Why do we use the word Fascism?

The word Fascism is used because it is the only historically accurate word in the English language for identifying the process of the consolidation of control over resources for the purpose of creating wealth and profit at the expense of Human Rights, the ecology, "liberal values" and sovereignty of the people living in submission to Fascism. (See Anti-Fascist solutions [link])
Plutocrats and their Trans-National Corporations have no national loyalties or primary citizenship. They are multinational by their own definition. Fascism as an ideology is not monolithic. It is nationalistic or theocratic when it serves to promote popular agendas, but all fascist movements are united to serve the various cliques of plutocracy. Fascism can be against one set of plutocrats, while working to protect the property of another set.

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power." - 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt, "Message to Congress on Curbing Monopolies" [link].

"They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective ... using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously (is to) keep the common man in eternal subjugation." - 1944, Vice-President Henry Wallace interview with the New York Times, (and what happened afterwards [link]).



Economic Dictatorship
* "5 Facts About America's Pathological Wealth Distribution" [link]
* "Wealthy Thrive and Poorest Dive as Surge in US Inequality Continues" [link]
Fascism mirrors the psychology of it's patron plutocrats.
It can be paranoid, selfish, exclusive, vain and against reason.
It serves only the interest of the plutocracy, to stabilize their economic power.
Meet the monopolists... [link]


400 individual USA citizens have more money than the entire economy of Russia!
* "US Is an Oligarchy Not a Democracy, says Scientific Study" [link].
The "Forbes 400" list of wealthiest Americans [forbes.com/forbes-400/list], [forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2013/09/16/inside-the-2013-forbes-400-facts-and-figures-on-americas-richest]: "The 400 wealthiest Americans are worth a record $2.02 trillion, roughly equivalent to the GDP of Russia. That is a gain of $300 billion from a year ago, and more than double a decade ago. The average net worth of list members is a staggering $5 billion, $800 million more than a year ago and also a record. The minimum net worth needed to make the 400 list was $1.3 billion. The last time it was that high was in 2007 and 2008, before property and stock market values began sliding. Because the bar is so high, 61 American billionaires didn’t make the cut."   

Monopolist Dictatorship over the resources of the USA [link]
* 95% of new wealth created 2009 to 2012 in USA went to top 1% [link]
* Richest 10% of USA Citizens own 80% of the stock market [inequality.org/wealth-inequality]
* Private Monopolies increase Taxation of the Public for the enrichment of their investors [link]
* Private CEOs’ exorbitant salaries paid for by the Taxpayers [link]
* Plutocratic Philanthropy only benefits their own vision of culture and education [link]
* "The Other America": 2800 corporations have liquid cash equal to ALL USA Federal Spending for 2013 [link]
* "Billionaires' influence felt in state's water policy" (California) [link]
* "America’s Top 10 Corporate Tax Avoiders" [link], showing how many of the Federal military contractors are allowed to not pay taxes on profits made using tax-payer funding.
* 32 Companies dodged USD $72 billion in taxes during 2012, enough to fund the entire Federal education budget [link]
* "Debtor nation: Americans pay interest on $163 billion held by top tech firms overseas" (2014) [link]

Ideology of the monopolists (and their happy little helpers) [link].
* An ideology mixing libertarianism with dictatorship [link]
* Unlimited Pollution and Profit [link]
* "Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)" determined using artificial indicators of economic growth and is used by the monopolized media to reassure the investors and the public [link].
* How traders manipulate stocks using computers [link]
The stock market cannot uplift the quality of life of all the people...


How Monopolists use government to rule the people [link]
* Canada, and economic domination by USA petroleum cartels [link]
* Private Bureaucracies use Federal Government to protect holdings, enact profitable policies, despite economic crisis [link]
* Corruption in the USA: When individual monopolists can buy an entire congress... [link]
* Federal Congress legislates for profit [link]
* Monopolists using State Legislative entities to attack Wages and Labor Standards [link]
* State Policy Network (SPN) [link]
* Democrat Party [link]
* The "Tea Party", an electoral vanguard aided by monopolists [link]
* Libertarianism is an ideology for unrestricted fascism [link]
* Fascism in Chicago under Mayor Rahm Emmanual and his ideological inheritors [link]
* Monetization of Political Freedom in the USA [link]
* North Carolina Republican Party work to prevent the rise of sovereign energy sources (2014) [link]
* "SEC Goldman Lawyer Says Agency Too Timid on Wall Street Misdeeds" [link]
* Private investor partisans control national security of the USA [link]
* Indiana: "The Ultra-Right-Wing State Nobody Mentions" (2014) [link]
* The fascist's solution to the Liberal Agenda: President Barack Obama [link]
* FreedomWorks, a private-sector political entity, influences the Federal Congress [link]
* The Royal Dutch Shell company says energy is best exported, and doing so makes for better national security (2014-09) [link]

Prevention of political alternatives to the two-party establishment on the ballot:
* Florida: Legislation considered to stifle the participation of political alternatives to the official two state parties (2011) [link]

Poverty is a Crime [link]
* America’s Disappeared [link]
* Homelessness is a Human Rights Abuse [link]
* The Minimum-Wage Economy: An Apartheid of Dollars [link]
* "Six Ways America is Like a Third-World Country" [link]
* Philadelphia PD seize homes of people who can't pay legal fees [link]

Monopolists create artificial 'Economic Crisis' to expand their dominion...  [link]

Corporatised social-spending:
** Government social-programs designed to alleviate famine are organized in collaboration with private food production companies. These social-programs provide the companies with a steady source of income and guaranteed purchase rates.
Also see:
** "How advocates against government social-programs "prove" their point" [link]

Monopolized Media Censorship [link]
* Wealthy exhibit willful ignorance of the conditions of life for the poor [link]
* The so-called "Liberal Press" [link]
* The so-called "Conservative Press" [link]

Being under Permanent Suspicion by State and Private clandestine agencies [link]
* Targeting of Black / New African National Leadership [link]
* War against Dissent by private clandestine services [link]
* Reform addressing human and civil-rights abuses by Clandestine Agencies is a facade [link]

Electronic Surveillance & Harassment
* Google is an extension of Military and Clandestine agencies [link]
* Indications that Facebook monitors and interferes with dissidents [link]
* "Meet the Data Brokers Who Help Corporations Sell Your Digital Life" [link]
* Pattern of cyber-attacks against "leftist" populist news journals [link]
* US Military study social media trends for use against democracy campaigns [link]

Unlimited War for Unlimited Profits [link]
* Dept. of Defense fraudulently gives away money with no oversight [link]
* Navy's Culture of Corruption [link]
* Promoting American Exceptionalism, an ideology for mega-death [link]
* USA Citizens not allowed to know Overseas Drone Death Toll (2014-04) [link]
* USA gives $2.7 Billion to DynCorp for work in Afghanistan and Iraq, despite knowing it engages in sex slavery and death-squad operations [link]
* $1.45 Trillion of tax money to Private Armament Companies for F-35 attack jet [link]

"There exists a shadowy government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself." - Daniel Ken Inouye, during the Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition (Iran-Contra hearings) (1987) [en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Inouye] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbFphX5zb8w]

'Christian' Monopolists and fascism [link]
"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy." - Book of Ezekiel, chapter 16, verses 49-50.
* Political Agendas, Profit Motives, Religious Truth, and Cognitive Dissonance [link]
* Ronald Reagan: Capitalists and Fascists in need of "their" President [link]
* "46 Percent of Mississippi Republicans Want Interracial Marriage Banned" (2011) [link]
* Private Religious Law displacing Public Secular Law [link]

"This Racist Drug War..." [link], is an Unconstitutional War, a War against the People [link], for profit [link].

