A highly decorated retired CIA analyst was forcibly removed by a half dozen cops as he attempted to expose the crimes of the nominee for Director of the CIA, Gina Haspel.
The post Elderly Retired CIA Analyst Dragged from Senate Hearing for Exposing Gina Haspel’s War Crimes appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
The new head of the CIA has been a part of the deep state apparatus since 1985. In her tenure, she"s carried out unspeakable torture and was complicit in destroying evidence of US war crimes.
The post First Woman to Head the CIA is an Infamous War Criminal Who Destroyed Evidence of US Torture appeared first on The Free Thought Project.
Video footage of police officers using a taser commit torture has gotten the attention of the United Nations who is now launching an investigation.
It never ended under Obama at US torture prisons worldwide, Guantanamo the tip of the iceberg.
The practice continues under Trump. He believes it works. Clear evidence proves otherwise.
He believes if it doesn’t work, detainees deserve it anyway. The vast majority in US torture prisons post-9/11 were innocent victims, wrongfully called terrorists, brutalized for their faith and ethnicity – their pain and suffering ignored, largely unreported by Western media.
International law is clear and unequivocal. Torture is illegal at all times, under all circumstances with no allowed exceptions.
It’s mostly used for punishment and control, not to obtain useful information. Most, maybe all, detainees in US torture prisons have nothing to tell.
They’ll say anything their torturers want to hear to stop the pain. Most everyone would do the same thing.
Common US torture methods include waterboarding (simulating drowning), severe beatings, electric shocks, mock executions, hooding, prolonged isolation under extreme heat or cold, deafening noice, use of stress positions, along with sexual humiliation and abuse.
Founded by civil and human rights attorney Clive Stafford Smith, UK-based Reprieve “fight(s) for the victims of extreme human rights abuses with legal action and public education.”
The group’s main focus is on the death penalty, indefinite detentions without trial, extraordinary renditions, extrajudicial killings and torture.
Last October, it published seven facts most people don’t know about Guantanamo, as follows:
“1. Most detainees were sold to the US for enormous bounties.
2. The Bush administration decided that the prisoners had no rights, and Reprieve was a big part of changing that.”
3. All the prisoners initially faced the death penalty.
4. At least 15 children have been held in Guantanamo.
5. More men have died in Guantanamo than have been convicted of a crime.
6. Over 90% of Guantanamo detainees have been released without charge.
7. Guantanamo is possibly the world’s most expensive prison.”
It costs Washington around $445 million to keep Guantanamo’s 41 prisoners incarcerated – $29,000 per prisoner daily, a shocking waste of money on top of committing grievous human rights abuses.
Of the roughly 775 Guantanamo detainees since its detention facilities opened in January 2002, only four were convicted of a crime.
The vast majority were held uncharged and untried, their fundamental rights denied. At least 10 were killed by prison guards or other US personnel, falsely listed as suicides.
The ACLU called torture and abuse at Guantanamo one of the most shameful episodes in US history, urging its facilities to be shut down.
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) led the fight against indefinite detention and torture at Guantanamo – calling it an “island prison designed to exist beyond the rule of law.”
Trump vowed to resume sending prisoners there, saying he wants to “load it up with some bad dudes.” CCR continues working for the release of remaining detainees, seeking closure of the facility.
UN special rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer said he has information that Ammar al-Baluchi, falsely accused of involvement in 9/11, is being tortured and abused at Guantanamo, explaining:
“In addition to the long-term effects of past torture, noise and vibrations are reportedly still being used against him, resulting in constant sleep deprivation and related physical and mental disorders, for which he allegedly does not receive adequate medical attention.”
Other detainees perhaps are treated the same way. Melzer called for prosecution of US officials responsible for involvement in torture, issuing a statement saying:
“By failing to prosecute the crime of torture in CIA custody, the US is in clear violation of the Convention against Torture, and is sending a dangerous message of complacency and impunity to officials in the US and around the world.”
He and his predecessors were denied access Guantanamo – to learn firsthand what apparently still goes on.
The post Torture Continues at Guantanamo appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.
It is no secret that the last couple decades saw an abrupt increase in the number of private military companies or private security contractors (the so-called PMCs), the overall budgets of some of which can easily surpass the military budgets of certain sovereign states. The turning point in the creation of those companies occurred in 1995 during the military operations conducted by the Armed Forces of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina against the Serbian troops, when the right to carry on hostilities was outsourced by a number of security contractor firms.
The can be no second opinion about Washington being the most faithful adept of the PMC concept, since with the amount of wars the US has been waging against other states the Pentagon needs spare hands to do the dirty job for it, so that Washington won’t lose any further. American intelligence agencies were quick to comprehend in mid 90s that they would need a lot of private contractors if they are to carry on their dubious operations across the globe over the next couple decades. Therefore, the Pentagon started motivating various companies to outsource a wide range of military tasks. As a result, over the last decade alone the US military department has signed more than 3 thousand contracts with PMCs.
Today PMCs are operating more that 90% of all drones that US Air Force and Navy have together, they are also engaged in reconnaissance missions, data analysis, along with developing of promising technologies and materials, on top of providing routine military training, convoy escorts, and air cargo support. In May 2007, the US government disclosed for the first time the total amount of funds allocated on the PMCs by American intelligence agencies, with the total amount reaching 33.6 billion dollars. In January 2015, the US Central Command published statistics on contract employees of PMCs, specifying the CENTCOM alone employs more than 43 thousand individuals that fulfill all sorts of contracts, of which no more than 17 thousand are American citizens, with the rest being natives of UK and Australia.
According to rough estimates, the PMC market worth exceeds 150 billion dollars. As for the continuous increase in the actual of number and their value it can be attributed to an ever expanding share of “secret operations” deals among those that Washington keeps on signing.
Although the existing US legislation has set in stone the principle that “the most complex and sensitive tasks shouldn’t be fulfilled by private organizations”, when it comes to the situation on the ground we witness quite the opposite happening.
This notion has recently been confirmed by the Daily Mail as it reported on the activities of the Academi PMC, which was formerly known under its scandalous name of Blackwater. According to these revelations Academi contractors were engaged in torturing and physically abusing the members of the Saudi royal family and those businessmen that were detained along with them in Saudi Arabia in early November. According to the publication, the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally participated in the said interrogations thanks to the dubious services provided to him by Academi. As a result of these interrogations, the Crown Prince received a total of 194 billion dollars in “voluntary donations” from those that he was questioning.
