Sandra Finley

Mar 142020
 
I have huge respect for Chelsea Manning.  Withstanding the pressure.  Read her words.  … Hats off to Chelsea.  /Sandra
https://www.laprogressive.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/chelsea-manning-freed-720.jpg
Today, March 12, prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia ended the grand jury of Julian Assange and Wikileaks in which Chelsea Manning refused to testify. As a result, US District Court Judge Anthony Trenga ordered the immediate release of Chelsea Manning.

A hearing was scheduled this Friday on a motion for release filed in February 2020 by her attorneys. Manning was arguing that her long time in jail had shown she could not be coerced to testify and that her incarceration was a punishment, which is illegal under US law. On Wednesday, her lawyers and Alexandria Sheriff Dana Lawhorne reported she attempted suicide in jail. With the end of the grand jury and Manning’s release, the Friday hearing was canceled.

In May 2019, Manning wrote a letter to Judge Anthony Trenga, the presiding judge regarding her incarceration. The letter examined the history of grand juries and how they no longer serve their original purpose. Manning wrote:

“I am certainly not alone in thinking that the grand jury process, which at one time acted as an independent body of citizens along the lines of a civilian police review board, slowly transitioned into the unbridled arm of the police and prosecution in ways that run contrary to the grand jury’s originally intended purposes.”

She pointed out how grand juries were originally independent of the police and were investigations by citizens without a prosecutor. In fact, grand juries were originally a check on government as Manning wrote, they “nullified unjust laws or their unjust application.” She told the judge that only the US and Liberia continue to use grand juries as many western and developed nations have abandoned the process.

After providing the judge with a “nuanced understanding of my conscientious objection to the grand jury” she wrote:

“Each person must make the world we want to live in around us where we stand… I object to the use of grand juries as tools to tear apart vulnerable communities. I object to this grand jury in particular as an effort to frighten journalists and publishers, who serve a crucial public good. I have had these values since I was a child, and I’ve had years of confinement to reflect on them. For much of that time, I depended for survival on my values, my decisions, and my conscience. I will not abandon them now.

Manning has once again shown courageous political leadership, standing up to an abusive criminal justice system and exposing the corrupt grand jury process that has often been used for political purposes — from indicting anti-slavery activists to members of the Black Panther Party — and now against the political prisoner, Julian Assange for being an editor and publisher who told the truth about US war crimes, violations of international law and how US foreign policy dominated by corporate interests.

Manning has also shown great bravery in advancing trans rights. While imprisoned in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, she fought for her right to treatment. She also struggled for her right to be held in the women’s prison in Alexandria. Her openness about being trans has been an inspiration to others. As Lexi McMenamin wrote: “One in six trans Americans — and one in two black trans Americans — have been to prison, according to Lambda Legal. Incarcerated trans people face higher levels of violence, and experience higher rates of rape and sexual assault. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, trans people are ‘ten times as likely to be sexually assaulted by their fellow inmates and five times as likely to be sexually assaulted by staff.’”

The injustice against Manning continues. Manning’s attorneys sought to have the fines imposed by Judge Trenga vacated. Manning is facing more than $256,000 in fines, which have been accumulating at a rate of $1,000 a day. The court left those fines in place.

The incarceration of Manning was a violation of US law as the authority to incarcerate a recalcitrant witness was abused by Judge Trenga. Nils Melzer the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment wrote that Manning’s incarceration violated international law focusing on the prohibition against torture.  While we are pleased Manning has been released, she should have not served anytime in jail and the fines against her should be vacated.

Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers

Mar 132020
 

Sent to CBC re interview, Kevin Donovan, investigation into Sherman murders, Apotex

TO: The Current and to author Kevin Donovan,

 

The interview of Kevin Donovan has a blind spot, one commonly accorded to people/institutions of wealth and power.

I learned the blind spot through some episodes of The Current over the last months.

There is INACTION, if action MIGHT bring the REPUTATION of the VENERABLE into question.
Our society venerates power and wealth.
Institutions ruthlessly protect their ability to raise money and to save face.
Reputation is critical. Anything to save reputation, to protect wealth.

You laid out that UNDENIABLE PATTERN. . . . Stick with me a minute to see the pattern repeated in the interview related to the Sherman murders.

Questions that must be asked and answers demanded got short shrift in the following three examples, out of many.
Some kind of silent conditioning creates a blind spot that shields the wrong people.