Prison archipelago: Slave Labor; Systematic Torture; Human Experimentation
* Political & Conscious Prisoners in the U$A [link]
* Slave Labor in USA prisons [link]
* Torture in Prisons [link]
* "School to Prison" pipeline [link]
* Prisons, not medical asylums, house many of the mentally ill [link]
* Youth Prisoner Uprising at Woodland Hills detention center in Tennessee [link]

Destruction of quality and inexpensive public education
Goldman Sachs controls Education Management Corp., which is the 2nd largest for-profit education entity, charges $15000 for comparable Community College public education worth $520!
Private companies are using Public Schools to, literally, "dumb down" the workforce [link]...
Under-education of the People is the reason why the process of fascism goes uninterrupted, and nobody reads books anymore [link]!
* Fascism at Florida State University [link]
* Destruction of Libraries at Los Angeles Unified School District [link]
* “Who Is Behind the Privatization of Public Education?” [link]
* Missouri State Politicians are destroying all public schools [link] (2014)
* "New Orleans Nearly Finished Killing Off Its Public Schools" [link] (2014)

Healthcare in the USA controlled by profit-driven private companies [link]
* This was private healthcare’s plans, no matter who's President after 2012, instead of single-payer or socialized medicine [link]

49.1 million residents in USA are food-insecure [link]

Fascism and Labor Unions [link]
* "Right To Work" law is an abolishment of Human Rights [link]

"Economic Sacrifice Zones", the so-called "Ghetto".
* "Capitalism’s Sacrifice Zones" [link], 2012-07-20 from "Public Affairs Television, Inc."



Censoring USA history [link]

Captive Nations: 
* The BIA's "Indian Country"
* Puerto Rico [link]
* New Africa [link]

"American Fascism: How Big Business Has Taken Control of the U.S. Government", 2013-06-04 interview with Ralph Nader by Democracy Now! [link]:
Watch Part 1 of this interview: [link]
Watch Part 2 of this interview: [link]
Describing the United States as an "advanced Third World country," longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader calls for a new mass movement to challenge the power corporations have in Washington. "It is not too extreme to call our system of government now 'American Fascism.' It's the control of government by big business, which Franklin Delano Roosevelt defined in 1938 as fascism," Nader says. "We have the lowest minimum wage in the Western world. We have the greatest amount of consumer debt. We have the highest child poverty, the highest adult poverty, huge underemployment, a crumbling public works -- but huge multi-billionaires and hugely profitable corporations. I say to the American people: what's your breaking point? When are you going to stop making excuses for yourself? When are you going to stop exaggerating these powers when you know you have the power in this country if you organize it?"

Fascists to cleanse USA history of "anything divisive", including the mention of slavery or illegality of wars

This page documents how fascists are attempting to cleanse history from schools and in the monopolist media. To cleanse history is to omit any knowledge of historical fascism in the USA. To censor knowledge of the old Jim Crow regime is to allow for it to return. To make it as though the USA was always the "best Democracy" and a "shining light on the world" without acknowledging the world empire of economic dictatorships benefiting the investment-class of the USA.

"Ben Carson: New AP U.S. history course will make kids want to ‘sign up for ISIS’ "2014-09-29 by Valerie Strauss for "The Washington Post"
(Ben Carson Photo by Scott Morgan for The Washington Post)
Here’s the video of Carson on Monday at the Center for Security Policy’s National Security Action Summit:
(download only) [https://web.archive.org/web/20141004003957/http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/clips/2014/09/29/36951/natsecsummit-20140929-carson-1.mp4]
---
The new Advanced Placement U.S. history framework has become the target of intense criticism from conservatives who charge that it is anti-American, the latest attack coming on Monday from potential GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson, a famed pediatric neurosurgeon who said that “most people” who complete the course would then be “ready to sign up for ISIS.”
Conservatives have said that the new history framework –  being used this fall in classrooms around the country — does not highlight American achievements or mention key American historical figures but spends a lot of time talking about America’s worst period.  Top officials at the College Board, which owns the Advanced Placement program, have said there is nothing anti-American about the document.  College Board President David Coleman and AP program head Trevor Packer have both rejected the criticism, noting that the controversial framework is not a full curriculum but an outline for teachers to design their own lesson plans according to individual state requirements.
AP courses do not come prepackaged, giving teachers freedom to develop their own curriculum and lesson plans. The previous framework, which was updated after teachers complained that it had too much in it and did not allow students time to delve deeply into any particular subject, did not include specific names or dates either. The authors of the new framework issued a public letter recently that said in part:
[begin quote]
The AP U.S. History course is an advanced, college-level course – not an introductory U.S. history course — and is not meant to be students’ first exposure to the fundamental narrative of U.S. history. Because countless states, districts, and schools have their own standards for U.S. history teaching, we did not want to usurp local control by prescribing a detailed national curriculum of people, places, and events. As a result, we created a framework , not a full curriculum, so that local decision makers and teachers could populate the course with content that is meaningful to them and that satisfies their state mandates (such as teachers choosing to discuss the heroic World War II experiences of Bob Dole, Daniel Inouye, or Dorie Miller).
[end quote]
The new framework — known as APUSH — has been under attack for weeks. The Republican National Committee last month passed a resolution bashing it as reflecting “a radically revisionist view of American history that emphasizes negative aspects of our nation’s history while omitting or minimizing positive aspects.” The RNC urged the College Board, which owns the Advanced Placement program, to delay implementation for a year until it can be reviewed.
After the RNC resolution was passed, Coleman issued a letter saying that the criticism was confusing the framework with a curriculum, but said that to help ease the minds of people concerned that the course did not pay enough attention to the nation’s founders, he would release a full practice exam for the AP course (see below).
That didn’t stem the criticism, and Carson joined the conservative attack on Monday. My Post colleague Nia-Malika Henderson reported on Monday [https://archive.today/1vtcN] that Carson, a contributor to FOX News, said the “likelihood is strong” that he will run for president in 2016 and a fundraising front, the National Draft Ben Carson Committee, is already raising millions of dollars.
Media Matters reported on Monday [http://mediamatters.org/video/2014/09/29/foxs-ben-carson-ap-history-curriculum-would-mak/200933] that Carson appeared at the Center for Security Policy’s National Security Action Summit and said the history course being taught in schools is so distorted that he thinks that “most people when they finish that course they’d be ready to sign up for ISIS.” (See video below.) ISIS is the terrorist organization that the United States has targeted with air strikes in Syria and Iraq. He said:
“I am a little shocked quite frankly looking at the AP course in American history that’s being taught in high schools across our country right now. There’s only two paragraphs in there about George Washington. George Washington, believe it or not. Little or nothing about Martin Luther King. A whole section of slavery and how evil we are. A whole section about Japanese internment camps. A whole section about how we wiped out American Indians with no mercy. I mean I think most people when they finish that course, they’d be ready to sign up for ISIS. This is what we are doing to the young people in our nation. We have got to stop this silliness. We have to stop crucifying ourselves. Have we made mistakes as a nation? Of course we have. Why? Because we are people and all people make mistakes.”
Carson has previously made headlines for comments against gay marriage as well and against evolution [https://archive.today/lTI5A].
Meanwhile, in Jefferson County, Colorado, about 1,000 students have been protesting a call by a member of the Board of Education there for a review of the AP history course to see if it, among other things, promotes civil disobedience. The College Board issued an unprecedented statement late last week saying it was supporting the students. The statement said in part:
“The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program supports the actions taken by students in Jefferson County, Colorado to protest a school board member’s request to censor aspects of the AP U.S. History course. These students recognize that the social order can — and sometimes must — be disrupted in the pursuit of liberty and justice. Civil disorder and social strife are at the patriotic heart of American history — from the Boston Tea Party to the American Revolution to the Civil Rights Movement. And these events and ideas are essential within the study of a college-level, AP U.S. History course.”

