Rouge Forum Dispatch: Direct Action Gets the Goods!
We Say Fight Back!
Orange County Florida School Workers!
www.facebook.com/groups/345345272821771/
‘We Are Unstoppable, Another World Is Possible!’: Hundreds Storm Police Lines to Shut Down Massive Coal Mine in Germany
“This is not only about coal power,” said one Ende Gelände spokesperson. “This is about changing a destructive system that is based on the quest for infinite economic growth and exploitation. We are fighting for a future in which people count more than profits.” www.commondreams.org
‘The Collected Works of Marx and Engels’ | 50 Volume Set
The Collected Works of Marx and Engels is the largest collection of translations into English of the complete works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels covering the period 1835-1895. The 50 volumes contain all the written works of Marx and Engels including formerly unpublished manuscripts and letters. Download here theoryleaks.org/text/books/karl-marx/marx-and-engels-collected-works/?fbclid=IwAR30yOqcNVypsbeNdPB5jpBUiiz6GrhycgOKcmxS5myzYP2Bt6RPRpu5n-8
45 Million Strike in Brazil Against Pension Reform (Photo Essay)
Millions of Brazilians participated in a general strike and mass demonstration on Friday, June 14 against far-right president Jair Bolsonaro’s push for pension reform. It was one of the largest mobilizations against Bolsonaro’s government since he took office in January. Actions were held in more than 380 cities around the country.
If approved, the pension reform will set a minimum retirement age and reduce benefits while inflating the number of years necessary to work in order to achieve those benefits. Bolsonaro’s finance minister Paulo Guedes says the reform is necessary to stave off financial disaster. The head of the Brazil’s lower house says it could go to a vote by June 26.
Unions say the reform is a push toward privatization. “The heart, the essence, of this reform is the privatization of social security,” said Anna Julia Rodrigues, the president of the Santa Catarina state chapter of Brazil’s largest labor federation, the CUT.
According to the CUT, 45 million people participated in the nation-wide strike. Students and teachers were among those who took to the streets en masse. They have rallied twice over the last month against a huge 30 percent budget cut federal universities and schools, which is expected to impact funding for research, grants, student transportation, and diverse programs.
Students and teachers also fear the impact on their own lives if Bolsonaro’s pension reform is approved.
“This reform can’t pass, because we know it’s an attack on workers and students. And we’re soon going to be the workforce of the country,” said Isis Leite, a high school student who attended the march in Florianopolis. “We have to defend our right to retire, or else we are going to work until we die.” nacla.org/photo-essay/45-million-strike-brazil-against-pension-reform-photo-essay?fbclid=IwAR2JLZMNnSVV1HxgX9cvs4Nt28FrGKik4W6NF8n-czQ3nFa-JKu857WwjyM
The US Spends $52 Million per hour on the military–$11.64 per hour on education (“Accessory to War).
The Little Red Schoolhouse
Why Can’t Everyone Get A’s?
Excellence is not a zero sum game.
By (Rouge Keynoter) Alfie Kohn
For a generation now, school reform has meant top-down mandates for what students must be taught, enforced by high-stakes standardized tests and justified by macho rhetoric — “rigor,” “raising the bar,” “tougher standards.”
Here’s a thought experiment. Suppose that next year virtually every student passed the tests. What would the reaction be from politicians, businesspeople, the media? Would these people shake their heads in admiration and say, “Damn, those teachers must be good!”?
Of course not. Such remarkable success would be cited as evidence that the tests were too easy. In the real world, when scores have improved sharply, this has indeed been the reaction. For example, when results on New York’s math exam rose in 2009, the chancellor of the state’s Board of Regents said, “What today’s scores tell me is not that we should be celebrating,” but instead “that New York State needs to raise its standards.”
The inescapable, and deeply disturbing, implication is that “high standards” really means “standards that all students will never be able to meet.” If everyone did meet them, the standards would just be ratcheted up again — as h igh as necessary to ensure that some students failed. www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/opinion/sunday/schools-testing-ranking.html
After refusing archdiocese’s order to fire gay teacher, school is told it will no longer be recognized as Catholic
A school that refused to fire a gay teacher as ordered by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis says it has been told by church officials that it will no longer be recognized as Catholic. But school leaders pledged to keep the institution’s religious identification.
