Rouge Forum Dispatch: Oakland Fights Back!
March 3rd, 2019 / Author: rgibsonWe Say Fight Back!
The Oakland Rank and File Strike Committee’s FB page, now organizing to stop the OEA Sellout.
www.facebook.com/groups/OaklandRankAndFile/
Kentucky teachers stage ‘sick out’ to protest legislature
FRANKFORT, Ky. — At least six Kentucky school districts were forced to close Thursday — including the two largest systems in the state — as a wave of teachers called in sick to protest what one leader called “half-truths” and “shadiness” at the state legislature.
The “sick out” was organized by the group KY 120 United, a reference to the state’s 120 counties, which encouraged teachers in a Facebook post Wednesday night to call in sick.
Within hours, the state’s two largest school districts in Jefferson and Fayette counties announced they would close because they did not have enough teachers to cover classes. Districts in Marion, Carter, Letcher and Boyd counties were also closed Thursday. In Fayette County, officials said at least 40 percent of teachers called in sick.
The protest comes on the same day lawmakers in the Republican-controlled state legislature were scheduled to discuss House Bill 525, a proposal that would change how people are nominated to the Kentucky Teachers Retirement System’s board of trustees. But Nema Brewer, one of the group’s leaders, said the protest is not targeting one specific bill.
“This is (about) a series of kicks in the teeth. And the dog is now ready to fight back,” said Brewer, who is not a teacher but works for Fayette County Public Schools. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kentucky-teachers-stage-sick-out-protest-legislature-n977716?fbclid=IwAR2GhVG2MbYHMQqg1e248tTsvQya7N7R_bEx-AiDHLN9rroiUNqrB5llMmE
‘We won’t be trampled on’: striking Mexican workers vow to fight the fight
Strikes close or slow production at dozens of assembly plants and factories as workers demand better salaries
Despite the winter chill in the air, the mood on the picket line outside the Matamoros Coca-Cola bottling plant was optimistic.
“We’re not fighting for ourselves, but for a better quality of life for our kids and their children. They won’t be screwed over or trampled upon by these kinds of people any more,” said Juan Luis Gaytán, 37, a mechanic at the plant, which is operated by Arca Continental, the world’s second-biggest Coca-Cola bottler.
Workers dressed in khaki uniforms brandished colourful homemade signs reading “We continue the struggle” and “20-32” – a reference to the strikers’ of a 20% pay hike and a one-off 32,000-peso bonus.
A wave of wildcat strikes has rolled across this Mexican border town, as thousands of workers walked off the job to demand better salaries, safer conditions – and union leaders who put members’ concerns ahead of company interests.
The strikes have closed or slowed production at dozens of maquiladora assembly plants and other factories located south of the border to take advantage of lower labour costs.
Now FREE online at libcom.org/files/Yiching%20Wu-The%20Cultural%20Revolution%20at%20the%20Margins_%20Chinese%20Socialism%20in%20Crisis-Harvard%20University%20Press%20(2014).pdf
Microsoft Workers Protest Army Contract With Tech ‘Designed To Help People Kill’
Microsoft workers are calling on the giant tech company to cancel its nearly $480 million U.S. Army contract, saying the deal has “crossed the line” into weapons development by Microsoft for the first time. They say the use of the company’s HoloLens augmented reality technology under the contract “is designed to help people kill.”
In a letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and President Brad Smith, the workers also say the company is failing to inform its engineers “on the intent of the software they are building.” www.npr.org/2019/02/22/697110641/microsoft-workers-protest-army-contract-with-tech-designed-to-help-people-kill?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20190222&fbclid=IwAR1SS1a60C8a6wO-amyc-BcZkX5CWfQV_JHZ3vmwHSWbKu8ZNqnoHIDz6jk
Youtube Videos – March 1st
grenada-forwardever.net/?page_id=118
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN
SOUTHERN DIVISION
DR. RICHARD JOHN GIBSON,
Plaintiff,
v. Case No. 97-CV-72734
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, and Honorable Denise Page Hood
DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY United States District Judge
Defendants.
________________________________/
JUDGMENT
This action having come before the Court by way of Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment, and the Court having issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order this date granting Plaintiff’s Motion,
Accordingly,
Judgment is entered in favor of Plaintiff and against Defendants.
