As Ukraine fights for it’s life ,the “greatest democracy in the world” waits for Justice to prevail and charge the lawless grifter of a 45th President and partners in crime with criminal activities that riddled his presidency.
Bannon & Trump salute fans in the museum.
If US Attorney General Merrick Garland is asleep at the wheel of justice as lawless authoritarian forces hold democracy by the throat; then arguably AG Garland will be judged to have contributed as much to the erosion of democratic principles of law and order as Donald Trump and his Republican sycophants.
anonymous
Excepted from New York Times article “Will Donald Trump get away with inciting an insurrection?” By Laurence H. Tribe, Donald Ayer and Dennis Aftergut
| Dec. 25, 2021, 11:00 a.m.
In his nine months in office, Attorney General Merrick Garland has done a great deal to restore integrity and evenhanded enforcement of the law to an agency that was badly misused for political reasons under his predecessor. But his place in history will be assessed against the challenges that confronted him. And the overriding test that he and the rest of the government face is the threat to our democracy from people bent on destroying it.
Garland’s success depends on ensuring that the rule of law endures. That means dissuading future coup plotters by holding the leaders of the insurrection fully accountable for their attempt to overthrow the government. But he cannot do so without a robust criminal investigation of those at the top, from the people who planned, assisted or funded the attempt to overturn the Electoral College vote to those who organized or encouraged the mob attack on the Capitol. To begin with, he might focus on Mark Meadows, Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastmanand even Donald Trump — all of whom were involved, in one way or another, in the events leading up to the attack.
Almost a year after the insurrection, we have yet to see any clear indicators that such an investigation is underway, raising the alarming possibility that this administration may never bring charges against those ultimately responsible for the attack.
Watch the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. This mission is scheduled to lift off at 7:20 a.m. EST (12:20 UTC), Dec. 25, 2021, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Centre.
NASA James Webb Space Telescope Deployment Sequence VIDEO
Sen. Joe Manchin delivered a potentially fatal blow to President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda. The conservative Democrat from West Virginia said he can no longer support the Build Back Better social spending plan, nor would he be in favor of changing filibuster rules to pass voting rights legislation.
“I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can’t.“I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there. … This is a no on this legislation. I have tried everything I know to do.”
Senator No Manchin
Build Back Better was the centerpiece of Biden’s domestic plans. Included in the bill were proposals to improve health care, fix immigration, help Americans with child care costs, and address climate change.
UPDATED on December 17/2022 from December 13/2020 post & December 18/2021 post
Seems Elon continues to deserve the award every year.What an uber achiever !
In the tradition of grifter capitalism another capitalist grifter leverages the state socialist policies for predatory grifter capitalist outcomes and makes the cover of Time magazine as a reward or something like that…(still working with the algorithm to get it more precise)
It’s entirely possible that this carnival barker of a CEO will continue finding crafty ways to extract tax breaks and favorable contracts from government entities for the rest of his career. But we should be alive to the ways in which Musk’s reputation is built on a faulty foundation of borrowed money and worker exploitation. To Musk, the government is only useful in helping to enrich him, and he otherwise expects it to stay the hell out of his way. The problem is that he is now powerful and rich enough to get his wish. For all his supposed brilliance in developing electric vehicles and rockets, this may be his greatest talent: grifting the government. In doing so, he’s creating a roadmap for reform, if politicians care to notice. Jacob Silverman @SilvermanJacob
Court Painter comes through again with public service images in aid of society’s desire for a simple two step guide to assist with decision making in health, art investing, severe weather events and fool proof pastry recipes.
“Collect data sets and play the percentages !
Press Attache A Hardon MacKay expressed some hesitation with releasing these images …”it is more complicated and not so simple or common sensical in our pandemic informed digital times”, he sputtered. Court Painter however insists non mathematicians do not have to be Rockette dancers to figure how to follow the simple two step…Collect data sets and play the percentages!
Indigenous peoples can’t even gather together to voice their demands for bettertreatment, without getting an alarmed response from the federal government and the RCMP.
OTTAWA—It must be nice to not to fear the national police. It must be reassuring to have a level of trust in them. That trust is misplaced in the RCMP.
Journalists Amber Bracken and Michael Toledano were arrested along with Sleydo’ and others working to protect the land against the Coastal GasLink Pipeline. The RCMP tracked the two journalists in their active investigations’ database, and destroyed their equipment, according to The Narwhal. Not to mention that the details around use of force by police at Wet’suwet’en to arrest citizens is alarming as it sounds too much like states with issues with, well, police brutality. Tanks, sniper rifles, chainsaws, full tactical gear as if they were going to war.
Indigenous peoples can’t even gather together to voice their demands for better treatment, without getting an alarmed response from the federal government. Let’s ask the Government Operations Centre just how many times it has been activated for Indigenous demonstrations. Sorry, Indigenous protests, let’s use that ‘correct’ term. Wow, we are that scary, eh.
Imagine this. There was talk of building a new bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau at Kettle Island, very close to Manor Park. Imagine if the Manor Park neighbourhood were divided on the issue of building a highway—some supported it and some did not. Imagine if some families demonstrated against the bridge building. Imagine if the police stormed that demonstration in tanks, with sniper rifles that use five-inch long bullets, carrying chain saws to break down any barriers to arrest those Canadians. Imagine if the police blocked cellphones and WiFi to ensure they could do their evil without anybody knowing.
Alarming? Yes, it’s alarming for so many reasons. Because it would be called a demonstration if it happened in Rockcliffe, not a blockade. Because there would be tens of national and international media outlets covering it. Because it would be called an illegal action. The harsh truth is that nesting barn swallows can stop a bridge development in Ottawa (Jockvale Bridge), but First Nations can be brutally taken down when they try to protect their lands.
It seems journalists are now at risk of illegal arrest by the RCMP almost as much as Indigenous peoples. Indigenous journalists should have lawyers on speed dial. When journalists sharing truth are seen as a national risk by the RCMP, every Canadian should be worried.
Canada is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 26 asserts that “all persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law.” Indigenous peoples don’t receive the same treatment when they demonstrate, as do other Canadians. Canada is a signatory to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which targets racial discrimination under law as well as to guard against discriminatory effects of the law. Indigenous peoples don’t receive the same treatment by the RCMP as non-Indigenous Canadians.
Then there’s the sexual harassment within the RCMP. The 2017 Report into Workplace Harassment in the RCMP says the organization is unable to address the issues—it is a failed institution.
When Global Affairs Canada hosted the Global Conference for Media Freedom in 2019 that led to the Global Pledge on Media Freedom, one wonders if the federal department realized the issue in its own backyard.
When Indigenous peoples are seen as a risk just for speaking up together, democracy is at risk. Let’s be frank here. The RCMP is a failed institution on many fronts, so much so that Canadians should be worried. We are now all at risk.
Rose LeMay is Tlingit from the West Coast and the CEO of the Indigenous Reconciliation Group. She writes twice a month about Indigenous inclusion and reconciliation. In Tlingit worldview, the stories are the knowledge system, sometimes told through myth and sometimes contradicting the myths told by others. But always with at least some truth.
