Americans Betting on Elections Act in Opposition to the Public Good

True Substance is Reduced to the Spin of a Weighted wheel, the Throw of loaded dice

Citizenry Duty, Health and Wellness are reduced to Games, Susceptibility, Willful Mindlessness

A nation of people distracted by the latest app or gadget, hoodwinked by silo eruptions, manipulated by multimillionaires and wannabes

A nation of people reaching for shiny objects, descended into nothingness—tent-city subsistence absent values, meaning, substance, community standards

Citizenry Duty takes back seat to Get Rich Quick Scam

What's wrong with ETHICS? 

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s ban on U.S.-based platforms offering elections in their betting scenarios was said to be “essentially based on ethics” — a prohibition seeking “to prevent early projections from betting trends from influencing real voter decisions at the polls.” 

But once US courts lifted US regulations that had long prohibited US forecasting sites from including national elections in their betting schemes, the flood gates were flung open for (shysters and suckers) betting operations within and outside the United States. (Inc Newsletter Bruce Crumley November 6, 2024, https://www.inc.com/bruce-crumley/how-trumps-victory-grants-election-betting-platforms-a-promising-future/91000120)

Betting on Elections Shamelessly Explained, Praised by Investopedia

• Election betting is the act of wagering on the outcome of a particular political contest.
• Ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election… (two brokers named) began offering election betting
• Election bets are placed via event ‘contracts’—derivatives that allow speculation on a binary outcome of an event.

In its article “How to Bet on the 2024 Presidential Election” by Michael Sacchitello, updated November 18, 2024, Investopedia notes that, in the United States, “the concept of election betting is not new” but until recently “any attempts to offer such bets have struggled to get past regulatory scrutiny.” 

The article enthused that court action “changed all that in October 2024” opening the gates to many avenues for “U.S. clients … to securely and legally participate in the election action.” https://www.investopedia.com/how-to-bet-on-the-2024-presidential-election-8737733

Leaving Legitimate Law Enforcement, Honest Offices of Law
Playing catch-up on behalf of the public, for the public good.

2022 January: Release Number 8478-22: CFTC Orders Event-Based Binary Options Markets Operator to Pay $1.4 Million Penalty January 03, 2022— Washington, D.C. —

“The Commodity Futures Trading Commission … entered an order filing and simultaneously settling charges against Delaware-registered Blockratize, Inc. d/b/a Polymarket, based in New York City, for offering off-exchange event-based binary options contracts and failure to obtain designation as a designated contract market (DCM) or registration as a swap execution facility (SEF).”

“The order finds that, beginning in approximately June 2020, Polymarket had been operating an illegal unregistered or non-designated facility for event-based binary options online trading contracts, known as ‘event markets.’ 

According to the order, through its website, Polymarket offered the public the opportunity to ‘BET on your beliefs’ by buying and selling binary options contracts related to an event taking place in the future that are susceptible to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ resolution, such as: 

• ‘Will $ETH (Ethereum) be above $2,500 on July 22?’
• ‘WILL THE 7-DAY AVERAGE COVID-19 CASE COUNT IN THE U.S. BE LESS THAN 15,000 FOR THE DAY OF JULY 22’ (Caps emphasis added) 
• ‘WILL TRUMP WIN THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION?’. (Caps emphasis added)

The order further finds that Polymarket has offered more than 900 separate event markets since its inception, while deploying smart contracts hosted on a blockchain to operate the markets. Polymarket creates, defines, hosts, and resolves the trading and execution of contracts for the event-based binary option markets offered on its website.” -CFTC- https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8478-22

2022 September US Department of Justice “Report of the Attorney General Pursuant to Section 5(b)(iii) of Executive Order 14067: The Role of Law Enforcement in Detecting, Investigating, And Prosecuting Criminal Activity Related to Digital Assets” September 6, 2022, https://www.justice.gov/usdoj-media/ag/media/1263706/dl?inline (Excerpt)

“The emerging technologies and markets associated with the rise of digital assets have created new opportunities for criminal actors to harm individual victims, avoid regulation, evade economic sanctions, raise funds for terrorist activities, and launder ill-gotten gains.… The CFTC [Commodity Futures Trading Commission] has also addressed misconduct in DeFi markets.

“For example, a 2022 CFTC order found that BLOCKRATIZE, INC. (D/B/A POLYMARKET) (Caps emphasis added) unlawfully offered off-exchange event-based binary options contracts and failed to obtain designation as a designated contract market or register as a swap execution facility in the derivatives (event contract) markets it operated.”

