Wednesday, May 31, 2017

A Fair Trial for Julian Assange

Friends,

Even though Assange worked with Putin to get Trump elected, we have to support him.

Kagiso,

Max


WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (photo: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (photo: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters)

A Fair Trial for Julian Assange

By John Kiriakou, Reader Supported News
30 May 17

 If recent press reports are to be believed, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is the target of a secret grand jury investigation, either in the federal court of the District of Columbia or in the notorious Eastern District of Virginia, known colloquially as “the espionage court.” Assange is currently holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he fled to avoid a British arrest warrant and probable extradition to Sweden on what supporters and many legal analysts called a flimsy sexual assault case.

   The Swedish case was dropped last week, but Assange remains in the embassy. British authorities say that he still faces a misdemeanor UK charge of jumping bail (on the moot Swedish case), but the British disingenuously won’t talk about the rumors of a US case and the possibility of extradition to the US.

  For its part, the Justice Department isn’t saying anything. Still, the Trump administration, like Obama’s before it, has made it clear that it sees Assange as an arch-criminal, rather than a journalist. And CIA director Mike Pompeo went so far as to say that Wikileaks acts as a “hostile foreign intelligence service.” Remember, Pompeo is the same guy who said that he’d like to see Ed Snowden “hang from a tree until he’s dead.”

  I’m not an Assange fan personally. We have some friends and acquaintances in common, and they tell me that he is a misogynist. And we can’t ignore the fact that Assange’s single-minded obsession with ruining Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election and publishing the embarrassing “Podesta emails,” very likely played a role in giving us Donald Trump.

   Still, the Trump administration’s position on Assange is to level serious charges and to speak bombastically. Neocon and neoliberal rhetoric aside, though, Wikileaks is a journalistic entity devoted to transparency and Julian Assange is a journalist, whether Washington muckety-mucks like his politics or not. A criminal case against him could put the CIA in a very difficult position because a trial would have to lead to invocation of the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA). It could also lead to a constitutional crisis over the first amendment’s freedom of the press. If Wikileaks is devoted to transparency and exposing governmental waste, fraud, abuse, and illegality – which it is – well, that’s the definition of journalism, isn’t it? Even the most basic charges against Assange would merit appeals to the Circuit Court of Appeals and to the Supreme Court. Does the Justice Department want to risk overturning the Espionage Act? It would be a serious gamble.

   CIPA, which was passed into law in 1980, allows the government to keep things secret in a national security trial that otherwise may have been made public. It reduces incidents of “graymail,” where a defendant may insist on revealing classified information to defend himself. For example, if a defendant is charged with revealing that “Zorg” was a secret program that damaged Iranian widgets, and both “Zorg” and the widgets are classified, “Zorg” will be referred to in the trial as “carwash,” or some such nonsense, and the widgets will be referred to as “cigars.” The jury has no real idea what in the world was revealed in the first place. But, at least in the Eastern District of Virginia, they always vote “guilty” anyway.

  At the District Court level, then, the only way for Assange to get a fair trial would be for the court to order the declassification of CIA and FBI documents necessary for his defense. Would the intelligence community want to risk even further exposure of classified information in a trial? They would have to if they intend to prosecute. Assange is entitled to this information as discovery. But does the government want to take the risk of Assange passing the discovery on to Wikileaks, again, in the interests of transparency, 

   CIPA be damned? Furthermore, the CIA has never said one way or the other if the documents that Wikileaks has released as attributable to the CIA are actually original and true Agency documents. They would have to do so in a trial.

  Policymakers at the Justice Department, the CIA, the FBI, and the White House clearly have not thought this through. It’s one thing to criticize journalists who publish stories that contain “classified” information. It’s an entirely different thing to try to punish those journalists under the Espionage Act. And it’s unprecedented in American history. Cooler heads have to prevail in Washington. You don’t have to like Julian Assange’s politics to love constitutional freedoms. You don’t have to like Julian Assange as a person to value what he and Wikileaks do to expose waste, fraud, abuse, and illegality (which, by the way, is the very definition of whistleblowing). Julian Assange could not get a fair trial in a federal court. He shouldn’t have to have any trial in the first place.

John Kiriakou is a former CIA counterterrorism officer and a former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act – a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration's torture program.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs


This Is How the Biggest Companies Cheated on Taxes in 2016

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)

This Is How the Biggest Companies Cheated on Taxes in 2016

By Paul Buchheit [1] / AlterNet [2]
May 30, 2017, 9:32 AM PDT

   Donald Trump wants to cut what some call [3] the "highest corporate tax rate in the world." The tax cut will, according to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin [4], "pay for itself with economic growth."

