SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Discuss political news items / current events.
Post Reply
msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

Trac reports 2015

http://trac.syr.edu/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

fired FBI agent Sibel Edmonds website

http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

William Turner: Tribute to a Courageous FBI Agent Turned Critic
Obituary



http://www.globalresearch.ca/william-tu ... ic/5500784" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Global Research, January 13, 2016
Who What Why 9 January 2016
Region: USA
Theme: Culture, Society & History, Media Disinformation, Police State & Civil Rights


First published by WhoWhatWhy

I first met William Weyland Turner at a political conference, in a hotel bar in Los Angeles. He was 71, and Parkinson’s disease made his every move a staggering, slow-motion effort; walking, taking a sip of a drink, even laughing. Yet his brain remained sharp.

We bonded immediately over our distaste for our hotel. The rooms, all bad angles and David Lynch lighting, had allegedly been designed with feng shui in mind. Rooms of absurd discomfort resulted, with tiny nonsensical chairs and televisions that were propped up six inches off the ground and facing the window, as if for the benefit of local birds. The elevators were bathed in ominous red light; when moving between floors, they produced ominous whispering rather than Muzak.

Most importantly, neither of us could turn on the overhead lights in our rooms, so we were forced to rely on the closet light for illumination. “I’m a smart guy,” Turner said. “You’re a smart guy. And we still can’t figure this out.” I ordered another $15 cocktail, unhappy about the tab but happy with the company.

William Turner – or, forever after, Bill – was in the final chapter of one hell of a life. He started off as the embodiment of one of those pragmatic, respectable, square-jawed men celebrated on mid-twentieth century American television, but wound up among hippies and conspiracy theorists. And the damndest thing about it was that the progression actually made perfect logical sense.

Born in 1927, he enrolled in the Navy at age 17, and was assigned to the Pacific shortly before the bombs were dropped in Japan. Returning home, he played semi-pro hockey, at one point flirting with the New York Rangers of the NHL.

But the FBI paid better – back then anyway. He stayed with the Bureau from 1951 to 1961, becoming increasingly dubious about its tactics and the curious obsessions of its leader, J. Edgar Hoover. When he finally left the FBI for good – he had tried to leave in 1957 but was assured that changes were in store – he didn’t go out, as he put it, with “the customary hearts and flowers routine.”[1] Instead, he decided to file suit for violations of his free speech rights, and although it was unsuccessful he did manage to get some negative assessments into the public record from other agents.

Turner had become increasingly uncomfortable with the director’s focus on rooting out a largely illusionary Communist threat, the beginnings of COINTELPRO (a program that targeted mostly black organizations, such as the Black Panthers, as well as Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King), wiretapping and illegal “black-bag” jobs. In Turner’s opinion, the FBI seemed to be little more than the church of J. Edgar Hoover, which was dangerous for national security. As Turner himself jocularly relates in his autobiography:

…Hoover projected an image of perfection…An example of this is the story about the New York agents who cornered a fugitive at a subway entrance. A shootout ensued, and one agent was taken to the hospital with a leg wound. The next morning Hoover appeared with his civic group as scheduled. “Gentlemen,” he began, “I am with you this morning even though my heart is heavy, for last night in New York one of my agents was killed in a gun battle.” When the Director’s words reached New York, agents drew straws to see who would go to the hospital and finish off the wounded agent.[2]

Turner realized he was at a crossroads. He had served in the Navy and spent ten years investigating and prosecuting crime as one of Hoover’s finest. So what would he do? He would become a journalist, and not just any journalist – he would wind up as the editor of Ramparts magazine.

Along with Paul Krassner’s iconoclastic The Realist, Ramparts was one of the most radical magazines of its time: an ostensibly Catholic publication that was in practice a leftist attack on the status quo. Typical articles probed government surveillance or CIA infiltration of liberal groups. Authors included members of the Black Panther party .

In the 50s, every red-blooded American kid ran around with a Junior G-man badge; in the next decade, the FBI would be seen as yet another arm of an oppressive state. And somehow Bill Turner had moved from one to the other. It was like television star Donna Reed suddenly appearing in a West African dashiki.

The fact is, Turner had stayed true to his principles. He was a patriot, but he wasn’t a fool – and when he saw the FBI as part of the problem, he didn’t hesitate to join the other side.

The cover of Ramparts, June 1967. This issue contained an article by William W. Turner titled “"JFK Assassination: The Inquest”. Photo credit: Newmanology

As editor of Ramparts under publisher Warren Hinckle, he produced some of the most radical writing of the period, as well as giving voice to what was labeled the New American Left. This was a reaction to the Vietnam War, the emerging surveillance state, the presidencies of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, and the major assassinations of the Sixties – John and Robert Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X.

In many ways, Turner was ahead of his time. One example is an article he wrote in the January 1967 Ramparts about the right-wing militia called the Minutemen. In words that could scarcely be more relevant today, he berates the FBI for spending all its time chasing the ghosts of Communism when a real American threat grows within our own society – disenfranchised white men violently opposed to racial change.

The article gained credence coming from someone who had recently been involved in the very organization he now criticized. Although offended, Hoover’s outfit realized that confronting Turner was pointless. An internal FBI memo notes that “Due to Turner’s attitude toward the Bureau, it would be useless to contact him to set him straight…No further action is necessary as this article merely represents another of Turner’s attempts to smear the Bureau.”[3]

That same issue of Ramparts played an important role in history for quite another reason: it contained William Pepper’s scathing anti-war article, “The Children of Vietnam.”

FBI Redactions regarding William W. Turner and Ramparts Magazine Photo credit: governmentattic.org

After reading Pepper’s piece, Dr. King asked the author to speak to his Atlanta congregation. This relationship spurred the civil-rights leader to turn his attention to the Vietnam war, which he condemned in his famous April 4, 1967,speech. (King would be assassinated exactly one year after that speech.)

Meanwhile, Turner’s Minutemen article attracted the attention of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, who asked Turner to help him investigate the assassination of John F. Kennedy.[4]

A key figure in this investigation, dramatized in Oliver Stone’s 1991 movie, JFK, was a New Orleans businessman and CIA contract agent named Clay Shaw, whom Garrison accused of conspiring to kill Kennedy.

Turner agreed to help Garrison, and almost a year later wrote a cover story in Ramparts: “In my opinion, there is no question they have uncovered a conspiracy.”

One aspect of the case that Ramparts magazine focused on in the early going was a cluster of mysterious deaths of people involved in some way with the assassination.

An FBI memorandum, dated 10/27/1966, notes that in previous articles the magazine “…focused on at least 10 persons known to have been murdered, to have committed suicide, or died in suspicious circumstances since the Kennedy assassination…” Then there is a space and one remark: “The Director asked, What do we know of [REDACTED].”

A most intriguing redaction.

Turner himself wrote about some of these suspicious deaths, including that of Gary Underhill. Underhill had been in military intelligence in World War II, before working for the CIA and serving as an advisor to LIFE Magazine publisher Henry Luce, who controlled the famous Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination .[5]

Several days after the JFK assassination, Underhill told a friend that he knew a drug-running faction of the CIA had killed Kennedy, adding, ominously, “they knew that he knew.” Underhill would later be found shot dead, with a pistol under his left arm. His death was ruled a suicide, despite the fact that Underhill was right-handed.

Turner wrote:

J . Garrett Underhill had been an intelligence agent during World War II and was a recognized authority on limited warfare and small arms. A researcher and writer on military affairs, he was on a first-name basis with many of the top brass in the Pentagon. He was also on intimate terms with a number of high ranking CIA officials – he was one of the Agency’s “un-people” who performed special assignments. At one time he had been a friend of Samuel Cummings of Interarmco, the arms broker that numbers among its customers the CIA and, ironically, Klein’s Sporting Goods of Chicago, from whence the mail order Carcano allegedly was purchased by Oswald.[6]

Having spent so much time aiding Garrison on the latter’s doomed investigation of President Kennedy’s assassination — Shaw was eventually acquitted of involvement — Turner would find himself investigating the murder of another Kennedy, John’s brother Robert, shot to death in June 1968. The resulting book (written with Jonn Christian), The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: The Conspiracy and Coverup, continues to be one of the key volumes written on the case, along with Shane O’Sullivan’s Who Killed Bobby?

