Friday, April 27, 2018

So let me get this right. The USA House Chaplain made a speech regarding the poor and Ryan forced his resignation.

A USA Democrat needs to invite him back to give a complete speech to the entire USA House on the pervasive nature of the poor and the loss of the American Dream and the racist reality due to socioeconomic stagnation. Additionally, some real shaming needs to be stated about White Supremacy in the USA. Someone has to do it.

My protest, worry and alarm to this new reality regarding religious bigotry still stands.

The Panmunjeom Declaration of Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula

2018/4/27
20:01

Panmunjom, April 27 (Yonhap) -- The following (click here) is an unofficial translation of the full text of a joint declaration signed and issued by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the end of their bilateral summit held Friday at the Joint Security Area of Panmunjom inside the heavily-fortified Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas.

Panmunjeom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula

During this momentous period of historical transformation on the Korean Peninsula, reflecting the enduring aspiration of the Korean people for peace, prosperity and unification, President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea held an Inter-Korean Summit Meeting at the ‘Peace House’ at Panmunjeom on April 27, 2018.

The two leaders solemnly declared before the 80 million Korean people and the whole world that there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula and thus a new era of peace has begun.

The two leaders, sharing the firm commitment to bring a swift end to the Cold War relic of longstanding division and confrontation, to boldly approach a new era of national reconciliation, peace and prosperity, and to improve and cultivate inter-Korean relations in a more active manner, declared at this historic site of Panmunjeom as follows :

1. South and North Korea will reconnect the blood relations of the people and bring forward the future of co-prosperity and unification led by Koreans by facilitating comprehensive and groundbreaking advancement in inter-Korean relations. Improving and cultivating inter-Korean relations is the prevalent desire of the whole nation and the urgent calling of the times that cannot be held back any further....

Moving right along.

It is somewhat nostalgic to that of the Comey firing and arrival of Russians at the White House in less than a day.

Fire a Catholic Priest and release a favorable election document. Who knows what will be released after the elections.

No collusion? The Russians wouldn't step into the Oval Office without the firing of James Comey. Why is that invisible to the GOP? The Russians coming to the Oval Office, not even just the White House, but, the Oval Office and that didn't happen I suppose.

Trump violated his oath of office in revealing classified information to the Russians.

PS: Scott Pruitt might want to have the White House searched for Russian listening devises before he enters.


April 27, 201
By Jeremy Herb

President Trump revealed highly classified information (click here) to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.

The House Intelligence Committee (click here) on Friday released a redacted version of the Republican report on the committee's year-long Russia investigation, in which, GOP members say, they found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and disputed the intelligence community's findings that Vladimir Putin tried to help elect Donald Trump President.

Redacted? Why? The Russians already know what it says. They probably helped write it. Trump calls Putin often enough.

The committee released the report with redactions from the intelligence community, along with a redacted Democratic dissent disputing the Republican conclusions.

Rep. Mike Conaway, the Texas Republican who led the committee's Russia probe, said in a statement that the intelligence community made "overzealous redactions" to the report, and the committee plans to challenge them to get more of the report declassified....

For the most part, American liberals are scorned by Wall Street.

To me, that was always foolish. Liberals and progressives have some of the most cutting edge ideas that grow economies, provide hope and engage the imagination of the future.

The USA Constitution was always fascinating to me. It set free God to live among us without being controlled by the state. That is unique. The freedoms guaranteed to all Americans within the US Constitution and the Constitutional Amendments are magnificent.

I have this book in my personal library. I also have many other books, both professional, personal and political.

Within the guise of the Iraq War was the idea that terrorists live among us and we never know who or how our deaths would be guaranteed. As a result the USA military turned loose the stockpiles of military equipment and machines in excess of wasted taxpayers dollars. It was distributed to local authorities. Today, that nearly looks the same as Yanukovych's militias with a disarmed national military.

Liberals know by instinct when the government doesn't smell right. And today the USA government completely stinks.

In his 1961 farewell address, (click here) President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of the growing influence of the “military-industrial complex” on American politics and policy. Interestingly, Eisenhower’s original formulation of the menace was the even more accurate “military-industrial-congressional complex.” (Emphasis added). Seeing how that network of special interests has worked its tentacles into so many aspects of American political and economic life in the intervening decades indicates just how prescient was Eisenhower’s warning.

But there has been an even more subtle and pervasive militarization of American culture. It has been evident since World War II, but it has been accelerating markedly in recent years. Perhaps the most corrosive domestic effect of the global interventionist foreign policy that Washington adopted after World War II has been on national attitudes. Americans have come to accept intrusions in the name of “national security” that they would have strongly resisted in previous decades. The various provisions of the Patriot Act and the surveillance regime and its abuses epitomized by the NSA are a case in point....

During the time of President Obama, the people were heard when they stated their government got carried away with the idea of a terrorist attack and the police were overindulged with military hardware. 

December 1, 2014
By Rebecca Caplan

In the wake of the police response (click here) to protests in Ferguson, Missouri last August, President Obama is using an executive order to standardize the way the federal government distributes military-style equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies, the White House announced Monday.

The administration is also proposing a $75 million investment to purchase 50,000 body cameras for police officers. That would be part of a three-year, $263 million package to expand training for law enforcement agencies, add more resources to reform police departments, and increase the number of cities where the Justice Department (DOJ) works to improve relations between the community and law enforcement agencies.