2024 August: Charged with “operating an unlawful gambling business, money laundering, and subscribing to a false tax return”: Mathew R. Bowyer, 49, of San Juan Capistrano, “operated this business out of various locations in Los Angeles and Orange counties as well as in Las Vegas (and) … employed agents and sub-agents, including casino hosts, who worked for his illegal gambling business (and) were paid a portion of the losses that bettors incurred and paid.” 

Bowyer’s “unlawful business used several Costa Rica-based websites and a call center so agents and customers could place and track bets”; and at times, he “operated his illegal business while gambling at a casino (identified in court documents as ‘Casino A’), and sometimes paid his agents commission in Casino A chips.” Department of Justice Press Release August 1, 2024, “San Juan Capistrano Man Agrees to Plead Guilty to Federal Charges for Running Illegal Sports-Betting Business and Cheating on Taxes,” https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/san-juan-capistrano-man-agrees-plead-guilty-federal-charges-running-illegal-sports

November 2024

College dropout from Hell’s Kitchen high school Shayne Coplan starter upper of a “prediction market” (Blockratize, Inc. d/b/a Polymarket) “using smart ‘contracts’”— anything is contractible these days from making babies to making war to making bets— “on the Polygon for settling wagers.”

Reuters November 14, 2024, Polymarket

“A source with knowledge of the matter said … Criminal and civil authorities are probing Polymarket … in an investigation that predates the U.S. presidential election, which put the betting platform under scrutiny.”

The most recent “notoriety” rises from the betting scheme’s interference with or wagering for or against voting patterns or totals in the 2024 US Presidential Election. Chris Prentice reporting https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-criminal-civil-authorities-probing-polymarket-source-says-2024-11-14/

Al Jazeera News November 14, 2024, FBI

“Authorities in the United States have raided the home of the chief executive of Polymarket…. The Federal Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant on CEO Shayne Coplan at his Manhattan home ….”

The 2020 startup in 2022 “blocked US users … after reaching a $1.4 million settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for failing to register with the agency, though it is possible to get around the ban by accessing the site using a VPN.”
Al Jazeera News November 14, 2024, US Election 2024 “FBI raids home of Polymarket CEO: CEO Shayne Coplan accuses Biden administration of targeting company over its perceived political associations” https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/11/14/fbi-raids-home-of-polymarket-ceo

Explainer (VPN)

VPN or “Virtual private network” is defined as “network architecture for virtually extending a private network (i.e. any computer network which is not the public Internet) across one or multiple other networks which are either untrusted [not trusted (?)] (as they are not controlled by the entity aiming to implement the VPN) or need to be isolated (thus making the lower network invisible or not directly usable).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network

“VPNs

• create an encrypted tunnel for data
• protect online identity by hiding IP addresses, and
• allow users public Wi-Fi hotspots safely

A service (suitable for “gaming online” among other things) that “protects internet connection and privacy online.” https://nordvpn.com/offer/what-is-a-vpn/?vpn=generic&nc=G-SR-US-EN-VPN-SRC-VPNexact--1/48-D-(WW)-USD-NY_TX&ns=google&nm=cpc&nt=vpn&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhcveuqiCigMV4TQIBR1v7g7DEAAYASABEgJLZvD_BwE


In 2022, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) “issued several customer advisory protection warnings, including (to) Avoid Unregistered Binary Options Trading Platforms and Beware of Off-Exchange Binary Options Trades, which advise customers that there are registered binary options exchanges in the U.S.”

“The CFTC strongly urges the public to verify a company’s registration with the CFTC before committing funds.

“Registration means the exchange meets specific regulatory requirements for liquidity, safety and customer protection that are enforced by the CFTC or the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission.

“If unregistered, a customer should be wary of providing funds to that entity. A company’s registration status can be found using NFA BASIC.” -CFTC- https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8478-22

Explainer 

The National Futures Association (NFA) defines itself as an “industry-wide, self-regulatory organization for the U.S. derivatives industry, providing innovative and effective regulatory programs”; and “designated by the CFTC as a registered futures association.” “BASIC is a free tool that NFA Members and investors can use to research the background of derivatives industry professionals”
https://www.nfa.futures.org/
https://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/
https://www.nfa.futures.org/about/index.html

Critical questions posed to the Citizen 

Would you take deliberate action against your citizenry interest?

Would you act for or against the public good? 

Would you choose a flight of wastefulness over the public good?

Is not the noble quest — the proper work of the citizen, the better reach — toward bettering life and society, making policies and politics better for all? 