The archdiocese announced in a statement that it would no longer recognize Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, an independently operated school, because it was not insisting that all employees “be supportive of all teachings of the Catholic Church,” the Catholic News Agency reported. The church is against homosexual activity.
A statement by the Rev. Brian G. Paulson, who heads the Midwest Province of Jesuits, said the archdiocese told Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School two years ago not to renew the contract of a teacher whose “marital status does not conform to church doctrine.” He also said the decision, to be formalized in a church decree, would be appealed through a church process and would go as high as the Vatican “if necessary.” www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/06/21/after-refusing-archdioceses-order-fire-gay-teacher-school-is-told-it-will-no-longer-be-recognized-catholic/?utm_term=.dfa9e3b818c2
Identity Politics and Racism run Amok: Students and faculty were left with questions about the future state of the campus following the cancellation of the Associated Student Organization’s 2019 election on May 2.
Southwestern College President Dr. Kindred Murillo said she called off the elections because she and her team found toxic racial tensions had undermined the validity of the election.
“Allegations of bias, allegations of discrimination, allegations of processes in the ASO constitution not being followed,” Murillo said. “And once we substantiated those processes had not been followed, we felt that with the other allegations that we do not have confirmation on, we believed it was best to stop the elections.”
The election featured two slates of candidates: the all-Latino Team Green and the all-black Team Elite.
Dimitrius Loa, a member of Team Green running for VP of Public Relations, was accused of making degrading comments towards Team Elite for being the first all black team.
After a series of meetings, which were held between April 29 to May 2, the ASO election board voted to allow Loa continue running if he issued a public apology and facilitated a racial bias retreat.
After Loa’s punishment was announced, members of the Black Student Union stood and said they believed a few members of Team Green attempted to incite a hate crime by making a fake Instagram post which called for the slaughter and enslavement of non-black people. www.theswcsun.com/both-aso-slates-aim-to-re-run-in-the-fall/
The California lottery, public schools and the mystery of the ‘missing’ money (School unions lied and lied about that $)
“Where is the money from the lottery going?” asked a reader named Jean.
It never fails. Write about school funding shortages in California, and the emails start pouring in from people who insist the lottery was supposed to solve all our education money issues and wonder why it hasn’t….
OK, so today I am talking about the lottery. I am not the first to do so and probably will not be the last. In 2016, my colleague John Myers capably explained the mystery of the “missing” lottery money, but the message doesn’t seem to have gotten through to everyone.
Since Carol introduced the specter of corruption, let me begin with a June 7 story by Los Angeles Times reporter Patrick McGreevy, who reported the resignation of California Lottery director Hugo Lopez (no relation) after a string of controversies. In April, a state audit concluded that lottery officials ran up $305,000 in improper or questionable expenses over four years on travel, food, gifts and entertainment.
Shame on them. But before you say, “Aha! So that’s where the money goes,” let’s get to the basic math. www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-lottery-schools-funding20190619-story.html
Educators urge ‘fund our schools’: GOP says aid at record levels (strike, don’t beg!)
Thousands of Michigan educators rallied Tuesday outside the state Capitol, wearing “red for ed” as they called on the Republican-led Legislature to “fund our schools” and adopt Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s budget plan.
After eight years of full Republican control in state government, the annual rally doubled as a celebration of Whitmer, who took office in January. She was hailed by union leaders as a key ally in the battle against charter schools and privatization pushed by national GOP leaders like Betsy DeVos. www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/06/18/educators-urge-fund-our-schools-aid-record-levels/1490280001/
‘Major distraction’: school dumps iPads, returns to paper textbooks
As classrooms across the country embrace digital textbooks, one Sydney school has declared the e-book era over and returned to the old-fashioned hard copy version because it improves comprehension and reduces distraction.
For the past five years, Reddam House’s primary and junior high school classes have used e-textbooks on iPads. But the consistent feedback from the students has been that they preferred pages to screens.
