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Apr 10

LAPD High Crimes

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by Stephen Lendman
Michael Ruppert is a former LAPD cop. He knows its dark side well. He witnessed it firsthand.
Its rap sheet includes corruption, abuse of power, complicity with CIA drugs trafficking, unjustified arrests, beatings, murder, perjury, witness tampering, evidence planting, frame-ups, coverups, racism, sadism, and other crimes.
It wants its dirty secrets kept hidden. They’re ugly and longstanding. Many examples bear witness. In March 2000, news reports revealed LAPD Rampart Division Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) unit criminality.
It included unjustified arrests, beatings, drug dealing, witness intimidation, murder, evidence planting, frame-ups and perjury.
An organized criminal subculture exists. Anti-gang officers and supervisors run it. They “celebrate” shootings. They get away with murder.
Earlier LAPD criminality surfaced. Officers shot unarmed gang members, committed perjury, filed false reports, stole drugs from dealers, obstructed justice, beat, framed and robbed people, and were involved in other misconduct.
Two decades ago, Rodney King’s beating made headlines. Similar ones go unnoticed. They happen ad nauseam. People of color are most vulnerable. Victims are called perpetrators. LA cops beat, kill and abuse with impunity. It’s standard practice.
Ruppert commented on Christopher Dorner. He told Russia Today:
“From my own experience as a Los Angeles police Officer and deep familiarity with both LAPD culture and history, I can say that with regards to Christopher Dorner’s allegations regarding internal corruption, favoritism, racism and concealment of excessive force, I believe him 100%.”
“My life as an investigative journalist focusing extensively on military, paramilitary and covert operations gives me absolute certainty that this man is an extremely dangerous weapon.”
“He is killing here in the United States the way too many US service members have killed routinely and with much less concern about Rules of Engagement overseas for decades.”
“I am also certain that his presence on the streets and any
new engagements will put stresses on huge fault lines within law enforcement agencies in Southern California.”
“This man needs to be brought in alive and he needs to be heard.”
He never got a chance. LAPD cops killed him. Ruppert predicted they would. They wanted him silenced. A SWAT team may have gunned him down.
They surrounded his cabin. Gas was pumped in. LAPD cops made reference to “burners.” One voice said “We’re going to burn him out.  Another shouted “f…king burn this motherf…king house down.” One more said “Seven burners were deployed and we have a fire.”
Voices were loud enough for CBS affiliate KCAL 9 to broadcast them live on air. Immediately the audio feed was cut.
What happened was reminiscent of immolating Branch Davidian’s Mount Carmel Waco ranch compound in 1993.
Eighty-four innocent men, women and children died. They were murdered in cold blood. Attorney General Janet Reno’s special counsel whitewashed a federal investigation.
Key facts were suppressed. Wrongdoing was ignored. Atrocities passed under the radar. Washington got away with murder.
So did LAPD cops. They set Dorner’s cabin ablaze. Fire department units were ordered not to respond. Dorner was incinerated. He never had a chance. Hours later his charred body was found.
He expected to die. He said so on Facebook. Different versions of his manifesto exist. It denounces dozens of LAPD cops for corruption, racism and violence.
On February 7, two Riverside police officers were shot. One died. Dorner was blamed. A massive manhunt ensued. High-tech surveillance and indiscriminate shootings followed.
Rogue cops don’t apologize for wrongdoing. Dorner knew how they operated. He went public explaining it. Doing so marked him for death. LAPD officials wanted him silenced. Extrajudicial killing is policy. Dead men tell no tales.
LA police don’t protect and serve. They abuse. They target suspicious suspects and people of color brutally. They use deadly force. Dorner witnessed things firsthand. His experience made him violent.
In 2007, he witnessed white training officer, Sgt. Teresa Evans, kick an unarmed/handcuffed person of color in the stomach and face.
He reported what he saw. He was fired for doing so. An LAPD Board of Rights said he lied.
Truth-telling is hazardous. He said he “saw some of the most vile things humans can inflict on others.”
Enemy combatants in LA aren’t citizens and suspects. They’re rogue cops. LAPD’s culture breeds them. The department’s been that way for decades.
Brutal cops get promoted to supervisory and command positions. An officer involved in Rodney King’s beating became a captain.
Who said crime doesn’t pay? It does when rogue cops commit it. Many examples bear witness. On February 7, police opened fire without warning.
They fired dozens of rounds at 71-year old Emma Hernandez and her daughter Margie Carranza. They were delivering newspapers at the time.
They had no connection to Dorner. Cops claimed their vehicle matched his. So do many others.
They were put on administrative leave. Hand slap punishment at most will follow. Hernandez was shot twice in the back. She’s in intensive care. Carranza had minor wounds. No one else was hit.
A Torrence police cruiser responded to LAPD’s backup call. It rammed a pickup truck indiscriminately. Officers opened fire through its front window.
Fortunately the driver wasn’t hit. He ducked and avoided injury. He could have been killed. Fire, ready, aim is official LAPD policy. Anyone close by is vulnerable.
Mike Davis is a political activist, urban theorist, and historian. On February 11, he headlined “Exterminating Angels.”
He referenced Dorner’s manifesto. It reflects “unendurable depression that descended on (him) after his” LAPD dismissal.
Sneering acronyms taunt his former comrades. Other comments extend “sentimental acknowledgments to friends. Fan notes are included. He “passionate(ly) advocate(d) gun control.”
Perhaps he had LAPD cops in mind. Police criminality isn’t new. It’s rife in US cities and communities. It pervades them like crabgrass infests lawns.
Dorner explained “how a police Explorer Scout” went from LAPD rookie to persona non grata “for being an honest cop.” He debunked notions about a kinder, gentler, more diverse LAPD.
He witnessed indiscriminate sadism, racism, corruption, extrajudicial killing, conspiracies, and other high crimes. He raged at injustice. He wanted revenge.
He began by killing a cop’s daughter and fiance. Doing so doomed him. “Does anyone cheer Dorner,” Davis asked? He’s dead.
Stories like his have short shelf lives. Family, friends, people of conscience, and killer cops alone will remember.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled “Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.”
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

Aug 14

Press TV Report on Police Brutality in Amerca

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http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/14/256184/us-corporate-media-silent-police-brutality-america/

Jun 20

Obama-Aid: Psychologically Bad for Black Folk

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Originally Posted on Black Agenda Report on June 20, 2012

 

by Solomon Comissiong


“Obama supporters appear to suffer from a condition known as selective amnesia.”


In 2009 this author wrote two pieces entitled, “Barack Obama is Bad for Black America” and “Obamanity the Religion of Complicity,” detailing the psychological phenomena looming over many supporters of United States President Barack Obama – especially those who are black/African. It seemed that no matter what Obama did (especially if it was negative), his supporters would contrive any and every excuse to justify “sticking with him” and, therefore, his policies. It mattered little to Obama supporters that within his first 72 hours as US president, he ordered multiple drone strikes in Afghanistan which took the lives of innocent civilians. It mattered little that on the campaign trail his rhetoric supported an expansion of the imperialist war in Afghanistan. He followed through on that campaign promise. And it mattered little then, as it does now, that Obama routinely ignores the plight of black/African people within the pilfered borders of America.

 

Obama supporters appear to suffer from a condition known as selective amnesia (in addition to delusion); forgetting that they demanded then President George W. Bush to end the wars and “bring the troops home.” However, with Obama wars are excusable. It matters little that Obama promised to only leave “non-combat troops” in Iraq (whatever the hell a non-combat troop is), while in the same disingenuous breath vowed to ramp up the offensive in Afghanistan. The only thing that can be assured is that countless people will continue to be subjected to hell, courtesy of the US government’s insatiable appetite for war, death and destruction. To this day the Afghans and Pakistanis, like their Iraqi counterparts, suffer tremendously because their nations are occupied and destroyed by Western Grim Reapers.

It seems to matter little to his cultish supporters how much other peoples suffer from Obama’s destructive policies. It certainly did not matter when Barack Obama was a presidential candidate and US senator. His supporters did not give a damn that he backed FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) or even that he justified the amoral verdict that acquitted the murderous police officers who took the life of Sean Bell. When Obama callously told black/African people protesting the reprehensible verdict, “The judge has made his ruling, and we’re a nation of laws, so we respect the verdict that came down,” it should have served as a stark warning that he would not respect their predicament in America. Nevertheless, countless blacks/Africans rewarded him with their blind support and even donned shirts with Obama’s face juxtaposed next to Dr. Martin Luther King’s. Those that have studied the life of Dr. King (especially his last few years), know better than to compare the MLK’s philosophy with that of the brown faced war monger – Barack Obama. (Allowing white people to continue to rewrite our history facilitates an atmosphere where these kinds of ahistorical scams occur.)

