Global
It has been another exciting week in a world at war where the word “diplomacy” has no meaning and would probably be defined by America’s head of Homeland Security Kristi Noem as a doctrine in which you shoot someone first before he or she can shoot you. In my article last week I discussed the reports that there has been a serious rift between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, exemplified by Trump’s unwillingness to talk to the Israeli leader followed by his failure to visit Israel on his recent Middle East trip. Sources attributed the break to Trump’s perception that he was being “manipulated” by the Israeli, which was completely plausible though something that should have been recognized and warned against by Trump’s foreign policy advisers when he first ascended to the presidency in 2017. Israel always manipulates opinion on the United States through its lobby’s control of the media and corruption of the politicians.
We are at a perilous time, when our most basic freedoms are at risk.
It is vital that we not hand President Trump even more power to wreck our democracy than he already has. Among other things, that means not confirming anyone he nominates to be a federal judge.
In early May, Trump announced the first group of judicial nominations of his second term. One is for the Sixth Circuit, which covers Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. The other four are for district courts in Missouri. Senators on the Judiciary Committee are poring over the nominees’ records in preparation for a hearing expected in early June.
Senators are right to look at a nominee’s record. But in these unprecedented times, the most important record for them to look at is that of the president making the nomination. And Donald Trump’s record shows that he’s dangerously unqualified to be appointing lifetime judges to the bench.
Fair and independent courts are a vital part of our checks and balances. And with the Republican-controlled Congress so far unwilling to stop Trump’s ongoing abuses of power, the courts are more important than ever.
Right now, Congress is working on a giant, fast-track bill that would make historic cuts to basic needs programs to finance another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.
As the Communications and Policy Director for the Rural Democracy Initiative, I’ve been hearing from rural leaders across the country about the devastating impacts this bill would have.
The good news is it’s not too late. But there’s little time to spare.
Our esteemed Poet Laureate MIMI GERMAN opens the Green Grassroots Emergency Election Zoom with one of her great poems: “A Thousand Grains of Sand”.
We pay homage to BROOOCE SPRINGSTEEN and his stellar defense of democracy as well.
We follow with MAYOR HEIDE LAMBERT of Waldport, Oregon and her astonishing parallel fight for democracy.
In the wake of a meeting with Christie Brinkley and Alec Baldwin, the legendary KARL GROSSMAN tells us the Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul is now pushing nuke power in NY.
The great MYLA RESON fills us in on the latest lunacy from Arizona's Palo Verde nukes, which are owned in part by the city of Los Angeles.
Our co-convenor MIKE HERSH thanks Karl for helping to shut the Shoreham nuke on Long Island.
Legendary computer pioneer LEE FELSENSTEIN adds his contribution to encouraging organizers of upcoming mass rallies to distribute business cards with QR codes to special websites for further organizing.
Santa Monica solar pioneer PAUL NEWMAN updates us on Newsom’s attack on renewables, forcing AB942 through the legislature to impose new taxes and charges on rooftop PV panels.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The loudest cheers of victory in the brief India-Pakistan war are congratulating the Pakistani pilots who flew Chinese-built jets firing impressive PL-15 missiles, purportedly enabling them to shoot down six of India's French and Russian warplanes.
China is sharing Pakistan's military success.
Since the mid-20th century China has been arming, investing in, and helping to construct Pakistan which is a crucial nation in Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and a non-NATO ally of the U.S.
Pakistan is China's only overland access to the Arabian Sea which opens onto the Indian Ocean and the Middle East's vital petroleum shipping lanes.
"The confirmed kill of a sixth Indian Air Force jet, a Mirage 2000 near Pampore on the night of May 6-7, once again demonstrates the superior combat performance of the Pakistan Air Force and the unwavering resolve of our armed forces to defend the motherland at any cost,” Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif said on May 16 while visiting a PAF base.