Thursday, August 23, 2018

The latest scapegoat by Trump the Criminal is that of Jeff Sessions when he took the nomination for Attorney General and then recused himself (from the Russian investigation). Daddy Trump states this as if it was the plan by Sessions.

“W”rong.

After Jeff Sessions took the office of Attorney General, he was peered reviewed and then recused himself from the investigation. There was no conspiracy nor is there one now. EXCEPT, by President Trump to turn the USA into a Russian satellite. Just like Manafort did with Ukraine.

Manafort’s election of Viktor Yanukovych was corrupted by personal wealth, Russian entitlement, destruction of the national Ukraine military, installations of oligarch militias that ultimately led to the current border war with Russia. It makes sense Trump would hold Manafort in high esteem. Trump continues to play stupid games with the USA presidency in pointing to Manafort as a loyal ally. Enough of this!

"Freedom of Speech and Propaganda"

There was a time in the USA when propaganda was an issue and it was after WWII. No different than today, the country was beset by foreign propaganda and the country was being destabilized to the extent it insulted the nation's defense.

JOURNAL ARTICLE
FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND PROPAGANDA
By Francis Biddle (Solicitor General of the United States)

Some of this article is more than chilling to realize there have been constant concerns about propaganda, foreign propaganda and it's direct effect on the electorate. So, here are some excerpts I found intriguing.

Page 797

...As of May 1, 1940, approximately four hundred agents were registered with the State Department under the Act, not all of them, of course, engaged in dissemination of foreign political propaganda. In the last six years several states have passed legislation calculated to suppress subversive propaganda....

One of the things the defendants from the Mueller investigation face is they did not register as a foreign agent. The problem with this as a remedy to the influx of Russian propaganda to the media is the fact there is a sympathetic President in the White House. As far as I am concerned the USA is compromised and continues to be so. The best the American people can hope for is Congressional oversight. Don't know if that has actually happened yet.

The immediate problem is to meet in peace time, the flood of subversive propaganda directed to break down our faith in our own institutions; and perhaps, too, in revising our traditional concepts of war and peace in order effectively to delineate our plans of action. The problem is entirely different from what it was during the World War.

Is the USA at war? The idea this might apply to peacetime might be completely mute. If Trump, as Chief Executive, desires to control the media of any kind there is some precedent for that and the Robert's Court would be completely sympathetic as was the case with "The Muslim Ban."

Democratic institutions are evoked to protect an attach against those same institutions. Censorship and punishment are clumsy weapons to cope with the doctrine of appeasement, illusory promise of economic betterment, the praise the praise of successful might, the pretended doubt as to whether, after all, democracies can be efficient. 

"What is war," said Hitler to Hermann Rauschning, President of the Danzig Senate, in 1933, "but cunning, deception, delusion, attacks and surprise. What is the object of war? To make the enemy capitulate. Why should I demoralize him by military means if I can do so better and more cheaply in other ways?" (Lavine & Wechsler, War Propaganda and the United States, 36.) (click here)

This was so pervasive in the country there was a meeting called by "The Governors' Conference, et.al.. The folly here is obvious if there is no ill conditions within the USA causing domestic problems.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The idea of protecting the USA's people against propaganda such as espoused by FOX News and it's affiliates and any other entity such as Talk Radio and it's harmful distribution of propaganda is possible to assail. When American children are killing themselves in numbers that are disgusting and worrisome, there needs to be a strong rethink as to what exactly is occurring in American households, in American schools and other institutions that have influence over young and innocent minds.

The Governors Conference came up with several ideas to implement and end propaganda in the USA.

1. "In view of the Alien Registration Act of 1940 which deals with sedition against both federal and state governments and in view of the national character (it should be considered a method to eliminate subversive elements in society).

2. "The Federal Government should make a careful and continuing study of foreign propaganda in the United States. To this end it is recommended that the Federal Government provide an agency devoted to propaganda analysis." 

I don't think the FBI, CIA or NSA has such a unit, however, the NSA does have more of a cyber focus than the other agencies. With Bolton at the NSA there is sincere doubt he would even deal with such issues because he panders to Trump.

3. "Committees of private citizens should be stimulated within the several states to provide the utmost possible dissemination of American aims and ideals through the press, radio and other media of publicity."

Isn't this FOX and Talk Radio already. Trump can come in and effect American values to the point of sedition of the US Constitution. There is every indication he and the Murdoch machine does exactly that and revels in it. There needs to be a limit as to the extremism of these media outlets. There are very few days when major media has any similarity to the Murdoch machine.

4. The publication and dissemination of all papers, pamphlets, leaflets and other printed matter having for its purpose the undermining of the American principles of government is hereby condemned. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT A THOROUGH STUDY OF THIS PROBLEM BE MADE BY BOTH THE FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS, COOPERATING WITH THE LEGITIMATE PRESS OF THE COUNTRY, TO THE END THAT APPROPRIATE LEGISLATION BE ENACTED REQUIRING THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR SUCH PRACTICES TO REGISTER AND DISCLOSE THE GOVERNMENTS OR PERSONS IN WHOSE BEHALF OR FOR WHOM THEY ARE ACTING AS WELL AS THE SOURCE OF ANY FINANCIAL AID RECEIVED FOR SUCH PURPOSE."

