Saturday, June 01, 2019

This is terrifying Roe v. Wade Alert (via MoveOn)

Roe v. Wade Alert (via MoveOn)<moveon-help@list.moveon.org>
To  Alfred F Johnson  
Dear MoveOn member,
At midnight on Saturday, Missouri could become the first state without access to legal abortion since the Roe v. Waderuling in 1973.1
The right-wing crusade to end access to legal abortion in America is moving like wildfire, as red states take increasingly extreme actions. And this battle will likely end up in the Supreme Court, which for the first time in 45 years, now has a majority of justices opposed to safe, legal abortion.
Missouri is poised this week to revoke the license for the last remaining health clinic that provides abortions in the state.2Last week, Missouri's governor signed into law a bill banning abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy—and without exceptions in cases of rape or incest.3 It's terrifying to think what pregnant people in Missouri are going to be put through as early as next week, and what the devastating consequences could be if they are forced into unsafe back alley procedures.
Alfred, if ever there was a time to come together to fight back, it's now. We have no time to lose because it's all happening so fast. And we simply cannot turn back the clock 45 years on reproductive liberty and equality.
That's why MoveOn is launching a big, new campaign to protect safe, legal abortion and save Roe.
Missouri is one of six states with only one abortion clinic remaining.4 For two decades, the right-wing strategy has been to chip away at access to abortion, putting in place onerous and medically unnecessary requirements—from waiting periods to down-to-the-inch dimensions for exam rooms, hallways, and janitor closets.5
But now, with Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, the right-wing strategy has changed to trying to end legal abortion entirely, and the speed at which red states have taken action is breathtaking—from Missouri about to revoke its last clinic's license to Alabama banning all abortion in the state and Ohio even criminalizing those who leave the state to access abortion where it is still legal.
No longer do conservatives want to chip away at abortion rights; now, they are threatening to end access to legal abortion everywhere they can.
This is not a drill. It's a fight for our lives and equality. And we all need to be a part of this fight. That's why MoveOn is launching a big, new campaign to bring our grassroots firepower, media bullhorn, and tech chops to the fight to preserve safe, legal abortion.
Here are just some of the ideas we are considering as next steps in this critical, life-or-death fight:
  • Putting pressure on John Roberts, the Supreme Court swing vote, to ensure he does not vote to uphold these bans. Research has shown that Roberts responds to public pressure and is concerned about the court's public image, which means that a pressure campaign could work to swing his vote when these bans eventually make their way to the Supreme Court.
  • Electoralizing the issue. Again, 79% of Americans believe that abortion should be safe and legal—a huge majority that will be galvanized to vote against the Republicans who have pushed these bans in states across the country and have opened the door for the end of Roe. And we must make sure that all Democratic candidates make choice and reproductive justice central to their campaigns.
  • Demanding accountability from corporations. Many massive, multinational corporations have given campaign contributions to the state legislators waging this war on abortion access. By raising public demand for the corporations to immediately cease their giving, we can land a major blow to these politicians.
  • Fighting in the states. Currently, only 10 states have laws on the books that will protect abortion access if Roe is overturned.6 We need to push more state legislatures to pass laws protecting abortion access now, and we must fight to stop any additional bans working their way through state governments. Additionally, we must push to elect pro-choice state legislators in this year's elections to add additional safeguards to abortion access at the state level.
With your help, we will continue working with partners to fight back in the states and in Washington, D.C., continue directing resources to groups on the ground that are providing abortions in impacted states, and use our reach to lift up the stories of those impacted by these draconian laws.
Thanks for all you do.
–Emma, Chris, Robert, Anna, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Missouri's Last Abortion Clinic Could Stop Providing the Procedure This Week," The New York Times, May 28, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/66779?t=4&akid=235554%2E38417624%2ESgrDh7
2. Ibid.
3. "Missouri Governor Signs Ban On Abortion After 8 Weeks Of Pregnancy," NPR, May 24, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/66780?t=6&akid=235554%2E38417624%2ESgrDh7
4. "These 6 states have only 1 abortion clinic left. Missouri could become the first with zero," CNN, May 29, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/66781?t=8&akid=235554%2E38417624%2ESgrDh7
5. "Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers," Guttmacher Institute, May 1, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/66782?t=10&akid=235554%2E38417624%2ESgrDh7
6. "Abortion Policy in the Absence of Roe," Guttmacher Institute, May 21, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/42783?t=12&akid=235554%2E38417624%2ESgrDh7
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 us?
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
This email was sent to Alfred Johnson on May 31st, 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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On The 50th Anniversary Of Doctor Martin Luther King’s Riverside Church “Beyond Vietnam” Speech (1967)

