J. Fitzpatrick

How can a society that agrees Federal legalization & regulation of alcohol & tobacco are the best, most effective ways to keep our kids safe and insulated from these drugs then turnaround and claim that the exact opposite is the most effective way to keep other drugs from kids

Rick Sanchez, a veteran who climbed the ranks of CNN, Fox, and NBC, says the unspoken rule is simple: "If you say something positive toward Iran or antagonistic toward Israel, you're done. You're finished. You're fired." Not just fired — blacklisted. They will make sure you never work again. This is how deep Israel lobby controls the narrative”

France is on the eve of voting one of the most shameful laws in its history: it would effectively outlaw criticism of Israel and criminalize any speech seen as even remotely sympathetic to whoever the French government chooses to designate a "terrorist group." In effect this law would turn France's foreign policy into unchallengeable dogma backed by prison time. You could literally be sent for 5 years in prison if you, for instance, call what France says are "terrorists" a "resistance group." Think for instance Nelson Mandela during the apartheid (the ANC was on every Western terrorist list) or, heck, France's own Résistance against Nazi Germany - designated as "terrorists" by the Vichy regime and the Nazi occupation. It's frankly absolutely insane. The new law is called "loi Yadan" after its author Caroline Yadan, a MP who represents French expatriates living in Israel. The U.S. has congressmen paid by AIPAC: France has cut out the middleman entirely, we have MPs whose constituency is literally in Israel. The law has already passed committee and heads to a full parliamentary vote on April 16th - 3 days from now - under a very unusual fast-track procedure. Seven of eleven parliamentary groups have said they'll vote yes and the law is expected to pass. What does the law say? Let me quote from it directly (full text here: assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/17/textes/…): 1) Article 1 introduces the concept of "implicit" provocation to terrorism and punishes it with five years imprisonment and a fine of €75,000 That's the one I was speaking about. Under this provision, describing anyone France designates as terrorist as a "resistance movement" - the way France describes its own Résistance against Nazi occupation - could effectively become a crime. The key concept is what does "implicit provocation to terrorism" mean? Nobody knows. And that's the point. It means whatever a prosecutor wants it to mean: a perfectly good case could be made that, for instance, quoting international law on the right of occupied peoples to resist with respect to Hamas is, in fact, "implicit provocation to terrorism." France's most famous anti-terrorism judge, Marc Trévidic, says he has never seen anything like it in his entire career (x.com/CharliesIngall…): "Implicit provocation to terrorism: do you realize what that means? Becoming a censor of other people's thoughts, trying to guess what a person really meant." 2) The same article also expands the terrorism apology offense to include "minimizing or trivializing acts of terrorism in an outrageous manner." This is even crazier: until now, "apology of terrorism" meant actually expressing a favorable judgment of "terrorist acts" (which is already insane because, as we all know, one person's terrorist is another's freedom fighter). Well, under this new provision, a judge could decide that providing context, explaining root causes, or insufficiently condemning an act amounts to "trivializing" terrorism - and that would now be punishable with 5 years in prison. So, for instance, a history teacher explaining the origins of Hamas or Hezbollah is providing context - but a prosecutor could argue that contextualization is trivialization. The same reasoning could apply to a journalist, a researcher, or anyone on social media who says "yes, it was terrible, but here's why it happened." The "but" becomes a crime, as it is trivialization. 3) Article 4 expands Holocaust denial law Under current French law, denying the Holocaust is already a crime. This provision extends that crime by specifying that contestation of crimes against humanity now includes, "whatever its formulation, a negation, minimization, or outrageous trivialization" of those crimes. Again with "outrageous trivialization"! In this instance the very authors of the text - Caroline Yadan and her colleagues - explain their reasoning explicitly in the law's preamble (assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/17/textes/…): "Comparing the State of Israel to the Nazi regime would thereby be punishable as an outrageous trivialization of the Shoah." So while the provision is written in general terms, its architects are openly saying what it's for: making it a crime to draw any parallel between Israel's actions and those of the Nazis. 4) Article 2 creates a brand new crime: calling for the destruction of a state. The law adds to an existing 1881 press law a provision punishing anyone who "publicly, in disregard of the right of peoples to self-determination and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, calls for the destruction of a state recognized by the French Republic." Five years imprisonment, €75,000 fine. The qualifiers about self-determination and the UN Charter are meant to sound reassuring. But what does "destruction" mean? In practice, if you advocate for a one-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians live as equals, you are de-facto calling for the "destruction" of the state of Israel. Well, that would now be punishable by 5 years in prison 🤷 There you go. Absolutely insane: if this new law passes, and it unfortunately very much looks like it will, France - the country that gave the world the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the country whose national identity is built on the Résistance - will have made it illegal to use the word 'resistance' about anyone the government doesn't like. Jean Moulin would be prosecuted. De Gaulle would be prosecuted. The only people who wouldn't be prosecuted are those who stay silent. Which, of course, is the whole point.