JOHN P MAYER
CLERK OF THE COURT
100 Years ago: Comintern
Journalist, 12, faces off with police officer who threatened to arrest her
Hilde Lysiak filmed the encounter with an Arizona marshal, demanding to know what crime she was being accused of
It sounds like something from children’s fiction: a 12-year-old intrepid journalist who fights off threats from the mob and local police to self-publish the truth about her local area in her own newspaper.
But Hilde Lysiak, the editor of the Orange Street News, is the real deal. In 2016, when she was just nine years old, she broke the story of a homicide in her hometown of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, interviewing witnesses and locals hours before other news outlets had ever reached the scene. Hilde’s scoop became a bigger story than the murder. Since then she has broken exclusives on rapes, robberies and a roaming mountain lion as well as fending off threatening text messages after reporting on an alleged drug dealer.
Now Hilde is making headlines of her own once again, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/24/hilde-lysak-police-officer-arrest-video?CMP=fb_gu&fbclid=IwAR1KjujtN70FKcBMaxGHV9qIHJWe8xzYdl2wIIRFuBWcYIo4SXuZ4F7301c
The Little Red Schoolhouse
www.facebook.com/gerrybrooksprin/videos/382814989117219/?t=34
U.S. Spends $23B More on White Districts Than Nonwhite Districts, Report Says
By Daarel Burnette II on February 27, 2019 1:57 PM
Despite decades of court fights and countless state and local political battles, there remains today a $23 billion gap between the amount of money spent on predominantly white school districts and predominantly nonwhite school districts, according to a new report by EdBuild, an advocacy organization that pushes for equitable spending.
It’s a point that public school funding advocates in states have been making for some time now, but few national organizations have cited the disparity in such a stark and dramatic way nor attempt to place a dollar figure to the gap in spending.
For its study, EdBuild added up all the local and state tax revenue spent in the 2015-16 school year on school districts that are more than 75 percent white (about $152 billion), and all the local and state tax revenue spent on school districts that are more than 75 percent nonwhite (about $129.7 billion).
The authors found that, on average, the nonwhite school districts get $2,226 less funding per student than the white districts. It found that the high‐poverty, nonwhite districts receive $1,487 less per student than the high‐poverty, white school districts.
The problem, the organization argues, lies in the way America’s schools have become hyper-racially segregated in recent decades and on districts’ heavy reliance on local funding revenue. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/state_edwatch/2019/02/americas_taxpayers_spend_more_on_white_schools_than_nonwhite_schools_report_says.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news2&M=58762398&U=1666178&UUID=1077d6867cfb1e9eaaaa4a81b0c3ab4b
State with lowest per-pupil spending has highest-paid state superintendent
Mississippi Superintendent of Education Carey Wright is the highest paid state schools chief in the country, according to an analysis by Education Week.
With a salary of $300,000, Wright, who was appointed in 2013, ranked first in the trade publication’s review of state superintendent salaries.
Education Week reported on average state superintendents are paid $174,000.
In a state with one of the nation’s lowest per-pupil spending rates, Wright’s salary stands out as somewhat of an outlier.
That might be partly because of an unofficial precedence set by a former state law mandating that the state education chief’s salary be 90% of what the state’s commissioner of higher education makes.
That law was phased out at the time of Wright’s appointment. And state Board of Education members haven’t quite kept up with the trend. Commissioner Glenn Boyce makes $358,312.50, meaning Wright’s salary would have to be $322481.25 in order to align with the former statute.
The analysis also found that board-appointed state chiefs on average make $223,000. That’s $108,000 more than the average state-elected chiefs make. And $65,000 more than the average governor-appointed state chiefs make.
Florida Superintendent Pam Stewart is the second-highest paid in the nation with a salary of $276,000. Louisiana Superintendent John White is the third highest-with a salary of $275,000. Colorado State Superintendent Kathy Annes makes the fourth highest at $255,000. Mary Ellen Elia, commissioner of the New York State Education Department, comes in fifth at $250,000. www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/09/01/state-lowest-per-pupil-spending-has-highest-paid-state-superintendent/625369001/?fbclid=IwAR1OiAh4ghkJVLAq5YLJQV-ATAkAZbgAPAnemwteCT_Vc0kCT0whLbFV8eM
UCSD Bookstore will become less bookish when Target moves in
She’s not trying to be cold-hearted. But Ella Chen shrugged when she learned that retail giant Target is negotiating to take over about half the floor space in the decades-old UC San Diego Bookstore.