One can recall that Saudi law enforcement agencies arrested a total of 11 princes, four ministers and several dozens of former ministers and prominent businessmen on charges of corruption. Among those arrested one could find one of the richest men on the planet – Al-Waleed bin Talal. Earlier in the Middle East and Western media leaked details about the harsh treatment that the detainees were exposed to, regardless of their social status or previous achievements. Thus, the newspaper The New York Times has already reported that at least 17 prisoners among those arrested on suspicion of participating in corrupt schemes were brutally beaten.
Another example of Washington’s privatization of “right on violence” is the organization of deliveries of lethal weapons to both the areas of armed conflicts, which is prohibited by international law, but even to those regions where extremist and terrorist groups haven’t started violence yet.
Thus, in spite of Washington’s continuous claims that there has been no instance of American lethal weapons being delivered to Ukraine, Western PMCs have been delivering those to Ukraine for over two years now. For instance, AirTronic PMC has been delivering American-made grenade launchers to Kiev for a long while as it’s been confined by its CEO, Richard Wendiver in his interview for the Voice of America. In particular, he specified that the companies initiated such deliveries last year and has been carrying on them until this very day. He added that such deliveries have been coordinated by the US Embassy in Kiev, in close cooperation with the State Department, the Pentagon and the Ukrainian government.
Since other American PMCs have been fulfilling similar contracts in other regions of the world, one shouldn’t be surprised when he seas a picture of a radical terrorist armed with top-notch US weapons systems, especially when those operate in Syria and Iraq. Almost one and a half thousand fully loaded trucks worth of weapons was delivered to the terrorists of ISIS, as it’s been announced by the Syrian Defense Ministry earlier this year. Automatic weapons and grenade launchers produced in American are pretty common among the radicals that the Pentagon has been unofficially supporting. All this has already been proven true, as tons of units of such weapons have already been confiscated from radical militants.
Despite the presence of a wide range of international actors, modern geopolitics is far from being public. A significant role in it is played by the behind-the-scenes actors and secret deals, which are then fulfilled by all sorts of PMCs. Thus, we have found ourselves in an age when private companies are capable of influencing individual countries and even whole regions. This, in particular, confirms the involvement of American PMCs in torture of representatives of the Saudi elites and the ongoing US-made arms deliveries to the Middle East, Ukraine, Afghanistan.
In 2008, the status of PMCs was clarified in the so-called Montreux Document, that was signed by a total of 17. This document contains rules of engagement for those companies and regulates their operations in conflict zones. According to this document, the state that hosts a private military company bears full responsibility for its actions in various regions of the world.
What this basically means is that Washington will not be able to escape responsibility for the crimes committed by its contractors somewhere behind-the-scenes.
Valery Kulikov, expert politologist, exclusively for the online magazine ‘New Eastern Outlook’.
The headline reads “Ex-Dupont police officer sentenced to prison for corruption of minor” but former Dupont Borough police officer, David Turkos, 44, will likely never spend an entire day inside of a prison cell for raping two young boys. Judge Michael T. Vough sentenced Turkos for 9-23 months, at Luzerne County Correctional Facility, but the former officer is immediately eligible for work release.
For those unfamiliar, work release allows a prisoner to go to a job during the day and only have to sleep nights in jail. It is essentially state-funded housing.
Turkos was charged in 2015 with three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, two counts of indecent assault and a count of simple assault. However, he only pleaded guilty in June to two counts of corruption of minors. The plea deal was accepted by Vough and the more serious felony rest counts were withdrawn — a typical and common privilege afforded to the thin blue line, even for the vilest of offenders.
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The charges were the result of accusations from his now teenage victims. Two victims came forward, accusing Turkos of having sexually abused them on multiple occasions when they were between ages 4 and 6. They told investigators Turkos threatened to hurt their pets and loved ones to keep them quiet. Another victim told investigators Turkos would zip-tie him to a railing while sexually assaulting him, then he would offer him gifts to stay quiet.
But it wasn’t the first time the former officer had been accused of criminal impropriety while wearing a badge. In 2008, while he was still a police officer, he was arrested, charged, and pleaded guilty to assault and harassment for allegedly beating his wife and stepson. And in 2009, following allegations Turkos was masturbating in front of two young children, he was sentenced to six months to a year in county prison for corruption of minors.
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The sentencing has angered many residents who took to social media to express their outrage. Bee Barrone posted in the FB Group “Crazy Shit Going Down in Wilkes-Barre Area“. She wrote;
There should be a protest to beg the DA to reconsider the “plea agreement” that allows the dupont police officer child rapist immediate work release and only 9 months of work release not even prison!!!!!
Barrone expressed outrage at the torture the boy must have endured who was also raped by Turkos’ father. Yes, that’s right. The cop and his dad were both victimizing the boy. Joseph Turkos, the former officer’s father, was convicted of a misdemeanor count of corruption of minors in August 2014 after he was charged with sexually assaulting one of the same boys. Barrone explained:
Judge Michael T Vough handed him a 9 month work release sentence after he raped the same little boy his very own father did who is currently serving his prison sentence!
Barrone, who wasn’t alone in her outrage, expressed disbelief more parents and members of the community were not equally as enraged. She appeared equally miffed the justice system did not throw the book at the law enforcement officer who was supposed to have been protecting the child, not raping him. She also made reference to the viciousness of the crime.
I absolutely CANNOT believe there are lawyers, police officers and parents accepting this sentence. If it isn’t bad enough the little boy who was under the age of 13 was raped already by the perp’s father, he still wasn’t free he was left to be tortured and viciously raped by ANOTHER DUPONT POLICE OFFICER! Gagged, choked, handcuffs, zip ties???
Barrone called on members of her community to be more diligent in voting for their judges and district attorneys:
People with a heart need to speak up for this child. The system has failed him MAJORLY! This town is so corrupt and effed up its beyond disgusting! DO NOT FORGET ITS VOTING TIME SOON PEOPLE! Get this DA AND THESE JUDGES OUT OF HERE!!!
The victims spoke out about the abuse they endured and the threats made against their lives. According to the Times Leader:
The teenagers, both known to Turkos, said the assaults happened between 2001 and 2008, stopping only when Turkos exited their lives. During questioning at the 2016 hearing, they explained why they waited to come forward. “I was afraid,” said one of the victims, who was 14 at the time of the hearing. “(Turkos) was being physical and he made threats.” “I was being threatened,” stated the second victim, then 19, adding he “absolutely” bought into the threats because Turkos owned a gun and “he would frequently point it at us.”
