Daniel Ellsberg: Kennedy Resisted 'Nuclear Cultist' Joint Chiefs

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/34975-focus-daniel-ellsberg-kennedy-resisted-nuclear-cultist-joint-chiefs

Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers figure, holds up a copy of a book entitled "The Senate Watergate Report" as he appears as a panelist at a conference on the Central Intelligence Agency and covert activities on Friday, Sept. 13, 1974 in Washington. (photo: Henry Griffin/AP)

Daniel Ellsberg: Kennedy Resisted 'Nuclear Cultist' Joint Chiefs

By MintPress News

03 February 16

Daniel Ellsberg argues that the Vietnam War and the U.S. covert war in Laos could have been much larger if Kennedy hadn’t resisted the military after the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.

 MintPress News is proud to host “Lied to Death,” a 13-part audio conversation between famed whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and social justice activist Arn Menconi.

Menconi wrote that these interviews are a “mixture of historical, political science and Dan’s sixty-year scholarly analysis as a former nuclear planner for Rand Corporation.”

For more information on the interview and Ellsberg, see the introduction to this series.

Chapter 5: Vietnam War a ‘foreign-instigated war,’ ‘not a civil war’

   In this chapter of “Lied to Death,” Daniel Ellsberg continues to explore President John F. Kennedy’s involvement with the Vietnam War and other military conflicts in Asia, including his resistance to the use of nuclear weapons and ground troops, a topic also discussed in Chapter 4.

    The whistleblower revealed that most of the military leadership advising Kennedy were inherited from President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In general, they strongly encouraged Kennedy to commit to the use of ground troops and sought opportunities to use nuclear weapons. The Joint Chiefs of Staff, in particular, who Ellsberg calls “nuclear cultists,” believed that only the use of nuclear weapons would prevent a defeat similar to the one U.S. forces suffered in Korea.

    Ellsberg says Kennedy resisted escalation of both the Vietnam War (which he argues could have expanded if Kennedy had committed ground troops earlier, per the Joint Chiefs’ guidance), and America’s covert war in Laos. However, Kennedy resisted the military due to its mishandling of the “Bay of Pigs invasion,” a failed 1961 mission to overthrow Fidel Castro.

   According to Ellsberg, the military also repeatedly urged Kennedy to carry out a massive bombing campaign with the aim of cutting off Vietnamese rebels in South Vietnam from Communist weapons and supplies. Ultimately, Ellsberg argues, this would have been impossible: The guerilla forces occupying South Vietnam at the time depended largely on makeshift weapons, many of which had been stolen from U.S. soldiers or adapted from their unexploded munitions.

   Ellsberg compares Kennedy’s resistance to committing ground troops to the current conflict with Daesh (an Arabic acronym for the terrorist group commonly referred to as ISIS or ISIL). He says President Barack Obama is under considerable pressure from the military to commit more ground forces in Iraq and Syria. Similarly, Daesh forces often use makeshift weapons or munitions stolen from the U.S.

   The whistleblower emphasizes that Kennedy felt forced to accede to some of the military’s demands because his leadership of the country was quite fragile. Although remembered today as a very popular president, Kennedy won by a tight margin, amid widespread electoral irregularities and possible fraud.

    Ellsberg also notes that most Vietnamese people opposed war, whether or not they supported Communism. Foreign military intervention both created and greatly prolonged conflict:

“It was not a civil war, it was a foreign-instigated war.”

Listen to Chapter 5 | Vietnam War a ‘foreign-instigated war,’ ‘not a civil war’:

About Daniel Ellsberg

  As sites like WikiLeaks and figures such as Edward Snowden continue to reveal uncomfortable truths about America’s endless wars for power and oil, one important figure stands apart as an inspiration to the whistleblowers of today: Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower who leaked the “Pentagon Papers,” over 7,000 pages of top secret documents, in 1971.

   A military veteran, Ellsberg began his career as a strategic analyst for the RAND Corporation, a massive U.S.-backed nonprofit, and worked directly for the government helping to craft policies around the potential use of nuclear weapons. In in the 1960s, he faced a crisis of conscience while working for the Department of Defense as an assistant to Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs John T. McNaughton, where his primary duty was to find a pretext to escalate the war in Vietnam.

   Inspired by the example of anti-war activists and great thinkers like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., he realized he was willing to risk arrest in order to prevent more war. Lacking the technology of today’s whistleblowers, who can carry gigabytes of data in their pockets, he painstakingly photocopied some 7,000 pages of top secret documents which became the “Pentagon Papers,” first excerpted by The New York Times in June 1971.

   Ellsberg’s leaks exposed the corruption behind the war in Vietnam and had widespread ramifications for American foreign policy. Henry Kissinger, secretary of state at the time, famously referred to Ellsberg as “the most dangerous man in America.”

    Ellsberg remains a sought-after expert on military and world affairs, and an outspoken supporter of whistleblowers from Edward Snowden to Chelsea Manning. In 2011, he told the Chelsea Manning Support Network that Manning was a “hero,” and added:

   “I wish I could say that our government has improved its treatment of whistleblowers in the 40 years since the Pentagon Papers. Instead we’re seeing an unprecedented campaign to crack down on public servants who reveal information that Congress and American citizens have a need to know.”

