated organic chemical levels on the scene and patients' symptoms not matching up with chlorine gas poisoning, as well as the fact that the OPCW investigators plainly don't feel as though their concerns were met since they're blowing the whistle on the organisation now. And, for the record, Bellingcat's lead trainer/researcher guy responded to my arguments by saying I'm a conspiracy theorist. I personally count that as a win. The correct response to someone who attacks the outlet or individual you're citing instead of attacking the actual argument being made is, "You're attacking the source instead of the argument. That's a logical fallacy, and it's only ever employed by people who can't attack the argument." The demand that you only ever use mainstream establishment media when arguing against establishment narratives is itself an inherently contradictory position, because establishment media by their very nature do not report facts against the establishment. It's saying "You're only allowed to criticise establishment power using outlets which never criticize establishment power." 2/2 No principle is worth nuclear war. This honest reporter, @caitoz, beholden to no ideology or special interest, calls it as it is, not as the #MSMwants to see -- https://t.co/miDXqmZAG7 ? Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) November 26, 2019 Good luck finding a compilation of Trump's dangerous escalations against Moscow like the one I wrote the other day anywhere in the mainstream media, for example. Neither mainstream liberals nor mainstream conservatives are interested in promoting that narrative, so it simply doesn't exist in the mainstream information bubble. Every item I listed in that article is independently verifiable and sourced from separate mainstream media reports, yet if you share that article in a debate with an establishment loyalist and they know who I am, nine times out of ten they'll say something like "LOL Caitlin Johnstone?? She's nuts!" With "nuts" of course meaning "Says things my TV doesn't say". It's possible to just click on all the hyperlinks in my article and share them separately to make your point, but you can also simply point out that they are committing a logical fallacy, and that they are doing so because they can't actually attack the argument. This will make them very upset, because for the last few years establishment loyalists have been told that it is perfectly normal and acceptable to attack the source instead of the argument. The mass hysteria about "fake news" and "Russian propaganda" has left consumers of mainstream media with the unquestioned assumption that if they ever so much as glance at an RT article their faces will begin to melt like that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. They've been trained to believe that it's perfectly logical and acceptable to simply shriek "propaganda!" at a rational argument or well-sourced article which invalidates their position, or even to proactively go around calling people Russian agents who dissent from mainstream western power-serving narratives. But it isn't logical, and it isn't acceptable. The best way to oppose their favorite logically fallacious tactic is to call it like it is, and let them deal with the cognitive dissonance that that brings up for them. Me: This link proves my claim. Empire loyalist: Eww, THAT outlet? They publish criticisms of western imperialism! Me: Yeah. That's why I'm linking to them. Empire loyalist: No. You can only criticize western imperialism linking to outlets that never criticize western imperialism. ? Caitlin Johnstone [?] (@caitoz) November 27, 2019 Of course some nuance is needed here. You can't just post a link to some Youtuber making an unsubstantiated assertion and then accuse the person you're debating of attacking the source when they dismiss it. That which has been presented without evidence may be dismissed without evidence, and if the link you're citing consists of nothing other than unproven assertions by someone they've got no reason to take on their word, they can rightly dismiss it. If however the claims in the link you're citing are logically coherent arguments or well-documented facts presented in a way that people can independently fact-check, it doesn't matter if you're citing CNN or Sputnik. The only advantage to using CNN instead would be that it allows you to skip the part where they perform the online equivalent of putting their fingers in their ears and humming. Don't allow those who are still sleeping bully those who are not into silence. Insist on facts, evidence, and intellectually honest arguments, and if they refuse to provide them call it what it is: an admission that they have lost the debate. __________________________ Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast on either Youtube, soundcloud, Apple podcasts or Spotify, following me on Steemit, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, purchasing some of my sweet merchandise, buying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I'm trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I?ve written) in any way they like free of charge. [https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i0.wp.com/steemitimages.com/0x0/https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/0*VDvfq6m943JQbqLO.png?w=1060&ssl=1] Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2 Caitlin Johnstone | November 28, 2019 at 3:21 am | Tags: ad hominem, attacking the source, debate, logical fallacy, Politics | Categories: Article | URL: https://wp.me/p9tj6M-1W9 Comment See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Caitlin Johnstone. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/11/28/attacking-the-source-the-establishment-loyalists-favorite-online-tactic/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 28 18:56:23 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 18:56:23 +0000 Subject: [Peace] =?windows-1252?q?Fwd=3A_War_Crimes_by_Trump=2C_Pompeo=2C?= =?windows-1252?q?_Israelis_=96_KPFA_with_Francis_Boyle?= References: Message-ID: https://kpfa.org/episode/flashpoints-november-27-2019/ Today on the show: Professor Francis Boyle on Trumps defense of war criminals and Pompeo?s declarations that Israel?s Settlement building on Palestinian land is legal. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Nov 28 18:56:23 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 18:56:23 +0000 Subject: [Peace] =?windows-1252?q?Fwd=3A_War_Crimes_by_Trump=2C_Pompeo=2C?= =?windows-1252?q?_Israelis_=96_KPFA_with_Francis_Boyle?= References: Message-ID: https://kpfa.org/episode/flashpoints-november-27-2019/ Today on the show: Professor Francis Boyle on Trumps defense of war criminals and Pompeo?s declarations that Israel?s Settlement building on Palestinian land is legal. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From susanroseparenti at gmail.com Thu Nov 28 21:00:12 2019 From: susanroseparenti at gmail.com (Susan Parenti) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 15:00:12 -0600 Subject: [Peace] SAVE THE DATE Message-ID: *SLOW DOWN*: It?s Urgent How We Stopped (Almost) Everything and Learned to Like Our Thinking Regarding [Anthropogenic] Climate Change *Hi! You*?*re invited to a showing of what we Cassandras* *have learned by focusing on Climate Change for the last 3 months. The Re-Writing/Re-Righting Cassandra project started September 16 2019 when 20 of us*?*both from in town and from out-of-town/country*?*met here in Urbana to focus on the question:how to limit* *the damage of catastrophic climate change. The question has a clock ticking: the United Nation Council on Global Climate wrote in Oct. 2018 that we have 12 years left to answer this question. * *Now we*?*re at the end of the 3 months, and want to share with you what* *we*?*ve been doing during this time*?*what we*?*ve learned, unlearned, refused to learn, what questions we*?*ve been asking, what answers we*?*ve arrived at, and where we are going next. * *Where? * Independent Media Center *When?: *Wednesday, Dec, 4, 2019, 6-9pm *Cost? *Free, donations appreciated *Food? * Yes it?s potluck/ snack luck style. Bring something if you can. *Contact? *susanroseparenti at gmail.com -- *Susan Parenti* *Educational Coordinator * *The School for Designing a Society *www.designingasociety.net *Like us on Facebook !* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Cassandra.snake.fire.final.jpeg Type: image/jpeg Size: 36743 bytes Desc: not available URL: From susanroseparenti at gmail.com Thu Nov 28 21:16:52 2019 From: susanroseparenti at gmail.com (Susan Parenti) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 15:16:52 -0600 Subject: [Peace] SAVE THE DATE!!! Message-ID: *SLOW DOWN*: It?s Urgent How We Stopped (Almost) Everything and Learned to Like Our Thinking Regarding [Anthropogenic] Climate Change *Hi! You*?*re invited to a showing of what we Cassandras* *have learned by focusing on Climate Change for the last 3 months. The Re-Writing/Re-Righting Cassandra project started September 16 2019 when 20 of us*?*both from in town and from out-of-town/country*?*met here in Urbana to focus on the question:how to limit* *the damage of catastrophic climate change. The question has a clock ticking: the United Nation Council on Global Climate wrote in Oct. 2018 that we have 12 years left to answer this question. * *Now we*?*re at the end of the 3 months, and want to share with you what* *we*?*ve been doing during this time*?*what we*?*ve learned, unlearned, refused to learn, what questions we*?*ve been asking, what answers we*?*ve arrived at, and where we are going next. * *Where? * Independent Media Center *When?: *Wednesday, Dec, 4, 2019, 6-9pm *Cost? *Free, donations appreciated *Food? * Yes it?s potluck/ snack luck style. Bring something if you can. *Contact? *susanroseparenti at gmail.com -- *Susan Parenti* *Educational Coordinator * *The School for Designing a Society *www.designingasociety.net *Like us on Facebook !* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Cassandra.snake.fire.final.jpeg Type: image/jpeg Size: 36743 bytes Desc: not available URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Fri Nov 29 01:41:02 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 19:41:02 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Trump in Afghanistan Message-ID: <043D5F41-5B10-41B2-BBB7-2B5F794A5545@newsfromneptune.com> WSJ: "Trump Says Taliban Peace Talks to Resume During Surprise Afghanistan Visit? In the early 1960's, some US military would say of Kennedy's attack on South Vietnam, "It's a dirty little war - but it's the only war we've got.? Today, thanks most recently to Obama - the first US president to be at war throughout two presidential terms - they needn't say that about Afghanistan: he's left seven others to choose from, having attacked Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen as well. But the permanent government (notably Democrat ?liberals?) insist on removing Trump for fear he'll end the killing in Afghanistan and elsewhere? ?CGE From carl at newsfromneptune.com Fri Nov 29 01:44:40 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 19:44:40 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Trump in Afghanistan In-Reply-To: <043D5F41-5B10-41B2-BBB7-2B5F794A5545@newsfromneptune.com> References: <043D5F41-5B10-41B2-BBB7-2B5F794A5545@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: <9A5EBB06-CD12-4425-8647-7BB686CA84F5@newsfromneptune.com> [FT] Trump says talks with Taliban have resumed US president Donald Trump said peace talks with the Taliban had resumed as he made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thanksgiving, appearing at a US air force base alongside Afghan president Ashraf Ghani. Following a meeting with Mr Ghani, Mr Trump told reporters that the Taliban ?wants to make a deal? and that US officials were ?meeting with them?. > On Nov 28, 2019, at 7:41 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote: > > WSJ: "Trump Says Taliban Peace Talks to Resume During Surprise Afghanistan Visit? > > > In the early 1960's, some US military would say of Kennedy's attack on South Vietnam, "It's a dirty little war - but it's the only war we've got.? > > Today, thanks most recently to Obama - the first US president to be at war throughout two presidential terms - they needn't say that about Afghanistan: he's left seven others to choose from, having attacked Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen as well. > > But the permanent government (notably Democrat ?liberals?) insist on removing Trump for fear he'll end the killing in Afghanistan and elsewhere? > > ?CGE > From moboct1 at aim.com Fri Nov 29 12:49:24 2019 From: moboct1 at aim.com (Mildred O'brien) Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2019 12:49:24 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Trump in Afghanistan In-Reply-To: <9A5EBB06-CD12-4425-8647-7BB686CA84F5@newsfromneptune.com> References: <043D5F41-5B10-41B2-BBB7-2B5F794A5545@newsfromneptune.com> <9A5EBB06-CD12-4425-8647-7BB686CA84F5@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: <812799532.894664.1575031764114@mail.yahoo.com> I'm sick of? "let's make a deal."? The only "deal" the wheeler-dealer wants to make is HIS deal--which he will re-neg whenever he feel's like it (and then deny he ever did the deal in the first place). mo'b -----Original Message----- From: C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss To: peace-discuss Cc: Peace Sent: Thu, Nov 28, 2019 7:45 pm Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Trump in Afghanistan [FT] Trump says talks with Taliban have resumed US president Donald Trump said peace talks with the Taliban had resumed as he made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thanksgiving, appearing at a US air force base alongside Afghan president Ashraf Ghani. Following a meeting with Mr Ghani, Mr Trump told reporters that the Taliban ?wants to make a deal? and that US officials were ?meeting with them?. > On Nov 28, 2019, at 7:41 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote: > > WSJ: "Trump Says Taliban Peace Talks to Resume During Surprise Afghanistan Visit? > > > In the early 1960's, some US military would say of Kennedy's attack on South Vietnam, "It's a dirty little war - but it's the only war we've got.? > > Today, thanks most recently to Obama - the first US president to be at war throughout two presidential terms - they needn't say that about Afghanistan: he's left seven others to choose from, having attacked Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen as well. > > But the permanent government (notably Democrat ?liberals?) insist on removing Trump for fear he'll end the killing in Afghanistan and elsewhere? > > ?CGE > _______________________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From moboct1 at aim.com Fri Nov 29 13:21:30 2019 From: moboct1 at aim.com (Mildred O'brien) Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2019 13:21:30 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Trump in Afghanistan In-Reply-To: <043D5F41-5B10-41B2-BBB7-2B5F794A5545@newsfromneptune.com> References: <043D5F41-5B10-41B2-BBB7-2B5F794A5545@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: <1864817671.969633.1575033690840@mail.yahoo.com> "...It's the only war we've got" sounds like a LBJ quote.? Can't say that nowadays...Besides, the conditions for war on Vietnam were established in the Eisenhower admin (Dulles bros) with partition of the