The "Conservative" Stab-in-the-back

Everyone knows what "stab in the back" means, when referring to wars for energy wealth. Capitalists, Dictators and brutal mercenaries all agree, ending the mass killings of civilians is a bad thing, especially when civilians form a militia and fight back, in which case, the war must go on!

Often, the term "stab in the back" is used by "conservatives" to describe any political action against the use of weapons of mass destruction, such as seen in the USA war against the People of Iraq. It is known for certain that the mass killings of hundreds of thousands of civilians within the jurisdiction of Iraq has influenced a militant ideology among them, which is hostile to not only the USA but also its allies. Although the allies do subsidize their own non-state militias across the Arabia Peninsula, the action of ending the Iraq war is being shown as a "stab in the back" being done by "liberals" like Pres. Obama and the Democrat Party.

What follows shows how the global fascist alliance secures the image of the "stab in the back" to influence popular opinon in the USA for support of expanding military operations.
** "Saudis lament, 'we have been stabbed in the back by Obama' " (2013-12-27) [http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/12/27/saudis-lament-have-been-stabbed-in-back-by-obama/] [archive.today/MgR0p]

Recently (2014-07) I heard my man Toby Keith call out Obama for his stab in the back against the war! Why does his opinion matter? Because his views become the views of his millions of devoted listeners of his popular music, and he is an investor in weapons industries and energy extraction companies.
** "Toby Keith, Cowboy Capitalist: Country's $500 Million Man"[http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2013/06/26/toby-keith-cowboy-capitalist-countrys-500-million-man/] [archive.today/CwETC]

And mercenary army owner is also calling out Obama for the stab in the back concerning the war in Iraq!
"Blackwater founder: We could have fought ISIS if Obama hadn't 'crushed my old business' " (2014-09-22) [http://rt.com/usa/189684-blackwater-private-army-isis/] [archive.today/KCKQ0]

How advocates against government social-programs "prove" their point

"War on Poverty, fail", 2014-09-18 [https://archive.today/dIJyX]:
From the Rush Limbaugh show....
Our old buddy at the Heritage Foundation, Robert Rector, is back with yet another great paper on what a total, total abomination the War on Poverty has been. I mean, the numbers he cites in his piece are just mind boggling.
For example, the U.S. has spent $22 trillion in its War on Poverty, three times the amount we have spent on all wars combined, and still the percentage of people in poverty is the same as it was before the War on Poverty began. And Rector said, "How is this possible? How in the world can we spend $22 trillion and not even change the circumstances of people?" And he gets into the original purposes of LBJ, and of course, just like FDR, it was to create a permanent Democrat majority with all these things.
When the War on Poverty began, 7% of children in America were born outside marriage. Today, 42% of all kids born in this country are born out of wedlock. And in the African-American community, it's 73%. War on Poverty. That's the beginning point for these numbers. Seven percent birthrate outside marriage in 1965, now 42% nationwide, 73% in the black community.

Private Religious Law, Public Secular Law

A teen-age man's life is made useless by the marking of his name with incarceration, which prevents access to grants for higher-learning, and higher-economic class.
Secular law does not enforce the dictates of a religion on non-believers. It will enforce laws against trespassing, stealing, and destruction against a public monument, as an act of protecting property...
When a religion governs a state, it is a political ideology which is defended against all non-violent "outrages".
The offender is charged with the following: “Desecration of a Venerated Object.”, which is defined as “Defacing, damaging, polluting or otherwise, physically mistreating in a way that the actor knows will outrage the sensibilities of persons likely to observe or discover the action.”

"It's a simple case of statutory rape"
 

"Teen Faces 2 Years in Prison for Taking a Lewd Photo…..With a Statue"2014-09-11 by Cassandra Rules [http://thefreethoughtproject.com/teenager-facing-years-offensive-facebook-photos]:
An Everett, Pennsylvania, teenager is facing two years locked away over some offensive photos posted to his facebook account.
The photos depict him in mock sexual positions with a Jesus Statue.  The statue does not appear to have been harmed during the incident.
KRON4 reports that the photos were taken and uploaded in July in front of the “Love in the Name of Christ” Christian organization in his hometown of Everett.
The young man is charged with “Desecration of a Venerated Object.”, which is defined as “Defacing, damaging, polluting or otherwise, physically mistreating in a way that the actor knows will outrage the sensibilities of persons likely to observe or discover the action.”
This is a charge that was often used against people who burnt American flags in protest.
In Texas v. Johnson, Johnson was charged with Desecration of a Venerated Object for burning an American Flag during the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas.
The case brought to light questions about whether or not expressive acts were protected under the amendment. The supreme court ultimately decided that the burning of the flag in protest was in fact, protected speech, since it was done in an expressive manner with obvious political intentions.
It is important to note that any act may be protected or not depending upon context and intention. For example, if a flag was burned in protest it is protected speech, if it was burned as an act of vandalism, it is not.
If the young man was expressing his distaste for the church, then legally, per our constitution, these charges must be dropped.

"CIA Press Handlers" act as official censors and propaganda agents

The so-called "Liberal Press" [link]

"FOIA Requests Expose Corporate Media Working Directly with the CIA"
2014-09-10 by Cassius Methyl for "TheAntiMedia" [http://theantimedia.org/foia-requests-expose-corporate-media-working-directly-with-the-cia/] (archive.today):
View the complete set of emails (hundreds of pages) at
** [https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1283562-cia-public-affairs-emails.html]
** [https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1283562/cia-public-affairs-emails.pdf].

Ken Dilanian, an AP ‘journalist’ and former LA Times writer, was exposed recently for coordinating with none other than the Central Intelligence Agency.
He submitted his articles in progress and pieces of information he was to use in articles to ‘CIA Press Handlers’ via email, and documents obtained by ‘The Intercept‘ illustrate the entire process of oversight and heavy influence exerted by the CIA over the LA Times, as well as several other corporate media outlets [https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/04/former-l-times-reporter-cleared-stories-cia-publication/] (archive.today).
Dilanian promised in emails that he would paint the agency in a positive light. He used his writing abilities for darkness, doing such things as making it seem as if drone strikes were morally justified, painting his stories as if innocent people were not savagely shredded to pieces in drone strikes.
This is just one glimpse into  a large connection to be further uncovered with irrefutable pieces of evidence such as these leaked emails.
(Click to enlarge. Credit: The Intercept) View original page at [https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1283562-cia-public-affairs-emails.html#document/p346]

