Category Archives: rodwebber

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Noam Chomsky: The Trump Monster, Covid protests, and the greatest achievements of humanity

0noam

My interview with Professor Chomsky tackled a wide variety of topics. Here are a couple of highlights.

CHOMSKY: The Trump Monster happens to be unique. We have never had anything like this is American history. It’s hard to find examples in world history, if there are any. But there’s a background, of course. It hasn’t been a completely monstrous country, by any means. So, for example, the period from FDR into the 70s had many positive aspects. The country overcame many of the really serious, ugly, brutal aspects of its past, and there were many achievements in that period that were not gifts from above. They were the result of popular, dedicated activism— from the labor movement, activism in the 1930s lead to the New Deal, to the activism of the Civil Rights movement, the anti-war movement, the women’s movement, and so on. It made a big difference in the country. Now, if you look back at the total history, it’s not a pretty story.

CHOMSKY: Trump is a monstrous figure, but a very effective confidence man— he’s kind of like the old story in American life— The PT Barnum type— the guy who can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge. If you read Huckleberry Finn, one of the main characters is the King who pretends to be the legitimate King of France. Trump is the epitome of this, and he’s perfected the style of confidence man. What that means is you serve your primary constituency. Give the wealthy and the corporations everything they could possibly want so they’ll tolerate your antics— meanwhile shaft everyone else— but to pretend to be working for them— “their man”, “their savior” and so on. And he’s carried it off very effectively.

Noam speaks about the nexus between Trump and the suffering of others:

CHOMSKY: Cut back anything that might be beneficial to people— including health care right in the middle of an epidemic- pandemic. And subsidize the fossil fuel industry. What more do we want to know? Of course this happens all the time. Take a look at the so called stimulus bill. Its a good thing. Have to have something after this— in the current conditions. Who’s the money going to? 50 billion dollars are going to the airlines.

CHOMSKY: Fifty billion dollars are going to the airlines— why did he need fifty billion dollars? Since because like the rest of the corporate sector they’ve been gorging since the near recession. They spent nearly fifty billion dollars that they’re asking for just in buy backs to inflate the value of their stock and enrich their corporate managers and CEOs. Now they’re saying we’re sorry and wanna get fifty billion dollars back. How about instead of that, taking over the airlines, socializing. Say obviously you guys can’t run it. Society will run it.

CHOMSKY: The fossil fuel industry is collapsing. If you look at today’s news, they have to pay you to take their oil. Instead of subsidizing them, how about taking them over? Take ‘em over and put ‘em out of business. That’s the only way to save society. It can be done. It’s not even that expensive right now. So, let’s do that instead of subsidizing.

CHOMSKY: Suppose that the worst case takes place— the Trump version on the virus. A lot of people will be killed— maybe millions. But there will be recovery, just as there was a century ago from what’s called the Spanish Flu. Tens of millions killed. There’s not going to be recovery from the melting of the polar ice caps. There’s not going to be recovery from the other harmful consequences of the destruction of the environment— one of Trump’s prime commitments. No recovery from that. Once that happens, we’re toast.

CHOMSKY: The greatest achievements of humanity are gaining freedom and justice over a very broad range, through constant struggle. The world is much better than it was even earlier in my lifetime. Those are really great achievements of popular struggle, which should never be stopped. And that can not only prevent the worst outcome, but can lead to much better ones. A much better world is within our grasp with a realistic look at what’s happening. No descending into illusions and pretenses. Take a look at the real world, the opportunities available— pursue them. You can get a better world.

 

Here is the full video.

Many thanks to Noam Chomsky, and to Greyson Welch for his technical assistance in producing these videos, which will be part of a large film project coming soon!

Follow Noam on twitter: @NoamChomskyT

@RodWebber

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Trump Org re: Why video should be tossed: “Judges can’t be mind readers.”

arrest

So Peter Cowan and the other lawyers for the Trump Organizations have come up with a new reason as to why the Court should dismiss my video: “Judges cannot be expected to be mind readers.” Yikes. That’s *why* there’s video.

Here’s their argument, (from document 161.)

“The Court did not commit a manifest error of law by excluding information in appendixes.

Webber’s argument that the Court should have considered all of the material listed in his 31-pages of Appendixes fails. Webber bore the burden to make a prima facie showing that the Court had jurisdiction over the Trump Organization Defendants. Sawtelle v. Farrell, 70 F.3d 1381, 1387 (1st Cir. 1995). That burden required him to identify specific facts to support the Court’s exercise of jurisdiction—he could not rest solely on his pleadings. Forest-Miller, Inc. v. Babcock & Wilcox Canada, 46 F.3d 138, 145 (1st Cir. 1995). Webber’s assertion that the Court should have sifted through numerous vague descriptions of internet sources, news articles, and YouTube videos, without explicitly identifying the sources with dates, authors, or hyperlinks ignores this burden.

