”Certified lunatics are shut up because of their proneness to violence when their pretensions are questioned; the uncertified variety are given the control of powerful armies, and can inflict death and disaster upon all sane men within their reach.” -- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

“Show, by your actions, that you choose peace over war, freedom over oppression, voice over silence, service over self-interest, respect over advantage, courage over fear, cooperation over competition, action over passivity, diversity over uniformity, and justice over all.” -- Anthony J. Marsella, PhD

“It takes only one man to commit a crime but an entire community to conceal it” -- Krishnamurti

“We're not made by God to mass kill one another, and that's backed up by the Gospels. Lying and war are Quotablealways associated. Pay attention to war-makers when they try to defend their current war; if they’re moving their lips they're lying.” -- Phil Berrigan

The Feds Have Attacked Independent Campaigns; The Rabbi Celebrates the Earth

At GREEGREE #125 Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party’s 2016 Presidential candidate, schools us in how the Federal Elections Commission protects America’s duopoly.

Stein is being PERSONALLY sued by the FEC for an independent campaign dating to seven years ago.  It’s an astounding story of fascism in action with serious implications for grassroots campaigns going forward.

RAY MCCLENDON of the Georgia NAACP and co-convenor JOEL SEGAL confirm the need to transform how we connect with grassroots donors and volunteers to challenge the duopoly’s unyielding power.

“We need publicly financed elections, period,” says Segal.  

With Stein’s terrible experience as background, the FEC must be changed to a non-partisan operation.  “It’s all about the oligarchy,” says Stein.

TATANKA BRICCA tells us about Exxon now pouring trillions of dollars into Swiss “non-profits” to hide their money while promoting fossil/nuclear fuels which destroy the Earth.

We then hear from CAROLINA AMPUDIA about the fight for progressive policies within the Florida Democratic Party.

Why does the Governor not spend for a qualified speech writer or an effective ad agency? Why is he so unfamiliar with either his home state or government policies in other states or the nation?

First, Ohio makes national news, not for DeWine’s “State of the State” redress but for its tacit endorsement of Nazi—not neo-Nazi—indoctrination—as home-schooling in North Sandusky. Neither the parents nor local and state education officials recognize that it is 2023 not 1939.

Of course, this is the state where a sitting Republican member of the state legislature asserted loudly and proudly that “both sides of the Holocaust” must be taught. After all, “only 300,000” Jews were murdered. Home educated herself with no college, Ms. Arthur, formerly a member of the State Board of Education, kept her seat. She was gently scolded but not formally reprimanded by Republican leadership. Of course, she is unable to articulate any “side of the Holocaust.”

Somewhere in a secure office bunker outside Washington, D.C. …

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, convenes a meeting of his top political advisers.

The octogenarian minority leader has placed winning the Ohio Senate seat on the agenda today.

“Gentlemen,” he says, “We must win Ohio in 2024 in order to regain control of the Senate. I am tired of the near misses of the past two elections and I am getting too damn old to wait any longer to reclaim my rightful destiny as majority leader.”

“What do we know about this Ohio State Senator Matt Dolan, who just announced?”

An aide replies, “Dolan ran in the primary in 2022 and finished third to J.D. Vance and that former state official who has a robotic personality. Can’t think of his name. Dolan is the likable scion of the wealthy family that owns the Cleveland Indians, err Guardians. The family put millions into his last campaign. He comes from the not completely crazy wing of the Ohio party.”

“Who else?", says Mitch.

Banning assault weapons saves lives. The 1994 federal assault weapons ban, which lasted until 2004, reduced the risk of a person in the U.S. dying from a mass shooting by 70%.