To cite some of these emails between Ken Dilanian and CIA press handlers, here is a quote; “I’m working on a story about congressional oversight of drone strikes that can present a good opportunity for you guys,” Ken said in an email to a CIA press handler. He continued to say that his ‘journalism’ about drone strikes would be “reassuring to the public”.
These are some of the most concrete facts out there that show precisely how the corporate media is bought and paid for, controlled by powers that annihilate the objectivity of the reporting. That objectivity obviously never existed; for those who just can’t seem to believe that mainstream media intentionally, calculatedly manipulates people into holding opinions that don’t align with reality, here is your irrefutable proof, and much more is coming.
(Click to enlarge. Credit: The Intercept)

All of these revealing emails are the result of FOIA requests by people fighting the good fight; hundreds of pages were released revealing connections between the CIA and The Associated Press, Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and more .
If you thought that was bad, the documents proceeded to reveal that people from those ‘news agencies’ routinely went to meetings with CIA press handlers in McLean, Virginia.
Now prepare to recognize some names of corporate media correspondents who went to these CIA briefings; David Ignatius,  Fox News’ Brett Baier, Juan Williams, and Catherine Herridge [https://web.archive.org/web/20140914105149/https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/04/former-l-times-reporter-cleared-stories-cia-publication/].
FOIA requests for connections between government agencies and the corporate media are on the rise, and more will surely be revealed. Really though, do you feel like you need more evidence suggesting the mainstream media coordinates with the CIA and associates?
These mainstream media outlets have not only lies and manipulation to be guilty of, but they have blood on their hands.
The mainstream media’s manipulation of the American people’s perception of war leads to mass apathy, which plays a large role in the US Government and associated powers having the ability to get away with murder, war crimes, and numerous other atrocities with impunity .
The documents referred to in this article can be viewed here, thanks to The Intercept [https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1283562-cia-public-affairs-emails.html].
Some people don’t understand this and just need the straightest, most irrefutable facts to be fully convinced of the reality of this situation. On that note, please share this with absolutely as many people as possible, and if you can get a person who didn’t get it before to understand it now, you have put in work to accelerate the paradigm shift towards massive awareness and peace.

USA torture techniques include near drowning, beyond "waterboarding" with a cloth

Reporter Christopher Hitchens of Vanity Fair Magazine undergoes waterboarding
[www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1q-IqLLMZ4], of what the public was shown in the monopolist media about waterboarding. News media consumers are told throughout the world that the USA's torture techniques do not exceed "waterboarding" with a cloth, alongside rare mentions of "Black Sites" where mercenaries are paid by USA agencies to conduct physical torture (especially in Libya).

"CIA 'tortured al-Qaeda suspects close to the point of death by drowning them in water-filled baths' "
2014-09-07 by Peter Foster for the "Telegraph" daily newspaper
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/11080450/CIA-tortured-al-Qaeda-suspects-close-to-the-point-of-death-by-drowning-them-in-water-filled-baths.html]:
Washington -
The CIA brought top al-Qaeda suspects close “to the point of death” by drowning them in water-filled baths during interrogation sessions in the years that followed the September 11 attacks, a security source has told The Telegraph.
The description of the torture meted out to at least two leading al-Qaeda suspects, including the alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, far exceeds the conventional understanding of waterboarding, or “simulated drowning” so far admitted by the CIA.
“They weren’t just pouring water over their heads or over a cloth,” said the source who has first-hand knowledge of the period. “They were holding them under water until the point of death, with a doctor present to make sure they did not go too far. This was real torture.”
The account of extreme CIA interrogation comes as the US Senate prepares to publish a declassified version of its so-called Torture Report – a 3,600-page report document based on a review of several million classified CIA documents.
Publication of the report is currently being held up by a dispute over how much of the 480-page public summary should remain classified, but it is expected to be published within weeks.
A second source who is familiar with the Senate report told The Telegraph that it contained several unflinching accounts of some CIA interrogations which – the source predicted – would “deeply shock” the general public.
Dianne Feinstein, the Democrat chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee that authored the report has promised that it will expose “brutality that stands in stark contrast to our values as a nation”. The Senate report is understood to accuse the CIA of lying and of grossly exaggerating the usefulness of torture.
It is being angrily opposed by many senior Republicans, former CIA operatives and Bush-era officials, including the former US vice president Dick Cheney, who argue that is it poorly researched and politically motivated.
The CIA has previously admitted that it used black sites to subject at least three high-value al-Qaeda detainees to “enhanced interrogation” – namely Mohammed, the alleged USS Cole bomber Abd al Rahim al Nashiri and alleged senior Bin Laden aide Abu Zubaydah.
An internal report in 2004 by the CIA’s own Office of Inspector General admitted that Mohammed had been “waterboarded” 183 times and Abu Zubaydah 83 times – but actual details of how the interrogations were administered have never been provided.
When the 109-page CIA report was made public in 2009 following a freedom of information lawsuit, large portions of it remained redacted – or blacked out – including all 23 pages that followed the factual admission that interrogators “applied the waterboard technique” to Mohammed.
An official CIA description of waterboarding in the 2004 report says that a cloth is used to cover a subject’s nose and mouth and is saturated with water for “no more than 20 seconds” before being removed. A stream of water is then “directed at the upper lip” in order to prolong “the sense of suffocation”.
However the report also admits that waterboarding was being carried in a “manner different” from that prescribed in the US military’s standard SERE training manual, but details were not revealed, beyond the frequency of the treatment, which was admitted to have broken guidelines.
Among the additional difficulties for investigators seeking the truth about what happened is the fact that in November 2005 the CIA destroyed some 92 video tapes of its waterboarding and interrogation of Mohammed and the others.
The officer responsible, Jose Rodriquez, was reprimanded but justified his actions by arguing that he feared the tapes would eventually leak to the media, provoking a backlash that would endanger officers’ lives.
The White House and the State Department fear that the Senate report could still cause a backlash and have made preparations for increased security at sensitive sites when it is eventually published.
Despite the destruction of video evidence, however, a third source familiar with the still-classified accounts of the most severe of the CIA interrogations, said that the practices were much more brutal than is widely understood.
“They got medieval on his ass, and far more so than people realise,” the source told The Telegraph referring to the treatment of Mohammed and Nashiri, but declined to provide further details because of the still-classified nature of the material.
Amrit Singh, a lawyer with the New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative and the author of Administration of Torture, a book detailing the Bush administration’s torture policy, said the new details of the CIA excesses should not come as a surprise.
“Given the lengths that Bush-era CIA officials went to cover up the truth, including destroying videotapes depicting waterboarding of prisoners, it comes as no surprise that the torture was more brutal than previously revealed.
“It is, however, something that the American public has a right to know about, and an obligation to reckon with, and these revelations only underscore the urgent need for release of the Senate intelligence committee report,” she said.

Hospital Access is Tyranny, says Federal Congress Rep. Mike Kennedy (Republican Party of Utah)

Watch the video to view his comment in context. 

"He's a Doctor, honey: Rep. Dr. Mike Kennedy, Esq., Will Protect Utah From Dangerous Hospitals"
2014-08-29 by Beth Ethier for "Wonkette" [http://wonkette.com/558705/rep-dr-mike-kennedy-esq-will-protect-utah-from-dangerous-hospitals]:
(Image via Dr. Mike’s YouTube campaign video)

More info at Fox 13 Salt Lake City [http://fox13now.com/2014/08/28/state-representative-to-legislature-hospitals-can-be-dangerous/].