“Students mostly go there to buy apparel, not books,” said Chen, a 20 year-old editor at the Triton, an online-only campus newspaper.
“I don’t think they even noticed that the newspapers and magazines are already gone. That hurts, but it’s true.”
Such pain is being felt from Boston to La Jolla as college bookstores — once a focal point of campus life — are struggling to stay current, useful, and financially sound.
Colleges are being hit by the first wave of Generation Z students — people born since the mid-1990s. They have always been exposed to the Internet, cellphones and social media.
A 2018 study by Baylor University says that female college students spend 10 hours a day on their cellphones, while males use them for about eight hours. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education/sd-me-ucsd-bookstore-20190215-story.html
McDaniel College eliminating majors including music, some foreign languages
After a Saturday meeting and unanimous vote of the board of trustees, McDaniel College is going forward with plans to restructure some of the liberal arts school’s academic programs, eliminating several undergraduate majors.
The college sent out a news release and made the announcement to students Saturday night on social media in a message signed by McDaniel College President Roger Casey.
Art History, Religious Studies, French, German and Music will no longer be offered as majors for future students as a result of Saturday’s vote following a faculty-led review of the school’s programs, according to the release.
Additionally, minors in German, Music and Latin will also no longer be offered. At the graduate level, enrollment will be suspended in the M.S. program for Deaf Education.
All students who have declared a major in an impacted program will still be able to graduate with their intended degree www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/carroll/cc-mcdaniel-trustees-vote-20190224-story.html?fbclid=IwAR3XTBqSeJt_xSmMOdTnWYQYxSAXDsDfPqQU4QIaZ_buBLg4HEckcemMEV4
The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor
The Status Of Nuclear Weapons Around The World
SHAPIRO: You mentioned the risk of an accident or a miscalculation. How worried are you about that as opposed to nuclear-armed countries deciding to go to war with each other?
ROHLFING: I worry about both. One of the complications is there are new technologies that make the nuclear threat more complex. So think about the emergence of cyberattacks, cyber vulnerabilities. The Defense Department in 2013 issued a report that essentially said – and I’m paraphrasing – there are no military systems that are immune from the threats of cyberattack and cyber vulnerabilities.
SHAPIRO: And so a hacker could conceivably make it look as though a nuclear attack was imminent or actually stage one.
ROHLFING: Indeed. Imagine if our command and control system were compromised so it looked like there was a significant incoming attack and it prompted us to react by retaliating with nuclear missiles or vice versa.
SHAPIRO: So when you put the danger of this moment in the context of the last 50 years, how worried are you right now?
ROHLFING: I’m very worried. I would say this is the most dangerous period since the Cuban Missile Crisis, the current period. The risk is that high. And it’s interesting. As we see so much focus on North Korea, this is a much broader threat. It’s an urgent threat. And it’s the biggest existential threat that most people have never heard of. www.npr.org/2019/02/28/699118990/the-status-of-nuclear-weapons-around-the-world
Judge rules male-only military draft is unconstitutional
A federal judge has ruled that a men-only draft is unconstitutional, but he stopped short of ordering the Selective Service System to register women for military service.
The Houston judge sided with a San Diego men’s advocacy group that challenged the government’s practice of having only men sign up for the draft, citing sex discrimination in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection clause.
“This case balances on the tension between the constitutionally enshrined power of Congress to raise armies and the constitutional mandate that no person be denied the equal protection of the law,” wrote U.S. District Judge Gray Miller of the Southern District of Texas.
The lawsuit was filed in 2013 against the Selective Service System by Texas resident James Lesmeister, who later added San Diego resident Anthony Davis and the San Diego-based National Coalition for Men as additional plaintiffs.
The two men had standing to sue the government because they were within the age range of 18 to 26 in which men in the United States are required to register with Selective Service.
Coalition attorney Marc Angelucci said in a statement on Saturday that he is pleased with the court decision. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/sd-me-military-draft-women-lawsuit-20190223-story.html
North Korea Calls Trump Administration Racist Billionaires’ Club (plus Dotard)
North Korea accused the Trump Administration of being a billionaires’ club that harbors a “policy of racism” while exacerbating social inequalities and denying freedom of the press and health coverage to citizens.
The “White Paper on Human Rights Violations in the U.S. in 2017,” issued by the Institute of International Studies in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on Wednesday, claimed that human rights in the U.S. have deteriorated since President Donald Trump took office last year.