PROLIFIC SOUTHERN-BORN AMERICAN WRITER DR. CAROLYN LADELLE BENNETT focuses on People, Press, Politics USA; Domestic and Foreign Affairs (no copyright claimed in direct quotes and individual image)

Latest book: Are There No Champions? Yes and No

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

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

(live limited) https://www.bennettsareherenochampions.com/

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/859250-are-there-no-champions-yes-and-no

https://www.xlibris.com

Email: Nolandanisland@hotmail.com or Authorswork@gmail.com

Wrestling Toughs poised to Take Over America on the Potomac—Old Cronies Approach a Final Curtain

Donald John and Linda Marie

Some Forty-Plus Years

Linda Marie Edwards-McMahon was born in New Bern, North Carolina (100 miles from Raleigh). Twenty-one years later she moved to a suburb of the Washington (DC) Metropolitan Area: Gaithersburg, Maryland. After fourteen years, she moved to a New England town (18 miles from New York City, birthplace of Donald John Trump): Greenwich, Connecticut. 

Linda Marie has called herself “a jock” (in a Detroit Press interview) with a baccalaureate degree in the French language, though sometimes she claims otherwise. She reportedly has made “occasional on-screen performances, most notably in a feud with her husband that culminated at WrestleMania X-Seven.”

Toughs: Wrestlers, Wrestler Owners, Entertainers, Promoters

A 1968-1971 “traveling cup salesman” (Linda Marie’s husband) becomes part of his papa’s enterprise called “the World Wide Wrestling Federation” (WWWF, now WWE). He purchases “Capitol Wrestling (parent company of the World Wrestling Federation) from his papa and pushes toughs onto national television.

1982 – 2009: Linda Marie joins husband in running WWE (then WWF) and pushes the “growth and diversification” of toughs.

Toughs Unite
Trump and the McMahons - Late 1980s – present day

A McMahon-Donald John Trump relationship (including with professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment) reportedly extends to the late 1980s.

2007: Donald John “participated in the ‘Battle of the Billionaires’ [Net worth of Linda Marie 2024 estimated at $1.6 billion, her wealth derived from “WWE shares,” “real estate investments,” “ventures in politics.”] storyline feud against (Linda Marie’s husband) Vince McMahon.

EXPLAINER of a strange expression feud

Feud “in professional wrestling… is a staged rivalry between multiple wrestlers or groups of wrestlers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feud_(professional_wrestling

A site called The Arena notes that “in the wild world of professional wrestling, the action is usually contained in the ring, or at least in the arena, if a match is contested under hardcore rules. But more often than not, a match—or an ongoing feud—can go beyond even the confines of the arena. … There have been many occasions in WWE … where rivalries have intensified to the point where nothing and no one is safe, not even in their own home.” D.C. Wood The Arena July 2, 2024, https://www.thesportster.com/wrestling-storylines-outside-arena-pillman-gun-austin-triple-h-orton-home/

2009: Donald John “participated in a storyline in which he (Trump) bought WWE Raw from Vince McMahon then … sold it back shortly after.”

OpenSecrets Center for Responsive Politics reporting on the Union of Toughs 

Money Plays 

Round and Round and Round it Goes

1990 through 2010s (Mr. and Mrs. McMahon) “made more than $15.1 million in political contributions”

• 2007 (or shortly thereafter): Mr. and Mrs. Mahon “donated $5 million to the Donald J. Trump Foundation” in addition to paying him for his 2007 “appearance at WrestleMania 23”

• 2010 and 2012: Mrs. “McMahon ran for Senate in Connecticut…, self-funding both efforts to the tune of $50.1 million” and “$48.7 million,” respectively. “McMahon lost both races by a significant margin.” “Linda McMahon America First Action Chair” https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving-door/linda-mcmahon/summary?id=81848

• 2016: Donald John Trump’s campaign for the US presidency: Mrs. McMahon “contributed a total of $7.2 million to two pro-Trump super PACs, ‘Rebuilding America Now’ and ‘Future45’” OpenSecrets “Linda McMahon America First Action Chair,” https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving-door/linda-mcmahon/summary?id=81848

• 2016: Mrs. McMahon “donated $6 million to ‘Rebuilding America Now,’ a Super PAC with the purpose of electing Donald Trump as US president”

• “2015 and 2016 combined (donated) $1.2 million to ‘Future 45,’ a Super PAC which funded anti-Bernie Sanders advertisements”

• 2016 (December 7) then-President-elect Donald Trump announced he would nominate (Mrs.) McMahon “to be the administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA)” (Full Senate approved the nomination February 14, 2017)