C 2015 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

Baltimore Activist Alert - February 2 - March 30, 2016

26] Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Exhibition - through Mar. 30

27] Telephone for Bernie – Feb. 2

28] North Korea’s nuclear test – Feb. 3

29] Flush the TPP – Feb. 3

30] Fire Graziano – Feb. 3

31] Environmental Legislative Summit – Feb. 3

32] Workshop on gender – Feb. 3

33] Protect public and environmental health – Feb. 3

34] The new majority – Feb. 3

35] Lobby for the animals – Feb. 4

36] Cancer and TPP – Feb. 4

37] NPT regime – Feb. 4

38] Film LICENSE TO OPERATE – Feb. 4

39] State of Health in Maryland – Feb. 4

40] Syrian Refugee Placement – Feb. 4

41] Women’s movements – Feb. 4

42] Lobby like a Pro - – Feb. 4

43] Vigil Black Lives Matter – Feb. 5

44] Film BEYOND HATRED – Feb. 5

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26] – Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Exhibition is a project that began as a call from Beau Beausoleil in 2007 for writers which quickly moved on to incorporate artists, artist books and now includes printmakers all who are responding to bear witness to a tragic loss of a center of literacy and humanity in Iraq. One of the purposes of this project is to let those in the Iraqi Arts Community know that we will not let them endure the destruction of Iraqi culture in silence,  that we have a collective voice and we will use it. This was a street of booksellers, printers, and readers. A street where people still felt "safe" among all the words and books. How can we not see the commonality between al- Mutanabbi Street and any street in the world that holds a bookshop or cultural institution? This is the starting point: where language, thought, and reality reside; where memory, ideas, and even dreams wait patiently in their black ink.

A diverse coalition of DC-area universities and arts and literary organizations will present Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here DC 2016, a book arts and cultural festival through Sat., Mar. 5 throughout the Washington, D.C., area. Major exhibitions, programs, and events will commemorate the 2007 bombing of Baghdad’s historic bookselling street, celebrate the free exchange of ideas and knowledge, and stand in solidarity with the people of Iraq. Exhibitions of artwork created in response to the bombing will be featured at multiple venues, including the George Mason University School of Art Gallery, Atrium, Fenwick Library and the Workhouse Art Center, Gelman Library and the Corcoran School of Art and Design at The George Washington University, the Brentwood Arts Exchange, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, McLean Project for the Arts, Northern Virginia Community College, Olly Olly Gallery, and the Smithsonian American Art/Portrait Gallery Library.

 The exhibitions that are featured at the School of Art Gallery, the Fenwick Library, the Mason Atrium Gallery, and the Workhouse Art Center (plus partners) include three components: Letterpress Printed Broadsides; Artist Books; and Absence and Presence (a call to printmakers). Additionally, each gallery provides new interpretive documentary materials, hands-on workshops, and panels and conversations that will be built around the exhibitions. For a complete list of sites and dates and times go to http://www.amsshdc2016.org/contact-us.html. 

This is a list of some of the sites.  You can see the exhibit, for example, at the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, 1632 U St., WDC, through Wed., Mar. 30.  It is entitled “Night and the Desert Know Me,” and the curators are Shanti Norris and Spencer Dormitzer.  The exhibit at the Brentwood Arts Exchange, 3901 Rhode Island Ave., Brentwood, MD 20722, runs through Sat., Mar. 12 -- “Selections from Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here.” The curator of the exhibit is Phil Davis.  Also see the exhibit at the Tyler Gallery, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, 500 17th St. NW, WDC, through Sun., Mar. 20--“Al-Mutanabbi Street in Books, Prints & Poetry.” Enjoy a reception on Fri., Mar. 4 from 1 to 2:30 PM.  Also you can see this exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art/Portrait Gallery, 750 9th St. NW, Room 2100, WDC 20001-4505 through Wed., Mar. 30 -- “Come Together: American Artists Respond to Al-Mutanabbi Street.” The curator is Anne Evenhaugen.

27] – Can you attend this volunteer-led phone bank in Baltimore to talk to voters in early voting states about Bernie Sanders?  It will take place at 100 Rochester Place on Tues., Feb. 2 at 5 PM.  RSVP at https://go.berniesanders.com/page/event/detail/phonebankevent/4rvzc?source=moveon.

28] – On Wed., Feb. 3 from 10 to 11:30 AM, Jonathan Pollack, Brookings Institution; Katharine Moon, Brookings Institution; and Sheila Smith, Council on Foreign Relations, will discuss "North Korea’s Fourth Nuclear Test: How Will Pyongyang’s Neighbors and the U.S. Respond?" This discussion will occur at the Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC. RSVP at http://connect.brookings.edu/register-to-attend-north-korea-nuclear-test.

29] –Come to the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, WDC, on Wed., Feb. 3 at noon.  Obama is scheduled to sign the TPP on Feb. 4 in New Zealand, which will be Feb. 3 in the afternoon in the US.  Start the news cycle off with images of protest and jumpstart the nationwide day of action. There will be lots of banners to hold! Bring your noisemakers and protest this betrayal. Flush the TPP.  Visit here https://www.facebook.com/events/102599070123349/.

30] – It is suspected that Baltimore housing commissioner Paul Graziano knew that his employees were forcing women to have sex in exchange for crucial home repairs for years--yet he still has a job. It's shocking that Graziano hasn't been fired yet, but momentum is growing to get him out of office. Last week, over 3,000 UltraViolet members called the mayor's office and billboard trucks highlighting the controversy blanketed Baltimore and garnered headlines. Now, the organization will deliver over 35,000 signatures to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Can you join them? On Wed., Feb. 3 from 12:30 to 1 PM, come to City Hall, 100 Holliday St, Baltimore.  Look for the people holding purple signs! RSVP http://act.weareultraviolet.org/survey/baltimore_delivery/?t=1&akid=2701.609822.sXOA2k

31] –  Come to the Environmental Legislative Summit on Wed., Feb. 3 from 4 to 6 in the Miller Conference Room, Miller Senate Building, 11 Bladen St., Annapolis, 21401. Register at https://act.myngp.com/forms/8105617981039511552?midqs=8011059312161980416.

