Machiavellian U.S.-backed Junta Leader May Win Election

BANGKOK, Thailand -- After nearly five years in power, Thailand's
coup-installed military regime will allow nationwide elections on
March 24 for a House of Representatives and prime minister. But
analysts and activists warn instability will torment whoever wins.

Machiavellian, moody and often angry, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha
orchestrated a controversial post-coup constitution which enables him
to extend his prime ministry either through the ballot box or as an
unelected leader.

Whichever route he chooses, Mr. Prayuth would need support from 376
House and Senate members out of a total 750.

Mr. Prayuth knows his junta-appointed 250-seat Senate is virtually
guaranteed to boost him. So he needs only 126 pro-Prayuth politicians
among the 500 elected House members to reach a combined 376.

Unfortunately for an opposition candidate to become prime minister,
several parties would likely need to form a coalition because they
need to collect all 376 seats solely in the House, while the appointed
Senate is expected to be hostile.

Congress Finds its War Powers and Weaknesses

It’s possible that the U.S. Congress will for the first time use the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to end a war — the one on Yemen. This would be wonderful. There are some caveats.

Sanctuary For All benefit show

Drawing of two girls back to back and details about the event

Sunday, February 3, 7-11pm
Cafe Bourbon Street, 2216 Summit St.

46 Ways a BIG Green New Deal Can Raise the Spirit of Godmother Eleanor

he Green New Deal’s demand to make our energy system 100% renewable has become central to the new American Dream. It’s essential to our survival, both economically and ecologically.

But the original New Deal, whose Godmother was Eleanor Roosevelt, embraced a broad vision of remaking society as a whole. It aimed to end poverty, win social justice, promote the arts, and much, much more.

So here’s a partial list of New Deal-style changes to create a fair, decent, sustainable world. We welcome your own suggestions at www.solartopia.org.

The Free Press take on the State of the City

White middle-aged man in a brown suit at a podium pointed and speaking with an U.S. flag and a screen with pictures behind him

Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther declared in the annual State Of The City address "The state of our city is strong." He touted development projects across the city such as the One Linden Plan, a master plan for Hilltop, the opening of the Franklin Jubilee Market last May, a new police substation to be built near the Lazelle Woods Community Center, and "record resources" being spent to pave the city. 

The mayor painted a picture of growth and prosperity borrowing from Experience Columbus' statistics that visitors spent 7 billion in Columbus in 2017, and he referenced the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission estimate that over "40,000 people moved to the region in 2018."

In his speech, he announced a plan to invest $3.8 million in 2019 to build new affordable homes and keep them affordable through a land trust in areas around Columbus including in Franklinton and on the South Side. "If mobility is the great equalizer of the 20th century, let us leverage it," he said. 

CAIR-Columbus 22nd Annual Banquet and Fundraiser

Words CAIR Columbus inside a flowery image

Saturday, February 2, 2019, 5:30 – 9:00 PM
From the Muslim Ban, advocacy & legislative efforts, and record-breaking amount of civil rights cases, CAIR-Columbus has had your back.  We ask you to come support our work as we prepare for another year of resistance.   Speakers:  Nihad Awad, National Executive Director of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Imam Johari Abdul Malik, Director of Outreach at the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Washington D.C., Ilhan Dahir, writer, researcher, and civil liberties advocate, and Preacher Moss, Comedian/Writer and Founder of ‘Allah Made Me Funny.”  Tickets $35.00/person.  Location:  The Ohio Union Archie M. Griffin Grand Ballroom, 1739 N. High St., Columbus.  More information and tickets here.  

Israel's Story Lies from top to bottom

 

 

Kennedy and King Family Members and Advisors Call for Congress to Reopen Assassination Probes

On the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a group of over 60 prominent American citizens is calling upon Congress to reopen the investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Signers of the joint statement include Isaac Newton Farris Jr., nephew of Reverend King and past president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Reverend James M. Lawson Jr., a close collaborator of Reverend King; and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, children of the late senator.

Drugs as Weapons Against Us:

Bob Fitrakis will be interviewing John Potash, author of Drugs as Weapons Against Us, about his documentary based on the book, WGRN at 5:30 PM on the show The Other Side of the News .

Drugs as Weapons Against Us: The CIA war on musians and activists was released yesterday for rent or purchase.

US state-sponsored economic terrorism to de-stabilize oil-rich countries are Crimes Against Humanity (a la Nixon, Reagan, Both Bushes, Both Clintons, Madeleine Albright, John Bolton, Elliot Abrams, Obama, Trump, Pence, etc)

Please ignore (but do what you can to protest against) the US Mainstream Media’s gleeful, one-sided support of what can be justifiably regarded as Crimes Against Humanity that are being committed in plain sight by our nation’s (and Venezuela’s) oligarchs, corporatists, war-profiteers, war-mongers, militarists, neo-liberals, neo-conservatives, politicians, and assorted sociopathic, neo-fascist greed-heads who care not about humanity, human rights or true democratic principles. State-sponsored economic sanctions have been routinely used by America’s ruling oligarchs since the Johnson/Nixon Vietnam era in order to de-stabilize – and then privatize – the oil reserves and other natural resources of any and all oil- or resource-rich country on the planet. Such immoral actions also meet the definition of crimes against humanityand crimes against the peaceand often morph into international war crimesas well. The regimes of Nixon, Reagan, both Bushes, both Clintons, Madeleine Albright, John Bolton, Elliot Abrams, Obama, Trump, Pence, etc are good examples of perpetrators of such international crimes. Do perpetrators of crimes against humanity deserve to be tried in a criminal court?

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