• 2019 (March 29, effective April 12): Mrs. “McMahon announced her resignation as administrator of the SBA to chair America First Action, a pro-Trump Super PAC”

Dodgy Duo

2010 reporting “In a 1994 lawsuit, U.S. v. Vincent McMahon and Titan Sports, the government alleged the McMahons (Mr. and Mrs. McMahon) tried to defraud the Food and Drug Administration’s attempts to regulate steroids by, among other things, having Dr. George Zahorian distribute the drugs to wrestlers. Zahorian, who was convicted in 1991 of illegal steroid distribution, was a regular at Titan Sports events. A December 1, 1989, memo from Linda McMahon, however, suggested that he be kept from ringside and directed one of her staff to ‘clue him in on any action that the Justice Department is thinking of taking.’”

“… In an interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Linda McMahon said she wasn’t sure whether steroids are dangerous.” Register Citizen by Ed Stannard, Reporter June 20, 2010, “Steroid stain lingers on McMahon’s WWE: U.S. Senate candidate may take hit over drug controversy,” https://www.registercitizen.com/news/article/Steroid-stain-lingers-on-McMahon-s-WWE-U-S-12093498.php

2007: The US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform “submitted a three-page letter asking WWE owner Vince McMahon to provide ‘a series of documents intended to give the committee and its investigation a detailed look at WWE’s drug-testing policy, including information about the results of performance-enhancing drug tests on pro wrestlers.’” (“Congress Seeks WWE Records” July 28, 2007, by Mike Mooneyham https://mikemooneyham.com/2007/07/28/congress-seeks-wwe-records/)

2009: The Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Henry Waxman, revealed “In the first year of WWE’s testing program, which began in March 2006, 40 percent of wrestlers tested positive for steroids and other drugs—even after being warned in advance that they were going to be tested.” Wrestling Figs January 3, 20009 “Congress Needles Wrestling” by Christian Red https://wrestlingfigs.com/wrestlingnews/congress-needles-wrestling/

2009 post-but-not-quite-post WWE, Mrs. McMahon takes a seat on Connecticut’s Board of Education. Later, sources found out it that Mrs. M had falsified her credentials on the vetting questionnaire, saying she had received an East Carolina University degree in Education when her only and academic credential was in French. (reported in Harford Courant 2010) Not unlike a certain Mr. Gaetz, she resigned her board position “a day after The Courant indicated it would be writing about her questionnaire answers.”

2010 Mrs. McMahon runs for a Senate seat and news sources report “WWE is a success story that Linda McMahon hopes will propel her to the U.S. Senate.” She has spent “$16 million of her own money on her campaign so far, with plans to spend much more.” But while she “holds up the WWE’s wellness policy as top of the line, there was a 10-year period when the WWE had no broad-based drug-testing policy, even though several wrestlers who had been linked to anabolic steroids and other drugs died during that time.” Register Citizen by Ed Stannard, Reporter June 20, 2010, “Steroid stain lingers on McMahon’s WWE: U.S. Senate candidate may take hit over drug controversy,” https://www.registercitizen.com/news/article/Steroid-stain-lingers-on-McMahon-s-WWE-U-S-12093498.php

October 2024: Mrs. McMahon “was named as a defendant in a lawsuit, accusing her, her husband, and WWE of negligence (relative to) the ‘ring boys’ scandal, in which multiple WWE personnel, including (named) ring announcer … and (named) wrestlers …, either resigned or were dismissed in 1992 after being accused of sexually assaulting young boys

One of the named culprits “had already been dismissed in 1988 for sexual misconduct, but had been rehired several weeks afterwards under the condition that he ‘stop chasing after kids’

(Mrs) “McMahon’s possible involvement in the ‘ring boys’ scandal was known prior to her tenure as (Forty-fifth US President Donald John Trump’s US Senate-confirmed) 2017 “Small Business Administrator.”

Moreover, the lawsuit “alleged that (Mr. and Mrs. McMahon) fostered a culture of sexual abuse within the WWE” (World Wide Wrestling Federation); and cited a “concurrent sex trafficking lawsuit and federal investigation against (Linda Marie’s husband) and other allegations highlighted (in a highly publicized) documentary series.

Nevertheless
the 2024 President-elect announced his nomination of Mrs. McMahon to head the US Federal Department of, yes, “EDUCATION.”

“Billionaire co-owner of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and a longtime crony and political backer” Linda McMahon gets the nod from 2024 US President-elect billionaire Donald Trump to be his choice to head the US Department of Education.

