ATTENTION -- WE ARE UNDER ATTACK WITHIN OUR MINDS

THIS COLLECTION OF SOURCE MATERIALS CONCERNS THE RIGHTWARD RUSH POLITICALLY IN THIS PREVIOUSLY GREAT COUNTRY, AND THE “CHRISTIAN” COMPONENT OF THAT CHANGE. BERNIE SANDERS IS ONE OF THE BEST CHRISTIANS IN THE COUNTRY AND MAYBE THE WORLD. HE NOT ONLY QUESTIONS EVIL, HE CONFRONTS IT. IF YOU READ THE NEW TESTAMENT YOU WILL SEE JESUS DOING THAT REPEATEDLY. WHAT IT TAKES TO DO THAT IS EMPATHY AND COURAGE. GO AND DO YE LIKEWISE.

COMPILATION AND COMMENTARY
BY LUCY WARNER
MAY 27, 2018



THE FIRST, CALLED “TELESURTY.NET,” BILLS ITSELF AS AN ALTERNATIVE NEWS SOURCE THAT FOCUSES ON THE HUMAN SIDE OF THE NEWS. IT IS A SPANISH LANGUAGE MEDIUM FROM COLOMBIA.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Colombia-Meet-The-Four-Female-Vice-Presidential-Candidates-20180524-0016.html

Colombia: Meet The Four Female Vice-Presidential Candidates
In a historic first for Colombia, this year's May 27 presidential elections include four female candidates for the position of vice-president.

Colombia
More than 24.7 million women represent 50.78 percent of the Colombian population, of whom 18.7 million are eligible to vote, whereas only 17.5 million men are registered voters.

"Female leadership has been fundamental, especially in the regions where senators, congressmen, mayors and governors have come from," Diego Julian Cediel Nova, a political science professor at the University of La Sabana, told EFE.

"This is the first time that one of them can actually occupy such an important position in national politics as the vice president."

Here, we examine the political backgrounds and endorsements of the four female vice-presidential candidates.

RELATED:
Colombians Call for Pro-Peace Coalition as Duque Gains in Presidential Polls

Marta Lucia Ramirez

Marta Lucia Ramirez, a lawyer by profession, held several ministerial portfolios before becoming Ivan Duque's running mate.

Ramirez is a former senator and minister of defense and foreign trade. This is not the first time she has run for the vice-presidency.

Ramirez has also served as the CEO of several private sector companies and associations, including ANIF (Financial Institutions Association), Fedeleasing, and the Coalition for Colombian Manufacturers Development.

She is accompanying Ivan Duque, the right-wing presidential candidate for the Democratic Center Party, for the 2018 - 2022 presidential term.

Duque, a former senator, was handpicked by one of the party's founders, former President Alvaro Uribe, who is known to have overseen grave human rights violations, including paramilitary massacres, during his term.

"Duque championed the victory of the NO at the plebiscite, which meant millions of votes. In addition, he is currently the most voted senator in recent Colombian history, and his approval ratings – despite all the anti-democratic excesses in the fight against the FARC and the ELN – are close to 80 percent," Jeronimo Ríos, a PhD scholar in political science from the Complutense University of Madrid, wrote for Open Democracy.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, pro-capitalism Duque said he would like to improve trade relations with the United States, remove the "blockade of the access to free markets," and slash tax rates because they're "pretty high."

During Ramirez's tenure as the first female minister of national defense, she was responsible for centralizing military spending, designing management indicators for the armed forces, consolidating training within the three branches of the military and National Police, and forming a civil commission for restructuring and strengthening the National Police.

Less than a week before the Venezuelan elections on May 20, Ramirez – along with the party's leader, Alvaro Uribe and former President Andres Pastrana – met with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who made headlines by proposing to remove Maduro with force.

According to Open Democracy, Ramirez "represents a reactionary position towards the agreement, and enjoys a larger support from and voting intention by the conservative electorate."

Angela Maria Robledo

Angela Maria Robledo, Gustavo Petro's vice-presidential candidate, describes herself as a feminist. Her political campaign focuses on social inclusion, gender equality, and children's rights.

A psychologist by profession, Angela Maria Robledo has a master's degree in social policy. She was the director of the Department of Social Welfare in Bogota and was involved with making the first public policy on women in the city.

Formerly a professor with the psychology department of the University of Javeriana, she joined the House of Representatives in 2010.

Robledo is part of the Green Alliance and resigned from her position to join Petro's campaign in late 2017. Petro is the leftist politician, economist and presidential candidate who previously served as mayor of Bogota.

Colombian Senator Ivan Cepeda told El Spectador: "She is a woman who has a special sensitivity to injustice, especially to women victims. She is a rebellious woman who does not shut up easily, a radical leader in her visions, but rational in the political field."

Asked by the National Network for Women 'What elements are fundamental for a woman to think about politics?' Robledo said: "For women, it is fundamental to recognize our biography as an empowering element of the action of politics and not as something that weighs on us, that prevents us.

"Starting with these biographical milestones is fundamental. This is where we recognize that we are an ethical reserve, for politics, for peace, for the economy of a country and not for naturalizing the fact, but because culture put us in the care of life, in the care of the planet, in the small things that no one cares for it seems to me that it is a fundamental element.

"There is a continuity of that task that starts in the private space, that is we should not start saying that we are going to do politics when we go to the Congress. No, that starts in those domestic spaces where you fight for your place and build your freedom every day, your freedom in relation to others, but your freedom, and in the spaces that women have been in community tasks."

During a recent phone interview as part of online campaign 'RetoDelos10Minuto (10-Minute Challenge),' Robledo spoke of improvements required in the healthcare system.

"The clinical practices in this health system have meant that giving birth to a boy or girl risks death for many women: that child comes into the world in conditions where women are mistreated."

Speaking with El Spectador, she said: "We are considering expanding maternity leave to six months; it should not only be the responsibility of the mother, but of the father and family members."

RELATED:
Meet Clara Lopez, the Leftist Running for Mayor of Bogota

Claudia Lopez

Claudia Lopez, Sergio Fajardo's running mate, stands for a "moderate brand of progressivism, led by mathematician Sergio Fajardo," Rios wrote in Open Democracy.

Fajardo's campaign includes figures from the Green Alliance and the Democratic Pole, and takes up some of Petro's proposals because it prioritizes "fiscal progressiveness, better redistribution of wealth, growing investment in public education and healthcare, higher accountability and the strengthening of the fight against corruption."

In October, Lopez fled Colombia after receiving death threats for her investigative reporting on the so-called parapolítica network that links politicians with paramilitary groups.

In March 2014, the 44-year-old anti-corruption advocate won her seat representing the Alianza Verde (Green Alliance) with the slogan 'Colombia se respeta' (Colombia must be respected).