Teachers also found the iPads were distracting and did not contribute to students’ technology skills, prompting the school to announce that students should no longer use digital textbooks, and must revert to hard-copy versions instead. www.smh.com.au/education/major-distraction-school-dumps-ipads-returns-to-paper-textbooks-20190329-p5191r.html?fbclid=IwAR2dQN6ScCsE_NA8YgVRptF1g8M6YVzC8RoOgbZ_Yr0Hugdr00gdGZIhWFo
The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor
Trump Says He Called Off Strike On Iran Because He Didn’t See It As ‘Proportionate’ (crow hopping to WW3)
President Trump says he called off a Thursday strike on Iran ordered as retaliation for Iran’s having shot down a U.S. drone. Trump said he canceled the attack shortly before it was to begin, after he was told 150 people would very likely be killed.
“We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die,” Trump said in a series of tweets Friday.
Upon hearing the projected death toll, Trump said, he decided that the strike was not “proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.” The president said he put a halt to the operation 10 minutes before the strike was set to begin. www.npr.org/2019/06/21/734683701/trump-reportedly-orders-strike-on-iran-then-calls-off-attack-plan
U.S. Carried Out Cyberattacks on Iran
United States Cyber Command on Thursday conducted online attacks against an Iranian intelligence group that American officials believe helped plan the attacks against oil tankers in recent weeks, according to people briefed on the operation.
The intrusion occurred the same day President Trump called off a strike on Iranian targets like radar and missile batteries. But the online operation was allowed to go forward because it was intended to be below the threshold of armed conflict — using the same shadow tactics that Iran has deployed.
The online attacks, which had been planned for several weeks, were ultimately meant to be a direct response to both the tanker attacks this month and the downing of an American drone this week, according to the people briefed on the operations.
Multiple computer systems were targeted, according to people briefed on the operations, including those believed to have been used by an Iranian intelligence group that helped plan the tanker attacks. www.nytimes.com/2019/06/22/us/politics/us-iran-cyber-attacks.html
Nearly 71 Million People Forcibly Displaced Worldwide As Of 2018, U.N. Report Says
A record 70.8 million people had been forcibly displaced by war, persecution and other violence worldwide at the end of 2018, according to the latest annual Global Trends report by the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
The figure represents an increase of more than 2 million in the number of refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced people from the year before, and a near 65% increase from a decade ago. It is also the highest number in UNHCR history.
“The global trends, once again unfortunately, go in what I would say is the wrong direction,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told reporters in Geneva at the launch of the report, which comes just a day before World Refugee Day.
The report reveals that 13.6 million people were newly displaced in 2018. Ethiopia topped the list with more than 1.5 million people newly displaced during the year, most of them within their own country. Syria was next with nearly 900,000.
“There are new conflicts, new situations, producing refugees, adding themselves to the old ones,” Grandi said. “The old ones never get solved.” www.npr.org/2019/06/19/733945696/nearly-71-million-people-forcibly-displaced-worldwide-in-2018-says-u-n-report
10 companies profiting the most from war
2. Boeing (BA) — aircraft, electronics, missiles, space
Arm sales: $31.8 billion, total sales: $68.7 billion
Gross profit: $4 billion, total workforce: 171,700
Boeing was the second-largest U.S. government contractor in 2011, with about $21.5 billion worth of goods contracted. The Chicago-based company makes a wide range of arms, including strategic missile systems, laser and electro-optical systems and global positioning systems. Despite all these technologies, just 46% of the company’s total sales of $68.7 billion in 2011 came from arms. Boeing is the largest commercial airplane manufacturer in the world, making planes such as the 747, 757 and recently, the 787 Dreamliner. The company is also known for its space technology — Boeing had $1 billion worth of contracts with NASA in 2011.
1. Lockheed Martin (LMT) — aircraft, electronics, missiles, space
Arm sales:$36.3 billion, total sales: $46.5 billion
Gross profit: $2.7 billion, total workforce, 123,000
Lockheed Martin notched $36.3 billion in sales in 2011, slightly higher than the $35.7 billion the company sold in 2010. The arms sales comprised 78% of the company’s total 2011 sales. Lockheed makes a wide range of products, including aircraft, missiles, unmanned systems and radar systems. The company and its employees have been concerned about the effects of the “fiscal cliff” and sequestration, the latter of which includes significant cuts to the U.S. Department of Defense. In the fall of 2012, the company planned on issuing layoff notices to all employees before backing down at the White House’s request. www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/03/10/10-companies-profiting-most-from-war/1970997/?fbclid=IwAR3EETEjp6CLYavnnjmhd6JQysVLlin1wR58Wc4WkFMoi24t14SHYNJfhVU
Ecuador ‘allows US military planes to use Galapagos island airfield’
Ecuador has agreed to allow US military planes to operate from an airport on the Galapagos Islands, reports say.
