Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Assault on Wet'suwet'en
The New York Times photo essay covers the Royal Canadian Mounted Police assault on Wet'suwet'en First Nation in northern British Columbia.
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Stormy Weather
May 23, 2019 is the 1st anniversary of Stormy Daniels Day in West Hollywood.
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Creepy People
The Stone indictment for lying to Congress, obstruction and witness-tampering is the latest in the storied far-right life of the former CREEP dirty-trickster from the Watergate scandal, Reagan fundraiser, and Trump adviser. The chairman of the Democratic National Committee said,
There are more conspirators yet to be held accountable, and at least one of them is named Donald Trump.Trump--furious over his former lawyer Michael Cohen's testimony in federal court that Trump had directed him to pay hush money in an illegal scheme to influence the election--praised Stone for saying he would never testify against the president. After his court appearance, Roger Stone was released on bond, pending trial.
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Textbook Mob Tactics
After receiving threats to his family from President Trump, his former fixer and lawyer, Michael Cohen, has postponed his testimony before Congress that incriminates the president. Elijah Cummings, chair of the House Oversight Committee, said he will decide soon whether to subpoena Cohen, or allow him to testify behind closed doors. Cohen, who was convicted of lying to Congress and other crimes, begins serving a three-year prison sentence March 6.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Criminal Manipulation
Banks and casinos have to report sources of funds to the federal government, but hedge funds and private equity firms are exempt from rules meant to fight crime, despite repeated warnings that it is vulnerable to criminal manipulation.
Clark Gascoigne, an advocate for financial accountability and corporate transparency says,
You’ve got several trillion dollars, the management of which nobody is required to ask any questions about where that money is coming from. This is very problematic.
Hedge funds and private equity funds for elite investors have allowed the ultra-wealthy to destroy the public interest, convicted inside-trader George Soros and the Carlyle Group being two notorious examples.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
UN v Canada
While the UN has no enforcement authority over Canada, it does have authority to investigate racial discrimination by its member states. As reported at The Narwhal,
Canada has until April 8 to report back to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination outlining steps it has taken to halt construction of the hydro project, which would flood 128 kilometres of the Peace River and its tributaries in the heart of Treaty 8 traditional territory.
As committee chair Noureddine Amir wrote in a December 14 letter to Canada's UN ambassador,
As I asked in Corporate Crimes, First Nations & Environmental Organizations, "Would our society accept this if the victims were white?"
Canada has until April 8 to report back to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination outlining steps it has taken to halt construction of the hydro project, which would flood 128 kilometres of the Peace River and its tributaries in the heart of Treaty 8 traditional territory.
As committee chair Noureddine Amir wrote in a December 14 letter to Canada's UN ambassador,
The Committee is concerned about the alleged lack of measures taken to ensure the right to consultation and free, prior and informed consent with regard to the Site C dam, considering its impact on indigenous peoples’ control and use of their lands and natural resources...The Committee is further concerned that the realization of the Site C dam without free, prior and informed consent, would permanently affects the land rights of affected indigenous peoples in the Province of British Columbia. Accordingly, it would infringe indigenous peoples’ rights protected under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.Hydropower on the Peace River--a tributary of the Athabasca in the Mackenzie River system--is essential to Alberta Tar Sands refinery development, a project which daily uses enough natural gas to heat six million homes and has turned independent and sustainable indigenous communities into islands of sickness and death.
As I asked in Corporate Crimes, First Nations & Environmental Organizations, "Would our society accept this if the victims were white?"
Tuesday, January 08, 2019
White Power Princess
U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been busy transforming public education in her own Christian Right image. To wit, her pet project to arm grade school teachers, hoping they can take out terrorists. What could possibly go wrong with that, you might ask. Well, Betsy--sister of notorious Blackwater mercenary company CEO Erik Prince--has now scuttled 1,200 civil rights investigations, begun under Obama, that examined complaints of systemic racial discrimination.
Way to go Betsy! Jeff Sessions can't hold a candle to you when it comes to bigotry!
Sadly for Betsy, fucking bureaucrats in her own department--responding to a request from a tribal executive board--decided to investigate a school district in Montana for systemically discriminating against Native American students. As Roxanne Gourneau, a former member of the Fort Peck tribal executive board stated,
Way to go Betsy! Jeff Sessions can't hold a candle to you when it comes to bigotry!
Sadly for Betsy, fucking bureaucrats in her own department--responding to a request from a tribal executive board--decided to investigate a school district in Montana for systemically discriminating against Native American students. As Roxanne Gourneau, a former member of the Fort Peck tribal executive board stated,
The school district has done more to fuel Native students' trauma than to support their education. Change is long overdue.
