Call now: Reject Trump's racist border wall MoveOn Civic Action Emma Einhorn

Call now: Reject Trump's racist border wall

MoveOn Civic Action Emma Einhorn<moveon-help@list.moveon.org>

12/13/2018 9:31 AM

To  

Dear MoveOn member,

Donald Trump said he'll be "proud" to shut the government down if he doesn't get funding for his racist and wasteful border wall.¹

He's throwing a tantrum and doubling down on his demonization of immigrants, even after voters soundly rejected his hateful policies in the November election. And when Trump doesn't get his way, he lashes out—intentionally hurting families and communities, especially immigrants and communities of color.

Call your senators now at 1-844-354-9898 to say: "Reject Trump's racist border wall. No new money for ICE and CBP agents. No new detention beds. Stop Trump's cruel deportation machine."

We will not forget Trump’s policies: separating children from their families, tear-gassing asylum seekers at the border, housing children in sprawling detention camps in the desert, and cruelly ripping away DACA and TPS protections. Trump’s demand for a wall is his latest attack—and he's holding the government hostage to get his way. 

Congress must reject Trump's racist border wall—and pass a one-year clean Continuing Resolution to end Trump’s temper tantrum before he inflicts more pain on our communities. Call your senators now at 1-844-354-9898. 

On January 2 the new members of Congress will be sworn in, and Democrats will take control in the House after a hard-fought election. They'll be able to hold Trump and his administration accountable while also fighting for permanent protections for Dreamers and TPS holders and putting a check on Trump's deportation agenda. But first, the government needs to be funded without attacking immigrants and asylum seekers. 

Call your senators now at 1-844-354-9898 and demand they pass a continuing resolution without any increases in funding for agents, detention beds, or racist walls. 

Thanks for all you do.

–Emma, Stephen, Jenn, Eric, and the rest of the team

Source: 

1. "Trump: Proud to shut down government over wall," CNN, December 11, 2018

https://act.moveon.org/go/61544?t=7&akid=222044%2E38417624%2ETnN5gt

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with MoveOn?

Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Alfred Johnson on December 13, 2018. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

A View From The Left-Help make impeachment impossible to ignore

Help make impeachment impossible to ignore

RootsAction Team<info@rootsaction.org>

12/13/2018 10:52 AM

To  

• Quick reply all
• Reply
• Forward
• Delete
• Actions

Picture the above graphic as a gigantic billboard in the most strategic location available. This is part of how we begin making impeachment impossible to ignore or avoid. To be a part of making this a reality, donate what you can here. The incoming Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Jerrold Nadler, has now described Trump's direction of payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal to silence them before the 2016 election as "impeachable offenses." A former White House Counsel for President Nixon, John Dean, was recently quoted in the Washington Post, saying that Congress will have little choice but to begin impeachment. Click here to help us ramp up this vital impeachment campaign with a donation. Congresswoman-Elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was asked this month whether seeking Trump's impeachment is premature. “Not to me,” she replied. Not to us either. In fact it's long since overdue. Asked to comment further, Ocasio-Cortez went straight to the impeachable offenses we've been urging action on since Trump's inauguration day: “What we’re seeing here is really serious questions with respect to the emoluments clause.”  Click here to urge your Representative to move forward on any of several grounds for impeachment. We've been advancing the emoluments and the hush-payments and numerous other charges for many months. Now is the time to absolutely flood current and future Congress members with the demand for action. This work is only possible with your financial support. Please chip in now.  -- The RootsAction.org Team P.S. RootsAction is an independent online force endorsed by Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Daniel Ellsberg, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr., Laura Flanders, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, Frances Fox Piven, Lila Garrett, Phil Donahue, Sonali Kolhatkar, and many others. Background: >>  Associated Press: Democrats Raise Prospect of Impeachment >>  Washington Post: White House Will Have to "Start Impeachment" >>  Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez on Youtube Read and share with others these important resources: >>  RootsAction: Draft Articles of Impeachment >>  RootsAction: Impeachment Strategy >>  RootsAction: Impeachment FAQ >>  RootsAction.org Impeachment Campaign     Unsubscribe

Here's why Green New Deal advocates should address militarism The U.S. military is the world’s largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels and the largest source of greenhouse gases.

Here's why Green New Deal advocates should address militarism

The U.S. military is the world’s largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels and the largest source of greenhouse gases.

