21stcenturywire--2019-09-01--Parents Sue Over Vaccine Requirement Compare it to Military Draft

Parents Sue Over Vaccine Requirement, Compare it to ‘Military Draft’

How far would you go to protect your children from a potential harm?  Currently in the US, all 50 states have laws requiring specified vaccines for students. While exemptions many vary from state to state, all states do grant exemptions for medical reasons. In total, there are 45 states (including Washington D.C.) which grant exemptions on religious grounds, and at least 15 states which allow for “philosophical” exemptions which can be justified based on one’s personal, moral or ideological beliefs.  The following chart is a state by state breakdown of vaccine exemptions in the United States:  However, sometimes such legal provisions are not enough and parents have no choice but to wage battle in the courts.  One such case is that of Linus and Terri Baker, are have been forced to take on the government in order to protect their grandchild from what they believe is a health risk – as well as an direct infringement upon their liberty.     A Johnson County lawyer and his wife — who have never vaccinated their 4-year-old son — are suing Blue Valley schools and state officials, calling Kansas’ immunization requirements unconstitutional and archaic.  Linus and Terri Baker had previously sued the Kansas Department of Children and Families, which in 2017 had notified them it would vaccinate the boy against their wishes. That never happened.  Last year, a federal judge dismissed all claims. Now that the boy is approaching school age, the family is trying again.  This week the Bakers — who are the child’s biological grandparents and now adoptive parents — filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Kansas against the Blue Valley school district, Gov. Laura Kelly, Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Lee Norman, secretary for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.  “We have this right of having bodily integrity,” said Linus Baker, who works as a lawyer in Stilwell, in southern Johnson County. “You can’t pump someone’s stomach against their wishes. You can’t make someone take drugs. You can’t make a woman have an abortion. You can’t do a lot of things because of bodily integrity. So why is it we can force a child to be injected with vaccines 24 times? It’s the same principle.”  Spokeswomen for both Blue Valley schools and the state health department on Friday declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying it is under review.  But state health officials and vaccine proponents have argued that unvaccinated children pose a health risk to others. They point to the recent measles outbreak in Johnson County and elsewhere, a disease that has reappeared since the anti-vaccination movement has grown.  The Bakers’ son, who is being referred to as S.F.B in court documents, was born with a heart condition, which required surgery when he was 6 months old.  He’s now physically healthy, according to the new lawsuit, but Linus Baker said he has mental disabilities. The family worries about how vaccines could affect his health. And they have religious objections.  When S.F.B was 2 years old, he was placed in temporary state custody after a Johnson County judge ruled he was a child in need of care. His biological mother — the Bakers’ daughter — was notified that the Kansas Department of Children and Families, or DCF, might vaccinate her son. DCF gave the mother 14 days to submit a written objection.  Linus and Terri Baker are taking on the government – and by extension, the pharmaceutical industry too. Watch:  Kansas law provides two exemptions to the school immunization requirement, based on religious beliefs and medical concerns.  To claim the medical exemption, a family must provide an annual written statement signed by a licensed physician stating vaccinations would seriously endanger the life or health of the child. Linus Baker said his child would not qualify for that exemption under state law.  For the religious exemption, the state offers two versions.  To enroll in a child care facility, a parent must sign a statement saying: “As the parent or legal guardian, I state that I am an adherent of a religious denomination whose teachings are opposed to immunizations.”  But to enroll a child in a school or preschool — which is the case with the Bakers’ boy — the parent must submit in writing that “the child is an adherent of a religious denomination whose religious teachings are opposed to such tests or inoculations.”  That’s the statement S.F.B’s mother submitted to the state.  Linus Baker said the statement is “irrational” and “does not comply” with Kansas statutes.  The family does have religious objection to vaccines, he said. Terri Baker is a Christian and holds a strong belief that vaccines pose health risks, despite scientific research showing the benefits far outweigh any risks.  But he argues that a 4-year-old mentally challenged child cannot choose to adhere to a religious denomination.  “As students get older, they certainly formulate their own beliefs. But this is a 4-year-old without the mental capacity to make that decision,” he said. “He likes Spider-Man. But I doubt he knows anything about adhering to a religious denomination.”  In the lawsuit, the Bakers request an injunction allowing their son to attend public or private schools without being vaccinated, and without filing a religious or medical exemption. They also ask for a declaration that Kansas’ exemption statute is “unconstitutionally vague,” and that requiring a child to be an adherent of a religious denomination is a violation of parents’ right to make decisions for their child…


QUO VADIS, LEBANON?