The Pollinator Protection Act will be a high priority at this year's Environmental Legislative Summit, an annual event that brings together activists, legislators, environmental organizations and leaders.  Join Smart on Pesticides Maryland, beekeepers and others to show your support and learn about strategies for success. Come hear from top legislative leaders and advocates about all the 2016 environmental priorities in this year's General Assembly Session.  RSVP https://act.myngp.com/forms/8105617981039511552.

32] – Be at the Washington Peace Center, 1525 Newton St. NW (inside St. Stephen's Church), WDC on Wed., Feb. 3 from 7 to 9 PM for a workshop for people who are looking to engage in conversations about what trans solidarity looks like. The goal of this workshop is to give a broad introduction on how we learned and understand sex and gender. Then, talk about why those ideas aren’t enough to hold the lived experience of many people, including transgender, gender-fluid, and gender non-conforming people.  While everyone is welcome to attend, this training specifically engages cisgender or non-trans people looking to learn about solidarity. The facilitators will be Jessie Sheffield and Malcolm Shanks. All participants are asked to refrain from wearing any scented products or washing with them.  Email Darakshan at Darakshan@Washingtonpeacecenter.org or call her at 202-234-2000.  See https://www.facebook.com/events/582935965192496/.

33] – At 1102 South Campus Commons, Building One, College Park on Wed., Feb. 3 from 7 to 9 PM, come watch the 2014 Sundance Film Festival award winner for cinematography—THE E TEAM.  This event is part of the Spring 2016 Seminar Series on "Rethinking Human Security: Beyond the Immigration and Refugee Crises." "Anna, Ole, Fed and Peter are four members of the Emergencies Team — or E-Team — the most intrepid division of a respected, international human rights group (Human Rights Watch). Trained to deal with unfolding crises, the E-Team flies to hotspots all over the world as soon as allegations of human rights abuse surface. Then they get to work — gathering crucial evidence to determine if further investigation is warranted and, if so, to investigate, document, and capture the world's attention. They also immediately challenge the responsible decision makers, holding them accountable. Human rights abuses thrive on secrecy and silence, and the work of the E-Team, backed by their international human rights organization, has shone light in dark places and given voice to thousands whose stories would never otherwise have been told.” Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1682163772068786/.

34] – On Wed., Feb. 3 at 7:30 PM come to Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, Steve Phillips presents "Brown is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created a New American Majority." A searing indictment of the Democratic Party and a compelling call to action for the entire progressive movement, the book is an unvarnished look at the history of whites and people of color in America and reveals how the past has created current conditions that have revolutionary implications for U.S. politics in 2016 and beyond. Despite the abundant evidence from Obama’s victories proving that the U.S. population has fundamentally changed, many progressives and Democrats continue to waste millions of dollars chasing white swing voters. Explosive population growth of people of color in America over the past fifty years has laid the foundation for a New American Majority consisting of progressive people of color (23 percent of all eligible voters) and progressive whites (28 percent of all eligible voters).

A leader in national politics for thirty years, Steve Phillips has had a front-row seat to these extraordinary political changes. A civil rights lawyer and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, Phillips draws on his extensive political experience to unveil exactly how people of color and progressive whites add up to a new majority, and what this means for U.S. politics and policy.  Following the presentation will be a panel discussion featuring Delegate Cory McCray, 45th District, Baltimore City, Dr. Julie Martinez Ortega, Founder, American Majority Policy Research Institute, Miranda Spivack, Former Washington Post Reporter, and Valerie Ervin and Charly Carter, Working Families. Call 443-602-7585.  Go to http://www.redemmas.org.

35] – Join the ASPCA and Maryland Votes for Animals at the annual lobbying event on Thurs., Feb. 4 from 9 AM to 2 PM at the Maryland State Capitol, Lowe House Office Building, 6 Bladen St., Annapolis 21401. Network with fellow animal advocates and speak directly with your state legislators about passing strong animal welfare laws, including laws to address animal fighting and puppy mill cruelty in Maryland. RSVP at https://www.aspca.org/take-action/advocacy-center/maryland-youre-invited-voices-animals-day-2016. Email chloe.waterman@aspca.org for more information.

36] – Go to the Intersection of F and G Sts. NW, WDC on Thurs., Feb. 4 from 11 AM to 12:30 PM, Cancer Thriver will be rallying for access to medicine on World Cancer Day, expressing concern about the effects of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) on access to cancer meds.  Check the Facebook event for more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/1720323931532541/.

37] – On Thurs., Feb. 4 from noon to 1:30 PM, Thomas Countryman, Assistant Secretary of State, will tackle "After the Iran Deal: The Future of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime" at Fort McNair, Lincoln Hall, Room 1119, 300 5^th Ave., Fort McNair, WDC. RSVP to Mitchell Armbruster at Mitchell.Armbruster@ndu.edu.

