USA Exceptionalism Stumbling toward 2024, Every Breathing Body a Hero

Every Character innately qualified to Command Armies, Determine Life and Death of Millions

What Qualifies?

Who is Qualified?

What is the Thing called Patriotism?

Individuals Recorded Having Announced their Candidacy for Commander-in-Chief * 

(U.S. Presidency) 2024

Military Service 

11 of 12: NO 

1.      BIDEN: Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. NO	7. KENNEDY: Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. NO
2.      DeSANTIS: Ronald Dion DeSantis YES	8. RAMASWAMY: Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy NO
3.      ELDER: Laurence Allen Elder NO	9. SCOTT: Timothy Eugene Scott NO
4.      HALEY: Nimarata Nikki Haley (née Randhawa) NO	10. STAPLETON: Corey Stapleton (attended Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, Rhode Island, on nomination of DOD Secretary of Navy) NO
5.      HOGAN: Lawrence Joseph Hogan Jr NO	11. TRUMP: Donald John Trump NO
6.      HUTCHINSON: William Asa Hutchinson II NO	12. WILLIAMSON: Marianne Deborah Williamson NO

 *Commander-in-chief also called Supreme commander exercises supreme command and control over the Armed Forces or Military branches. The position presupposes prior, inherent or requisite “military competencies” residing in a country’s “Executive Leadership” (head of state, head of government).

All is never what it seems.  

Although many Americans boast their “patriotism” with something close to religious fervor, they are not keen on serving their country in active-duty military service (on the many fields or in theaters of aggression) legislated and mandated by executive policy usually of men and women in Washington who never served in those theaters of violence. 

The draft or conscription, which is to say “state-mandated enlistment of people in national service” (mainly a military service), ended in the USA as the Vietnam War Nixon-Ford presidencies were ending (Johnson to Ford Vietnam War (estimated civilian deaths in the hundreds of thousands to two million); estimated combatant deaths: 1,100,000 among North, 250,000 among South; 58,300 U.S. armed forces names listed on Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.).  From Kennedy to Ford none of these men served in theaters of war. Four presidents elected between U.S. Presidents Eisenhower and Carter were attached to the U.S. Navy Reserve. 

During the post- World War II period (1940-1973), in “peacetime” and “conflict,” men in the United States were required “to fill vacancies in the U.S. Armed Forces that could no
t be filled through voluntary means.” 

After that 30-year period, an altered form of conscription was implemented in the United States. This conscription required all 18 to 25-year-old male U.S. citizens, regardless of their residency—and all 18 to 25-year-old documented or undocumented male immigrants residing within the United States— “to register with the Selective Service System.” In addition, there is a contingency-based conscription under the U.S. Constitution of 17- to 45-year-old men and “certain women.” 

Historical Perspective 20^th-21^st Centuries 

Presidents and Military Service 

Twentieth Century U.S. Presidents Not Serving 

27 (1909–1913)	William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
28 (1913–1921)	Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
29 (1921–1923)	Warren G. Harding (1865–1923)
30 (1923–1929)	Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
31 (1929–1933)	Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
32 (1933–1945)	Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)

 Twenty-first Century U.S. Presidents NOT SERVING 

42 (1993–2001)	William Jefferson Blythe III (Bill Clinton born 1946)
44 (2009–2017)	Barack Hussein Obama (born 1961)
45 (2017–2021)	Donald John Trump (born 1946)
46 (2021–present)	Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born 1942)

 Twentieth Century U.S. Presidents on-call Registration (Reserves, Guard) 

33 (1945–1953)

Harry S. Truman (1884–1972)

Col.

U. S. Army Res.

 

35 (1961–63)	John F. Kennedy (1917–1963)	Lt	U.S. Navy Res.
36 (1963–1969)	Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973)	Cmdr	U.S. Navy Res.
37 (1969–1974)	Richard Nixon (1913–1994)	Cmdr	U.S. Navy Res.
38 (1974–1977)	Gerald Ford (1913–2006)	Lt Cmdr	U.S. Navy Res.

 

40 (1981–1989)	Ronald Reagan (1911–2004)	CPT	U.S.  Army Reserve
41 (1989–1993)	George H. W. Bush (1924–2018)	Lt	U.S. Navy Reserve

 Twentieth Century U.S. Presidents Active (regular) Service  

26 (1901–1909)	Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)	Col	U. S. Army (Volunteers)
34 (1953–1961)	Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969)	General		U.S. Army
39 (1977–1981)	James Earl Carter (born 1924)	Lt		U.S. Navy

 

What is the meaning of “Patriotism”? 