By Medea Benjamin , Alice Slater /Independent Media Institute

December 12, 2018, 11:55 AM GMT

Photo Credit: BPTU / Shutterstock

In the spirit of a new year and a new Congress, 2019 may well be our best and last opportunity to steer our ship of state away from the twin planetary perils of environmental chaos and militarism, charting a course toward an earth-affirming 21st century.

The environmental crisis was laid bare by the sobering December report of the UN Climate panel: If the world fails to mobilize within the next 12 years on the level of a moon shot, and gear up to change our energy usage from toxic fossil, nuclear and industrial biomass fuels to the already known solutions for employing solar, wind, hydro, geothermal energy and efficiency, we will destroy all life on earth as we know it. The existential question is whether our elected officials, with the reins of power, are going to sit by helplessly as our planet experiences more devastating fires, floods, droughts, and rising seas or will they seize this moment and take monumental action as we did when the United States abolished slavery, gave women the vote, ended the great depression, and eliminated legal segregation.

Some members of Congress are already showing their historic mettle by supporting a Green New Deal. This would not only start to reverse the damage we have inflicted on our collective home, but it would create hundreds of thousands of good jobs that cannot be shipped overseas to low-wage countries.

Even those congresspeople who want to seriously address the climate crisis, however, fail to grapple with the simultaneous crisis of militarism. The war on terror unleashed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attack has led to almost two decades of unchecked militarism. We are spending more money on our military than at any time in history. Endless wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere are still raging, costing us trillions of dollars and creating humanitarian disasters. Old treaties to control nuclear arms are unraveling at the same time that conflicts with the major powers of Russia and China are heating up.

Where is the call for the New Peace Deal that would free up hundreds of billions from the overblown military budget to invest in green infrastructure? Where is the call to close a majority of our nation’s 800-plus military bases overseas, bases that are relics of World War II and are basically useless for military purposes? Where is the call for seriously addressing the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons?

With the crumbling phenomenon of outdated nuclear arms control treaties, it is unconscionable not to support the recently negotiated UN treaty, signed by 122 nations, to prohibit and ban nuclear weapons just as the world has done for chemical and biological weapons. The U.S. Congress should not be authorizing the expenditures of $1 trillion for new nuclear weapons, bowing to corporate paymasters who seek a larger arms race with Russia and other nuclear-armed countries to the detriment of our own people and the rest of the world. Instead, Congress should take the lead in supporting this treaty and promoting it among the other nuclear weapons states.

Environmentalists need to contest the Pentagon’s staggering global footprint. The U.S. military is the world’s largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels and the largest source of greenhouse gases, contributing about 5 percent of global warming emissions. Almost 900 of the EPA’s 1,300 Superfund sites are abandoned military bases, weapons-production facilities or weapons-testing sites. The former Hanford nuclear weapons facility in Washington state alone will cost over $100 billion to clean up. The U.S. military has also spread toxic chemical contaminants in and around bases worldwide, sickening millions.

If climate change is not addressed rapidly by a Green New Deal, global militarism will ramp up in response to increases in climate refugees and civil destabilization, which will feed climate change and seal a vicious cycle fed by the twin evils of militarism and climate disruption. That’s why a New Peace Deal and a Green New Deal should go hand in hand. We cannot afford to waste our time, resources and intellectual capital on weapons and war when climate change is barreling down on all of humankind. If the nuclear weapons don’t destroy us, then the pressing urgency of catastrophic climate will.

Moving from an economic system that relies on fossil fuels and violence would enable us to make a just transition to a clean, green, life-supporting energy economy. This would be the quickest and most positive way to deal a death knell to the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned about so many years ago.

This article was produced by Local Peace Economy, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MAPA Nuclear Disarmament" group. 
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mapa-nuclear-disarmament+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. 
To post to this group, send email to mapa-nuclear-disarmament@googlegroups.com. 
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mapa-nuclear-disarmament/00b401d49309%24df932c20%249eb98460%24%40texnology.com. 
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

Veterans For Peace: No Troops to the Border!

Veterans For Peace strongly condemns the recent announcement that up to 15,000 active duty military personnel may be sent to the U.S. southern border. These troops will join the additional National Guard units that were sent last year, increasing the militarization of our borders at an alarming rate. Our immigration laws and enforcement tactics have long been at a crisis point and we are now witnessing an even more draconian surge in the use of force to prop up failed policies.