She received over 81,000 votes, making her the most-voted candidate in her party that election cycle. The progressive party won five out of 102 Senate seats and came in sixth with 3.94 percent of the vote.

Lopez, a Bogota native, has a long history of political activism. During her time at the Universidad Distrital, she was part of the student movement La Septima Papeleta (The Seventh Ballot), which called for a constitutional assembly during the 1990 congressional elections. Later, when Lopez transferred to the Universidad Externado de Colombia, she studied government and international relations.

Apart from advocating against corruption, Lopez has emphasized the need to construct a more equitable and accessible educational system and reform Colombia's justice system.

Lopez has also called for better regulation of mining by the Colombian government, more responsible mining practices and the expansion of popular consultation.

"To achieve a more equal country, we have to practice active citizenship and politics," Lopez said as part of the political campaign. "The key is to defeat corruption with clean citizen-led politics."

RELATED:
Humberto De La Calle Has Been Chosen New Presidential Candidate in Colombia

Clara Lopez

Clara Lopez, the running mate of Humberto de la Calle, is president of the Alternative Democratic Pole and currently serving as minister for employment in the government of Juan Manuel Santos.

In 1986, Lopez joined the Patriotic Union, a leftist party formed in the wake of peace negotiations between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government. It sought to bring together a wide array of leftist political forces and leaders to contest power through the ballot box. In 1988, she ran as the Patriotic Union's candidate for mayor of Bogota, a position she filled later.

But many see her as a controversial figure: despite being part of the center-left, her "support for Juan Manuel Santos and the fact that she was a cabinet member have earned her much criticism as opportunistic and ideologically ambiguous," Rios wrote.

Running on the Liberal Party ticket, Humberto de la Calle and Clara Lopez are committed to "the peace agreement signed with the FARC, but whom many associate with Juan Manuel Santos, whose disapproval ratings exceed 70 percent. Their political approach is much more liberal, in terms of the State/Market/Society relationship than Fajardo's and especially Petro's."

Tags
Colombia Elections Politics Equality & human rights Women's rights Marta Lucia Ramirez Angela Maria Robledo Clara Lopez Claudia Lopez

Inter American Dialogue-Bloomberg News-El Tiempo-Open Democracy-El Espactador-National Network of Women-Americas Quarterly
By Manmeet Sahni



WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN?

https://twitter.com/LadyBarberBrown

Lady Barber Brown
@LadyBarberBrown
Progressive barracuda/Berniecrat. Saucy retired law librarian & barber. Realist Painter on IG @artistnancybrown The water above: Indian Springs Calistoga
Oakland, CA
Joined May 2010


“Lady Barber Brown Retweeted

Bess Kalb
‏
Verified account

@bessbell
May 25
More
You’re put in the back of a car with hard plastic seats. Nobody buckles you in. There is a metal grate between you and the driver, who doesn’t turn around. “Where’s my mom? Where’s my mom? Can I see my mom?” He doesn’t hear you. You put your fingers through the grate and scream.

20 replies 397 retweets 2,428 likes
Reply 20 Retweet 397 Like 2.4K
Show this thread
Lady Barber Brown Retweeted


Red T Raccoon‏

@RedTRaccoon
May 26
More
Flood ICE with phone calls.

Call 1-866-DHS-2-ICE and demand an answer to #WhereAreTheChildren.

This is a government agency that we pay for. They answer to us.

247 replies 8,958 retweets 11,505 likes
Reply 247 Retweet 9.0K Like 12K


Michele‏

@Michele49129961
Follow Follow @Michele49129961
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Replying to @RedTRaccoon @jeneration_XX
#wherearethechildren
#UN

If you call that number you only get ICE Tip Line so you can turn in ppl.

Got these frm tweet 2day. Will try and retweet.

United Nations Human Rights
212-415-4026
International Human Rights
212-290-4700




THIS PROGRESSIVE CANDIDATE, LARRY KRASNER IS A BERNIECRAT, AND PROTEGE. FIRST READ THIS INTERVIEW THAT WAS DONE BEFORE HE WAS ELECTED, BECAUSE IT IS SUCH A GOOD PICTURE OF WHO HE IS AS A PERSON AND HOW HE PLANS TO REWORK THE CITY’S WAY OF DEALING WITH CRIME AND CRIMINALS. IT’S REALLY REFRESHING. AS A RESULT, THE CONSERVATIVE WING OF PHILLY IS DEAD SET AGAINST HIM. AFTER THIS, I AM INSERTING A RECENT INTERVIEW WITH AN UPDATE SINCE HIS LANDSLIDE ELECTION IN 2017. WIKIPEDIA HAS A VERY GOOD REVIEW OF THE CHANGES THAT KRASNER HAS MADE.

GO TO http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/04/18/philadelphia-da-larry-krasner-incarceration.

https://theintercept.com/2017/05/16/meet-philadelphias-progressive-candidate-for-da-an-interview-with-larry-krasner/
MEET PHILADELPHIA’S PROGRESSIVE CANDIDATE FOR DA: AN INTERVIEW WITH LARRY KRASNER
Alice Speri
May 16 2017, 4:22 p.m.

Update: May 17

Larry Krasner won the Democratic nomination to Philadelphia’s DA office with 38 percent of the votes. He will face Republican candidate Beth Grossman in the general election next fall, but in a deeply Democratic city, the odds are in his favor.

PHILADELPHIANS ARE HEADING to the polls today to pick a Democratic candidate for the city’s top prosecutor job. Turnout will almost certainly be low, but many in the city and beyond are looking at this election as a referendum on the criminal justice system at large, and a vote that could send ripple effects across the country and bring greater scrutiny on prosecutors, the system’s most powerful and unchecked actors.

As The Intercept reported yesterday, the field is crowded, and the city’s justice problems run deep: Philadelphia jails more people than any other city in the Northeast, and broken practices like stop-and-frisk, cash bail, and asset forfeiture are rampant and disproportionately impact the city’s poor and black citizens.

But an unconventional candidate has shaken up this race: a criminal defense and civil rights attorney who has never prosecuted a case but instead spent his career defending poor people and protesters and suing the police. The Intercept met with Larry Krasner ahead of the primary to discuss his opposition to the death penalty, what “smart on crime” really means, and how prosecutors nationwide can stand up to the Trump administration.

Alice Speri: You have been a defense attorney your entire career. Why do you want to become a prosecutor now?

Larry Krasner: I’m running now because I think the time is right. People are understanding something that I have understood for a while, just because I am in criminal courts four, five days a week and I have been seeing it for 30 years. What they’re seeing is that the criminal justice system systemically picks on poor people, and those people, at least in Philadelphia, are overwhelmingly black and brown people.