The mean streets of Beirut (Photo: Andre Vltchek 2019©)  Good bye to a country which, many believe, actually has already ceased to exist.  For five long years I have been commuting between the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. And Beirut, for all that time, it was one of my homes.  I arrived in Beirut when the situation in the region was beginning to be unbearable; when destabilized, tortured Syria commenced losing its children in large numbers. They were forced to leave their homeland, heading for Beirut and Beqaa Valley, and in fact, to all parts of the world. I arrived when Syrian refugees were freezing to death, exploited and brutalized in ancient, godforsaken villages lost in the deep, lawless Lebanese valleys.  I was not supposed to write about it, but I did. I was not supposed to see what I saw. It was the UN’s shame, a well-hidden and well covered one, obscured by technical jargon. Refugees were not called refugees, and camps were not really officially registered as camps. What you had clearly seen with your own eyes, you were told, was actually totally something else. But it wasn’t. Eyes hardly lie.  Lebanon’s mirages, sand castles and myths. If you live here, they surround you, suffocate you, choke you, all the time.  I arrived when the Palestinians began rebelling inside the horrific camps; hopeless, monstrous places where tens of thousands of human beings have been forced to live, for decades, without help, with hardly any rights.  And I left when the country collapsed. When the gap between the haves and have-nots reached such enormous proportions, that it often began to appear that there were actually two different countries, even universes, on the same tiny geographical territory that is called Lebanon.  But before I left, there was an uprising.  Of course, periodically, there are rebellions here, which are misleadingly called “revolutions”. The “revolution” of 2005, of 2015, and now again, in 2019.  I worked in the center of Beirut, in the squares packed with the protesters. I tried to understand, to analyze, to find context.  And what did I witness? Huge clenched fists, those of the Serbian “Otpor”, a CIA-Serbian (extreme right-wing) ‘organization’, which forced the government of Slobodan Milosevic out of power, and which later infiltrated and destroyed genuine revolts all over the Middle East; revolts cynically called by the Western mass media – “Arab Spring”.  I actually saw many signs of Otpor, a sister group of CANVAS, and when I asked protesters in Beirut whether they knew what these organizations represented, they replied that “no”, they didn’t but “they’d definitely ask their designers”.  There was a lot of waving of flags, plenty of singing, and even dancing. Rebellion Lebanese-style. One big party. Smiles, laughter, even when things get desperate.     “Can you hear the people sing?” In true Lebanese style, lite entertainment was on offer at the barricades (Photo: Andre Vltchek 2019©)  Protesters have many grievances, and they are willing to discuss them, openly: corruption, hardship, almost non-existent social services, and hardly any future.  But do not look for any signs of ideology here, in 2019: this is not a communist, or even a socialist, rebellion, although historically, Lebanon has vibrant socialist and communist movements, both of them.  One thing is certain: protesters “do not like ‘elites’”, but you will search in vain for slogans denouncing capitalism; something that is so common in Chile and of course, in Bolivia (but not in Hong Kong, where the riots are clearly backed by the West and by some local ‘elites’).  Protesters do not like electricity blackouts, water shortages, filth accumulated everywhere because of the failed garbage collection and recycling. The protesters hate the high prices, and traffic jams.     Aftermath: some commercial spaces took the brunt of weeks of protests in downtown Beirut (Photo: Andre Vltchek 2019©)  But what do they want, really?  They want a “better Lebanon”. But what is that?  A Lebanon free of racism, for instance? No, I never saw any signs denouncing racism.  When I first began living here, I was horrified by the bigotry of the locals.  A driver working for one of the UN agencies, did not even try to hide his ‘beliefs’:  “The Turkish nation has improved. In the past, they only screwed Asian women, and as a result, they all looked like dogs. After they conquered the Balkans, and began screwing European women, their stock got better.”  Arriving at Rafik Hariri International Airport, I often saw humiliated Philippine, Ethiopian, or Kenyan women, locked in crowded rooms, guarded by Lebanese security forces. They looked like slaves, treated like meat. Unhurriedly, their “owners” would come to fetch them, signing release papers, leading them away.  The abuse of domestic workers in Lebanon is horrific; torture, rape and death are common. Foreign workers are regularly committing suicide. While there is hardly any legal protection for them.  Is this going to change? Are protesters demanding a “better Lebanon” which would once and for all finish with this sort of discrimination? Again, I have never heard about such demands.  And what has been sustaining Lebanon, financially, for decades?  All over West Africa, unscrupulous, racist and brutal Lebanese business people have been exploiting local folks, while plundering natural resources. The things that I heard in Ivory Coast, would shock even the most hardened readers. But are there any slogans in Beirut demanding the plunder of West Africa stop?  Another fabled source of income are the narcotics, grown and processed in the Beqaa Valley. If it were to be marijuana, who cares? But Lebanon is producing heroin and cocaine, but above all, so-called “combat drugs”, including Captagon, which is used on the battlefields of Syria and Yemen. Captagon is regularly smuggled out of the country by the Saudis, and used in jihadi operations, as I have reported.  Is this going to end? Are Lebanese protesters demanding a “better Lebanon” without drugs that are helping to kill and torture tens of thousands of innocent people, all over the region?  What are the other sources of income here? Banking, of course. Banks that operate all over the Middle East, and the Gulf.  And, of course, “foreign aid”. Aid which is supposed to “help the immigrants”, as well as the poor Lebanese who are “suffering from the waves of refugees”, arriving from countries destabilized by the West. These funds regularly disappear, fully or partially”, into the deep pockets of the Lebanese elites, who make sure to generate profits no matter what: when the refugees keep arriving, and even when they leave.  Before I departed, I spent one week wandering all around Beirut, day and night, searching for answers, looking for signs that the protesters were really determined to change the country. Not just for themselves, but for everyone in Lebanon, and for the entire Arab world.     Demonstrators have resorted to blocking roads in Beirut and elsewhere (Photo: Andre Vltchek 2019©)  I encountered too many abstract slogans, most of them of Western origin. Not even a trace of Syrian Pan-Arabism. Nothing that would even remotely resemble internationalism. This was clearly a “European-style” rebellion.  As always, the Lebanese security forces were intimidating me and many others.  Coming to Martyr’s Square, at night, I only pointed the lens of my camera in the direction of a group of lazy, cynical looking soldiers, and it propelled them immediately into action. They tried to force me to delete the images, to apologize. I did not budge. I had no problem photographing police in Hong Kong, or in Paris, Chile or other places. And I have had enough, after 5 years here, of inept thuggish law enforcement.  But here, the armed forces are “unique”; not much is expected from them. It is Hezbollah which comes to the rescue of Lebanon whenever it is attacked by Israel. Hezbollah fighters are well-trained, and they are disciplined. While the Lebanese army (and its various “forces”) is manned by many who simply cannot find a decent job. If it protects somebody or something, it is the Lebanese regime, sustained by the West and Saudi Arabia.  I refused to hand over my phones and cameras to them.  They did not. It would be too much effort, and paperwork.  Later, the protesters hugged me:  “It is great that you did not surrender your material to them. You see, if it was us, the Lebanese, they would beat us up, and smash our cameras.”  “You never know what they are hiding, but they are hiding something, always. Perhaps they did not want the world to see how lazy they are. They stand here, in clusters, doing nothing, chatting. Then, when they get tired of doing nothing, they mobilize and attack us. They are unpredictable.”  A couple of months ago, during the short conflict between Israel and Lebanon (an Israeli drone attack and Hezbollah retaliation), I managed to drive to the border, as I had on several previous occasions.  Almost the entire defense of Lebanon has been resting on the shoulders of Hezbollah, with UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) troops, consisting of Indonesian, South Korean, Italian, Ghanaian and others forces, patrolling the frontier in armored vehicles, and providing mostly psychological deterrence from the large fortified bases, including the one at Naqoura.  Lebanese armed forces have very little ability to defend their country. They were trained by the United States, but they are basically toothless, when it comes to fighting true foreign enemies. Perhaps it was plotted like that. ‘Toothless-ness’ includes the Lebanese Air Force, which mainly counts on things that could be described as toy airplanes, with converted Cessna models.  Now, the Lebanese army and police are facing and confronting their own people, protecting the regime in Beirut, as well as foreign, mainly Western and Saudi, interests.  But back to the main question which is, surprisingly, very rarely asked by the Western mass media outlets: “What do Lebanese people really want? What is the goal of the uprising?”     Hope: Lebanese of all faiths and sects came out in record numbers this fall to reclaim their sovereignty and control over their country’s affairs (Photo: Andre Vltchek 2019©)  Rebellion began on October 17, against proposed tax on WhatsApp calls. It soon turned into call for resignation of the entire government; call for total overhaul of the Lebanese system. Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, resigned. Others stayed, but country has been paralyzed for weeks.  Some Lebanese call what is happening on the streets of Beirut, Tripoli and other cities, an “October Revolution”, but in reality, this uprising has very little to do with the iconic Russian Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.  However, one positive thing is that many Lebanese people are now calling for direct democracy, and for a people’s parliament.  Alessandra Bajec recently wrote for The New Arab newspaper:  “Protests and strikes are not the only nationwide thing dominating Lebanon. Open discussions held by groups of citizens is the latest phenomenon happening on the streets of Lebanon.  A series of open discussions led by a variety of groups of citizens are held daily around Lebanon helping to feed the hearts and minds of the revolutionary movement since the start of the country’s so-called “October Revolution”.  I witnessed those gatherings in Beirut. It is an impressive idea, in a way far more advanced than what has been observed in Europe, during the recent protests in France and elsewhere.  It is clear that Lebanese rebels have had enough of the sectarian politics, of savage capitalism (although, this is not being pronounced as such), and of the endemic corruption.  For decades, after the devastating Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), the country remained bitterly divided. Again, it is actually something that is not supposed to be discussed, even mentioned, but allegiances in this nation of (officially) 4.4 million, have been commonly pledged to religious leaders and movements, and not to the state.  “Lebanon’s political system has a uniquely confessional character, which has its origin in the National Pact of 1943. Under this unwritten Pact, the President of the Republic must be a Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim and the President (Speaker) of the Parliament a Shiite Muslim.  What is more, 50% of the 128 seats in the Parliament are allocated to Christians, and 50% to Muslims, and these allocations are further sub-divided for Christian and Muslim sects. In total, seats are allocated to each of 18 sects. Nationally, the 64 Christian seats are allocated as follows: Maronite 34, Greek Orthodox 14, Greek Catholic 8, Armenian Orthodox 5, Armenian Catholic 1, Protestant 1 and Others 1; and the 64 Muslim seats are allocated as follows: Sunni 27, Shiite 27, Druze 8 and Alawite 2.  So, in total Christians have 50% of the seats, and the Sunni and Shiite communities just over 20% each.  There was no provision in the National Pact for altering these allocations to reflect demographic changes. And there is still none today. These allocations may have corresponded to the proportion of each sect in the electorate at one time, but they certainly don’t today. But it’s impossible to say with any precision what they should be, since there hasn’t been a national census since 1932. This is a very sensitive issue within Lebanon, an issue that has the potential to trigger civil conflict.”  Naturally, this sclerotic and stale system of secretive divides and coalitions, led to outrageous corruption. Religious and family clans managed to amass tremendous wealth, while enjoying almost absolute impunity.     Despite its regular influx of foreign cash and aid, Lebanon still cannot overcome its crippling poverty visible everywhere outside of the posh commercial and residential districts, where Palestinian and Syria refugees are relegated to level of second class residents (Photo: Andre Vltchek 2019©)  Discussing sensitive political issues with various Lebanese protesters and activists in 2015 (“You Stink” movement), as well as during the recent uprising of 2019, I came to the clear understanding that most of the educated protesters (and Lebanon is without any doubt one of the most educated nations in the Arab world), have been totally rejecting the sectarian system. In fact, they were thoroughly disgusted with it.  As early as in 2015, one of the main demands was to “unite Lebanon”; to make sure that it gets governed by people elected based on their virtues and excellence, instead of religious beliefs.  Particularly young people have had enough of those escapes to Cyprus (in order to get married), if a couple belonged to two different religions, or if one or both individuals had no religion at all. They were revolted by the fact that their child could not be registered in their own country, if there was no official Lebanese marriage certificate.  And most of the people I spoke to, understood that the shocking lack of transparency on which the Lebanese regime has been thriving, only serves those very few extremely rich individuals and families. The economy of the country is shattered, debt is at 150% GDP, basically unserviceable, and the divide between the rich and poor, monstrous. For millions, leaving the country became the only option. But luxury marinas are full of lavish yachts, while Maserati sport cars and Range Rover SUVs are parked all over the capital, in front of luxury restaurants and bars.     Bourgeois contrast: the wealth gap in Lebanon is extreme, and like no other place in the region (Photo: Andre Vltchek 2019©)  The Lebanese revolutionaries are organizing open discussions, but that is not all – they want a totally new political system.  The problem is, they are not sure which one.  But, they are certain that by holding open forums and public meetings, they will, eventually, find out what precisely it is they want.  “Rachad Samaha, a social activist and core member of the free discussions group adds, “We were talking among ourselves about how we could be more involved in the revolution… not just by joining protests, but through helping to bring people together to discuss issues that we are all fighting against. We can then reach some common ground.”  Centering such group discussions over the need to change the current political system, and put an end to sectarianism, and possible ways to fix the country’s rapidly declining economy has been the leading drive for prompting exchanges of views between people from within the largest protest movement.  The major matters of national concern voiced by citizens taking part in the talks include the accelerating economic crisis, the embezzlement of public funds, the decades-long ruling political elites who are being held responsible for the deepening crisis, and the confessional system, where power is divided among sects and has created patronage networks and clientelism at the detriment of the population.”  All this is true. But this is Lebanon, the Middle East, where nothing is really simple.  Here, the West has a tremendous influence, and so do the best allies of Washington in the region, the Saudis. All this money ‘wasted’, all that eye-closing, simply ought to have guaranteed certain allegiances.  Under the surface, the West, Israel and Saudi Arabia are all after Iran, and Iran is allied with Hezbollah, and Hezbollah is the only true and powerful social force in Lebanon, a country where almost everything public has been already privatized, or stolen, or both.  Hezbollah is also the only true protection that Lebanon has against Israel. While the West does not want anyone to be protected against Israel.  Predictably, Hezbollah is on the “terrorist list” of the United States, and on the lists of several of its allies.  Hezbollah had a strategic alliance with the previous government of Hariri, who resigned several weeks ago (and Hezbollah was warning against pushing for the collapse of the government, and even tried to clear the roadblocks erected by the protesters).  Now, what will really happen if the protesters win? Who will be benefiting? What if the old regime collapses; what if there is no more Hezbollah, and no more protection against the “Southern Neighbor”?  What kind of Lebanon can replace this present, terribly inefficient, even brutal and corrupt state?     Cities and towns are laden with various sectarian martyrs, this one is a Christian rightwing figure in Beirut (Photo: Andre Vltchek 2019©)  If you are in Achrafieh neighborhood, the richest place in Lebanon, where the old Christian money resides, you would be told, by many, things that you would most likely not want to hear.  You’d be “explained” that Lebanon was supposed to be a Christian country, that the French created it as the only Christian state in the Middle East. You would hear Palestinians being insulted, horribly, and you would see posters of extreme-right-wing political leaders.  Once, there, I had a haircut, and an old barber parted with me, by raising his right hand into the air, and shouting: “Heil Hitler!” (After that, I quickly switched to a Syrian barber).  “French imperialism? Oh, but we would love to have the French back! That would be brilliant, to be colonized by them, again, no?”  It was not a joke. He meant it. Each and every word, that he uttered.  These things are not supposed to be written about, at least not in the mainstream press. But this is not the mainstream press, and I believe that without understanding these nuances, it is impossible to understand Lebanon, and what could happen if the revolution wins.  Who is singing and dancing at the center of Beirut? Who is demanding for the resignation of the entire regime? Are these mainly Christians or Muslims? I am not sure. Judging by the number of headscarves, most likely, the majority are not Muslim. But again, I am not sure. This is not a question that one can present, to the protesters.  This is definitely not a revolution that would advance the interests of the Muslim-socialist Iran. And the same could be said about what is going on, simultaneously, in Iraq.  Can Western-backed “secularism” convert Lebanon into a Western outpost in the Middle East? Could it further hurt, even damage, Syria? Theoretically, yes. Could it hurt the interests of non-Western, anti-imperialist countries like Russia and China? Most definitely.  Is that what is happening? Could this be another shade of the “Color Revolutions”, or a continuation of the so-called Arab Spring?  No one can answer these questions, yet. But the situation has to be monitored, extremely carefully. Given the history of Lebanon, given its position in the world, its political and economic orientation, as well as education, the country can go either way. Given the choice, people could opt for a socialist state, or of returning to the Western colonial realm.  The West is doing all it can to bring Lebanon into its orbit. The clenched fists of Otpor are clear proof and warning of it. It is a well documented fact, that Canvas has been operating here at least since 2005.     Otpor fist: symbols used by US-backed Serbian regime change consultancy CANVAS were visible in Beirut (Photo: Andre Vltchek 2019©)  “Clashes between supporters of Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Saad Hariri, and Shiite groups Hezbollah and Amal erupted into gunfire in Beirut late on Monday.  The clashes marked the second consecutive night of violence linked to Lebanon’s political crisis, threatening to tip largely peaceful demonstrations directed at the country’s ruling elite in a more bloody direction.”  Armed forces were first reluctant to intervene. Later, they fired tear gas.  The situation in the country is deteriorating, dangerously. Old wounds are reopening.  Leaving Beirut, at the gate, I was once again stopped by an officer of the security forces. He was rude. They always search for Israeli stamps or for exit stamps, or something, in the passports. And I had enough of him. Here, at Rafik Hariri, I saw them, for years, humiliating Ethiopian women, crushing Syrians, while treating like gods, white visitors from Europe and the United States.  “Why not fight Israelis, instead of women and children?” I suggested to him, grinning.  And all hell broke loose. And they dragged me away from the gate. And the giant Boeing 777-300 had to wait, as Air France refused to back down and download my luggage and leave me behind.  They called some generals back in Beirut. They were jumping around, shouting something, bluffing. I couldn’t care one single bit. My work here was finished. In Paris, I had nine days to kill, writing, before departing for South America. Waiting there, or in some filthy jail in Lebanon, made very little difference to me. I would have liked to be in Damascus, but my visa had already expired. So, I just waited.  In the end, they let me go. Prisoners who are not scared, are not fun to hold.  The airplane maneuvered towards the runway, then the engines roared, and we took off. Halas.  I have hours of footage from all corners of Lebanon. I am not sure what I will do with it.  Above all, I was not sure what the Lebanese will do with their own country.  A giant clenched fist was sticking out from the Martyr’s Square. Was this a foreign implant, a well-planned sabotage, or a genuine symbol of resistance?  On Independence Day, the fist was burned down, destroyed. “Vandals!”, screamed foreign media. I am not sure: this is extremely complex country.  The country was collapsing. Perhaps it has already collapsed. People were talking, shouting, singing. Some were living in dire misery. Others were driving Ferraris and torturing imported maids.  The country has been desperately trying to go forward. But forward could mean many, many different directions. In Lebanon, for each person, for each group: forward is towards somewhere else!  ***   Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Five of his latest books are “China Belt and Road Initiative: Connecting Countries, Saving Millions of Lives”, “China with John B. Cobb, Jr., Revolutionary Optimism, Western Nihilism a revolutionary novel “Aurora” and a bestselling work of political non-fiction: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire”. View his other books here. Watch Rwanda Gambit, his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky “On Western Terrorism”. Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his . Support his Patreon here.  HELP SUPPORT THIS MEDIA PLATFORM – BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV


abcnews--2019-03-14--Irish prime minister makes annual visit to the White House Capitol Hill

Irish prime minister makes annual visit to the White House, Capitol Hill

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar met with President Donald Trump Thursday before heading to Capitol Hill to take part in the annual Washington tradition of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and the relationship between the U.S. and Ireland.  Varadkar's visit comes as the United Kingdom is embroiled in chaos over Brexit and Ireland's concerns over its border and potential trade problems with Northern Ireland. During his talks at the White House, the Taoiseach (Gaelic for "leader") spoke with Trump, wearing a green tie and sporting shamrocks in his coat pocket, about Ireland’s position opposing Brexit and the current imbroglio.  "As you know, he's in a very complicated position right now because of Brexit, you're going to have to tell me what's happening, and tell the world what's happening because I'm not sure anyone knows," Trump told Varadkar, before criticizing Prime Minister Theresa May's leadership on the recent vote to salvage a Brexit deal that she lost by a landslide.  "I'm surprised at how badly it has all gone from the standpoint of the negotiation. But I gave the prime minister my ideas how to negotiate it. I think you would have been successful," Trump said. "She didn't listen to that and that's fine. She has to do what she has to do."  The president added that the two leaders were discussing trade with the European Union, as well as Trump's threatened tariffs.  "We’re talking about trade with the European Union. They’ve been very, very tough over the years," Trump said. "If they don’t talk to us, we’re going to do something that’s going to be pretty severe economically. We’re going to tariff a lot of their products."  The Irish prime minister’s annual trip to Washington involves a visit to the U.S. Capitol for a special Friends of Ireland luncheon attended by the president, vice president, House speaker, the Taoiseach, and members of Congress.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi greeted the president and the Taoiseach of Ireland on the steps of the Capitol and then at the luncheon toasted the annual event as a tradition where "we dispense with our differences" to celebrate the strong U.S.-Irish bonds.  She ticked through some historical giants who’ve participated in past celebrations and offered what seemed like a subtle jab at Trump's immigration policies by reminding the audience that Reagan once declared "if we shut the door to new Americans, our leadership will soon be lost."  The president, who faces the potential public rebuke of his national emergency declaration in the Senate, stuck to the script in his brief remarks.  "The U.S. and Ireland tied together by both ties of kinship and friendship," he said. "Today, our relationship is as strong and resilient as the great Irish people are strong and resilient."  "May we all be blessed with the luck of the Irish," the president said. After their display of smiles and kind comments, Trump kissed Pelosi on both checks as he left the lectern.  The Taoiseach presented Pelosi with a historical, framed copy of a message of support of Ireland’s new constitution sent from the U.S. in 1937, signed by 300 American lawmakers.  Thursday morning, Vice President Mike Pence welcomed the Taoiseach to his residence in northwest Washington for breakfast. The Taoiseach, the first of Indian-descent, and the first openly gay leader of Ireland, brought his partner Matthew Barrett to visit with the Vice President, who is known for his conservative views on homosexuality.  Varadkar touched on his sexual orientation when speaking at the Naval Observatory.  "I stand here, leader of my country, flawed and human, but judged by my political actions, and not by my sexual orientation, my skin tone, gender or religious beliefs."  "We are all God's children," Varadkar added.  Both President Trump and Vice President Pence said they accepted invitations to visit Ireland at some point this year. Last year, Trump was scheduled to visit Ireland either before or after his trip to Paris. The Ireland leg of his trip was canceled.  Later Thursday at the White House, the Taoiseach will present the president and first lady with a crystal bowl filled with shamrocks.


