The Problem is Civil Obedience by Howard Zinn + Matt Damon Reads from Howard Zinn’s Speech

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by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Previously published on November 25, 2013
March 22, 2018

[By the latter part of May, 1970, feelings about the war in Vietnam had become almost unbearably intense. In Boston, about a hundred of us decided to sit down at the Boston Army Base and block the road used by buses carrying draftees off to military duty. We were not so daft that we thought we were stopping the flow of soldiers to Vietnam; it was a symbolic act, a statement, a piece of guerrilla the after. We were all arrested and charged, in the quaint language of an old statute, with “sauntering and loitering” in such a way as to obstruct traffic.

“An Idiot Surrounded by Clowns”: Why Trump (Still) Sits in the White House by Paul Street + Max Blumenthal on Fire and Fury, Clinton Probe, and Russiagate

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by Paul Street
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Official Website of Paul Street
Previously published at Counterpunch
January 6, 2018

Most of the media’s attention on journalist Michael Wolff’s “explosive” new book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House has focused on the disclosure that Trump’s former political strategist Steve Bannon used the words “treasonous” and “unpatriotic” to describe Donald Trump, Jr. and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner’s infamous June 2016 meeting with Russians claiming to possess damaging information on Hillary Clinton.

Michael Parenti: Capitalism vs. Reality (2015)

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

with Michael Parenti
Writer, Dandelion Salad
November 20, 2017

anti-imperialism on Oct 31, 2017

Springfield, Illinois, 6th October 2015.

This took ages to upload and the audio might be a bit loud or quiet at some points, sorry.

Pull Down That Statue of the U.S. Constitution by David Swanson

Image by Brad Dougherty via Flickr

with David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy
September 17, 2017

Nobody, not racist warmakers, not imaginary non-racist warmakers, not founding fathers, not radical protesters should be made into a deity, larger than life, in marble or bronze, on horseback or otherwise. Nobody is that flawless, and nobody’s story so withstands the test of time. We need human-sized statues and memorials of whole movements.

Will the Federal Civil Service Defend Us? by Ralph Nader

Image by KAZ Vorpal via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
August 8, 2017

As the Trump wrecking crew ramps up its destructive campaign against federal health and safety protections and social services for impoverished, disabled and vulnerable people (young and old) the latest targets of their ire are the federal civil servants who faithfully keep our government functioning here and abroad.

Edward Snowden: Liberty VS Surveillance

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

Ruptly TV on Apr 18, 2017

National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden is due to participate via a video link during an international conference at College of William & Mary in Williamsburg on Tuesday, April 18.

The Problem is Civil Obedience by Howard Zinn

Image by Kenneth Lu via Flickr

by Howard Zinn
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Previously published on November 25, 2013
Originally published on www.thirdworldtraveler.com
1970, from the Zinn Reader, Seven Stories Press
February 7, 2017

[By the latter part of May, 1970, feelings about the war in Vietnam had become almost unbearably intense. In Boston, about a hundred of us decided to sit down at the Boston Army Base and block the road used by buses carrying draftees off to military duty. We were not so daft that we thought we were stopping the flow of soldiers to Vietnam; it was a symbolic act, a statement, a piece of guerrilla the after. We were all arrested and charged, in the quaint language of an old statute, with “sauntering and loitering” in such a way as to obstruct traffic.

Ralph Nader: Scalia, Hillary Clinton and the Upholding of Corporate Supremacy, Part 2

Image by David Shankbone via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Ralph Nader

TheRealNews on Feb 22, 2016

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader says both the Republican and Democratic parties are subservient to corporate power.

The Conundrums of Justice Scalia by Ralph Nader + A Cover for Corporatism in Scalia’s “Originalism”

Image by Doran via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
February 20, 2016

The passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin “Nino” Scalia evoked widespread commentary about how outspoken he was both on the Court and at law schools and other forums where he often lectured and sometimes tangled with audiences. Knowing of Justice Scalia’s unusual expressiveness for a jurist, my colleague Robert Weissman and I wrote him a challenging letter in 2006, starting with these words:

Do Away With Elections? by Arthur D. Robbins

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by Arthur D. Robbins
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, March 24, 2015
November 11, 2015

Do away with #elections? To even think such a thought is treasonous. An election, or should I say a presidential election, is one of the few occasions, or should I say the only occasion, on which we take a genuine interest in government. We are spectators at a sporting event, a mix of a bullfight, prizefight and a barroom brawl. We get into heated arguments about which team is “better” about who deserves to win, about which gladiator will be the best for the country. There is an uppercut, a right cross, a roundhouse and he or she (not too often) is down for the count. No, he is not out. He is on his knees, struggling to his feet. The crowd roars.

Taxation Without Representation—Déjà Vu by William John Cox + Greg Palast: One Person, One Vote

by William John Cox
Writer, Dandelion Salad
williamjohncox.com
June 7, 2015

Image by Democracy Chronicles via Flickr

The Supreme Court’s acceptance of a case about the allocation of voting districts will have consequences far beyond the millions of U.S. taxpayers its ruling may deprive of representation. A decision that only counts voters, rather than all persons, will undermine the very foundation of the Republic.

Robert Scheer and Chris Hedges: They Know Everything About You, Part 4

Image by Stephen D. Melkisethian via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

TheRealNews on May 15, 2015

A debate emerges between Bob Scheer and Chris Hedges on whether the state can reform its own surveillance practices and whether it can be held accountable by appealing to constitutional principles.

Ralph Nader: Why Shake ’em Up Harvard Law School?

Dandelion Salad

with Ralph Nader

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

ShakeEmUp HLS on Oct 30, 2013

In this groundbreaking conference, Ralph Nader moderates conversations with twelve leading scholars, practitioners, and advocates about transforming America’s broken legal system. Speakers from former Attorney General Ramsey Clark to the founder of the National Legal Services program Edgar Cahn will explore topics ranging from corporate capture of government and the courts, mass incarceration, campaign finance reform, access to justice, and the excesses of executive power.

Glaring Paradoxes: Let Us Be United in Unconstitutional Federal Government Laws and Operations! by Sibel Edmonds

by Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
January 18, 2013

Image by John E. Parker via Flickr

I just finished reading a critical but seemingly irrational argument by one of the so-called constitutional experts against the concept of Nullification. I am neither an expert when it comes to constitutional law nor do I profess to be one. That said, when I sit and read analyses made for nullification by constitutional experts such as Professor Tom Woods, and then read other analyses made against nullification by experts such as Ian Millhiser, I am left with my own judgment and common sense, and my own decision-making process to judge validity.

Criminalizing Dissent by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
August 13, 2012

Image by Shrieking Tree via Flickr

I was on the 15th floor of the Southern U.S. District Court in New York in the courtroom of Judge Katherine Forrest on Tuesday. It was the final hearing in the lawsuit I brought in January against President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. I filed the suit, along with lawyers Carl J. Mayer and Bruce I. Afran, over Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). We were late joined by six co-plaintiffs including Noam Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg.

This section of the NDAA, signed into law by Obama on Dec. 31, 2011, obliterates some of our most important constitutional protections. It authorizes the executive branch to order the military to seize U.S. citizens deemed to be terrorists or associated with terrorists. Those taken into custody by the military, which becomes under the NDAA a domestic law enforcement agency, can be denied due process and habeas corpus and held indefinitely in military facilities.