MLK would never have asked black/African people not to peacefully protest a grave injustice such as the verdict that set Sean Bell’s killers free. This is not and never has been a nation of “just laws.” Obama can respect those unjust laws all he wants, however, social justice practitioners must never accept laws that routinely allow police officers to murder unarmed people of color and get away with it. If we accept these injustices, we don’t give a damn about social injustice. We must revamp this system as well as the color coded laws that operate within it.

 

Obama supporters appear to be more interested in “show and tell” games than actual social change. Obama supporters enjoyed “protesting” and complaining about the Bush Administration’s right wing Patriot Act, but they don’t say a damn thing when it comes to Obama’s signing of the NDAA (Nation Defense Authorization Act). NDAA is a ramped up and even more aggressive version of the Patriot Act.

 

Most black/African folks that continue to support Obama are merely wedded to the idea of having a brown face in the White House – no matter how filthy that house continues to be. They continue to allow their minds to be co-opted by a Euro-Centric value system. This is the only way to explain why they would continually support someone (just because he looks like them), regardless of his destructive policies. Without being fully conscious of it, many black/African people are allowing their politics to mimic that of people who could not give a damn about social justice and/or black/African people’s need to determine their own destinies.

American born Africans, of all people, should understand the value and importance of social justice and what it means to be principled in that regard. We should understand what it means to stand consistent when it comes to the necessary struggle for self-determination, for all people. Self-determination is something American born Africans have been struggling for since being kidnapped from our African homeland and brought to a land stolen and plundered by Europeans. Self-determination is something that black/African communities in America continue to struggle for, to this day. Mass incarceration (modern day slavery), police brutality/terrorism, and separate and unequal educational polices are just a few of the issues African/black communities are plagued with in 2012. These issues fall under the rubric of institutional racism – a system riddled throughout American society. Neither the Republican nor the Democratic parties are committed to seeing an end to these destructive apartheid-like policies. Their non-actions speak volumes. However, American born Africans remain devoted to a two-party dictatorship, largely because of our collective ignorance. This is why these frauds are able to send someone like Barack Obama our way and so many of us foolishly support him without ever knowing the destructive nature of many of his polices. In essence, people of color in America have allowed their collective conscience to be neutered. And not only has our morality been neutered, it has gobbled up by a Euro-American value system that has never represented our collective interests, or those of people outside US borders who we should be unflinchingly in solidarity with.

Obama, like his Euro-American predecessors, has waged war and taken untold lives in places like Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. During the Bush years American born Africans found the Bush Administration’s wars unacceptable. Those same people are now silent with Obama at the helm. They have become Obama’s sheep-like “army” of supporters. And in doing so, they have accepted the imposition of Euro-American imperialism throughout the globe. These wars do not benefit us as African/black people in any way, shape, or form. We have been sold a disgusting bag of goods, simply because have accepted our political training from an oppressive system – the same system that built an empire upon African slave labor and on stolen land.

Those whose land was stolen by the ancestors of Euro-Americans are now deemed “illegal aliens.” Most are commonly mislabeled as “Latinos” or “Hispanics”. They are actually Spanish speaking Indigenous people. Many Indigenous nations such as the Lakota, now find themselves on reservations within a white settler state (America). Untold millions were exterminated by European mass murderers.

 

No matter how much Obama tries to curry favor with Spanish speaking Indigenous people by saying he will slow down or reduce the number of deportations, he cannot escape the fact that he has deported more “Latinos” that the simpleton George W. Bush ever did. His ploy to garner their votes in the upcoming 2012 election is just that – a ploy. Every single one of these so-called “Latinos” deserves amnesty for they hold much more legitimate claim land in places like Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and California (to name a few states). The rest of the land belongs to other indigenous people who were terrorized by non-Spanish speaking Europeans. Obama wants to see many more young Latinos to serve in his imperialist military, which is a large reason he supports the Dream Act. He believes no more in justice for so-called Latinos than did Bush. Unfortunately, many “Latinos”, too, have been duped in to believing Obama has “their back.”

Obama supports the repressive Israeli government, just as his white predecessors did. Israel, like the US, is a country founded on the theft of indigenous people’s land. Palestinians, to this day, are treated like animals. Their situation is not unlike that of black Azanians (native South Africans) during the long period of Apartheid. Obama’s administration continues to fund Israel’s destructive military to the tune of more than 3 billion dollars a year; meanwhile, inner city American schools remain vastly underfunded. American born Africans, as a matter of principle, need to be in solidarity with other oppressed peoples, such as the Palestinians. Instead, we allow the white corporate media, along with the US government, to dictate what we think and how we think, while we mindlessly cheerlead for oppressors. By default, we champion the demise of those who have been historically oppressed. Our social values are slowly being more and more domesticated, just like farm animals.

A brown face in the White House – is that all it takes? A brown face representing the same ole oppressive system – is that all it takes? Are American born Africans (and people of color in general) that easily duped? Is that all it takes for us to abandon our long-held place as champions of social justice issues?


The brown faced Democrat in the White House has effectively mollified millions of people of color. Instead of supporting or starting political organizations that truly represent our communities’ interests, we have put aside our own interests for the sake of an arch imperialist.


President Barack Obama represents corporate interests, the US military industry complex and, in general, the pernicious status quo. We need to wake up and cease making excuses for Obama, or any other “lesser of two evils” (Democrat or Republican). When we do this, we are ultimately voting for evil, lesser or otherwise. If we are only presented with options that are antithetical to our collective interests – and our very humanity – then we must create other options. We must create a culture that develops truly revolutionary minded leaders, who will serve as the faces of our organizations/political parties. The alternative is to remain in a state of perpetual oppression.


We don’t realize that we are still oppressed because we have bought in to the manufactured lie of a post-racist America. It does not exist. Wake up black/African America. Wake up America of color. Wake up oppressed people within the bowels of the United States. Put down the highly intoxicating bottle of Obama-Aid and pick up a cup of detoxifying “Revolutionary Juice.” Drink up, let it run through your system and share it with your community – one neighborhood at a time. This liberationist drink is more commonly called organizing. Let’s hope we can all drink to that…


Solomon Comissiong is an educator, community activist, author, public speaker and the host of the Your World News media collective (www.yourworldnews.org). Solomon is the author of A Hip Hop Activist Speaks Out on Social Issues. He can be reached at: solo@yourworldnews.org

May 07

FBI Entrapment Snares More Victims

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FBI Entrapment Snares More Victims

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

The latest plot involves five subjects allegedly planning to bomb a Cleveland area bridge. More on it below.

 

Entrapment occurs when law enforcement officials or agents induce, influence, or provoke crimes that otherwise wouldn’t be committed.

 

It doesn’t apply if subjects willingly act lawlessly. Government aiding, abetting, or facilitating them is considered lawful.

 

Entrapment involves government operatives initiating the idea. If individuals go along under pressure despite no intent or desire to do so, they committed no crime. To convict, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that subjects weren’t entrapped. Otherwise, judicial fairness requires exoneration.

 

That’s not how things turn out today. Innocence or guilt doesn’t matter. Once charged, prosecutorial misconduct and right-wing courts convict. Juries are pressured and intimidated to go along even in cases with no plot, no crime, or intent to commit one.

 

Attorney Eric Holder defends the practice. He calls stings a vital tool. He stops short of admitting entrapment. He must because it’s illegal. It’s nonetheless repeatedly used to convict innocent people. As a result, hundreds rot unjustly in America’s gulag.

 

Gerald Celente calls cops enforcers for crime bosses. So are FBI agents. They serve wealth and power. Corporate crooks are rewarded. Ordinary people are targeted. Familiar story lines repeat. They sound more like film plots than real ones.

 

Orchestrated stings are used. US Legal.com defines them as “deceptive operation(s) designed to nab criminals. Generally, a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect’s actions to gather evidence of the suspect’s wrongdoing.”

 

If entrapment’s not used, it’s legal. The word “sting” derives from the practice of using undercover cops to catch criminals. It means “set(ting) a trap to catch a crook.”

 

Alleged terror plots are fake. Most are manufactured out of whole cloth. Evidence doesn’t exist so it’s invented. Paid informants are used. Innocent subjects are targeted and convicted. Nearly always, stings involving entrapment occur.

 

Post-9/11, counterterrorism has been the FBI’s top priority. At issue isn’t innocence or guilt. It’s snaring victims. It’s about heightening fear for political advantage and providing justification for homeland repression and imperial lawlessness.

 

Thousands of FBI agents work cooperatively with paid informants. Persecution today is COINTELPRO writ large. Society’s most vulnerable are targeted. Muslims are most of all, though others also get entrapped and convicted on bogus charges.

 

In October 2011, a Mother Jones article headlined “The Informants.” It said they can be “doctors, clerks, imams,” or virtually anyone. At times, they’re subjects facing lesser charges, undocumented immigrants subject to deportation, or convicted criminals. In all cases, they’re promised leniency for cooperating.