The general public is mostly unaware of the evidence for a conspiracy in the death of RFK, even though the physical evidence is easier to understand than in the JFK case. Although witnesses saw Sirhan Sirhan shoot at RFK while facing his front, the Senator’s wounds are in his back and the rear of his head, from a gun fired at point-blank range.

An astonishing story in its own right, complete with a Girl in a Polka Dot Dress, a “Walking Bible,” and mind control, the RFK assassination narrative is too complex to relate here. However, Turner and Christian must have done something right, because Random House destroyed 20,000 copies of the book rather than publish it, allegedly in response to the threat of a lawsuit by a known criminal with an FBI rap sheet.[7]

Turner would go on to write more books, including an autobiography. Although slowed in later years by his Parkinson’s, his ailments did not affect his mind. He continued to write and research, and remained as passionate as ever about exposing the truth behind government obfuscations.

Bill Turner died on December 26, 2015.

I worked with him numerous times over the years, helping him deliver his speeches at the yearly Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA) conferences, and he was always flexible, polite, and pleasant. (This may not seem like much, but when you work with dozens of remote speakers from all over the world, an affable and cooperative manner truly matters).

In a research “community” too often characterized by cut-throat competitiveness, Bill made himself a lot of friends for his gentle spirit and his kindness. His memory, as well as his work, will live on.

Notes:


[1] Ibid, 15.

[2] Turner, William. Rearview Mirror (Penmarin Books: Granite Bay, CA: 2001), 3.

[3] Memorandum, 1/19/1967, to W. S. Sullivan from C. D. Brennan, Subject: “Minutemen”

[4] Turner, 116.

[5] DiEugenio, James. Destiny Betrayed (Skyhorse Publishing: New York, NY: 2012), 98.

[6] Turner, William, “The Inquest,” Ramparts, June 1967.

[7] Turner, Rearview Mirror, 259.

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

a story and a portrait with a quotation



1.



2.





Civil disobedience often leads to jail. But now, protesters can explain themselves
Tim DeChristopher

In a historic ruling, several environmental campaigners will be able to argue at criminal trial that their political motives are a defense to their illegal acts
oil train
Activists blockaded an oil train like this one in Minnesota. A judge will let the jury consider why they did it. Photograph: Tom Wallace/AP

Wednesday 13 January 2016 07.30 EST
Last modified on Wednesday 13 January 2016 20.25 EST



In the face of governmental failure in addressing climate change, the climate movement has seen a dramatic increase of civil disobedience. The threat of jail is real to activists who use these tactics – as I learned first hand. But now activists now have a powerful form of defense: necessity.

For the very first time, US climate activists have been able to argue the necessity defense – which argues that so-called criminal acts were committed out of necessity – to a jury. The Delta 5, who blockaded an oil train at the Delta rail yard near Seattle in September of 2014, have been been allowed to use the defense in a historic climate change civil disobedience trial being heard this week. They said they acted to prevent the greater harm of climate change and oil train explosions.

Like all civil disobedience, this new wave of climate disobedience is an inherent critique of the moral authority of government. The necessity defense is an opportunity to elaborate that implicit critique into a fully developed legal argument for the responsibility of citizen action in the face of governmental failure.
Advertisement
In a bad mood? Take a whiff of your cellphone

Brought to you by:
About this content

In addition to gaining the permission to openly argue the necessity defense, the Delta 5 defendants have so far been winning the crucial legal maneuvers in the courtroom. The trial started with several motions from the prosecution to limit how the defense could present “sympathetic” evidence or anything related to their backgrounds. These motions were denied.

The judge has shown himself to be committed to a fully open trial of all the factors that would drive people to risk their bodies to stop fossil fuel expansion. This kind of openness is distressingly rare for civil disobedience cases in American courts. Why this particular judge, Anthony Howard, is breaking ranks in this climate trial is unknown, but I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that he is young enough that he will still be alive in 2050.

This willingness to weigh deep questions of justice in the courtroom is already paying off with a thought-provoking trial. The jury selection developed into an insightful conversation about civic engagement, protest and how to express one’s disagreement with the government.

This work of arousing consciences is an essential feature of good civil disobedience. Just by participating in the selection

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

a story and a portrait with a quotation



1.


http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org ... hristopher" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


DeChristopher
Climate Justice Activist : b. 1981
"… those who write the rules are those who profit from the status quo. If we want to change that status quo, we might have to work outside of those rules because the legal pathways available to us have been structured precisely to make sure we don’t make any substantial change."


2.



http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... themselves" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Civil disobedience often leads to jail. But now, protesters can explain themselves
Tim DeChristopher

In a historic ruling, several environmental campaigners will be able to argue at criminal trial that their political motives are a defense to their illegal acts
oil train
Activists blockaded an oil train like this one in Minnesota. A judge will let the jury consider why they did it. Photograph: Tom Wallace/AP

Wednesday 13 January 2016 07.30 EST
Last modified on Wednesday 13 January 2016 20.25 EST



In the face of governmental failure in addressing climate change, the climate movement has seen a dramatic increase of civil disobedience. The threat of jail is real to activists who use these tactics – as I learned first hand. But now activists now have a powerful form of defense: necessity.

For the very first time, US climate activists have been able to argue the necessity defense – which argues that so-called criminal acts were committed out of necessity – to a jury. The Delta 5, who blockaded an oil train at the Delta rail yard near Seattle in September of 2014, have been been allowed to use the defense in a historic climate change civil disobedience trial being heard this week. They said they acted to prevent the greater harm of climate change and oil train explosions.

Like all civil disobedience, this new wave of climate disobedience is an inherent critique of the moral authority of government. The necessity defense is an opportunity to elaborate that implicit critique into a fully developed legal argument for the responsibility of citizen action in the face of governmental failure.
Advertisement
In a bad mood? Take a whiff of your cellphone

Brought to you by:
About this content

In addition to gaining the permission to openly argue the necessity defense, the Delta 5 defendants have so far been winning the crucial legal maneuvers in the courtroom. The trial started with several motions from the prosecution to limit how the defense could present “sympathetic” evidence or anything related to their backgrounds. These motions were denied.

The judge has shown himself to be committed to a fully open trial of all the factors that would drive people to risk their bodies to stop fossil fuel expansion. This kind of openness is distressingly rare for civil disobedience cases in American courts. Why this particular judge, Anthony Howard, is breaking ranks in this climate trial is unknown, but I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that he is young enough that he will still be alive in 2050.

This willingness to weigh deep questions of justice in the courtroom is already paying off with a thought-provoking trial. The jury selection developed into an insightful conversation about civic engagement, protest and how to express one’s disagreement with the government.

This work of arousing consciences is an essential feature of good civil disobedience. Just by participating in the selection

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

http://www.opb.org/news/series/burns-or ... -santilli/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Militia Sympathizer Leads Protest Outside FBI Headquarters


see link for full story


Jan. 16, 2016 5:43 p.m. | Burns, Oregon
Pete Santilli, an Internet radio host and strong advocate of the armed occupation near Burns, Oregon, led a demonstration outside the FBI's makeshift headquarters there.

Pete Santilli, an Internet radio host and strong advocate of the armed occupation near Burns, Oregon, led a demonstration outside the FBI's makeshift headquarters there.


A group of about 20 protesters demonstrated outside the FBI’s makeshift headquarters in Harney County, which is set up at the Burns Municipal Airport, on Saturday.

The protest was led by Pete Santilli, host of a show on YouTube and a strong advocate for the militants occupying the refuge.

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

One of the smartest comedians ever


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PjPe1O53iRA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

http://commondreams.org/news/2016/01/27 ... eth-warren" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Published on
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
by
Common Dreams
No Endorsement Yet, But Plenty of Clues from Sen. Elizabeth Warren

In speech lambasting big money in politics, 'Warren came as close as she has—or perhaps will—come to officially endorsing Sanders.'
7 Comments

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren back similar agendas that include breaking up big banks, reducing the role of money in politics, and a $15 minimum wage. (Photo: AFGE/flickr/cc)

With days to go before the critical Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, pundits are abuzz about one potential endorsement in particular—one they say could actually sway voters: that of progressive luminary Elizabeth Warren.

Many are pointing to an impassioned speech the senator from Massachusetts gave on the U.S. Senate floor last week, in which she offered what Salon described on Tuesday as a "not-so-subtle endorsement of Bernie Sanders."