Associated Press Politics November 19, 2024, Chris Megerian “What to know about Linda McMahon, Trump’s pick for Education secretary”—WASHINGTON (AP) — “Linda McMahon has been a constant presence in Donald Trump’s tumultuous orbit, serving in his first administration and supporting his presidential campaigns. Now he’s chosen her to serve as Education secretary.” https://apnews.com/article/linda-mcmahon-trump-education-secretary-wwe-613016d0c164b89765af761404cbb123

NBC news “Vince McMahon and WWE accused of allowing ‘rampant’ sexual exploitation of young boys by announcer in new lawsuit…” “‘Defendants were fully aware of the systemic and pervasive abuse and did nothing to prevent or stop it,’ the law firm representing the claimants said.” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/vince-mcmahon-wwe-accused-allowing-rampant-sexual-exploitation-young-b-rcna176988

What can I or Anyone say?

This is America! You, too, can grow up to be corrupt AND King of the Hill.

One writer put it rather crudely, painfully so. 

“To say that (Mrs.) McMahon has no qualifications to head the Department of Education is an understatement.

“Her background in professional wrestling—from which she and her husband Vince made their fortune—identifies her as a promoter of cultural backwardness, a carnival barker and con artist rather than an educator.

“In that, of course, McMahon and Trump are birds of a feather.” 

Patrick Martin November 21, 2024 “Trump’s cabinet of social counterrevolution” https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/11/21/mcbj-n21.html

Other sources

[The Vince McMahon sex trafficking scandal is an ongoing scandal regarding professional wrestling promoter Vince McMahon, long-time owner of WWE, and allegations by a former WWE employee that McMahon sexually trafficked and assaulted her at WWE's corporate headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_McMahon_sex_trafficking_scandal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_career_of_Donald_Trump
https://www.thesportster.com/wrestling-storylines-outside-arena-pillman-gun-austin-triple-h-orton-home/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_X-Seven
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_career_of_Donald_Trump
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_McMahon
https://knowinsiders.com/who-is-linda-mcmahon-early-life-family-career-and-net-worth-41378.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_McMahon_sex_trafficking_scandal
https://mikemooneyham.com/2007/07/28/congress-seeks-wwe-records/
https://wrestlingfigs.com/wrestlingnews/congress-needles-wrestling/

House Hearing, 110 Congress from the U.S. Government Publishing Office
Drugs In Sports: Compromising the Health of Athletes and Undermining the Integrity of Competition
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-110hhrg49522/html/CHRG-110hhrg49522.htm
https://www.registercitizen.com/news/article/Steroid-stain-lingers-on-McMahon-s-WWE-U-S-12093498.php

###

PROLIFIC SOUTHERN-BORN AMERICAN WRITER DR. CAROLYN LADELLE BENNETT focuses on People, Press, Politics USA; Domestic and Foreign Affairs (no copyright claimed in direct quotes and individual image)

Latest book: Are There No Champions? Yes and No

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

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

(live limited) https://www.bennettsareherenochampions.com/

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/859250-are-there-no-champions-yes-and-no

https://www.xlibris.com

Email: Nolandanisland@hotmail.com or Authorswork@gmail.com

Without inalienable Rights, Fundamental Principles (RULES) dispassionately and uniformly abided NO ONE IS SAFE or free

When a nation’s leaders, major powers and their cohorts have no common demonstrable commitment to (and are clearly contemptuous of) inalienable, universal principles (moral, civil or humanitarian law) — total chaos and crime RULE THE DAY at home and abroad. 

A world in which all people, institutions and fundamental principles are subjected and surrendered to the whims of “man”— the criminal (immoral, illicit, scandalous) caprice, all-round impunity of “man” (one or more individuals of whatever shape or form) — NO ONE IS SAFE, let alone free.

In a recent article, Eric London observes the collapse of “legal and constitutional foundations of the (United States of America) … under the weight of (an) oligarchy” whose “accumulation of wealth” takes preeminence over America’s founding, revolutionary, long fought for (small d) “democratic principles.”

As all substance comes undone, all history is upended, London asks, rhetorically (citing area of lawlessness or criminal caprice), “If the president (of the United States) can violate one provision of the Constitution, why not violate them all?

“If the president can appoint cabinet members without a vote in the Senate, why not appoint Supreme Court justices in the same way?

“Why allow the Senate to vote on ratifying treaties?

“Why allow Congress the power to declare war?

“Why not supplant constitutional power of the legislature with absolute power to the executive (the president), thus “eliminating the legislature’s power to override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority?” (Eric London, November 19, 2024, “The dictatorial threat of Trump’s recess appointment plan” https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/11/19/hbqh-n19.html)

Mr. London and I base our arguments on slightly different foundations, but the concern is mutual. I know, as does he, that US laws are well established, well documented, and rooted in founding documents created by men who, in my view, were far better men than the contemporary crop. 

