Some good news that fell through the cracks

just found a few items that made me smile and I thought I'd share them.
Let's start with Virginia.

It was a historic day in Virginia politics as bills to legalize marijuana, abolish the death penalty and eliminate several mandatory minimum sentences passed in the General Assembly.

If it was just one thing I probably wouldn't make a big deal of it, but legalizing marijuana, abolishing the death penalty, and eliminating mandatory minimums. That's huge!
Speaking of the justice system, the next subject is the international criminal court which passed a critical hurdle.

The International Criminal Court said Friday that its jurisdiction extends to territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, potentially clearing the way for its chief prosecutor to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions.

The decision was welcomed by the Palestinians and decried by Israel’s prime minister, who vowed to fight “this perversion of justice.” The U.S., Israel’s closest ally, said it opposed the decision.

The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in 2019 that there was a “reasonable basis” to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip as well as Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. But she asked the court to determine whether she has territorial jurisdiction before proceeding.

of course Israel and its allies in Washington and the news media are all screaming that this is anti-Semitism. Because it's anti-Semitism to oppose the murder of unarmed Palestinian children.
can you imagine if the ICC has enough balls call a spade a spade? What will the world do if faced with the dilemma of having to admit that Israel has engaged in ethnic cleansing?

And speaking of the ICC, it's also investigating our crimes in Afghanistan. A new UN report has something to say about that.

A new U.N. report says nearly one-third of all prisoners in Afghanistan have been tortured or mistreated. The forms of torture include beatings, suffocation, electric shocks, as well reports of “enforced disappearances.” Over half of the claims in the U.N.’s “Torture Report” come from Kandahar province.

In other news about Afghanistan, a Congress-appointed bipartisan panel is advising the U.S. to slow down its withdrawal from Afghanistan. The panel’s report says the May 1 withdrawal goal, established in a 2020 agreement between the U.S. and Taliban forces, could lead to more unrest and potentially a civil war.

first of all, let's get one thing out of the way. A potential Civil War?! What the flock has been going on for 20 years?
Torture, enforced disappearances, and we don't want the ICC to investigate? Gee I wonder why.

and finally one side note about pipeline politics.

Efforts have resumed to complete the last underwater section of the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline.

The international consortium behind the Russia-led project began laying pipes on February 5 in Danish waters.

The pipeline is intended to carry 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year from Russia to Germany, but work was halted in December 2020 following the threat of sanctions from the United States.

Washington opposes the effort to bypass Ukraine in delivering gas to Europe, denying Kyiv a lucrative source of revenue. The United States has also said the pipeline will increase dependence on Russia for energy supplies, with President Joe Biden calling Nord Stream 2 a "bad deal for Europe."

let's just hope tomorrow brings good news from Ecuador.

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The criminal code changes in Virginia are wonderful news. Nobody should be criminalized by marijuana possession. I have always hated minimum sentences, and judges hate losing their discretion when imposing sentences. I am a firm believer that punishment should fit the crime.
I think death penalties are barbarous.
I hope the ICC calls out Israel and the US for war crimes. The whole world needs the truth about who these countries really are, and what they do to achieve their power.

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18 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

snoopydawg's picture

@on the cusp

How barbarous was it when Trump pardoned 3 war criminals that had murdered people and then executed one who had mental health issues and another who had been sexually abused and exploited and should have gotten help instead of being put in prison and then got dead. The world did a wtf dude!?

They hate us for our freedoms and everyone wants to live here in our free country. Sure they do.

