Monday, October 24, 2022

There was no bill passed..

 …guaranteeing women abortions up to 15 weeks. President Biden never received a bill to sign guaranteeing an abortion up to 15 weeks. The Republicans talk a good game, but, they won’t carry through with it. 

The Unreality of Vladimir Putin.

Putin is escalating his own war. Everything he is trying to do is justify him doing it because supposedly Ukraine is going to do it first.

I think he is trying to get Iran off the hook for it's participating drones and Iran's idea of using dirty bombs. That is what I am reading. Iran is saying to use dirty bombs. Maybe they want to try dropping dirty bombs in other places, too.

See, if Iranian drones are dropping dirty bombs in Ukraine at the order of Vladimir Putin that makes Iran an ally and opens up an entirely different war front in Iran. There are dearly few countries that will tolerate the idea of dirty bombs dropping in the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia. That is all the Houthis need now are dirty bombs. 


October 24, 2022
By Tom Nichols

Rationalization for Escalation?

Over the weekend, (click here) Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called his counterparts in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and—interestingly—Turkey. In these calls, Shoigu claimed that Ukraine is about to use a “dirty bomb,” which would ostensibly allow Russia to open the door to retaliation with nuclear weapons. Today, General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian general staff, called his American and British counterparts to press the same case.

What is a dirty bomb, and what was the point in making this claim now?

A dirty bomb isn’t actually a nuclear bomb. It is, to use the clunky term professionals apply to it, a radiological dispersal device, which is just another way of saying that it is a conventional explosive wrapped around a lot of dangerous radioactive material. When the bomb explodes, it is not a nuclear detonation, but only the normal explosion of something like TNT or other munitions. The difference is that this conventional explosion spreads around a lot of radioactive material, poisoning anyone nearby and rendering the area highly dangerous—perhaps even impassable. The gunk inside a dirty bomb could be anything that is highly radioactive: nuclear reactor waste, the leftover pieces of a nuclear weapon, even radiological materials from a hospital.

This dirty-bomb charge could be part of the preparation for a Russian “false flag” operation, in which the Russians will explode their own dirty bomb, perhaps in the occupied territories of Ukraine or close to the Russian border; blame Ukraine; and then demand that Ukraine surrender or face nuclear retaliation. It could also be a way of trying to scare off Ukraine’s Western supporters with threats of escalation....

This is nothing but perverted political dogma that gun enthusiasts are touting as important.

I find the entire video a problem. Where did this guy get a corpse? He states it is a real human corpse.

But, the entire video is supposed to be based in science and the examples are amazing. He actually justifies killing by trying to argue with the idea a child's body is not mutilated by weapons of war. He is saying that guns with high capacity are not dangerous to cause death. That is the basis of this video.

In other words, sure people have died of acts of violence with these guns, but, the bodies aren't mutilated, therefore, the idea of preventing deaths with gun control is bizarre. Death is okay as long as it is not mutilating the corpse.

This is the twisted propaganda of the right wing. 

Did the guns kill in a mass shooting? So, what is the issue already? Mutilation?

A bullet that kills is mutilation.

 

More Civil Rights violations. Every American has a right to be educated in a safe environment.

October 24, 2022
By Michael Phillis and Jim Salter

St. Louis - A gunman broke into a St. Louis high school (click here) Monday morning warning, “You are all going to die!” before fatally shooting a teacher and a teenage girl, and wounding six others before police killed him in an exchange of gunfire.

The attack just after 9 a.m. at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School forced students to barricade doors and huddle in classroom corners, jump from windows and run out of the building to seek safety. One terrorized girl said she was eye-to-eye with the shooter before his gun apparently jammed and she was able to run out.

Speaking at a news conference, Police Chief Michael Sack said fast actions by a security guard, along with police officers who “ran to the gunfire” helped end the shooting before more people were killed or hurt. He said the shooter was about 20 years old, but did not identify him and said a possible motive wasn't yet known....

October 24, 2022

Norfolk - A federal jury convicted a Virginia Beach man (click here) Friday on charges of possessing and selling unregistered machineguns.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, between approximately October 2021 and April 2022, Patrick Tate Adamiak, 28, was obtaining illegal machine guns that were not registered and he was selling these machine guns online. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) purchased eight machine guns from him through a confidential source. They then executed a search warrant at Adamiak’s residence and recovered 25 additional unregistered machineguns. A search warrant at his residence found that Adamiak was in possession of two grenade launchers and two antitank missile launchers. Adamiak is a Master at Arms in the U.S. Navy....

