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Tag: impunity

  • Column: Trump is in his Louis XIV era, and it’s not a good look

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    To say that President Trump is unfazed by Saturday’s nationwide “No Kings” rally, which vies for bragging rights as perhaps the largest single-day protest in U.S. history, is the sort of understatement too typical when describing his monarchical outrages.

    Leave aside Trump’s grotesque mockery of the protests — his post that night of an AI-generated video depicting himself as a becrowned pilot in a fighter jet, dropping poop bombs on citizens protesting peacefully below. Consider instead two other post-rally actions: On Sunday and Wednesday, “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth announced first that on Trump’s orders the military had struck a seventh boat off Venezuela and then an eighth vessel in the Pacific, bringing the number of people killed over two months to 34. The administration has provided no evidence to Congress or the American public for Trump’s claims that the unidentified dead were “narco-terrorists,” nor any credible legal rationale for the strikes. Then, on Monday, Trump began demolishing the White House’s East Wing to create the gilded ballroom of his dreams, which, at 90,000 square feet, would be nearly twice the size of the White House residence itself.

    As sickening as the sight was — heavy equipment ripping away at the historic property as high-powered hoses doused the dusty debris — Trump’s $250-million vanity project is small stuff compared to a policy of killing noncombatant civilian citizens of nations with which we are not at war (Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador). Yet together the actions reflect the spectrum of consequences of Trump’s utter sense of impunity as president, from the relatively symbolic to the murderous.

    “In America the law is king,” Thomas Paine wrote in 1776. Not in Trump’s America.

    Among the commentariat, the president’s desecration of the East Wing is getting at least as much criticism as his extralegal killings at sea. Many critics see in the bulldozing of the People’s House a metaphor for Trump’s destructive governance generally — his other teardowns of federal agencies, life-saving foreign aid, healthcare benefits and more. The metaphor is indeed apt.

    But what’s more striking is the sheer sense of impunity that Trump telegraphs, constantly, with the “je suis l’état” flare of a Louis XIV — complete (soon) with Trump’s Versailles. (Separately, Trump’s mimicry of French emperors now includes plans for a sort of Arc de Triomphe near Arlington Cemetery. A reporter asked who it would be for. “Me,” Trump said. Arc de Trump.)

    No law, domestic or international, constrains him, as far as the convicted felon is concerned. Neither does Congress, where Republicans bend the knee. Nor the Supreme Court, with its 6-3 right-wing majority, including three justices Trump chose in his first term.

    The court’s ruling last year in Trump vs. United States gives Trump virtual immunity from criminal prosecution, but U.S. servicemembers don’t have that protection when it comes to the deadly Caribbean Sea attacks or any other orders from the commander in chief that might one day be judged to have been illegal.

    The operation’s commander, Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey, reportedly expressed concerns about the strikes within the administration. Last week he announced his retirement after less than a year as head of the U.S. Southern Command. It could be a coincidence. But I’m hardly alone in counting Holsey as the latest casualty in Trump and Hegseth’s purge of perceived nonloyalists at the Pentagon.

    “When the president decides someone has to die, the military becomes his personal hit squad,” military analyst and former Republican Tom Nichols said Monday on MSNBC. Just like with kings and other autocrats: Off with their heads.

    Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a rare maverick Republican, noted on Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that in years past, the Coast Guard would board foreign boats suspected of ferrying drugs and, if contraband were found, take it and suspected traffickers into custody, often gleaning information about higher-ups to make a real dent in the drug trade. But, Paul added, about one in four boats typically had no drugs. No matter nowadays — everyone’s a target for deadly force. “So,” Paul said, “all of these people have been blown up without us knowing their name, without any evidence of a crime.” (Paul was the only Republican senator not invited to lunch with Trump on Monday in the paved-over Rose Garden.)

    On Monday, Ecuador said no evidence connects a citizen who survived a recent U.S. strike to any crime. Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the United States of murdering a fisherman in a September strike, provoking Trump to call Petro a “drug leader” and unilaterally yank U.S. foreign aid. A Venezuelan told the Washington Post that the 11 people killed in the first known U.S. strike were fishermen; national security officials told Congress the individuals were headed back to shore when hit. Meanwhile, the three countries and U.S. news reports contradict Trump’s claims that he’s destroying and seizing fentanyl — a drug that typically comes from Mexico and then is smuggled by land, usually by U.S. citizens.

    Again, no matter to America’s king, who said last week that he’s eyeing land incursions in Venezuela now “because we’ve got the sea very well under control.” Trump’s courtiers say he doesn’t need Congress’ authorization for any use of force. The Constitution suggests otherwise.

