Judicial and Constitutional – Page 15 – Glen's Parallax Perspectives

Restore and protect felons’ right to vote

April 30, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Elections would turn out MUCH BETTER if people were not denied their right to vote. This pertains to people of color, poor people, students living outside of their home districts, and people who have been convicted of felonies. Only Maine and Vermont allow imprisoned felons to vote, and some are allowing people to regain their voting rights after being released from prison. Those reforms need to be strengthened and expanded to all states. Here are some items to help with that: SIGN THIS PETITION: On April 28, 2019, Democracy for America (www.democracyforamerica.com) sent this e-mail (edited here to reduce […]

Replace the Electoral College with nationwide Popular Vote

April 23, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Trump is President even though more people voted for his opponent. This has happened several times in U.S. history because the Electoral College — not the total number of votes cast — decides who will be President. When the U.S. Constitution was framed, many compromises were allowed in order to get the various states to adopt it. One of the compromises is the Electoral College. It is very UNDEMOCRATIC because it gives states with small populations much more relative power than populous states. The Electoral College gives each state the number of votes that is the total of its U.S. […]

Death penalty cases at U.S. Supreme Court: Information and insights

April 22, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

The death penalty is wrong in so many ways, but the conservative Republicans who dominate the U.S. Supreme Court have trouble recognizing the problems. Although they claim to be “pro-life,” they keep supporting death. This article provides interesting information and insights: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/04/13/1850008/-Death-At-The-Court?detail=emaildkcs

The Sentencing Project performs excellent research and advocacy. Here is their 2018 Annual Report.

April 13, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

For a long number of years I have been impressed by the very high quality of research and advocacy conducted by The Sentencing Project (www.sentencingproject.org). I have been donating financial support too. In March 2019 The Sentencing Project released its 2018 Annual Report. Among other things it shows how this great non-profit organization has been intelligently and vigorously been supporting what it calls “a rapidly growing consensus that we must reduce the country’s misguided reliance on mass incarceration.” Read their 2018 Annual Report at this link: https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Annual-Report-2018.pdf?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=3c52607d-63f7-47e6-b14c-7e3ac7965612

Trump extradites Julian Assange — a dangerous escalation of Trump’s war on honest journalism.

April 12, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Julian Assange, the Australian computer expert, journalist, and founder of Wikileaks, became well-known for publishing information about the U.S.’s wars and other information that embarrassed the U.S. government and other governments. Under Obama, the U.S. government tried to take legal action, but Assange lived in sanctuary in Ecuador’s embassy in London. Now Trump has taken strong action to extradite him. If he is brought to the U.S., we can expect the Trump regime to vigorously prosecute him for more crimes than the “hacking” charge that they are using to extradite him. This is a major escalation on Trump’s war against […]

This cartoon shows the real power that people have over politicians

March 31, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Politicians and the mainstream media want us to think that the politicians are powerful and we are merely “subjects” over whom they rule. Actually, grassroots “people-power” is much stronger — IF WE CHOOSE TO USE OUR POWER. Thomas Jefferson and our nation’s other founders understood that “WE THE PEOPLE” are in charge. We create governments and elect politicians to act on our behalf, but if they abuse the power we have loaned (NOT “given”) to them, we can pull our power back again and make better choices. A smart political cartoon makes a very clear point. CLICK THIS LINK: Cartoon […]

The media keep failing to hold Trump accountable. Sign this petition.

March 29, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

During 2015-2016 mainstream news media gave Trump billions of dollars of free publicity. They treated his campaign as entertainment and utterly failed to hold him accountable. Except for some fact-checking, they still let Trump dictate what issues they will cover, and his statements always are in the lead paragraphs. Now that the Mueller Report has been completed, mainstream news media are obediently repeating the deceptive propaganda voiced by Trump’s Attorney General William Barr. Barr has a LONG HISTORY OF COVERING UP REPUBLICAN CRIMES, going back to the Reagan era. That’s why Trump appointed him to be A.G. Barr “summarized” more […]

The U.S. should become a positive, responsible member of the world community. Join and respect the International Criminal Court (ICC).

March 29, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Trump keeps rebuffing the rest of the world by withdrawing the U.S. from treaties (the INF treaty limiting nuclear weapons, the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate deal, etc., etc., etc.) Now he is hostile toward the International Criminal Court (ICC). On March 15, 2019, Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. will deny or revoke visas for International Criminal Court staff. This rude rebuff is intended to impede a potential investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan. More than 120 other nations have signed on to the Rome […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Remove Washington State’s death penalty law altogether.

January 31, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

In October 2018, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled our state’s death penalty unconstitutional because of pervasive, systemic racial bias. Now in February 2019 the State Senate is considering Senate Bill 5339 to remove the law altogether. I will testify to the State Senate’s Committee on Law and Justice at 10:00 a.m. February 5, 2019. Here is a longer version of what I will say. The time for each person’s testimony is short, so I will mention only the main points, but the document at this link includes supporting information. I hope you will find it useful. TESTIMONY 2019.02.05 […]

Urge Congress to pass “No First Use” legislation to restrict nuclear war

January 30, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

SUPPORT the “No First Use” bills. S.200 and H.R. 669 are companions. Senator Markey and Rep. Lieu introduced Senate and House legislation that would limit Trump’s (or any subsequent president’s) ability to launch nuclear weapons. Their legislation would prohibit any U.S. President from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress. The U.S. Constitution explicitly states that only Congress can declare war, but since 1945 presidents have claimed the de facto power to start the most horribly destructive war possible without any congressional approval, and Congress has allowed that unconstitutional power to persist. We must restore […]

Do NOT wait for Mueller’s report. IMPEACH Trump for MANY MORE REASONS!

January 20, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

The Mueller investigation is focusing on only a very narrow range of Trump’s crimes (the Russia-related ones). Trump has committed MANY MORE crimes of MANY DIFFERENT kinds. And Trump has VIOLATED THE CONSTITUTION in MANY ways. All of those are IMPEACHABLE OFFENSES. When Democrats tell us that they won’t start impeachment proceedings because they are waiting for the Mueller report, THEY ARE DELIBERATELY REFUSING TO ACT RESPONSIBLY. Every member of Congress took an oath of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. THEY ARE LEGALLY AND MORALLY RESPONSIBLE TO PROTECT CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT FROM TRUMP’S ABUSES, so THEY THEMSELVES are […]