  Two delusions in one. The realities are far different for anyone who actually considers the facts. And some of the facts about 2016 tax avoidance [5] are shocking and depressing. For example, two of the big banks (JP Morgan [6] and Bank of America [7]) together underpaid their taxes by more than Trump's proposed $10.6 billion education cuts [8], which would eliminate or reduce [9] after-school programs, work-study programs, state grants, teacher training, arts programs, and physical education.

  The two banks combined to defer nearly $10 billion.

Companies that Use U.S. Resources But Claim All Their Profits in Other Countries

  Exxon [10] has over half of its natural gas facilities, half of its developed acreage, the great majority of its productive and development wells, and half of its retail sites in the U.S., yet declared $5.8 billion in U.S. losses along with $13.8 billion in foreign profits in 2016. The company claimed a credit on its U.S. income tax.

  Pfizer [11] had half of its sales in the U.S. in 2016, yet claimed an $8.5 billion loss in the U.S. along with nearly $17 billion in foreign profits. Despite paying an effective tax rate of just 4 percent on its total income in 2016, and despite being one of the nine [12] pharmaceutical[13] companies among the top 30 Fortune 500 firms in offshore tax hoarding [14], Pfizer CEO Ian Read complained [15] that U.S. taxes had his company fighting "with one hand tied behind our back."

  Dow Chemical [16] had 63 percent of its assets and 35 percent of its sales in the U.S. in 2016, but declared only 11% of its income in the United States. Caterpillar [17] generates nearly half of its sales in the U.S., but claimed over $2 billion in U.S. losses and over $2 billion in foreign profits—and of course, a credit on its U.S. tax bill.

Companies that Defer Their Taxes, Year after Year after Year...

   In the spotlight here is lovable old Warren Buffett, whose company Berkshire Hathaway [18] has used "hypothetical amounts" to 'pay' its taxes while actually deferring $77 billion in real taxes. The company would keep 20% of this, tax-free forever, if Trump's tax plan [19] were to go through.

  According to Barron's [20] "It seems that Buffett and his businesses are serial deprivers of tax revenue to the U.S. Treasury. Yet that does not deter him from loudly advocating higher income tax rates for others." Buffett endears himself to average Americans by complaining [21] that "My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress."

  Another extreme deferrer is Apple [22], the leading offender [23] among the Fortune 500 companies that are collectively holding over $2.1 trillion [24] in accumulated profits offshore for tax purposes, with estimated taxes due of over $600 billion. CEO Tim Cook said, "We’re not a tax dodger. We pay our share and then some."

Companies that Have Crippled a State's K-12 and Higher Education Systems

   The mayor of Chicago and governor of Illinois are blaming each other for the Chicago Public School budget crisis, and Illinois colleges are in constant danger of being shut down. But Illinois lost over a billion dollars in 2016 tax revenue to 10 of its largest companies, which according to their own records paid just 1.8% [25] of their profits in state taxes, about a quarter of the required amount.

   Yet it’s the children and the taxpayers who bear the burden of reform. Illinois has the highest educational revenue shortfall [26] among the 50 states, and it cut higher education spending [27] by over 50% from 2008 to 2016. Illinois has the second highest [28] property taxes in the nation. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy [29] named Illinois one of the 10 "Most Regressive State Tax Systems," with the third-highest "Taxes on the Poor." 

 But no mention of the tax avoiders. Just 10 of them would have contributed an additional $1.1 billion [30] to Illinois educational needs, if they had paid what they owe.

Companies That Just Don't Pay

Notorious non-payer General Electric [31] stayed true to form in 2016, claiming a $2.6 billion credit even though it had over $2 billion in U.S. profits (and $9 billion in profits overall).

 Then come the banks—Bank of America [7], JP Morgan [6] and Citigroup [32]—which together made $53 billion in U.S. profits but paid 10% or less in taxes, with Bank of America 'leading' the way with a 2% tax payment on its $16 billion profit.

Perspective

 Ten companies mentioned [5] in this report collectively withheld nearly $15 billion in tax money in 2016.

   That's as much as Trump's proposed cut [33] for Health and Human Services, which carries out essential research on cancer and deadly threats like the Ebola and Zika viruses.

 Corporations make billions from U.S. research and education, but then they turn around and cheat us on taxes. And Republicans think corporations should get a tax break. 

