Governmental Abuses

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WA’s U.S. senators Murray and Cantwell were VERY RELUCTANT to support HR 1, the anti-corruption bill.

March 28, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

American voters are VERY ANGRY AT THE PERVASIVE CORRUPTION AND ABUSES that have prevented honest democracy.  Finally in 2019 the Democratic majority in the U.S. House passed H.R. 1, a major pro-democracy reform bill that would: • REDUCE the influence of big money in politics by calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. • STRENGTHEN election integrity and voting rights by improving access to the voting booth, make Election Day a federal holiday, fund more secure elections, end gerrymandering, etc. • REFORM campaign finance and ethics laws that would keep elected officials and others holding office accountable. • […]

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Fascinating info: How UW research convinced our state’s highest court to toss out the death penalty

March 28, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Some of my previous posts to my blog have provided information about the Washington State Supreme Court’s UNANIMOUS decision in October 2018 that the death penalty is UNCONSTITUTIONAL because of its long pattern of racial bias. I followed this case after having heard the main defense lawyer speak to an audience in Tacoma in May 2016. We expected a decision that autumn, but the prosecution delayed the case by getting their own “expert witness.” In the end, the U.W. professors’ research convinced the Washington State Supreme Court to rule our state’s death penalty unconstitutional based on their research proving a […]

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Trump wants HUGE INCREASE for Pentagon budget and SERIOUS CUTS in programs that help people.

March 28, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

The federal budget hurts people locally in order to divert money from social programs into more military violence that hurts people worldwide. Let’s mobilize a “people-power” movement to reverse federal budget priorities! We need diplomacy, not war. We need to SLASH the Pentagon budget and FULLY FUND programs to meet human needs.   See information from the National Priorities Project (www.nationalpriorities.org).  See information from them and from the Institute for Policy Studies (www.ips-dc.org), including this:  http://nationalpriorities.activehosted.com/index.php?action=social&chash=5b8add2a5d98b1a652ea7fd72d942dac.410&s=5d8539df492ecae31f82493446c9564b and this:  https://www.nationalpriorities.org/blog/2019/03/25/trump-budget-trade-offs-2020/   Trump’s budget proposal calls for a HUGE INCREASE in the Pentagon’s budget, which is already BLOATED and funds massive violence. […]

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INCREASED BOMBING of Afghanistan is causing civilian deaths to reach RECORD HIGH NUMBERS

March 26, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S.’s war in Afghanistan is the longest-running war in U.S. history.  It has no real purpose — no goal — and no real plan for “winning” — whatever “winning” might mean.  It just goes on and on. Trump is increasing the bombing.  Trump’s bombing is causing civilian deaths to reach RECORD HIGH NUMBERS. Congress and mainstream media ignore this. This article provides important information: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/25/us-dropping-more-and-more-bombs-afghan-civilian-deaths-hit-record-high-2018?cd-origin=rss&utm_term=With%20US%20Dropping%20%27More%20and%20More%20Bombs%2C%27%20Afghan%20Civilian%20Deaths%20Hit%20Record%20High%20in%202018&utm_campaign=Daily%20Newsletter%20-%20During%20Fundraiser%20-%20WITH%20Fundraising%20Message&utm_content=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_medium=email&cm_mmc=Act-On%20Software-_-email-_-%27A%20World%20Without%20Clouds.%20Think%20About%20That%20a%20Minute%27%20%7C%20News%20%2526%20Views-_-With%20US%20Dropping%20%27More%20and%20More%20Bombs%2C%27%20Afghan%20Civilian%20Deaths%20Hit%20Record%20High%20in%202018

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17 Years, 41 Military Operations, 19 Countries. It’s Time to Repeal the 2001 AUMF

March 26, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

The people who founded the U.S. knew that Europe’s top leaders kept starting wars that hurt their nation, so when they wrote the U.S. Constitution they specified that the president could NOT unilaterally start a war.  A war could start ONLY IF Congress EXPLICITLY DECLARED war. After the 9-11-2001 attacks, the Bush-Cheney regime steamrollered many bad things through Congress (including the PATRIOT Act).  They also pushed Congress into ABDICATING ITS CONSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITY to make decisions about going to war.  Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) law, which UNCONSTITUTIONALLY empowered the President to start any wars he […]

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In December 2018 Congress passed the “FIRST STEP ACT” to reform prison sentencing.

March 24, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

For several decades the U.S.’s criminal “justice” system — at federal, state and local levels — was dominated by harsh, vindictive laws and policies.  Politicians were elected on platforms promising to “lock them up and throw away the key.”  Of course, those cruelties were especially biased against people who were already victimized by political and cultural systems.  People of color, people with mental disabilities, people suffering from poverty and substance abuse were especially victimized.  They were “collateral damage” in this “war on crime” and “war on drugs.” Science has always refuted that cruelty.  Bit by bit the reality has been […]

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Conservatism is fatally flawed. Now is the time to debunk conservatism.

March 24, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Decades ago the U.S. had “liberals” who supported FDR’s New Deal and who tended to support labor and civil rights. Our nation also had “conservatives” who accepted the New Deal and who tended toward business interests instead of labor.  They were “conservative,” not cruel. But now the “conservatives” have run off the rails into extreme right-wing cruelty.  Many are blatantly sexist and racist (with Trump campaigning and governing without the “dog whistle” subtlety).  The Republican Party has effectively merged with the Religious Right, and some of those people want to impose right-wing Christianity as the U.S.’s national religion.  Nearly all […]

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Some state govts OFFICIALLY DENY CLIMATE SCIENCE. Their ENFORCED IGNORANCE will hurt them and us.

