Why may donors bribe officials but citizens may not?
JS asks the question many of us have entertained for a long time. His message appears below:
Thank you, JS!
A very fine piece of writing, Don.
Here's a little contradiction that I've been thinking about and posting for over a decade:
RE: the total capture of the candidates and politicians by the donor class
In its Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), decision, the US Supreme Court held that limits on election expenditures are unconstitutional, and ruled that expenditure limits contravene the First Amendment provision on freedom of speech because a restriction on spending for political communication necessarily reduces the quantity of expression.
In its Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), landmark decision, the Supreme Court of the United States held 5–4 that the freedom of speech clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations, nonprofit organizations, labor unions, and other associations.
But how does the First Amendment really work to legitimize the legalized bribery scheme better known as campaign fund-raising? Consider this:
>> Legislators make the laws.
>> Police Officers enforce the laws.
>> Judges interpret the laws.
If a citizen offers money to a judge in response to the way he interprets the law, that’s a bribe.
If a citizen offers money to a cop in response to the way he enforces the law, that’s a bribe.
But if a citizen or organization offers money to an elected legislator in response to the way he makes the laws, that’s just campaign fund-raising and not at all illegal or unethical.
So why does the First Amendment apply to the last of these three activities but not the other two? M
Me:
Excellent question, JS. Hits the bullseye.
My answer to that question is that campaign contributions have nothing to do with the First Amendment. The judges who issued this decision are arbitrarily aiding and abetting crime under color of law.
Without the unbridled giving of campaign contributions, our runaway government would not be supporting genocide in Palestine because no federal official would receive a dime from AIPAC, and likewise, we would not be waging wars under absurd casi belli against countries that represent zero threat to the American people because arms manufacturers would not be allowed to pay a dime to any federal official.
Neither the support for Israeli crimes nor the acting out of the irrational Russophobia in Ukraine are legitimate functions of government in any country in the world. Washington has usurped functions that are not incumbent on it.
Both of these illegitimate and immoral usurped functions have led to the near bankrupting of US finances and that means the eventual destruction of America. Fires eventually burn themselves out. You might even say this is God working if you are so inclined.
The rogues who have usurped our government and the people who have stood by and done nothing to stop it are responsible.
If ordinary people ever begin to act vigilantly, this will stop and good government will take root in America.
To reverse these iniquities will require gargantuan efforts of civil disobedience.
Can it be done?
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Here’s your daily air strike update for May 31, 2024
Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
https://www.gazeta.ru/army/news/2024/05/31/23143069.shtml?ysclid=lwvfj2bg4l416590487
31 May 2024
Russian aircraft hit an Ukrainian Armed Forces crossing in the Kharkov oblast
Russian aviation attacked the Ukrainian Armed Forces crossing in the Kupyansk district of the Kharkov oblast
Russian aircraft hit a crossing over the Oskol River in the Kupyansk district of the Kharkov oblast, used by Ukrainian troops. TASS was informed about this by law enforcement agencies.
“Russian aviation launched a missile attack on the crossing of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) across the Oskol River in the Kupyansk district of the Kharkov oblast,” the agency’s source informed.
On May 29, naval aviation of the Russian Black Sea Fleet eliminated an unmanned Ukrainian boat that was heading for Crimea.
Prior to this, Russian artillerymen, with the support of combat aircraft, drones and missile forces, destroyed a warehouse of unmanned boats and an assembly shop for unmanned aerial vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces within 24 hours.
On May 24, it was reported that Russian naval aviation destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned boats. Also, air defense systems on duty eliminated three ATACMS operational-tactical missiles over the territory of the peninsula.
Previously, Ukraine developed a drone capable of flying to Siberia.
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Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
Excerpt from longer article:
"To Kyiv!"
Caption is simplified version. Here is what the Ukrainian soldier actually said according to this site : "I’ll be honest with you, girl, if I had my way, and I think my comrades agree with this: we would have marched to Kiev with the Russians and all of this would have come to an end a long time ago.”
A video from a hidden camera on a train, which captured a conversation between Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers, is being actively distributed on the Internet. The recording clearly demonstrated the real position of the Ukrainian soldiers who were being taken to the front.
The footage shows soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces traveling somewhere on a train. No faces are shown, neither the unit nor the direction is known. However, judging by the conversation, they are being transported to one of the sectors of the combat zone.
One of the soldiers is clearly indignant that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are poorly preparing those who were mobilized yesterday - they are almost immediately sent to hot spots with minimal training. But, as you know, such things are of little use.
The conversation between the military personnel clearly shows the real position of the soldiers in relation not only to the fighting, but also to the Kyiv authorities. One of the fighters, having previously apologized to his colleagues, said:
If it were my will, I think my comrades also think so, we would have gone with the Russians to Kyiv. And all this would have ended long ago,
- admitted one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters.