Paul Buchheit is a college teacher, a writer for progressive publications, and the founder and developer of social justice and educational websites (UsAgainstGreed.org, PayUpNow.org, RappingHistory.org)

        [35]


Links:

[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/paul-buchheit-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/sep/09/eric-bolling/does-us-have-highest-corporate-tax-rate-free-world/
[4] http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/24/news/economy/trump-tax-cuts-growth/index.html?iid=EL
[5] http://youdeservefacts.org/20170529_CorpTaxCheats.xls
[6] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/19617/000001961717000314/corp10k2016.htm
[7] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/70858/000007085817000013/bac-1231201610xk.htm
[8] https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/trumps-first-full-education-budget-deep-cuts-to-public-school-programs-in-pursuit-of-school-choice/2017/05/17/2a25a2cc-3a41-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?utm_term=.0df83548ca5d
[9] https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/05/23/trumps-manifestly-cruel-education-budget-would-crush-kids-dreams
[10] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/34088/000003408817000017/xom10k2016.htm
[11] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/78003/000007800317000014/pfe-12312016x10kexhibit13.htm
[12] http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2015/10/offshore_shell_games_2015.php#.VhVJZvTS2-c
[13] http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/07/tpp-big-pharmas-big-deal/
[14] http://www.americansfortaxfairness.org/files/Pfizers-Tax-Dodging-Rx-Stash-Profits-Offshore-Final1.pdf
[15] http://fortune.com/2015/11/25/pfizer-allergan-ian-read/
[16] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/29915/000002991517000011/dow201610k.htm
[17] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/18230/000001823017000041/cat_10-kx12312016.htm
[18] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1067983/000119312517056969/d303001d10k.htm
[19] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-05/berkshire-boost-from-trump-tax-plan-seen-as-high-as-29-billion
[20] http://www.barrons.com/articles/warren-buffetts-nifty-tax-loophole-1428726092
[21] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html
[22] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/000162828016020309/a201610-k9242016.htm
[23] http://www.marketwatch.com/story/if-apple-paid-taxes-on-offshore-assets-itd-cover-most-of-the-us-education-budget-2016-07-27
[24] http://ctj.org/pdf/offshoreshell2015.pdf
[25] http://www.youdeservefacts.org/IL_2016_CorpTaxes_brief.xls
[26] http://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/many-states-face-revenue-shortfalls
[27] http://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/funding-down-tuition-up
[28] http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/taxes/the-average-property-taxes-in-all-50-states-and-dc/ss-BBzxPSe?li=BBnb7Kz#image=52
[29] http://www.itepnet.org/whopays
[30] http://www.youdeservefacts.org/Illinois/IL_2016_CorpTaxes_brief.xls
[31] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/40545/000004054517000010/ge10k2016.htm
[32] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/831001/000083100117000038/c-12312016x10k.htm
[33] http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/16/trump-budget-blueprint-chops-hhs-15-billion/
[34] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?subject=Typo on This Is How the Biggest Companies Cheated on Taxes in 2016&body=URL:http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-biggest-companies-cheated-taxes-2016
[35] http://www.alternet.org/
[36] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs


Tuesday, May 30, 2017

A Deeper Look into the Life and Tragic Police Murder of Alton Sterling Lays Bare the Injustice of Our Legal System

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)

A Deeper Look into the Life and Tragic Police Murder of Alton Sterling Lays Bare the Injustice of Our Legal System

May 29, 2017

  On May 2, the Department of Justice declined [3] to level federal charges against the two police officers involved in the murder of Alton Sterling. However, Sterling's life was devalued by the criminal legal system long before his death. He was a victim of the collateral consequences of a criminal record.

   Collateral consequences [4] are the often unforeseen restrictions that bar those with criminal records from participating in aspects of normal life. They come from a number of different sources, an unfathomable tangle of 44,000 [4] state statutes, federal statutes, agency-specific rules and even third-party regulations whose influence stretches across the nation. These collateral consequences can apply for life and, in the absence of any feasible means of redress, often do.

   Like far too many other poor African-American men, Sterling spent many years of his life entangled in the criminal legal system. Indeed, as The Washington Post reported, Sterling's 46-page arrest record [5], complete with charges ranging to the benign (such as failure to wear a seat belt) to the extreme (like burglary), speaks to a life checkered with stints in jail. Each new charge came with a new fine, fee or requirement at huge financial costs.

  Sterling's criminal record contributed to the economic insecurity that troubled his adult life, and ultimately led him into the situation that ended his life.

   Sterling struggled to secure gainful employment for years, eventually taking up the sale of CDs [5] (in front of the convenience store where he was murdered) to provide himself with some level of income. The job search for those with criminal records is often paved with adversity. Returning citizens are banned from simple consideration for many jobs that require licenses and certifications [6] based on negative assumptions surrounding their trustworthiness and work ethic. A study conducted by the National Institute of Justice illustrated this stigma, reporting that a mere arrest was associated with decreased employment prospects more so than a long period of unemployment or possession of a GED in place of a high-school degree [7].

  One former prisoner [7] captured the desperation of this struggle, lamenting, "It's easier to get a gun and drugs than a job."

   Most formerly incarcerated people have difficulty finding employment. Nearly 60 percent of returning citizens are unemployed [7] a year after their release from prison, with ripple effects for their dependent families and their own earning potential down the line.

