Re: [blind-democracy] Re: Trump Officials Are Exploring Mass Arrests of US Mayors

Yup. We ended slavery back in 1865. By the end of that year we were
already plotting ways to keep our control over "Our Negroes". There's
good money in Human Trafficking, especially children and women.
But it's all part of our Great American Culture. The Culture of
Worshiping at the feet of the Golden Calf. Imagine what a different
world we would live in if, instead of asking ourselves, "How can I
make a buck out of that?", we asked ourselves, "How can I help...how
can I be a contributor toward improving Life for all of us?"
Oh, I know. I've been told again and again to "Get Real!" Well, just
because I was born into this culture, and just because that culture
worships the likes of Donald Trump, the Koch Brothers, Bill Gates and
the rest of the "Beautiful People", is no reason for me to follow
along like a drooling, dribbling idiot.
Remember reading of a time when Kings and Queens and Emperors ruled
the nations of the world? They mostly claimed that they were God's
appointed rulers. Can you imagine when the first person stood up and
suggested that the world would be a better place if we removed Kings,
Queens and Emperors? What a Fool!
Well, there are those who say, "We would have a far better world if we
got rid of our worship of money, and if we embraced one another and
put the People and Life of Planet Earth at the top of our "To Do"
list.
Think of it. Instead of doubling down and modernizing our entire
military arsenal, as Donald Trump promises to do, instead of building
the military hardware to protect the financial interests of those
Billionaires we love to Worship, instead of that, we took back our
stolen wealth and put it to work for us, the People, building new
neighborhoods, fully funded public education, retraining the
Servicemen and Women in the long neglected jobs that are the backbone
of any truly Great Nation. Farmers, teachers, Thinkers, Creators,
Inventors, Artists; and when we had a good start here at home, we
might begin sending out real, honest Peace Keepers to assist other
nations...the ones we are now blowing to Kingdom Come.
Sure, it's a Pipe Dream. But if I'm going to dream, I'd rather dream
of a beautiful, healthy Planet Earth, rather than dreaming of becoming
a Billionaire Neanderthal. Like the Neanderthals of bygone days,
these modern holdouts will soon be found only in the pages of our
history books.
Can such a dream become Reality? It can if enough of us begin
dreaming...and planning...and believing that there can be a better
world for all.

Carl Jarvis

On 2/1/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> There's a best selling novel on BARD right now which, I gather, describes a
> practice that occurred in the 30's in the South. White children would be
> stolen in various ways from poor parents, held in group homes under horrible
> conditions, and then sold, put out for adoption, to wealthy adoptive
> parents.
>
> Miriam
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
> Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2018 12:24 AM
> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
> Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Trump Officials Are Exploring Mass Arrests of
> US Mayors
>
> It tears my heart, Frank. Where are all those outraged men and women who
> throw rubber fetus' at the pregnant women going to and from the Health
> Clinics, and call for those who perform abortions to be labeled as
> murderers? I see none of them taking in the orphans and the young children
> whose parents have been murdered by our bombs, and the bombs of our
> international friends. Where is the compassion from those women who would
> as soon kill another woman because she chooses to abort a fetus that was put
> there against her will?
> Where is that army of people shouting out that we will take care of the
> unborn once the living have been cared for?
>
> Carl Jarvis
>
>
> On 1/31/18, Frank Ventura <frank.ventura@littlebreezes.com> wrote:
>> Carl, my wife is/was the social worker for a family (10 kids) of
>> refugees from Somalia. After the red rooster's election the kids were
>> crying tht they would be sent back to Somalia. One day she found their
>> apartment abandoned.
>> It doesn't matter if they fled or were sent back to Somalia by ICE. In
>> either case they are probably dead by now.
>>
>> Frank
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2018 7:09 PM
>> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Trump Officials Are Exploring Mass
>> Arrests of US Mayors
>>
>> Frank,
>> Also, don't forget the War Heroes. While Donald Trump delivered a
>> well modulated speech, it was brimming with barely veiled violence.