The situation has gotten urgent. When you have more people in jail than any country in the world, that’s a problem. When you have more people of color in jail than South Africa had during apartheid, that’s a problem. When you have the most incarcerated city of the 10 largest cities in the United States, that’s a problem. When you have more people doing life sentences whose homicides were committed as juveniles than any state in the country and any country in the world, that’s a problem. We have gotten to the point where it should be pretty obvious something has to change, right?

When I looked at the candidates who were in the field, I was looking at people I knew, and it was business as usual. If there had been a truly progressive candidate in there, I would not have run. At this point, it just seemed necessary, to be honest.

AS: You have made resisting the Trump administration a cornerstone of your campaign. How can DAs do that?

LK: The good news is that the feds don’t have enough law enforcement officers. They have jurisdiction over certain things like drugs and guns, but they still need to have boots on the ground. If they’re going to try to go back to a war on drugs that has failed so miserably, they’ll have a hard time doing it in places where local prosecutors aren’t willing to do it for them. I am not willing to help ICE with mass deportations. I am not willing to help the DEA or the FBI return to the mentality of the war on drugs. Of course I would engage in what I view to be appropriate drug enforcement, but that doesn’t look like the war on drugs. If local district attorneys simply stand up and say, “You go ahead, we’re not going to be a part of your plan. We’re not funded for it, we’re not required to do it,” he will have great difficulty carrying out almost all of what he’s trying to do.

AS: You said you want to transform the culture of the DA’s office. How do you do that when prosecutors wield enormous power and have long acted without oversight or accountability, often driven by a convict-at-all-costs mentality?

LK: People are doing things in that office pretty much because that’s how they’ve always done it. In fact, one of the more laughable things about being in court all the time is how you see some good defense attorney or public defender making a legal argument and the response coming from the DA is, “But judge, that’s how we always do it.” Which needless to say is not a legal response. That’s just the systemic familiarity response.

If you have a truly progressive DA, there’s going to be a certain portion of the DA’s office who can’t stand the idea of change. They’re going to leave. There are other people who are going to be made to leave because you cannot bring about real change and leave people in place who are going to fight change every step of the way. The ones who will leave will tend to be my generation, people who started in this business 30 years ago, which means they’ll also tend to be white and male. That results in more openings, opportunities for greater diversity, and if we are to judge by what’s happened in other jurisdictions, the office will become a tremendous magnet for new talent, because there are a ton of people who are either coming out of law school or who are mid-career who would love to work in a truly progressive DA’s office but haven’t been able to find any.

That means you have really committed, dedicated, talented people who are coming into an organization that already contains the dissent, meaning people who have been there for years but might have been frustrated for years. I know some of these folks because some of them would call me and tell me what they knew about corrupt cops, but couldn’t do anything about it from the inside. Those people need to stay, and in supervisor positions, because they represent the kind of change that should come. And there are a lot of just malleable, mostly younger attorneys who did what they were told, and always wanted to do the right thing, and with proper training will do the right thing. I think real cultural change is possible.

AS: Prosecutorial misconduct is a major problem in many DA offices, and it’s hardly ever confronted.

LK: Prosecutors who engage in misconduct or can be shown to have done it in the past are not going to be working for me. Let’s remember something. DAs go into court every day and there are certain mantras they repeat. One of those mantras is, “Well, you should have thought of that before you did what you did.” Another one is, “You need to take responsibility for your actions.” Right? Well, it goes for them too.

PHOTOGRAPH -- Philadelphia District Attorney candidate Larry Krasner speaks with volunteers and supporters during a volunteer thank you event in Philadelphia on May 11, 2017. Photo: Charles Mostoller for The Intercept

AS: You have been described as the “Black Lives Matter candidate,” and to many in law enforcement, that means the anti-police one. You have sued the Philadelphia PD at least 75 times. How will you work with the police?

LK: People have a tendency to think of all police as being the same. But they’re not, and in cities as diverse as Philadelphia, a very significant portion of the “Blue Lives,” as the Fraternal Order of Police likes to say, are in fact black lives. If you talk to black officers in Philadelphia about things like stop-and-frisk, their attitude is much more negative. They get stopped and frisked themselves. They watch their teenage sons go out to do nothing wrong and come back with bloody knees, humiliated and angry. And they also have to participate in it, and they realize every confrontation you have with kids who have done nothing wrong is alienating those kids, reminding them that they’re poor, and making them dislike police and not want to give information to police. The head of the FOP in Philadelphia is this reactionary white throwback kind of guy who endorsed Donald Trump — to the outrage of much of the rank and file in Philadelphia, to the outrage of women officers, and there are many, to the outrage of black officers, and there are many, and to the outrage of white officers of good will.

AS: How will you keep police accountable while working with them? Do you believe in the need for a special prosecutor to oversee police abuse cases?

LK: I have been prosecuting police for a very long time. It is not a particularly popular thing to do, it’s one of the most difficult areas of law there is, because juries like to believe in police and are inclined to try to believe in police as much as they possibly can. As district attorney, I would have a unit headed by a supervisor whose duties are exclusively investigation and prosecution, where appropriate, of police, and investigation and prosecution, where appropriate, of public officials. I don’t think whoever is heading that unit should simultaneously be using police as witnesses in drug cases or in robbery cases or in homicide cases. It just seems to me that that gets too conflicted. But at the same time, I’m not a fan of the idea that some progressives have that I should just send those cases to the state attorney general.

AS: “Smart on crime” seems to be the new catchphrase among moderates in law enforcement, including in this DA race. The idea is to target the small percentage of offenders who commit violent crimes. In fact, violent offenders are usually excluded from much of the debate around criminal justice reform. Can the justice system be fairer for them too?

LK: For political reasons, the rhetoric around this has become violent versus nonviolent, and nobody really talks about what violent means. Does violent mean Charles Manson? Or does it mean two workers who get in a fistfight in a bar, one of them has a black eye and the other one is charged with simple assault? That’s violent, but it ain’t Charles Manson. The response to those two things should be careful and thoughtful and three-dimensional. It should not be simply to lump them all together.

There’s this idea that there are just two categories of people, the violent ones and the nonviolent ones, and all the nonviolent ones are deserving of compassion and all the violent ones are monolithically evil. Let me tell you something that’s nonviolent that I think is pretty damn intrusive and awful: economically preying on vulnerable victims by identity theft, by taking advantage of elderly people in contracting, by the epidemic we have in Philadelphia of stealing houses by manufacturing phony deeds — I think that those things hurt a little bit more than a black eye in many ways, and yet we think in binary terms, violent, nonviolent. We need to be much more victim-centered and survivor-centered when we think of these crimes, and not equate a bar fight with mass murder, or something that is incredibly intrusive, like identity theft, with other nonviolent offenses that really don’t affect anyone, like the possession of marijuana.