“Racial discrimination and misanthropy are serious maladies inherent to the social system of the U.S., and they have been aggravated since Trump took office,” the paper read. “The racial violence that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12 is a typical example of the acme of the current administration’s policy of racism.”
The paper, which is being circulated by North Korean diplomats in Geneva, did not refer to the row between North Korea and the U.S. and its allies over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs, nor to the international sanctions imposed against it.
A summary of the paper was released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Wednesday.
The KCNA summary accused Trump of packing his cabinet with billionaires, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson; former private equity investor Wilbur Ross, who is now Secretary of Commerce; ex–Goldman Sachs investor Steven Mnuchin, who is now Secretary of the Treasury; and Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
“The total assets of public servants at the level of deputy secretary and above of the current administration are worth $14 billion,” the paper said.
The North Korean paper then said that genuine freedoms of the press and of expression did not exist in the United States, and that crackdowns against the media had intensified in the past year.
The report summary also argued that an “absolute majority of the working masses, deprived of elementary rights to survival, are hovering in the abyss of nightmare,” citing unemployment statistics and homelessness as evidence. www.newsweek.com/north-korea-white-paper-trump-racist-billionaires-club-796881?fbclid=IwAR3r8r9UgPlNS_3lxivG4bpPiRhgjqv03PxMcmzgR2J5Ll9k697VASLcq9s
2 Army EOD soldiers indicted for allegedly trying to sell guns and explosives they knew would be sent to Mexico
Two Army explosive ordnance disposal soldiers have been indicted for allegedly trying to sell dozens of rifles, pistols, and C4 explosives to undercover federal agents in El Paso, Texas.
Tyler James Sumlin and Jason Wayne Jarvis showed up at a truck stop in El Paso, Texas on Nov. 14, 2018 and met with undercover agents from Homeland Security Investigations before following them to a nearby warehouse where they had agreed to exchange weapons for $75,000, according to a criminal complaint filed Nov. 15, 2018 in the Western District of Texas.
“Sumlin stated he was aware the firearms were to be exported to Mexico,” read the affidavit, written by HSI Special Agent Omar Fournier, who said that both agreed to be interviewed by agents without a lawyer present.
Upon their arrest at the warehouse, according to court documents, agents seized 32 rifles, three handguns, and five pounds of C4 explosives. They also seized silencers, a short barreled rifle, and a hand grenade, according to the indictment.
The pair is charged with a total of eight counts, to include conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States, transfer of firearms without a license, and transporting explosive materials without a license. taskandpurpose.com/soldier-indictment-guns-explosives?utm_campaign=RebelAlerts&utm_medium=email&utm_source=RebelAlerts-taskandpurpose&utm_source=Task+%26+Purpose+Daily&utm_campaign=105c866ee3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_02_28_08_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_67edd998fe-105c866ee3-76834115&mc_cid=105c866ee3&mc_eid=7e099a64db
What to Do (or Not Do) If You Are a Suspect to a Crime in the Military
If you are suspected of a crime in the military it is surely important you understand your rights, such as your right to remain silent, or to have an attorney present during questioning by a law enforcement agent. However, beyond your basic Constitutional Rights, it is equally important to understand what you should and should not do as a suspect of an investigation.
- Do not waive your Article 31b Rights. Prior to a law enforcement agent reading a servicemember their Article 31b Rights, they must notify the servicemember what he/she is alleged to have done. In most cases, the investigator will try to get the suspect to complete a “Suspect’s Acknowledgement and Waiver of Rights Statement”, or a “Rights Warning Procedure/Waiver Certificate.” These statements or certificates can be very confusing for a young, scared servicemember who has just been told they are in “trouble”. Unfortunately, some suspects do not realize when they are completing this document they are not just acknowledging their rights, they are also waiving them. Don’t be in a rush to make this mistake; but rather, demand an opportunity to review your rights statement or certificate with a criminal defense counsel prior to you completing the document.
- Consult with a criminal defense counsel who specializes in military law. It goes without saying your very first step, after being notified you are a suspect, is to speak with a criminal defense attorney who specializes in military law. Nearly all large military installations have a defense counsel office on base who should be able to assist you with understanding your rights as a suspect. (militaryjusticeattorney.com)
Service chiefs to face tough questions on military housing failures
Congress will reopen its investigation into substandard military housing next week with a hearing demanding solutions from top military officials.
