Outlaws & War Criminals

O.K. Stop tweeting. Stop texting.

Watch these two clips of Ralph Nader interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!

Your life and the lives of those you love depend upon it.

Ralph Nader on Single Payer, Climate Devastation, Impeachment & Why Mulvaney Is a “Massive Outlaw”

Democracy Now!
17 Dec 2018
https://democracynow.org

As President Trump threatens to shut down the federal government over border wall funding, there have been some shake-ups in the White House. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will resign as he faces at least 17 federal investigations into suspected ethics violations. A former fossil fuel industry lobbyist, David Bernhardt, will become the interim interior secretary. Meanwhile, Trump has tapped Mick Mulvaney to become acting chief of staff to replace Gen. John Kelly. Mulvaney already holds two posts in the administration: White House budget director and acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And in Texas, a federal court has declared the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate unconstitutional, setting up a likely challenge at the Supreme Court. We are joined by longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader. He is author of the new book “To the Ramparts: How Bush and Obama Paved the Way for the Trump Presidency, and Why It Isn’t Too Late to Reverse Course.”


“To the Ramparts”: Ralph Nader on How Bush & Obama Paved the Way for the Trump Presidency

Democracy Now!
17 Dec 2018
https://democracynow.org

A new book by longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic and former presidential hopeful Ralph Nader links the criminality of the Trump administration to the unchecked power of previous U.S. presidents, including Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. In “To the Ramparts: How Bush and Obama Paved the Way for the Trump Presidency, and Why It Isn’t Too Late to Reverse Course,” Nader argues that the U.S. federal government is fundamentally corrupt, warmongering and owned by corporations—but he also issues a call for members of the public to hold their representatives and senators accountable, including by building local commerce watchdog groups across the country and utilizing “citizens summons” to force members of Congress to appear before residents of their districts.

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on nearly 1,400 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream 8-9AM ET: https://democracynow.org

Now, let's do what Ralph suggests.

Moving the Pendulum - This is Doable

Following the Bush/Cheney 9/11 false flag crimes and the 9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Congress voted your rights away by passing three, Bill of Rights busting laws: (a) the USA PATRIOT Act (Yes, Congress “repealed” the Patriot Act. But it was in name only. Now we must work to revise the Freedom Act.) (b) the Military Commission Act and (c) section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.

This combined with several Supreme Court decisions favoring corporations over humans, and /or giving corporations rights previously only enjoyed by humans with souls, such as allowing corporations and special interest groups to spend unlimited amounts to influence elections. (Please see: Citizen's United vs. Federal Election Commission.)

One step toward rectifying these egregious decisions is coalescing in the Green New Deal.

Not only can wrongs be corrected, the process of doing so can be financed through an end run past obstructionist Republicans and their big, dark money corporate sponsors. It’s a move similar to the one that President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) pulled off back in the 30s.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has presented an outstanding way for funding the Green New Deal. The idea worked in the past and it can work now, so says Ellen Brown, JD*, a banking expert who knows a thing or two about banking, the Federal Reserve, finance, and Public Banking. She is the author of 12 books, including best-selling book, Web of Debt, and hundreds of articles.

Here’s the story…

This Radical Plan to Fund the ‘Green New Deal’ Just Might Work, Ellen Brown, truthdig.com, 16 Dec 2018.

“With what author and activist Naomi Klein calls “galloping momentum,” the “Green New Deal” promoted by Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., appears to be forging a political pathway for solving all of the ills of society and the planet in one fell swoop. Her plan would give a House select committee “a mandate that connects the dots” between energy, transportation, housing, health care, living wages, a jobs guarantee and more. But even to critics on the left, it is merely political theater, because “everyone knows” a program of that scope cannot be funded without a massive redistribution of wealth and slashing of other programs (notably the military), which is not politically feasible.

“That may be the case, but Ocasio-Cortez and the 22 representatives joining her in calling for a select committee also are proposing a novel way to fund the program, one that could actually work. The resolution says funding will come primarily from the federal government, “using a combination of the Federal Reserve, a new public bank or system of regional and specialized public banks, public venture funds and such other vehicles or structures that the select committee deems appropriate, in order to ensure that interest and other investment returns generated from public investments made in connection with the Plan will be returned to the treasury, reduce taxpayer burden and allow for more investment.”

“A network of public banks could fund the Green New Deal in the same way President Franklin Roosevelt funded the original New Deal. At a time when the banks were bankrupt, he used the publicly owned Reconstruction Finance Corporation as a public infrastructure bank. The Federal Reserve could also fund any program Congress wanted, if mandated to do so. Congress wrote the Federal Reserve Act and can amend it. Or the Treasury itself could do it, without the need to even change any laws. The Constitution authorizes Congress to “coin money” and “regulate the value thereof,” and that power has been delegated to the Treasury. It could mint a few trillion-dollar platinum coins, put them in its bank account and start writing checks against them. What stops legislators from exercising those constitutional powers is simply that “everyone knows” Zimbabwe-style hyperinflation will result. But will it? Compelling historical precedent shows that this need not be the case.”

-more-

*Ellen Brown is the founder of the Public Banking Institute and the author of a dozen books and hundreds of articles. She developed her research skills as an attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles. In the best-selling Web of Debt (2007, 2012), she turned those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and “the money trust,” showing how this private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves and how we the people can get it back.

Harry Belafonte - Man Smart (Woman Smarter) - 1952

You Do Not Walk Alone

Sunrise Movement Members on Capitol Hill... before being jailed.