There are, as the Republicans say it, good actors and bad actors in regard to expressing American values. The Murdoch machine practices nationalism. There is no general concession by the public that Murdoch's media empire does nothing but spew nationalism. The one issue in today's society most receiving oppression by FOX News is the expression of Free Speech by football players. It is the intention of the right wing media to assist Trump in punishing these men for their activism. That is not American. What is American is to lock arms with the activists and end the practices that compelled their actions.

There are specific values espoused by Murdoch and they hurt the American people. They back criminals and allow their media service to be used to the harmful end of society. It has to stop.

There are limits and it is time to revisit the limitless venues the media now enjoys. RESPONSIBLE journalism has been abandoned by Murdoch and his minions for some bizarre content of "INFOTAINMENT." This is ridiculous and not at all the sign of responsible media or government.

The United States of America does have the right to limit media when it becomes toxic to our society which results in pervasive violence and the ultimate death of children. No one should stand by and tolerate these growing statistics.

There are several topics that come to mind to include in any study that will ultimately create a happier country for children; childhood violence, childhood depression, the effect of the family and school on same and the direct effect practicing violence in the media, including video games are a contributor. 

I don't want to hear how violence is not propagated by media and video games. The USA military uses video games to enhance the opportunity to prepare potential volunteers for war. The entire idea American minds are exempt from every image that is presented to them is nonsense and it is dangerous.

What happened to Lassie, Benji and the next great animal adventure with REAL ANIMALS! Every parent in the country should be up in arms with the news that came out today of four deaths of children by their own hand. This is a growing issue and not a stable percentage that is expected in large populations.

Every idea is not a great idea and are in fact harmful if not regulated in media presentations.

Criminologists, (click here) too, are sensitive to the impact of media exposure. For example, Jacqueline Helfgott summarized the research:
There have been over 1000 studies on the effects of TV and film violence over the past 40 years. Research on the influence of TV violence on aggression has consistently shown that TV violence increases aggression and social anxiety, cultivates a “mean view” of the world, and negatively impacts real-world behavior.
(Helfgott, 2015, p. 50)
Peer review of Murdoch's media circus and Talk Radios derangement has to include the fact they enforce nationalism and not patriotism.

Patriotism is national pride and today in the USA there is a whole lot not to be proud of in an artificial way through nationalism. Nationalism is an extreme whereby the country can do no wrong and has no sincere problems to solve. The Murdoch media and Talk Radio phenomena focus on THE INDIVIDUAL as the problem when in fact, it is societal and not the individual that is the problem. The individual is a SYMPTOM of the problem. Individual failure in the USA is a manifestation of a society, culture and government that has failed the individual.

There is absolutely no excuse for such despair or violent values in American children. SUICIDE BY ANY CHILD IS AN ABHORRENCE! 

Look at this act of treason. They admit there are reasons for pursuing impeachment but seek to intimate the lawful ELECTED Representatives of the people. Pull their license, they are propagandists.

August 22, 2018
By Willis Krumholz (click here)

As opposed to QUALITY journalism.

The United States of America UNDER the propagandists in FOX News and Talk Radio is a joke and their leadership, including Trump, is nothing more than clowns!

These propagandists are guilty of violating the public trust. End of discussion. 

August 22, 2018
By Bret Stephens

...And, like it or not, (click here) Trump remains popular with tens of millions of Americans. To overturn the results of an election for anything less than unambiguous evidence of criminal behavior is a danger to democracy itself.

At least that was my view until this week. Michael Cohen’s guilty plea changes this. The Constitution’s standard for impeachment is “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” The standard is now met.

Trump’s longtime fixer acknowledged in court on Tuesday that he violated campaign finance laws by paying hush money to two women “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office.” That means Trump. That means that, as a candidate, Trump is credibly alleged to have purposefully conspired with Cohen to commit criminal acts. That means the duo did so “for purposes of influencing [an] election for Federal office,” which is the legal definition of a campaign contribution....

Is this a warning of a deeper problem? I believe this may be a national emergency considering the violence our children are seeing.