The slap on the wrist sentences for former police officers who have engaged in criminal sexual activity has now become so commonplace it borders on the edge of being comical—if it weren’t so horrific.
READ MORE: Cops Restrain Man, Pepper Spray Him, Leave him Screaming for Help While Convulsing
As TFTP has reported, police officers often use their badge to abuse children. Then, they are given preferential treatment, it seems, by the courts who for some reason appear to take their public service into consideration at sentencing. Turkos was a twice-convicted criminal who was allowed to keep his badge. Even the Times Leader cannot pinpoint exactly when the police officer resigned or was fired from the Dupont Borough Police Department.
The CIA has been forced to declassify nearly 300 documents about a secret torture site in Afghanistan where CIA psychologists devised some of the most cruel and inhuman ways of torturing. Some were killed. The psychologists made millions of dollars. It was more than ten years ago. Past history? Not if you listen to President Trump on torture. Waterboarding? “I love it,” he said at a rally.
Ukraine is a fascist police state – run by US-installed, Nazi-infested putschists, a cancer in Europe’s heartland.
Washington and EU nations support its naked aggression on Donbass, ignoring cold-blooded murder, rampant torture and other abuses by illegitimate junta officials running things – according to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT).
According to its report, “a considerable number of credible allegations from detained persons (including juveniles, revealed severe) physical ill- treatment by police officers, consisting mainly of slaps, punches, kicks or blows with a truncheon or a plastic bottle filled with water.”
“In (some) cases, ill-treatment was of such severity that it could be considered as amounting to torture. Most of the allegations concerned ill-treatment during initial questioning by operational police officers in an attempt to obtain confessions or other information.”
“In a number of cases, the (CPT) delegation gathered medical evidence (including injuries directly observed by the delegation’s doctors) consistent with the allegations made.”
The frequency of torture and ill-treatment “remains at a worrying level.” Unrecorded detentions continue, including individuals held without charge handcuffed to fixed objects without food or water at times for days.
Treatment ignores rule of law safeguards, prohibiting brutal treatment for any reason at all times, with no allowed exceptions.
Prolonged detention on law enforcement agency premises “increases the risk of intimidation and ill-treatment,” the CPT said. Prison conditions are deplorable.
Prison staff is “problematic,” badly needed reforms not forthcoming, overcrowding, rampant mistreatment, and corruption three of many disturbing issues.
Iron discipline enforced is “grossly excessive,” punishment meted out for minor rules violations or indiscriminately. Conditions in many prisons are “appalling…inhuman and degrading,” in some cases with little or no heat in winter.
Police states aren’t known for kind and gentle treatment within or free from confinement.
Ukraine is Europe’s worst. Its Kiev Obolonsky district kangaroo court intends trying coup d’etat toppled former President Viktor Yanukovich in absentia – on fabricated treason charges.
In Russia for his safety, his request to take part in the automatic guilt by accusation trial by video link-up was denied.
Kiev putschists fear damning evidence of their February 2014 coup might come out in trial proceedings – including neocon assistant State Department secretary Victoria Nuland’s involvement in orchestrating what happened.
They’re run by the despotic UAE, along with rogue Yemeni elements trained by the Gulf state.
Washington is likely behind what’s going on – US citizens complicit in interrogations. None of this would be happening without US involvement and approval.
An estimated 2,000 or more detainees are brutalized in captivity – not al-Qaeda fighters as AP reported. America, Riyadh, the UAE, and their rogue allies support them.
Detainees are Houthis or supporters. Saudi terror-bombing targets their fighters, Washington involved in the fighting.
US weapons and munitions are used to massacre countless numbers of Yemenis, mostly civilians in harm’s way, willfully targeted as part of a diabolical plot to inflict maximum pain and suffering on an entire population, millions affected.
According to an AP investigation, “secret prisons are inside military bases, ports, an airport, private villas and even a nightclub.”
“Some detainees have been flown to an Emirati base across the Red Sea in Eritrea, according to Yemen Interior Minister Hussein Arab and others.”
AP cited anonymous Defense Department officials admitting US involvement in interrogations. They lied saying no torture or other forms of abuse occurred in their presence.
DOD spokeswoman Dana White grievously lied, claiming America “always adhere(s) to the highest standards of personal and professional conduct.”
“We do not turn a blind eye because we are obligated to report any violations of human rights.”
Fact: Torture is official US policy, authorized at the highest levels of government, especially post-9/11 – despite international and constitutional law banning it at all times, under all circumstances with no allowed exceptions.
Fact: Laws prohibiting torture are jus cogens. They’re higher, compelling laws. No nation may pass legislation permitting it. No courts may justify it. Jus cogens prohibitions allow no immunity from criminal liability.
Fact: A 2013 “sweeping, 577-page” Constitution Project (CP) report said it’s “indisputable that the United States engage(s) in the practice of torture.”
Fact: What began earlier, continues now. Torture is globalized, featuring lawless abductions and brutalizing treatment.
The UAE lied, claiming no involvement in torture or other forms of abuse. Lawyers and family members of victims explained around 2,000 or more men disappeared into black site torture prisons.
Former Riyan airport detainees “described being crammed into shipping containers smeared with feces and blindfolded for weeks on end,” AP explained.
“They said they were beaten, trussed up on (a) ‘grill…spun in a circle of fire…and sexually assaulted.”
“According to a member of the Hadramawt Elite, a Yemeni security force set up by the UAE, American forces were at times only yards away. He requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.”
Another detainee said the “entire place is gripped in fear. Almost everyone is sick, the rest near death. Anyone who complains heads directly to the torture chamber.”
He was flogged, beaten and otherwise abused, placed inside a shipping container. Guards lit a fire underneath and filled it with suffocating smoke.
AP interviewed 10 former detainees, nearly 20 of their relatives, and around a dozen Yemeni officials, complicit with Riyadh in combating Houthi fighters and terrorizing Yemeni civilians.
Neocon US Defense Secretary James (“mad dog”) Mattis praised the UAE as a “little Sparta,” claiming it’s involved in combating al-Qaeda – both countries support.
One Yemeni victim said he’d rather “die and go to hell…than go back to” the torture prison where he was held and brutally treated.
Yemen is Obama’s war complicit with Riyadh, the UAE and their rogue partners in high crimes. Now it’s Trump’s, escalating combat instead of responsibly ending it.
Washington bears full responsibility for the rape and destruction of Yemen – including horrific torture inflicted on thousands of victims, a testimony to US viciousness.
