FACEBOOK CENSORS ALL LINKS TO MY BLOGS.

FACEBOOK SAYS I AM OFFENDING THEIR COMMUNITY STANDARDS.

SEE ME AT TWITTER.

GUESS WHO THEY ARE LAUGHING AT !

THE CATS THAT SWALLOWED TRUMP

FACEBOOK IS NOT ALLOWING ME TO POST THIS

Phyllis Carter AMERICA IS SELLING BLOOD ALL OVER THE WORLD FOR MONEY AND POWER. NOTICE THAT TRUMP DOESN'T SHED A TEAR OR A DROP OF HIS OWN BLOOD. AMERICA HAS FORGOTTEN THE HOLOCAUST.

THE TRUMP REGIME ECHOES NAZI GERMANY, BUT MILLIONS OF AMERICANS APPROVE. THE HOLOCAUST DIDN'T START WITH THE OVENS. IT STARTED WITH LIES AND ETHNIC CLEANSING. DONALD TRUMP IS FOLLOWING MEIN KAMPF TO THE LETTER.

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.ca/2015/02/we-said-never-again-world-war-pastor.html

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.ca/2017/01/fifteen-warning-signs-of-impending.html.


https://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2018/11/this-is-holocaust-pastor-neimoller.html

https://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2018/11/this-is-holocaust.html.

SACRED GROUND UNDER DESTRUCTION

AMERICANS DROP DEATH FROM THE SKIES
HAWAIIANS PLANT LIFE IN THE EARTH.

Native Hawaiians call back the rain, and use indigenous ecological and spiritual practices to restore the sacred island of Kaho`olawe after 50 years of military use as a bombing range.

 

This scene comes from the Islands of Sanctuary episode of the four-part series, Standing on Sacred Ground. The episode also tells of Australia's Northern Territory where Aboriginal clans maintain Indigenous Protected Areas and resist the destructive effects of a mining boom.

 

Standing on Sacred Ground chronicles indigenous people in eight communities around the world standing up for their traditional sacred lands in defense of cultural survival, human rights and the environment. Watch them stand against industrial mega-projects, consumer culture, resource extraction, competing religions, tourists and climate change.

https://sacredland.org/hawaii-renaissance-standing-on-sacred-ground/

MR. NOSTALGIA, CLIFF CARTER - THRILL OF A LIFETIME

MR. NOSTALGIA, CLIFF CARTER - 
RCA RECORDS - 1982.

If you have a rare copy of Mr. Nostalgia, Cliff Carter, I invite you to share it with the world. I do not have access to mine and I do not have the equipment to post it on the internet. This beautiful record has not been heard since the 1980's.

The Sheba
Phyllis Carter

http://cliffcartermrnostalgia.blogspot.ca/2017/02/mr-nostalgia-cliff-carter-his-claim-to.html

BEWARE OF PHONY FOLKS OF FAITH -

I am a Jew. All my ancestors - to the best of my knowledge - were Jews.  Many years ago, I became a born-again Christian. I was baptized with holy water in the Anglican Church and anointed with oil. I will always be a Jew and a Christian. It is my heritage which I honour, and my free choice for my own reasons. Another story.

I studied the bible - Olde and New - day and night for a decade. You would find me in my church two or three times a week, often all alone at sunset. I participated in bible studies, seminars, discussion groups. I was at home in my church.

I joined The Order of St. Luke the Physician. I was inducted into the order. I taught others. I was moved heart and soul to help. It was a deeply spiritual experience. 

I prayed alongside the priests. I laid hands on the sick, prayed for them to be healed. And I sneaked in some unauthorized advice such as - "Ask your doctor about this" - which outraged one or two of the deeply indoctrinated members.

I prepared the altar for services with reverence. One of the two ministers I adore became a bishop. The other was also close to be chosen. Good people. Good Christians. Good friends.

When my annual membership fees in the OSL came due, I didn't have $25.00. I was living on welfare, widowed unemployed, often homeless and sick. I offered $10.00. (Actually The Order of St. Luke did absolutely nothing that I know of.) 

The Order of St. Luke the Physician refused to renew my membership for less that $25.00. I could have "found" $25.00. I could have asked friends or my minister for $25.00, but I would not - on principal. (I have endangered my life on principal on occasion. My middle name is STUBBORN.)