The speech, which marked the sixth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, lambasted the "flood of hidden money that is about to drown our democracy." It called for citizen-funded elections, stronger financial disclosure laws, and a "full-blown" Constitutional amendment to restore authority to Congress, individual states, and the American people to regulate campaign finance.

But "[t]he most revealing part of the speech was the end," wrote Salon staff writer Sean Illing, when "Warren came as close as she has—or perhaps will—come to officially endorsing Sanders."

"A new presidential election is upon us," Warren said. "The first votes will be cast in Iowa in just eleven days. Anyone who shrugs and claims that change is just too hard has crawled into bed with the billionaires who want to run the country like some private club."

As Illing argued: "The subtext here is clear: do not listen to those who say we have to be prudent and accept that fundamental problems like financial corruption or campaign finance can’t be solved in the short or medium term. The knock on Sanders, fair or not, is that he’s too idealistic, too detached from the realities of Washington. Part of Clinton’s appeal to voters is that she’s pragmatic and experienced. She may not be as progressive as Sanders, but she can get more done in Washington."

Warren appeared to be rejecting that line of thinking—to Clinton's detriment—according to Liam Miller writing at the Huffington Post this week:

Although the occasion for her speech was the anniversary of Citizens United, in mentioning the election and the imminent voting in Iowa Warren leaves no doubt that her closing words are meant for that greater context, even as she identifies Clinton's appeals to pragmatism as a complete betrayal of the Progressivism she had once courted. That may well be the ball game for Clinton; having failed to win over Progressives, Warren's endorsement could have shored up Clinton's eroding support long enough to survive the Iowa Caucuses. Instead, Warren has delivered a scathing rebuke.

Reporting on the speech, United Press International noted that Warren "has promised to endorse someone" and "is the only Democratic woman in the Senate who hasn't backed the former New York senator." Her recent remarks suggest she's not going to do so, UPI continued, given that Clinton "has received substantial financial backing for her present bid as well as her 2008 run."

What's more, Greg Sargent wrote for the Washington Post earlier this month, "Warren is also surely mindful that a Clinton endorsement would disappoint a lot of Sanders supporters — w

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/01/2 ... ndling.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thursday, January 28, 2016Last Update: 8:53 AM PT

Judge Chides FBI for Cautious FOIA Handling


WASHINGTON - The FBI improperly withheld all records that would show how it responds to Freedom of Information Act requests, a federal judge ruled.
The political nonprofit National Security Counselors and the news-media outfit Truthout brought the challenge after the FBI refused to produce any records it generated in responding to FOIA requests over the last 25 years.
Joining those groups as plaintiffs were investigative Jeffrey Stein and Ryan Shapiro, who is studying FOIA and Privacy Act theory for his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Summarizing the case at issue as one "about how the FBI applies FOIA to FOIA," U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said the exemption the FBI invoked here covers records compiled for law-enforcement purposes.
It said records related to past FOIA cases would risk "the implicit disclosure of highly sensitive information relating to ongoing investigations, confidential informants and classified national security matters," as paraphrased Friday by Judge Moss.
The FBI also invoked an invasion-of-privacy exception it said covers records tracking the performance of FBI personnel.
A court battle over the requests has been brewing for over three years, and Judge Moss granted each side partial summary judgment last week in a 63-page decision.
In rejecting the government's reliance on the "possible presence" of harm, Moss pointed to recent Supreme Court precedent warning "against permitting even substantial policy considerations to trump the plain language of the FOIA."
"There may be compelling reasons to authorize the FBI to withhold search slips and similar processing records," Moss wrote. "But the FOIA itself does not do so, and the FBI cannot act on the basis of an exemption ... that Congress has not provided."
An attorney for all the plaintiffs, National Security Counselors CEO Kel McClanahan echoed this sentiment.
"The overwhelming takeaway from this case is a reaffirmation that ... no amount of legal sleight of hand or predictions of dire consequence" can justify the FBI's decision to "create an exception to FOIA which would allow it to withhold the information it believed should be withholdable," McClanahan said in an email.
"The judge carefully dissected [the government's] argument and found that nothing in the statute or case law supported such an outlandish proposition," McClanahan added. "This opinion highlighted ... the basic truth that if an agency has a problem with the fact that the information it wants to withhold is not covered by an exemption, it should take the matter up with Congress, not the court system."
Judge Moss acknowledged the "gravity of the problem" the FBI faces, noting that its responding to requests for search slips and processing notes "might undermine the FBI's ability to exercise that authority by enabling sophisticated requesters to infer the existence of those records."
FOIA's exclusions simply do not apply, however, to the internal record-keeping documents that the plaintiffs sought.
"These narrowly defined exclusions relate to sensitive matters of law enforcement and national security," the ruling states. "They have nothing to do with the day-to-day administration of FOIA itself."
Moss also found it doubtful that the search slips requested here would disclose law-enforcement techniques as shielded by FOIA exemption 7(e).
"An agency cannot justify withholding an entire document simply by showing that it contains some exempt material," the decision says.
Stein and the National Security Counselors were less successful in seeking to compel disclosure of files that the FBI said contained information about private parties.
Though the plaintiffs pointed to FOIA's official-acknowledgment doctrine, which says an agency waives its right to invoke its exemption from disclosing certain information if it has already acknowledged the existence of said information in the past, Moss found that the information requested here was not a "perfect match" with what the FBI had already disclosed in previous requests for search slips and processing.
The FBI did not prevail, however, in withholding information that it said involved employees who perform FOIA searches.
On this point, Moss relied on a Supreme Court case over U.S. Air Force records.
Though the government can invoke the privacy exception used to shield "routine," internal information from public view, says the ruling, Moss said any document containing information of "genuine, significant public interest" is fair game for public consumption.
Under this logic, documentation of previous FOIA request processing is permitted under the public interest test, the court found.
By examining this information, the plaintiffs "may better understand the FBI's methods of processing FOIA requests, and, where appropriate, may hold the agency accountable for its missteps," Moss said, noting that governmental accountability is the very purpose of the FOIA's existence.
Declining to grant summary judgment for either party on certain issues, Moss called for further proceedings on Stein's claim that the FBI wrongfully invoked attorney-work-product privilege in withholding documents that a bureau lawyer prepared in anticipation of litigation.
More information "regarding the nature of the withheld documents" could "shed light" on what the decision referred to as a potential "novel concept of law," Moss said.
Representatives for the Department of Justice have not returned email Tuesday seeking comment nor phone call Wednesday.

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

Baltimore
Black Lives Matter activist Deray McKesson runs to be Baltimore mayor

Campaign comes amid trials of officers charged over death of Freddie Gray, with city at the center of the debate about policing in America
Deray McKesson has been one of the most vocal activists since the Ferguson shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in August 2014.
Deray McKesson has been one of the most vocal activists since the Ferguson shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in August


Wednesday 3 February 2016 22.02 EST
Last modified on Thursday 4 February 2016 08.31 EST

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016 ... more-mayor" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Prominent Black Lives Matter activist Deray McKesson announced on Wednesday night that he will run for mayor of Baltimore, a move that could shake up both the movement and the city’s politics.

But McKesson’s campaign may also change the Black Lives Matter movement because Johnetta Elzie, another movement leader, is moving to Baltimore to help with McKesson’s campaign.

“There’s a way to challenge from the outside and a way to challenge from the inside and both are important,” McKesson said.

“Baltimore is a city of possibility and we’ve got to challenge the traditional pathways of politics and politicians who lay those paths. We have an opportunity, fundamentally for Baltimore that could change the city to be more transparent and accountable towards people.”

After rising to prominence during the protests over the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, McKesson has spent much of the last year traveling from protest to protest.
Ferguson and beyond: how a new civil rights movement began – and won't end
DeRay McKesson
Read more

Last summer, after the massacre of nine African Americans at the Mother Emmanuel church in Charleston, the hashtag #gohomederay began to circulate online.

Eventually – though not because of his critics, he insists – McKesson did go home, to Baltimore, where he had formerly worked as an administrator in the city’s public school system.