   The prospects of locating secure housing can also prove grim for those with criminal records. Just months before he was murdered, Sterling had the good fortune to move into the Living Waters Outreach Ministry Drop-In Center [5], a transitional housing facility characterized by its clientele of predominantly homeless African-American men with criminal records.

  Had Sterling turned to federal housing programs, he might not have had the same degree of luck: The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program and public housing [7] are administered by local public housing authorities that can punish tenants [7] for any type of so-called "criminal activity," arbitrarily and often ruthlessly, denying housing or administering eviction notices. Indeed, a formerly incarcerated person hoping to return to his or her family and begin anew can unintentionally become a liability that sends their entire family into the streets.

  Private housing presents its own unique set of challenges. Landlords are eager to weed out tenants with criminal records, often utilizing background checks [7] and credit checks out of fear that successful tenancy is negatively correlated to the possession of a criminal record. In reality, the opposite is true [7]: Steady housing actually reduces the likelihood of recidivism, thus increasing the likelihood of successful tenancy.

   It is no surprise Sterling still found it difficult to support himself and his children. The constant struggle to keep up with the demand for food, toiletries or a car to get to work often encourages those with criminal records to alternative means of income. Many hope to access the public benefits [7] ensconced within Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), among others, only to be disappointed. In many states, those convicted of drug felonies are barred from accessing these benefits, often for life. Although federal law permits states to discount the ban, the majority have kept it intact [7] for TANF, SNAP or both to the detriment of returning citizens desperate for any source of support. In one study [8] of formerly incarcerated people returning to society in Texas, California and Connecticut, participants experienced food insecurity similar to that of much poorer countries. 

   The scope and severity of collateral consequences cannot be understated: More than 40 percent [9] of those incarcerated in state prisons returned to prison within three years, unable to satisfy housing, income and other critical needs necessary for successful reintegration into society. Collateral consequences ensure that the grip of mass incarceration tightens and impacts people far beyond the jail cell.

  Sterling's life -- his poverty, housing instability and extrajudicial murder -- was just one example of the endurance of this grip. But federal lawmakers can do something to loosen it.

  Before the 2016 election season was completely underway, bipartisan interest emerged with a particular eye towards alleviating the barriers to reentry for ex-prisoners. Senators Cory Booker and Rand Paul jointly introduced the REDEEM Act [10] in 2014, which would allow those charged with low-level drug offenses to access certain public benefits. The bill, among others aimed at advancing criminal legal reform like the Sentencing Reforms and Correction Act [11] introduced in 2015, stalled.

   A new year could mean the chance to take a fresh look at reform. Congress has a unique opportunity to help the tens of millions of Americans with criminal records [12] for whom collateral consequences are a daily burden that forces them to live on the brink of joblessness, homelessness, and poverty. Federal legislation to "ban the box [13]," thus removing the stigmas of criminal record from a job application, would be particularly powerful. Congressional action has been made all the more pressing by the May 10 decision of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has long been an opponent [14] of sentencing reform and federal oversight of police misconduct, to direct federal prosecutors[15] to level the harshest charges and sentences possible for low-level drug offenses. Such a decision not only prolongs the problem of mass incarceration in general, but broadens the reach and lifespan of collateral consequences as a specific civil rights challenge as well.

  Our federal representatives should follow the example of leaders across the country [16], from Tennessee to Iowa to California, who are pursuing innovative ideas to combat the injustice in the criminal legal system.

   The ball, and the lives of thousands of returning citizens like Sterling, is in their court.

Ebony Slaughter-Johnson is a freelance writer, a former research assistant at the Institute for Policy Studies, and a recent graduate of Princeton University. Her work has appeared in AlterNet, U.S. News and World Report, Equal Voice News, and Common Dreams.

        [18]


Links:

[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/ebony-slaughter-johnson
[2] http://www.truthout.org
[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-department-will-not-charge-baton-rouge-officers-in-fatal-shooting-of-alton-sterling/2017/05/02/ac962e66-2ea7-11e7-9534-00e4656c22aa_story.html?tid=ptv_rellink&utm_term=.df34f6cee276
[4] http://www.npr.org/2014/12/06/368742300/should-a-criminal-record-come-with-collateral-consequences
[5] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/alton-sterlings-relatives-weather-scrutiny-call-for-justice/2016/07/13/dbf0ba60-490f-11e6-bdb9-701687974517_story.html
[6] http://archive.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/states-rethink-collateral-consequences-report-v4.pdf
[7] https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/VallasCriminalRecordsReport.pdf
[8] http://sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/A-Lifetime-of-Punishment.pdf
[9] http://www.sff.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Safety-Net-Funders-Reentry-Issue-Brief.pdf
[10] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-09/rand-paul-and-cory-booker-team-up-to-fight-for-justice-reform
[11] http://time.com/4625760/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-criminal-justice/
[12] https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/just-facts-many-americans-have-criminal-records-college-diplomas
[13] http://www.nelp.org/publication/ban-the-box-fair-chance-hiring-state-and-local-guide/
[14] https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/analysis-sen-jeff-sessions-record-criminal-justice
[15] http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/12/528086525/sessions-tells-prosecutors-to-seek-most-serious-charges-stricter-sentences?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20170512
[16] https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2017/02/01/criminal-justice-reform-jails-incarceration-policing-the-usa/97251208/
[17] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on A Deeper Look into the Life and Tragic Police Murder of Alton Sterling Lays Bare the Injustice of Our Legal System
[18] http://www.alternet.org/
[19] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs


Memorial Day: Remembering 70 U.S. Wars, Big and Small

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)

Memorial Day: Remembering 70 U.S. Wars, Big and Small

By Clancy Sigal [1] / AlterNet [2]

May 23, 2014

  Except for mourning family members and Boy Scouts loyally placing tiny flags on veterans’ gravestones, hardly anyone knows anything about Memorial Day except that it’s a day off. It’s the saddest of the military holidays, invented after the Civil War, supposed to help us honor, or at least pause to remember, all the American dead from all  our wars. That’s a lot of men and some women to remember going back, well, how far?

Big and small, we’ve “done” about 70 wars starting with the mid-18th century so-called French and Indian wars where George Washington was blooded and when we got our first taste of industrially massacring Native Americans, mainly Ojibwas and Algonquins who sided with the French against our British masters.

Before penicillin, it’s hard to get an accurate sum total figure of all those combat deaths because so many men died of disease and what was later called shell shock.

In our thirteen major and 60 or so “minor” wars, let’s call a round figure of one and a half million dead.  Compared to the mass war slaughter in, say, Russia or China, that’s small potatoes, but big potatoes for us.  Our dead include wars you never heard, such the “Quasi War” with the French, the First Sumatran Expedition and Sheepeater Indian War plus, of course, both World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan.  A large number of U.S. wars were fought against our own Native Americans  (Modocs, Nez Perce, serial Seminole wars etc.) and other “colored” peoples in China, the Philippines, Haiti, central America, Mexico etc.

This doesn’t and shouldn’t take away from the genuine valor of so many American soldiers who fought, died, massacred others and were scalped in return.

Sadly or inspiringly, the truth is men and now women sometimes like to go to war.  To do one’s patriotic duty can be exciting as well as deadly. You get a sense of purpose and usefulness, possibly your own worth by being in uniform.  Personally, I liked being in the military including its chickenshit.

It’s also thrilling to watch war movies.  To “celebrate” Memorial Day, Turner Classics on TV is throwing shot and shell at us for a solid four-day, 72-hour marathon starting Saturday.  The lineup includes 34 “classics” from the Civil War on.  Unless my eyes deceive me Turner is not showing, or avoiding, some fine anti-pro-war films, Renoir’s Grand Illusion and Kubrick’s Paths of Glory as well as All Quiet On The Western Front and Howard Hawks's The Road To Glory (co-written by William Faulkner). Turner’s bias is toward blood-and-guts “combat” stories, comedies and “touching stories of the families who wait at home”. [TCM did show THE RACK with Paul Newman, and it shows the effect of war on so many not on the battlefield.  Max]

In the midst of all the testosterone-laden, gut-wrenching 'kill, kill, kill' is some real quality that fails in the mission of sending men off to war.  If you can make your way past The Dirty Dozen and Kelly’s Heroes, there’s The Best Years of Our Lives, the Quaker-friendly Friendly Persuasion, Sidney Lumet’s brilliant exposure of military sadism in The Hill, the German-made Westfront 19l8, and John Huston’s butchered but decent The Red Badge of Courage.

Missing, thank heaven, are Ronald Reagan’s favorite Patton and Katherine Bigelow’s “ballsy” recruiting poster The Hurt Locker.   But I’m sorry we won’t see Clint Eastwood’s Letters From Iwo Jima, a surprise masterpiece telling the battle from a Japanese point of view.

What’s not to love about war movies?  Vivid images of men shooting the crap out of each other heats my blood.  The gore of “this is how it is” is ultimately romantic and seductive.  Most war movies can’t help but call us to arms.  Rat tat tat to Black Watch bagpipe music.

Some movies, like Catch-22M*A*S*H* and Tony Richardson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade, which also are not on Turner’s list, make an attempt to lower the testosterone level with some humor and cynicism.  But in the end it’s almost impossible to outshout Objective, BurmaThe Dawn PatrolWhere Eagles Dare and Twelve O’Clock High.