And so I am no longer a member of OSL. I am not authorized by the OSL to lay hands on the sick or to pray alongside priests. I am $15.00 short of kosher. But if you meet me and tell me your troubles, you can bet I'll go home and think about you and pray that justice and healing bless your life. And it won't cost you one cent.

PUTIN'S PUPPET

WHAT DID TRUMP GIVE PUTIN IN HELSINKI?

WHAT WILL TRUMP GIVE PUTIN NEXT?


ISRAEL TO JARED KUSHNER.

AMERICA TO VLAD THE BAD.

TRUMP REJECTS ALL INTELLIGENCE. HE TRUSTS HIS GUT.

 
Trump is shameless. He rejects intelligence. He says he "trusts his gut".

And that is why millions of fools are eating his feces.


We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe, warns UN

Urgent changes needed to cut risk of extreme heat, drought, floods and poverty, says IPCC

 

The world's leading climate scientists have warned there is only a dozen years for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5C, beyond which even half a degree will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people.

The authors of the landmark report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released on Monday say urgent and unprecedented changes are needed to reach the target, which they say is affordable and feasible although it lies at the most ambitious end of the Paris agreement pledge to keep temperatures between 1.5C and 2C.

 

The half-degree difference could also prevent corals from being completely eradicated and ease pressure on the Arctic, according to the 1.5C study, which was launched after approval at a final plenary of all 195 countries in Incheon in South Korea that saw delegates hugging one another, with some in tears.

What difference would restricting warming to 1.5C make?

 

 "It's a line in the sand and what it says to our species is that this is the moment and we must act now," said Debra Roberts, a co-chair of the working group on impacts. "This is the largest clarion bell from the science community and I hope it mobilises people and dents the mood of complacency."

 

Policymakers commissioned the report at the Paris climate talks in 2016, but since then the gap between science and politics has widened. Donald Trump has promised to withdraw the US – the world's biggest source of historical emissions – from the accord. The first round of Brazil's presidential election on Sunday put Jair Bolsonaro into a strong position to carry out his threat to do the same and also open the Amazon rainforest to agribusiness.

 

The world is currently 1C warmer than preindustrial levels. Following devastating hurricanes in the US, record droughts in Cape Town and forest fires in the Arctic, the IPCC makes clear that climate change is already happening, upgraded its risk warning from previous reports, and warned that every fraction of additional warming would worsen the impact.

 

Scientists who reviewed the 6,000 works referenced in the report, said the change caused by just half a degree came as a revelation. "We can see there is a difference and it's substantial," Roberts said.

 

At 1.5C the proportion of the global population exposed to water stress could be 50% lower than at 2C, it notes. Food scarcity would be less of a problem and hundreds of millions fewer people, particularly in poor countries, would be at risk of climate-related poverty.

 

At 2C extremely hot days, such as those experienced in the northern hemisphere this summer, would become more severe and common, increasing heat-related deaths and causing more forest fires.

 

But the greatest difference would be to nature. Insects, which are vital for pollination of crops, and plants are almost twice as likely to lose half their habitat at 2C compared with 1.5C. Corals would be 99% lost at the higher of the two temperatures, but more than 10% have a chance of surviving if the lower target is reached.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/08/global-warming-must-not-exceed-15c-warns-landmark-un-report.

BUT DONALD TRUMP DOESN'T WANT TO KNOW FACTS.

President Donald Trump blamed the General Motors plant closures and recent stock market dips on the Federal Reserve and the man he picked to lead it, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

 

"I'm doing deals and I'm not being accommodated by the Fed," Trump told the Post in an interview. "They're making a mistake because I have a gut and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else's brain can ever tell me."


https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/27/politics/washington-post-trump-gut/index.html.

THIS IS HOLOCAUST. PASTOR NEIMOLLER WARNED US

THE TRUMP REGIME ECHOES NAZI GERMANY, BUT MILLIONS OF AMERICANS APPROVE. THE HOLOCAUST DIDN'T START WITH THE OVENS. IT STARTED WITH LIES AND ETHNIC CLEANSING.

DONALD TRUMP IS FOLLOWING MEIN KAMPF TO THE LETTER.