An unprecedented report from the corporate press claims U.S. forces have participated in extreme torture and abuse of detainees accused of affiliation with Al Qaeda in Yemen — including “the ‘grill,’ in which the victim is tied to a spit like a roast and spun in a circle of fire,” the Associated Press finds.
A network of secretive prisons in southern Yemen provide the backdrop for the alleged barbaric acts allegedly carried out by forces from the U.S. and United Arab Emirates — many of those detention facilities remain hidden in plain sight.
That some of the covert prisons sit inside military bases might not be much of a shock, but others are located in ports, an airport, private villas, and even a nightclub — and all, according to the AP, remain untouchable by the embattled Yemeni government.
Whistleblower Edward Snowden weighed in on the new revelations, tweeting,
“Biggest @AP scoop in a long time: US government behind UAE torture in Yemen, with some reportedly grilled alive.”
Biggest @AP scoop in a long time:
US government behind UAE torture in Yemen, with some reportedly grilled alive. https://t.co/2ggHLcgZzM— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) June 22, 2017
American officials unsurprisingly balked at the accusation troops have participated in the astonishingly heinous behavior described in the AP’s report.
Reports the AP:
“Senior American defense officials acknowledged Wednesday that U.S. forces have been involved in interrogations of detainees in Yemen but denied any participation in or knowledge of human rights abuses. Interrogating detainees who have been abused could violate international law, which prohibits complicity in torture.
“The AP documented at least 18 clandestine lockups across southern Yemen run by the United Arab Emirates or by Yemeni forces created and trained by the Gulf nation, drawing on accounts from former detainees, families of prisoners, civil rights lawyers and Yemeni military officials. All are either hidden or off limits to Yemen’s government, which has been getting Emirati help in its civil war with rebels over the last two years.”
Notably, this is the first ‘official’ acknowledgment the United States participates in interrogations inside the borders of Yemen.
Forces transported some detainees to an Emirati base in Eritrea, according to Yemen Interior Minister Hussein Arab.
Unnamed and unverifiable U.S. defense officials told the Associated Press ‘senior U.S. military leaders’ have been aware of alleged torture taking place in Yemen for some time — but have investigated the charges, and apparently found nothing amiss, as U.S. troops, they claim, were never present during detainee torture.
Perhaps beyond tellingly, neither the AP nor the anonymous officials elucidated on whether the lack of U.S. troop presence during the alleged grilling alive of detainees meant senior military leaders indeed discovered forces from other nations roasting people alive and said nothing, or that the torture allegations were completely baseless.
Those defense officials further “told AP that American forces do participate in interrogations of detainees at locations in Yemen, provide questions for others to ask, and receive transcripts of interrogations from Emirati allies.”
Torture this horrific, if proven true, harkens immediately back to Bush-era implementation of barbaric human rights violations by the CIA — which included waterboarding and other acts the agency, itself, knew to be utterly inefficacious — which temporarily halted adherence to the law and all semblance of ethics under the premise of extracting information from detainees following the attacks of 9/11.
“We always adhere to the highest standards of personal and professional conduct,” chief Defense Department spokeswoman, Dana White, told the AP on perusal of its report. “We would not turn a blind eye, because we are obligated to report any violations of human rights.”
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In a statement, the UAE government also balked, insisting, “There are no secret detention centers and no torture of prisoners is done during interrogations.”
“The UAE was one of the countries involved in the CIA’s torture and rendition program,” reminds New York University Professor of Law Ryan Goodman. “These reports are hauntingly familiar and potentially devastating in their legal and policy implications.”
To repeat, the U.S. Department of Defense must report violations of human rights — yet the vagueness of the claim senior military brass investigated allegations of excruciating torture, but would only offer that U.S. troops had not been present. Without further explanation, that detail could indicate a troubling sin of omission — in short, a failure to report violations of human rights.
Not one of the dozens interviewed by the AP accused U.S. troops of witnessing torture, but the malicious, degrading, deplorable, torturous abuses described by former inmates of the secret prisons would seem impossible to have taken place without their cognizance.
AP continues:
“At one main detention complex at Riyan airport in the southern city of Mukalla, former inmates described being crammed into shipping containers smeared with feces and blindfolded for weeks on end. They said they were beaten, trussed up on the ‘grill,’ and sexually assaulted. According to a member of the Hadramawt Elite, a Yemeni security force set up by the UAE, American forces were at times only yards away. He requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
“‘We could hear the screams,’ said a former detainee held for six months at Riyan airport. ‘The entire place is gripped by fear. Almost everyone is sick, the rest are near death. Anyone who complains heads directly to the torture chamber.’ He was flogged with wires, part of the frequent beatings inflicted by guards against all the detainees. He also said he was inside a metal shipping container when the guards lit a fire underneath to fill it with smoke.”
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As in the first revelations on the renewed use of the gross physical and psychological abuses comprising torture, human rights advocates admonished such practices cannot be carried out without the broad knowledge of military and intelligence officials at the scene — particularly not for the duration described.
“It would be a stretch to believe the US did not know or could not have known that there was a real risk of torture,” Amnesty International Director of Research in the Middle East, Lynn Maalouf, told the Associated Press. Amnesty called for a swift investigation by the United Nations into the torture allegations against the UAE and other possible participants or knowledgeable parties.
Torture has been championed as acceptable by the president and other U.S. officials, despite its illegality internationally — almost exclusively as a tool of the War on Terror to extract information from prisoners — but torture has been proven repeatedly to be ineffective for that very purpose.
At least 2,000 people have vanished in Yemen — their families left agonizing over their fate, tragically wondering whether a torturous interrogation took their lives.
“Wives, mothers, and daughters in the north and south of Yemen want to know whether their husbands, sons, and brothers are all right, if they are even alive,” noted Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, after issuance of a similar report on torture in Yemen by her organization, on Thursday.
“Yemen, the UAE, Houthi-Saleh forces, and any other party disappearing people should immediately inform families of where their loved ones are and release those held arbitrarily.”
Despite denial of allegations by the United States military and government of the United Arab Emirates, the report from the Associated Press most likely will be remembered as the beginning of yet another torture scandal embroiling perpetually-ethicless entities during a complex and violent conflict — one, again, involving the U.S., which fights for freedom and against terror by, apparently, eviscerating freedom and waging terror.
What happens next?
FANG stocks have hit and failed to breakl the 61.8% retracement of their Friday/Monday plunge this morning...
NFLX remains the big laggard...
The question is - can the machines ramp these stocks to Friday"s highs on the back of a dovish hike?