It’s a dilemma.  How to pay tribute to the war dead while giving pause to young men and women who may be thinking about stepping into the dead soldiers’ combat boots?
Clancy Sigal is a novelist and screenwriter in Los Angeles. His latest book is Hemingway Lives! [3] (OR Books). He can be reached at clancy@jsasoc.com [4].
        [6]


Links:


Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/


"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Baltimore Activist Alert - May 30 - June 2, 2017

16] Anti-Corruption Door Knocking – May 30
17] The Syriza Wave– May 31
18] Letter writing night – May 31
19] FCNL webinar – May 31
20] Uniting African people – May 31
21] “Principles of a Pluralist Commonwealth”- June 1
22] John McCutcheon at the Creative Alliance – June 1
23] Peace vigil at White House – June 2
24] WIB peace vigil – June 2
25] Film NO GOD, NO MASTER – June 2   
-----
16] – Get over to the Anti-Corruption Door Knocking: Baltimore District 13 on Tues., May 30 from 5 to 8 PM at Canèla, corner of Lombard and S. Ann Sts. Build grass roots support for an Anti-Corruption Resolution in Baltimore, based on the American Anti-Corruption Act! Help gather support in District 13 to encourage Councilwoman Sneed to vote in favor of the resolution. Gather signatures from District 13 residents and get some new volunteers too! Bring: walking shoes and a smile, and don't wear clothing with obvious corporate images (Coke, Disney, etc.). Plain colors are best. You will get a brief training at the beginning, so even if you are a complete novice, you are welcome! Go to https://www.facebook.com/RepresentMaryland/.

17] – On Wed., May 31 from 6:30 PM at Busboys & Poets, 2021 14th St. NW, WDC. Helena Sheehan, author of the important new book “The Syriza Wave: Surging and Crashing with the Greek Left” will speak. Beginning as a strong Syriza supporter, Sheehan sees Syriza transformed from a horizon of hope to a vortex of despair. But out of the dust of defeat, she draws questions radiating optimism. Just how did what was possibly the most intelligent, effective instrument of the Greek left self-destruct? And what are the consequences for the Greek people, for the international left, for all of us driven to work for a better world? The book is a page-turning blend of political reportage, personal reflection, and astute analysis.  Sheehan is Professor Emerita at Dublin City University, where she taught history of ideas and media studies.

She will be introduced by Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK and author of “Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the US-Saudi Connection.”  Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1501730306505755.

18] – Get over to the Letter Writing Night - Recent Political Prisoners at The Potter's House, 1658 Columbia Rd. NW, WDC, on Wed., May 31 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM, hosted by DC Stampede.  While resistance takes root in new communities, activists on the front lines are also facing more repression.  This month's letter writing night will focus on newer political prisoners, like water protectors Red Fawn and Krow, Occupy activists, the Cleveland 4 and animal liberationists Nicole and Joseph.  Organizers will provide a quick how-to on writing to prisoners, materials, and good company. Visit https://www.facebook.com/dcstampede/.

19] – Join Executive Secretary Diane Randall to celebrate the dedication of Friends Committee on National Legislation’s network as it enters the final month of its capital campaign, The World We Seek: Now is the Time. Join a webinar to learn more about how this campaign has already strengthened FCNL and opportunities for you to be part of these efforts. The Webinar is on Wed., May 31 at 8 PM EST. RSVP at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5252842417305131009. Contact Andrew Silva at Andrew@fcnl.org or 202-903-2526.

20] – One Community: Uniting African People Throughout the Diaspora will take place at the Thurgood Marshall Center Trust Inc., 1816 12th St. NW, WDC, on Wed., May 31 from 7 to 9 PM, hosted by the National Black United Front. Bring the African Diaspora so we can begin to break down barriers brought about through colonialism and white supremacy amongst people of African Heritage. A panelist will present initiatives that she or he is working on and offer the opportunity for you to get involved.  Kick off a yearlong effort of collaborating time, energy and resources to gain more strides toward self-determination for African people in the DMV. Go to www.nationalblackunitedfront.org or email blackunitedfront@gmail.com or call 347-422-7823.

21] – “Principles of a Pluralist Commonwealth”- a Book Talk by Gar Alperovitz will take place at Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th St. NW, WDC, on Thurs., June 1 from 7 to 9 PM, hosted by Busboys and Democracy Collaborative.  In this time of deepening political, economic, and ecological crisis, it’s more important than ever to not only resist the current political threats, but also build a new system—the world we hope to live in. Alperovitz, co-founder of the Democracy Collaborative, co-chair of the Next System Project, and former Lionel Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland, sees our dark times as the potential prehistory of a period of fundamental and transformative systemic change. The book is designed as a small, easy to use handbook with short entries on the key elements of a next system, and is packed with concrete and hopeful examples of what can be done locally to build a new truly democratic political economy from the ground up.