Helen Keller answered the question in a December 1915 speech. This is part of it with minor editing. 

 “I look upon true patriotism as the brotherhood of man and the service of all to all.”

 “The whole world I regard as my fatherland (and) every war … a dreadful feud in the family.”

 “The burden of war falls heaviest on the toilers (who) in vast numbers serve (their masters) and die on the battlefield.”

If these toilers and patriots escape death on the battlefield and return home, they face heavy taxation and a doubled burden of poverty— “robbed of the just rewards of their patriotism” (and) robbed “of the just reward of their labor.”

“The only fighting that saves (lives) is (fighting) that helps the world advance toward liberty, justice and an abundant life for all.”

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images

Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett

Author’s links: www.BennettsAmericanEpitaph.com

https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

https://www.xlibris.com/en/search?query=Carolyn+LaDelle+Bennett

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/828689-epitaph

Unchecked Violent People Violate People

No Heroes among the Depraved Undisciplined Dishonorable

Case in Point 

United States 

Military Personnel

In the United States people get away with murder. Ingrained is a character and chronic behavior manifest in recklessness, anarchy, callous devaluing of and disregard for life, society and vital institutions.

There are no determined commitments to principle and to the health and wellbeing of people anywhere—at home or abroad. There is cowardice that ducks and hides; redefines and repackages bad as good.

By and large, there are no heroes among U.S. military personnel but rather a collection of undisciplined people often suffering infantilism, a sense of “entitlement,” or untreated post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mercenaries and other individuals employed by governments and military contracting companies are, for whatever reasons, employed in a job—just as clerks, teachers, airplane pilots and maids are employed in a job or profession. They perform their jobs for better or worse.

Americans tend to misuse the word “hero”—so much so that it loses any real meaning or substance. The same is their usage with the same effect of terms such as “racism” and “terrorism.” Careless language and labeling, convenient throwaways, reduces all existence to nothingness, valuelessness.

Entities (and individuals) devoid of moral principle, a sense of self reflection, humility and discipline are devoid of essential humanity. Consider the rape and ruin character endemic to all branches up and down the spectrum of the military of the United States of America.

1995 Findings

Camp Hansen (Okinawa, Japan)

12-year-old Masami Yoshinaga abducted and raped

Three U.S. servicemen (U.S. Navy Seaman Marcus Gill and U.S. Marines Rodrico Harp and Kendrick Ledet) posted at Camp Hansen on Okinawa “rented a van and kidnapped 12-year-old Okinawan Masami Yoshinaga

The men “beat” Masami Yoshinaga, “duct-taped her eyes and mouth shut, and bound her hands.”

Marcus Gill and Rodrico Harp “raped her”; “Ledet claimed he only pretended to rape the child out of “fear of Gill.”

Protests, especially by women, against U.S. forces’ occupation of Okinawa have continued up to the present day in 2023. (Encyclopedic source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Okinawa_rape_incident)

2005 Findings: Iraq

Iraqi female detainees illegally detained, raped and sexually violated by United States military personnel

Abu Ghraib: a colossal prison complex in Baghdad, Iraq, operated by the United States military from August 2003 (after the US et.al invasion of Iraq earlier in 2003)

Case of Woman Prisoner: Noor

“…In December 2003, a woman prisoner, ‘Noor’, smuggled out a note stating that US guards at Abu Ghraib had been raping women detainees and forcing them to strip naked.

Several of the women were (then) pregnant.

The classified inquiry launched by the US military, headed by Major General Antonio Taguba (confirmed) the note by ‘Noor’: … sexual violence against women at Abu Ghraib took place.

Taguba’s report further findings

“Among the 1,800 digital photographs taken by US guards inside Abu Ghraib were … images of naked male and female detainees; a male Military Police guard ‘having sex’ with a female detainee; detainees (of unspecified gender) forcibly arranged in various sexually explicit positions for photographing; and naked female detainees.”

The Government of George W. Bush “refused to release photographs of Iraqi women prisoners at Abu Ghraib—including those of women forced at gunpoint to bare their breasts (although the photographs were shown to the United States Congress).”

At the same time, there was evidence of chronic depravity surrounding these incidents and images.

“It is well known that the US has a culture of rape,” the report finds: “one in six women in the United States has experienced an attempted or completed sexual assault”; and “reinforcing the climate of sexual violence, photos purporting to be of raped Iraqi women by US troops are surfacing on the web.” Though some had been removed at the time of this report, “the actual pictures” remained accessible for viewing through some websites… “many of them” collected for viewing “on pornographic sites.”