On The 50th Anniversary Of Doctor Martin Luther King’s Riverside Church “Beyond Vietnam” Speech (1967)




By Political Commentator Frank Jackman

I have mentioned a number of times earlier in this space that I have been at times annoyed by the proliferation of celebrations and commemoratives of events that don’t, to my mind at least, rate either celebration or odd-ball year observance. You know like the 38th anniversary of some unremarkable space flight or the 10th anniversary of the demise of some event faded from memory except in some fill-in starved newsroom. On the other hand some events in my left-wing calendar are worthy like the anniversaries of the Paris Commune uprising of 1871 and the Russian Revolution of 1917 are worthy of orderly and odd-ball yearly observance. Then there is the subject today (see above) the commemoration of Doctor Martin Luther King’s important speech to the congregation at the Riverside Church in Manhattan in April of 1967 where he decisively broke with the Lyndon Baines Johnson administration’s Vietnam War policy. No question that the speech is in many quarters and maybe objectively worthy of a fiftieth anniversary commemoration but for personal reasons I had been ambiguous about placing it in this space.           

In my high school days I was a lonely ardent defender in my Irish Catholic enclave in North Adamsville of the black civil rights struggle down south in this country. A struggle that was strongly identified with the personage and non-violent strategies of Doctor King. That defense was one that placed me in an extreme minority both in my Northern lily white school and in the community at large. I was called, falsely at the time, seven kinds of commie red and a n----r loving for the simple acts of heading to Boston several times to join picket lines at the downtown Woolworth’s department store in support of the attempts to integrate the lunch counters down South (and maybe up North as well) and heading down to join the freedom riders trying to integrate the buses. Simple democratic and civil demands. Thus I, of necessity, had a great admiration for both the personal courage of Doctor King (and his supporters in the field in the front line battles of the South) and of his philosophy of non-violent direct action.

As is well known those action were directly responsible for various pieces of civil rights legislation and attempts to integrate various social institutions highlighted by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That year was kind of watershed on two fronts. It spelled the demise of the intensity of the civil rights struggle and the emergence of the Vietnam War as the decisive social battle of the time. Opposition to the Vietnam War in 1965 was an extremely small and radical position as the start of a seemingly endless war unfolded. Doctor King in many ways was a natural leader for such opposition as more and more people began to protest. Yet for those various reasons just mentioned he held his fire, held it after lesser public figures began to openly oppose the war, until the major Riverside speech. Some of that had to do with pushing the civil rights agenda forward but it also had to do with that latent anti-communism still alive in the land and the politics of the “domino” theory attached to it.


Here is where my personal dilemma comes in dealing with presenting this commemoration. I too was late, very late, in opposition to the Vietnam War for those same domino theory adherence reasons that drove Doctor King. Except mine lasted at least until the Tet offensive of 1968. With that caveat though I present the rightly commemorated speech. Despite the subsequent political gulf that has separated me from Doctor King’s philosophy and strategies the ideas presented still retain their power. 
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Can you tell us where to send your sticker? BernieSanders.com


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Together Against Trump: Mon 3 & Tue 4 June Payday men's network 5/31/2019 4:50 PM

Payday men's network<payday@paydaynet.org>
To  alfredjohnson34@comcast.net  

Together Against Trump – Events next week
A Carnival of Resistance
Mon 3 June 5.30pm: Trump is coming to a state banquet at Buckingham Palace Monday as part of his state visit. Bring Pots and Pans! More info here
Tues 4 June 11am: We’ll be at the Together Against Trumprally, meeting in Trafalgar Sq. with the Palestine contingent.  
Look for Global Women’s Strike and Women of colourbanners, and our big banner:“Dump Trump; no racism, no sexism, no poverty.”
People plan to march to nearby locations depending on Trump’s itinerary.
Themed zones will feature throughout the protest highlighting some of the areas where Trump’s discriminatory, divisive policies are having the most negative impact.