 

“Handlers” direct them. They’re enlisted to find people sympathetic to jihadists or angry about government policy. Often they infiltrate local groups to entrap nonviolent Muslims and other targeted subjects. Names FBI gets are cross-referenced with known intelligence data.

 

Informants approach targeted subjects “by posing as a radical. Sometimes (he’ll) propose a plot, provide explosives, even lead the target in a fake oath to Al Qaeda. Once enough incriminating information has been gathered, there’s an arrest—and a press conference announcing another foiled plot.”

 

Headlines announcing terror suspect arrests follow variations on a common theme. Targeted subjects are innocent. Charges brought are false. One victim follows another.

 

Despite no plot, crime, or intent to commit one, Muslims were convicted of conspiring to attack soldiers at Fort Dix, NJ.

 

Other cases involved alleged plans to attack US marines at Quantico, VA, down National Guard jets with stinger missiles, target Pakistan’s ambassador with a surface-to-air missile, blow up Chicago’s Sears Tower, and others just as preposterous.

 

They include a fake shoe bomber, fake underwear bomber, two fake Times Square bomber plots, fake shampoo bombers, fake Al Qaeda woman plot against New York landmarks, fake Oregon bomber, fake armed forces recruiting station bomber, fake 9/11 bombers, and others to enlist public support for the fake war on terror.

 

Muslims nearly always are charged. Accusations are bogus. Courts convict by accusation. Justice nearly always is denied.

 

Informants are well paid to entrap. Six figure compensation is common. A lawyer representing one subject said:

 

“The problem with the cases we’re talking about is that defendants would not have done anything if not kicked in the ass by government agents.” FBI agents “creat(e) crimes to solve (them) so they can claim victories in the war on terror.”

 

In the process, constitutional rights are trampled. Informants are coerced, well paid to cooperate, and used to entrap again. Experts say beating the government at its own game is near impossible. Once charged, convictions nearly always follow. If not, new charges are filed. Prosecutions continue until subjects end up in prison.

 

Five Men Charged in Bridge Bombing Plot

 

Subjects named are Joshua Stafford, Anthony Hayne, Brandon Baxter, Connor Stevens, and Douglas Wright.

 

On May 1, the FBI charged them with plotting to bomb a bridge 15 miles south of downtown Cleveland. It links two wealthy suburbs. Unknowingly, a sting operation entrapped them. Authorities called them “anarchists.” An informant named CHS pressured them for months. He was wired to record conversations.

 

The case followed CHS sent to an Occupy Cleveland demonstration last October. He was told to investigate alleged “criminal activity and threats involving anarchists.”

 

Occupy Cleveland organizer Debbie Kline said the men “in no way represent(ed) or act(ed) on behalf of” the initiative.

 

Subjects were identified, pressed, and supplied fake explosives for a plot they never imagined or intended. Reports said some are mentally unstable. According to the FBI’s own affidavit, CHS “has a criminal record including one conviction for possession of cocaine in 1990, one conviction for robbery in 1991, and four convictions for passing bad checks between 1991 and 2011.”

 

The affidavit also explains subjects suggesting using smoke or sting bombs, as well as knocking signs off downtown Cleveland buildings. They considered civil disobedience, not terrorism. They wanted “to send a message to corporations and the United States government.”

 

Subjects neither planned or intended to commit violence. CHS orchestrated it. Subjects were entrapped. Recorded conversations showed informant pressure to detonate explosives.

 

“How much money we need to make plastic explosives,” CHS asked.” He then pressed, saying: “You gotta get with me, uh, if we gonna be trying to do something in a month you need to get with me as soon as possible on how much money we gonna need.”

 

He suggested a bridge to bomb. He showed subjects the site, and claimed he had access to C4 explosives. At one point, suspect Brandon Baxter said he “was just throwing around ideas and does not know exactly what they should do.”

 

Similar discussions followed. Subjects were pressed. They neither expressed willingness or desire to commit violence. They were targeted for unpopular political views, not intent to commit crime.

 

Subjects told CHS they didn’t want people to think they’re terrorists. At a March 28 meeting, Douglas Wright rejected the idea of buying “heavy stuff.” CHS pressured him and others.

 

The FBI affidavit admits they didn’t agree to bomb a bridge. They called doing so a crime. If convicted they faced long prison terms and fines, perhaps at Guantanamo they fear.

 

CHS offered decoy license plates and an alibi for protection. On May 1, they were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism, possession of explosives, engaging in hostilities against the United States, and related offenses.

 

According to US Attorney Steven Dettelback:

 

“This case demonstrates that the threat we face is a diverse one; that terrorism can come in many hues and from many homelands.”

 

Magistrate Judge Greg White ordered them jailed without bond, pending a May 7 hearing. Subjects appeared in court in wrist and waist shackles.

 

Rest assured, convictions will follow. Kangaroo proceedings assure it. Subjects are guilty by accusation even though innocent of any crime or intent to commit one. That’s how American justice today works.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

His new book is titled “How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War”

 

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

 

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Mar 30

Add Trayvon to the List and Keep On Fighting

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Add Trayvon to the List and Keep On Fighting

By

Obi Egbuna Jr

When African people at home and abroad reflect on numerous lessons that are the cornerstone of our positive value system, the entire world, including our former colonial and slave masters, have come to respect the manner in which we maintain our dignity and resolve in the midst of a tragedy. What is most uplifting about this particular attribute is we remain guided by a history and culture that the rich and powerful continue to attempt to hide and distort. This is why as freedom seeking and loving people all over the world express their anger concerning the shooting of Trayvon Martin, we as Africans must warn them to follow our trail of blood on the battlefield. While this is a humble request, it is stern and deliberate because we are not seeking validation or approval from those external to our community for the manner in which we choose to express ourselves concerning this matter. Once that is understood and accepted, our next step is to educate our children about the importance of having the last word concerning political developments that pertain to us as Africans. In the information age, a casual approach to this dynamic is suicidal as both white liberals and conservatives, from Bill Maher to Bill O’Reilly are becoming more audacious by the second, when it comes to sharing their opinions about our shortcomings as a people. At every phase of our frontline struggle for total liberation and human dignity, many a child has been sent to an early grave, the results, in most cases, have been an increase in unity, focus and concentration on the task at hand.
When the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, and four little girls were murdered, the naked terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizen’s Council were placed on the world stage for all to see. This year marks the 52nd anniversary of the Sharpeville/Kwa Langa massacre in what is called South Africa.  Out of the 60 people brutally murdered, 10 of them were children. The demonstration exposed what the Apartheid Regimes in Southern Africa feared more than anything. The defiance of our youth in what is called South Africa came full circle 16 years later when a teenager named Hector Peterson was gunned down during the Soweto Uprising on June 16, 1976, a day now also commemorated as the Day of The African Child. The 1960′s generation remembers when the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee decided to go into Emeritus, Georgia, after the savage beating and murder of Anna B. Hayes.  The 13-year-old girl was kidnapped, raped, and later died of complications because her parents were warned by the Caucasian rapists not to take her to the hospital or to alert the authorities unless they wanted to be killed too.

While Africans all over the world continue to pay homage to Rosa Parks, and more recently Claudette Colvin, the 15-year-old who was first arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to relinquish her seat as part of the Montgomery Bus Boycott Strategy and Movement, the brutal and sadistic murder of Emmett Till that same numerical year, 1955, was just as vital when it came to drawing attention to the terrorism and hatred we encountered in the South on a daily basis. For those of us who are inspired by the history of the Black Panther Party and understand their relevance in the scheme of our genuine resistance, know that the first recruit and treasurer of the Oakland Chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, in Oakland, California, was 17-year-old Bobby Hutton who was assassinated by the Oakland Police on April 6, 1968, two days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.

While 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the Rodney King rebellions, Africans in the Washington Metropolitan Area will always remember Terrence Johnson and Deonte Rawlings.  Johnson served 16 years in prison for shooting racist police officers in 1978 at the age of 15 while defending himself from cops intent on turning the interrogation room into a slaughterhouse. The mysterious circumstances surrounding Johnson’s suicide in 1997 after news reports that he and his brother robbed a bank have never sat well in our community.  In the final analysis Johnson was robbed of his childhood because police terrorism scarred him for the rest of his life. We are only five years removed from two police officers shooting Rawlings, a 14-year-old, in the back of the head after claiming he was riding a stolen mini-bike that belonged to one of the officers. The FBI and Justice Department in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police Department’s Internal Affairs Branch cleared the two officers of any wrongdoing, which brings into question whether police review boards are simply exercises of futility.