 

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.ca/2015/02/we-said-never-again-world-war-pastor.html

 

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.ca/2017/01/fifteen-warning-signs-of-impending.html.

THIS IS THE HOLOCAUST

The Holocaust didn't start with the ovens.

It started with
Lies, Greed, Hate, Ethnic cleansing.

Does this sound familiar?

THE CRIMES OF EVANGELICALS. THEY HATE THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

Those so-called "Christian Evangelicals" who pretend to love Jews and Israel are deceiving millions of people.

Those fake Christians who profess to love Israel are leading Jews into a trap. Their object is to rid the world of the Jewish People, getting all Jews out of America and Europe and packing them into Israel where they can easily be wiped out by just a few bombs.

Jared Kushner is a Judas Goat who will do more damage to Jews than Hitler did.

Beware. Think.


http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.ca/2017/02/the-crimes-of-evangelicals.html

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.ca/2017/12/the-crimes-of-evangelicals.html

MANAFORT-TRUMP-PUTIN: A SLIGHTLY WILD GUESS OR TWO

TRUMP HAS PROMISED MANAFORT A PARDON.

MANAFORT WILL DISAPPEAR.

THE RUSSIAN POPULATION WILL INCREASE BY ONE HERO.

TRUMP HAS PREPARED A TABLE FOR HIMSELF IN RUSSIA AND ANOTHER IN SAUDI ARABIA.

JARED KUSHNER WILL RULE IN ISRAEL.

PHYLLIS CARTER'S JOURNAL - INTRODUCTION

PHYLLIS CARTER'S JOURNAL  - SOME HIGHLIGHTS       

THE PEOPLE AND THE ADVENTURES

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2017/06/phyllis-carters-journal-introduction_23.html.

https://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2018/09/welcome-to-my-newest-readers-around.html

https://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2017/07/who-is-phyllis-carter-people-and_20.html.

MR. NOSTALGIA, CLIFF CARTER

http://cliffcartermrnostalgia.blogspot.com/2016/05/cliff-carter-mr-nostalgia-his-claim-to_22.html

https://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2018/03/always-loving-mr-nostalgia-cliff-carter.html

http://cliffcartermrnostalgia.blogspot.com/2016/05/mrnostalgia-and-sheba-our-true-love.html.

 

PERCY RODRIGUES

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2016/12/remembering-warren-allmand-and-percy.html

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2011/12/remembering-percy-rodrigues-gentleman_9973.html

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2013/07/remembering-cherished-friend-percy_26.html.

 

THE DAWN MCSWEENEY CRIME CASE

https://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2018/03/montreal-police-help-criminals-evidence.html

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.com/2014/03/evidence-that-demands-verdict-summary_11.html.

SANDRA PARKS PLEADED FOR AN END TO GUN VIOLENCE. THEN SHE WAS SHOT "ACCIDENTALLY".

Sandra Parks efforts earned her third place in her school district's 2016 Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest. The Keefe Avenue School eighth-grader passed away after being shot in her home about 8 p.m Monday.

13-year-old girl in Milwaukee who once wrote an essay about "senseless gun violence" was killed this week after a stray bullet was fired into her bedroom.

 

Two years ago, Sandra Parks' efforts earned her third place in her school district's Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. On Monday, the Keefe Avenue School eighth-grader passed away after being shot in her home about 8 p.m.

 

"We are in a state of chaos," her 2016 essay read. "In the city in which I live, I hear and see examples of chaos almost everyday. Little children are victims of senseless gun violence."

 

Bernice Parks, the child's mother, told WISN-TV her daughter had been "everything this world is not." She stated: "My baby was not violent. My baby did not like violence." WDSU reported Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett had called her death "part of the insanity" of gun violence. 

 

In a press conference held on Tuesday, Barrett told reporters: "Sandra Parks, a 13-year-old, went into her bedroom. She never came out alive. Tragically, her death was caused by someone who just decided they were going shoot bullets into her house and she's dead."

 

According to The New York Times, the Milwaukee County district attorney's office charged Isaac D. Barnes, aged 26, late on Wednesday in relation to the 13-year-old's death. A complaint said the suspect had been found "hiding in a closet" of a nearby residence.

