Ralph welcomes Wes Bryant, a retired Air Force special operations master sergeant and former analyst at the Civilian Protection Center who talks to us about how civilians, either through incompetence or negligence, are not being protected during American missile strikes.
Wes Bryant presents a thorough case of how US military operations repeatedly cross the line as to what the rules of war vis-à-vis engagement allow and what isn’t permitted. The rub in this is the single fact that attacks on civilians, either as collateral damage (a phrase I abhor), or genuine mistakes or actual targeting became routine during World War II. Perhaps that is why the historian Howard Zinn noted that World War II, in which he fought, was a just cause, but not a just war. Terror attacks, especially through air warfare, took on special importance to the adversaries during World War II and were routinely committed by many warring nations.
When warfare became profitable to nations as a major driver of their economies and major source of political support, the impetus to use weapons of war became routine. Empire put the frosting on the cake of weapons production and weapons use, and a compliant populace and compliant political leaders, became cheerleaders to carnage.
The justifiable use of military action in defense of an imminent threat or an actual attack has been thrown to the wayside of history as massive acts of aggression take place with sickening repetition. As I write, this is what is seen across the Middle East.
Bruce Fine does a masterful job at discussing how the rule of law under the Constitution has been subjugated to the dictates of empire. The worst example of this was the Patriot Act that was foisted on the people of the US after the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The people of the US lost the vast majority of rights to many of the civil liberties granted under the Bill of Rights. We were no longer secure in ways that seemed a given before those attacks. We could no longer learn what information the government maintained about us, as that right was erased following the attacks. Now, immigrants who are in the US legally are not shown, in many cases, a judicial warrant for their arrest.
Sometimes the people elect the wrong people at the wrong time to do the wrong job in the wrong way .When done on the table of life you sometimes get craps .
How do "we the people" toss the dice the next time to get what they really want ?
I remember years ago education in America was important. In 7th grade before your classmates you actually learned to and did recited the Constitution of the United States along with the Gettysburg Address. Remember standing by your desk in your class room every morning reciting the pledge allegence to the flag of America , it was in honor to your uncle and those parents that had died in WW II .
We all knew the 27 words of the second Amendment of Constitution by heart .Did you ever meet a gun lobbiest that did ?
Maybe with a little more education " we the people"' who through the dice to elect our leaders will know how to prepare and read the dice better the next time . good luck America have a great day my friends
Great show. But I think Ralph is just mistaken about Hamas and casualty numbers. Their Health Ministry reports confirmed deaths. If they were to be in the business of estimating casualties that would undermine their credibility. They endeavor to be diligent in apply their methods and thus can be relied upon for confirmed fatalities. Hamas has no interest in undercounting the dead. Their whole strategy was to provoke barbarism so that the world would see that barbarism and hopefully respond. They want the full facts to come out, but that must be done be people other than Hamas, because the zionist lobby will simply deny any estimates they came up with. But when UN experts start offering those estimates or other respected bodies, Hamas will be among the first to highlight those. They want the world to know just how barbaric Israel behaves. They have no interest in hiding the true body count; the opposite, their interest is in having the true numbers come out.
Great show. Pleased to see more and more people who have the insider view coming out to say that what the US and Israel do - and have been doing forever - is terrorism.
I didn't know about the "compensation" offered to the families of the murdered in Afghanistan. It illustrates so well the depravity of capitalism and imperialism: US$ 6,000.00 go a long way in Afghanistan but only because this country (US and likely Western Europe) seems to value life according to where people live, and the conditions in which they live - usually due to imperialism itself - and not valuing people as human beings. It is sickening
And to Ralph's question on why the former presidents remain silent, well, Ralph wrote it on the newsletter. They are cowards, they will never betray their class and never acknowledge their participation in sinking this country and propping up authoritarianism.
Just a note to Francesco DeSantis: when relying of reports from Axios on foreign policy, I hope you are aware that the Trump administration has a friendly voice in that publication and they use it for propaganda. Not the case of the reporting this week, but is it good to keep that grain of salt near when reading what they write.
As the MSM might say, 'Truman's war crimes are a concern'.
Bruce Fein and Ralph surprised me by suddenly reviewing Truman's shameful US atomic bombing of civilians in Japan, after LeMay has already fire bombed every city in Japan over 10,000. I did not think any Americans except Peter Kuznick, Tariq Ali, Gar Alperovitz, gave a hoot.
Another 'concern': Truman's unconstitutional Korean War or "police action" as Truman and his historians pretended it to be. Truman also was into Vietnam.