Sunrise Movement - The Green New Deal
More than 1,000 young people and allies flooded the Capitol Hill hallways and offices (10 Dec 2018) of Democratic representatives to demand that elected officials listen to their youngest constituents — as well as some of the world’s top scientists — and back the bold proposal to shift the US to a zero-carbon energy system by 2050 in order to save the planet from an irreversible climate catastrophe. Thanks to efforts spearheaded by the youth-led Sunrise Movement, the number of Democratic lawmakers now supporting a Select Committee on a Green New deal has now swelled to 23.

Did your mainstream media of choice cover this story?

Well, here's one report...
Over 140 Arrested as Youth-Led Demonstrators Demand Green New Deal, Julia Conley, Common Dreams, truthout.org, 11 Dec 2018.

Please go here for more about the Sunrise Movement...

Over 100 Arrests Made In Green New Deal Protests

Nancy Wilson

The great, the one-and-only, Nancy Wilson was born just a short while ago, in a little south-central Ohio town, Chillicothe, to an iron-worker and a maid. 

I first heard her sing while working for a radio station. 

I never forgot her voice. Nancy Wilson’s music open a life-door for me… one I never knew existed. Here’s why…

"Guess Who I Saw Today" - Nancy Wilson - 1994

Grammy-Winning ‘Song Stylist’ Nancy Wilson Dead At 81,Andrew Dalton, Hillel Italie, AP, Huffington Post, 14 Dec 2018.

"Wilson also had a busy career in TV and film, and spent years hosting NPR’s “Jazz Profiles” series."
-more-

Your Future... Paris to Pittsburgh

Yesterday, Gary, my brother, sent a link to the National Geographic Documentary Film, Paris to Pittsburgh.

"From coastal cities to America's heartland, Paris to Pittsburgh highlights how Americans are demanding and developing real solutions in the face of climate change. As the weather grows more deadly and destructive across the the nation, they aren't waiting for Washington to act."

I watched the entire show, streaming from the NG website.

It is an excellent “status” report that left me with a rebirth of my faith in our local and state people who are working for the benefit of all, overcoming the stupidity of the Trumpers.

It has long been fact throughout the world that renewable / sustainable energy is the way to go for several reasons, one of which is because millions of home and small business conversion to sustainable energy means good-paying jobs for many, many people.

For more please go here… for more from me... and, here for The Renewables 2016 Global Status Report (PDF).

Leader Pelosi

How do you spell leader? Today, I spell it this way: Rep Nancy Pelosi (D - CA).

In a recent meeting at the White House, Leader Pelosi stood tall in the face of a bellowing, bully-child-man. Yes, this woman knows a thing or two about facing down the tissue-thin monstrosity currently occupying the Peoples’ House. And, she did, too, unlike hundreds of "tough-as-steel-type" male politicians.

Here’s the story…

How Nancy Pelosi Masterfully Dismantled Trump, Emily Peck, Huffington Post, 12 Dec 2018.

 “At the outset, she set Trump back on his heels by naming the possible government shutdown “the Trump shutdown,” and sending him into a kind of tailspin. (“Did you say Trump?” he asked incredulously.)”

“Trump tried every sexist tactic in the book in an attempt to diminish the 78-year-old Pelosi: He repeatedly interrupted her, tried to mansplain to Pelosi who is the former, and likely future, Speaker of the House how Congress works, and even talked about her in the third person as if she weren’t there.”

“I was trying to be the mom,” Pelosi said, according to Politico, but “it goes to show you: You get into a tinkle contest with a skunk, you get tinkle all over you.”

And, then, this:

“It’s like a manhood thing with him — as if manhood can be associated with him,” Pelosi reportedly said. “This wall thing.”

I'll bet 10 cat's eye marbles that Leader Pelosi doesn't need a wall to prove she's The Leader.

Helen Reddy - I Am Woman - 1971

Special Criminal Grand Jury for 9/11 Destruction of WTCs 1, 2 & 7

I so want to believe that a first step has finally been taken toward justice for the cold-blooded murder of nearly 2,974 innocents, hundreds of first responders, hundreds of thousands of 9/11 war casualties, and millions of innocents forced into exile due to the 9/11 wars, which were falsely and deceptively engaged by the Bush/Cheney administration.

That first step? Here it is:

NEW YORK, N.Y., Nov. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lawyers' Committee for 9/11 Inquiry (part of the Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth) has received a letter from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in response to its and 9/11 Family Members' Petitions (https://lawyerscommitteefor9-11inquiry.org/lc-doj-first-amended-grand-jury-petition/) demanding that he present submitted evidence of yet-to-be-prosecuted federal crimes relating to the destruction of WTCs 1, 2 and 7 to a Special Criminal Grand Jury.  The letter states: "We have received and reviewed The Lawyers' Committee for 9/11 Inquiry, Inc.'s submissions of April 10 and July 30, 2018.  We will comply with the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3332 as they relate to your submissions." -more-

The Grand Jury may help us begin to unpack the truth about 9/11. If so, that truth will set us free.

I’ll bet 10 cat’s eye marbles that you didn’t hear about this in the mainstream media… but, now you have… through the blogosphere.

Here’s more from Downriver USA about 9/11. And, more from the International Bureau of Forensic Investigations here.

Finally, I’m still struggling to come to terms with the faith-shattering evilness within those responsible for the 9/11 murders and the resulting holocaust they spawned.

The words of Dr. David Ray Griffin, Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Theology, Emeritus, at Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Graduate University, have helped me deal with these horrible, horrible demons. (Go to :37 in the video... but the whole video is well worth watching.)

David Ray Griffin 2006 "9/11 and Christian Faith" - 2006