Friday, July 19, 2019

How to respond re: Trump's cruel immigration raids MoveOn Civic Action Corinne Ball

MoveOn Civic Action Corinne Ball<moveon-help@list.moveon.org>
To  Alfred F Johnson  
Dear MoveOn member,
Trump is—again—escalating his administration's campaign of fear and terror against immigrant communities. Immediately after spurring international outrage over the criminal conditions in detention camps across the country, he is now launching mass ICE raids targeting families.
Make no mistake: These raids are designed to tear apart families, cause fear, and retaliate against cities that have stood up to Trump's racist, anti-immigrant policies.1
ICE and CBP are agencies teeming with cruelty and racism—and not only has Trump continued to embolden them, he is gearing up to send thousands more people into their custody with these raids, despite recent reports detailing abuses in detention camps. These agencies even spent massive amounts of money on raids after claiming they don't have funds to improve detention conditions.
Every action Trump is taking gives ICE even more power. This is part of a calculated and heartless attack—and the misery and pain ICE creates will impact far more people than we know.2
Since Trump announced these raids, the response has been overwhelming: Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets, called their members of Congress, added their names to petitions, and more.
Just this week, activists and allies demanded that Marriott and Choice hotels vow not to help the Trump administration tear families apart—and won. Thousands of MoveOn members like you signed a petition that was delivered with allies and partners to hotel headquarters on Thursday. Hours after the petition delivery, Marriott released a statement affirming they would not allow ICE to use their hotels as jails. Choice hotels followed closely behind.3
When we take a stand together, we know we can win. Here's how you can take action to oppose Trump's cruel immigration policies and support communities suffering right now:
1. Know your rights. If an immigration agent comes to your door or your neighborhood, know how to respond. Click here for "Know Your Power," an important resource from United We Dream. Share this information with your community and over social media.
2. Demand your member of Congress take every possible action to stop Trump's cruel attacks. Dial 844-899-8261 now to call your representative, and then dial 855-300-3836 to call your senators. Say to them, "Close the camps, stop funding family detention and deportation, bear witness, and reunite families."
3. Contribute to ensure that everyone in detention has legal representation, so they don't have to face an immigration judge alone. Donate to the Texas Civil Rights Project, an organization that is providing free legal services to immigrants in detention. Click here to contribute now.
4. Sign the petition to say Congress must close the camps! Add your name now.
When we speak up, we have power. In the face of this cruelty, we must continue to speak out, take action, and support our communities.
Thanks for all you do.
–Corinne, Emma, Bill, Seth, and the rest of the team
Sources:

1. "Cities prepare for showdown with Trump over ICE raids: You 'have to come through us,'" USA TODAY, July 12, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/68065?t=10&akid=239001%2E38417624%2EM9VAbG
2. "ICE Is Dangerously Inaccurate," The New York Times, July 12, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/68064?t=12&akid=239001%2E38417624%2EM9VAbG
3. "With Possible ICE Raids Imminent, Hotel Chains Are Taking a Stand," WAMU, July 12, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/68066?t=14&akid=239001%2E38417624%2EM9VAbG
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?
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 July 13, 2019. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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#NeverAgain Action in DC on Tuesday

Kevin Heaton<kevwsc@hotmail.com>
 
Two weeks ago, a group of Jews and immigrant justice organizers driven by a deep commitment to “Never Again” put out a call to action for our community. Tens of thousands of people across the country answered that call, showing the world that Never Again means Never Again for anyone. We know from our own histories what happens when a government targets, dehumanizes and strips an entire group of people of all their civil and human rights.

What ICE is doing at the border and in all of our communities is nothing short of a crisis, and Congress is doing nothing to address it -- and it’s not just Trump and the GOP. Our Democratic leadership has failed to take meaningful action to stop the mass atrocities that are taking place on their watch, voting to give ICE billions more in funding just two weeks ago.

We refuse to back down.