Because Africans who live inside US borders are preparing for the upcoming Presidential elections, it didn’t take any political genius to know that due to the racial makeup surrounding Trayvon Martin’s murder it was only a matter of time before US President Barack Obama would make a statement aimed at boosting his campaign efforts. The remark President Obama made was as follows, “When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids, and I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this.”  What Africans have to discuss are the broader ramifications of President Obama’s remarks.  In order for our people to do this with substance and clarity, it cannot be done through the lens of the Democratic Party or the Homeland Security apparatus. When President Obama inferred that Trayvon Martin’s death instinctively makes him think of his two daughters, was it because of his physical appearance in addition to his cultural makeup? The reason this question has to be raised by the African community worldwide is that the thousands of children who were killed during the US-NATO Alliance 2011 Bombing Campaign in Libya, also resemblances Trayvon Martin. If we fail to make this connection, we allow President Obama and his family to function from the understanding that it is ok to condemn the shooting of an African child in the US for political gain, but at the same time slaughter African children on our mother continent whenever he and his cabinet see fit.

The 2011 bombings of Libya objectively can be seen as a working tribute to Ronald Reagan, who on April 15, 1986, bombed Libya under the guise of retaliation for the bombing of a disco in West Berlin that claimed the life of a US soldier.  This makes us wonders if Muammar Qaddafi’s two-year-old daughter Hana, who died at the hands of Reagan’s bombs, makes President Obama and his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, think of their children too. For the fourth year in a row President Obama has used Executive Order to extend US-EU (European Union) sanctions against Zimbabwe.  In each of the years the President supported this repressive measure against Zimbabwe, it is glaringly obvious that he and his cabinet had no regard for the women and children, who are directly affected due to the impact that the sanctions have had on the educational and health infrastructure in the country.

The murder of Trayvon Martin took place in Florida, which is exactly 90 miles from Cuba.  We are now in the 50th year of a monstrous blockade on Cuba, originally imposed by the Kennedy administration on the heels of a failed invasion of Cuba by the CIA commonly referred to in the history books as the Bay of Pigs invasion.  Not only has this genocidal measure cost Cuba $96 billion dollars, it endangers the lives of African children in Cuba who look just like Trayvon Martin.  Because the current US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, who like her Republican counterpart former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, are political disciples of Madeline Albright, who during her stint as US Secretary of State imposed sanctions on Iraq that claimed the lives of 500,000 children, we can say without hesitation that leaving trails of dead children is part of the political culture that drives the domestic and foreign policy of the US government.

The Africans who have been completely stripped of their core identity will give the same predictable response.  Voicing displeasure with President Obama’s Africa and Foreign Policy plays right into the hands of the Republicans, therefore maintaining silence is only temporary until we gain more political leverage. What is troubling about this point of view is that this year marks the 40th anniversary of Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah’s passing and the 25th anniversary of Thomas Sankara’s assassination in Burkina Faso.  Additionally, we have yet to take a stand against the CIA orchestra coup and British Intelligence that ousted Nkrumah or Sankara’s assassin, Blaise Comporare, who still presides over the country after all these years.  For that matter, every African, Caribbean and Latin American nation that has been bombed and invaded by US Imperialists since World War II have one thing in common, children who resemble Trayvon Martin were killed in the process.  This should serve as a lesson to Africans not only in the US, but all over the world, that if you become president of the United States the only guarantee you have concerning your legacy is that by the time you leave office, regardless of your intentions, you will have become a full-fledged war criminal.

The irony of this tragedy is Trayvon Martin was interested in a career in military aviation.   Sadly, he may have been brainwashed into believing it heroic to drop bombs on the usual targets of US Imperialism–countries and people who they can’t politically control or manipulate.

One of the most unique organizations in our community is the Children’s Defense Fund, who are the original architects of the concept Leave No Child Behind, which was stolen and grossly misrepresented by the Bush Administration.  However, many of our bravest freedom fighters who were assassinated in cold blood by their oppressors in cold blood “left their children behind.” However, many of our bravest freedom fighters who were assassinated in cold blood left their children with their family and community. We have never looked at the psychological impact that political assassinations have had on the children of warriors like, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Patrice Lumumba, Medgar Evers, Walter Rodney and countless others who died on the battlefield fighting for our liberation. Shielding their children from frontline political activity due to fear of becoming an automatic target because of the family name also has a negative impact.

The other issue that the die-hard Democrats in our community have failed to touch is that Trayvon Martin fits the current profile of a domestic terrorist.  What has been sugar-coated as racial profiling is only scratching the surface.  While mainstream media has made the image of a terrorist synonymous with people from places such as Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan, inside the US so-called African-American males between the ages of 15 to 40 are the first image that comes to the minds of US citizens like Mr. Zimmerman because of the propaganda machine.  What this tells our people collectively is that Trayvon’s death must be connected to the poverty and violence that sends daughters and sons of Africa to the cemetery, whether we are dealing with the children in Africa who die of hunger every 15 minutes, or the fact that each day in the US eight children or teenagers are killed by firearms. While this is the busy season for Africans who swear by the Democratic machine and take pride in being their watchdogs in our community, we must send a statement to them that Africans plan to ensure we are the beneficiaries of our organizational genius and genuine resistance. In 1992, Bill Clinton benefited from the Rodney King rebellions, in 1960 JFK benefited from the death of Emmett Till and the Montgomery Bus Boycotts, and now Barack Obama seeks to benefit from Trayvon Martin and any other African child whose death is racially motivated between now and November.
We are obligated by history to add Trayvon Martin to the list of African children who died at the hands of our former colonial and slavemasters and keep on fighting, which means challenging the ultimate contradiction of all, that 95% of us are not politically active today. Because we appear to be suffering from political hypnosis, which has led us to vote Democrat for the last 100 years, the only way to reverse this tide is to get organized at the grassroots level.  This is how all our major victories, from attaining the right to vote itself, to smashing the mandatory draft during the Vietnam War were won. This way Trayvon’s generation restores appreciation for our rich tradition of frontline resistance.

Obi Egbuna is the US Correspondent to The Herald, Zimbabwe’s National Newspaper
and a US-based member of the Zimbabwe-Cuba Friendship Association. Mr. Egbuna is also a frequent contributor to Your World News. He can be reached at obiegbuna15@gmail.com.

Feb 23

Lynne Stewart Appeal for Justice

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Lynne Stewart Appeal for Justice

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

Lynne was wrongfully indicted, convicted, sentenced, and given a far harsher one unjustifiably on appeal.

 

On February 29, US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit arguments will be presented. She won’t be there, but hopes massive support will turn out for her at the:

 

US Courthouse

500 Pearl Street

Manhattan, New York

 

She can be reached as follows:

 

Lynne Stewart #53504-054

Federal Medical Center, Carswell

PO Box 27137

Ft. Worth, TX 76127

 

Her full appeal brief discusses all relevant facts about her and her case. It includes her character, commitment, honor, and dedication to justice as the law demands but didn’t afford her.

 

She discusses her appeal as follows:

 

“After the disaster in July 2010, when Judge Koeltl, following the directives of the Second Circuit increased my sentence from 28 months to 10 years, our righteous indignation fueled this appeal. The government’s argument will center on my testimony at trial and the alleged perjury. All of those facts were before the Court at the time of the 28 month sentence and were not the basis then of a double digit sentence.”

 

“Our Brief attacks the increased sentence on two different fronts –one on a doctrine of “substantive unreasonableness” meaning it’s just too much of an increase, five fold — given the circumstances. Secondly, we argued that the only “new” information before the Judge were my statements after my first sentence in October of 2008 and remarks I made on the Courthouse steps before I surrendered to prison. We contend strongly that this is protected speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution, and cannot be used to increase or as a  basis for sentencing.  (even if they hate it !!!)”

 

“The same group of 3 Judges that heard and decided the original appeal will also hear the arguments on the 29th. The government is not asking for more time; they are satisfied with their pound of flesh but it is not likely that this Court will take any action that will help me. The times are askew for prisoners and their lawsuits.”

 

The lawyers that argued in July of 2010 will be on board with the addition of Herald Price Fahringer, an eminent attorney in the First Amendment field (the win in the Larry Flynt Hustler case in the US Supreme Court was his. He was also in the line of fire (no injuries) when the shooting took place.) He will enthusiastically present our case. I will not be present –not unusual once imprisoned. But my spirit will be there to inspire !!!”

 

“Of course, my case has always been government firing  warning shots to Lawyers, that a vigorous defense, of certain clients, if not conforming to government specifications, will be punished severely. This chill effect in these days that we are confronted with Grand Jury investigations and dismantling of Occupations is not something we should contemplate with anything less than alarm.”

 

“I have just finished David Gilbert’s book (Love Struggle) and the intercession of lawyers when there are arrests of designated enemies of the “state” are the only  meaningful protection available.”

 

“A Large Outpouring of Support in Foley Square and Tom Paine Park and in the Courtroom will signal to these arbiters of “Justice” that attention must be paid, the 99% are watching them with suspicion and tallying up the roads not taken.”