 

It was alleged Barnes may have been planning to shoot his ex-girlfriend, the New York Times reported. Charges included first-degree reckless homicide. Another man, Untrell Oden, 27, was charged for firearm possession but was not accused of being involved in the shooting.

 

Twelve kids from Milwaukee public schools have been homicide victims since 2016, a school district spokesperson said. Sandra was the seventh since January, the New York Times reported. 

 

The description alongside the crowdfunding appeal read: "My daughter Sanda Parks left me last night due to senseless act of violence. Sandra was shot while at home.

 

The note continued: "She was a eighth grader and had hope for going to college to be writer. She was just a innocent child. This situation has been very hard on me as a mother, family and friends. I'm asking the community to help my family out with the memorial services."

 

Below is full essay:

 

"Our Truth"

 

By Sandra Parks

 

Sometimes, I sit back and I have to escape from what I see and hear every day. I put my headphones on and let the music take me away. I move to the beat and try to think about life and what everything means. When I do; I come to the same conclusion … we are in a state of chaos. In the city in which I live, I hear and see examples of chaos almost everyday. Little children are victims of senseless gun violence. There is too much black on black crime. As an African-American, that makes me feel depressed. Many people have Lost faith in America and its ability to be a living example of Dr. King's dream!

 

The truth is faith and hope in what people can do, has been lost in the poor choices we make. We shall overcome has been lost in the lie of who we have become! So now, the real truth is, we need to rewrite our story so that faith and hope for a better tomorrow, is not only within us, but we believe it and we put it into actions.

 

Our first truth is that we must start caring about each other. We need to be empathetic and try to walk in each other's shoes. We shall overcome when we eliminate the negative and nasty comments people make about each other. We shall overcome, when we love ourselves and the people around us. Then, we become our brothers keeper.

 

Our second truth is that we need to have purpose. We are the future generation, therefore we must have an education to make a positive difference in the world. We are the future leaders, but if we don't have an education, we will accomplish nothing. We will overcome, when we use our education to make the world a better place. We will become the next President, law enforcement officers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and lawmakers. We cannot continue to put the responsibility on other people. It is our responsibility as future leaders!

 

We must not allow the lies of violence, racism, and prejudice to be our truth. The truth begins with us. Instead of passing each other like ships in the night, we must fight until our truths stretch to the ends of the world.

https://www.newsweek.com/sandra-parks-read-heartbreaking-essay-gun-violence-13-year-old-killed-stray-1227298.

YEMEN - IF YOU CAN'T BOMB THEM TO DEATH, STARVE THEM.

STARVED TO DEATH IN YEMEN

Nearly 85,000 Yemeni children died from hunger and disease during civil war, aid group says.

A leading international aid group said Wednesday that an estimated 85,000 Yemeni children under the age of 5 may have died of hunger and disease since the outbreak of the country's civil war in 2015.

 

Save the Children based its figures on mortality rates for untreated cases of severe acute malnutrition, or SAM, in young children. The United Nations says more than 1.3 million children have suffered from SAM since a Saudi-led coalition went to war with Yemen's Houthi rebels in March 2015.

 

The United Nations says more than 1.3 million children have suffered from severe acute malnutrition since a Saudi-led coalition went to war with Yemen's Houthi rebels in March 2015.

The aid group said its "conservative estimate" was that 84,701 children may have died, based on historical studies that find that 20 to 30 percent of untreated cases lead to death. Save the Children says it calculated the figure based on the number of cases reported in areas where aid groups were unable to intervene.

 

"For every child killed by bombs and bullets, dozens are starving to death and it's entirely preventable," said Tamer Kirolos, Save the Children's Yemen director.

"Children who die in this way suffer immensely as their vital organ functions slow down and eventually stop."

 

The war has given rise to the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Three-quarters of Yemen's people require life-saving assistance and more than 8 million are at risk of starvation. Tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the fighting.

 

The Associated Press has reported from areas of Yemen that are on the brink of famine.

 

Save the Children blamed the widespread starvation on a Saudi-led blockade that was tightened a year ago after the Iran-aligned rebels fired a ballistic missile at the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

 

"For every child killed by bombs and bullets, dozens are starving to death and it's entirely preventable."

The charity also cited recent fighting in and around the port city of Hodeida, a lifeline through which Yemen imports some 70 percent of its food and humanitarian aid.