McNutt, Kristen, “Sexualized Violence Against Iraqi Women by US Occupying Forces” A Briefing Paper of the International Educational Development presented to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights March 2005 Session, Geneva, Switzerland, https://meaningfulworld.com/our-work/un/sexualized-violence-against-iraqi-women-by-us-occupying-forces
ied@igc.org McNutt is a Researcher with the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers
Additional reference https://www.britannica.com/topic/Abu-Ghraib-prison

2006 Findings: Iraq

After being granted an honorable discharge from the U.S. military for a personality disorder, Stephen Green’s behavior (while attached to the 502nd infantry regiment) came to light.

One incident that came to light involved stalking, rape, and mass murder— after the soldier had received his “honorable discharge.”

On the night of March 12, Stephen Green (502nd infantry regiment) and the other unnamed soldiers allegedly “left their post, drunk on alcohol.” They “changed into dark clothing,” and breached the home of their victims. Green allegedly “shepherded the (female) victim’s parents, and her sister (the latter who may have been as young as five) into a room, where the soldiers shot each family member in the head. These soldiers then are alleged “to have tried to set fire to the bodies.”

“Four more soldiers have been charged with the rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman and her family, the most explosive of the five war crimes investigations currently under way in Iraq.” of the family.

In another atrocity in Haditha, 14 Iraqis were slaughtered.

During the period in which the article was published, 16 United States soldiers had been charged with murders— a total said to have exceeded the numbers “in the first three years” of the U.S. war on Iraq.

Goldenberg, Suzanne, July 10, 2006, “More US troops charged with Iraqi girl’s rape and murder”: “Four more soldiers have been charged with the rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman and her family…. A fifth soldier was charged with dereliction of duty for failing to report the events of the night of March 12 when a group of soldiers are alleged to have abandoned their checkpoint to enter the home of an Iraqi family in the town of Mahmudiya.

“They allegedly raped and killed a young woman inside the house and shot dead her parents and young sister.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jul/10/usa.iraq

2008 Findings: “Noncombat related injuries”

Veteran Ann Wright documents deaths of women in the US Military and questions “US Army Cover-Up of Rape and Murder” These are some of the key revelations excerpted from one of her articles.

“Specific US Army units and certain US military bases in Iraq have an inordinate number of women soldiers who have died of ‘noncombat related injuries.’ Several identified as ‘suicides.’”

Deaths of women soldiers in Iraq and in the United States following rape.

“The military has characterized each death of women who were first sexually assaulted as deaths from ‘noncombat related injuries,’ and then added ‘suicide.’ Yet, the families of the women whom the military has declared to have committed suicide strongly dispute the findings and are calling for further investigations into the deaths of their daughters.

Iraq

• “Ninety-four US military women have died in Iraq or during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).
• Twelve US civilian women have been killed in OIF.
• The military says 36 of the 94 who died in Iraq or in OIF “died from ‘noncombat related injuries,’ which included vehicle accidents, illness, death by ‘natural causes’ and self-inflicted gunshot wounds, or suicide.

Afghanistan

Thirteen US military women have been killed in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).

Twelve US Civilian women have been killed in Afghanistan.

Bahrain

Among US Navy women deaths in Bahrain: 5 labeled suicides, 15 more “occurred under extremely suspicious circumstances.”

“Noncombat related injuries” while on duty at Camp Taji

Camp Taji, a military installation in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq, bombed by US and UK forces in 1998; controlled by United States forces since the 2000s invasion and occupation March 20, 2003 –December 18, 2011 – and continuing aggression and consequences through 2023.

“Eight women soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas, (six from the Fourth Infantry Division and two from the 1st Armored Cavalry Division) have died of ‘noncombat related injuries’ on the same base, Camp Taji;

• Three were raped before their deaths.
• Two were raped immediately before their deaths and
• One was raped prior to arriving in Iraq.
• 
  

“Noncombat related injuries” while at Balad Air Base

Balad Air Base in Iraq 40 miles north of Baghdad, second largest U.S. base in Iraq, one of the busiest airports in the world commandeered by US armed forces in 2003; after 2011 and continuing through 2023 base of Metropolitan Washington, DC-headquartered Lockheed Martin Corporation’s F-16 Fighting Falcon. Lockheed Martin is a global industrial complex of aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology.

Balad Air Base women deaths

• · “Two military women have died of suspicious ‘noncombat related injuries’”
• · “One was raped before she died.”
• · “Four deaths have been classified as ‘suicides.’”