abcnews--2019-10-31--Kentucky Supreme Court dismisses gay pride T-shirt case

The Kentucky Supreme Court has sided with a print shop owner who refused to make a gay pride T-shirt because he says it was against his religious beliefs.  The state's high court dismissed the claim after two lower courts also ruled in favor of Lexington print shop Hands-On Originals. The company declined a T-shirt order from Lexington's Gay and Lesbian Services Organization for the city's 2012 Gay Pride Festival. The design said "Lexington Pride Festival" on the front.  The high court ruled Thursday that the gay advocacy group lacked standing to make a claim against shop owner Blaine Adamson because the city's gay rights law was written to protect individuals.  "While this result is no doubt disappointing to many interested in this case and its potential outcome, the fact that the wrong party filed the complaint makes the discrimination analysis almost impossible to conduct, including issues related to freedom of expression and religion," the justices wrote in the ruling.  Adamson said after a hearing before the Supreme Court in August that the T-shirt he was asked to print "goes against my conscience."  Lexington's Human Rights Commission ordered Adamson in 2012 to print the shirts and attend diversity training. Adamson appealed and won rulings from the circuit court and state court of appeals. The appeals court said in 2017 the printing business was subject to the city's fairness ordinance but nothing in that ordinance prohibits a private business "from engaging in viewpoint or message censorship."


abcnews--2019-11-12--Court rules against warrantless searches of phones, laptops

A federal court in Boston has ruled that warrantless U.S. government searches of the phones and laptops of international travelers at airports and other U.S. ports of entry violate the Fourth Amendment.  Tuesday's ruling in U.S. District Court came in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of 11 travelers whose smartphones and laptops were searched without individualized suspicion at U.S. ports of entry.  ACLU attorney Esha Bhandari said the ruling strengthens the Fourth Amendment protections of international travelers who enter the United States every year.  The ACLU describes the searches as "fishing expeditions." They say border officers must now demonstrate individualized suspicion of contraband before they can search a traveler's electronic device.  The government has vigorously defended the searches as a critical tool to protect America.  The number of electronic device searches at U.S. ports of entry has increased significantly, the ACLU said. Last year, the government conducted more than 33,000 searches, almost four times the number from just three years prior.  Documents filed as part of the lawsuit claim the scope of the warrantless searches has expanded to assist in enforcement of tax, bankruptcy, environmental and consumer protection laws, gathering intelligence and advancing criminal investigations.  The court documents also said agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement consider requests from other government agencies in determining whether to search travelers' electronic devices. They added that agents are searching the electronic devices of not only targeted individuals but their associates, friends and relatives.  Requests for comment from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security were not immediately returned Tuesday.  Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that while it does not comment on matters in litigation, in Fiscal Year 2019, the department processed more than 414 million travelers at U.S. ports of entry. During that same period of time, it conducted 40,913 border searches of electronic devices, representing less than .01 percent of arriving international travelers.  Jessie Rossman, a staff attorney at ACLU's Massachusetts chapter, said the ruling is a victory for constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.  "The court said today that suspicionless searches at the border of cell phones and laptops violate the Fourth Amendment," Rossman said.  Rossman said two of the plaintiffs — Ghassan and Nadia Alasaad — were stopped as they tried to re-enter the U.S. after a visit to Canada. Both are U.S. citizens and live in Massachusetts.  Rossman said Nadia Alasaad felt uncomfortable handing over passwords because she wears a head covering as part of her religious beliefs.  She asked that a female officer review her phone because it contained photos of her and her daughters without their headscarves. Alasaad said she was told that would take a few more hours.  The couple, who had already been delayed several hours, ultimately decided to leave their phones — which they did not have returned to them for 15 days, according to Rossman.  Ten of the plaintiffs in the case were U.S. citizens. One was a permanent legal resident.  When the suit was filed in 2017, Department of Homeland Security officials said U.S. citizens and everyone else are subject to examination and search by customs officials, unless exempted by diplomatic status.  Searches, some random, have uncovered evidence of human trafficking, terrorism, child pornography, visa fraud, export control breaches and intellectual property rights violations, according to the department.  Rossman said the court acknowledged that the sheer volume of digital information accessible on a phone or laptop is vastly different than more traditional searches of briefcases or backpacks.  "It's the difference between a ride on a horse and a flight to the moon," Rossman said.


abcnews--2019-12-03--Texas judge warned for refusing to perform same-sex weddings

The Texas agency that investigates judicial misconduct issued a public warning to a justice of the peace who has refused to perform same-sex marriages while continuing to marry same sex-couples.  In its warning made public on Monday, the Texas Commission on Judicial Misconduct said McLennan County Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley has refused to perform same-sex weddings since August 2016, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision a year earlier that established the constitutional right to same-sex marriage. Some other justices of the peace in the county stopped performing weddings altogether after the Supreme Court’s ruling.  The commission said Hensley is violating the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct by “casting doubt on her capacity to act impartially to persons appearing before her as a judge due to the person’s sexual orientation.”  The commission referred to comments Hensley made to the Waco Tribune-Herald in 2017 in which she said her “Bible-believing” Christian conscience prohibits her from doing same-sex weddings. She also told the newspaper that she believes she’s entitled to a “religious exemption.”  Her office sometimes will tell same-sex couples that the judge is not available, giving them a list of those who will perform same-sex weddings and a document stating, “I’m sorry, but Judge Hensley has a sincerely held religious belief as a Christian, and will not be able to perform any same-sex weddings,” the commission’s order said.  Hensley has 30 days to appeal the sanction. She and her attorney have both declined to comment on the commission’s warning.  McLennan Country Judge Scott Felton, however, said that as an elected official, Hensley has the right to run her office the way she wants to.  Waco attorney Mike Dixon, who represents the county, agrees, saying elected officials can operate their offices as they wish, especially when it involves a duty, such as performing weddings, that they are not statutorily required to do.


abcnews--2019-12-17--Woman forced to remove hijab in jail settles for $120K

MINNEAPOLIS -- A Minnesota Muslim woman has received $120,000 to settle her lawsuit alleging she was forced to strip in jail and remove her hijab for a booking photo over a traffic offense, the woman and her attorneys said Tuesday.  Aida Shyef Al-Kadi, of St. Louis Park, appeared with her attorneys at the Minneapolis headquarters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations to announce the settlement approved last month by U.S. District Judge John Tunheim.  Al-Kadi, 57, said her treatment at the Ramsey County jail in August 2013 was “one of the most humiliating and harmful experiences"of her life.  “I knew that I did not want any other Muslim woman to experience what I did,” she said.  A judge had issued a warrant for Al-Kadi's arrest after she missed a court hearing over a traffic offense while taking her daughter to the hospital, the Star Tribune reported.  Under the settlement, the jail has put in place specific rules about how to accommodate inmates with religious headwear when taking booking photos. The county also agreed to destroy all hard copies and delete any electronic copies of Al-Kadi's booking photo.  The settlement does not require the county to admit wrongdoing.  “We believe that this settlement agreement is fair and in the best interests of all of our residents. Ramsey County’s values hold that the rights, beliefs, well-being and dignity of all our residents are protected and honored in all aspects of what we do. The practices outlined in the agreement to improve the booking process for those with religious head coverings better reflect these values," Ramsey County Board Chair Jim McDonough said in a statement Tuesday.  In her lawsuit, Al-Kadi's argued that the county violated her constitutional rights and discriminated against her for her religious beliefs.  Al-Kadi was born and raised in Ohio. She moved to Minnesota in 2005 so her daughter could receive specialized medical care.  When Al-Kadi turned herself in, she said was told to remove her hijab and abaya, a long dress that covered her body, in front of male jailers. When she objected, she said she was removed from the area and taken to a holding cell, where she removed her hijab in front of a male jailer.  She said she agreed to remove her headscarf for her booking photo after being told that the photo would never be released to the public. But months later, she found it on a third-party website that charges users to take down the photos.  After taking the photo, officers gave her a bedsheet to use as a hijab. Al-Kadi eventually was told to remove her abaya and change into a jail uniform, while two female officers watched her. Ramsey County policy says that misdemeanor inmates such as Al-Kadi "will not be viewed without clothing," according to court records.  In 2014, the county revised its jail policies to include that inmates who wear hijabs will not be forced to remove them in front of men. A facility-approved hijab will be provided. Sheriff spokesman Roy Magnuson said bedsheets are no longer used.


