Human Rights – Page 30 – Glen's Parallax Perspectives

Senate must publicly expose Trump’s nominees & turn public opinion against Trumpism.

August 9, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Trump keeps nominating horribly corrupt, incompetent and dangerous right-wing nominees for powerful positions in the federal government. Democratic senators simply vote “no” but fail to take stronger actions, so these Democratic senators trap themselves in a simple defensive role. When they do that, Trump is free to keep throwing horribly corrupt, incompetent and dangerous right-wing nominees at us, one after another. Democratic senators must STAND UP for humane values, honesty, and the broad public interest. They must PUBLICLY EXPOSE Trump’s nominees as horribly corrupt, incompetent and dangerous right-wing extremists. They must REACH OUT TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC and TURN PUBLIC […]

Democrats fail to satisfy their voters, but Republicans do.

August 9, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Democrats say nice things but almost none of them follow through if elected, so Democrats are not the answer. Republicans are more ignorant and more corrupt, but at least Republicans “deliver” to their “political base.” From that standpoint, Trump has been fantastically effective as a politician. He has vigorously delivered to racists, sexists, oil companies, big business, polluters, and right-wing religious extremists. For many years in the past several decades Democrats had held the Presidency and both houses of Congress. Just imagine if Democrats had acted as boldly as the Republicans are doing now. Just imagine if Democrats had really […]

A court victory for civil resistance vs. nuclear weapons!

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

On May 12, 2018, Mother’s Day, members of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action blocked the road leading into the Trident Nuclear Submarine base at Bangor in Kitsap County WA. (They were on the county’s side of the line, not on the federal side.) On Friday July 27 the defendants had their mitigation hearings. Larry Kerschner, a Vietnam veteran who is now a pacifist living in Centralia WA presented his statement to Judge Jeffrey J. Jahns. Larry was pleased and surprised when the judge responded to Larry’s statement by reducing his $68 fine to zero. The judge reduced all the […]

Larry Mosqueda’s insightful article explains the immigration crisis

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

On July 27, 2018, Larry Mosqueda published at CounterPunch his new article about the current immigration “crisis.” His article corrects the misunderstandings that are widespread throughout the U.S. government, mainstream media, and the general public. He invites us to share it with other people, so I’m sharing it with you through my blog, www.parallaxperspectives.org. You will be able to read it in the August 2018 issue of Works in Progress, Olympia’s progressive monthly newspaper. See a paper copy or www.olywip.org Here is the link to read it at CounterPunch: https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/07/27/on-the-origins-of-the-current-immigration-crisis-at-the-border/

Experts say evidence proves the U.S. is a dying democracy. “Regime change” here?

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Experts now rank the U.S. among the world’s DECLINING DEMOCRACIES. This article provides information: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/7/7/1778307/-Experts-now-rank-the-United-States-among-the-world-s-declining-democracies?detail=emaildkre Here is another article about this, drawing from the same original information: https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/07/03/one-third-of-the-worlds-population-lives-in-a-declining-democracy-that-includes-americans/ A former intelligence officer says we’re in serious danger of losing American constitutional republic forever. Putin manipulated the US’s 2016 election. Trump is Putin’s tool. This is very scary! Many Americans are tired of hearing about Russia, but this is the real story. Read the article at this link: https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/former-intelligence-officer-malcolm-nance-were-cusp-losing-american-constitutional?src=newsletter1094168 A constitutional law professor wrote this strong article about the constitutional crisis Trump has been causing. Read the article […]

More about Trump’s blatantly racist, xenophobic, partisan “citizenship” question in 2020 census

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Recently I posted several news items — and action alerts — about Trump’s decision to add a question on the 2020 census asking about each person’s citizenship. That post explained why it is blatantly racist, xenophobic and partisan. See that post at this link: http://parallaxperspectives.org/urgent-info-and-action-alert-protect-the-2020-census-from-trumps-abuse Now here are two more news items: #1: A lawsuit was filed to stop the “citizenship” question. A judge said the case can move ahead because there is enough evidence that the “citizenship question” could illegally discriminate. Here is the link to an article about this progress in that lawsuit: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/census-citizenship-question-lawsuit_us_5b59efa5e4b0b15aba96689f?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=__Politics_072618&utm_content=__Politics_072618+Version+A+CID_e1b9fde71c1a334ec6b1d6600b7ccca6&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=A%20judge%20said%20a%20lawsuit%20challenging%20a%20citizenship%20question%20on%20the%202020%20census%20can%20advance&ncid=newsltushpmgnews__Politics_072618 #2: A […]

Democracy’s threats are deeper than Russia.