    Alas, neither it nor the law limits Trump’s White House makeover. He doesn’t have to submit to Congress because he’s tapping rich individuals and corporations for the cost. Past presidents, mindful that the house is a public treasure, not their palace, voluntarily sought input from various federal and nonprofit groups. After reports about the demolition, which put the lie to Trump’s promise in July that the ballroom “won’t interfere with the current building,” the American Institute of Architects urged its members to ask Congress to “investigate destruction of the White House.”

    Disparate as they are, Trump’s ballroom project and his Caribbean killings were joined last week. At a White House dinner for ballroom donors, Trump joked about the sea strikes: “Nobody wants to go fishing anymore.” The pay-to-play titans laughed. Shame on them.

    Trump acts with impunity because he can; he’s a lame duck. But other Republicans must face the voters. Keep the “No Kings” protests coming — right through the elections this November and next.

    Bluesky: @jackiecalmes
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    Jackie Calmes

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  • Protecting Journalists Is Protecting Freedom Of Expression For All

    Protecting Journalists Is Protecting Freedom Of Expression For All

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    In October 2022, the European Parliament published its commissioned study concerning safety of journalists and media freedom globally which found the progressive erosion of media freedom around the world. The study concluded that “impunity remains unacceptably high, with most cases of killings remaining unresolved. Imprisonments are on the rise, while online spaces are becoming increasingly hostile and replete with gender-based hate speech.”

    The study cited data collected by the Committee to Protect Journalists indicating that a majority of killings between 2012 and 2021 occurred in 11 countries, including Syria (137 killings), Iraq (39), Somalia (35), Mexico (33), Afghanistan (31), India (27), Pakistan (22), Brazil (21), Yemen (19), Philippines (16) and Bangladesh (11). The study found that a majority of fatalities was due to journalists being killed by way of reprisal for their work, while some were killed in a battlefield or in a military context. “Among those killed because of their work, 28.8% were working on political journalism, 23.8% were war reporters, 15.8% were human rights reporters, while 10.7% were investigating crime and 9.6% corruption cases.”

    Such killings are met with glaring impunity. The report refers to a data collected by the Committee to Protect Journalists which states that “from 224 cases of complete impunity during 2012-2021, 185 (82.6%) were recorded in 12 countries (…): Mexico (26 cases); Somalia (25); Syria (22); India (21); Afghanistan (17); Iraq (17); Philippines (14); Brazil (14); Pakistan (12); Bangladesh (7); South Sudan (5); and the Russian Federation (5).”

    Apart from such targeted killings, journalists are also subjected to imprisonments and other methods to use and abuse law to silence journalists. In 2021 only, the Committee to Protect Journalists recorded 293 cases of imprisonment. The mostly used charges in such cases included: “accusations of anti-state activities dominate (61.5%), ‘no charge’ (14.8 %), retaliatory action (11.7 %), false news (7 %) and defamation (3 %).”

    Other abuses of journalists include kidnappings and enforced disappearances. According to Reporters Without Borders, in 2021, at least 65 journalists and media workers were held hostage. Most hostage takings occurred in three countries: Syria (44); Iraq (11); and Yemen (9). One journalist was abducted in Mali. The Islamic State was responsible for 28 abductions, the Houthis in Yemen for 8 cases and the Syrian Jihadi group for 7 cases. According to Reporters Without Borders, 46 journalists disappeared between 2003 and 2021. The Committee to Protect Journalists recorded 69 journalist disappearances between 2002-2021 with Mexico topping the list with 15 cases (followed by Syria (10), Iraq (9) and Russia (7)).

    Such targeting of journalists requires comprehensive responses.

    On November 2, the U.N. marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, a day that the U.N. General Assembly established to urge states to “prevent violence against journalists and media workers, to ensure accountability through the conduct of impartial, speedy and effective investigations into all alleged violence against journalists and media workers falling within their jurisdiction and to bring the perpetrators of such crimes to justice and ensure that victims have access to appropriate remedies.” It calls upon member states to promote a safe environment, accommodating journalists in their work through legislative measures, raising awareness, carrying out adequate investigations, monitoring and reporting attacks committed against journalists, and by publicly condemning attacks.

    2022 also marks the 10th anniversary of the U.N. Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, the first concerted effort within the U.N. to address attacks and impunity of crimes against journalists.

    However, despite some steps done in this direction, it is clear that the promises to provide better protection for journalists is still unfulfilled. Unfortunately, as in many cases, state actors are the perpetrators of such attacks against journalists, there is little, if any, hope that the situation will ever be addressed. However, protecting journalists we must as protecting journalists is protecting freedom of expression for all.

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    Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab, Contributor

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