38] – On Thurs., Feb. 4 at 5:30 PM in JHU’s Homewood Campus for a screening of “License to Operate,” a critically acclaimed film about former Los Angeles rival gang members on a shared mission to stop the cycle of violence in their communities. This screening is sponsored by The Krieger School of Arts and Sciences,The Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute, and The Johns Hopkins Institute for the 21st Century and will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Hollis Robbins (JHU Center for Africana Studies), Aquil Basheer, (Professional Community Intervention Training Institute), Dedra Lane (Safe Streets Baltimore), and Daniel Webster (JHU Center for Gun Policy and Research). RSVP to 866-628-9892 or rsvp@jhu.edu.

39] – The Future of Public Health in Maryland, presented by the Public Health Committee of MedChi, The Maryland State Medical Society, will be held on Thurs., Feb. 4 in Osler Hall, 1211 Cathedral St., Baltimore 21201. Go to https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10153963889832590&id=50121097589.  Dinner is at 6 PM with the talk at 6:30 PM by Dr. Leana Wen, Baltimore City Health Commissioner, who will be presenting updates on public health program. Email shanfield@medchi.org or 410-539-0872, ext. 3341.

40] –Takoma Park Councilperson Rizzy Qureshi has scheduled a "Syrian Refugee Placement Coordinating Meeting" on Thurs., Feb 4 from 7 to 9 PM in the "Azalea Room" of the Takoma Park Community Center, 7500 Maple Ave., Takoma Park. RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/229578687379640/.

41] – Visit The Potter's House, 1658 Columbia Rd. NW, WDC, on Thurs., Feb. 4 from 7 to 9 PM for a discussion with Sharon Smith which takes up issues of women’s oppression from a Marxist perspective — focusing on the centrality of race and class — amid the stirrings of a new movement today. This event is sponsored by Potter's House and DC Jacobin. More than forty years after the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s, women remain without equal rights. If anything, each decade that has passed without a fighting women’s movement has seen a rise in blatant sexism and the further erosion of the gains that were won in the 1960s and 1970s.  Smith is the author of “Subterranean Fire: A History of Working-Class Radicalism in the United States,” published by Haymarket books, as well as many articles on women's liberation and the U.S. working class. Her writings appear regularly in Socialist Worker newspaper and the International Socialist Review. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/986884554706114/.

42] – Lobby Like a Pro 2016 continues on Thurs., Feb. 4 &18, Mar. 3, 17 and 31, and then ending on Apr. 14.  These classes will be in the form of a webinar by phone. Do you feel that the legislative session is a mysterious process in which you have little meaningful access? Have you come to town for a rally or a lobby day, but left feeling you would like to do more you just don’t know how? Then “Lobby Like a Pro” is for you!

This course will give you a deeper understanding of how the session works, and how to influence legislation through the process. The training will cover every aspect of how a bill becomes a law, demystifying the process and giving you the tools and confidence to really make a difference. The course is free and open to anyone whether you have never been to Annapolis before or have done some lobbying work but want to know more. Participants who are not a member of Common Cause Maryland are encouraged to make a donation to support our work. The course will include seven trainings. Notes will be sent out after each training, so if you miss one do not despair! The classes will start at 7:15 PM for questions and discussion, and the training will begin at 7:30 PM and last until 8:45 PM.  Register at http://act-md.commoncause.org/site/Calendar/1862034735.

43] –There is usually a silent peace vigil on Fridays, from 5 to 6 PM, sponsored by Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings, outside the Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St.  The next scheduled vigil is on Feb. 5. Black Lives Matter.  Since this is a First Friday, there will be a potluck dinner afterwards, followed by a DVD showing.

44] – The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, Baltimore Quaker Peace and Justice Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings 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. At 7:15 PM, from January through June, a DVD will be shown with a discussion to follow.  There is no charge, and refreshments will be available. The series theme is CHANGE IS INEVITABLE.

On Fri., Feb. 5 see BEYOND HATRED [France, 2007]. In September 2002, three skinheads were roaming a park in Rheims, France, looking to "do an Arab," when they settled for a gay man instead. Twenty-nine-year-old François Chenu fought back fiercely, but he was beaten unconscious and thrown into a river, where he drowned. The acclaimed French vérité documentary is the story of the crime's aftermath; above all, of the Chenu family's brave and heartrending struggle to seek justice while trying to make sense of such pointless violence and unbearable loss. With remarkable dignity, they fight to transcend hatred and the inevitable desire for revenge. Call 410-323-1607 or email mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

To be continued.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; 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 

CATHOLIC WORKER, PEACE ACTIVIST DON TIMMERMAN FOUND GUILTY IN JUNEAU COUNTY, WI

CATHOLIC WORKER, PEACE ACTIVIST DON TIMMERMAN FOUND GUILTY IN JUNEAU COUNTY, WI

By Joy First

In another farcical trial for the 14 activists arrested at Volk Field Air National Guard Base in Wisconsin, Don Timmerman was found guilty of trespass in a Juneau County trial presided over by Judge Curran on February 1.  Apparently Judge Curran, who said he did not want to consolidate our trials because it could be prejudicial to us, has fine-tuned his skills in short-circuiting any defense we might provide and the whole trial lasted about eleven minutes.

As predicted, DA Solevey had Juneau County Sheriff Brent Oleson and Deputy Sheriff Thomas  Mueller take the stand and establish that Don was at Volk Field on August 25 and that he crossed onto the base after he was told not to by the Sheriff.

Under cross-examination Don asked Oleson if he knew why we were there.  The DA objected as irrelevant and the judge sustained the objection.  Don asked Mueller if he was aware that the base property was purchased by the taxpayers.  Don was going to make the point that we had the right to be on the property, but this question was also objected to and the objection was sustained.