McKesson, who attended college at Bowdoin, wher

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

I like Pete Lee


He is a state rep in Colorado


--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 2/8/16, Pete Lee wrote:

Subject: We're at it again

Date: Monday, February 8, 2016, 5:2

An update from State Representative
Pete Lee

Dear Constituents, Friends and Supporters;

On Opening Day, January 13, 2016, House Speaker Dickey Lee
Hullinghorst set the tone for the session. She was
inspirational as she spoke about the importance of
sustaining and defending our Colorado way of life. Our way
of life includes not just our beautiful mountains and
majestic plains, our pure water and clean air, but also our
diverse mix of people and our tradition of working together
for the common good.
We then began our work. Within the first three weeks,
almost 200 bills were introduced. Many are focused on
legislation that is designed to improve government
operations, including education, transportation and public
health and to make our society more fair and just. I
will update you on many of these bills and issues as the
session moves forward.

I am sponsoring a number of bills to improve the lives of
all Coloradans and to level the playing field for those who
work hard to get ahead. Here are some of them:

HB16-1049: Crowd Funding- Last year we passed a bill that
helps small businesses grow by allowing them access to new
sources of financing through crowd funding. The Colorado
Crowd Funding Act allows Colorado residents to purchase
stocks in small Colorado companies over the Internet. This
year we improved upon the bill to make it more streamlined
and efficient so local entrepreneurs can gain access to
investment capital. This bill passed the House unanimously
and was sent to the Senate, where it has the sponsorship of
Sens. Mark Scheffel and Owen Hill.

Juvenile Seclusion- I am sponsoring a bill that would
strictly limit the use of solitary confinement for juveniles
in correctional facilities such as Spring Creek and Zeb
Pike. You may have seen the Gazette article (http://gazette.com/youth-lockups-troubl ... le/1560554" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
last October about kids being held in solitary confinement,
one for up to 22 days. We know that isolating angry,
out-of-control kids only exacerbates their antisocial
impulses. I want to protect our children by
restricting this practice and guaranteeing that such
treatment is never used as a punishment or in retaliation.

Juvenile Record Expungement- A juvenile criminal record can
have lifetime consequences. This bill would automatically
seal the criminal records of juvenile offenders. As
juveniles grow older, the usefulness of these records
diminishes. But the damaging influence lingers, impacting
college admissions, careers and housing. Mistakes made as
teenagers should not follow them for the rest of their
lives.

Veteran’s Service to Career- This bill will make it easier
for veterans who have left the military service to get job
training, apprenticeships and counseling, so they can more
easily transition to civilian life. By offering grants to
workforce centers that help veterans, we can improve the job
prospects of those who have served, as well as benefit the
economy.

Identity Theft and Financial Fraud Deterrents Taskforce - I
am sponsoring two bills to continue the board and
investigative units that combat financial fraud and address
identity theft. These programs have proven effective at
protecting Coloradans from rapidly expanding internet
crime.

With so many bills in the pipeline, the Capitol is a busy
place. Our caucus is hard at work to sustain and protect the
Colorado way of life. Our priority is to provide a balanced
budget that supports our future and provides the necessary
resources for schools, roads and health care.

Hospital Provider Fee
Colorado has one of the fastest-growing economies in the
country, yet conflicting mandates in our Constitution mean
we are facing significant budget cuts even in times of
economic growth. There is a solution that does not increase
anyone’s in tax rate and would save us from those
cuts. With an accounting shift involving the hospital
provider fee, we can free up hundreds of millions of dollars
to invest in the things that matter most—public schools;
affordable higher education; transportation; and support for
seniors and vulnerable populations.

We have a choice between a tax refund that will average $17
a person in 2016, or a state that is able to support
economic opportunity and quality of life in all areas of
Colorado
We are committed to working across the aisle to find a
solution that makes sure that our government can continue to
work for Coloradans.

End of Life Options
The End of Life Options bill reached the Judiciary Committee
on Thursday, February 4. The testimonies in support
and opposition of the bill were tremendously informative and
brought a real perspective from many parties affected by
this legislation. While an understandably hotly
contested piece of legislation, I ultimately sided in
support of this bill because I believe in compassionate
healthcare. I respect the beliefs of all who are
opposed to this legislation, but hearing the stories of
those who seek relief from suffering in the final stage of
their lives persuaded me that the bill would be a positive
step for healthcare in Colorado.

Lilly Ledbetter Day
We celebrated Lilly Ledbetter Day at the Capitol on
Thursday, January, 28, 2016. The federal Lilly Ledbetter
Fair Pay Act was signed in 2009 and protects women against
pay discrimination. But women in Colorado still earn, on
average, about 82 cents for every dollar a man earns for the
same work. That is why Equal Pay in State Contracts was the
first bill introduced this session and sponsored by every
member of the Democratic caucus. Two other bills to
promote equal pay for equal work have also been introduced.

Military Appreciation Day
Friday, January 29, 2016 was Military Appreciation Day. I
want to thank all of the women and men who have served in
the military for their hard work and sacrifices. It is
important to recognize them for all they have done for this
nation and continue our support while they are deployed and
when they come home.

Please contact me any time with questions, comments, or
suggestions as the session continues. I look forward to
hearing from you.

Pete Lee
State Representative
House District 18

============================================================
**

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

http://ijpr.org/post/aclu-defends-1st-a ... i#stream/0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ACLU Defends 1st Amendment Rights Of Refuge Occupier





Pete Santilli, an Internet radio host and strong advocate of the armed occupation near Burns, Oregon, led a demonstration outside the FBI's makeshift headquarters there.</p>

Pete Santilli, an Internet radio host and strong advocate of the armed occupation near Burns, Oregon, led a demonstration outside the FBI's makeshift headquarters there.

Conrad Wilson

Originally published on February 9, 2016 6:54 pm

The ACLU of Oregon has come to the defense of Pete Santilli, one of the 16 people indicted by federal prosecutors last week for organizing an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon.

“While many people might disagree with statements made by those involved in the Malheur takeover, Americans have a fundamental right to freedom of speech,” wrote Mat dos Santos, the legal director for the ACLU of Oregon, in statement posted to the group’s website Tuesday.

Santilli is the host of an Internet radio show, which for weeks broadcasted hundreds of hours of live footage from the refuge and around Harney County. Santilli was arrested in Burns, Oregon on Jan. 26 along with militant leaders.

Santilli’s lawyer has argued for his pretrial release and said repeatedly in court that Santilli is an independent journalist. But last week, U.S. District Chief Justice Michael Mosman affirmed a decision to keep Santilli in jail, ruling some of his statements posed a risk to the community, specifically law enforcement.

In its statement, the ACLU said despite the fact that Santilli is “politically polarizing and, to many, downright offensive,” the radio host has protected First Amendment rights to make those statements.

“We can all agree that we should not hold members of the media or protesters in jail without bail simply because they have shocking or abhorrent views,” dos Santos wrote. “These are principles that we must stand by, even when we disagree with the message of the speaker.”

Dos Santos wrote that law enforcement can — and should — be able to determine the difference between protected speech and actual threats. And he argued that if there is any question, “we should err on the side of the speaker.”

In an interview, dos Santos said the ACLU would like to see Santilli released before any trial.

"At this point he's being held based on things like statements he made years before the arrest occurred," dos Santos said. "It doesn't make a whole lot of sense that this guy has been an ongoing threat to his community."

As far as the ACLU of Oregon's involvement in Santilli's legal defense, dos Santos said "we're still waiting to see what the appropriate role for us is in his case, if any."

Santilli's court-appointed defense attorney, Tom Coan, said the ACLU made strong points in its statement.

"I'm pleased to see that they are taking that position in support of Pete," Coan said.

When he first took the case, Coan said he wasn't sure Santilli was a journalist, but now there's no doubt in his mind.

"The courts protect the lowliest pamphleteer up to The New York Times," Coan said. "Pete is somewhere in between there."