abcnews--2019-12-30--Officials: Hanukkah attack suspect researched Hitler online

MONSEY, N.Y. -- A man charged with federal hate crimes Monday in a bloody attack on a Hanukkah celebration had handwritten journals containing anti-Semitic references and had recently used his phone to look up information on Hitler and the location of synagogues, authorities said.  Grafton Thomas, 37, was held without bail after appearing in federal court in White Plains on five counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by attempting to kill with a dangerous weapon. Five people were stabbed and slashed in the Saturday attack north of New York City.  A blood-stained 18-inch (45-centimeter) machete was recovered from his car, along with a knife smeared with dried blood and hair, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint.  Thomas, his ankles shackled, shuffled into the courtroom in a prison jumpsuit, telling a judge who asked him if his head was clear that he was “not clear at all” and needed sleep. But he added: “I am coherent.”  His court-appointed attorney, Susanne Brody, said Thomas has struggled with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Another attorney retained by his family, Michael Sussman, said Thomas had been hearing voices and may have stopped taking psychiatric medications recently.  The stabbings on the seventh night of Hanukkah came amid a series of violent attacks targeting Jews in the region that have led to increased security, particularly around religious gatherings.  A criminal complaint said journals recovered from Thomas' home in Greenwood Lake included comments questioning "why ppl mourned for anti-Semitism when there is Semitic genocide" and a page with drawings of a Star of David and a swastika.  A phone recovered from his car included repeated internet searches for "Why did Hitler hate the Jews" as well as "German Jewish Temples near me" and "Prominent companies founded by Jews in America," the complaint said.  On the day of the stabbings, the phone's browser was used to access an article titled: “New York City Increases Police Presence in Jewish Neighborhoods After Possible Anti-Semitic Attacks. Here's What To Know,” the complaint said.  Sussman told reporters he visited Thomas' home and found stacks of notes he described as “the ramblings of a disturbed individual" but nothing to point to an “anti-Semitic motive” or suggest Thomas intentionally targeted the rabbi's home.  “My impression from speaking with him is that he needs serious psychiatric evaluation,” Sussman said. “His explanations were not terribly coherent.”  Thomas' family said he was raised to embrace tolerance but has a long history of mental illness, including multiple hospitalizations.  “He has no history of like violent acts and no convictions for any crime,” his family said in a statement. "He has no known history of anti-Semitism and was raised in a home which embraced and respected all religions and races. He is not a member of any hate groups.”  Thomas served in the Marines and was president of his class at a high school in Queens, Sussman said. He attended William Paterson University between 2005 and 2007, the university confirmed, where he played football as a walk-on running back.  Thomas' family said his mental health deteriorated over the years. He would hear voices and have trouble completing sentences at times. Thomas said a voice talked to him about property that was in the rabbi's house, according to Sussman.  In court papers filed in a 2013 eviction case in Utah, Thomas said he suffered from schizophrenia, depression and anxiety and his “conditions are spontaneous and untamed.”  Thomas was arrested within two hours of the Saturday night attack in Monsey. When police pulled his car over in Manhattan, he had blood all over his clothing and smelled of bleach but said “almost nothing" to the arresting officers, officials said.  Thomas' aunt told The Associated Press that he had a “germ phobia” and obsessively washed his hands and feet with bleach.  She said Thomas grew up in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn and “lived peacefully” among Jewish neighbors. She said Thomas had not been taking his medication and recently went missing for a week.  The woman spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear she would lose her government job for speaking publicly.  “They're making him look like this monster,” she said in a telephone interview. “My nephew is not a monster. He's just sick. He just needs help.”  According to the complaint, Thomas, a scarf covering his face, entered the rabbi's home next door to a synagogue and said “no one is leaving.” He then took out a machete and started stabbing and slashing people in the home packed with dozens of congregants, the complaint said.  The five victims suffered serious injuries — including a severed finger, slash wounds and deep lacerations — and at least one was in critical condition with a skull fracture, the complaint said.  On Sunday, Thomas pleaded not guilty to charged including five counts of attempted murder. He was detained on $5 million bail.  In a release, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said Thomas “targeted his victims in the midst of a religious ceremony, transforming a joyous Hanukkah celebration into a scene of carnage and pain.”  Thomas' criminal history includes an arrest for assaulting a police horse, according to an official briefed on the investigation who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. A lawyer representing Thomas at the arraignment said he had no convictions.  The criminal complaint said one passage in Thomas' journals stated that the “Hebrew Israelites” took from the “ebidnoid Israelites." The FBI agent who wrote the complaint said that appeared to be a reference to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, some branches of which have been associated with anti-Semitism.  The attack was the latest in a string of violence targeting Jews in the region, including a Dec. 10 massacre at a kosher grocery store in New Jersey. Last month in Monsey, a man was stabbed while walking to a synagogue. No arrest has been made in that stabbing.  Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said Saturday's savagery was the 13th anti-Semitic attack in New York since Dec. 8.  Monsey, near the New Jersey state line about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of New York City, is one of several Hudson Valley communities that has seen a rising population of Hasidic Jews in recent years. At a Sunday celebration that was planned before the attack, several members of the community stood guard armed with assault-style rifles.  “The Jewish community is utterly terrified," Evan Bernstein, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey, said in a statement. “No one should have to live like this."  In New York City, the Rev. Al Sharpton appeared Monday with Jewish and other faith leaders at his Harlem headquarters and said he was disturbed and upset that several of the suspects in recent attacks on Jews have been black.  “We cannot remain silent as we see a consistent pattern of attacks on people based on their faith and who they are,” Sharpton said. “You can’t fight hate against you if you aren’t willing to fight hate against everybody else.”  ——— Mustian and Neumeister reported from New York. Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in New York contributed to this report.


activistpost--2019-05-14--Why Outlawing Cryptocurrency Purchases is a Terrible Idea

A member of the U.S. House of Representatives last week called for a bill outlawing Americans from making cryptocurrency purchases, aligning with anti-cryptocurrency policies in countries such as Iran and Egypt. There is no language for this potential bill or any explanation of whether such a bill would ban Americans from buying cryptocurrencies, using cryptocurrencies to make other purchases, or both. Nonetheless, it’s a good moment to remind everyone why a bill outlawing cryptocurrencies is a terrible idea.  Attempts to ban cryptocurrencies are often rooted in fundamental misunderstandings. One common refrain is that criminals use cryptocurrencies to facilitate illegal activity, and thus we should ban cryptocurrencies to hamper that illegal activity. This is wrong for several reasons: first, it ignores the many entirely legal uses for cryptocurrencies that already exist and that will continue to develop in the future. Cryptocurrencies have been used for a decade to store and transfer value with near-zero transaction costs and no need for intermediaries like banks. As more applications make holding and exchanging cryptocurrencies easier, everyday consumers are using cryptocurrency regularly for innocuous activities like buying furniture on Overstock.com and sending money to family members overseas. And innovation related to cryptocurrency technology is giving rise to more use cases: for example, some cryptocurrencies enable programmers to write computer programs (so-called “smart contracts”) that automatically transfer cryptocurrency to others upon certain conditions being met. These are just a few examples of the many potential uses of this technology that a ban on cryptocurrency would undermine.  The fact that a technology could be used to violate the law does not mean we should ban it. Notably, criminals have long used cash—which, like some cryptocurrencies, allows for greater anonymity—to aid in committing crimes. But we don’t call for a ban on cash as a result, and we don’t blame Ford when one of its cars is used as a getaway vehicle in a bank robbery. Nor would such a law likely stop criminals from using cryptocurrency, since criminals are, by definition, more willing to violate existing laws. Ultimately, banning cryptocurrencies would rob Americans of opportunities to access potentially significant technologies, and have no real impact on criminals abusing these tools.  We’ve seen this line of reasoning before. Critics of end-to-end encryption and Tor have claimed criminals can hide behind the privacy-protective functions of such technologies. But the increased anonymity and privacy-enhancing features of some cryptocurrencies are part of what make the technology so potentially important. To date, many cryptocurrencies are not terribly private; transactions are recorded on permanent public ledgers, and while users are identified with pseudonymous public keys, this is far less privacy-protective than using cash. There are promising new approaches to developing more private cryptocurrencies. However, none of those tools has yet reached the widespread popularity of Bitcoin or Ethereum. As the rise of privacy-protective cryptocurrencies begins to gain traction, it’s important we don’t let regulatory backlash prevent these tools from reaching people.  Our financial transactions paint an intimate portrait of our lives, often exposing our religious beliefs, family status, medical history, and many other facets of our lives we might prefer to keep private. Yet American laws do not adequately secure financial privacy. Rather, there is a patchwork of limited protections. These include the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (which requires banks to notify you about their information-sharing policies and give you some opportunity to opt out); the stronger California Financial Information Privacy Act (if you happen to be Californian); and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (which is primarily focused on credit and not financial transactions). That’s why new tools that people can use to protect the privacy of their own financial transactions are so appealing: they offer a technological solution to protecting consumer privacy when the legal rights aren’t as robust or enforceable as we would like. A bill banning cryptocurrency would cut off this pro-privacy innovation, chilling the development of new technologies that might protect financial privacy before they have any chance of being developed and widely adopted.  Cryptocurrency innovation also holds the promise of righting other power imbalances. There are millions of people living in the United States who cannot obtain a bank account because they don’t have appropriate government-issued identification, don’t have a permanent physical address, fear exposing their home address for safety reasons, or have a history of unpaid bank fees. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires banks to tell consumers why they are denied an account, but doesn’t guarantee them a bank account. Cryptocurrency may eventually help many of these unbanked individuals get access to financial services.  Cryptocurrency is also naturally more censorship-resistant than many other forms of financial instruments currently available. At EFF, we’ve tracked numerous websites engaged in legal speech that faced financial censorship, often with little recourse. These include a social network for kinky people, a nonprofit supporting LGBTQ fiction, an online bookseller, and most famously the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. Cryptocurrencies provide a powerful market alternative to the existing financial behemoths that exercise control over much of our online transactions today, so that websites engaged in legal-but-controversial speech have a way to receive funds when existing financial institutions refuse to serve them.  These ideas are not new. Censorship-resistance and privacy are attributes of cash, which people have enjoyed for thousands of years. Cryptocurrencies offer a pathway for bringing those attributes into our online world.  This is not to imply that cryptocurrency has achieved all of these goals. In fact, many watching the space have expressed frustration and skepticism about whether cryptocurrency can ever execute on some of the hopes of early adopters. But even the staunchest cryptocurrency critic should be concerned about how misguided regulation in this space might constrict the legal rights of coders.  As with many new technologies, the cryptocurrency ecosystem faces serious challenges. These include fraudsters taking advantage of people’s ignorance about technology to scam them, problems around achieving true decentralization of control, strong security in the applications built on top of cryptocurrencies, and the opportunity for entities holding cryptocurrency keys to abuse that access. These problems likely require responses that are technological and community-driven. In some instances, laws may be appropriate. But thoughtful laws regulating cryptocurrencies must focus on those who abuse the technology for fraud, not everyday consumers.  Crafting such laws requires a lot of care. Any such law would need to provide a significant on-ramp for emerging technologies, clear protections for anyone engaged in non-custodial services that technically aren’t able to exchange or take cryptocurrency from users without their participation, and strong protections for people who are merely writing and publishing code. These laws must also be technologically neutral, to avoid enshrining one particular cryptocurrency into law in ways that have unexpected consequences for projects with similar functionality.  Finding the right balance for regulating cryptocurrency requires that lawmakers protect consumer rights and foster innovation. Banning Americans from cryptocurrency purchases is short-sighted and anti-consumer, and falls far short of that standard.  With thanks to Marta Belcher, who provided feedback on an early draft of this post.