 

It said commercial imports through the rebel-held port have fallen by more than 55,000 metric tons a month - enough to meet the needs of 4.4 million people. Save the Children said it had been forced to bring supplies for the northern Yemen through the southern port of Aden, slowing aid deliveries.

 

The overwhelming poverty in Yemen, the Arab world's most impoverished nation, has compounded the situation.

Children "have no access to food although it's available on the market …. families cannot provide for their children and cannot afford it," said Sukaina Sharafuddin, a Save the Children employee in Yemen's capital, Sanaa.

 

The fallout from the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom's Istanbul consulate has drawn renewed attention to the war and devastation in Yemen. The United States has scaled back its support for the coalition and called for a cease-fire by the end of this month.

 

U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths says both sides have agreed to attend peace talks "soon." Griffiths arrived in the Houthi-held Sanaa later Wednesday for meetings with rebels, including their leader, Abdul-Malek al-Houthi.

But the fighting is still raging in Hodeida and other areas, and previous peace efforts have failed to produce any agreement to stop the violence.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/nearly-85000-yemeni-children-died-from-hunger-and-disease-during-civil-war-aid-group-says.

DONALD TRUMP SELLS BLOOD - BUT NEVER HIS OWN

President Donald Trump signaled Tuesday that he will not take strong action against Saudi Arabia or its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the death and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

 

The White House has been struggling to square a widespread sense that the crown prince directed the killing with its desire for Saudi support for its foreign policy priorities and a need to manage close relationships between bin Salman, the Trump administration and members of Trump's family.

In an exclamation-mark laden statement subtitled "America First!" Trump said that "our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event - maybe he did and maybe he didn't!"

Speaking to the press later in the day, Trump cited the Kingdom's influence over oil prices and said, "if we abandon Saudi it would be a terrible mistake."

He also said he was "not going to destroy the economy of our country" over Khashoggi by giving up arms deals to Saudi Arabia.

"It's a very simple equation for me. I'm about make America great again and I'm about America first," Trump said.

In his statement, the President said, "we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi," Trump continued in his statement. "In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran."

Less than an hour after releasing his statement, Trump appeared in the White House Rose Garden to pardon two turkeys for Thanksgiving. He did not mention the journalist's murder.

The President's statement sets up a clash with lawmakers from both parties who have called for harsh measures against Saudi Arabia and have expressed deep reservations about US support for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen. It once again pits Trump against his intelligence agencies and bolsters a regime that has admitted to killing a vocal critic and member of the press.

Lawmakers noted there is a cost to ignoring "our moral voice," as Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and strong Trump supporter, said. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was more pointed.


https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/20/politics/trump-saudi-arabia/index.html.


AND MORE AMERICAN BOMBS TO SLAUGHTER YEMENI CHILDREN.

JUSTICE - THE SIMPLE TRUTH

JUSTICE DEMANDS THAT
THE PUNISHMENT MUST FIT THE CRIME

SUFFERING, MURDER? DONNY TRUMP DOESN'T WANT TO HEAR,

TRUTH, REALITY, RESPONSIBILITY?

DONNY TRUMP DOESN'T WANT TO KNOW.

And he gets wet in the rain.


President Donald Trump said he declined to listen to a recording that captured part of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, calling it "a suffering tape" and "terrible."

In an interview released on Sunday, Trump told Fox News' Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" that he doesn't have any interest in hearing the tape, which contains audio of the killing of Khashoggi in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in early October.

"Have you, one, either heard the tape yourself or been briefed on it, and if so, to your mind what does it show?" Wallace asked Trump.

"We have the tape, I don't want to hear the tape, no reason for me to hear the tape," Trump replied.

"Why don't you want to hear it, sir?"

"Because it's a suffering tape, it's a terrible tape," Trump said. "I've been fully briefed on it, there's no reason for me to hear it, in fact I said to the people 'should I?' They said, 'you really shouldn't, there's no reason.' I know exactly - I know everything that went on in the tape without having to hear it."

"It was very violent, very vicious and terrible," Trump added.

On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made similar comments to a Turkish newspaper, calling the tape a "true disaster."

Trump also said that he doesn't know if Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was lying when he denied having any involvement in the murder of Khashoggi, a statement that conflicts with the CIA's assessment on Friday that bin Salman personally ordered the killing of the journalist.