AS: You oppose the death penalty and said that you will never pursue it. Pennsylvania has only executed three people since 1976 (three individuals that waived their appeals and asked for the executions to be carried out). Why do people still believe that you can’t win an election if you oppose the death penalty?

LK: I was consistently told that I needed to decide whether I wanted to win this election or be the unicorn. And that if I want to be the unicorn, then I could raise my fist and say no death penalty, but if I want to win, I shouldn’t say that. I said it anyway, just because that’s what I believed for 30 years and it just didn’t make any sense to me to start lying now. It’s controversial, I suppose, but it’s also really dumb that it’s controversial.

AS: You have represented generations of protesters. Are things getting worse for the right of expression and dissent?

LK: There is definitely a sense among the right, and an attitude that has been cultivated by Trump during his campaign rallies, that free speech will not be tolerated, that it’s OK to punch people who disagree with you, it’s OK to throw people out at rallies if they disagree with you, it’s OK to brag about beating them to the point where they have to be taken out on stretchers. We have seen police behavior, from the moment of Trump’s inauguration, that is less tolerant of free speech than what we saw before. I think it’s going to be up to a lot of attorneys and locally elected prosecutors to hold the line and make sure we preserve people’s civil rights. But let’s remember something: There has also been more protest happening. In Philadelphia, when they called for a Women’s March and they thought there were going to be X number of people, it’s been three times that. When people went down to the airport because of the Muslim ban and they thought there were going to be X number of people, it’s been three, four, five times that. We’re seeing a very grassroots response, and at the same time, we’re seeing a wannabe dictator who is trying to cut off any expression he doesn’t like. Now he’s essentially trying to create a space where protest is not permitted. But he’ll lose. People like him always do.

AS: You have been called the Bernie Sanders of the Philadelphia DA race and a lot of Sanders supporters have campaigned hard for your election.

LK: I do feel like the Bernie in this race. Ain’t nobody perfect but neither am I, so I think it’s great. They stood for change from the outside. When we look back, we have to admit that the old Vermont Jewish socialist septuagenarian would have won. Because he did represent an outside perspective that got channeled in the worst way towards Donald Trump.

AS: If you do become the DA, will you miss being “on the other side” in court?

LK: No, because I don’t think I’ll be on the other side. I always did this because I think trials should always be fair, and innocent people should not be convicted, and individuals’ civil rights should be preserved, and results should be accurate, and guilty people should get the proper outcome. I don’t see a big distinction between doing that as a prosecutor and doing it as a defense attorney. When I came out of law school I had offers from prosecutors’ offices and I had offers from public defenders’ offices. Philadelphia was one of those places where there was only one side to be on, because the culture in the DA’s office was drunk on the death penalty and in love with using poor people to get ahead as a politician. It was gross. It’s been gross for 30 years, so in Philly there was only one choice. But hopefully we can change that.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Top photo: Philadelphia District Attorney candidate Larry Krasner at his law office in Philadelphia on Thursday, May 11, 2017.



KRASNER IS A GREAT THINKER AND A GREAT DOER. CRIMINAL JUSTICE IS ONE OF THE VERY WORST AREAS FOR THE POOR, AND FOR OUR COUNTRY AS A WHOLE. HE HAS ALREADY MADE CONSIDERABLE INROADS ON THE PROBLEM. THIS IS ANOTHER GREAT KRASNER INTERVIEW.

http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/04/18/philadelphia-da-larry-krasner-incarceration
Philadelphia DA Wants To Dismantle Mass Incarceration From The Inside Out 09:22
April 18, 2018 Updated Apr 18, 2018 2:55 PM

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner once called himself "unelectable." Yet the 57-year-old attorney, known for being as outspoken as he is progressive, was sworn into office in January after winning the November election in a landslide.

His platform was no less than reforming the criminal justice system, working to end mass incarceration and taking responsibility for the fiscal realities of sentencing. Some have called Krasner's efforts nothing short of a criminal justice revolution — but he says he doesn't see it that way.

"I'm a lawyer" Krasner tells Here & Now's Eric Westervelt (@Ericnpr). "We don't know how to do revolution."

However, Krasner is already taking steps to change the way Philadelphia looks at sentencing, parole, bail and incarceration.

Interview Highlights -- On his stated goal of ending mass incarceration and bringing balance back to sentencing

"It is a tall order, but it's essential. We have a country that seems to be, even now, unaware of the fact that it is the most incarcerated country in the world. We have a system that makes apartheid look like they weren't locking up enough people, compared to our standards. I mean it's pretty ridiculous that we have had a 500 percent increase in incarceration nationally over a period of a few decades, and yet we find ourselves basically not safer, with public schools that are bankrupted, and with no treatment for a lot of the things that go to the roots of criminal conduct, such as addiction or lack of job training."

On the biggest roadblock he's faced in his first 100 days

"I mean, no offense to what it is that you do for a living, but I have to tell you I think that media has — and not this media — but I think media in general has been engaging in a sort of a comic book tale ever since the era of William Randolph Hearst and yellow journalism. It's basically stories about fear, and it's stories about one side being all good and the other side being all bad, instead of actually getting into the science and the nuance of it. People wanna hear about the science, they wanna hear about the nuance. They know that there are problems when they don't have public schools in a way that they did have 40 years ago."

"In Pennsylvania, we have sentencing guidelines that have done nothing more than make Pennsylvania even more incarcerated than the rest of the country." Larry Krasner
On what he's asking his prosecutors to do to reduce the number of cases resulting in a plea bargain

"We're doing quite a few things. There are a lot of cases that in the 1970s, frankly, would not have been prosecuted at all. And so we are trying to go back in that direction. There's a lot of cases that in the 1970s, if someone was charged, would have been turned into some kind of a diversionary program, meaning that people would have been held accountable, but without a conviction. Everything changed, and somehow we started to consider any dispute to be worthy of criminal prosecution and arrest, and any arrest to be worthy of the highest charges and the highest form of incarceration. And part of what came with that was sentencing guidelines.

"In Pennsylvania, we have sentencing guidelines that have done nothing more than make Pennsylvania even more incarcerated than the rest of the country. We have a 700 percent increase in incarceration in Pennsylvania, and it is because a bunch of legislators — many of whom had never been lawyers, nor had they ever been in criminal justice — were getting votes by preying off of fear and demanding high sentences. They are disastrous. And so I have instructed our prosecutors for cases that are not violent, don't involve sexual assault, things of that sort, to offer outcomes that are below the bottom end of these sentencing guidelines, which is legally permitted, and it's an appropriate use of discretion. But it also recognizes that these guidelines are the problem. They are part of why we have so many people in jail, and we don't have public schools."