country and promise of elections which never took place. mo'b? -----Original Message----- From: C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss To: peace-discuss Cc: Peace Sent: Thu, Nov 28, 2019 7:41 pm Subject: [Peace-discuss] Trump in Afghanistan WSJ: "Trump Says Taliban Peace Talks to Resume During Surprise Afghanistan Visit? In the early 1960's, some US military would say of Kennedy's attack on South Vietnam, "It's a dirty little war - but it's the only war we've got.? Today, thanks most recently to Obama - the first US president to be at war throughout two presidential terms - they needn't say that about Afghanistan: he's left seven others to choose from, having attacked Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen as well. But the permanent government (notably Democrat ?liberals?) insist on removing Trump for fear he'll end the killing in Afghanistan and elsewhere? ?CGE _______________________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Nov 29 17:23:27 2019 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2019 17:23:27 +0000 Subject: [Peace] Typical Hollywood, whitewash Message-ID: Scott Z. Burns? The Report exposes CIA torture, then absolves the Democrats By Joanne Laurier 29 November 2019 The Report, written and directed by Scott Z. Burns and screened at this year?s Toronto International Film Festival, is a film dramatization of the events surrounding the US Senate Intelligence Committee?s investigation into and writing of a report on pervasive CIA torture under the Bush administration. The film has now opened in the US. Burns previously produced An Inconvenient Truth (2006), featuring Al Gore, and has written several screenplays for Steven Soderbergh (The Informant!, Contagion, Side Effects, The Laundromat). [https://www.wsws.org/asset/7603dd87-6eec-4e28-a5e9-6b9d2adb6c6O/image.jpg?rendition=image480]The Report The production of the CIA torture document, which involved working through millions of pages of reports, cables, etc., took more than three years. It was completed in July 2012. Another two years passed, thanks to CIA and other obstructions, before the Intelligence Committee in April 2014 voted to publish a version of the executive summary and findings. Eight months later, after further efforts to suppress or excise portions of the document, the revised executive summary, findings and recommendations, 525 pages long, with many redactions, were made public in December 2014. The original 6,700-page report remains unpublished to this day, blocked by the CIA and the entire US political establishment on ?national security? grounds. Even the fragmentary portions that emerged, however, revealed the fiendish and sadistic methods adopted by American imperialism in its drive to subjugate the world. Burns? film importantly points to some of this, but its fatal flaw is its essential attachment to the Democratic Party and, in particular, the reactionary figure of California Senator Dianne Feinstein. It refuses to face up to the reality that the use of Gestapo-like methods by the US military and their defense or cover-up by the ruling elite revealed, as the WSWS said at the time, that American democracy was in shambles. ?The CIA torture program itself was only an extreme expression of a break with bourgeois legality that characterizes every aspect of US policy,? we wrote. As the movie opens, still under the Bush administration, Dan Jones (Adam Driver), the principal author of the eventual report, has just come from the FBI to work for the Intelligence Committee. Dianne Feinstein (Annette Bening) tasks him with leading an investigation into the CIA?s use of torture after the 9/11 attacks. That work, including the production of an initial report in early 2009, will last some six years. [https://www.wsws.org/asset/000a2e35-fa75-4603-a211-617ac5cbd76M/image.jpg?rendition=image480]Annette Bening in The Report Among many other things, Jones and his team discover that at least 119 individuals had been targeted by the CIA program involving the use of ?enhanced interrogation techniques? (EITs), contrary to the agency?s claims that the number of individuals involved was ?less than a hundred.? This was only one in a sea of CIA lies. The committee finds that at least 26 of those individuals (or 22 percent of the total) ?did not meet the standard for detention??that is, they were entirely innocent victims. The CIA retains two outside contractors?Air Force psychologists James Mitchell (Douglas Hodge) and Bruce Jessen (T. Ryder Smith), who had no field experience with respect to interrogation and had only prepared a research paper on how CIA agents could resist torture. Nevertheless, in 2006, the value of the CIA?s base contract with the company formed by the psychologists with all options exercised was in excess of $180 million; the contractors had received $81 million by the time of the contract?s termination in 2009. Horrifyingly, these pseudo-scientists, along with various CIA operatives and officials, devise and oversee techniques, fully in the spirit and tradition of Nazi experimentation, such as sleep deprivation in which a detainee is forced to stand with his arms