Coan said he's gathering new material to try a

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

Angela Clemente and Dr Cyril Wecht will be speaking
at this cold case conference


FBI agents tried to kill them.
google each name with the word fbi


https://www.aisocc.com/2016a-conference.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


AISOCC's 2016 Annual Educational Conference

​​3rd Annual Educational Conference
June 26 – June 29, 2016
Hilton Airport St. Louis
10330 Natural Bridge Road
St. Louis, MO 63134

Lodging $105/night
Room block is limited, so reserve early!
Deadline for this room rate: May 1, 2016
Reservations: call 800-314-2117
Free Airport Shuttle
Ref: The American Society of Cold Cases
Group Code: AIS
Or
Click Here To Book Your Hotel Online


Registration
Sunday, June 26 3pm – 6pm in Hotel Lobby
Monday, June 27 7:30am – 8:00am
Tuesday, June 28 7:30am – 8:00am

Sunday, June 26th
7pm – 9pm Presidential Reception & Book Signing Event

Monday, June 27th
8:00 am – 6:00 pm General Session
6:00 pm – 7:30pm Beer & Wine Tasting Event

Tuesday, June 28th
8:00 am – 5:30 pm General Session
5:30 pm – 5:45 pm Closing Remarks
5:45 pm – 6:30 pm Business Meeting & Committee Reports

Wednesday, June 29th
8:00 am – 4:00 pm – Cold Case Reviews*
*Board of Directors and Consulting Committee Members Only

Introducing AISOCC's 2016 Speaker Line-up

Monday, June 27, 2016

Kenneth L. Mains - Founder & President of AISOCC - Introduction
Dr. Mark Perlin – Justice Denied: Mr. Hopkin’s Invisible Semen
Melissa Gregory – What Investigators Need to Resolve Missing & Unidentified Persons Cases
W. Jerry Chisum – Physical Evidence in Staging Crime Scenes
Lee Mellor – Shackling the Sex Sadist
Jared Bradley – Wet Vac forensic DNA Collection in Cold Cases
Angela Clemente – AISOCC Director of Development -Human Commercial Sex Trafficking and Cold Case Homicides


Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Lesley Hammer – Meaningful and Reliable Physical Comparisons of Impressions on Skin
Katherine Ramsland – Mental Maps: The Foundation of Investigation
Dr. Cyril Wecht – Role of the Forensic Pathologist in the Resolution of Cold Cases: Analysis of Evidence and Trial Testimony
Dr. Bruce Harry – Review of the Literature on Solving Cold Case Homicides
Anthony Meoli – 101 Serial Killers: Experience from 20 Years of Writing, Speaking and Visiting Serial Killers
Dr. Robert Record & Gary Lowe – Mentally Disordered Offenders & Violent Crimes
James Markey – Sexual Assault Kit Backlog: DNA and Beyond
Kenneth Mains – Closing Remarks


​General Guidelines:

Presentation schedule will be strictly observed towards being respectful of all presenters allocated time.
Lunch will be two hours on your own.
General committee members are encouraged to attend their committee meetings on Monday.
Subcommittee members are encouraged to attend their subcommittee meetings on Tuesday.
Dinner on your own.

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/ ... n-sinclair" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Thursday, February 26, 2015
by
Common Dreams
On Truth, Shoes, and Upton Sinclair

unnamed_2.jpgPortrait of Upton Sinclair by Robert Shetterly. (Credit: AmericansWhoTelltheTruth.org)

Editor's note: The artist's essay that follows accompanies the 'online unveiling'—exclusive to Common Dreams—of Shetterly's latest painting in his "Americans Who Tell the Truth" portrait series, presenting citizens throughout U.S. history who have courageously engaged in the social, environmental, or economic issues of their time. This painting of Upton Sinclair, the famous novelist, journalist and social activist, is his latest portrait of those who dedicated their lives to equality, freedom and justice. Posters of this portrait and others are now available at the artist's website.

Upton Sinclair did not say about The Jungle that it was the “most important and most dangerous book I have ever written.” He said that about The Brass Check.

Self-published in 1919, The Brass Check chronicles how he was censored, excluded, and libeled as he tried to tell the truth of corporate malfeasance and anti-democratic influence in the United States. Sinclair presents case after case where the major newspapers in the U.S. “do not serve humanity, but property.” He says that in terms of justice and democracy, there is no more important question for the American people than the objectivity of its press: “If the news is colored or doctored, then public opinion is betrayed and the national life is corrupted at its source.” And, “It would be better for the people to go without shoes than without truth, but the people do not know this, and so continue to spend their money for shoes.” But what Sinclair really advocated for was a press that told the truth and for fair wages so workers could afford shoes too.

In part of The Brass Check, Sinclair collects his accounts of being in Colorado in 1913-14 to report on the United Mine Workers of America strike against the Rockefeller-owned coal mines. It was those strikes, for safer working conditions, better pay, and several other issues, that culminated in the Ludlow Massacre where the Colorado National Guard (working for John D. Rockefeller, Jr.) attacked the miners’ camp and killed women and children. Sinclair wrote dispatch after dispatch telling the miners’ side of the story. The local and national newspapers—controlled by Rockefeller money—only published the mine owners’ version events, reporting that all the violence was the work of the miners. Sinclair said:

When newspapers lie about a strike, they lie about every one of the strikers, and every one of these strikers and their wives and children and friends know it. When they see deliberate and long-continued campaigns to render them odious to the public, and to deprive them of their just rights, not merely as workers, but as citizens, a blaze of impotent fury is kindled in their hearts.

Sinclair also wrote about decent journalists who, under threat of firing by the newspaper owners, told only the corporate side of these stories. One of Sinclair’s most famous quotes confronts this dilemma: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

Upton Sinclair was a lifelong socialist, a lifelong activist for the total gamut of social, economic and environmental justice issues in the U.S.. He was a feminist, as Lauren Coodley’s excellent biography of him shows, at a time when few men were. He began two cooperative living societies so that women would be freed from some childcare and household duties to follow their dreams. Having grown up in a family with an abusive, alcoholic father, he supported temperance. He won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1943 for his series of anti-fascist novels. In 1934, Sinclair even ran for governor of California at the head of the End Poverty in California (EPIC) party.

His muckraking classic The Jungle about the horrendous conditions in the Chicago slaughterhouses pushed Congress to pass The Pure Food and Drug Act and The Meat Inspection Act. For a period after the publication of The Jungle in 1906, Sinclair was in great demand as a speaker all over the country. It seemed that more than anyone else he was determining what meat packing standards should be. In fact, the president, Teddy Roosevelt, got so annoyed at Sinclair’s prominence that he pressured Frank Doubleday, Sinclair’s publisher: “Tell Sinclair to go home and let me run the country for awhile.”

I chose to use a quote from The Jungle on the Americans Who Tell the Truth portrait of Upton Sinclair. Perhaps the most famous passage in the book poetically details the horrible slaughtering process—the sound, the smells, the blood, the violence, the uncleanliness, the objectification of the animals and resultant dehumanization of the workers.

Sinclair writes, “... was one to believe that there was nowhere a god of hogs, to whom this hog-personality was precious, to whom these hog-squeals and agonies had a meaning? Who would take this hog into his arms and comfort him, reward him for his work well done, and show him the meaning of his sacrifice?”

Sinclair’s intention with that quote was twofold – to insist that the reader honor the value of hog’s life, at least enough to demand a humane death, and also to make the reader aware that the exploited workers in these slaughterhouses were being treated with little more respect than the hogs. Sinclair was delighted that meat packing regulations resulted from his book, but his primary intention had been to change the labor laws, to awaken the conscience of America to how its workers were being treated. He said, "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” But working conditions in the slaughterhouses wouldn’t change until the workers organized.

For the first two-thirds of the 20th Century there was surely no more broadly committed activist in the U.S. than Upton Sinclair. He wrote more than 80 books, publishing most of them himself because mainstream publishers disapproved of his ideas. He chose often to dramatize social issues in the form of novels on the theory that people would identify more with characters in good stories than be persuaded by argument.

By the way, Sinclair’s title 'Brass Check' is a reference to the method of payment in a house of prostitution 100 years ago. The customer paid his money and was given a brass check to give to the woman he chose. Sinclair’s point was that what passes for journalism is often little different than an exchange with a prostitute. Read more about Sinclair on the AWTT site. We were lucky to have Lauren Coodley herself write a short bio for us.

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

Serpico, Iconic Cop Whistleblower On Snowden And Ferguson

04/03/16

http://www.worldcrunch.com/mobile/#a:20717" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At 79, Frank Serpico, the former New York police whistleblower immortalized by Al Pacino is still a rebel at heart, as cranky and idealistic as ever.

Serpico in 2011(Rick Mackler/Globe Photos/ZUMA)



HUDSON — His tall, slender figure is topped by a simple wool hat, as the man glares at us from behind his sunglasses. “How am I? Not too bad for a man my age. Well, I do have this shrapnel that sometimes hurt,” he says, his ringed hand pointing to his head.