"I don't - I don't know, you know, who could really know?" Trump said. "But I can say this: He's got many people now that say he had no knowledge."

"Do you live with [bin Salman's statement] because you need him?" Wallace asked.

"Well, will anybody really know?" answered Trump. "All right, will anybody really know? But he did have certainly people that were reasonably close to him and close to him that were probably involved," Trump said.

"You saw we put on very heavy sanctions, massive sanctions on a large group of people from Saudi Arabia," Trump continued. "But at the same time, we do have an ally, and I want to stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good."

CNN's Kevin Bohn and Sarah Westwood contributed reporting.


https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/18/politics/donald-trump-jamal-khashoggi-tape/index.html.

THIS IS WHAT SATAN REALLY LOOKS LIKE

AS CHILDREN, MANY OF US GOT THE IDEA THAT THE DEVIL WAS UGLY - WITH FANGS AND HORNS.  

THE TRUTH IS THAT THIS IS THE REAL PICTURE OF EVIL, A BRUTAL, COLD-BLOODED MURDERER.

IF SATAN WAS UGLY, WE WOULD RECOGNIZE HIM MORE EASILY. 

COWARD TRUMP ATTACKS WAR HERO

DONALD TRUMP WHO AVOIDED SERVING IN THE ARMED FORCES ATTACKS RETIRED NAVY SEAL, ADMIRAL BILL MCRAVEN.

 

In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace, Trump insulted retired Navy SEAL Adm. Bill McRaven, who commanded the 2011 raid that took down Osama bin Laden, calling him "a Hillary Clinton backer and an Obama backer" and asking "Wouldn't it have been nice if we got Osama bin Laden a lot sooner than that?"

 

Trump was responding to ongoing criticism from McRaven, who in August resigned from the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board over his disapproval of Trump. McRaven also wrote an open letter in the Washington Post in which he asked Trump, who had recently revoked the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, to revoke his own, "so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency." McRaven has previously called the president's anti-media sentiment "the greatest threat to democracy in [his] lifetime," according to the Daily Texan.

Trump on retired Navy SEAL Adm. Bill McRaven, who has called the president's attacks on the press "the greatest threat to democracy."

 

"He's a Hillary Clinton backer and an Obama backer. And frankly, wouldn't it have been nice if we got Osama bin Laden a lot sooner than that?"

Trump went on to suggest that finding bin Laden should have been easy: "You know, living - think of this - living in Pakistan, beautifully in Pakistan in what I guess they considered a nice mansion, I don't know, I've seen nicer. But living in Pakistan right next to the military academy, everybody in Pakistan knew he was there."

 

Others - from former soldiers to political commentators - have stepped in to defend McRaven on Twitter, calling him "a patriot and true hero," as well as to correct the record. (McRaven never endorsed Clinton and maintained the military's traditional apolitical stance while serving under Obama, though was at times criticized for his being too open with his opinions.)

https://www.vox.com/2018/11/18/18101352/trump-insults-bill-mcraven-pattern-disrespecting-veterans

PRISONERS RISKING THEIR LIVES FIGHTING CALIFORNIA FIRES

THEY ARE RISKING THEIR LIVES TO SAVE THE LIVES OF STRANGERS. WHATEVER THE WRONG THAT PUT THEM IN PRISON, THEY WERE NOT SENTENCED TO DEATH. SURELY THEY DESERVE SERIOUS RESPECT FOR FIGHTING THE FIRES.

The death toll from the Camp Fire in California has risen to at least 63, with 631 people reported missing. As California continues to battle the deadliest fire in the state's history, we turn to the hidden heroes on the front lines the raging climate-fueled wildfires: prisoner firefighters. At least 1,500 of the 9,400 firefighters currently battling fires in California are incarcerated. They make just a dollar an hour battling on the front lines but are rarely eligible to get jobs as firefighters after their release. In September, the Democracy Now! team traveled to the Delta Conservation Camp about an hour north of San Francisco, a low-security prison where more than 100 men are imprisoned. We interviewed incarcerated firefighters who had just returned from a 24-hour shift fighting the Snell Fire in Napa County.