US aircraft will be able to use San Cristobal airport, Ecuador’s defence minister Oswaldo Jarrin has been quoted as saying.
They will “fight drug trafficking” under a deal with Ecuador’s government, Mr Jarrin said.
The reported deal has prompted concerns over the potential impact on the environment and Ecuador’s sovereignty.
The aircraft involved include a Boeing 777 and a Lockheed P-3 Orion, Latin American TV network Telesur reports. www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48663283?fbclid=IwAR1yepFXMH78aqwxTfqKi-k0XhEi4CzQ6CbX0VMMdlMcPYBdiQH5mrrVXuo
I Helped Sell the False Choice of War Once. It’s Happening Again.
By Lawrence Wilkerson
Fifteen years ago this week, Colin Powell, then the secretary of state, spoke at the United Nations to sell pre-emptive war with Iraq. As his chief of staff, I helped Secretary Powell paint a clear picture that war was the only choice, that when “we confront a regime that harbors ambitions for regional domination, hides weapons of mass destruction and provides haven and active support for terrorists, we are not confronting the past, we are confronting the present. And unless we act, we are confronting an even more frightening future.”
Following Mr. Powell’s presentation on that cold day, I considered what we had done. At the moment, I thought all our work was for naught — and despite his efforts we did not gain substantial international buy-in. But polls later that day and week demonstrated he did convince many Americans. I knew that was why he was chosen to make the presentation in the first place: his standing with the American people was more solid than that of any other member of the Bush administration.
President George W. Bush would have ordered the war even without the United Nations presentation, or if Secretary Powell had failed miserably in giving it. But the secretary’s gravitas was a significant part of the two-year-long effort by the Bush administration to get Americans on the war wagon. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/opinion/trump-iran-war.html?fbclid=IwAR1GbzebgoTuiKL1k0bzKYwq4HgJDe3U3hQyZc5OUPYxjg6so3z1clOO7eo
It’s time to fix the Army’s aging Humvee fleet before more lives are lost
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One of the very first casualties I’d encountered from Operation Iraq Freedom was U.S. Marine Sgt. Jason Wittling.
He, like all Marines, knew what he’d signed up for and what his unit, 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, was in Iraq to accomplish. The fact that he was lying in a bed at a VA hospital with a damaged cervical spine, in itself, was not what had struck me when I first met him. It was the fact that he’d ended up there, literally by accident, when his High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), or Humvee, had simply rolled over during a non-combat incident, leaving him paralyzed for life. www.armytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2019/06/18/its-time-to-fix-the-armys-aging-humvee-fleet-before-more-lives-are-lost/
The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor
Deutsche Bank Faces Criminal Investigation for Potential Money-Laundering Lapses
Federal authorities are investigating whether Deutsche Bank complied with laws meant to stop money laundering and other crimes, the latest government examination of potential misconduct at one of the world’s largest and most troubled banks, according to seven people familiar with the inquiry.
The investigation includes a review of Deutsche Bank’s handling of so-called suspicious activity reports that its employees prepared about possibly problematic transactions, including some linked to President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, according to people close to the bank and others familiar with the matter.
The criminal investigation into Deutsche Bank is one element of several separate but overlapping government examinations into how illicit funds flow through the American financial system, said five of the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the inquiries. Several other banks are also being investigated.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1w6IntlnBg
The F.B.I. recently contacted the lawyer for a Deutsche Bank whistle-blower, Tammy McFadden, who publicly criticized the company’s anti-money-laundering systems, according to the lawyer, Brian McCafferty. www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/business/deutsche-bank-money-laundering-trump.html
How Cubans Live as Long as Americans at a Tenth of the Cost
On public-access TV in 1985, Bernie Sanders defended an element of Fidel Castro’s regime: It was rarely mentioned that Castro provided health care to his country. Sanders grumbled that the same could not be said of then-President Reagan.
The comment came back to haunt Sanders in the wake of Castro’s death. On Sunday on ABC’s This Week, host Martha Raddatz played the old clip and then asked Sanders if he was aware that “this was a brutal dictatorship despite the romanticized version that some Americans have of Cuba.” She reminded Sanders that Castro rationed food and punished dissidents, then hit him with the big question: “So have you changed your view of Castro since 1985?”