 

A Final Comment

 

For 30 years, Stewart worked tirelessly defending America’s poor, underprivileged, and unwanted. They’re never afforded due process and judicial fairness without an advocate like her.

 

Where others wouldn’t go, she did courageously, defending controversial figures like Weather Underground’s David Gilbert, United Freedom Front’s Richard Williams, Black Liberation Army members Sekou Odinga and Nasser Ahmed, and many more like them. She knew the risks, but took them fearlessly and courageously until wrongfully indicted for doing her job.

 

Her case sent a chilling message to other lawyers that it’s dangerous defending unpopular clients ruthless prosecutors want to convict.

 

Throughout her career, she scrupulously observed the American Bar Association’s Model Rules. They obligate lawyers to:

 

“devote professional time and resources and use civic influence to ensure equal access to our system of justice for all those who because of economic or social barriers cannot afford or secure adequate legal counsel.”

 

She did that and much more. She’s a model attorney and human being. Now she’s wrongfully imprisoned for 10 years. On February 29, her skilled legal team will argue persuasively for justice. For Lynne, it’s long overdue.

 

Her original sentence was unjust. Increasing it fourfold constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The Eighth Amendment prohibits it.

 

A single prison day ignores her lifetime commitment to community, the rule of law, society’s poor, underprivileged and unwanted, and the profession she chose to represent them honorably and courageously.

 

Many worldwide support Lynne. This writer’s proud to call her a friend. On February 29, join others in Manhattan’s federal court on her behalf.

 

Lynne says her case is “bigger than just (her) personally.” She’ll always struggle for justice and urges others to as well in her signature comment, saying:

 

“Organize – Agitate, Agitate, Agitate.”

 

“Love Struggle”

 

And be sure to write her and show up on February 29.

 

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Feb 20

Political Prisoners in America’s Gulag

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Political Prisoners in America’s Gulag

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

With around 2.4 million incarcerated, America has by far the world’s largest prison system. Two-thirds in it are Black or Latino.

 

Most held are non-violent. Over half are for drug related charges. Around 75% are Blacks or Latinos. On all charges, many are persecuted political prisoners.

 

In her book titled, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” Michelle Alexander called today’s Jim Crow a modern-day elitist-designed racial caste system. Believing poor Blacks (and Latinos) are dangerous and economically superfluous, America’s gulag became an instrument of social control. According to Alexander:

 

“Any movement to end mass incarceration must deal with (it) as a racial caste system, not (a method) of crime control. We need an effective system of crime prevention and control in our communities, but that is not what the current system is. (It’s) better designed to create crime, and a perpetual class of people labeled criminals, rather than to eliminate crime or reduce the number of criminals.”

 

America’s most vulnerable are victimized by racism, poverty, judicial unfairness, get tough on crime policies, a guilty unless proved innocent mentality, three strikes and you’re out, bigoted drug laws, and advocacy for social justice issues challenging repressive state policies.

 

An earlier article called America’s gulag the shame of the nation. It reflects mercilessly persecuting its own. At the same time, it wages imperial wars, lets banks commit grand theft, frees other corporate predators to operate extrajudicially, and punishes society’s most vulnerable for resisting. It also targets Muslims to facilitate America’s global war on terror.

 

Russell Maroon Shoats

 

A self-designated “New African Political Prisoner of War,” he’s serving life/plus for alleged 1970 involvement in a policeman’s death and wounding of another.

 

Incarcerated in 1972, he’s spent 40 years in over a dozen federal, state, and local prisons and jails, including over 21 years in solitary confinement locked down 23 or more hours daily. More on that below.

 

In 1979, he was in maximum security confinement, during which time he was “forcibly drugged and on one occasion hospitalized from a hospital induced overdose….”

 

In the 1960s, he became politically active. He joined the African liberation movement, and was a Philadelphia-based Black Unity Council founding member. In 1969, it merged with Black Panther Party’s Philadelphia chapter.

 

Compromised of prisoners’ families, former inmates, and supporters, the Human Rights Coalition (HRC) calls America’s prison system exploitive, punitive and corrupt. It says:

 

Most people “in prisons are poor, (black or) brown, urban, functionally illiterate, unemployed or under-employed before they were locked down, and are there for (alleged) non-violent crimes. The prison system reflects all inequalities in our society….”

 

As a result, it wants the current system abolished. It’s racist and unjust. Shoats co-founded HRC.

 

Together with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), National Lawyers Guild and others, HRC’s campaigning to free Shoats from isolation and return him to the general prison population.

 

On his behalf, a letter-writing/petition campaign was launched. Support him by signing the petition for humane treatment. Now 68, he’s held at Pennsylvania’s:

 

State Correctional Institution (SCI) Greene

175 Progress Drive

Waynesburg, PA 15370

724-852-2902

 

Prison authorities call him a security threat because of past attempted and successful escapes. In fact, he’s kept isolated based on false allegations about planning a 1980 prison takeover. He’s also persecuted for his activism, leadership, and human rights support.

 

America’s Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. It’s prison system commits it ruthlessly with impunity. Shoats is one of many victims. Locked up, they’re out of sight and mind.

 

Everyone deserves justice. America’s most vulnerable get none, especially those in the maw of a racist, brutalizing, dehumanizing prison system.

 

Comments on Two Other Prisoners

 

On February 16, the FBI Detroit Division announced “underwear bomber” Uman Farouk Abdulmutallab’s life sentence for conviction on charges of:

  • conspiracy to commit terrorism;

 

  • attempted murder;

 

  • willfully placing a destructive device on an aircraft;

 

  • attempting to use “a weapon of mass destruction;”

 

  • attempting to destroy a civil aircraft; and

 

  • three counts of “possession of a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence.”

 

Attorney General Eric Holder called Abdulmutallab “a remorseless terrorist who believes it is his duty to kill Americans.” Holder’s only skills include hyperbole, making false allegations, and sending innocent victims to prison.

 

Abdulmutallab was set up. On December 25, 2009, he was aboard an Amsterdam – Detroit bound flight. US officials claimed he was trained in Yemen by Al Qaeda, obtained explosive chemicals (PETN), and tried  detonating them on board.

 

In fact, he was a protected CIA patsy, set up as a provocation to facilitate America’s Yemen’s civil war involvement.

 

Earlier denied a UK entrance visa, he wasn’t on a no fly list. He paid cash for a one-way Detroit ticket, checked no luggage, had a US visa but no passport, and was helped on board by a “well-dressed Indian” to facilitate a false flag scheme, using him as a convenient dupe.

 

CIA/Mossad/Indian Research Analysis Wing (RAW) planned it. Abdulmutallab’s PETN was weak, technically deficient, didn’t go off properly, and had fire cracker strength at most.

 

No matter. Railroaded by Justice Department prosecutors, he’ll spend the rest of his life doing hard time in prison.

 

On February 17, New York Times writer Charlie Savage headlined, “FBI Arrests Man in a Suspected Terrorist Plot Near the US Capitol,” saying:

 

Amine El Khalifi, a Moroccan national, was arrested “carrying a MAC-10 gun and a vest packed with nails and what he thought (were) explosives in what (federal agents) said was a plan to carry out a suicide bombing at the United States Capitol.”

 

Based on numerous past false flags, be very suspicious about all Justice Department charges. Against El Khalifi, they look very much like entrapping an innocent/naive dupe into involvement in what he had no prior intent, desire, or willingness to do.

 

Holder, however, defends entrapment. He calls it an “essential law enforcement tool in uncovering and preventing terror attacks.”

 

In fact, they’re maliciously manufactured to manipulate fear and justify America’s global war on terrorism. Nearly always, Muslims are charged. It’s part of America’s war on Islam.

 

Innocent victims are charged, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned. Justice is malevolently denied. Imperial wars are facilitated. Vital social benefits are lost to fund them.

 

The Times article said El Khalifi posed no threat. An undercover sting operation gave him “inoperative weapons.” He was set up to entrap another victim. He’s like numerous others foiled in the nick of time. Ask why alleged home-grown terrorists don’t succeed.

 

Perhaps it’s because they don’t exist except in bogus Justice Department charges and major media scoundrels regurgitating them without challenge.

 

Assistant attorney general Lisa Monaco lied, saying:

 

“Today’s case underscores the continuing threat we face from home-grown violent extremists. Thanks to a coordinated law enforcement effort, El Khalifi’s alleged plot was thwarted before anyone was harmed.”

 

In fact, the only extremist home-grown threats are federal, state and local officials, as well as corporate ones they serve.

 

As a result, innocent victims wrongfully suffer. Many rot unjustly in federal and state gulags while government and corporate criminals do what they please with impunity. It’s high time public rage challenged them.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Feb 08

Targeting Syria and Iran

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Targeting Syria and Iran

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

Slowed but not derailed by Russia and China vetoing its Security Council resolution, America’s regime change/war plans remain on track.