While the mainstream media devoted an agonizing amount of coverage to an HBO host’s use of a racial slur, it ignored the Trump Administration’s efforts to further bury war crimes committed by the United States—even though the latter is arguably more alarming and offensive.
Those war crimes were detailed in the 2014 CIA torture report from the Senate Intelligence Committee. The report gave insight into the gruesome, cruel methods used by CIA agents in their attempts to extract information from suspected Al-Qaeda members after 9/11.
The full 6,700-page report has never been released to the public, and there is a good chance it won’t make any progress under President Trump. He has reportedly begun returning all copies of the classified report to Congress, following requests from Sen. Richard Burr, the intelligence committee’s current Republican chairman.
“I have directed my staff to retrieve copies of the Congressional study that remain with the Executive Branch agencies, and as the Committee does with all classified and compartmented information, will enact the necessary measures to protect the sensitive sources and methods contained within the report,” Burr said in a statement to Reuters.
This move is notable because while government documents are supposed to be made public under the Freedom of Information Act, documents held by Congress are exempt. If all of the copies of the CIA torture report end up in the hands of members of Congress who want to keep them from the public, they could be buried for good.
The latest developments impacting the future of the report have drawn criticism from some Democrats in the Senate.
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Sen. Mark Warner, the current Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, took to Twitter to share his disappointment with the decision. “#TortureReport must be preserved so we can learn from past mistakes & ensure that abuses are never repeated,” Warner said.
Disappointed w/ this decision. #TortureReport must be preserved so we can learn from past mistakes & ensure that abuses are never repeated. https://t.co/VZPoEsldVu
— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) June 2, 2017
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who was the committee’s chairman when the report was authored, called Burr’s request “alarming and concerning.”
“This creates a dangerous precedent,” Feinstein said. “No senator—chairman or not—has the authority to erase history. I believe that is the intent of the chairman.”
Following the report’s completion, Feinstein ordered copies to be sent to several government agencies, who would then have the opportunity to release it under a FOIA request.
As The Free Thought Project reported in May 2016, the CIA inspector general’s office admitted to “mistakenly” destroying their only copy of the CIA torture report. However, when the agency turned to CIA Director John Brennan, who has his own copy of the classified report, he refused to send a replacement to the internal watchdog’s office.
Although HBO late-night host Bill Maher’s use of the “N-word” during an interview has garnered much more attention from the mainstream media, the fate of the Senate’s CIA torture report is news that should warrant every American’s concern.
While a 500-page executive summary was released in December 2014, the full 6,700-page report has never been made public. Many politicians claimed the release of the entire report would be detrimental to U.S. foreign relations. But the question, with the heavily redacted summary already detailing kidnapping, torture, public deception, human rights abuses and war crimes—what is the CIA still trying to hide?
May 4, 2017
Lisa Bundy, wife of imprisoned protester Ammon Bundy, received several messages from people who had heard her description of what happened to her husband while in a 3 foot by 3 foot shower stall in the Nevada Southern Detention Center and challenged her as to its veracity. They said they could not believe what she was saying was true.
Therein lies the very essence of what is wrong with America, especially Main Street in Mayberry America. Americans live in a bubble. A bubble consisting of trips to Walmart, piano recitals, walking the dog and weekend outings in the RV. No, the description that Lisa Bundy gives us does not fit in our bubble and so we reject it. She must be exaggerating, she must be embellishing the truth in order to get more sympathy. Maybe she is lying to get more donations. This is America, for goodness sake, things like what she describes happened to her husband Ammon simply don’t happen in America. Now, if he was in North Korea, then yes, that and worse can happen there.
Those who know Ammon Bundy will testify that a more honest, humble, meek and mild man than him is difficult to find. Darkness hates light. Ammon radiates light.
We are seeing, first hand, the same dynamics that brought about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The same hate, the same evil, the same lust for pain and humiliation that was poured out on the Lamb of God. People like Bundy either bring out the best or the worst in humanity. Right now, he is bringing out the worst as the prison guards and their handlers seek to break him and his spirit. Ammon is also popping the bubble for millions of Americans who now must either wake up to the awful reality of what Americans are capable of doing to other Americans or, they simply roll over and go back to sleep.
During his prison phone call to Kelli Stewart, he was describing what happened to him. Kelli later remarked, “That is not the same Ammon that we know. He sounds like a broken man.” Many people responded in comments, “No, he can’t be broken”. “Don’t let them break you Ammon.” “The Bundys will not be broken.” We are not in his place, we have no comprehension of the pain he is going through. Ammon will be broken, it is inevitable. Everybody has their breaking point. Instead of asking him not to break, you should break open your wallet and contribute to www.ammonbundydefense.com , break away from your TV set, break away from your favorite recreational activity and write a letter to your congressional representative.
Break the bubble that surrounds you and face reality.
Ammon told Lisa that he believed that the prisons are training grounds for people to become cruel and without compassion, so that they can later be used against the general civilian population. The day will come that the barbaric behavior against him inside prison, will be used on a wider scale. Bundy reported that his beating and his mistreatment were filmed. Could those films be used for training?
For those of you who are fully awake to the reality of what is happening, now is the time to act. Become a bubble popper. Help others come out of their bubbles, the bubble known as the American Dream. If enough people wake up and demand that their country return to its constitutional and moral roots, then the American Dream of prosperity and happiness can be restored, built on a solid foundation of morality and goodness, not on a bubble of illusion and denial.
THE GOVERNMENT SET THE STAGE FOR THIS EMBARRASSMENT, SO THEY MUST OWN THE RESULTS.
Ammon Bundy was tortured in the Pahrump Federal prison this week. He was shackled and placed in a 3 foot by 3 foot shower stall, and left for 13 hours with no food and water. He was told that they originally intended to keep him cuffed and stuffed in that stall for 72 hours, with no food and no water. They then intended to remove him from the stall, take him to medical and insert an I.V. so as to keep him from dying.
Pahrump CCA detention centerThe plans were cut short when several swat team members, dressed in full tactical gear, forcefully removed him from this shower stall and stripped him naked. They proceeded to “inspect” his naked body as he lay on the floor.
He was not able to raise his arms above his head, as instructed, due to the pain he had been in for the previous 13 hours. They had to help him comply.
His legs were bleeding from the shackles and he had trouble walking. Again, they had to help him.
He was thrown into Solitary Confinement, still without his clothing. Later, a guard stuffed his undergarments through the hole in the door.