On flipping the script by starting with lower sentences

"Well I wouldn't say the lowest possible [sentence within Pennsylvania's guideline], but use your discretion to look at the case as an individual case involving unique people, and figure out what is fair for an offense that is not that serious and is not violent. And what we have seen has been a rapid decline in the population of people in our county jails. Philadelphia not long ago had the most incarcerated county jails of any of the 10 largest cities, and it's now come down quite a bit. We are down from 8,000 people in our county jails to close to 5,000, which is quite an achievement."

On his policy goals regarding parole

"Well unfortunately, once again, Pennsylvania is in some ways leading the nation in excessive, long periods of probation and parole. There's a lot of research that shows that short periods of supervision have benefit, but the longer ones become an infinite series of hurdles that even a law-abiding person, or someone who is reformed, finds hard to overcome.

"For example, if you're working a job like you're supposed to, but you have to keep leaving work to go report to a probation and parole officer for years, it's harder to keep that job. For example, if they keep hitting you for 35 bucks a month, for year after year — you are, in all likelihood if you're in the criminal justice system, a poor or working-class person — there may come some months when you can't pay it. All of a sudden, you're back for a violation hearing, and all the things that you've built in terms of job and restoration with your family, things like that, can come to an end when you go back to jail."

"Somehow we started to consider any dispute to be worthy of criminal prosecution and arrest, and any arrest to be worthy of the highest charges and the highest form of incarceration." Larry Krasner
On generational differences among prosecutors

"I think the younger generation actually really understands these issues, and I see that as they come out of law school and as I speak to them ... they have grown up with DNA proving that innocent people end up in jail. They've grown up with an understanding that mass incarceration is not only a huge problem for a society that claims to be free, but it's also racist. These are discussions they've had, and that they're willing to have. So I feel like we are actually very strong among a lot of the prosecutors.

"Some of the older ones, I mean let's be honest, it's hard to look back on your career and think that you were doing a good thing by stuffing so many people of color in jail. It's hard to look back on that and say, 'I guess I dedicated my life to doing something that's kinda negative.' But it's the truth, and it's something that they have to face, and the ones who are willing to face it, and then move in a positive direction, will do so. And the ones who are not are just gonna double down."

"I don't think there's any question that the criminal justice system has been racist in various different ways, and has been unfair to the poor, and all of that needs to change." Larry Krasner

On whether Philadelphia's criminal justice overhaul might offer a model for other cities

"I think there's a very strong national movement in major cities. We see it in Chicago with Kim Foxx, we see it in San Francisco with George Gascón. We see it in Brooklyn with Eric Gonzales, we see in many other locations. There's a very, very strong movement of progressive DAs who are going the same direction, which is away from mass incarceration toward reinvesting resources that got hijacked for corrections into the things that actually prevent crime."

On last week's arrest in Philadelphia of two black men sitting peacefully in a Starbucks

"I know that currently there are investigations going on within the police department about the incident, and potentially even about their own officers. I mean, without talking about the case, I don't think there's any question that this is a country where there has been a disparate enforcement of the law — and even social norms — against poor people and against people of color, which are as we all know very overlapping groups. I don't think there's any question that the criminal justice system has been racist in various different ways, and has been unfair to the poor, and all of that needs to change. To the extent I can change it, that's what I wanna do."

This segment aired on April 18, 2018.


THIS ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION IS ON VIDEO, ALONG WITH A BRIEF PRINT ARTICLE HERE. I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/05/04/watch-live-sanders-joins-philly-da-larry-krasner-roundtable-discussion-americas
Published on
Friday, May 04, 2018
byCommon Dreams
Watch Live: Sanders Joins Philly DA Larry Krasner for Roundtable Discussion on America's 'Broken' Criminal Justice System
"There can be no debate, whether you are a conservative or liberal or something in between, that we have a broken criminal justice system," Sanders said
byCommon Dreams staff

PHOTOGRAPH -- The discussion featured author and professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, host of "The Dig" podcast Daniel Denvir, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, and Civil Rights Corps litigation director Premal Dharia for a roundtable discussion on possible solutions to America's mass incarceration crisis. (Photo: Facebook/Screengrab)

As America's major television networks featured wall-to-wall coverage of President Donald Trump's unhinged speech before the NRA convention in Texas on Friday, a substantive discussion on an immensely consequential issue was simultaneously taking place in Philadelphia—a discussion that received virtually no attention from the corporate media.

Denouncing a criminal justice system that "incarcerates 2.2 million people and disproportionately incarcerates people of color," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, author and professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and Civil Rights Corps litigation director Premal Dharia for a roundtable conversation on possible solutions to America's mass incarceration crisis.

"There can be no debate, whether you are a conservative or liberal or something in between, that we have a broken criminal justice system," Sanders said during the discussion, moderated by Daniel Denvir, host of "The Dig" podcast.

Watch live: CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM ROUNDTABLE



BEZOS’ COMMENT ABOUT HIS MEDIAN PAY AND BENEFITS FOR FULL TIME WORKERS IS INTERESTING, BUT THE SENTENCE DESCRIBING THEIR PAY HAS WHAT I CALL WEASEL WORDS IN IT: “AVG HOURLY WAGE IN THE U.S. FOR A FULL-TIME ASSOCIATE IN OUR FULFILLMENT CENTERS, INCLUDING CASH, STOCK, & INCENTIVE BONUSES, IS OVER $15/HOUR.”

PERHAPS HE DIDN’T MEAN IT THIS WAY, BUT AS STRUCTURED, THE SENTENCE SEEMS TO SAY THAT THE $15.00 AN HOUR MAY NOT COME TO THE WORKER AS PAY (CASH). HE “INCLUDES” IN THAT FIGURE ITEMS WORTH CONSIDERABLY MORE THAN HIS STATED HOURLY WAGE; WHICH MAKES ME ASK, WHAT THEN IS THE ACTUAL HOURLY WAGE? WHAT WILL THEY HAVE TO TAKE TO THE GROCERY STORE? THOSE BENEFITS ARE IMPORTANT TO ALL MODERN-DAY WORKERS, YES, BUT THEY SHOULD BE GIVEN IN ADDITION TO THE HOURLY PAY, OR AS WE USED TO SAY IN 1970 OR SO, “TAKE HOME PAY.” AND ARE THOSE “COMPETITIVE” NEW FULL TIME JOBS AMONG THE ORDER PICKERS, OR IN SOME CHOICE OFFICE WORKER SPOTS IN THE COMPANY INSTEAD?