"Mike Kennedy - Utah House District 27" video, upload 2012-06-17 by "Mike Kennedy" to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoBOAhxHzxo]:
Mike Kennedy is a Fiscal Conservative, a Health Care Expert and a Solution Based Leader running for Utah House District 27. Please Visit [www.KennedyHouseCalls.com]. Produced by Revolution Media [www.RevolutionMediaUSA.com]
---
People of Utah, did you know you are under threat by monstrous hazards that lurk behind gleaming facades, endangering your very life under the diabolical ruse of helping you avoid death? There could even be one of these hulking terrors right in your own neighborhood.  Fortunately, there is a kindly doctorman fighting to protect you from these deathtraps, these hospitals, by making sure you don’t have access to them. That man is Dr. Mike, J.D., also known as state Rep. Michael S. Kennedy of Utah’s 27th House District.
During a meeting of the Health Reform Task Force (which, luckily for all of Utah, Dr. Mike is there to steer in the right direction), a visiting doctor recounted a story of a man who had an extremely rare but serious reaction to pain medication while being treated for injuries from a car accident. Dr. Mike, who we reiterate is a practicing medical doctor himself, took this as rock-solid evidence to support his assertion that it is access to hospitals that is killing people, and the best thing for patients to do is just stay out of these places altogether (and, presumably, let Dr. Mike come to your house instead).
"Sometimes access to health care can actually be damaging and dangerous, and it’s a perspective for the [legislative] body to consider is that I’ve heard from National Institutes of Health and otherwise we’re killing up to a million, a million and a half people every year in our hospitals and it’s access to hospitals that’s killing those people."
So who is this hero standing between an unsuspecting public and the scourge of doctors and their death chambers? According to his campaign video, Mike Kennedy was thrown into poverty by his parents’ divorce when he was seven years old, but learned that “sound fiscal management” can save you from “debt and bondage,” so, silver lining? Also, cute kids are not afraid to let him use a stethoscope on them.
Mike is a triple threat: freshman legislator, Brigham Young law graduate, and family doctor. (Back off, Husband Hunters — he’s taken!) And you can tell he is a man of conviction, since his offensive against hospitals and wider war on Obamacare line up exactly with his overall philosophy that any help you give anyone will only hurt them, especially if that help has even a whiff of government stink about it: "As a physician, I’ve seen firsthand the invasion of the federal government in our lives. Although government programs might seem benign at first, they lead to dependency and restrict our freedoms."
Utahans, when you’re dying, noble and free, from internal injuries after your car accident rather than taking your chances with some scary witch doctor and his mystery medicines, be grateful for Dr. Mike, the one true warrior in your struggle to be free of hospital access.

Chicago Tribune reporter Ken Dilanian is a CIA asset

The so-called "Liberal Press" [link]

"Ex-Tribune reporter said to have 'collaborative' relationship with CIA"
2014-09-04 by Michael Muskal from the "Los Angeles Times" daily newspaper [http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-tribune-dilanian-20140904-story.html]:
** Website cofounded by Glenn Greenwald accuses ex-Tribune reporter of sending stories to CIA before publication.
** Emails between former Tribune reporter Ken Dilanian and press office at CIA are made public
Photo: Ken Dilanian, former staffer in the Tribune Washington bureau.

A website cofounded by journalist Glenn Greenwald has published emails suggesting that a former Tribune Washington bureau national security reporter submitted some of his work to CIA officials prior to publication, a practice banned by many media outlets, including Tribune.
Ken Dilanian, a former staff writer for the newspaper chain that includes the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, had a "closely collaborative relationship with the CIA," according to the article, published Thursday by the online news site the Intercept.
In documents made public by the website, Dilanian appeared to promise positive news coverage and on occasion sent the CIA press office entire story drafts for review prior to publication. In at least one instance, the CIA’s reaction appears to have led to significant changes in a story eventually published by Tribune newspapers, according to the emails.
“I’m working on a story about congressional oversight of drone strikes that can present a good opportunity for you guys,” Dilanian wrote in one email to a CIA press officer, explaining that what he intended to report would be “reassuring to the public” about CIA drone strikes, according to the Intercept.
In another exchange, the website reported, Dilanian sent a full draft of an unpublished report about drone strikes along with the subject line, “does this look better?” In another, he directly asks the agency officer: “You wouldn’t put out disinformation on this, would you?”
David Lauter, chief of the Tribune Washington bureau, said the emails suggest a possible violation of Tribune news policy.
“We have a very clear rule that has been in place for quite a few years that tells reporters not to share copies of stories outside the newsroom,” Lauter said. “I am disappointed that the emails indicate that Ken may have violated that rule.
“We don’t have reason to believe that any of the stories we published were in any way inaccurate,” Lauter added.
Dilanian left Tribune in May to join the Associated Press, and the emails released by the CIA cover only a few months of his tenure with Tribune, the Intercept said.
Paul Colford, director of media relations for the AP, said: “We were satisfied that any pre-publication exchanges that Ken had with the CIA before joining AP were in pursuit of accuracy in his reporting on intelligence matters.”
Dilanian declined to comment.
Greenwald is a former reporter for the Guardian who has reported extensively on national security issues. He cofounded the Intercept in part as a means of reporting on documents uncovered by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
---
2014-09-05 from Jett Stevens: Cursory look through the Times database show no articles from Mr. Dilanian in the opinion section. He was your typical garden variety reporter, and his name and photo should be included in every future dictionary, right next to the definition of the word toady.

Shell Oil says energy is best exported, and doing so makes for better national security

The alternative is renewable energy sources, and it is best for collective security, dig?
Royal Dutch Shell is a monopolist energy corporation, and it is in its own financial security that their official company is as follows...

"Shell: 'Persuasive argument' for U.S. oil and gas exports"
2014-09-03 by Daniel J. Graeber for "UPI" newswire [http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2014/09/03/Shell-makes-US-oil-gas-export-argument/7581409746991/]:
New York -
Exporting oil and natural gas from the United States should help ensure a more stable global energy sector, the head of Royal Dutch Shell said from New York.
Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said during a speech at Columbia University there was a "persuasive argument" for open exports from the United States.
Some policymakers on Capitol Hill and those in the energy industry have said more oil and natural gas exports would secure the United States as a global energy superpower.
Crude oil exports are restricted by legislation enacted in response to the oil embargo from Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in the 1970s. Exports in the form of liquefied natural gas require an approval process that supporters say is mired in red tape.
Van Buerden said in his address a "truly liberalized" U.S. energy market would bring global benefits.
"U.S. oil and gas exports would reinforce the long-term future of North American energy production, significantly improve the U.S. balance of trade and help to make the global energy system more stable," he said in his remarks Tuesday.
Critics argue exports would lead to an increase in hydraulic fracturing, the controversial drilling practice behind the glut of oil and gas in the United States. Some industry reports have said exports could also lead to an increase in domestic energy prices.