The First Circuit has repeatedly observed that “[o]verburdened trial judges cannot be expected to be mind readers.” McCoy v. Mass. Inst. of Tech., 950 F.2d 13, 22 (1st Cir. 1991). If Webber could make a prima facie showing of personal jurisdiction, he should have done so by explicitly identifying those facts in objection to the motion to dismiss. He did not. Accordingly, the Court did not make a manifest error of law, and Webber’s Motion should be denied.”

Obviously, in the complaint, the facts were identified, detailed descriptions were given, and the author was identified. They complained and complained that my complaint was too long. And then when I point to facts, they say that I didn’t provide enough detail. This is our legal system.

Here are the most recent filings in the case:

155 Judge’s Order

156 Judge’s Order

157  Reconsider Order

158 Reconsider Order

159 Objection by No Labels

160 Objection by Donald J. Trump

161 Objection by Trump Organizations

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Tulsi, if CNN smoked more weed with Jimmy Dore… They’d make better life-choices.

Tulsi Gabbard and Jimmy Dore hosted a “Rethinking Marijuana Roundtable” at NHTI last night. I asked Tulsi, “if CNN smoked more weed with Jimmy Dore…?” She responded, “they’d make better life choices.” I added, “and let you on the debate stage.”

tulsi weed

I also had an interesting conversation with Jimmy about the time he interviewed me about being raided by the FBI. Obviously, it didn’t make much of an impression on him… But, considering the FBI went out of their way to lie about it on TV, I figured that the targeting of journalists, (which included warrantless entry and guns out), would be quite the scoop. But Jimmy, (or TYT) decided not to publish the interview. I tried not to bust his balls too hard– because at the end of the day, I know he’s a comedian, and he has weed-smoking to get back to! He was nice enough to chat a little bit afterward, and I got plenty of interviews with Tulsi’s staff and supporters regarding CNN’s keeping Tulsi out of the debate.

Here’s a photo snapped by Jason Lowenthal.

DORE

Many thanks to David T. Grophear for filming/ producing last night, and I wish both Tulsi and Jimmy many days of smoking weed, if they so choose it!

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Flowers For War

flowers for war

Let’s face it. Peace hasn’t worked out. Instead of passing out “flowers for peace,” it’s time to start passing out “flowers for war.”

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Since New Hampshire law permits unlicensed security personnel as part of Presidential entourages to use lethal force, I am actively seeking individuals who would be interested in joining my campaign as security, so that we can start eliminating the competition. Don’t worry— it is 100% legal, and I believe that this is really the only way going forward.

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No pay, but I guarantee it will look good on your resume. DM for info. Serious inquiries only.
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Here are the laws: RSA 106-F:4, XIII allows unlicensed yahoos from out of state, traveling with national candidates to legally be called “security.” Coupled with RSA 627:5, III, such a person can use “Deadly force when he reasonably believes such to be necessary.”

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Thanks,
Rod

Flowers For Peace (Trailer) from Rod “BannedFromYouTube” Webber on Vimeo.

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Webber v. Trump assault case to proceed

deck in keene

The judge has ordered my case against Trump and his minions to move forward.

Fun fact: I’ve been arrested eight times since the 2016 election. But, this is the case that’s taken the longest. Here’s the backstory:

On Oct. 12th, 2015, Vermin and I attended the “No Labels Problem Solvers Convention,” a multi-candidate event comprised of Democrats and Republicans ranging from Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump. It was a rowdy event geared toward college-aged kids, featuring “Problem Solver Man,” in green spandex played by Zach Fox of Fat Camp Films.

After Donald Trump briefly took to the stage, there were some issues with the sound system for the Q&A, so I took the opportunity to politely stand and ask Trump a question. I was in the front row and reminded Trump he was roughed up at a Trump rally in Rochester the week before. At that rally, Trump had called on me to recite my favorite bible verse. I replied, “First Timothy 3, 1-7. It is noble to seek the office of overseer, but he who does, should be above reproach, sober-minded, not quarrelsome, married only once and not a great lover of money.” In Rochester, Trump replied, “oh boy, am I in trouble, am I in trouble.” As I was trying to leave Rochester, I received many kidney punches, and had my camera swatted to the floor, ruining most of the footage— but I was able to salvage some, proving it had indeed happened.

