SIRATYST

Sunday, May 31, 2020

‘The US is the World’s worst abuser of human rights’ | Activist Margaret Kimberley

Opinion | The Police Killed George Floyd. Redirect Their Funding Elsewhere. - The New York Times

Opinion | The Police Killed George Floyd. Redirect Their Funding Elsewhere. - The New York Times: Redirect it to emergency response programs that don’t kill black people.

EXCERPT (more good ideas here, but couldn't get the whole article to post -- read it at link above):

Here’s another idea: Imagine if the
money used to pay the salaries of police officers who endlessly patrol
public housing buildings and harass residents can be used to fund plans
that residents design to keep themselves safe. The money could also pay
the salaries of maintenance and custodial workers; fund community
programs, employment and a universal basic income; or pay for upgrades
to elevators and apartment units so residents are not stuck without gas during a pandemic, as some people in Brooklyn were. The Movement for Black Lives and other social movements call for this kind of redirection of funds.

We
need to reimagine public safety in ways that shrink and eventually
abolish police and prisons while prioritizing education, housing,
economic security, mental health and alternatives to conflict and
violence. People often question the practicality of any emergency
response that excludes the police. We live in a violent society, but the
police rarely guarantee safety. Now more than ever is the time to
divest not only from police resources, but also the idea that the police
keep us safe.

Saturday, May 30, 2020

[206] Legendary Journalist Robert Scheer On The Fall Of American Journalism

IAN HANEY LÓPEZ AND ALICIA GARZA: HOW THE LEFT CAN WIN AGAIN

Friday, May 29, 2020

Requiem for the American Dream

Thursday, May 28, 2020

JOHN KIRIAKOU: Michael Flynn & the FBI Setup – Consortiumnews

Excerpt--words of Justice Robert Jackson in 1940:

“The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation that any

other person in America. His discretion is tremendous. He can have

citizens investigated and, if he is that kind of person, he can have this done
to the tune of public statements and veiled or unveiled intimations.
Or the prosecutor may choose a more subtle course and simply
have a citizen’s friends interviewed. The prosecutor can order

arrests, present cases to the grand jury in secret session, and on the

basis of his one-sided presentation of the facts, can cause the citizen

to be indicted and held for trial. He may dismiss the case before

trial, in which case the defense never has a chance to be heard. Or he

may go on with a public trial. If he obtains a conviction, the

prosecutor can still make recommendations as to sentence, as to whether

the prisoner should get probation or a suspended sentence, and after he

is put away, as to whether he is a fit subject for parole. While the

prosecutor at his best is one of the most beneficent forces in our

society, when he acts from malice or other base motives, he is one of

the worst.”

Congress is poised to pass far-reaching Israeli wish list – Mondoweiss

Congress is poised to pass far-reaching Israeli wish list – Mondoweiss:

Congress is poised to enact with little transparency its most far-reaching bill related to Israel at the height of a national public health emergency.