I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand-one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values-our values as people and our values as a nation.
When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens-much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.
We must reject any thinking of our cities as a “battlespace” that our uniformed military is called upon to “dominate.” At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict-a false conflict between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.
James Madison wrote in Federalist 14 that “America united with a handful of troops, or without a single soldier, exhibits a more forbidding posture to foreign ambition than America disunited, with a hundred thousand veterans ready for combat.” We do not need to militarize our response to protests. We need to unite around a common purpose. And it starts by guaranteeing that all of us are equal before the law.
Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was `Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is `In Union there is Strength.” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis-confident that we are better than our politics.
Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people- does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.
We can come through this trying time stronger, and with a renewed sense of purpose and respect for one another. The pandemic has shown us that it is not only our troops who are willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the community. Americans in hospitals, grocery stores, post offices, and elsewhere have put their lives on the line in order to serve their fellow citizens and their country. We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s “better angels,” and listen to them, as we work to unite.
Only by adopting a new path-which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals-will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad.
What does Lady Liberty represent? The Statue of Liberty stands in Upper New York Bay, a universal symbol of freedom. Originally conceived as an emblem of the friendship between the people of France and the U.S. and a sign of their mutual desire for liberty, over the years the Statue has become much more.
The statue is a figure of Libertas, a robed Roman liberty goddess. She holds a torch above her head with her right hand, and in her left hand carries a tabula ansata inscribed JULY IV MDCCLXXVI (July 4, 1776 in Roman numerals), the date of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. A broken shackle and chain lie at her feet as she walks forward, commemorating the recent national abolition of slavery.[8] After its dedication, the statue became an icon of freedom and of the United States, seen as a symbol of welcome to immigrants arriving by sea.
I see the U.S.A. as the heart of the free world. With Covin-19, your President’s volatile nature where he bates and try’s to control or cancel all and any he see as his opposites or enemies, along with the recent protests over the death of George Floyd. The heart of the free world is really taking a heart beating and palpitating close to having a full on cardiac arrest.
I never wanted to visit the U.S.A. it always looked too dangerous, too scary and finally too expensive. But some of its people that I meet on the World Wide Web are hugely inspiring and influence my views and perspective on life. They appear if in the realms of fantasy and fiction like living legends, earth angels and walking saints.
So in essence the U.S.A is a paradox.
Paradox/ˈparədɒks/ Learn to pronounce nounnoun: paradox; plural noun: paradoxes
a seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or proposition which when investigated may prove to be well founded or true.
Throughout the history of the free world it has many times thought led and beaten back all in the name of freedom. Free thought, free economicsish (ok but true freedom should be a freedom to purchase the perfect product for example clean water not just the right to flog any old shit to anyone i.e. dirty chemically polluted water). Plus your normal lack of safety netting for those that need support to stand up and get back into the economy is just downright destructive to all.
When the U.S.A gifts freedoms to corporations it has forgotten or refused to equally gift both rights and responsibilities of not being ripped off, persecuted, shot, stolen from or killed to its own citizens regardless of race, creed or colour.
Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or any other restriction, subject only to relatively minor exceptions.[1][2] In its original 19th-century usage by reformers in Britain, universal suffrage was understood to mean only universal manhood suffrage; the vote was extended to women later, during the women’s suffrage movement.[3][4]
There are variations among countries in terms of specifics of the right to vote; the minimum age is usually between 18 and 25 years (see age of majority) and “the insane, certain classes of convicted criminals, and those punished for certain electoral offenses” sometimes lack the right to vote.[2]
In the first modern democracies, governments restricted the vote to those with property and wealth, which almost always meant a minority of the male population.[5] In some jurisdictions, other restrictions existed, such as requiring voters to practice a given religion.[6] In all modern democracies, the number of people who could vote has increased progressively with time.[7][8] The 19th century saw many movements advocating “universal [male] suffrage”, most notably in Europe, Great Britain and North America.[9][10]
There is no alternative to Democracy that works for the people and nor should there be.
‘Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’
Winston S Churchill, 11 November 1947
Voice of Democracy (VOD) is an annual nationwide scholarship program sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). It is an audio-essay contest for high school students in grades 9-12. The program annually provides more than $2.3 million in scholarships. The first-place winner, who competes with all the first-place VFW Department (state) winners, receives a $30,000 scholarship that is paid directly to the recipient’s American university, college or vocational/technical school.
Besides competing for the top scholarship prize, as well as other national scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $16,000, each Department’s first-place winner receives an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. in March (annually).
The Voice of Democracy Program began in 1946 and was originally sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters. Initially, there were four winners selected, representing the North, South, East and West regions of the country. Each winner received a $500 savings bond and a wristwatch. The second year of the program, a student by the name of Charles Kuralt, the late television news broadcaster and author, was one of the winners.
It is endorsed by the contest criteria of the National Association of Secondary School Principals and is designed to foster patriotism by allowing students the opportunity to voice their opinion in a three- to five-minute essay based on an annual theme. Historically, the Voice of Democracy theme (chosen by the VFW Commander-in-Chief annually) is purposely kept broad in scope to allow the participant flexibility in interpretation, and thus, encourage originality. The new theme is posted on the website by May of each year.
The audiotape or audio CD (with the typed essay recited word-for-word), the actual typed essay, and completed official student entry form must be delivered to a local, participating VFW Post by the student entry deadline of October 31.
