Through the winter’s ice and cold Down Nicollet Avenue A city aflame fought fire and ice ‘Neath an occupier’s boots King Trump’s private army from the DHS Guns belted to their coats Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law Or so their story goes Against smoke and rubber bullets By the dawn’s early light Citizens stood for justice Their voices ringing through the night And there were bloody footprints Where mercy should have stood And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets Alex Pretti and Renee Good
Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice Singing through the bloody mist We’ll take our stand for this land And the stranger in our midst Here in our home they killed and roamed In the winter of ’26 We’ll remember the names of those who died On the streets of Minneapolis
Trump’s federal thugs beat up on His face and his chest Then we heard the gunshots And Alex Pretti lay in the snow, dead Their claim was self defense, sir Just don’t believe your eyes It’s our blood and bones And these whistles and phones Against Miller and Noem’s dirty lies
Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice Crying through the bloody mist We’ll remember the names of those who died On the streets of Minneapolis
Now they say they’re here to uphold the law But they trample on our rights If your skin is black or brown my friend You can be questioned or deported on sight
In chants of ICE out now Our city’s heart and soul persists Through broken glass and bloody tears On the streets of Minneapolis
Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice Singing through the bloody mist Here in our home they killed and roamed In the winter of ’26 We’ll take our stand for this land And the stranger in our midst We’ll remember the names of those who died On the streets of Minneapolis We’ll remember the names of those who died On the streets of Minneapolis
NFL great and human rights activist, Alan Page, protesting ICE killings and abductions, is pictured above.
Democracy Dies Democrats, Cops Supine in Response
Commentary
Watched video of second ICE shooting Saturday morning.
Sick ICE bastards.
We no longer live in a classical liberal democracy.
At moment, ICE is bombarding citizens in Minneapolis with gas after ICE shot and killed a man on the sidewalk.
"They're not cops; they're not ICE; they're NAZIs," a witness told Status Coup News.
Facebook videos below show some eight ICE personnel shooting another protester. Another video shot multiple ICE shootings, as an ICE conspirator claps.
Palestinian girl Hind Rajab poses for photograph in this undated
handout picture obtained by Reuters on February 10, 2024 [Palestine Red
Crescent Society/Reuters]
Genocide Machine and Joe Biden Under Fire
Singer-songwriter Macklemore just released a powerful opus against Israeli-American genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.
Macklemore's song, Hinds Hall, is named after Hind Rajab joined in song title with Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall. The six-year-old Gazan girl's family was slaughtered by Israeli Defense Forces, trapping the girl in a car begging for help in her cell phone to the Red Crescent Society. Israel proceeded to slaughter the rescue party sent by Red Recreant, then murdered Hind Rajab in a horrid act much of which is caught on audio. Macklemore's Hinds Hall is below.
The Hillary Clinton-Joe Biden-John Kerry promotion of authoritarians and dictators will continue of course in the new administration.
The passing of Robert Fisk merits continual regard for his rigorous critique of Middle Eastern policy, American imperialism, Israeli human rights atrocities and propaganda.
The scholar and human rights advocate Richard Falk recalls Fisk in an interview with Daniel Falcone this weekend, The Life of Robert Fisk.
Here's an extended excerpt:
Richard Falk: Fisk was a vivid writer with a startling ability to observe, comment, and interpret. Fisk could be read for literary satisfaction as well as for a kind of episodic journalistic autobiography that brought together his experience of contemporary wars and strife. What his published books establish is the extent of Fisk’s illuminating understanding of turmoil in the world, and the degree to which the blood being spilled can be traced back to European colonialism and forward to American imperial ambition in both Asia and the Middle East.
Daniel Falcone: Can you explain how in your view Robert Fisk’s reporting and writings shaped understandings and perceptions of the Middle East? Do you recall any professional and personal interactions with him over the years? How do you categorize his journalistic reputation and writing style?
Richard Falk: Robert Fisk was one of the few journalists in the world relied upon to give first-hand reports from the fields of strife on the conflicts occurring throughout the Middle East. His reportage seemed guided by an overriding commitment to truthfulness as to facts, brashness and vividness of reporting style, and an interpretative understanding that got it right from perspectives of human consequences.
He was given the most dangerous combat assignments in several of the most challenging hot spots in the world, including Northern Ireland during The Troubles, Lebanon (declaring Beirut as his home) during its decade-long civil war, and Afghanistan during the period when the West was arming Afghan extremists to oppose the Russian presence. In the latter role, he was badly beaten by Afghans enraged by the Western interventions and yet Fisk explained to the world while still bloody that he empathized with Afghan anger as their villages and homes were being devastated by U.S. air attacks and a combat role that escalated the violence.