That is, Ukrainian soldiers are ready to march on Kyiv shoulder to shoulder with the Russians.
Also, one of the Ukrainians stated that in his brigade only about 20 percent of the original composition remained - “the rest are two hundreds.” [he means dead. The trucks sent to pick of the KIAs are marked “200.”] In the same video, the soldier says that the total losses in his brigade are 80 percent dead, but the command does not allow the bodies of the dead to be taken away so as not to pay compensation to their relatives. [Yes, friends, this is the famous “democracy” the US promised for Ukraine!]
The Ukrainian military also criticized the Ukrainian telethon dedicated to the armed conflict and complained that the command was sending untrained and unequipped military personnel to the line of combat contact. [where Kiev KNOWS they will die! What would you expect of NAZIS?]
The soldiers complain about the lack of shells and normal “equipment.” In general, judging by the conversation, it can be assumed that some of those in the video met for the first time, which means they were collected from different units [So what does that tell us about how universal these opinions are in Ukraine? It is clear from this that almost ALL of Ukraine shares these negative views of the Kiev regime, and that means the country is ripe for a coup!]. This practice has been very popular in the Ukrainian Armed Forces recently when sending reserves to the Kharkov oblast, where the most critical situation has developed and some of the heaviest battles are taking place.
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The Anglo-Saxon Elites developed the immoral exploitation of people – particularly those races they deemed lesser ones – to an art form. It is this colonial mindset that gave us Americans, the inheritors of it, our concept of hegemony (ie, dominance, unipolarism…) that is making us pariahs, particularly now that we are obviously supporting the very prominent genocide in Palestine that can no longer be hidden from view. Netanyahu and his obsession with ethnically cleansing by murder and terror is fulfilling the role of focusing the world’s eyes on us. In that respect his fanatical dedication to atrocity crime is doing the world a favor.
ANGLO-AMERICAN ESTABLISHMENT BEHIND PUSH FOR PERMANENT WAR
By Harley Schlanger
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Israel-Palestine news
https://us11.campaign-archive.com/?e=ebbe9c8233&u=70b9fc567465118fa0b7b6e67&id=c3ff52d507
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The Laws of war
https://odysee.com/@Qwinten:b/Laws-Of-War--By-Matt-Orfalea:8
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Yanis Varoufakis delivers on video the speech that was banned by the Neo-Fascist German police in Berlin.
As a home schooling activist, I have watched the German censorship for over a decade. Germany is the most unfree country in Europe. Shhh. No free speech allowed.
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Our thanks to JB for this:
Parasites: the first 5000 years
five rules of parasitic rulers
TEREZA CORAGGIO
MAY 30, 2024
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Palestinians in Rafah and across Gaza grapple with ongoing Israeli violence, starvation; UN experts call for embargo, sanctions; another expert identifies genocide at Israel’s hands – while a nurse in US gets fired for doing the same; Israel’s covert war on the ICC, Mossad threatened prosecutor; EU rejects Israel’s designation of UNRWA as a terrorist org; Biden admin won’t sanction ICC; US appears to scold Israel at UN; more.
By IAK staff, from reports.
https://israelpalestinenews.org/israel-designate-unrwa-terrorist-org-day-236/
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Just a reminder of what Israel does and the US funds. And the Evangelical church supports, while hiding behind the name of Jesus.
I can’t help but think of Gordon Robertson, the psychopath who heads the 700 Club and CBN, which pretends to be “Christian” but wholeheartedly supports Israeli atrocities! “Christian” Zionists are Satanists. Look at the photo and tell me I am wrong
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This is in response to my response to a video showing Macron saying something inane about Ukraine.
JP:
translation from French
He is a very dangerous psychopath unmasked in 2016 by an Italian psychiatrist, and has recently reoffended.
He was placed there to totally destroy France, and he succeeded brilliantly.
He boasts, saying everything and its opposite, but he doesn't know the files.
His ambition since the beginning has been to become president of the United States of Europe, and he is likely to succeed.
For years I have wanted to escape this region of the world, but I do not have the means.
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Our thanks to JS:
‘Israel is Committing Genocide, US is Complicit’ – Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention
STATEMENT (27 May 2024): https://x.com/LemkinInstitute/status/1795295046088221017
News Article (28 May 2024): https://www.palestinechronicle.com/israel-is-committing-genocide-us-is-complicit-lemkin-institute-for-genocide-prevention/
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Trump guilty .. but so is all of Washington
But as I explained in my last two articles, the entire US government is guilty of destroying America after taking bribes from ill-intentioned donors. Trump’s crime pales before that. On the other hand, his biggest wrongdoing is his participation in the Palestinian genocide. He was the first president to cut off aid to Palestine. If he is elected, the Palestinian people could disappear from the face of the earth.
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