“The Department of Defense statistics are alarming—one in three women who join the US military will be sexually assaulted or raped by men in the military, writes former Colonel Ann Wright. “The warnings to women should begin (with posts) above the doors of military recruiting stations because that is where assaults on women in the military begin—before they are even recruited.” More alarming still (at the time she was writing) “are incidents of deaths of women soldiers in Iraq and in the United States following rape.” (Emphasis added)

Wright, Ann “US Army Cover-Up of Rape and Murder?” Column, April 29, 2008, posted May 3, 2008, by Alex Constantine http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-army-cover-up-of-rape-and-murder.html http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0804/S00413.htm

Ann Wright is a US Army Reserve Colonel (retired); a 29-year veteran of the Army and Army Reserves. In addition, she was a US diplomat in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. In March 19, 2003, Wright resigned from the US Department of State “in opposition to the Iraq War.” She is co-author of Dissent: Voices of Conscience.

 

“The Invisible War”

Documented Years 2011-2013

The epidemic of rape within United States military one of the most shameful and best kept secrets of the United States of America

“The Invisible War exposes the systemic cover-up of military sex crimes, chronicling the women’s struggles to rebuild their lives and fight for justice. … At the core of the film are interviews with the rape survivors themselves.”

• · 20 percent of all active-duty female soldiers are sexually assaulted.
• · 50+ of the active-duty female-soldier victims of inside military predators were 18 to 21 years of age.

At Film Collaborative USA 2011

Writer/Director Kirby Dick

Producers Amy Ziering, Tanner King Barklow

Executive Producers Regina Kulik Scully, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Abigail Disney, Maria Cuomo Cole, Sarah Johnson Redlich, Teddy Leifer, Sally Jo Fifer, Nicole Boxer-Keegan

Co-Producer Kimball Stroud

Editors Doug Blush, Derek Boonstra

Cinematographers Thaddeus Wadleigh, Kirsten Johnson

https://www.thefilmcollaborative.org/films/theinvisiblewar

About the source: The Film Collaborative is a nonprofit focused on “distribution-education;” and particularly engages in advising filmmakers on “all aspects of distribution without taking rights.”

At ITVS Producer/director Kirby Dick, producer Amy Ziering; premiere date May 13, 2013,  https://itvs.org/films/invisible-war

Independent Lens SERIES, premiere date May 13, 2013, length 90 minutes

2012 Findings: Lackland Air Force Base (Texas)

“At least 43 female (U.S. military) trainees who went through boot camp from 2009 to 2011 reported being sexually assaulted or raped by 17 male instructors.”

Several female veterans in the U.S. Marine Corps reported that the culture begins to reveal itself “at Parris Island, where all female recruits go through basic training; and persists “throughout (female personnel’s) time in the service.”

In early 2012, “a group of eight Navy and Marine Corps veterans sued a collection of current and former military leaders, alleging that the military fostered a culture of sexual harassment and too often punished those reporting abuse.” In the fall of 2012, a group of nineteen soldiers and airmen filed a similar suit.

Hlad, Jennifer, Stars and Stripes, October 11, 2012, “Female Marine vets say sexist culture put them at risk,” https://www.stripes.com/female-marine-vets-say-sexist-culture-put-them-at-risk-1.192727

2020 Findings: Fort Hood (Texas)

U.S. Military female killed, dismembered, buried - Spc. Vanessa Guillén disappeared April 22, 2020.

Investigations found Spc. Vanessa Guillén was sexually harassed by a supervisor in her unit prior to her murder. Twice, she made a formal report of the predation. An Army investigation determined that the U.S. military unit leadership had “failed to take appropriate action.”

Federal prosecutors said Spc. Aarron Robinson killed Guillén “in an armory on Fort Hood, Texas,” on the day she disappeared.

Robinson and his “girlfriend” allegedly disposed of Guillen’s body about 30 miles from Fort Hood. The two criminals reportedly “worked together to burn (Guillen’s) body; dismember it; mix the parts with concrete; and bury the remains in three holes.”

• June 30, 2020: The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) published a news release announcing the discovery of “unidentified” human remains (later found to be Guillén’s) several miles from Fort Hood.

• Police officers on June 30 talked with Robinson’s girlfriend who “told police she was dating Robinson” and that “he killed Guillén and enlisted (her) help to dispose of Guillén’s body.

• June 30, 2020: Robinson escaped to Killeen, Texas; and while there “killed himself with a handgun.”

