May the United States rule foreign territories without granting their inhabitants constitutional rights? Yes, according to landmark Supreme Court decisions in the “Insular Cases” more than a century ago. Without those decisions, our overseas territorial empire could not have existed.
The Supreme Court may take territories off the map of the US
Tag: Supreme Court
White supremacists are riling up thousands on social media
White supremacists are riling up thousands on social media
The social media posts are of a distinct type. They hint darkly that the CIA or the FBI are behind mass shootings*. They traffic in racist, sexist and homophobic tropes. They revel in the prospect of a “white boy summer.”
…
These type of threats and racist ideology have become so commonplace on social media that it’s nearly impossible for law enforcement to separate internet ramblings from dangerous, potentially violent people, Michael German**, who infiltrated white supremacy groups as an FBI agent, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
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Facebook and Instagram owner Meta banned praise and support for white nationalist and separatists movements in 2019*** on company platforms, but the social media shift to subtlety makes it difficult to moderate the posts.
Related:
*FBI Infiltration of Right-Wing Groups (PATCON, ETC)
**Mike German – Brennan Center For Justice
**FBI Agent Mike German Discusses Years Undercover Investigating Skinheads, Aryans and More
***FACEBOOK ALLOWS PRAISE OF NEO-NAZI UKRAINIAN BATTALION IF IT FIGHTS RUSSIAN INVASION
Just tell them that you’re fighting, against the Russians, if they try to censor you?! 🤷🏼♀️
America, Meet Your New Dictator-in-Chief: The President’s Secret, Unchecked Powers
by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead | June 01, 2022
America, meet your new dictator-in-chief.
As the New York Times reports, “Newly disclosed documents have shed a crack of light on secret executive branch plans for apocalyptic scenarios—like the aftermath of a nuclear attack—when the president may activate wartime powers for national security emergencies.”< The problem, of course, is that we have become a nation in a permanent state of emergency. Power-hungry and lawless, the government has weaponized one national crisis after another in order to expand its powers and justify all manner of government tyranny in the so-called name of national security. The seeds of this present madness were sown almost two decades ago when George W. Bush stealthily issued two presidential directives that granted the president the power to unilaterally declare a national emergency, which is loosely defined as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions.”
America, Meet Your New Dictator-in-Chief: The President’s Secret, Unchecked Powers
Missing Links/Links Behind Paywalls:
Secret Emergency Orders May Include Focus on Internet, New Files Show
Report: Military may have to quell domestic violence from economic collapse
Known Unknowns: Unconventional “Strategic Shocks” in Defense Strategy Development (PDF)
End the Imperial Presidency Before It’s Too Late
Too Much Presidential Power — We’ve Got to Address the ‘Unitary Executive’ Question
Speaker at DSA panel: “War creates the possibility for a push of socialists ideas” + “Democratic Socialism” in the Service of U.S. Imperialism
At a recent panel event hosted by the Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) chapter for the state of Maine, Vladyslav Starodubstev, a leader of the Ukrainian pseudo-left Sotsialnyi Rukh (Social Movement), put forward the chilling perspective that “the war creates the possibility for a push of socialist ideas in Ukraine.” The panelists and DSA moderators stated their agreement with the speaker and demanded the US government deploy more tanks, missiles, and howitzers to wage war against Russia, regardless of the risk of nuclear holocaust.
Speaker at DSA panel: “War creates the possibility for a push of socialists ideas”
Related:
“Democratic Socialism” in the Service of U.S. Imperialism:
In “The Real Heritage of Harrington’s DSA,” we show where the reformist “democratic socialism” of 2018 came from, and what it actually stands for. Today’s Democratic Socialists of America hails the “tradition” of Michael Harrington and Norman Thomas, long-time leaders of the Socialist Party (SP) that gave rise to what is now the DSA. In that article (see p. x), we explain that this tradition has often, and accurately, been described as “State Department socialism.” Those unfamiliar with the left may think the term is a polemical excess or empty epithet. Not at all. In fact, intimate ties to the Department of State are only the beginning of the intertwining of the official social democrats with the agencies of U.S. imperialism. Activists who want to devote themselves to genuine socialism need to know what’s what. So here’s the story
How the 14th Amendment Made Corporations Into ‘People’
Under U.S. law, some essential rights of the 14th amendment belong not only to American citizens, but also corporations—thanks to a few key Supreme Court cases and a controversial legal concept known as corporate personhood.
How the 14th Amendment Made Corporations Into ‘People’
Related:
‘Corporations Are People’ Is Built on an Incredible 19th-Century Lie
Obama and Liberals Killed Abortion Rights
The revelation that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision has not motivated left-wing democrats to effectively mobilize on an issue they claim to care about. They are made powerless by their dependence on liberalism and loyalty to people like Barack Obama who undermine them.
Obama and Liberals Killed Abortion Rights
Republicans aren’t even bothering to lie about it anymore. They are now coming for birth control
As much as the National Republican Senatorial Committee would like Republicans to stay away from the abortion issue except to insist they are compassionate and caring about life, it isn’t really working. That line is hardly a natural fit for a party that had a collective hysterical tantrum against Barack Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act and proposes taxing the poor anyway. They are the “Fuck Your Feelings” party, after all, not the empathy and mercy crowd.
Republicans aren’t even bothering to lie about it anymore. They are now coming for birth control
Texas GOP Governor Considers Challenging 1982 Ruling Requiring Free Public Education
The leaked opinion showing the Supreme Court’s right-wing majority is prepared to overturn Roe v. Wade “is an invitation to all manner of challenges to deeply rooted precedents,” said one critic.
Texas GOP Governor Considers Challenging 1982 Ruling Requiring Free Public Education
The Washington Quid Pro Quo and a Comment on Roe v. Wade
The Washington Quid Pro Quo and a Comment on Roe v. Wade
As to Neuburger’s on Roe v. Wade, the fact that many people are mighty unhappy about it being overturned is not germane unless they manage to pass new Federal legislation, which seems unlikely. Women’s advocacy groups collectively need to be taken out and shot. If you read the original ruling, it’s a handwave. It was always vulnerable to being reversed. And yet those with most to lose did nothing to protect their rights. The response to abortion doctors being shot and women going to abortion clinics being threatened didn’t elicit remotely the warranted level of outrage. This action should have been made domestic terrorism in the laws of the Democratic-leaning states and prosecuted as such. The defenders of abortion acting like a bunch of wimps helped pave the way to where we are.
Comment by Yves Smith
No, Biden Can’t Just Sell Off Seized Russian Yachts and Central Bank Assets to Help Aid Ukraine – International Law and the US Constitution Forbid It
Posted by Yves Smith
Yves here. It is instructive to see that a law professor who served as an expert witness for Naftogaz, the Ukrainian national oil and gas company, after Russia seixed its operations in Crimea, is concerned enough about the prospect of the Biden Administration selling confiscated Russian assets to speak up and advise against it.
However, I have my doubts that the US has been as scrupulous about not selling assets of sanctioned and belligerent nations as Professor Stephan suggests. Iraq owned a magnificent, very wide townhouse on East 80th Street between Park and Lexington as its embassy. It was promptly seized after the war started and sold within a couple of years. I sincerely doubt the proceeds were remitted to the new government.
No, Biden Can’t Just Sell Off Seized Russian Yachts and Central Bank Assets to Help Aid Ukraine – International Law and the US Constitution Forbid It
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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