shackled above his head, nudity, dietary manipulation, exposure to cold temperatures, cold showers, ?rough takedowns,? confinement in coffin-like boxes, ?rectal hydration? and ?rectal feeding,? and the use of mock executions. (One of the operatives, a sinister individual known only as ?Bernadette,? played by Maura Tierney, seems to be a composite character largely based on now-CIA Director Gina Haspel.) Guards strip detainees naked, shackle them in the standing positions and douse them repeatedly with cold water. The movie shows one detainee succumbing fatally to the most vicious torture. Some of The Report?s most chilling and intense scenes depict the torture while dead-faced CIA personnel coldly evaluate the effectiveness of their methods. This fascistic indifference extends to government figures such as John Yoo (Pun Bandhu), the attorney who pens the notorious ?torture memos? that help legalize the EITs. Jones concludes that because the detainees ?looked a little different, spoke a different language, it made it easier? for CIA agents to torture them. [https://www.wsws.org/asset/bf6a6de9-0e2f-40aa-8d53-0486072e950J/image.jpg?rendition=image480]Adam Driver in The Report Ted Levine plays the monstrous John Brennan, who oversees and wholeheartedly defends the CIA?s actions. Barack Obama made Brennan his chief counterterrorism adviser during his first term and elevated him to the post of CIA director in his second. As noted, Brennan and the White House work together to attempt to suppress the Senate report, withholding documents from the committee and then sitting on the completed draft of the report for two years. Under Brennan, the CIA spies on Jones and the other Senate staffers preparing the report, hacking into their computers, thus violating the constitutional separation of powers, the Fourth Amendment ban on arbitrary searches and seizures, and a number of US laws. The film is relatively hard-hitting in certain ways, but pulls its punches at decisive moments. The depiction of Feinstein as an anti-torture crusader is especially false and even obscene. One of the wealthiest members of Congress and married to an investment banker, the California senator has been for a quarter century a reliable backer and ally of the US military-intelligence apparatus. She has defended the National Security Agency spying programs and denounced whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning as criminals and traitors. (The movie includes her denunciation of Snowden.) After the release of the Intelligence Committee report in December 2014 was met with the unapologetic defense of torture by Brennan, along with Bush administration officials, Feinstein issued a groveling statement praising Brennan for showing ?that CIA leadership is prepared to prevent this from ever happening again?which is all-important.? Since its opening in theaters in mid-November, Burns? The Report has received generally favorable reviews. Unsurprisingly, none of the reviewers refer critically to the overall role of the Democratic Party and Feinstein in particular. Often, in fact, Bening?s performance as the California Senator has been singled out for praise. Variety, for example, writes: ?Nowhere is the balance of idealism and practicality, valor and hard-headedness, more exquisitely embodied than in Annette Bening?s superb performance as Dianne Feinstein.? One?s stomach turns. In a recent interview with the British Film Institute website, Burns expressed explicit support for the CIA, no doubt colored by the Democratic Party?s ever-closer embrace of the military-intelligence apparatus in its conflict with the Trump administration: ?I think our story is about a few people at the CIA. Also ? there were a lot of people at the agency, then and now, who want to do the right thing, who uphold the law. The intelligence communities in our country and in all of the Five Eyes [intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and US] are really important. So it?s not a condemnation of the CIA. It?s a commentary on what happens in any government when we lose accountability.? [Emphasis added.] No one has been punished for the massive crimes carried out under the Bush administration, from an illegal war of aggression in Iraq that claimed over a million lives to the systematic torture of detainees. The inability to hold anyone accountable for the grisly torture program exposes the breakdown of constitutional forms of rule in the United States. As the WSWS wrote: ?The United States is run by a gigantic military-intelligence apparatus that acts outside of any legal restraint. This apparatus works in close alliance with a financial aristocracy that is no less immune from accountability for its actions than the CIA torturers. The entire state is implicated in a criminal conspiracy against the social and democratic rights of the people, internationally and within the United States.? The Report would have the viewer believe that the criminal activity by the Bush administration and the Republicans was put a stop to?perhaps haltingly and inadequately?by Obama and the Democrats. In clich?d Hollywood manner, Dan Jones is elevated to the