>> But like Eddie Haskell(Leave it to Beaver), Donald Trump came off like
>> the smug, sneaky bad boy he really is. He wrapped himself in the
>> Stars and Stripes, praised the War Heroes, and made declarations of
>> war on anyone who did not bow and kiss his royal red ring. Especially
>> persons seeking asylum from war torn nations devastated by our
>> American Empire's eternal war on Terror.
>>
>> Carl Jarvis
>>
>>
>> On 1/31/18, Frank Ventura <frank.ventura@littlebreezes.com> wrote:
>>> Carl, in Trump's address what went unnoticed by this blind boy and
>>> had to be explained to me by of all folks a right ling message board
>>> was that in his honored guests Trump had a few of what he called
>>> "heros".
>>> Nope they weren't humanitarians, teachers, nurses, fire fighters, etc.
>>> They were a bunch of white cops. All of whom have had multiple
>>> "officer involved" shootings. Not my heros!
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Carl
>>> Jarvis
>>> Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2018 11:13 AM
>>> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
>>> Cc: jamesjarvis98 <jamesjarvis98@gmail.com>; Matthew
>>> <mcblack@gmail.com>
>>> Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Trump Officials Are Exploring Mass
>>> Arrests of US Mayors
>>>
>>> "Trump Officials Are Exploring Mass Arrests of US Mayors!"
>>> Even idle chatter such as this is unnerving. If the Trump
>>> administration attempted such action, in an effort to seat Emperor
>>> Donald Trump on the new American Corporate Empire's Throne, either
>>> the American People would rise up in Revolution, or the Empire would
>>> crush any efforts to resist. Either way, the nation would be in
>>> total disarray. It's hard to conceive of anyone being so arrogant as
>>> to give the finger to the Constitution and the Laws of the Land. But
>>> Donald Trump is doing exactly that. And the cheering fools who went
>>> crazy at Donald Trump's state of his union address, wildly cheering
>>> and slapping their hands every time he suggested another violation of
>>> our democratic institution, seem prepared to follow their "Leader"
>>> into the bowels of Hell.
>>>
>>> Carl Jarvis/Dad/Grandpa
>>>
>>> On 1/30/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>>>> Trump Officials Are Exploring Mass Arrests of US Mayors Tuesday,
>>>> January 30, 2018 By Ron Fein, Truthout | Op-Ed
>>>>
>>>> (Photo: filo / E+ / Getty Images)
>>>>
>>>> It's 4 am in New York. Federal agents in tactical gear confront the
>>>> police department's mayoral security detail outside Manhattan's
>>>> Gracie Mansion.
>>>> After a tense standoff, the NYPD stands down and steps aside as the
>>>> bedraggled mayor is removed in handcuffs. Across the nation,
>>>> carefully coordinated pre-dawn raids sweep up the mayors of Boston,
>>>> Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle, and the governor of California.
>>>> Two hours later, President Trump tweets victory.
>>>>
>>>> Paranoid conspiracy thriller? Feverish dystopian fantasy? Hardly.
>>>> This is a plan that the Trump administration is actively considering.
>>>> On January 16, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen told
>>>> the Senate Judiciary Committee that, at her department's request,
>>>> federal prosecutors are "reviewing what avenues might be available"
>>>> to arrest and prosecute mayors of sanctuary cities for harboring
>>>> unauthorized immigrants.
>>>>
>>>> Nielsen's testimony wasn't even the first time in January that the
>>>> administration floated the idea of arresting mayors and governors.
>>>> Two weeks earlier, Acting Director of Immigration and Customs
>>>> Enforcement Thomas Homan told a Fox News host, "We gotta start
>>>> charging some of these politicians with crimes."
>>>>
>>>> This is dangerous, dangerous talk.
>>>>
>>>> It's important to understand what a sanctuary city (or state) status
>>>> means.
>>>> While local policies vary and there is no universal definition of
>>>> the term, in sanctuary cities, local police stick to enforcing local
>>>> and state law, not federal immigration law. That frustrates federal
>>>> authorities, but it's not obstruction, let alone nullification.
>>>> Federal officers can still enforce federal immigration law. They
>>>> just have to do it on their own.