Specifically, in the Middle East, Fisk gave the world a truly independent, informed, and critical understanding of the struggles occurring throughout the region, including an unsparing exposure of Israeli abusive policies and practices toward the Palestinian people. Fisk’s departure from the region left a journalistic gap that has not been filled. It is important to appreciate that there are few war correspondents in the world that combine Fisk’s reporting fearlessness with his interpretative depth, engaging writing style, and candid exposures of the foibles of the high and mighty.
Fisk never sought refuge by hiding behind curtains of political correctness. On the contrary, he prided himself on a commitment to what might be called ‘judgmental journalism’ in his professional demeanor, which is best understood as portraying reality as he saw and experienced it, which in Middle East contexts meant stripping away the geopolitical delusions peddled by powerful government to hide their true motives. He was particularly controversial in recent years by depicting the U.S. anti-Damascus combat role in Syria as not really about the future of Syria or even counterterrorism, as Washington claimed, but was mainly motivated, with prodding from Tel Aviv and Riyadh, by anti-Iran, anti-Shi’ia containment and destabilization goals.
Can you imagine a Biden administration official or a corporate journalist calling for human rights in South America or the Middle East next year?
Such calls would incur the wrath of the increasingly ridiculous woke, politically correct crowd and its ally, the foreign policy blob.
Robert Fisk (and Richard Falk) never falter from forthright declaration that human beings are human and their insistence that foreign policy recognize this fact.
For a dose of sanity the next four years, Falk notes:
In journalistic and academic circles there are a few bright spots in the
United States. As online sources of information, insight, and reportage
sympathetic to the Palestinians I would mention Mondoweiss, Middle East Eye, and the Electronic Intifada,
each well edited, online publishers of quality material. Among
individuals who have been outspoken and influential I would mention Marwan Bishara, Phyllis Bennis, Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, Ilan Pappe, Noura Erakat, Lawrence Davidson, and Virginia Tilley.
One hopes the Democratic Party recognizes the commitments of its betters.
Screen grab from video captured on evening of May 25,
2020 by onlooker Darnella Frazier shows Minneapolis police
officer with knee on neck of "forgery" suspect. Darnella Frazier/ Facebook
"You just really killed that man, Bro."
Some Summer rituals cannot be curtailed by the coronavirus.
It's early Summer, and it's open season on black and brown men for police.
A black man is his 40s was choked to death by Minneapolis police last night.
The police tried to cover up the killing, falsely declaring a "medical incident" is the culprit.
Minneapolis police, aka pig Derek Chauvin #1087 murdered George Floyd. George was handcuffed and face down on the ground. He was killed in broad daylight in front of people who pleaded for this devil to take his foot off of his neck. Good cop Tou Thao #7162 aided in the murder. pic.twitter.com/Bkpg7KB1L8
The unarmed man killed by the police matched the description of a non-violent suspected forger in the area.
Naturally, one police killer choked the man to death as another stood by nonchalantly, until the second cop asked objecting passersby to stand further back.
The Facebook video of police choking a man to death, begging for his life as lay in- custody, screaming that he couldn't breathe, is repulsive.
The police who killed the man said, "what do you want?" as he dug his knee into the victim's neck for several minutes.
Remember Philando Castile, human being. Mr. Castile
is pictured above after being gunned down by a Minnesota
cop during a traffic stop. Castile's young daughter was
in the back seat and his spouse was driving during
the execution by police officer Jeronimo Yanez.
"I watched the dash cam video. And it broke me. ... So today, I stand up and speak out, even if it means standing alone. To the family of Philando Castile, to those that loved him, and to everyone who watched that video and felt broken inside, I am sorry. This shouldn’t have happened. His life mattered." - Detective Angela Kamoske of the Madison, Wisconsin Police Department
Madison, Wisconsin — The police execution of Philando Castile in Minnesota on July 6, 2016 is perhaps the most depraved killing of an innocent man during a period in which police turned into death squads across America.
Naturally, police unions defend the killings.
But amid the public outcry and international protests after the Castile execution, one police officer stood up and said, Philando Castile's life mattered; this should not have happened.
Lt Angela Kamoske of the Madison Police Dept. Alone among every other police
officer in the country, Kamoske spoke out
against the killing of Philando Castile.
Ms. Kamoske is now a Lieutenant working in Madison's south side.
Kamoske listened to audio, watched the cell-phone video and read documents chronicling the killing of Castile with his family in the car.
Kamoske then stood up, spoke out, and acclaimed the humanity of Philando Castile and wrote a letter detailing her broken feeling and stating simply: His life mattered.