You call this a democracy? See Const., Art. I, Sec. 2 :“The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand”.
I doubt that given ten minutes or ten years that Bruce Fein could get the Congress to use the power of the purse to stop the endless wars. It is the power of the purse that controls Congress in the form of big money to run their campaigns.
But we as citizens can do what Fein says Congress can do and declare that no big money can be used to run campaigns by demanding small donor candidates and enforcing that demand with our votes. Our votes are the peaceful and non-violent weapon that Wes Bryant referred to that we can use to take control of Congress away from the big money interests.
The power of the purse enforced by the power of our votes.
This is basic democracy. If you don't believe this can work then you don't believe democracy can work.
So please, Ralph, explain why democracy won't work or get to work to help get this started in 2026 so we can prevent the next million people from being exterminated by America's number one enemy- the big money interests controlling our media and government.
Steve please make sure this comment is printed out and sent to Ralph and confirm here that it was sent. I need to know if it is Ralph refusing to address this use of democracy or if he is not being given the opportunity to decide.
Democracy won't work because most all our politicians are bought. Both parties cheat, our elections are rigged - we do not have a democracy or even a republic. Ralph has said many times that we the people MAY be able to gain back some control is with our reps in the House of Representatives because the districts are smaller and people need to get their voice heard by having town halls for Congressional reps or packing the Congressional reps town halls --- Ralph has spelled that out many times.
We agree that democracy isn't working because the politicians are bought. But the town hall strategy hasn't worked because citizens keep voting for big money candidates even when the politicians do not show up for town halls or do what citizens want.
Citizens need to make their voices heard in the voting booth.
If citizens can demand the politicians do things such as impeachment in order to get our votes then we can also demand that politicians do not take big money in order to get our votes.
If you keep doing something that doesn't work like voting for big money candidates you will keep getting big money legislators and things will continue to not work.
If we change what we do there is at least a possibility that we will get a different result and things might begin to work.
You pointed out that democracy is not working. The question is if we make this change could we make democracy work.
If it is a possibility should we try it or should we keep doing what hasn't worked for fifty years.
I wonder why Ralph & co never talk about the lost effective protests proven historically, that is general strikes and boycotting billionaires’ businesses? These type of nonviolent noncooperation protests have always hit the real power in the US, the wealthy. Please tell me why Ralph doesn’t talk about this?
Wes Bryant presents a thorough case of how US military operations repeatedly cross the line as to what the rules of war vis-à-vis engagement allow and what isn’t permitted. The rub in this is the single fact that attacks on civilians, either as collateral damage (a phrase I abhor), or genuine mistakes or actual targeting became routine during World War II. Perhaps that is why the historian Howard Zinn noted that World War II, in which he fought, was a just cause, but not a just war. Terror attacks, especially through air warfare, took on special importance to the adversaries during World War II and were routinely committed by many warring nations.
When warfare became profitable to nations as a major driver of their economies and major source of political support, the impetus to use weapons of war became routine. Empire put the frosting on the cake of weapons production and weapons use, and a compliant populace and compliant political leaders, became cheerleaders to carnage.
The justifiable use of military action in defense of an imminent threat or an actual attack has been thrown to the wayside of history as massive acts of aggression take place with sickening repetition. As I write, this is what is seen across the Middle East.
Bruce Fine does a masterful job at discussing how the rule of law under the Constitution has been subjugated to the dictates of empire. The worst example of this was the Patriot Act that was foisted on the people of the US after the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The people of the US lost the vast majority of rights to many of the civil liberties granted under the Bill of Rights. We were no longer secure in ways that seemed a given before those attacks. We could no longer learn what information the government maintained about us, as that right was erased following the attacks. Now, immigrants who are in the US legally are not shown, in many cases, a judicial warrant for their arrest.
Pomade Pete, you mean?
The evil is so rampant, it’s hard not to despair.
Sometimes the people elect the wrong people at the wrong time to do the wrong job in the wrong way .When done on the table of life you sometimes get craps .
How do "we the people" toss the dice the next time to get what they really want ?
I remember years ago education in America was important. In 7th grade before your classmates you actually learned to and did recited the Constitution of the United States along with the Gettysburg Address. Remember standing by your desk in your class room every morning reciting the pledge allegence to the flag of America , it was in honor to your uncle and those parents that had died in WW II .
We all knew the 27 words of the second Amendment of Constitution by heart .Did you ever meet a gun lobbiest that did ?