Tue 5 May 2020 20.50 BST First published on Tue 5 May 2020 10.49 BST
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Dominic Raab announced that the number of people killed by the coronavirus in the UK stands at 32,313 on Tuesday, the second highest death toll in the world. Photograph: Pippa Fowles/10 Downing Street/AFP via Getty Images
Britain has the worst coronavirus death toll in Europe, official figures showed on Tuesday, prompting calls for an inquiry into the handling of the pandemic.
The government’s tally of fatalities across the UK reached 29,427 for those who tested positive for coronavirus, exceeding the 29,029 recorded in Italy – until now Europe’s worst-hit country. Italy’s total does not include suspected cases.
Let the truth set you free.
If this virus is not a serious enough issue that needs honesty and transparency in the eyes of Boris Johnson than quite frankly nothing is, only with the light of the truth may we see and learn from what was done.
This not some shoddy back room deal lives have been put on the line and deaths have been generated as a result of decisions made.
Above is yet another example of how the UK state mechanics fail’s the people, politicians and legal mechanisms of the UK. If the civil service have to resort to lying to set and maintain their agenda, then it is important to know what exactly that agenda is. In the mist of time they have probably forgotten who for what reason the design and decision that was made was and why it is important to stick to it.
I am still having dealing with Network Rail and the Police presently and even though the Police Officer is acting within the letter of the law I am in no way convinced that Network Rail are acting in the letter or the spirit of the law and am awaiting a response now from Natural England concerning the Truth of a matter. It will be interesting to see if they are also accomplices in the bull that enables ecocide and the destruction of wildlife to take place along swathes of the UK all slaughtered on the altar of progress!!
So my last post was more about hope than solid progress though in the meantime I have received an email from https://secure.avaaz.org/page/en/ about how when people act locally there impact can be globally felt.
Another example is a Facebook page on the internet also hammering home to me the point from a web page called forgotten Ireland.
According to Wikipedia Indigenous peoples, also known in some regions as First peoples, First Nations, Aboriginal peoples or Native peoples, or autochthonous peoples, are ethnic groups who are the original or earliest known inhabitants of an area, in contrast to groups that have settled, occupied or colonized the area more recently. Groups are usually described as indigenous when they maintain traditions or other aspects of an early culture that is associated with a given region.[1] Not all indigenous peoples share this characteristic, as many have adopted substantial elements of a colonizing culture, such as dress, religion or language. Indigenous peoples may be settled in a given region (sedentary) or exhibit a nomadic lifestyle across a large territory, but they are generally historically associated with a specific territory on which they depend. Indigenous societies are found in every inhabited climate zone and continent of the world except Antarctica.[2]
Since indigenous peoples are often faced with threats to their sovereignty, economic well-being and access to the resources on which their cultures depend, political rights have been set forth in international law by international organizations such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank.[3] In 2007, the United Nations issued a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) to guide member-state national policies to the collective rights of indigenous peoples, such as culture, identity, language and access to employment, health, education and natural resources. Estimates put the total population of indigenous peoples from 220 million to 350 million.[4]
According to the definition you would thing that right wing leaders would love them right none alien born and bred peoples but in fact Trumps administration is continuing to attack indigenous peoples. Which goes to show Trump care for no body but himself, if the truth be known.
But let’s leave trump out of this for a minute and discus other reasons to be optimistic.
The above episode has just been nominated for a WEBBY AWARDS in the Travel Category for 2020. We are up against big media like Nat Geo, BBC, and others. It would mean so much to the creator if you voted for it: https://bit.ly/2W4jOWa
So what makes these issues go viral well I think they light the imagination and people have passion for the courses which sparks a flame, people then blaze a trail resulting in global fire of righteousness bright enough for the like of you and I to see across the World Wide Web.
Not the happiest Star War’s title for May the 4th, but I do like to think outside the box.
So I started contacting my councillor and the police among others about a potential wildlife crime taking place along the railway track last week and the Wildlife Crimes officer phoned me today to say he had received mine and the councillor’s emails about the destruction of nest sites along the rail embankment.
He confirmed a fear of mine which was that to destroy a nesting site is indeed a crime, but only actually but witnessing the crime or having evidence of said crime could anything be done to legally tackle the crime. I did not bother to ask what the punishment would be as this seamed rather trivial.
So there we have a crime has taken place along rail embankments all across the UK during nesting season on a daily basis not just here but nationwide every nesting season and the only people with the evidence to report it are the very same people that are committing the crime in the first place.
This is madness it is like asking a fox hunt to police cruelty against foxes or a domestic abuser to be the only person that can report his or her crimes. A hunter reporting that he accidently caught a healthy fox or a domestic abuser phoning up to tell the police they have just attacked their partner and the police turning up to take the evidence from the aggressor who is then prosecuted due to his own testament! Bonkers or what a crazy piece of legislation. What then worries me is this ecocide legislation is accepted by the police and was designed and enacted by our politicians and then enforced by or judges and lawyers. They are all accomplices to the injustice of ecocide and by very implication guilty themselves to the law of the land. Ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law.
What is the meaning of a stitch time saves nine? Procrastination means to delay or put off doing something until a later time. People use “a stitch in time saves nine” to express that it’s better to spend a little time and effort to deal with a problem right now than to wait until later, when it may get worse and take longer to deal with.
Imagine if you will if Anakin had not turned to the darkside and the plot had been discovered how cool woudl that have been to be a Jedi then.
/https://public-media.si-cdn.com/filer/3b/7b/3b7b7627-b543-4c17-914a-6500a9a014c3/jones-fig-9_nine-african-american-women-w-nannie-burroughs.jpg)
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