Sanders said he didn’t exactly remember the context for his comment (being 31 years ago) but that Cubans “do have a decent health-care system.”
Many consider it more than decent. After a visit to Havana in 2014, the director-general of the World Health Organization Margaret Chan called for other countries to follow Cuba’s example in health care. Years before, the World Health Organization’s ranking of countries with “the fairest mechanism for health-system finance” put Cuba first among Latin American and Caribbean countries (and far ahead of the United States). www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/11/cuba-health/508859/?fbclid=IwAR0WQRBUk6-fdEByyRQ2JRnyw0lEAXGUqjZTkWLvDGZturfZ4UetxOujRbM
Remember Delphi: $50 billion US bailout–moved to Mexico
Chris Wade reached into the darkness to silence his blaring alarm clock. It was 4:30 on a frigid winter morning in Warren, Ohio, and outside a fresh layer of snow blanketed the yard.
Thank God, Wade thought to himself. He would be able to get out his plow and make some quick cash.
Money never used to be a problem for Wade, 47, who owned a house with a pool back when he worked at Delphi Automotive, a parts manufacturer that for years was one of the biggest employers in this wooded stretch of northeastern Ohio. But 10 years after taking a buyout as part of Delphi’s ongoing shift of production out of the United States and into Mexico and China, the house and the pool were gone.
Berta Alicia Lopez, 54, is the new face of Delphi. On a recent chilly morning, she woke before sunrise on the outskirts of Juarez, Mexico, and caught an unheated bus that dropped her an hour away at the Delphi plant. www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-mexico-us-factories-20170217-htmlstory.html
Obamagogue gets $600,000 For Speech in Colombia
Former President Barack Obama is being paid almost $600,000 to speak at a marketing conference in Bogota, Colombia on Tuesday.
According to a report from El Tiempo, a Colombian news outlet, Obama is earning “2 mil millones de pesos” for a speech and discussion on-stage about leadership strategies at the EXMA Conference in Bogota. When converted from Colombian pesos to U.S. dollars, Obama’s payment for participation in the event is equivalent to $594,000. pjmedia.com/trending/obama-earning-almost-600k-for-speech-in-colombia/
Why more demolitions won’t stop Detroit’s blight
Thousands of Detroit residents have been displaced illegally — and Duggan’s answer is to demolish the homes
Mari Kirkendoll lived in her Detroit home her entire life. Her parents were the first people to live there when it was built in 1950, and Kirkendoll planned to pass down her home to her three children, just like it was passed down to her.
Now, however, she’s likely to lose her childhood home because it’s been foreclosed on for delinquent property taxes.
Like thousands of Detroiters who faced eviction in the past decade, the 63-year-old fell behind on her taxes because they were based on the city’s illegally inflated property tax assessments, which is a violation of state law.
The Michigan Constitution states that no property can be assessed at more than 50 percent of its market value. However, research has shown that illegal property assessments were the norm in the city, not the exception. A 2017 report by law professor Bernadette Atuahene found that up to 85 percent of homes in the city were being taxed at inflated rates that violated state law, and that this has contributed to the mass foreclosures in the city.
Between 2011 and 2015, the Wayne County Treasurer foreclosed on one-in-four properties in Detroit for nonpayment of property taxes, leading to a decline in population, homeownership, and property values. Atuahene’s research found that 10 percent of these homes were found to have illegally inflated property tax assessments — meaning they should not have been foreclosed on in the first place.
Even more troubling, the same report found that on average, lower-valued homes were assessed at 18 times over the legal limit. Higher-valued homes, on the other hand, were assessed below the legal limit. This means that the most vulnerable neighborhoods in the city, like Kirkendoll’s, have been targeted with illegally inflated tax bills, leading to mass amounts of tax foreclosures. www.metrotimes.com/detroit/thousands-of-detroit-residents-have-been-displaced-illegally-and-duggans-answer-is-to-demolish-the-homes/Content?oid=21924430&fbclid=IwAR1xr2YP0gUYDpDMCn4oaNCLvU3oLuuTBjPFPCQbjmvWlJHJ46YcT_K3wpw#.XQpelKIa0RE.facebook
Above, Detroit school ruin
How to spend a memorable long weekend in this iconic metropolis, including the buzziest restaurants and music clubs.