Forty-five-year-old scars. He then curses the doctors who want to give him a new hipbone and crutches. At nearly 80 — he’ll celebrate it on April 14 — Frank Serpico still looks good. The interview, which took place a few months ago in the unlikely cafeteria of an organic supermarket on the outskirts of Hudson, two hours north of Manhattan, made it clear: The legendary whistleblower is still driven by the same inner rage that has always guided him.

A police officer in Brooklyn, he caused a sensation in the 1960s and 1970s by officially denouncing — a first — the rampant corruption inside the New York Police Department. Faced with the silence of his hierarchy, he refused to remain quiet. When his accusations made it on the front page of The New York Times in April 1970, the then mayor, John Lindsay, decided to launch an enquiry: the Knapp Commission.

Among his own, Serpico is seen as a traitor. In Feb. 1971, he was struck by a bullet in the face during a drug bust that went wrong for reasons that are still obscure. His colleagues refrained from calling for help; a resident of the building next door had to call in an ambulance. In 1973, director Sidney Lumet, in Serpico, immortalized him with an Al Pacino who would later receive

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

http://www.occurrencesforeigndomestic.c ... ated-rats/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Putin is Taking a Bold Step against Biotech Giant Monsanto

May 24, 2016 by kristalklear
‘Russia’s Vladimir

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

https://www.muckrock.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Federal Bureau of Prisons breaks space-time continuum to deny FOIA
by JPat Brown
June 02, 2016
Five years ago, Jason Smathers filed a FOIA request with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. A week later, the BOP closed out the request due to lack of interest - three days before they even acknowledged receiving it.
Read More

CVE Watch
Department of Education refuses to release its feedback of FBI’s Counter-Extremism website
by Waqas Mirza
June 01, 2016
The Department of Education has rejected a FOIA request for departmental feedback on the FBI’s Countering Violent Extremism website, which recruits teachers to spy on “troubled” Muslim teens.
Read More
Parents refusal to get vaccine forced the Minnesota zoo to put down their meerkats
by JPat Brown
May 31, 2016
With debate raging over the Cincinnati Zoo’s decision to euthanize an endangered gorilla after a child fell into its enclosure, documents from a similar incident ten years prior raise the same questions about parental responsibility and stringent laws concerning animal safety.
Read More
The NSA’s guide to the internet is the weirdest thing you’ll read today
by JPat Brown
May 27, 2016
The NSA has a well-earned reputation for being one of the tougher agencies to get records out of, making those rare FOIA wins all the sweeter. In the case of Untangling the Web, the agency’s 2007 guide to internet research, the fact that the records in question just so happen to be absolutely insane are just icing on the cake - or as the guide would put it, “the nectar on the ambrosia.”
Read More

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

http://blacklivesmatter.com/who-we-are/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/3692 ... he-country" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Young Black Protesters Blockade Police Facilities Across the Country
Thursday, 21 July 2016 00:00
By Kelly Hayes, Truthout |

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

Reverse Mortgage Calculator
Yahoo SearchSponsored
Learn more
Let's Un-Rig Elections
Aug 3, 2016, 11:41 AM
From RootsAction Team
Details






Share this action on Facebook
Share this action on Twitter
Fixing the U.S. election system will take a massive popular movement and numerous reforms. Here are the first few to build pressure around.

Click here to join RootsAction and a huge coalition advancing this agenda.

Legislation in the United States Senate could move us in the right direction. The We The People package (S. 6 and S.J.Res. 5) would:
Send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to overturn Supreme Court rulings including Citizens United.
Shine a light on secret special-interest campaign donations.
Close the revolving door between Wall Street and bank regulators.
Click here if you support these ideas.

The Fair Elections Now Act (S. 1538) would:
Elevate the voices of everyday Americans by amplifying small contributions with limited matching funds.
Break down barriers so Americans of all walks of life have a greater opportunity to run for office.
The Voting Rights Advancement Act (S. 1659) would:
Restore and increase protections against voting discrimination.
Help ensure our elections are safe and accessible to all voters.

Sign the petition to your senators: We need a democracy that puts people first!

Partnering in this effort are:
Brave New Films
California Clean Money Action Fund
Campaign for America's Future
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Color of Change
Common Cause
Courage Campaign
Daily Kos
Every Voice
Food & Water Watch
Franciscan Action Network
League of Conservation Voters
National Organization for Women
Organic Consumers Association
Oil Change International
People Demanding Action
People For the American Way
Public Citizen
RootsAction.org
Rootstrikers
The Power Shift Network

Please forward this email to everyone you can.

This work is only possible with your financial support. Please chip in $3 now.

-- The RootsAction.org Team

P.S. RootsAction is an independent online force endorsed by Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Daniel Ellsberg, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr., Laura Flanders, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, Coleen Rowley, Frances Fox Piven, Lila Garrett, Phil Donahue, Sonali Kolhatkar, and many others.

 
http://www.RootsAction.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... al-funding" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

US policing
DoJ should withhold funding from police if they don't report killings, activists say
Coalition calls on Loretta Lynch to implement 2014 law that allows for reductions of 10% on federal grant program if police don’t report deaths in custody

Loretta Lynch is empowered by a 2014 law to impose reductions of 10% on federal grant funding if their departments do not report deaths in custody. Photograph: Joshua Roberts/Reuter
Tuesday 30 August 2016 07.54 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 30 August 2016 09.10 EDT


Dozens of civil rights, criminal justice and open government organizations have urged the US attorney general to withhold federal funding from local police chiefs unless they report comprehensive data on people killed by their officers.

Citing the findings of a Guardian investigation, the coalition of 67 groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Amnesty International and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said police ought to be punished financially if they do not submit information to a new government program to count

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/201 ... -marijuana" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Travel guru Rick Steves is coming to Massachusetts to campaign for legal marijuana

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

couple of reads about Terry Tempest Williams



1.

http://www.sltrib.com/home/3845389-155/ ... -us-lauded" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Terry Tempest Williams is leaving her University of Utah teaching post and walking away from the Environmental Humanities program she founded rather than agree to administrators' demands she move her teaching from the state's desert landscapes onto campus.
"For reasons I will never know or understand, the University of Utah wanted me gone — and in the end, what was most threatening was my teaching. Why? Because each of you and our current students are challenging the status quo, each in your own way with the gifts that are yours," the acclaimed author wrote in an email last week to about 80 current and past students of the U.'s Environmental Humanities graduate program.

Known as Utah's most eloquent homegrown voice for conservation, Williams helped launch what has become one of the U.'s premier educational experiences, connecting highly motivated students with the nation's most adventurous writers and artists. Now some are accusing university administrators of being more concerned with procedural bureaucracy than with ensuring Williams continued her leadership.
Williams' departure came as a shock to students, colleagues, program supporters, and at least one foundation, whose executive director said it would not renew a $50,000 grant awarded last year for Williams' "Reading the Book Cliffs" project.
"We saw this course as a national model on how to engage people in new ways for critical issues, such as climate change," said Ellen Friedman of the Compton Foundation, which had premised its support on Williams' field teaching. "We are extremely disappointed."
Williams' supporters are heaping criticism on U. administration for failing to find a way to keep her on faculty, and some suspe

2.



http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org ... t-williams" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Biography
The Ecology Hall of Fame, adding Terry Tempest Williams to its honorees, noted that she “combines all the major strains of environmental passion.” Her life´s work is driven by love of the desert, and other naturally beautiful places; a passion for multigenerational land stewardship, which ties her to the region where she was born and still lives; and opposition to resource destruction, especially when it affects human health.

Williams is a Utah native, descended from five or six generations of Mormon pioneers. “I write through my biases of gender, geography, and culture,” she says. “I am a woman whose ideas have been shaped by the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau.”

Williams is perhaps best known for her book Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place (Pantheon, 1991), in which she chronicles the epic rise of Great Salt Lake and the flooding of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in 1983, alongside her mother's diagnosis with ovarian cancer, believed to be caused by radioactive fallout from the nuclear tests in the Nevada desert in the 1950s and 60s. Refuge is now regarded as a classic in American nature writing, a testament to loss and the earth's healing grace.