 

In 1999, Washington circumvented the Security Council, UN Charter, and US Constitution to wage aggressive war against nonbelligerent Serbia/Kosovo.

 

According to former Nuremberg prosecutor Walter Rockler, it “constitute(d) the most brazen international aggression since the Nazis attacked Poland to prevent (nonexistent) ‘Polish atrocities’ against Germans.”

 

“The United States has discarded pretensions to international legality and decency, and embarked on a course of raw imperialism run amok.”

 

In 1999, Nobel laureate Harold Pinter called America’s aggression “barbaric (and despicable), another blatant and brutal assertion of US power using NATO as its missile (to consolidate) American domination of Europe.”

 

It replicated the same process against Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, as well as indirectly against other MENA (Middle East/North African) countries. More aggression’s planned against Syria and Iran, mostly likely in 2012.

 

Run-up tactics include sanctions, hardening existing ones, imposing new ones, isolation, and closing Washington’s Damascus embassy among other steps. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said:

 

“The United States has suspended operations of our embassy in Damascus as of Feb. 6. Ambassador (Robert) Ford and all American personnel have now departed the country (allegedly because) the regime failed to respond adequately” to US security concerns.

 

Hawkish UK Foreign Minister William Hague barely stopped short of declaring war, saying Assad must surrender power. “This is a doomed regime as well as a murdering regime. There is no way it can get its credibility back either internationally or with its own people.”

 

Furious about the Russian/Chinese veto, he added: “There is no way to mince words about this. Such vetos are a betrayal of the Syrian people.”

 

Like Washington and other rogue NATO partners, he also didn’t “rule out” recognizing opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) legitimacy, much like Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) won backing against Gaddafi.

 

In fact, international law prohibits it, but no matter. It doesn’t deter Washington/UK/French efforts to circumvent legal standards to advance their joint imperium.

 

America’s UN envoy Susan Rice, an unprincipled offender with higher aspirations, threatened Russia and China with international isolation for opposing Washington’s Security Council action.

 

She added that America will use all means available against Assad. Like Hague, she stopped short only of declaring war, though, of course, ambassadors have no power to do so. Neither do foreign ministers with platforms only to repeat sentiments of higher-ups.

 

Of course, Western-backed insurgents are largely responsible for months of Syrian violence. Assad’s more victim than villain. So-called Syrian Free Army (SFA) militants promise stepped up efforts ahead. According to SFA commander Colonel Riad al-Asaad:

 

“There is no other road. This regime does not understand the language of politics. It only understands the language of force.”

 

Behind the scenes, Washington’s orchestrating regime change tactics. So far bombing’s not included. Expect it if other methods fail. Notorious war goddess Hillary Clinton promised to “redouble our efforts outside the United Nations.” Her meaning was undisguised.

 

She also assailed Russia and China for vetoing SC action. She said doing so “is to bear the responsibility for the horrors that are occurring on the ground in Syria.”

 

Obama repeated the accusation, blaming Assad (for) “murder(ing) hundreds of Syrian citizens, including women and children.”

 

In fact, no nation exceeds Washington’s culpability throughout the region. It orchestrated and participated in murdering tens of thousands of Libyans, ravaging the country, and creating incalculable human misery. Moreover, it’s directly involved in today’s ongoing violence.

 

Cynically blaming Assad, America’s responsible for thousands of Syrian deaths and atrocities. Its bloodstained hands are infamous. Its crimes of war and against humanity touch dozens of countries globally. Syria’s now target one, then Iran.

 

Similar to what preceded America’s 2003 Iraq war, Washington, Britain and France now call for a “coalition of the willing” against Assad. If formed, expect Turkey, other rogue NATO partners, regional despots, and Israel (at least covertly) to be included.

 

French President Nicolas Sarkozy cynically called it a “group of friends of the Syrian people.” Excluded, of course, are the opposition Arab street, millions of others globally, and most Syrians supporting Assad.

 

Major media scoundrels conceal it. Instead, a February 6 New York Times editorial is typical headlined, “Killing in Syria,” saying:

 

Assad “continue(s) his killing spree.” Government “forces us(e) tanks and machine guns (against) residential areas in Homs,” killing hundreds….Moscow and Beijing now have the blood of Syria’s valiant people on their hands as well.”

 

Fact check

 

Throughout the Western-backed insurgency, Times scoundrels blamed the victim like they always do. Syria was invaded by heavily armed foreign militants. Assad confronted them responsibly. He’s obligated to protect his people. Yet he’s blamed for externally generated violence.

 

Russia and China blocked SC action intended to smooth the way to war. Similar to Resolution 1973 against Libya, it made demands and promised “further measures” if unmet.

 

By standing firm responsibly, The Times condemned Moscow and Beijing for wanting “to deny the West another perceived victory.”

 

At the same time, NYT editors endorse Washington’s intention to circumvent international and constitutional law by using other means to topple Assad. It’s “time for (him) to go,” they stressed, no matter how illegitimate to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries.

 

Taking Aim at Iran

 

On February 6, Obama used unilateral Executive Order (EO) authority to impose new sanctions on Iranian assets and central bank.

 

In a letter to Congress, he said:

 

“I have determined that additional sanctions are warranted, particularly in light of the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks to conceal transactions of sanctioned parties, the deficiencies in Iran’s anti-money laundering regime and the weaknesses in its implementation, and the continuing and unacceptable risk posed to the international financial system by Iran’s activities.”

 

Like he always does, he lied issuing EO 12957. Accusations are spurious. They apply more to America’s deeply corrupt financial system. It involves grand theft, including looting the federal treasury, customer accounts, and other private sources; market manipulation; and money laundering through Wall Street and other Western banks as one of their significant profit centers.

 

Instead of shutting down this money making racket and prosecuting culpable officials, Obama ordered “All agencies of the United Stated Government (to) hereby… take all appropriate measures within their authority to carry out the provisions of this order” against Iran.

 

Describing the action as another way to isolate its government, it’s more cosmetic than effective as practically no Iranian assets remain in America or under US control.

 

In other words, it was an election year stunt to win votes and silence Republican hard-liners wanting bombs away now on Iran.

 

Not opposed, Obama favors delay to concentrate on toppling Assad, isolating Iran, then directing full attention against Tehran by all means necessary. Translation’s unnecessary.

 

On February 5, AFP headlined, “Obama says US working ‘in lockstep’ with Israel on Iran,” saying:

 

“Obama “sought to reassure Americans over the threat posed by Iran….” If fact, Tehran threatens no one but faces preemptive Western belligerence to replace its government with a client one.

 

Nonetheless, Obama said:

 

“I’ve been very clear. We’re going to do everything we can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and creating a nuclear arms race in a volatile region.”

 

In fact, US intelligence and IAEA documents show no evidence whatever of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Obama knows it. So do other NATO states and Israel. Claiming one is a red herring to conceal regime change intentions.

 

Moreover, America and Israel share responsibility for regional violence and instability, not Iran, Syria, Hezbolloh or Hamas. They’re victims, not villains.

 

Yet Obama claimed his “number one priority continues to be the security of the United States (and) Israel.”

 

In fact, he, Israel, and rogue Western partners prioritize imperial lawlessness against targeted countries. As a result, all options are considered, included preemptive wars with nuclear weapons against Iran’s underground facilities.

 

As a result, all humanity’s potentially threatened by deranged leaders too unconcerned to care. That’s how Western civilization today is governed.

 

When asked, no wonder Gandhi mocked its principles for good reason. Imagine what he’d say today.

 

A Final Comment

 

On February 1, the Movement of the Icelandic Parliament (MIP) nominated Private Bradley Manning for the Nobel Peace Prize. They felt compelled to recognize his important contribution to world peace.

 

He’s an American hero threatened with life in prison or the death penalty for his courage. Facing general court-martial, the US Army Military District of Washington announced February 3 that he’ll be tried on all 22 charges. They include aiding the enemy, theft of public property or records, transmitting defense information, and fraud, among others.

 

Aiding the enemy carries a possible death sentence. Most likely Manning faces life in prison.

 

On May 26, 2010, he was arrested and brutalized in prison isolation. No announced trial date was set even though court-martial procedures require trying suspects within 120 days of arrest or “preferral of charges.”

 

MIP’s letter to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee said the following in part:

 

“We have the great honor of nominating (Manning) for the 2012 (award).”

 

He stands accused of leaking documents revealing “a long history of corruption, war crimes and imperialism by the United States government in international dealings.”

 

The evidence “should never have been kept from public scrutiny.” They document crimes of war and against humanity. “Citizens worldwide” are indebted “to the WikiLeaks whistleblower for shedding light on these issues, and so I urge the Committee to award this prestigious prize to accused whistleblower Bradley Manning” for displaying the highest form of courage at great personal risk.