IT IS VERY OFTEN THE CASE IN SUCH BUSINESSES THAT MOST OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO RUN AROUND ON ROLLER SKATES RETRIEVING ITEMS FROM BINS ARE, IN FACT, NOT FULL-TIME, SO DO THEY MAKE MAYBE $8.00 AN HOUR? ARE THEY ON A CODE SYSTEM, SO THAT IF THEY DON’T PULL AS MANY ITEMS AS IS REQUIRED THEY WILL BE FIRED? WHY DON’T THOSE PEOPLE TAKE THEIR BATHROOM BREAKS? THAT SOUNDS LIKE A RESTRICTIVE CODE SYSTEM TO ME. THEY DON’T WANT TO LOSE THE MONEY.

MY MOTHER WAS “LET GO” FOR NOT “MAKING THE CODE” IN A HOSIERY MILL IN NORTH CAROLINA. SHE WAS TOO OLD TO BE DOING THAT, OF COURSE, BECAUSE SHE HAD CONSIDERABLE JOINT PAIN. I DON’T KNOW WHAT HER PAY SCALE WAS. PROBABLY $7.00 AN HOUR OR LESS IN THOSE DAYS. THE PRINCIPLE IS THE SAME, HIRE 'EM CHEAP, WORK 'EM HARD.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/05/22/amazon-workers-food-stamps-jeff-bezos-rakes-275-million-day-sanders-says-what-rigged
Published on Tuesday, May 22, 2018
byCommon Dreams
Sanders Accepts Amazon Invitation After Video Highlighting Jeff Bezos as "Face of Greed" Gets Retail Giant's Attention

"I remain deeply concerned about Amazon, an enormously profitable corporation, paying workers wages that are so low that they are forced to depend on federal programs like Medicaid, food stamps and public housing for survival." byJon Queally, staff writer

PHOTOGRAPH -- "Bezos' wealth increases by $275 million every single day," Sanders note in a tweet on Tuesday. "Meanwhile, Amazon workers have to rely on food stamps and public assistance just to survive. This is what a rigged economy is all about." (Image: Sanders TV)
"At a time of exploding profits, I would hope that Amazon would pay everyone who works in your fulfillment centers a living wage." —Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

Update:

It seems as though Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) knows how to get the attention of a major corporation.

"At a time of exploding profits, I would hope that Amazon would pay everyone who works in your fulfillment centers a living wage." —Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

After the release of a video earlier in the day (see below) in which Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) chided Amazon and its mega-billionaire founder and CEO Jeff Bezos as exemplifying the kind of gross inequality that must be addressed in order to un-rig the economy, the retail giant put out a statement defending itself against the charge it does too little for its workers and issued an invitation for the senator to visit one of its fulfillment centers.

"We've created over 130K new full-time jobs in the last year alone," the company declared in a tweet. "Good jobs w/highly competitive pay & full benefits. Avg hourly wage in the U.S. for a full-time associate in our fulfillment centers, including cash, stock, & incentive bonuses, is over $15/hour. Competitive pay + full benefits -- health, vision/dental, retirement, generous parental leave, & training for in-demand jobs through our Career Choice program. Please compare our median pay & benefits to other retailers. We'd be happy for you to come see an FC for yourself."

In response, Sanders issued a statement thanking the company for reaching out and said he would gladly visit one of its centers as soon as it could be arranged.

"I remain deeply concerned about Amazon, an enormously profitable corporation, paying workers wages that are so low that they are forced to depend on federal programs like Medicaid, food stamps and public housing for survival," Sanders said.

"At a time of exploding profits," he continued, "I would hope that Amazon would pay everyone who works in your fulfillment centers a living wage. Thank you very much for your invitation to visit a fulfillment center. I look forward to doing that. Let's work out a mutually convenient time."

Earlier:

Calling out the Grand Canyon-sized chasm between the wealth of average Amazon employees and that of Jeff Bezos, the company's founder and currently the single richest person on Earth, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday released a short video from his digital team which characterized this kind of vast inequality as epitomizing what the senator has long called the "rigged economy."

"Bezos' wealth increases by $275 million every single day," Sanders note in a tweet. "Meanwhile, Amazon workers have to rely on food stamps and public assistance just to survive. This is what a rigged economy is all about."

Last month, The Intercept reported on federal data that showed many Amazon workers qualify for federal assistance programs, including food stamps, while Bloomberg's "Billionaire List" currently estimates Bezos' net worth at approximately $132 billion.

Watch the video:

[YES, DO WATCH THE VIDEO. IT ISN’T AT ALL BORING. IF SANDERS’ STAFF CREATED THIS VIDEO, THEY SHOULD GET AN AWARD FROM SOME ACADEMY OR OTHER. I DON’T THINK THE INTERNET HAS QUALITY RECOGNITION AWARDS, BUT THIS IS PROBABLY ROCKETING AROUND THE WORLD RIGHT NOW – ABSOLUTELY VIRALLY.]

How long is this short video? Exactly 5 minutes and 42 seconds. But don't worry, in the time it takes you to watch it, Bezos "will have made over $1 million."

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

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"THIS IS AN ETHICS-FREE ADMINISTRATION....” WELL, THAT EXPLAINS THINGS.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Chris-Hedges-on-Trump-Fascism-and-the-Christian-Right-20170301-0002.html
Abby Martin, host of teleSUR's "The Empire Files", sat down with Chris Hedges to discuss Trump's connections to right-wing Christian extremists.
Published 1 March 2017

PHOTOGRAPH -- Clergy lay hands and pray over Donald Trump at the New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Sept. 21, 2016. | Photo: Reuters
VIDEO – TRUMP’S ADMINISTRATION IS ALL ABOUT REGIME CHANGE
RELATED:
Cornel West: Donald Trump Will Unleash 'Neofascism' in US

Abby Martin, host of teleSUR's "The Empire Files," sat down with Pulitzer-prizewinning journalist and author Chris Hedges to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump and how his presidency fuels and is fueled by Christian fascism.

"The Christian right will fill Trump's ideological vacuum, because he doesn't really have an ideology, and that will be handled through (Vice President Mike) Pence."

Pointing out that 81 percent of Evangelical* voters supported Trump in the elections — despite the fact that "his personal life makes a mockery of the ‘family values' they say they hold sacred" — Hedges believes the right-wing Christian movement will serve to buttress his presidency.

[“81 PERCENT OF EVANGELICAL* VOTERS” – DOES THIS INCLUDE BLACK EVANGELICALS AS WELL? OR ARE ANY BLACK CHRISTIANS CONSIDERED “EVANGELICAL?” WHO CHOSE THIS TERMINOLOGY AND COUNTED THEIR VOTERS? IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THIS HIGH A NUMBER OF BLACK VOTERS CHOSE TRUMP IN 2016? I DOUBT IT. I HOPE NOT.]

