How do other people see us?  Who is right and who is wrong?

https://www.aol.com/news/other-countries-gun-violence-problem-193643278.html  –At least seven nations have issued advisories to their citizens who intend on traveling to the U.S., citing serious safety concerns in recent years. New Zealand, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Venezuela and Uruguay have each urged precaution for travelers when visiting the U.S., due in large part to gun violence.

“Rates of common property crimes in the United States are comparable to those reported in many other Western industrial nations, but rates of lethal violence in the United States are much higher,” authors and UC Berkeley scholars Franklin Zimring and Gordon Hawkins wrote in their 1999 book, “Crime Is Not the Problem.

–end of aol info–

France is included in the 7 nations issuing travel advisories.  Is France any safer?  Who knows; but France does seem more restrained in participating in violence.  This may be an ethical posture that sets the stage for a presumption of peace over violence, one can imagine.  This seems a reasonable topic as one considers a question discussed on C-Span this morning.  The topic was whether Santos should be removed from office.  Santos has said he lied in the frenzy of political campaigning.  

A caller remarked that Santos had an ethical problem, not a criminal problem.  The implication is that lying is about morality and not about criminality.  This is the case only so far as lawmakers haven’t passed laws against lying by lawmakers.  They have however passed laws about people who lie to secure SNAP benefits or welfare benefits.  Lying to insurance companies can be prosecuted as a criminal act.

Cop City in Georgia seems on a path of labeling environmental activists as domestic terrorists that complicates the identification of environmental activists about their Constitutional rights to Free Speech and moral action of democracy.  This has been accomplished by lawmakers passing laws.  A growing trend of laws against the public as opposed to laws to address actions by bureaucrats and politicians seems to smell of dictatorship.

But back to France.  France distinguished itself before the “War in Iraq” by speaking against this ethical/criminal action against a nation that hadn’t attacked the USA, after and in response to 9/11.  In what was a patriotic frenzy, for those who have forgotten, the MSM used typical minimizing and comic approach by deciding to retaliate against France by renaming french fries as freedom fries.  This snide insincerity is insulting to intellectual honesty, but the public loved it.

https://popularresistance.org/report-over-4-5-million-people-killed-in-post-9-11-wars/  –A new study from the Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson Institute estimates that over 4.5 million people have died from wars launched by the west in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks.

The study estimates that between 906,000 to 937,000 people have been killed as a direct result of wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia.

–end of popularresistance info———Was France right?

This is worthy of note while considering the ease by which some of We The People are misled.  

And so the reality of NYS constituents voting as their Representative, Santos, probably has much to do with his having an “R” after his name, and little else.  How much thought must have been given to the character of the politician for whom they voted?  Probably as much as many who voted for Biden because he had a “D” after his name.

https://popularresistance.org/the-usas-soviet-style-president/    —

We Are In For 19 Months Of Relentless, Insultingly Transparent Spin.

By which a patently incompetent man will be purveyed as commander in chief for another four years.

The FBI’s stonewalling is a hangover consequence of the Russiagate years, I will remind you. It was during that scoundrel time that the Democratic Party, the national security apparatus, law enforcement and the press made common cause in the service of Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the presidency. Brazen refusals to abide by the law have been common as dirt ever since.

-end of popularresistance info—

It seems people have mentioned at the time, about the questionable Clinton State Department/Clinton Foundation collaboration, along with shell corporations and family involvement in foreign affairs that equal those of the Trump-family foreign affairs instances.  Blaming each other is the D&R duopoly smokescreen instituted for public consumption.

Remembering the gullibility of some people about the politics in Europe, and considering Ukrainians who may be as gullible as Americans, is the price paid by local Ukrainian communities to secure “Western values”, based upon reality, or based upon the same rhetoric that deludes Americans?  One surely acknowledges that “Russia is our enemy”.  But do we have a clear understanding about our own government?  Should we pull out the US Constitution and follow those precepts rather than oligarchical propaganda?    Maybe we should talk about these issues.

This is a good moment to mention that James Carville authoritatively explained that while (paraphrase) elections must be clean, anything goes in campaigns.  Free Speech reigns and he can say whatever he wishes, but that few people challenge this statement is of concern:  Especially considering that the USA is “spreading democracy” around the world at the end of a gun barrel.