Don took the stand and said he wanted to talk about why we were there. Curran said it was irrelevant to the charge – that intent is not an element of the trespass charge – and therefore he would not allow this testimony.  The judge complained that he has heard this information repeatedly over the last couple of years and that moral convictions are not relevant to the case.

Don said that if he was not allowed to talk about why he was there, he didn’t have anything else he wanted to say.

The judge quickly told Don he was guilty of trespass and would be fined $232, and that it would be attached to his income tax refund if he didn’t pay it.  Again, a defendant was tried and convicted without being allowed to provide a defense.

Don asked Curran if he could do community service or jail time and the judge said no.  The judges made the same empty argument that it would take too  much time to administer community service with a number of additional hearings being required.  This is simply not true.  We have models for community service in both Milwaukee and Madison where it is a matter of filling out a form that would be signed by a local minister and then turned into the court.

Don asked Curran if he could say one more thing and the judge said he would allow it.  Don said, “I cannot allow killing of innocent people in my name.  This needs to be stated over and over.  We are always going to be protesting killings.”  And with that the judge stood up and quickly left the courtroom.

Don was hoping to read the following statement on Nuremberg from Nuremberg and American Justice during his testimony, but was not allowed:

Allegiance to the nation-state must be replaced by a loyalty to the human community and by a respect for international law.  It is not the rebel who threatens civilization, but the compliant conformist who mechanically suppresses his moral qualms when confronted with the dictates of authority.  The famous therapist R.D. Laing reminds us that the perfectly adjusted bomber pilot poses a greater threat to the survival of the human species than does the hospitalized schizophrenic.  Laing goes on to note that so-called normal individuals have been responsible for the unnecessary death of perhaps one hundred million of their fellow human beings in the twentieth century.

And so we are reminded of the importance of continuing our work.  It might seem disheartening to witness the outrage and absurdity of the United States criminal justice system, but as I was driving to court today I was thinking of the words that Art Laffin always shares, “Keep your eyes on the prize.”  Whether we are found guilty or not in this sham of a court does not really matter in the big world picture.  What we need to stay focused on, and what really matters, is the thousands and thousands of innocent children, women, and men who are being killed by U.S. drones.  Continuing our message to stop the killing is what is important.  And Don told the judge, “We will be back.”

We have three trials remaining:

Joy - February 9 at 10:00 am

Phil - February 19 at 10:0 am

Mary Beth - February 25 at 9:00 am

Democracy of the Billionaires

A protest calling for an end to corporate money in politics and to mark the fifth anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision is held in Lafayette Square near the White House. (photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/34938-focus-democracy-of-the-billionaires

Democracy of the Billionaires

By Nomi Prins, Tom Dispatch

01 February 16

The Most Expensive Election Ever Is A Billionaire’s Playground (Except for Bernie Sanders)

    Speaking of the need for citizen participation in our national politics in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said, “Our brand of democracy is hard.” A more accurate characterization might have been: “Our brand of democracy is cold hard cash.”

Cash, mountains of it, is increasingly the necessary tool for presidential candidates. Several Powerball jackpots could already be fueled from the billions of dollars in contributions in play in election 2016. When considering the present donation season, however, the devil lies in the details, which is why the details follow.

   With three 2016 debates down and six more scheduled, the two fundraisers with the most surprising amount in common are Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Neither has billionaire-infused super PACs, but for vastly different reasons. Bernie has made it clear billionaires won’t ever hold sway in his court. While Trump... well, you know, he’s not only a billionaire but has the knack for getting the sort of attention that even billions can’t buy.

   Regarding the rest of the field, each candidate is counting on the reliability of his or her own arsenal of billionaire sponsors and corporate nabobs when the you-know-what hits the fan. And at this point, believe it or not, thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision of 2010 and the super PACs that arose from it, all the billionaires aren’t even nailed down or faintly tapped out yet.  In fact, some of them are already preparing to jump ship on their initial candidate of choice or reserving the really big bucks for closer to game time, when only two nominees will be duking it out for the White House.

    Capturing this drama of the billionaires in new ways are TV networks eager to profit from the latest eyeball-gluing version of election politicking and the billions of dollars in ads that will flood onto screens nationwide between now and November 8th. As super PACs, billionaires, and behemoth companies press their influence on what used to be called “our democracy,” the modern debate system, now a 16-month food fight, has become the political equivalent of the NFL playoffs. In turn, soaring ratings numbers, scads of ads, and the party infighting that helps generate them now translate into billions of new dollars for media moguls.

   For your amusement and mine, this being an all-fun-all-the-time election campaign, let’s examine the relationships between our twenty-first-century plutocrats and the contenders who have raised $5 million or more in individual contributions or through super PACs and are at 5% or more in composite national polls. I’ll refrain from using the politically correct phrases that feed into the illusion of distance between super PACs that allegedly support candidates’ causes and the candidates themselves, because in practice there is no distinction.

On the Republican Side:

1. Ted Cruz: Most “God-Fearing” Billionaires

   Yes, it’s true the Texas senator “goofed” in neglecting to disclose to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) a tiny six-figure loan from Goldman Sachs for his successful 2012 Senate campaign. (After all, what’s half-a-million dollars between friends, especially when the investment bank that offered it also employed your wife as well as your finance chairman?) As The Donald recently told a crowd in Iowa, when it comes to Ted Cruz, “Goldman Sachs owns him. Remember that, folks. They own him.”