October 24, 2022
By Jackson Brown and Brad Broders

Memphis - Transportation Security Administration (TSA) (click here) officers at Memphis International Airport discovered a loaded firearm at a security checkpoint Sunday, bringing the total detected at the airport to a record 68 this year.

At approximately 6 a.m. Sunday, a loaded Ruger LCP .380 handgun was found in a passenger’s personal belongings. TSA officers notified local law enforcement, who removed the firearm and the passenger from the checkpoint area.

The previous annual record for Memphis was 67 guns, set in 2021....

October 24, 2022
By Stacy Henson

Naples men with a car full of ammunition, guns, body armor and drugs (click here) face charges after Collier County Sheriff's Office deputies stopped them Sunday night.

Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said the arrests are significant and underscore that no traffic stop is ever routine.

“It could have been an entirely different outcome for these deputies given the amount of guns and ammunition inside the vehicle,” he said....

October 24, 2022
By Melissa Krull

Robert Swenszkowski is Utica University’s Professor of Practice. (click here) He’s also the Assistant Sheriff of Oneida County, and has 30 years of law enforcement experience. He says 3D guns have been turned in in other buyback programs around the country.

“I know in Utica, New York, Houston, Texas, and Spartenburg, South Carolina that 3D printed guns were submitted to the gun buyback program,” Swenszkowski said.

According to the state Attorney General’s Office, an individual in Utica exploited the program. In order to get more guns off the streets, the program has a no-questions-asked policy. This allows for the possibility of a gun being turned in that was used in a crime.

“What’s more important? Some victims, victims’ families are gonna see it probably as, ‘I’d like to see the person prosecuted over you getting the gun off the street’, but from a public safety perspective getting any gun off the street if it has the potential to harm someone may be just as effective so there’s certainly considerations that need to be given,” Swenszkowski said.

So should buyback programs refuse 3D printed guns?...

Guns are now freedom of expression in a loud way. Really? I thought loud ways of expression required speakers and/or a boom box. I think the language is a bit bizarre these days. We need to define moral content such as "freedom of expression." 

It is time to end the civil war, it's oppression, racism and immoral outcomes of injustice.

The Civil War may have ended on the battlefield, but the fight for equality never did (click here)

In 1865, the Confederacy was comprehensively defeated, its economy shattered, its leaders in exile or in jail. Yet in the years that followed, Lincoln’s vision of a genuinely united country never took root. Apart from a few brief months, when the presence of the Union army in the South proved liberating for newly freed Black Americans, the military victory was squandered. Old white supremacist efforts returned, more ferocious than before.

In Civil War by Other Means, Jeremi Suri shows how resistance to a more equal Union began immediately. From the first postwar riots to the return of Confederate exiles, to the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, to the highly contested and consequential election of 1876, Suri explores the conflicts and questions Americans wrestled with as competing visions of democracy, race, and freedom came to a vicious breaking point.

What emerges is a vivid and at times unsettling portrait of a country striving to rebuild itself, but unable to compromise on or adhere to the most basic democratic tenets. What should have been a moment of national renewal was ultimately wasted, with reverberations still felt today. The recent shocks to American democracy are rooted in this forgotten, urgent history.

Abortion should never have been politicized. It is about privacy and the decisions women make with their doctors.

October 24, 2022
By Sudhin Thanawala

A trial to determine (click here) whether Georgia can continue to ban abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy is underway in an Atlanta courtroom. Abortion provider Carrie Cwiak testified Monday that the state's law is confusing and harmful to women's health. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney has scheduled two days of testimony in a lawsuit that seeks to strike down the law. The lawsuit by doctors and advocacy groups argues the law violates the Georgia Constitution’s right to privacy and liberty. The state attorney general’s office responded in a court filing that Georgia’s privacy protections do not extend to abortion because it impacts another “human life.”

A fetus is not human life. The right of an American to live without concern of dying of giving birth is compromised by the Christian Nationalists in the country and on the Supreme Court. They are extremists and do not validate any scientific and/or medical knowledge regarding pregnancy.

For as minor an issue a pregnancy is to most women, it really is not so minor. It is the joining of two sets of chromosomes. I know that sounds inconsequential, but, it really is a major event that can go very wrong at times.

DNA is a powerful thing, we witnessed the power of a virus that is able to penetrate human cells, use them to turn the cells production of the virus into a viral load that threatens and ends life. DNA is a very powerful thing. In that understanding is the right of women to an abortion. There is a lot that goes on becoming pregnant or facing an unwanted pregnancy for a myriad of reasons. It is not a place for politics and the right to privacy for a woman is absolutely safeguarding her life.