The civilian and uniformed leaders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 7 on “the chain of command’s accountability to provide safe military housing” for servicemembers.
The move comes a few weeks after the committee heard from military families and private contractors over a host of health and safety issues at privatized military housing across the country, including mold, lead paint, termites and mice. www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/02/27/service-chiefs-to-face-harsh-questions-on-military-housing-failures/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB:%20Questioning%20continues%20over%20substandard%20military%20housing&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Military%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief
The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor
‘Unhinged madman’: Former U.S. budget director says Trump is ‘conducting 4 wars on the economy’
A former U.S. government official believes President Donald Trump is severely hurting the American economy in various ways.
“We have a delusional, unhinged madman in the Oval Office, and anything is possible,” David Stockman, the former director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) who once declared “government is a Trojan Horse of the Rich” under President Ronald Reagan, told Yahoo Finance’s The Ticker (video above). “He’s conducting four wars on the American economy, and it’s not going to make it great again.”
Stockman, who just published Peak Trump: The Undrainable Swamp And The Fantasy Of MAGA, argued that Trump is waging a trade war, a border war, a political war against the Fed, and a war on the nation’s solvency. www.yahoo.com/news/trump-economy-budget-economy-160431196.html?ncid=facebook_yahoonewsf_akfmevaatca&fbclid=IwAR13pJYU5AQLehHptNkR1i5tx-krf41KcBQVGAucxthNrl3LdiO2XsetRYQ
Lordstown workers fear for future as GM prepares to ‘unallocate’ plant
A series of indefinite plant idlings stretching from Detroit to Maryland and Ontario starts next Friday when GM kills the lights at its only assembly plant in northeast Ohio. A harsh reckoning for thousands of other line workers in the Midwest looms this summer when GM and national leaders for the United Auto Workers gets a chance to negotiate the fate of Lordstown Assembly, Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, Warren Transmission and Baltimore Operations.
Until then, the plants won’t quite close. But they won’t be open, either. Detroit-Hamtramck stopped building two of its four cars on Feb. 15, but GM last week said it will continue building two more through January 2020. Until at least September, Lordstown and the two transmission plants will be “unallocated” — a distinction both GM and union members here in Lordstown like to make.
“The stress is just eating people up right now, www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/general-motors/2019/02/27/lordstown-workers-fear-future-gm-prepares-unallocate-plant/2940711002/
You asked, we answered: Why didn’t any Wall Street CEOs go to jail after the financial crisis?
It’s complicated.
Why didn’t any Wall Street CEO go to jail after the financial crisis? It’s a question we were frequently asked throughout our reporting of the 10-year anniversary of the financial crisis. The financial crisis of 2008 altered so many lives: Millions of people lost their homes, their jobs and their savings. It set off a recession that collectively destroyed over $30 trillion of the world’s wealth. And though the crisis grew out of big banks’ handling of mortgage-backed securities, no Wall Street executive went to jail for it. So what happened?
We wanted to answer your question and find out why no bank executive went to jail after the financial crisis. For the past six months, we’ve been talking to a lot of people: academics, judges, former prosecutors, whistleblowers and journalists. We read through countless books, articles and court documents. And we found that the answer has several components, including power shifts at the Department of Justice, a high-profile trial loss, civil lawsuits and punishments that did not include jail time. features.marketplace.org/why-no-ceo-went-jail-after-financial-crisis/#audio-titlehttps://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-fiat-chrysler-layoffs-belvidere-jeep-plant-20190226-story.html
Florida human trafficking: Billionaire equity firm owner John Childs wanted on prostitution charge in Vero Beach
Billionaire equity firm owner John Childs is one of several men accused of soliciting prostitution in connection with a Florida spa tied to an international human trafficking ring, police said Thursday.
Childs, who lives seasonally in Indian River Shores, is wanted on a solicitation of prostitution charge, according to a warrant for his arrest. He has not been arrested.
Childs owns J.W. Childs Associates, a private equity firm based in Massachusetts.