     That aside, with a slew of wealthy Christians in his camp, Cruz has raised the second largest pile of money among the GOP candidates. His total of individual and PAC contributions so far disclosed is a striking $65.2 million. Of that, $14.28 million has already been spent. Individual contributors kicked in about a third of that total, or $26.57 million, as of the end of November 2015 -- $11 million from small donors and $15.2 million from larger ones. His five top donor groups are retirees, lawyers and law firms, health professionals, miscellaneous businesses, and securities and investment firms (including, of course, Goldman Sachs to the tune of $43,575).

      Cruz’s Keep the Promise super PAC continues to grow like an action movie franchise. It includes his original Keep the Promise PAC augmented by Keep the Promise I, II, and III. Collectively, the Keep the Promise super PACs amassed $37.83 million. In terms of deploying funds against his adversaries, they have spent more than 10 times as much fighting Marco Rubio as battling Hillary Clinton.

       His super PAC money divides along family factions reminiscent of Game of Thrones. A $15 million chunk comes from the billionaire Texas evangelical fracking moguls, the Wilks Brothers, and $10 million comes from Toby Neugebauer, who is also listed as the principal officer of the public charity, Matthew 6:20 Foundation; its motto is “Support the purposes of the Christian Community.”

       Cruz’s super PACs also received  $11 million from billionaire Robert Mercer, co-CEO of the New York-based hedge fund Renaissance Technologies. His contribution is, however, peanuts compared to the $6.8 billion a Senate subcommittee accused Renaissance of shielding from the Internal Revenue Service (an allegation Mercer is still fighting). How’s that for “New York values”?  No wonder Cruz wants to abolish the IRS.

Another of Cruz’s contributors is Bob McNair, the real estate mogul, billionaire owner of the National Football League’s Houston Texans, and self-described “Christian steward.”

2. Marco Rubio: Most Diverse Billionaires

    Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has raised $32.8 million from individual and PAC contributions and spent about $9 million. Despite the personal economic struggles he’s experienced and loves to talk about, he’s not exactly resonating with the nation’s downtrodden, hence his weak polling figures among the little people. Billionaires of all sorts, however, seem to love him.

      The bulk of his money comes from super PACs and large contributors. Small individual contributors donated only $3.3 million to his coffers; larger individual contributions provided $11.3 million. Goldman Sachs leads his pack of corporate donors with $79,600.

     His main super PAC, Conservative Solutions, has raised $16.6 million, making it the third largest cash cow behind those of Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz. It holds $5 million from Braman Motorcars, $3 million from the Oracle Corporation, and $2.5 million from Benjamin Leon, Jr., of Besilu Stables. (Those horses are evidently betting on Rubio.)

He has also amassed a healthy roster of billionaires including the hedge-fund “vulture of Argentina” Paul Singer who was the third-ranked conservative donor for the 2014 election cycle. Last October, in a mass email to supporters about a pre-Iowa caucus event, Singer promised, “Anyone who raises $10,800 in new, primary money will receive 5 VIP tickets to a rally and 5 tickets to a private reception with Marco.”

      Another of Rubio's Billionaire Boys is Norman Braman, the Florida auto dealer and his mentor. These days he’s been forking over the real money, but back in 2008, he gave Florida International University $100,000 to fund a Rubio post-Florida statehouse teaching job. What makes Braman’s relationship particularly intriguing is his “intense distaste for Jeb Bush,” Rubio’s former political mentor and now political punching bag. Hatred, in other words, is paying dividends for Rubio.

      Rounding out his top three billionaires is Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who ranks third on Forbes’s billionaire list.  Last summer, he threw a $2,700 per person fundraiser in his Woodside, California, compound for the candidate, complete with a special dinner for couples that raised $27,000. If Rubio somehow pulls it out, you can bet he will be the Republican poster boy for Silicon Valley.

3. Jeb Bush: Most Disappointed Billionaires

     Although the one-time Republican front-runner’s star now looks more like a black hole, the coffers of “Jeb!” are still the ones to beat. He had raised a total of $128 million by late November and spent just $19.9 million of it.  Essentially none of Jeb’s money came from the little people (that is, us). Barely 4% of his contributions were from donations of $200 or less.

      In terms of corporate donors, eight of his top 10 contributors are banks or from the financial industry (including all of the Big Six banks). Goldman Sachs (which is nothing if not generous to just about every candidate in sight -- except of course, Bernie) tops his corporate donor chart with $192,500. His super PACs still kick ass compared to those of the other GOP contenders. His Right to Rise super PAC raised a hefty $103.2 million and, despite his disappearing act in the polls, it remains by far the largest in the field.

     Corporate donors to Jeb’s Right to Rise PAC include MBF Healthcare Partners founder and chairman Mike Fernandez, who has financed a slew of anti-Trump ads, with $3.02 million, and Rooney Holdings with $2.2 million. Its CEO, L. Francis Rooney III, was the man George W. Bush appointed ambassador to the Vatican. Former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg’s current company, CV Starr (and not, as he has made pains to clarify, he himself), gave $10 million to Jeb’s super PAC. In the same Fox Business interview where he stressed that distinction, he also noted, “I’m sorry he is not living up to expectations, but that’s the reality of it.” AIG, by the way, received $182 billion in bailout money under Jeb’s brother, W.

4. Ben Carson: No Love For Billionaires

    Ben Carson is running a pretty expensive campaign, which doesn’t reflect well on his possible future handling of the economy (though, as he sinks toward irrelevance in the polls, it seems as if his moment to handle anything may have passed). Having raised $38.7 million, he’s spent $26.4 million of it. His campaign received 63% of its contributions from small donors, which leaves it third behind Bernie and Trump on that score, according to FEC filings from October 2015.

