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US Senate Lets Three Patriot Act Provisions Expire
by Stephen Lendman
On Sunday, Senate debate failed to extend three controversial Patriot Act provisions:
● Section 215 used as justification for bulk NSA phone, Internet and business records collection;
● the lone wolf provision amending the definition of a foreign power to include anyone allegedly "engag(ing) in international terrorism or activities in preparation thereof;" and
● the roving wiretap provision permitting "blank check" phone and Internet monitoring of individuals without identifying them by name or having justifiable probable cause.
● Unless changed by subsequent congressional action, monitoring henceforth requires "specific and articulable facts" showing targeted subjects may be foreign agents as defined under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Section 215 defenders lie claiming sunsetting the provision eliminates vital surveillance powers needed to protect against terrorist threats.
Revisiting Patriot Act Police State Legislation
by Stephen Lendman
Free and open societies don't enact police state laws like the USA Patriot Act - ever for any reason.
Lawyer Nancy Chang said earlier "(t)here's nothing patriotic about trampling on the Bill of Rights."
The legislation was written, on the shelf, ready to go long before 9/11 - awaiting an excuse to introduce and enact what no free society would tolerate.
Washington capitalized on a window of hysteria to grant unchecked executive powers. The legislation was congressionally passed and signed by George Bush on October 26, 2001 - 45 days after 9/11.
It state sponsored terror committed by the government of the United States against its own people. The mother of all Big Lies claims otherwise.
The Patriot Act’s text was 342 pages long. It controversially changed 15 US laws. It created the crime of domestic terrorism for the first time - defined as "acts dangerous to human life…that appear to be intended:
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping…"
In other words, anti-war or global justice demonstrations, environmental or animal rights activism, civil disobedience, and dissent of any kind may be called "domestic terrorism."
UN Report Accuses Israel of Crimes Against Children
by Stephen Lendman
Reuters obtained a confidential UN report indicating "an alarming number of child victims in last" summer's Israeli aggression on Gaza.
At the same time, the world body hesitates including Israel on a list of children's rights violators - because of heavy-handed US and Israeli pressure not to.
Israel's war murdered over 500 children and dozens of entire families. They were willfully targeted - a major war crime by any standard.
Reuters said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is "leaning against including Israel" on its list of nations violating children's rights - willful child killers and abusers.
A previous article discussed Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Leila Zerrougui calling for holding Israel responsible for "grave crimes against children" in last summer's Gaza war.
She accused its forces of willful attacks on schools, hospitals and UN shelters. Ban rejected her request. His spokesman Stephane Dujarric said he hadn't made a final judgment - despite overwhelming, indisputable evidence of Israeli high crimes, murdering over 500 Palestinian children in cold blood.
A late April UN report blamed Israel for seven attacks on UN schools in Gaza - used as safe haven shelters.
Sexual Exploitation by UN Peacekeepers in Haiti
by Stephen Lendman
UN Blue Helmets are supposed to restore order, maintain peace and security and help troubled nations transition to stability.
Instead, they operate as imperial enforcers creating more conflict than resolution - including committing horrific human rights abuses against vulnerable people they're mandated to protect.
Wherever they're deployed it's the same ugly story. After the Bush administration ousted democratically elected Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a ruthless, illegal MINUSTAH mission enforced coup d'etat authority.
Abuses against vulnerable Haitians from then to now include sexual exploitation, trafficking and rape. On June 9, AP News headlined "UN: Sex exploitation by peacekeepers strongly underreported."
Washington's Phony War on ISIS
by Stephen Lendman
The Big Lie explains everything about US policies on issues mattering most - especially geopolitical ones.
The New York Times operates as a virtual US government house organ. Many of its reports are little more than administration and Pentagon press releases.
On June 9, it headlined "US Embracing a New Approach on Battling ISIS in Iraq." The so-called new approach is the beefed up old one - providing more support for Islamic State fighters in Iraq, Syria and wherever else Washington deploys them. They're in Libya. Small numbers are in Gaza perhaps ahead of more to come.
Death squad diplomacy is longstanding US policy. Vietnam's Operation Phoenix became a prototype for today's wars. Tactics included intimidation, kidnappings, torture, and mass murder.
