Peter did refer to International Common Law. Along these lines, one of the first cases involving the prosecution for war crimes was the trial of the Confederate Commandant of Andersonville. Henry Wirz pleaded for more resources. But overcrowding and lack of resources led to many deaths of Union POWs.

Wirz was convicted of war crimes and hanged.  This case helped form the foundation of the International Common Law prohibitions against war crimes and of Nurnberg Crimes Against Humanity. So, overcrowding and disease now inflict great harm and in some instances death in the camps of the undocumented along our southern border.

To say this is an example of how progressive he was on race is beyond ridiculous.

First, race was never really mentioned in the speech.  French, Trurkish, German and Japanese, not Africa, Jamaica, or any brown country.

Second, The voluminous record of Reagan's racial dog whistling and his shameless exploitation of racial division is everywhere.

During his 1976 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan said, "There's a woman in Chicago. She has 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards and is collecting veterans' benefits on four nonexistent deceased husbands. She's got Medicaid, is getting food stamps and welfare under each of her names. Her tax-free cash income alone is over $150,000." The woman Reagan described was ultimately dubbed the "welfare queen" by the Chicago Tribune, a phrase that has widely been linked to the iconic GOP politician. Reagan's infamous story was based on the tale of a real person named Linda Taylor, a black woman from Chicago.

Reagan has been widely been attributed with racializing the debate over welfare in the U.S. This continues to impact both perceptions and policy regarding welfare, which has had a detrimental impact on communities of color, research shows.

The country fair "states rights" speech

It was bitter symbolism for black Americans (though surely not just for black Americans). Countless observers have noted that Reagan took the Republican Party from virtual irrelevance to the ascendancy it now enjoys. The essence of that transformation, we shouldn't forget, is the party's successful wooing of the race-exploiting Southern Democrats formerly known as Dixiecrats. And Reagan's Philadelphia appearance was an important bouquet in that courtship.

I really hope some who gives enough of a shi+ to write letters lets Joe Scarborough, John Mecham, Mike Barnicle and others of this fact.

So they will STFU about what a model of racial sensitivity Reagan was.

Hillary won Orange County by 9 points.  Obama lost it twice.  As did Bill.

And, in 2018, all House seats in Orange County, or those located largely in Orange County, turned from red to blue.  All the House members from Orange County are Democrats. The GOP lost 5 seats in Orange County alone.

Now, it appears that party affiliation is now changing too.  The Republicans used to hold at least a 20 point lead in party Registration.  But now the Democrats are gaining ground quickly.  A local paper estimates that the Democrats are gaining one percentage point per month.  And, soon there will be more registered Democrats than Republicans in Orange County.

Trump did this.

Orange County is the proverbial white college flight from the GOP.

 Pompeo, a right- wing Christian extremist, is concerned that Human Rights has "lost its bearings and become more of an industry than a moral compass."  The task, therefore, is to shrink human rights, since real human rights are clashing with other human rights.

The organizing principle for the Commision's work is "Natural Law", a Catholic theology adopted by Evangelicals.  This theology, essentially, is to inform the ordering of society--issues such as abortion, feminism, and gay rights.

 Apparently, the State Department has concerns that human rights advocates are coming up with new rights, or extending human rights presently enjoyed by the likes of Pompeo to others. That needs to be looked into.

The Commission has been formed without the input of the State Departmen's bureau of human rights. The members are, as you might expect, those who are staunchly opposed to gay and trans rights and women's rights.

 The Chairwoman is a real piece of work:  Mary Ann Glendon, a long-term and continuing advisor to the Vatican, and former Ambassador to the Holy See. (and a mentor to Pompeo when he was a student at Harvard Law).

  The 80-year old anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-contraception Chair, is presently Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard.  No early retirement for her. In 1995, as a Vatican representative to the Bejing Conference she contested the use of condoms for family planning as well as in HIV/AIDS prevention.

In 2002, Ambassador Glendon derided the Boston Globe's Pulitzer for its investigation/coverage of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests(cf. Spotlight), saying the award was akin to giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Osama bin Laden.  In 2009, Ms. Glendon was the recipient of Notre Dame University's Laetare Medal, but she declined the award due to the University inviting President Obama to its commencement speaker and award him an honorary degree. She opposes feminism because of negative attitudes toward men marriage and motherhood.

Ms. Glendon's personal life is interesting, having married, as she reports "an African American attorney" in the early 60's shortly after graduating from the University of Chicago. She was divorced after two years, having had a daughter.  She later re-married to a labor attorney and was married until his death.  She notes that her first marriage was a civil ceremony so that that one does not count in the Catholic religion, and her second marriage was her first marriage.  It is as if she is, also, a cannon lawyer.

Ambassador Glendon, along with her merry band of human rights guys, should really come up with some good stuff, like re-defining human rights for the globe. And, expedite discrimination and bigotry.

Editor,

Anyone concerned that there is no citizenship question on the census form should just write their status in.  Problem solved.

[Repack Rider]

Headline from Huffpost. And I couldn't agree more. When is Pelosi and the Democratic Party going to get off their collective a$$es and impeach the impostor at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.?

The Democratic Party needs to stop being so careful and calculating and act. It's the same ol, same ol. The Democrats for too long being afraid of being accused of being unpatriotic, soft on crime, etc. etc. Stop already. You just look weak, weak, weak. Lots of talk, no action. And eventually you cave.

Stop trying to not offend the other side. They don't care. And I certainly don't. Offend away. Call them deplorable. Call them despicable. They are all of that and more.

VP Mike Pence subjected to overwhelming `stench of urine' while touring a Trump concentration camp

Let's be real here, and admit that as wonderful as NASA is, our space program's roots are nevertheless firmly anchored in some pretty dubious historical soils, thanks to Americans' innate capacity for hasty improvisation and moral equivocation in the face of opportunity.

NASA's very existence is due primarily to the fact that at the end of the Second World War, a handful of savvy field officers in the United States Army knew a potential windfall when one dropped into their laps. And so, when Dr. von Braun and about 120 of his colleagues from Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde surrendered to them personally on May 3, 1945, they quickly took it upon themselves to successfully spirit away nearly the entire cadre of German rocket scientists, before our country's Soviet allies could lay their own clutches on them.  

Peas & Loaves to all.

"What am I supposed to do, only criticize senators?"

I thought she was pretty amazing today.  I loved that she, when asked about hating America, pointed out that Trumps primary campaign message was about all that was so terribly wrong with the country.  All that need to be fixed that only he could fix.

Game of Thrones leads with the most nominations.  4 of the 6 for supporting actress.  I hope they clean up just to own the haters.

But boy, what a list of nominations.  What a great year for tv.

Joe Biden says that if the president were to make an issue of his age or energy level during a debate, he would challenge him to a push-up contest on the spot.

'I'd say, "C'mon Donald. C'mon man. How many push-ups do you want to do here, pal?" Biden told 'Morning Joe' co-host Mika Brzezinski in an interview broadcast Tuesday.

Biden, 76, said he often runs instead of walks along parade routes like the one where he appeared July 4 in Independence, Missouri.

'I mean, jokingly. ... C'mon. Run with me, man,' he told an invisible Trump, 73.

That at least broke the spell and I was able to fast forward.  But only after I had a nightmarish vision of this happening.

Trump would eat this guy and poop him out right on stage.

Pentagon Ordered to Tell Congress If It Weaponized Ticks And Released Them Into the Public

`Clone tick' swarms, new to U.S., are killing cattle by draining their blood, chasing after humans