stature of a solitary American hero who saved the day. This flies in the face of social and political reality. The American war drive continued under Obama using somewhat different tactics and techniques?drone strikes, ?kill lists? and the prosecution of new wars in Libya and Syria. The daily headlines, of course, reveal that the eruption of imperialist violence continues under Donald Trump. The Achilles heel of Hollywood liberal and ?left? filmmaking continues to lie in its alliance with one of the parties fully complicit in the crimes and oppression carried out by the American capitalist social order. WSWS.ORG -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Fri Nov 29 22:21:35 2019 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2019 16:21:35 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Trump in Afghanistan In-Reply-To: <1864817671.969633.1575033690840@mail.yahoo.com> References: <1864817671.969633.1575033690840@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <8F6C5D1A-69B8-4DFB-9211-E25313320322@newsfromneptune.com> Not LBJ I think but his officer corps, CIA, and State Dept. His inability to get out ended his presidency. Sent from my iPhone > On Nov 29, 2019, at 7:21 AM, Mildred O'brien wrote: > > ? > "...It's the only war we've got" sounds like a LBJ quote. Can't say that nowadays...Besides, the conditions for war on Vietnam were established in the Eisenhower admin (Dulles bros) with partition of the country and promise of elections which never took place. > > mo'b > > > -----Original Message----- > From: C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss > To: peace-discuss > Cc: Peace > Sent: Thu, Nov 28, 2019 7:41 pm > Subject: [Peace-discuss] Trump in Afghanistan > > WSJ: "Trump Says Taliban Peace Talks to Resume During Surprise Afghanistan Visit? > > > In the early 1960's, some US military would say of Kennedy's attack on South Vietnam, "It's a dirty little war - but it's the only war we've got.? > > Today, thanks most recently to Obama - the first US president to be at war throughout two presidential terms - they needn't say that about Afghanistan: he's left seven others to choose from, having attacked Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen as well. > > But the permanent government (notably Democrat ?liberals?) insist on removing Trump for fear he'll end the killing in Afghanistan and elsewhere? > > ?CGE > > _______________________________________________ > Peace-discuss mailing list > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbw292002 at gmail.com Sat Nov 30 06:39:53 2019 From: jbw292002 at gmail.com (John W.) Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2019 00:39:53 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Trump in Afghanistan In-Reply-To: <812799532.894664.1575031764114@mail.yahoo.com> References: <043D5F41-5B10-41B2-BBB7-2B5F794A5545@newsfromneptune.com> <9A5EBB06-CD12-4425-8647-7BB686CA84F5@newsfromneptune.com> <812799532.894664.1575031764114@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: On Fri, Nov 29, 2019 at 6:49 AM Mildred O'brien via Peace < peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: I'm sick of "let's make a deal." The only "deal" the wheeler-dealer wants > to make is HIS deal--which he will re-neg whenever he feel's like it (and > then deny he ever did the deal in the first place). > > mo'b > Amen, mo'b!! > -----Original Message----- > From: C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss > To: peace-discuss > Cc: Peace > Sent: Thu, Nov 28, 2019 7:45 pm > Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Trump in Afghanistan > > [FT] Trump says talks with Taliban have resumed > US president Donald Trump said peace talks with the Taliban had resumed > as he made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thanksgiving, > appearing at a US air force base alongside Afghan president Ashraf Ghani. > > Following a meeting with Mr Ghani, Mr Trump told reporters that the Taliban > ?wants to make a deal? and that US officials were ?meeting with them?. > > > > On Nov 28, 2019, at 7:41 PM, C. G. Estabrook > wrote: > > > > WSJ: "Trump Says Taliban Peace Talks to Resume During Surprise > Afghanistan Visit? > > < > https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-makes-surprise-visit-to-afghanistan-11574968770?mod=hp_lead_pos1 > > > > > > In the early 1960's, some US military would say of Kennedy's attack on > South Vietnam, "It's a dirty little war - but it's the only war we've got.? > > > > Today, thanks most recently to Obama - the first US president to be at > war throughout two presidential terms - they needn't say that about > Afghanistan: he's left seven others to choose from, having attacked Iraq, > Libya, Pakistan, the Philippines, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen as well. > > > > But the permanent government (notably Democrat ?liberals?) insist on > removing Trump for fear he'll end the killing in Afghanistan and elsewhere? > > > > ?CGE > > > > _______________________________________________ > Peace-discuss mailing list > Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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