March 2021: attorneys for this woman asked “that Judge Albright throw out her confession” on the grounds that civilian investigators had not “read her Miranda rights” and thus “the confession was illegally obtained.”

Army Times “Vanessa Guillén was sexually harassed by a supervisor, and she informally reported it,” by Kyle Rempfer https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2021/04/30/vanessa-guillen-was-sexually-harassed-by-a-supervisor-and-she-informally-reported-it/

A July 8, 2020 CBS story online reported on a 2019 “anonymous survey” showing that in 2018 “sexual assault” in the U.S. military “spiked nearly 40 percent.”

Brito, Christopher, CBS News, July 8, 2020, “U.S. Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillén’s death puts spotlight on military’s handling of sexual assault and harassment.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vanessa-guillen-death-fort-hood-soldier-military-sexual-assault-harrassment/

In the CBS piece, the lawyer for the Guillén family, Natalie Khawam, is reported to have accused the killer of having sexually harassed Vanessa Guillén before killing her. There is an “epidemic” in sexual harassment in the U.S. military, she said.

2021 Findings: Fort Bliss (Texas)

A Fort Bliss, Texas, First Armored Division soldier “has been formally accused of three sexual assaults in the past year—including the alleged 2019 rape of a soldier from his unit who was found dead (on December 31) New Year’s Eve.”

Rempfer, Kyle, Army Times, January 15, 2021, “Fort Bliss soldier charged with rape of fellow unit member a year before her death New Year’s Eve” https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2021/01/15/fort-bliss-soldier-charged-with-rape-of-fellow-unit-member-a-year-before-her-death-new-years-eve/

“Pfc. Christian G. Alvarado was arraigned during a general court-martial at Fort Bliss on three specifications of sexual assault, two specifications of making false statements, and one specification of aggravated assault in violation of the ‘Uniform Code of Military Justice’.”

2021 Findings: Fort Sill (Oklahoma)

The Intercept reported what has been labeled a “Fort Hood 2.0” crime at Fort Sill.

The U.S. Army is reportedly investigating “a possible series of sexual assaults of a female soldier at the Army training base in Fort Sill, Oklahoma.” Twenty-two “service members” were reportedly involved, one incident possibly involving “several drill sergeants.”

Klippenstein, Ken and Matthew Cole, The Intercept, April 2, 2021, “Soldier Says She Was Sexually Assaulted by 22 Troops at Fort Sill Oklahoma Base,” https://theintercept.com/2021/04/02/female-soldier-sexual-assault-22-troops-fort-sill/

One should think very Carefully 

Before casting 

“isms” or “heroes.”

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images

Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett

Author’s links: www.BennettsAmericanEpitaph.com

https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

https://www.xlibris.com/en/search?query=Carolyn+LaDelle+Bennett

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/828689-epitaph

Slain, Wounded Authors and Journalists on the Ground

Collective West's Long Arm of Impunity—REMEMBERED

Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh 2022

May 11, 2022, in Jenin, a Palestinian city in Northern West Bank, journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was slain, and her colleague Ali Sammoudi wounded. The UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated that “Israeli forces—not indiscriminate Palestinian firing—were behind the fatal shooting of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.” (Findings rejected by Israeli authorities)

In a talk with journalists in Geneva, OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasanis described the journalists’ final moments “Around half past six in the morning, as four of the journalists turned into the street leading to the camp, wearing bulletproof helmets and flak jackets with ‘PRESS’ markings, several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets were fired towards them from the direction of the Israeli Security Forces. One single bullet injured Ali Sammoudi in the shoulder. Another single bullet hit Abu Akleh in the head and killed her instantly.”

More than 50 slain Palestinian Journalists

“Perpetrators must be held to account,” Sammoudi said.

UN News, June 24, 2022, “Abu Akleh shooting: fatal shot came from Israeli forces, says OHCHR,” https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/06/1121252

Westward Sphere of Impunity

The nature of the Villain

Sometimes considered a form of “denialism” (truth is false/is isn’t) of historical crimes—Impunity is action exempt or free from punishment, harm, or loss; and is prevalent in situations in which judiciary institutions are weak and or members of the “security forces” are protected by “special jurisdictions or immunities.”

Denialism means a claim, sense, or belief “that something did not happen (is untrue)—when that thing, phenomenon or event “is generally accepted” as existing, having happened (is true).