49.1 million residents in USA are food-insecure

"New Hunger Figures Show Millions of Americans Continue to Struggle"
2014-09-03 from "Bread for the World" [http://www.bread.org/media/releases/new-hunger-figures-show.html]:
Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) revealed that 14.3 percent of U.S. households were food-insecure in 2013. This number is a slight decline since 2011 but remains well above the rates of food insecurity recorded before the recession. The figures are part of the USDA’s annual report, Household Food Security in the United States 2013.
“Our elected officials need to make ending hunger a national priority,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “It is unacceptable that 17.5 million households in this country must choose between paying for medicine, rent, day care, or food.
In 2008, the number of food-insecure Americans increased by more than 30 percent as a result of the recession and has remained above 14 percent. The USDA defines food insecurity as “when consistent access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other resources at times during the year.”
The working poor and families living in poverty are most vulnerable to food insecurity. The threat to children is especially high - 15.8 million children lived in food-insecure households in 2013.
According to the USDA report, for 360,000 households, “food insecurity among children was so severe that caregivers reported that children were hungry, skipped a meal, or did not eat for a whole day because there was not enough money for food.” Studies show that children who are hungry and at risk of hunger are more likely to struggle in school and have an increased risk for illnesses and weakened immune systems.
“I pray that our brothers and sisters across the country will use the ballot box to speak up for the 49.1 million Americans who live in food-insecure households,” added Beckmann. “During this election season, I urge you to support and volunteer your time to candidates who are committed to ending hunger. I urge everyone to vote for candidates who demonstrate the political will to end hunger in our time.”

PHILADELPHIA POLICE ARE SEIZING PEOPLE'S HOMES NOT BECAUSE THEY CAN'T PAY

2014-09-02 by Cassandra Rules from "The Free Thought Project":
Article [http://thefreethoughtproject.com/philadelphia-police-seizing-peoples-homes-charges/]:
Video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj2zJSUiUH8]

The Philadelphia police are putting home owners on the street and it has nothing to do with their ability to pay the mortgage, nor are they being charged with a crime.
Christos Sourovelis works hard and owns a painting business. He has built a “dream house” in a Philadelphia suburb, and without warning, the city came along and siezed their home.  Sourovelis and his wife, Markela, have never been charged, or accused of any wrong doing.
They are now suing the Philadelphia DA after their home was seized when their son was found with $40 worth of heroin.
A month and half after their son was arrested the police showed up. They opened the door and had their gun drawn on the families dog before Markela Sourovelis even knew what was going on.
This family isn’t alone.  Civil forfeiture allows the city to seize any property without charging the home owner with a crime.
From 2008-2011 Allegheny, PA, filed only 200 petitions for civil forfeiture, in 2011 alone, Philadelphia filed 6,560 petitions.
“The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has turned this tool in to a veritable machine, devouring real and personal property from thousands of residents, many of whom are innocent, and converting that property in to a $5.8 million average annual stream of revenue,” Darpana Sheth, a lawyer with the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, a nonprofit public-interest law firm told CNN.
Civil forfeiture was authorized in 1988 as a means to go after drug traffickers to take away the “tools of the trade”, meaning anything used or earned from the drug business.  However, because these cases are technically civil actions, property owners receive almost none of the protections that criminal defendants receive. Instead of them having to prove your guilt, you must prove your innocence.
The government must only prove that a property, not the owner, was “more likely than not” involved in the perpetration of a crime.
This week the Sourovelis’s joined with two other families and filed a lawsuit against the DA, city, and the police department.  They are seeking only $6 each in damages, but aim to shut down the civil forfeiture program on constitutional grounds.
Philadelphia has brought in more than $64 million in seized property during the last decade – nearly twice the amount raised by similar programs in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Los Angeles County combined, according to Philly.com.
According to a report by Vice titled ‘Asset Forfeiture, the Cash Cow of the Drug War‘, The Justice Department’s asset forfeiture fund was at $1.8 billion in 2011, and it gave away nearly half a billion dollars to local police departments.
Asset forfeiture keeps the money rolling into police departments, which is in turn used to buy them all sorts of fancy new militarized toys.
What do you say, isn’t it time to end the drug war?

The so-called "Conservative" media

The most well known "Conservative" monopolist media is "Fox News", which is infamous for broadcasting fabrications and allowing self-described experts to lie unchallanged, without corrections, as long as the fabrications conform to the ideology of the main faction of the Republican Party...

Youth Prisoner Uprising at Woodland Hills detention center in Tennessee

Throughout the Cold War, it was said the GULAG system of rehabilitative prisons were part of the system of tyranny which the United States fought against, and that prison uprisings were to be supported because the GULAG prisons had terrible human-rights abuse. The majority of inmates in the old GULAG rehabilitative prisons were petty criminals, and their treatment by prison authorities was described as justifying prison uprisings. There were no youth prisons in the GULAG, as young offenders were incarcerated in educational facilities and given jobs after release.

Photo 2014-09-01 from "The Tennessean", showing "Startling images from the hours-long riot after teens try to escape from Woodland Hills detention center"


"History of trouble at Woodland Hills"
2014-09-04 from "The Tennessean" [http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2014/09/03/woodland-hills-escape-dcs/15046057/]
(Photo: Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean)

Monday night's escape at Woodland Hills is only the latest sign of trouble there [http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2014/09/03/dcs-guards-assaulted-woodland-hills-escape/15022223/]. Tennessean reports have chronicled issues there for years.

March 2004 -
Juveniles armed with improvised weapons such as broken mop handles, trash-can lids and bricks attacked staff during an escape attempt.
Two nurses and 18 other staff members, including guards, teachers and counselors, suffered minor injuries. The most seriously hurt was a nurse who possibly had her nose broken.

February 2010 -
A Tennessean investigation uncovered a letter to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from a veteran supervisor at Woodland Hills alleging incidents of sexual abuse by female staffers. One case, verified in separate documents, involved a guard who continued to work at the facility after she married a youth she had met at Woodland Hills.

May 2012 -
Kendall Oates suffered a seizure and died in May 2012 at age 18 at Woodland Hills [http://www.tennessean.com/interactive/article/99999999/INTERACTIVES/130810015/Timeline-death-Kendall-Oates-DCS-custody]. A Tennessean investigation found that Oates may have lain sick or dead alone in his room for hours, undetected by a security guard [http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130811/NEWS01/308110042/Family-fights-answers-year-after-Brentwood-High-student-dies-seizure-DCS-lockup]. In 2014, the state agreed to pay Oates' parents $250,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.

July-September 2012 -
DCS saw a sharp spike in violence involving children and youths, that prompted an internal review of Woodland Hills. Over July, August and September, there were 102 youth-on-youth or youth-on-staff assaults that involved teachers, staff and guards at Woodland Hills. Officials launched a retraining program for newly hired staff there that included lessons in de-escalating violence.

May 2014 -
Six or seven teens at Woodland Hills broke out of their dorms and made it to the outdoor courtyard.
Staffers called for backup from Metro police, who set up command post outside the facility. Staffers and case workers were able to talk the teens into going back inside by 6 a.m., Johnson said.