Maybe with a little more education " we the people"' who through the dice to elect our leaders will know how to prepare and read the dice better the next time . good luck America have a great day my friends
Great show. But I think Ralph is just mistaken about Hamas and casualty numbers. Their Health Ministry reports confirmed deaths. If they were to be in the business of estimating casualties that would undermine their credibility. They endeavor to be diligent in apply their methods and thus can be relied upon for confirmed fatalities. Hamas has no interest in undercounting the dead. Their whole strategy was to provoke barbarism so that the world would see that barbarism and hopefully respond. They want the full facts to come out, but that must be done be people other than Hamas, because the zionist lobby will simply deny any estimates they came up with. But when UN experts start offering those estimates or other respected bodies, Hamas will be among the first to highlight those. They want the world to know just how barbaric Israel behaves. They have no interest in hiding the true body count; the opposite, their interest is in having the true numbers come out.
Great show. Pleased to see more and more people who have the insider view coming out to say that what the US and Israel do - and have been doing forever - is terrorism.
I didn't know about the "compensation" offered to the families of the murdered in Afghanistan. It illustrates so well the depravity of capitalism and imperialism: US$ 6,000.00 go a long way in Afghanistan but only because this country (US and likely Western Europe) seems to value life according to where people live, and the conditions in which they live - usually due to imperialism itself - and not valuing people as human beings. It is sickening
And to Ralph's question on why the former presidents remain silent, well, Ralph wrote it on the newsletter. They are cowards, they will never betray their class and never acknowledge their participation in sinking this country and propping up authoritarianism.
Just a note to Francesco DeSantis: when relying of reports from Axios on foreign policy, I hope you are aware that the Trump administration has a friendly voice in that publication and they use it for propaganda. Not the case of the reporting this week, but is it good to keep that grain of salt near when reading what they write.
As the MSM might say, 'Truman's war crimes are a concern'.
Bruce Fein and Ralph surprised me by suddenly reviewing Truman's shameful US atomic bombing of civilians in Japan, after LeMay has already fire bombed every city in Japan over 10,000. I did not think any Americans except Peter Kuznick, Tariq Ali, Gar Alperovitz, gave a hoot.
Another 'concern': Truman's unconstitutional Korean War or "police action" as Truman and his historians pretended it to be. Truman also was into Vietnam.
You call this a democracy? See Const., Art. I, Sec. 2 :“The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand”.
I doubt that given ten minutes or ten years that Bruce Fein could get the Congress to use the power of the purse to stop the endless wars. It is the power of the purse that controls Congress in the form of big money to run their campaigns.
But we as citizens can do what Fein says Congress can do and declare that no big money can be used to run campaigns by demanding small donor candidates and enforcing that demand with our votes. Our votes are the peaceful and non-violent weapon that Wes Bryant referred to that we can use to take control of Congress away from the big money interests.
The power of the purse enforced by the power of our votes.
This is basic democracy. If you don't believe this can work then you don't believe democracy can work.
So please, Ralph, explain why democracy won't work or get to work to help get this started in 2026 so we can prevent the next million people from being exterminated by America's number one enemy- the big money interests controlling our media and government.
Steve please make sure this comment is printed out and sent to Ralph and confirm here that it was sent. I need to know if it is Ralph refusing to address this use of democracy or if he is not being given the opportunity to decide.
Democracy won't work because most all our politicians are bought. Both parties cheat, our elections are rigged - we do not have a democracy or even a republic. Ralph has said many times that we the people MAY be able to gain back some control is with our reps in the House of Representatives because the districts are smaller and people need to get their voice heard by having town halls for Congressional reps or packing the Congressional reps town halls --- Ralph has spelled that out many times.
We agree that democracy isn't working because the politicians are bought. But the town hall strategy hasn't worked because citizens keep voting for big money candidates even when the politicians do not show up for town halls or do what citizens want.
Citizens need to make their voices heard in the voting booth.
If citizens can demand the politicians do things such as impeachment in order to get our votes then we can also demand that politicians do not take big money in order to get our votes.
If you keep doing something that doesn't work like voting for big money candidates you will keep getting big money legislators and things will continue to not work.
If we change what we do there is at least a possibility that we will get a different result and things might begin to work.
You pointed out that democracy is not working. The question is if we make this change could we make democracy work.
If it is a possibility should we try it or should we keep doing what hasn't worked for fifty years.
I wonder why Ralph & co never talk about the lost effective protests proven historically, that is general strikes and boycotting billionaires’ businesses? These type of nonviolent noncooperation protests have always hit the real power in the US, the wealthy. Please tell me why Ralph doesn’t talk about this?
rah rah. sis boom bah.