In the international law of human rights, “impunity is failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice; and, as such, itself (i.e., IIHR) constitutes a denial of victims’ right to justice and redress.” References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impunity, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/denialism, Merriam-Webster

“End Impunity”

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said “This culture of impunity must end now…. There must be accountability for the terrible killing not just of Shireen Abu Akleh but for all the killings and serious injuries in the occupied Palestinian territory…. Anyone found responsible should be held to account with penal and disciplinary sanctions commensurate to the gravity of the violation.” UN News, May 14, 2022, “Israel: UN rights chief calls for end to ‘culture of impunity’,” https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/05/1118272

“The lack of accountability, the lack of justice is what pushes me to advocate for my Aunt Shireen”— Niece of Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Lina Abu Akleh Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. “Getting justice and getting her message across continues to motivate me in this pursuit.” UN News November 11, 2022, “UN Human Rights Council inquiry hears testimonies on Shireen Abu Akleh killing” https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/11/1130482

UN Report 2023

• 86 Journalists Slain in 2022 

• 55 Journalists Slain in 2021— UNESCO’s most recent figures UN News, January 17, 2023, “Killings of journalists up 50 percent in 2022: UNESCO” https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/01/1132507

Shireen Abu Akleh Case a Year later

“Partners in Crime”: “When it comes to human rights violations committed against Palestinians, Israel has a long track record of flouting international law and evading justice. (This is) … made possible by the unwavering support it enjoys from the United States and its other Western and Arab allies.

“Despite the international outcry, various reports and calls for justice, the international community has provided only lip service to the millions of people who have been fighting for justice for the slain journalist.” Press TV News Feature by Maryam Qarehgozlou, May 11, 2023, “A year after Shireen Abu Akleh’s murder, fight for justice drags on,” https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/05/11/703180/Palestinian-journalist-anniversary-Abu-Akleh-Israeli-killing

“On the morning of May 11, 2022, senior Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Abu Akleh, 51, was fatally shot by Israeli regime forces, with bullets piercing her head, while she was covering a military raid on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.”

Russia’s Dugina, Tatarsky, Prilepin

Journalist Dugina 2022

On the evening of August 20, 2022, Russian journalist Darya Dugina was killed when her car exploded while traveling along a highway near the village of Bolshiye Vyazyomy in the Moscow Region. “Dugina had travelled to the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics during the summer where she covered events there.”

Regarding the assassination, the Federal Security Service (FSB) told TASS that the killing “had been masterminded by the Ukrainian secret services and executed by Ukrainian national Natalia Vovk who fled to Estonia following the crime.” TASS August 22, 2022, “Slain journalist Darya Dugina was sole target of Ukrainian intelligence,” https://tass.com/society/1496927

Moscow native journalist, political scientist and activist Darya Aleksandrovna Dugina: December 15, 1992 – August 20, 2022 (encyclopedic source).

Journalist Tatarsky 2023

An improvised explosive device planted and detonated in a St. Petersburg, Russia, café on April 2, 2023, killed prominent war correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky (his real name Maksim Fomin) and wounded 32 other people. The slain journalist, a native of Donbass, “reported regularly on the battlefield developments in Donbass.” He was also author of several books. In January 2023, “Kiev had placed sanctions” on Tatarsky.

RT news April 2, 2023, “Blast that killed Russian war blogger: What we know so far: Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in an attack allegedly from an improvised explosive device that also injured 32,” https://www.rt.com/russia/574047-blast-killed-russian-war-blogger/

Journalist Prilepin 2023

On a road not far from the city of Nizhny Novgorod in central Russia, novelist, journalist and political activist Zakhar Prilepin (born Evgeny Prilepin in 1975 in the village of Ilyinka in western Russia) suffered wounds from a car bombing that killed his personal assistant who was at the wheel at the time of the incident. Prilepin had reportedly visited the war zone many times after an armed conflict broke out between Ukrainian troops and Donbass forces.

In 2018 Ukraine banned the author’s books; and, in 2022, the European Union “blacklisted” him “as part of the sanctions imposed on Russia over its military operation launched in the neighboring state more than a year ago.”

RT News, May 6, 2023, “Who is Zakhar Prilepin, the Russian ‘nationalist’ writer injured in a car bombing? The prolific novelist and pundit is in critical condition after the blast,” https://www.rt.com/russia/575890-prilepin-injured-car-blast/

Posthumously 

RT News March 24, 2023, “Russian city to honor journalist allegedly murdered by Ukrainian operatives: A thoroughfare in Melitopol will soon be called after Darya Dugina, a Russian civic body has reported,” https://www.rt.com/russia/573522-darya-dugina-street-melitopol/

“Russian public figure and journalist Dugina “dedicated … to helping Donbass; organized the collection and delivery of humanitarian packages; actively covered the special military operation and did her best to report truthful information about the situation in the war zone and the liberated territories.”