As the death toll from California's Camp Fire continues to rise, we end today's show with the hidden heroes on the front lines of the raging climate-fueled wildfires: prisoners firefighters. At least 1,500 of the 9,400 firefighters currently battling fires in California are incarcerated. They make a dollar an hour battling on the front lines but are rarely eligible to get jobs as firefighters after their release. Cal Fire reports five firefighters were injured during the Camp Fire's first 24 hours, two of them prisoner firefighters who suffered burns. According to some estimates, California saves up to $100 million a year by using prison labor to fight its biggest environmental problem. Prison firefighters earn time off of their sentences for good behavior, typically two days off for each day they fight fires. But critics of the program say the state is exploiting prisoners' eagerness to earn time for early release.

AMY GOODMAN: I also spoke with prisoner firefighter Marty Vinson.

 

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think of yourself as a hero?

 

MARTY VINSON: I like to look at myself as somebody that I want to be here for whoever—like, whoever needs me, I want to be there for them. Just last night on this fire, we had somebody who came back not too long ago where the terrain of where we was climbing up, cutting line, there were just too many loose boulders. And, you know, we always try to do what we have to do, but still provide safety while doing it. And it's just one of those situations where it's no one's fault, but it happens. And while they was cutting line, a boulder actually fell and hit him. And he popped something in his knee, and it just swelled up.

 

And it came to a point where we didn't really have no answer to what are we going to do, how are we going to get him out of here. It's night. They don't do no airlifts at night. They don't want nothing in the air at night. So it led to the possibility of us just bedding down at the bottom of this creek and wait until like morning. And it was just something where—it's a natural thing about me: I want to be there for people. So I just volunteered and said, "Well, look, me, personally, I don't feel like it's relevant for us to stay down here." So I just volunteered to take my pack off and carry him up the mountain.

 

AMY GOODMAN: So you carried him up from below, near the creek?

 

MARTY VINSON: Yes. The first part was maybe the worst part. It was real steep. A lot of people didn't think it would actually happen like that, but it was something that I just pushed myself to say I'm going to do, and I got it done. We went going straight uphill to having to go sidehill, which that was another cautious area, because the road was probably like two feet wide. So it was something—it took its time. It went from 2:00 in the morning to like almost 5:00 in the morning, but we got him up there, and now he's back here.

 

AMY GOODMAN: You're risking your life here.

 

MARTY VINSON: It's exactly what's going on. Everything we do, you know, no one's really promised to come back.


https://www.facebook.com/democracynow/

PAROLE BOARDS ACCOMPLICES TO MURDER

WAS A MEMBER OF A PAROLE BOARD EVER IMPRISONED OR EXECUTED FOR CAUSING A MURDER?


Another 'horrific' Ontario killer is living in minimum and he gets day passes.

Shelley Cowell was handcuffed, stabbed 19 times by her husband, who is now in a BC minimum security prison

The family of a Woodstock, Ont. woman who was savagely stabbed to death by her estranged husband is urging others who've lost family members to homicide to check up on their loved ones' killer after making a shocking discovery.

The family of Shelley Cowell says they recently found out her killer, Christopher Cowell, has not only remarried and had a child, but is living in a minimum security prison in British Columbia.

Cowell was convicted of first degree murder in 2002 after stabbing Shelley Cowell 19 times, an act the sentencing judge called brutal, vicious and horrific.

 

All this time we thought he was in maximum security prison behind bars.

Darlene Nichol, sister of Shelley Cowell

The family's discovery comes a week after Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale ordered tougher rules on prisoner transfers. He made the announcement after a public uproar over child killer Terri-Lynne McClintic's transfer to an Indigenous healing lodge in Sasktachewan, less than a decade into her life sentence for the brutal murder of eight-year-old Tori Stafford.

 

The family of Shelley Cowell contacted CBC News after Rodney Stafford spoke out about McClintic's transfer.

 

Their own inquiries with the Parole Board of Canada shocked them.

 

"Three years or less [after Cowell was convicted of first degree murder], he was moved to medium security. In 2012 he was moved to minimum security," Darlene Nichol, Shelley's sister, told CBC News.

 

"All this time we thought he was in a maximum security prison behind bars."

 

Documents show Christopher Cowell, 56, is living at B.C.'s Mission Penitentiary, a minimum security facility 67 kilometres outside Vancouver. It has no fences or walls and is "based on the open campus design concept," according to Corrections Canada's website.