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14 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg for those murders is unprintable, as is my reaction to his record setting Big Dick Guy executions.
I can't imagine why people look up to him. I can't imagine why people still adore Obama.
I also can't imagine signing a death warrant.
My whole reason for going to law school was to find the magic legal loophole to end the death penalty.
I have way too much personal knowledge about executions here in Texas.
I am signing up for a 3 hour seminar in criminal law. It is essentially a talk given by the lawyer appointed to represent Timothy McVeigh, including a talk by the judge who presided over that trial.
McVeigh killed 168 people. That lawyer went to the mat for him. The judge conducted a fair trial for the ages. Are we any safer because McVeigh is dead, or would we be just fine with him in prison all his life? The myth is that housing prisoners for life is more expensive that executing them. That is the Big Lie behind the death penalty rationale.
The expense of MANDATORY appeals far exceeds the cost of giving a prisoner a cell, giving them sandwiches of greenish baloney.

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9 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@on the cusp we've been pardoning our war criminals . Calley got what? 3 months and a pardon? Medina and next level up weren't charged. Kent State nada. Seems if you wear a uniform and carry a gun it's an automatic get out of jail free. If they were "forced" to shoot, well, the target must have been doing something wrong.

Meanwhile for the whistle blowers, Asange, Snowden, Manning, no penalty is too harsh.

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@Snode @Snode is soldiers. The Trump pardoned criminals were private contractors/citizens hired to commit murder by Blackwater.
I represented a woman who was married to a Blackwater "body guard" at the embassy in Iraq. She referred to him as an assassin.
Well, after he made threats and tried to intimidate me, that's what i called him as well.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@on the cusp
My own sympathy is reserved for the children he murdered that day. Why does he deserve to live and they didn't?
Yes, it's vengeance. Yes, it's barbaric. I still think the children's blood cries out for vengeance. A life sentence of never being homeless, never being hungry, being dammit ALIVE. Is not sufficient punishment IMO.
Now if you wanted to keep him alive to torture him ...

Kindness for the wolf is cruelty for the lambs.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

snoopydawg's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness @The Voice In the Wilderness

Damn autocorrect.

I was wrong on reading your congress comment. My bad

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

lotlizard's picture

@snoopydawg  
https://www.salon.com/2015/07/25/bill_clintons_gutsy_apologies_now_he_ow...

https://www.qwant.com/?q=bill%20clinton%20rickey%20ray%20rector&t=web

I guess it did help the then-governor and later president Clinton to get re-elected — proved he was tough on crime and all.

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snoopydawg's picture

I’m loving the states that are nixing the death penalty, their marijuana laws and Oregon legalizing small amounts of drugs. Some are even reworking their police budgets.

Waa!

“this perversion of justice.”

Won’t someone rid us of this meddlesome prime minister, bibi?

It’d be great if some country decided that being involved with us and NATO just isn’t worth the deaths and money anymore.

You feeling better, gjohn?

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16 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Hawkfish's picture

Last thing we need is more fossil gas in the atmosphere.

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We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

@Hawkfish the thing about Nord stream is what countries that runs through. If they don't build it then it means either a) that Germany burns coal, or b) that Germany burns natural gas that goes through the Ukraine. Those are the only two choices.
What this is all about is whether Russia is forced to pay transit fees to a nation that is hostile to it, and whether the United States can use sanctions against our allies and not be punished for it.

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12 users have voted.

@gjohnsit makes the EU and NATO reassess their priorities about which countries they need as allies. I think they would be better off if the US was not the controlling influence on every damn thing.

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11 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

mimi's picture

@Hawkfish from where the gas is coming from. We have a natural border to Russia and Ukraine. It makes sense to get gas from them. And it makes no sense to buy liquid gas brought by ship from the United States. May be those simple things could be accepted.

We have minus five degree Celsius (23 Fahrenheit) and strong winds here today. Our gas burners in the basement need gas. I guess nobody likes to freeze their behinds off, neither Russians, Germans nor Americans. So, let's all do the reasonable thing to keep our population warm and safe, where ever that is needed, ok?

No offense meant here, just trying to warm myself with some heated comments. Wink

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@mimi I think the deal with Russia is very price competitive, as well.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

The Liberal Moonbat's picture

America needs this sooooo bad...ANYBODY who presumes to talk about "racism" without talking about WAR hasn't got a clue.

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!