@lotlizard

curtailing the environmental destruction by Lake Michigan to make way for his mausoleum. He's already had several dozen trees cut down in an area that is a stopping point for many migratory birds. I hope the lawsuit against his tower puts an end to this project.

kids and young adults for getting involved and demanding action re climate change.

“The fight against global warming is too important to be left to older folks, including me,” Obama told listeners Thursday evening, according to German news service DPA.

https://jungefreiheit.de/politik/deutschland/2019/obama-klimaschutz-darf...

Everyone seemed so thrilled to see and hear the great Barack Obama in person. Such uplifting words, what an inspiring guy! — Now if only Obama had held some influential position or other, where he could have, I don’t know, maybe done something about global warming himself.

@snoopydawg

and most people seem to have forgotten all about his murder. Jeremy Scahill wrote an excellent book called Dirty Wars on the global, out-of-control covert wars that Barack Obama expanded and legitimized. It covers the al Awlaki hit and the surrounding lack of accountability on the part of Washington.

Regarding the rose-tinted glasses of missing him, Barack Obama was as equally a big a disaster as Bush on foreign policy, partially because he forged the way for Donald Trump when it comes to abuse of power in this disgrace called the war on terror.

Guess if Kareem loses his case against the government then this will be called the Obama doctrine. 'Killing US citizens without due process is legal.' I didn't hear much flack when Obama killed the US citizen who was a Muslim cleric and then his son for no reason I heard. That the Trump justice department is trying to defend Obama's actions is incredible isn't it?

US must respect rights of citizens on secret 'kill list', court hears

Lawyers for Syria-based journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem say US government is using national security to shield its covert drones programme from scrutiny
The US government cannot act as “prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner” and must afford rights of due process to American nationals targeted by its covert assassinations programme, a US court has heard.

Lawyers representing journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem, a US citizen based in Syria, made the claim at a DC court earlier this week in response to US government efforts to dismiss a landmark rights case that could have implications for its killer drone programme which regularly targets suspected militants in countries including Yemen and Syria.

Abdul Kareem alleges that he was erroneously placed on a US “kill list” after being targeted by US missiles on five separate occasions in 2016 while working as a journalist based in rebel-held Syria.

He launched a legal challenge in March 2017 after being tipped off that American forces were deliberately targeting him.

In June, a US court held that it was plausible for Abdul Kareem to assume that he had been placed on a “kill list”, and ruled that the government must afford him his due process right to find out why.

Government lawyers hit back and sought to have the case thrown out on the grounds that it would prejudice national security if state secrets were to be revealed at trial.

Campaigners say the government's defence would effectively place the US drone programme beyond the reach of the constitution, even when it targets Americans.

The case looks set to establish whether the US government has a legal right to assassinate its own citizens without telling them why or offering them their constitutional right to due process.

In their response to the government’s motion to dismiss, Abdul Kareem’s lawyers, Lewis Baach Middlemiss and rights group Reprieve, write: “By invoking the state secrets privilege in the context of designating a US citizen for lethal action, the government seeks to shield itself from all inquiry into the process by which it acts as prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner of plaintiff Bilal Abdul Kareem.

“Mr Kareem’s constitutional guarantee to due process before his life is taken by governmental action is a bedrock principle of US law. It cannot be forfeited by the government’s mere assertion that state secrets are at stake,” the response said.

Challenging that government assertion, lawyers argued that had Abdul Kareem engaged in actions that could justify killing him with an air strike, then he would have also taken actions deemed sufficient for the government to prosecute him.

That trial would have led to a cross-examination of witnesses and the examining of sensitive evidence in front of a judge and jury, the lawyers argued.

“Yet here the government seeks to impose the ultimate penalty without trial while claiming a secrecy privilege that would be unavailable had a trial taken place. The Constitution does not permit the government to evade judicial scrutiny by electing to bypass trial in favour of summary execution."

Which administration made assassination of people illegal? Was it Ford who did that? Guess the Obama doctrine rescinded that order.

According to the Washington Post, the US drew up a plan in 2010 to ensnare terror suspects wherever they are in the world, which consisted of a database of information for tracking, capturing, rendering or killing suspected enemies of the US.

"I sure wish Obama was still president." I might have to slap the next person who says that to me.

@Raggedy Ann

Honestly, you should have done #MedicareForAll when #Democrats had the Presidency and both Houses.

You should have gone out in the field, organized and fought for it.

We would have stood with you. We should have been “purer” then.#SaturdayThoughts

https://t.co/JIAVt5yNQ0

— RoseAnn DeMoro (@RoseAnnDeMoro) April 7, 2019

https://twitter.com/RoseAnnDeMoro

@Fishtroller 02

There have been a variety of interesting developments. We note them below.

Major grant to Protect Our Parks

Of great interest is the $100,000 grant given to Protect Our Parks by the Reva and David Logan Foundation to help fund its lawsuit against the City of Chicago and Chicago Park District. That lawsuit concerns the siting of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park. The fact that this was described as an “initial” grant makes it even more significant.

In the statement announcing the grant, Logan Foundation board chairman Richard Logan commented “We believe that this ‘land grab’ is both legally and morally wrong, and that the City of Chicago, the Obama Foundation and their partners need to reconsider their choice of location for this project. There are so many sites in the city that could benefit from the kudos, the opportunities for employment and the neighborhood regeneration without taking public land and destroying historic city parklands.”

http://jacksonparkwatch.org/updates/

"He's the type of negotiator who comes to the strip poker table with his shirt already off". This was in response to Obama's deal making with Republicans over budget issues. He later drew a red line in Syria... yeah THAT went well.

As for "core principles", it appears he forgot his core principle of community organizing and speaking up for the little guy.... he is ignoring the pleas of residents in the neighborhood next to his proposed Presidential "library" to protect them from gentrification. The big bucks are already swooping in and buying up real estate in anticipation of that project. Soon those who live there will not be able to afford their own housing. Yeah, real nice "core principles" Barry!