Is it only a war if the destruction is against foreign governments, or does it include humanity and nature as the targets?

Accusations of war crimes toward others is mitigated if reminders that the phrase “war crime” is an oxymoron, and should be applied uniformly.  But when this isn’t the case, those holding up the mirror to capitalistic hierarchical Establishment are at personal risk.https://countercurrents.org/2023/04/four-years-since-the-arrest-and-imprisonment-of-wikileaks-publisher-julian-assange/?swcfpc=1     –April 11 marks four years since WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange was violently dragged from Ecuador’s London embassy and arrested by the British police. Since that time, Assange has been imprisoned, without interruption, in the maximum-security Belmarsh Prison, described by some as “Britain’s Guantanamo Bay.”

His only “offense” is to have published true information as a journalist, exposing US-led war crimes. That includes US Army documents showing thousands of civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan that had been covered up by the American government and gross violations of international law, from US-NATO massacres to torture. 

–end of countercurrents info–

It has become difficult to differentiate between politician statements and SNL skits.—–

From MRonline–                   https://mronline.org/2023/04/10/washington-says-journalism-is-not-a-crime-while-working-to-criminalize-journalism/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=washington-says-journalism-is-not-a-crime-while-working-to-criminalize-journalism           –After a certain point criticizing the hypocrisy and contradictions of the U.S.-centralized empire starts to feel too easy, like shooting fish in a barrel. But hell let’s do it anyway; the barrel’s right here, and I really hate these particular fish.This news came out at the same time as a joint statement was published by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell condemning Gershkovich’s detention as a violation of press freedoms.

“Let there be no mistake: journalism is not a crime,” the senators write.

We demand the baseless, fabricated charges against Mr. Gershkovich be dropped and he be immediately released and reiterate our condemnation of the Russian government’s continued attempts to intimidate, repress, and punish independent journalists and civil society voices.

–end of mronline info–

WSJ’s “let them eat cake” moment  —

From MRonline  —  https://mronline.org/2023/04/10/u-s-media-cheer-as-france-forces-old-people-to-work/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=u-s-media-cheer-as-france-forces-old-people-to-work           –“The Party Is Ending for French Retirees.” That’s the headline the Wall Street Journal (3/14/23) went with just days before French President Emmanuel Macron invoked a special article of the constitution to bypass the National Assembly and enshrine an increase in the retirement age in national law. The Journal proclaimed:

The golden age of French pensions is coming to an end, one way or another, in an extreme example of the demographic stress afflicting the retirement systems of advanced economies throughout the world.

–end of mronline info–

Death by state sponsor is indicative of hierarchy.  —   https://popularresistance.org/why-tortuguitas-murder-is-only-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/           –Few people outside of Atlanta knew about the police training facility nicknamed “Cop City” when plans were approved in 2021, but all that changed in January when Manual Esteban Páez Terán, known as “Tortuguita,” was murdered by police.Their death launched a torrent of news coverage, including an article by NBC stating that police had never killed an environmental activist in the U.S. before Tortuguita. That may be true, but the U.S. has long been complicit in the death of activists abroad through its involvement in resource extraction and training police and military personnel.

–end of popularresistance info–

It’s about the money.  —   https://popularresistance.org/anti-protest-laws-are-not-about-safety-they-are-about-silencing-dissent/    —

Across the United States, we are seeing a rise in laws that seek to squelch and criminalize protests.

–end of popularresistance info–

This will serve to remind that labels such as right or left are meaningless—–

From lakotalaw —       The U.S. Supreme Court just keeps getting things wrong. In late March, it declined to review attorney Steven Donziger’s appeal of his criminal conviction for contempt of court. If Donziger’s name sounds familiar to you, that’s perhaps because he’s a good man who helped win a landmark $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron on behalf of thousands of Indigenous People in the Ecuadorian Amazon. More than a decade ago, the oil giant was found guilty of causing disastrous health problems via its brazen environmental pollution of the world’s largest rainforest.

Chevron, represented by Big Oil law firm Gibson Dunn, relentlessly contested Donziger’s legal victory in Ecuador, eventually securing a challenge in U.S. federal court. You’re probably also familiar with Gibson Dunn — the same firm now representing the plaintiffs seeking to dismantle the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) at the Supreme Court. We feel that’s no coincidence, and it’s one reason we met with Mr. Donziger while he was confined at a halfway house about a year ago.

A few other things make this case particularly concerning. Atypically, after the federal prosecutor in Manhattan declined to bring criminal contempt charges against Donziger, a federal judge — who held investments in Chevron at the time of his decision — appointed a private law firm to prosecute anyway. A second federal judge delegated to oversee that prosecution served on the board of the Federalist Society, a far-right think tank known for helping stack the federal judiciary with conservative judges and regularly receiving donations from, you guessed it, Chevron.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Donziger was subsequently convicted. He ended up serving nearly two months behind bars and spent another two and half years under house arrest. In 2021, during his incarceration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called for Donziger’s release, stating that his pre-trial detention was illegal.