activistpost--2019-07-30--How The Question Who Benefits From This Can Change Your Life

How The Question “Who Benefits From This?” Can Change Your Life

“Cui bono?” is a phrase you’ll often see used on conspiracy-minded YouTube videos and discussion forums. It’s Latin for “Who benefits?”, and it refers to a perspective in legal analysis that the one who stands most to gain from a crime is often the perpetrator. It’s the “motive” part of “means, motive and opportunity.”  The term comes up in conspiracy circles a lot because motive is often the biggest plot hole in the official story promoted by the authorized narrative managers of the political/media class about a given event. The alleged Douma chemical attack last year, for example, had no discernible benefit to the Assad government whatsoever, but would have benefited the cornered Al-Qaeda affiliates in the city by provoking air strikes from the West, so there remains a lot of skepticism from those who don’t automatically believe their government and the plutocratic media when they say that Damascus was responsible. Such skepticism is dismissively branded “conspiracy theory” by the establishment narrative managers, but it is fully justified.  So it’s a useful concept for analyzing world events in a way that punches through the fog of imperial propaganda. But the question “Who benefits from this?” can, and should, be taken much further.  Don’t just ask “Cui bono?” of potential false flag events. Ask it about every belief in your head. Rigorously holding that candle up to the ideas in your own mind will reveal a lot of junk floating around in there that benefit other people, both the powerful and the not-so-powerful.  To pick one of many possible examples, it’s very interesting how many of America’s ostensibly anti-establishment movements encourage their adherents to support one of America’s two mainstream establishment political parties. The so-called “Resistance” and the progressive movement both herd people who might otherwise support actual leftist movements into the oligarchic folds of the Democratic Party, as does even the lesser-evil voting promoted by those closer to the fringe like Noam Chomsky. On the right you’ve got the warmongering corporate whore party of the Republicans being enthusiastically backed by the MAGA crowd, who you’ll routinely see backing garden variety GOP agendas like the Supreme Court nomination of a longtime Bush lackey in the name of fighting the establishment. Closer to the fringe you’ve got the insufferable QAnon cult, who consistently argue that every Trump move from Assange’s arrest to bombing Syria is a brilliant 5-D chess maneuver against the Deep State.  If those in any of these various factions began sincerely asking the question “Who benefits from my believing this?” about the various reasons they hold for espousing their respective political positions, the answer would come back clear as day that of course the ones who benefit are the plutocratic class which owns both mainstream political parties and the opaque government agencies with which that class is aligned. In the flurry of reasons being proffered in favor of supporting a given faction, it’s easy to overlook the fact that some very powerful people are likely to benefit from that support.  All the information going around about what’s going on in the world is like this. News media must be consumed with an acute awareness that there are extremely powerful people who have a vested interest in manipulating the way you think and perceive. It’s just a fact, and if it isn’t at the forefront of your consciousness, your worldview will necessarily be severely malformed. Cultivating a reflexive curiosity about who benefits from a given narrative being promoted nips this in the bud.  But this isn’t just limited to news media. We get tons of stupid ideas in our heads from things like advertising, which obviously benefit no one but the advertisers and their employers. Women in particular are plagued with body image problems from being pummeled from a very early age with corporate psyops designed for precisely that purpose, and as a result we feed billions of dollars into various interests who profit from our belief that we shouldn’t have small tits or wrinkles or body fat.  Religion is another one. There are of course many immensely wealthy and powerful structures today which benefit from adherents to religion, but most of those who’ve benefited from widespread religious indoctrination aren’t even alive anymore. Governments and world religions have historically been inextricably intertwined with and supportive of each other, because religions can be used to manipulate the masses into believing that it’s virtuous to be poor, humble, meek, submissive and obedient, to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”, and to believe it would be generally sinful to use the power of their numbers to kill their rulers and seize their wealth. The answer to “Who benefits from my religious beliefs?”, if you’re Christian, is something along the lines of “All existing Christian churches, all existing political structures built around exploiting Christian beliefs for political leverage, every preacher, pope and bishop who’s ever lived, and every western ruler since Emperor Constantine.”  Many of the beliefs which have been put into our heads for someone else’s benefit don’t profit the powerful at all; many of them have been implanted by our own loved ones. It’s unfortunate, but friends and family members will often have a vested interest in putting beliefs in our heads which don’t benefit us but them. Such beliefs often revolve around keeping us from getting above our station, from feeling too good about ourselves so that we don’t go off and improve our lives instead of staying in the confining circles we were born into. Others can include believing positive things about loved ones who were actually destructive and abusive to us. Some of them are as simple as beliefs about how we are and how we should be that kept us from talking back to our parents, which if left unexamined can create submissive psychological postures in us that can stay with us to the grave. We form a lot of the beliefs we have about ourselves from the feedback we get from other people, so even something said decades ago by a schoolmate who was only interested in keeping us from rising above them in social status can continue to warp our self image.


activistpost--2019-08-23--The Govt Gave Her Son a Sex Change Without Parental Consent And Other Weekly News From The Twiligh

The Gov’t Gave Her Son a Sex Change Without Parental Consent, And Other Weekly News From The Twilight Zone

Welcome to our Friday roll up, where we highlight the most interesting, absurd, and concerning stories we are following this week.  It all started when a boyfriend playfully tried to push his girlfriend into the pool.  Most people would see that as harmless horsing around. But one lady saw domestic violence. So she called the police.  Police came and arrested the boyfriend. His girlfriend, the alleged victim, became quite irritated, as you could imagine. She insisted that he had done nothing wrong, and they were just fooling around.  Then she walked away from police as they were talking to her. So one officer saw fit to run up behind this 5-foot tall woman and body slam her to the ground. He took her down with such force that he broke her collarbone, and she lost consciousness.  Amazingly enough, the police then arrested HER and charged her with disturbing the peace.  I’m not joking. The lady who broke her collar bone due to excessive police force is the one who apparently disturbed the peace.  Naturally this became a lawsuit. But last week, a federal court ruled that the police officer cannot be sued.  He gets “qualified immunity”, because, while he was slamming this petite bikini-clad woman to the ground and crushing her bones, he was performing his official duties as an agent of the government. Therefore he cannot be held personally liable for his actions.  Click here for the court documents.  And when the government came after him for tax evasion, the whole matter went to court.  In April 2018, though, courts dismissed tax evasion charges because Michael openly refused to pay the taxes. He wasn’t lying or engaging in fraud– he openly and conscientiously objected to paying.  As a conscientious objector, Michael opposes the fact that his tax dollars fund programs that go against his religious beliefs.  The court recognized this claim and dismissed the charge.  But Bowman was also charged with failure to file tax returns… which is another crime.  And that case has recently resulted in a mistrial; the hung jury could not come to an agreement on whether Bowman held a good faith belief that he was not breaking the law.  This is a victory for Michael… though the government could still decide to re-try the case.  Click here for the full story.  Social media giants will ban anyone for “hate speech” these days.  That could be for anything as simple as expressing an unpopular opinion, or sharing a politically incorrect meme.  But when it comes to spreading Chinese propaganda, Twitter and Facebook are happy to oblige. For a price.  A Chinese state-owned media source, Xinhua News, has been buying ads on Twitter and Facebook, to show in Hong Kong and overseas.  The ads claim that most Hong Kong residents want the protests to end, and support the Chinese government. This, of course, is according to the Chinese government.  One advertisement stated that “All walks of life in Hong Kong called for a brake to be put on the blatant violence, and order to be restored.”  Another claimed Hong Kong citizens were calling China their motherland.  All were misinformation, aimed at countering the true scope and purpose of the Hong Kong protests against Chinese control over Hong Kong.  Only after public backlash, Twitter and Facebook removed a number of accounts placing the ads. Twitter said they will not accept advertising from state-controlled media.  Click here for the full story.