Ammon is of the firm belief that if he had been left in that stall for the full 72 hours it would have probably killed him. Hear his words in this video:
All of this abuse was video recorded by the guards at the Nevada Southern Detention Center, Pahrump. There is evidence of this assault.
When word reached the public, it went viral. We wrote about it, along with several other alternative news outlets. Videos were made. Calls began to officials from Nevada to Washington D.C.
Yet, Ammon still sits in Solitary.
A Call-To-Action has gone out to rally in Pahrump and protest this torture. The Federal government has responded by locking down the prison and refusing ALL inmates any visitors. This seems to be an attempt to turn the prison inmate population against the political prisoners, specifically Ammon Bundy.
This writer received a message from the Nevada Department of Corrections Inspector General’s office. I spoke with a very nice woman named Brooke Keast, who wanted to assure me that their particular department cannot intervene in the Federal facilities.
I was very happy to arrange a phone call with her. She was extremely polite and seemed to genuinely want to help when we talked.
However, during our call, she happened to mention that she was standing next to Mari St. Martin, the Communications Director and Public Information Officer for Governor Brian Sandoval. St. Martin, in turn, happened to be standing next to Governor Sandoval.
Based on the discussion, it would seem that Governor Sandoval had not been informed of the situation playing out in his state. He has now been informed. I hope to see a public statement from his office in the near future. If I don’t, I will be sure to call his office, probably via Ms. St. Martin, and ask why.
Continuing my discussion with Ms. Keast, she told me how things should be handled, and, of course, how they are handled in the State facilities. She also recommended that we contact the Warden directly, to start with.
I expect to be hearing from Ms. Keast again. I will let you know when that happens.
The Geneva Conventions is a body of Public International Law, also known as the Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflicts, whose purpose is to provide minimum protections, standards of humane treatment, and fundamental guarantees of respect to individuals who become victims of armed conflicts.
Convention I includes...the Convention prohibits execution without judgment, torture, and assaults upon personal dignity (Article 3). It also grants them the right to proper medical treatment and care.
Convention IV includes … civilians are afforded the protections from inhumane treatment and attack afforded in the first Convention.
The Article 3 of Geneva Conventions covered, for the first time, situations of non-international armed conflicts, types of which vary greatly. They include traditional civil wars or internal armed conflicts that spill over into other States (countries) … It requires humane treatment for all persons in enemy hands, without any adverse distinction. It specifically prohibits murder, mutilation, torture, cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment, the taking of hostages and unfair trial.
Remember that the prosecution called this an “armed conflict”. They set the stage for this embarrassment, so they must own the results.
The treatment that these political prisoners are enduring are a direct violation of the accords that this country entered into and ratified.
Additionally, keeping in mind that these men have NOT been convicted of any crime, they are supposed to be treated as innocent until proven guilty, as guaranteed by the US Constitution.
The Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees the right to a speedy trial. Furthermore, Federal law requires that a trial commence within 70 days.
18 U.S. Code § 3161, (c) (1)
In any case in which a plea of not guilty is entered, the trial of a defendant charged in an information or indictment with the commission of an offense shall commencewithin seventy days from the filing date (and making public) of the information or indictment, or from the date the defendant has appeared before a judicial officer of the court in which such charge is pending, whichever date last occurs. If a defendant consents in writing to be tried before a magistrate judge on a complaint, the trial shall commence within seventy days from the date of such consent.
The fact that they have been held for over 400 days, with no trial yet in sight, makes their detention a part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The NDAA allows for trial-free, indefinite detention of anyone, including American citizens, so long as the government calls them terrorists. (Remember Harry Reid?)
The government, aided by Judge Gloria Navarro, has continuously denied these defendants all of their Constitutionally-guaranteed rights, as expected under the NDAA.
Navarro has also repeatedly refused them bail. Accused murderers have been offered bail, including a case just this week in North Idaho, in which the suspect is being held until he can come up with one million dollars. Regardless of whether or not he can come up with the money,he was offered the chance for pre-trial release.
Our Federal Government has specifically set out to defy their own laws. And they do so without fear of retribution. Where is Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump? Can they tell us if this is a case for the NDAA, or a case for the US Constitution?
(photo: Facebook)Sharon Wehrly is the sheriff of Nye County, Nevada. Her office has been bombarded with calls. They have decided to become a part of the problem, instead of the solution. They state that only a person with “personal knowledge” can make a written complaint, and this is the only complaint they will investigate.
So, only the prisoners (who have already been threatened with new charges of “Insurrection” if they complain) can file the complaint. But, the Sheriff will not send anyone out there to get the complaint. (Catch-22?)
Is it any wonder that the guards believe they, too, are above the law? Someone needs to be held accountable.
What is their purpose?
This is a good question. The case can be made that Ammon Bundy will end up as a martyr for the US Constitution. People are rallying around him from each state in the union. If something should happen to this man, there seems sure to be a considerable reaction.
We have already had one martyr in LaVoy Finicum. Will the Federal Government insist on another?
Could that be the goal, or just the “Unintended consequence”?
History shows us how bad the government will come out of this, if they end up turning Bundy into a martyr. There are many smart people in government. You think any one of them would have thought this through.
Start your phone calls to the warden!
Continue the phone calls to the Governor!
Keep going up the chain, to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and President Trump.
Cite these laws. Remind them they are here to enforce, and to obey the laws they enforce.
We will reach someone that can stop this barbaric treatment!
Here is a list of numbers you can use. Please call as many as you can, and you can do this repeatedly until the situation is resolved.
Charlotte Collins, Warden |
Sheriff Sharon Wehrly Sheriff’s Office Headquarters
|
CCA Corporate Office: Southern Nevada Detention Center |
State Attorney General |
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval Carson City |
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions: |
Senator Dean Heller Washington, DC |
| President Donald J. Trump PHONE NUMBERS Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 |
Milwaukee, WI — There’s very little doubt among critics as to whether or not solitary confinement is torture. Nevertheless, the practice continues throughout many of the nation’s prisons. But when solitary confinement is combined with deprivation of the basic necessities of life, like water, a murder can take place. That’s what many people are calling what happened at the Milwaukee County Jail to Terrill Thomas.
According to the Journal Sentinel, “Thomas started the weeklong stretch at the Milwaukee County Jail belligerent and loud, the result of an untreated mental illness, prosecutors said. But as the days wore on, he grew weak and dehydrated. He lost nearly 35 pounds and turned quiet, never asking for or receiving medical attention.”
After entering his eighth day without water, Thomas succumbed to his dehydration and passed away in his jail cell where personnel found him unresponsive. The incident took place in April of 2016, but today decisions are being made regarding who was culpable in his death.