When the Supreme Court removed the protections of Roe v. Wade, it removed the right to privacy for women. Women became second class citizens and to that end we are witnessing the end of the USA Constitution and a return to human rights abuses. If a woman is forced to carry a pregnancy it is a human rights abuse. We have said the same in many countries in international relations and to have the same oppression happen within our borders is nothing short of an atrocity against human life on this planet. 

Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights. 

What are people thinking?

The US Supreme Court is now a partisan divide. There can be no misunderstanding. The court is adhering in majority by their own politics.

July 6, 2022
By Zachary B. Wolf

...Next up (click here) could be a complete re-imagining of American democracy, where, if a legal theory based on the word “legislature” is adopted by the Supreme Court, state lawmakers could, in theory, have new power to ignore voters and pick presidents.

The conservative-majority court has agreed to hear a North Carolina case that pits the state’s GOP-controlled legislature against state courts that threw out congressional maps they said were gerrymandered....

...The congressional map drawn by North Carolina’s GOP-controlled legislature to benefit Republicans was thrown out by the state Supreme Court earlier this year. While the state is politically split, the legislature’s map would likely have resulted in Republicans picking up two congressional seats. The state courts ultimately adopted a more even map drawn by experts that could result in Democrats gaining a seat in North Carolina. Republican lawmakers in the Tar Heel State want the US Supreme Court to allow them to ignore the state court and use the GOP-friendly map for future elections after this year’s midterms....

The Supreme Court is no longer a court where Americans can find equity. It is destroying the entire idea of having a country protected from what is basically evil.

No one with a conscience can turn away from environmental protections and protections of women's health. That is all about the vulnerability of life. None of what is being conducted on the USA Supreme Court is about life or about conscience, it is about politics. 

June 25, 2022
By Josh Gerstein

As the shock waves (click here) spread Friday from the Supreme Court’s momentous decision striking down Roe v. Wade, one notable casualty of the ruling became evident: Chief Justice John Roberts.

After nearly seven months of deliberations, Roberts found precisely zero takers among his fellow justices for his incrementalist approach that would have avoided overruling Roe for now, but allowed Mississippi to impose a near ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy....

Why did Robert's peers turn against the ideology of his incrementalism? Because they want it now. Besides, in reality, incrementalism is just as toxic and anti-American as the politics the six justices stand on to defeat the right to an abortion. Incrementalism is clever, but, it is setting the stage for the same destruction of our USA Constitution.

The destruction of the definition of the legislative body of the federal government IS destroying the USA Constitution. The president was never meant to be king. The legislature was set up to carry out the will of the people. The elect the legislature for that purpose. While the head of our government, the Executive Branch with a President as the final decision maker is about the moral content of the people of the country. But, the legislature is where the people have their best opportunity to be heard and have those words acted on.

I refer from time to time to "The New Source Review." It is an EPA delegated authority that is to take in all reports from the people to improve air quality and eliminate danger. The New Source Review is the epitome of the power of the legislature. It reaches out to the people regardless of their race, creed or age and asks if everything is okay? When the legislature becomes a meaningless body of government, the people are giving up their voice.

...“The Act itself (click here) thus provides a means to seek limits on emissions of carbon dioxide from domestic power plants—the same relief the plaintiffs seek by invoking federal common law,’ Ginsburg wrote in American Electric Power.

“We see no room for a parallel track.’...

Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency decision occurred in 2007. I personally added carbon dioxide to the list of gases the USA EPA was to regulate in 2003, the year Bush invaded Iraq. It was that year when Bush came to the Rose Garden, two weeks after my testimony in Raleigh, North Carolina under the LAW of the New Source Review and submission of a 21 page document which included stating the USA military's use of dolphins was wrong, immoral and illegal according to the ESA (Endangered Species Act).

Then after the death of Justice Ginberg, all those achievements of Americans like me were wiped out by the Robert's Court. I know how it feels to have a Supreme Court that is Anti-American, because they are anti-me.

Yes, besides women's rights which will disappear if Ginni Thomas has her way, there is an entire understanding of how morality lies in the hands of all the people we elect, as well as the justices that sit in the Supreme Court. Please, make no mistake. This election has morality on the ballot and it is not the Republicans that value it.

Today, Justice Thomas voted again for his party. And now he wants to be backed up by his peers. Or, perhaps, his judgement is clouded entirely because Justice Scalia is no longer able to carry him through. Not sure. But, regardless, Thomas has proven himself corrupted and a partisan hack when he once before SHIELDED his spouse from being exposed.

The prosecutors are chasing treason for God sake. What is to question?

October 24, 2022
By Adam Liptak

Washington - Justice Clarence Thomas (click here) on Monday temporarily shielded Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, from having to answer questions from a special grand jury in Georgia investigating efforts to overturn former President Donald J. Trump’s election loss in the state.