Federal Congress Leader proud to be "owned" by private billionaires, works against anything that benefits workers, students, the elderly and disabled

"Caught on Tape: What Mitch McConnell Complained About to a Roomful of Billionaires"
2014-08-26 by Lauren Windsor for "The Nation" weekly newsmagazine [http://www.thenation.com/article/181363/caught-tape-what-mitch-mcconnell-complained-about-roomful-billionaires-exclusive]:
At a secret meeting of elite donors convened by the Koch brothers, McConnell laid out his plan for shrinking the federal government and whined about having to vote on minimum wage bills.
Last week, in an interview with Politico [http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/2014-election-mitch-mcconnells-barack-obama-confrontation-110154.html], Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) outlined his plan to shut down President Obama’s legislative agenda by placing riders on appropriations bills. Should Republicans take control of the Senate in the 2014 elections, McConnell intends to pass spending bills that “have a lot of restrictions on the activities of the bureaucracy.”
What McConnell didn’t tell Politico was that two months ago, he made the same promise to a secret strategy conference of conservative millionaire and billionaire donors hosted by the Koch brothers [http://www.thenation.com/article/180267/exclusive-behind-koch-brothers-secret-billionaire-summit]. The Nation and The Undercurrent obtained an audio recording of McConnell’s remarks to the gathering, called “American Courage: Our Commitment to a Free Society.” In the question-and-answer period following his June 15 session titled “Free Speech: Defending First Amendment Rights,” McConnell says:
“So in the House and Senate, we own the budget. So what does that mean? That means that we can pass the spending bill. And I assure you that in the spending bill, we will be pushing back against this bureaucracy by doing what’s called placing riders in the bill. No money can be spent to do this or to do that. We’re going to go after them on healthcare, on financial services, on the Environmental Protection Agency, across the board (inaudible). All across the federal government, we’re going to go after it.”
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=v87Lr-wmU0I]
McConnell’s pledge to “go after” Democrats on financial services—a reference to declawing Dodd-Frank regulation—is a key omission from his Politico interview. He has been a vocal opponent of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in particular, and presumably under his Senate leadership funding for the CFPB would be high on the list of riders for the appropriations chopping block. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Wall Street was the number-one contributor to McConnell’s campaign committee from 2009 to 2014 [http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2014&cid=N00003389&type=I&newmem=N].
McConnell is running against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes in a close contest that could determine which party controls the Senate. Total spending in the race is expected to exceed $100 million, which would make it the most expensive Senate election in history. As of July 21, PACs and individuals affiliated with Koch Industries have given at least $41,800 to McConnell’s campaign committee in this election cycle—a figure that does not include any funding to outside groups that could spend heavily in the race’s closing weeks.
Recently, Grimes has begun airing ads that criticize McConnell for “voting seventeen times against raising the minimum wage” and “twelve times against extending unemployment benefits for laid-off workers.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, McConnell himself seems quite proud of this legislative record, at least in front of an audience comprised of wealthy donors. After he lays out his agenda to shrink the federal government “across the board,” McConnell says:
“And we’re not going to be debating all these gosh darn proposals. That’s all we do in the Senate is vote on things like raising the minimum wage (inaudible)—cost the country 500,000 new jobs; extending unemployment—that’s a great message for retirees; uh, the student loan package the other day, that’s just going to make things worse, uh. These people believe in all the wrong things.”
In late April, Senate Republicans, led by McConnell, successfully filibustered a bill to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, a widely popular measure that would increase wages for at least 16.5 million Americans [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/us/politics/senate-fails-to-advance-unemployment-extension.html]. Earlier in the year, McConnell also led a filibuster of a three-month extension of unemployment insurance to some 1.7 million Americans. At one point in the negotiations, he offered a deal to extend unemployment only if Democrats agreed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, even though the ACA does not add to the federal deficit.
Just days before he addressed the Koch brothers’ billionaire donor summit, McConnell was instrumental in blocking Senator Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to help Americans refinance their growing student loan debt. Warren’s plan would have been funded by a new minimum tax on America’s wealthiest. After McConnell’s filibuster, Warren began campaigning for Grimes in Kentucky saying, “Mitch McConnell is there for millionaires and billionaires. He is not there for people who are working hard playing by the rules and trying to build a future for themselves.” On the campaign stump, McConnell has said that “not everybody needs to go to Yale” and that cash-strapped students should look into for-profit colleges.
The main thrust of McConnell’s remarks to the Koch conference were about his pet issue, campaign finance, which he regards as a matter of free speech [http://www.thenation.com/section/campaign-finance?lc=int_mb_1001]. (A full transcript of McConnell’s remarks is available here [http://ladylibertine.net/2014/08/26/mmky/]). The senator recounted the history of campaign finance reform in America from the twentieth century through today, sharing opinions and personal anecdotes along the way.

On Democrats: “They, they are frightened of, of their critics. They don’t want to join the tradition in open discourse. They want to use the power of the government to quiet the voices of their critics.” (According to a 2013 report from Public Campaign Action Fund [http://www.campaignmoney.org/mcconnell/filibuster], McConnell led sixty-seven filibusters in 2012, more than the total number of filibusters (fifty-eight) in the fifty-four years between 1917 and 1970).

On Citizens United and money in politics: “So all Citizens United did was to level the playing field for corporate speech…. We now have, I think, the most free and open system we’ve had in modern times. The Supreme Court allowed all of you to participate in the process in a variety of different ways. You can give to the candidate of your choice. You can give to Americans for Prosperity, or something else, a variety of different ways to push back against the party of government.”

On McCain-Feingold: “The worst day of my political life was when President George W. Bush signed McCain-Feingold into law in the early part of his first Administration.”

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj5vwdyNtuQ]
To put that in perspective, Mitch McConnell’s thirty-five-year career in the Senate saw the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans, the 2008 housing meltdown that threatened the entire economy and Barack Obama’s election, to cite a conservative bête noire. But it was McCain-Feingold, the bill that banned soft money and unlimited donations to party committees, that constitutes the worst day of his political life.

Rev. Pinkney brought to trial despite lack of evidence

** Benton Harbor municipality in Michigan is under a fascist regime [link], an archive of info showing how fascism governs in a small community...
** FREE REV PINKNEY! STOP THE CORRUPTION! (2014-07-11) [link]
** Defend Rev. Pinkney against unjust incarceration, physical attack, in retaliation against his anti-fascist organizing  (2014-06-01) [link]
** Retaliation against supporters of Mayor Candidate who is against economic domination of community by Whirlpool Corp.  (2014-04-20) [link]
** Benton Harbor in Michigan, under an unelected fascist regime, faces voter intimidation by their sorry-excuse of a Mayor  (2014-03-06) [link]
** Benton Harbor: List of uninvestigated murders of Black folks, and corrupt Police practices (2014-02-18) [link]

"Judges rule evidence is not needed to bring activist to trial"2014-08-25 by Rev. Edward Pinkney, published by "People's Tribune" newspaper  [http://peoplestribune.org/pt-news/2014/08/%EF%BB%BF-judges-rule-evidence-needed-bring-activist-trial/]:
Rev. Pinkney and others protest Gov Rick Snyder and Public Act 4, Michigan’s dictatorial emergency manager law that gave absolute power over all aspects of city government to appointed managers. (PHOTO/BRETT JELINEK)
BENTON HARBOR, MI — The good ol’ boy club in Berrien County, MI Courthouse, is usually male, white, of European descent, and lives in St Joseph, Michigan.  Judge Charlie LaSata, Judge Sterling Schrock and Prosecutor Mike Sepic, led by the Whirlpool Corporation, are all working together against me and the community.  The community must take a stand.
I am charged with five counts of vote fraud in a community effort to recall Benton Harbor Mayor James Hightower, a puppet for the Whirlpool Corporation, which controls Benton Harbor.
With absolutely no evidence, I was bound over for trial. Judge Sterling Schrock and Judge Charlie LaSata both stated that you do not need evidence in Berrien County. In addition, the judges are trying to rush the trial, hoping my attorney will not be ready for trial.
Mark Goff, a forensic document examiner with the Michigan State Police, testified at the hearing held to determine if there was enough evidence to bring me to trial. His testimony was limited to his opinion that the dates next to the signature on some of the recall petitions had been changed. He testified that the changes were made with ink other than the ink that was used to write the original dates next to the signatures. However, he testified that he could not determine who made the changes, or when they were made. His testimony essentially provided a basis to find probable cause that someone changed the dates, but provided no evidence regarding who did it or when it was done.
There is absolutely no evidence that the five petitions alleged to have altered dates were exclusively in my possession.  The state’s handwriting expert could not say who altered the petition. There is no evidence that I was the only person who had access to or who had an opportunity to change the petitions. There are no admissions or confessions. There are no witnesses to any alterations.
Every person who signed the petition stated they had signed the petition on the date that is on the petition. If the dates were altered, they were altered by the person who signed the petition. There was no crime committed.
This case illustrates the rise of a fascist government in Michigan. In Berrien County it is led by the blood sucking Whirlpool Corporation and its local puppets: Judge Sterling Schrock, Judge Charlie LaSata, Prosecutor Mike Sepic, County Clerk Sharon Tyler, and Benton Harbor Mayor James Hightower.
This is not a thing of Blacks against whites. It is rich against poor, the haves against the have-nots. Corporate fascism is here now. We must stand together and fight this police State. Together we stand. Divided we fall.
Funds are urgently needed to fight this attack. Donate to the Pinkney defense at bhbanco.org