On Tuesday, July 16, we are joining forces with Movimiento Cosecha and taking our demand straight to the center of ICE’s dehumanizing immigration machine: Washington, D.C. Join us for the culmination of our fight to shut down ICE.

If you are able to take action in D.C. with us, register here: bit.ly/DCShutDownICE

#NeverAgain is now.
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7/29 Cuba Revolution Day 60th Anniversary Celebration Charlie Welch

Charlie Welch<cwelch@tecschange.org>
To  act-ma@act-ma.org  
*The July 26^th Coalition**presents*

*The Cuba Revolution Day 60^th Anniversary Celebration*

*Monday, July 29^th , 7:00-9:00*

*Fenway Community Center***

1282 Boylston St. at Jersey St.,

a block south of Fenway Park, handicap accessible

*Program Introduction by**Margaret Witham*

*Moderated by**Nalda Vigezzi***

“*Living and Working in Cuba as a Young Revolutionary*”

*Jessica Borges*, graduate student, Clark University; Policy Specialist,
Cuba Ministry of Foreign Relations; Intern, Cuban Institute for
Friendship with the Peoples, *icap.cu <http://www.icap.cu/>*

*“LGBT in Cuba: Personal Narrative of a Gay Northamerican Comrade”*

*Wally Sillanpoa*, political activist, July 26^th Coalition, 20+ years
experience in Cuba

*“A DC Strategy in the Current Era of U.S.-Cuba Relations”*

*Mavis Anderson*, Senior Associate, Latin America Working Group,
*lawg.org <https://www.lawg.org/>*


***july26.org <http://www.july26.org/>***

*Announcements*:

2019 Urban Farm Cuba Delegation on Friday, August 9^th

2019 Boston area May Day Delegation in the Fall

We hope to have representatives from both delegations present to
introduce their upcoming programs;

update on Venezuela.

Download Flyer
<https://www.dropbox.com/s/mpy4t67742laful/0729RevDayFlyerV2c.doc?dl=0>

Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/events/2564360940243009/>

10 minute wall from Kenmore, Fenway and Mass Ave. Green line Stops

On the 55 Bus route and close to the following routes CT2, 60,62,8,19
and 47.


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An update from CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling RootsAction Education Fund

RootsAction Education Fund<info@rootsaction.org>
To  alfredjohnson34@comcast.net  
First, the latest news from CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling: “The transition from prison to ‘freedom’ continues to pose its challenges, but Holly and I are making our way through it together,” Jeffrey told us. “One of the main challenges has been trying to finally slough off the shackles of the wrongful conviction back in 2015.”

The CIA and the U.S. Justice Department tried to destroy Jeffrey’s life. Now, after two and a half years in prison, he’s trying to rebuild it.

“This past June, I was expecting to be able to finally be ‘free’ of supervised release, but it seems the system does not want to let me go,” Jeffrey said days ago. “It is pretty standard that as long as an individual under supervised release has complied with the arbitrary conditions placed on him or her by the court and the probation office, the last year of so-called supervision will be waived. Not for me.”

He added: “With one year to go, it seems the U.S. attorney who spearheaded my wrongful conviction and the probation office object to my being fully released. This despite the fact that I have been compliant and adhered to every condition of supervised release.”

The government’s anti-whistleblower crusade has tried to crush Jeffrey. That effort has been unsuccessful, in part due to assistance that he has received from RootsAction Education Fund supporters.

The Education Fund was proud to work in solidarity with Jeffrey during his long imprisonment, and we’re now equally proud to sponsor his work as the coordinator of The Project for Accountability. You’ll give him a lift with the project if you make a tax-deductible donation in support of this exciting new venture.

Jeffrey readily acknowledged going through channels to blow the whistle on an ill-conceived and dangerous CIA operation against Iran involving flawed diagrams for nuclear weaponry. But the government prosecuted him on charges that he provided classified information to a New York Timesreporter who included it in a book.