A Nation, One Nation

MUST be 

Bound by Law

Let's take a walk down US history lane

1776

Charges against the King of Great Britain, Declaring American Independence

“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.…

“He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

“He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

“He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

“He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

“He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose, obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

“He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

“He has made judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

“He has erected a multitude of New Offices and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat away their substance.

“He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies, without the Consent of our legislatures.

“He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

“He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments

For suspending our own Legislatures and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

“He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

“He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

“He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & (betrayal) scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation….”

Final Declaration
(excerpt)

“We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States;… 

“Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and … all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved….” Declaration of Independence: A Transcription. In Congress, July 4, 1776, https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

“The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America …

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

“That 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 effect (lead to, bring about or result in) their Safety and Happiness.

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.…”

1777

The Articles of Confederation, adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, and in effect from March 1, 1781, through 1789, served as the first constitution of the United States https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/articles-of-confederation

Under the Articles of Confederation, America’s first national government, the states acted together only for specific purposes. The 1787 American Constitution “united its citizens as members of a whole, vesting the power of the union in the people.” https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution

1782

E pluribus unum - Thirteen letters (thirteen colonies)

An Act of Congress in 1782 adopted E pluribus unum (Out of many, One) as Motto for the Seal of the United States of America

1787

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

Article I - Section 1

“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”

Article I - SECTION 8
(excerpt)

The Congress shall have Power

• To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States…

• To establish uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States…

• To establish Post Offices and post Roads…

• To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water

• To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years

• To provide and maintain a Navy

• To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces

• To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions

• To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; … And …

• To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Article II - SECTION 2
(excerpt minor edit for clarity)

By and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, The President of the United States shall have Power to make Treaties—provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.

The President of the United States “shall nominate—and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate—shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law…”

Regarding “inferior Officers,” … the Congress may by Law, (and) as they think proper, vest the appointment of such officers …, in the President alone (or) in the Courts of Law or in the Heads of Departments.” National Archives America’s Founding Documents “The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription” https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript

Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence [not meaning to commit war crimes or attacks on other nations’ sovereignty], 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 rule of law does not rule if it is not abided uniformly and dispassionately by all FOR ALL no matter how high placed or lowly employed. There must be checks and balances, oversight; and, on the part of the citizenry, clear-sightedness, sound knowledge (not internet gossip), and the refusal 

to accept the unacceptable 

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Prolific Southern-Born American Writer Dr. Carolyn LaDelle Bennett focuses on People, Press, Politics USA; Domestic and Foreign Affairs (no copyright claimed in direct quotes and individual image)

Latest book: Are There No Champions? Yes and No

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

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

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A Different TIME, a Different TONE

A Time and Tone that Recognized World Nations and Cultures, Understood and Embraced Multilateralism, Respectfully Engaged all Peoples of the world 

One world leader and 

head of state 

comes to mind:

Dr. Angela Merkel.

“… We want to collaborate in peace and friendship with all the other countries of the world.”

“In all our interests, we will gear our policy to human rights, to more prosperity, and to advancement—FOR US ALL” (emphasis in caps added) said the former Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel addressing ambassadors from every corner of the world.

TO Eurasia 
(approx. 36 percent of the Earth’s land area)—situated in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres and comprising (a) the two most populous countries in the world (China and India); and (b) several of the world’s largest economies (e.g., China, Japan, Germany, Russia, and India): 

“We traditionally enjoy close relations with our neighbours—an obvious example is Ukraine” and, of course, “Russia …also stands out most prominently. … I can tell you that collaboration with Russia, on the part of the EU, as well as Germany in particular” — “will remain a major priority.” 

TO East Asia
Looking toward an approaching trip to the People’s Republic of China, she said,

“We will discuss German-Chinese cooperation.” With India “We have also launched intergovernmental consultations …. As you can see, we keep putting one foot in front of the other.…” 

TO Western Asia: 

“(We are) … saddened … that little to no progress seems possible—or at least has been possible—on the Middle East conflict. Germany will be continuing to campaign for a two-state solution with Israel as a Jewish state and another state for the Palestinians. We will keep working hard on that.” 

“… [T]here are sure to be complicated processes ahead. … No matter which country you should care to name, we will do our bit to advance its development.

“It is our hope that human rights will be respected…, and we are right behind the Arab League in everything it is doing in that regard.”

