Tuesday, September 05, 2017

Trump Orders Military To Give Cops Free Grenade Launchers, Bayonets, And Tanks

Trump Orders Military To Give Cops Free Grenade Launchers, Bayonets, And Tanks

The decision overturns restrictions imposed by the Obama administration.

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WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump will repeal restrictions that former President Barack Obama placed on police access to excess military gear, allowing the federal government to immediately resume handing out free bayonets, grenade launchers, tracked armored vehicles such as tanks and other equipment to law enforcement departments around the country.
Trump will sign an executive order on Monday that repeals the limits Obama placed on the access to some military surplus items in 2015. Obama’s move followed the “provocative” response to the August 2014 unrest in Ferguson, Mo., where St. Louis County Police officers atop armored vehicles pointed sniper rifles at peaceful demonstrators in broad daylight. Policing experts in a report for the Justice Department found that the police actions “inflamed tensions” and violated constitutional rights.
SCOTT OLSON VIA GETTY IMAGES
Police stand watch as demonstrators protest the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown on Aug. 13, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, sparking days of unrest in the community.
Trump’s forthcoming executive order was announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a speech to the Fraternal Order of Police on Monday ― and quickly spurred criticism. Other items that federal government can again supply to local law officers include camouflage uniforms, weaponized aircraft, and ammunition above .50 caliber.
A Pentagon official couldn’t come up with a reason that a police officer would need a bayonet during a hearing on police militarization in 2014. But some law enforcement officials have suggested they could be used as utility knives, a view the Trump administration has adopted. Grenade launchers, meanwhile, can be used to fire off non-lethal weapons and tear gas canisters.
Trump’s executive order will also kill requirements that law enforcement agencies had to meet before obtaining helicopters, planes, riot helmets, batons, drones, armored and tactical vehicles, and explosives and pyrotechnics. Under Obama’s order, police departments had to get permission from their local government, complete training requirements and give a “persuasive” reason why they needed such equipment. No more.
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Vanita Gupta, the former head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said the guidelines were put in place to “ensure that police departments had a guardian, not warrior, mentality,” and that it was important for law officers not to treat communities as war zones.
“The safeguards were reasonable: Police departments don’t need grenade launchers and bayonets to protect our communities; they should have the appropriate training for the equipment they use; and the federal government should have checks and accountability measures for law enforcement’s use of certain military equipment,” Gupta, who now heads the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement.
“Most in law enforcement understand why these guidelines and this approach to policing are critical to rebuilding trust with the communities they serve, especially communities of color, and also to reducing the risk of violence in our communities,” she said. “In the absence of leadership from this administration, state and local governments must create their own guidelines for limiting the acquisition of military equipment, and how it can be used.” 
Tensions between law enforcement and communities remain high, yet the president and the attorney general are giving the police military-grade weaponry instead of practical, effective ways to protect and serve everyone.Kanya Bennett, ACLU official
Kanya Bennett of the Washington Legislative Office of the American Civil Liberties Union, said it “defies logic to arm the police with weapons of war — grenade launchers, high-caliber assault weapons, and more.” She said the executive order “erases the sensible limits placed by the Obama administration after Ferguson” on the types of military equipment the federal government gave to local police.
“Tensions between law enforcement and communities remain high, yet the president and the attorney general are giving the police military-grade weaponry instead of practical, effective ways to protect and serve everyone,” Bennett said.
The Trump administration objects to the notion that optics ― the way it looks when local law officers use the excess military equipment ― should affect what weapons the federal government hands out. The administration also believes the restrictions imposed by Obama created the impression the local officers weren’t worthy of trust.
This article has been updated with comment from Kanya Bennett of the ACLU.

In Boston- DORCHESTER STANDOUT FOR BLACK LIVES Thursday September 21, 5:30-6:30 PM at Ashmont T station

Come to the next monthly 
DORCHESTER STANDOUT FOR BLACK LIVES
Thursday September 215:30-6:30 PM 
(and the third Thursday of every month)
at Ashmont T station plaza


Kelley writes:
The expressions of racist hatred and the murder in Charlottesville, and the reactions by the president heightened the sense that an August Standout for Black Lives was seriously needed. The addition of twenty new participants, along with two canine comrades, Sophie and Eli, as well as a number of very young sign holders, reflected that these feelings were widely shared. The horns beeping in support of the banner declaring that "We believe Black Lives Matter" have multiplied each month (even MBTA buses). This month we also had an influx of new people from the neighborhood as well as the continued support from Veterans for Peace, First Parish Church, Milton for Peace and folks from the Jamaica Plain vigil. It is a congenial atmosphere in which we are making a visible public statement about our opposition to racism. Thanks to all who came (especially the gentleman who brings us free food) and we welcome anyone interested in joining us next month. 