"Rev. Pinkney bound over for trial, released from house arrest"
2014-06-11 by Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African Newswire [http://panafricannews.blogspot.com]:
Berrien County’s courthouse in St. Joseph, Michigan was filled with people from various cities across the Midwest region on June 5. People were there to attend a hearing that would determine if a trial judge pursues yet another case involving Rev. Edward Pinkney.
Despite pleas from the defense lawyer Tat Parish, Rev. Pinkney was bound over for trial beginning on July 21 for alleged five felony counts of forgery. The Benton Harbor activist has been under house arrest since late April when he turned himself in to the Sheriff’s office the day after several law-enforcement agencies surrounded his home when he was not there seeking to serve a warrant for his arrest.
The activist has been on a tether and denied access to the internet as well as his weekly radio broadcasts for six weeks. These restrictions were removed at the hearing and Rev. Pinkney will be allowed to travel and engage in his ecumenical and public affairs.
Rev. Pinkney is a longtime activist in Benton Harbor who has opposed the racism within the judicial and political structures in this southwest Michigan town and surrounding county. Similar to his 2007-2008 persecution by authorities in Berrien County, prosecutors are saying that the Black Autonomy Network of Community Organizers (BANCO) leader “forged” dates on petitions aimed at holding a recall election against Mayor James Hightower on May 6.
As a result of the criminal investigation and subsequent charging of Rev. Pinkney, the election to remove Hightower was stayed. In 2007, Rev. Pinkney and others had also organized a recall election against two city commissioners in Benton Harbor when he was charged with vote tampering, railroaded through the courts, placed under house arrest and later imprisoned for one year for exercising his right to free speech within the media.
A national campaign in his defense during 2008-2009 brought about the Michigan Appeals Court reversal of the sentencing of him to 3-10 years in prison. Since 2010, Rev. Pinkney has been organizing against the wholesale political and economic dictatorship now in place in Benton Harbor and surrounding Berrien County.
The previously public Jean Klock Park has been transformed into a signature golf course and lakefront tourist attraction while the majority African American population is being systematically forced out of the city. At the same time repression escalates against any opponents to the corporate-driven agenda guided by Whirlpool corporation and land speculators.

The Case Against Rev. Pinkney Is Highly Political -
Throughout the state of Michigan majority African American municipalities and now others are under attack from the governor’s office in Lansing along with his right-wing cohorts who dominate both the house and senate. Many cities, including Detroit, are under emergency management where the fundamental rights of self-rule and due process have been abrogated.
Although Benton Harbor is now out from under emergency management, the corporate entities and their representatives in government are firmly in control. Electoral rules within the state of Michigan allow for the recall of public officials if language is approved for a petition that garners sufficient valid signatures.
The effective use of the recall process has been rare indeed. Many recall campaigns do not succeed as a result of the lack of signatures and challenges to the validity of petitions submitted to city clerk offices which regulate the process.
Nonetheless, Rev. Pinkney and others have been successful in the process over the last few years. Despite these ongoing campaigns, the ultimate conclusion of holding an actual recall vote has been subverted by the prosecutors and courts in Berrien County.
During the June 5 hearing on whether Pinkney would be bound over for trial on felony charges, there was no concrete evidence presented by prosecutors to suggest that the activist actually changed petitions submitted to the election officials in the County. This issue was raised in a legal memorandum to presiding Judge Sterling Schrock requesting that no charges be filed due to lack of evidence.
The memorandum submitted by Rev. Pinkney’s defense lawyer Tat Parish asserted that “Our case is one where there is no evidence at all that the acts constituting a crime were in fact committed by Rev. Pinkney. There is no physical evidence that the defendant was the person who changed any petition.”
This document continues noting “There is no expert testimony that the defendant was the one who changed any petition. There are no confessions. There are no witnesses to show that the defendant committed the acts that constitute the crime.”
Later Rev. Pinkney through his attorney said that “In short, the crime consists of the alterations of documents and there is no evidence that the defendant committed those acts. Nor is there any evidence that would exclude the very real possibility that others committed the acts or that the defendant was the only person in a position to commit the acts.”
Consequently, supporters of Rev. Pinkney and BANCO feel that the carrying out of this prosecution is designed to silence opposition to the blatant racism and class oppression in Berrien County. Delegations from Indiana, New York and other states have come into the area to express solidarity with the Berrien County activist.

Organizations to Build Defense Campaign -
With travel restrictions lifted, Rev. Pinkney is committed to working for his exoneration in this case. Various organizations have come out in his support demanding that the charges be dropped.
Atty. Parish says that he will appeal the decision by Judge Schrock to bind over his client for trial. The proceedings have been placed on a fast track by the judge who is only allowing six weeks for preparation on the part of the defense.
Already in Detroit, the Moratorium NOW! Coalition and the Michigan Emergency Committee for War and Injustice (MECAWI) have passed a resolution in support of Rev. Pinkney calling for the charges to be dropped. Both organizations will extend an invitation for the Benton Harbor activist to address one of their upcoming meetings.
The People’s Tribune newspaper based in Chicago has issued a statement of support and is calling on activists to rally to Rev. Pinkney’s defense. The June issue of the newspaper has a feature story on the case.
Many activists feel that the developments in Benton Harbor and Berrien County represent a microcosm of race relations prevalent throughout the state. Although a purported recovery of the urban areas is being championed by the corporate media, the actual conditions throughout the state for African Americans, other oppressed groups and working people in general are worsening.
With statewide and mid-term Congressional elections coming up in August and November, both the Republican and Democratic parties are seeking the votes of working people. However, no real political program is being put forward that addresses the need for jobs, housing, health care, quality education and the right to self-determination and democracy for people within the distressed municipalities.
At every turn grassroots efforts aimed at fighting against economic exploitation and institutional racism are being thwarted through the dictatorial practices by the state under the aegis of the corporations and banks whose policies have drained the cities across Michigan. In a recent report by the Michigan Municipal League it documents the theft of over $6 billion in public funds by the state that are being withheld from the cities.
It appears that only an independent political movement targeting the corporations, banks and their political allies in government can bring about any hope for change. The outcome of the struggles in Michigan will have an important impact on other developments throughout the country where similar problems are in existence from California to New York.