I have been a police officer for 19 years. I love my job and serving my community. I have learned over the course of my career to never assume anything. As I watched the events unfold on July 6, 2016, on a Facebook Live feed, I thought that there must be more that happened. There must have been such a threat that wasn’t captured on this video, that forced Officer Yanez to feel his only option was to shoot into a vehicle with a child in the back seat.
Over the past two days, I have listened to the audio interviews. I have read the documents. And then I watched the dash cam video. And it broke me. Officer Yanez was in a position that if he perceived a threat, he could have disengaged. He could have taken other steps to ensure everyone’s safety, and not have forced this outcome.
Shooting a seat-belted man, with a child in the back seat, was not the only option. Until those of us who wear the badge are willing to stand up and speak out when we see things that are wrong, and lead hard conversations, how can we ever expect change? How can we ever expect to rebuild trust within our communities? Barbecues and pick-up basketball games are nice, but that’s not going to do it.
So today, I stand up and speak out, even if it means standing alone. To the family of Philando Castile, to those that loved him, and to everyone who watched that video and felt broken inside, I am sorry. This shouldn’t have happened. His life mattered.
Have a fun and safe 2020.
Let's hope no more such acts of courage and decency become necessary.
Until that time, I salute Angela Kamoske, a lonely voice for humanity from the ranks of the police.
The National Lawyers Guild - Minnesota Chapter unconditionally condemns in the strongest possible terms the murder of Philando Castile by St. Anthony Village police officer Jeronimo Yanez. The NLG expresses its deepest sympathy and condolences to Mr. Castile’s family and loved ones.
It is a tremendous outrage that the repeated unjustifiable police killings, especially of African American males, have become such common knowledge yet continue unabated. While no one deserves to die at the hands of law enforcement, there is no pretext for police to attempt to rationalize the murder of Mr. Castile because he had so clearly done nothing wrong, was an exemplary citizen, and the horrendous death and police indifference to the effects of their actions was so painfully
captured on cell phone video.
The NLG demands that government leaders end their pattern of enforcing the continued deadly status quo by failing to take any concrete action to hold police accountable or enact any meaningful reforms. The salience of this latest atrocity must spur immediate action to hold the responsible police officer accountable and initiate systemic change to end the serial police killings as well as the larger dynamic of police abuse and oppression in communities of color. The NLG recognizes that the most affected communities must have a voice in the specific changes to made, but calls for the following actions to be taken immediately:
1. A special independent prosecutor must be appointed to investigate and bring criminal charges against the murderer in this case. The special prosecutor must be independent of police influence, and have access to funding needed to hire investigators, experts, associates and cover other expenses needed to conduct a full investigation and prosecution.
Responses to previous police shootings have repeatedly and invariably demonstrated that elected and career prosecutors are too beholden to police interests to be capable to delivering justice. The Ramsey County Attorney, the governor, and other appropriate officials must collaborate to make the special independent prosecutor a reality.
2. The office of an independent prosecutor must be permanently established to investigate and prosecute cases of deadly force and other abusive police conduct.
3. Minnesota law must be amended so that police officers have no more authority to use deadly force than other citizens. Specifically, Minnesota Statute § 609.066 which authorizes use of deadly force by peace officers must be repealed.
4. A special civilian commission must be established to propose specific, comprehensive and systemic reforms to police powers, policies, and governance. A majority of the commission must include representatives of communities disproportionately harmed by police abuse.
Protect what is sacred at all costs; entities that inherently sustain life such as water, air, and land are of the utmost importance
Katie Krow Kloth is more courageous than us all.
An indomitable human rights worker, intellectual and warrior, Katie needs our support as she battles forces intent on taking her liberty for protecting our Earth.
News from the Front: I seed comrade Katie "Krow" Kloth tonight at the Iron County jail in Hurley, Wisconsin. She was extradited back to Wisconsin from the fight with the Black Snake in Dakota. We shared stories about sugarin, luminous yellow birch, chaga, nettin, pickin wild onions and bears coming out of their winter lodges. We laughed. She's reading "John Fire Lame Deer: Seeker of Visions" Next visitation is Sunday 2 pm for one hour.
From Support Krow
Arrested in North Dakota while supporting the struggle against the Dakota Access pipeline
On April 12, Krow was taken into custody, to Morton County Jail, where she awaits extradition. True to form—always thinking of others— she spent her last day on the outside supporting other No DAPL prisoners and rescuing a cat. Check the Updates and Solidarity page for more info. And please donate if you can, as Krow has a long road ahead and many legal fees outstanding.
Warning: The Red Power Media video below is quite graphic
Sick pigs attack, beat and imprison Katie Kloth
Below is Krow’s statement after her initial release from jail on February 27, and before turning herself in on April 12. Krow’s legal case set a precedent in North Dakota as the first case to release someone on bond preceding a formal extradition hearing.