  • the Ottawa High School that countenanced decades of sexual molestation of students
  • what happened to “Cleo” in the Sixties Scoop
  • Harvey Weinstein’s violations with impunity

The interview with Kevin Donahue was about investigations into murder.
The investigations should be without prejudice, just as the 3 examples above should have been investigated without prejudice.

What about enemies that Barry Sherman might have, people who might have motivation to destroy Sherman and his wife? There was SILENCE on the ethical record of Sherman’s company, Apotex.

It seemed there is an ordained conclusion: a family member is the murderer, no need for hard questions that even MIGHT have repercussions for the WEALTH.

Maybe a family member IS the prime suspect. But silence about other possibilities is a shield that provides unwarranted protection. Unwarranted protection enabled decades of great harm to numerous people, in the above 3 examples.

Elaboration on one example:
The Catholic High School and Board in Ottawa that countenance teachers who are sexual predators – – for decades the teachers are allowed to inflict great harm on children. Unconscionable and unfathomable.

My take-away from the CBC radio documentary – – WHY it does not get stopped? . . . in the particular case, the Catholic High School had a very successful music programme that attracted accolades, supporters and students. The head of the Music Programme was no doubt talented, but simultaneously a lead and longtime perpetrator of sexual molestation. Unfortunately for the students he was a célèbre, the acknowledged BENEFACTOR of the School. Without him, the source of the praise for the School and its Administration would not exist. If he is challenged or exposed, the School’s reputation will take a big hit. So the Administration won’t touch the teacher. The first time that they are told about unacceptable behavior by a teacher, they become “knowers”. If they do not act, they entangle themselves with the perpetrator. They join the keepers of secrets.

Students in the Ottawa High School were thereby molested and seriously harmed with impunity. Some of the offenders were shipped “away” where they infected other communities.

The Shermans were multi-billionaires. Apotex was a significant benefactor of the University of Toronto, and other universities.

If I am aware of ONE publicized case of Apotex’s attempt to shut-down a scientist whose research documented the harm done to children who received their new drug, Mr. Sherman’s fortune might have been aided by unethical behavior? Unethical behavior usually creates a few enemies.

Scenarios to make a point: what if a child died because of a drug that got registered for use, through the bribery of officials? Large financial donations are a form of bribery. Could not heart-break and ultimately anger drive a parent to murder, when they know perpetrators get away with murder? Or, what if someone hated the corruption of the institution that comes with “he who funds the piper calls the tune”? Anger begets hate begets hateful actions.

The Blind Spot I learned from The Current: rarely will we ask hard questions and demand answers when reputations of perceived influential people MIGHT be tarnished. It’s not a written or spoken rule; it is the way things are. Once in a while a thinking person of courage takes a stand and puts forth the often thankless effort to put things right.

A terrible legacy all because we have fear of asking the hard questions of people who have power, wealth or celebrity status.

Shield the reputation of the benefactor; simultaneously shield the reputation of the recipient of the largesse. The same lesson over and over again.

Did Sherman have enemies because of the actions of his company Apotex? It is a necessary question in a murder investigation.

 

For your consideration,

Sandra Finley

Feb 202020
 

Two items relevant to the situation in northern BC with the RCMP and Wet’suwet’en.

Sent to CBC radio, The Current,  in response to the Feb 20th programme.

  1. Correspondence with the RCMP when their anti-terrorist squad was deployed to Dawson Creek:

2008-11-09  Encana Dawson Creek: Reply from Supt Lloyde Plante, head of RCMP Anti-Terrorist Squad, BC.  Rule of law?

2.   Canadians forget their history too quickly.

I have heard NO MENTION of the IPPERWASH blockade – – the DUDLEY GEORGE affair and the LINDEN INQUIRY into it (“was also asked to make recommendations that would avoid violence in similar circumstances in the future.”).

Who outside Ipperwash remembers the lesson from Dudley George?  50 years from today will Canadians still be paying for failure to respect rightful claim (sovereignty) over territory?

I skimmed the wikipedia account of Ipperwash.  I don’t see it said that the Stony Plain people had been trying to get their land returned (sovereignty) FOR FIFTY YEARS.  The blockade at Ipperwash was after 50 years of lawyers and mediators and Government officials getting big salaries and perks to resolve the problem. With ZERO accomplishment. An unarmed Dudley George was shot dead by police, with provocation from Ontario Premier Mike Harris.  (Judge Linden believed the racist quote attributed to Harris had been uttered by Harris.)

Linden did not take long to determine that “Ipperwash” belonged to the Chippewa. Something that all those lawyers and politicians and “officials” and mediators could not accomplish in 50 years.  It took a dead man.

