1-16-19

INTRODUCTION

More "bread and circuses" for the intellectually challenged, rather than going after the problems at the source of this fracturing of the nation.

 

I doubt seriously that Representative Thompson would ever want a person like me testifying, as Christian Pacifist activist; but sir, say the word, and I will be in DC in a heartbeat!!

 

So hear this, Representative Thompson; I am a centerist progressive, with no use for the extremes on either side of this aisle. I never advocate violence as a means to an end. I am self-employed, a member in good standing of a local Protestant church, conduct two English speaking choirs, and am their composer in residence.

 

I can very clearly see what damage the Deep State and its demagogues have done to this country over the last 30 years or so, and I want to see it stopped.

 

Wars are great for corporations and their investors, but generally lousy for the people who fight them, and their families and friends. For over the last 30 years, I have seen military confrontation after confrontation, with nothing to show for it, but a huge Federal deficit, and more graves at military grave sites.

 

Alleged "education" in this country has become a bad joke, with countries in both Asia and Scandinavian reaching far past us in language, critical thinking, and numeracy. Their kids will, most likely, never be on public assistance, because they have the skills to compete in a real-world environment.

 

We now have "school officers", in public schools, who have been responsible for an amazing amount of brutality against students, as though it is the voice of the American Deep State, telling these kids that they are nothing, will never amount to anything, so shut up and don't act out.

 

I have to wonder why these incidents seem to happen only in public schools, but never, or rarely happen, in private schools, like Kumon, the Waldorf Schools, or Montessori Schools?!?

 

There has to be a reason, and I think, that the reason these incidents don't happen here, is that the teachers are really motivated to make education exciting, and to get these kids to reach their full potential.

 

And speaking of schools, let's, Sir, address our "school to prison trajectory".

 

Some schools have a classroom to private prison trajectory, if kids attending that school happen to be cursed by living in the "wrong zip code". Nothing is expected of these kids but trouble, and when that "trouble" gets "out of hand", they are either medicated, or thrown into Juvenile Hall. From there, it is a very short jump to either public or private prisons.

 

You know, Representative Thompson, like that horrible private prison right there in your home state you most know of it by now, and that is East Mississippi Correctional Facility, right?!?

 

Inside a Private Prison: Blood, Suicide and Poorly Paid GuardsThe article goes on to state:

 

"According to evidence and testimony at a federal civil rights trial, far worse things were happening at the prison than inmates strolling around during a lockdown: A mentally ill man on suicide watch hanged himself, gang members were allowed to beat other prisoners, and those whose cries for medical attention were ignored resorted to setting fires in their cells.

 

So many shackled men have recounted instances of extraordinary violence and neglect in the prison that the judge has complained of exhaustion."

 

Why is it, Representative Thompson, that this institution is allowed to continue to exist?!?

 

Prison sentences are both a result of individual bad choices, but also, bad choices of a society which doesn't give people the skills, and equip them with what they will need to know, in the future.

 

The entire nature of "work" is changing, right before our eyes, and the need for "unskilled labor" is quickly going the way of the dodo bird.

 

Unlike prisons in enlightened places like Sweden, in the US, there is almost no counseling, and no attempt at getting prisoners rehabilitated, to the point where they will not offend again.

 

Recidivism appears to be the "name of the game", to protect both public and private prisons' budgets, so this becomes a never-ending cycle.

 

So there you have it, Representative Thompson; one moderate centerist church goer at your service, who wants to see better things for ALL of our kids and this for this country's future.

 

You are welcome!! :-)

Claire Rivero

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ARTICLE

Democrats Prepare Hearings on “Rightwing Extremism”

Prior to the 2018 midterm election, I speculated a Democrat-controlled House would result in hearings targeting “hate groups,” that is to say anybody on the “right” who challenges official narratives, otherwise known as “conspiracy theories.” 

 

“Rep. Bennie Thompson, an African American lawmaker from Mississippi, is in charge of the House Homeland Security Committee,” reports McClatchy. “Thompson intends to hold hearings to spotlight what experts say is a growth of deadly right wing extremism in America, even if the hearings could feature members of white supremacist groups.”

Thompson said his aim is to change the dialogue and find a balance in a U.S. domestic terrorism strategy that he believes has focused too heavily on the threat of homegrown Muslim terrorism and too little the rise of far right, white nationalist, and anti-Semitic groups.

The corporate propaganda media has done a fair job of conflating “white supremacy” and political thought the government wants to silence and shutdown.

The McClatchy article follows this line and links the “trend” of antigovernment activism to Timothy McVeigh and the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.  That event has served as a touchstone for over two decades, primarily thanks to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has made a cottage industry out of hyping “rightwing hate” (unacceptable political thought) and the threat of violence (for the state, the two are inseparable). 

McClatchy and the corporate media have attached “rightwing extremism” to a number of violent incidents that have more to do with disturbed individuals than ideology. 

A recent spate of deadly incidents—including the shooting deaths of 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October, the February 2018 shooting deaths of 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and the August 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia—have given Thompson and other congressional Democrats anecdotal evidence about the extreme right.

The Obama administration, continuing the work of the Bush administration, had the Department of Homeland Security produce a paper on the supposed threat posed by “rightwing extremists,” who are by the state’s definition terrorists on par (or worse than) al-Qaeda and its follow-up act, the Islamic State. Republicans, at the time a majority in the House, lambasted the paper and accused the Obama administration of overreach. Then DHS boss Janet Napolitano went into damage control mode. 

Napolitano apologized for the report. But the political backlash led DHS to halt work on tracking violent far right extremism, according to Daryl Johnson, the report’s author.

But now the House is in the hands of the Democrats and they want blood following the election of Donald Trump and the rise of the so-called Alt-right, or New Right. 

Under Republican control from 2011 until last week, the House Homeland Security Committee repeatedly rejected calls by Thompson and Democrats for specific probes of domestic far right activities. Some Republicans now are wary that Thompson’s probe would be conducted with a partisan eye.

“Congress and the White House has looked at terrorism through the lens of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. The House Homeland Security Committee, established after those attacks, largely has focused on the foreign threat or potential danger posed by U.S. residents becoming radicalized by foreign terrorist groups.

That emphasis will change under the Democrats. The new terrorists are “homegrown” and include nationalists (shorthand for racist), constitutionalists, and libertarians. There will be hearings and possible show trials in the months ahead. 

The DHS will finally arrive at its final destination—a national secret police focused on political activism challenging the ruling elite and their contrived political arrangement. 

Thompson said his aim is to change the dialogue and find a balance in a U.S. domestic terrorism strategy that he believes has focused too heavily on the threat of homegrown Muslim terrorism and too little the rise of far right, white nationalist, and anti-Semitic groups.

In order to be classified as antisemitic, a group or an individual only need criticize Israel and its incestuous relationship with the ruling elite and its political operatives, in particular the neocon faction. 

Thoughtcrime—opposition to the state and its policies—will not be tolerated by the political class. Democrats want to make sure another Donald Trump will not sit in the White House. In order to do this, they have to go after high profile individuals and groups, hold show trials, and continue the work of deplatforming “deplorables” and their “hate,” in other words, free speech. 

Finally, a word of warning to the “far-left.” If you wander outside the parameters set by Democrats and their “progressive” foundations, you will also be attacked and undermined by the state, especially if you oppose Bush’s wars, which became Obama’s wars and now Trump’s.

https://kurtnimmo.blog/2019/01/14/democrats-prepare-hearings-on-rightwing-extremism/