"This is an ethics-free administration. There's not even a pretense of ethical rules, so you have what's going to become a naked kleptocracy… they're going to loot the country. But they're also inept, which is a very bad combination. And as that ineptitude becomes more pronounced and more understood, they are going to have to become more ideologically rigid. It's going to look like a Christianized fascism. It's going to be the fusion of the American flag with the Christian cross," he said.

Hedges — who spent two years embedded with the Christian right while researching his 2008 book "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America" — says that the Christian right is much more dangerous than the so-called "alt-right" represented by the likes of Breitbart News and senior White House advisor Steve Bannon.

"The Christian right is much more sophisticated than (the alt-right)," he observed. "There is a strain of deep cruelty, savagery even, fascism, intolerance, within the Christian right that is institutionalized in a way that makes it far more dangerous than the alt-right."

As an example of this, he pointed to the armed militia controlled by Blackwater founder and Trump adviser Erik Prince who, along with his sister, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, is a major player in the Christian right.

RELATED:
Chomsky: Neo-Liberalism* Drives Europe's Far-Right, EU's Demise

Hedges also noted the similarities between the rise of Trump's brand of "inverted totalitarianism" and neo-fascist movements throughout Europe, pointing out that both are responses to neo-liberal economics.

"People finally woke up and realized they were being had, and they were being had by that so-called liberal establishment," he said.

Hedges said that thy [sic] only way to respond to the rise of these neo-fascist movements – and what he said will be Trump's "turbocharged neoliberalism" – is through civil disobedience.

"Until we break the back of corporate power we're not going to blunt the rise of these movements," he said, adding that "the Democratic party is not going to confront the underlying ideological system of neoliberalism or corporate power which has created the mess we now live in."

"There are no institutions left that are authentically democratic, that are going to challenge these centrifugal forces that have brought us to where we are," he said. "That's only going to be done in the streets."

Watch the full interview:
Empire Files: Chris Hedges - Trump, Fascism & the Christian Right


FOR MY OWN EDIFICATION I HAVE INCLUDED THIS ARTICLE ON NEO-LIBERALISM*. I HOPE IT WILL IMPROVE YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND PLEASURE ALSO. FROM WHAT I SEE HERE, THIS ISN’T AT ALL WHAT I THOUGHT “LIBERALISM,” MEANS. I AM AFRAID THE CENTRISTS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY MAY BELIEVE IN THIS. THE DEMOCRATS AIN’T WHAT THEY USED TO BE, YOU KNOW.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/neoliberalism
Neoliberalism
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
WRITTEN BY: Nicola Smith
See Article History

Neoliberalism, ideology and policy model that emphasizes the value of free market competition. Although there is considerable debate as to the defining features of neoliberal thought and practice, it is most commonly associated with laissez-faire economics. In particular, neoliberalism is often characterized in terms of its belief in sustained economic growth as the means to achieve human progress, its confidence in free markets as the most-efficient allocation of resources, its emphasis on minimal state intervention in economic and social affairs, and its commitment to the freedom of trade and capital.

READ MORE ON THIS TOPIC
Read More default image
governance: Neoliberalism
Those who advocate neoliberalism argue that the state is inherently inefficient when compared with markets. Often, neoliberals also suggest that the postwar Keynesian welfare state is in crisis: it has become too large to be manageable, it is collapsing under the burden of excessive…

Although the terms are similar, neoliberalism is distinct from modern liberalism. Both have their ideological roots in the classical liberalism of the 19th century, which championed economic laissez-faire and the freedom (or liberty) of individuals against the excessive power of government. That variant of liberalism is often associated with the economist Adam Smith, who argued in The Wealth of Nations (1776) that markets are governed by an “invisible hand” and thus should be subject to minimal government interference. But liberalism evolved over time into a number of different (and often competing) traditions. Modern liberalism developed from the social-liberal tradition, which focused on impediments to individual freedom—including poverty and inequality, disease, discrimination, and ignorance—that had been created or exacerbated by unfettered capitalism and could be ameliorated only through direct state intervention. Such measures began in the late 19th century with workers’ compensation schemes, the public funding of schools and hospitals, and regulations on working hours and conditions and eventually, by the mid-20th century, encompassed the broad range of social services and benefits characteristic of the so-called welfare state.

By the 1970s, however, economic stagnation and increasing public debt prompted some economists to advocate a return to classical liberalism, which in its revived form came to be known as neoliberalism. The intellectual foundations of that revival were primarily the work of the Austrian-born British economist Friedrich von Hayek, who argued that interventionist measures aimed at the redistribution of wealth lead inevitably to totalitarianism, and of the American economist Milton Friedman, who rejected government fiscal policy as a means of influencing the business cycle (see also monetarism). Their views were enthusiastically embraced by the major conservative political parties in Britain and the United States, which achieved power with the lengthy administrations of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1979–90) and U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan (1981–89).

Neoliberal ideology and policies became increasingly influential, as illustrated by the British Labour Party’s official abandonment of its commitment to the “common ownership of the means of production” in 1995 and by the cautiously pragmatic policies of the Labour Party and the U.S. Democratic Party from the 1990s. As national economies became more interdependent in the new era of economic globalization, neoliberals also promoted free-trade policies and the free movement of international capital. The clearest sign of the new importance of neoliberalism, however, was the emergence of libertarianism as a political force, as evidenced by the increasing prominence of the Libertarian Party in the United States and by the creation of assorted think tanks in various countries, which sought to promote the libertarian ideal of markets and sharply limited governments.

Beginning in 2007, the financial crisis and Great Recession in the United States and western Europe led some economists and political leaders to reject the neoliberals’ insistence on maximally free markets and to call instead for greater government regulation of the financial and banking industries.

Nicola Smith
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica



“HIS BOOK REMINDS US OF THE DANGERS LIBERAL, DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES FACE WHEN THEY TOLERATE THE INTOLERANT.” IT’S TIME FOR A NEW CONSTITUTIONAL VIEWPOINT ON A DANGEROUS FAILURE IN TODAY’S AMERICA. THERE ARE A LARGE NUMBER OF IRRATIONAL ELEMENTS IN OUR SOCIETY TODAY. THEY ARE ACTUALLY BEING GIVEN PRECEDENCE OVER RATIONALITY, TOLERANCE, EMPATHY, AND CHANGING OUR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM IN A WAY THAT WILL MAKE THE LIVES OF THE LESS THAN TRULY MIDDLE CLASS ACCEPTABLE IN TERMS OF HEALTHCARE, FOOD, HOUSING, EDUCATION, AND TOLERANCE OF PERSONAL DIFFERENCES.