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact Kelley, kelready@msn.com or Becky, beckyp44@verizon.net, or call Dorchester People for Peace 617-282-3783

In Boston, Thrusday September 14th-Reportback from China! Socialism? Anti-imperialism? Entrepreneurs and the Environment

To  markin  
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Reportback from China! Socialism? Anti-imperialism? Entrepreneurs and the Environment

When: Thursday, September 14, 2017, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Where: encuentro 5 • 9A Hamilton Place • Boston
Reportback from a July delegation sponsored by the new China-US Solidarity Activist Program (affiliated with the Alliance for Global Justice) based in Los Angeles and Shanghai.
o broad range of discussions with Maoists, capitalists and government officials
o visits to rural cooperatives and migrant works village
o museums remembering "comfort women" and Japanese aggression during World War II
o entrepeneurial business promoting social/environmenbtal values
Presentations will be given by delegation members Duncan McFarlandd, United for Justice with Peace and China Study Group at the Center for Marxist Education, and Michael Cassetta, tech entrepreneur, Artistry & Industry, Inc.
Full discussion with follow.  More information 617-332-9016
Cosponsored by United for Justice with Peace, Massachusetts Global Action, and Center for Marxist Education
Upcoming Events: 
Newsletter: 

Guardian: North Korea nuclear crisis: Putin warns of planetary catastrophe

This is certainly hair raising!


Throughout his life, Trump has been obsessed with nukes. In 1984, he claimed that he could single-handedly force Russia to accept a nuclear truce, telling a reporter: “It would take an hour and a half to learn everything there is to learn about missiles ... I think I know most of it anyway.” In 1990, he told Playboy: “I’ve always thought about the issue of nuclear war; it’s a very important element in my thought process,” adding that the assumptions behind the US’s long tradition of non-use were “bullshit”.