Mr. Obama's executive order aims to address deficiencies found in a review of those programs which he ordered in August in the wake of Michael Brown's death in Ferguson. Police wore combat gear and used armored vehicles and military-style equipment to respond to the protesters....

Most people don't follow the trends of danger to persons in a local economy. Americans have grown up in a country that has a great deal of internal peace. There is crime and everyone knows the number of guns on the street is out of control, but, for most Americans walking out to the mailbox or driving to the local grocery is still safe and uneventful.

August 27, 2018
By Tom Jackman

President Donald Trump (click here) plans to resume the transfer of surplus weapons, vehicles and other equipment from the nation’s military to its state and local law enforcement agencies, reviving a program that was sharply curtailed by President Barack Obama two years ago. The program launched in 1990 but was greatly limited after public...

Trump did more than PLAN to resume the transfer of military hardware to law enforcement, he did it. BUT, there was an article I read recently statings law enforcement, for the most part, is not reengaging the idea of a militarized country from sea to shining sea.

Now comes the perfect storm and the fact the USA's people heeded the warning about Wall Street and 2008 and invested in local economies, politics and law enforcement. I feel as though the American people do own their own cities and to that end we are successful in ending the attack by the extreme right wing to remove the US Constitution and replace it with Plutocrats and it's Wall Street rules.

Yesterday, Paul Ryan removed a Catholic Priest from spiritual leadership of the USA. That is a deep violation of the US Constitution on many counts, the least being Freedom of Religion. Freedom of Speech comes into play AS THE EXCUSE when a Catholic Priest brought up the vigilance a country should have of it's poor. I do believe there is plenty of poor and working poor in the USA and know one needs to ask God if there is a growing trend to that reality; it is written in the new tax laws.

The act of removing a Catholic Priest from spiritual leadership would have been unthinkable a decade ago and political suicide, but, yesterday it nearly went unnoticed.

The Burger Court demanded recognition of "the individual." It was before it's time considering the intense awareness globally of "the individual" and the power of the individual due to social networks. But, one thing came out of that focus and that was the separation of church and state.

The separation of church and state was always believed to protect the individual worship of a higher power. It was always believed the state could control the spiritual nature of people through nationalism. Well, it would seem that day has arrived. The deterioration started when President Clinton signed what was believed to be a very benign law that allowed federal employees to practice their faith at work with the presence of a bible on their desk. 

True to form the Republicans just couldn't leave it alone because every inch of religion that displaced law was a victory for their constituents. So, under "W," his Attorney General held bible study before work and that imposition on the federal government continues today with Pence's daily rituals. If federal government officials want to study the bible before work, do what cops do and meet at Dunkin Donuts.

Yesterday was the first shot in the war against the overthrow of the US Constitution. It won't be the last, but, what my concern is above all else is STILL the safety of the American people. 

End the fear of "the other." 

Live in peace within your communities. 

Find harmony within your local economy.

And for god sake, don't give up freedom of religion regardless one's faith, and rein in the militarization of law enforcement. 

The time is now, before the devastation and continued demonization of "the other." 

End it.

Now!

I fully expect the Mueller investigation to go forward as well as the uninterrupted pursuits by the Southern District of New York.

October 11, 2017

Washington —House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) (click here) issued the following statement following the U.S. District Court’s decision in Baker v. Conroy rejecting a challenge to Congress' ability to open with a prayer and ruling in favor of the House chaplain, Father Pat Conroy:


“Since the first session of the Continental Congress, our nation's legislature has opened with a prayer to God. Today, that tradition was upheld and the freedom to exercise religion was vindicated. The court rightfully dismissed the claims of an atheist that he had the right to deliver a secular invocation in place of the opening prayer. Recently, especially following the return of Majority Whip Steve Scalise, this institution has been reminded about the power of prayer. I commend the District Court for its decision, and I am grateful that the People's House can continue to begin its work each day as we have for centuries: taking a moment to pray to God.”


A Catholic Priest served Ryan's purpose until yesterday.

It started with an election and a young leader that wanted the same thing.

I think Kim Jong Un wants this. He is a younger man and he has a family. I know that seems simplistic, but, peace can be exactly that simple. Ending the threat of war into the future is a lasting satisfaction.

The Korean Peninsula has seen generations pass with a constant fear of tomorrow. President Moon Jae-in understands the people of South Korea and their hopes to end such pain of tomorrow. I sincerely believe when he was elected the future came into focus and both leaders knew this was a moment that could not be squandered.

The world sits in skepticism, but, with every angry word spoken outside the process now underway, Kim Jong Un never allows it to fail. He is engaged in a process he sees as benevolent to his people and I sincerely believe he wants their lives to improve. This is a historic moment and these two men have a common goal.

April 22, 2018
By Kanga Kong and 

...Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in (click here) embraced after signing the deal during a historic meeting on their shared border, the first time a North Korean leader has set foot on the southern side. They announced plans to formally declare a resolution to the war and replace the 1953 armistice that ended open hostilities into a peace treaty by year’s end.

“We have agreed to share a firm determination to open a new era in which all Korean people enjoy prosperity and happiness on a peaceful land without wars,” Kim said, in his first remarks in front of the global press since taking power in 2011....

John Dowd was correct. I would love to be a fly on the wall in Dowd's living room while he says, "I told him so."

Rudy was wrong to turn "The Don" loose.