In response to the swell of organizing that has taken place in recent months, the book will be released online for free to make it available for use by the greatest number of activists, organizers, and practitioners working at the grassroots level. However, limited-edition print copies of the book will be available at the Busboys and Poets launch event and at other resistance gatherings throughout 2017. Introducing Gar will be Robert Borosage, the founder and president of the Institute for America’s Future and co-director of its sister organization, the Campaign for America’s Future.  Go to http://www.busboysandpoets.com.

22] – On Thurs., June 1 at 7:30 PM, enjoy an Evening with John McCutcheon at the Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave., Baltimore 21224.  Go to info@creativealliance.org or call 410/276-1651. "He has an uncanny ability to breathe new life into the familiar. His storytelling has the richness of fine literature." — Washington Post John McCutcheon has emerged as one of the most respected and beloved folksingers in America, and his songwriting has been hailed by critics and singers around the globe. As an instrumentalist, he is a master of a dozen different traditional instruments, most notably the rare and beautiful hammer dulcimer. Tickets are $25, and $22 for members.

23] – On Fri., June 2 from noon to 1 PM, join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in a vigil urging the powers that be to abolish war and torture, to disarm all weapons, to end indefinite detention, to close Guantanamo, to establish justice for all and help create the Beloved Community! This vigil will take place at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Contract Art @ artlaffin@hotmail.com or at 202-360-6416. 

24] – On Fri., June 2 from noon to 1 PM, join a Women in Black peace vigil. A vigil will take place in McKeldin Square at the corner of Light and Pratt Sts. Stay for as long as you can. Wear black. Dress for who knows what kind of weather. Bring your own poster or help with the "NO WAR IN MY NAME" banner.  When there are others to stand with, you don't need to carry the burden alone. Do this to be in solidarity with others....when everything around us says “Be afraid of the stranger.” Carpool and parking available. Just send an email that you need a ride [mailto:wibbaltimore@peacepath911.org].  Peace signs will be available. 

25] -- The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee and Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility are continuing the FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS DVD SERIES.  The DVDs will be shown at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218, usually on the First Friday.  After the 5 PM Black Lives Matter vigil, there will be a potluck dinner. At 7:15 PM, on June 2, a DVD of NO GOD, NO MASTER will be shown with a discussion to follow.  There is no charge, and refreshments will be available.  

NO GOD, NO MASTER is a 2012 USA independent crime suspense thriller directed, written, and produced by Terry Green. The film stars David Strathairn, Ray Wise, Sam Witwer, Alessandro Mario and Edoardo Ballerini. It was filmed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The story includes references to the 1914 Ludlow Massacre as well as depictions of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial and the 1920 Wall Street bombing.  When a series of package bombs show up on the doorsteps of prominent politicians and businessmen in the summer of 1919, U.S. Bureau of Investigation Agent William Flynn (Strathairn) is assigned the task of finding those responsible. He becomes immersed in an investigation that uncovers an anarchist plot. Based on true events of the 1920s, the film sets the stage for a timely drama with resoundingly similar parallels to the contemporary war on terrorism and the role government plays to defeat it. Call 410-323-1607 or email mobuszewski [at] verizon.net for further information.   

To be continued.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/.

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs


Why the Palestinian Authority Should Be Shuttered


The Opinion Pages | OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

Why the Palestinian Authority Should Be Shuttered
By DIANA BUTTU MAY 26, 2017

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/05/26/opinion/26buttu/26buttu-master768.jpg
CreditChristina Hägerfors