Milwaukee prosecutors are conducting an inquest into whether or not charges should be filed against those government employees who were supposed to keep him safe, as well as healthy.
The Sentinel described the inquest and what it entails as “a rarely used legal process that allows prosecutors to question witnesses under oath and in front of a jury before they file any criminal charges. The jury then returns a unanimous verdict as to whether there’s probable cause to charge anybody, and what those charges should be.”
READ MORE: Mentally Ill Man Jailed for Stealing $5 Worth of Food, Tortured & Starved to Death in Prison -- Lawsuit
In essence, the prosecution is afforded the opportunity to conduct the kind of inquisitive work police detectives are accustomed to doing. Prosecutors don’t have to follow the jury’s verdict. However, so the ultimate determination of whether or not to file charges, and against whom those charges should be filed, is a decision they’ll ultimately make.
According to the Sentinel, other inmates had complained about their access to water while incarcerated. But Thomas, according to his family, was really too sick to complain about his need for hydration.
Before dying on his jail cell floor, he suffered severely from bipolar disorder. His family said he was suffering through the throes of a manic episode which led him to allegedly shoot a man and fire into Potawatomi Casino.
Milwaukee County Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Wieslawa Tlomak, who performed the autopsy following Thomas’ death, testified in court she could not determine he’d had any access to water during his time in solitary confinement. Prosecutors also interviewed
Prosecutors also interviewed Decorie Smith, an officer who worked three overnight shifts on Thomas’ wing in the county jail. He told prosecutors when he testified on Monday that he was never informed Thomas’ water was off and Thomas never asked for water during his eight days locked up.
It’s also believed Thomas never left his jail cell during his last days on earth, even though it’s customary to allow inmates in solitary at least one hour outside of their cells daily.
While Thomas’ story is tragic, it’s, unfortunately, reflective of the inhumane practices taking place in the United States. As TFTP has reported on numerous occasions, jails and prisons in America can hardly be considered a safe place to pay one’s debts to society.
READ MORE: Leaked Video Shows Police Chief Candidate Sadistically Tasering Non-Combative Inmates
Prison guards are often abusive with impunity, inmates are sometimes murdered intentionally, and now comes this story which seems to indicate even life-sustaining water is being withheld, possibly even used to punish inmates for some perceived misbehavior. Not even animal shelters do that to dogs destined for euthanasia.
House leaders are reportedly mulling next steps if the health bill does not pas as GOP leaders are not confident that they have the votes to pass. The reaction in stocks was very fast...
Stocks are fading fast to yesterday"s lows and VIX is surging
10Y Yield dropped below 2.40%...
And the Dallar Index is sliding fast
Greenbelt, MD – In 2014, a man representing himself in a Maryland court was shocked and tortured with 50,000 volts of electricity by a judge because he continued to speak when the judge ordered him to stop.
Now, the victim, Delvon King is fighting back.
Judge Robert Nalley pleaded guilty in February 2016 to depriving King of his civil rights and video of the horrific incident was then released.
Nalley was facing up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000 after pleading guilty. However, since he is subject to a different set of rules because he is a judge, he only had to pay a $5,000 fine.
On Monday, King filed a lawsuit against Nalley, who has since retired.
The charge against Nalley was also weak, as he did not simply deprive a man of his civil rights, but he tortured him. Under any other circumstances, Nalley’s actions would have been considered torture, but since he did it under the sanction of his place in government, he was given a pass.
Nalley never even apologized to King for the horrendous act.
During the trial, King had a shocker anklet attached to him, which was supposed to be used in case of an emergency situation, or if King were to attempt to escape or hurt anyone. However, this sadistic judge used it to torture.
“A judge can only take this type of measure if the litigant is a danger to those in the courtroom,” one of King’s lawyers, Steve Silverman, told The Huffington Post in an email Thursday. “Judges are not allowed to arbitrarily electrocute litigants. That is why the judge was convicted of a federal civil rights crime.”
READ MORE: Police Chief Will Not Serve a Single Day in Jail for Murdering Unarmed Man in Parking Lot
As the Free Thought Project previously reported, in the court, King attempted to make his case but was constantly interrupted by the judge who repeatedly told him to be quiet. When King continued to make his case to the court, Judge Nalley told the court deputy “Mr. Sheriff, do it… use it,” at which point 50,000 volts of electricity were sent through King’s body, causing him to scream in pain. The court transcript read, “DEFENDANT SCREAMS.”
King later described the situation to reporters, saying that he experienced “Excruciating pain then, and a burning sensation.”
“It burned the rest of the day. Messed me up mentally. I don’t really remember that part. Just next thing I know, I’m on the ground,” King added.
The U.S attorney said that Judge Nalley acted as if he was above the law, and that this conviction should be a message to other state employees that they should treat the people that they encounter as equals — some message, pay $5,000 and go to an anger management class and you can get away with torturing a man.
“It’s not about race. It’s about power. It’s about a judge who abused the power vested in him to order a defendant to be punished essentially before he was convicted of any crime,” the attorney said.
According to Review Times, this is not the first time Nalley has been a defendant. This tyrant should have been gone a long time ago. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to tampering with a vehicle after he deflated the tire of a cleaning woman’s car that was parked in a restricted zone at the courthouse. As a result, he was fined, had to write a letter of apology and was suspended for five days without pay.
READ MORE: Judge Says He"s a "Benevolent Dictator" Hangs Photo Of Hitler In Court, Refuses Gay Marriages
But, he was not fired.
Below is the video of this insane moment. Notice how the officer, without any hesitation, walks up to King and blindly follows the unlawful order. This video epitomizes the terrifying reality that stems from people just doing their jobs — as dictated by sadistic unaccountable tyrants.
This article was written by Michael Krieger and originally published at his Liberty Blitzkrieg site.
Editor’s Comment: Few blogs are as consistently aware of keeping their principles as is Liberty Blitzkrieg. Michael Krieger is proving to be the voice that we all need to keep close to our thoughts, reminding us that our civil liberties and rights are firm; that opposition to war and torture is moral; and all the slippery sliding around on ideological positions – by politicians, celebrities and media organizations, including alternative media – will do nothing but hasten the ruin of this country. Compromising, flip flopping and fudging on important issues to gain power and influence with the ‘winning circles’ does no one any good and reflects a truly weak and unprincipled individual.
