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“Frickin’ Illegal”: Congressman Says Trump Has No Authority for Latest Bombing

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“Trump does not have Congressional authorization to attack Syria, a country that has not attacked US,” says Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif)

By Jon Queally / Common Dreams

In the wake of news that the U.S. military bombed forces allied with the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday, at least one member of Congress is voicing dissent by saying President Donald Trump has no legal authority to order such attacks.

“For the second time in as many months, the U.S. military has conducted airstrikes against pro-Assad forces in Syria,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). “The Trump Administration does not have congressional authorization to carry out military strikes against the Assad regime. Furthermore, the situation that led to today’s strike is precisely why I warned against getting further entangled in the Syrian civil war without a clear strategy.”   [Read more…]

San Diego Warships Still Leading the Charge Against North Korea

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By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press / OB Rag

If anything can be believed from anyone in the Trump regime, the US “strike group” led by the San Diego-based aircraft carrier Carl Vinson is indeed heading for the Korean Peninsula.

In dealing with North Korea, Trump said that “all options are on the table,” including a military strike. Vice President Mike Pence added to the war fever escalation, stating that the US warships would be in Korean waters “within days.”

On April 23, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Greece, “We need to make peaceful and rational voices….”   [Read more…]

Keeping the Spirit of Martin Luther King Alive Through COMD

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Martin Luther King once said “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

Those words sure ring true today as the folks in the White House have little to no interest in anything even resembling “social uplift” and it seems our nation is “approaching spiritual doom” at a blinding pace.

And, as I write these words, U.S. missiles are flying in Syria with talk of more such attacks, and nothing “socially uplifting” ever rises from scenarios like that, especially at a time when this administration plans to give the Pentagon 54 billion dollars, a 10 percent raise – at the expense of our schools and the arts and our housing needs and our ability to feed the elderly and keep the citizenry well and protect the planet …

And so many people are down with what’s going on, elevating our president from a ding-dong “who doesn’t have a clue” to an overnight war hero.   [Read more…]

Veterans For Peace Condemns U.S. Actions In Syria

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By Veterans For Peace

Veterans For Peace condemns the illegal U.S. attack in Syria. We call on the Trump Administration to immediately end all military actions in Syria and to begin intense U.S. diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in the region. We call on our members and all those who want an end to U.S. wars to contact the President and Congress, to meet and talk to people about peaceful means to end the war in Syria and hit the streets to make our resistance to war visible.   [Read more…]

Under Trump, the U.S. May Now Be Killing More Civilians Than Russia

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With mass-casualty events from Raqqa to Mosul, some think the U.S. military is scrapping rules designed to protect innocents

By Peter Certo / Institute for Policy Studies

In a desolated patch of Mosul, Iraq, people are still digging through the rubble. Rescuers wear masks to cover the stench, while anxious family members grow desperate about missing loved ones.

The full story of what happened in the al-Jidideh neighborhood isn’t yet clear, but the toll is unmistakable. A New York Times journalist reported stumbling across charred human limbs, still covered in clothing, while a man stood nearby holding a sign with 27 names — extended family members either missing or dead.   [Read more…]

Disdain for Human Rights “A Disease That’s Spreading,” Warns UN Chief

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Warning comes as Trump administration reportedly considers pulling out of UN Human Rights Council

By Nika Knight / Common Dreams

“Disregard for human rights is a disease, and it is a disease that is spreading,” warned United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a keynote address as the U.N. Human Rights Council (OHCHR) opened its main session on Monday.

“We are increasingly seeing the perverse phenomenon of populism and extremism feeding off each other in a frenzy of growing racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim hatred and other forms of intolerance,” Guterres said, referring to growing intolerance in the U.S. and Europe as far-right figures such as President Donald Trump gain power.   [Read more…]

Trump’s Dim-witted, Ill-founded Immigration Ban

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Ignoramus-In-Chief Is OK With Allies Who Sponsor Terrorism

Why did Trump try to impose tighter vetting on 7 nations in the Middle East without including Saudi Arabia and Egypt? Could it be that it’s because Saudi Arabia which is a hotbed of terrorism is also an ally of the US and an enemy of Iran?

Fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were Saudis. Osama bin Laden was a Saudi. The machete wielding attacker at the Louvre recently was Egyptian. Neither Egypt nor Pakistan nor Afghanistan were included on the so-called President’s list. Pakistan harbored bin Laden. Afghanistan is the home of the Taliban. If Trump had wanted to keep terrorists out of the US, surely he should have included these countries in his ban. But terrorism is more about US alliances than it is about morality or human rights.   [Read more…]

The History of Neighborhood House in Logan Heights: The Not-So-Great Depression and WW II Come to Logan Heights – Part I

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The Mexican Repatriation and hard times

Editor Note: “Build a wall” and “Send them all back” have become the mantra of the Trump campaign and Republican party. This is not the first time in our history that racism and xenophobia have threatened our democracy and the lives of our citizenry.

Between 1929 and 1944, over two million people of Mexican descent were repatriated to Mexico. Sixty percent of these individuals, 1.1 million, were American citizens. This encore presentation of Maria Garcia’s article originally published in 2015 provides insight into how this policy affected the lives of people living in San Diego at the time.

As William Faulkner observed “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”   [Read more…]

Honor Our Promise: US Vets Ask Trump to Rescind Executive Order

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Center for American Progress Action Fund

Coming off the heels of President Donald Trump’s immigration executive order barring refugees and others from seven predominantly Muslim countries entry into the United States, more than 200 military veterans released a letter on Monday, denouncing the president’s order.

The letter is signed by many of the Truman National Security Project members and veterans and a growing list of other Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard veterans. Addressed to President Trump, the letter urges him to honor America’s promise and rescind the order.

In a press call hosted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the Truman National Security Project, military veterans, former diplomats, and refugee policy experts discussed President Trump’s immigration order and its impacts on refugees and interpreters who serve on the frontlines with American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.   [Read more…]

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