Justice Thomas’s brief order was an “administrative stay,” meant to give the court some breathing room to weigh the senator’s emergency application asking the Supreme Court to bar the grand jury from questioning him.

On Saturday, Justice Thomas, who oversees the appeals court whose ruling is at issue, ordered prosecutors to respond to the application by Thursday. Such a request for a response is almost always a sign that the full court will weigh in on the matter.

Prosecutors appear to be particularly interested in any efforts Mr. Graham may have made to urge officials in Georgia, including its secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to address allegations of voting irregularities before Congress was to vote in January 2021 to certify that President Biden was the legitimate winner of the presidential election....

Racism is immoral in all major religions.

The place where racism is practiced within the religion is Christian Nationalists. It is this partisan religion that is sought for votes by the Republicans. That has been the case, this is not a flash in the pan event with Trump. The Republicans have been pursuing the votes of White Supremacists and Christian Nationalists for a long time. The Republicans lack the backbone to stand up for all Americans.

October 23, 2022
By Annie Gowen

Manheim - At the end, after former president Donald Trump (click here) called in to energize the troops, more than 100 people lined up to be baptized.

Some had driven hours for the two-day ReAwaken America Tour in the leafy Pennsylvania countryside. Some had paid up to $500 for VIP tickets. They were 5,000 strong, celebratory but angry about where the country is headed. They said they believed the 2020 election was stolen, that vaccines kill people and that America — both its moral and civic foundation — is headed for complete collapse.

Now they were waiting to be baptized in a black plastic animal trough, leaving the water soaked and shivering — newly cleansed soldiers in their war for America....

If an American votes Republican KNOWING racism is part of the vote, then they are immoral. People have skin and the color in the USA varies according to genetics. That is all it is, genetics. If there are cultural differences it is because of the financial disparity a majority of African Americans suffered so long due to racism, bigotry and oppression. The racism, bigotry and oppression is real. It is part of the reason there is such anger over the division of power in the USA. African Americans are oppressed AND targeted when it comes to voting as well. Between poverty, having to work 2 to 3 jobs and the distance to polling for those that have to take public transportation or don't have the means to get to a polling station at all, the oppression is real.

23 October 2022
By David Smith

Far from entering the midterms (click here) as the party of tolerance, diversity and sincerity, critics say, the Republican party has shown itself to be the opposite

Republicans were in trouble. Mitt Romney, their US presidential nominee, had been crushed by Barack Obama. The party commissioned an “autopsy” report that proposed a radical rethink. “If we want ethnic minority voters to support Republicans,” it said, “we have to engage them and show our sincerity.”

Ten years after Romney’s loss, Republicans are fighting their first election since the presidency of Donald Trump. But far from entering next month’s midterms as the party of tolerance, diversity and sincerity, critics say, they have shown itself to be unapologetically the party of hate....

If Americans are voting Republican this year at the midterms, they are voting for hate, oppression and racism. That is just the starters. Here again and this is Juan Williams who commentates for FOX NEWS. It is not possible to make this up. It is NOT politics. This is REALITY and the fact of the matter is Republicans come with a lot of IMMORAL BAGAGE and they don't care.

October 24, 2022
By Juan Williams

A recent controversy (click here) centered on President Trump is emblematic of a broader trend.

The evidence is piling up that former President Trump, the leading candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, is also the leader of a white, Christian nationalist movement....

From the Arab American community. They are worried about the corruption when their children are exposed to bigotry and hate from those that object and lie about the LGBTQ community.

October 21, 2022


This should be a clear understanding in that even US House legislators are targets of hate, racism and bigotry. It is obvious and it is harmful. 

If Americans are voting Republican, they are voting as an Anti-American. There is no definition better to define the incredible hatred being conducted by Republican lawmakers. They hate the USA Constitution and want it dismantled. They have railed against members of their own party when they stood to protect the US Constitution and bring to just those that would see it ended. Make no mistake, the USA Constitution is on the ballot this November. Absolutely it is.

The January 6th Committee…

 …should be prepared for an outrageous PERFORMANCE by Trump when he testifies. I would expect him to say publicly what was contained in the highly classified documents and lie about it besides. He doesn’t care about the USA. His testimony will be for an audience of a few strongmen in the world. He wants their favor with attempts to harness whatever of their power exists to leverage in his best interests through propaganda, international pressures and even war. 

I fully expect Trump to perjure himself adding to his legal liabilities.

The 2022 election is simple.

 It is about the victory over Republican immorality, oppression and surrender to authoritarianism. Financial concerns is a Republican false God.