>>>>
>>>> The question here is not whether sanctuary policies are wise. The
>>>> question here is whether our constitutional democracy can survive
>>>> mass roundups of mayors and governors for refusing to use local
>>>> resources to help enforce federal immigration.
>>>>
>>>> To be sure, elected officials are not immune from the law. Many have
>>>> spent time in the federal penitentiary for corruption. And elected
>>>> officials who deliberately violate court orders can be subject to
>>>> criminal contempt of court. For example, in the 1960s, Mississippi's
>>>> governor was charged with criminal contempt for defying a court
>>>> order to desegregate the University of Mississippi. And former
>>>> Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio was convicted for disobeying a court
>>>> order to stop unconstitutional policing practices.
>>>> (President Trump pardoned him, but that pardon is the subject of
>>>> ongoing and potential future litigation.)
>>>>
>>>> It's possible that administration officials are performing elaborate
>>>> theater for an audience of one -- the president. Trump himself often
>>>> says "We're looking into it" as a way to dodge an awkward question.
>>>>
>>>> Or perhaps the Department of Justice chuckled at the request for
>>>> criminal prosecution of mayors, but is considering narrower options
>>>> to punish sanctuary cities. There aren't many, partly because most
>>>> sanctuary policies don't even violate any federal statute. More
>>>> importantly, as the late Justice Antonin Scalia explained in 1997,
>>>> the Constitution prohibits the federal government from "commandeering"
>>>> local law enforcement to enforce federal law. Even Congress's power
>>>> to condition federal funds is limited; as Chief Justice John Roberts
>>>> explained in 2012, Congress cannot use its spending power to "coerce"
>>>> a state "to adopt a federal regulatory system as its own." That's
>>>> partly why a federal judge issued a permanent injunction against
>>>> Trump's earlier attempt to withhold federal funds from sanctuary
>>>> cities.
>>>>
>>>> But let's not lose the forest for the trees: The United States
>>>> government is contemplating a mass arrest of US mayors and governors
>>>> for refusing to help the president's agenda.
>>>>
>>>> We've seen this before in other countries. Mass purges of dissident
>>>> local officials are moves from Putin's Russia (if not Stalin's) or
>>>> Erdoğan's Turkey. But nothing in our own history has prepared us for
>>>> this moment.
>>>>
>>>> Is this a red flag for autocracy? Some take comfort in Trump's
>>>> disorganization and distraction. On this theory, breaking the
>>>> republic is a full-time job, not something you squeeze in between
>>>> golf and live-tweeting morning television. But as longtime Putin
>>>> critic Masha Gessen notes, the first rule for survival in an
>>>> autocracy is to "believe the autocrat. He means what he says." And
>>>> even if Trump himself doesn't know how to achieve his goals, the
>>>> people running the president's immigration enforcement policy
>>>> -- Secretary Nielsen, Acting Director Homan and, of course, Attorney
>>>> General Jeff Sessions -- know what they are doing, and how to
>>>> achieve what they and the president want.
>>>>
>>>> Maybe it won't happen. Maybe cooler heads will prevail. But we
>>>> should reflect on the chilling fact that President Trump's
>>>> handpicked appointees to run immigration enforcement openly discuss
>>>> prosecuting the mayors of US cities. We must prepare for the day
>>>> when the administration makes good on its threat.
>>>>
>>>> We may not get a second chance.
>>>> Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Ron Fein
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Ron Fein is the legal director of Free Speech For People, a national
>>>> nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that engages in legal advocacy
>>>> to confront the misuse of the US Constitution.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Related Stories
>>>> States and Local Advocates Lead the Way for Criminal Legal System
>>>> Reform By Jessicah Pierre, Inequality.org | News Analysis What Jeff
>>>> Sessions' Latest Attack Means for the Future of Legal Marijuana By
>>>> Mike Ludwig, Truthout | News Analysis Sessions Vows to Issue
>>>> Subpoenas in Immigrant-Demonizing Inquest Against "Sanctuary Cities"
>>>> By Sam Knight, The District Sentinel | Report
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