North Korea nuclear crisis: Putin warns of planetary catastrophe
As Kim Jong-un reportedly prepares further missile launch, Russian president says only way to solve issue is through dialogue
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has warned that the escalating North Korean crisis could cause a “planetary catastrophe” and huge loss of life.
“Ramping up military hysteria in such conditions is senseless; it’s a dead end,” he told reporters in China. “It could lead to a global, planetary catastrophe and a huge loss of human life. There is no other way to solve the North Korean nuclear issue, save that of peaceful dialogue.”
On Sunday, North Korea carried out its sixth and by far its most powerful nuclear test to date. The underground blast triggered a magnitude-6.3 earthquake and was more powerful than the bombs dropped by the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the second world war.
Putin was attending the Brics summit, bringing together the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Speaking on the final day of the summit in Xiamen, China, he said Russia condemned North Korea’s provocations but said further sanctions would be useless and ineffective.
Foreign interventions in Iraq and Libya had convinced the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, that he needed nuclear weapons to survive, Putin said.
“We all remember what happened with Iraq and Saddam Hussein. His children were killed, I think his grandson was shot, the whole country was destroyed and Saddam Hussein was hanged ... We all know how this happened and people in North Korea remember well what happened in Iraq.
“They will eat grass but will not stop their [nuclear] programme as long as they do not feel safe.”
Putin’s warning came as South Korea refused to rule out redeploying US tactical nuclear weapons on its territory – a move that could seriously harm efforts to ease tensions as signs emerged that Pyongyang was preparing to launch another intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Seoul has routinely dismissed the option of basing US nuclear weapons on South Korean soil for the first time since the 1990s, but the country’s defence minister, Song Young-moo, said “all available military options” were being considered to address the growing threat from North Korean missiles.
On Tuesday, South Korean warships conducted live-fire drills, with further exercises planned this week. “If the enemy launches a provocation above water or under water, we will immediately hit back to bury them at sea,” said Capt Choi Young-chan, commander of the 13th Maritime Battle Group.
The drills came hours after Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, agreed to remove restrictions on the size of Seoul’s missile warheads and approved a deal to sell it “many billions of dollars’” worth of US military weapons and equipment.
Song raised the possibility of redeploying US nuclear weapons after the North’s nuclear test in remarks to the South’s national assembly, according to the Yonhap news agency.
His remarks were later clarified, with spokesman Moon Sang-gyun saying there was “no change” in Seoul’s principle of working towards the complete denuclearisation of the peninsula.
Moon said Song had simply been stressing the need to “review all available options from the military perspective, and find a realistic way forwards”.
Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul, said: “No one in South Korea is seriously proposing that the US reintroduce strategic assets [such as nuclear weapons]. That’s something they might discuss further down the line, but there are no plans for that to happen right now.”
Calls have also been growing in South Korea for the country to develop a nuclear deterrent independent of the US.
Song’s comments came amid reports that North Korea may be preparing to launch another ICBM from a site on its west coast.
North Korea has been observed moving what appeared to be a long-range missile towards its west coast, according to South Korea’s Asia Business Daily. The newspaper claimed the missile had been transported towards the launch site overnight on Monday to avoid surveillance.
South Korea’s defence ministry said it was unable to confirm the report, although ministry officials told parliament on Monday the Pyongyang regime was preparing to launch more missiles.
In the past, North Korea has displayed its military capability to coincide with significant national anniversaries. That is fuelling speculation that an ICBM launch could come as early as this Saturday, when the country marks the 69th anniversary of its founding. The regime’s fifth nuclear test came on the same date, 9 September, last year.
Washington appears to have moved to ease South Korean doubts about US commitment to its security after Trump openly accused its east Asian ally of “appeasing” Pyongyang by holding out for a negotiated solution to its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
The agreement from the US to remove warhead restrictions on South Korean missiles will allow Seoul to develop more powerful weapons that would increase its pre-emptive strike capabilities against the North.
Trump’s appeasement comment, together with his reported threat to take the US out of a free trade agreement with South Korea, have triggered calls for Seoul to win stronger security assurances from Washington.
In an editorial published on Tuesday, the Korea Herald said: “The Seoul government’s most urgent job is to secure – based on a tight alliance with the US – defence and deterrence capability against possible nuclear and missile attacks from the North.”
The newspaper called for the quick deployment of the last four of six terminal high altitude area defence (Thaad) systems, but said that was only a first step.
The diplomatic focus is expected to shift to the UN security council later on Tuesday, with a vote expected on a resolution condemning the North’s latest nuclear test.
One drastic measure reportedly under consideration by US officials – a ban oil exports to North Korea – is likely to be opposed by Russia and China.
Beijing supplies roughly 500,000 tonnes of crude oil to North Korea every year as well as 200,000 tonnes of oil products, according to South Korean and UN data.
China opposes any measure that could cause instability and topple the regime of Kim Jong-un, sparking a refugee crisis and potentially allowing tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops to move north as far as the Chinese border.
On Monday, the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, accused North Korea of “begging for war”, adding that the time had come for the security council to impose “the strongest possible” sanctions after Sunday’s test of what Pyongyang claimed was a hydrogen bomb that could be loaded on to an ICBM.
AFP and Associated Press contributed to this report

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In Boston-September 6th Vigil-We are not giving up DACA and TPS without a fight!


We are not giving up DACA and TPS without a fight!

Centro Presente calls for a vigil!
WHERE: Massachusetts State House
WHEN: Wednesday, September 6, 6:00 P.M.
The Trump White House has indicated they will announce a six month delay before ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) for over 800,000 young immigrants in our country. At the same time the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been gradually taking steps to end the Temporary Protected Status program (TPS) that benefits more than 300,000 people and THIS WEEK, DHS will issue another decision about whether it will begin to phase out TPS for 2 more countries, Sudan and South Sudan. Things do not look good and there is a lot of anxiety among those directly and indirectly impacted because the work permits granted through DACA and TPS have sustained the lives of hundreds of thousands of families across the country.
WE CANNOT REMAIN SILENT!
While immigration policy is an issue that ONLY Congress can finally fix, we can expect and DEMAND MORE of our local elected officials to SPEAK OUT and CHALLENGE the failure of the U.S. Congress to address the issue, the heartless and immoral implementation of a broken and unjust immigration system by the President and his operatives, and the complete failure of our media to facilitate an honest and comprehensive public discussion of the causes of immigration.
Sponsor by the Brazilian Worker Center
If your organization wants to sponsor please contact Patricia Montes atpmontes@cpresente.org



Centro Presente
12 Bennington Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02128


Centro Presente, 12 Bennington Street, Boston, MA 02128


Sent by pmontes@cpresente.org in collaboration with