/Sandra Finley

Feb 202020
 

NOTE:  I have not watched the video (link at bottom) – – am trusting that it’s a balanced presentation.

I know the story well because I could not believe it happened in Canada.  It was an outrageous injustice to First Nations people.  The matter dragged out over 50 years during which an abundance of government officials, lawyers, and mediators were paid handsome money to resolve the problem.   With zero results.

Ipperwash.  Stony Plain Chippewa.  50 years of trying to regain their land bore no results.

White guys were happy to continue occupation of  land that was not theirs.

Finally a blockade – peaceful, unarmed protest.  Who could blame the Indians?

Premier Mike Harris ordered get the fucking Indians out of Ipperwash.

Dudley George, unarmed protestor was shot dead by police.

Then, another 20 years of petitioning to get an inquiry.  Finally an inquiry.

Judge Linden found that Premier Mike Harris likely said get the fucking Indians out of Ipperwash.

He also found that the land clearly belonged to the Stony Plain people.

After all and all, sovereignty was re-established.  Ipperwash was returned to rightful owners, the Chippewa.  Sovereignty cost Dudley George his life.   It cost Canadians a lot of money; some white guys are still mad because they were evicted from land that was never theirs.

An hour-and-a-half video by CTV    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qnOiOkboVg

17,751 views  as of 2020-02-20

 

Feb 032020
 

Feb 3, 2020

TO:  Bernadette Jordan

South Shore—St. Margarets

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard

FROM:  Sandra Finley  (contact info)

 

Dear Minister Jordan,

 

RE:  Herring Fishery, BC

 

I lived in Nova Scotia from 1974 to 1990.

During that time the cod fishery collapsed.

I now live on Vancouver Island.

The herring fishery is going the way of the cod fishery.

 

You were born in 1963.  I was born in 1970.   You were a Girl Guide;  I was a Canada Cord Guide and continued into Rangers.  You were educated at St Francis Xavier U, for which I have respect, a major in Pol-Sci.  I was educated at the U of Sask, a Bachelor of Commerce.

 

It is beyond my comprehension how anyone who has lived through the collapse of the East Coast cod fishery could preside over the collapse of the West Coast herring fishery.

 

In utter amazement,

Sandra Finley

Dec 192019
 

Canadian Press (CP) Report on first step in the extradition hearings against Julian Assange, appears below.

A few comments first.

The case has the potential to become a broader argument about the extraterritorial reach of the US. 

Citizens in the FVEY “developed” countries are equally in the extraterritorial reach  of the US, along with nations in Latin America and elsewhere on the planet.

SHOULD BE REMEMBERED:

International publications originally collaborated with Assange in the publication of material from the Iraq war logs – – New York Times, Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Monde and El Pais. Newspapers in his native Australia published extensively from the leaked documents. Disclosure embarrassed the US government.

In its reporting of Assange, the New York Times has been assiduous in its defence of journalistic inquiry.  For example:

2019-05-23 ‘Frightening’: Charges Against Julian Assange Alarm Press Advocates, from NY Times

Another NYT headline, same day (I didn’t post it): Assange Indicted Under Espionage Act, Raising First Amendment Issues 

WASHINGTON — Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks leader, has been indicted on 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act for his role in obtaining and publishing secret military and diplomatic documents in 2010, the Justice Department announced on Thursday — a novel case that raises profound First Amendment issues. . . .

. . .  he (Assange) has become the target for a case that could open the door to criminalizing activities that are crucial to American investigative journalists who write about national security matters.

. . .   Though he is not a conventional journalist, much of what Mr Assange does at WikiLeaks is difficult to distinguish in a legally meaningful way from what traditional news organizations like the Times do: seek and publish information that officials want to be secret, including classified national security matters, and take steps to protect the confidentiality of sources.

The Obama administration considered and then balked at seeking Assange’s extradition, after concluding it would be perilous to charge him under the Espionage Act.  This act does not make a distinction between journalists and non-journalists.

Alan Rusbridger, former editor of The Guardian, quoted Joel Simon of the Committee to Protect Journalists who observed:

Under this rubric anyone anywhere in the world who publishes information that the US government deems to be classified could be prosecuted for espionage.

 

CLARIFICATION, coverage in Canada:

The CP coverage is repeated in papers across Canada.  Assange is described as having been “holed up” in the Ecuadorian Embassy.  he was granted asylum by former President Rafael Correa of Ecuador, who has remained steadfast in his support of Assange, speaking out again in the last few days.

NOT IN THE CP REPORT:

  • Clair Dobbin, representing the U.S. authorities, asked for the case to be delayed until April, saying the lawyer earmarked for the case would not be available for the extended hearing.