In the wake of my recent and precarious freedom, I’m forever grateful to my support network of comrades and families and their ongoing help throughout my continued legal struggle. The legal front for the ongoing fight to protect the water is just beginning. More than ever, people need to recognize that there are different front-line struggles everywhere. We must be prepared to fight for lives worth living instead of just surviving in this tyrannical mess, engage actively in prisoner support, and bring our legal A-game to the table for folks in need; the fascist, white supremacist Trump administration is amping up military funding and police protections to better quell both ongoing and future acts of political defiance and revolution.
I have never desired the kind of attention my legal debacle is receiving, but because it exists, I want to share helpful insights from my wretched experiences within the legal system and stints of incarceration dealt to me throughout my adult life due to fighting for the preservation of clean water, air, and land.
“Trump’s America” is the most fascist and fabricated place we could have never hoped to experience; colonization and white supremacy inform Trump’s every awful decision. He and his innumerable goons from each so-called authoritative entity have declared war on the people.
Now that the “No DAPL” struggle to protect the water exists under this regime, people need to reevaluate their tactics. It is STILL time to warrior-up, but many aspects of the fights in our struggles must become invisible. This is a constant practice in killing the ego, as we do not need to lose any more rad comrades (especially black and brown folks) to the state or prison industrial complex. Incarceration does not “prove” a point that we deserve freedom. We must fight back to reclaim our freedom and spaces, while being creative to avoid capture.
In conjunction, we must continue to practice and advocate non-compliance with the state (cops and affiliated authoritative figures) as well as resist grand juries; both entities only seek to infiltrate, disrupt, and destroy our communities.
For those that are unaware, the police and FBI continue to harass and violently attack rad comrades both within institutions and in the relatively free world; in the greater Bismarck and Mandan areas indigenous people are especially targeted, as well as any other alleged accomplices perceived to be affiliated with the “NO DAPL” struggle. We must make a strong stand against these perpetration s in our communities. We do NOT accept nor recognize “their Amerikkka”, and cannot be “rehabilitated”.
Colonization and white supremacy are some of the root causes of our pain in this tyrannical and destructive capitalist empire. We are living during dark times, thus the realization that patience is key must come to light. The Zapatistas took 10 years to effectively organize their indigenous struggle for sovereign existence, and it took approximately six years to organize the halt of the world’s largest proposed open pit iron mine in the Penokee Hills of occupied Ojibwe territory.
The opposition that works to disrupt and dismantle our struggles and movements energetically equips the police and military with seemingly endless resources that easily trump anything “we” have on all fronts. We must be strategic, clever, and patient in our resistance efforts and desires for industrial capitalistic collapse.
We do NOT need “everyone,” we need the RIGHT people, however there is something to be said about strength in numbers. It would behoove us to ban together with as many rad folks as possible from different classes and demographics that are willing to genuinely embrace a diversity of tactics to dismantle the status quo. To paraphrase the Black Panther Cubs, the white priveleged and destructive ruling class will not give up their power easily. Pegging ourselves against each other only serves “THEIR” system’s interests.
The law and government policies are STILL largely written by the predominantly white, elite 1% ruling class, and that is still whom the law benefits and protects; this means corporate and industrial “America” reigns supreme. The law does not benefit the majority of water protectors, indigenous people, undocumented folks, people of nonchristian religious denominations (especially muslims), people of color, folks in the LBGTQA community, or any minority for that matter.
Protect what is sacred at all costs; entities that inherently sustain life such as water, air, and land are of the utmost importance. Without a healthy land-base, we are no “people” and there are no people. As the Cree proverb says, “… you cannot eat money.”
Since colonization has deeply penetrated the spirit, mind, and bodies of most peoples, decolonization begins when we not only imagine ourselves and our conduct when left up to our own devices, but we actually start to embody ancient teachings, more intuitive modes of operation, and natural restorative justice for all creatures, all the while being careful not to culturally appropriate. We must actively deconstruct the mental, physical, and spiritual damage done by brainwashed white supremacist mainstream society, and the widespread institutionalized oppression it breeds.
Decolonize our ways of thinking about “activism” by leaning more toward grassroots resistance to combat the ever- expanding capitalist nightmare. Do, “… not act like rabbits, act like wolves… turn fear and panic into the sharp blade of survival,” (courtesy of Three Day Road, by Joseph Boyden).
If we are to support and work toward the return of Turtle Island and all of it’s lands and waters to the indigenous people therein, we must abandon all white liberal tactics and approaches, and strategies derived from such things. They do not apply to all people and originate from a privileged upbringing sheltered from many forms of oppression, and often use colonized means, words and intentions in an already unjust system. This liberal approach hinders long term revolution and multiple insurrections.