When I was working on the book I subscribed to digital WSJ. I dropped the sub but every week they send me the weekend paper. I can’t access the above online, but it gives an hour-by-hour guide to what to do in Detroit, starting with a dozen oysters at Lady of the HOuse in Corktown–and a martini with the restaurants own gin–concluding with visit to Henry Ford Museum www.wsj.com/articles/an-essential-guide-to-a-long-weekend-in-detroit-11560973094
U.S. youth suicide rate reaches 20-year high
Suicides among teens have especially spiked, with an annual percentage change of 10% between 2014 and 2017 for 15- to 19-year-olds, researchers said.
“It really is an unprecedented surge,” said lead author Oren Miron, a research associate at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “You can go back decades and you won’t find such a sharp increase.”
Suicide rates for 15- to 19-year-olds and those between 20 and 24 are at their highest level since 2000, Miron said.
The surge is particularly strong among teen boys, up 14% a year between 2015 and 2017.
Suicide rates for teenage girls, meanwhile, rose 8% annually between 2000 and 2017. medicalxpress.com/news/2019-06-youth-suicide-year-high.html
The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement and The War on Reason
Trump immigration sweeps to target 2,000 people, including 140 in Southern California (or not)
Federal immigration officials plan new sweeps targeting migrants with orders for removal from the United States beginning Sunday, with about 140 individuals targeted in Southern California, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said Friday.
It’s part of a larger national operation that federal officials said is targeting 2,000 people who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security. www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-immigration-sweeps-southern-california-20190621-story.html
Testimony reveals Navy SEAL Team 6 member blasted judge in Gallagher trial and threatened to burn down courtroom
NAVAL BASE SAN DIEGO — Testimony in the military trial of Navy SEAL Chief Eddie Gallagher earlier this week revealed that an active-duty member of SEAL Team 6 had disparaged the judge overseeing the trial and said many of his colleagues in the elite unit did not care about killing civilians.
While under cross examination on Wednesday morning, former Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Dylan Dille was questioned at length about a private WhatsApp group chat he and his fellow SEALs used to pass along information within their unit as well as news about the Gallagher case.
In the thread named “The Sewing Circle,” the SEALs — who were apparently concerned with war crimes allegedly committed by Gallagher — tried to distinguish themselves as their own “Brotherhood” in contrast to what supporters of Gallagher have called the “Real Brotherhood.”
In his testimony, Dille said “there’s a clear line in the sand” between both camps of current and former SEALs on what is acceptable behavior in combat.
“It ain’t over until we’re sitting on a front porch with six shooters and the ‘Real Brotherhood’ comes knocking,” Dille wrote in one text message. “I look forward to laying down some lead again on that occasion.”
Defense attorney Tim Parlatore then asked, “Who is the “Real Brotherhood?”
“People who are okay with war crimes,” Dille said. He went on to describe them as an “angry mob” of the entire conservative media and former SEALs. Dille and other SEAL witnesses have said in testimony that they have received online threats.
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Witnesses: Eddie Gallagher shot civilians in Iraq
SAN DIEGO — Two Navy SEALs testified Friday that their platoon chief gunned down a young girl and an old man in Iraq in 2017 from his sniper’s perch, though neither witnessed him pulling the trigger.
The SEALs said shots came from the tower where Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher was posted and they watched through their scopes as the civilians fell to the ground.
Dalton Tolbert said he and another sniper were in a neighboring tower in Mosul on June 18, 2017, and had fired warnings shots to scatter civilians by the Tigris River because the Islamic State was operating in the area.
An old man in a white tunic began running and then Tolbert heard a third shot come from the neighboring tower where Gallagher was positioned and saw the man fall.
Over the radio, he heard Gallagher say: “You guys missed him, but I got him.” www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/06/22/witnesses-eddie-gallagher-shot-civilians-in-iraq/
4 Arizona Women Convicted for Leaving Water for Migrants
Four aid workers were convicted Friday on charges connected to their efforts to leave food and water for migrants in an Arizona wildlife refuge along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The volunteers, who are members of the faith-based humanitarian aid group No More Deaths, were caught on Aug. 13, 2017, by a Federal Wildlife officer as they left water jugs, beans and other supplies for migrants in Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, which shares a 50-mile border with Mexico. No More Deaths claims that 155 migrants have died in the refuge since 2001, and that the organization aims to save lives by providing basic supplies.