“My impression was the (U.S.) government was anxious for this case to remain on track and not to be derailed,” said Baraister (Judge), who said the next hearing would take place on Jan. 23 and the timetable would go ahead as planned.

(CP:  The full extradition hearing is scheduled to begin Feb. 24)

– – – – –

APPENDED
Lawyer in UK Court:
US charges against WikiLeaks’ Assange are ‘political’

By Canadian Press

Dec 19, 2019

LONDON — Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told a London court (London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court) Thursday that he should not be extradited to the United States to face spying charges because the offences he is accused of are political in nature.

U.S. authorities accuse Assange of scheming with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break a password for a government computer and leak hundreds of thousands of classified documents.

Assange’s attorney, Edward Fitzgerald, said the 48-year-old Australian is protected by a 2007 extradition treaty between Britain and the U.S.

“We say that there is in the treaty a ban on being extradited for a political offence and that these offences as framed, and indeed in substance, are political offences,” Fitzgerald said at a court hearing.

Assange spent almost seven years holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid a rape investigation in Sweden. He was arrested by British police in April after Ecuador withdrew his asylum status and jailed for jumping bail when he sought shelter inside the embassy in 2012.

Assange remains in custody at London’s Belmarsh Prison while he fights extradition. Fitzgerald said Assange’s defence team would call up to 21 witnesses at the full extradition hearing next year.

He said the evidence being submitted would cover the case of Manning, medical evidence, Assange’s prison conditions and ongoing Spanish legal proceedings relating to the alleged “bugging of the conversations with his lawyers in the Ecuadorian Embassy.”

Fitzgerald reiterated complaints that Assange’s lawyers were having “great problems” seeing him in prison.

Last month more than 60 doctors wrote to the British government expressing concerns about Assange’s health and his fitness to stand trial.

Assange appeared at Thursday’s case management hearing by video link from prison. He spoke to confirm his name and date of birth, then sat with his head bowed, occasionally closing his eyes during the 45-minute proceedings.

The full extradition hearing is scheduled to begin Feb. 24 and could take four weeks.

Swedish authorities dropped the rape probe last month, citing the many years that have elapsed since the accusation was made over nine years ago.

The Associated Press

 

Dec 052019
 

What are you?    Are you a Reason a Season or a Lifetime?

 

Pay attention to what you read. After you read this, you will know the reason it was sent to you!

 

People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which one it is, you will know what to do for each person.

 

When someone is in your life for a REASON. . . It is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are! They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrong doing on your part, or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered.

And now it is time to move on.

 

Then people come into your life for a SEASON. Because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They bring you an experience of peace, or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

 

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person, and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

 

THANK YOU for being a part of my life.

– – – – – – – – –

Work like you don’t need the money

Love like you’ve never been hurt, and

dance like no one is watching.

Dec 052019
 
Add the following to the TALLY:
It will cost more than $80 million to clean this up.
EXCERPT:

The Alberta Energy Regulator suspended all of Houston’s licences for wells producing natural gas containing toxic hydrogen sulphide on Aug. 30 after the company warned it would have to shut down all of its oil and gas operations due to its financial distress.

Last month, the AER ordered all of Houston’s licences suspended and noted it hadn’t paid $1.34 million in levies it owed to the orphan well fund.

It said Houston had advised it no longer had any employees.

The company’s production is about 95 per cent natural gas, mainly from wells in southeastern Alberta.

Dec 022019
 

NOTE:

  • Carney is a Canadian who went to Wall Street (an investment banker with Goldman Sachs Group).  Then was appointed Governor of the Bank of Canada;  followed by Governor of the Bank of England.
  • He will now take over as UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance.
  • Postings related to Carney are at bottom.  He has kept his name clean.  HOWEVER
  • While in London, Carney made compelling statements about the need to clean up offshore banking.  As far as I am aware,  there has been no progress on that file and the international corruption of which it is part.
  • He has connections to the “Inclusive Capitalism Initiative” (ICI).   It is a RE-BRANDING of capitalism in the wake of the 2007-08 Wall Street meltdown and the anti-capitalism sentiment engendered.
  • To the extent that Carney is a tool of the Financial Industry, adept at making it APPEAR that serious problems are being dealt with head-0n, he will be beneficial to the powers-that-be.
  • Over-burdened with claims related to climate change, the Insurance Industry world-wide lost a billion dollars last year.  The insurance industry is a component of The Banksters.
  • I would like to think that Carney will do a good job in his new role.  But after a review of the Related Postings at the bottom,  I think I should “get real”.  He will do a good job for the power elite.
  • It will be beneficial for all the Corporatocracy to have a representative at the Centre.   Average people will once again be betrayed by nice talk but little effective action in halting the destruction of the capability of the planet to support the existence of human beings.   Not unless we are willing to rise up, mobilize and make change at the local level.