March 24, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Florida and North Carolina state governments OFFICIALLY DENY CLIMATE SCIENCE.   But the truth is true whether you like it or not.  ENFORCED IGNORANCE will NOT “make America great.”  Instead, it will hurt the societies that refuse to accept reality. A friend sent me an article that includes the following paragraph. I boldfaced three parts that were web links in the original paragraph.  The first link refers to North Carolina. The second link refers to Florida. Both are at severe risk of climate disruptions, including storms and sea level rise. Those states’ governments outlawed honest science regarding public policy about […]

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See Venezuela’s Crisis in the Context of the U.S.’s Foreign Policy

March 22, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

U.S. Foreign Policy Has Serious Implications for Us. Venezuela: Trump and the U.S. government have escalated economic sanctions and military threats against Venezuela, a sovereign democracy. Trump is continuing the bi-partisan U.S. belligerence that has occurred ever since Venezuela elected Hugo Chavez president in 1998. He was re-elected twice and invested Venezuela’s oil wealth to improve nutrition, health, education, and housing before he died in 2013. A few rich people have been hurting the majority poor population. Chavez’s “socialism” angered economic elites, who did not want to lose their economic and political privileges. The U.S. supported the 2002 coup that […]

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U.S. gov’t punishes immigrant workers but lets nasty employers break labor laws

March 22, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S. government and conservatives make a big deal about clamping down on undocumented immigrants who get jobs in the U.S., but the U.S. government and conservatives fail to enforce the laws that should be holding unscrupulous employers accountable for breaking the law. Page 28 of an article in the April 2019 issue of “In These Times” magazine reports: “ICE’s 2018 budget for its enforcement and removal department was $4.8 billion, while the Department of Labor’s 2018 budget for its wage and hour department was $280 million.  We spent 20 times the amount chasing unauthorized immigrants than we did chasing […]

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How We Got into Our Current Crisis — and How to Get Out

March 16, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

This essay is long (29 pages) but worth reading because it is smart, insightful, and profound. Click either the Word version (the first link) or the .pdf version (the second link). How We Got into Our Current Crisis – And How to Get Out — THOROUGH article How We Got into Our Current Crisis – And How to Get Out — THOROUGH article

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“What’s Wrong with the Missing Middle”

March 10, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

The March 2019 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” TV series is an interview with Judy Bardin and Jim Keogh, two very knowledgeable Olympia residents who have researched — and want the public to understand — the “Missing Middle” scheme that the City of Olympia adopted recently. The “Missing Middle” is a massive up-zone that will seriously disrupt many neighborhoods and cause several kinds of problems. The City railroaded it through without the necessary public information and conversation that are necessary for an honest democracy.   To watch the interview, CLICK THIS LINK:  Missing Middle interview. Glen typed up a very […]

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Updates: Protect the 2020 census from Trump’s anti-immigrant bias

March 9, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Four times before I had posted information about Trump’s scheme to pervert the 2020 census in order to hurt immigrants and the communities where immigrants live now.  Those previous posts provide background, for today’s post, which provides newer information, including a way for Congress to fix the problem. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: On January 3, 2019, I posted this update on my previous posts:  http://parallaxperspectives.org/federal-judge-blocks-trumps-immigration-question-on-2020-census On November 13, 2018, I posted this:  http://parallaxperspectives.org/trumps-anti-immigrant-2020-census-question-is-going-to-court Previously, on July 22, 2018, I posted this:  http://parallaxperspectives.org/more-about-trumps-blatantly-racist-xenophobic-partisan-citizenship-question-in-2020-census Initially, on July 17, 2018, I posted this:  http://parallaxperspectives.org/urgent-info-and-action-alert-protect-the-2020-census-from-trumps-abuse   NEW INFORMATION and ACTIONS: From February 2019 here are FOUR […]

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Interesting information — and some satire — about Trump’s “Wall”

March 7, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Watch this brilliant, funny, VERY SHORT video about “walls” : https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/2/6/1832784/-New-Mexico-s-new-governor-releases-hilariously-quirky-video-literally-busting-thru-Trump-s-wall?detail=emaildkre   Here is another great 1-minute satirical video about Trump’s “wall emergency” : http://www.markfiore.com/january-march-2019/2019/2/20/its-a-wall-emergency?ss_source=sscampaigns&ss_campaign_id=5c78396f17d9610001979274&ss_email_id=5c784314b6eaa40001713af4&ss_campaign_name=New+Animation%3A+Stormy+Summit+and+A+Wall+Emergency&ss_campaign_sent_date=2019-02-28T20%3A24%3A42Z   Beto O’Rourke’s good video about immigrants and Trump’s insane border wall: Although Beto O’Rourke (from Texas) is not very progressive about some things (e.g., he is very subservient to big business), he has good values related to protecting human rights, and he is eager to reach out to the public on behalf of minorities, immigrants, and other folks whose human rights are in danger.  This 7-minute video is good:  https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/the-border-has-never-been-as-safe-and-secure-as-it-is-now-1442974787669   Trump’s thinking is […]