Trump’s latest proposal to gut the U.S. Forest Service isn’t about efficiency—it’s about walking away from the stewardship of our nation’s forests. It means fewer firefighters during fire season. It means less protection for our watersheds. And it means walking away from forest stewardship at a time when we should be doubling down. Leaving our communities vulnerable to catastrophic fires, water insecurity, and potential loss of forests—and doing so without Congressional approval—that’s why we are fighting back! 🌲@NRDems

Armed masked man starts fight at high school ICE protest—turns out to be off duty police sergeant. His plan was to trick students to "assault me"—then "arrest them all." Then called his buddies with rifles to "back him up." Sgt. Dusten Mullen makes $336,000 a year—making him a top 10 earner in the Phoenix Police Department. He is currently on administrative leave—which means he's reassigned to work from home. Incident occurred outside Hamilton High School in Chandler, Arizona.

🚨🇮🇹 Following legal action by the #HindRajabFoundation, Israeli war criminal Ofer Winter has cancelled his trip and did not travel to Italy out of fear of arrest. This is now confirmed. We consider this a concrete win for the HRF and our allies in Italy. When suspected war criminals are forced to alter their movements that is a form of accountability. Full accountability, however, must lead to arrest and prosecution. We will continue pursuing that objective. More info on this suspect ⬇️ hindrajabfoundation.org/posts/from-201…

Hezb0llah isn’t targeting churches, mosques, ambulances, hospitals or homes in Lebanon. I$rael is - including the burial site of St Peter - and it’s doing so with western supplied weapons. Part of my interview with Tucker Carlson

ICE brutally detain elderly protester—ambulance called to scene. Agent drags him across pavement by one leg—another grabs him around his neck with both hands. He was standing in the public area when tackled from behind. Then used high-powered lights to disable cameras filming the excessive force. Incident occurred outside the ICE Processing Center in Portland, Oregon.

Abdul El-Sayed: “If you’re out of a job, it’s probably because a corporation figured out how to automate your job. If you’re out of a home, it’s probably because a corporation is speculating on the home that you should have been able to afford. If you’re out of healthcare, it’s probably because a corporation has figured out how to monetize you because you get sick”

BREAKING: Israeli troops ram UN peacekeeper vehicles with tank, destroy cameras and obstruct view of UN outposts in south Lebanon, UNIFIL says 🔴 LIVE updates: aje.news/x545rk?update=…

It appears that the zero enrichment poison pill killed the Islamabad negotiations yesterday. We have 9 more days in this cease fire to fix this, but we must pursue our goals not Israel's. Trump's redline has always been no nuclear weapons for Iran, not zero enrichment. Iran agrees with this and has not sought to develop or obtain a nuke since 2003 but needs to retain the ability to enrich for their "not Saddam but not Qaddafi" policy to work. This makes negotiations between the U.S. & Iran workable as the dispute is on levels of enrichment and monitoring. This is a threat to Israel getting us to do the heavy lifting in the regime change/decapitation war they want. Israel needs us chasing every trace of uranium in Iran because that ensures we stay engaged militarily in Iran, because how do we ever fully make sure Iran can't enrich without taking out the regime? This is the recipe for an endless bloody war or supporting/turning a blind eye to Israel using a WMD on Iran. Restrain Israel, get a deal, open the SOH, focus on saving our Republic, not playing empire.

This is propaganda.

The Walton family worth $538 billion forces Walmart workers to work part time paying them wages so low they must rely on food stamps and Medicaid to survive subsidized by your taxes reshaping the entire workforce & making the Walton family the biggest welfare queen in America.

🚨BREAKING – Mexico's President has decided to roll out Universal Healthcare for all Mexicans Around 130 million citizens will begin to enjoy free healthcare from next year

@DefendOurJuries Damn! And I thought America was occupied.

BREAKING: Mass arrests under the Terrorism Act in Trafalgar Square, as hundreds defy the ban on Palestine Action. The police are knowingly unlawfully arresting peaceful protestors for holding placards which say: "I oppose genocide - I support Palestine Action"

@Keir_Starmer , it’s a mystery why Palestine Action is banned in the UK while the IDF operates freely. ⚖️ 40k children & 70k civilians killed in Gaza. 2,500 in Lebanon this week. 2,000+ in Iran. As a former Human Rights Lawyer, you of all people should know this violates every international norm. How can you justify this double standard? 🏛️🇬🇧 #HumanRights #InternationalLaw #DoubleStandard #StopTheWar

One of Orwell's nightmares materialised would be this: potential war criminals and arm manufacturers implicated in a genocide allowed to roam and operate freely, while citizens get arrested for opposing a genocide.

Israel operates the most well-documented torture & rape dungeon in the world: A 42-year-old woman from north Gaza, former Sde Teiman innmate said: "She was bound naked to a metal table and repeatedly raped by two masked soldiers over the course of two days. She recalled that she was left shackled, naked and bleeding throughout the night before the soldiers returned the next day to continue raping her. Throughout her ordeal, she was filmed. Soldiers later showed her the footage while she was hung by her wrists under interrogation, threatening to publish the videos if she did not "cooperate". Amir, a 35-year-old Palestinian man also held at Sde Teiman, recounted how soldiers forced him to strip naked, before their dogs urinated on him and raped him. He described how the dog "penetrated my anus in a trained manner while I was being beaten". "This continued for several minutes. I felt profoundly humiliated and violated." ...a soldier in Sde Teiman inserted a fire extinguisher nozzle into a Palestinian prisoner’s anus and then discharged its contents into his body, resulting in severe internal injuries and intense pain."

@s_m_marandi Witkoff and Kushner……hmmm, I wonder who they do work for???

Their objective was "no deal." They don't work for the US.