We all exist on a spectrum of colonization and decolonization, but the majority of the white “ruling” class is so far removed from their ancient tribal ways and land-bases that they continuously make spirit-less decisions and do not understand reverence for land, water or air. Praying alone will NOT stop their greed and destruction. As many Lakota people I respect have said, “We must meet the creator halfway,” actions speak louder than words. Both prayer and the implied warpath coexist as ancient traditions in innumerable cultures.
Strive to be more invisible as necessary, listen to decolonized wisdom, and always recognize there’s a difference between “olders” and elders. Restrict conflict and dissent to internal discussions within struggles, otherwise we do the fascists works for them; this largely means stop making stupid Facebook posts; people are incriminating themselves and other people due to the enormous size of their annoying egos. Security Culture is paramount; more antiquated forms of communication are typically safer, and modern technological devices in general are often easily surveiled. Be smart and remember that people have been imprisoned for simply SAYING things, aside from doing them, and, oh yeah, Trump is Czar.
There is no reason to be bored in general, or confused about what or where the “resistance” to the status quo and it’s ongoing destruction are… It IS and NEEDS to be everywhere! Privileged yuppies should NOT be allowed to escape to the suburbs out of the reaches of oppression or the resistance. We must be invisible, but simultaneously seen and felt everywhere. Be effective, NOT symbolic.
In Struggle for the Wild,
Krow/ Twig/ Katie Kloth
About Krow’s Case
On February 4, while supporting the No DAPL struggle, Krow (Katie Kloth) was assaulted and arrested by a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer (there is video of the incident below). She was walking on a public road, away from the Sacred Stone camp, when she was chased down by the officer. It is believed that she was specifically targeted because of her ongoing involvement and visibility within the No DAPL resistance, which had resulted in two arrests on misdemeanor charges previous to this incident. Krow was also known at Standing Rock for being an advocate for creating a unified front in fighting the pipeline.
Krow has been charged with violation of felony probation and was held at Morton County Correctional Center until February 27. The probation is from previous charges in Wisconsin stemming from an environmental protest against mining in the Penokee Hills in 2013, for which she served nine months in jail. After a bail reduction hearing, Krow was assigned a cash-only bail of $100,000. The stipulations of the judge required that the bail be paid in full. Donations to support Krow will go towards paying lawyers, commissary, postage, travel for supporters visiting Krow, and/or helping Krow with basic needs.
Krow is an activist, artist, forager, sustainable farmer, biologist, and amazing person loved by many within the environmental movement. We need to show her as much solidarity and support as we can at this vital time. In Krow’s own words, “We must negate state repression by protecting ourselves and land-bases therein; we must not give our people up, and recognize that to be in solidarity with one another is more akin to the idea of ‘harmony’ than ‘unity.’ Harmony implies that we can all do different things within the same song, and still find conclusion together.”
Whether you are a direct action environmental activist or simply support the No DAPL struggle and protection of the land and all of its people, join us in supporting Krow, in solidarity with all things wild and free.
Updated - Vietnam War combat veterans—aware of reporting on the vectoring of pathogens and pollutants into Wisconsin society by industrialized 'farming'—advise the current horror inflicted in southeast Asia on Vietnamese victims by unexploded American ordnance (UXO) and Agent Orange should inform public policy, pointing to recent pieces on the topic by George Black, The Nation; see also Haberman, NYT).
Agent Orange from the 1960s still deforming and killing people? Yes, this is still happening in 2015, the magnitude of the horror to which those American veterans who still live in Vietnam attest.
Agent Orange and other defoliants—generally regarded as among the most most toxic molecules ever synthesized by human beings—are extreme examples of mass poisoning, intended to destroy the verdant Eco-system of southeast Asia to facilitate killing southeast Asians held in disfavor of the U.S. government during the Vietnam War.
Dow and Monsanto which manufactured the weapons of Operation Ranch Hand (1961-71) are imprecations to many Vietnam-era veterans, one reason why Republicans in the Bush-Cheney administration targeted and even imprisoned Vietnam-era veterans who "tenaciously [pursued] a claim for [disability] benefits" sustained during their service to our country. (Horton, Harper's Magazine) That administration had to discourage Vietnam veterans from pretending to negative health consequences sustained from the war.
Many veterans with whom I have spoken place Karl Rove behind some of these criminal prosecutions, an unconfirmed fact, but not much happened during the Bush-Cheney administration without the chickenhawk Rove's go-ahead.
You don't have to look too far these days to find a Vietnam War veteran exposed to Agent Orange and other predictable effects of the Vietnam War, the observant might find such men at a community hospice.