= = = == = = = = = = = =

Bank of England governor steps down in January and will replace Michael Bloomberg  (as UN special envoy for climate action and finance)

by Sarah Butler

Mark Carney has been appointed as UN special envoy for climate action and finance as he prepares to step down as governor of the Bank of England in January.

Carney replaces billionaire Michael Bloomberg in the part time pro bono climate action role after the former New York mayor stepped down to focus on the US presidential race.

The governor has been signed up to galvanise action among financial institutions ahead of the 26th round of global climate talks in November 2020. His main focus will be on mobilising private finance to invest in schemes that will help achieve the Paris climate agreement goal of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C.

Michael Bloomberg, left, and Mark Carney.

His remit will include building frameworks for financial reporting and risk management.

Carney said the new role, for which he will be paid a token $1 a year once his term at the Bank of England ends, would provide “a platform to bring the risks from climate change and the opportunities from the transition to a net-zero economy into the heart of financial decision-making.”

He said: “The disclosures of climate risk must become comprehensive, climate risk management must be transformed, and investing for a net-zero world must go mainstream. The Bank of England, the UK government and the UK financial sector can play leading roles in making these imperatives happen.”

Carney has previously spoken out about the need for change, warning in October that the global financial system was backing carbon-producing projects that would raise the temperature of the planet by over 4C.

Carney is due to end his six-and-a-half-year stint at Threadneedle Street at the end of January but the government has postponed the announcement of a successor until after the general election.

Carney has twice extended his term but the Treasury has indicated it is confident that the new government will be in a position to make an appointment from a slate of candidates soon after the election on 12 December.

The shortlist is thought to include Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority; Minouche Shafik, head of the London School of Economics; Shriti Vadera, chair of Santander UK; and Ben Broadbent and Jon Cunliffe, both deputy governors at the Bank.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

 

Banksters: Index

2017-05-25 Larry Summers – Dominic Barton connection. “Inclusive Capitalism Initiative” as “re-branding”. Summers bad news (corrupt), Canadian financial matters, advisor to Liberals.

An email thread collecting the connections.  Good content but only if you have time.

2016-04-04 The Panama Papers: world reacts to huge offshore tax files leak, The Guardian.

Steven Hiatt leads a discussion on A Game as Old as Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption.

The authors tell how multinational corporations, governments, powerful individuals, banks, other financial institutions, and quasi-governmental agencies operate to enrich small elites and corporate coffers while often impoverishing masses of people and creating debt and dependency that economically enslave countries for generations. Editor Steve Hiatt, who has worked as an editor and writer for several Bay Area companies, including Apple Computer, Netscape, Progressive Asset Management, and Stanford Research Institute, talks this evening with two of the book’s contributors, Antonia Juhasz, who writes of “Global Uprising: The Web of Resistance” and Ellen Augustine, who writes on “The Philippines, the World Bank, and the Race to the Bottom” –

Beyond Banksters: Resisting the New Feudalism, 2016, by Joyce Nelson, Watershed Sentinel Books, Comox, BC

2015-03- 06 Climate change: why the Guardian is putting threat to Earth front and centre

2014-06-03 ICI (“inclusive capitalism initiative) Christine Lagarde, Mark Carney wouldn’t take a pay cut, so why talk up inequality? Financial Post

2014-05-27 Bank of England Governor Mark Carney’s speech given at the Conference on Inclusive Capitalism

2014-05-27 ‘Inclusive capitalism’ the big new thing? from DW, German international broadcaster. (Dominic Barton)

Dec 022019
 

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney’s speech given at the Conference on Inclusive Capitalism, London on Tuesday 27 May 2014.

 

(Carney – Canadian, went to Wall Street, then Governor of Bank of Canada, then Governor of Bank of England,  and December 2019 to UN Special Envoy on Climate Change and finance.)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1ZFZGWNw7U

Full Speech

 

http://www.pressprogress.ca/en/post/ex-bank-canada-governor-mark-carney-blastsradical-fundamentalist-capitalism

Clip of his speech.

 

May be of interest:   http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3141570/EXCLUSIVE-INTERVIEW-Bank-England-Governor-Mark-Carney-British-financial-royalty-pedigree-match.html