Williams’ other books include Red: Patience and Passion in the Desert, 2001; An Unspoken Hunger (Pantheon, 1994); Desert Quartet: An Erotic Landscape (Pantheon, 1995); Coyote's Canyon (Gibbs M. Smith, 1989); and Pieces of White Shell: A Journey to Navajoland (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1984). She is also the author of two children's books: The Secret Language of Snow (Sierra Club/Pantheon, 1984); and Between Cattails (Little Brown, 1985).

In 2004, Terry Tempest Williams published The Open Space of Democracy, in which she tried to define how we might break down the partisanship and polarization in our society so that we can come together to solve the political and environmental problems which threaten our democracy and our land. In it she says, “I do not think we can look for leadership beyond ourselves. I do not think we can wait for someone or something to save us from our global predicaments and obligations. I need to look in the mirror and ask this of myself: If I am committed to seeing the direction of our country change, how must I change myself?”


3.


http://www.sltrib.com/news/4467584-155/ ... ck-oil-gas" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;




http://www.sltrib.com/news/4467584-155/ ... ck-oil-gas" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
BLM pulls back oil & gas leases bought by Utah activist, author ...
Salt Lake Tribune-Oct 19, 2016
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Terry Tempest Williams (holding her bidding number) and Brooke Williams in the BLM's Salt Lake City ...

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/110 ... ectric-car" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


NewsElectric Cars2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV first drive: 240 miles in an electric car
2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV first drive: 240 miles in an electric car
John Voelker

msfreeh
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 7718

Re: SOLUTIONARYS: Courage is Contagious

Post by msfreeh »

 
April 21, 2017
Craig McKee, Secretary 9/11 Monthly Teleconference Call
**********************
Draft minutes for the Wed., March 29, 2017 regular conference call
 
Present were:
 
Ken Freeland, Teleconference co-facilitator, Houston 9/11Truth
Cheryl Curtiss, Teleconference co-facilitator, Connecticut 9/11 Truth
Craig McKee, Teleconference secretary, Truth and Shadows
John O’Malley, DC911Truth
Barton Bruce, Massachusetts 9/11 Truth
Charles Ewing Smith, The Demolition of Truth
James Hufferd, 9/11 Grassroots
Barrie Zwicker, Towers of Deception
Peter Michael Ketcham, formerly of NIST
Mike Cook, AE911Truth
Dan Hennen, AE911Truth
David Cole, Nine Eleven Accountability Team
Dick Atlee, Maine 9/11 Truth
Kevin Barrett, False Flag Weekly News
Barbara Honegger, Behind the Smoke Curtain
Gene Laratonda, TAP Pittsburgh
Chris Bergier, Boston 9/11 Truth
Al Magaletta, Boston 9/11 Truth
Michael Carey, Boston 9/11 Truth
Al Rubin, Boston 9/11 Truth
Jane Millikan, Boston 9/11 Truth
Rachel Worden, Boston 9/11 Truth
David Rolde, Boston 9/11 Truth
Richard Krushnic, Boston 9/11 Truth
 
The minutes of the February 22, 2017 conference call were APPROVED.


The draft agenda was APPROVED.
 
Request for exception to remain on list serve
A request from Lynn Ertell was read in which she asked to be exempted from the teleconference rule that those who don’t attend three consecutive teleconferences are no longer eligible to participate in the teleconference list serve. Lynn stated that because of scheduling problems she is usually not able to participate in the calls although she does listen to the recordings.  A vote was taken and her exception was approved.
 
Barrett goes to Tehran
Kevin Barrett, the host of False Flag Weekly News, gave a report concerning his recent trip to Tehran, Iran for a conference in support of the Palestinian intifada.
 
False flag museum
Cheryl Curtiss and Barbara Honegger offered a proposal that a museum be created on the theme of state crimes against democracy. While this would feature 9/11 prominently, it would also look at other false flags, assassinations, the war on terror, banned books, etc. Anyone interested in participating in a committee to plan this can contact Cheryl at [email protected]. One idea that emerged from the discussion was that books could be donated by members of the truth community to the project for a library. James Hufferd volunteered to keep a list of books that are offered for donation. He can be reached at [email protected]. James said he will post the list on his web site, 911grassroots.org.
 
Announcements
James Hufferd announced that he will have a novel published in the spring of 2018 by Trine Day.
Barbara Honegger informed the teleconference that two groups of 9/11 victims’ family members have lawsuits going forward against the government of Saudi Arabia. She also mentioned that the Wall Street Journal did an article about efforts by the Saudis to have the JASTA bill watered down.
James Hufferd mentioned that a major conference called “The National Security State and JFK” will take place June 3 in Washington, D.C.
Cheryl mentioned that she and Cat McGuire will be organizing several panels for this year’s Left Forum, June 2-4.
Call began at 8 p.m. EST and adjourned at 9:50 p.m. EST/5 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. PST

Audio of the March 29 call can be heard here: http://www.houston911truth.net/audio/32917.mp3  The next monthly teleconference will take place on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 8 p.m. EST, 5 p.m. PST. Please email agenda items for next call to facilitator Ken Freeland ([email protected]) by April 22. Please use subject line “Agenda item for 911 Truth Teleconference.” Please include a brief description of your item and any relevant links you’d like participants to be aware of, together with your estimate of the number of minutes your agenda item will require.






Link du jour

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk ... nald-trump

Eavesdropping on Roy Cohn and Donald Trump
www.newyorker.com
Christine Seymour connected Cohn’s calls with clients including Nancy Reagan, Gloria Vanderbilt, the mobster Carlo Gambino, and Trump.



http://www.thesullenbell.com/2017/04/23/sharp-clause/

Sharp clause
April 23, 2017 Uncategorized dissidence, globalist agenda, Hollywood, HyperNormalisation, inductive speculation, mainstream media, manipulation, marching for science, memetic warfare, new world order, nuclear weapons




http://www.occurrencesforeigndomestic.c ... unication/



threat enunication
April 25, 2017 Uncategorized anti-Semitism, Armenian genocide, Assange, DC terror drill, deep state, falsified history, Geely, Korea, psychiatric word games, Reddit, Sarah Palin, security contractors, Senate, spooks confab, Syria, vaccine fraud, war new






http://flagpole.com/news/news-features/ ... e-slowdown

JFK Grassy Knoll Shots? Limousine Slowdown?
Flagpole Magazine-
Another Secret Service agent, Forrest Sorrels, who was in the motorcade ... in the followup car with agent Landis and other Secret Service agents, both told FBI ...


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E-eY1ne9pFA


Dick Gregory 2017 The world will end with a nuclear war
NEWO SHOW 5,396 views


https://www.thenation.com/article/how-b ... its-ranks/

IMIGRATION POLICYPOLICE AND LAW ENFORCEMENTWHISTLEBLOWERS
How Border Patrol Deals With Dissent in Its Ranks

An interview with Customs and Border Protection whistle-blower James Tomsheck.



http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/que ... -1.3095590

Queens woman dies after drunken off-duty cop slams into her car ...
New York Daily News › new-york › que...
- Queens woman, 22, dies after drunken off-duty cop slams i



FBI OCTOPUS

http://www.myrecordjournal.com/news/lat ... nt-to.html


Federal authorities say training event shows Trump administration's ...
Meriden Record-Journal-
The FBI-produced film is a dramatization of a college campus shooting, and ... Patricia Ferrick, special agent in charge of the New Haven Office, said that 287 ...




http://www.newsmaker.com.au/news/295449 ... ntre-stage



Meet the real life 'Donnie Brasco' at Polonious World 2017 in ...
NewsMaker
Former undercover FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone, aka 'Donnie Brasco', keynote speaker and available to meet journalists, but photos or videos of him are not 





http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/k ... -1.3094683

KING: Cops who held 5 innocent black boys at gunpoint caused harm
New York Daily News-Apr 24, 2017
Last month, as five young black boys in Grand Rapids, Mich., were walking home from a local rec center, where they had been playing ...






https://www.policeone.com/officer-misco ... ling-data/

profiling data– Apr 22, 2017
Police in Connecticut's capital city have failed to report thousands of traffic stops as required by a state law aimed to prevent racial profiling



http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html



ACLU sues LAPD over 'systemic violation' of public records law



The American Civil Liberties Union has joined with a journalist, a college professor and an activist to sue the Los Angeles Police Department over what they describe as a “systemic violation” of California’s public records law.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, accused the LAPD of failing to comply with the California Public Records Act by not responding to requests within the time frame mandated by the law or by ignoring inquiries altogether.