Whether American war planners intended to kill, deform and traumatize Americans and Vietnamese or whether killing, deforming and traumatizing are merely predictable consequential side effects of the war, to victims of Agent Orange it doesn't matter.
Big Ag using antimicrobials on an industrial scale (John Hopkins Center for a Livable Future) in the production of milk for example causes the "evolution and proliferation of antimicrobial-resistant strains of bacteria."
As victims of MRSA, Ecoli, and other pathogens proliferate, should Blue Baby syndrome (aka methemoglobinemia now prevalent in Yakima Valley in Washington state, caused by too many nitrates in surface waters and aquifers) come to Wisconsin, the local CAFO operating as LLC business entities will become as obscene to Wisconsin citizens as Dow and Monsanto are to Vietnam combat veterans—like the amiable bunch of crazy bastards of an old unit in Marine Force Recon who operated in southeast Asia and did many things, some of which were legal under international law.
As Wayne Griffiths of Bayfield County (Wisconsin) writes: "As a Vietnam-era military medic I think the we should consider the lessons from Vietnam. In particular I am concerned about the use of chemicals in an environment and the long term health problems they can cause for generations to come. We need to consider what we do today is inherited by future generations."
Someone close to me traveled to Poland in 1979 and her most enduring memory is the papers of legitimacy that Poland demanded each foreigner carry at all times, under threat of immediate arrest.
In a classical liberal democracy organized upon human rights, the proper response to a militaristic demand for papers is: Fuck off.
But human rights and Poland were never close, and one can state the United States is happily skipping down the same road.
I mention the experience of one American a few decades past the totalitarian, anti-Semitic hell of 1940s Poland because the United States does not require even a demand for papers to "arrest U.S. citizens, strip them of due process and indefinitely detain them," as Chris Hedges notes in his widely ignored, must-read piece on the federal case, Hedges, Chomsky, Ellsberg, O’Brien, Bolen, Jonsdottir and Wargalla v. Obama.
Notes Hedges: "The lawsuit, Hedges v. Obama, challenges Section 1021(b)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). It was signed into law the last day of 2011" as the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012.
'The administration’s unstated goal appears to be to get court to agree that [the administration] has the authority to use the military to detain U.S. citizens,' Bruce Afran, one of two attorneys handling the case, said when I spoke with him Sunday. 'It appears to be asking the court to go against nearly 150 years of repeated decisions in which the court has refused to give the military such power. No court in U.S. history has ever recognized the right of the government to use the military to detain citizens. It would be very easy for the government to state in the brief that citizens and permanent residents are not within the scope of this law. But once again, it will not do this. It says the opposite. It argues that the activities of the plaintiffs do not fall within the scope of the law, but it clearly is reserving for itself the right to use the statute to detain U.S. citizens indefinitely.'"
What's up with this, Mr, President? Will you defend this nonsensical position in a public address?
I ask, in part because I maintain that many Americans would have a serious problem with this totalitarian position, redolent of Poland, 1940s. On a more uplifting note, check out today's The Dimming Prospects for Human Survival by Noam Chomsky.
"We will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. So it falls to us as best we can to forward the example that he
set: to make decisions guided not by hate, but by love; to never
discount the difference that one person can make; to strive for a future
that is worthy of his sacrifice."
--President Obama on December 5, 2013
THE PRESIDENT: At his trial in 1964, Nelson Mandela closed his
statement from the dock saying, “I have fought against white domination,
and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal
of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in
harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to
live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am
prepared to die.”
And Nelson Mandela lived for that ideal, and he made it real. He
achieved more than could be expected of any man. Today, he has gone
home. And we have lost one of the most influential, courageous, and
profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this
Earth. He no longer belongs to us -- he belongs to the ages.
Through his fierce dignity and unbending will to sacrifice his own
freedom for the freedom of others, Madiba transformed South Africa --
and moved all of us. His journey from a prisoner to a President
embodied the promise that human beings -- and countries -- can change
for the better. His commitment to transfer power and reconcile with
those who jailed him set an example that all humanity should aspire to,
whether in the lives of nations or our own personal lives. And the fact
that he did it all with grace and good humor, and an ability to
acknowledge his own imperfections, only makes the man that much more
remarkable. As he once said, “I am not a saint, unless you think of a
saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”
I am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from Nelson
Mandela's life. My very first political action, the first thing I ever
did that involved an issue or a policy or politics, was a protest
against apartheid. I studied his words and his writings. The day that
he was released from prison gave me a sense of what human beings can do
when they’re guided by their hopes and not by their fears. And like so
many around the globe, I cannot fully imagine my own life without the
example that Nelson Mandela set, and so long as I live I will do what I
can to learn from him.