 

Of course, expect Nobel officials to spurn him. The Committee’s history is long and inglorious. Past honorees included Henry Kissinger, Shimon Peres, Yirzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Al Gore, Obama, and others like them.

 

They share a common trait. They’re unindicted war criminals, not peacemakers. Choosing them exposed the Committee’s real agenda.

 

It follows the tradition of Alfred Nobel. He was a wealthy 19th century dynamite inventor/armaments manufacturer/war profiteer/then reinvented peacemaker to conceal his disreputable past.

 

As a result, the Committee scorns peace and favors war. Usually, those most deserving are bypassed for the world’s worst.

 

In December, expect the tradition to continue. Perhaps Netanyahu and NATO will share honors this year. Why not. It fits the pattern.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Feb 08

America’s Racist Drug Laws

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America’s Racist Drug Laws

 

by Stephen Lendman

 

Sentencing Project Executive Director Marc Mauer‘s a leading expert on sentencing, race, and criminal justice.

 

For 25 years, it’s “work(ed) for a fair and effective criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing law and practice, and alternatives to incarceration.”

 

Criminal injustice is pervasive, especially against people of color. Racial and ethnic minorities comprise over 60% of America’s prison population. “For black males in their twenties, 1 in every 8 is in prison or jail on any given day.”

 

America’s racist war on drugs disproportionately targets people of color and ethnic minorities. They comprise 75% of those in prison on drug related charges.

 

On March 17, 2011, Mauer testified before the US Sentencing Commission regarding proposed federal drug offense sentencing guideline amendments to the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act.

 

He said in 2009, drug offenses accounted for over half (51%) of the federal prison population. Those imprisoned represent a 20-fold increase since 1980. Their numbers exceed those incarcerated in 1980 for all offenses. They’re the most significant source of America’s 700% federal prison growth.

 

In recent years, state incarcerations stabilized. Federal ones keep rising. Drug related offenses are most responsible. Racial and ethnic minorities are grievously harmed. Reform is urgently needed.

 

Mandatory minimum sentences exacerbate the problem. So do other racist policies, including judicial unfairness, three strikes and you’re out, get tough on crime policies, and a guilty unless proved innocent mentality.

 

New York’s 1973 Rockefeller drug laws are most pernicious. Anyone convicted of selling two ounces or more of heroin, morphine, “raw or prepared opium,” cocaine, or cannabis, or possessing four ounces of the same substances receive mandatory 15-year minimum sentences up a maximum of 25 years to life.

 

In 1979, marijuana possession penalties were reduced from crimes to misdemeanors. However, aggressive pursuit of offenders continues, especially in New York City. More on that below.

 

Nationwide crack cocaine (vs. powder) and marijuana possession penalties are also pernicious. Until revised under the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act, first time offenders convicted of possessing as little as five grams of crack (one ounce = 28 grams) automatically got five years in prison.

 

The new law reduces, but doesn’t eliminate, the disparity between crack and powder cocaine. Henceforth, possessing 28 or more grams of crack subjects offenders to penalties up to five years. Mandatory simple possession sentencing ended. In addition, courts may reduce prior sentencing disparities.

 

Nonetheless, pot busts define America’s drug war. In 2006, Mauer said primary focus since 1990 shifted to marijuana offenses. As a result, they comprised 82% of the increase in drug arrests. Virtually all of them were for possessing small amounts. Enforcement costs are enormous – $4 billion or more annually for marijuana alone.

 

Under the 1970 federal Controlled Substances Act, cannabis is a Schedule I drug, meaning it’s defined as having high potential for abuse. So far, redefinition attempts failed. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled against medical marijuana use in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers’ Cooperative.

 

In Gonzales v. Raich (2005), the High Court ruled that Congress, under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, may criminalize the production and use of home-grown cannabis, even where states approve it for medicinal purposes. More on that below.

 

A Brief History of Legal Cannabis in America

 

In 1619, Jamestown colonial law required settlers to grow hemp. George Washington grew it as one of his main crops. Its use for rope and fabric was common throughout 18th and 19th century America.

 

Around 1860, cannabis regulations and restrictions were first instituted. After 1906, states began labeling it poisonous. In the 1920, prohibitions began. By the mid-1930s, all states enacted regulations, including 35 under the Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act. Violators were penalized but not imprisoned.

 

In the 1970s, communities began abolishing state laws and local regulations banning cannabis possession. Federal laws remain in place. In the 1990s, local sale for medical purposes began even though doing so conflicts with federal law.

 

Nonetheless, 16 states and the District of Columbia legalized medical marijuana, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

 

Expect others to follow. Possession amounts and other legal provisions vary by state, but the message is clear. Medicinal marijuana works. As a result, criminalizing it harms those dependent for relief.

 

In addition, it’s a growing revenue source for budget-strapped states. It also produces jobs when they’re most needed. It’s a win-win, regardless of outdated, counterproductive and repressive federal policies.

 

Efficacious substances should be encouraged, not prohibited. In 1850s America, pharmacies carried medicinal cannabis. Around the same time, states began regulating pharmaceutical sales, including penalties for mislabeling and adulterated substances.

 

It became a slippery slope toward criminalizing cannabis. Today’s momentum suggests eventual legalization, starting with medicinal use.

 

Racially Biased New York City Marijuana Policies

 

In 2008, the New York ACLU published a report titled, “Marijuana Arrest Crusade: Racial Bias and Police Policy in New York City – 1997 – 2007.”

 

From 1977 – 1986, 33,000 possession arrests were made. Numbers declined to 30,000 from 1987 – 1996. However, from 1997 – 2006, they exploded to 353,000. Today, outside the report’s timeline, they number around 50,000 annually for simple possession of small amounts. More on that below.

 

US Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas once said:

 

“As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.”

 

In New York City, Blacks and Hispanics are Exhibit A. They’ve been victimized by racist drug enforcement, notably for cannabis possession. From 1997 – 2006, Blacks comprised 52% of arrests, Hispanics another 31%. Whites accounted for 15%.

 

Those arrested and jailed affected 185,000 Blacks, 110,000 Hispanics, but only 53,000 Whites for minor possession offenses. Most were aged 26 or younger. About 91% were males.

 

Under Mayor Rudy Giuliani (January 1994 – December 2001), marijuana possession arrests exploded 10-fold. Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg (January 2002 – present), they’re higher than ever. At the same time, New York police provide little information. As a result, few New Yorkers know their city conducts “a historically unprecedented marijuana arrest crusade.”

 

Cops involved up to top commanders benefit. Marijuana busts are safe. Involved officers and supervisors accrue overtime pay, and produce numbers showing productivity.

 

In contrast, those arrested are harmed even if not prosecuted. Procedures include handcuffing, fingerprinting, photographing, and potentially obtaining DNA samples. Often people with no criminal records are affected. Henceforth they’ll have one and plenty of baggage.

 

Whether or not convicted, employment and educational opportunities, mortgages or other loans, public housing benefits, licenses, travel visas, and good credit standing are at risk.

 

Moreover, arrests and overnight custody alone are humiliating, degrading, alienating and unjust for possessing small amounts of controlled substances, especially marijuana that long ago should have been legalized.

 

Last September, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly responded to public pressure. As a result, he ordered commanders not to arrest people possessing small marijuana amounts unless they’re in public view.

 

In 1979, New York state decriminalized amounts of 25 grams or less. Henceforth, displaying it publicly became low-level misdemeanors, subject to ticketing, not arrests or jailing.

 

New York City’s stop-and-frisk policy drew widespread criticism. Mostly Black and Hispanic males are targeted. Police routinely confront them, demand their pockets be emptied, and if marijuana is displayed, they’re arrested for having it in public view. As a result, around 50,000 annually are criminalized unjustly.

 

At the time, critics called Kelly’s action important. Chief Legal Aid Society attorney Steven Banks said it would make a tremendous difference to wrongfully targeted young minorities.

 

Drug Policy Alliance executive director Ethan Nadelmann called the order a significant change in how police deal with minor marijuana possession cases. Hopefully, “gross racial disparity” would be curbed.

 

Kelly’s order in part read:

 

“Questions have been raised about the processing of certain marijuana arrests.” Henceforth, “(a) crime will not be charged to an individual who is requested or compelled to engage in the behavior that results in the public display of marijuana.” Displaying it must be “actively undertaken of the subject’s own volition.”

 

Queens College sociologist Harry G. Levine said public defenders and legal aid lawyers estimate up to three-fourths of those arrested displayed it on police orders. Those affected don’t know they’re illegal, but police are very intimidating.

 

Last year, Brooklyn Democratic assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and Republican Senator Mark Grisanti sponsored legislation to downgrade small possession public displays from misdemeanors to a lessor violations. Bloomberg opposed them, claiming it would encourage greater use.

 

Despite Kelly’s order, marijuana arrests declined slightly but continue. So does NYPD’s racist crusade. Bloomberg supports it. So does Kelly tacitly. In 2010, one in every seven city arrests were for displaying marijuana in public view. Illegal police searches and false charges were mostly responsible.

 

Last year, New York’s illegal stop-and-frisk policy affected over 600,000 people, overwhelmingly young Black and Hispanic males. Despite Kelly’s order, illegal arrests continue. Institute for Juvenile Reform and Alternatives member Chino Hardin said “build(ing) a movement to stop” New York’s crusade is essential.

 

On December 8, the ACLU called “NYPD Pot Arrests Habit….Tough to Break,” saying:

 

Police Commissioner Kelly’s order lowered arrests slightly, but maintained New York’s distinction as “the marijuana arrest capital of the world. This just won’t do.”

 

City Hall policy is at fault. People of color are aggressively targeted for petty offenses like “graffiti, disorderly conduct, and – you guessed it – minor marijuana possession.”

 

Ingrained habits are hard to break. Kelly’s order lacked teeth, especially without City Hall’s endorsement.

 

As a result, New York Black and Hispanic youths face unrelenting persecution unless public pressure forces legislative relief. It’s long overdue nationwide with teeth.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Jan 16

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

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Cruel and Unusual Punishment – by Stephen Lendman

 

The Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment.” The legal dictionary defines it as:

 

“any cruel and degrading punishment not known to the Common Law, or any fine, penalty, confinement, or treatment that is so disproportionate to the offense as to shock the moral sense of the community.”

 

Sentencing minors to life without parole qualifies. The ACLU says American children as young as 13 “are sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in prison without any opportunity for release.” In fact, some as young as 11 are affected.

 

Around 2,570 are sentenced to juvenile life without parole (JLWOP). America treats them like adults regardless of age or circumstances.

 

In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled in Roper V. Simmons that sentencing juveniles to death was cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.

 

In 2010, the ACLU and its Michigan affiliate sued (in Hill v. Synder) on behalf of nine Michigan inmates sentenced to life without parole while minors. They argued that doing so constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. It also violates international law prohibiting JLWOP. On July 15, 2011, the judge allowed the case to proceed.

 

On May 17, 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in Graham v. Florida that juvenile offenders can’t be sentenced to life without parole for non-homicide offenses committed before age 18. Although the Court held states needn’t guarantee eventual release, they must provide a realistic chance.

 

Calling the practice “cruel and unusual” punishment, the decision stated:

 

“Life in prison without the possibility of parole give no chance for fulfillment outside prison walls, no chance for reconciliation with society, no hope.”

 

“A young person who knows that he or she has no chance to leave prison before life’s end has little incentive to become a responsible individual.”

 

It also said America “adheres to a sentencing practice rejected the world over.”

 

In December 2006, a UN resolution calling for JLWOP’s abolition passed 185 to 1. America alone dissented. Few countries ever adopted it. At least 135 expressly rejected it in domestic laws, and 185 did so in General Assembly votes.

 

Israel, South Africa and Tanzania once sentenced children to life without parole. They later adopted legislation permitting juvenile parole. Although laws in some countries theoretically allow JLWOP, none use them. America’s the world’s only offender.

 

Although the Supreme Court Graham ruling broke new ground, it excluded 93% of juveniles convicted of homicide, including attempted and accomplice murder. Juvenile justice demands better. JLWOP abolishionists continue seeking state and federal legislative relief.

 

In 2009, Texas legislation eliminated it. However, it limits parole consideration to imprisonment after 40 years. Perhaps other states may follow and do better.

 

In November 2011, the Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases involving 14-year old juveniles sentenced to life without parole for homicide. The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) challenged the constitutionality of Jackson v. Hobbs (an Arkansas juvenile death sentence case) and Miller v. Alabama (a JLWOP one). More on EJI below.

 

Both sentences were mandatory without consideration of age or juvenile status. On March 20, 2012, arguments will be heard.

 

On October 14, 2011, the High Court upheld the Florida Court of Appeal’s decision that juveniles convicted of attempted murder cannot receive life without parole. Doing so denied Florida Attorney General’s request to review the case in question (Ian Manuel v. State of Florida).

 

The American Law Institute (ALI)

 

Its members include 4,000 lawyers, judges and law professors. Their research, scholarship and education influence legal developments. On October 12, they called for abolishing JLWOP. Its new Model Penal Code requires consideration of juvenile ages and reduced sentences for those prosecuted in adult courts.

 

It recognizes that children “should be judged less blameworthy for their criminal acts than older offenders – and age-based mitigation should increase in correspondence with the youthfulness of individual defendants.”

 

It urged states make all long-term juvenile offenders eligible for mitigation after 10 years. It said 10,000 were incarcerated in adult prisons and jails in 2009 on any given day. As a result, they’re vulnerable to “victimization, psychological harm, and suicide.”

 

The Code explicitly prohibits placing children in adult prisons.

 

The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) provides pro bono legal representation for poor defendants and prisoners denied judicial fairness.

 

It litigates for “condemned prisoners, juvenile offenders, people wrongly convicted or charged with violent crimes, poor people denied effective representation, and others whose trials are marked by racial bias or prosecutorial misconduct.”

 

It also works with impoverished communities, and unequivocally believes “no child should be sentenced to die in prison.” As a result, it initiated litigation challenging juvenile “death-in-prison” sentences.

 

Congressional JLWOP Legislation

 

Historically, Congress paid scant attention to juvenile justice. However, JLWOP abolishionists hope current legislation bears fruit. On November 1, 2011, HR 3305: Juvenile Justice Accountability and Improvement Act of 2011 was introduced and referred to committee. So far, no further action was taken.

 

In 2007 and 2009, similar legislation was introduced without success. It proposes allocating federal crime control funding to states permitting parole or supervised release for crimes committed while juveniles.

 

Despite trying twice and failing, sponsors are committed to reintroduce legislation until passage. If successful in the Republican-controlled House, Democrat-controlled Senate approval could follow. America remains the only nation imprisoning minors for life without parole.

 

Amnesty Internation (AI) for Ending JLWOP

 

Advocacy’s growing to end it. On November 30, AI joined other initiatives.

 

It said American minors can’t vote, buy alcohol or lottery tickets, nor consent to most forms of medical treatment. But they can be sentenced to life without parole and/or death.

 

Children as young as 11 have been affected. It’s an age when they don’t fully comprehend right or wrong distinctions, let alone legal considerations.

 

A 2011 AI report titled, “This is Where I’m Going to Be When I Die,” discusses US juvenile life sentencing, saying:

 

America alone defies “legal and moral consensus” by imprisoning minors for life without parole. Blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately affected. Provisions of the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child (CRC) are violated. Its Principle 1 states:

 

“Every child, without exception whatsoever, shall be entitled to (fundamental human and civil) rights, without distinction or discrimination on account of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, whether of himself or of his family.”

 

They’re entitled to special protections and opportunities to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually, and socially in a healthy normal way under conditions of freedom and dignity.

 

As a result, they’re entitled to life, an adequate standard of living, healthcare, education, leisure, safety and peace. Incarceration compromises or denies them entirely.

 

CRC’s Article 37 states:

 

“No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment….

 

No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily….

 

Every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect…. (and)

 

Every child deprived of his or her liberty shall have the right to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance….”

 

CRC also mandates detention as a last resort for the shortest possible time. Life imprisonment without parole is expressly prohibited.

 

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) also mandates special treatment for children. Article 10(1) states:

 

“All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.”

 

Under Article 10(3):

 

“Juvenile offenders shall be segregated from adults and be accorded treatment appropriate to their age and legal status.

 

Article 14(4) states:

 

“In the case of juvenile persons, the procedure shall be such as will take account of their age and the desirability of promoting their rehabilitation.”

 

In 2006, the UN Human Rights Committee said sentencing children to life without parole violates ICCPR provisions. It called on America to end the practice. It also said continuing it “could constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment.”

 

Moreover, each year since 2009, the General Assembly callied for abolishing “life imprisonment without possibility of release for those under the age of 18 years at the time of the commission of the offense.”

 

International law doesn’t distinguish between lethal and non-lethal crimes resulting in JLWOP. It unequivocally prohibits it.

 

Nonetheless, America and virtually all 50 states have mandatory sentencing laws. They require judges and juries to impose certain ones, including life without parole. Mitigating factors are precluded, including age, history of abuse, trauma, degree of criminal involvement, mental health status, or amenability to treatment or rehabilitation.

 

In Graham, the Supreme Court called JLWOP for non-homocidal offenders unconstitutional, saying “the precept of justice (mandates) that punishment for crime should be graduated and proportioned to (the) offense.”

 

For now, however, Graham’s as far as the Court’s likely to go. It’s for Congress and states to act boldly enough to mitigate or eliminate the practice altogether. It’s long past time they did it.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

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