August 22, 2018
By Beau Yarbrough

Three Rancho Cucamonga high school students (click here) and an elementary student have committed suicide since returning to school this month, officials have confirmed.
In an email to families Tuesday, Aug. 21, Chaffey Joint Union High School District Superintendent Mat Holton said counseling teams of trained therapists have been deployed to three high schools to work with students and counselors.
“There is no greater tragedy than the death of a young person,” the email from Holton begins. “The three deaths were unrelated and involved students enrolled at three of our campuses – Rancho Cucamonga, Etiwanda, and Alta Loma. One of the students had previously attended Los Osos. Our district and site teams have been in close communication with their families and loved ones and offer our deepest sympathies and continued support.”
The district has formed a mental health task force, made up of mental health professionals from each school site and community mental health officials, which is working to improve services available at each site. A larger community task force is also being formed, and the district is partnering with outside agencies, including the San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health, private counseling services, mental health educators, and the local religious community.
Formal suicide awareness and prevention training for parents and school staff is available from the district.
A student in the Alta Loma Elementary School District has also committed suicide this school year, district officials confirmed....

The article does not list the METHOD or REASON for suicide, but, our children are not in a happy place. There is far too much violence in their world and they have ideologies that are based in fantasy and not reality. They can often believe a better life awaits them "...on the other side..." or as a soul reincarnated.

In March 21, 2013, (click here) in Southgate, Michigan, Tyler Nichols left his first period class at Davidson Middle School. He went into a bathroom, where he shot and killed himself with a handgun.

He was discovered by another student who alerted school staff.

The school of approximately 800 students was put on lockdown.

Students hid in their classrooms; police officers roamed the halls.

An hour later, parents were allowed in five at a time to pick up their traumatized children.

Tyler left an open suicide note in which he wrote about the difficulties of being a young teenager.

According to his mother, Tyler had only recently showed signs that he was struggling with depression.

A classmate said that Tyler “was loved by a lot of kids.”

Tyler was just thirteen years old. He was too young to legally possess a handgun, but he didn’t need to look far to find the gun he would use to kill himself. Like most children who die by gun suicide, he found the gun at home; it was in his father’s bed stand, unlocked and loaded.

Tyler’s story is staggeringly common. Every day, at least one child takes their own life with a gun: almost 500 American children die by gun suicide every year. Federal law prohibits gun dealers from selling firearms to people under 18 years old, but American children are obtaining them nonetheless; guns are used in 40% of child suicides. It doesn’t have to be this way: children in other high-income countries are more than 90% less likely to die by gun suicide.

And the problem is growing: over the last decade, the child firearm suicide rate in the United States has been on the rise....

The academic research is in and it is not pretty. From the New England Journal of Medicine. The violence culture in the USA has to stop. I never entertained the imagination of such programs as "The Walking Dead." It is a gross misrepresentation of reality and it is disgusting.

I could not tell you the name of any character, episode or outcome of any such movie, television show or internet video. I strongly believe when a human body is so distorted on a regular basis it brings mental illness with it, that includes other body disorders such as bulimia and anorexia. When human minds are told over and over this is the way society has valued them, the outcomes are inevitable.

Children are far too impressionable to look the other way and believe they are okay. They are not and the adults that allow such danger and violence in the USA are directly responsible.

September 4, 2008
By Matthew Miller, M.D., ScD. and David Hemenway, Ph.D.

...In 2005, (click here) the most recent year for which mortality data are available, suicide was the second-leading cause of death among Americans 40 years of age or younger. Among Americans of all ages, more than half of all suicides are gun suicides. In 2005, an average of 46 Americans per day committed suicide with a firearm, accounting for 53% of all completed suicides. Gun suicide during this period accounted for 40% more deaths than gun homicide.

Why might the availability of firearms increase the risk of suicide in the United States? First, many suicidal acts — one third to four fifths of all suicide attempts, according to studies — are impulsive. Among people who made near-lethal suicide attempts, for example, 24% took less than 5 minutes between the decision to kill themselves and the actual attempt, and 70% took less than 1 hour.

Second, many suicidal crises are self-limiting. Such crises are often caused by an immediate stressor, such as the breakup of a romantic relationship, the loss of a job, or a run-in with police. As the acute phase of the crisis passes, so does the urge to attempt suicide. The temporary nature and fleeting sway of many suicidal crises is evident in the fact that more than 90% of people who survive a suicide attempt, including attempts that were expected to be lethal (such as shooting oneself in the head or jumping in front of a train), do not go on to die by suicide. Indeed, recognizing the self-limiting nature of suicidal crises, penal and psychiatric institutions restrict access to lethal means for persons identified as potentially suicidal.

Third, guns are common in the United States (more than one third of U.S. households contain a firearm) and are lethal. A suicide attempt with a firearm rarely affords a second chance. Attempts involving drugs or cutting, which account for more than 90% of all suicidal acts, prove fatal far less often....

"...if we don't talk about is not going to get better..."

The flag, any flag, is a symbol. It is inappropriate to put a symbol in priority of human life. When the USA flag takes more importance than the lives of Americans it is called nationalism and it is dangerous. Nationalism is what is practiced by dictators to maintain control of the people and to turn one citizen against another. 

Freedom of Speech, is not a symbol nor empty words on a page, it is an action. The ACT of Freedom of Speech is guaranteed to everyone in the USA and that is what is practiced when football players employed by the NFL "Take a Knee."