A Few Final thoughts

E

nd the wars and aggression. 

When dastardly deeds are not committed, there is no need for denials or falsehoods, cover-ups and silencing of messengers.

Discipline rules and frees. 

Demand and ensure that all people and entities (including oneself) are bound by law and objective standards and are judged independently and impartially by independent tribunals.

If and when people in influential positions (or people of influence—whatever the nature or root of that influence might be—are incapable of or unwilling to discipline themselves, then firm institutions of law must exact and impose discipline upon them. This does not mean mere lawsuits, denial of wrongdoing, and settlements.

“No one is above the law” is an empty slogan—fakery, a foolish gesture (like “thoughts and prayers” and “thanks for your service”), a manipulative tactic, a fool’s mantra—if those who mouth the phrase could care less, are allowed impunity, lawlessness without check or chastisement: allowed to exempt themselves from the rule of law. The phrase is without meaning (as empty as American leaders' “humanitarianism” and “democracy”) if and when it is applied capriciously or conveniently; never to those who mouth it, and never to their “friends.”

Sadists—people who are insensitive to or careless of their own acts of cruelty, whether hands-on, legislated or acquiesced; and unprincipled people commit unspeakable, unconscionable acts in words, in negligence, and in deeds. 

It takes a strong person to look inward: to look unblinkingly at oneself. It takes humility and courage to hear others and to admit wrong and make amends. It takes courage judiciously to mend one’s ways and change course.

No society local or global can function in good health when people of influence are lacking in basic moral principles. 

It seems to me that at least one principle should stand out, strong, and far above the rest. 

 “Thou shall not kill.”  And to that

“Thou shall not covet or steal or bear false witness.” 

 

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images

Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett

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Tell America’s Young: We Americans “hold these Truths to be Self-evident”!

“We hold these truths to be self-evident—

that all … are created equal (and) … endowed by their creator with certain (undeniable) rights (and) among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

“… [T]o secure these rights, Governments are instituted which derive their just powers from the consent of the governed….

“Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it; and to institute new Government—laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as, to them, shall seem most likely to (effectuate) their safety and happiness.”

It is understood and guided by good sense “that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.” “Experience has shown that human beings are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves (correct their thinking, alter allegiances) by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

HOWEVER, “…. the history of the present (regime) is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having its direct object the establishment of absolute Tyranny (the people have long endured) ….”

“When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce (the people) under absolute despotism,” … it is the right and duty of the people “to throw off such Government; and to provide new guards for their future security.”

Minor edits, excerpt from the American Declaration of Independence: A Transcription, in Congress, July 4, 1776, document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

Thirteen Colonies Established by the English

New England Colonies 

New Hampshire Province, chartered as a British colony in 1679  Rhode Island Colony chartered as a British colony in 1663

Massachusetts Bay Province chartered as a British colony in 1692 Connecticut Colony chartered as a British colony in 1662

  Middle Colonies

New York Province, chartered as a British colony in 1686 Pennsylvania Province, a proprietary colony established in 1681

New Jersey Province, chartered as a British colony in 1702 Delaware Colony (before 1776, the Lower Counties on the Delaware River), a proprietary colony established in 1664

Southern Colonies

Maryland Province, a proprietary colony established in 1632  Carolina Province, a proprietary colony established 1663

Virginia Dominion and Colony, a British colony established in 1607  Divided Provinces of North and South Carolina, each chartered as British colonies in 1729 Georgia Province, a British colony established in 1732

Thirteen States Recognized by Articles of Confederation

Ratified on March 1, 1781

The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states, giving most governmental powers to the states operating alongside a weak central government. The need for a stronger national government became apparent and led, in 1787, to the Constitutional Convention. The Constitution of the United States replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789. 