We’re planning to ‘follow Trump’ by marching from the square to nearby locations depending on the details of his itinerary for the day. Join the Facebook event to show you’ll be there and share it with your friends, family and colleagues.

If you’re not going to be in London don’t worry. Our interactive map is now live for people to add details of events being organised around the UK. Why not organise your own and put it on the map! Email info@stoptrump.org.uk for materials.

Thanks so much for your support so far. You can do even more by putting a fiver into the protest fund or getting one of our t-shirts to wear on 4 June!

Stop Trump Coalition

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Korea Update: Uncertain Future for Peace Process Tuesday, June 4 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Encuentro 5 9 Hamilton Place Boston, MA 02108 (across from Park Street T stop)

Korea Update: Uncertain Future for Peace Process
Tuesday, June 4 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Encuentro 5
9 Hamilton Place
Boston, MA 02108 (across from Park Street T stop)
With the failure of the Vietnam Summit between President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jung Un, we are entering a very dangerous period in the Korean crisis. Unless President Trump stops insisting on North Korean nuclear disarmament before any U.S. concessions on sanctions, security guarantees or a peace agreement, it is unlikely that any negotiated settlement will be reached. What’s needed are real negotiations that lay out a step by step process that involves not just North Korea giving up its weapons but also sanctions relief, security guarantees, and a U.S.-Korean Peace Treaty.
Join the Massachusetts Korea Peace Campaign for an update on North Korea/ South Korea/ US peace negotiations and discussion on what we can do to bring lasting peace to the Korean peninsula.
The program combines speakers and a segment from the concert performed during the Olympic Truce by a prominent North Korean orchestra and women singers. This moving concert will leave any viewer with an unforgettable understanding of Koreans’ wish for peace.   
Sung-Min Ko, Consul, Korean Consulate General in Boston, will present an update on the South Korean government’s peace efforts in the context of the history of Korea US relations.
Mass. Korea Peace Campaign co-chair Keumjoo Armstrong will present updates on our work to support H.Res.152, the bill to declare a formal end to the Korean war.   Sign our letter to Congress!
Joseph Gerson, president of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament, and Common Security, will report on a remarkable conference in Seoul to build greater mutual understandings and collaborations between Japanese and South Korean peace and disarmament movements, including labor and women’s organizations, from which he will have just returned on June 4.
For information call 617-354-2169
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SATURDAY: Rally to Prevent War with Iran!

Cole Harrison<cole@masspeaceaction.org>
Via  Act-MA <act-ma-bounces@act-ma.org>
To  MAPA Middle East working group,    MAPA - Mideast   and 5 others
Rally to Prevent War with Iran!
Saturday, June 1 @ 11:00 am - 1:00 pm ~ Watertown Square
Saturday, June 1 @ 11am - 12 noon ~ Old Court House, Main St between
Gothic & King, Northampton
[image: No War with Iran rally, Cambridge, Aug 3, 2018]
Watertown Speakers:

*Jimmy Tingle* – Humor for Humanity; former candidate for Lt. Governor

*Sen. Will Brownsberger* – 2nd Suffolk & Middlesex District

*Mojgan Haji* – National Iranian-American Council

*representative* – Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment

*Cole Harrison* – Massachusetts Peace Action

*Directions: *Take the 71 bus from Harvard Square

Donald Trump is threatening war on Iran. On Sunday, May 19th he tweeted
that a fight between our two countries would mark, “the official end of
Iran.” These genocidal threats cannot go unchecked. Military experts are
warning that a war with Iran would be horrific. Our friend Colonel Larry
Wilkerson recently stated that the conflict would be, “a disaster that will
make the 10 years in Iraq look like child’s play by comparison.”

Join us to raise awareness of this crisis and protest the Trump
Administration’s reckless rhetoric and attempts to destabilize yet another
Middle Eastern country.
[image: USS Abraham Lincoln]
<http://masspeaceaction.org/home/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/uss-abe-lincoln.jpg>

An F/A-18E Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class
aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Red Sea, May 10, 2019 Reuters

In Northampton, a second rally will gather at the Old Hampshire County
Courthouse on June 1 at 11am. See details here.
<http://masspeaceaction.org/event/rally-in-northampton-no-war-with-iran/>

We will urge our representatives to support the Prevention of
Unconstitutional War with Iran Act (H.R. 2354). Senators Warren and Markey
have cosponsored the Senate version (S.1039) but, with the exception of
Congressman Jim McGovern from Worcester, none of our Congresspeople have
signed on to this crucial piece of legislation. Those who claim to resist
President Trump must resist his march to an unconstitutional war.