    His main super PACs, grouped under the title “the 2016 Committee,” raised just $3.8 million, with rich retired people providing the bulk of it.  Another PAC, Our Children’s Future, didn’t collect anything, despite its pledge to turn "Carson’s outside militia into an organized army."

      But billionaires aren’t Carson’s cup of tea. As he said last October, “I have not gone out licking the boots of billionaires and special-interest groups. I’m not getting into bed with them.”

      Carson recently dropped into fourth place in the RealClearPolitics composite poll for election 2016 with his team in chaos. His campaign manager, Barry Bennett, quit. His finance chairman, Dean Parke, resigned amid escalating criticism over his spending practices and his $20,000 a month salary. As the rising outsider candidate, Carson once had an opportunity to offer a fresh voice on campaign finance reform. Instead, his campaign learned the hard way that being in the Republican hot seat without a Rolodex of billionaires can be hell on Earth.

5. Chris Christie: Most Sketchy Billionaires

    For someone polling so low, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has amassed startling amounts of dosh. His campaign contributions stand at $18.6 million, of which he has spent $5.7 million. Real people don’t care for him. Christie has received the least number of small contributions in either party, a bargain basement 3% of his total.

      On the other hand, his super PAC, America Leads, raised $11 million, including $4.3 million from the securities and investment industry. His top corporate donors at $1 million each include Point 72 Asset Management, the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation, and Winnecup Gamble Ranch, run by billionaire Paul Fireman, chairman of Fireman Capital Partners and founder and former chairman of Reebok International Ltd.

Steven Cohen, worth about $12 billion and on the Christie campaign's national finance team, founded Point 72 Asset Management after being forced to shut down SAC Capital, his former hedge-fund company, due to insider-trading charges. SAC had to pay $1.2 billion to settle.

      Christie’s other helpful billionaire is Ken Langone, co-founder of Home Depot. But Langone, as he told the National Journal, is not writing a $10 million check. Instead, he says, his preferred method of subsidizing politicians is getting “a lot of people to write checks, and get them to get people to write checks, and hopefully result in a helluva lot more than $10 million.” In other words, Langone offers his ultra-wealthy network, not himself.

6. Donald Trump: I Am A Billionaire

    Trump’s campaign has received approximately $5.8 million in individual contributions and spent about the same amount. Though not much compared to the other Republican contenders, it’s noteworthy that 70% of Trump’s contributions come from small individual donors (the highest percentage among GOP candidates). It’s a figure that suggests it might not pay to underestimate Trump’s grassroots support, especially since he’s getting significant amounts of money from people who know he doesn’t need it.

      Last July, a Make America Great Again super PAC emerged, but it shut down in October to honor Trump’s no super PAC claim.  For Trump, dealing with super PAC agendas would be a hassle unworthy of his time and ego. (He is, after all, the best billionaire: trust him.) Besides, with endorsements from luminaries like former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and a command of TV ratings that’s beyond compare, who needs a super PAC or even his own money, of which he’s so far spent remarkably little?

On The Democratic Side:

1. Hillary Clinton: A Dynasty of Billionaires

    Hillary and Bill Clinton earned a phenomenal $139 million for themselves between 2007 and 2014, chiefly from writing books and speaking to various high-paying Wall Street and international corporations.  Between 2013 and 2015, Hillary Clinton gave 12 speeches to Wall Street banks, private equity firms, and other financial corporations, pocketing a whopping$2,935,000. And she’s used that obvious money-raising skill to turn her campaign into a fundraising machine.

      As of October 16, 2015, she had pocketed $97.87 million from individual and PAC contributions.  And she sure knows how to spend it, too. Nearly half of that sum, or $49.8 million -- more than triple the amount of any other candidate -- has already gone to campaign expenses.

       Small individual contributions made up only 17% of Hillary’s total; 81% came from large individual contributions. Much like her forced folksiness in the early days of her campaign when she was snapped eating a burrito bowl at a Chipotle in her first major meet-the-folks venture in Ohio, those figures reveal a certain lack of savoir faire when it comes to the struggling classes.

      Still, despite her speaking tour up and down Wall Street and the fact that four of the top six Wall Street banks feature among her top 10 career contributors, they’ve been holding back so far in this election cycle (or perhaps donating to the GOP instead).  After all, campaign 2008 was a bust for her and nobody likes to be on the losing side twice.

Her largest super PAC, Priorities USA Action, nonetheless raised $15.7 million, including $4.6 million from the entertainment industry and $3.1 million from securities and investment. The Saban Capital Group and DreamWorks kicked in $2 million each.

      Hillary has recently tried to distance herself from a well-deserved reputation for being close to Wall Street, despite the mega-speaking fees she’s garnered from Goldman Sachs among others, not to speak of the fact that five of the Big Six banks gave money to the Clinton Foundation. She now claims that her “Wall Street plan” is stricter than Bernie Sanders’s. (It isn’t. He’s advocating to break up the big banks via a twenty-first-century version of the Glass-Steagall Act that Bill Clinton buried in his presidency.) To top it off, she scheduled an elite fundraiser at the $17 billion “alternative investment” firm Franklin Square Capital Partners four days before the Iowa Caucus. So much for leopards changing spots.

      You won’t be surprised to learn that Hillary has billionaires galore in her corner, all of whom backed her hubby through the years.  Chief among them is media magnate Haim Saban who gave her super PAC $2 million. George Soros, the hedge-fund mogul, contributed $2.02 million. DreamWorks Animation chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg gave $1 million. And the list goes on.