Obama Sidelines Kerry on Ukraine Policy
Eric Zuesse
On May 21st, I headlined "Secretary of State John Kerry v. His Subordinate Victoria Nuland, Regarding Ukraine,” and quoted John Kerry’s May 12th warning to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to cease his repeated threats to invade Crimea and re-invade Donbass, two former regions of Ukraine, which had refused to accept the legitimacy of the new regime that was imposed on Ukraine in violent clashes during February 2014. (These were regions that had voted overwhelmingly for the Ukrainian President who had just been overthrown. They didn’t like him being violently tossed out and replaced by his enemies.) Kerry said then that, regarding Poroshenko, "we would strongly urge him to think twice not to engage in that kind of activity, that that would put Minsk in serious jeopardy. And we would be very, very concerned about what the consequences of that kind of action at this time may be.” Also quoted there was Kerry’s subordinate, Victoria Nuland, three days later, saying the exact opposite, that we "reiterate our deep commitment to a single Ukrainian nation, including Crimea, and all the other regions of Ukraine.” I noted, then that, "The only person with the power to fire Nuland is actually U.S. President Barack Obama.” However, Obama instead has sided with Nuland on this.
German Banker: Obama Is Destroying Europe
Eric Zuesse
Interviewed on June 6th by German Economic News, the chief economist at Bremer Landesbank, Folker Hellmeyer, says that because of Obama’s sanctions against Russia, German exports declined year-over-year by 18% in 2014, and by 34% in the first two months of 2015 (no later figures), but he asserts that "The damage is much more comprehensive than these statistics show,” because those are only the “primary losses,” and there are in addition “secondary effects,” which get even worse over time.
For example: "European countries with strong business in Russia, including Finland and Austria, are economically hit very hard. These countries consequently place fewer orders from Germany. Moreover, considering that European corporations will circumvent the sanctions, to create production facilities at the highest efficiency level in Russia, we lose this potential capital stock, which is the basis of our prosperity. Russia wins the capital stock,” at the EU’s expense, even though the sanctions are targeted against Russia.
Treatment of East Jerusalem Palestinians: Profile of Israeli Viciousness
by Stephen Lendman
Longstanding Israeli policy leaves East Jerusalem Palestinians deeply impoverished, viciously persecuted and denied fundamental rights everyone deserves.
A mid-May Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) report on East Jerusalem "paints a (disturbing) picture of persistent neglect and increasing (Israeli) violence," the organization said.
Palestinians constitute 37% of East Jerusalem's population. They number over 300,000.
Israel's apartheid wall separates one-fourth of East Jerusalem Palestinians from the rest of the city. They lack basic services and infrastructure Israel refuses to provide.
East Jerusalem Palestinians are permanent residents, not citizens on their own land in their own country.
Saudis Host UN Human Rights Conference
by Stephen Lendman
Letting one of the world's most egregious human rights abusers host the Jeddah-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) June 3 and 4 UN human rights conference is like having a Mafia godfather host a session on gun control.
The conference addressed "the full and effective implementation of UN Human Rights Council Res. 16/18."
Adopted on April 11, 2011, it's titled "Combating Intolerance, Negative Stereotyping and Stigmatization of, and Discrimination, Incitement to Violence and Violence Against, Persons Based on Religion or Belief."
It mandates all UN Member States "promote and encourage universal respect for and observance of all human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction as to, inter alia, religion or belief."
It calls on all Member States to respect, encourage and foster religious freedom and pluralism. Its provisions are polar opposite Riyadh policies.
Imagine a nation hosting a conference on religious and other freedoms where religions other than fanatical Wahhabism are considered apostate. Practicing them is criminalized - subjecting adherents to lengthy prison terms, public whippings, heavy fines and at times death by beheading.
Vincent Bugliosi and The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder
Michael Collins
“If we want to deter future presidents from taking this nation to another war under false pretenses, some president in the future that gets a funny thought, I think that deterrence would increase immeasurably if he knew what America did to George Bush, put him on trial for murder, and if he was convicted, of course, the punishment would either be life imprisonment or the imposition of the death penalty.” Vincent Bugliosi, Murder Trumps Torture - An Interview, Michael Collins, Aug 8, 2009
Vincent Bugliosi was a true patriot and a tireless, fierce advocate for the people. His death at age 80 marks a time to remember his vision of an American future based on decency, civility, and the respect for both the law and the people the law should protect. This article excerpts three interviews I conducted with Bugliosi on his 2008 book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.
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