activistpost--2019-09-05--US Government Blacklisting System is Unconstitutional Judge

US Government Blacklisting System is Unconstitutional: Judge

In an opinion issued late today in Alexandria, VA, US District Court Judge Anthony Trenga has upheld the complaint by 23 victims of US government blacklisting that the system pursuant to which the government has designated them as “suspected terrorists” on the basis of secret algorithms applied to secret datasets, without notice or an opportunity to contest any allegedly “derogatory”  information, does not provide those who are stigmatized, and whose stigmatized status is broadcast to tens of thousands of law enforcement and other government agencies and private entities around the world, with the procedural due process required by the US Constitution.  This decision is one of the most fundamental victories for the rule of law since 9/11.  According to today’s opinion, it is undisputed that the DHS and FBI define anyone who has been arrested or charged with an offense related to terrorism as a “known” terrorist, even if they have been acquitted of that charge.  In other words, the DHS and FBI think that what is “known” is what they believe, not what judges or juries have found the facts to be. That presumption that by definition their secret judgements are more reliable than judicial fact-finding pretty much sums up why this decision is correct, why it is so important, and why it should be upheld if, as seems a near certainty, the government appeals.  None of the plaintiffs have even been arrested, much less convicted, for any criminal offense, terrorist or otherwise. The plaintiffs include, among others, several infants whom the government has apparently blacklisted as “suspected terrorists”. But even though the government will neither confirm nor deny that anyone is or is not, or has or has not been, included in the “Terrorist Screening Database” (TSDB), the court found that the plaintiffs have demonstrated sufficient basis for their belief that they have been blacklisted.  The “No-Fly List” is only a subset of the TSDB, and not being allowed to fly is only a subset of the consequences of blacklisting detailed in the plaintiffs’ submissions to the court and the government’s admissions during discovery and depositions. The TSDB is used as the basis for a plethora of decisions, as the plaintiffs have experienced, from whether to have them arrested at gunpoint when they try to cross land borders  to whether to interrogate them for hours about their religious beliefs, seize their electronic devices for copying and forensic analysis of the data stored on them, or deny them public or private-sector jobs.  The government’s use of secret criteria, secret datasets, and guilt by association as the basis for secret decisions — communicated to tens of thousands of other decision-makers, but not to those who have been blacklisted —  resembles the worst of McCarthyism, just with “terrorist sympathizer” or (literal) “fellow traveler” substituted for “Communist  sympathizer” or (ideological) “fellow traveler”.  Judge Trenga found that inclusion on the TSDB deprives those who are blacklisted of their liberty interest in freedom of movement, both internationally and domestically; that the government stigmatizes them by distributing the blacklist to many other entities; that the secret, standardless, and non-adversarial (i.e. one-sided) decision-making process is inherently likely to result in errors; and that all of this is unconstitutional:  We congratulate the plaintiffs for risking retaliation to challenge the government’s supposedly anti-terrorist, and in practice anti-Muslim, witch-hunting program, and  attorneys Gadeir Abbas, Lena Masri, and the rest of CAIR’s legal team for their legal leadership.  Judge Trenga has ordered the parties to submit additional briefs over the next six weeks with respect to what he should order to be done to redress the violations of the plaintiffs’ Constitutional rights that he has found to have occurred and to be ongoing.  We think the answer is clear: the way to provide procedural due process, when the government wants to restrict someone’s movements or other lawful activities, is for the government to apply to a judge for an injunction or restraining order. No new laws or procedures are needed. Courts have procedures for considering requests for orders restricting movement, and act on them every day in domestic violence and other cases.  But the government has never tried to use existing laws to request a no-fly injunction or other restraining orders against a “suspected terrorist”, preferring to substitute the infallible clairvoyance of the pre-cogs in the Terrorist Screening Center for the fallibility of judges and juries using established adversarial fact-finding procedures.  Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Follow us on Minds, Twitter, Steemit, and SoMee. Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $1 per month.  Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today.


activistpost--2019-12-02--EFF Report Exposes, Explains Big Tech’s Personal Data Trackers Lurking on Social Media, Websites, an

EFF Report Exposes, Explains Big Tech’s Personal Data Trackers Lurking on Social Media, Websites, and Apps

—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today released a comprehensive report that identifies and explains the hidden technical methods and business practices companies use to collect and track our personal information from the minute we turn on our devices each day.  Published on Cyber Monday, when millions of consumers are shopping online, “Behind the One-Way Mirror” takes a deep dive into the technology of corporate surveillance. The report uncovers and exposes the myriad techniques—invisible pixel images, browser fingerprinting, social widgets, mobile tracking, and face recognition—companies employ to collect information about who we are, what we like, where we go, and who our friends are. Amazon, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and hundreds of lesser known and hidden data brokers, advertisers, and marketers drive data collection and tracking across the web.  “The purpose of this paper is to demystify tracking by focusing on the fundamentals of how and why it works and explain the scope of the problem. We hope the report will educate and mobilize journalists, policy makers, and concerned consumers to find ways to disrupt the status quo and better protect our privacy,” said Bennett Cyphers, EFF staff technologist and report author.  “Behind the One-Way Mirror” focuses on third-party tracking, which is often not obvious or visible to users. Webpages contain embedded images and invisible codes that come from entities other than the website owner. Most websites contain dozens of these bugs that go on to record and track your browsing, activity, purchases, and clicks. Mobile apps are equally rife with tracking code which can relay app activity, physical location, and financial data to unknown entities.  With this information companies create behavioral profiles that can reveal our political affiliation, religious beliefs, sexual identity and activity, race and ethnicity, education level, income bracket, purchasing habits, and physical and mental health. The report shows how relentless data collection and profile building fuels the digital advertising industry that targets users with invasive ads and puts our privacy at risk.  “Today online shoppers will see web pages, ads, and their social media feeds. What they won’t see are trackers controlled by tech companies, data brokers, and advertisers that are secretly taking notes on everything they do,” said Cyphers. “Dominant companies like Facebook can deputize smaller publishers into installing its tracking code, so it can track individuals who don’t even use Facebook.  “Behind the One-Way Mirror” offers tips for users to fight back against online tracking by installing EFF’s tracker-blocker extension Privacy Badger in their browser and changing phone settings. Online tracking is hard to avoid, but there are steps users can take to seriously cut back on the amount of data that trackers can collect and share.  “Privacy is often framed as a matter of personal responsibility, but a huge portion of the data in circulation isn’t shared willingly—it’s collected surreptitiously and with impunity. Most third-party data collection in the U.S. is unregulated,” said Cyphers. “The first step in fixing the problem is to shine a light, as this report does, on the invasive third-party tracking that, online and offline, has lurked for too long in the shadows.”  For more on behavioral tracking:   https://www.eff.org/issues/online-behavioral-tracking  Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $1 per month at Patreon. Follow us on SoMee, Flote, Minds, Twitter, and Steemit.  Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today.


ageofautism--2019-01-19--Nutmeg State of Connecticut Sets Sights on Religious Exemption

I live in Connecticut, in the New England region of the United States. We are one of the original colonies. We , like this nation, were founded on freedom. Rhode Island, our small neighbor to the east, was founded on religious freedom specifically. Currently, we have two vaccine exemptions, religious and medical. The legislature is now seeking to remove the right to refuse a vaccine based on religious beliefs.      I've lived in Connecticut for more than a dozen years. I had no idea what is the state motto. We all know New Hampshire's, "Live Free or Die" motto. And my home state of Massachusetts' motto is "By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty." What has happened to our liberty? We now live under not the sword of a King, but the syringes and pills of a government/industry kingdom.  Back to the motto of Connecticut: He Who Transplanted Still Sustains. The State website has a derivation of the motto below, from the Bible perhaps. Ah yes, religion.  Take a look:  .   The motto "Qui Transtulit Sustinet," (He Who Transplanted Still Sustains), has been associated with the various versions of the seal from the creation of the Saybrook Colony Seal. While the origin of the motto is uncertain, the late Charles J. Hoadly, a former State Librarian, suggested in an article entitled "The Public Seal of Connecticut," which appeared in the 1889 edition of the Connecticut State Register and Manual, that we look to the 80th Psalm as a possible source. "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it."     I assume the heathens were the early settlers, the Englishmen and women who fled the King and not the Native Americans who were slaughtered once "we" of European descent arrived.    So much religion is entwined with our nation's history.  And here our state is trying to remove my religious right to make medical decisions for our children.  Visit Health Choice CT to stay abreast of the demise our rights here in the nutty Nutmeg state where we might have to change our motto to "Vox clamantis in deserto."     KIM


ageofautism--2019-03-22--Common Sense in the Commonwealth of Kentuckys Governors Home Chicken Pox Once and Done