Rod Webber’s No Label’s arrest from Rod “BannedFromYouTube” Webber on Vimeo.

At No Labels, Trump responded, “you look healthy to me,” at which point they were plugging in the PA, making Trump’s response inaudible from where I was. At this time, Eddie Deck Junior, (who had attacked Efrain Galicia in New York City the month before), tapped me on the shoulder and told me if I went to the back of the room to go to the mic I could ask my question. Suspecting I was being deceived, I nonetheless followed through with the political theater, and went to the back of the room. Of course, there was no mic, and when I turned around there were a wall of Trump staff stopping me from going back. I reminded them it wasn’t a Trump rally. A Trump staffer, Fred Doucette told me, “you want the mic, you’re not getting the mic.” The situation escalated, with Eddie when I challenged his jurisdiction, reminding him that he had no authority there. I asked his name, and Eddie responded, “you wanna know my name— you’re about to see my name all over your face.” This was a clear threat. Eddie and other staffers began signaling to off-duty police which were hired by No Labels as security, and “Officer” James Pittman grabbed me from behind without warning, as Eddie joined in. The two of them worked in tandem, throwing me over a table, ala WWE Wrestling.

I was again thrown to the ground and roughed up some more by Deck. He was taken outside by the rent-a-cops who briefly detained him, then released him. When off of the property, I spoke to Sgt. Alan Aldenberg, and asked to press charges against Deck and his officers. Aldenberg walked back to his men, then came back and arrested me. This is what is known as a retaliatory arrest. Since the officers were in uniform, Deck was liable under color of law, 42 USC section 1983. Through respondeat superior, this makes Trump and the Campaign responsible for the actions of its employees. No Labels is also responsible for it’s employees, (the off-duty cops).

I spent a good chunk of 2016 proving my own innocence, and by 2018, I put forward a civil case, naming No Labels, the Manchester Police, Trump, Deck and all of their shell companies. On Jan 2nd, 2020, the court denying claims against the Radisson Hotel.

The good news is that as Vermin and I were arriving last night for Vermin’s appearance speaking to the New Hampshire Libertarian Party, I received an ORDER from the Judge saying that the core case against Eddie Deck and his shell company XMark was valid, and would move forward. Deck is being represented by Trump’s lawyers— and I’ve been holding off about a dozen of them since 2018, through 153 lengthy motions. In their defense, Trump’s lawyers cited a series of laws, which jointly claim a security guard for a presidential candidate can use lethal force to maintain decorum if they feel it is necessary.RSA 106-F:4, XIII allows unlicensed yahoos from out of state, traveling with national candidates to legally be called “security.” Coupled with RSA 627:5, III, such a person can use “Deadly force when he reasonably believes such to be necessary.” I guess I should be glad that Trump’s goons merely went WWE on me.

I approached State Representative Chris Balch about this troubling law, and Balch is working to get the law changed.

Though a number of my claims have been dismissed, they have been dismissed improperly. In the footnotes of pages 2-3 of the Judge’s order, (likely written by a court clerk), the court opines, “The appendices are comprised of information provided by Webber about some of the defendants and his communications with them.” The continue, “Webber did not provide copies of emails, videos, photos, articles, or documents. Therefore, the items referred to in the appendices do not provide evidence that can be considered by the court.”

Unfortunately, this incorrect statement by the court has been used as the basis to dismiss the vast majority of claims which have been dropped. We can simply look to document 75 in the case to the appendices section to see that all of the email correspondences between No Labels and the Manchester Police have been submitted in full. Moreover, links to videos were included, since physical DVDs or other media cannot be submitted to the court.

The Standard of Review in a civil case only requires that the Plaintiff allege facts. It is up to the jury to decide whether the facts presented by the Plaintiff are true. As stated by the Judge on page 2 of her order, “In considering a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of
Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), the court accepts the well-pleaded factual allegations in the complaint as true and construes reasonable inferences in the plaintiff’s favor,” citing Breiding v.Eversource Energy, 939 F.3d 47, 49 (1st Cir. 2019). The ORDER continues, “A claim is facially plausible ‘when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged,’” citing Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009).

While this case might not seem like much in contrast to Trump’s impeachment, or his highly questionable assassination of an Iranian General on a diplomatic mission— if only the corporate media was paying attention to the case, they might have noticed that Trump was using it to say he can kill anyone anywhere— and for all we know, Mr. Trump is already working on stealing Vermin’s platform promise to execute all Americans. Only time will tell.

Read motions 1-153:

Flowers For Peace (Trailer) from Rod “BannedFromYouTube” Webber on Vimeo.