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Mainstream media and the official Democratic Party want us to think that Russia is the main threat to American democracy. The actual threats are different and much more deep-seated. While Russia clearly did bad things to American democracy during the 2016 election — and before and since — focusing on Russia is a clever distraction promoted by people who want us to ignore the much more serious threats. Trump won in 2016 largely because so many Americans were disgusted with the status quo. Over the years, public opinion polls kept showing increasing numbers of people saying the U.S. is on […]

Community Affirmation: Peace, Not Nuclear Weapons

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

This Community Affirmation was affirmed at the June 1982 International Religious Convocation for the Second United Nations Special Session on Disarmament. It remains timely today. Community Affirmation We who live in the shadow of the mushroom cloud and the dangers of bullets on our streets Today declare our hope in the future. From the diversity of our religious traditions We have come to renew our belief in the holiness of the earth and the sanctity of all life. We declare we are at peace with all people of good will. We need no leader to define […]

Declaration of Independence from Nuclear Weapons

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

This document was created in 1985 and is still an important and positive alternative to our current crisis. May we all join in! Dozens of persons (including me) signed this document on Fourth of July weekend of 1985 in a ceremony outside the Trident Nuclear Submarine base at Bangor in Kitsap County WA. Ten years later dozens more signed it in a renewal of the original ceremony. MAY WE ALL JOIN TOGETHER IN AFFIRMING IT NOW, decades later! Declaration of Independence from Nuclear Weapons We are people living in the shadow of nuclear annihilation. We recognize that our present way […]

ACLU’s “People Power” movement can help you protec civil liberties and civil rights.

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

While the American Civil Liberties Union (www.aclu.org) works hard in court rooms and in Congress and state legislatures, they also are increasingly organizing and supporting people to volunteer effectively at the local grassroots level. I encourage you to consider working with their People Power campaign (www.peoplepower.org). They can help you work on voting rights, immigrant rights, racial justice, and many other areas of concern.

Voters do want prosecutors to be PROGRESSIVE, not “tough-on-crime.”

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In almost every state, the voters elect their local prosecuting attorneys. For many years prosecutors were elected and re-elected by being “tough-on-crime,” and public opinion seemed to support “lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key” policies. Mainstream media kept reinforcing that stereotype, and both of the big political parties bought into it. We were very stuck. But finally people are paying attention to the RESEARCH that PROVES those “tough-on-crime” laws and policies DO NOT WORK. Also, voters want to replace those with fair and just reforms. Besides being seriously biased by race and economic class, they are grossly unjust and they waste taxpayers’ money. Now the […]

Norway’s Prime Minister rebuffed Trump’s stupid immigration statement

July 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In January 2018 when Trump referred to Haiti and African countries as “shithole” countries, he said he’d be OK with having immigrants come from [white countries such as] Norway. Immediately Norway’s Prime Minister rebuffed Trump’s racist ignorance by saying more people are going from the U.S. to Norway than from there to here. Here is an article about that: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/1/24/1735614/-A-quick-message-from-Norway-s-Prime-Minister?detail=emaildkre Trump pretends to like Norway. Wouldn’t he be surprised to find out what Norway really has? A peaceful foreign policy! Health care for everyone! High taxes for rich people and corporations! A huge social safety net! A truly humane and […]

A public school district PUNISHES its LBGT students by FORCING them to read the Bible.

July 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

A public school district is PUNISHING its LGBT students by FORCING them to read the Bible. This is wrong on so many levels! 1. A public school district is wrong to punish LGBT students. 2. No public school district should be promoting any religion. 3. A religion’s scriptures should be a joy to read and ponder. Forcing people to read them totally destroys the value of scriptures. Such an authoritarian command paints religion as a punishment, so it is actually hurting religion. 4. The U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion. Specifically, the Constitution prohibits government from imposing any […]

Freedom of Religion Does NOT Give Permission to Hurt Other People

July 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In 1993 the U.S. Congress — with broad support by congressional members of both big political parties and much grassroots support across the political spectrum — passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to explicitly protect people’s free exercise of religion. This is especially important for religious minorities. Example #1: Suppose your employer expects you to work on your holy day. The RFRA supports your effort to exchange that work day for a different day. Example #2: Suppose your religion expects you to wear something special on your head or grow your beard out, but your employer or some law […]

Practical and urgent reasons to PROTECT THE WHOLE WORLD’S CLIMATE

July 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Many people seem to think that the climate issue is just another add-on issue to the really important issues (economics, immigration, etc.) that keep getting our attention. WRONG! The climate crisis is a truly existential crisis — like nuclear weapons — that must be solved immediately if civilization is to survive. The climate crisis is both a symptom and a driver of other crucial issues. The climate crisis is tied up intimately with other crucial issues such as the environment, immigration, governmental corruption, wars for oil, and other factors and consequences. The Pentagon has long recognized the climate crisis as […]