2. Bernie Sanders: No Billionaires Allowed

  Bernie Sanders has stuck to his word, running a campaign sans billionaires. As of October 2015, he had raised an impressive $41.5 million and spent about $14.5 million of it.

    None of his top corporate donors are Wall Street banks. What’s more, a record 77% of his contributions came from small individual donors, a number that seems only destined to grow as his legions of enthusiasts vote with their personal checkbooks.

   According to a Sanders campaign press release as the year began, another $33 million came in during the last three months of 2015: “The tally for the year-end quarter pushed his total raised last year to $73 million from more than 1 million individuals who made a record 2.5 million donations.” That number broke the 2011 record set by President Obama’s reelection committee by 300,000 donations, and evidence suggests Sanders’s individual contributors aren’t faintly tapped out. After recent attacks on his single-payer healthcare plan by the Clinton camp, he raised $1.4 million in a single day.

It would, of course, be an irony of ironies if what has been a billionaire’s playground since the Citizens United decision became, in November, a billionaire’s graveyard with literally billions of plutocratic dollars interred in a grave marked: here lies campaign 2016.

The Media and Debates

  And talking about billions, in some sense the true political and financial playground of this era has clearly become the television set with a record $6 billion in political ads slated to flood America’s screen lives before next November 8th. Add to that the staggering rates that media companies have been getting for ad slots on TV’s latest reality extravaganza -- those “debates” that began in mid-2015 and look as if they’ll never end. They have sometimes pulled in National Football League-sized audiences and represent an entertainment and profit spectacle of the highest order.

    So here’s a little rundown on those debates thus far, winners and losers (and I’m not even thinking of the candidates, though Donald Trump would obviously lead the list of winners so far -- just ask him).  In those ratings extravaganzas, especially the Republican ones, the lack of media questions on campaign finance reform and on the influence of billionaires is striking -- and little wonder, under the money-making circumstances.

The GOP Show

     The kick-off August 6th GOP debate in Cleveland, Ohio, was a Fox News triumph. Bringing in 24 million viewers, it was the highest-rated primary debate in TV history. The follow-up at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, on September 16th, hosted by CNN and Salem Radio, grabbed another 23.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched program in CNN's history.  (Trump naturally took credit for that.)  CNN charged up to $200,000 for a 30-second spot.  (An average prime-time spot on CNN usually goes for $5,000.) The third debate, hosted by CNBC, attracted 14 million viewers, a record for CNBC, which was by then charging advertisers $250,000 or more for 30-second spots.

Fox Business News and the Wall Street Journal hosted the next round on November 10th:13.5 million viewers and (ho-hum) a Fox Business News record. For that one, $175,000bought you a 30-second commercial slot.

   The fifth and final debate of 2015 on December 15th in Las Vegas, again hosted by CNN and Salem Radio, lassoed 18 million viewers. As 2016 started, debate fatigue finally seemed to be setting in. The first debate on January 14th in North Charleston, South Carolina, scored a mere 11 million viewers for Fox Business News. When it came to the second debate (and the last before the Iowa caucuses) on January 28th, The Donald decided not to grace it with his presence because he didn't think Fox News had treated him nicely enough and because he loathes its host Megyn Kelly.

The Democratic Debates

     Relative to the GOP debate ad-money mania, CNN charged a bargain half-off, or $100,000, for a 30-second ad during one of the Democratic debates. Let’s face it, lacking a reality TV star at center stage, the Democrats and associated advertisers generally fared less well. Their first debate on October 13th in Las Vegas, hosted by CNN and Facebook, averaged a respectable 15.3 million viewers, but the next one in Des Moines, Iowa, overseen by CBS and the Des Moines Register, sank to just 8.6 million viewers. Debate number three in Manchester, New Hampshire, hosted by ABC and WMUR, was rumored to have been buried by the Democratic National Committee (evidently trying to do Hillary a favor) on the Saturday night before Christmas. Not surprisingly, it brought in only 7.85 million viewers.

    The fourth Democratic debate on NBC on January 17th (streamed live on YouTube) featured the intensifying battle between an energized Bernie and a spooked Hillary.  It garnered 10.2 million TV viewers and another 2.3 million YouTube viewers, even though it, too, had been buried -- on the Sunday night before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. In comparison, 60 Minuteson rival network CBS nabbed 20.3 million viewers.

The Upshot

   So what gives? In this election season, it’s clear that these skirmishes involving the ultra-wealthy and their piles of cash are transforming modern American politics into a form of theater. And the correlation between big money and big drama seems destined only to rise.  The media needs to fill its coffers between now and election day and the competition among billionaires has something of a horse-betting quality to it.  Once upon a time, candidates drummed up interest in their policies; now, their policies, such as they are, have been condensed into so many buzzwords and phrases, while money and glitz are the main currencies attracting attention.

  That said, it could all go awry for the money-class and wouldn’t that just be satisfying to witness -- the irony of an election won not by, but despite, all those billionaires and corporate patrons.

   Will Bernie’s citizens beat Hillary’s billionaires? Will Trump go billion to billion with fellow New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg? Will Cruz’s prayers be answered? Will Rubio score a 12th round knockout of Cruz and Trump? Does Jeb Bush even exist? And to bring up a question few are likely to ask: What do the American people and our former democratic republic stand to lose (or gain) from this spectacle? All this and more (and more and more money) will be revealed later this year.

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