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — President Trump’s meeting this week with the president of the Palestinian AuthorityMahmoud Abbas, was pitched as an effort by the author of “The Art of the Deal” to restart the United States-sponsored peace process, long stalled. But as next month’s 50th anniversary of the Israeli occupation approaches, this much is certain: The process is worse than stalled. In the face of an intransigent right-wing government in Israel, which doesn’t believe Palestinians should have full rights, negotiations are futile.
Where does this leave Mr. Trump and the American policy of propping up the Palestinian Authority and Mr. Abbas? Given the abject failure of talks built on a bankrupt framework that heavily favors Israel, more and more Palestinians are debating the need for new leadership and a new strategy.
Many now question whether the Palestinian Authority plays any positive role or is simply a tool of control for Israel and the international community. The inescapable logic is that it’s time for the authority to go.
Established in 1994 under the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority was intended to be a temporary body that would become a fully functioning government once statehood was granted, which was promised for 1999. The authority’s jurisdiction has, therefore, always been limited. It is in charge of a mere 18 percent of the West Bank (divided into eight areas). Compared with Israel’s overall control of the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Authority’s powers are paltry.
To many Palestinians, however, the establishment of their own government was a dream realized. Finally, those who had lived under occupation since 1967 would be free from repressive Israel’s military rule to govern themselves. Palestinians clamored to assume posts in the new body and took pride in establishing institutions despite the obstacles imposed by Israeli rule. As the negotiations dragged on under Oslo, these blocks became only more entrenched.
After more than two decades, the talks have produced no progress. I spent several years involved on the Palestinian side of the negotiations and can attest to their futility. Palestinian delegates, who needed permits to enter Israel to participate in talks, were routinely held up at Israeli checkpoints. When we spoke of international law and the illegality of settlements, Israeli negotiators laughed in our faces.
Power is everything, they would say, and you have none.
As time went on, it became clear that the authority’s budget and its priorities were primarily geared toward ensuring that Palestinians remained one of the most surveilled and controlled people on earth. In effect, the Palestinian Authority served as a subcontractor for the occupying Israeli military. The overwhelming focus on security, we were told, was necessary for the duration of peace talks. Today, fully a third of the authority’s roughly $4 billion budget goes to policing, more than for health and education combined.
These security forces do not provide a normal police service to Palestinians, but instead aid the Israeli Army in maintaining the occupation and Israel’s ever-expanding settlements. The internationally lauded “security cooperation” between Israel and the Palestinian Authority has resulted only in the arrest and imprisonment of Palestinians, including nonviolent human rights activists, while armed and violent Israeli settlers are allowed to terrorize Palestinians with impunity. The Palestinian Authority has no jurisdiction over the settlers, and the Israeli Army almost always looks the other way.
The raison d’être of the Palestinian Authority today is not to liberate Palestine; it is to keep Palestinians silent and quash dissent while Israel steals land, demolishes Palestinian homes, and builds and expands settlements. Instead of becoming a sovereign state, the Palestinian Authority has become a proto-police state, a virtual dictatorship, endorsed and funded by the international community.
Look at its leader. Eighty-two years old, Mr. Abbas has now controlled the authority for more than 12 years, ruling by presidential decree for most of that time, with no electoral mandate. He has presided over some of the worst days in Palestinian history, including the disastrous, decade-long split between his Fatah party and Hamas, the other major player in Palestinian politics, and three devastating Israeli military assaults on Gaza.
Under his presidency, the Palestinian Parliament has become moribund and irrelevant. Many Palestinians have never voted in presidential or parliamentary elections because Mr. Abbas has failed to hold them, even though they are called for in the Basic Law governing the Palestinian Authority. The latest opinion polls show that his popularity is at its lowest ever, with two-thirds of Palestinians so discontent that they want him to resign.
An equally high number no longer believe that negotiations will secure their freedom. The Palestinian Authority institutionalizes dependency on international donors, which tie the authority’s hands with political conditions. As a result, even using the International Criminal Court to hold Israel accountable for its illegal settlement-building has to be weighed against the likely financial repercussions of such a simple act.
To remove this noose that has been choking Palestinians, the authority must be replaced with the sort of community-based decision making that predated the body’s establishment. And we must reform our main political body, the Palestine Liberation Organization, which Mr. Abbas also heads, to make it more representative of the Palestinian people and their political parties, including Hamas. Hamas has long indicated that it wants to be part of the P.L.O., and its revised charter, recently released in Doha, Qatar, affirms this aspiration.
With the negotiation process dead, why should Palestinians be forced to cling to the Palestinian Authority, which has only undermined their decades-long struggle for justice and helped to divide them?
Given that there are about 150,000 employees who depend on the authority for their salaries, I am under no illusion that closing it down will be easy or painless. But this is the only route to restoring our dignity and independent Palestinian decision making. A reformed P.L.O., with its credibility renewed, will be able to raise funds from Palestinians and friendly nations to support those living under the occupation, as it did before the Oslo process.
To some, this may sound like giving up on the national dream of self-rule. It is not. By dismantling the authority, Palestinians can once again confront Israel’s occupation in a strategic way, as opposed to Mr. Abbas’s merely symbolic bids for statehood. This means supporting the community-based initiatives that organize nonviolent mass protests and press for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel, like those that helped to end apartheid in South Africa.
This new strategy may mean calling for equal rights within a single state, an infinitely more just and attainable outcome than the American-backed process that pretended peace could come without addressing the rights of Palestinian refugees and the Palestinian citizens of Israel. Already, more than one-third of Palestinians in the occupied territories support a single-state solution, without any major political party advocating this policy.
By dismantling the Palestinian Authority and reforming the P.L.O., the real will of Palestinians will be heard. Whether the endgame is two states or one state, it is up to this generation of Palestinians to decide.
Diana Buttu is a lawyer and a former adviser to the negotiating team of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.
A version of this op-ed appears in print on May 27, 2017, on Page A21 of the New York edition with the headline: The Deplorable State of Palestine.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs