Ban Israeli Spyware, PEEGASUS 7-24-2021

 

24, July 2021                       Ban Israeli Spyware, PEEGASUS

There is world-wide demand led by prominent human rights groups such as Amnesty Int’l to immediately halt the sale of the Israeli spyware, PEGASUS.

Pegasus is sold by the Israeli cybersecurity company, NSO Group. The software can secretly infect a mobile phone and harvest its information.

According to reporting from The Pegasus Project, an international consortium of 17 media organizations, the Israeli spyware  

is widely abused by governments to target  political opponennts.

  It is the favorite tool of autocrats, including former President Trump who allegedly used it to spy on prominent members of the Democratic Party. Earlier versions of the software were used to spy on prominent Palestinians which led to a large number of high-profile assassinations.

PBS “Frontline” reports on the shocking revelation that the Israeli government failed to halt NSO‘s business relationship  with Saudi Arabia even after the Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated in 2018 in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, and allegedly used Pegasus to surveil Khashoggi’s fiancée.

 It was reportedly used extensively by former Prime Minister  Netanyahu to spy on his political opponents. The newly minted autocrat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, allegedly used Pegasus to surveil and neutralize his political opponents. This has generated a dark cloud of fear in the once thriving democracy.

It is outrageous the NSO group and the Israeli government puts profits and political influence over the survival of democracy and human rights.

Afghanistan 7-13-2021

 13, July 2021                                       Afghanistan

Following the invasion oIraq, (arguably one of the largest blunders in US history) former President Bush and his senior advisor, VP Cheney desperate to regain a semblance of credibility,  ordered the US military to attack Afghanistan hunting for Osama Bin Lahdin, demanding he be decapitated, his severed head packed with ice and sent to the White House. A whole nation was attacked for the misdeeds of a single man and his small cadres of supporters. Bush and Cheney argued that it was better to kill Bin Lahdin before his band of jihadists attacked the US again. Such muddled thinking persuaded a majority of lawmakers, NATO leaders including former British PM, Tony Blair, lampooned as Bush’s poodle was ager to bring back the glory of the British empire.  The hard lessons of Vietnam and Iraq were long forgotten. After 20 years of war, US troops are withdrawing at an accelerated pace leaving  the tattered Afghan forces and the abandoned Afghan people to the mercy of the advancing Taliban army. The war has destroyed much of the country, the lives of thousands of American and NATO forces and hundreds of thousands of Afghans and are likely to condemn Afghan women to a subordinate role, returning Afghanistan back to the stone age. Another humiliating defeat for US military power. The final chapter in this sad saga is Biden’s insistence on maintaining a US embassy in Kabul. Far better to close the embassy and airlift US personnel out of harm’s way before Taliban forces reach Kabul.

Exxon unmasked 7-9-2021

 

9, July 2021                                  Exxon unmasked

In a  major scoop,  Greenpeace UK, reveals how they entrapped top Exxon Lobbyists into naming senators  who block climate action. Following the release of the stunning video, CEOs of Exxon and other fossil fuel companies were asked by Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna, chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment, to appear before Congress. The video shows two lobbyists discussing Exxon’s secretive, devious to strategies to oppose climate action in Washington. Posing as recruitment consultants they interviewed Keith McCoy, one of ExxonMobil’s top Capitol Hill lobbyists and  Dan Easley a former leading White House lobbyist. They boasted that ExxonMobil is so powerful that its lobal headquarters is known as the “God Pod.” For ddecades critics have accused Exxon of applying aggressive “carrot and stick” methods with members of Congress which it regards as mere pawns to maximize its profits . The sham interview revealed that Exxon has been working aggressively to undermine President Biden’s $2 trillion clean energy infrastructure plan which would be paid for by rich corporations like Exxon.  The company is also using its corporate muscle  behind the scenes with its Democratic[js1]  and Republican allies in Congress.

Among its supporters some surprising names came up. Senator Capito, who’s the ranking member on environment and public works. Joe Manchin, is approached weekly and is very responsive to Exxon’s concerns and would love to receive  nice juicy checks in the mail for his efforts. Biden is not immune to Exxon pressure. His friend  Senator Chris Coons has been approached to lubricate the machinery of government and weaken Biden’s resistance to “big oil.

Exxon is razor focused on candidates running for the 2022 election as the following reveals:”

“We have a great relationship with the senators where we have assets. I can’t worry about the 2027 class, because they’re not focused on reelection. The 2022 class is focused on reelection, so I know I have them. Those are the Marco Rubio’s. Those are the Senator Kennedys. Those are the Senator Dainis. So, you can have those conversations with them because they’re a captive audience. They know they need you, and I need them”.

The Exxon lobbyists admitted that his client has reaped a bonanza under the Trump administration with huge number of drilling permits and $billions in additional revenues[js2] .

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The 1965 Voting Rights 7-5-2021

 

 7-5-21                     SUPREME COURT UPHOLD’S  STATE’S RIGHTS 

                                                     The 1965 Voting Rights

 Act was the seminal piece of legislation in American history outlawing racial discrimination in voting by providing federal oversight in states with long histories of discrimination. The Voting Rights Act led to the 15th Amendment of the US Constitution allowing nonwhites to finally participate in a  representative democracy. The law was reauthorized by Congress in 2007.But the legal underpinnings are now under threat by the conservative members of the Court. The SC is bowing to the wishes of Republican lawmakers who are passing draconian restrictions on voting. These are excessively cruel and vindictive targeting people of color and minorities.

> The Trump virus has affected and corrupted the Republican Party and the SC. Jesus is just a fading memory. The new messiah is DJT! 

> No pity for the tired and weary minorities who take time off from work to vote. No Saturday voting. Good Samaritans who carry water and food to help voters can be prosecuted. Jesus must be weeping! As one federal judge put it several years ago, such new restrictive laws are akin to using “a sledgehammer to hit either a real or imaginary fly on a glass coffee table.”

> The SC also struct down California Donor Law in a major win for Dark Money Groups. The names of large donors promoting their political and economic interests will remain hidden from the general public.

> Election law experts predict the ruling could lead to challenges of campaign finance disclosure laws and a surge in dark money spending on elections.