TO South Asia
(Afghanistan): Addressing the “Government of Afghanistan,” she said,

“It is our intention to complete the transfer of responsibility for security in the near future. We stand by that plan. … I believe that Afghanistan (desires) to stand on its own two feet. We will also support the reconciliation process wherever we can.”

TO Africa: 

“We are glad to see that there have been various favourable developments in Africa, our neighbouring continent.… The partnership between the EU and the African Union is very important to us. I can promise the AU that we will carry on at its side this coming year. … People in Europe often think that it is only here that there’s always an election on – but it is just the same in Africa.”

January 26, 2012, in Berlin, a Speech by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel at the New Year reception for the Diplomatic Corps https://www.bundeskanzler.de/bk-en/speech-by-federal-chancellor-angela-merkel-at-the-new-year-reception-for-the-diplomatic-corps-807494

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[Text Excerpted] 

Prolific Southern-Born American Writer Dr. Carolyn LaDelle Bennett focuses on People, Press, Politics USA; Domestic and Foreign Affairs (no copyright claimed in direct quotes and individual image)

Latest book: Are There No Champions? Yes and No

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

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

(live limited) https://www.bennettsareherenochampions.com/

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/859250-are-there-no-champions-yes-and-no

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Email: Nolandanisland@hotmail.com or Authorswork@gmail.com

TRAGIC IRONY Consumers Passion for Preborn(s) while Poisoning the World’s Children

DIRER Days on Horizon

Astonishing Findings in 2020s UNICEF reports

If everybody in the world consumed resources at the rate at which people in OECD and EU countries consumed — “the equivalent of 3.3 earths would be needed to keep up with consumption levels.”

If everyone in the world “consumed resources at the rate at which people the three countries (“Canada, Luxembourg and the United States of America”) consumed — “…at least five earths would be needed.”

The OECD

The history of the OECD extends to 1948 when its name was “Organization for European Economic Cooperation” or OEEC. The name was changed in 1961 to “Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development” or OECD.

Strikingly, after almost 80 years of existence, the OECD (or principal states thereof), while including some Member States of the Global South (Chile and Colombia)—has excluded the entire Continent of Africa and major Persian and Arab countries, the Subcontinent, and major Eastern European, Eurasian, and Far Eastern Asian countries.

World's Key Populations

ASIA East Asia 1.62 billion West Asia: 296.39 million	AFRICA: 1.48 billion
INDIA 1.42 billion	CHINA 1.41 billion
EURASIA: 1.12 billion / Eastern Europe 281.00 million (Russia 143.56 million)	EUROPE (Western Europe):  201.08 million Northern Europe: 107.71 million
AMERICAS North America:  613.15 million (USA 333.29 million; Central America: 52.7 million ) South America:  442,860,822 million

Founding Member States of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are listed as Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, (West) Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. 

Current OECD Member States (alphabetically)

Commonwealth of Australia	Czech Republic (aka Czechia)	Dominion of Canada	Dominion of New Zealand	Federal Republic of Germany
French Republic	Grand Duchy of Luxembourg	Hellenic Republic (Greece)	Italian Republic	Kingdom of Belgium
Kingdom of Denmark	Kingdom of Norway	Kingdom of Spain	Kingdom of Sweden	Magyar Koztarsasag (Republic of Hungary)
Portuguese Republic	Republic of Austria	Republic of Chile	Republic of Colombia	Republic of Costa Rica
Republic of Estonia	Republic of Finland	Republic of Iceland	Republic of Ireland	Republic of Korea
Republic of Latvia	Republic of Lithuania	Republic of Poland	Republic of Slovenia	Republic of Türkiye
Slovak Republic	State of Japan	Swiss Confederation	The Netherlands (Holland)	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
United Mexican States	United States of America

(General references and the organization’s official website
https://www.oecd.org/en/about/members-partners.html)

The OECD-ers' Gifts to the world

• The greatest “exposure to harmful pollutants (toxic air, pesticides, damp and lead)”

• The biggest “contributions to the climate crisis, consumption of resources, and e-waste dumping

“Not only are the majority of rich countries failing to provide healthy environments for children within their borders,” the 2022 UNICEF finds, these countries “are also contributing to the destruction of children’s environments in other parts of the world.” (Gunilla Olsson, Director of UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti).

The American Mentality Incorporated is filled with Ironies. Yet Americans seem never to blink or sense either the meaning or the implications of their contradictions.

People in contemporary USA—at least judging by the raging content and characters pervading traditional and modern media —are obsessed with wedge and other distractions including what they term “pre-born(s)” and “may-be-about-to-be born(s)” Yet they are unconcerned about relentless super-powered violence, human trafficking, child labor, and human slavery, and all manner of assault on clearly-living, viable  women and children.