The January 2015 trial had a jury that included no African Americans and was filled with people sympathetic to local Northern Virginia mega-employers like the Pentagon and CIA. By early summer, Jeffrey was in prison.

Now, Jeffrey is getting ready to go on a national book tour! And he wants you to know what a big difference it has made to receive support from thousands of people.

“Despite the continued stress,” Jeffrey writes, “it is due to the ability to reach out to so many of you through this Project for Accountability that I am keeping my head up and looking forward to what can and will be, instead of the negatives that have happened and continue. I am definitely looking forward to my book Unwanted Spy being released this October. The accompanying book tour will also be an effort on my part to bring more into the light of accountability that is so lacking.”

Jeffrey went to prison after a prosecution that BBC News called “trial by metadata.” Now, he says, “I would like to address the need for accountability of power.”

You can help Jeffrey do that by supporting his new work.

The RootsAction Education Fund is sponsoring this project for the same reason that we’ve actively supported Jeffrey for more than four years, while he withstood the vengeful weight of the “national security” state.

Jeffrey infuriated powerful CIA officials when he sued the agency for racial discrimination, and later when he went through channels to tell Senate Intelligence Committee staffers about a botched and dangerous covert operation by the CIA. In retaliation, the CIA unleashed its unaccountable power against Jeffrey.

You can help The Project for Accountability if you click here and make a tax-deductible contribution. Half of every dollar you donate will go directly to Jeffrey as he works to rebuild his life, while the other half will go to sustaining his project.

If you don’t already know about Jeffrey’s real-life nightmare of harassment, legal threats and persecution by the CIA hierarchy and the Justice Department, please take a look at the Background information we link to at the bottom of this email.

Jeffrey is an attorney, and he has gone through legalistic harassment, prosecution and imprisonment -- and now parole -- as a target of persecution with astute eyes wide open to the multifaceted abuses of power being committed under the cover of supposed legality.

For several years, the government stifled Jeffrey’s voice. This autumn, his voice will be heard loud and clear, from coast to coast and beyond.

We plan to keep you informed about Jeffrey’s future activities on behalf of The Project for Accountability. A tax-deductible donation of whatever you can afford would be greatly appreciated.

We asked Jeffrey to share with you some of his current assessments of the nation’s highest court. Here’s what he wrote:
_________________________

There is so much to talk about, but recently there have been some developments that reminded me of not only the idealism of law in this country I had when I was in law school, but also the ugly truth of the law when I was persecuted by it. When I was in the desolation of prison, I found it quite interesting how my fellow inmates were so acutely aware of the machinations of the Supreme Court. I thought it somewhat sad that a direct impact like incarceration was what encouraged a person to pay attention to the decisions of the highest court of the land. But, that is typical of people outside prison walls as well, isn’t it? Most Americans pay little attention to the day’s issues unless and until there is either a direct or perceived impact. The latest round of decisions from the highest court reminds me of the dangers of not paying attention to decisions of the Supreme Court.

This most recent Supreme Court term has been surprising in many ways. I was genuinely surprised when the court struck down the Trump administration’s attempt to put a citizenship question on the census, and genuinely saddened when the Court refused to see the obvious implications to the constitutional doctrine of the separation of church and state by allowing a giant cross to remain on public land as well as refusing to address partisan gerrymandering. Reading over those decisions, it seems apparent to me that basing an administration policy on outright, unsupported bias is frowned upon by the Court, but plain as day government support of religious favoritism and political/racial shenanigans which interfere with the sacred right to vote, are issues the highest court of the land does not see as counter to the principles of the Constitution.

In law school, I learned that The Constitution is supposed to protect the people from the government, but increasingly with political appointments, dogmatic inclinations, it is being used as a tool to protect the government from the people. Stagnating the principles of the highest law of the land is akin to killing a document that was meant to be a living, evolving protection for the people.