He’s a prominent donor to several Republican politicians and groups, including former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, Club for Growth and 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
He donated about $4.3 million to Republican candidates and PACs last cycle, according to a review of federal campaign finance records. www.tcpalm.com/story/news/crime/indian-river-county/2019/02/22/billionaire-john-childs-charged-florida-human-trafficking-prostitution-ring/2953948002/?fbclid=IwAR1diRE4LjORS5fs4nQsMgj5Bm2o83ll0yzCZYNayAcsnSUU_WracHW_sJU
Revolt against the Rich
Nobel laureates, a new congresswoman and others urge raising taxes on the ultrawealthy to counter surging inequality
In 2015 I attended a workshop on political polarization with an eclectic group of scholars and activists. We swapped ideas on resolving battles over climate change, inequality, abortion and gay rights. One obstacle to compromise, a psychologist said, is that many Americans have a visceral, emotional reaction to issues like homosexuality.
I have a visceral, emotion reaction to inequality, I replied. It sickens me that some Americans have billions while others barely have enough to eat. An economist derided my attitude as typical left-wing irrationality. Inequality isn’t the problem, he said, poverty is the problem, and we shouldn’t try to solve it by taking more from the rich.
I felt chastened. But a flurry of recent articles—with headlines like “Abolish Billionaires” and “The Economics of Soaking the Rich”—argues that we should be appalled by the immense gap between the poor and rich. The proliferation of billionaires shows that capitalism is malfunctioning and in need of reforms, including higher taxes on the ultra-wealthy. blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/revolt-against-the-rich/?fbclid=IwAR3Wva7Oz_U93rOqbz6dKDLeYrN-Ibc1HjVZT65-5xYYKtFR4rMqh57VOgo&sf208382898=1&utm_campaign=SciAm_&utm_content=organic&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook
Pelosi Sabotages Medicare for All, But Corporate Media Pretend Not to Notice
When the top Democrat secretly plots to subvert a proposal supported by the vast majority of her party, that’s supposed to be news — unless the corporate media decide otherwise.
“The plutocrat-owned press is protecting Pelosi from the extreme embarrassment.”
Thanks to Bernie Sanders’ presidential bid in 2016, his signature Medicare for All proposal is the litmus issue for Democrats in the unfolding 2020 campaign. With supermajority support among Democratic and independent voters and backed by more than half of Republican s, the single payer scheme was endorsed by a majority of Democratic candidates in November’s House races. Most of the declared Democratic presidential candidates claim to back Medicare for All, including even New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who has accepted more money from Big Pharma than any other member of his party . So compelling is the issue, a Politico-Harvard poll shows that fully 84 percent of Democrats want the party to make Medicare for All “an extremely important priority.”
It should be huge news, then, that the top Democrat in Congress, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, is actively working to discredit and sideline the most popular domestic political proposal of the century. But, apparently not. The Intercept’s February 5 blockbuster, “Top Nancy Pelosi Aide Privately Tells Insurance Executives Not to Worry About Democrats Pushing ‘Medicare for All,’” was picked up by only one “mainstream” corporate media outlet: Newsweek . In burying this bombshell, the plutocrat-owned press is protecting Pelosi from the extreme embarrassment of being caught conspiring with insurance companies to subvert Democratic voters’ highest priority issue, with the obvious aim of derailing Bernie Sanders’ anticipated second run for the presidency. blackagendareport.com/pelosi-sabotages-medicare-all-corporate-media-pretend-not-notice
The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement and The War on Reason
Osama bin Laden’s son is taking over as al Qaeda’s leader, State Department says
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A son of Osama bin Laden is emerging as a leader in al Qaeda, the US State Department says, and it’s willing to pay up to $1 million for information on his whereabouts.
Hamza bin Laden, whose father was killed by US Navy SEALs in Pakistan in 2011, is taking the reins of the terror group, the State Department said late Thursday.
“Hamza bin Laden … is emerging as a leader” in the al Qaeda franchise, the department said in a statement. “He has released audio and video messages on the Internet, calling on his followers to launch attacks against the United States and its Western allies, and he has threatened attacks against the United States in revenge for the May 2011 killing of his father by US military forces.” www.abcactionnews.com/news/world/osama-bin-ladens-son-is-taking-over-as-al-qaedas-leader-state-department-says?fbclid=IwAR0bVV2AoLalptLDmGvzyl0YvHSAfjgRldtrwIhc99pezxLMtTFZoTup-g4
Reminder–Close Read: What Did Seymour Hersh Say About Assassinations?
A couple of weeks ago, some members of Congress let it be known that Leon Panetta, the director of the C.I.A., had confessed something to them. Panetta said that there had been a program that the C.I.A. should have told Congress about almost eight years earlier but hadn’t. He had just learned about it, and had ordered the program ended.