The judge, United States Magistrate Bernardo P. Velasco, ruled that three of the volunteers – Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick – were convicted of entering a national wildlife refuge without a permit and abandoning personal property or possessions. A fourth volunteer, Natalie Hoffman, was convicted on an additional charge of operating a motor vehicle in a wilderness area. Each of the volunteers faces up to six months in prison. time.com/5508196/no-more-deaths-migrants-border/?fbclid=IwAR3_tTTJZbPuaxqh8m-TMHLWWXLSmKg8MZgsuqp8FgcjsDUi7WNGQLevt0s
Solidarity for Never
Last election cycle, NEA’s Garcia ($512,000 a year +)rigged the groups internal processes to endorse Hillbillary. This year, she’s back with the same sock puppet show, counting on school workers fantasies about “democracy” under capitalism and empire.
Union Report: #RedForEd, Read Across America and ‘Inoculation’ Projects — How the NEA Media Fund Influences Public Opinion
Each year, members of the National Education Association contribute $8 of their dues money to the union’s media fund. NEA spends most of it on national public relations campaigns and the rest is doled out in the form of grants to state affiliates that apply for them.
The union produces an annual report informing the delegates to its national convention how the funds were dispensed.
This school year, NEA awarded grants totaling almost $1.2 million to seven affiliates, in Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Rhode Island. Five state affiliates were turned down.
Additionally, NEA lent communications staff to support affiliates in Louisiana and Florida. “Consultants, working hand-in-hand with NEA and affiliate staff, provide strategic guidance and add general communications capacity through media and digital support,” reads the media fund report.
But I want to draw your attention to the specific campaigns of the national union. Their general purpose is “to advance the cause of public education and publicize the role of the association and its affiliates in improving the quality of public education.” In 2004 the union used the entire contents of the fund — $4 million — to create a front group called Communities for Quality Education that ran ads against the No Child Left Behind Act, largely without revealing its union origins and funding.
This year, NEA’s communications department promoted the #RedForEd brand, encouraging teachers to wear red on specific days to coincide with rallies or other special events.
Two Florida teachers unions face decertification when fail meet 50% dues threshold under new law
Two independent Florida teachers unions are facing decertification under a new state law requiring at least 50% of “instructional personnel” in a school district opt to pay union dues, according to The Center Square. The law is part of a nationwide “workers’ voting rights trend,” according to one expert.
Florida law prohibits employees from being forced to join labor organizations or to pay dues to be represented by unions for collective bargaining.
The two organizations that failed to meet the 50% threshold, as reported by The Center Square (TCS), were the Jefferson County Education Association [JCEA] and the Santa Rosa Professional Educators [SRPE].
JCEA did not “file any information after the Florida Board of Education mandated that it be operated by Somerset Academy, a nonprofit charter school company, as part of a five-year ‘turnaround plan’ for the ‘failing’ district,” TCS noted. www.bizpacreview.com/2019/06/11/two-florida-teachers-unions-face-decertification-when-fail-meet-50-dues-threshold-under-new-law-763873
Saline, Michigan Faurecia workers outraged after UAW shuts down their strike
The four-year contract covering the 1,900 workers at Faurecia in Saline expired June 1, but the UAW refused to call a strike at that time, despite a 97 percent vote in favor of strike authorization. Instead, the UAW dragged out negotiations, allowing Faurecia more time to prepare.
This is the latest in a series of actions by the UAW demonstrating once again that this is a compliant tool of management. It follows the decision by the UAW to end a six-week strike by nurses at Mercy Health St Vincent Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio, ordering a return to work over the mass opposition by workers. Nurses subsequently rejected the UAW-backed contract.
Any contract that comes out of this process can only be a betrayal. Workers must prepare to reject this sellout and to resume their struggle on the widest possible basis, winning support form workers at the major auto companies and parts suppliers.
The most important practical step is the election of a rank-and-file factory committee to take the contract fight out of the hands of the UAW strikebreakers.