The Children are Caught in the crossfire of Man’s Impunity, a Criminal and Morally Reprehensible Onslaught.

In addition to being made to suffer the terror of super-powered weaponry, unmanned drones, brutes and assassins—young people caught in conflict are also suffering “deadly diseases.” They are suffering diseases, says UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, “that should no longer exist.”

Many countries are experiencing “the collapse of healthcare systems, destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure, and the displacement of families, triggering a resurgence of diseases like polio.”

Twenty-one countries are currently battling polio; fifteen of these countries are fragile or caught in conflict. Among the affected countries are “Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.” And for the first time in twenty-five years, polio has returned to the Gaza Strip.

UNICEF's View from the Ground and Sage Advice

“The world stands at a pivotal juncture.”

In this moment of “global crisis and rising uncertainty”—poor conditions in nature and populations, unwinding democratic expansion, and an unsteady multilateralism— children of the world are experiencing neglect and great suffering, portending an even direr future.

“Mounting waste, harmful pollutants and exhausted natural resources are taking a toll on our children’s physical and mental health and threatening our planet’s sustainability.”  

The current state of affairs “threatens to overshadow two decades of historic progress that had shaped the lives of children for the better. The advancement of poorer countries is being reversed. Living standards raised are now lowered or stilled.

We can continue on a backward path of plunder, division, denial and desert, leaving individual countries to grapple with inadequacies in essential infrastructures and resources, vast environmental changes, and a variety of sectarian, regional, international and domestic conflicts. 

Or “we can choose a path marked by increased global collaboration—a path that embraces innovation, knowledge sharing, policy transfer, and equitable growth.”

“We owe it to ourselves and to future generations to create better places and spaces for children to thrive.”  Therefore, “we must pursue policies and practices that safeguard the natural environment upon which children and young people (most of all) depend.” (Research Director Gunilla Olsson) 

Peoples of the world “… must recognize our shared destiny.”

Rekindle the cooperative spirit that once was, in an earlier era when leading figures seemed to place the “interests” and the “voices” of children and developing youth “at the centre of decisions” about the world’s “common future.” UNICEF Report “Prospects for Children in 2024: Cooperation in a Fragmented World: A Global Outlook” https://www.unicef.org/innocenti/reports/prospects-children-2024-global-outlook

UNICEF Reports Referenced

• “Prospects for Children in 2021–2025: A Global Outlook: At a time of global crisis and rising uncertainty, does the vision of the SDGs remain a possibility?” https://www.unicef.org/innocenti/reports/prospects-children-2021-2025-global-outlook

• United Nations News May 24, 2022, “World’s richest countries damaging child health worldwide: UNICEF” “Over-consumption in the world’s richest countries is creating unhealthy, dangerous, and toxic conditions for children globally, according to a new report published on Tuesday by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).” (Gunilla Olsson, Director of UNICEF Office of Research) https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/05/1118902

• UNICEF Press release May 23, 2022 “Over-consumption in the world’s richest countries is destroying children’s environments globally, new report says”; “The world’s richest countries – including Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway – are providing healthier environments for children within their borders, yet are disproportionately contributing to the destruction of the global environment”

• “Prospects for Children in the Polycrisis: A 2023 Global Outlook: As the world is forced to confront the interconnectivity of risks, trends and events, will we finally prioritize holistic solutions to improve prospects for children?” https://www.unicef.org/innocenti/reports/prospects-children-polycrisis-2023-global-outlook

• “Prospects for Children in 2024: Cooperation in a Fragmented World: A Global Outlook” https://www.unicef.org/innocenti/reports/prospects-children-2024-global-outlook

• UN NEWS October 23, 2024, Health “UNICEF: 85 per cent of children affected by polio in 2023 lived in fragile, conflict-affected areas… Countries facing conflict, natural disasters and humanitarian crises are struggling to provide routine childhood immunizations leaving many children vulnerable to the resurgence of polio, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned in new report.” https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/10/1156041

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PROLIFIC SOUTHERN-BORN AMERICAN WRITER DR. CAROLYN LADELLE BENNETT focuses on People, Press, Politics USA; Domestic and Foreign Affairs (no copyright claimed in direct quotes and individual image)

Latest book: Are There No Champions? Yes and No

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

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

(live limited) https://www.bennettsareherenochampions.com/

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/859250-are-there-no-champions-yes-and-no

https://www.xlibris.com

Email: Nolandanisland@hotmail.com or Authorswork@gmail.com