The civil complaint documents nearly a dozen examples of such requests, including some that were allegedly made years ago and have yet to be answered.

“More and more, police departments throughout the United States acknowledge the value of transparency — to increase public trust, promote better law enforcement, and facilitate effective oversight,” the lawsuit stated. “The LAPD’s pattern and practice of violating the [state’s records act] and ignoring requests for public information is not only unlawful, but also out of step.”


The suit asks the court to compel the LAPD to follow the law and order the department to track — and report publicly — how it responds to public records inquiries for at least three years to en







https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/us/g ... .html?_r=1

Dozens of cases dismissed, reviewed after Ga. cops fired over UOF incident– Apr 19, 2017
The solicitor general dismissed 89 cases where Officers Robert McDonald and Michael Bongiovanni were a principal officer or a main witness


Link du jour

http://dcdave.com/article5/170420.htm

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-nat ... story.html






With President Trump denouncing “illegal leaks,” whistleblowers are in the line of fire.

We’ve got to support whistleblowing and boost public outreach -- to counter the demagogic messaging from the top of the U.S. government.

To help that happen, please support NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, the co-chairs of the Whistleblowers Public Education Campaign.

Here at the RootsAction Education Fund, we just got an update from John that we’d like to share with you.

“I had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion in early April on national security whistleblowing hosted by the American College of Trial Attorneys,” John said. “A prominent Washington attorney and Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times were the other two participants.”

The gathering sounds like it was bittersweet for John. He told us: “It was nice, refreshing really, to be among like-minded individuals. The room was packed with trial attorneys, including some of the biggest names in Washington's white-collar criminal defense industry, all of whom support whistleblowers as necessary to the national security.”

John went on: “The problem, though, is that President Trump and Attorney General Sessions are determined to continue the war on whistleblowers begun nearly a decade ago by President Obama and Attorney General Holder. Indeed, Trump told the press last month that he will hunt down ‘the low-life leakers’ in his administration. ‘They will be caught!’ he tweeted. We ought to take him at his word.”

Telling difficult truth from inside the U.S. government has gotten harder than ever, with a president who has scorn for facts -- and hostility for anyone who reveals facts that expose what he wants to hide.

Tom and John know firsthand what’s at stake. As an NSA whistleblower, Tom was dragged through years of Espionage Act prosecution. As a CIA whistleblower, John went to prison for two years.

With the Trump regime now in power, the stakes are higher than ever. You can provide vital support now with a tax-deductible donation; half of every dollar will go directly to John and Tom, while the other half will go to the Whistleblowers Public Education Campaign that they coordinate.

At the RootsAction Education Fund, we remain deeply concerned that -- while people of all ages need to hear John Kiriakou and Tom Drake -- their personal finances were wrecked by legal persecution. That’s how the government planned it.

But we have very different plans. We want the voices of John Kiriakou and Thomas Drake to be heard far and wide.

“Like I said,” John told us a few days ago, “it's great to sit in a room of like-minded people, speak, and just agree with one another. But that's not what our goal is. Our goal is to get our stories -- our experiences -- into the public domain.

“As you know, Tom and I speak at every opportunity, whether it's on college campuses, to civil liberties groups, or even to foreign governments. And we usually do that for free or for reimbursement of our expenses.

“We can only continue to do it with your help.”

Can you help?

John says: “I fear for the country, for whistleblowers, and for those considering bringing to light evidence of waste, fraud, abuse, and illegality in government.”

We need to show whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers that they’re not alone -- that there’s vibrant life after whistleblowing -- and that difficult truth-telling is imperative for democracy.

Please support the Whistleblowers Public Education Campaign.

“Tom and I were both charged with espionage -- one of the gravest crimes with which an American can be charged, one that can include the death penalty -- for blowing the whistle,” John says. “Others like us will not have an easy time of things during the Trump administration.”

John adds: “This is what we're up against. This is the fight that we have to prepare ourselves for over the next four years. We can't do it without your help.”

Please help John Kiriakou and Tom Drake remain out there, in the public, speaking, writing, and shouting from the rooftops that whistleblowers must be protected, that whistleblower protection laws must be comprehensive, and that when a person makes the right moral, legal, and ethical decision -- to blow the whistle on waste, fraud, abuse or illegality -- he or she will not risk house and home.

We hope you can take a minute now to make a tax-deductible contribution in solidarity with John Kiriakou, Thomas Drake and the Whistleblowers Public Education Campaign. Thank you for your generosity.



http://stevehochstadt.blogspot.com/2017 ... -iowa.html

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

What’s Wrong With Iowa?


We often drive through eastern Iowa on our way from central Illinois to Minnesota. The landscape is peaceful and prosperous. The farmhouses are well kept, and the roads smooth and wide. When we stop, Iowans are friendly and helpful.

Iowa is doing very well. The Census Bureau ranks Iowa #4 in lowest housing costs relative to income, and that cheap housing is near to the workplace: average commuting time is 19 minutes. Iowa is one of the safest states. The cultural scene is thriving: Forest City’s country music festival is ranked second in the country by Country Living magazine, and Broadway shows go straight to Des Moines. CNBC ranked Iowa 9th among the 50 states in its annual survey “Best States for Business”, with a similar ranking for quality of life.

So why does Iowa send a racist to Congress? Even before he was first elected to Congress in 2002, Steve King was clear about his disdain for immigrants of all kinds. As a state legislator, he proposed a law requiring Iowa students to be taught that the United States is the undisputed greatest nation on Earth. He sued his own Governor for providing ballots in languages other than English, despite the federal law that requires such ballots.

After election, King became known for his nasty characterizations of immigrants. In 2013, he generalized about undocumented immigrants: “For everyone who's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds, and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”

Do immigrants pose a particular problem in Iowa? Iowa has one of the lowest proportions of foreign-born residents, less than 5%, compared to 13% for the US, and only 7% speak a language other than English at home, compared to 21% in the whole country. Iowa is one of the whitest states, with 85% non-Hispanic whites, more than all but 5 other states. King’s district is even whiter: 96% white.

Here is what King has done in this current Congress since January. He proposed to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which created the federal income tax. He found one co-sponsor. He proposed a bill to terminate the EB-5 program, part of the Immigration Act of 1990 signed by President George H.W. Bush. That program offers green cards for permanent residence to entrepreneurs and their families, if they invest in a commercial enterprise in the United States and plan to create or preserve 10 permanent full-time jobs for qualified American workers. He found one co-sponsor. He proposed a bill to use federal funds to support private schools, and to repeal federal nutritional standards for school lunch and breakfast programs that increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat milk, and reduce sodium, saturated fat, and trans fat. He managed 3 co-sponsors for that. King proposed to end our national policy of giving citizenship to anyone born in the US, even if their parents are not citizens, as he has done in previous years.

Is King perhaps just very conservative? No, some recent comments show that he is a white supremacist. In July, he said about non-whites on a cable news show, “I'd ask you to go back through history and figure out, where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you're talking about, where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?” Just before the Dutch election, he tweeted about the far-right candidate Geert Wilders, “Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.” The former KKK leader David Duke understood what King meant, and responded “GOD BLESS STEVE KING!” On CNN, King reaffirmed his idea of a white America: “I meant exactly what I said. I’d like to see an America that's just so homogeneous that we look a lot the same, from that perspective.”

Why do the people of northwestern Iowa keep electing King to Congress? It’s not because he does anything useful there. Since he was elected to Congress in 2003, he has sponsored over 100 bills and not one of them even got out of committee, even though Republicans controlled the House for most of those years. He was named the least effective member of Congress in 2015 by non-partisan InsideGov.

Are most people in Iowa’s 4th district racists? Not necessarily: in 2008, they voted for Obama over McCain for President.

Steve King, along with other politicians who have made openly racist statements, exemplifies an unhappy characteristic of many white American voters. Electing a conservative is more important than not electing a racist. As long as their choice is between a Democrat and Steve King, northwestern Iowans will keep voting for King, no matter how ineffective or prejudiced he is.

That’s how we end up with racists in Congress.

Steve Hochstadt
Berlin
Published in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier, April 11, 2017

Post Reply