With National Security Adviser John Bolton leading the way, the Trump
Administration is exacerbating tensions by sending a Carrier Strike Group
and a squadron of B-52 bombers to the region as a show of force. A war
between the United States and Iran would be devastating to the people of
both countries. It cannot be allowed to happen. Join us in Watertown Square
on June 1st. Together we will make our voices heard and take a stand for
diplomacy and peace.

Sponsors: Massachusetts Peace Action; Watertown Citizens for Peace,
Justice, and the Environment; Arlington United for Justice with Peace;
National Iranian-American Council

--
*"Not one step back"*

Cole Harrison
Executive Director
Massachusetts Peace Action - the Commonwealth's largest grassroots peace
organization
11 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138
617-354-2169 w
617-466-9274 m
www.masspeaceaction.org
Facebook: facebook.com/masspeaceaction
<https://www.facebook.com/masspeaceaction>
Twitter: masspeaceaction <https://twitter.com/masspeaceaction>
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Friday, May 31, 2019

Stand with Reality Winner! Washington DC Rally, June 3rd Courage to Resist

Courage to Resist<refuse@couragetoresist.org>
To  alfredjohnson34@comcast.net  
STAND WITH REALITY WINNER

Washington DC rally for OUR HERO Reality Leigh Winner
 
June 3, 2019 at 7pm (Monday evening)
Lafayette Square, Washington DC
 
Please join friends and supporters as we raise awareness of the persecution of this young veteran and brave truth teller. This marks two years of imprisonment of Reality for helping to expose hacking attempts on US election systems leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
 
Order "Stand with Reality" shirts by June 23 to make sure they arrive in time. Shirts, buttons, and banners available from:
 
For more info:
 
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It Happened One Night-Indeed-When Clark Gable And Claudette Colbert Wouldn’t Let Some Ratty Blanket Come Between Then-Except For That Damn Hollywood Code



It Happened One Night-Indeed-When Clark Gable And Claudette Colbert Wouldn’t Let Some Ratty Blanket Come Between Then-Except For That Damn Hollywood Code  




DVD Review

By Sam Lowell

It Happened One Night, starring Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, directed by Frank Capra, 1934  

There is no question in my mind that the 1930s and 1940s were the Golden Age of screwball comedies with the likes of the director of the film under review the Oscar-heavy It Happened One Night  Frank Capra, Preston Sturgis, hell, even Howard Hawks taking a run at it, leading the way. Maybe it was the Great Depression and people needed a little welcome relief from their pressing daily troubles putting one foot in front of the other, and putting food on the table (one later screwball comedy Sullivan’s Travels made basically that same point. Maybe it was just the shear acting talent, direction, and script-writing coming together to form a perfect storm during the period0. Whatever it was It Happened One Night was the benchmark for later efforts.

Here’s Oscar’s why. Ellen, played by Claudette Colbert, is a spoiled socialite who for kicks, or just to tweak her father elopes with a gold-digger from her circle and runs away, or tries to, when her stern father wants the whole affair annulled. The “runaway” part is to reunite with that gold-digging husband in New York while she is stuck in Miami. Since her father, once Ellen flew the coop, had put an all-points bulletin for her return with a reward attached she surreptiously sneaked passage on a plebian travel bus. That bus trip with accompanying antics is where Ellen meets the wandering ex-newsman Peter, played by Clark Gable, who will provide plenty of action in trying to have her come off her high horse and get down in the mud with regular folk.

Of course the hijinks also include plenty of tensions between the pair as they do their dance around each other for a while getting in and out of scrapes which show Ellen at least that here was a real man, a man to challenge her in plenty of ways including her virtue. I wonder what really went on that night they spent in the cabin with the skimpy clothesline and a ratty blanket the only thing separately them. Might that be the “it happened one night.” See this film and make your judgment.     
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