[Peace-discuss] News from Neptune #418 notes

Fri Apr 19 23:17:14 UTC 2019

News from Neptune episode #418
A "Impeachment for War" edition
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEzxbMXESxM

A list of links to references made on the show.

United Nations Charter
https://www.un.org/en/charter-united-nations/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdGI4iWuzJw -- John Bolton's remarks on new 
anti-Cuban sanctions and Cuban reaction.

Good Friday & Passover

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_friday
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover

Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride" poem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere%27s_Ride

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (painting)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Midnight_Ride_of_Paul_Revere_(painting)

US Constitution
https://usconstitution.net/const.txt

Impeachment reference from Article 2 section 4.
Treason reference from Article 3 section 3.

Related: See/hear the Glenn Greenwald/James Risen debate on treason in 
https://theintercept.com/2018/02/21/intercepted-podcast-russiamania-glenn-greenwald-vs-james-risen/

Related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS0AlApiWLs -- Jimmy Dore and 
Aaron Mate review Russiagate including what a disappointment The Intercept 
has become with specific mention of James Risen's misuse of the word 'treason':

> Aaron Mate: [...] Listen, I can tell you that I tried to write this
> stuff at The Intercept. It wasn't welcome there. I wrote one piece about
> Rachel Maddow; you covered this on your show, I wrote that piece about
> Rachel Maddow and talking about how she covered Russia more than all
> other issues combined and going through and debunking a lot of her
> conspiracy theories; basically, arguing that she was a propagandist.
> That piece did very well but after that I was never welcome back at The
> Intercept again. And I tried, you know. And I thought that of all
> outlets, the outlet that calls itself fearless and adversarial would
> want to put resources that challenging the claims of intelligence
> officials like John Brennan and challenging this conspiracy theory that
> was so widespread across the corporate media. But they weren't
> interested, and instead they went and hired Jim Risen.
> 
> [Jimmy Dore throws his head back and laughs.]
> 
> Dore: Jim Risen, who famously misused the word 'treason': it was pointed
> out to him on video that he was misusing it, he admitted he was misusing
> it, and then he said I don't give a fuck I'm gonna keep misusing it
> because words aren't that important to journalists like Jim Risen when
> he's angry at someone like Donald Trump he reveals all the cracks in his
> personality. A guy like Trump revealed every crack in Jim Risen's
> personality. And it was shone a light on and that guy fell down harder
> on the job than fucking anybody and I wish he would quit doing what he's
> doing.

War of Aggression
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_aggression
> Reading the Tribunal's final judgment in court, British alternate judge
> Norman Birkett said:
> 
> The charges in the Indictment that the defendants planned and waged
> aggressive wars are charges of the utmost gravity. War is essentially an
> evil thing. Its consequences are not confined to the belligerent states
> alone, but affect the whole world.
> 
> To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international
> crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other
> war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the
> whole.[1][1] http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/judnazi.asp#common

Mueller report (redacted, searchable)
https://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2019/images/04/18/mueller-report-searchable.pdf

Glenn Greenwald and David Cay Johnston debate
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/4/19/the_mueller_report_glenn_greenwald_vs

Rob Urie on "Why Russiagate Will Never Go Away"
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/19/why-russiagate-will-never-go-away/

Belt and Road Initiative
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_and_Road_Initiative

Obama's request of bankers, post Obama administration: he tells bankers to 
thank him for his work on their behalf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjVFfX4BtvI -- from "Moderate Rebels"

@andyecono asked in https://twitter.com/andyecono/status/1117890855447056385
> Imagine if Grenfell had some really important stained glass windows and 
> examples of gothic architecture, instead of just human beings.

Russell Mokhiber no "Why Boeing and Its Executives Should be Prosecuted for 
Manslaughter"
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/19/why-boeing-and-its-executives-should-be-prosecuted-for-manslaughter/

Joshua Frank on "Top 20 Mueller Report “Findings”"
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/19/top-20-mueller-report-findings/

Andrew Levine on "What Will It Take For Trump to Get His Due?"
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/19/what-will-it-take-for-trump-to-get-his-due/

Jeffrey St. Clair's "Bernie and the Sandernistas"
https://store.counterpunch.org/product/bernie-the-sandernistas/

Jim Dey on "Facts behind tax campaign slogans tell different tale"
http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/columns/2019-04-18/jim-dey-facts-behind-tax-campaign-slogans-tell-different-tale.html

"Capital in the Twenty-first Century" by Thomas Piketty
Complete book: 
https://dowbor.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/14Thomas-Piketty.pdf

Financial transaction tax
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_transaction_tax

Jessica Smith on "Lawmakers introduce bill to tax financial transactions"
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lawmakers-introduce-bill-to-tax-wall-street-211353714.html

Andrew Yang on "Financial Transaction Tax" from his campaign page
https://www.yang2020.com/policies/financial-transaction-tax/

Daniel Altman on "To Reduce Inequality, Tax Wealth, Not Income" which also 
endorses a "flat wealth tax"
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/opinion/to-reduce-inequality-tax-wealth-not-income.html
> American household wealth totaled more than $58 trillion in 2010. A flat
> wealth tax of just 1.5 percent on financial assets and other wealth like
> housing, cars and business ownership would have been more than enough to
> replace all the revenue of the income, estate and gift taxes, which
> amounted to about $833 billion after refunds. Brackets of, say, zero
> percent up to $500,000 in wealth, 1 percent for wealth between $500,000
> and $1 million, and 2 percent for wealth above $1 million would probably
> have done the trick as well.

-J