Former president George W. Bush and his clan of neocons and shadow rulers lied to the country to drag us into war; dozens of figures inside his administration appeared to have prior knowledge of 9/11 and were certainly ready (with expansive middle east war plans, the PATRIOT Act and more) to exploit it to the hilt. Their prosecution of the war killed over a million civilians, and more than 4,400 U.S. soldiers were killed in action, and hundreds of thousands were wounded. This was all for illegitimate reasons, and disgusting underlying motives that don’t even reflect the interests of the American people. Freedom was sacrificed for a trans-national empire, and the enrichment of a handful of insiders and owners, while the war fueled the rise of sectarian violence, giving rise to ISIS and guaranteeing future phases of a wider conflict.
There is blood on his hands; as there is on former President Obama and current President Donald Trump. One does not wash that evil simply because one becomes politically useful to new opposition alliances. This failed thinking partially accounts for the continued “swamp” in Washington. How many policy makers and deep state operatives are guilty of treason?
Self-Proclaimed ‘Liberals’ Are Now Fawning Over George W. Bush
by Michael Krieger
In conclusion, we need popular movements, we don’t need stupidity. If you don’t like Trump’s vision, you better have competing vision and be willing and able to articulate it. The status quo is dead. We are in a populist age, with tremendous opportunity to make the world a better place if we can take the moment and run with it. As it stands, the Democratic Party remains business as usual, and if it stays that way, will continue to lose election after election and become a increasingly irrelevant factor in American political life.
If you don’t want to be an irrelevant victim of history, the time is now to become involved in powerful political movements. This doesn’t include covering your ears, smashing windows and complaining about the Russians.
– From the post: You Can’t Resist Trump by Closing Your Eyes
I’m not a big fan of litmus tests, but here’s one I think is entirely appropriate. If you’re a self-proclaimed “liberal” who’s suddenly fawning over George W. Bush, you’re a fraud and should probably never speak again.
Unfortunately, this most recent demonstration of mindless, unprincipled liberal “ideology” continues to make the term completely useless, and the people who use it to describe themselves, increasingly irrelevant. When you stand for nothing, you’ll allow anything, including the whitewashing of war crimes. This is precisely the direction celebrities, fake liberals and the corporate media are taking us in, and it’s no accident.
Think about it. If the public can be convinced that George W. Bush is some sort of hero just because Trump is in office, what can’t we be convinced of? If torture and the destruction of a nation based on false information can now be overlooked, what can’t be overlooked? That’s why this intentional resurrection of George W. Bush seems like a psychological operation against the American public. It’s a way of saying, who cares about the horrific crimes committed by the American elite class over the past 20 years, we have to unite against Trump and Putin! To this I say: Never.
The people who knew Trump could win all along were precisely the people most aware of the endless series of crimes commented by the American elite class against the American public. Now, the people who committed these crimes and their corporate media mouthpieces are trying to brush it all under the rug in the name of fighting Trump. They’re starting with the legacy of George W. Bush, but it won’t stop there. The country is in the state it’s in because of the elitist class, not because of Trump or Putin. If we take our eye off the ball at this key moment, all will be lost.
To give you a sense of just how deranged this whole push is, take a look at the following excerpts from The Washington Post article,
Michelle Obama Isn’t the Only Liberal Embracing George W. Bush These Days:
Eight years ago, amid the financial collapse known as the Great Recession, America broke up with its 43rd president with such relief it might as well have dumped his clothes on the White House lawn and screamed from an open window “get out!”
In 2008, at the close of his second term, President George W. Bush’s approval ratings had plunged to 25 percent, among the lowest in presidential history next to Harry Truman and Richard Nixon. His would-be Republican successor, candidate John McCain, actively distanced himself from the Bush administration and comedians relentlessly mocked the man.
But in the first few months of 2017 and amid a book tour that landed him glowing spots on the “Ellen DeGeneres Show” and in People magazine, Bush is at least getting a little more respect from some who deeply disrespected him.
“A little respect,” that’s putting it mildly. Ellen actually said to Bush, “I love your whole family.”
Some of the rethinking of Bush stems not from anything Bush has said or done but simply from the contrast with President Trump, a comparison bolstered by his recent appearances on talk shows and in news segments.
After the “Ellen” show posted a video of the former president joking about his inner “Rembrandt” and learning to paint, viewers flooded the comments with unexpected praise.
“A few years ago I would have rolled my eyes at the [sight] of this man, but 6 weeks of Trump makes W look like a pretty decent guy,” one woman wrote. “Perspective is a funny thing.”
Added another: “I used to be a big critic of him and still don’t agree with much of what he did while in office. But, given who is now in office and how scary 45 is making the world, I’ve come to actually like this man.”
It was an idea comedian Aziz Ansari explored in January during his monologue as host of “Saturday Night Live,” the same show that spent years writing unflattering skits of President Bush and has since turned its humor to a new GOP target.
“George W Bush made a speech after 9/11, and it really helped,” Ansari said. “Things changed. … He said Islam is peace.”
Yes, wonderful words. Unfortunately, that’s all they were, as he proceeded to murder half a million Iraqis based on false information.
“What the hell has happened?” he said during the monologue. “I’m sitting here wistfully watching old George W. Bush speeches?’ Just sitting there like, ‘What a leader he was! … He guided us with his eloquence!’”
What the hell happened? I’ll tell you what happened. You lost your fucking mind.
Joy Behar, the liberal on the daily talk show “The View,” noted after Bush’s comments that though she was “after” him for eight years, she just might purchase one of his paintings because of Trump.
“The thing about this,” she said, “is that Donald has now done something I thought he would never do. I like — I like the fact that George Bush — I like George Bush now, is what I’m trying to say. I’m having trouble saying it.”
Star Trek’s George Takei also weighed in: “You know things are bad when George W. Bush starts sounding like a member of the Resistance.”
Wrong. You know things are bad when “the resistance” is so ideologically weak and castrated it eagerly embraces George W. Bush.
At this point, I want you to watch the Ellen clip. The dancing is nauseating enough, but it’s the embrace that really sticks with you. There is a look of affection from Ellen that simply cannot be faked. It’s utterly creepy.
Moving forward, what can we do about it? I think we need to start thinking about celebrity boycotts. I’m not sure what the strategy could be though, because no one reading this actually watches The View, and the people who do are probably beyond help. So how can we strike back in a non-violent, creative way against these celebrities and their shows? I’m not sure, but if anyone has ideas, please share them in the comment section. We need to start thinking in such terms.
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In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
This article was written by Michael Krieger and originally published at his Liberty Blitzkrieg site.