Donziger appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court, but the justices, in March’s 7-2 decision, denied his petition. It may surprise you to learn the two dissenting justices who supported hearing Donziger’s case were Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. These two deeply conservative men raised concerns about judicial overreach and constitutional protections requiring separation of powers, while the liberal wing of the Court strangely remained silent.

It’s critical that we continue to pay attention to the Supreme Court, and not just on ICWA. It’s difficult to fathom the rationale behind some of their recent decisions, but in other cases, it may be entirely too clear. This court seems eager to roll back our freedoms despite years of precedent, as it did when it overturned Roe v. Wade. And, as it has done here, it appears willing to allow new degrees of overreach by activist judges with obvious conflicts of interest.

Wopila tanka — thank you for paying attention and standing for justice!
Chase Iron Eyes
Co-Director and Lead Counsel

The Lakota People’s Law Project–end of lakotalaw info–

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has declared his candidacy for President and is running on the Democratic ticket.  If we don’t need a change in direction in 2024, we never will.   —

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1yUOGGC_I8        —

Anthony Fauci and the Public Health Establishment | Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

–end of rfk, Jr. info–
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBLkt7t_DmI        —

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces 2024 presidential campaign

–end of rfk, Jr. announcement—-
****

As one who would be perfectly contented to retain the Senate if they adhered to Oaths of Office more than to Citizens United campaign donations, one is interested in a topic raised as to the reason we maintain the US Senate—-

 This is a reminder of how much we don’t know.  This brings one around to Howie Hawkins, who continues to impress with original thought.  We also could acknowledge Hawkins often speaks to censored information.
One such topic about which one would never have even considered, is whether the USA needs The Senate.  Apparently The Senate is little other than expensive window dressing, promoting hierarchical interests, and too often placed in positions of power by big-money via Citizens United.  But the public gets to fund this curiosity of pompous supremacy.  Who knew?
The Democratic Branch of the Republican/Democratic Duopoly are especially functional in voter suppression—–https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNbdkuU1edw          —#GreenSocialist Notes #76
Howie Hawkins brings up the concept of whether the USA needs the Senate.  Apparently according to some people, the Senate isn’t necessary.  This brings up the blockage from the Senate of many bills that would benefit We The People.  Combined with Citizens United that promotes big-money interest choice of Senators, in which laws are passed that benefit big-money interest rather than We The People, and that We The People support economically, the members of the Senate, this seems a good topic for discussion.
The US Constitution doesn’t seem to sanction elections run by political Parties, and to permit control of political debates by political Parties seems equally corrupt.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ7kn2-GEmM       —

Ross Perot in 1992 on NAFTA and the “Giant Sucking Sound”

Centralization is the lifeblood of the R&D duopoly.  It’s the way to enforce capitalism onto workers in 2022.———————–We can do better———-

That “we are a 2-Party system” is a fabrication of the Republican/Democratic duopoly and spread by MSM.  In FACT the majority of voters aren’t either registered Democratic or Republican.  The censorship about this info must be envied by bureaucrats of the Former USSR and their simplistic style of 1-Party elections.  

Regardless of which character sits in the Oval Office, We The People have work to do to maintain principles of our democratic (small d) Constitutional republic.  Several items to challenge—*We need the integrity of ranked-choice voting so voters won’t feel compelled to “hold your nose and vote”*Censored debates must be stopped.  The Democratic/Republican duopoly pretends to legitimate debates in what is nothing other than another campaign show.  Independent debates run by uninterested sponsors such as The League of Women Voters, must be restored.  (Access www.debates.org to understand the extent of duopoly control).  The so-called Debate Commission is a corporation to promote the Democratic corporation and Republican corporation, not to inform We The People*Challenge and stop gerrymandering that is a trick especially of the Republican branch of the duopoly.*Stop voter suppression by political Parties, and especially confront and stop Party suppression, which is the over-arching approach to voter suppression.  Party suppression seems to have been the responsibility of the Democratic corporation*Promote by law ranked-choice voting, so we won’t be told again, by D&R duopoly, to “hold your nose and vote”
If these issues are handled, our next elections can be honorable. 
*******************************************************************https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx—-Political Party affiliation of voters.
    https://www.lwv.org/newsroom/press-releases/league-refuses-help-perpetrate-fraud–LEAGUE REFUSES TO “HELP PERPETRATE A FRAUD”

WITHDRAWS SUPPORT FROM FINAL PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE–end of lwv info–Murray Bookchin, who founded social ecology, a theory that strongly influenced early Green Socialist thought, strongly advocated the discussion and study group as the first step of any revolutionary movement. A group of individuals meets to expand their knowledge of radical thought and form a radical intellectual community; through the give and take of discussion, can eventually form ideas for next steps in organizing and political activity. According to Bookchin, study groups help create solidarity and a shared language — with a shared coherent vision — for building a mass, organizing, political movement!