Delaware (ratified the Constitution on December 7, 1787)	South Carolina (ratified the Constitution on May 23, 1788)
Pennsylvania (ratified the Constitution on December 12, 1787)	New Hampshire (ratified the Constitution on June 21, 1788)
New Jersey (ratified the Constitution on December 18, 1787)	Virginia (ratified the Constitution on June 25, 1788)
Georgia (ratified the Constitution on January 2, 1788)	New York (ratified the Constitution on July 26, 1788)
Connecticut (ratified the Constitution on January 9, 1788)	North Carolina (ratified the Constitution on November 21, 1789)
Massachusetts (ratified the Constitution on February 6, 1788)	Rhode Island (ratified the Constitution on May 29, 1790)
Maryland (ratified the Constitution on April 28, 1788)

Source: Longley, Robert, “The Original 13 U.S. States.” ThoughtCo, April 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/the-original-13-us-states-3322392, https://www.thoughtco.com/the-original-13-us-states-3322392

Constitution of the United States and Constitutional Convention

The Constitution of the United States was written during the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by 55 delegates to a Constitutional Convention that had been called ostensibly to amend the Articles of Confederation. 

PREAMBLE

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript

States and Their Dates of Admission to the Union

	State	Status Before Statehood	Date Admitted to the Union
1-	Delaware	Colony	Dec. 7, 1787
2-	Pennsylvania	Colony	Dec. 12, 1787
3-	New Jersey	Colony	Dec. 18, 1787
4-	Georgia	Colony	Jan. 2, 1788
5-	Connecticut	Colony	Jan. 9, 1788
6-	Massachusetts	Colony	Feb. 6, 1788
7-	Maryland	Colony	April 28, 1788
8-	South Carolina	Colony	May 23, 1788
9-	New Hampshire	Colony	June 21, 1788
10	Virginia	Colony	June 25, 1788
11	-New York	Colony	July 26, 1788
12	-North Carolina	Colony	Nov. 21, 1789
13	-Rhode Island	Colony	May 29, 1790
14	-Vermont	Independent republic, established January 1777	March 4, 1791
15	-Kentucky	Part of Virginia state	June 1,1792
16	-Tennessee	Territory established May 26, 1790	June 1, 1796
17	-Ohio	Territory established July 13, 1787	March 1, 1803
18	-Louisiana	Territory, established July 4, 805	April 30, 1812
19	-Indiana	Territory established July 4, 1800	Dec.11, 1816
20	-Mississippi	Territory established April 7, 1798	Dec.10, 1817
21	-Illinois	Territory established March 1, 1809	Dec.3, 1818
22	-Alabama	Territory established March 3, 1817	Dec.14, 1819
23	-Maine	Part of Massachusetts	March 15, 1820
24	-Missouri	Territory established June 4, 1812	Aug. 10, 1821
25	-Arkansas	Territory established March 2, 1819	June 15, 1836
26	-Michigan	Territory established June 30, 1805	Jan. 26, 1837
27	-Florida	Territory established March 30, 1822	March 3, 1845
28	-Texas	Independent republic, March 2, 1836	Dec.29, 1845
29	-Iowa	Territory established July 4, 1838	Dec.28, 1846
30	-Wisconsin	Territory established July 3, 1836	May 26, 1848
31	-California	Independent republic, June 14, 1846	Sept. 9, 1850
32	-Minnesota	Territory established March 3, 1849	May 11, 1858
33	-Oregon	Territory established Aug. 14, 1848	Feb. 14, 1859
34	-Kansas	Territory established May 30, 1854	Jan. 29, 1861
35	-West Virginia	Part of Virginia	June 20, 1863
36	-Nevada	Territory established March 2, 1861	October 31, 1864
37	-Nebraska	Territory established May 30, 1854	March 1, 1867
38	-Colorado	Territory established Feb. 28, 1861	Aug. 1, 1876
39	-North DakotaTT	Territory established March 2, 1861	Nov. 2, 1889
40	-South Dakota	Territory established March 2, 1861	Nov. 2, 1889
41	-Montana	Territory established May 26, 1864	Nov. 8, 1889
42	-Washington	Territory established March 2, 1853	Nov. 11, 1889
43	-Idaho	Territory established March 3, 1863	July 3, 1890
44	-Wyoming	Territory established July 25, 1868	July 10, 1890
45	-Utah	Territory established Sep. 9, 1850	Jan. 4, 1896
46	-Oklahoma	Territory established May 2, 1890	Nov. 16, 1907
47	-New Mexico	Territory established Sep. 9, 1850	Jan. 6, 1912
48	-Arizona	Territory established Feb. 24, 1863	Feb. 14, 1912
49	-Alaska	Territory established Aug. 24, 1912	Jan. 3, 1959
50	-Hawaii	Territory established Aug. 12, 1898	Aug. 21, 1959

Source: Kelly, Martin. “States and Their Admission to the Union.” ThoughtCo, June 17, 2022, thoughtco.com/states-admission-to-the-union-104903.

 

Composition Excluding quoted material and individual images

Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett

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