Maybe we should vote for politicians who aren’t about the work of dictatorship.

PBS aired a NOVA documentary about the brain.  As a follower of the path of the Buddha, the thought has occurred about the mind that is indeed important and that reality is illusive.  —  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU6LfXNeQM4   —

–end of NOVA  info–

https://www.facebook.com/rema.loeb/posts/pfbid02km5wR3cqt9BczTxuaPSrYqXEZH61L5AfusKskP8SeZY56nfMMkviundFwviEZ3Mil         —

Pauline Stensgar, the last fully fluent speaker of the n̓xaʔm̓xčín̓ language, died Tuesday. She was 96.

A member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Stensgar dedicated her life to preserving and revitalizing the language.

Stensgar, of Keller Washington, worked for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation for 48 years and was the Tribes’ eldest employee. During her long career, Stensgar worked with the Area Agency on Aging as a handywoman, assistant cook and foster grandparent. For the last 24 years, she worked with the Tribe’s Language Program as the senior elder instructor.

–end of remaloeb info and included with appreciation—https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/may/05/last-fluent-speaker-of-nxamxcin-language-dies-at-9/?fbclid=IwAR2IVb9R6TAyBovZ1uwvFHxbeYA7MmFtBPCTYxK1F4lrwAfXa3TbCRqUABc&utm_content=248237356&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-1575858736016260

About creative intelligence.  —

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0hf8UJuLU    —

WSFF John Trudell Part 1

–end of johntrudell info–

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTQn5p4WLAk    —

WSFF John Trudell Part 2

–end of johntrudell info——–Do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself with John Trudell.

From lakotalaw–As you’ve seen over the course of the past several months through our Dakota Water Wars video series, the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation) has reunited to stop the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). Our latest chapter, which you’ll find by scrolling down to the topmost video on the series page, takes you inside a recent pipeline strategy meeting at Standing Rock. Produced as always by us in partnership with the Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance and the Standing Rock Nation, the video shows tribal leaders and water protectors gathering to discuss a coordinated offensive, including a lawsuit and public comments campaign to challenge the soon-to-be-released Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for DAPL. 

You likely remember when tens of thousands of people gathered at Standing Rock’s resistance camps in 2016 and ‘17. That indelible moment in time demonstrated the power of standing strong together, capturing worldwide attention and giving rise to a powerful movement for Native and environmental justice. Suddenly, our Indigenous struggle to protect water on the frontlines of the climate crisis became frontpage news.

Now, the tribes are preparing to renew our legal fight to end DAPL. Once again, we must act with unity and purpose. Just last week, Standing Rock held another meeting with Michael Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, and we now know the EIS will become available for online public comment toward the end of June.

Just like the formation of the original camps, this moment will be pivotal. We hope you’ll join us and take action by flooding the Army Corps with demands for a new, valid EIS. As we’ve communicated to you previously, we don’t even need to see the current EIS to know it’ll be deeply flawed. After all, the company hired to prepare it, a member of the American Petroleum Institute, previously argued against Standing Rock at a hearing and recommended expansion of the pipeline’s capacity.

It’ll be up to all of us to pressure the government to make the oil company comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and end this illegal pipeline’s operations. Our battle here in the Dakotas is the same one Indigenous communities face all over the world. We are here to protect our natural surroundings, and it’s no coincidence that Big Extraction targets our lands for exploitation. Centuries of genocide have, at times, left us short of the resources necessary to fight — but this time we’re punching back! United, we must protect our communities and the Earth we share. Please continue to stand strong together with Standing Rock and the Oceti Sakowin.

Wopila tanka — thank you always for standing with us!
Chase Iron Eyes
Co-Director and Lead Counsel

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

From MRonline —  https://us2.campaign-archive.com/?e=2833cdb99b&u=36ce609ae68971b4f060ad9c7&id=bca0b9cfc0           —

Woody Guthrie prize given to punk rock group that supports escalation of Ukraine war and overthrow of Russian government

Ian Angus – “The War Against the Commons: Dispossession and Resistance in the Making of Capitalism”

Venezuela: Food is not a commodity, it’s a human right: Pueblo a Pueblo builds food sovereignty (Part I) 90% of foreign military bases are American

–end of mronline info–
****

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!