IF A PERSON IS UNABLE TO EARN ENOUGH MONEY, SHOULD THEY IN FAIRNESS, STARVE? ALSO, WHITE SKIN SHOULD NOT BE A REQUIREMENT FOR AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP AND RESIDENCE. EVERYONE WHO IS HONEST ABOUT IT KNOWS THAT THE REAL REASON PRESIDENT TRUMP AND THOSE LIKE HIM DON’T WANT IMMIGRATION FROM MEXICO AND THE MIDDLE EAST IS THAT NOT ONLY ARE THEY OF A DIFFERENT RELIGION, THEY ARE NOT AS “WHITE” AS SOME WANT THEM TO BE. AS I HEARD SOMEONE POINT OUT YEARS AGO, WE AREN’T “WHITE” EITHER. WE’RE “PINK.” JUST LOOK IN THE MIRROR AFTER SOME VIGOROUS EXERCISE AND IT WILL BE OBVIOUS.

WE NEED TO BE WILLING TO LOOK CLOSELY AT AND CHANGE OUR CONSTITUTION’S BILL OF RIGHTS. WE DO NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO INSULT, PHYSICALLY THREATEN, OR OSTRACIZE BASED ON RACE, RELIGION, GENDER AND GENDER PREFERENCE, FOR ONE THING; NOR SHOULD WE FOR ANY REASON AT ALL. IN MY YOUNG DAYS THE OLD JIM CROW SOCIETAL STRUCTURE WAS STILL ACTIVE. I DO NOT WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT. I FELT A DEFINITE SQUEEZE ON MY PERSONAL FREEDOM TO THINK AND TO ACT WITHIN MY CONSCIENCE RATHER THAN “THE GROUP CONSCIENCE” IN THE SOUTH. IT’S A LOVELY PLACE TO LIVE HERE, BUT IT ISN’T LIBERAL ENOUGH EVEN NOW; YET THE PUSH TO SEND US FLYING BACKWARD IN TIME TO THAT KIND OF SITUATION IS CLEAR NOW.

ARE RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY ALWAYS GOOD? CLEARLY NOT. OUR BILL OF RIGHTS, I AM COMING TO FEEL, NEEDS TO TIGHTEN UP TWO THINGS AT LEAST – FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH. IN FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION I MEAN EVERYTHING FROM BRAINWASHING RELIGIOUS PRACTICES TO THE FREEDOM TO MARRY A BLACK PERSON. WE HAVE THOSE FREEDOMS NOW AFTER A VERY LONG AND HARD FOUGHT STRUGGLE; AND NOW A RIGHTIST SOCIAL AND POLITICAL GROUP ARE TRYING TO TAKE THAT KIND OF PROGRESS AWAY.

I HAVE SEEN ENOUGH PROGRESSIVE BLOWBACK AGAINST TRUMPISM SINCE HE WON OFFICE TO GIVE ME HOPE AND FAITH IN OUR PEOPLE AS A WHOLE. IDIOTIC ALT-RIGHTISTS CAN RAMPAGE, YES, BUT THEY AREN’T WINNING YET. ANTIFASCIST GROUPS CAME OUT AND FOUGHT THEM, AND THE PUBLIC HERE AND ABROAD HAVE HAD A FIELD DAY ON THE INTERNET. SANDERS ISSUED A CALL AFTER THE DNC DEBACLE FOR ALL PROGRESSIVES WHO POSSIBLY CAN TO RUN FOR OFFICE. THERE HAS BEEN A LARGE NUMBER OF NEW CANDIDATES AFTER THAT, OFTEN WOMEN, AND WHAT’S MORE, MANY OF THEM ARE WINNING – A “BLUE FLOOD.” THE FEELING TODAY IS POSITIVE AND EXCITING. IT HELPS THE SANDERS MOVEMENT TREMENDOUSLY THAT TRUMP HAS SHOWN HIMSELF TO BE GENERALLY UNACCEPTABLE EVEN TO AN INCREASING NUMBER OF REPUBLICANS.

WHERE CAN WE GET HEDGES’ WORK ON THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT? AMAZON HAS IT IN KINDLE, HARDBACK, PAPERBACK AND USED. I’M GOING FOR THE USED PAPERBACK. THE PRICE CHOICES ARE HERE.

Kindle
$9.99
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Hardcover
$11.00
111 Used from $1.98
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44 New from $8.99


https://www.amazon.com/American-Fascists-Christian-Right-America/dp/0743284461

CHRIS HEDGES –
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America Paperback – January 8, 2008
by Chris Hedges (Author)

Twenty-five years ago, when Pat Robertson and other radio and televangelists first spoke of the United States becoming a Christian nation that would build a global Christian empire, it was hard to take such hyperbolic rhetoric seriously. Today, such language no longer sounds like hyperbole but poses, instead, a very real threat to our freedom and our way of life. In American Fascists, Chris Hedges, veteran journalist and author of the National Book Award finalist War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, challenges the Christian Right's religious legitimacy and argues that at its core it is a mass movement fueled by unbridled nationalism and a hatred for the open society.

Hedges, who grew up in rural parishes in upstate New York where his father was a Presbyterian pastor, attacks the movement as someone steeped in the Bible and Christian tradition. He points to the hundreds of senators and members of Congress who have earned between 80 and 100 percent approval ratings from the three most influential Christian Right advocacy groups as one of many signs that the movement is burrowing deep inside the American government to subvert it. The movement's call to dismantle the wall between church and state and the intolerance it preaches against all who do not conform to its warped vision of a Christian America are pumped into tens of millions of American homes through Christian television and radio stations, as well as reinforced through the curriculum in Christian schools. The movement's yearning for apocalyptic violence and its assault on dispassionate, intellectual inquiry are laying the foundation for a new, frightening America.

American Fascists, which includes interviews and coverage of events such as pro-life rallies and weeklong classes on conversion techniques, examines the movement's origins, its driving motivations and its dark ideological underpinnings. Hedges argues that the movement currently resembles the young fascist movements in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and '30s, movements that often masked the full extent of their drive for totalitarianism and were willing to make concessions until they achieved unrivaled power. The Christian Right, like these early fascist movements, does not openly call for dictatorship, nor does it use physical violence to suppress opposition. In short, the movement is not yet revolutionary.

But the ideological architecture of a Christian fascism is being cemented in place. The movement has roused its followers to a fever pitch of despair and fury. All it will take, Hedges writes, is one more national crisis on the order of September 11 for the Christian Right to make a concerted drive to destroy American democracy. The movement awaits a crisis. At that moment they will reveal themselves for what they truly are -- the American heirs to fascism. Hedges issues a potent, impassioned warning. We face an imminent threat. His book reminds us of the dangers liberal, democratic societies face when they tolerate the intolerant.