Veterans For Peace calls on all our members and all veterans who see the inhumanity and injustice of the current policies to call their Congressional Representative and Senators to demand the military be pulled back from the border and that the members of the approaching caravan be treated with dignity and processed according to international humanitarian standards as refugees. We call on all service members participating in the border deployment to follow the long American tradition of listening to their conscience and remember that they have no obligation to follow illegal orders. (For questions on military rights, contact the GI Rights Hotline or Courage to Resist)

The U.S. government, instead of welcoming the approaching refugees, the majority of whom will seek asylum under completely legal processes, is treating individuals and families fleeing to the U.S. as if they are "terrorists" (even when "counterterrorism" officials within the administration are stating that no such people exist within the caravan). The majority of these refugees are fleeing from violence in Honduras and a political situation United States' actions have made worse.

The U.S. government's claim that active duty troops are providing only innocuous support services are misleading. This is the introduction of U.S. military force as a deterrent to those who are pursuing their rights as asylum seekers fleeing from extreme poverty and violence in their homelands, much of it due to U.S policies. The U.S. is required under international humanitarian standards to welcome those seeking refuge.

Veterans For Peace recognizes that these orders did not happen in a vacuum, but represent a long history over several administrations of racist and violent policies that has perpetuated U.S. wars across the world and horrific domestic policies that created ICE, massive immigration detention centers and a wall that already splits towns and separates friends and families. However, the Trump administration has escalated, at an alarming pace, the implementation of new dangerous measures. President Trump is moving to fulfill on the promises of his campaign that caused an upsurge of hateful sentiment in our nation and spurred a rise in fear and anger.

Additionally, Veterans For Peace is not only concerned about the safety of individuals and families fleeing violence and the increased militarization of the border but we are extremely concerned about the continued disregard of federal law. Federal law, namely the Posse Comitatus Act, prohibits the deployment of active duty troops on domestic soil and the U.S. Government continues to ignore laws in favor of increasing militarization of U.S. domestic policy.

As military veterans from WWII to the current era of conflicts, who have trained for, and in many cases, fought in U.S. wars, we know that current U.S. policies have not only failed to bring peace but are morally bankrupt and we do not believe that more military at the border is rooted in justice or compassion.

It is more important than ever that veterans stand up, speak out and organize to disrupt the dangerous escalation of racist and unjust policies, both at home and abroad. We, as veterans, know that peace is possible, but only if resources are directed towards caring for one another, not perpetuating militarization across the globe.

Veterans For Peace is beginning to distribute information to U.S. soldiers who are being deployed to the Mexican border to confront the caravan of Central American asylum seekers. 

Letter to the Troops (Leaflet)

• Leaflet distributed by:
  • About Face: Veterans Against the War
  • Courage to Resist
  • Veterans For Peace

One Pager to Troops (PDF)

• Offers perspective, support and resources to soldiers

News Articles:

• Trump’s Military Deployment to the US-Mexico Border Is Illegal by Marjorie Cohn
• Sending the US Army to the Border Creates ‘a War Atmosphere’ by Ryan Harvey

Quick Links

From Veterans For Peace -Deployed to the Border: A Test of Conscience for GIs

Deployed to the Border: A Test of Conscience for GIs

James Branum of the Military Law Task Force of the NLG, has just written a legal memo for soldiers deployed/facing deployment to the border, explaining orders violations and the law surrounding refusal of unlawful orders.

"Critical legal information for US servicemembers concerned about the legality of orders to deploy to the US-Mexico border
The Trump Administration's political stunt of trying to block asylum seekers from reaching the United States, even if it requires the use of force, raises serious legal and ethical questions for military servicemembers deployed for "support operations" at the border.

The Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild shares the concerns of organizations such as Veterans For Peace, Courage to Resist, and others, that US servicemembers are being given illegal orders. We are also troubled about the lack of effective legal alternatives for service members dealing with possible illegal orders and believe it is essential that members of the military are fully informed about their rights and responsibilities under the law. In this memorandum, we will discuss briefly some the legal challenges that a servicemember might face when deciding whether to disobey a possibly illegal order."

Read More

You can also read our statement on the deployment of troops to the border.

Back to Top

BREAKING: 56 Senators vote to pass Yemen resolution MoveOn Civic Action Iram Ali

BREAKING: 56 Senators vote to pass Yemen resolution

MoveOn Civic Action Iram Ali<moveon-help@list.moveon.org>

12/13/2018 7:10 PM

To  

Dear MoveOn member,

There's two huge news updates for you from our campaign to end U.S. military involvement in the Yemen conflict. 