To Graça Machel and his family, Michelle and I extend our deepest
sympathy and gratitude for sharing this extraordinary man with us. His
life’s work meant long days away from those who loved him the most. And
I only hope that the time spent with him these last few weeks brought
peace and comfort to his family.
To the people of South Africa, we draw strength from the example of
renewal, and reconciliation, and resilience that you made real. A free
South Africa at peace with itself -- that’s an example to the world, and
that’s Madiba’s legacy to the nation he loved.
We will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. So it
falls to us as best we can to forward the example that he set: to make
decisions guided not by hate, but by love; to never discount the
difference that one person can make; to strive for a future that is
worthy of his sacrifice.
For now, let us pause and give thanks for the fact that Nelson
Mandela lived -- a man who took history in his hands, and bent the arc
of the moral universe toward justice. May God Bless his memory and keep
him in peace.
END
5:30 P.M. EST
Numerous peace and justice organizations demand end to the inhumane treatment of Bradley Manning whom the military is trying to drive insane through unbearable conditions—a common tactic used by oppressive states. YOU can write Manning and let him know he is not forgotten. Via mal
Bradley Manning c/o Courage to Resist 484 Lake Park Ave #41 Oakland CA 94610 USA - Letters will be opened; 'contraband' discarded and then mailed weekly to Bradley via someone on Bradley's approved correspondence list.
Note: David House, supporter and personal friend of Bradley Manning, traveled to Quantico with journalist Jane Hamsher to visit Manning Sunday. Though House is an approved visitor, he was prevented from seeing Manning. They were detained for over 40 minutes.
It has been reported by his attorney and a visitor that Manning’s mental health is suffering from this cruelty, which serves no known judicial purpose and could result in Manning being found unfit to stand trial.
The Uniform Code of Military Justice states that “No person, while being held for trial, may be subjected to punishment or penalty other than arrest or confinement upon the charges pending against him, nor shall the arrest or confinement imposed upon him be any more rigorous than the circumstances required to insure his presence.” The same UCMJ bans cruel and unusual punishments following convictions.
Bradley Manning c/o Courage to Resist 484 Lake Park Ave #41 Oakland CA 94610 USA - Letters will be opened; 'contraband' discarded and then mailed weekly to Bradley via someone on Bradley's approved correspondence list.
The Gay Sons of Allah Wave of Homophobia Sweeps the Muslim World By Juliane von Mittelstaedt and Daniel Steinvorth In most Islamic countries, gay men and women are ostracized, persecuted and in some cases even murdered. Repressive regimes are often fanning the flames of hatred in a bid to outdo Islamists when it comes to spreading 'moral panic.'
I never thought I would live to see the day when a justice of the Supreme Court would publish the following words:
This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is ‘actually’ innocent. Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim based on alleged ‘actual innocence’ is constitutionally cognizable.
Yet these words appeared in a dissenting opinion issued by Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas on Monday. Let us be clear precisely what this means. If a defendant were convicted, after a constitutionally unflawed trial, of murdering his wife, and then came to the Supreme Court with his very much alive wife at his side, and sought a new trial based on newly discovered evidence (namely that his wife was alive), these two justices would tell him, in effect: ‘Look, your wife may be alive as a matter of fact, but as a matter of constitutional law, she’s dead, and as for you, Mr. Innocent Defendant, you’re dead, too, since there is no constitutional right not to be executed merely because you’re innocent.’ ...
President Obama's election was an inspiring event in American history.
What brought out the passionate outpouring of support for Obama's candidacy is the hope that electing this American president was the elevation of, to put it simply, one of the good guys, a man committed to civil rights, human rights, due process, equal protection, peace, openness, equality, and the firm belief that, to borrow from Justice Robert Jackson, the United States can afford to be just.
To those Americans committed to democratic values - whom the Republicans mocked as defeatocrats and so on - President Obama has not yet demonstrated an abiding commitment to the values voters, those with whom democratic values and human rights remain an abiding concern.
John Aravosis in Salon sums up the sentiment that not just impatience but a sense of betrayal is gripping the civil rights community.
Everyone loves a parade, but we don't like being betrayed. And while gay and lesbian Americans were initially willing to cut our new president some slack, the president's now-clear reticence to follow through on even one of his many campaign promises to the gay community has put the Democratic Party on the precipice of an ugly and very public divorce with this once-solid constituency.
It's only been five months since assuming office, but President Obama needs to understand that seeing bigots, chickenhawks and outright fascists carry the day is intolerable.
Senate Guru as always keeps its keen eye on the future of the U.S. Senate.