Workers must advance their own demands, corresponding to their needs, not the profit requirements of stockholders www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/06/22/faur-j22.html
Spy versus Spy
Iran executes ‘defence ministry contractor’ over spying for CIA
ISNA news agency says Jalal Haji Zavar confessed to spying for the US spy agency in return for money.
Iran has executed a “defence ministry contractor” convicted of spying for the US Central Intelligence Agency, according to the semi-official news agency ISNA.
“The execution sentence was carried out for Jalal Haji Zavar, a contractor for the defence ministry’s aerospace organisation who spied for the CIA and the American government,” ISNA reported on Saturday, quoting the Iranian military.
ISNA said he was convicted by a military court and that he was executed at an unspecified time at the Rajayi Shahr prison in the city of Karaj, west of the capital, Tehran.
The agency did not say when Zavar was arrested, noting, however, that his contract with the defence ministry had been terminated nine years ago.
He was identified as a spy by the defence ministry’s intelligence unit, ISNA said. www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2019/06/iran-executes-defence-ministry-contractor-spying-cia-190622165456378.html
Can you crack the CIA’s first Instagram post?
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has blown its cover on Instagram, giving would-be secret agents an intriguing mission to accomplish.
Known for its secrecy, discretion and shadowy spy tactics, the US foreign intelligence service has shown its sense of irony by joining the social media platform.
“We are the nation’s first line of defence,” the account’s bio says, portraying a seriousness more typically associated with the organisation.
Its first post, however, takes a more playful tone. It includes a picture of a desk scattered with curiously placed objects, ranging from a curly grey wig to a pile of foreign banknotes. www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48071314
The Magical Mystery Tour
The Belief That Trump Is a Messiah Is Rampant and Dangerous
When a leader is seen as infallible, supporters become disciples.
Psychologists have explained quite a lot about Donald Trump’s political invincibility and the unconditional allegiance of his followers. One well-supported explanation is that the president keeps his base loyal by keeping them fearful. Through persistent fear-mongering, with scary messages like, “Illegal immigrants are murderers and rapists,” and “Islam hates us,” Trump gets to play the role of the great protector.
But there is another major reason why Trump loyalists do not waver no matter how he behaves or what scandals come to light. For most evangelicals, it is not only fear that keeps them in line, but it is also faith. As a cognitive psychology researcher who has been writing about the science underlying Trump’s unshakable support since he began his presidential campaign, I have learned—through comments, emails, and discussion forums—that a significant portion of his supporters literally believe the president was an answer to their prayers. He is regarded as something of a messiah, sent by God to protect a Christian nation.
As obvious as this might sound to some, it is something I did not give serious consideration to initially. As someone who is not particularly religious, it did not occur to me that anyone might actually believe that a politician would be sent by an all-powerful supernatural deity to change the course of human history www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-in-the-machine/201905/the-belief-trump-is-messiah-is-rampant-and-dangerous?fbclid=IwAR0hx_emI_Mq1ry9uLIpF5r6LNesm71RFfs3RQX6MI5V7P9tHreUWLS0w1c
Is Donald Trump The Moshiach/Messiah?
Supreme Court upholds cross on public land in Maryland
A 40-foot-tall, World War I memorial cross can continue to stand on public land in Maryland, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in an important decision about the use of religious symbols in American life.
The justices said preserving a long-standing religious monument is very different from allowing the building of a new one. And the court concluded that the nearly 100-year-old memorial’s presence on a grassy highway median doesn’t violate the Constitution’s prohibition on the government favoring one religion over others. Seven of the court’s nine justices sided with the cross’ backers, a lineup that crossed ideological lines. www.apnews.com/6157d29563584c35a2adf6a004f89117
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Sex abuse charges against La Luz del Mundo leader ‘tip of the iceberg,’ prosecutors say
Prosecutors are poring through dozens of digital devices as they build their case against the leader of La Luz del Mundo church, a man known by followers as “the apostle” of Jesus Christ and who has been charged with various counts of sex abuse, including forcible rape of a minor.
They allege that Naason Joaquin Garcia, 50, has received numerous child pornography images and videos. But what they have discovered is just the “tip of the iceberg,” said Deputy Atty. Gen. Amanda Plisner. www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-luz-del-mundo-bail-201906-story.html
The Best and Worst Things in the History of the World
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So Long