Naturally, people wanted to know what the big secret was. The C.I.A. and members of Congress said that they couldn’t tell, but soon enough there were reports that, as the Times put it last week,
Since 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency has developed plans to dispatch small teams overseas to kill senior Qaeda terrorists.
The officials who confirmed this for the Times also told reporters that “the plans remained vague and were never carried out….Yet year after year, according to officials briefed on the program, the plans were never completely shelved.”
People also remembered that Seymour M. Hersh had said or written something about this. His reference to an “executive assassination ring,” which he made at an event in Minnesota with Walter Mondale, of all people, was picked up widely. Hersh urged anyone who asked to look at what he’d actually written about the Bush Administration and assassination. That sounded useful, so I went back and read his stories again.
HUNTER-KILLER TEAMS
Let’s start with motive. In “What Went Wrong,” in the October 8, 2001, issue—on newsstands October 1, 2001, and reported as the dust was still settling at Ground Zero—a “C.I.A. man” spoke to Hersh about the need to consider tactics that “defy the American rule of law”:
www.facebook.com/trutheducation.org/videos/1735685730085054/?t=21
Chelsea Manning ordered to testify before grand jury in Julian Assange investigation
Chelsea Manning has been called to testify before a grand jury in the investigation of Julian Assange, officials said.
The summons is one of several indicators that prosecutors remain interested in WikiLeaks‘ publication of diplomatic cables and military war logs in 2010.
Prosecutors in Virginia have been pursuing a case based on conduct that predates WikiLeaks’ publication of hacked emails during the 2016 presidential campaign, and it is not clear investigators are interested in that activity.
Officials discussed the investigation of Mr Assange, who founded WikiLeaks, on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the grand jury process.
Ms Manning, whose subpoena was first reported by the New York Times, is a former Army private who served seven years in a military prison for passing secret State Department cables and military documents to WikiLeaks before receiving a commutation from Barack Obama. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chelsea-manning-julian-assange-investigation-wikileaks-jury-a8804651.html
Solidarity for Never
Click HERE for the Tentative Agreement (TA) in Full
Click here for the articles as separate PDF files
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZGmLziSdPO0J5OsWMaDFO0uIpxK9M5HO
11 % over Four Years is no victory. (any bonus is nullified by the lack of strike pay).
Nothing on school nurses–who chant, “Contract must be chucked, nurses got fucked!”
Nothing on school closures.
No Significant class size wins.
Rushed Ratification Vote as usual.
Spy versus Spy
The Magical Mystery Tour
Report: Plan To Force God Into Public Schools Released
New Education Reform Report written for the Trump administration would put the Christian God in public schools.
An alarming report, written by a Christian conservative group with ties to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, plans for the promotion of Christianity in public schools and putting an end to the Department of Education.
The Washington Post reports:
A policy manifesto from an influential conservative group with ties to the Trump administration, including Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, urges the dismantling of the Education Department and bringing God into American classrooms.
The “Education Reform Report” released by the Center for National Policy, a front for radical conservative Christians with “ties to several top White House officials — including Education Secretary Betsy DeVos,” states:
We submit this report to the Donald Trump/Betsy DeVos administration with the hope that our organization may be of assistance with the restoration of education in America, in accordance with historic Judeo-Christian principles. www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2017/02/report-plan-force-god-public-schools-released/?fbclid=IwAR0CfzLSgGLHvjbtDzlG9otgmWyoHyP-ftk_zH8BXL51MzXn2G9yhjxlt3w
FBI raid reveals tens of thousands of rare cultural artifacts in 91-year-old missionary’s Indiana home
..when the FBI’s art crime detectives showed up and began sifting through Miller’s extensive collection in April 2014, suspecting that many of the relics carefully laid out in the cabinets had been obtained illegally in violation of antiquities laws, they came across something that horrified them: roughly 2,000 human bones, nearly all of which are believed to have been taken from ancient Native American burial sites.
“To the best of our knowledge right now, those 2,000 bones represent about 500 human beings,” www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/nation-world/ct-fbi-indiana-raid-rare-cultural-artifacts-20190228-story.html
Sacred Heart Seminary: Ground Zero for Catholic Abuse Scandal in Detroit
“If an investigator knocks on your door, ask to see their badge, not their rosary.”