Guru, the nation's top political blog focused on U.S. Senate races across the country, makes the following prediction for Wisconsin's 2012 U.S. Senate race (a presidential election year):
My guess is that any Republican of note with Senatorial ambitions will wait for Senator Herb Kohl to retire in 2012, when he will be 77-years-old. In fact, here's the earliest prediction on WI-Sen-'12 that you're going to find anywhere: Democratic Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin will beat Republican Rep. Paul Ryan by five to ten points, enjoying the coattails of President Obama's re-election bid.
I have been critical of Herb Kohl in the past, but few can doubt that as a civic-minded American, Herb Kohl will rank as one of the premier individuals who have benefited not just Milwaukee but the entire state during his private and public career here.
As for Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Middleton), up for re-election next year, Guru shows Russ trouncing everyone. [That is why a Mark Neumann run for governor vis a vis senate looks almost certain.] No one touches Russ.
As for succeeding Kohl, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) and Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee) would both make inspiring and historical choices as the first woman U.S. Senator from Wisconsin. Both are already poised to join the likes of Kastenmeier and La Follette.
Moore really had nothing to gain from the vote, except for standing up for a people brutalized in a continuing crime. That's the type of courage that we'll need more of in the years ahead. And we would like to see Baldwin exhibit the same grit as Moore in meeting a defining moral issue of our times.
Free Gaza Video, We will not go down, Song for Gaza - - Witten and performed by Michael Heart (Copyright 2009). - Footage: RAMATTAN News Agency, Vittorio Arrigoni, ISM Images.
Join Naomi Klein, Neve Gordon, Noam Chomsky and thousands of others and tell Israel not to jail Ezra Nawi, one of Israel’s most courageous human rights activists.
His crime? He tried to stop a military bulldozer from destroying the homes of Palestinian Bedouins in the South Hebron region.
Nawi, a Jewish Israeli of Iraqi descent, is a threat to the settlers and the Israeli government because he has brought international attention to efforts to illegally remove Palestinians from the Hebron region. He will be sentenced in July.
(Watch the remarkable video of Nawi trying to stop the home demolition and his subsequent arrest.)
After bulldozing homes where people live, immigrant Russian Israeli soldiers laugh.
Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor (retired) at MIT. He is the author of many books and articles on international affairs and social-political issues, and a long-time participant in activist movements.
Neve Gordon teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University. Read about his new book, Israel's Occupation (due out this fall from the University of California Press), and more at israelsoccupation.info.
Twenty years ago, the eminent historian Maurice J. Meisner could be found blasting away at the ludicrous notion that China had turned a corner from its totalitarian past.
Arriving back in the United States shortly before Tiananmen Square and the massacre of protesters, Meisner noted that the actions of the Chinese government were not surprising and that China would not let large organizations outside the Communist party exist.
Today through Saturday (June 4-7), a conference honoring Meisner and his scholarship will feature 20 of his former Ph.D. students--now faculty members themselves--who will come together to present scholarly papers.
Over the course of his career, Maurice J. Meisner, Harvey Goldberg Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison, has made numerous significant contributions to the history of modern China through his studies of Marxism, socialism, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and the People's Republic of China, among other.
Situated along the beautiful Lake Mendota shoreline in the heart of the UW-Madison campus, The Pyle Center and The Lowell Center are located within a block of each other. Both facilities are just steps away from the Memorial Union, Library Mall, and other key points of interest including vibrant State Street — providing easy access to the best of downtown Madison and all UW-campus activities.
Adam Liptak and Jo Becker have a piece in the New York Times today about Judge Sonia Sotomayor and the case of Maher Arar—an innocent Canadian man abducted by US authorities, "held in solitary confinement and subjected to harsh questioning before being sent to Syria ... where (he) was tortured ... and imprisoned for nearly a year in an underground cell the size of a grave until the Syrians finally let him go. (NYT. Feb. 17, 2009)"
Seems Sotomayor didn't approve of rendition and the innocent Arar being tortured. But some believe this case demonstrates a "blunt and even testy side (that) was on display in December during an argument before the federal appeals court in New York."
I hope that should President Obama continue this repulsive practice that all decent men and women display their blunt and testy sides.
Write Liptak and Becker:
'So the minute the executive raises the specter of foreign policy, national security,' Judge Sotomayor asked the lawyer, Jonathan F. Cohn, 'it is the government’s position that that is a license to torture anyone?'
Mr. Cohn managed to get out two and a half words: 'No, your hon—— .'
Judge Sotomayor cut him off, then hit him with two more questions and a flat declaration of what she said was his position. The lawyer managed to say she was wrong, but could not clarify the point until the chief judge, Dennis G. Jacobs, stepped in, asking, 'Why don’t we just get the position?'
Good for Sotomayor. The United States can afford to be just and humane and when we lose our capacity for outrage, we're through.