Given the ambivalence, yet deferential (read: conservative) bent of the Court, I continually wonder if there will ever be a challenge to the use of the Espionage Act, or more specifically, whether the Court will even bother to hear such a case. I wasn’t able to have my case and the important issues inherent within it brought before the Supreme Court and I will forever wonder, “what if?” However, we should keep an eye to the future and whether the government attempt to use the Espionage Act to prosecute Julian Assange will make it to the vaunted court. As with all whistleblowers, incredible deference is given to the government and its claims of violations of the ancient Espionage Act, so I have to think that the Supreme Court, given the opportunity, will turn a blind eye to the rampant and unreasonable use of the Espionage Act by this presidential administration as well as the previous. Much like this last term, I imagine, given the opportunity to question the Espionage Act, the Court will go out of its way to protect the government from the people.

This raises the question, who are Supreme Court judges accountable to? Certainly no reasonable application of the law can withstand the political leanings which usually result in decisions that show a propensity to arbitrarily mold the law to an issue as opposed to fitting an alleged act to the law. Seems many on this current Supreme Court are accountable to nothing but their own politically inspired and beholden whims and shortsightedness. Take for example the ravings of Justice Clarence Thomas. This term, his true self has sprung up loud and clear, particularly in some of his dissents. In particular, in one case, Thomas felt the obvious racist actions by a prosecutor against a black defendant were “blameless.” Astonishingly, he was not alone in that dissent. Dissenting opinions may not seem all important, but I remember in law school one of my favorite professors routinely encouraged his students to review dissenting opinions as a way of gaining better insight on the majority opinion and also to provide a snapshot of a particular justice or justices and what direction the court could potentially take. History has shown that dissent, particularly on the Supreme Court, can eventually turn into the majority. I’m not sure, given the current propensities of the Court, whether that is a good or bad eventuality.

I do believe judges, and particularly Supreme Court justices, have to be held accountable for their decisions. The confirmation process is nothing more than a litmus test of political support, not inquiry on the fitness of a person to sit on the highest court of the land. A start could be abolishing lifetime appointments and voting in elected officials who are more interested in the sanctity of the law as opposed to their dogmatic and political ambitions which do more to divide the country than to unify it.

Given the obvious ambivalence of the Supreme Court, I hope more attention will be given to their decisions. I fear the implications of not doing so. Like my fellow inmates, when you've waited until the last minute to be hopeful for a good outcome, most times it is too late.
_________________________

Jeffrey’s refusal to knuckle under to illegitimate power has come at a very steep personal cost. That’s the way top CIA officials wanted it. His enduring capacity to speak truthfully can help strengthen a wide range of whistleblowers -- past, present and future.

You can help make that happen with a tax-deductible donation of any amount.

Please do what you can to support Jeffrey’s work as coordinator of The Project for Accountability.

Thank you!



-- The RootsAction Education Fund team

Please share on Facebook and Twitter.

Background:
>>  Jeffrey Sterling: “Unwanted Spy: The Persecution of an American Whistleblower”
>>  BBC News: "Jeffrey Sterling's Trial by Metadata"
>>  John Kiriakou: “CIA Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling Placed in Solitary Confinement”
>>  ExposeFacts: Special Coverage of the Jeffrey Sterling Trial
>>  Marcy Wheeler, ExposeFacts: "Sterling Verdict Another Measure of Declining Government Credibility on Secrets"
>>  Norman Solomon, The Nation: "CIA Officer Jeffrey Sterling Sentenced to Prison: The Latest Blow in the Government's War on Journalism"
>>  Reporters Without Borders: "Jeffrey Sterling Latest Victim of the U.S.' War on Whistleblowers"
>>  AFP: "Pardon Sought for Ex-CIA Officer in Leak Case"
>>  Documentary film: "The Invisible Man: CIA Whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling"
>>  Slate: “Judge Roberts Rejects the Census Citizenship Question Because Trump Officials Lied About It”
>>  NPR News: “Supreme Court: Cross Can Stand on Public Land in Separation of Church and State Case”
>>  HuffPost: “Supreme Court OKs Excessive Partisan Gerrymandering”
>>  Washington Post: “Why Julian Assange Is Unlikely to Find Refuge in Supreme Court”
>>  The New Yorker: “Clarence Thomas’s Astonishing Opinion on a Racist Mississippi Prosecutor”