That’s what Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told Catholics last week, warning them not to trust the church to self-police its abuse scandal. She said that, like Michigan State University investigating Larry Nassar, the Catholic Church is more interested in protecting itself than serving its flock. I share her suspicions.
Self-policing didn’t work well when I was a high school student boarding at Sacred Heart Seminary in the 1960s. From the close of evening prayers until we sat down to breakfast in the refectory the next morning, Grand Silence was in force.
You were supposed to be praying for discernment about your vocation, not joking around with your classmates. Talking was punishable with demerits, and enough demerits could get you expelled. But any time the proctor was out of the dorm, teenage taunts and tricks would erupt. For some of the less pious among us, our seminary years were spent learning how to defy arbitrary rules that were enforced by a larger patriarchal code of Grand Silence.
I didn’t learn about what that code protected at Sacred Heart until decades later, when a close friend finally revealed that he’d been assaulted by a faculty priest during his senior year. He was not the only victim.
Not surprisingly, seminarians targeted were intimidated and ashamed to speak out. www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/21735/sacred_heart_seminary_ground_zero_for_catholic_abuse_scandal_in_detroit?fbclid=IwAR2p6qbbGCJNP9Ub0LtK82_G8e7YFjV2f0qqkGIHia-zo2i4ayKB9IZRKbA
George Pell: Cardinal found guilty of sexual offences in Australia
Cardinal George Pell has been found guilty in Australia of sexual offences against children, making him the highest-ranking Catholic figure to receive such a conviction.
Pell abused two choir boys in Melbourne’s cathedral in 1996, a jury found. He had pleaded not guilty.
As Vatican treasurer, the 77-year-old Australian was widely seen as the Church’s third most powerful official.
Pell, due to face sentencing hearings from Wednesday, has lodged an appeal.
His trial was heard twice last year because a first jury failed to reach a verdict. A second jury unanimously convicted him of one charge of sexually penetrating a child under 16, and four counts of committing an indecent act on a child under 16.
The verdict was handed down in December, but it could not be reported until now for legal reasons. www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47366113
The Diocese of Columbus Releases a List of Accused Priests
Today, the Diocese of Columbus publicly named 34 priests that have been removed from their duties due to “credible” allegations of sexual abuse.
We’re glad that Bishop Frederick Campbell and Columbus church officials have taken this first step towards transparency. The releasing of names is an important step for the protection of children, prevention of future cases of abuse and the healing of survivors today. Still, it is only the first step.
First, Bishop Campbell and other church officials should amend their list by adding critical information that has currently been left off the list. Most importantly, church officials should include information on when the allegation against each priest was first received, what action was taken upon receiving the allegation, and when the priest was finally removed. Similarly, church officials should include on this list the work history of each cleric and aggressively seek out victims, witnesses, or whistleblowers in each location staffed by these abusive men.
Then, Bishop Capmbell should contact his local prosecuting attorney and the state attorney general to urge an independent investigation that will do a full review of all personnel files and abuse records. Only independent law enforcement professionals can truly determine the extent of these crimes. As we have seen recently in places like the Diocese of Buffalo, we cannot count on church officials to release all records they have.
Finally, Bishop Campbell should publicize this list permanently on the diocesan website and run it at least quarterly in every parish bulletin. www.snapnetwork.org/the_diocese_of_columbus_releases_a_list_of_accused_priests
The Best and Worst Things in the History of the World
So Long
Dick Churchill, Last Survivor of ‘The Great Escape,’ Dies at 99
Dick Churchill, the last living participant in a daring breakout from a German prisoner-of-war camp that inspired the 1963 movie “The Great Escape,” died on Feb. 12 at his home near Crediton, Devon, England. He was 99.
His son Roger confirmed the death by email.
Paul Royle, the second-to-last surviving prisoner to escape from Stalag Luft III in 1944, died in 2015 at 101. Many British news media outlets and other sources called Mr. Churchill the last surviving prisoner who had taken part in the escape.
The Germans captured Mr. Churchill, a squadron leader at the time, after they shot down the bomber he was flying over the Netherlands in 1940. He was transferred to Stalag III, about 100 miles southeast of Berlin, in 1942, and soon a few hundred prisoners began excavating tunnels to escape.
Mr. Churchill later recalled that the inmates had felt that they had to do something, even though it would have probably been safer to try to wait out the war. www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/obituaries/dick-churchill-dies.html