 First news highlight: The Senate just overwhelmingly voted to officially pass the Yemen War Powers Resolution, introduced by Senators Bernie Sanders, Mike Lee, and Chris Murphy.¹ 

Senators have chosen to move toward ending U.S. complicity in the Saudi-led attacks in Yemen, where the humanitarian crisis is growing worse by the day and an estimated 85,000 children have already died.

Unfortunately, the House refused to move forward because of a measure that blocked a House vote on the Yemen conflict—and specifically because Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer chose not to whip Democrats against this measure. This was a failure that shouldn't be repeated again.

With this momentum from a strong bipartisan Senate vote and a new Democratic Congress in three weeks, we have a real chance to finally end U.S. involvement in this war in January.   

And let's be clear: this vote—with 56 senators voting in favor—is a huge grassroots victory powered by a broad movement, including MoveOn members like you. Check out what we accomplished together.   

 Second news highlight: On the eve of the vote, the U.N. successfully brokered a ceasefire in the port city of Hodeida, which is vital to getting aid supplies into Yemen for the millions of people that are suffering.²

This same ceasefire agreement could have happened nearly two years ago, saving tens of thousands of lives.  

As we've said from the beginning: Passing the war powers resolutions and holding Saudi Arabia accountable is not just to get the U.S. out of this unauthorized conflict. The external pressure that this will create, and has created, is vital to push the warring parties toward a peace agreement and an end to this horrific war. 

And there is still work to do to ensure Congress continues to build this pressure in January.

When I sent a breaking news email last week following the huge preliminary vote in the Senate, I noted how far we had come in this fight. When this was a fringe issue, we laid 5,000 flowers in front of the Capitol Building to garner attention to the unfolding humanitarian crisis claiming the lives of thousands of children.

This was at a time when few in the media or D.C. could have imagined what happened today on the floor of the U.S. Senate was even possible.

With 56 Senators voting for the resolution, things are finally shifting. We have momentum on our side to pressure the warring parties—especially the Saudi coalition—to stop the war in Yemen and to build out a different type of U.S. global policy. 

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Click here to check out some of the work we've already done together in this fight and to see what's next.

Thanks for all you do. 

–Iram, Schuyler, Mark, Erica, and the rest of the team

P.S. Senator Bernie Sanders wanted to show his thanks and appreciation for all the work MoveOn members have done in this fight. Click here to watch and share the video. 
 

Sources: 

1. "Senate votes to end U.S. support for Saudi war in Yemen," CBS News, December 13, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/61603?t=23&akid=222154%2E38417624%2EUVwGOC

2. "Yemen's warring sides agree to ceasefire in critical port city," Axios, December 13, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/61590?t=25&akid=222154%2E38417624%2EUVwGOC

Want to support our work to build a progressive foreign policy? For too long, our global policies have been based around the interests of weapons manufacturers, detrimental alliances with those who are committing human rights abuses, and xenophobia and anti-Muslim racism that scapegoats some of the most vulnerable communities in the country. Now, we have a chance to start changing that. Will you stand with us and start a weekly contribution today?

Yes, I'll chip in $3 a week.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a weekly donation.

Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Alfred Johnson on December 14, 2018. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Help Stop Closing the U mass Joiner Center and several other

VFP Smedley<vfpsmedley@gmail.com>

12/14/2018 12:12 PM

To  smedleyvfp@googlegroups.com  

• Quick reply all
• Reply
• Forward
• Delete
• Actions

We need Lots of Smedleys with flags for this !!!!

Tuesday 12/18 @ 2pm at the state house

Dear UMB and Joiner Friends, Students, Faculty, and Staff,

You're invited to join us next Tuesday, 12/18 at 2:00 p.m. at the Massachusetts State House for a presentation in front of the Boston Delegation, our local Boston-area State Reps and Senators. The Joiner, along with five other Centers and Institutes, will be advocating for the value of our mission to the campus and the Boston community. In the midst of serious budget cuts on campus the Joiner Institute along with other Centers and Institutes are being threatened with closure, harming the Joiner significantly starting this July. We would love to show support from our constituents, students, veterans, and teachers who have worked with us over the years and know the value of the Joiner mission, and that of our other urban Centers and Institutes.

Please RSVP to me if you are interested in joining us at the State House next Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. We will meet at 1:00 p.m. at the Black Seed Cafe on Tremont St next to Park St. station.

Hope to see some of you next week. Good luck with finals!

All best,

Mitch Manning

Associate Director

William Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences 

UMass Boston

Office: 617-287-5863

mitch.manning@umb.edu