 

'High risk for future violence'

 
What surprised Darlene Nichol and her family most, however, was that Cowell has married a woman who once worked at a prison and has fathered her child. That despite a September 2017 parole board report stating Cowell had a "high risk for future violence in the context of an intimate relationship."

 

"Our whole family is worried about her and her little girl. She's only known him with an escort during family visits," Nichol said. "I feel for her. She needs to be protected."

 

The reason for the worry is the manner in which Shelley was murdered.

 

Cowell killed her on May 17, 2001, three days after her 38th birthday. She was lured to the Woodstock home the couple once shared on the premise that he wouldn't be there and that it needed cleaning before being sold.

 

What she didn't know is that she was walking into a trap.

 

'For days he planned it'

 

Three days after her 38th birthday, Shelley Cowell was lured into the basement of her Woodstock, Ont. home before being viciously murdered by her estranged husband Christopher Cowell in 2001. (Colin Butler/CBC News).

"For days he planned it," Nichol said. "He blackened out the basement windows. He had a yellow rope tied to a support post in the basement."

 

Cowell also hid his car around the corner from the home so that Shelley wouldn't spot it when she arrived, the family said. Parole board documents show that once she had entered the home, Cowell confronted her, accusing her of cheating on him.

 

The family learned in court that she was handcuffed and beaten with a hammer, then a metal rod, before being stabbed 19 times with a filet knife.

 

"He slit her throat so badly he nearly decapitated her," Nichol said. "Then he dragged her body and he smoked a cigarette and he ashed on top of her body and he put his bloody clothes in the washing machine and went to his parents' house."

 

During the sentencing hearing, the judge described the bloody pictures of the crime scene "as mute testimony to the horrific manner of [Shelley's] death."

 

Cowell appealed his case, which was dismissed on June 19, 2006.

 

Wants more freedom.

Cowell is scheduled for a parole board hearing this month, where he is applying for even more freedom. Right now, he gets an eight-hour leave from the facility once a month as well as two 90-minute leaves for community work and personal development. 

 

"Now he's applied for more time and that's what we're in the middle of right now, is to stop him from getting more time away from prison."

 

A 2016 parole board report says that Cowell "should never drink alcohol or use non-prescribed drugs again" but a psychiatrist also indicated Cowell is "not psychopathic," "showed no sign of mental illness" and that his "risk of general violence is low," describing his behaviour behind bars as "impeccable" throughout his sentence.

 

The report also notes he has completed several rehabilitation programs over the years, where he has "made notable gains in programming" and has the warden's support for increased family visits under the watch of correctional staff.

 

Remembering the victim.

The family insists Cowell is not getting the punishment he deserves.

 

"We are getting the punishment," Nichol said. "If he can commit a crime like he did and be in minimum security, what do you have to do to qualify to stay in maximum security prison?" 

 

'He's a cold-hearted killer,' Darlene Nichol says of her sister Shelley's estranged husband and killer Christopher Cowell. 'He's not getting the punishment he deserves. We are getting the punishment.' (Colin Butler/CBC News)

Despite all the heartbreak and emotion, when the family gets together and remembers Shelley, they can't help but laugh.

 

"Shelley was a presence, I'll tell you," Darlene Nichol said of her sister. "If she came in a room and laughed, everybody was laughing."

 

They describe her as a loving woman, who enjoyed her work as a community support worker, helping people with developmental disabilities in Woodstock.

 

Warning to others.

Now Nichol and her family are joining Rodney Stafford, encouraging other victims of murder to speak out and ask about their loved ones' killers.

 

"If you have a family member who's been murdered, then in order to receive any kind of information on his status, you have to fill out a victim registration form and send it in. We did not know that. Nobody told us that 17 years ago."

 

CBC News has requested comment from the Corrections Service of Canada. It said in a written statement that it does not comment on specific cases due to privacy reasons.

 

It also wrote that while marriages are governed by provincial legislation, it has a clear code of ethics and professional standards in place to "ensure that relationship dynamics between staff and offenders remain appropriate by setting out the boundaries and providing a framework to take corrective action if those boundaries are not respected."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/prisoner-transfer-shelley-christopher-cowell-woodstock-1.4902870.