Common Sense in the Commonwealth of Kentucky's Governor's Home: Chicken Pox Once and Done

Note - Nothing subliminal about that message from the family or the vaccine commercial from the Health Department.  The Health Department said the chickenpox vaccine is the best way to prevent becoming ill and spreading the varicella virus. They said it is very safe and prevents almost all cases of severe illness. Ensure all members of your household are up to date on all vaccinations.  “I don't believe in that vaccine at all and they are trying to push it on us,” Bill Kunkle said. They say the belief is derived from their Christianity.  Bill Kunkel said his son Jerome, 18, is being discriminated against because of his religious beliefs regarding a vaccine for chickenpox.  In separate areas of the state of Kentucky, two individuals are sharing their beliefs about vaccines, in the news.  One is a high school senior who is suing, along with his family, the local Dept of Health.  Check this out :  NOTE: When Mia and Gianna were 3 and 2, the Varicella vaccine had just hit the market and I BEGGED their pediatrician for it.  He refused to administer it to the girls telling me it was too new, and it was better for them to catch the chicken pox and be done with it for life.  This was in 1998 or so. Not 1898. Governor Bevin gave his kids the gift of lifelong immunity from Varicella. The media will spin him into an anti-science monster who doesn't love his children.  Nonsense. Below is a take on the story from the AofA POV. ### Kentucky, known for mint juleps, great bourbon, and the Kentucky Derby, has been in the news, and not just about March Madness.  It’s another kind of madness --- the horrendously, horrible treatment of those who believe in Vaccine Choice.  That was a few days ago and a tamer version of what is happening now.  Here is the Washington Post.  As you read, note the slew of sarcasm and an attempt to show a skewed moral compass in the family.  They are being portrayed as “antivaxx,”  It is a set-up.  God, country and chickenpox: How an outbreak entangled one school in a vaccine showdown  Bill Kunkel used to vaccinate his children, before he read where some vaccines come from.  He is skeptical of the pharmaceutical industry’s motives and came across anti-vaxxer theories online, though they aren’t supported by science. But his main objection is about abortion. Decades ago, cells were taken from legally aborted fetuses to create some vaccines. Kunkel is Catholic. Vaccines derived from an abortion are, in his mind but not the church’s, immoral.  So he and his wife chose not to vaccinate their fourth child, Jerome.  Years later, that decision has positioned the Kunkels and their now 18-year-old son as the latest face of the nation’s anti-vaxxer movement — and exposed the tension between individual liberties and the public good. Since Feb. 5, Jerome’s K-12 Catholic school, Assumption Academy, has been experiencing an outbreak of Varicella zoster, the virus commonly known as chickenpox.  And I am going to stop her right there.  Wow.  Do you see what I mean and there is plenty more.  Like a tabloid tongue, gossiping about the sordid affairs of some famous, immoral family.  Instead we are talking about attending high school, playing basketball and being Catholic --- oh and “antivaxx.” This is not news but a cookie-cutter attack that we keep seeing around the country. Read the entire WashPo article as the ending that I am posting below leads us to an ironic  development happening ALSO in Kentucky,  and ALL over the news in the past hours:  The school canceled class on Friday and Monday and avoided interacting with reporters during a parent meeting last week about the outbreak.  It’s unclear if vaccinated students will return to school this week and how unvaccinated students will go about their studies during the quarantine.  Jerome Kunkel said he’s not sure how he’ll fill his time. He cleaned out his car, he said, and will probably begin practicing baseball with a teammate also kept from school by the ban. Three weeks is too short a time span to get a job, the high school student said. And he’s nervous about falling behind in class.  “He’s being penalized because he’s a healthy child,” Bill Kunkel said. “He may not ever get chickenpox.”  Kunkel said he attended “chickenpox parties” as a child and took his own children to one at his brother’s house, with the intention to expose children to the virus.  But health officials strongly urge parents not to do this because the virus can cause unpredictable and severe reactions. The Northern Kentucky Health Department recommends the vaccine in each of its letters to parents at Assumption Academy.  And as that bubble of comments made its way across the state, the Governor of Kentucky, Matt Bevin, had this to say:  Kentucky governor says he exposed his children to chickenpox rather than getting vaccine  (CNN)Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said he made sure all his nine children were exposed to chickenpox and caught the disease instead of giving them a vaccine.  "They had it as children. They were miserable for a few days, and they all turned out fine," Bevin said in an interview with WKCT, a Bowling Green radio station.  Bevin and his wife, Glenna, have nine children between the ages of 5 and 16, according to his campaign website.  The governor says he supports parents who choose to get their children vaccinated and also those who decline to do so. But he said the decision shouldn't be up to the government.  "This is America," he said. "The federal government should not be forcing this upon people. They just shouldn't."  That is an amazing statement and our thanks to  Governor Bevin for supporting  what so many other keep saying.  There is an effort to make vaccines the “good guys” and thus, unvaccinated people become “the bad guys.”  What is really bad is that true science is being ignored, too much.  If there are outbreaks it is wrong to scapegoat the  unvaccinated, as  the issue is that vaccination is not without error.  It does not last and it causes unintended consequences.  With Chicken Pox (Varicella), the failure of life-long immunity has become a never ending commercial of first ONE vaccine then TWO vaccines and pretty soon will we be told, THREE or MORE Varicella vaccines to prevent Chicken Pox?  The connecting issue is that Shingles for all ages is increasing and it can be more serious.  Some facts to ponder from real research and data,  that you won’t get from WashPo or CNN:  Review of the United States universal varicella vaccination program: Herpes zoster incidence rates, cost-effectiveness, and vaccine efficacy based primarily on the Antelope Valley Varicella Active Surveillance Project data  Prior to the universal varicella vaccination program, 95% of adults experienced natural chickenpox [162](usually as pre-school to early elementary school children)—these cases were usually benign. In the prelicensure era, the periodic exogenous boosting that adults received from those shedding VZV resulted in long-term immunity. This high percentage of seropositive individuals and their long-term immunity have been compromised by the universal varicella vaccination of children which provides at best 70–90% protection [142, 163-166] that is temporary and of unknown duration—shifting chickenpox to a more vulnerable adult population which, as Dr. Jane Seward cautioned in 2007, carries 20 times more risk of death and 10–15 times more risk of hospitalization compared to chickenpox in children [167]. Thus, the proponents for universal varicella vaccination have failed to consider increased HZ-related morbidity as well as the adverse effects of both the varicella and HZ vaccines which have more than offset the limited benefits associated with reductions in varicella disease. The universal varicella (Chicken Pox) vaccination program now requires a booster vaccine for children and an HZ (Shingles) vaccine to boost protection in adults. However, these are less effective than the natural immunity that existed in communities prior to licensure of the varicella vaccine. Hence, rather than eliminating varicella in children as promised, routine vaccination against varicella has proven extremely costly [60, 62,168] and has created continual cycles of treatment and disease.  Lastly, in that WashPo article, God, country and chickenpox: How an outbreak entangled one school in a vaccine showdown,  the author highlights aborted fetuses and when you click on it, it takes you to this page, Immunization Action Coalition.  Here is their list of financial contributors.  You can see that Merck and other pharmaceutical companies are listed, and since Merck does make both Varicella and Shingles vaccines,  and make millions of dollars from them, it seems pretty ridiculous to list this IAC as an unbiased resource.  As for Kentucky, their state motto is - United we stand, divided we fall - and that seems true more than ever.


ageofautism--2019-04-10--Child Health Defense Launches Immediate Legal Challenge Against New York Citys Public Health Emerge

Child Health Defense Launches Immediate Legal Challenge Against New York City’s Public Health Emergency Due to Measles

From Robert Kennedy Jrs's Child Health Defense organization.     In an unprecedented move, the New York City Health Commissioner on April 9, 2019 has imposed an emergency forced vaccination order, requiring ALL people living in four Brooklyn zip codes to receive the MMR vaccine (if they do not have proof of immunity or medical contraindication) within 48 hours or risk criminal and civil penalties. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio made the announcement.  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said today that it’s “legally questionable” whether people can be forced to get vaccinated if it violates their religious beliefs. “Look it’s a serious public health concern, but it’s also a serious First Amendment issue and it is going to be a constitutional, legal question,” Cuomo said.  “Do we have the right — does society, government have the right to say ‘you must vaccinate your child because I’m afraid your child is going to infect my child, even if you don’t want it done and even if it violates your religious beliefs?’ So that is, that’s an issue that’s going to be legally questionable and I’m sure it’s going to go down that path,” Cuomo added.  Children’s Health Defense is supporting a legal effort to restrain this order immediately. Vaccination choice is a human right. While New York City unquestionably has the authority to isolate infectious individuals, and even to quarantine them, and to exclude unvaccinated children from schools during an outbreak in that school, it does not have the authority to require vaccination for all individuals on the basis of zip codes with vaccines that explicitly carry the risk of death. This government overreach requires challenge.  SUPPORT CHD’S LEGAL EFFORTS THROUGH ONLINE DONATION. Or, mail a check to CHD\. (You can also authorize a bank transfer or open a donor advised fund. Contact us for more information.)