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Veterans For Peace Archives-2018- Reclaim Armistice Day On The 100th Anniversary Of The End Of World War I



Veterans For Peace Archives-2018- Reclaim Armistice Day On The 100th Anniversary Of The End Of World War I


By Allan Jackson

Maybe the commemorations of Armistice Day 2018, the 100th anniversary of the war to end all wars which fell very short on that score in 1918 were more circumspect, more meaningful, more to the bone and marrow of that troubled continent’s history but there were some forces in America, some organizations like Veterans for Peace and Veterans Peace Action who strove mightily to make sure that November 11th was properly observed. Hey, you say that is Veterans Day, a day when we honor our veterans. And that is unfortunately what the day has morphed into since about the 1950s when the day’s name was changed in America. Not so Europe where there are still too many bones and wounds to forget that bloodletting and the subsequent one after that war failed to end all wars. So many groups, not large, were prepared on the anniversary to reclaim the day when the bloody war in Europe ended in 1918.

Among those who were most active in the reclamation process were Veterans for Peace activists and longtime friends Ralph Morris and Sam Eaton (dating back to their respective arrests in Washington in `1971 when each with their respective cohorts for their own reasons decide that if the government was not going to end the Vietnam War which must have slipped the minds of those who touted WWI as the finish they would stop the government. An odd but very honorable way to start a lifetime friendship). Strangely it was Sam who was the most fervent for the change back to the historic roots since he was a supporter of VFP and not a member having been exempted from the draft in the 1960s due to extreme family hardship and not Ralph a decorated Vietnam veteran who saw plenty of bloody action in the Central Highlands.

The reason that Sam took the lead here was actually personal. His maternal grandmother’s oldest brother Frank, Frank O’Brian had been killed during the war in service to the AEF. They had erected in town, on a town square a memorial plague honoring Frank and his service which when the switch to Veterans Day occurred was changed to honor all the town veterans. This broke his grandmother’s heart and that of her sisters as well.

So behind Sam’s general motivation to have some historic truth lies the truth that his uncle’s service and death was not appreciated. Sam, with Ralph in tow though got every church in town (and a few neighboring churches, Universalist-Unitarian, UU of course) to not only ring the bells of their churches at the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month but call out a “Presente,” a sign of respect for the fallen Frank O’Brian. Grandma Anna would have been proud.    





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When I call Donald Trump a racist, this is what I’m talking about: Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders<info@berniesanders.com>
To  Al Johnsa  

Al -
When I call Donald Trump a racist, this is what I’m talking about:
@realDonaldTrump: ...and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how...
This was a racist attack against Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It is unacceptable, and we must stand in solidarity with these young legislators.
That is why today I am asking you to respond to Trump’s racist attack by splitting a contribution between their campaigns and ours.
Please split a contribution today between Reps. Omar, Tlaib, Pressley, and Ocasio-Cortez, and our campaign for president. Your contribution will send a message that Trump’s racism will not stand.
If you've saved payment info with ActBlue Express, your donation will automatically be evenly split between Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders:
EXPRESS DONATE: $100
EXPRESS DONATE: $200
EXPRESS DONATE: $350
EXPRESS DONATE: $500
EXPRESS DONATE: $1000
OR DONATE ANOTHER AMOUNT
I have said all along that this president is a racist and a xenophobe. And now he is proving that point, yet again, by turning his hate against these four members of Congress.
We must stand together for justice and dignity toward all. Thank you for your support.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders






 
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